Haitian Quake & Jean Valjean?, Muslims Killed by "Jesus Rifles"?,

Everything is Politics

Air New Zealand, in the person of CEO Rob Fyfe and Virgin Air, which is virtually synonymous with Sir Richard Branson himself anyway, are both complaining about lack of political leadership in setting standards for greener fuels for airlines. That is especially undesirable because in the meantime, the UK is proposing to impose an air travelers tax which, Sir Richard Branson complains is based on the carbon footprint of airlines and their fuel use but there is no provision for such a tax to actually be dedicated, even in part, to either remedial efforts on carbon dioxide (neither within the airline industry or elsewhere) nor even to encouraging environmentally benign airplane fuels.

As Rob Fyfe bemoaned the lack of political will, he complained too, that: "We are getting procrastination and lack of clarity. That creates cost and inefficiency for businesses as they try to manage the uncertainty and causes unnecessary further environmental damage as businesses focus on lobbying and debate rather than action." For that reason, he said in an interview for Air Transport Worldīs Eco-Aviation Today, "For that reason we have chosen to disengage from the debate and forge ahead with our environmental goals and to lead the airline industry under the guidelines of IATA."

May we have a little applause please?

I am, quite frankly, impressed that the International Air Transport Association, the industry association, is so forward thinking in its attitude toward greener fueling alternatives. Boeing spokespersons have even talked about a long term possibility of electric power for airliners. That certainly shows that they are not limiting their thinking to conventional answers. Of course, you have probably seen the solar powered high altitude cruiser observation planes, which are obviously solar powered and are designed to fly above clouds 24 hours a day for weeks at a time. Sir Richard says his airlines will be using biofuel mixes by 2015 and he wants other carriers to follow suit by 2020.

Democratic Defeat in Massachusetts

The White House is in dire danger of getting it WRONG when trying to make a divination from the entrails that are the aftermath of their defeat (and Republican Scott Brownīs win) in Massachusetts. Former Senate Chief of Staff for the Democratic Party and current political reporter, Larry O'Donnell pointed to the "roll over, play dead" move from both senate leaders (a compromise that required 60 votes to pass an amendment from either side during senate Healthcare bill debate), a purely parliamentary move to speed up passage as secret confirmation that Republicans have already built a midterm campaign strategy that centers on "defeat Obamacare" (so they do NOT want to kill it now). Scott Brown's election may mess that up, unless Democrats a) rush an unmodified version of the Senate bill through the House, b) rush a modified version through the senate before Brown gets sworn in, or c) go to reconciliation (as suggested by former Democratic Party chairman, Howard Dean, and endorsed by political reporter (and SALON.COM news editor) Joan Walsh in her recent column).

Unfortunately President Obama has already taken what he, no doubt, considers the "high road" by promising that because "the people have spoken" no attempt will be made to ram through the Healthcare bill before Mr. Brown in sworn in to his senate seat.

The problem is the timidity of President Obama to create any "drama" (which is very odd considering the combative style of White House Chief of Staff and former Chairman of the Democratic Caucus in Congress, Rahm Emanuel). The main danger consists of another "go slow" approach like the mistake of allowing the Republican opposition to health care reform to get traction during August instead of pushing through at that time. The public discontent being expressed by the Scott Brown election results is NOT a repudiation of the need for healthcare reform, it is an expression of tiredness and frustration in watching while "the change we've been waiting for" fails to make changes at all. The "change we've been waiting for" is an Obama Administration that doesn't stand for politics as usual, as happened with the highway robbery and back-stabbing betrayals of the holdouts for the final few votes to pass the Senate bill. That was too much "sausage making" for those of us paying attention to be able to stomach.

As Repubican Chair Michael Steele said, "Bipartisanship is overrated." Insisting on obtaining assent from the opposition has proven itself to be a fruitless and worthless enterprise. If President Obama and his loyal (I truly wish that were true) Democratic supporters in the Senate and House do not push through significant reformation and genuine game changing legislation in the next 8 months, there will be a tidal surge of independent voters putting their support behind Republican candidates, and the legislative advantage that exists now will evaporate completely for the President. All hope of getting anything done after January 2011 will be lost in a sea of red state representatives in Congress, where today the comparatively calm blue waters of a clear Democratic majority exists. It may be that Rahm Emanuel doesnīt have the collection of skeletons from other members of Congressī closets that President Lyndon Baines Johnson had from his days in Congress, but certainly he should be able to corral some kind of basic coalition to actually get some important legislation passed. In fact he must.

