Global
We live in a time when rapid change is the norm. We experience more technological, cultural and political transformation in a decade now, than there was change over centuries in the past. Globalization has put history in a permanent fast forward mode. We will witness significant changes in the next ten years and I hope I can identify the five major drivers of global change.
The challenge of climate change -- global warming - is going to have the biggest impact on the planet. It not only threatens the topography of our planet, but it demands that we systematically alter our lifestyle. As we become more and more aware of the dangers of global warming, we will realize that in order to cope with the challenge, we may have to reorganize on a global scale. Perhaps the Federation made famous by Star Trek programs and movies may yet come to pass, albeit to combat climate change and not some alien threat.
The challenge of climate change -- global warming - is going to have the biggest impact on the planet. It not only threatens the topography of our planet, but it demands that we systematically alter our lifestyle. As we become more and more aware of the dangers of global warming, we will realize that in order to cope with the challenge, we may have to reorganize on a global scale. Perhaps the Federation made famous by Star Trek programs and movies may yet come to pass, albeit to combat climate change and not some alien threat.
Senator Voinovich brags that he introduced 2002 legislation that continued the Price Anderson indemnity for the nuclear power industry, thus allowing further nuclear power development.
The Nuclear team of the Ohio Sierra Club is organizing a rally to challenge Senator George Voinovich’s support for the expansion of nuclear power in Ohio. At a time when Ohioans are already reeling from multiple economic blows and environmental devastation, a ramping up of nuclear power will only leave the state with more contamination, more sickness and more debt. Like others in the pro-nuclear lobby, Voinovich has tried pasting a happy face on nuclear power by claiming that nukes are “clean, green, safe and cheap” and that they offer a solution to the global climate crisis. But the truth lies in the opposite direction.
Here it is: Fifty Pages of Fluff. Jonathan Tasini, among others, has posted a draft of the AT&T Democratic Convention Party Platform: Here's a PDF. It's not all fluff, but it's packaged that way, and you have to plow through 8 pages of stomach-turning platitudinous cowardice before getting to anything worthwhile. There is, in the end, a good deal of worthwhile stuff in here, and a good deal of head fakes in the right direction with no substantive detail.
When Nancy Pelosi recently remarked that she was avoiding impeachment in order to be bipartisan, she wasn't kidding. And this is introduced as a bipartisan platform. It opens by, admirably, noting that we face crises of war, economic collapse, and environmental disaster. What to do? "Abandon the politics of partisan division." Yep, that oughta about fix things. The next sentence even throws in the word "accountability" with no shame whatsoever. The platform makes no mention of the governmental crimes of the past 7.5 years, no promises to punish the perpetrators, and no suggestion of ways to deter their repetition. Just vague desires to do better.
When Nancy Pelosi recently remarked that she was avoiding impeachment in order to be bipartisan, she wasn't kidding. And this is introduced as a bipartisan platform. It opens by, admirably, noting that we face crises of war, economic collapse, and environmental disaster. What to do? "Abandon the politics of partisan division." Yep, that oughta about fix things. The next sentence even throws in the word "accountability" with no shame whatsoever. The platform makes no mention of the governmental crimes of the past 7.5 years, no promises to punish the perpetrators, and no suggestion of ways to deter their repetition. Just vague desires to do better.
Leave it to John McCain to pick the site of a horrific atomic meltdown to symbolize his push for nuke power.
McCain says he wants at least 45 more US reactors as part of his "do everything" campaign for American energy independence. Apparently that strategy does not include inflating car tires, long known as one of the easiest, cheapest and most reliable ways to significantly improve auto gas mileage. McCain had only ridicule for Barack Obama's ideas to fight waste in our energy economy.
Indeed, the term "efficiency" has no apparent place in the McBush lexicon. The "drill drill drill" mantra speaks only of production, a "supply side" Reaganomic approach to a problem whose fastest solution is to cut back on demand. As if turning off lights in empty rooms or making cars run cleaner is somehow an affront to American manhood, more production is the one and only idea in McCain's energy plan.
Thus it was fitting he chose Monroe, Michigan for a nuke-powered energy push. The town's central square hosts a statue honoring General George Armstrong Custer, wiped out by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876.
McCain says he wants at least 45 more US reactors as part of his "do everything" campaign for American energy independence. Apparently that strategy does not include inflating car tires, long known as one of the easiest, cheapest and most reliable ways to significantly improve auto gas mileage. McCain had only ridicule for Barack Obama's ideas to fight waste in our energy economy.
Indeed, the term "efficiency" has no apparent place in the McBush lexicon. The "drill drill drill" mantra speaks only of production, a "supply side" Reaganomic approach to a problem whose fastest solution is to cut back on demand. As if turning off lights in empty rooms or making cars run cleaner is somehow an affront to American manhood, more production is the one and only idea in McCain's energy plan.
Thus it was fitting he chose Monroe, Michigan for a nuke-powered energy push. The town's central square hosts a statue honoring General George Armstrong Custer, wiped out by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse at the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876.
