eBay Alternative: Finding Auction Sites like eBay

Looking for an eBay alternative. Well, there are a lot of Auction sites like eBay, and since the recent shake up in the eBay selling community more and more people are looking for alternatives to eBay. Now that eBay is implementing changes, unhappy sellers are trying to find a auction sites like eBay, that are not actually run by eBay or any eBay affiliates..

Unfortunately for its competitors, eBay has a very large stake in the online marketplace. However, there are some auction sites like eBay where you can sell your goods.

The two main eBay alternatives to eBay I use are Amazon.com, and Craigslist.

• Amazon.com is a great place if you are selling books, music, DVDs, video games, or other electronics. It is very easy to use compared to eBay. All you have to do is find the item you want to sell, write a couple sentence description about its condition, and set your price. One of the best things about Amazon is that it is very straight forward, and you have to spend almost no time answering emails from buyers. This is my number 1 alternative to ebay!
• If you want to sell a small number of items on a personal level without having to deal with eBay fees, or PayPal holding your money, then I recommend Craigslist. It is very easy to use, you get paid in cash, and you don't have to ship anything. I like to use craigslist for all of my larger items.

There are several auction sites like eBay that are increasing in popularity as eBay sellers flee:

• Bidville is an auction site like eBay. It the second largest online auction site after eBay, and is a true eBay alternative. They do not charge you a listing fee, so you can list as many items as you like. They do charge a Final Value Fee, but it is low at 5% for items that sell for less than $25. If you love the auction format, but hate eBay, Bidville may be right for you.
  
• eCrater is the third largest online store front. They are very easy to deal with, everything is completely free, and they help you set up an online storefront in minutes that will connect to froogle.com
• Blujay is the fourth largest, but fastest growing online marketplace. The items posted there also show up on froogle, and it is free. This is a great eBay alternative because Sellers on Blujay can post unlimited ads, 4 photos per ad, with up to 180 day listing periods all for free. And like eCrater, every blujay member gets an online webstore to showcase their items.

Just remember, when looking for an eBay alternative, make sure to do your research and find somewhere you can really be happy with. The best thing about eBay is the free traffic. With most of the other auction sites like eBay you are going to have to work harder to get eyeballs on your listings.

If you have any experience with these eBay alternatives, or use other auction sites like eBay, please let us know about your experience.

Free eBay Coupon Codes 2008 - Cash back at eBay

If you are looking for free eBay coupon codes for 2008, let me tell you, they are few and far between. eBay will rarely give out a free coupon code, but there is a way to still save money without having to use any eBay coupon codes!

That is right, you can still get Cash Back on all of your eBay purchases without having to wait for eBay to issue you a free coupon code.

If you want to get cash back on all eBay purchases I recommend that you sign up for bigcrumbs.com It is a free service that pays you the highest overall cash back available at eBay, and you can also get cash back at 233 other online marketplaces. It also has a referral program where you can make money whenever your referrals buy something.

This is a service that I actually use, otherwise I would not be promoting it. I just want to let you in on the eBay savings when there are no Free 08 eBay coupon codes to be found. So next time you are shopping on eBay be sure to consider bigcrumbs.com It is easy, and you get your cash deposited to your Paypal account every month.

Banjo Tooie - Walkthrough, Rom, Cheats, FAQ

Banjo Tooie is easily the best sequel that has ever come out on the Nintendo 64. I have created a shrine of Banjo Tooie information. YOu will find links to Walkthroughs, Roms, Cheats, and FAQ.

Banjo Tooie is the sequel to Banjo Kazooie. It is a platform / puzzle / action adventure game that is hours of non-stop fun. However, there are some tricky puzzle solving spots (see the list of resources below for the best Banjo Tooie FAQ / Walkthrough ever made)!

Banjo Tooie is similar to Banjo Kazooie, in that you are trying to collect Jiggies (the jigsaw pieces) and to stop Grunhilda's sisters from restoring Grunihlda to her original form.

Banjo Tooie is groundbreaking because the levels are not stand alone areas that you only visit once. In many cases you have to travel back through levels once you learn a new skill in order to progress. This is one of the first games to require re-visitation of levels on any gaming system.

