The Big Bloom allows you to bike and emit seed-filled bubbles, for all you biking guerrilla gardeners who would rather not have to dismount. Trends Now describes this as “innocent et poétique” and I agree. It’s also really silly, which makes me like it more even as I think of how annoying (slippery?) it would be to bike behind.

[via GERG]

From Democracy Now:

The Guardian newspaper has obtained an unpublished World Bank report that found biofuels have caused world food prices to increase by 75 percent.

The World Bank report was finished in April but reportedly not published in order to avoid embarrassing the US government, which has claimed plant-derived fuels have pushed up prices by only three percent. The report found that biofuels has distorted food markets by diverting grain away from food for fuel, encouraging farmers to set aside land for its production, and sparked financial speculation on grains.

Link to Guardian article: (here)

This is ridiculous:

The rush to develop biofuels has played a “significant” role in the dramatic rise in global food prices, which has left 100 million more people without enough to eat.

See more transparent underwaterness here.

I am a pretty big fan of the internet. I also like the idea of sharing. So in many ways, this video that Gerg found highlighting the possibilities of mobile internettery used on a local level (what they call ‘participatory sensing’) to actually help people interests me (pardon the ghostwriter-like mood of the clip):

However, the recent ruling perpetrated by Viacom ordering Google to turn over the user names and ips of who viewed what content on YouTube is ridiculous and makes me (to put it lightly) fucking furious. To give an example, Viacom will be able to see that user ‘westofbehemoth’ watched and then embedded a video about participatory sensing using a computer at the University of Chicago. Yikes. Google has argued against turning over individual data in favor of aggregate statistics, but the idea that Viacom could conceivably and legally do such a thing is certainly frighting.

Point being - the internet is awesome, but corporations can be unholy terrors. What to do?

Isn’t it so clever how they work in references to the foundational documents of this United States? Also, I blame gay marriage.

The Inalienable Rights Enforcement Initiative:

This initiative will amend the Constitution of California to defend and safeguard the inalienable rights of the People against infringement by governments and corporations, providing for the lawful growth, sale, and possession of marijuana. Marijuana will be taxed through a system of stamps and licenses–a $5 stamp will be required for the sale of an eighth ounce of marijuana and a $50 annual license will be required for the growth of one marijuana plant. To protect participants and encourage participation in the system, such licenses and stamps will be available anonymously in stores where marijuana is sold.

We also hold these truths to be self-evident-That, as an intoxicant, marijuana is far less harmful to the health and safety of the People than alcohol–That, as a smoking substance, marijuana is far less addictive or harmful to the health of the People than tobacco–That, even though alcohol is harmful to the health and safety of the People, the prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933 only increased the harms associated with alcohol use: criminals seized control of the alcohol market, crime and violence increased greatly, and poverty, unemployment, and corruption flourished, while otherwise lawful alcohol drinkers were treated as “criminals” subject to detention, arrest, and incarceration, even though they had not harmed the rights of anyone–That, as with alcohol prohibition, the prohibition of marijuana has only increased the harms associated with the use of marijuana: criminals control a multi-billion dollar market, crime and violence have increased greatly, and poverty, unemployment, and corruption flourish, while otherwise law-abiding marijuana smokers are treated as “criminals” subject to detention, arrest, and incarceration, even though they have not harmed the rights of anyone-That the history of marijuana prohibition is a history of repeated injuries and infringements upon the inalienable rights, powers, and best interests of the People.

Devo = Great.

Devo is suing McDonalds over their “New Wave Nigel” happy meal toy. Just look at the damn thing and its easy to see why. “Orange jumpsuit, pink shades, and Devo’s “Energy Dome” hat.”

Bassist Gerald Casale says:

“This New Wave Nigel doll that they’ve created is just a complete Devo rip-off and the red hat is exactly the red hat that I designed, and it’s copyrighted and trademarked.

“They didn’t ask us anything. Plus, we don’t like McDonald’s, and we don’t like American Idol, so we’re doubly offended.”

What a wonderfully dark commercial choice, though:

The name Devo comes from “de-evolution” - the idea that instead of evolving, mankind has actually regressed.

Casale said it was ironic the world’s largest fast food chain should appropriate the image of a band known for taking aim at the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.

(Via Boing-Boing, via stuff.co.nz)

So : It seems Barack Obama isn’t as liiiiiiiiiiiiberal as he made himself out to be. In fact, hes changed/’moderated’ many of his policies and positions since he received the nomination. The LA Times has a good article on the issue (here), but I’ll give you the nuts and bolts.

