During this already hyper-bizarre presidential election cycle, Super PAC money is enjoying an unprecedented ability to reach a media-addicted public while being held to virtually no standards of truth. Sadly, donors do all this with a nod-nod wink-wink relationship to the candidates each Super PAC wishes to support. Nowhere is this getting more crazy than on the emerging … [Read more...]
The death of Osama bin Laden and the threat of peak oil
With the death of Osama bin Laden, can America now face threats to our future more dangerous than al Qaeda -- peak oil and climate change? After the 9/11 attacks, George W. Bush called for the American people to show our unity with each other and our defiance of terrorists who would target the American way of life by going shopping. "Get down to Disney World in Florida," he … [Read more...]
Americans: hapless fools or budding heroes?
When you worry about peak oil and climate chaos, it's easy to get frustrated at the slow pace of change in the world's biggest economy and most powerful nation, the United States. For my part, I'd like to see my country start preparing for both of these civilization-shaking challenges yesterday rather than tomorrow. Though I'll gladly settle for tomorrow if the other choice is … [Read more...]
Why Amtrak runs late
BOOK REVIEW Waiting on a Train: The Embattled Future of Passenger Rail Service--A Year Spent Riding across America By James McCommons Foreword by James Howard Kunstler Chelsea Green, 284 pages, $17.95 The Amtrak train that connects my Virginia town to Washington, DC normally runs four or five hours behind schedule. This is apparently perplexing to the European tourists … [Read more...]