Study: Bankruptcies soar for senior citizens

In 1991, the 55-plus age group accounted for about 8 percent of bankruptcy filers, according to the study, but by last year, filers 55 and over accounted for 22 percent.

While age groups under 55 saw double-digit percentage drops in their bankruptcy filing rates over the survey period (1991-present), older Americans saw remarkable increases. The filing rate per thousand people ages 55-64 was up 40 percent; among 65- to 74-year-olds it increased 125 percent; and among the 75-to-84-year-old set, it was up 433 percent.

A number of factors are contributing to the increase. Higher prices for ordinary consumer goods have hit seniors on fixed budgets. For older Americans living below the poverty level, or not far above, a safety net likely doesn't exist for economic setbacks such as medical problems. And some fall prey to scams that cripple their finances.

Professor Elizabeth Warden of Harvard Law School and Author of the Report: "Increasing numbers of Americans are entering their retirement years with significant debt and are still paying off mortgages. It [is] wrong to assume that lives of luxury are bankrupting seniors; rather, they're incurring debts to meet needs such as medical treatment.

"There's no evidence that the problem is consumerism," the professor said.

"Nor is there a significant aging trend to blame."

For more, go here

The new King of the Viral Videos (He's ready enough-ish to lead!)

SO FREAKING HILARIOUS

Billboard outside of the Twin Cities in preparation for the RNC Convention...

Something pretty cool

These are videos done by a volunteer here. The first one is a photo documentary of Moldova.





And this one is about being a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova (the first few minutes chronicles the making of our mural in our lounge area in Chisinau, btw).





And that's a hookah with tobacoo in case anyone was wondering. Very popular here.

Russia warns Moldova against "Georgian mistake"

SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned ex-Soviet Moldova on Monday against repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of a breakaway region.

To read the rest of this article, go here

The real life Simpsons

Speaking of the Olympics....

So Chicago is up for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Mayor Daley and crew went over to China on a "fact finding" mission to watch the games, and I'm sure as they were watching the opening ceremony the words "Holy Crap, how can we top this" went floating through their minds.

As I'm sure it flitted through the minds of every candidate city and city already chosen, and rightfully so - there's no way most democracies that operate under the direct scrutiny of the media, taxpayers and politicians and spend the $40 billion China spent on the games.

London is all "WTF" and "[We] don't think in terms of living up to (Beijing) or making direct comparisons." They've had to deal with a significant downturn in the global economy and cost overruns on the overall US $17.2 billion budget for Olympic venues and infrastructure. (To read a hilarious column with some ideas for how London can save money by recruiting free dancers by gathering participants from the clinically obese community via a quick trawl of the fast food restaurants, providing an "an unbeatable opportunity for the active participation of one of our core sponsors, McDonald's!" go here.)




Chicago's plans include more than a dozen new permanent and temporary venues and money to make existing venues Olympic caliber at an estimated cost of $900 million. There's also a $1 billion athletes' village that would be a public-private partnership.

Yeeeeeaaaaaa. I don't think I need to tell you that these numbers are causing a bit of... disbelief. But that's not the point of

This Blog Post!

I want to show the four different host cities up for the 2016 Olympics and have a discussion about their chances for winning!

And I thought the best way to do that was to look at their ready-made Bid Videos!

Enough with the Exclamations. We're starting with Madrid:







Um, so, doesn't Madrid seem a little weirdly obsessed with cars and mopeds? Actually, forms of transportation in general? And they spent an odd amount of time in an Olympic Video on their airport. Maybe they're very proud of it, I don't know. (Psst, hey Madrid, Chicago has an airport, too! Actually, we got two. Suck it!)






Rio's is just odd in all that Sepia tones... I couldn't quite figure out if it was my screen, or air pollution... and I do think it is so hilarious how they show the Rolling Stones - as if them hosting a concert is a viable reason to give them the games. It does look like a really pretty location though, I'm not going to lie.


As for Tokyo, I can't for the life of me find their video on You Tube, and I can't even get their videos from their website to play on my computer... they've got these weird commercials that are 15 seconds long that are obviously made to drum up support in the population...




Or, at least I think that's what they are. Here's their website, if anyone's interested: http://www.tokyo2016.or.jp/en/


And now, on to my hometown, Chicago. For your approval or disapproval:



Actually, Chicago had to put out a second video because... well, we had to change our logo. You see, it's not exactly kosher to use the Olympic Torch in a logo, apparently. So we changed our logo, and then the Olympic Committee got Chicago kids to explain what it means...




