One of Greenpeace’s founders, Patrick Moore, explains in a Washington Post op-ed why he’s come to support nuclear power as a viable alternative source of energy.

Moore:

Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions — or nearly 10 percent of global emissions — of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely…

What nobody noticed at the time, though, was that Three Mile Island was in fact a success story: The concrete containment structure did just what it was designed to do — prevent radiation from escaping into the environment. And although the reactor itself was crippled, there was no injury or death among nuclear workers or nearby residents. Three Mile Island was the only serious accident in the history of nuclear energy generation in the United States, but it was enough to scare us away from further developing the technology: There hasn’t been a nuclear plant ordered up since then.

WP - Patrick Moore: Going Nuclear

Hat tip: Brewtown Politico

Stephen Colbert targeted President Bush and largely gave the press a pass during his monologue at last night’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner.

Editor and Publisher is reporting that the president didn’t seem to be laughing at the barbs about low polling numbers, wiretapping, and the president’s role as a “decider”.

Some highlights:

“I believe democracy is our greatest export. At least until China figures out a way to stamp it out in plastic for three cents a unit. ”

“And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be it Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe our infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.”

“The greatest thing about this man is he’s steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday, that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change, this man’s beliefs never will.”

“And as excited as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the liberal media that is destroying America, with the exception of Fox News.
Fox News gives you both sides of every story, the President’s side and the Vice President’s side.

But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on N.S.A. wiretapping or secret prisons in Eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason, they’re superdepressing. And if that’s your goal, well, misery accomplished.”

As one reader over at Crooks and Liars commented, it took “big brass balls” for Colbert to go out and essentially roast the president to his face. Colbert hit him on nearly every issue plaguing the administration, attacked Fox News, and didn’t say a word about the Democrats.

YouTube has the video in three parts.

Editor and Publisher recaps Colbert’s performance.

Dumbosaurus has a transcript.

Download the C-SPAN broadcast on BitTorrent.

Update: Crooks and Liars has Colbert (not in character!) on 60 minutes in an interview with Morley Safer. LINK

As gas prices approach $3.50 a gallon across the country, politicians are scrambling to come up with ideas to lower prices and make Americans happy. They’re scraping the barrel for quick fixes that will appease voters and make it look like they’re taking action.

The only problem is that there are no quick fixes.

As the Washington Post’s Charles Krathammer wrote this morning, the problem is one of supply and demand. When supply goes down or demand goes up, prices rise.

On the demand side, rapidly developing nations like China and India are using more energy than ever before, and subsequently burning more oil. And Americans are still driving SUVs and severely non-fuel-efficient vehicles to pick up the kids at soccer practice.
As far as supply, major hurricanes have disrupted oil refining and ethanol mandates combined with a deficiency in ethanol production have caused fuel shortages in some areas.

Krathammer: Why don’t we import the missing ethanol? Brazil makes a ton of it, and very cheaply. Answer: the Iowa caucuses. Iowa grows corn and chooses presidents. So we have a ridiculously high 54-cent ethanol tariff and ethanol shortages.
Ok, so we know why prices are so high. What do we do about it?

Politicians are calling for investigations into price gouging, but I doubt they’ll find anything. People are outraged that ExxonMobile reported $8.4 billion in first-quarter profits yesterday, but few stop to examine where the profits come from. In a brief segment today, CNN reported that only 1/3 of the $8.4 billion came the U.S., and only about half of that was from gas.

Oil conglomerates are still getting billions in undeserved subsidies from the U.S. government, but they don’t deserve all the blame.

The root of the problem isn’t the oil companies. President Bush has already stated the root of the problem: “America is addicted to oil.”

Supplying the answer?

So far, politicians (especially Republicans) have focused on increasing supply.

They propose drilling for more oil in ANWR, which will help for a few years… but isn’t worth the sacrifice of some of the last pristine landscapes on the planet (I’m a hippie, deal with it).

Some Democrats want to give each family earning under $15,000 a $100 gas rebate to help offset the increased prices.  Such a plan sounds good, but it doesn’t do anything to resolve the long-term problem.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is calling for a temporary repeal of the gas tax amounting in a savings of about $0.18 per gallon. The plan would save taxpayers about $100 million a day. Sounds like a lot, except for the fact that that’s $100 million every day that doesn’t reach the federal government. I would agree with those who say our government has been spending recklessly lately ($300 billion in Iraq, countless earmarks on nearly every spending bill), but this isn’t the way to go about solving the problem. Lobbying and earmark reform is (although those plans are about as dead as John Kerry’s chances of becoming our next president.)

