Even the mainstream media are reporting and lamenting what appears to be the senseless but calculated demise of federal support for renewable energy. The renewable industry admits the final attack on American independence launched by the Bush White House with Cheney’s Big Oil task force behind them is going to be Katrina-esque in scope. We can only hope that President Obama and an enlightened Congress can resurrect renewable energy tax credits before Bush and Company destroy more jobs, environment and hopes that the United States can ever be anything more than a fading empire again.
It’s tragically but tantalizingly ironic that the once-mighty Republican Party is cowering in the shadows of an approaching storm, not terrorists, oil companies or even the Chinese. Bush and Cheney have canceled their last chance to say something good about their horrendous nightmare of an administration. The GOPhers are talking about cutting the convention short: more worried about being seen partying during a national disaster (isn’t that what they’ve been doing the last seven years?) than actually doing anything to help.
What the Republicans fear most is America watching John McCain give his acceptance speech in split screen with live video of bodies floating in the streets of New Orleans. Especially after Obama’s triumphant Denver address that was more like the Jacksons’ Victory tour. But that’s the Republicans’ karma. They created the PR nightmare that is approaching our southern coast, not Nature. And hopefully, many of them are thinking what Robert Preston’s character Big Ed Bookman, faced with divine retribution for his corruption, confessed so eloquently in “Semi-Tough”: “Lord, I’m a sinner and now you’re gonna f**k me.”
Keeping up appearances is a 24/7 gig when all you’ve got is the APPEARANCE OF CARING OR ACCOMPLISHMENT, not any kind of record of it. But after seven years of monumental gaffes and dismal failures- 9/11, Iraq, energy prices, the federal deficit, Social Security, the housing crisis, one ill-fated debacle after another- it is Hurricane Gustav and Nature that frighten our pillars of strength and integrity more than Osama bin Laden, Barack Obama, protesters- even Janet Jackson. You think the GOP considered curtailing its little bash in the face of threats of violence, $4/gallon gasoline, and crippling recession?
Bush, Cheney and the Republicans have led an all-out assault on Nature during their reign of error. Now, their endless, senseless campaigns of destruction make any hurricane, wildfire, even a bear attack or other act of Nature seem like justifiable revenge against an evil overlord. I feel for the people of New Orleans and hope Gustav and his younger sister Hanna who’s yet to come are not as bad as everyone fears. But I also hope that Bush and his partying party finally get the message:
YOU MESS WITH NATURE- NATURE MESSES WITH YOU. Party on, fellas. Don’t bother cleaning up when you leave. We’ll pick up. Just go.
I was in O’Hare Airport waiting for a flight to Grand Rapids, Michigan when Barack Obama was scheduled to speak to the Democratic Convention in Denver. He was the drawing card for the whole thing. Not that Hillary and Bill, Gore, Michelle and the gang were not interesting but, let’s face it, they’re not THE MAN. I didn’t watch it anyway because I was in the air but I heard it was good.
On the other hand, the only reason to watch the Republican convention is gone. Bush and Cheney have bowed out citing Hurricane Gustav. I understand why Bush wouldn’t show. First, he’s got nothing good to say about the last seven, awful years. Second, he’s a terrible speaker but therefore extremely entertainging. Third, he screwed up so badly by ignoring Hurricane Katrina for political appearances that even he won’t make that mistake again.
I really was looking forward to watching W’s swan song. What was he going to talk about? How could he possibly inspire his fellow right-wingers with that record of failure? Yeah, I guess I can see it his way. But I don’t know why Cheney should not appear. Isn’t that his job- to handle stuff the president can’t? Oh yeah, I forgot. Cheney’s not like a normal vice-president. He not only does what he wants but he doesn’t have to do what his boss tells him.
I can relate to Cheney though. I haven’t done anything that Bush has told me to do either. As for other possible, alternative attractions at the GOP gathering, instead of John McCain and his new running mate- you know, the beauty pageant winner, ex-sportscaster and outdoors store owner (White House qualifications for sure)- I suggest goat sacrifices, free beer, and a special appearance of Ronald Reagan in casket.
I worked as a freelance live shot coordinator for NBC during the 1992 political conventions in New York (Democrats) and Houston (Republicans). FYI: Clinton beat Bush the Elder- the last of the good times. The Democrats’ and Republicans’ presidential nominating conventions used to be important gatherings instead of meaningless pseudo-events where the leader the Free World was chosen by arm-wrestling, jawboning and good, old-fashioned intimidation and power. Issues, not images, were paramount. Now, they are made-for-TV events just like the Olympics and American Idol: the lead actor already chosen and the convention merely his acceptance speech. The conventions aren’t even as meaningful or exciting as the Oscars. At least with the Oscars, you don’t know who’s going to win or what they’re going to say.
