Latest Articles
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Using TV to illumininate and inspire
Last night I watched the film Good Night, And Good Luck. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It is currently available on DVD.
The movie is about the 1953 CBS News team (led by Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly) that successfully went head-to-head with the junior senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. How closely the situation in 1953 mirrors today is disturbing, but CBS's success gives us hope.
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Boehlert over and out
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) -- a frequent ally of environmentalists -- announced today that he won't seek re-election in November.
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‘Kulongoski’ is almost as fun to say as ‘fungible’
A) How did I miss this, and B) did Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski really just say that he wants 100% of the state government's energy to come from renewable sources by 2010?
(via WattHead)
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Meta-trackback
The other day I indulged in one of my favorite hobbies: Chauncey Gardiner-esque musings on oil and geopolitics. Even more auto-delightfully, I used the word "fungible" a bunch.
Well, over at The Oil Drum, Yankee linked to said musings and kicked off a comment thread that ended up containing all sorts of fascinating reflections, some more related to what I actually said than others. Definitely worth a peruse. The thread is capped by this magisterial pronouncement from TOD proprietor Dave (no relation):
All these considerations are inter-related. This question has so many independent variables in it that no meaningful prediction or opinion can really be expressed.
Ha ha, but you can't stop me, Dave! I have a blog!
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‘Eco-terrorism’: A non-retraction
The other day I linked to a letter to the editor in the Toronto Star in which the head of the U.S. Humane Society defended his organization against accusations by the Center for Consumer Freedom that it is tied to "eco-terrorist" organizations. Today another letter, from David Martosko at CCF, insists that no such accusations were made. Martosko sent me a link to the letter and asked, "care to retract?"
As it happens, no, I don't. I don't know any of the specifics about what CCF may have said about HSUS, or why HSUS may have misinterpreted it, but I'm perfectly willing to accept that CCF did not make the accusations in question. But the specific accusation was never my point. Martosko makes much of the distinction between HSUS and other animal-rights groups:
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Consider me one of the deluded
Repent, all ye pesticide-haters:
Organic Egg Brainwashing
Today, November 8, 2004, a shopper at the local Whole Foods market was observed buying a half dozen (6) brown, organic, cage free chicken eggs for $2.49. She could have purchase five dozen (60) regular eggs at the nearby Costco Wholesale store for $2.89. She paid 8.6 times or 760 percent more for eggs that are no different than the regular eggs. The organic food craze has reached the level of mass delusion.I mention this only because it comes from the delightfully non-sequiturious http://www.biblelife.org/eggs.htm. Bible Life? Eggs? Did someone forget to tell me that Robert Atkins was Jesus reincarnated?
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Space-based solar energy stations?
I admit I have no idea what to make of this. But apparently Business 2.0 (yeah, I thought they went under during the dot-com bust, too) is reporting ...... early in the next decade SIG will begin placing huge, mile-wide sheets of solar cells in earth orbit. These NASA-designed structures, called solar power satellites, will convert sunlight into electricity, then use weak, pollution-free, environmentally safe microwave beams to send that energy down to simple antennas anywhere on Earth. The antennas will convert the beams back into electricity and feed it into standard existing power grids at an extremely low cost. The system will operate 24/7 overcoming the drawback of rooftop solar cells and windmills.
Like I said, I have no idea what to make of it. But looks pretty nifty, don't it? And at least the Kennedys can't bitch about their viewshed ...
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Current crappy air-quality regulations preserved … yipee!
The Bush administration got a serious kick in the pants today from the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, which ruled that a proposed change in rules governing power plants violated the Clean Air Act -- in fact, that the EPA's interpretation of the law reflected "a Humpty Dumpty world." Ah, those federal judges. Cards.
At issue is the "new source review" provision of the CAA, which requires power plants and other industrial facilities doing anything beyond routine maintenance to add up-to-date anti-pollution technology. Industry hates this rule, and squashing it has been a top Bush administration priority from the beginning.
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The Daily Grist Headline Battle Royale: Match 4
And last week's winner is (drum roll ...) "It's Hard Out Here for a Chinook" with 39%. Natch.
Now, here are this week's nominees:
- Silly Rabbit, Toxics Aren't for Kids!: Parents strive to protect kids from everyday chemical hazards
- Love Means Never Having to Remove Your Oil Platforms: Controversial research shows fish thriving around California oil platforms
- That'll Anacostia: A plan to spruce up D.C.'s Anacostia River has some residents anxious
- Flame! I Wanna Log Forever: Congress debates measure that would speed up salvage logging
- Sense and Sensitivities: Multiple Chemical Sensitivities can cause poverty as well as ill health
