Barnes op-ed showcases conservative bewilderment with urban transportation

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Tuesday March 08, 2011 · 7:15 AM PST

2011/03/08 · 07:15

I don't know if I've ever read a single op-ed saturated with clunkier thinking than Fred Barnes' recent peck at progress, "The Way We Drive Now: There’s a reason Washington can’t get Americans out of their cars".

For most Americans—make that most of mankind—the car is an instrument of mobility, flexibility, and speed. Yet officials in Washington, transportation experts, state and local functionaries, planners, and transit officials are puzzled why their efforts to lure people from their cars continue to fail.
The Obama administration is only the latest to be bewildered.

Let's find out who's really bewildered.

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0 votes Vote Now!

Imagine All of New York State Flooded

Brudaimonia

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Saturday August 04, 2007 · 5:06 AM PDT

2007/08/04 · 05:06

If the entire state of New York were flooded, then about as many people would be displaced as the current flooding in South Asia. In India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, about 20 million have been uprooted from their homes, and the death toll is now approaching 200.

At first, this looked looked like a severe weather event not too out-of-the-ordinary for the monsoon season. After all, a third of Bangladesh is usually under water at this time every year (CIA World Factbook). But as the rainy day streak has now stretched to 20, the descriptions have turned dire:

"some of the worst floods for years"

"In some areas, the floods are being called the worst in living memory." [BBC, first link]

They might as well get used to them, because, unless things change, the world won't be able to reach the emissions targets necessary to render unlikely the increases in flooding climate change models suggest for the low-lying areas of South Asia.

Brudaimonia

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Friday July 06, 2007 · 6:58 PM PDT

2007/07/06 · 18:58

It is a natural tendency among activists and concerned citizens to always feel as if the issue(s) we have committed our time and mental anguish to is/are reaching a defining moment -- a tipping point, climax -- whether or not it is actually true. We can get so immersed in the issue that we forget its real magnitude in our overall social context.

Still, given the recent convergence of events and trends, it's hard to argue that the state of the American food system is not in the midst of one of those defining moments -- one that could lead either to a nation caught off guard by emerging realities or to a nation that has transformed its food system into one that respects land, water, soil, local economies, families, and health.

Poll

21 votes Show Results

What kind of food policy council have?

21 votes Vote Now!

What kind of food policy council have?

Public (e.g. city, county, region, or state)

8 votes

Private (e.g. nonprofit)

4 votes

None, but I'm gonna start one after reading this ingenious post

3 votes

None, we like our gas station cherry pies. Besides, we can get all the nutrition we need from a Naked Juice.

6 votes

Stop Anti-Environmental Legislation from Certain Democratic Congressmen, Or Else

Brudaimonia

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Tuesday June 05, 2007 · 12:54 PM PDT

2007/06/05 · 12:54

It's time the Democrats in Congress realized how dangerous anti-environmental congressmen like John Dingell (D-MI), Rick Boucher (D-VA), and Nick Rahall (D-WV) are to the future of the party. To have such prominently anti-environmental behavior from three powerful congressmen at a time when the American public is yearning for environmental leadership is blatantly unacceptable and a peril to the party's political future. It is also a roadblock to our efforts to transitition to an energy-scarce future and mitigate global warming while incurring as little hardship and suffering as possible.

Brudaimonia

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Friday March 16, 2007 · 8:14 PM PDT

2007/03/16 · 20:14

x-posts: Brudaimonia, The Proving Ground

George Will has a keen ability to package ill-informed nonsense in a shiny wrap of apparent erudition.

Not that I disagree with all of the points in his recent article on traffic congestion entitled "Fighting the Real Gridlock." I am in favor, for example, of dynamic tolling on highways and reforming transportation pork. It's just that the spirit of the whole article contradicts itself by reaffirming the status quo it purports to shatter.

Poll

99 votes Show Results

How often do you use public transportation?

99 votes Vote Now!

How often do you use public transportation?

5+ days a week

27 votes

3-5 days a week

10 votes

1-3 days a week

12 votes

Once every other week

8 votes

Once every month

6 votes

Less than once a month

19 votes

Never

17 votes

Recipe for America: Third Party Organic Certifiers

Brudaimonia

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Thursday February 22, 2007 · 8:03 PM PST

2007/02/22 · 20:03

Nearly 100 third party certifiers do the leg work behind that familiar green seal on the organic food you buy. They are farmers' associations, nonprofits, state departments of agriculture, businesses, and other organizations. They are accredited to certify different steps of the organic food production process.

Each organization is different. Their job qua certifier is to ensure that growers and producers stay chemical fertilizer- and pesticide-free, but that doesn't necessarily say anything about their positions on other food issues: source of food, treatment of workers, and so forth.

Below the fold is an introduction to third party certifiers.

Brudaimonia

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Thursday February 22, 2007 · 7:52 PM PST

2007/02/22 · 19:52

Below the fold is an introduction to third party certifiers.

