Let me start off by saying that Reagan is the President of my youth, the President that as a child I trusted to keep the missiles from falling, who grieved the astronauts, and who – at the time, I thought – single-handedly defeated communism. You can solidly put me down in the “not a fan” column. Yet I still think he deserves a place on our currency.
Starting on March 1st, you can visit this page and view the 2010 Census Participation results in real-time.
I’ve wanted to do a post on the slow motion car wreck that is the Toyota story, but I just haven’t had the time. This is a subject that satisfies several of my interests, from automobiles to politics to organizational dynamics, and I’ve followed it closely. So instead, here’s a collection of links…
In a nutshell (Jeff McMahon at True/Slant):
[US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke] said unparalleled economic growth occurred in the 20th Century because of two factors: access to cheap, abundant fossil fuels and ignorance or disregard for the fact that those fuels produced greenhouse gas pollution that caused global warming. Both of those factors, he said, belong to history.
“Those days are over,” Locke said moments ago in Copenhagen. “What’s required is nothing less than completely redesigning the way we produce and consume energy…. We’re talking about creating an entirely new model of economic growth.”The world has spent a century investing in petroleum infrastructure, Locke said: refineries, pipelines, stations.
If opting-out becomes a reality in the healthcare reform bill, it is almost certain to be a political wedge and a litmus test of Conservative Values for Republicans. No GOP incumbent will stave off primary challenges without walking the coals and rejecting ’socialized medicine’.
As a anecdote, consider this Wired magazine article about parents who opt-out of vaccination for their children (via kottke):
I normally wouldn’t post something like this, but since Beck has decided to make an issue of it, I’ll make an exception.
Long story short? Beck frequently makes accusations forcing the accused to prove a negative, which of course is nearly impossible. The owner of said website was pointing out that the fact that Glenn Beck hasn’t disproven that he raped and murdered a young girl in 1990 is actually proof he has something to hide (source):
This site exists to try and help examine the vicious rumour that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. We don’t claim to know the truth — only that the rumour floating around saying that Glenn Beck raped and murdered a young girl in 1990 should be discussed. So we’re going to do our part to try and help get to the bottom of this.
Why won’t Glenn Beck deny these allegations? We’re not accusing Glenn Beck of raping and murdering a young girl in 1990 – in fact, we think he didn’t! But we can’t help but wonder, since he has failed to deny these horrible allegations. Why won’t he deny that he raped and killed a young girl in 1990?
Beck has taken his concern to something that sounds like the UN of intellectual property – the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The creator of the DGBR&MAYGi1990’s lawyer penned a brilliant response, akin to the EPIC letter to the Kansas Board of Education, FSM be praised.
Nobody is buying, nobody is selling, nobody is reading, and nobody is sending mail. The USPS is a subsidy for business – it ‘costs’ a lot more than $0.43 to send a letter.
The only way to ’save’ the Post Office is to let it run a deficit in bad times until things get better. The GOP controls the conversation, and the Post Office and AMTRAK are their favorite punching bags. It’s only a matter of time till Republicans want to close the Post Office because FedEx and UPS are more efficient at delivering mail and won’t lose billions per year.
Tom Ridge finally states the obvious – the Bush White House monkeyed with Terror Alerts to boost the President’s Approval Ratings:
Among the headlines promoted by publisher Thomas Dunne Books: Ridge was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was “blindsided” by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush’s re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.
