Barak Offers The World Hope

Which presidential candidate would send a signal to the rest of the world that America will change its ways and can still be the beacon of truth, hope, and justice that it once was? New York Times columnist Richard Cohen thinks Barak Obama is that candidate:

Obama...has been most forthright in sketching a globalized community — “the security of the American people is inextricably linked to the security of all people” — and pushing hope over fear. I see nobody else who would represent such a
Kennedy-like restorative charge at a time when America often seems out of sync
with the world.

I think he is right, at least when considering only those candidates who have a chance to win. As I have heard said about Hillary, she "talks like a dove and votes like a hawk." The Republicans are all busy being Republicans, i.e., they would pretty much continue down the destructive path charted by Bush junior. I'm not an Obama supporter, but he does offer some hope for a better America to the world community.

PHOTO: The turn around point on my morning walk where these lovely sculptures ("Angels," by Carl Miles) adorn the Schuylkill River bank.

Jim

Hand Guns: Philadelphia Shooting Gallery

For the fifth time in the last three weeks, Philadelphia Police officers have been shot in the line of duty. Two plain clothes narcotics squad cops were shot last night while attempting to serve a warrant against a drug dealer holed up in a North Philadelphia crack house. Last week, a Philly cop was buried after being shot and killed on Halloween while trying to stop a robbery.

Last night the Mayor and Police Commissioner held a news conference and decried the easy availability of hand guns in the city, something that is a problem all over the country. When Giuliani was mayor of New York City, he had an aggressive campaign to stem the tide of illegal firearms entering the city. Now that he is running for president, I wonder if he is still interested in controlling guns, or has he abandoned that in favor of pandering to the National Rifle Association?

Every time we have a killing or wounding of cops, or a high school or college shooting spree, there are renewed calls for tougher gun controls. Then little happens, it seems. Mayor Street called on state and federal officials to do something. I wonder how many more cops, or kids, will die before we bring some sanity to the gun issue in this country?

Photo: The "Railroad Connecting Bridge" that carries Northeast Corridor rail traffic over the Schuylkill River. Our Fairmount Park walking path goes underneath this bridge. This is about the third bridge that has existed at this site. The original bridge dates to the mid--ninteenth century, when independent railroads came together to "connect" and thereby provide service from the Philadelphia area to the North.

Jim

Here Comes The Pope

The news today includes a warning that Herr Pope will be visiting the States soon. Gosh, I can't wait. I think there will be demonstrations when he is here, and not the kind he is likely to be happy with. This person has a long history of virulently anti-gay writings and pronouncements. He should not get a free pass on that, and he won't.

PHOTO: One of the beautiful vistas that we enjoy on our daily river walks.

Jim

Americans Need To Watch Al Jazeera

There's a must read article in today's New York Times penned by Roger Cohen on the topic of Al Jazeera, the Arab news network. Cohen believes that the English language version of Al Jazeera news should be widely available in the U.S. because Americans need to see and hear what the rest of the world can see and hear, namely the news from that particular viewpoint. We don't realize the degree to which Americans are insulated and isolated from the world community, Cohen seems to be saying. As our power and influence wanes, we had better wake up and wise up. The world is changing around us in ways that we may not like and can no longer control. However, keeping our heads buried in the sand doesn't help. Of course, the current president and his administration would not want Americans to have access to this information even though Bush's approval ratings can hardly go much lower. They're afraid of Al Jazeera English language newscasts, with good reason.

PHOTO: Geese are ever present on the river banks here in Fairmount Park

Jim

It's Unanimous!

Frank Rich, Maureen Dowd, the New York Times editorial board...they all agree today: the Democrats continue to roll over and play dead by allowing George Bush anything he wants, including a new Attorney General that refuses to say that torture is illegal. In the last six years, since 9/11, Bush has done to America what the terrorists tried and failed to do: he has destroyed all that was great about the U.S. and the values that we once stood for as a nation. The worst part of all of this is that there's no knight in shining armor on the horizon who could come riding in to help restore America's greatness. We're on the wrong path and no matter who gets elected next year, we'll continue on the same wrong path. This is tragic.

PHOTO: Here are some rowers to go along with the pictures of the boathouses that I've been posting.

Jim

One Way To Conserve Energy...

...would be to reinvigorate our passenger and freight railroads. In Europe, rails are a prime method of transport. In this country, railroads, especially passenger service, have been trashed due to Americans' love affair with the automobile. That will have to change.

If you do any amount of highway driving, you probably have had some scary moments with trucks. On the New Jersey Turnpike, there are car only lanes in the Northern part of the road, thankfully. I'd like to see less trucks on the road and more use of rail for transport of both freight and passengers.
Read the following to see how railroads can help with our energy problem:

If 25 percent of truck traffic were shipped instead by freight trains, by 2025
the following benefits could be achieved:
• The average person traveling
during peak periods would save 44 hours per year (equal to more than to five
8-hour work days) as the reduced truck volume eased traffic congestion. In the
most congested urban areas, annual savings could exceed 100 hours. Nationally,
we would save 3.2 billion hours of delay.
• Fuel consumption would be
reduced because of faster speeds and more fluid traffic flow on the less
congested roadways. Diesel and gasoline fuel consumption in 2025 would be an
estimated 17 billion gallons lower than it otherwise would be - equivalent to
more than 250 gallons annually per motorist.
• The savings in travel time
and fuel would yield significant economic benefits. A typical household would
enjoy $620 per year in reduced congestion costs, equal to $44 billion overall,
in urban areas nationwide.
• Air quality would improve thanks to an
estimated 900,000 fewer tons of air pollution, including lower levels of carbon
monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide (NOx).

