You have a right to fail, as Wile E. Coyote demonstrates — another one-minute Public Service Announcement from Warner Bros., circa 1986.
Also see Porky Pig and Petunia about women running for office, here.
Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote on the Constitution
August 30, 2010
5 Comments | 
animation, Cartoons, Government, History, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: animation, Cartoons, Constitution, Government, History, Roadrunner, Warner Bros., Wile E. Coyote | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Bugs Bunny on the Constitution
August 30, 2010Was this from 1989, the Constitution’s Bicentennial? I dimly remember these PSAs.
This one isn’t brilliant — n.b., the Constitution can be amended — but it is Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
I just stumbled into it on YouTube. Is there a good collection somewhere? Are the others better?
1 Comment | 1789, animation, Cartoons, Government, History, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: 1789, animation, Bugs Bunny, Cartoons, Constitution, Daffy Duck, Government, History, Warner Bros. | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Compare and Contrast assignment: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Glenn Beck
August 29, 2010From The Other 98%:
Which one would you choose to follow? Which one would you choose to emulate?
Teachers, don’t you wish a student would turn in something like this from time to time?
Tip of the old scrub brush to Earthaid3.
6 Comments | Advanced Placement, Civil Rights, Education, History, Martin Luther King, Politics, Student projects, Teaching | Tagged: Civil Rights, Education, Glenn Beck, Heroes, History, I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King Jr., Politics, Teaching | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Velsicol Chemical vs. Rachel Carson — the lawsuit that didn’t happen
August 23, 2010
Decades later, the site of Velsicol’s DDT manufacturing at St. Louis, Michigan, along the Pine River, remains a still-recovering-from-contamination site. Velsicol denied DDT is dangerous in a letter to the publisher of Silent Spring. In 1999 EPA began a $100 million Superfund clean-up of Velsicol’s site. Even with new, better cleanup methods, it’s still a hazard. Photo from Penny Park, by the Pine River Superfund Citizen Task Force
This story by Linda Gittleman deserves circulation well outside central Michigan, where it was published in the Morning Sun:
LINDA GITTLEMAN: Telling stories of the St. Louis Superfund sites
Published: Sunday, August 22, 2010
When it comes to the St. Louis area Superfund sites, there must be a thousand sidebars – those quirky little stories that all played a role in what happened at the Velsicol Chemical plant, in the city and indeed the country throughout the last several decades.
And, I suspect, there are a thousand more yet to come out.
Several years ago, the PBS series “American Experience” showcased Rachel Carson, the woman who wrote “Silent Spring,” published in 1962. That was the book which became the force that led to the ban, for the most part, of DDT use in the U.S.
Velsicol in St. Louis was the largest manufacturer of DDT in the country.
In the program, Carson recalled the bad old days.
To say the chemical company didn’t much care for her is an understatement. They flat out called her a liar.
Not only was she up to no good with her “sinister influence.” She was also a “tool of the Communist menace.”
Nor did they care much for the New Yorker magazine, which published excerpts from her book shortly before publication. At least the same could be said for her publisher Houghton Mifflin.
Alma College Professor Ed Lorenz had traveled to Yale and perused Carson’s papers that are kept there.
He found a five-page letter written to the publisher from Velsicol’s lawyer outlining in great detail all the discrepancies, misstatements and misunderstandings on Carson’s part as well as the inaccuracies found in the New Yorker series.
Letter from Velsicol Chemical to publisher of Silent Spring, threatening to sue if alleged errors in Silent Spring were not corrected. No changes were made, and Velsicol did not sue. Letter image from the archives of Alma College.
Certainly wouldn’t want to see all those errors in the book due out, so a letter from Velsicol was in order. A letter that would “call several matters to your attention from legal and ethical standpoints.”
Louis McLean, the attorney, requested a meeting with the publisher so they could discuss all that and more besides.
The editor in chief wrote back and thanked him for the letter, forwarding on a copy to Carson.
“We have reviewed carefully the sources for the statements in her book, in the light of the points you bring up in your letter,” Paul Brooks wrote in response. “While there may be room for differences of opinion, we still believe, after thorough examination, that Miss Carson’s presentation is accurate and fair. Since our concern as well as yours is factual accuracy, we do not believe that a meeting would serve any useful purpose.”
