Green Power, Red Lights

I know it's already a month old, but Adam White had a great article back in February in the Weekly Standard highlighting one of the biggest contradictions of the modern environmental movement:  how they are so committed to renewable energy in the abstract, but oppose every actual project that is proposed.

Adam's jumping off point is the big solar project slated for the Mojave desert in California.

Follow The Money: McKnight Foundation

I have added a new page above for "Follow the Money" where I link to Google Doc lists of some of the more interesting grant awards I have come across.

The latest additions to the Follow the Money page are for The McKnight Foundation.  This foundation distributes the billion-dollar fortune of Willliam L. McKnight, who made his money with the 3M corporation.

I can't resist highlighting this grant from McKnight, as it resides in a place beyond parody,

"Trustees of the Hamline University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
 $75,000 for One River Mississippi, a program that raises awareness of water quality issues through community artistic performances
Year Approved: 2005"

EU to Ban Cars in Cities by 2050

Any cheap vacation flights, too.  It's all part of the new (im)mobility.  The Daily Telegraph is on the case.

(Via National Review Corner)

KSTP-5 is Following the Money

First aired last night, our local ABC affiliate, KSTP Channel 5, has a report on Minnesota's mandated utility energy efficiency programs and one of the non-profit beneficiaries of the program.

This watchdog report is currently listed as one of the most watched stories on the station's website.

Minnesota's Freedom Foundation takes note.

FTM: The Energy Foundation, Part 5

In this final Follow the Money post on The Energy Foundation, I contemplate the fate of Japan.  As everyone knows, the nuclear crisis in Japan is having profound implications on that country and its economy.

Bloomberg reports today, in the context of the impact on the Japanese auto industry, that 15 percent of Japan's electric generating capacity is off-line and Tokyo is subject to rolling blackouts, in the wake of the crippling earthquake and tsunami earlier this month.

While we do have nuclear power here in Minnesota, we are more dependent on coal, which accounts for about half of our power.  Which brings us back to The Energy Foundation and their searchable grants database,

"Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (St. Paul, MN) $48,000, Grant Period: Dec, 2009 – Nov, 2010, To oppose existing coal in Minnesota."

We can agree or disagree on whether new coal plants are a good idea.  However, there can be no disagreement that lives and livelihoods are dependent on coal power in this state.  How can an organization, in good conscience, go after the most critical part of our energy infrastructure?

FTM: The Energy Foundation and Media, Part 4

Of course, what good does having a message do you if you can't get the word out?  You would expect media to be a big part of any large foundation's work and The Energy Foundation of San Francisco is no exception.

The Foundation has an excellent searchable grants database.  One of the most recent entries is this grant,

"Cater Communications (San Rafael, CA) $150,000, Grant Period: Jan, 2011 – Jul, 2011, To support media outreach on climate change issues."

I don't know why this is listed as a grant.  From what I can gather from their website, Cater Communications is a private PR and consulting firm.  Why should they be treated any differently from an accounting or law firm, providing professional services to a non-profit?


Another recent grant was listed as follows,

"American Security Project (Washington, DC) $40,000, Grant Period: Nov, 2010 – Jan, 2011, To support a radio tour focused on the economic impacts of climate change on specific states."

Presumably, this grant would support the non-profit's efforts to get the word out on its important work.


But then I came upon this grant,

"Kentucky Public Radio Inc. d/b/a Louisville Public Media (Louisville, KY) $40,000, Grant Period: Jan, 2009 – Mar, 2010, To support a series of feature stories on global warming as part of the Ohio River Media Project"

Kentucky Public Radio is that state's public radio network, affiliated with National Public Radio.  As we all know, NPR and its local stations are (partially) tax-payer funded entities and are considered by most to be part of the "mainstream media".  But if they are accepting money from a foundation to do a specific series of stories on a specific topic, how "balanced" would you expect those reports to be?   Would KPR interview anyone who dismisses global warming's impact on the Ohio river?  He who pays the piper, calls the tune.

I guess you can judge for yourself here, third story.

  

FTM: The Energy Foundation, Part 3

The Energy Foundation also has a transportation program.  Here are a few grants that caught my eye on that issue:

"International Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (Minneapolis, MN) $15,000, Grant Period: Feb, 2007 – Jul, 2007, To support Congregations Caring for Creation to develop a strategic Plan for its global warming work with faith communities in Minnesota."

It's good to see the global warming crowd putting their faith in something larger than "the science".

