Clinton Portis of the Washington Redskins just keeps laying down the evidence in his pursuit of the crown of “America’s Most Stupid.” After defending the reprehensible “sport” of dog-fighting and Michael Vick’s “right” to be involved in it, now Mr. Portis has done “research” that has informed him that he might have been wrong. What, you may ask, was the “research”?
Portis said he has since done research on the subject and saw people crying over two humpback whales trapped in a river near San Francisco. He said he even wondered if he was being watched on a hidden camera when a woman sitting next to him at an airport spread a blanket and put down a bowl of water for her dog.
"I had no idea the love that people have for animals or didn't consider it when I made those comments," Portis said. "I'm not even a pets man. I've got a fish — that's the easiest thing to keep up. I've never been into dogs, never dealt with dogs, don't like playing with dogs. But at the same time, there's a lot of people who are crazy over pets."
Oh. My. God. Could someone just hand him the revolver with all the chambers loaded? He watched people crying? A woman in the airport was guilting him? People love animals is news to him? Well, there is one indication that two synapses in his “brain” have fired simultaneously:
Portis said Tuesday he'll be more judicious before offering an opinion that might come back to haunt him.
"From now on, I don't comment on nobody," Portis said. "My life is the only thing I can control."
No, Clinton, your mouth, not your life. You're a football player. You have no control of your life. Just control your mouth.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Please, Just Shut This Man Up
Weather, Water, Energy 6-06-07
- The history that will define the US legacy to humanity is being written right now. Yes, indeed, Bushnev has already said flat out that the US will not support German and G8 initiatives to commit major nations to the already compromised goals of limiting the increase of our temps rather than even trying to reverse our effects on the planet, as if we know what we’re playing with, no matter what heroics Japan thinks it can play. When the books (or electronic files) are written on this era, this nation will stand with China as the major villains, with India and Australia playing their ignorant flunkies. Think about that. We will be linked with China, a nation so bound up and stupid that it commits this. That’s all that needs to be said.
- Don’t really know what Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award is (like you do), but Gore just won it for his efforts in fighting global warming so it must be cool.
- Here’s why our efforts to deal with global warming, despite Al and the 3% who get the threat we face. The people responsible for dealing with it approach it the same way they approach everything, as if the elements for control are there and it’s just a matter of human ingenuity to pull the solutions together. Catch this quote from an idiot minister in Australia:
Downer questioned a draconian approach, saying: "You will not succeed in getting China to abandon a policy of lifting people out of poverty, or getting India to abandon a policy of lifting people out of poverty. You will succeed by ensuring that there is appropriate investment in research and development and new technologies that come on stream over time. That is going to be the best way of dealing with this."
What if the crap is going to come down whether China or India pull anyone out of poverty or not? Okay, nature, we’re not going to let you overwhelm us unless you agree to let China, India, everyone on the whole damn planet set things up the way they want them. You rising temps. Just go back in your hole because we humans decide how the entire planet and its systems are going to behave. We aren’t going to pay attention to the latest British Antarctic Survey study showing the glaciers there moving faster toward the sea than we previously knew or predicted or that a cyclone is about to hit the Middle East and its oil supplies for the first time in recorded history. La, la, la, can’t hear you.
When the seas start (continue) rising and crops start (continue) dying and species start (continue) going extinct and populations start (continue) piling up on one another (great summary of basics you need to memorize here), we as humans will nevertheless have the power to decide whether or not a China or an India will get to do whatever they want. At least the historical record, if it survives (doesn’t look like world monuments will), will have these kinds of (bad) nonsense quotes to verify the trail of hubris that not only led to this natural disaster occurring but also justified all the inaction that let the worst that could happen happen (or adopted more hubris-induced and cure-worse-than-the-disease “fixes” ). And we, the US and all of us in it, will be held responsible. But somehow I bet we’ll just live with that ‘cause that’s just who we are now. - Meanwhile, OPEC is threatening that, should the US and others seriously develop ethanol, it will cut back on oil production and send prices through the roof. Tell me again why this will be upsetting to Bushnev, Cheneyov, and the rest of the Big Oil White House? (And airlines are trying to hold the EU and its emissions restrictions to the same extortion, as Ecuador is to anyone who doesn’t want them to allow drilling in their tropical forests. Sounds like, in a world of scarcity, the future will be called “blackmail.”)
- Yet, just when the night is darkest, light may suddenly appear. Solar-generated light. From the Vatican. No fooling. Not a big fan of the Pope, at best he’s a tool, at worst he’s despicable, but this might actually help on the margins, and given what’s happening with the rest of the world “leadership,” anything that helps right now is welcome.
