Building Bridges to the future

Racism remains so much with us, evident in the presidential primaries, in the financial pages, in the pictures of U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq … it’s uplifting to see that Asheville is on the front lines of doing something positive. Building Bridges is a program that works to bridge the racial divide in our community and it began right here in the Paris of the South.

I’ve been through the course twice—it’s the kind of learning experience that is eminently repeatable. You learn more about the world and yourself each time, and make new friends. I’d encourage anyone to experience it for themselves. A couple of thousand Ashevillians are already graduates. We need many more.

The next session begins Jan. 28.

Building Bridges, Session 31
Going Beyond Racism

Nine Sessions:
January 28, 2008 – March 24, 2008
Monday Evenings 7pm – 9pm
MAHEC Bridge Building
501 Biltmore Avenue

Registration Fee: $20

Register online at www.buildingbridges-asheville.org or on site at MAHEC’s Thomas Bacon Lecture Hall at 6:30 pm on January 28th.
For more information call 828-777-4585

And while we’re considering coins, how ’bout economics?

Brave new coins

Huge fun. Click here.

Kucinich calls for NH recount

It turns out that the hand-counted paper ballots in New Hampshire agreed with the exit polls: Barak Obama won the paper vote.

On the Diebold machine counted ballots, 80 percent of the total, the results did not agree with the exit polls: Hillary Clinton won the machine vote.

Karl Rove has weighed in with an editorial which claims that this once again proves that exit polls are unreliable. (He also takes some swipes at Obama, helping prepare the Republican case against him.)

Those of us who have closely examined electronic voting (I have reported extensively on it) know that there is no reason to have faith in them. (There is also every reason to believe that Rove was involved in vote fraud during recent elections, probably including the perversion of Ohio’s votes.)

It is also abundantly clear that the Republican party would prefer to face Clinton rather than Obama.

Dennis Kucinich has taken a more honorable position and called for a recount. He has nothing to gain from such an effort, since he was credited with 1.4 percent of the votes—nothing, that is, except what all of us have to gain. Trust in our voting methods.

Under New Hampshire law, Kucinich is entitled to a recount but must pay $2,000. According to the Kucinich campaign, the check is in the mail.

Smart people are willing to change their minds, are you?

As John Maynard Keynes famously replied to a challenger who accused him of changing his mind: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Here’s a great collection of heavy thinkers talking about changing their minds. (Many thanks to the illustrious and ever-thoughtful Mark Morford for this link).

Click here. 

How heavy is your footprint?

American Radio Works has a fun little game on their Web site that lets you calculate how many planets would be necessary to support the world’s population if everyone lived like you. This one is fun and informative, though just a tad slow to load. Click here.

(I couldn’t make the “play” arrow work on this blog, so click up there, or click here.)

Raucus Caucus Thursday night in Asheville

Dumber than Bush. No, really. Dumber than a box of rocks.

Even the mainstream media grew tired of lies from Bush’s White House press secretaries, so Bush appointed someone who really doesn’t know anything. At all.

“This is an issue where I’m sure lots of people would love to ridicule me when I say this, but it is true that many people die from cold-related deaths every winter. And there are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals.”

- Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary

A new year video worth watching

Apparently YouTube has removed this video more than once because it was “flagged” by some religionists who are offended by history, archaeology, astronomy and other sinful sciences. The current version is only permitted to be posted with several seconds deleted. You decide. I think the religionists who have flagged this one are a threat to our children, given that they prefer hiding truth to studying it. We dare not let them get their hands on the curriculum.

But judge this for yourself. I gave it FIVE STARS.

President Gore surfing the “internets”

I note that Al Gore’s office looks much like my own. One more reason why we were so very cheated by the Supremes in ‘00. By all accounts, the current White House occupant only has one book on his desk: My Pet Goat. Al may still jump in after Edwards wins Iowa and Obama wins New Hampshire. Nobody’s talking about the climate elephant in our living rooms. Gore can still sweep the primaries and the general election and give us half a chance to salvage the human race.