David Brooks’ NYT column today uses a word- and probably inaccurately- very few think of when we talk about American politics and governing: Nihilism.
Brooks’ definition, a distortion of the origins and complex meaning of nihilism, implies that people who oppose the bailout of the banking industry are practicing nihilism while probably not even knowing what it is. The practical definition says nihilists are loyal to no one which is definitely not the Republican Party’s problem. They are, in fact, blindly loyal to vague concepts like God, white supremacy, the primacy of capitalism and democracy and, most significantly, that everyone who is not them is wrong.
But in this case, the “nihilists” Brooks refers to are actually doing the country a favor by defending what they believe in and not letting free market junkies get an easy $700-billion fix at taxpayers’ expense. And the REALLY great thing about Brooks’ column is it reminds me of “The Big Lebowski” and Swedish actor Peter Stormare’s character as head of the nihilists. Stormare turned his memorable performance into reprises for Volkswagen (“German engineering in zee house, ya!”) and remains one of the great indie film and character actors working today.
Thanks, Republicans and David Brooks. Now, vee unpimp your auto.
Even “conservative thinkers” like David Frum, former GOP speechwriter and know-it-all right-wing blabbermouth, agrees that Sarah Palin is not fit to be animal control director much less president- like George Bush and John McCain are. The only question left is will the Christian Radical Right-Wing Party minions raise her on their shoulders, win the White House and finally destroy America for good.
If America still votes for John McCain and what’s-her-name after the mess the Republicans have made of America over the past eight years, WE DESERVE EXACTLY WHAT WE’RE GETTING. I guess we’ll find out soon if this country is still capable of thinking logically, clearly and fairly. If not, we’re as done as McCain.
9/11, bin Laden, Iraq, Social Security, energy, the economy, the environment- name virtually any issue and the resulting government action has been opposite and incorrect. This is called failure or lying- or both. So when George Bush the Younger tells us that the world (as HE knows it) is going to end if we don’t bail out the banking industry and Wall Street brokerages WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE HIM?
It would be different if Bush and what was a Republican Congress for six of the last eight brutal years had proved they were competent in dealing with the issues America faces. BUT THEY’VE BEEN WRONG AND MADE THINGS WORSE. I applaud those members of Congress who’ve courageously not taken the Bush bait again and are thinking long and hard about what to do about our economic crisis instead of knee-jerking as Bush does to try and stomp out every crisis he and his crooked, incompetent and mysteriously still-arrogant regime create.
Ideally, BUSH NEEDS TO STEP ASIDE UNTIL HIS TERM IS DONE AND LET INTELLIGENT, COMPETENT PEOPLE HANDLE HIS MESS. It’s better to wait until the new crop of panderers and thieves comes in to fix it than let George and Dick screw up yet another major federal responsibility beyond all recognition and make the new president’s and Congress’ job even harder.
This report comes from “Monthly Energy Review,” a publication of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (I didn’t even know there was one):
According to the latest “Monthly Energy Review” issued by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (September 24, 2008), renewable energy accounted for more than 10 percent of the domestically-produced energy used in the United States in the first half of 2008. For the period January 1 – June 30, 2008, the United States consumed 50.673 quadrillion Btus (quads) of energy – of which 34.162 quads was from domestic sources and 16.511 quads was imported.
Domestically-produced renewable energy (biomass/biofuels, geothermal, hydropower, solar, wind) totaled 3.606 quads — an amount equal to 10.56% of U.S. energy consumption that is domestically-produced.
This share is only slightly less than the contribution from nuclear power (11.98%).And while consumption of nuclear power dropped by one percent during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period for 2007 (4.091 quads, down from 4.119 quads), renewable energy’s share increased by five percent (3.606 quads, up from 3.439 quads).
Biomass and biofuels combined presently constitute the largest source of renewable energy in the United States (1.883 quads) followed by hydropower (1.387 quads). Wind power, however, experienced the largest growth rate — increasing by almost 49% from the first half of 2007 compared to the first half of 2008 (0.244 quads, up from 0.164 quads).Solar’s and geothermal’s contributions were at roughly the same levels in 2008 as they were in 2007 – although both are poised to greatly expand their market share in the near future.
“The significant contribution being made by renewable energy sources to the nation’s energy supply documented by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is far greater than most Americans realize,” said Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign.“Repeated statements by nuclear and fossil fuel interests that renewables contribute only a tiny fraction of the nation’s energy supply are not only misleading but flatly wrong.”
A summary table prepared by the SUN DAY Campaign based on the data in the EIA report is attached. The EIA report “Monthly Energy Review” can be accessed at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/mer/contents.html
Even a thief’s home has a furnace, water heater and electricity. So they wouldn’t try to steal them from someone else’s home and they didn’t. Until now. That’s what makes the thefts of solar panels in California another reason why mass numbers of distributive renewable energy should be subsidized and deployed to the American people immediately. As utility prices skyrocket, our economic and environmental crises deepen and renewable energy costs fall, more people will want and need solar, wind and other sustainable and independent systems to power their homes. With the increased jobs and economic stimulation renewable energy promises, America’s economy will need all the help it can get.
