Global warming graffiti, Amsterdam.
Key climate meeting looms at G8
US agrees landmark pledge to slash admissions
In other news, the extremist British Nationalist Party leader Nick Griffin told the BBC that the European Union should sink boats carrying illegal immigrants to prevent them from entering Europe!
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin keeps lying about state ethics probes. Gary Kamiya writes in Salon about "The Poison of Celebrity:"
"...Her (Palin's) strange story demonstrates the utterly distorting power of fame in America. Carried too high, her wings melted off - a meltdown evident the moment she took the national stage and painfully apparent in every tortured sentence of her rambling, illogical resignation speech. In a country not besotted by fame, a politician as intellectually deficient as Palin, whose ambitions are that untethered and above all who is petulantly unwilling to do the hard, prosaic work of governing, would be ushered permanently offstage. But in a culture of celebrity, the very theatricality of Palin's disgraceful resignation immediately becomes part of her résumé."
As Glenn Greenwald points out, President Barack Obama and the justice department have some serious questions to answer!
Nostalgia
On Wednesday, I was in a little grocery store and saw Cherry Cokes! Nostalgia, pure and simple, made me buy one. Today when I opened it, nice and chilled, I was dismayed to find it tastes a bit like cough syrup. Ever have that experience, when you find something isn't quite the way you remember? Or perhaps they're using a different formula these days. Either way, it's a reminder that nostalgia isn't always a good thing.
Digital manipulation
The National Press Photographers Association's latest newsletter links to a piece about digital manipulation. The New York Times magazine has pulled a photo essay, after bloggers discovered the images had been digitally altered. Read the newspaper's statement here.
Sarah Palin is the co-author of her own demise. She is in full meltdown; the "trivial" ethics probes are not all trivial, and her behavior unfortunately triggers that kind of probe. As for people thinking the economy can be fixed in six months, that is just delusional, unfair and unbalanced. To go further and say Obama is "making it worse" shows a total ignorance of economics. Just saying.
Posted by: Colette | 14 July 2009 at 19:30
There is a special place in hell (whatever that is!) for Nick Griffin, Sarah Palin and their ilk. I hope they're all drinking cough syrupy cherry coke there too!
Sending love to you dear friend ...
xx,
JP/deb
Posted by: JanePoet ~ JP/deb | 13 July 2009 at 06:28
The allegations against Palin are a little more serious than you indicate. As for Obama "fixing" the economy in his six months in office, it's naive to think such a Herculean task can be accomplished overnight - particularly with no cooperation whatsoever from most Republicans. The recession is a GLOBAL problem and it will take more than one man's efforts from which to recover. And don't forget who wrecked the economy in the first place - that would be George Bush and Dick Cheney and their cabal.
Posted by: Paris Parfait | 11 July 2009 at 19:45
Hate to rock the boat on your blog, but most stateside Americans are beginning to be more afraid of Obama than Palin. Palin wants out because of nonstop trivial ethics probes(read all but one proven not true) Also, it seems Kamiya's quote could be used to describe MJ's celebrity burn up. Obama has not fixed the economy, in fact, has made it worse. Please read from some alternative sources for the other side. Just saying...
Posted by: Michele | 11 July 2009 at 19:22
Hi Tara,
Thank you for your post.
It's weird how celebrity and beauty sway other people. But it's true that it does.
If the republicans are banking on supporting Sarah Palin for Pres, it is a mind blower! She is another George Bush Junior! Not the right person for this job!
From the moment she stepped down, my husband (who can tell these things) knows there will be way more about the story to come.
Yes to what you say about nostalgia.
And At least one blogger is keeping on there toes about ditigal manipulation.
This is one of the great things about the internet.
The other is:
So much of our news is altered, in one way or another. This is why I value your opinion here!
xox
Constance
ps Had a email from di~ Have fun on Sunday!!
Posted by: Rochambeau | 11 July 2009 at 00:32
Unfortunately, Sarah has risen even further up as an icon in the minds of those who want to love her just because she hunts and fishes and is Republican, by golly gosh darnit.
I remember many years ago when National Geographic caught heat when they moved two Egyptian pyramids closer together to fit better on the cover. And of course there's the Time or Newsweek photos of OJ Simpson where they darkened his skin.
Posted by: Jane Rosemont | 10 July 2009 at 16:11
Love all of your photos of holland~ wonderful, hope you're well : )
Posted by: robynpope | 10 July 2009 at 05:56
Shame on digital manipulation! I am so glad a blogger was wise to what was going on.
Sarah Palin needs to hit the road there are stories that need more attention than anything she is doing.
That photo? It's fire! ; )
Nothing like a fountain coke with crushed Cherries. ; )
Posted by: Christina | 10 July 2009 at 05:19
I'm still bewildered how Sarah Palin got as far as she did.
Nostalgia is overrated, there is no time like the present.
:)
Posted by: Gillian | 09 July 2009 at 19:27
I'm sipping on a cherry coke zero right now. Maybe the Zero helps -- a little less sugary! I remember cherry cokes at the drug store counter as a kid -- what a treat that was! And when I didn't feel good, mom would buy me coke and a jar of marachino cherries and we'd make our own! (Nothing compares to that one!)
Sarah, sarah, sarah... she will not go away, but oh, how I wish people would finally start to look and really see her! She's still the scariest woman in America...
Posted by: jeanie | 09 July 2009 at 18:05
You mean that you didn't have a Proustian (Madeleine) experience?
"À la recherche du temps perdu" is not always what it is cracked up to be. Yes, I have had that experience about how things taste.
Posted by: Helen | 09 July 2009 at 16:50
I wonder if people are beginning to see the real her. I doubt it. Can you imagine if she were in the White House and decided she didn't like the job and quit? Oh yes, I can't say that I've had a recent cherry coke, but the old ones at the soda fountain HAD to be superior with just a little cherry syrup added--that with a red and white twirled paper straw that would unravel because I would savor each sip and it took forever to finish? Now that's priceless! YES! I bought a bag of that "gold rush" bubble gum a couple of years back (I loved it as a child). EW. It was like chewing soft sugar. EWWWW. lol
Posted by: rosa | 09 July 2009 at 16:33
Thanks for the news updates.
Yummm! Cherry cokes do conjure memories of a simpler time. My first cherry coke was at the Woolworth counter with my grandmother. Things never seem to be what they once were in our remembrances.
Posted by: Marilyn | 09 July 2009 at 15:48
Hi Tara! How are you? I can't believe he said to sink the boats! Aieee..and Sarah, welll..ick. I remember cherry fountain cokes...they were yum.
Posted by: pam aries | 09 July 2009 at 15:47