Take a Bike Outta Grime!!!

I recently read that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has officially determined that Co2 is a pollutant. I thought that was a known fact, but I assume that maybe they think it'll be easier to make it more known if they say it. They are currently on the impossible job of regulation Co2, which I have no idea how to change except if everyone started riding bikes. The past few days I've been thinking about it and so I decided to list all the pros of riding a bike to get around instead of a car.

1. Riding your bike not only gets you around town but it gets you in shape.

"Your strength, stamina, aerobic fitness and general muscle function will all be improved. Cycling is a low impact activity and one of the safest ways to exercise without risk of over-exertion or strain to muscles and joints. Regular physical activity also facilitates other healthy behaviour and could help you reduce weight or even give up smoking". To read more on the benefits of riding a bike click here.

2. Riding your bike is obviously cost efficient. Gas prices in my area are from 2.83$ to 3.09$ dollars a gallon. Unfortunately I can't find any statistics to see how much you'd save a year, but I'm sure you could do the math. Plus, who's really going to argue the point that you don't save money riding a bike.

3. It saves the environment.

• SUV's release up to forty-seven percent more car pollution than the average-sized car.
• The amount of car pollution that is released from cars is much more than the amount of pollution released by a nuclear power plant.
• Ozone pollution is primarily due to the pollution that is released by cars. Seventy-two percent of nitrogen oxides and fifty-two percent of hydrocarbons, which is a component of smog, are released by cars.
• The Journal of Epidemiology and Public Health published a study that suggested that most childhood cancers are caused by air pollution, which can be caused by cars and more.
• There are 752 cars for every 1,000 people in the United States.
• In China, the number of cars that are driven has doubled every five years for the past thirty years.
• Thirty-thousand people in the United States each year die from conditions that are caused or exacerbated by car pollution.
• Half of the people in the United States live in areas that fail to meet federal air quality standards at least several days a year.
• Eighty million people live in areas that are continually not living up to these standards.
• SUV's release 28-gallons of carbon dioxide into the air for every gallon of gasoline that is used.
• Car pollution has numerous effects, both physically and environmentally, like acid rain, smog, lung cancer, and respiratory problems to read more click here.
  

4. You can get a bad ass looking fixie. Aesthetically pleasing, environmentally friendly, economically progressive, and good for the environment. Whats not to like

Summery of a Frontline Video

Im loving this comic so much because this is basically a summery of a front line news special that we watch in class. Why cant economists have the same opinion on anything?

South Korea Goes into Afghanistan

(SEOUL, South Korea) — South Korea says it plans to send up to 350 troops to Afghanistan next year to protect its civilian aid workers.

South Korea currently has no deployment in Afghanistan, after withdrawing some 200 troops in 2007. The pullout, though previously planned, followed a hostage standoff in which the Taliban killed two South Koreans after demanding Seoul immediately withdraw its troops.

The Defense Ministry says the Cabinet approved a new plan Tuesday to send troops to protect aid workers, and that it will be sent to the National Assembly this week. Opposition parties are against the proposal, but the ruling party has enough seats to guarantee passage.

The troops will be deployed from July 1, 2010, to Dec. 31, 2012, to Parwan province.

I have really mixed feelings right now on how this is gonna turn out. Theres to much to speculate on and not enough information to back up any claims but I do have a few ideas on what might happen. I think that this will improve relations between South Korea and America. I think that the Korean soldiers will be attacked by Taliban much faster because they'll assume that since they scared them off once that they can do it again. Not alot to say but its an interesting addition to that messed up situation

This article written by James P Ruban, a Newsweek columnist kind of pisses me off. He writes a different side of a blog I just posted. He criticizes Obama for being realistic. He thinks that what the president says and doesn’t say affects other countries. I can’t argue that this isn’t true. The president is an international force of influence. However I feel that a Obama is a reform president. He could say a bunch of crap making his speech more about poetry and less about execution of information between the public and the oval office. It seems like whatever Obama does he cant seem to not get hated upon by online columnists. Give the guy a break. To read the rest of this article click here