- And Jerry Brown didn’t wait way too long to make another mark on CA politics. As the state’s AG, he’s filing suit against San Bernadino County for, get this, its unplanned sprawl because of its impact on greenhouse gas emissions. If he’s successful, this might, like most things good and bad, out of CA into other states and make a positive mark on national politics. The guy just doesn’t ever seem to go away, does he? We’ll be keeping an eye on this.
- The EPA funded this: "The State Energy Efficiency Scorecard for 2006," released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, based in Washington, D.C., lists as the best 10 states Vermont, Connecticut and California (tied for first place), Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island and Minnesota, tied for ninth place. Before we get cocky, let’s note that the highest score was 33 out of 44. The bottom 26 states scored between 10 and, gulp, 0.5. Reminds me of the curves I used to give on Amer gov’t tests . . . and why I got out of higher ed.
- Alberta (the Canadian province, not the waitress at your bar) had big eyes for making money off its oil sands until CA, other states, and some Canadian provinces agreed to limit purchase of fuels that emit high levels of greenhouse gases in their production. Oil types there are still cocky that they will prevail, given politics and economic pressures, and who’s betting against them? But it’s nice to see sense prevail for a while, especially when the article never even mentioned the water usage for this kind of fuel production. Canada may not dread the future in that way other nations do, but it may also find more profitable uses for its water, too. Just can’t be excited about fuel that causes more trouble than it solves for some reason.
- Finally, thunder in Greenland. No, not from storms. From melting icecaps. Melting faster than the models predicted. Enhancing the chances of that fresh water flow into the Gulf Stream and other warm weather-delivering currents. On the positive side, the Greenland fishermen are loving the warmer fish catches they’re starting to get, and the tourism industry there is booming with more and more people catching flights in to see global warming happening . . . uh . . . more flights?
My Month of Entertainment – May 2007
After the explosion that was April, this was a pretty slow month. And a single-faceted one.
Books
None. I gots plenty to read already.
DVDs
Muppet Show, Season 1 – Why? Why not! I’ve just not had enough Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew in my life lately.
This month’s Netflix rentals: none. That’s right, a combination of our being pretty busy and our being bored with our Netflix queue made us super lazy in the DVD department. We’re Netflix’s favorite customers now...paying our monthly fee and demanding nothing of them. Actually, I’m open to suggestion here...we’re going to retool our queue and try to actually find some movies we’re interested in...ideas? What’s a great movie you’ve rented/seen lately? We split this subscription with The Butterfly’s parents, and they prefer new releases...keep that in mind...
Music
Friendly Fire Recordings Sampler
Independent Music Awards Winners Sampler
One good thing about eMusic is they put out lots of free samplers for download. One bad thing is, they always sucker me into downloading the free samplers, and 99% of them suck. For the most part, the Independent Music Awards Winners sampler was pretty sorry for two reasons: a) horrible sound quality of the downloads, and b) horrible song quality of the performers. There were a couple exceptions, but not just a ton to write home about. And who knows, maybe I'd have like some of the songs if they'd been better sound quality.
As for Friendly Fire Recordings...this was decent. I was unimpressed for the most part, but it did allow me to discover an artist I’d have otherwise overlooked: Elk City. For one thing, one of my high school’s main rival schools was the Elk City Elks (one of the few schools in the country with school colors of brown and white). I saw the name and got excited. Turns out this group is from New York, which was a bit of a buzzkill...but they’re good anyway. They’ve got a quirky, very indy sound, and their lead singer, Renee LoBue, is really really interesting. Downloading this sampler caused me to download Elk City’s latest album, New Believers, but that took place in June, so you’ll have to wait a month for that review, now won’t you? They’re impressive, though, and since the point of these samplers is to introduce you to music you wouldn’t have otherwise found, I call Friendly Fire a success and Indy Music Awards a failure.
Dinosaur Jr., Beyond
I’ve never been a big fan of J Mascis’ vocals--I don't need a powerhouse voice, but his voice is thin enough to get lost in the mix occasionally--and the vocals are the same on Beyond as they ever were, but this album is a success. “We're Not Alone” has the best guitar solo I’ve heard in a 2007. It's an unbelievable song, and while that’s not all the album has to offer ("Almost Ready", "Crumble", "Back to Your Heart", "I Got Lost" and others are solid), it’s definitely the biggest highlight. I love that bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Mission of Burma are finding their footing again.
