fascinating piece

Or, here's the truth: There are better, more cost-effective ways to fight global warming. And if we want to fight the problems that will be made worse by global warming, the solutions have very little to do with cutting CO2 emissions.

Just don't think about these things

Mysteries.

Also, how can there be one set of rules for the quantum level, and another physics for the observable level?

Is health plan counter to liberal values?

What would liberals say if GOP ran a plan like the one described below -- one that left millions "uninsured."

As recent work from the Center on the Budget and Policy Priorites has shown, the bill that the Senate Finance Committee approved actually offers substantially less protection for people making less than twice the poverty line. If the bill were to pass, the result could be significant financial hardship for people least equipped to deal with it:

Republicans ready plan

Hear, hear:

Instead of taking more potshots, some Republicans say their party should present a coherent alternative to whatever final Democratic plans emerge in the House and Senate. Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee reportedly are drafting legislation the GOP could introduce when Democrats bring their proposals to the floor.

Here's hoping they do. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., who sponsored a health reform bill, said recently: "The job of the opposition is not just to point out all the flaws in legislation coming to the floor, but to offer ideas for how you would fix it."

Populism and GOP

Interesting:

In Republican hands, populism could become a strong force for positive change.

Where does it stop?

Just as Congressional leaders are calling to extend a popular $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers, or even to expand it to all home purchasers, government investigators are reporting new findings that point to widespread abuse and errors in the program.

Provo gangs

Gangs in Provo? http://tinyurl.com/ProvoGangs

Interesting epistemlogical question: are we judging only the present actualities, or the potentialities?

Dithering

Telling article, because it's in the Times:

Last week the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., gave voice to the concerns of those in the military when he issued a terse statement criticizing Mr. Obama’s review of Afghan war strategy.

“The extremists are sensing weakness and indecision within the U.S. government, which plays into their hands,” said Mr. Tradewell’s statement

wah, wah, wah

Can there be anything plainer than that the proposed bribes to those on Social Security are a ripoff and a sign that Washington has lost all bearings on spending?

From an alternative universe

Fragment from American History, RandomHouseGoogleGoldmanSachs, Inc., Plano, Texas, 2137:

...... sudden rise in the administration's stature happened shortly after the Russians administered what people then called "a bitch slap" to the U.S. Secretary of State, thus, by extension, the president and the United States.

As described in a "newspaper" -- a primitive information-distribution device of the time -- called the Washington Times:

All this was while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Moscow, trying to find out just how much help the Russians intend to give to the West. Mrs. Clinton could not even see Mr. Putin, the real head man; there was a conflict of schedules and he had to depart for Beijing. This was a remarkable snub, treating the secretary of state as if she were merely the representative of the PTA, lobbying for more vegetables in the school lunchroom. Maybe there really was a conflict; maybe Mr. Putin had scheduled a haircut at the only hour she was available.

The Russians succeeded in putting Mr. Obama and the Americans in their place. Nikolai Patrushev, the chief of the Presidential Security Council, manufactured an occasion while Mrs. Clinton was in Moscow to warn that Moscow reserves the right to make "a pre-emptive nuclear strike" against both small and large enemies.

It so happened that the president and some of his aides happened to view one of great works of literature of that era. Mr. Obama was heard muttering "nut up or shut up!" as he exited the screening room.

The next day he called a press conference ....

Fresh take on Afghanistan

So why can't China and Russia help us?

NY Times essay: "In Afghanistan, American and Chinese interests converge."

More on global 'warming'

Breaking the hockey stick.

CEO and health reform

now here's a capitalist!

 He calls his concept "conscious capitalism."

What is that? "It means that business has the potential to have a deeper purpose. I mean, Whole Foods has a deeper purpose," he says, now sounding very much like a philosopher. "Most of the companies I most admire in the world I think have a deeper purpose." He continues, "I've met a lot of successful entrepreneurs. They all started their businesses not to maximize shareholder value or money but because they were pursuing a dream."