Morning Links

►I didn’t plan on posting anything this early today, but reading Tom Friedman makes me want to literally jump from my desk and get out there and start saving the world. I can’t, because I have a lunch to go to at 11:45 and I don’t think I can save the world and be back in time to leave for lunch, so instead I will just link to his article, as usual. It scares me a little how riled I get by reading him; I’m afraid that he could convince me of anything. His writing is so clear and thinking so logical. I’m glad that Tom and I disagree on global warming, or else I’d truly be worried that I am not just agreeing with him because we think similarly but because I am unable to disagree with him.

►These guys also disagree with global warming as they are promoting Carbon Belch Day to “help Americans break free from the 'carbon footprint guilt' being imposed by Climate Alarmists.”

►Friedman quotes a Memorial Day essay by Tom Shriver of the Washington Post, which you can find here. I will pass along the same quote for you to read if you decide you don’t have time to read any of the articles in their entirety:

This weekend only, you can buy a new Dodge and the company will subsidize your gas costs for 3 years. So Dodge wants to sell you a car you don’t really want to buy, that is not fuel efficient, will further damage our environment, and will further subsidize oil states, some of which are on the other side of the wars we’re currently fighting. And on top of it, Dodge is willing to subsidize your purchase with borrowed dollars since the company is currently drowning in debt.

Imagine that happening during the Civil War. Imagine that happening during World War I or II. Imagine celebrating Memorial Day in those days with such limited attention to honoring the dead that companies would get away with ignoring the fundamental struggle in which they’re giving their lives. The planet be damned, the troops be forgotten, the economy be ignored: buy a Dodge. Imagine.

More later, time permitting.

Morning Links

"I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."

You're darn tootin' they will. Usually I'm against the media getting lazy/ier and drudging up old stories, especially when it feels like they're doing it just to be annoying, as they are with this story. However, I post the link because I had never heard the alternative explanation by the White House about the banner, and found it interesting. Regardless of whether the alternative explanation is accurate, it was still a horrible decision by whoever makes those decisions and someone should have said something. To create a loose analogy, someone said on a podcast I was listening to, about a movie's bad sound editing: "Even if you're the wardrobe director, not the sound editor, and you're watching the movie, and you notice that when the guy knocks on the door you don't hear the knock sound until he's done knocking, wouldn't you say something?" Was there no one who saw that banner and thought "Hmm, maybe this is a bad idea"?


It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away.

Again, an article that is written so crystal clearly and concisely that I feel like describing it too much would ruin it. Please read it. It's Friedman on the current state and possible near future of our national energy policy. I'm so glad he's off his book-writing sabbatical; that means he's writing articles again and, more importantly, the book is probably done.


From the "Throwing Jersey Matt Under the Bus" Department: Jersey Matt has some bold thoughts on Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and this is a formal, public request for him to put them to paper (or whatever) here, to which I will attempt to write a coherent response.