So what do we think? Which city has what it takes? Well, according to some other people that are not me:

"[The] IOC member called Chicago a "“hot favourite” to win the 2016 Summer Games and said only they can mess it up. He said “they are streets ahead of their rivals. They have been the frontrunners since day one and nothing has as yet changed my mind that they can lose. However, as the saying goes ‘it is theirs to lose’”.

And Chicago is the current favorite at $43 according to Intrade, an online trading exchange and prediction market website whose members speculate on the outcomes of non-sports related future events:





The "Dark Horse" in his race is Rio, and for a good reason - South America has never hosted the games so, you know, they kinda deserve to host it after 150 years of games. Intrade has them at $23.


I believe in the power of markets to predict some events. To a degree. Markets are like... competitive wikipedia. Playing the wisdom off other people's wisdom. Or other people's stupidity. Or inside trading. Whatever.

You know what else Intrade trades on? Elections. And those bets should be watched more keenly then the bets on the Olympics, because apparently the decision might be more about who is running the candidate city's country.

The whole thing will "boil down to one thing should the two frontrunners be neck and neck – the head of state of the country... " says an unnamed IOC source. Gamesbid.com says that "It is believed that British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin played a big role in their countries winning the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games."


Well, we got two leaders to think about, Mayor Daley, who largely gets what he wants, and the President of the United States, as yet to be determined. If Obama gets elected, the Olympics would be, indeed, ours to lose. The timing is too perfect, the location, idealic, and apparently the IOC likes Obama. There's some indication they're not so fond of McCain, so Daley would have to overcome that if Obama were to lose.


I'm not going to lie there's a whole host of other reasons having to do with tv sponsorships and private/public sponsorships, but... really, I think that about covers it. Who knows though - in this world, anything can happen.

The final decision is October 2, 2009. It's a long time off.

In the meantime, it's not a bad idea to show your support for Chicago is you think it's a good idea. Senator Durbin has set up a website to sign a petition and to send video messages directly to the IOC: http://ga3.org/campaign/olympics2016.

And here is the Chicago Olympic website http://www.chicago2016.org/News/Pages/home.aspx. It's fun because it gives you the opportunity to write in phrases of what you think Chicago is....

Like... Chicago is A Rockstar City! Or... Chicago is the Heart of America!

Woot!

Susan Eisenhower Leaves the Republican Party

"Hijacked by a relatively small few, the GOP of today bears no resemblance to Lincoln, Roosevelt or Eisenhower’s party, or many of the other Republican administrations that came after. In my grandparents’ time, the thrust of the party was rooted in: a respect for the constitution; the defense of civil liberties; a commitment to fiscal responsibility; the pursuit and stewardship of America’s interests abroad; the use of multilateral international engagement and “soft power”; the advancement of civil rights; investment in infrastructure; environmental stewardship; the promotion of science and its discoveries; and a philosophical approach focused squarely on the future."

"This week, I changed my registration from Republican to independent. The two political parties as they exist today, and the partisanship that they foster, reflect the many fights of the cold war, the Vietnam era, the post–cold war and the 9/11 periods. Today we are in a different place altogether, where our security as a nation is challenged not just from abroad but also close to home. The energy, health-care and financial crises threaten our national prosperity and well-being, just as surely as any confrontation overseas or an attack by radical terrorists."

Susan Eisenhower is the granddaughter of President Dwight D Eisenhower and current President of the Eisenhower Group, Inc, which provides strategic counsel on political, business and public affairs projects. She is the current Chairman of Leadership and Public Policy Programs & Chairman Emeritus of the Eisenhower Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. and associated with Gettysburg College.

Read full text here.


President Eisenhower, Susan's grandfather, in his farewell address, said the following:


"As we peer into society's future, we must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow."



This is the video of his final address:

Reasons to Love Google, Yet Again

Google to Invest in Geothermal

By Tom Zeller Jr.

Efforts at mapping geothermal potential in North America at Southern Methodist University are receiving financial support from Google. (Photo: Southern Methodist University)

Google.org, the public-spirited division of Google.com, charged with addressing “climate change, poverty and emerging disease,” is using the backdrop of the National Clean Energy Summit here in Las Vegas to announce a new round of clean energy financing.

