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Mickey Z
Cool Observer
the Department of Homeland Security.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wish you were here (a reprise)
(Inspired by Michael’s short film)
Estimates vary, but roughly 50,000 animal and plant species become extinct each year. That’s over 130 per day. Here’s a fun game to improve your math and reading skills (both come in handy when taking tests like the SATs): Time yourself as you read the list of extinct animals below and calculate how many other species—that were still around when you began reading—have become history while you read. (Liberals are advised to read as quickly as possible so less species are gone by the time they’re done.)
Sea Mink, Rodrigues Pigeon, Panay Giant Fruit Bat, Poko Noctuid Moth, Procellaris Grotis Noctuid Moth, Great Auk, Bubal Hartebeest, Mauritius Blue Pigeon, Egyptian Barbary Sheep, Amesterdam Island Duck, Cuban Red Macaw, Ascension Flightless Crake, Eastern Bettong. Réunion Flightless Ibis, Desert Rat-kangaroo, Eastern Elk, Longjaw Cisco, Deepwater Cisco, Lake Ontario Kiyi, Blackfin Cisco, Yellowfin Cutthroat Trout, Maravillas Red Shiner, Independence Valley Tui Chub, Pahranagat Spinedace, Phantom Shiner, Las Vegas Dace, Grass Valley Speckled Dace, Clear Lake Splittail, Snake River Sucker, Harelip Sucker, Tecopa Pupfish. Schomburgk’s Deer. Kona Grosbeak, Ryukyu Pigeon, Big Thicket Hog-nosed Skunk, White-footed Tree-rat, Carolina Parakeet, New Zealand Quail, Black-fronted Parakeet, Chatham Island Swan, Western quoll, Brawny Great Moa, Philippine Bare-backed Fruit Bat, King Island Emu, Falkland Island Wolf, Passenger Pigeon, Puerto Rican Shrew, Guam Flying Fox, Penasco Chipmunk, Pallid Beach Mouse, Atlantic Gray Whale, Kenai Peninsula Wolf, Newfoundland Wolf, Banks Island Wolf, Cascade Mountains Wolf, Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf, Mogollon Mountain Wolf, Texas Gray Wolf, Florida Red Wolf, California Grizzly Bear, Tacoma Pocket Gopher, Round combshell (clam), Tennessee Riffleshell (mussel), Syrian Wild Ass, Burly Lesser Moa, Arabian Gazelle, Red Gazelle, Saudi Gazelle, Goff’s Southeastern Pocket Gopher, Confused Moth, Steller’s Sea Cow, Lesser Stick-nest Rat, Mauritius Grey Parrot, Bavarian Vole, Indian Seal, Black-footed Ferret, Lanai Thrush, New Zealand Greater Short-tailed Bat, Long-tailed Hopping-mouse, Nelson’s Rice Rat, Chadwick Beach Cotton Mouse, Cape Warthog, Scioto Pigtoe (clam), Barbados Raccoon, Tahitian Sandpiper, Okinawa Flying Fox, Slender-billed Grackle, Dodo, Lesser Koa Finch, Greater Koa Finch, Mauritian Owl, White-faced Owl, Arizona Cotton Rat, Blue Pike, Kansas Bog Lemming, Mexican Grizzly Bear, Japanese Sea Lion, and West African Black Rhino (declared extinct in July 2006).
Kurt Vonnegut sez: “Humans are a mistake. We have destroyed our entire planet.”
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
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Tuesday, November 18, 2008
News Flash: Obama hypnotizes Zinn
Howard Zinn recently wrote an article that talked about what Obama should do, what he hoped he’d do. For example: “announce the withdrawal of our troops from Iraq and Afghanistan” and “renounce the Bush doctrine of preventive war as well as the Carter doctrine of military action to control Mideast oil.” Also: “radically change the direction of U.S. foreign policy, declare that the U.S. is a peace loving country which will not intervene militarily in other parts of the world, and start dismantling the military bases we have in over a hundred countries. Also he must begin meeting with Medvedev, the Russian leader, to reach agreement on the dismantling of the nuclear arsenals, in keeping with the Nuclear Anti-Proliferation Treaty.” Then raise taxes on the rich and combine that windfall with the hundreds of billions of dollars freed from the military budget to “give free health care to everyone (and) put millions of people to work” and thus “transform” the United States and “make it a good neighbor to the world.”
