Archive for June, 2009

Looks like the state budget will not pass before midnight !! But thankfully the city of Lake Havasu is going to step in and keep the parks open at least through this weekend’s 4th of July Holiday. I’d hate to see what would have happened had they of closed Windsor Beach on one of the biggest Holiday’s Lake Havasu faces. Anyway here is an article from the AzCentral Website on it:

“Arizona’s state parks system says it is closing down most of its parks before a midnight deadline for a new state budget to be enacted.

Parks officials said the decision was made to start asking campers to leave 13 parks late Tuesday.

The park closures also include cave tours at Kartchner Caverns State Park in Benson.

According to officials, state parks in Show Low and Lake Havasu will remain open under special-use agreements signed with those cities to have the cities operate, monitor, maintain and control the parks.

That lasts through July 5th or when the park systems’ budget is authorized.”

My clock says – 2 and a half hours left until midnight. I’m heading to bed! Guess I’ll see in the morning if our government is in shut down or not and how bad it is!

Oh and the 2nd part of the Iranian conflict series is coming – I’ve just been a little preoccupied with following the state budget. Sorry but I have not forgotten!

Sarah

If you turn on the news, you are more than likely to hear about the Iranian conflict. The 2009 Election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has sparked many reactions not just in Iran itself but around the world. But who really knows the history of Iran? Why does Iran hate the United States? What does Iraq have anything to do with it? And why should WE care about the 2009 Iranian presidential election?

This is the first of a three part blogging series on how the Iranian conflict that we are seeing today started, why we care, and how everyone in the end has somehow played a role in it.

Let’s start at the beginning. Like I always say “that’s where ALL good stories begin.”

1919 – The Britain’s took control of most of Iran. In the early 1900’s Britain got a hold of Iran along with Russia and split up the land. Russia owned part of it and Britain owned the rest. They wanted Iran because it is rich in oil refineries and at the time the automobile was just getting started along with the industrial revolution. Iran still had what they call the Shah which is pretty much their king. So Britain owned the land but they still had their own political structure separate from that of Britain.

1941 – Britain didn’t like the fact that the Shah was getting powerful. Basically they feared if the Shah got too powerful they would kick Britain out and take the oil refineries for themselves. So in 1941 Britain deposed of the Shah.

1951- Iran’s first attempt to form a democracy after the Shah was removed from power. They put into government a prime minster. Iran had five prime ministers from 1951 till 1989. Mohammed Mossaddeq was elected the prime minister of Iran. Mossaddeq nationalized Iran’s oil industry which had been controlled exclusively by the British government-controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, the UK’s largest single investment overseas. The ejection of Western oil companies from their Iranian refineries triggered the Abadan Crisis and nearly caused a war. Britain accused Mosaddeq of violating the legal rights of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and mobilized a worldwide boycott of Iran’s oil that plunged Iran into financial crisis. The British government tried to enlist the United States in planning a coup, but President Harry S. Truman refused. However, his successor Dwight D. Eisenhower allowed the CIA to embark on its first covert operation against a foreign government. The British and U.S. spy agencies replaced the government of the popular Prime Minister Mosaddeq with an all-powerful monarch, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi who ruled for the next 26 years until he was overthrown in 1979.

Mossaddeq was well liked throughout Iran because he had nationalized the oil reserves in 1952 and made the land of Iran their land and not owned by some other country. Mohammed Reza Pahlevi who replaced Mossaddeq was NOT well liked among the Iranian people. The Iranian people never liked the Shah that was in place before the Prime Ministers took over. So in the Iran’s eyes, the U.S. and Great Britain just destroyed their shot at a democracy by getting rid of Mossaddeq and replacing it with who they viewed just as worse as the Shah.

The Iranian Revolution occurred in Iran in January of 1978. Many Iranians did not like Mohammed Reza Pahlevi that they saw the United States along with Britain helped appoint after the overthrow of Mossaddeq. The Iranians were able to kick Mohammed Reza Pahlevi out of power and instate a theocratic constitution lead by Khomeini. The U.S. embassy seizure occurred in 1979 at the U.S. embassy in Iran when a group of Iranian students seized and held embassy personal in the embassy. They feared the United States would overthrow their new leader like they did back in 1953 with Mossaddeq.

The Iran hostage crisis occurred in 1979 when 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American embassy with the support of the Iranian government. The episode reached a climax when, after failed attempts to negotiate a release, the United States military attempted a rescue operation, Operation Eagle Claw, on April 24, 1980, which resulted in a failed mission, the crash of two aircraft and the deaths of eight American servicemen and one Iranian civilian. It ended with the signing of the Algiers Accords in Algeria on January 19, 1981. The hostages were formally released into United States custody the following day, just minutes after the new American president Ronald Reagan was sworn in.

In Iran, despite freezing of all Iranian assets held in US (Executive Order 12170), the hostage holding was widely seen as a blow against the U.S, and its influence in Iran, its perceived attempts to undermine the Iranian Revolution, and its long-standing support of the recently overthrown autocratic Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

And so began a feud that today still holds true.

Check in tomorrow for the second part of this blogging series – The History Behind the Iran & Iraq war.

Sarah

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax

CO2 emissions contribute to about 3% to the current climate change suggested by Al Gore in his movie the Inconvenient Truth (however – inconveniently I doubt that was one of his facts pointed out in the movie). Water Vapor contributes to about 96% of the current “green house” effect known to many Americans and liberal politicians as global warming; known to the scientific community as climate change.

