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neonvincentMy comment on A Pleasant Lull
"Ever wonder why every public official in the land has to wear a flag lapel pin? Should it be necessary for the president of the US to signal his devotion to duty? Wouldn’t we normally just assume this to be the case?"
Sure enough, President Obama is wearing one in the video in which he wished a happy 100th birthday to the National Park Service. I'm sure he's wearing one in his address the nation about Labor Day. Speaking of which, happy Labor Day!
"No, it signals the widespread and generalized anxiety that the national condition is dire and that we don’t have the confidence or the clarity to face the challenges of the time. President Obama might as well wear a crucifix or a bulb of garlic in his lapel."
Not that either seem to deter the vampires of "The Strain." Sunlight and silver (but that's supposed to be for werewolves) both seem to work just fine. I suppose there's a metaphor in that about the conditions we're facing, to say nothing about the popularity of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic entertainment.
My comment on Retrotopia: The Only Way Forward
@sgage: "Splitting atoms to make electricity is like using a chainsaw to cut butter." I'm a fan of the Smithee Awards for bad low-budget films. One of their awards is called "Cutting Butter with a Chainsaw," which is "Presented to the scene with the most "overkill," or in which extraordinarily difficult measures are taken to solve an otherwise simple problem." Yeah, that does seem to describe nuclear power for electricity generation.
My comment on Signs of Desperation
nwcodetalker: "The post from last week disappeared? Sort of like Hillary?"
I'm still seeing it on the blog page, so it's still there for me. As for Hillary, she'll be back. A little pneumonia won't keep her down.
Speaking of presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Jill Stein visited Detroit a week ago last Saturday. Trump got lots of protesters to demonstrate against him, while Stein played bongos for former Detroit City Council member Martha Reeves ("Dancing in the Streets" optional) before speaking about her Green New Deal. I was afraid she'd be completely eclipsed by Trump in the local media, but at least one newspaper covered her.
In other potential disasters, North Korea tested a fifth nuclear device last week. I mocked "Kim Young One" with a drink that tastes like vomit, and might make one barf, too. It's exactly what he deserves!
My comment on Slowly, Then All at Once
"Neither Trump or Clinton show that they have a clue about the situation."
Or, possibly in the case of Clinton, won't show that they have a clue. After all, it's hard to get a man (or woman) to understand something if his (or her) salary depends on his not understanding it, to paraphrase Upton Siclair. Ever since Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter, it has not paid American politicians to show that they understand resource depletion and have a plan other than getting more resources to deal with it. Even if they do, they'll phrase it in ways that fit within the paradigm of growth, as both Obama and Clinton do about renewable energy. It's about the effects of reducing waste and pollution and dependence on other countries who don't like us very much more than reducing consumption.
As for Trump, you once predicted that Americans would elect maniacs who would promise that they could keep the entitlements of suburbia. Trump has shown you to be right and wrong about that. Yes, they'll elect maniacs to protect the entitlements of suburbia, but those entitlements turned out to be psychological and social, not physical. Trump's support is more a response to threats to the social environment as it is to losing SUVs and McMansions, which with the price of oil being low right now, are not issues like they were in 2008 and 2012. Instead, it's immigration, terrorism, and "law and order."
Instead of any of the deeper issues about sustainability being salient, it's the Trump Foundation vs. the Clinton Foundation, which represents how trustworthy and transparent each candidate is. That would work in a business as usual environment. Too bad these are not business as usual times.
I'll finish by wishing you and your readers a happy Talk Like a Pirate Day. Rum cocktails for everyone. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
Not used: The one thing missing from "The End of Suburbia" was any discussion of White Flight; the movement to the suburbs was all phrased in class terms, not racial ones. That's something my students from Detroit and its suburbs notice.
(A bit less than half of this comment was reused as part of Kunstler said Americans would elect maniacs. I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.)
"Ever wonder why every public official in the land has to wear a flag lapel pin? Should it be necessary for the president of the US to signal his devotion to duty? Wouldn’t we normally just assume this to be the case?"
Sure enough, President Obama is wearing one in the video in which he wished a happy 100th birthday to the National Park Service. I'm sure he's wearing one in his address the nation about Labor Day. Speaking of which, happy Labor Day!
"No, it signals the widespread and generalized anxiety that the national condition is dire and that we don’t have the confidence or the clarity to face the challenges of the time. President Obama might as well wear a crucifix or a bulb of garlic in his lapel."
Not that either seem to deter the vampires of "The Strain." Sunlight and silver (but that's supposed to be for werewolves) both seem to work just fine. I suppose there's a metaphor in that about the conditions we're facing, to say nothing about the popularity of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic entertainment.
My comment on Retrotopia: The Only Way Forward
@sgage: "Splitting atoms to make electricity is like using a chainsaw to cut butter." I'm a fan of the Smithee Awards for bad low-budget films. One of their awards is called "Cutting Butter with a Chainsaw," which is "Presented to the scene with the most "overkill," or in which extraordinarily difficult measures are taken to solve an otherwise simple problem." Yeah, that does seem to describe nuclear power for electricity generation.
My comment on Signs of Desperation
nwcodetalker: "The post from last week disappeared? Sort of like Hillary?"
I'm still seeing it on the blog page, so it's still there for me. As for Hillary, she'll be back. A little pneumonia won't keep her down.
Speaking of presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Jill Stein visited Detroit a week ago last Saturday. Trump got lots of protesters to demonstrate against him, while Stein played bongos for former Detroit City Council member Martha Reeves ("Dancing in the Streets" optional) before speaking about her Green New Deal. I was afraid she'd be completely eclipsed by Trump in the local media, but at least one newspaper covered her.
In other potential disasters, North Korea tested a fifth nuclear device last week. I mocked "Kim Young One" with a drink that tastes like vomit, and might make one barf, too. It's exactly what he deserves!
My comment on Slowly, Then All at Once
"Neither Trump or Clinton show that they have a clue about the situation."
Or, possibly in the case of Clinton, won't show that they have a clue. After all, it's hard to get a man (or woman) to understand something if his (or her) salary depends on his not understanding it, to paraphrase Upton Siclair. Ever since Ronald Reagan beat Jimmy Carter, it has not paid American politicians to show that they understand resource depletion and have a plan other than getting more resources to deal with it. Even if they do, they'll phrase it in ways that fit within the paradigm of growth, as both Obama and Clinton do about renewable energy. It's about the effects of reducing waste and pollution and dependence on other countries who don't like us very much more than reducing consumption.
As for Trump, you once predicted that Americans would elect maniacs who would promise that they could keep the entitlements of suburbia. Trump has shown you to be right and wrong about that. Yes, they'll elect maniacs to protect the entitlements of suburbia, but those entitlements turned out to be psychological and social, not physical. Trump's support is more a response to threats to the social environment as it is to losing SUVs and McMansions, which with the price of oil being low right now, are not issues like they were in 2008 and 2012. Instead, it's immigration, terrorism, and "law and order."
Instead of any of the deeper issues about sustainability being salient, it's the Trump Foundation vs. the Clinton Foundation, which represents how trustworthy and transparent each candidate is. That would work in a business as usual environment. Too bad these are not business as usual times.
I'll finish by wishing you and your readers a happy Talk Like a Pirate Day. Rum cocktails for everyone. Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
Not used: The one thing missing from "The End of Suburbia" was any discussion of White Flight; the movement to the suburbs was all phrased in class terms, not racial ones. That's something my students from Detroit and its suburbs notice.
(A bit less than half of this comment was reused as part of Kunstler said Americans would elect maniacs. I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.)