Tinariwen, Aman Iman: Water is Life
My ongoing dabbling into African music—which had gone dormant for a couple years after my initial discovery of Orchestra Baobab, Baaba Ma’al, and Ali Farka Toure—continues to pick up steam in recent months. This was recommended to me by a friend, and it was worth it. Not as good as Hugh Masekela or the Afro-Rock collection, but solid.
Incredible Bongo Band, Bongo Rock
Not sure what possessed me to pick up this 30+ year old mostly-percussion album, but wow...what a revelation. First of all, just about every damn song on the album has been sampled in hip hop at some point, most notably “Apache”, which is the highlight of the album along with the remix of "Last Bongo in Belgium". I’ve mentioned many times on here that I’m basically a groove whore...I love good beats, and I will go to great lengths to find them...and wow, did I find a good selection of them on Bongo Rock.
Funkadelic, Live: Rochester, MI, 9-12-71
Funkadelic, Cosmic Slop
My embarassingly late discovery of Maggot Brain last month led to a couple more purchases this month. Not sure why the Rochester ’71 show was released as a live album since the band was breaking in a new rhythm section at the time, but it’s still a good show. I was worried about the sound quality, but it holds up. And songs like “Maggot Brain” and "All Your Goodies Are Gone (The Loser's Seat)" make it worth a few downloads.
As for Cosmic Slop...“You Can’t Miss What You Can’t Measure” is my favorite song of the month. Better than anything on Wilco’s album or anything else. It’s the perfect encapsulation of every single Funkadelic song into about 4 minutes. You can’t listen to that song without a smile on your face. The album as a whole is a bit weaker than Maggot Brain, but “You Can’t Miss...” is unbelievable.
Bright Eyes, Cassadega
I really appreciated what Conor Oberst was trying to accomplish in simultaneously releasing two very different albums—I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn—in 2004. I was curious how his next release would incorporate the two disparate sounds—the acoustic folk/country of Wide Awake and the electronic noise of Digital Ash. Well...Cassadega’s decent. Good, even. Oberst really is as good a song-writer as there is today, but the subject matter here is a little less urgent than in the past. Oberst secured his reputation as a political songwriter by performing “When the President Talks to God” on Leno, but a majority of his songs are anything but political. Oberst’s main songwriting strength isn’t talking about struggle directly, but talking about life...of which struggle is a part.
The main problem with Cassadega is the lack of a true, unbelievable, standout track. "Soul Singer in a Session Band" is great, but it doesn't pack much emotional punch. "Lime Tree" is good and emotional, but...upon first listen at least (it'll grow on me, I'm sure), no song on Cassadega does for me what "Hit the Switch" or "Arc of Time (Time Code)" or "Train Under Water" or "Road to Joy" did on 2004's albums.
Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
The Heartbreaker download was a simple course correction...I realized I should have gotten this album years ago and never had, so I picked it up. It's long been known as probably Adams' most solid work, and I needed it. Plus, the country-rock feel got me in the mood for Wilco's new album. My favorite track: "To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)".
As for Sky Blue Sky, I wrote a bit about it here, and I guess I'll expand a bit. I agree with part of Rolling Stone's review:With guitar whiz [Nels] Cline on board, they seemed to be heading in a more rocking direction -- for many of us, the 2005 live album Kicking Television was their finest hour. Cline's presence is more low-key here, but so is everything else about the album. Sky Blue Sky (great title -- Allman Brothers via Laurie Anderson) is understated, erratic, often beautiful, disarmingly simple music; it really sounds like six guys playing in a room, and no doubt that's how they wanted it.
This is People's Exhibit Q for the fact that Wilco never ever ever ever does what's expected of them. That doesn't mean I didn't like Sky Blue Sky--not even close--but it once again caught me off-guard.
Finally, a question before I go: Do you see any new hip hop on this list? WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE NEW HIP HOP?? By my count there's officially been one good hip hop release in 2007...Brother Ali. Five months into the year, and that's it. That's awful. Along with Netlfix rental suggestions, somebody please point me toward some good new hip hop. This is depressing. The end.
UPDATE, 8:27pm: Upon further review, the guitar in Wilco's "Side With the Seeds" competes very well with that of Dinosaur Jr's "We're Not Alone", and "I Must Belong Somewhere" on Cassadega is as good as anything on one of Bright Eyes' other albums. So there you go.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Because I'm an absolute nerd...
I found this fascinating. And I won't tell you just how much time I spent looking at Street View on Google Maps at work today...it's best to just keep that to myself...
Tuesday Pirates Rant™
The Rant™ is back after a Memorial Day-induced “I didn’t realize it was Tuesday until Tuesday was over” absence! Try to contain your excitement.