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
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Sunday, November 16, 2008
Some things are bigger than each of us
There was a time when slavery was believed too deeply entrenched in American culture to ever be abolished. The movement to end this “peculiar institution” was made up of individuals willing to recognize that some things in life are bigger than each of us. Whether they literally risked their lives by rescuing slaves and running the Underground Railroad or they did their part by sewing clothes and blankets for escaped slaves or, yes, writing books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the movement needed every single one of these brave humans doing their part—big or small.
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
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Saturday, November 15, 2008
Who will I see tonight at Bluestockings?
(Anyone? Bueller?)
Since I have two new books recently published, I will be giving a talk at Bluestockings Bookstore tonight:
Saturday, November 15 @ 7:00 pm (sharp)
Mickey Z. Does Stand-Up Tragedy
I hope you’ll join us, bring friends, and buy a book or two.
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Meanwhile, duty calls...
“Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience… Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”
(from the Nuremberg Tribunal)
“Anyone with knowledge of illegal activity and an opportunity to do something about it is a potential criminal under international law unless the person takes affirmative measures to prevent the commission of crimes.”
(from the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal)
Ramsey Clark sez: “Sadly, I think most Americans don’t have an opinion about our foreign policy. Worse than that, when they do think about it, it’s in terms of the demonization of enemies and the exaltation of our capacity for violence.”
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
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Thursday, November 13, 2008
A Song for Obama
In my younger days, I considered the Village Voice to be required reading. But—like The Nation, Mother Jones, The Progressive, and so many other once useful publications—I no longer find the Voice to be relevant or remotely radical. However, it’s free in NYC and I ride the subways. Thus, I’ll sometimes grab a copy to peruse as I navigate the subterranean tunnels of transportation. I end up regretting this move…every single time.
As I thumbed through the Nov. 12-18 issue, I came across a loathsome illustration of denial masquerading as a music article. “The Pleasant Dilemma of Hamell on Trial: A post-Obama protest singer deals with victory,” by Rob Harvilla was ostensibly about protest (sic) singer Ed Hamell (a.k.a. “Hamell on Trial”) and others of his liberal ilk but ended up as yet another paean to the beloved Pope of Hope
Full article here
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Event Alert:
The folks at Bluestockings Bookstore have penciled me in on:
Saturday, November 15 @ 7:00 pm (sharp)
Mickey Z. Does Stand-Up Tragedy
I hope you’ll join us, bring friends, and spread the word far and wide.
FREE
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Driving Mister Barack
As you know, the Empire has selected a new emperor. The Mafia has chosen a new don. The corporation has hired a new CEO. Are you brimming with hope yet? Read on…
According to Reuters, (Nov. 11, 2008), President-Elect Barack Obama has urged President-Select George W. Bush to take “measures to help the ailing (automobile) industry on top of a $25 billion loan packaged approved in September.”
I could easily discuss—yet again—the unspoken reality that America’s version of capitalism relies entirely on socialized costs and privatized profits and all those who righteously decry Big Government are choosing to ignore the massive state subsidies that created and maintain Corporate America and “our way of life.”
But Earth’s problems are far worse than state capitalism wearing a transparent free market mask. The auto industry Mister Barack and his merry band of Democratic comrades so desperately want to bailout and revive is and has been one the primary causes for our planet’s environmental and social degradation.
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Event Alert:
The folks at Bluestockings Bookstore have penciled me in on:
Saturday, November 15 @ 7:00 pm (sharp)
Mickey Z. Does Stand-Up Tragedy
I hope you’ll join us, bring friends, and spread the word far and wide.
FREE
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Mickey Z. on YouTube:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
+++
Like what you see on this blog? Then please make a donation
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