"Regents of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) $50,000, Grant Period: Mar, 2007 – Feb, 2008, To support media and policymaker outreach on oil dependence and the auto industry"

Given the state of Michigan's auto industry the past few years, I am not sure how well the state was served by this grant.  But the next time you hear that the Universities' pronouncements cannot be questioned because they represent "science" and "truth, just remember who is paying the bill.

"The Truman National Security Project Educational Institute (Washington, DC) $124,600, Grant Period: Feb, 2011 – Apr, 2011, To deploy veterans and security leaders in support of clean cars standards in California."

It's not just academics and believers being drafted for the fight against global warming, our fighting men and women are asked to do their part for the cause. 

FTM: The Energy Foundation, Part 2

In "Follow the Money" part 2, we present two more gems from The Energy Foundation's searchable grants database:

"Rockefeller Family Fund (New York, NY) $40,000, Grant Period: Oct, 2007 – Jun, 2008, To support the Izaak Walton League of America's work to promote carbon controls in Minnesota."

Why would a foundation in San Francisco give money to a foundation in New York to support work being done by a non-profit in Minnesota?  I am not familiar with the ways of the non-profit sector, but what purpose does this money laundering serve?

"Prairie Stewardship Network (Ashley, ND) $52,000, Grant Period: Aug, 2009 – Nov, 2010, To educate North Dakota policymakers on the moral dimensions of climate change and the availability of low-carbon energy solutions."

Moral dimensions?  I understood the debate surrounding climate change to be strictly about "the science".  When did "moral dimensions" enter the debate?

Follow the Money: The Energy Foundation, San Francisco

I'm instituting a new feature in this space:  Follow the Money.  I will be, occasionally, shining a spotlight on some of the money flowing through the non-profit space.

The Energy Foundation is a big non-profit that aggregates money from bigger non-profits (Pew, McKnight) and distributes it to smaller non-profits.  I was browsing through their (searchable) grants database and found some interesting items.  Apparently, they don’t like coal power.

Here are a few gems I pulled out of the EF database:

"Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (St. Paul, MN) $25,000, Grant Period: Nov, 2006 – Oct, 2007, To support efforts to discourage permitting of the 600-megawatt Big Stone II pulverized coal plant."

Isn't that a bit specific?  I get the idea of opposing new coal power, but a grant to an out-of-state non-profit to defeat a specific private commercial undertaking?

"NextEnergy Center (Detroit, MI) $100,000, Grant Period: Jan, 2008 – Dec, 2008, To provide formal assistance on energy policy to the office of Governor Granholm."

Now this is odd.  A grant to an out-of-state non-profit to assist a sitting Governor in her work.  If the Michigan Legislature wants to appropriate money to help the governor with energy policy, that would be fine.  But an out-of-state non-profit donates money "to provide formal assistance"?  To my non-lawyer eyes, this looks more like a campaign contribution.

"Rockefeller Family Fund (New York, NY) $250,000, Grant Period: May, 2008 – Apr, 2009, To support research and analysis to undermine the financial incentive for banks to invest in coal-fired power plants."

So much to cover here.  First, does the Rockefeller Family need the money?  I thought that they were doing well on their own.   Second, how exactly is the Rockefeller family "to undermine the financial incentive"?  Third, I see the date was before the late financial crisis, but still it bothers me to see "undermine" and "banks" in the same sentence of a grant application.  And finally, did anyone consider the optics of having the Rockefeller family meddling in the banking system?  Just saying.....

.....More to Come....

Don't Touch My Light Bulb

Rich Lowry devotes the latest edition of his syndicated column to one of my favorite subjects:  the plight of the incandescent light bulb.

As Rich puts it,

"[I]f the new bulbs are so wondrous, customers can be trusted to adopt them on their own.  Are we a nation of dolts too incompetent to balance the complex factors of price of bulb, energy efficiency and quality of light on our own?"

(Via National Review Online and The Oklahoman).

World's First Anti-Carbon Tax Protest?

And Down Under no less.  But who knew that there were such thin skins in Oz?  Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.

(Hat Tip to Instapundit)

Detroit in Decline

The population of Detroit, once America's fifth largest city, continues to decline and stands at the lowest level since 1910, in the latest census.

Wendell Cox has an early review of the details, over at New Geography.  And the Wall Street Journal provides some context.  It's not just flight to the suburbs, as the entire Detroit metro area shrank in the past ten years.  Despite the best efforts of Mayor Dave Bing, as an outside observer, I continue to beleive that some form of the Charter City concept is Detroit's best hope.