Velsicol didn’t sue.
E.B. White, then the publisher of the New Yorker wrote to Carson, remarking on her courage for, “putting on the gloves and going in with this formidable opponent. This will be an Uncle Tom’s Cabin of a book, I feel – the sort that will help turn the tide.”
It did, at least in the U.S.
And one last item for the “It’s a small world department:” Did you know that the mother of Bernie Davis, the former Alma College professor and former county commissioner, was Carson’s administrative assistant?
She too was interviewed on “American Experience,” Lorenz said.
(Linda Gittleman is the Gratiot Managing Editor and can be reached at lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com.)
America is vexed with a non-centrally organized, but persistent, campaign to smear Rachel Carson and her work, with inaccurate claims about her research and the science of environmental protection — smears that would be laughable were there not so many ill-informed people who give them credence. In contrast, there is no paid lobby to spread the good works of Rachel Carson — the truth simply stands on its own.
More about DDT and Alma, Michigan, at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
- “Alma conference on DDT and health calls for DDT phase-out”
- “Alma conference statement pending: ‘Don’t ease DDT restrictions'”
- “DDT and other poisons in the Great Lakes”
- “War on science: CDC publishes suppressed study”
Also see:
5 Comments | DDT, Environmental protection, Historic documents, History, Rachel Carson, Regulation, Science | Tagged: Alma Michigan, DDT, Environmental protection, History, Linda Gittleman, Michigan Morning Sun, Rachel Carson, Science, Superfund, Velsicol Chemical | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Last Space Shuttle mission: Help NASA pick the wake-up tunes
August 21, 2010How about, “The Party’s Over” for the very last Shuttle wake-up call?
Press release from NASA, August 20, 2010:
RELEASE : 10-193
NASA Asks Public for Final Shuttle Missions’ Wakeup Songs
HOUSTON — If you like music, the space program and are a little nostalgic, NASA has the perfect opportunity for you. For the first time, the public can help choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the last two scheduled space shuttle missions.
Traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. For the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the “Wakeup Song Contest” website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. To vote or submit a song, visit:
The two songs with the most votes from the top 40 list will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery. Discovery’s STS-133 mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 1.
“We’re looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us,” STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey said. “It’s going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years.”
Original songs must have a space theme and be submitted to NASA by 4 p.m. CST on Jan. 10, 2011. The songs will be reviewed by agency officials and the top finalists put to a public vote. The top two songs will be used to wake space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 crew.
Endeavour’s mission is the last scheduled space shuttle flight. It is targeted to launch on Feb. 26, 2011.“Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music,” STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly said. “While we don’t have the best quality speaker in the space shuttle, it will be interesting to hear what the public comes up with. We are looking forward to it.”
The song contest campaign follows NASA’s ongoing “Face in Space” project. It invites the public to send electronic images of their faces into orbit aboard one of the final remaining space shuttle missions. To submit your image, visit:
For more information about the Space Shuttle Program and the STS-133 and STS-134 missions to the International Space Station, visit:
For more information about the space station, visit:
– end –
6 Comments | History, Music, NASA, Science, Space exploration | Tagged: History, Music, NASA, Science, Space exploration, Space Shuttle | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Hallowed ground: Why other nations think we’re nuts
August 20, 2010Scott Hanley at Angular Unconformities used Google Earth to see how other nations deal with the placement of potentially-offensive installations near the sites of their great national calamaties.
Charles Krauthammer pushed the argument to the shark-jumping bridge in his regular column at the Washington Post:
When we speak of Ground Zero as hallowed ground, what we mean is that it belongs to those who suffered and died there — and that such ownership obliges us, the living, to preserve the dignity and memory of the place, never allowing it to be forgotten, trivialized or misappropriated.