Banjo Tooie Cheats

Enter the witch's head on Spiral Mountain to find Cheato. One cheat will be revealed for every five Cheato pages that you find. Other cheats are revealed by finding Mystery Eggs hidden throughout the game. The cheats are entered in the Mayahem Temple near Wumba's Wigwam. You will need grenade eggs to enter the Mayahem Temple.

The following is a list of some of the codes, to activate each cheat, spell out the code inside the Temple:

Code effect:

• FEATHERS or CHEATO SREHTAEF - Double feather carrying capacity
• EGGS or CHEATO SGGE - Double egg carrying capacity
• FALLPROOF or CHEATO FOORPLLAF - No damage when falling
• HOMING - Eggs home in on nearest target
• HONEYBACK or CHEATO HONEYBACK - Infinite health and air
• CHEATO NESTKING - Infinite eggs and feathers

Banjo Tooie Resources:
Banjo Tooie FAQ / Walkthrough
Banjo Tooie Rom

eBay Selling Guide

For free tips and advice on how to become a PowerSeller on eBay, please visit my new blog the eBay Selling Guide. I am currently offering free eBay consultations, as well as fee eBay Logos for your eBay store.

I have been selling on eBay Since 2000, and I am now helping others learn some of my eBay tricks. If yo are interested in a comprehensive guide on what it takes to become a PowerSeller, please check out the eBay Selling Guide.

If you are interested in just selling on ebay for fun, and want to know how to get the most money out of your personal items, I have tips on how to have a good selling experience on eBay at the eBay Selling Guide.

Oregon’s potential off-reservation casino

“Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a contract Wednesday allowing the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to build what would be Oregon's first off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks.

The contract signed by Kulongoski and Tribal Chairman Ron Suppah is the first of its kind, with the tribes agreeing to [eventually] give the state as much as 17 percent of their gross gambling profits to a nonprofit that, in turn, would donate the money for state programs… most of it for tuition aid for college students. Tribal officials estimate that after 10 years, the casino will have contributed $270 million to state programs.”
-The O

Although it would be nice that the casino would eventually give as much as 17 percent of their gambling profits to state programs, it is not a morally correct way of giving money to the government.

This is the only kind of addictive thing in our state that is actually being encouraged, and that will give our state money. Let’s take smoking and drinking for examples. We tax cigarettes not only to discourage people from smoking because it kills them, but to raise funding for our government. Also, we tax alcohol (although not very much) to defer the purchase of alcoholic beverages, because they are harmful to people, and to society. And the government also benefits from this. But gambling is different.

Gambling is an addiction too, yet we are rushing to make it available to even more people? I am not saying that nobody should gamble, but should one of the main reasons to open a casino be to get state funding? That is what it looks like to me, and I do not agree with it. If it is really about state funding, then there are more effective ways to get it. Sadly, this is only one of my main concerns about casinos in off-reservation land.

United States: Political Island

We are living in a nation based upon a reality TV show. Of course I am speaking of survivor. It starts with all of the potential and current supporters of US affairs. But instead of any physical or emotional abuse that would pressure a normal person to get kicked off of the island, Bush is the factor. With every choice he makes he further separates the United States from the rest of the world. Who is going to be the last supporter? It seems like Bush is rushing to find out!

There are many examples of the ways Bush is trying to eliminate our current and potential supporters. The most recent would be going to war based on no reliable information. Now you may say that happened a long time ago, and there are more recent things… What about the failure of intelligence report they just put out?

The latest intelligence-failure report looks like it may isolate any potential allies of the United States even further. Not only did many countries flat out object the war, but now many potential allies will have to think about the fact that we went to war based on information that was “dead wrong.” The Chicago Sun-Times says :

''Obviously the report creates severe doubt about the administration's ability to implement a policy of preemption,'' said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based think tank.

"The past failures of our intelligence system have already alienated key allies. Now these findings seem to signal that we can't rely on available intelligence to make such decisions in the future," Thompson said.

These are all things that we (Bush) could have controlled, especially the “war” part.

But wait; there are many other things to be done to separate the weak from the strong. Like the placement of Paul Wolfowitz as President of the World Bank. Wolfowitz is a key architect of the Iraq war whose hard-line foreign policy stance as deputy defense secretary has stirred criticism. I just cannot see that as a good choice.