I remember seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger sitting with the royal Bush family (W right there as well) at the Astrodome being chummy and all GOP-like. Years later when Ahnuld ran for governernator of California, W withheld support of him and actually stated that he didn’t know much about him. Odd, because they seemed pretty friendly that night. W was probably stoned, drunk or both and doesn’t recall.
At Madison Square Garden, Al Gore delivered his famous “It’s time for them to go” speech and Comedy Central made their auspicious first appearance “covering” the show- which is all it was. MTV’s Tabitha Soren (remember her?) marked the beginning and end of her dubious media career. It also developed into my first documentary since college. I shot it on Hi8 tape on a Sony pro-sumer camera which was the exciting, new small format in 1992 and the precursor to the digital revolution then just on the horizon. It was after the conventions that I knew I would never stay in corporate TV. I left the news biz a month later, returned in 1994, and retired from it in 2003.
The technology has changed a lot since 1992. But two things haven’t: 1) the conventions are pointless and 2) they’re not good TV anymore, just a sad cliche from a bygone era (balloons, signs, funny hats, etc.). For that matter, check the blogs. They’re even boring on the Internet.
Like the U.S. and other countries, Mexico faces an energy crisis as the underground supplies of oil show rapid deterioration and ultimate exhaustion in as few as ten years. Do they have geothermal, solar, wind and other renewable resources? They sure do. Check the solar power map, the wind map, and especially the geothermal map (left). If there was a country ready for renewable energy, it’s Mexico.
But the opportunities to change their fortunes are lying there waiting, like they are for America. And some visionary individuals and companies are saving the planet and making money off the Renewable Revolution. Read on.
Every time I see one of these stories I wonder “Why isn’t Utah getting any of this?” Google is dropping $10.25 million on a “breakthrough” geothermal technology which will be spent in Texas, California and other places that don’t have nearly the abundance of geothermal activity that Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada do.
It’s clear that AS LONG AS THE SAME PEOPLE RUN UTAH, WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE BILLIONS TO COMPETITORS INVESTING IN AND DEVELOPING RENEWABLE ENERGY while we dish our money to the same old, wealthy fossil fuel companies who are going NOWHERE.
What do we have? Pie-in-the-sky oil shale, unproven gasification and a bunch of other maybe technologies that won’t do anything to bring the price of energy down or fight environmental degradation. What are our so-called leaders thinking- assuming thinking is, indeed, going on?
NBC and other network TV big shots are all goose-pimply about the success of their hijacking the Internet for a month to redundantly televise the Olympics even though they already had their own cable and broadcast channels. They had no compunctions about seizing as much bandwidth as they wanted to show little girls in cute Spandex suits prancing about. But when it comes to sharing the PUBLIC’S AIRWAVES with the millions of business people and regular citizens who need and use the Internet, NO WAY!
Don’t expect the Bush Regime to come to the aid of regular American citizens. The FCC under Kevin Martin has produced ignorant and unconstitutional rulings like the Super Bowl breast-flashing fiasco (overturned) and attempts to allow even more wealthy conglomerates to buy broadcast stations, preventing minorities and local groups from owning their own local media.
The Olympics’ popularity will only accelerate Big Media’s migration to the Internet causing increased slowdowns and bandwidth hogging already slowing upload and download speeds and forcing gatekeepers like Comcast to allocate bandwidth and regulate selected users. Those of us who do business on the Web need to protect ourselves now before Big Media takes over yet again with the blessing of a complicit federal authority.
The editorial board of the Provo Daily Herald suffers from the same psychopathy that the Bush Regime has: constantly searching for ways to attack their opponents instead of reading the facts and doing what’s right. In their latest campaign to stop renewable energy in Utah, they’ve written a volume of steaming excrement saying “wind power will be an environmental disaster.” They strangely cite West Virginia’s “much-lauded mountain skyline” as being potentially ruined by the sight of windmills. Apparently, they haven’t seen the pictures of the tops of that state’s gorgeous mountains already ruined by being blown off to dig coal.
Why does a newspaper that ostensibly serves the public spend so much time defending the wealthy fossil fuel industries that gouge not only their customers but our precious natural landscapes as well? Why do they ignore Utah’s abundant renewable resources- solar, wind, geothermal, biomass- and advocate more drilling, mining and other destruction of Utah’s public lands so the rich can get richer?
To their credit, they did run the story by AP about how the oil sands project in Canada is ruining the environment while producing little oil and doing nothing to lower prices. But the question is: IS THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE PROVO HERALD ACTUALLY READING WHAT’S IN THEIR OWN NEWSPAPER? Or is there something bigger going on here. My reporter instincts tell me- follow the money.
Watch the video here. Yes, you read correctly. A college junior has invented a motorcycle that you actually wear. There are others out there too, apparently.