UK Gov't cuts feed-in-tariff for big solar

Last Friday, Reuters reported that the British government would cut feed-in-tariff support for large solar power projects.  "Feed-in-tariffs" are above-market prices paid to renewable energy projects to subsidize the introduction of renewable energy technologies into electricity markets.  Popular with developers and environmental advocates, they have usually proven too expensive to maintain, resulting in a boom-bust cycle for renewable energy.  Reuters reports that the UK will continue to subsidize smaller, household-sized solar installations, and larger projects with reduced subsidies.

Walter Russell Mead finds hope for America

In the Second Punic War, of all places.

The New (Im)Mobility

Driving around this afternoon, I head this report on public radio.  With the truthful title "The End Of The Road: Saying Goodbye To Freeways" it was about how we, the general public, need to get used to no longer getting from place to place, at least on freeways.  Produced by Cleveland Public Radio, it tells about the Ohio city's plan to downgrade the West Shoreway freeway, by reducing the speed limit and installing stoplights.

How will this help traffic flow?  It won't, and that's the whole idea.  We truly are "through the looking glass" now.

My favorite bit of the report is this sentence, "But even the U.S. Department of Transportation, which spent decades promoting highways, recently stunned planners when it backed some freeway removal plans."  Planners are the last people who should be "stunned".  Current DOT Secretary Ray LaHood is famous for his declaring the "end of favoring motorized transportation."  He's just following through.

This crusade against the freeway and the automobile has its origins in an aesthetic critique against "sprawl" and the suburb.  More recently the cause was taken up by those touting sustainability, livability and the fight against global warming.  Now, budget crunches at every level of government are the new excuse.

But as Wendell Cox documents day after day, these coordinated "smart growth" policies are not inducing the public to abandon the automobile and move back to the core city.  Rather, they are just pushing growth further out into the exurbs and draining vitality from the core that much quicker.

America Through the Looking Glass

Victor Davis Hanson reviews current events and can't make any sense of it.  Just so I understand:  we are going to buy oil from Brazil, but won't drill for any here?  OK, just checking.

(Via Instapundit)

Twin Cities Growth All in Suburbs

Wendell Cox comes through in New Geography--as we knew he would--with his quick take on the newest Census data for Minnesota.

A reboot for nuclear? Think thorium.

Matt Ridley tries to see the silver lining in the Japan nuclear crisis in the Saturday Wall Street Journal.  He thinks we have a shot a rebooting the industry, based around thorium, rather than uranium.

A Correction on Quotes

In a first, this blog will post a correction.  A reader questioned the attribution of the quote "Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people" to Eleanor Roosevelt, stating that an earlier attribution credits the quote to 19th-century English historian Henry Thomas Buckle.

I am happy to give credit where credit is due.  Usually questionable quotes are credited to Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, or Will Rogers.  One attributed to Mrs. Roosevelt, I felt safe in going with.

Happily, the incident has introduced me to Mr. Buckle, whose work during his brief life focused on the History of Civilization in England, a subject near to the heart of this blog.

The Fierce Urgency of Now

Joel Kotkin looks at the twin crises in Japan and the Libya and concludes that it's time to drill.

The New Suburbia: Minnesota

[Temporarily doing the work of Wendell Cox until he finishes his Minnesota analysis.]

Much of Minnesota's transportation, housing, land use and taxation policy is geared toward promoting the tenets of "smart growth."  The idea is that loads of empty-nest baby boomers and the "creative" class is chomping to move to the central cities and abandon the sterile, soul-less suburbs for the vibrant urban experience.  So in the past ten years we have built stadia, museums, condo towers, transit systems, and other infrastructure to accomodate the coming crowds, who....never came.

The U.S. Census just released the county-and city-level data for Minnesota from the 2010 Census and the results are revealing, if not surprising.  Minneapolis stayed flat while St. Paul actually lost population.  Ramsey County, including St. Paul, fell in population.  Hennepin County, including Minneapolis, grew modestly.

What grew fastest were the the "donut" counties of the outer suburbs and exurbs surrounding the core cities.  Also showing better than average growth were the county including Rochester (think Mayo Clinic) and the county adjacent to the boomtown of Fargo, North Dakota.  People have voted with their feet.  It's time for the policies to catch up.

The Poor Will Always Be Among Us?

Well, maybe not.  I ran across this gem on the U.S. Census Bureau's website.

