SAMIZDATA: “The next time you watch a programme or read an article going on about the wonders of self-sufficiency and which bash supermarkets and global trade in foodstuffs, ponder what would happen if we really were reliant on the local farmers for everything we eat.”
Archive for 2007
July 26, 2007
GREENHOUSE-FRIENDLY POWER! “As expected, the TVA board will consider — and almost certainly approve — the completion of the never-finished Unit 2 reactor at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant at its meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 1.”
UPDATE: EcoTotality blog: “Most TVA-generated power currently comes from coal-fired power plants. As a user of TVA electricity, I’m happy they’re moving in a more environmentally-friendly direction.”
WELL, WATER VAPOR IS A GREENHOUSE GAS:
The tax-exempt Environmental Integrity Project in Washington, D.C., issued its annual list of the 50 dirtiest power plants in America. This is illustrated by a photo showing steam — water vapor — escaping from a cooling tower. Sigh.
Power plant emissions nationally are down even as electric generation is up. The report showed. Nitrogen oxide emissions fell 28% between 2002 and 2006. Sulfur dioxide emissions fell 8%. Carbon dioxide emissions — the stuff you exhale — rose by 3%.
Electric production rose about 8% in that period, using the 2% annual increase in electric use, as the same agency “Dirty Kilowatts†cited.
But I agree this is pretty lame.
UPDATE: When down is up.
HOPE THAT BOAT’S A HYBRID!
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION.
SEX DISCRIMINATION AT THE VIEW? Bring on the lawsuits . . . .
NIFONG UPDATE:
Disgraced former prosecutor Mike Nifong acknowledged Thursday there is “no credible evidence” that three Duke lacrosse players committed any of the crimes he accused them of more than a year ago, offering for the first time a complete and unqualified apology.
That’s nice. It would have been nicer if he’d just done his job in the beginning.
WELL, THE LAST ONE WORKED: A new court-packing plan?
STOCKS PLUNGE: Well, when they’ve hit new records I’ve credited the new Democratic Congress, so I guess now I should blame the new Democratic Congress for the plunge!
A LOOK AT book reviews and politics.
FRED THOMPSON ON the Hazleton decision.
RESILIENT. “Twelve paragraphs on the remarkable resilience of al-Qaeda later, we learn that this poster-child resilient AQ unit will not fight another day.”
AND YET THERE ARE PEOPLE who think that technology is dehumanizing. They’re basically idiots.
I lived in Texas a few years back, and I have to say that I was impressed by Congressman Ron Paul’s originalist interpretation of the Constitution. While I do not support his foreign policy positions, I have long admired his principled stands.
What I do not admire, however, is his inability to wrest his own campaign away from the crazies who are advocating on his behalf. They, his own supporters, have defined Ron Paul negatively. And that, now, will be his lasting legacy. . . . Ron Paul’s supporters are the Republicans’ Cindy Sheehans.
Yes. I disagree with Paul on the war, but I confess that it’s his poll-spamming, nasty-emailing supporters who have really turned me off on his campaign. (I disagreed with Harry Browne on defense, too, but I voted for him twice.) I can’t help but feel that this stuff has given him a negative halo with the media and the political establishment.
UPDATE: Tom Elia writes: “As someone who voted for Ron Paul for president in 1988, I couldn’t agree more with Krumm.” I voted for Dukakis in 1988. Well, to coin a phrase: “When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible.”
DAMNING WITH FAINT PRAISE? Brendan Nyhan says that Michael Moore is getting more accurate.
TAM EXPLAINS GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS: “Look, sprout . . . .”
I THOUGHT IT WAS WRONG TO QUESTION PEOPLE’S PATRIOTISM? Republicans are “jihadists.”
WINNING IN IRAQ — and losing in Washington?
Well, that is our strategic weak point.
PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: The Spirit of 1776 — 1776 Defense earmarks, that is.
Follow the link for a list of who’s asking for them. At the top, C.W. Young, John Murtha, and Jerry Lewis.
Plus, John Boehner says that Republicans have learned their lesson:
Republicans are working together to earn back the majority by first earning back the trust of the American people. And while Democrats are divided and breaking their promises on issue after issue, House Republicans have repeatedly spoken with one voice. . . .
A united Republican conference also forced Democratic leaders to abandon a plan to load billions of taxpayer dollars into slush funds for secret earmarks. By standing up for taxpayers who deserve to know where Washington is spending their hard-earned dollars, we succeeded in restoring the 2006 Republican earmark reforms to appropriations bills. But Democratic leaders will continue to face a united Republican conference; we won’t stop until those rules are applied to authorization and tax bills as well.
Sounds good. But there’s obviously a long way to go.
DEMOCRATS SHIFTING POSITION ON ABORTION: “Sensing an opportunity to impress religious voters — and tip elections — Democrats in Congress and on the campaign trail have begun to adopt some of the language and policy goals of the antiabortion movement.”
PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH ON unintelligent Intelligence.
MAYBE ONE DAY AMERICA WILL BE AS PROGRESSIVE as some more sophisticated foreign countries. (Via SayUncle).
A LOOK AT recycling myths.
A LOOK AT Robert Heinlein’s legacy.
ANOTHER REPORT FROM MICHAEL YON.