So the Pirates are now 24-33 with roughly two pitchers doing much of anything. However, they’re 1.5 games out of 2nd place in the NL “Comedy Central” and only 7.5 games out of 1st. If they were in the NL East, they’d be a half-game from last and 12 games out of 1st. NL West? They’d be in a distant last place (at least 3 games from everybody else) and a solid 10 games back. But no...they get to pretend like they have something play for for another couple of...well, maybe weeks, maybe months, depending on how the Brewers and Cardinals play.
Things are so screwy in the NL Central that the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Dejan Kovacevic, by all means a competent and sane beat writer, wrote this article last week—about whether the Pirates will be sellers or buyers at the trading deadline—with a completely straight face. Never mind that the Pirates went 11-18 in May and have started June a crisp 1-3...or that they’ve averaged just 2.8 runs per game since scoring 14 against the Reds on May 27...or that their bullpen has imploded since carrying the team the first few weeks of the season...they’re contenders, baby!! Just listen to the players!Ask the Pirates' players, naturally, and they would welcome a boost to the roster.
This is precisely what I was scared of at the beginning of the season. This is a bad team. Possibly one of the worst the Pirates have had in a while. But because the teams around them are just as bad, they might do something stupid in another couple of months, like trade one of the three prospects in their system that anybody would actually want for somebody none of the real contenders (teams with both higher payrolls and actual minor league prospects) thought enough to make an offer for.
"I was just talking to Freddy Sanchez the other day about that," shortstop Jack Wilson said. "Who can we go out and get? Who's available?"
"I think we've got a good chance in this division," starter Ian Snell said. "The window's there. It's just a matter of whether or not we want to take advantage of it. I know I want it. But you've got to add pieces to win."
I was also scared of this scenario because I knew it would look like I was rooting against my own team in the Rant™. I don’t want to sound too cynical here. It would be really fun to watch the Pirates in the playoffs...but I just know this organization (i.e. GM and ownership) too well. If they make a trade at the Deadline, it will be three steps beyond desperate. Some GM will take advantage of Dave Littlefield, and any trade he could pull off wouldn’t even remotely help the organization. And beyond that, in the rare possibility that the Pirates win the division (probably with like 77 wins or something), ownership would do something horribly stupid like sign Littlefield to a 10-year extension. Plus, there’s absolutely no chance that they would actually win a series in the playoffs. This isn’t like last year’s Cardinals, who crept into the playoffs with 83 wins and won the World Series. The Cardinals were injured and bored most of the year, but everybody knew they might have a run in them. Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, a horrid offense, a bad defense, and a broken down bullpen, would not be able to make a Cardinals-esque run. They just wouldn’t. I’m as eternally optimistic as they come, but...come on. When/if the Pirates make the playoffs in my lifetime, I want them to actually be a good team that has a chance to win...I don’t want them to have made it because the other five teams in their division were terrible...er, even more terrible than they were.
Then again, I don’t think the Brewers are going to sink too much further, and between them and either the Astros or Cardinals (or maybe the Cubs, but probably not), the NL Central will be won with between 84-88 wins...not 77. And since the Pirates are currently on pace for 68 wins...yeah...
Good
* After a couple of rough starts, Ian Snell pitched wonderfully again in his last start. He is now 5-4 with a 2.93 ERA. His stablemate, Tom Gorzelanny, is cruising along at 6-3 / 2.52 as well. Unfortunately, two-man rotations haven’t existed since about the 1880s.
* Jason Bay has caught fire, and his numbers are once again very Jason Bay-like—.306 BA, .376 OBP, .530 SLG, 10 HR, 43 RBI. He’s on pace for 122 RBI...not only would that be a career high, but that would also account for about 2/3 of the Pirates’ runs on the season. Just kidding. Sort of.
* It should be noted that a couple other players have done pretty well lately. Adam LaRoche has raised his average to .223, which is relatively impressive considering where it was a few weeks ago. Also, Xavier Nady—traded to the Pirates for Oliver Perez and Roberto Hernandez last trading deadline—is putting up his typical numbers—.280 BA, 9 HR, 31 RBI. It ain’t great, but for the Pirates it kinda is.
Bad
* It should also be noted that Oliver Perez is now 6-4 with a 2.80 ERA for the Mets right now. He’s on pace for almost 200 K’s and looking more and more like the 2004 version of Perez that the Pirates misplaced for two years before trading him for Nady. Another awesome trade for Dave Littlefield. But hey...using hindsight isn’t fair...it’s not like anybody thought that was an awful trade at the time...oh wait...