"As well as lacking any relevant experience, he is a deeply divisive figure who is unlikely to move the bank toward a more pro-poor agenda," said Patrick Watt, policy officer at British charity Action Aid.

Dave Timms, spokesman for London-based World Development Network, called it a "terrifying appointment" that highlighted a lack of democracy in major lending institutions.

Wait Wait, there are more challenges! For this next one I take you to THE UNITED NATIONS! Bush’s nomination for Bolton as our United Nation ambassador will be another test against the intelligence of other nations, and there ability to cope with our insanity. New Zealand’s Brad Weiner says:

Bolton, a founding member of the neo-con Project for The New American Century (PNAC), is a mad-dog unilateralist who wants the world to bow to U.S. demands now that America is the only remaining superpower. Bolton has said: "If I were doing the Security Council today, I'd have one permanent member [the United States] because that's the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world." Treaties and international laws are irrelevant, he believes, since they are attempts to constrict the justified use of American power around the globe.

Unfortunatly, there are more things. Lets do ‘em quick. We are creating a bigger wall around Mexico with the minutemen project, showing mexicans how we really feel about them. Let’s not forget about canada. In December Bush went to canada and suggested that Canadians who opposed the U.S. invasion don't think Iraq is ready for democracy. He shrugged off polls showing that Canadians increasingly feel alienated from the United States. That looks really good for the United States, Huh Bush.

My last example is a public opinion poll in Australia. The International Herald Tribune reports:

U.S. foreign policy poses as big a threat to world peace as Islamic fundamentalism, while the rise of China is the last on a list of potential threats, according to a survey released Monday [March 28] of public opinion in Australia, one of Washington's closest allies in the Asia-Pacific.
The war in Iraq appears to be one of the strongest points of disagreement Australians have with U.S. policy…
…57 percent of Australians rated U.S. policy as a threat equal to Islamic fundamentalism.

I am going to stop at Australia for now, but do not be fooled, there are many more examples of what we are doing to alienate ourselves. I wonder which country will “win” by staying our allie for the longest.

Ford - worst fuel economy ranking 5 years running.

The fuel economy of the 1903 Model T ford was 25 mpg. The average American Ford for the Year 2003 guzzles 18.8mpg, down from 22.1 in 1998.

Ford Motor Company is America's oil addict. According the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average fuel efficiency of Ford cars and trucks today is 18.8 mpg, dead last among the top six automakers for the fifth consecutive year. From subcompacts to SUVs, Ford's current fleet of cars and trucks gets fewer miles per gallon on average than its Model-T did 80 years ago. Ford's widely touted 'eco-friendly' Rouge River plant features a water-preserving green roof, yet manufactures 280,000 gas-guzzling F-150s a year, generating up to 100 tons of atmospheric carbon apiece over each truck's lifetime. Marketed as "the first American hybrid," Ford's so-called ‘no compromise' Escape represents less than one half of one percent of its fleet and will have virtually no impact on its last place fuel efficiency ranking. In 2000, Ford promised to improve the fuel efficiency of its fleet of SUVs 25 percent by 2005. In 2003, the company announced its intention to break that promise.

Pure Energy Systems

I know this is kind of old news, but I never realized how inefficient Ford was. Other people have been aware of this for a long time, but not enough other people. To learn more about Ford, go to Jumpstart Ford

Now we are going to war with Mexico

The recent minuteman project in Arizona is doing a little bit more than just sparking controversy. The Mexican army is being stationed at the Mexico-Arizona Border. El Universal Online reports:

"Friday, Miguel Escobar Valdez, Mexican Consul in Douglas, Arizona, said the Mexican military was bracing for possible violence on the border.

"The Mexican army is on alert," Escobar said. "Also, law enforcement will be vigilant because the situation is very volatile. This is because, I have to say it, there are violent and radical elements on both sides of the border.""

This is out of control. Most of these people are trying to escape their harsh living situations by coming to the United States. If there is anyone in the world that we should be close with, it should be Mexico (Canada is far too good for us). We need to help out our neighbors, not hurt them. If they do not cross in Arizona, they will cross somewhere else. It is inevitable, we can not keep the united states all white for ever you bigots.

