TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: A Nuclear Power Renaissance? “Given pressures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel power plants, however, construction of nuclear plants could be poised to begin anew. The technology has grown more reliable and more efficient. Reactors now run 90 percent of the hours in a year, compared with less than 60 percent in 1979, effectively cutting the capital cost of a kilowatt-hour by about a third. Meanwhile, other sources of power have started looking a lot worse.”
Archive for 2009
October 20, 2009
JAKE TAPPER AT THE WHITE HOUSE:
Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one –
(Crosstalk)
Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage.
Tapper: But that’s a pretty sweeping declaration that they are “not a news organization.” How are they any different from, say –
Gibbs: ABC –
Tapper: ABC. MSNBC. Univision. I mean how are they any different?
Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o’clock tonight. Or 5 o’clock this afternoon.
Tapper: I’m not talking about their opinion programming or issues you have with certain reports. I’m talking about saying thousands of individuals who work for a media organization, do not work for a “news organization” — why is that appropriate for the White House to say?
Gibbs: That’s our opinion.
Speaking truth to power. I remember when that was considered patriotic. . . .
UPDATE: Mark Tapscott: “Question: Will Gibbs now do a Dede and call the cops on Tapper?” Heh.
ANOTHER UPDATE: From Tapscott’s comments: “In fairness, it’s not a real White House.” Heh.
LEARNING ABOUT landslides.
A LOOK AT THE NEW RASMUSSEN TRUST NUMBERS. “Note the dives on… everything, really, except immigration issues: the GOP increased its lead in 9 out of 10 categories since last month. But particularly note the Health Care, Social Security, Economy, and Taxes numbers. Does the Democratic Party feel like demonizing their opponents on health care rationing some more? – because I think that the GOP can somehow manage to find the strength to keep bearing up under the Democrats’ scorn.”
REVIEWING THE REVIEWERS: A roundup of book reviews from all over.
TARA SMITH: Why I’ll Be Getting My Kids Their Flu Vaccines.
41 MPG OF CLEAN DIESEL in the new Volkswagen Golf VI.
MEGAN MCARDLE: “I thought that this must be some kind of grotesque conservative exaggeration, but no, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn really did tell a graduating high school class to emulate Mao Tse-Tung’s bold and imaginative attitude during his takeover of China. Most of us look at the tens of millions who died and maybe think twice about trying to imitate the late Chairman, but hey, think different!”
The White House has long since outrun conservatives’ powers of exaggeration. Plus, from the comments, “It’s sort of amazing (and frightening) how accurately the Harry Potter series summed up the political relevance of the media.”
HUMANS EVOLVING TOWARD higher fertility? Uh oh. Could that mean we’re heading toward the world of Idiocracy?
BLOOD DIAGNOSIS: Chip-Based and Mobile.
WHAT’S NEXT for augmented reality.
THIS SOUNDS PROMISING: Major Step In Making Better Stem Cells From Adult Tissue. “A team led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute has developed a method that dramatically improves the efficiency of creating stem cells from human adult tissue, without the use of embryonic cells. The research makes great strides in addressing a major practical challenge in the development of stem-cell-based medicine.”
IN THE MAIL: From Dr. George Milonas, The Warrior of God.
KEITH HENNESSEY: The Jobs Battle. “The President’s advisors are devoting a lot of communications effort to framing the employment picture. The ‘jobs battle’ is likely to continue as a first-tier economic and political issue through 2010. Here is some context on the intersection among the economics, the policy, and the politics. I have written much of this before but thought it might be useful to summarize it in one place.”
J.W. VERRET: The Shadow National Debt. “When the U.K. recently recognized in its budget the debt from its two bank bailouts, its national debt doubled overnight. Warnings later emerged that the U.K.’s Triple-A bond rating may be in jeopardy, unprecedented for a modern Western nation. If we properly accounted for our debt and deficit, we might be in the same situation.” But there’s pushback in the comments.
UPDATE: Can’t argue with this, though: Peter Suderman: Every Time Congress Promises Future Savings, Its Nose Grows A Little Longer.
ANOTHER UPDATE: James Pethokoukis: America’s Banana Republic Economy. “What confidence should dollar investors have that America will really cut entitlement spending? Very little. Instead, we are more likely to see huge tax increases that could cripple productivity, or further dollar neglect, or a central bank that turns dovish on inflation. Or perhaps all three.” Let’s hope he’s wrong.
MICHAEL BARONE: Why Are Democrats Sticking With Charlie Rangel? “Put yourself in Pelosi’s shoes and you can see that there’s no win-win choice she can make in replacing Rangel. Anything she does will make many House Democrats mad, and some of the possible replacements could prove embarrassing at election time 2010. From her point of view, it’s better to hope that the ethics committee investigation of Rangel can take up most of the time between now and November 2010, and that Rangel might make things easier on everyone by announcing he’s not seeking reelection after 40 years of service in the House.”
ARE YOU SURE IT’S NOT THE FTC? U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets.
ED MORRISSEY: A few final thoughts on Ziegler, Keene, ACU.
ZOMBIETIME: The 20 Best Signs At The San Francisco Tea Party. I like “Don’t Tell Obama What’s After a Trillion.”
DARPA TRIES TO TAP vacuum energy.
IN CASE YOU’VE GOTTEN TIRED OF TALKING MAC-VS-PC SMACK: Is the Blogosphere Superior to the Twitterverse? They’re just different, okay? — and there are enough electrons and pixels to go around.
ERIC POSNER: In some areas, Obama better than credited. “Well, good for the Obama administration: it has implicitly repudiated campaign rhetoric that endorsed global legalism, and it didn’t take it as long as one might have thought.”
RICHARD FERNANDEZ: Somewhere In Time.
ROGER SIMON: If Wishing Made It So.