* Starters Zach Duke and Paul Maholm continue to take one step forward and nine steps back. Duke is 2-6 with a 5.73 ERA, while Maholm is 2-8 with a 5.34 ERA.
* After a pretty decent month of May, Salomon Torres reverted to his April form by blowing a save on Thursday (ruining a strangely dominant start by Shawn Chacon), getting demoted back to his setup man role, then blowing a lead from that role on Sunday. The bullpen that carried the team through the first few weeks of the season, when the offense had no punch, has shown massive signs of strain lately...and after a couple of weeks in which Pirate bats actually connected with the occasional ball, the offense has disappeared again in the last week or so. That probably isn’t a very good combination.
* Did I mention that the Pirates are the worst baserunners in the league? Not only have they been thrown out between third and home THIRTEEN TIMES this season, but this week they also managed not to score on back-to-back doubles in back-to-back games. Think about that. Back-to-back doubles result in 0 runs. In back-to-back games.
* Think about that some more. That’s not only inept, that’s historically inept. But they’re contenders! Honest!
What a cynic I've become...
Who says conservatives aren't funny?
Man oh man...I honestly wasn't prepared for just how happy conservapedia would make me. Almost as happy as the Boston Globe continues to make me for their apparent commitment to actual journamalism."After the Flood, these kangaroos bred from the Ark passengers migrated to Australia. There is debate whether this migration happened over land with lower sea levels during the post-flood ice age, or before the supercontinent of Pangea broke apart, or if they rafted on mats of vegetation torn up by the receding flood waters."I must concede that the idea of ancient kangaroos guiding a turfy armada to Australia is nearly sufficient to change my mind about evolution.
Conservapedia epitomizes modern Americans' penchant for seeking out congenial realities, known as "cocooning." Just last week, the Creation Museum, derided as "the creationist Disneyland," opened its doors in Petersburg, Ky. The museum aims to illustrate the scientific underpinnings of the Bible. "This is nonsense," theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss told The Washington Post. "It's fine for people to believe whatever they want. What's inappropriate is to then essentially lie and say science supports these notions."I used to worry that paying attention to things like this would only legitimize them. Now I embrace it.
...
Here's its index of homosexuality entries, which do not betoken a broad-minded view of men and women at ease with their sexual identities:
1 Old Testament 2 New Testament (Epistles) 3 Promiscuity and disease 4 Homosexuality and Mental Health 5 Modern justifications 6 Judicial activism 7 Homosexuality and Marriage 8 Homosexuality and Animals 9 Homosexuality and Creationism and the Theory of Evolution 10 Reparative Therapy
Weather, Water, Energy 6-05-07
Couple of good posts at Grist on the coming on of wind power, this one on how to deal with the wind intermittency problem and this one on the need for the same kind of government support that has kept nuclear and oil from becoming cost-prohibitive. IA’s new gov is already out on the hustings (what are hustings?) promoting his state as the national leader in the wind initiatives, but he’s never been to western OK or TX. We need to line up all the people who say wind can’t be competitive and having them saying it in the direction of the turbines. Nations would be powered. . . .
This is probably not the last time we’ll hear of these kinds of problems. Turns out the aquifers that feed NV water needs are more closely interconnected with those in UT than previously believed, meaning that as NV sucks them dry to keep Vegas going, UT folks will be losing water, too. Not sure they’ll be good sports about keeping Sin City going, but we’ll see. . . .
This article lays Europe’s claim to superiority over US on global warming efforts, although it admits that the major component (a cap-and-trade system) still needs substantial revision to eliminate the politics imbedded in it (good luck on that), while this op-ed claims that Bushnev’s “asspirations” for emissions goals really are genuine and should be welcomed. Can you guess which was published in an international paper and which in an American one?
You get an A!!!
Our Hope for the Future
Not really going to say much about this new poll showing the Dems tanking because they’ve attached themselves to the Repubs on Iraq despite all their claims to the contrary. Other bloggers have much more and better to say on this in particular. My only addition to it would be that the Dems attaching themselves as they have was predictable and predicted. (Here, as a matter of fact.) Having them in the majority is better than having Repubs on the margins, but the change needed from traditional Beltway ways requires a revolutionary, confrontational mindset, not the blather and pabulum that have made the Democratic Party what it is today. (I’m not the only one with this “doom and gloom” view. Here’s from a recent MIT report, quoted in the Financial Times, that shows college grads falling behind economically: “only a re-orientation of government policy can restore the general prosperity of the postwar boom.”)