The liberal and progressive side of the Democratic party will cheerfully stage demonstrations of support for bold moves, meaningful reform, genuine progress, whether on climate change and renewable energy, or educational reform that puts motivation and excellence back into the educational system. The only hope of the Democrats to stave off a disastrous hit to their dominance of seats in both houses is to orchestrate the kind of transformational retooling of the economy in the direction of "green" that is equivalent to the putting the nation "on a war footing" that happened between 1939 and 1943. What followed, of course, was the great post-war boom that happened in spite of all the deficit spending, and the hardships endured. Americans ARE ready and willing to pitch-in to save the world again, but the government has to communicate that sense of urgent need to the people.

That kind of effort, vitality and dedication for the next 4 years can solidify not only the administration's position of power, but also bring about the greatest surge of prosperity the world has ever seen by exporting our new green revolution to the rest of the world. Of course it also wouldn't hurt to "deputize" a couple dozen special forces troops to a UN/Interpol force to enforce a hundred or so "wanted dead or alive" warrants on al-Qaeda, bring the troops home and start spending on (green) economic development for the 3rd world. It is my assessment that 4 years of this kind of bold policy would almost certainly guarantee President Obama a second term, while also solidifying the "internationalist" image he has created for America in the rest of the world. Did I mention that making EVERY country in the world "energy self-sufficient" would not only be a tremendous boost of our national security, but as Benjamin Netanyahu said: "They say peace will bring prosperity, but I say, prosperity will bring peace!"

I am sorry to report that Jean Valjean is NOT alive and Living in Haiti

(Sorry, too, but that segment title is probably a pretty obscure and dated humorous reference to a Broadway-type musical production called, "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well, and Living in Paris" – a tribute to, and review of the Belgian composerīs gritty songs.)

My point, however blunted it might be by that side trip of nostalgia is that I recently read an item by the young lady who writes a column/website called the "blaktivist.com". According to the bio that accompanied a repeat of her recent column in the Oaklandlocal.com website, "Krys Freeman is writer, web 2.0 evangelist, and critical thinker for social justice." Krys wrote an article entitled, "[Dear] Journalists, Looting Does not exist in a Disaster Area", specifically related to reports of "looting" in Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake there.

The character "Jean Valjean" is the protagonist in the novel "Les Miserables" in which he steals a "crust of bread" to feed his starving family, and is, thenceforth and ever after pursued by the relentless policeman antagonist named Javert. French author, Victor Hugo, was not that Valjean was justified in stealing to feed his family, but rather that the injustice was the disproportionate punishment (years in prison) for such a petty theft born of necessity in dire circumstances. Ms. Freeman tries to claim that the dire circumstances of people whose basic needs are not being met and therefore their very survival may mean having to scavenge for such food and water as may be available amid the rubble negates the validity of even the concept of "looting" for the entire community. My answer is that this is reverse racist drivel, and exactly the kind of thinking that got Haiti and many of the African nations into their dire economic circumstances in the first place.

It may be a different level of risk if a person undertakes to enter a collapsed department store after an earthquake to try to recover sporting goods and electronics since the rubble may collapse further killing the person inside, or the police may shoot her/him as a looter, instead of the mere risk of arrest for his/her crime of burglary. Can Ms. Freeman imagine herself sitting there with a "straight face" and telling me that, "Those poor Italians havenīt had any pasta or water for days since Mt. Vesuvius erupted. Of course they are justified in dynamiting the door off the McDonaldīs restaurant freezer to get at that frozen beef." And by the way, does she think it makes her more legitimate or just "blacker" because she misspells it, "blak"?

I am sorry, again, Ms. Freeman, but I am not of the opinion that promoting "ghetto-speak" (and bad spelling) where "ax" is considered a perfectly legitimate substitution for the English work, "ask", serves any purpose other than alienating anyone who is not already part of that community, and, as in your case in this instance, that awareness of the historic, often heroic, struggles faced by enslaved Africans and their descendants has warped rather than informed your opinion. Claiming that a poor black man in Haiti is not committing a crime because he steals a television set from the rubble has no more validity that claiming that no crime has been committed if a poor black man in Chicago took a television set from a store because someone else broke the window before he even got there.

Iīve Been Tweeted

Having succumbed to the Twitterverse, I actually have been learning some interesting things, not the least of which was an older article from September of 2009 about, "A New Way to Turn Plastic into Fuel", for which I have to thank.

