Good morning from cloudy Florida!

I am trying to stay on my anti-politics diet. Just hoping to lose some of my anger and frustration.

Warming's impacts sped up, worsened since Kyoto - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091122/ap_on_sc/...
Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

25 reasons to care about climate change - http://www.grist.org/article/2009-11-19-top-2...

The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare - http://www.alternet.org/water/144074/the_war_...
"It's not that all soy is bad; in fact, eating it in small doses can be quite healthy, if it's fermented. But when it's not, that's where the problems begin. Soy is a legume, which contains high amounts of phytic acid. Phytic acid binds to minerals (like calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc), interfering with the body's ability to absorb them (which is usually a bad thing).
Soy is also known to contain "antinutrients," among them enzyme inhibitors that interfere with protein digestion. The Chinese figured out about 2,000 years ago..."
Vegetarians aren't the only ones who should be concerned; there's soy in just about everything you eat these days -- including hamburgers, mac 'n cheese and salad dressing.

Big Pharma Lobbyists Script Speeches In U.S. Congress, Industry Fights Against Generic Drugs - http://www.desmogblog.com/big-pharma-lobbyist...

Who Is Bankrolling the "Friends of Science"? - http://www.desmogblog.com/who-bankrolling-fri...

JOBS we can believe in: Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits - http://www.grist.org/article/2009-11-20-merkl...
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with the chairs of six committees that might have some hand in developing the clean energy bill. The question at hand was whether the bill should be pushed back in favor of a short-term focus on finance reform, jobs, and the deficit.
Though John Kerry argued vigorously that the clean energy is a jobs bill that won't grow the deficit, it looks like he lost out and there will be some kind of standalone jobs bill in the interim. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)

US builds up its bases in oil-rich South America - http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ameri...
The fact that the US gets half its oil from Latin America was one of the reasons the US Fourth Fleet was re-established in the region's waters in 2008. The fleet's vessels can include Polaris nuclear-armed submarines – a deployment seen by some experts as a violation of the 1967 Tlatelolco Treaty, which bans nuclear weapons from the continent.
Indications of US willingness to envisage the stationing of nuclear weapons in Colombia are seen as an additional threat to the spirit of nuclear disarmament. After the establishment of the Tlatelolco Treaty in 1967, four more nuclear-weapon-free zones were set up in Africa, the South Pacific, South-east Asia and Central Asia.
Between them, the five treaties cover nearly two-thirds of the countries of the world and almost all the southern hemisphere.

Clinton says he couldn’t attend health clinic because of Olbermann - http://rawstory.com/2009/11/clinton-attend-he...
Keith Olbermann is ruining America. Or so suggested ex-president Bill Clinton, who told a blogger this week that he couldn't attend a free medical clinic being paid for in part by supporters of the MSNBC television host because he had "politicized" the event.
Ummm...Bill...have you forgotten the politicized con-servative republican witch hunt of 8 years that was your presidency?

What Palin's "Jewish people will be flocking to Israel" statement really means. Not good. Sarah's into some very bad religious stuff.
- http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/11/19/1...

...aren't quite doing all they could to shrink their Party...

Did you think they were doing a pretty good job? Well think again. All you have to do is look at the following Resolution that is making the rounds of Republicans called "RNC RESOLUTION ON FINANCIAL SUPPORT OF CANDIDATES," and you'll see why they have only begun to place the gun to their collective foot:

Proposed RNC Resolution on Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates

WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed that the Republican Party should support and espouse conservative principles and public policies; and

WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan also believed the Republican Party should welcome those with diverse views; and

WHEREAS, President Ronald Reagan believed, as a result, that someone who agreed with him 8 out of 10 times was his friend, not his opponent; and

WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies and Republican solidarity in opposition to Obama’s socialist agenda is necessary to preserve the security of our country, our economic and political freedoms, and our way of life; and

WHEREAS, Republican faithfulness to its conservative principles and public policies is necessary to restore the trust of the American people in the Republican Party and to lead to Republican electoral victories; and

WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee shares President Ronald Reagan’s belief that the Republican Party should espouse conservative principles and public policies and welcome persons of diverse views; and

WHEREAS, the Republican National Committee desires to implement President Reagan’s Unity Principle for Support of Candidates; and

WHEREAS, in addition to supporting candidates, the Republican National Committee provides financial support for Republican state and local parties for party building and federal election activities, which benefit all candidates and is not affected by this resolution; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:

(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and
lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;

(2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style
government run healthcare;

(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade
legislation;

(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;

(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by
opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;

(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;

(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective
action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;

(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;

(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care
rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and

(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government
restrictions on gun ownership; and be further

RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public policy position of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee; and be further

RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, as they become known, and to each Republican state and territorial party office.

Chief Sponsor:
James Bopp, Jr. NCM IN

Sponsors:
Donna Cain NCW OR
Cindy Costa NCW SC
Demetra Demonte NCW IL
Peggy Lambert NCW TN
Carolyn McLarty NCW OK
Pete Rickets NCM NE
Steve Scheffler NCM IA
Helen Van Etten NCW KA
Solomon Yue NCM OR

Wow! If you disagree with three or more of these things (I disagreed with 6 of them right off) then the Party would give you no funds to run. Moderate Republicans, like those running in Primaries in Florida or California could kiss the Big Elephant goodbye.

If this hadn't been distributed by REAL Republicans, you could have easily convinced me that it was a Democratic practical joke.

But it's not.

It's not yet clear that the resoultion will actually be formally introduced. RNC Committeeman Jim Bopp, Jr., the author of this resolution, is general counsel to the National Right to Life. He confirmed that he and others are considering proposing this resolution at the winter RNC meeting, which will take place in late January.

I would encourage them to get this through... like most Democrats I will cheer on their endeavor!

Under The LobsterScope