Category Archives: Commentary

The Cancer Ward

6/7/2007 – 12:03 am

Lewis “Scooter” Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison this week; a military judge’s ruling has cast new doubts about the detentions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Someone like me, who writes about these things “lives” in the world of news.  I stay in touch throughout the day and dwell on what such things might […]

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News From the (Warm) Front

5/31/2007 – 11:00 am

Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the nation’s leading expert on global warming, says we have less than 10 years to significantly decrease the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere. He made that statement last summer, the first anniversary is coming up, […]

By floegel | Also posted in Economy, Energy, Global Warming, Nuclear Energy, Oil | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

One of the Bloodiest Months Yet

5/24/2007 – 10:24 am

ABC News reported Tuesday that George Bush signed a “non-lethal presidential finding” authorizing covert action to subvert the Iranian government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Right-wing pundits and presidential candidate Mitt Romney fired away at ABC, accusing the news staff of betraying America.  Left-wing pundits fired back, saying it’s clear that the Bush administration wants the story […]

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When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Stupid

5/17/2007 – 9:37 am

Does anyone remember 2000? Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush promised voters that, if elected, he would “restore honor to the Oval Office.” Months later, when he… well, he wasn’t exactly elected, but when he took control of the Oval Office from Bill Clinton and his aides, the quip going around the political and media […]

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The Moral Universe

5/10/2007 – 9:53 am

Theodore Parker, Unitarian minister, reformer and abolitionist, died 147 years ago today.  To save you from having to do the math, the year was 1860.  He did not live to see emancipation, nor even the election of Abraham Lincoln, which caused the slave states to secede from the Union.  I wonder if he even knew […]

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The Leaf and the Niagara

5/3/2007 – 9:37 am

This week I’ve been looking at satellite photos of the Niagara River and wondering about a hypothetical leaf floating on its surface. From the pictures, it seems the leaf would only be a few hundred yards from the renowned falls before it began to pick up speed. The leaf, of course, is a metaphor for […]

By floegel | Also posted in Energy, Global Warming, Oil | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Because We Can

4/26/2007 – 10:31 am

America is still grieving for the 32 students and professors killed at Virginia Tech last week, as we should. Several people pointed out to me – to you too, probably – that five or six times as many innocent people died in Iraq last week. News is a product of importance multiplied by proximity. The […]

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