A new study funneled to me by Denver correspondent and lifelong bud Brian Jordon- whom I finally saw again after twelve years last weekend- shows that dualist, right-wing, Christian fanatics- terms I prefer to the tragically incorrect misnomer “conservatives”- are gullible, rigid and ultimately violent, receptive to and defensive of total fabrications, and loyal to crooked, dangerous authoritarian regimes because they believe that they are inexplicably better than benevolent, tolerant ones.
What it proves is that with a economic, political and governmental system in free fall, it’s just as hard to vote for any of these chuckleheads as it is to feel sorry for all those poor Wall Street zillionaires who are afraid of losing all the zillions they made off people who could not afford it. Personally, I’m trying out a new policy in response to the latest Bush-generated crisis. I’ve decided to do what everyone else in government and business are doing: think only of myself and concentrate on finding ways to cover my own ass.
Actually, it’s sort of the American way: stay focused on your own success, step on those in your way to achieve your goals, then when things go bad around you, reinforce your security measures or run like hell before you get caught up in it. I like my chances: the house and the cars are paid for, the power comes from the sun, I don’t worry about my job because I’m my own company, the wine rack and refrigerator are stocked and most of my enemies are either scrambling to protect themselves or don’t know where I am.
I’ve spent the last three days in Denver shooting several things for my big, new British client. As those of you who read this blog may remember, I lived in Denver from 1981-1987, working as a reporter and later a newsroom manager at KUSA and KCNC. It was first step into big-market TV news, jumping from then-market #72 (Rock Island and Moline IL-Davenport IA) to then-number #19: the Mile High City, the Queen City of the Plains, the- well, Denver’s got lots of names. But it’s still a fairly typical big city.
When I got there, it didn’t have much mass transit except for buses. The town was booming. The roads had become choked with traffic, shiny new buildings were everywhere, housing was plentiful and cheap. Then the oil companies who’d launched the boom by pumping billions into developing Denver’s downtown and the oil shale projects on the western slope pulled the plug on all of it- the infamous Black Sunday of 1982. Downtown office vacancies skyrocketed, entire towns were abandoned and the people of Colorado were left with a bad taste in their mouths about Big Oil, their promises and utter disregard for the public interest or anything other than making a lot of money by exploiting Nature and any public land they could bribe someone to get their hands on and drills into.
That bad taste lingers to this day. The people of Denver and Colorado have recovered beautifully from what Big Oil did to them. And as Big Oil audaciously comes at them yet again with another oil shale boondoggle to bust plan, they are understandably skeptical. It’s the same boondoggle Big Oil is enticing Utah with right now. Promises of lots of new jobs, lots of new oil and buckets of money for everyone flowing everywhere. Utah’s politicians, as usual, are all on board- Jim Matheson leading the way with a bill that would encourage this extremely dangerous, costly and just-plain bad idea.
If you want to see a great city, go to Denver. But remember that there were some hard times there just recently, all caused by the same thing Jim Matheson and our so-called leaders are pushing on Utah now. Maybe we’ll all be stronger like Denver and Colorado after letting Big Oil rape our state and run like thieves. But if you ask me- and I was there to experience it all- YOU DON’T WANT TO DO THIS.
As the last eight years have proved, nearly half of American voters like their presidents and powerful federal officials to be folksy, likeable, good-looking and apparently, above all, clueless. The parodies of Bushes 1 and 2 on Saturday Night Live (Dana Carvey and Will Farrell’s) were memorable because they not only captured the sad yet hilarious deficiencies and defects of W and Dad. They also further humanized them while others demonized them.
Fey herself didn’t want to do the sketch, not for political reasons but that she doesn’t consider herself an impersonator. Either way, as long as the Sarah Palin lampoons continue, Americans will eat it up and get to like her the way they still like Bush and Cheney- maybe for all the wrong reasons but like them nonetheless.
Maybe the most important thing here is that Fey’s Palin is keeping us all laughing about our politicians and government and the absurdity of it all. Ironically, that’s also keeping us from dealing with the real problem here: we keep electing TV characters instead of real people who have real credentials and abilities instead of great spinmeisters, handlers and marketing campaigns. It’s why people still prefer McDonald’s to Burger King.
Sarah Palin and the Republicans should send some of their millions to Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey and NBC/Universal as a thank you for what is sadly becoming the most memorable part of the 2008 presidential campaign. Ironically, Fey and the company who signs Keith Olberman’s paycheck are doing the more than anybody to help the otherwise witless and ignorant Republicans overcome the endless incompetence of the current administration and win yet again in November.
