It's the Economy Stupid Wednesday

We are going to be paying to clean up this mess. I am glad that Bush issued executive orders that will prevent these environmental fuck ups. Opps, no he didn't. He recently did the opposite. I think I am now going to document the Fuck Yous that Bush gives to the country on the way out.

By the way, is this what clean coal looks like?

Tom Friedman wrote a good op-ed on our shitty infrastructure. The whole thing is worth a read.

Is the Chicago School of Economics dead now? Please?

I know corporate boardrooms are full of yes men and rife with greed where no one ever gets fired. But those overseeing the banking system aren't much better. Chris Cox is in a major shit storm of his own doing, and this royal asshat, who was caught up in the S&L crisis in the 1980s, need to be fired and then put in the stocks on the National Mall so I can throw rotten fruit at him. How these people can look at themselves in the mirror most days is beyond me. Denial ain't just a rive in Egypt.


_John

No Soup for you

And it is a wonder why Detroit is falling so far behind...



If they come to Congress for a hand out, every Congressman should watch this interview. It it wasn't so depressingly bad it would have been hilarious.

And if you thought that the electric car was a novel idea, go out and rent Who Killed the Electric Car.

I bet the Chevy Volt is only mildly successful because Detroit can market well (the Volt is well behind its expected release date), and it will be difficult for people who don't own a house with an easily accessible electrical outlet (maybe even a special outlet) to plug their cars in. If you live in an apartment or condo you are SOL unless the buildings decide to retrofit. This is an ugly car for single family homes. I only hope that the reviews of how the car drives goes well for the company, but again it's a Detroit product so I am not holding my breath.


_John

Monday Mental Break -- Environmental Plans edition

I have been meaning to post on T. Boone Picken's plan for a while now, but got a bit lazy. With Al Gore rolling out his plan in a speech last week I thought it was about time to put up the plans side by side. I hope to do some analysis later, but as for now consider them educational videos to distract you from doing work.

First up PickensPlan. I have a sneaking feeling that this is going to be too large for the blog, so just head over to his site if it is clipped.


And Al Gore's speech. A shorter edited version can be found here.



_John

Corn ethanol = Boondoggle

If you want to know why our ethanol production is a mess and there is little hope of getting better in the near term, blame corn. Here is why. (free subscription required*)

A fascinating article on how corn ethanol in this country is a horrendous idea because it does little good for the environment and can have a dramatic effect on our economy unless we move to a different source. As odd as it seemed at the time, President Bush was actually correct in his 2006 State of the Union address -- switch grass may just be our solution in this country. As an added bonus is that the cultivating of high-diversity indigenous prairie plant mixtures may keep away GM plant designers and hopefully ag subsidies (there isn't a prairie grass lobby yet, is there?), not to mention the itty-bitty carbon footprint that would be left.

We need to let the sun set on our singular dependence on corn for everything we need. It just isn't up to some of the tasks we try to force it to do no matter how much we manipulate it or the enzymes used to convert it into other substances. The renewable energy source we keep looking for has been here since the native Americans roamed the prairies. No foreign plants, genetic modifications, pesticides, or subsides needed.


*The Post really needs to catch up to what is going on in web news.

Looks like one got away

Not sure how Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-1st-Md) survived the Zombie attack when they feasted on Republican brains and left scientifically blind humans behind, but he did.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) wasn't so lucky. More on how ridiculous his statement is soon.