The March 10 issue of BusinessWeek has a set of charts that discuss a McKinsey & Company report that discusses how best to approach reducing carbon emissions. Essentially, the approach is to start with the actions that save more money than they cost and provide the most carbon reductions for the money – things like improving the efficiency of commercial and residential electronics, changing over all lighting to high-efficiency bulbs, and improving vehicle fuel economy. Then we go and start building more nuclear plants, engaging in reforestation projects, and other high cost/negative economic return activities. The image below is one of the charts from that issue – click on it for a larger, more readable version.

Source: BusinessWeek.com, 3-10-2008 magazine issue

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Today oil hit $110 a barrel and the national average cost of regular per gallon reached $3.246.

Now, I’m not an economist; I only play one at S&R. But like most of you in the U.S., I watch those gasoline prices ratchet higher and higher, and I’m ticked off. How come they’re going up so fast? How come they’re so high? And why isn’t someone explaining this to me?

I wish the press would spend more time telling me why prices are climbing. Yes, the press appropriately stresses the consequences of record gasoline prices on those who cannot absorb the increases. But it too often fails to point to the bad guys (we all need someone to blame, right?). Somebody’s gotta take the fall for this, many of us think.
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My old pal and bandmate Mike asked me to write a few lines about this, so I will:

This year’s induction group for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (hereafter referred to as the R&R HOF) includes the following:

Leonard Cohen, John Mellencamp, The Dave Clark Five, and The Ventures. Madonna’s been inducted, too, but I’ll get to her in a few….

Let’s look at this group with a purely jaundiced eye (mine) for a few moments, shall we? And let’s NOT look at them as fans but as reasonable, rational creatures who know something about music, the music business, and about the traitor to music horse shit purveyor that is Jann Wenner, chair of the artist selection committee, who manipulates the selection system. Full story »

Man, can’t wait to see this on the big screen.

Thanks to Mike Smith for passing this on. I think his job description must look something like this: “screw around surfing YouTube all day.” Good work if you can get it.

Martin reported a few days ago on our nation’s pharmaceutically enhanced water supply, and this morning I had an odd thought.

How long will it be before a pro athlete fails a drug test and blames it on the tap water?

Put me down for Barry Bonds on Monday….

by Dr. Lynn Schofield Clark

When it’s time for politics in the U.S., it seems, it’s also time to talk about religion. So first there were stories of Huckabee’s success among evangelicals, and then there was the quelched rumor about Obama’s supposed connections with Islam (he is a member of the United Church of Christ, a liberal Christian denomination). Hillary Clinton received fewer stories about her Methodist faith, although she did speak of it at the Global Summit on AIDS at a large California megachurch pastored by Rick Warren (best selling author of “The Purpose-Driven Life”), according to one story.

By far the most religion-and-politics coverage so far has gone to Huckabee. Full story »

Appearing weekly, Nota Bene takes a step back from the news. Also, as an appendix, it culls trenchant comments to articles and posts, as well as the occasional passage from email. Nota Bene was founded by Mike Sheehan.

When New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer spit the bit, it was a loss for New York state and the Democrats. But Spitzer had been, and continues to be a problem for Hillary Clinton, as Peter Baker, blogging for the Washington Post, points out. John Nichols also weighed in on this at the Nation. Full story »