Even before moving here, I learned that Chicago has a very poor reputation when it comes to recycling. The program for recycling household items is to put your recyclables in a designated blue bag, and then throw it away with the rest of the trash. The blue bags are supposed to be separated from the [...]
Posts under ‘Politik’
Bikes are not transportation
Mary Peters is the Secretary of Transportation in the United States of America. She said the following on PBS’s NewsHour: Well, there’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, [...]
The Candidates on Solar Energy
I spent my lunch checking out the announced 2008 presidential candidate’s campaign websites to see what they had to say about solar energy as a solution to the energy crisis. Here’s what I found: Barack Obama: There is no specific mention of solar on his “Meeting Energy Needs” page. Presumably it’s incorporated into “renewables,” but [...]
Who’s fault is this?
In a recent press conference, the President clarified his opinion on the connection between Iraq and 9/11: BUSH: The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. QUESTION: What did Iraq have to do with it? BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with [...]
What’s the population of fools in the United States?
In contrast to our 16th President, according to our current President: “You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on.” This is a fine policy if, that is, there are enough people that you can fool all of the time. I don’t know what [...]
Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi)
Reading Lolita in Tehran is described on the cover as a memoir in books. For me it was also a lesson in the history of Iran. If nothing else, the reader gets a true account of the Iranian Revolution, life under fundamentalist Islamic rule, and attitudes toward Western life, no propaganda, no spin. However, along [...]
The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin)
Written in 1964, this is James Baldwin’s analysis of civil rights through his life. There are three main sections: (1) growing up in Harlem realizing that his future seems to be either making a living unscrupulously on the streets or running to the church, (2) conversations with the burgeoning Nation of Islam, and (3) thoughts [...]
From the Inbox
Melissa ponders: If Jesus told W to go to war with Iraq, don’t you think He also would have told him that government employees should have Good Friday off? I thought we were using faith [i.e. religion] to make the rules around here, people!
People should be held accountable for their actions . . . but not their inactions?
The NSC released the memo below from Richard Clarke to Condi Rice from January 2001 outlining the need for attention on al Qaeda. How closely this advice was this advice followed? To the letter …. after September 11th. Would 9/11 have been averted? We don’t know. But we do know that precautions were suggested and [...]
An Unfinished Life, John F. Kennedy (Robert Dallek)
Thanks to my negligence in catching my flight back to the Bay Area, I was able to finish JFK’s biography. I’m certainly not going to make a habit of 700 page books, but I think this one was worth the effort. The writing and subject matter were excellent. I guess I’ve always been one of [...]
History Lessons (Dana Lindaman and Kyle Ward)
This is an American history book made up of excerpts from foreign textbooks. It does an excellent job of putting perspective on the United States’ place in the world. Going in, I expected the American Revolution to be the most interesting part, however, in the context of Europe’s long history, that event represents just a [...]
How to “heal the nation” – a dramatic approach
The major problem with this idea is that my country would be abbreviated USC, but United Provinces of Canada would probably acceptable.