Viva Iran

"The Green Movement belongs to the youth," says Mohsen Makhmalbaf, an exiled filmmaker who claims to speak for the opposition. "When the revolution took place, Iran's population was 30 million; now it's 70 million and most are young. They want freedom. They want to fall in love. They want the opposition. They want a normal life. " Anti-regime activities are often not coordinated; many initiatives emerge from small groups or individuals — "ordinary people who invite others to go to the streets, little people with charisma, like artists or writers who invite people to go to the streets," Makhmalbaf says.

The youth is getting tired of oppression in Iran. The population in Iran has gone up from thirty million to seventy million and the youth control and lead this revolution within the state. Its terrible that Iran has to go through such internal turmoil but I really admire revolutions. Not the fighting or the bloodshed but how people join together over one purpose and how they over come. Iran is no way near from breaking free from its religious and political restraints that’s has left it paralyzed into joining the modern world on cultural changes. I believe that with support from outside countries and the slow change in politics in Iran plus the international watch on them , that they will be forced by mounting pressure to change their ways.

to read more click here

Anti-Muslim Europe

We all know of the racist tension in America. Racial controversy between whites and blacks, hispanic americans, asian americans, there isn't a rock unturned when it comes to racism in America. A group that has been targeted by the public but by the government in the past eight years is Muslim Americans. Due to the religions association with small but extreme groups of terrorists any one in a turban or a head scarf gets strange looks. However no laws, official laws, have been put into place in America, Europe however is a different story. France has passed a law making in illegal to wear head scarfs in public schools. Sweden banned the building of minaretes in the alpine country. I didn't know Europe would be like that for some reason I assumed that they were more open to racial and religious issues. I guess I'm ignorant to ignorance. To read more about this subject click right here

Co2 Regulation

For those who don't know or those who are in deep denial, we have a serious problem with the emission of toxic gasses to our environment. Theres no denying it now, we need to find some way of controlling our carbon foot print. Realistically, I doubt that we can make it not exist, we will always be polluting but i know that there is a way of regulating this before it gets out of our control. Obama has kicked the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) into gear on finding ways to regulate our pollution. The president Lisa Jackson has officially named Co2 as a pollutant not that anyone didn't know. My one question is how can we effectivly stop our Co2 emission? to read more on this go to TIME

Hes not Winston Churchill

I'm never really sure when a politician is lying about something. Weather it is their opinion on gay rights, health care plans, or the war. Thats why I'm not surprised that Obama is putting more troops into Afghanistan. Obama for some reason was the new Jesus, he was the first black president, he is a nobel peace prize winner, hes also a great basketball player but it doesn't make him able to stick to his word when it comes to everything he said. He said hed quit smoking but instead he just banned flavored cigarettes that attract kids. Obama as Fareed Zakaria said is a realist.

His newsweek article said "

This first year of his presidency has been a window into Barack Obama's world view. Most presidents, once they get hold of the bully pulpit, cannot resist the temptation to become Winston Churchill. They gravitate to grand rhetoric about freedom and tyranny, and embrace the moral drama of their role as leaders of the free world. Even the elder Bush, a pragmatist if there ever was one, lapsed into dreamy language about "a new world order" once he stood in front of the United Nations. Not Obama. He has been cool and calculating, whether dealing with Russia, Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan. A great orator, he has, in this arena, kept his eloquence in check. Obama is a realist, by temperament, learning, and instinct. More than any president since Richard Nixon, he has focused on defining American interests carefully, providing the resources to achieve them, and keeping his eyes on the prize.

I really like this take on Obama because it doesn't put him down for his inability to stop the war. Zakaria's opinion is similar to mine, we'd prefer someone who is realistic and direct in their plans. So many politicians promise things that they can't possibly make happen. And I know that thats the nature of politics but still its pretty disappointing when your lied to by your countries leader. I'd prefer a realistic approach then one construed by fiction