In a nutshell, the company is investing an arguably modest sum — a little over $10 million — in the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems, or EGS. The technology differs from “traditional” geothermal in that rather than exploiting existing wells of earthbound steam and hot water, EGS drills deep — miles down — to access layers of heated granite that exist underfoot everywhere on the planet. Water can be circulated downward for heating, and then upward to drive turbines and generate electricity.

See rest of the article at the New York Times Here

And here's a video about what geothermal energy is:

Chicago Ascendant

2008 is the Year of Chicago.

Proudly multi-racial, ruthlessly pragmatic, open to hustling newcomers and somewhat audacious, Chicago's unique culture is ascendant.

Perhaps most importantly, both the Cubs and the White Sox are leading their divisions (the Cubs have the best record in the National League) and a CTA Red Line subway series this October is looking more and more likely. (This would be a real subway series where the same transit line - the Red Line -- directly connects Wrigley Field and the Sox's U.S. Cellular Field).

To read the rest of this story, go here.

The kind of person I want to be when I grow old.

Sigur Ros is an Icelandic Band who sings in a made-up language called Hopelandic. I got obsessed with them when I lived in England, and luckily, they really liked playing in Chicago... They played some of the most amazing concerts I have ever seen.

They play hauntingly beautiful music, I think, and I just love this video so much I had to share it. It gives new meaning to the phrase, "never grow old."




Here's a link to their You Tube Page: http://www.youtube.com/user/sigurros?ob=1


And now below is a live version of my favorite song of theirs of old, Starflur.

Guns for Texas school's teachers

Teachers in one part of the US state of Texas are to be allowed to carry concealed firearms when the new school term opens this month.

The school superintendent in Harrold district said the move was intended to protect staff and pupils should there be any gun attacks on its sole campus.

Teachers would have to undertake crisis management training first, the superintendent, David Thweatt, said.

In recent years the US has seen a number of fatal school shootings.

Trustees had approved the policy and parents had not objected, Mr Thweatt said.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started," he wrote on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's web site.

Mr Thweatt said he believed the school's proximity to a large, busy motorway could make it a target.

"If something were to happen here, I'd much rather be calling a parent to tell them that their child is OK because we were able to protect them," Mr Thweatt said.

Texas outlaws the presence of firearms at schools unless individual institutions allow them.



Hmmmmmmmm.

Quotes of the Day

"Where would we be without the agitators of the world attaching the electrodes of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?"
---Dick, on Third Rock from the Sun

"One of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen is to go about repeating the very phrases which our fathers used in the struggle for Independence."
---Historian Charles A. Beard
-
"If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for thirty days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength. I mean, some do, but they're relatively rare."
---Newt Gingrich (aka the Republicans' Yoda)
-
"Oh, 'meltdown'---it's one of those annoying buzzwords. We prefer to call it an unrequested fission surplus."
---Mr. Burns


(Thanks to the Daily Kos)

Quote of the (last) Century

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts...and beer"

Abraham Lincoln

old jokester

Transnistria breaks off Peace Talks

Well, me and my big mouth, saying it wouldn't affect me at all. These peace talks were supposedly going well. Or, as well as could be expected at the moment....

My organization has partners in Transnistria. Ain't no way I'm visiting this area now.

Moldovan separatists break off talks over Georgia

Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:52pm EDT

By Dmitry Chubashenko

CHISINAU, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Leaders of Moldova's separatist Transdniestria region said on Tuesday they would break off all contacts with the ex-Soviet state's central government until it denounced Georgian "aggression" in South Ossetia.

Transdniestria's Russian-speaking leaders split from Moldova in 1990 in Soviet times on the grounds that the republic's Romanian-speaking majority would join neighbouring Romania.

That never happened -- but the two sides fought a brief war in 1992 and a resolution has yet to be found. Transdniestria's leader met Moldova's president in April for the first time since 2001, but the talks produced few results.

"Transdniestria hereby declares a moratorium on contacts (with Moldova) until the Moldovan side issues a decisive, unconditional denunciation of Georgia's aggression," the separatist region's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It accused Moldova of behaving like Georgia by trying to "change the format of talks, reduce Russia's role to a minimum and create conditions for the use of force to solve the conflict".