Demand lower prices, new strategies

The only responsible way to solve this problem is to play with the other side of the equation and decrease demand.
The first step: increase efficiency. President Bush actually called on Congress today to increase fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, a request they should heed immediately. (The Washington Post reports, “White House officials said later, however, that they didn’t know when or how the president would use that authority.”)

However, just like the Iowa corn farmers stand in the way of potential ethanol viability (which I’m not convinced of anyway), auto worker unions stand in the way of stricter CAFE standards.

The president also proposed tax incentives to promote the sale of hybrid vehicles. Considering that there are currently tax incentives to buy larger SUVs, I think this would be a pretty good idea.

EVERYONE ignores the fact that all supplies of oil won’t last forever. Experts predict that world oil production will peak within the next five years, so much for increasing supply.

The bottom line

The real short-term solution consists of removing the tariff on Brazilian ethanol, providing investments in and incentives for fuel-efficient vehicles, creating financial disincentives for fuel-inefficient vehicles, changing the law to stop huge subsidies to oil companies (different from taxing windfall profits), developing electric-powered vehicles that can run on energy produced from any energy source.

The real long-term solution is to actually invest in alternative energy sources, especially solar and nuclear power. Anything else is only a stopgap to slow the inevitable expiration of fossil fuels.

WP - Kinsley: Tax the windfall

WP - Krauthammer: Say it with me: Supply and Demand

WP - Mufson and Murray: Profits, prices spur oil outage

Bloomberg - Shlaes: Who’s afraid of $100 a barrel? Only politicians

Gasbuddy.com: Gas temperature map

The Onion - Grease Fire Rages Through Midwest

I’m missing Wisconsin… this Badger State recap one goes out to you, Bucky!

Rocketboom mentions a Badger Herald story about Johnny Lechner, the UW-Whitewater student who’s finally graduating after 12 years - only because he’s run out of money. Not surprisingly, Lechner’s interests include, “going out, cooking out and rocking out”.

Misspronouncer.com is a Web site devoted to the pronunciation of all things Wisconsin. The NFL commentators on FOX no longer have an excuse.

Brad Vogel over at Letters in Bottles has some sweet pics of the new roof garden atop the Madison Overture Center.

Since I’ve been too busy to write lately and gas prices are on the rise, it sounds like the perfect time for a “best of TNV” post on the topic.

September 4, 2005: Maybe higher gas prices are exactly what we need

October 28, 2005: Shouldn’t oil company profits be down?

September 18, 2005: What’s up with the gas tax holiday?

Bonus: Will Ferrell: George Bush on Global Warming

Doyle-Lawton 2006 Blog

The World Newser - Inside ‘The Note’

Japan - Rube Goldberg Machines

Today I attended a press conference announcing the presidential candidacy of former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK). Just for a little background, he’s the guy who read the Pentagon Papers aloud in the Senate and filibustered the draft during Vietnam. Some might describe him as a maverick, but I’m more inclined to identify him as absurd (in light of his future plans, not his past accomplishments).

Some major planks of the Gravel platform include:

• immediate removal of US troops from Iraq. no timetable, no consideration for a coalition government, nothing. (removing and redeploying US troops is admirable idea, but Gravel’s plan lacks practicality or substantial planning)
• a national legislative initiative to have the population vote on all policy issues
• stripping Congress of the power to declare war and making it a national referendum
• no sanctions against any country, ever
• elimination of the income tax, to be replaced with a national sales tax and annual “prebate” that would account for necessities

If he gets enough backing, Gravel could very well be included in the Democratic debates. He won’t make a great candidate or gain much support, but I think it can be healthy to get a strong voice in the public arena on tax reform and obstacles to electoral participation. Surely each of the issues Gravel brings up merit a serious discussion about reform, even if it won’t result in the extremes that the former Senator from the great state of Alaska might dream about.

The timing of Gravel’s announcement is curious – the 2008 election is over 30 months away all other potential candidates have stated that they’re waiting until after the mid-term elections to announce their decisions. Still, I’d say that Gravel made the right move, especially if he wants to be included in the Democratic debates and cattle calls. Once the first legitimate (sorry Mike) candidate announces later this year, media focus will coalesce around the bigger names, drowning out anyone who hasn’t already worked to establish themselves in the public eye. Gravel said it himself today, he’s currently the official frontrunner.

As they say here in Washington: it’s never too early.

ABC: Teddy Davis devotes today’s AfterNote podcast to the Gravel announcement

AP: Ex-Alaska Sen. Gravel Runs for President

Folkbum writes about ‘08er and former Gov. Mark Warner’s (D-VA) keynote speech at the WI Democratic Party’s Founder’s Day dinner yesterday.