OK - lets take a look at the disappointments:

IRAN: Fearing criticism on his negotiation plans, he took a tougher stance on Iran in his AIPAC speech a few weeks ago.

Obama said, “I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Everything in my power. Everything.” The speech confirmed Sen. Obama’s earlier claim that the Iranian government is “a threat to all of us” and “we should take no option, including military action, off the table.” (link)

US Wiretaps: Obama is supporting the Bush “compromise” granting legal immunity to telecommunication companies involved in former ‘illegal’ wiretapping without court warrants.

Three liberal senators allied with Obama – Patrick Leahy, Russell Feingold, and Chris Dodd – already have condemned the bill for its immunity grant to telecom corporations as well as other controversial provisions.

For example, the deal allows the government to use evidence previously obtained by spying without a warrant even if courts subsequently rule that the surveillance was illegal. (link)

Foreign Policy: Obama says he wants to change the status quo, but has surrounded himself with ‘veterans of the military industrial complex’ in his newly appointed “Senior Working Group on National Security.”

Bill Moyers says: “We’ve been working to highlight progressive leaders who have bold and visionary ideas for transforming this country and its foreign policy. Seeing this group of advisers, I think people who anticipate real change should feel betrayed. They’re being sold this package of ‘change’ and ‘innovation’ and what they’re getting is a warmed-over Clinton cabinet that does nothing to address fundamental problems haunting U.S. foreign policy, and will do nothing to reform U.S. grand strategy or redirect funds from empire building to building true security. We deserve better, and if Obama has any backbone at all, he’ll go back to the drawing board in his selection of advisers and potential cabinet members.” (link)

Public Spending: Obama initially pledged to accept public financing and spending limits if the Republican Nominee did the same. But now he is opting out.

With his decision, Senator Obama will become the first major party presidential nominee to reject public financing for his general election campaign, since the public financing system was established in 1974.

Senator Obama’s decision to opt out of the general election public financing system makes it all the more important for Senator Obama to personally make clear to the public in no uncertain terms that if he is elected, one of the early priorities for his Administration will be enacting legislation to repair the presidential public financing system. (link)

Economic Populism : Obama used to talk progressive on ‘free market economics’ and even had The Economist nervous. Now, he has surrounded himself with economists from the Chicago School.

Naomi Kline said in The Nation : Barack Obama waited just three days after Hillary Clinton pulled out of the race to declare, on CNBC, “Look. I am a pro-growth, free-market guy. I love the market.”

Now is the time to worry about Obama’s Chicago Boys and their commitment to fending off serious attempts at regulation. It was in the two and a half months between winning the 1992 election and being sworn into office that Bill Clinton did a U-turn on the economy. He had campaigned promising to revise NAFTA, adding labor and environmental provisions and to invest in social programs. But two weeks before his inauguration, he met with then-Goldman Sachs chief Robert Rubin, who convinced him of the urgency of embracing austerity and more liberalization. Rubin told PBS, “President Clinton actually made the decision before he stepped into the Oval Office, during the transition, on what was a dramatic change in economic policy.” (link)

NAFTA: Obama used to be against NAFTA, but now…

In an interview with Fortune to be featured in the magazine’s upcoming issue, the presumptive Democratic nominee backed off his harshest attacks on the free trade agreement and indicated he didn’t want to unilaterally reopen negotiations on NAFTA.

Obama’s tone stands in marked contrast to his primary campaign’s anti-NAFTA fusillades… [while] NAFTA is the bugaboo of union leaders, grassroots activists and Midwesterners who blame free trade for the factory closings they see in their hometowns. (link)

The Death Penalty: On Wednesday, Obama said that we “should be allowed to execute child rapists.”

In his memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” Obama wrote that while the death penalty “does little to deter crime,” he supports capital punishment in cases “so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.” (link)

According to Amnesty International, 137 countries have abolished the death penalty.

During 2007, 24 countries, 88% in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States alone, executed 1,252 people compared to 1,591 in 2006. (link)

Gun Control : Obama has flipped to support the Supreme Courts recent decision on the 2nd Amendment.

After his campaign said in a statement to The Chicago Tribune last year that “Obama believes the D.C. handgun law is constitutional,” an Obama spokesman told ABC News this week that that statement was an “inartful attempt” to characterize the candidate’s position.

Obama said Thursday the Supreme Court basically agreed with him on gun control. (link)

Sometimes violence is the answer. Take note, homophobes… and homophobe lovers!

sometimes our heroes can get back on track.