The Earth is constantly going through various changes in its global temperature. There was the ice age period which resulted in global temperature reduction for a long period of time. Then starting around 12,000 B.C. there was what is known as the Halocene period which is what we are currently experiencing today. What is different about the Halocene period is that it has both warming and cooling periods. During the period of 10,000 to 8500 BC, there was a slight cooling period known as the Younger-Dryas. Then during the years 5000 and 3000 B.C temperatures increased to a period higher than we have seen in our lifetime. This period was known as Climatic Optimum. During this period scientists claim humanity saw the highest number of humans dying due to the increases in global temperature. But guess what? Humanity survived! Humanity adapted to their surroundings and lived through the Climatic Optimum period. I could go on and on, but you get the point. Climate change is nothing new!

Yet to many democrats in the House, it seems that climate change is something humanity since the industrial revolution has caused because of the increase in CO2 emissions. Why do some politicians still insist that CO2 is the leading contributor to the greenhouse effect when it has been scientifically documented that water vapor contributes to over 96% of it?

The House Democrats with the Obama Administration’s Support on Friday passed what is known as the climate bill (HR 2454). A bill that will change America’s consumption of energy and put higher costs on the American public during a time of hardships for many Americans. One article quoted as saying this:

“The House voted Friday on the biggest environmental bill in decades, after a deal was brokered Tuesday by key Democrats. The deal, which would delay the Environmental Protection Agency from hindering the ethanol industry and give the Agriculture Department control over reducing farm-based greenhouse gas emissions, was made hours after President Obama asked the House to pass the legislation. It would also require factories, power plants and refineries to reduce seven types of greenhouse gas emissions—including carbon monoxide, the biggest contributor to global warming—by 80 percent over the next 40 years. Though the bill’s opponents claim that it will hurt the U.S. economy and cost families thousands of dollars a year, estimates by the EPA show that it would raise the average household’s energy costs from only $80 a year to $111. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Henry Waxman, said it should pass as a result of support from three important groups: environmentalists, farmers, and a majority of the industries involved. ….
The deal will bar the EPA for five years from including the conversion of forests to crop land when it calculates how ethanol production will contribute to global warming. During that time, the agency will have to conduct a study.”

My favorite part of the article “including carbon monoxide, the biggest contributor to global warmin.”

So my question to you all is this – what are your thoughts on this new climate bill that is heading to the Senate for a vote next week? Do you feel we need to pass a climate bill in a time like this when our country is already in a recession? Can the American public afford the price tag that comes with this bill? And who do we believe – science or politics? What is the biggest contributor to the greenhouse effect or global warming as so many still continue to call it?

Sarah

Resources:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9763http://www.ourcivilisation.com/aginatur/cycles/chap1.htmhttp://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/06/23/rural_urban_lawmakers_strike_agreement_on_climate?s_campaign=8315

Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration?

No! Yeah I didn’t think so!

Bottom line we’ve spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency …the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

The reasoning for the departments creation was very simple .. and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate…The ‘Department of Energy’ was instituted on8-04-1977TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh? ????

AND NOW IT’S 2009, 32 YEARS LATER … AND THE BUDGET FOR THISNECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT$24.2 BILLION A YEARIT HAS16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEESAND APPROXIMATELY100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES
AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY‘WHAT WAS I THINKING?’

Ah, yes, good old bureaucracy

And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System,Health Care & the Auto Industry over to government?

Oh dear Lord! Help us all!

The state of Arizona is facing anywhere from a 3 to 4 billion dollar deficit (depending on who you ask). There is no doubt that it needs to be fixed and in order to do that services will be cut, money will be borrowed and local governments will hurt because of it.

The legislature is proposing a budget that cuts programs, takes about 150 million from local governments, and takes about 200 million from the K-12 foundation. The legislature also proposes borrowing more money and rolling over higher education dollars. Jan Brewer’s plan is similar – less money is borrowed and taken from local governments in her plan however it is still done. The main difference between Brewer and the legislature’s plans are a sales tax increase. Jan Brewer claims in order to fix the budget deficit we need to enact a one-cent sales tax that she claims will be in place for three years brining the state in over one million dollars. However under her plan services still need to be cut and local governments will still hurt, just maybe not as much. But is it worth it? Is there a lesser of two evils here or should Jan Brewer and the legislature go back to the drawing board all together?

What happens if money is taking from the county? Mohave County right now – without the state coming in and taking anything – has a balanced budget. If the legislature does what it is proposing and takes the 150 million from the local governments, Mohave County won’t have a balanced budget. What will that mean? It means services will be cut here, and I am sure everyone in Lake Havasu City and Bullhead remember what happened when the Treasurer’s office closed. People were upset. Imagine the assessor’s office closing, environmental health, the nurse’s office, etc, etc. It’s not a pretty picture.

Something has to be done to fix the state budget. So what is it? Borrowing more money? Rolling more K-12 funds over year after year in hopes one budget year we have enough to stop rolling them over and actually pay them? A one-cent sales tax increase? Cutting programs that are un-mandated that we simply don’t need even if it is not politically correct? What do we do?
What would you do if you were in Capital Hill right now?

Register, comment & let’s talk politics.