Spanky's Place

1 - Umm... let's try yesterday?

{ Link }

2 - There are idiots everywhere. Prime example #2: conservative commentator Glenn Beck on CNN claiming that "there are a group of people who hate America, and right now their homes are burning down." What a jackass.

Liberals and conservatives - neither side has a monopoly on stupidity...

3 - LOL!

I knew it would be fairly quick; I just had no idea of how quick.

-Devin.

4 - As part of the Vast Left Wing Consipiracy, I'd love to *blame* the other hand (the Vast Right Wing Consipiracy) for the fires. And for me being short and bald.

But the truth is that this self-proclaimed liberal left-winger still drives a gasoline-powered car, I consume food that is sometimes wrapped in plastic, etc, etc.

This does remind me of the huge number of wildfires in Florida not too long back. ...and I think of the deluge that has been going on in Louisiana.

The extremes of hotter/colder, drier/wetter, etc *do* fit the predictions of peer-reviewed scientific papers about climate crisis. But I think any effects of human activity on this are effects from most all of us in the USA and other 'developed' nations, rather than a particularly-directed Wing of Consipiracy.

All that said, from a political standpoint, I'm disgusted with both of the main parties in the USA, which is why I claim neither as my own.

Making personal choices to lessen one's foot print on the earth is dependant not on political affiliation, but rather on a desire to take some real steps to preserve and protect this incredible planet ...and hopefully share our experiences with each other, so we can all learn (peacefully) along the way.

5 - Well said Joe. Well said indeed.

-Devin.

6 - Well... How does a DailyKos blogger stack up against against a right-leaning nationwide television news network?

Just for balance (of course!), Fox News reported on Wednesday morning that "an FBI memo from late June of this year" stated that an al Qaeda detainee had given information that terrorists were planning to light wildfires and this is something that obviously "they will continue to investigate". Problem is, that memo wasn't from June of this year. The memo was from June of 2003. It was reported in July of 2003. It mentioned specific states, and California wasn't one of them. The FBI memo acknowledged that there was no way to tell whether the detainee was telling the truth or making up stories. The FBI did not continue to investigate it. National fire officials saw no need to act on the information at the time. Nobody in any position of authority in California or in Washington has made any statement about any terrorist link to these files.

-Sigh-

7 - Forgot the link: { Link }

8 - Thanks Richard, you just made my morning! The comments on that site are hilarious.

-Devin.

9 - Isn't it great to wake up to a fresh cup of coffee and blog commenters frothing at the mouth?

10 - Good link Rich - thanks. By the way, you didn't mention that a Fox anchor actually said that California wasn't mentioned. So it wasn't like they were covering it up.

Also, they are saying that there is some arson involved. I haven't heard the "T" word involved with it though.

Anyway, why would terrorists want to harm the homes of Hollywood stars who have the same talking points as Bin Laden?

11 - Yes, I noticed that they did mention that California wasn't mentioned in the FBI memo. They did seem to be trying to be honest in that respect, but I think that their failure to notice that the memo was four years old is telling of their being all too willing to speculate in a direction that promotes fear of terrorism in cases where Occam's razor points elsewhere.

And for fairness sake, I'll also say that Fox is definitely not the only media outlet that is doing that. Unfortuately, fear sells.