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This evening, PBS will start broadcasting the latest of film documentarian Ken Burns’ treatises on significant periods and issues of American history. THE DUST BOWL chronicles the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history, in which the frenzied wheat boom of the “Great Plow-Up,” followed by a decade-long drought during the 1930s nearly swept away […]

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In 2004, amid many frustrations, I could not understand why Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry (and the ‘campaign’) remained locked so hard into the Vietman War and failed to create a narrative of his life-long service to the nation from the SEAL operations in Vietnam, to principaled efforts to end the war on his return […]

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The Center for American Progress, led by John Podesta, has made a real mark since its founding just eight years ago in credible and authortative discussions of how (often mildly) progressive policy options (in education, agriculture, industry, etc …) represent not just viable but more cost-effective paths forward to solving problems and creating advantage — for […]

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For a long time, I described myself as a pessimistic optimist (or an optimistic pessimist — just couldn’t remember which …). This changed recently as I learned a critical definitional issue. An optimist is assuming things will work out and it doesn’t necessarily rely on their efforts or necessarily require any special action to end […]

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Just published, Joe Romm’s Straight Up excerpts from Romm’s fiery and highly-informed posts at Climate Progress, which has developed into one of, if not the, top climate / energy blog on the web. As someone who often reads Romm’s blogging and has read his previous books, I was uncertain whether I would welcome having this […]

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One of America’s top meteorologists, Jeff Masters, and Dr Joe Romm, author of one of the most important books re climate change and politics, held a press teleconference focused on extreme weather, the recent (DC area) snowstorms, and climate science. The audio makes for, sadly, too interesting listening as so many of the reporters seemed […]

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Should we put aside the “Friedman unit” and the certainty that things will be magical six months for now? Should Tom Friedman ever be enabled to live down his rampant cheerleading for unchecked globalization? The answer, to be clear, to these and other questions is “NO!!” Yet, when it comes to the questions of energy, […]

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Joe Romm, in his book Hell and High Water, had this to say about why we should be cautious about meteorologists talking about Global Warming/Catastrophic Climate Change. Asking a meteorologist to explain the cause of recent extreme weather is like asking your family doctor what the chances are for an avian flu pandemic in the […]

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John McCain makes much noise about his concern for Global Warming, that he views it as real and something that requires action (even if his actions don’t match his words, also). A more prominent activist on Global Warming, Al Gore, has been hit hard for his supposedly excessive energy use at his home being at […]

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Have you noticed? Right now, much of Iowa and the Midwest is suffering through a 500 year flooding event. Does it seem like 100 and 500 year events are becoming ever more frequent? If your answer is yes, your impression fits with the scientific analysis. Now, we have to be careful (extremely careful) in the […]

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