August and September Links

A number of interesting stories came and went in August and early September. Here is a summary of recent stories, with links, that caught my eye.

Missing: The War Heroes: I think it's very strange that the military is downplaying wartime heroism - apparently they prefer that everyone's sacrifice be recognized, rather than focusing on any one hero. People don't think that way though - people want and need heroes. The military is doing everyone a disservice. I mean, after all, yesterday I saw a headline in the Business Section of the Sacramento Bee saying that what Wall Street needs now is more heroes. If it's good enough for Wall Street.......

People Rush to Unload Debts: The recent changes making bankruptcy more stringent are pushing people to decide to hang it all up.

Talk Radio, Talked Out: All the dissonance regarding our failure in Iraq is driving people away from talk radio - finally! - but even the liberal Air America has suffered.

Short Squeeze on Treasuries: Hedge funds can swamp the government's securities markets, creating big problems and uncontrollable price increases.

Farmers Unhappy About Forklift Air Pollution Regulations: Carl Moyer Program fund bait-and-switch isn't going down so well.

Asbestos Exposure Scientific Panel Won't Meet: Is this a case of the desire for perfection trumping doing the merely good?

The Peak?: Peter Maass' excellent article exploring whether we've already reached the maximum rate of petroleum extraction.

Fighting Islamists is Nothing Like Fighting Communists: An appropriate and useful riposte by David Rieff to the Peter Beinart idiots of the world.

Is The Bush Administration Anti-Science?: Daniel Smith suggests no, and in important respects, he may be right (It was, in part, my pessimism regarding the likely impact of the global warming doomsayers - basically, none - that led me away from climatology as a professional goal).

Slatter's Court a Historical Landmark?: Well bust my buttons! But Davis does need some color, after all!

The Amazing Manakin: A bird that plays notes - using its wings!

Satirical Song Upsets Serbs: Norwegian soldiers take a satirical remake of the Beach Boy's 'Kokomo', make a video about Kosovo, and piss off lots of folks.

Gossip Is The Key To Social Order: But we knew that already, didn't we?

The MySpace Phenomenon: I still like old-fashioned blogging, but maybe I should check it out - others are!

California Farmers Whining: About tougher border restrictions keeping their labor pool away (it figures!)

R.H. Phillips Makes The Sexual Abuse Problem Go Away: Lots of love to Natalie Wormeli for her persistence here, and hard work!

The Hydrogen Highway To Nowhere: For myself, with all the safety issues regarding hydrogen - its flammability, the absence of any color in its flame, so you could walk right into the flame before you realize you are on fire - I can't imagine why anyone would want to use it as a transportation fuel.

And finally:

Bush Tries to Quell Political Crisis Over Katrina: This ugly, wretched article by Bush asskissers Elisabeth Bumiller and Adam Nagourney tries to paper over Bush's inexcusable lack of action regarding the New Orleans disaster. Shame on The New York Times for this pompous crap!