Archive for the ‘politics’ Category

Probably not.  Despite the oft-heard cliché, history does not repeat myself.  But once again, an unpopular Argentine government is stirring up deep nationalistic feelings as a distraction from its failed policies.

 

It's about time.  Commuting in LA is a hassle for countless reasons:  the highways are clogged, neighborhood streets are unsafe thanks to frazzled drivers, no one wants one-way streets in their neighborhoods, biking is Russian Roulette, and the love for cars exceeds the horror of brown air hanging above us. (more...)

Thomas Friedman with CNN's Campbell Brown

One thing you can say about the green movement is that in some ways, it has matured.  Take the case of Stuart Brand, to some the patriarch of the environmental movement.  Forty years ago, Brand, the author of the classic Whole Earth Catalog,  preached we had to leave the cities and live off of the land.  Well, now he’s back in the city, and there’s an understanding that high-density housing is better than scarring the earth with McMansions and big box stores.  Big cities also have jobs . . . and while we don’t want to live in a slum, those slums house former peasants who are seeking a better life, better than the one of subsistence farming that also ruins the land.

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The mini-midterm elections have come and gone, which means I am not turning on the TV today (except for Dr. Nancy at 9am, I’m a convert!), because all the chatter of what this election means will drive me mad.  So if you’re wondering what last night's returns meant, I will save you time by telling you—they meant nothing.  Virginia’s gubernatorial race has gone against the party in the White House since 1977, and it’s Democratic candidate hoped attacking a term paper written 20 years ago would sink his opponent, who spanked him by 18 points.  In upstate New York, a Democrat won a seat that had been in Republican hands since Susan B. Anthony’s days.  California’s Lieutenant Governor was bored with his job and kept the Contra Costa County-based seat in Democratic hands.  Mayor Bloomberg barely won a third term as New York’s Mayor after spending tens of millions and barreling the City Council into revoking term limits, which turned off many of the Big Apple’s voters.  And then there’s hapless Jon Corzine.

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Everyone is on the renewable energy bandwagon.  Supposed visionaries like T. Boone Pickens preached about using wind in the nation’s heartland to provide electricity for the United States’ major population centers.  Here’s the problem:  massively sized projects such as Pickens’ plan means building huge networks of transmission lines that are expensive and would take years to complete.  So while the term “buy local” grates on my nerves as much as “go green” or “10% post-consumer recycled,” perhaps looking locally for renewable or alternative energy sources really is the way to go. (more...)