Moldova's Foreign Ministry had earlier endorsed a European Union statement noting the "worsening situation in South Ossetia". Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin, on holiday, has yet to comment on events in Georgia.

Georgia sent troops into South Ossetia last week to try to retake the territory, but Russia, which backs the separatists, responded with a military incursion into Georgia proper.

A six-point peace plan for South Ossetia proposed by the EU and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for troops to withdraw to pre-conflict areas and a pledge to renounce the use of force.

Transdniestria, like the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, broke away as the Soviet Union was near to collapse. None of the three has international recognition.

Like Georgia, Moldova proposes broad autonomy for its rebel region, but Transdniestria's leaders say they will settle for nothing less than independence.

The region's voters have overwhelmingly backed independence in a referendum, as well as the idea of joining Russia one day.

A Tale of Two Countries (or, Where's Georgia?)

So... who can tell me where Georgia (the non-US state) is, and why it makes any difference in this Peace Corps/Moldova volunteers life?

Thanks to this helpful map (courtesy-o-Lonely Planet) we can see that my country is numbered 27, and Georgia number 16. We're just across that whole Black Sea thing.

But proximity is not my concern.

I'm really unsure as to how clear the whole situation is in South Ossetia, so I'm going to try and break things down as simply as I can.

Except I'm not going to even try to deny that this post could get extremely complicated.

It's no secret that all across the world there are pockets of populations that are separatists. They are fighting to break off piece of territory out of an already existing country, and create something new. They want autonomy.

In the United States, I feel like we are familiar with the Basque situation in Spain or the Zapatistas in Mexico.

Or, to use a very current example, Kosovo.

In February of 2008 the city of Kosovo broke away from Serbia and declared their independence. Several nations (the United States, Turkey, Albania, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, the United Kingdom, Republic of China (Taiwan), Australia and others) announced recognition of Kosovo as a country, despite protests by Russia and others in the UN.

So as you can imagine, people in areas wishing to break away from their countries saw this Kosovo action as a pretty nice little precedent. If America and these other pretty important nations were willing to support this little break-away city... why not their efforts as well?



Georgia, in fact, has two break-away provinces - Abkhazia and South Ossetia.


Moldova, where I live, has... two: Transnistria and Gaugazia. The reason I hesitate to say two is because only one is broken away at this point - the Gaugazians and the Moldovan government have come to a settlement on their differences, and Gaugazia has been granted the autonomy they desired in a peaceful manner. They are still part of Moldova, and integrated (mostly) into the Moldovan society.

Transnistria is decidedly un-integrated.

What both Moldova and Georgia have in common is that the break-away provinces in their countries (Transnistria, Abkhazia and South Ossetia) are supported by Russia.

The Russians have troops in those areas to "keep the peace." They are peacekeepers, they say.


This means that there are indeed Russian tanks and troops less than two hours away from Chisinau, the Moldovan capitol. That's my current home.


The reason that Russia supports these territories is because both Georgia and Moldova have shown a disturbingly "western" trend. Indeed, President Bush told Georgians in 2005 that their country was a "beacon of liberty for the region and the world". Georgia wants to join NATO, and shows every indication of europeanizing.

Even Moldova, democratically-elected communist government country that we are, has indicated that it is headed firmly in the european direction, although the current government (up for re-election in February - watch this space!) has previously eschewed any NATO desires. But being a part of the EU? Moldova is all about it.


The break-away provinces in both countries lean decidedly eastwards.


To say that the desires of the main countries threaten the Russian sphere of influence is an understatement. And Russia makes no about wanting to maintain its spheres.


I could speak much more on this issue, and perhaps I will at a future date, but about this Georgian crisis....


Everyone I've talked to has asked me if I'm okay, and the answer is emphatically yes. People ask if this affects me, and the answer is really no.

But all the Peace Corps Volunteers in Georgia have been evacuated. They were very quickly taken out of there, which should make everyone feel good just in case something should flare up here. But the likelihood of that happening is not so high.


Because I don't think my host government is going to launch a large-scale military assault after declaring a truce with Transnistria, and while Russia is distracted by the Olympics.


The Moldovan government is not jaw-droppingly stupid.


Please don't misinterpret this as taking sides in this tragedy, but it's important for people to understand that Russia did not start this. Georgia is absolutely responsible for initiating what is going on.

