Today Al Gore jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless work to bring the issue of global warming to skeptical audiences and provide much-needed leadership. Greenpeace has been campaigning to save the polar bear, which is highly threatened by the loss of artic ice caused by global warming:

According to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a study conducted on behalf of the Arctic Council, polar bears “are unlikely to survive as a species if there is an almost complete loss of summer sea-ice cover, which is projected to occur before the end of this century by some climate models.”

For such a supposedly dry topic, SiCKO sure caused a lot of wet eyes and enthusiastic claps during the opening night viewing I attended. Maybe Single-Payer Health Care should be the number one domestic topic for our Democratic candidates, considering the very critical consequences our current immoral, for-profit scam is inflicting on human beings. Right after the number one international topic: ending the immoral, for-profit scam we’ve inflicted on Iraq, which is sucking all our dollars into foreign death instead of national health.

I’m watching a fish in my aquarium picking up rocks with his mouth, swimming a few inches away, and then depositing the pebble. He is making a space for himself, defining the dimensions of his habitat. You may ask, “How does this relate to anything?” The same way everything relates to everything. Pick any subject, and I’ll tell you how it connects to that fish. “What about cosmology?”, you may offer. I was reading a fascinating summary of a new theory about the nature of our reality, how it may have come into existence, and what may become of the universe we inhabit.

A NYTimes essay about a newly drafted logarithmic map of our entire known cosmology reminded me about a paradox of our existence. Each of us is insignificant in terms of magnitude, yet significant in terms of position as the center of our personal universe. The essayist writes:

My friend has a page of Free Gift Ideas for the 2003 Holidays that are oriented for those of us who are sickened by the rampant commercialism of the season. There are many opportunities for creative recycling this time of year: for example, re-use last year’s gift bags and remember to save packaging for next year, and make ornaments out of dead lightbulbs by painting them and attaching a hanger. Try to remember that the most important gift is your love.

The disconnect between print, television and internet news has grown increasingly evident lately. For years, only profit-engendering news was deemed worthy of space on the paper that once grew as trees in our forests or the airwaves that belong to us all.

Before the invasion of Iraq and the Oscars, I went to a theater to view Martin Scorsese’s film, “Gangs of New York.” Set in tumultuous New York City in the mid-1800’s, the opening scene chronicles a battle between an Irish immigrant group known as the Dead Rabbits, led by Priest Vallon (Liam Neeson), and the pre-existing Anglo group calling themselves Native Americans, led by Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day-Lewis).