Archive for July, 2005
Sylvania Wilderness
I just returned from the Sylvania Wilderness Area in U.P. Michigan. My friend Dustin and I went hiking for the weekend and it was great fun. Last night we survived a rather treacherous storm; we were wet but managed to avoid getting squished by falling trees.
And here are the photos. Enjoy!
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jul 24th, 2005
Trip to NYC
I went to New York last weekend with my friend Megan to visit our friend Toby. It was much fun. Check out some photos!
New York is a great city. We spent most of our time in Manhattan, although we did end up in Brooklyn one night at about 4am. (oops?) I’ve placed NY on my official list of places to go in a year when I graduate.
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jul 19th, 2005
PBS vs. RNC
Last night I had the good fortune of watching the PBS mini-series “Guns, Germs, Steel”. It’s based on (and features) Jared Diamond’s book of the same title. Really interesting subject matter, as he tries to answer the question of why some cultures have and some have not. If you have the chance, I highly suggest watching.
But that’s not the point of this post. The point I want to make is that the Republican’s attack on PBS is very, very dangerous and should not be taken lightly.
PBS offers a service that is different than any network or cable broadcasting company. Simply put, the programming produced by PBS is of a different breed than the shows we get from other broadcasters. Guns, Germs, Steel would not be produced by–much less aired on–NBC/CBS/FOX/etc. The idea behind PBS is to provide educational, quality television programming as a public service. For-profit broadcasters are ultimately worried about just one factor when deciding which shows to produce and air: profits. This is a crucial distinction and cannot be taken lightly.
Now, I’m no socialist and I do believe in the power of a free market, but there are some very crucial distinctions between profit-driven corporations and the publicly funded PBS. Prime example: reality television. The dozens of reality shows produced in recent years are great for making money. People like to watch their peers experience emotional and physical injury. Advertisers like to buy ad-time for these shows. Everyone wins except Joe American who gains ten pounds and whose brain turns to mush during the television season by sitting on the couch eating junk food for hours.
PBS doesn’t produce reality TV. PBS takes seriously their responsibility to produce engaging, enlightening, educational programming. More importantly, PBS is the only remaining source for news programming written by journalists and not lobbyists. With no corporate advertisers, PBS journalists can practice true journalism and not be afraid of financial ruin.
Why do the Republicans hate PBS so? Part of it is their general contempt for any public, shared good. Fair enough. But I wager that there is more to it. The current Republican agenda centers on shifting more and more power away from democratic institutions and towards private business. PBS represents a gaping hole in their grip on the [formerly] public airwaves. Worse, PBS represents a media source that can’t be purchased by one of the six companies that currently control almost all of our nation’s media outlets. To many Republican ideologues, this is sacrilege.
How can our democracy flourish without a truly free press?
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jul 13th, 2005
Happy Birthday, Northfield
My home town of Northfield, MN celebrated its sesquicentennial celebration this past week. The last 150 years have been pretty good for the ol’ town, and a real celebration was in order. What better way to celebrate than shooting a man out of a cannon across the Cannon River!
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jul 8th, 2005
Bush’s Magic Coal Plant
I was just cruising around the internets and I came across this little gem: In an LA Times article about Bush’s stance on global warming, he is quoted as such:
“I believe we’ll be able to burn coal without emitting any greenhouse gases”
This is a pretty remarkable assertion. In trying to decipher what he’s getting at, I could think up a few possibilities.
1) Bush has no idea how coal is turned into electricity.
2) Bush has no idea how chemistry works.
3) Bush has no intention of resolving the impending crisis of global climate change.
4) Bush has a team working on a magical new chemical process that takes coal (mostly carbon) and burns it to make steam to drive turbines with love and sprinkles as the only byproduct.
As much as I’d like to believe in #4 above, I’m afraid that the reality of the situation is a combination of #1 through 3. When you’re making public statements as patently false as Bush’s, it shows that the administration really has no plans of dealing with this pressing issue. This really pisses me off and it should piss you off too. This isn’t a political issue. This is an issue that will impact everyone of our lives in the coming decades.
Bush has maintained the position that he won’t sign on to Kyoto because it will hurt the economy. How will the economy react when gas costs $3 a gallon? How will the economy react when there is worldwide crop shortage and failures? How will the economy react when we experience increasingly frequent severe weather?
Bush’s stance on global climate chance boils down to this: Fuck you, future generations. We’re cashing out now!
Filed under Uncategorized : Comments (0) : Jul 4th, 2005