I’ve pretty much stopped commenting on what’s happening politically because it’s a waste of time and scarce mental energy. We have serious problems but no leaders who seriously get it in more than a couple of components, at best, and the cliff is speeding up at us fast. I’ve said here before that it may be that we will just have to go off that cliff and wait to see what pieces can still be picked up before we do what’s necessary to save our democracy. I believe that more than ever after the last year. It’s not going to happen from any of those folks playing the “debate” games this week. They don’t have the capacity to see what’s happening and needed, sorta talking but not really walking. Gore finally does, but has wisely decided to stay out of it at this point. He knows how hard it is to wash off the taint. It really is going to take that cliff to make us wake up. It took a Great Depression and a World War to make us ready for this guy. Hopefully Al will still be around.
[As if you need any more proof of the Dems’ dangerous incapacities, just note that the Congressional Dems are sponsoring legislation to wipe out the landmark auto emissions agreement led by CA and other states, in a move to take power on the fed level and support reps from coal- and auto-producing states. And Pelosi is from where? These are the people we really expect to save us? Seriously???]
Monday, June 04, 2007
Music Bullets, 6-4-07
- Fresh on the heels of last year's Both Sides of the Gun, it appears that Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals (an official Good Nonsense favorite) will be releasing a new album sooner rather than later. Woohoo!
- The Police suck. Don't take my word for it...
- The best backup singer in the history of the world (and the rare woman who gets hotter the whiter her hair gets) is putting out both a new album and a giant box set. Cool.
- And finally, not everybody is sold on Live Earth...um, if it were true that "Everybody's known about that problem for years" and "we are all f***ing conscious of global warming", then this wouldn't actually be necessary at all. But everybody hasn't known, and everybody isn't f***ing conscious of it.
Weather, Water, Energy 6-04-07
We always emphasize here that fighting global warming can be a new economic boom if properly seen and acted upon, but also that the insistence that “economic growth” will not be sacrificed is the surest way to sacrifice economic growth in what’s coming. So, when China comes out with this “plan” to fight warming with a commitment to keep doing what’s it’s been doing only with alternatives if/when they come available and no commitment to developing the new economic infrastructure to bring on the possible boom, you know that it’s pointless. Especially when it refuses to cooperate with a proposed cap of only a 2 degree Celsius increase on global temps (that’s 3.6 of our natural, all-American degrees). IOW, let the planet burn while we crazily think we can develop under these conditions and pretend the developed world should do it all when we’re becoming the world’s leading emitter. (And in case you’re thinking, “Where’s India in this tirade?,” well, here it is, self-serving as ever.) What immoral tools. At least the article nails our own pointless little leader:
US President George W Bush - whose country is the only industrialised nation apart from Australia not to ratify the protocol - has proposed uniting a group of big emitters who would set non-binding targets by the end of next year.
But some analysts say this has been interpreted as a way of undercutting other initiatives - for example by the G8 or United Nations.
I love “non-binding targets” by “the end of next year” (which coincides with the end of his presidency. . . maybe). More countries have been done in by venality than perfidy, but Bushnev has pulled them both together in a really toxic combo. Of course, big surprise, his home state is the leading emitter of all the states. And you think it will get better with Georgi gone? Here’s Fred Thompson comparing what’s happening here with a warming Mars and Jupiter and making fun of scientists who don’t believe it’s all just “solar.” . . .
Meanwhile, while all these “leaders” dither with “voluntary” (that is, who know what will happen?) plans to promote economic development, the folks responsible for that development, the business leaders, are begging the politicians to give them some clear structure of policy plans so they can start doing their own planning for, you know, that economic development. Here’s what they’re telling the G8 leaders:
"To finance the solutions and manage the risks we need a strong policy framework that tackles carbon emissions effectively while providing transparency and stability for investment decision-making" said the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. . . .
Oh, and as the dithering crescends, we have Australia with its hottest autumn ever (which is our spring, but they’re upside down, literally), we’re warned the Himalayan glaciers could be gone in 50 years, Indonesia looks at rising sea levels the same way CA’s Delta Island folks do (that is, uh-oh), a UN report calls on nations to pay more attention to the effects of warming on animal species and their possible extinction, and another UN report lets us know that the loss of heat-reflecting ice during global warming may speed things up beyond what we’re prepared for. But, as that idiot NASA head said the other day, how arrogant of us to think that these things will be bad. (See his employee James Hansen's masterful takedown of the fool here.) . . .
Here is some truly positive news, though: GE Energy Financial Services has announced that it would double its renewable energy investments by 2010, and has become one of the first financial institutions to disclose the greenhouse gas emissions from its power plant equity investments. . . .
