I recently added another category for my posts, Green Business. You can see the categories in the ‘cloud’ in the right hand column. These clouds are a new way of displaying information. Each category’s font size grows as more posts on that subject are added. Green Business is in teeny tiny type right now because its a new category and I have not gone back and tagged old posts with it. I suspect that if I did, it would be one of the most prominent in the cloud.
The cloud fascinates me because it shows how interrelated these subjects are- I almost never have one subject assigned to a post. The cloud also embraces some subjects that are not listed. You don’t see Iraq War as a category, nor do you see Bush Cheney, even though I frequently post on these subjects. That’s because I feel that Energy is a unifying issue in these subjects: We fight in Iraq because of a terrible fear in the executive branch that if we don’t get an oil-rich country for ourselves, we’re screwed. The fact that Bush Cheney both come out of the fossil fuel cloud isn’t lost on anyone at this point.

Walter Reed and War Spin
Perhaps the best example of how things have changed politically since the election is the scandal over treatment of wounded soldiers (they’re not veterans until they are discharged from the military). Every time a Democrat votes to defund the war the right sends the message that they are hurting our troops. Yet the reality uncovered in the Walter Reed scandal is that the neo-conservatives don’t give a damn about the troops- all they care about is pursuing their oil wars. They have made a decision that it is worth paying a price in human suffering to get a foothold in oil country.
Is this too cynical and harsh? Read the stories of how impossible it is to live as a wounded soldier. Now look at the wealth accumulated by the Rumsfelds and Cheneys, not to mention the oil executives and Halliburtons of the world. This is all about short term gains.

Why They Block Innovative Energy Technology and Efficiency Standards
This is simple. The wealth the oil policies generate is so great that the beneficiaries are establishing a ruling class of legacy wealth that will outlive any disasters, wars, climate calamities, etc. Bush is already an example of such a royal clan as are Cheney and Rumsfeld. Their descendants will never have to deal with anything but the best.
If we enforce efficiencies and develop clean, cheap alternative energy sources this destruction of the middle class will fail. Cheap energy is a great democratizing force no matter where you live in the world. Blocking cheap energy and raising prices short term through wars is a way of destroying the middle class and building a world aristocracy.

Don’t get the wrong idea- I’m not a socialist, I’m a capitalist who believes in free markets and a global economy. Free markets cannot exist when a small power group are politically manipulating things to benefit their own agenda. The Democrats need to hit them hard on these points- it’s a winning strategy.

Bruce Sterling jokingly takes credit for being the first to put forward the idea that being green is no longer an alternative lifestyle- it is the reality of the world.
The fact is that he can claim to have set a standard with his book, Shaping Things which I’ve written about here. I reiterate: Read it.
Bruce blogs here.

This video is an incredibly beautiful view of the water from the Twin Cities. It’s 1500 individual frames taken over the course of a year.
The view in the video is very similar to the view near my parent’s house on Lake Ontario where the Genesee river enters the lake. I’ve seen many of these images reflected there.
Coincidentally, there are plans to build a science institute to study the Great Lakes at the Genesee river/harbor site. This is next to the terminal for the failed cross lake ferry to Toronto that many of us here in Rochester had high hopes for. Scams, bungled government policies on both sides of the lake and widespread scepticism resulted in a $45 million luxury ferry sitting unused at a dock here for nearly a year before being sold off to the highest bidder (at least there is an attempt at a deal- the ferry sits in Halifax).
If you haven’t seen the Great Lakes you may be in for a surprise as they are not ‘lakes’ in the sense many people think of a lake. You can’t see across them. They are actually inland seas. Ontario, for example, is 85 miles across at Rochester and as much as 1500 feet deep.

I’m sitting in a Lenscrafter store this weekend while my companion buys glasses. The selection of reading material is limited to Field and Stream and GQ, two magazines I’d probably never pick up. Not being a Bambi killer, I go for the GQ. After working my way through the obligatory 75 pages of clothing ads I get to the editorial. To my surprise there are two hard hitting, investigative journalism-style pieces against the Bush administration including this call for impeachment of the Vice-Maniac Cheney. It’s very well done and given his insane warmongering of late, calling for confrontations with China. Iran and Pakistan, something we should take seriously.
By the way, Field and Stream had a great illustrated piece (sorry, no link- there’s a large picture of a dead animal prominently featured on the site and an article about booth babes at a trade show but I couldn’t find an online version of the survival piece- if you want to go there you’re on your own) of how to not get lost in the woods. Really well done. So maybe I should try reading a little further afield (couldn’t resist!).