The Georgian government has killed a lot of people. It initiated a large-scale bombardment on a city - that it calls it's own. That city has been flattened.

This all happened before Russia had a chance to respond. The Georgian general's were smug in the fact that they had thought to do this during the Olympics, a busy time for the Russians. They thought they could re-take the area, all quick and dirty-like.

Dirty being the operative word.

Furthermore, despite what you hear, Georgia is not a defenseless country. Indeed, it has been armed and trained by the U.S. Military.

The Georgian government was under the false impression that being loved by the West - a possible involvement in NATO, being a part of the "Coalition of the Willing", having soldiers in Iraq - meant that they could start something that they singularly could not finish.

They were absolutely wrong in thinking that anyone would come to their defense, and frankly, I think Russia took this as an opportunity to prove a point:


Don't f*ck with their interests.


And they're saying it very loudly and quite violently.


Moldova, by integrating Gaugazia through giving them a great deal of autonomy (their own prime minister (who is a member of the larger parliament), the right to have their own language (a hybrid of Turkish) the running of their own schools, etc), did exactly what Mikhail Gorbachev recommended for both Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia, unwilling to give up control of the areas, did not agree with these concepts, and now there is absolutely no way Abkhazia and South Ossetia are going to agree with them.


Actually, I don't really think the Russian government was willing to accept Gorbachev's idea either. It certainly isn't willing to accept that idea for Transnistria. Peace and resolution of the issue would mean getting rid of the need to have soldiers in the area.



Spheres of Influence and all that.



There is no good guy in what is happening right now.

But please don't go thinking that Georgia is being underhandedly invaded - that's not what happened. In fact, they can claim that the Russians are breaking their territorial integrity or sovereignty, or whatever, but it's important not to forget - they did do it first. They broke a ceasefire. By bombing the crap out of a city unprepared for it, because they were under a truce.



So everybody thinking that we need to go protect the poor little guy who is getting hit by the big bad monster should take a look at the broader picture. Or at least get a full understanding of the facts before making up their minds.



One final note of interest I think. United Nations ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad straight out asked Russia if they were attempting a "regime change" in Georgia. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin replied: "Regime change is purely an American invention... We're all for democracy in Georgia."

Churkin did admit, however, that the President of Georgia had become "a problem" and was no longer seen as a possible working "partner" of Russia.

But here's the real kicker, in my mind: Khalilzad told reporters the telephone call between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were "disturbing," adding that the days of overthrowing European governments by force were over.


Nice. So, overthrowing nations by force in South American countries are Okay? And Africa is sanctioned? What about SE Asia? Is Australia included in that? Probably not, they're like, an honorary European country, right?

Greatest Fear of Kids in Chicago? Getting Shot

I love my city. This is not news to anyone who reads this blog. But it also can be a dangerous place, particularly if you live in a low-income neighborhood. And if you happen to be unlucky enough to be a kid growing up in one of those neighborhoods, you can live in nothing less than a perpetual prison.

Asked how her life would be different if there were no guns in her city, a 7th grader said "It would be wonderful because I wouldn't have to go outside thinking I could get shot at any minute and there would be no more of me."

Eighth grader Rosalind said "Oh my god. If my community had no gangbangers, no guns, no dangers, it would be very cool. The reason is because we would be able to dress however we want. We will be able to play where ever we wanted. We would be free to do whatever. There would be more block parties without gunshots. No more people getting scared of letting their children go outside and play. There would be children out in the streets playing and laughing. You would see smiles and laughs and children all around."


When the Supreme Court struck down the Washington DC gun ban law in July, it basically signaled to all the other places with similar laws that their laws would probably go down as well. Including Chicago's.

Indeed, probably mere minutes after the decision was handed down, the Illinois Rifle Association sued the mayor and the city to overturn the 26 year ban. Our very own Mayor Daley of course vowed to fight it.


But for a city where all you have to do is cross the county line to buy a handgun, or drive 20 minutes to Indiana, pardon me for asking, but what the hell is the point in a handgun ban?

Now, I'm not saying we should go this far, and mandate that all 3 million Chicagoans carry handguns, but it's pretty obvious to me, and it must be pretty obvious to those kids who live in perpetual fear for their lives, that the gun control ban isn't working.

I've yet to see proof that any gun control legislation anywhere deters crime.