Headline:  "Census Bureau Survey Shows Poverty is Primarily a Temporary Condition"

According to the Census Bureau, "While 29 percent of the nation's population was in poverty for at least two months between the start of 2004 and the end of 2006, only 3 percent were poor during the entire period."

When we talk about making policies to help the "poor" or harm "the rich", we assume static categories, where the same people and households occupy these strata year after year.  In fact, there is a lot of churn in these categories, as people move in and out of jobs and family situations.  We should take a more dynamic look at the populations we are trying to impact when making public policy.

Minnesota Energy and Environment Update

Hot off the keyboard is my update for the Minnesota Free Market Institute on developments regarding energy and the environment at the state legislature.

Taming Leviathan

The Economist weighs in on what it describes as the great political issue of our times:  how to shrink government.

Why Your Clothes Don't Come Clean

Sam Kazman writes in today's Wall Street Journal about "How Washington Ruined Your Washing Machine."  "Energy Efficiency" standards now dictate that your appliances are no longer allowed to actually perform the function assigned to them.

Joel Kotkin on TV: Regressive America

Pajamas TV, that is.  Glenn Reynolds (the InstaPundit) interviews Joel on PJTV.  They talk about North Dakota, Texas, California and where the growth will be.

Great Eleanor Roosevelt Quote (Corrected on March 18)

I heard a great Eleanor Roosevelt Quote on the Rush Limbaugh show today.  (A sentence you would not expect to read).

"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

I will work to follow that advice.

[Note:  See correction on March 18.]

Wall Street Journal on Broken Windows

George Melloan writes in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about "Japan and the Broken Windows Fallacy."  Some good may come from the compound tragedies in Japan, but, on net, it's still a loss.

When Rail Becomes Ridiculous

Over at The Atlantic, Megan McArdle casts a skeptical eye on the obsession with high speed rail.

Joel Kotkin on "Why North Dakota is Booming"

Joel Kotkin explains in the Wall Street Journal why North Dakota is booming.  I'll give you three guesses.

Joel's take, in a nutshell,

"What accounts for the state's success?  Dakotans didn't bet the farm, so to speak, on solar cells, high-density housing or high-speed rail.  Taxes are moderate—the state ranks near the middle in terms of tax per capita, according to the Tax Foundation—and North Dakota is a right-to-work state, which makes it attractive to new employers, especially in manufacturing.  But the state's real key to success is doing the first things first—such as producing energy, food and specialized manufactured goods for which there is a growing, world-wide market."

(Via New Geography)

Green Development? Not in My (Liberal) Backyard

Reads the headline in the New York Times.  Green for thee but not for me.


Love the Haringesque picture:



Even better quote:

"But policymakers in the United States have been repeatedly frustrated by constituents who profess to worry about the climate and count themselves as environmentalists, but prove unwilling to adjust their lifestyles or change their behavior in any significant way."

More on the late Keith Haring.


(Via Instapundit).

Mark Steyn is back: chronicling the decline and fall

Mark Steyn has resumed his syndicated newspaper column, this week documenting how even "cowboy" poets are on the dole.

A little cowboy poetry from Steyn,

"Once upon a time, the cowboy embodied the rugged individualism of the frontier. In Harry Reid's world, he embodies dependency without end. To "preserve" the "tradition," it is necessary to invert everything the tradition represents: From true grit to federally funded grit. Thus America, bouncing along in the Dead Wood Stage of history."

(From the Orange County Register.)

A European's Warning to America

Daniel Hannan, MEP, is that European.  Writing in the Wall Street Journal from the United Kingdom, Mr. Hannan supplies a cautionary tale.

Does his warning come in time?  Hannan quotes Upton Sinclair, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it."

(Via Real Clear Politics)

Another View of the Hayward/Bryce Debate

I blogged a few days ago on the debate where Steven Hayward and Robert Bryce opposed the motion "Clean Energy Can Drive America's Economy".  Green jobs advocates--former Colo. Gov. Bill Ritter and investor Kassia Yanosek--entered the debate with a commanding lead from the audience, but left in defeat.

In a view from the other side, Marc Gunther was watching and he thinks that they debated the wrong question.  I would say that too, if I lost in such a manner.  Still, Mr. Gunther's review was thoughtful enough to merit a look.

 Debate video and transcript are available at this link.  Soon to be broadcast on Bloomberg TV.