Wow, bigots, well not everyone that does this is a bigot. Take Henry Esparza:

I have never shot anyone and would never shoot one of my people," Esparza said. "I am the grandson of Chihuahuan immigrants and I consider myself Mexican. But I cannot accept that criminals and terrorists are coming into my country. I think that Al Qaeda could take advantage of the border to infiltrate the country."

WHAT ABOUT CANADA? WHAT IS THE DIFRENCE? This poor man has been led to believe that he needs to stop his own people from crossing into the United States to stop terrorism. WHAT ABOUT CANADA! I do not understand why there is no North Dakota Minutemen action going on at the Canadian border. Oh wait, yes I do, there is no propaganda that talks about the threats of terrorist coming down from Canada. Well just wait my friends. The United States is not done distancing itself from the rest of the world, Canada, YOU ARE NEXT!

Tom Potter's fight for oversight

Tom Potter is trying to take a stand against the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). What a pinko commie. He thinks "Civilians in a free society should have oversight over the police who serve them." I think he is asking for a little much. He wants to know what the people under him are being ordered to do by the government. He is stepping way out of line. He has asked for “Portland's top civilian leaders [to] have the same security clearances as the police officers who serve on federal task forces.” He not only wants himself to know what the JTTF is doing in Portland, but also for the Chief of Police and the city’s attorney. Talk about untrusting. He doesn’t want the JTTF to do anything illegal like investigate a person or group based on religion or political affiliation, and he thinks having an “attorney” will enable him see if someone is breaking the law. Why can’t he just trust his government? Next time we get a new mayor, I want him to be a little more patriotic and believing in his country. It is not like our government ever messed up before.

To read what this out of control socialist has to say read his opinion piece in the Oregonian.

Oil on Ice: ANWAR + Drilling = Problems for future

I was just at a little Pacific University viewing of Oil on Ice. It was good. It goes into depth about the Artic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWAR), and the proposed drilling in this vital area.

ANWAR is a diverse area, home to many species of wildflowers, musk ox, wolverines, grizzly and polar bears, swarms of insects, and over 180 different species of birds. Not to forget to mention the cornerstone species of the area, the Caribou. There are tens of thousands of caribou that use ANWAR for calving (raising their young), they travel hundreds of miles from all over Canada and Alaska to get there, and drilling would destroy their habitat, and scare them off. This in effect, would drastically hurt the native Gwich’in Tribe of this area.

However, this is not the extent of the problem. Currently, there are 1,000 square miles of land that are being used at their full potential for oil drilling. This is in Prudhoe Bay. These people were guaranteed that there would be no problems, and in fact, they would receive a small part of the profits that the oil companies would make through drilling. This was good for a while, until it scared off the caribou, the main source for food of the Gwich’ins. The oil companies also said that the people should not be afraid of oil spills, and they were right, for a little while. Then there was the largest oil spill ever, Exxon Valdez killed destroyed another cornerstone species, the herring. Without the herring there would be no other fishes or birds that ate them, and there were many. After the spill Exxon made a clean up where they polished some rocks, and made everything look pretty good. It was not good. They created glossy pamphlets, and made it seem like they did the right thing, and most people believed them. Unfortunately for Exxon a group studying the spill came back 12 years later and found that many of the beaches were still contaminated with oil, under the rocks, in the soil, everywhere.

These are risks that we can not take. Oil on Ice also points out that when the oil is tapped, it does not belong to the United States, it belongs to the drillers. And the drillers have a say where it goes, no matter how desperate the U.S. situation may seem. It is more economically sound to send drilled oil from Alaska to Asia, rather than to mainland United States.

There is a funny part in this movie when a man says “When we are addicted to drugs, we are told to cut off the supply. If we are addicted to oil we are told to increase the supply.” This does not make sense, and Oil on Ice offers a couple ideas on how best to fix our dependency on oil rather than drill.

Oil on Ice message to us is that we need to stop wasting gas, and use our modern technology of bio-diesel and hybrid cars to help us. They also point out that if we increase our standards for fuel efficiency we would not be reliant on foreign oil, nor ANWAR oil. John Kerry in a 2002 speech said that 88.9% of Americans want better fuel efficiency. Why is it that we aren’t getting it? Everyone should see this movie, or at least go to their website, even after ANWAR’s recent turnover.