This news could be good or bad, I guess, depending. Turns out that rising sea levels affect the earth’s rotation, speeding it up, meaning that days will get shorter. Before you decide if it’s good or bad for you, note that the shortening will be .12 of a millisecond two centuries from now. But maybe you can still fit in that extra lesson of whatever you’ve been wanting to learn. . . .
But here’s unequivocally good news, via Grist. The Economist has an entire issue devoted to business waking up on the right side of the bed with global warming, complete with free links to all the articles. Go read.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
RIP Steve Gilliard...
Things had been looking pretty bleak for a while, and it looks like Steve succumbed to what was ailing him. My condolences to his family, friends, and blogmates.
And while we're talking about death, I noticed this article about Elizabeth Edwards at HuffPo...
Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, says she is writing a letter to her children so they will have her guidance after she is no longer with them.This is pretty much the living definition of strength. Hopefully I don't have a reason to display that kind of strength for quite a while.
Edwards, who announced in March that her breast cancer had returned in an incurable form, said she came up with the idea 20 years ago after watching the movie "Terms of Endearment," where the mother knew she was dying and wrote to her children.
The Quote That Kills Freedom
When historians try to figure out when and why the Brits and we gave up the freedoms that were our legacy to humanity, all they'll have to do is read this, from a story on British terrorism "protection":
British authorities say people shouldn't worry about the close surveillance -- unless they're doing something wrong.
"We appreciate that the cameras and some of the other measures are seen as invasive, but only people who really have something to worry about should be concerned," David Morgan, a metropolitan police chief superintendent, told The Associated Press on a tour of the bunker.
A greater ignorance of history and human behavior could not be displayed. Ironically, it's happening in England under the reign of Tony Blair's "liberals," which should tell you all you need to know about how much different it would be here if Hillary or her Beltway clones get elected President. More ironically, it's the Conservatives in Britain who are raising the red flag:
"We are sleepwalking towards a Big Brother society, not in one fell swoop but by stages," warns The Spectator, a conservative magazine. "There is no boot stamping on a face: just an ever more insistent foot in the door."
Folks, let's review. 9/11 had nothing to do with our authorities not having enough information. It happened because of horrible management and exchange of information already available. If that were cured (and there's no sign it has been because, you know, it would be harder than just spying on everyone, which no one, not even in this article, has demonstrated with evidence will stop what it claims to deter, we could live with the same rights and freedoms we had on 9/10. But we have the same brains as this "lawyer":
"When it comes to people's safety, I don't think they can go too far," said Jonathon Walkes, 29, a London lawyer. "For the most part, we just go about our lives knowing that people are watching. I'm still rowdy after a night at the pub."
Seriously, I just hope I die before history makes itself felt yet one more time amongst people who just never learn from it.
Weather, Water, Energy 6-3-07
Seriously, what is it about Anglos? We're going to be written up as the cancer cells of the human condition. Australia's idiot PM, believing that his constituents are idiots (and they've proven him right so far) puts forward an election year "reversal" on global warming and carbon trading that won't even come into effect for FIVE YEARS. Yeah, he's serious. About as serious as these congenital Beltway morons captured by David Roberts at Grist. I stopped watching "McNeill-Lehrer" over a decade ago when it became clear just how limited and parroting the show was, an echo chamber for DC cocktail parties and partiers. This clip, a discussion of Bushnev's latest fake-out on global warming, one of several in his reign that the elitists living in the Versailles on the Potomac have taken the bait on, a discussion that never discusses the content of Georgi's proposals or their likelihood of anything, can clearly stand as definitive proof of what happened to the First Amendment and the press' role in holding officials responsible in this country in the future.
If anyone then really cares.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Reality Sadism
I’ve never been a fan of any of the “reality” tv shows, somewhat because I know how scripted and reshaped after filming those things are, but mainly because of the degrading way they deal with people, even the “uplifting” house reconstruction shows. The major selling point of even the “who wants to be the next person to have a half hour show early on Saturday mornings on the Food Network?” shows is to show us people subjected publicly to criticism, much of it staged for tv effect. Yes, I realize this attitude is dyspeptic and makes me even more of an outlier, in this world but not of it, but I’ve found a kindred spirit at Discover’s Mind & Brain blog. A very good analysis of how these shows are in real reality a repeat of Stanley Milgram’s old electro-shock experiments that almost single-handedly brought on institutional review boards and hyper-vigilance in how universities now do research. Here’s the key quote:
Sooner or later those of us feasting on this orgy of tele-sadism will have to accept our complicity in the process. After all, in Milgram’s experiments the real subjects were not the recipients of the electric shocks but those administering them. As the virtual reality versions have proved, it doesn’t matter whether what’s happening is real or staged: We react as if the pain inflicted were real. By sitting still for the elaborately staged social experiments of reality TV, we supply further evidence for Milgram’s main conclusion: “Ordinary people . . .without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process.”