This is from the "Go Rail" website, which can be found here.

Once again, where are our political leaders when it come to advocacy for his sort of thing? Probably, they are securely in the pocket of trucking industry lobbyists.

PHOTO: One of our historic boat houses has its own attached lighthouse!

Jim

What Ever Happened To Energy Conservation?

It used to be something we heard about all the time: the need to conserve energy. What happened to that idea? It's not like we all of a sudden now have plenty of oil. What has happened is that we elected a corporate hack as our president, someone who is more concerned about his fat cat oil buddies and their companies making big profits than what is good for the country. We still need to conserve energy - now more than ever, and our leaders should be hammering this idea home. Instead, we hear virtually nothing from Washington, while the price of oil skyrockets and the stock market begins to teeter. Wall Street gets it about what we're facing. The 300 point plus drop yesterday may be just the beginning. Washington is missing in action. What is Bush doing?

We were told of the need to conserve gasoline decades ago. So how are we doing? This if from today's New York Times:

If gasoline prices are causing motorists to drive less over all, it is not
evident in the national statistics. Americans have consumed an average of 9.3
million barrels of gasoline a day so far this year, an increase of 0.6 percent
from last year, according to the Energy Department.

This country is on a collision course with the reality that cheap and plentiful energy is a thing of the past. Meanwhile Washington is asleep at the switch. I hope our economy doesn't crash and burn when the energy s*** hits the fan!

PHOTO: Another in the series of boat houses here in Philadelphia

Jim

Oil: What Is To Be Done?

A reader has posted a comment to my previous post wherein he mentions the amount of energy used in pleasure boating and flying private aircraft. He also advocates nuclear power and burning coal to produce electricity.

I thank him for the thoughtful post. He makes some good points about the fuel use involved in recreational boating and private aircraft. The problem there is that the rich don't care - they have plenty of money to go boating, flying in their private planes, and to continue to drive their gas guzzlers down the highway. That's one reason why I would favor much higher taxation on the initial purchases of pleasure boats, small planes and SUVs.

On nuclear power, however, I am not convinced that it is the way to go. I still consider it too dangerous and ecologically problematic.

Should we burn coal to generate power? Can we do it without contributing to greenhouse gases and global warming? I doubt it. We must face the harsh reality that we have to wean ourselves off of our dependence on foreign oil, and we must find ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels before we destroy the planet.

Our national leaders may not be able to control the price of oil, but there is a lot that they could do to foster conservation and the development of alternate forms of energy, both of which have been ignored under "Dubbya."

Americans are in for a rude awakening and a shock that might make the energy crisis of decades ago, with the large lines at the gas pumps and purchases limited to several gallons, pale in comparison.

The president should address the nation now on the looming crisis, to start with, except that he doesn't care as long as his big oil buddies are raking in the profits. I've written before that we need a "Marshall Plan" focused on our energy situation, but we'll never see it with Bush. He is a disgrace, and our do-nothing Congress is no better.

Jim

Do You Heat Your Home With Oil?

If so, your home heating bill will increase by a whopping 24 percent this winter, according to a report I just watched on the Today show. Natural gas is expected to increase in price by 6 percent. All of this is tied into the astounding increase in the price of oil recently, which is up about $25 dollars a barrel - up by a third - this year.

Question: where is our fearless leader in Washington, (or for that matter, any of our leaders on either side of the aisle,) on this issue? The increase in the price of oil and the economic impact that this will have on average Americans and on our economy is a national disaster waiting to happen. Already I've heard dire reports about the effect that rising energy costs will have on consumer spending during the holidays. Something big is coming and it's not going to be pleasant, and our political leaders are missing in action on this. This is not the first time I've sounded the alarm here about energy costs. I hate to think about what will happen when gasoline reaches $4 (or even $5) a gallon. It's not a question of if, only when.

PHOTO: Another beautiful boat house along the Schuylkill in Philadelphia

Jim

To Vote Or Not to Vote

Today is election day. I looked over the endorsements of the Philadelphia Gay News and I was impressed with the pro-gay credentials of many of the candidates who are running for mayor, council and judgeships. I felt like going out and voting or some of them today, but I probably won't.

I used to never miss voting on election day. I used to feel that voting was an important civic duty. However, as I have aged and observed the corrupt nature of politics in this country, I have become discouraged about voting. For many years, when faced, as I often felt I was, with no real choice at the ballot box, I used to vote for third party candidates that had principled positions on the issues that I agreed with. But, some of my friends would tell me that I was throwing my vote away. Actually, they were right, but not for the reason they think. My vote was worthless anyway, so why not throw it away. If this sounds too negative and defeatist, that's because it's the way I feel when it comes to politics in this country.

PHOTO: Boat House Row, Philadelphia, PA

Jim