The Journal Sentinel also writes up the event.

There’s nothing better than tailgating with brats, beer, and the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the story… and the video. Wow, I miss Wisconsin, but not the crappy spring weather.

Update: The Brewers win 3-2 over the Pirates, bringing them to 3-0 overall. We’d better be beating Pittsburgh if we expect to do better than last year.

President Bush has a change of heart

A nearly universal health care bill passed easily through the Massachusetts legislature today and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA). The law mandates that all Massachusetts residents purchase health care by July 1, 2007.

From the NY Times’ front-page, must-read coverage of the bill:

Individuals who can afford private insurance will be penalized on their state income taxes if they do not buy it. Government subsidies to private insurance plans will enable more of the working poor to be able to afford insurance and will expand the number of children who are eligible for free coverage. And businesses with more than 10 workers that do not provide insurance will be assessed a fee of up to $295 per employee per year.

All told, the plan is projected to cover 515,000 uninsured people within three years, about 95 percent of the state’s uninsured population, legislators said.

Politicians have been talking about a “uniquely American” solution to health care that is somewhere in-between a single payer program and complete privatization. This looks like a great start.

The program is a pet project of Gov. Romney’s that he’s been pushing to get passed before the deadline for additional federal funding expired.

I saw Romney speak about the program when he was in Washington about six weeks ago and it sounds solid. This bipartisan effort will only help his cause moving towards 2008.

State Senator Robert E Travaglini describes the significance of the accomplishment:

“It’s a balanced bill,” said Travaglini, the majority leader. “Whenever you can have the medical community, the business community and the advocates all applauding our efforts, I think that’s indicative of a successful exercise. This is going to be a template for the rest of the nation to follow.”

While you’re in the area, be sure to notice the redesign of the NY Times site.

Here’s my most recent Badger Herald article, complete with exclusive TNV headline:

DNC, NH Dems butt heads

Monday, April 3, 2006

WASHINGTON — More than two and a half years remain before Americans vote for their next president, and potential candidates are already hitting the campaign trail, shaking hands and kissing babies.

But they’re not traveling to the swing states like Wisconsin, Ohio or Oregon or courting support in densely populated areas like New York, Chicago or Southern California. Instead, they’re visiting Iowa and New Hampshire, locations of the nation’s first presidential caucus and primary, respectively.

By the end of April, almost every member of the 2008 presidential field will have visited one of these two states to give speeches and schmooze with state party activists.

In early March, members of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee voted 21-1 to allow one or two other states to hold caucuses before the New Hampshire primary. The DNC’s motivation for shuffling the schedule is to increase cultural and geographic diversity early in the nominating process, and a final decision is expected by early fall 2006.

But Kathy Sullivan, chairwoman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, criticized the DNC proposal, as she said it will pack events towards the front of the primary process and prevent candidates from competing in all of them.

New Hampshire’s primary is a “tried and tested” method of vetting presidential contenders, Sullivan said.

“Candidates have to speak to regular voters,” she added.

And in the current nominating process, performance during the first few primaries can make or break a campaign. If a front-runner fails to meet expectations early on, he or she can essentially be knocked out of contention like Howard Dean after he came in third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire during the 2004 campaign.

Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., a probable 2008 candidate, told PoliticsNH.com during his March visit to New Hampshire, “I just think that early in the primary process it makes sense to have more diversity in the process.”

Richardson said the New Hampshire primary would still be “the preeminent event,” even if the DNC added caucuses after Iowa.

Similarly, former Gov. Mark Warner, D-Va., reportedly stated to the New Hampshire Senate Democratic Caucus that the state should always hold the first primary in the nation.

What both Richardson and Warner failed to mention to folks in New England was that, while they support the Granite State primary’s hallowed status, both candidates are investigating ways they could benefit from new caucuses preceding or following the New Hampshire event.

As a westerner with a Latina mother, Richardson would like to see the Democrats add a western contest. And as the former governor of a southern state, Warner would like to see the Democrats schedule a southern contest early in the calendar.

“When they travel to the Granite State, the Democratic ‘08ers are going out of their way to show their fealty to New Hampshire,” ABC News’ Teddy Davis said in an interview with The Badger Herald. “But make no mistake: Behind the scenes, almost all of them have allies on the DNC’s Rules and By Laws Committee, and they are planning to make hay out of whatever calendar the DNC ultimately decides on.”

Wisconsin’s own potential presidential candidate has already stated his view on the issue.

During his September visit to New Hampshire, Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., told a crowd of fellow Democrats, “of course the first primary should be in New Hampshire.”