Wish I’d said that.
Weather, Water, Energy 6-1-07
Amidst the faux offerings of Bushnev on emissions and the half-hearted cheers from foreign leaders (note Joseph Romm's catch of the fooled-yet-again US coverage and the not-fooled-at-all European coverage), the EU commissioner nails him:
"It is clear that we need a more ambitious position on the part of the United States," Barroso told Friday's edition of the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper.
"The United States are putting a lot of emphasis on market mechanisms in the fight against climate change, and they are right to do so," Barroso said.
"But market mechanisms only work if there are binding targets.
"As a major emitter of toxic gases, the United States naturally bears a particular responsibility."
Barroso said he did not believe that Bush's promise to work with his fellow leaders of the Group of Eight wealthiest nations to create a new framework to cap greenhouse gas emissions made it more likely that a commitment on the issue would be struck at the summit in the northern German resort of Heiligendamm. . . .
Barroso said: "In the US Congress there is very visible support for more ambitious proposals. It is all just a question of time.
"I hope we will make a genuine breakthrough in 2009 for the post-Kyoto era."
And here’s proof. Australia’s idiot PM is adopting the same line, but, being an idiot, admitting that nothing’s really going to happen with these sorts of plans:
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday dropped his objections to a national carbon emissions trading scheme but said he would not be rushed into setting targets that could damage the economy.
Howard released a government-commissioned report that recommended establishing a carbon trading scheme in 2012, drawing criticism from green groups who want immediate action.
Meanwhile, MN shows what happens when gov’t’s are serious about dealing with the problem:
The bill sets a goal of reducing statewide global warming pollution across all sectors to 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. To accomplish these goals, the legislation requires the state to establish a carbon cap and trade program and to develop and implement a regional approach to reducing global warming pollution. ...
The bill increases annual energy savings in conservation improvement programs to 1.5 percent per year, which will result in a 25 percent decrease in Minnesota's electric and natural gas use by 2025. The law also requires utilities to consider community-based renewable energy for the satisfaction of the standard. UCS Minnesota consultant Barbara Freese was integrally involved in the passage of the bill.
But then, when the constituency you represent is ignorant, why would you try to lead? Latest CNN poll shows only 53% see global warming as extremely or very important, only a third even see it as the most important environmental problem (ocean pollution at 52%?? Really???), and only 3% recognize it as the most important problem this planet faces, which explains the general lack of attention paid by even the supposedly “progressive” blogs. The “let’s not scare people, let’s be good and moderate” types are winning, and will be damned. Nothing else is important, not abortion, homosexuality, Iraq, the economy, nothing, if this train goes off the rails, but only 3% see that after almost 3 decades of news on it. Like the old saying goes, if you think those representatives are bad, you should see their constituents. . . .
A new study indicates that climate models may be overestimating the droughts and underestimating the flooding in the future due to global warming. The data for the study are limited so it’s not fully accepted at this point (although this study does link monsoons to climate change), but somehow I don’t feel relieved either way it goes. And another study finds that models may need to be changed because apparently hurricanes and cyclones stir up the oceans enough to change flows and affect subsequent weather. So, if this is true, but wasn’t figured into the “droughts/floods” study, . . . see why it could go either way and neither is good? . . .
One of the popular “defenses” of the global warming deniers and obstructionists is to cite studies showing that plants (see “tropical forests”) contribute substantial amounts to our methane emissions. However, a new study has found flaws in that research and has indicated that methane emissions are actually negligible. Let’s all raise our hands, those of us who believe this will get the deniers and obstructionists to back off. . . .
And while we dither, the Japanese (of course) are showing off zero-emission cars at the G8 meeting where the US will insist that getting serious will deny economic opportunities. Makes you proud, doesn’t it?
About 90 minutes ago...
...we hit 50,000 visitors. I realize that's small change in the grand scheme of things (C&L has something like 140,000,000 at this point...kos probably has in the billions), but it's still pretty cool. So Visitor #50,000, searching for "best songs 2007" on a mac from a Univ. of Chicago terminal, we salute you.
I still find it creepy that sitemeter comes up with that level of insight on our visitors. All we're missing is fingerprint info. Or are we...?