Oil on Ice ends this entry well when they say:

“On March 16th, the U.S. Senate voted to not strip Arctic Refuge oil revenues from the Federal Budget Resolution by a vote of 51-49. Activists say the battle is far from over and have vowed to continue to block drilling in the Refuge. To have your voice heard, call the Arctic Action Hotline at 1-888-8-WILDAK (1-888-894-5325).

The best way to increase blog readership

Is also the worst way to increase blog readership. I was doing an experiment on different types of commentary strategies, as far as pointing people back to my blog. It turns out, the most evil type of comment worked the best.

That is, when I just spam people’s comments I get a lot more Traffic. I was just copying and pasting this :

Sorry, but I am just plugging my blog, but I just wrote something so good. I would appreciate it if you checked it out.
"Cost of war in Iraq in relation to GDPs"

I would just look for the newest blogs popping up on blogwise, and spam my comment. This worked great; in fact, it doubled my average traffic, or readership, for the last couple of days. However, it is evil.

I feel bad for doing it, and I am sorry to everyone that I spammed. Although it works great, it does not offer anything good to the blogosphere. It is especially not on par with most of the productive comments that are usually posted – especially in the blogs that I frequent.

So, although it works, I do not suggest that anyone tries it unless they want to be hated. I do not want to be hated. On the contrary, I would rather be liked. And even followed as some sort of good example, that is why I am not doing this anymore. But I do still plan on leaving quality comments even though it makes more time.

I am stopping the spam in accordance with my revolution. I want to make the world a better place, not a worse one.

Cost of war in Iraq in relation to GDPs

I have seen various “Cost of War in Iraq” counters. This made me wonder how much money that really is. Because it looks like a lot!

I figured a good way to do it would be to compare it to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of several countries. The estimated cost of the war is about $159,214,000,000 at the time of this post.

Now let’s relate that number to The United State’s GDP which is, $12,955,370,000,000.
That makes the total cost of the war in Iraq only one per cent of our Nations GDP. This is miniscule. However, it does not look so small when compared to the GDP of other nations.

For example, the cost of the war has almost reached Argentina’s GDP ($161,899,000,000). The shocker about this is that Argentina is the 36th richest country in the world (179 different countries)!

The Argentina example may be staggering, but the most powerful example I have found about the cost of the war is its relation to the poorest countries in the world.

The cost of the War in Iraq is equal more than the combined Gross Domestic Product of 65 of the poorest countries.

Nepal, The Bahamas, Mozambique, Haiti, Mali, Burkina Faso, Brunei, Zambia, Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Namibia, Chad, Georgia, Cambodia, Madagascar, Republic of the Congo, Nicaragua, Benin, Papua New Guinea, Guinea, Niger, Armenia, Zimbabwe, Netherlands Antilles, Barbados, Laos, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Swaziland, Togo, Malawi, Fiji, Tajikistan, Rwanda, Central African Republic, Mongolia, Lesotho, Mauritania, Suriname, Sierra Leone, Belize, Cape Verde, Antigua and Barbuda, Maldives, Guyana, Bhutan, Seychelles, Saint Lucia, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti, Grenada, The Gambia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Comoros, Samoa, East Timor, Vanuatu, Guinea-Bissau, Dominica, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Kiribati, São Tomé and Príncipe

Yes! That is 65 countries! And their combined GDP is $156,919,000,000. 3 billion less than the cost of the war!

Since I compiled all of this information, it is your job to think about what kind of use this money could have gone to, instead of helping one country, we could have helped 65. If we were just handing out presents, we could have matched 65 of the poorest countries GDP. That would undoubtedly help a huge chunk of the world.

In fact, the combined population of these countries is around 291,090,910 people. That is roughly the population of the United States, the third largest country. If we split up the $159,214,000,000 (cost of the war) to all of the people in these 65 countries, they would all receive about 547 dollars! In some countries where people receive as little as $5 dollars a day for living that would help out tremendously! I hope this help put the cost of war into global context. After all, if we do not spend it on ourselves, we might as well send it to something good!

Australians view U.S. as a threat to peace

America lags behind Japan and China in popularity, poll finds

By Raymond Bonner and Donald Greenlees
The New York Times, International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, March 29, 2005

U.S. foreign policy poses as big a threat to world peace as Islamic fundamentalism, while the rise of China is the last on a list of potential threats, according to a survey released Monday of public opinion in Australia, one of Washington's closest allies in the Asia-Pacific.