(Via Midwest Energy News)

The Triumph of the Therapeutic Mind

Victor Davis Hanson has a short, but insight piece on National Review Online regarding the root causes of our current crisis.

Unknown Unknowns

That's the title of Larry Kudlow's piece this evening on National Review Online.  He discusses the big drop in the stock market today in the context of the bad news driving the market lower.

Do drivers with "green cars" put on more miles?

In Sweden, the answer is "yes".  Another example of the Jevons Paradox at work.  And it's not just that vehicle miles traveled increased, but total sector emissions increased, even with cleaner cars on the road.

(Via InstaPundit)

Human Capital Bonds, Part 3 (Bumped)

A third take on Rep. Keith Downey's bill to create "Human Capital Bonds".

When Energy Efficiency Sullies the Environment (Bumped)

The New York Times is the unlikely source for this provocative headline.  Yes, you guessed it, it's the Jevons Paradox.

All the News That's Fit to Print,

“Efficiency advocates try to distract attention from the rebound effect by saying that nobody will vacuum more because their vacuum cleaner is more efficient,” Mr. Shellenberger said.  “But this misses the picture at the macro and global level, particularly when you consider all the energy that is used in manufacturing products and producing usable energy like electricity and gasoline from coal and oil.  When you increase the efficiency of a steel plant in China, you’ll likely see more steel production and thus more energy consumption.”

Handouts Make Up One-Third of U.S. Wages

Chances are that you have already seen or heard of this report that shows that 35 percent of all U.S. wages come from government payouts.  We are not quite to the point some non-English parts of the U.K. find themselves, where the government accounts for more than 3/4ths of all economic activity.  But still...is 1/3 sustainable?

The fatal flaw of democracy, "“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury."  How close are we to that point?

Unknown Unknowns

Josh Blackman picks up the thread on Black Swans (not the Oscar-winning movie).

(Via InstaPundit)

How Not to Talk About Energy

This columnist, although on the other side of the debate, makes a good point about "How Not to Talk About Energy".  If we want to engage the larger public in this discussion, we need to avoid insider jargon and technical terms.

Hayward's Post-Mortem on his Clean Energy Debate

Over at Power Line, Steven Hayward delivers his post-mortem on his recent "clean-energy" debate.  Teamed with Robert Bryce, Mr. Hayward took on former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and Kassia Yanosek, debating the motion "Clean Energy Can Drive America's Economic Recovery."

Pre-debate, the motion polled more than 2-1 in favor.  Post debate, the motion fails.

Human Capital Bonds, Part 2

Cyndy Brucato of MinnPost writes more about the bill involving "Human Capital Bonds" I discussed earlier.  The bill has the broad backing of groups from across the political spectrum.

Democracy Works!

After a fashion.  In Bell, California, home of the very overpaid city employees, the voters brought in an entirely new city council to clean house.  The L.A. Times reports on the people's triumph.

The world belongs to those who shows up.  Writes the Times,

"Some longtime residents said they felt compelled to vote for the first time. Manuel Godoy, 61, said he has lived in Bell for 30 years, raised three daughters there and owns a home. But he never felt the need to cast a ballot before Tuesday, even as in recent years he watched the city's property taxes climb to among the highest in the county.

'You get busy, you don't want to get involved,' said Godoy, a retired caterer and ice cream deliveryman, after voting Tuesday. 'It's a big mistake.' "

What comes after the Blue Social Model

Walter Russell Mead takes on Paul Krugman, showing where the Nobel-prize winner is both right and wrong about the future of higher education and the professions.

Mead quoting Oliver Wendall Holmes,

"How it went to pieces all at once,
All at once, and nothing first,
Just as bubbles do when they burst."

But all is not doom and gloom with Mead, he also hints at where we could be headed,

"But this process of creative destruction is not a Scrooge-like endeavor to squeeze the honest workers for the benefit of fat cats.  It is clearing the field for new enterprises and new professions.  If education, government and other important services become cheaper and better in quality, and as inflation in other sectors like health care is better controlled, it will be easier and cheaper than ever to start new businesses."

I (Heart) Mickey

A tribute to internet pioneer Mickey Kaus, now at the Daily Caller.

Human Capital Bonds

One of the promising ideas for redesigning government goes under the clunky heading "human capital bonds."  In this era of scarce public resources, the concept is to capitalize the human capital we create through our public sector human services efforts.  My local state representative, Keith Downey, is leading the charge.

