About that Minnesota liberal…
Thanks, Mr. Franzen, for the smug little insidery laughs that hit me every two pages. You nailed it.
Longtime readers know that State Fair crop art is something we follow in our family: it’s the changing face of the Minnesota liberal as rendered in corn. Last year M. and I smiled grimly at Obama’s birth certificate depicted in millet (progress!). Two years ago the major theme was cleaning up after the circus (and hey, remember when this guy mattered?).
This year’s star entry was snapped by Alena, one of my oldest and dearest friends, and reminds me of a saying that I just made up and wish fervently to be true: As crop art goes, so goes the nation.
God willin’.
Lunch: gazpacho & “revelations” about Sarah Palin (let’s face it, we knew it all already).
Lo que separa la civilización de la anarquía son solo siete comidas.
(Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart.)
(Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart.)
—Spanish proverb (via series-of-contradictions)
Also, drainage.
Federal judge rules executing an innocent person would be unconstitutional
OH CRAP I KNEW WE WERE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. Dang Constitution.
(via savingpaper, jayparkinsonmd)
The use of “blasts” here is markedly ill-advised — but Mr. Simmons’ simple but powerful gesture is not.
Russell Simmons Blasts Interfaith Symbols From His Ground Zero Windows
While the “Ground Zero Mosque” site is two blocks away from Ground Zero, rap mogul Russell Simmons’ apartment is across the street! This week he put various religious symbols in his windows to support religious freedom.
VIa notentirely:david:ihatethismess
… There is of course nothing wrong with many other areas; but you don’t know where you are, so you should not explore them.
The Tea Party Guide to Life, America, and the Universe. (Slash the DC Metro.)
Hat tip to Renee.
The more you know…
Fun fact I learned yesterday from an old newspaper article: many prisoners purposely use more toilet paper than they need to waste the state’s money.
If they really wanted to waste the state’s money, they should try to get busted as a non-violent drug offender. That’ll teach the state!
An open letter to all people and organizations working to combat global warming
From 1Sky’s Board of Directors. (I learned about the organization when I went on a retreat with Michael Silberman (@silbatron) in 2008).
A very sophisticated, thoughtful post; the comments are particularly interesting.
As we find ourselves surrounded by the tatters of the climate debate in the U.S. Congress, it seems fitting to take a moment to step back and ponder where we go from here. While the blogosphere is buzzing with assignments of blame for the failure of the Senate to act, we are much more concerned about how we move forward with urgency and clarity of purpose. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury to pack our bags and go home as the Senate did only moments ago. We just staggered through the hottest six months in recorded history worldwide. People everywhere are being impacted by the damage we have done through decades of carbon loading, and it is clear that our ailing planet will not sit idly by as our political leaders have done. […]
A few points I found compelling:
Our president is leading a deeply divided country and Congress, and while he undoubtedly “gets it” when it comes to the imperative to take action, he was surrounded by strategists who doubted the wisdom or the feasibility of winning on this issue. We simply never made a strong enough public case to change their minds, and as a result we did not get the leadership demonstrated by the White House in the health-care and regulatory-reform debates.
[…]
During the course of the last three years, as organizations adopted an empahsis on the clean energy economy, we saw our opponents make steady headway in their ongoing and deliberate disinformation campaign to suggest that there is credible debate about the science of global warming. We left the science-of-global-warming flank largely undefended, and we are paying the price as polls suggest decreases in the percentage of Americans who are convinced that global warming is an urgent problem that we must address. We have to reclaim the debate on the science, clearly and with conviction, before it is too late. At the same time, we have to redouble our efforts to explain and demonstrate why an investment in a clean energy economy is critical to our future. We need to make real federal investments in energy research and development to help drive down the price of alternatives.
[…]
Companies wield the dominant influence on U.S. politics, and controlled the debate on energy reform. Coal, oil, gas, agriculture, and utility-company lobbyists are literally swarming Capitol Hill.
Wouldn’t it be cool if he turned out to be evil? I mean, sorta?
President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden meet with the national security team on Iraq in the Situation Room of the White House, Aug. 11, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) (Via whitehousephotostream)
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