George Aldridge, spokesperson for Feingold’s Political Action Committee, said Feingold supports moving other states with more ethnic and racial diversity up in the process, but New Hampshire, he noted, “has something special that’s worth preserving in a historical context.”

If you’re interested, Chris Cillizza and Sylvia Moreno wrote on the same topic in Sunday’s Washington Post (my article had been finished by this point, mind you). They don’t have exclusive quotes from George Aldridge and ABC News’ Teddy Davis though.

MJS - Milwaukee must break the cycle

While I stand by my previous statement that no matter of good things in Iraq can make up for the horrors still occuring within the native populations, I won’t deny that there are still good things happening in Iraq.

Bill Crawford of the National Review Online shares some of the progress being made:

• In March, fatalities fell to a two year low. Moreover, the number of deaths from roadside bombs fell one year low of twelve. In Baghdad, the number of attacks on our troops dropped by 58 percent this week, but this decline isn’t the only explanation for the decrease in deaths. The increased capability of Iraqi forces plays a big part.
• 600 Iraqis conducted an independent operation in Bayji. The operation led to the detention of 25 suspected terrorists.
• The leader of a terrorist cell was captured in an Iraqi-led operation in the city of Haswa.
• An operation northwest of Baghdad resulted in the discovery of several large weapons caches:

The caches contained 20 rockets, 53 rocket-propelled grenades, three anti-aircraft missiles with two launchers, an anti-tank missile, 24 mortar rounds, a mortar tube, and a variety of small-caliber artillery rounds. In addition to the ordnance, soldiers found items commonly used in roadside bombs.

• There were virtually no cell-phone subscribers during Saddam Hussein’s reign. Today, there are more than 5 million.
• Eighty percent of the Saddam Hussein-era debt has been forgiven by Iraq’s debtors.
• Women comprise 25 percent of the Iraqi parliament, which is the highest proportion in the Arab world and one of the largest percentages worldwide.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides training on industrial equipment enabling Iraqis to operate and maintain equipment and power systems throughout the country.
• Nearly 100 percent of Iraqi children have been vaccinated.
• In March of 2003, per capita income in Iraq was $500. Today it has risen to $1,200.
• More than 30,000 new businesses have been registered in Iraq since the fall of Saddam.
• In education, 3,000 schools have been rehabilitated, 9 million new textbooks distributed, and 36,000 teachers have been trained.
• The country has more than 2,000 Internet cafes, and a free press.

There may be good things happening in Iraq, but it can’t make up for this:

From the NPR blog Mixed Signals:

Baghdad by Night

April 3, 2006 · NPR Baghdad producer JJ Sutherland sends this dispatch from the dark side.

I get a call the other night. They’ve found four more bodies in western Baghdad. They’re bound, hands and feet. They’re blindfolded. They’ve been shot in the head. Their bodies bear wounds from beatings and electrical burns, and someone has used a drill on their flesh. That’s just one phone call. I get a few more. Every night it seems, dozens of bodies turn up, both Shiite and Sunni, often killed in the same fashion.

We spoke with a journalist recently who works for an Iraqi television station. For the last nine days, he’s been sleeping at the office. He’s been threatened with death because of his work and he doesn’t want to bring the danger home to his parents and six sisters. He told the Ministry of the Interior about the threat. They told him to get a gun.

“Death is the simplest thing now in Iraq. A bullet in the head is nothing, especially against journalists. So crying and sadness are the norm,” he said to us. Later he added, “I have been in love for the last four years but my conditions don’t allow me to marry… not because of money, but because of how things are going on. There is no stability and you never know when a civil war will break out.”

A friend of mine tells me today that he’s bought weapons for his family and is teaching his wife, who hates to even hold a knife, to fire a gun. The day before yesterday, Sunni insurgents burst into one family’s home. The husband was killed, and then they set his body on fire. They didn’t bother killing the wife and four children first. They burned them alive.

My friend tells me this story and says, “I can understand someone who gets killed. I can understand beheadings. I can’t understand burning someone alive.” I’m stunned … both by his story and by the fact that killings and beheadings are understandable. Burning people alive apparently violates some behavioral norm that says chopping people’s heads off is okay.

It is becoming very clear to me that war can shatter a society and what it becomes as it puts itself back together can become a warped malefic grotesquerie — a social organism that eagerly eats itself alive.

At a press conference the other day, an American general said he thinks that Iraqis feel more secure. I think most of the Iraqis I’ve spoken with since I’ve been here might have a slightly different perspective.

– JJ Sutherland

I’m not pretending I have the answer, but something’s got to change.

HT: BoingBoing