…The survey …shows that America trails far behind China and Japan in public popularity. Although 84 percent of Australians had positive views of Japan and 69 percent expressed positive views of China, only 58 percent felt the same way about the United States.

…"There is quite a big disconnect between how the world views Bush and how the Americans view Bush," says Don Russell, Australia's ambassador to Washington between 1993 and 1995.

The war in Iraq appears to be one of the strongest points of disagreement Australians have with U.S. policy…

…57 percent of Australians rated U.S. policy as a threat equal to Islamic fundamentalism.

…But if Australians are feeling more ambivalent about America, their attitude to the economic powerhouses of East Asia is surprisingly warm, suggesting economic interests outrank old strategic friendship in the popularity stakes.

Australians are surprisingly sanguine about the emergence of China. Only 35 percent of Australians thought China's growing power was a threat.

Even on trade, China was ranked as a more attractive partner, A free trade agreement with America was viewed as good for Australia by only 34 percent of respondents. A similar deal with China won majority support, 51 percent.

In case of a U.S.-China war over Taiwan, there were limits on how far Australia should go in support of the alliance. Seventy-two percent were against coming to the aid of the United States.

Surprisingly, this is only news right now in Australia, India, and Europe

Not as Original as I thought.

I thought that I was original when I was talking about making a campaign that would say that Jesus wants you to save the environment. Fortunately for the environment (unfortunately for my unoriginality) there is already a group like this.

I was so interested in this and I really wanted to pursue it, but then I found the Evangelical Environmental Network. This group is the creator of What Would Jesus Drive and other genius things.

These guys have already done everything that I planned on doing and more. They are super great, and I encourage anyone to go to their website, religious or not. Here is a little sampler:

Biblically understood, "the environment" is actually part of God's creation, of which human beings are also a part. So why should we care for all of God's creation?


• Christ died to reconcile all of creation to God (Col. 1:20).


• All of creation belongs to Jesus (Col. 1:16; Ps. 24:1).


• It fulfills the Great Commandments to love God and love what God loves. (It's hard to love a child with asthma when you're filling her lungs with pollution.)


• Pollution hurts the poor the most, and Christians are called to care for the poor and the less powerful (Mt. 25:37-40).

Thus, caring for all of creation provides a Christian with the deepest sense of joy and contentment since it is part of loving God. We call this "creation-care."

These guys are great. I emailed them, and asked them to make a banner for me to put on my blog. I can only hope that they follow through, they are doing such a good thing for our country/environment.

Jesus Wants You! (to save the environment)

I was inspired to write this after reading a great essay by Richard Louv entitled Replanting the environmental garden

In it, he writes about revitalizing the environmental movement. One of the most interesting ideas in this essay is the idea of pushing environmentalism through religion.

the MIT Press published the results of one of the most extensive surveys of how Americans think about environmental issues. The researchers were stunned by what they discovered.

A substantial majority of people surveyed justified environmental protection by explicitly invoking God as the creator, with striking uniformity across subgroups. "What is going on here? Why should so many nonbelievers argue on the basis of God's creation?" the researchers asked. "It seems that divine creation is the closest concept American culture provides to express the sacredness of nature. Regardless of whether one actually believes in biblical creation, it is the best vehicle we have to express this value."

If the MIT report is correct, spiritual arguments for the environment, seldom used by the environmental movement, will be far more effective than utilitarian arguments. Made on behalf of our children and our children's children, this spiritual argument is the most emotionally powerful weapon we can deploy in defense of the Earth and our own species.

I personally think this is a genius idea. Especially now, when religion and the government are becoming more intertwined than ever. Saving the environment could be among Terry Schiavo, The Ten Commandments, abortion, gay marriages, and many others.

More than 75% of people in the United States are some sort of Christian. Therefore this spiritual environmental movement would have a big backing.

It does not matter if you are republican or democrat, as long as at least 75% of the population thinks that God is the creator of all things in this world, no matter if it was through the creation of all things in 7 days, or 7 billion years.

Environmentalism needs to be looked at in a different light in order to grow and continue. I want to help create this spiritual push into environmentalism. I want to create some sort of religious environmental propaganda; I want more people to care about what is happening around them.