Instead, gun control laws mean that you have a lack of registered guns, or you have guns registered outside of the state, and it virtually guarantees a flourishing black market.

Kind of like the drug trade.

I absolutely believe that guns are dangerous, and should be regulated, but I'm not convinced that you can ban them successfully in a locale.

Unless you ban them everywhere.

And somehow, I don't see that happening in this country.


This debate is stale. It needs to be looked at with fresh eyes and a new approach. It shouldn't be about winning a legal debate about something that obviously isn't working. Maybe instead of spending the millions of dollars to fight this case, the city of Chicago should put that money into programs that have been shown to work - like Crossfire. Or, god forbid, work-programs or education, so that people have other choices but gangs in the first place.

The articles I've linked to on top are worth going to, because they carry a photo gallery of children's drawings and how they perceive their life being. It reminds me of a another set of drawings that I saw by children in the gallery at Spertus - those of Sudanese orphans from Darfur drawing about their attacks by the Jamjaweed.

McCain Straight Talk Express Sports Obama Bumper Sticker

The curse of the falling dollar

Every day, I have to walk past a thousand currency exchanges. And so every day, I have to watch as the dollar keeps falling, and falling, and falling.

When I got to Moldova (five months ago) you could get 12.50 lei for every 1$. Yesterday, you could get 9.20 lei for every 1$. That's a severe fall. And it's really really depressing.

Apparently less than a year ago it was 15 lei to a 1$. When it got to 10 lei to a 1$, pretty much the entire country switched from using greenbacks to using euros.

This is bad bad bad for Peace Corps. We have a finite amount of money, and that money is now worth a lot less here than it was a year ago.

This is also bad for anyone wanting to travel. The little pot of money I have saved to go traveling with is somehow looking less and less like it's going to get me anywhere.

Europeans aren't happy with this situation either - unless they're traveling to America, where all the sudden their Euros are worth 1.5 times what they were worth in their home country.

Hence the sign, above. Apparently the amount of american tourists has fallen so precipitously that we're being pitied and given discounts on food and drink.

Interesting as well, don't you think, that they're citing the subprime market failure as the reason for our current trials.

How a tire gauge can Save the World! (or at least 660,000 barrels of oil per day)

When I was growing up, my dad always taught me of the importance of keeping my tires inflated and changing the oil.

I suspect the latter was because I had a step-sister that blew her engine up because she never refilled her oil, and the former because he didn't want me stranded somewhere with a flat-tire, but nevertheless, the lesson was taught.

So when Obama came out with his whole "you too can help keep oil prices down by simply keeping your tires full of air" statement, I must admit I was impressed. It was certainly a little tidbit of information that I didn't know.

And look how cute the tire gauges have gotten now! Why, on a simple google search, I've found a plethora of stylish blue, orange, and even this fancy red one. Who wouldn't want to sport that on their dashboard, I ask you?


Obviously, the McCain camp disagrees with the brilliancy of the simplistic recommendation... the heckling and jeering that has come out of that camp in response to this statement (although, can his camp do *anything* but heckle and jeer anymore?) is pretty remarkable. They even sent out parcels containing tire gauges to the press corps ridiculing the statement.


I guess, on the surface, maybe it does sound a little silly. I mean obviously, there's no way that the act of simply keeping our tires inflated could save the amount of oil that offshore drilling would gain us right?


Wrong.

The U.S. Department of Energy says keeping your tires properly inflated and your wheels aligned could improve gas mileage by around 3.3 percent.

If we're using 20 million barrels a day, then blowing up our tires would save something like 660,000 barrels a day. Starting, oh, tomorrow.

Hell, a simple tune-up can improve your gas-mileage by 4% - a possible 800,000 barrel per day savings if everyone bought in to the concept of... you know, basic maintence.


Whereas offshore drilling could produce a whole 200,000 barrels a day of additional oil (not to mention oil-company profits!) by the year 2030.


So who exactly deserves to get heckled here?

Time magazine says "the RNC is trying to make the tire gauge a symbol of unseriousness, as if only the fatuous believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil without doing the bidding of Big Oil. But the tire gauge is really a symbol of a very serious piece of good news: we can use significantly less energy without significantly changing our lifestyle."

"In other words: Obama is right."

Paris responds to John McCain's Celeb Ad

Oh Paris, you've totally endeared yourself to me with this.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Totally hot.