The Protean Future of Cities

From New Geography, Joel Kotkin looks at the fresh data from the U.S. Census and divines the future of cities.  Hint, if you've been look at the label, below, you know where this is headed.

(via Forbes.com)

Niall Ferguson: why the West is now in decline

Mentioned by Rush on his program today is this series by historian Niall Ferguson on the UK's Channel 4.  I have found Professor Ferguson to be someone worth listening to.

Professor Ferguson gets right to the point in the Daily Telegraph,

"I argue that what distinguished the West from the Rest – the mainsprings of global power – were six identifiably novel complexes of institutions and associated ideas and behaviours. For the sake of simplicity, I summarise them under six headings: 1. Competition 2. Science 3. Property rights 4. Medicine 5. The consumer society 6. The work ethic.

"To use the language of today’s computerised, synchronised world, these were the six killer applications – the killer apps – that allowed a minority of mankind originating on the western edge of Eurasia to dominate the world for the better part of 500 years....

"....My conclusion is that we are already living through the twilight of Western predominance. But that is not just because most of the Rest have now downloaded all or nearly all of our killer apps. It is also because we ourselves have lost faith in our own civilisation."

Here's the link to the Channel 4 website.

Bring Back the Hanseatic League

Yes, I am aware of how silly that sounds in this modern age of global trade.  This evening, I was watching a travel show on Tallinn, Estonia--the northernmost member of the medieval Hanseatic League--and was inspired by the story of how this isolated backwater grew wealthy from free trade and independence.

We have much to learn from this early example of the "Charter Cities" movement.  For example, the original Hanseatic cities fought pirates.  How quaint.

The Wall Street Journal-Europe writes about the efforts of new-ish Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands to create a new free-trade zone within Europe.

Green Dreams Meet Reality

This LA Times investigation of clean energy at the Los Angeles Community College District ranks as a “must read”.  It perfectly captures the Clean Energy ethos and what happens when green dreams meet physics, economics, and simple reality. 

Sometimes, I get bogged down with the sheer mathematics of it all.  Proponents of the clean energy program at the community colleges estimated it would cost up to $975 million to install.  They also claimed that private sector investment, along with government and utility subsidies would reduce the colleges' cost by 90 percent.  That still leaves $97.5 million for the college to finance, while they pay annual electric bills of less than $8 million.  Assuming no operating costs and all electric production offsets purchases on a 1 to 1 basis, that still leaves the colleges with a 12-year payback.

In the event, outside contributions were much less than 90 percent and the colleges have gone ahead with only a fraction of the proposed projects.  Still, the colleges are out at least $10 million.  Kudos to the LA Times for getting to the bottom of this.

Steven Hayward blogs about the article over at Power Line.

If your interested in more, the Times article is part of a week-long series on the District and its $6 billion construction budget.

It Shines for All

The New York Sun newspaper was a short-lived effort last decade to start a new, daily, general interest newspaper in New York City.  (Motto:  "It Shines for All").  The paper, founded by Seth Lipsky, had the unfortunate timing to get underway just months after 9/11.  The Sun resurrected a newspaper name that ceased publishing in the 1950's. The reincarnated title was finally done in by the general financial collapse of September 2008.

The Sun lives on as a website, and today it carries a column written by Conrad Black on the West's feeble response to the revolution in Libya.  Drudge is making a similar point on his site, leading with two headlines about UK preparations to help in Libya, followed by the headline "Obama goes golfing".

I'm not sure we should do anything in Libya.  But it would be nice to think we still have that ability.

Latest Legislative Update

Here is my latest legislative update on energy and environmental issues for the Minnesota Free Market Institute.  Lots of activity this week.

"Time" is on the Declinist Bandwagon

The "venerable" Time magazine has joined the declinist bandwagon.  A long piece by Fareed Zakaria asks the question "Are America's Best Days Behind Us?"

Now here, I could be glib and say, "to ask the question is to answer it."  But instead, I'll note the passive construction of the question.  The real answer is "only if we decide so" as decline is a choice.

The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

That is the subtitle to The Starfish and the Spider [see link at "Required Reading" on the right].  I frequently hear or read that we [conservatives/Republicans/tea party-types] need someone to step forward as a leader.  I disagree.  I believe that the power that our movement--an in particular, the Tea Party--has enjoyed the past two years is because we do not have a single person that the opposition and the media can tear down.

Since Mikey Kaus moved to The Daily Caller, I have been paying more attention to that site.  So see Adam Salmon for a different view on the issue.