I am thinking an Uncle Sam like Jesus. With Jesus pointing and lettering beneath: “Jesus Wants YOU! To save the Environment”

If anyone can help me with this, or would be willing to run a banner like that, like the “there is no Crisis” banners, please tell me. We need to get this revolution a goin’!

New Reasons Against Fast Food

Earlier this week a woman in San Jose was enjoying her delicious Wendy’s chili. That is, until she discovered a human finger in her MOUTH! That is gross! Fortunately it was only about AN INCH AND A HALF OF FINGER!

Wendy’s along with the authorities are still looking for the owner of this finger ``We contacted each one of our suppliers that provide ingredients for chili, and each one of them told us they have had no employee accidents involving the fingers or hand,'' says Wendy’s Spokesman Denny Lynch.

If it was not from the “restaurant”, all I can think of is that it must be from one of the suppliers. I would not be surprised if employees working for these suppliers did not report it, or a report such as this would be lost, especially if the finger came in the ground beef container. The employees in slaughterhouses are often treated worse than the animals.

"Meat processing facilities are also known to pose significant threats to worker safety. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, meat processing is the most dangerous job in the nation; in fact, the rate of injury and illness among slaughterhouse workers is approximately three times higher than the injury rate in the average U.S. factory. Every year, 29 out of every 100 meat processing workers sustains a work-related injury or illness that requires treatment beyond first aid. Given the pressure placed on slaughterhouse supervisors to report low injury-rates and the numerous past scandals involving injury-log falsification at slaughterhouses, it is likely that many additional injuries are never recorded
- Eric Carlson

Wendy’s sales have dropped, especcialy in the San Jose area. All that I can hope is that all fast food sales start to drop until they start to change their dirty ways. I know that eating a finger is a little bit out of proportion, and I truly feel sorry for the almost cannable lady that was eating finger chili, but I just hope that the customers of the fast food industry realize that fast food does not have to be gross, and the workers do not have to be treated poorley.

Furthemore, I encourage everyone to read Fast Food Nation, and to watch Super Size Me.

For simple reading about why you should not eat fast food, I wrote a couple of articles on it.

Boycott fast food part 1

Boycott fast food part 2

Tell Gordon Smith about the "nuclear option"

The Following is the letter/email I sent to Gordon Smith, our republican senator, telling him how I feel about The "nuclear option." I think if you care about anything that happens in this country, you should email your senator as well. Copy mine if you want, it is easy!
If you are in Oregon, please tell Gordon Smith how you feel!

The "Nuclear Option"

First of all, I am concerned with the state of the senate, and as your constituent you represent me. I can only hope, and urge you not to be in favor of the “nuclear option.”

Since this is all happening over the judicial nominees I think it is important to realize that with 55 republicans and 44 democrats in the senate, all a judicial nominee would need are 5 extra democrat votes (I am sure you already know that).

I think that if a judicial nominee can get some sort of bipartisan support they deserve to be nominated. If the “nuclear option” goes into play then there would be no point for the democratic senators to show up to work. They would have no say in what goes on, and I do not think that is how our government should work.

Furthermore, the Republican Party will not always be the majority in the senate (although the represent the minority of the people: 44 Democratic senators represent 148,026,027 people; the 55 Republican senators 144,765,157). Whoever is in the majority will have control over the senate. Be it Republican or Democrat. This is a very short sighted view into the future.

I am just saying NO to the “nuclear option” and as your constituent I URGE you to do so as well!

Concerned,
Eric Carlson

What are you waiting for, tell Gordon Smith what you think!

Mexican solution to Army recruitment problems

The Army expects to fall short of its targeted number of recruits, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey told reporters yesterday, confirming the likely continuation of a trend that began in February when the active-duty Army missed its monthly goal for the first time since 2000. Last week, Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's personnel chief, said in congressional testimony that "monthly recruiting figures from March and April will be difficult to achieve."

The Iraq war, coupled with lower unemployment, creates one of the toughest recruiting environments in years, Army leaders are struggling to come up with innovative ways to reverse the trend of insufficient enlistees.

To increase the recruitment amount the Army has raised its recruitment age from 34 to 39. They are also going out to the “heart land” and pushing patriotism by saying that joining the army is the “noble” thing to do. They are trying some strategies with raising the age, but there are other options to them NOT INCLUDING THE DRAFT!

