Olympic Mountains

This is really a reply to Fikshun’s comment yesterday about the weather in Seattle. I’m happy to leave you with the idea that we have awful weather. Yep, pretty bad all year…

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House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) stated on March 3 that “‘Cap-and-trade’ is code for increasing taxes, killing American jobs, and raising energy costs for consumers.” His claim is based on the fact that carbon-intensive energy sources such as coal, natural gas, and petroleum supposedly provide 85% of the energy consumed in the United States. And if energy prices go up as a result of a cap-and-trade market on carbon emissions, then that means the increase is a tax.

Let’s put aside for a moment the audacious claim made by the Heritage Institute (source of the 85% number mentioned at Boehner’s website) that nuclear power is renewable – it’s lower carbon, but it’s hardly renewable in the same sense as solar, wind, tidal, or geothermal. No, let’s focus instead on Boehner’s intentional blurring of the definitions of “capitalism” and “taxation.” Full story »

Naming rights awarded to Rho!

Here is your image – play through…

The economy is in free fall; peanut butter has become a deadly killer; and you’re worried about the fate of the planet due to our collective, environmental profligacy.  What you’re looking for is a silver bullet, an elegant solution that addresses multiple problems.  Well, by God, Eleanor Roosevelt has an answer for you.  Long considered a quaint relic of American history, her decision to dig up a portion of the White House lawn is being dusted off and discussed beyond the confines of hippie communes and Whole-Food stores.  The Victory Garden has found a new home on page 36 of The Economist (2/28 – 3/6 2009) and managed to nibble into a little bit of concrete outside the USDA headquarters in Washington.  Just in time for the season of seed catalogs and the yearly perfection of mental gardening.

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[They] were not fighting this perpetual war for victory, they were fighting to keep a state of emergency always present as the surest guarantee of authoritarianism.

– George Orwell, 1984

It looks like the fat lady will become a Victoria’s Secret model before she sings the finale of our woebegone war in Iraq.On Friday Feb. 27, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, young Mr. Obama announced that, “by August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.”We can speculate till the troops come home why Obama chose to make this announcement on a Marine Corps base as opposed to, say, on an aircraft carrier, but it’s a dead cert that the mission will be no more accomplished by August 2010 than it was in May 2003.

Obama also said in his speech that 35,000 to 50,000 troops will remain in Iraq after August 2010. Re-label them trainers, force protectors or whatever you like, the troops that stay behind will be combat troops.They won’t be training Iraqi security forces to peel potatoes, nor will they be protecting the day care facility for children of single Iraqi soldiers. Full story »

Hello, Mike Sheehan here, taking up Nota Bene again. Many thanks to my friend and colleague Russ Wellen for handling NB for so long! Hot links from recent days: Crisis in the American newspaper industry, reports Max Deveson for the BBC; in related news, a major newspaper editors’ conference has been scrapped, says Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher … Nutball US Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) tells RNC chief Michael Steele, “You be da man!” Ugh … This book’s too hot for Kenya, writes Shashank Bengali at Somewhere in Africa … The Milky Way may be full of Earth-like planets and alien life, says astronomer Alan Boss … Melissa at MOMocrats asks, is health care reform even possible? … The Amazon jungle may conceal a vanished empire, reports David Grann at the Boston Globe … Restore the Republic, says Gary Hart … There’s no pasta for Palestinians, laments Jamal Dajani at Huffington Post … President Obama isn’t doing enough to solve the financial crisis, argues James K. Galbraith … Brent Staples at The New York Times details the symbology of the ape in American bigotry … The GOP has become the party of Beavis and Butt-head, writes Paul Krugman … Republicans are more “fun” and “interesting” people, says Rep. Mitch McConnell. He should know … Steve Hynd writes of the “amorphous mass called the Taliban” at The New Atlanticist … Newt Gingrich calls out Attorney General Eric Holder, reports Andy Barr at Politico … Steve Coll sheds light on the India-Pakistan “back channel” … Gershom Gorenberg revisits the use of white phosophorus in Gaza … Ousted senator Rick Santorum froths that he hopes Obama’s policies fail … Twitter has jumped the shark, says Mark McKinnon at The Daily Beast; proof: the CIA is now following Osama bin Laden’s tweets, kids the one-man Onion, Andy Borowitz.

Crocus

I realize some of you all got snow today – and at the risk of being completely obnoxious – a sign of Spring!

According to a report at IPS News:

Pakistan’s Dharti Development Society, a non-governmental organization. . . plans to establish a vulture restaurant in the mountainous Karonjhar area in Sindh province.

No, not restaurants that serve vulture meat. Nor another version of Trader Vic’s, with its werewolves. But a restaurant that serves vultures. Full story »

Some say that the glass is half-full.  Some are ruefull that it is half-empty.  The bitter truth remains: the stupid glass is twice as big as it needs to be.  Optimist.  Pessimist.  Pessimist who has embraced his pessimism.  But where do these outlooks originate?  If it’s a conscious decision, i.e. will power, then the pessimist may argue that the optimist is deluding himself; furthermore, the optimist can argue that the pessimist is ruining everything on purpose.  The high priests of pharmacology consider the issue to be one of brain chemistry, fixable with the elixirs of better living through chemistry.  It may well be further out of our hands that, at least if preliminary research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B turns out to be correct.

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In a primer on how to conduct an interview relying almost solely on Republican talking points, PBS
NewsHour anchor Judy Woodruff discussed the new budget plan with White House Budget Director Peter Orszag on Wednesday night.

Woodruff’s first question isn’t necessarily a Republican talking point, but it might as well be.

JUDY WOODRUFF: $3.66 trillion, is that a number you can actually grasp?

Seriously, members of the mainstream media need to stop acting like they suddenly have the vapors over big government spending. The Republicans weren’t the only ones to preside over the most reckless spending in our government’s history over the last eight years, on a war of choice and tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in an environment of profligate deregulation and zero investment in infrastructure and our citizens’ future. Mainstream news outlets and their anchors and talking heads watched it all unfold while expressing little or no concern at the time.

Woodruff’s second question is like a GOP talking-point smorgasbord. Full story »

Dr. Slammy offered up some thoughts the other day on Joe Nacchio, the prison-bound former CEO of Qwest. For the good doctor, the case is both public and personal. For my part, I don’t know Joe, but do take some satisfaction in the knowledge that he’s going to Hell. And yes, I do have insider knowledge on that subject.

The most fascinating thing about Sam’s post, though, was what happened in the comment thread. I call your attention to comments #3, 6 and 23, in particular, whereupon we’re asked to believe that Joe Nachhio is not a criminal, but is instead, as Slammy put it in comment #5, “Thomas Motherfucking Jefferson.” Full story »