“The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising, and the temperature of the Earth’s surface is increasing.”

“We know that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities … largely burning fossil fuels … bring about long-lasting atmospheric changes likely to affect climate. And our world does appear to be warming.”

Which anti-business hippies do you think uttered these phrases? These two quotes are from Lord John Browne and Sir Philip Watts respectively: the CEOs of BP and Shell, the second and third largest oil companies. Even the Climate Change Science Program, started by Oil-President Bush to justify pulling out of Kyoto, is summarized by the New York Times as finding that “[the] lower atmosphere is indeed growing warmer and there is clear evidence of human influences on climate.” There does exist the odd scientist who finds a different conclusion, but he/she is a kin to the proverbial tenth dentist who does not believe that mouthwash fights gingivitis.

The right likes to discount the threat of global warming and say that there has been climate change throughout the Earth’s six-thousand year history. It is true that the Earth has seen several “ice ages”. It is also true that in the 1970s “global cooling”, while not being attributed to human activity, was the generally accepted climate threat; however, the recent scientific studies address the global trends of warming and cooling called the Milankovitch Cycles. The greenhouse effect has overridden the Earth’s natural climate cycle.

There is, of course, the possibility of error, but as Sir Watts says “…we can’t wait to answer all questions beyond reasonable doubt. There will always be uncertainty which we need to cope with.”

I for one will accept the science-but you can choose to rinse your mouth with Coca-Cola.

#1.883409:1154436987.jpg:anderson, donni.jpg:Donni Anderson, From the Left:

I remember April 20, 1999, more than any other day of my entire time in middle school. I remember going to school the next day and viewing my classmates in a whole new light – wondering who among us was hiding deep, emotional secrets that could surface in the form of violence. Now, eight years later as a college student, I find myself once again sitting in class on a warm, mid-April morning, wondering how I could escape or where I could hide if a shooter were to storm in the door.

My heart goes out to all the students and families at Virginia Tech. Perhaps the most painful and frightening fact is the randomness of the crime. One deeply disturbed individual had the power to kill 32 others and injure dozens more while changing campus life in the U.S. forever. As the dust settles, people will be looking for a “why.” The usual suspects will come up – violence on television, racism, bullying, isolation of the modern world and so on.

In the end, 99.999 percent of the population can be holding hands and singing “Kumbaya,” and there will still be one individual for whom life seemingly means nothing. While violence is often unavoidable, it doesn’t have to be this bad. One could not kill so many people so quickly by loading and reloading the type of rifle needed for hunting, and the weapons used in this massacre were clearly not being used for “the security of a free state” by “a well-regulated” militia, as delineated by the Second Amendment. However, in recent years, neither party has even discussed gun control. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D), as well as countless others in her party, has been endorsed by the NRA. Perhaps it is time for us as a country to come together and discuss how we can get the most destructive guns, clearly designed for the sole purpose of killing people, off of our streets.

#1.883409:1154436987.jpg:anderson, donni.jpg:Donni Anderson, From the Left:

In the summer of 2006, a U.S. attorney was fired without warning. In December of that year, seven more were let go. Recently, there has been much commotion in Washington as to the motives behind the firings.

We know that incompetence was not an issue, as the White House has not rewarded them Presidential Medals of Freedom. A recently leaked e-mail showed Gonzales’ chief of staff recommending the elimination of 15 to 20 percent of the U.S. attorney corps deemed not to be “loyal Bushies.”

Furthermore, some of the loyal Republicans just happened to be let go because they did not cave to administration or party pressure to prosecute Democrats.

One of the axed attorneys, David Iglesias, was a former Navy lawyer and the basis for Tom Cruise’s character in “A Few Good Men.” He testified that he failed to cave to political pressure to indict Democrats in a local corruption case before the November election because he didn’t yet have a case. Apparently, Karl Rove could not handle that truth. Iglesias was fired the next month.

To be sure, the justice department is not immune to blatant partisanship. Attorneys do serve “at the pleasure of the president,” and Clinton let go of Republicans in the Department of Justice upon taking office. But this goes much further.

The current administration has tried to sculpt a justice department loyal not to the Constitution or U.S. law, not even loyal to the ideals of liberalism or conservativism, but loyal only to advancing a narrow agenda of personal advancement and interpreting the standards of justice for temporary convenience.

#1.883409:1154436987.jpg:anderson, donni.jpg:Donni Anderson, From the Left:

The fundamental tenet of the American Dream is the promise that in our country, when people are willing to work hard, they are able to afford a living for themselves and their families.

The present minimum wage of $5.15 per hour for a full-time worker yields an annual income of just $10,712 a year-far below what it takes for a single mother of two children to earn a living.

There is a common misconception that the minimum wage only affects suburban teenagers, but this is not so. According to the Economic Policy Institute, 80 percent of the people who will benefit from raising the minimum wage will be adults over the age of 20, over 1 million single parents with children under 18 and 3.9 million families with kids under 18.

Furthermore, despite seemingly strong economic growth, the median income has fallen during the last five years, in contrast to the average wage.

It is for these reasons the Democrat-led House approved H.R. 2, to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 during two years. The Senate passed the same bill, 93-4, with some modifications, illustrating what a fringe position opposition to minimum wage really is. Critics always worry that raising the minimum wage will hurt small businesses, but the Senate added $8.3 billion to small business tax relief, nullifying the ill effects.

Even without tax breaks, there is little correlation between minimum wage increase and job loss. A study by two MIT economists of the impact of minimum wage increases in several states saw no measurable negative impact on employment.

The minimum wage increase is not only responsible, but morally imperative.

#1.883409:1154436987.jpg:anderson, donni.jpg:Donni Anderson, From the Left:

President Bush plans to send 20,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq, essentially giving the finger to the American electorate which had just shown the GOP its extreme dissatisfaction with the NeoCons’ war. Bush failed to follow the advice of the non-partisan Iraq study group, let alone Congress, where even Republicans are trying to disassociate themselves from the president and his war.

The problem with the war in Iraq is that, as Bush himself made clear in his address to the nation (available at whitehouse.gov), victory does not depend on the U.S. military; it depends on and is defined by the people of Iraq. Twenty thousand troops cannot end ancient cultural conflicts, rebuild infrastructure or create an economy.

The danger of this “new way forward in Iraq,” which seems eerily similar to “staying the course,” is not just in that it will be ineffective. We simply do not have the manpower to continue the president’s war. The military is maxed out as it is.

The Boston Globe (boston.com/news/globe) on Jan. 10 reported that new recruitment is so low that we would have to redeploy those of our nation’s finest who have already spent a year or more in the hellish desert. We have already demanded enough of those brave men and women, as 20 percent of Iraqi veterans come home with “serious mental health problems,” according to the same article.

In short, “the new way forward” will just fuel what has already been a very deadly mistake.