Coinciding with this decrease in military recruitment is an increase in Illegal aliens. A recent report showed that the number of illegal immigrants is growing by roughly 485,000 people a year. Furthermore, an analysis of government data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a private research group in Washington, showed an estimated 10.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States last year, an increase of about 23 percent from 8.4 million in 2000

Harry Pachon of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute in Los Angeles said the growth in illegal immigrants has risen with the US economy, with American businesses such as Wal-Mart looking to contractors who rely on undocumented workers "to fill jobs no one else will fill."
Bush already has a goal to create a "guest worker" visa program. Which, surprisingly, I think is a great idea. However, I think there is a connection to be made from these two recent news stories.

Mexicans by far remain the largest group of undocumented immigrants at 5.9 million, or about 57 percent of the March 2004 estimate. Many of these people have fought hard conditions to get into the United States, and now many of them are working in less than minimum wage conditions.

I think that if an illegal alien wants a no-complications way to become a U.S. resident, they should be able to join the army. I think that if someone wants to be a U.S. resident enough, they should have the option to join the military. This would create Mexicans that are “Proud to be Americans.” With joining the military the Mexicans would be able to learn English, support their family from abroad, and become a legal member of a somewhat functioning society.
I think there should be army recruiters giving the option of citizenship with military service at the border. This OPTION would increase the amount of traceable, legal, people in our country, give the Mexicans a legal lifestyle, and increase our military.

I realize that this would require some assimilation, which I am against. But in a crazy world that is controlled by Bush, where everyone that is not with you is against you (Canada, Axis of Evil, Syria) it would decrease the likelihood of a draft, which I AM VEHEMENTLY AGAINST!

For more information on the rise of illegal immigrants go here
For more information on the decrease of military recruits go here

The Great Beach Cleanup: Dirty Seaside

I just got back from seaside, and boy was it dirty. The beach I mean, there was tons of little plastic junk and garbage everywhere. It blew my mind, being only 2 days after the Great Oregon Beach Cleanup. As you may or may not know, I took part in this cleanup, but I went to a little beach, because I did not think there would be not that much help there. Turns out, I should have gone to Seaside. Seaside was so dirty, I just can not figure it out. There were tons of kids there for spring break, it seems like some of them must have helped out, or should have helped out. I CAN NOT understand, there where so many people there even during the bad weather yet there was still a problem.

The 4,100 volunteers who came out to beaches up and down the coast on Saturday, trash bags in hand, hauled away 58,000 pounds of garbage - impressive, but far below the record of 70,000 pounds.

I am one of the die hard 4,100 volunteers, and along with my special lady helped contribute to 1/2050th of the finding of a television set, a washing machine, a couch, two hot water heaters and more than 100 tires.
This fall, more people better come, or I will have to take some sort of EXTREME ACTION!

Good news for GSA in GA

I have been following the actions of Kerry Pacer for about a month, well since February 26th. Kerry pacer tried to start a Gay Straight Alliance club in her bigot dense town of Cleveland Georgia. After facing much anti-gay harassment she took her club idea to the school board. They turned her down. Fortunately for Kerry, she was smart enough to get the rule book and put the bigots in their place. However, it took about a month of fighting with community members and some crazy church groups to get the club into the school.

"I can’t tell you how relieved I am that the board is finally going to do the right thing and let us create a safe space for gay students at my school," said Kerry Pacer, a 16-year-old lesbian who decided to form the club with friends in an attempt to counteract rampant anti-gay harassment at the school. She added, "I understand that not everyone supports this club, and those people have a right to their opinion. But we also have a right to exist, and nobody’s rights should be trampled on."

With the help of the ACLU, Kerry Pacer’s club, with a revision of the name, will be able to meet after school. Hopefully without a problem.

I wish that there were not so many bigots and religious zealots in the south, but it is good to know that their close mindedness can not completely stop progress. I think Kerry Pacer is a type of revolutionary, standing for what she believes in and not bowing down to the pressure that is put on her by those in her community. She fought for, and with help created a positive change in her school. She should be applauded for what she has done, and I hope that her Peers Rising in Diversity Education club (PRIDE) does not face any more problems, and continues to grow.