Itīs not all that innovative, but someone put a couple of million dollars into this one, so the plant should be ready to crank it up by now. The process is essentially taking mixed, ground-up, waste plastics, and heating them using infrared heat in an anaerobic environment. Sounds pretty simple, doesnīt it? Apparently the output is a discolored semi-clear liquid that smells something like gasoline or diesel fuel, and it takes relatively little energy to produce a barrel of "oil" equivalent. The article in the NYT blog says that it uses about 98 kilowatts (at the high end) to produce a barrel of oil equivalent, and that the electricity costs them between 6 and 12 cents per kilowatt hour. That comes to US$11.76 at the high end and US$5.88 on the lower side, which company spokespersons rounded to about US$10/bbl. The output is suitable for use as a blendstock the company, Envion says.

Theyīve Gone Too Far - AND They "Broke" the Constitution

Where they went was to Iraq and Afghanistan, but in this case, it isnīt a who, itīs a what. Itīs a WHAT?? Okay, that may be sloppy linguistic construction but the problem here is worth mentioning because it is the kind of arrogance that could spark a regional conflict into a global war that lasts a millennium. Pardon me, I mean, another millennium, because this one has already been going on since the Crusades, indeed, it IS the Crusades being resurrected by the same kind of intolerant religious fanatics who started the Crusades in the first place.

No, in case you didnīt pay attention in history class, I am NOT talking about the "Infidels" who captured the ancient biblical lands, I mean the Christians who were outraged by the fact that they had been relieved of control of the "holy lands" despite the generally peaceful and tolerant rule provided by Moslems then and now. That may not ring as a popular sentiment with some people, and I am sorry they have come to that conclusion because of a few hundred fanatics on the "other side" (which is to say, Moslems) who "hijacked" their religion for political purposes. But this is an action that could inflame Muslim sentiment around the world, and it should have been prevented by rules already in place that prohibit religious propaganda on government goods.

ABC news reports that a Michigan-based supplier, Trijicon of Wixom, Michigan, is adding inscriptions of bible references to the gun sites they manufacture for the US Marines and other branches of the services.

(The segment heading for this story is an homage to Firesign Theatreīs comedy, especially a declaration of one of the characters in their stories who complained, "Hey, they broke the government, man.")

Awards Season

I have been admiring the television series GLEE , not so much for the episodes themselves, which have one of those genre spanning problems, trying to achieve some kind of verisimilitude representing life in a modern high school, and the cartoonish version of "reality" that is all too typical of situation comedies. What Iīve admired is the musical numbers and the talents of the leading musical/vocal performers. Arrangements and performances both have an energy and an excellence well beyond the excellence of the reality even the kind of arts specialty high schools represented in FAME (although, of course, so do both FAME movies and the derived television series).

Stunning in his quality and versatility is Matthew Morrison, who not only graces his own GLEE episodes, but gave an outstanding performance on the broadcast of the Tony awards. But the talent I was under-recognizing was in part at least because "Sue Sylvester" the bitter, back-biting, cheerleading coach who is Morrisonīs characterīs rival is unbelievably disreputable. The actress,Jane Lynch escaped my even registering her name until last night when I saw her in the film Julie and Julia. The leading characters have had much (and much deserved) praise heaped on them, so I wonīt try to out-gush the critics in praise of Amy Adams, Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci, and for that matter, Chris Messina, who is no slouch, neither. But it was seeing Jane Lynch, whose name my wife recognized in the opening credits before I knew who she was, that taught me what a fine actress she really is. She plays Dorothy McWilliams, sister of Julia Child, and the contrast to her Glee character is so large you might not recognize her when you first see her on screen. She is such a blend of the specific characteristics of Ms. Child (and Ms. Streepīs portrayal of her) and a fully rounded version of the gawky spinster character archetype that seeing the family resemblance is as obvious as her introduction in the story, and as subtle as Ms. Streepīs in its perfection.

Film awards are rarely fair and just, so I donīt expect her to need a rental truck to bring home all the statuary, but nor would I consider it theft if that happened to come about in the next few weeks. Jane Lynch is simply terrific, as good an actress as her Glee character is despicable.

Happy Thoughts

Weīre not caught up to the world of The Jetsons , yet, but we are living in "the future" in ways I only dreamed about 40 years ago. I remember discussing with friends in the early 1970īs that new products (and particularly new materials) should not be allowed to be produced until and unless they can be recycled. Today as I rinsed a plastic bottle that had contained a laundry product of the last few remaining drops and dropped the container into our recycling bin, I had to smile, because I AM living in that future I only dreamed of and wished to see 40 years ago. I didnīt expect a perfect world, but out community now recycles any plastic with a triangular recycling symbol on it, regardless of which number is on it. You have to feel good when your best dreams come true and you get to live out the life you hoped for.

Love and warm wishes,

Sincerely,

Stafford "Doc" Williamson

http://daochienergy.com