Brudaimonia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 19, 2007 · 10:53 AM PST

2007/02/19 · 10:53

Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.

--Stephen Crane, "War Is Kind"

Over and over again, I hear the same brazen, abominable lie, and I don’t mean "lie" casually as in denoting mere misleading or stretching the truth. I mean lie, as in: one knows that something is not true, yet one says it anyway to further his or her own self-interests, at the great harm of those whose freedom is partly or fully dissolved by the liar’s maniacal pursuit of those self-interests.

I can’t speak for anyone else. I won’t speak for those who will say I’m overreacting. But it eats away at me. It overwhelms me with the anger of those who get proverbial shit thrown in their face and all they can hear is laughter. Again and again, I am filled with horrified bewilderment and wretched disbelief that those who would call themselves rational can say without trepidation that calling for our troops to come home means undercutting the troops.

Brudaimonia

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Thursday February 01, 2007 · 9:40 AM PST

2007/02/01 · 09:40

On Friday morning, at approximately 7:25 AM, day will break over the small Pennsylvanian town of Punxsutawney, and the world's most famous groundhog (envied by many rivals) will be called upon to make his yearly prognostication. Yet if Phil's great charge were retrospection, he would see his shadow just about as well as Bush saw WMDs in Iraq. (Remember the rubric: shadow = more winter; no shadow = spring is coming.)

Poll

14 votes Show Results

Who is your favorite groundhog?

14 votes Vote Now!

Who is your favorite groundhog?

Punxsutawney Phil (Punxsutawney, PA)

6 votes

Dunkirk Dave (Dunkirk NY)

0 votes

Wiarton Willie (South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario)

1 vote

Staten Island Chuck (Staten Island, NY)

1 vote

Birmingham Bill (Birmingham, AB)

0 votes

Lander Lil (Lander, WY)

1 vote

General Beauregard Lee (Liburn, GA)

0 votes

Balzac Billie (Balzac, Alberta)

1 vote

Buckeye Chuck (Marion, OH)

1 vote

Petaluma Pete (Petaluma, CA)

2 votes

Connecticut Chuckles (Manchester, CT)

0 votes

French Creek Freddie (French Creek, WV)

0 votes

Chilly Charlie (Woodstock, Ontario)

0 votes

Shubenacadie Sam (Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia)

0 votes

Other (e.g. Dixie Dan, Pennichuck Chuck, Octorara Orphie, Chuck Wood, Holland Huckleberry, Florida Phyllis, Metompkin Max, Pierre C. Shadeaux, etc.)

1 vote

A Look Down the Barrel of the Global Warming Gun

Brudaimonia

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Monday January 22, 2007 · 8:15 PM PST

2007/01/22 · 20:15

As many who follow global warming know, Bangladesh is one of the countries most vulnerable to the potential meteorological consequences of global warming. There are several good reasons why, which I detail below.

This diary serves to give a detailed profile of Bangladesh and what might happen if some of the events projected by climatologists due to global warming come true. Having spent a month in Bangladesh a few years ago, having experienced the genuine kindness and hospitality of many Bangladeshis, and having several friends there now, global warming's threat to the country is somewhat personal for me.

Brudaimonia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday January 01, 2007 · 12:56 PM PST

2007/01/01 · 12:56

Cross-post: Brudaimonia | Link: dKos Environmentalists

As we look back on 2006, one milestone our country reached came in October, when the US population reached 300 million. This is a vast and beautiful country with ample room for all of us 300 million (and many more), but the milestone should remind us that we can ill afford to accomodate our future population increase with more suburban sprawl.

Fortunately, there is an alternative in urban planning that is growing in popularity. It preserves more open space, creates cohesive neighborhoods with distinct identities and local amenities, and reduces dependence on fossil fuels, to name just a few of its benefits. This alternative works because it combines established and time-tested principles of town planning, innovative ideas, and democratic participation in land-use decisions (i.e. people power). It is smart growth.

Brudaimonia

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday November 03, 2006 · 10:39 AM PST

2006/11/03 · 10:39

Cross-post: Brudaimonia; Link: dKos Environmentalists

* * *

From BBC News:

Greenhouse gases hit record high
The steady rise in atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change shows no signs of abating, a UN agency has announced.
The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide rose by about half a percent in 2005, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has said.

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Barnes op-ed showcases conservative bewilderment with urban transportation

Imagine All of New York State Flooded

Take Control of Your Community's Food Destiny

Stop Anti-Environmental Legislation from Certain Democratic Congressmen, Or Else

The Real Gridlock Fighter: Public Transportation

Recipe for America: Third Party Organic Certifiers

Recipe for America: Third Party Organic Certifiers

Tell It To A Mother

Of Groundhogs, Shadows, Global Warming, and Winter (Or Lack Thereof)

A Look Down the Barrel of the Global Warming Gun

Smart Growth and the Future of Our Cities: A Photo Tour

UN: Greenhouse Gases at Record High