Quote of the Week

Hey, at least he tried...

"When leaders of the world’s richest nations, the so-called Group of 8, gathered two years ago in St. Petersburg, Russia, President Bush was caught using some blunt, colorful language as he munched a roll during lunch. For four enlightening minutes, the world was treated to an unvarnished view of George W. Bush as he expounded on everything from his penchant for Diet Coke to his long-winded fellow leaders. (“I’m not going to talk too damn long like the rest of them.”)"

"At this week’s gathering on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the lunchtime microphones were on again. The life-of-the-party president, mingling before the meal, chatted animatedly about his parents’ health, his birthday and the corruption charges facing one of his best buddies in Europe, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy."

“Amigo! Amigo!” Mr. Bush called out cheerily in Spanish when he spotted the Italian prime minister. “How you doing, Silvio? Good to see you!”

Read full article in New York Times here

Project Approved!

This bird (Image via AP) represents quite nicely how I feel right now. I've been staring at a computer screen so long, I think I'm going cross-eyed.

For those of you wondering, it did not rain this weekend, at least not in Chisinau, and so I still have water.

But the sky is all dark and gloomy right now, so who can say.

But Moldova has accepted outside aid, and it's coming in from many quarters, so that's something.


All the people in my group are no longer on lockdown - which basically means that we can go wherever we want, whenever we want. And also, that we are free to go on vacation if we have accrued it.

I actually start a non-vacation vacay on Friday... my org is one of those uber-liberal European orgs that takes three weeks mandatory. Except, since I'm a Peace Corps volunteer, I don't really get to take that time off, so I'll be working during it anyways. That's okay. At least I don't have to get up early during that time.

Plus, I got my project approved! I think I'm going to be organizing a national campaign with the help of another nonprofit, and i'm pretty excited about it. That will be my "fuarte mare lucrire" very big thing, and then I have other things that I'll be doing as well.

National sounds cool, but again, country the size of Massachusetts, population the size of Chicago.

But, in a different language, so it will be difficult.

Nevertheless. Getting approval was half of the battle. Now I can actually start to GO. Or at least, I'll be able to after everyone gets back from vacay. But oh, will I have plans for then.

Here Comes the Rain Again

Recently, I've had the privilege of talking to a few of you, and it seems to me that everytime I did so, I was just coming in out of the rain.

It's raining a lot here. And it's really not a good thing.

I don't know if it's being reported or not, because god knows America's like the king of extreme weather, but this area of the world is getting kicked hard right now with severe flooding.

And I mean hard.

Yesterday, it rained so hard in Chisinau, where I live, that we had flash flooding through the streets. It was so quick and so hard that two people got swept up in at and were trapped underneath cars. They drowned. Another woman was found dead under a bridge.

Vadu lui Voda, that tourist spot I told you about where I went "camping" on the Nistru River, has been completely swept away of all its touristy attractions. No more cutesy coffee shops and restaurants and bars...

In Moldova thus far, 100 houses have been destroyed and 5,000 people evacuated. Anecdotally, I have heard that many did not want to leave their houses.... they told the authorities that they had spent their lives building their houses, and they would rather die with them then leave them.

The United Nations is currently reporting that 35,000 people have been evacuated from the three countries of Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, but I have heard this to be an inaccurate and low assessment. They are also estimating at least 36 people dead thus far.

In Chisinau, we have been warned that if the Nistru levels climb to 15m, the pumps in Vadu lui Voda will be unable to withhold the pressure, and will break. The result of this is a complete shut-off of water to the capitol city inhabited by a third of the country's population. We have been told to begin storing water now.

Just so everyone understands, 15 meters is almost 5o feet.

That was two days ago, when the water was at 13.5m. And yes, it has rained significantly since then.

Perhaps the most dangerous thing for the country in the whole is the potential loss of agriculture income. Last year was devestatingly bad, and for a nation whose primary industry is food, another year of mangled outcomes could signal a world of bad news.



Of the three countries I've mentioned, Moldova is the only one who has yet to ask for international assistance.

But we will need it.

Russia has stepped in and is shipping material supplies to both the Ukraine and Moldova. Being a former satellite has its uses.

As I type, it's sunny and beautiful and HOT. Generally, this means nothing in this country. But it is supposed to be sunny this weekend.

I hope for once the forecasters are right.