That’s why Disney’s 1993 proposal to build an American history theme park near Manassas Battlefield was defeated by a broad coalition that feared vulgarization of the Civil War (and that was wiser than me; at the time I obtusely saw little harm in the venture). It’s why the commercial viewing tower built right on the border of Gettysburg was taken down by the Park Service. It’s why, while no one objects to Japanese cultural centers, the idea of putting one up at Pearl Harbor would be offensive.
We noted on another thread that there is, in fact, a Japanese Cultural Center at Pearl Harbor. Hanley wonders how the Japanese deal with reminders of the being the victims of the first atomic bomb used in warfare — a topic upon which the Japanese are understandably extremely sensitive.
Go to the photos, see what Hanley found:
Hallowed ground
Baseball and 7-Eleven, symbols of American cultural imperialism at the site of the world’s first nuclear assault. McDonald’s, by contrast, maintains a discreet 2000′ distance across the river.
This campaign against a Moslem cultural center in lower Manhattan is the prototypical example of where the “Ugly American” myth gets its roots. Hanley’s analysis is incredibly simple, no?
19 Comments | Atomic Bomb, Civil Rights, History, Political Smear, Politics, Religion, Religious Freedom, World War II | Tagged: American Icons, Atomic Bomb, Baseball, Bigotry, Civil Rights, Hiroshima, History, Manhattan, Mosque, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Religion | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Cat and Mosque, at Dogboy and Mr. Dan
August 19, 2010Mark Fiore’s latest animated political cartoon won’t be popular with Newt Gingrich. But then, Fiore won the Pulitzer, not Gingrich.
(This cartoon is not available on Fiore’s YouTube Channel, yet.)
(Oh, and remember: This is the guy whose app got Apple’s panties in a wad — while you’re there, iPhone users, get the app that Steve Jobs thought mean for ridiculing those who so richly deserve ridicule. Ain’t the First Amendment grand?)
Tip of the old scrub brush to Jennsmom.
1 Comment | animation, First Amendment, History, Political cartoons, Politics, Religion, Religious Freedom | Tagged: animation, Cartoons, First Amendment, History, Mark Fiore, Mosques, Politics, Religious Freedom, zoning | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Beloit College’s list: E-mail already passé to freshmen
August 18, 2010If they knew what “old hat” meant, they might say that e-mail is old hat — but today’s entering college class of 2014 doesn’t regard e-mail as modern enough, nor much of other technology as fast enough.
Beloit College, in Beloit, Wisconsin, began to publish its profile of the cultural world of entering college freshmen in 1998. The Mindset List originally aimed to help Beloit professors understand the views of incoming freshmen, with some hopes of bridging the ever-widening Generation Gaps between faculty and students.
Among other things, the Mindset List highlights the importance of teaching patient scholarship methods to students who have astonishing access to electronic information, though not necessarily better access to real knowledge; students need to learn the difference between data and information, information and knowledge, and knowledge and wisdom.
The newest Mindset List comes as one of the list’s creators will retire, an interesting footnote in historic attempts to understand rates of cultural change affecting college-bound kids. Beloit’s public relations chief Ron Nief created the list with Prof. Tom McBride, who teaches modern students about Milton and Shakespeare. It is unclear whether Nief will be able to retire from compiling or interpreting the annual Mindset List. O tempora o mores!
We might assume that Nief had a hand in writing the Beloit College press release on the 2014 list:
Beloit, Wis. – Born when Ross Perot was warning about a giant sucking sound and Bill Clinton was apologizing for pain in his marriage, members of this fall’s entering college class of 2014 have emerged as a post-email generation for whom the digital world is routine and technology is just too slow.
Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The creation of Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities Tom McBride and former Public Affairs Director Ron Nief, it was originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, and quickly became a catalog of the rapidly changing worldview of each new generation. The Mindset List website at http://www.beloit.edu/mindset, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually.
The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since “digital” has always been in the cultural DNA, they’ve never written in cursive and with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.
Nonetheless, they plan to enjoy college. The males among them are likely to be a minority. They will be armed with iPhones and BlackBerries, on which making a phone call will be only one of many, many functions they will perform. They will now be awash with a computerized technology that will not distinguish information and knowledge. So it will be up to their professors to help them. A generation accustomed to instant access will need to acquire the patience of scholarship. They will discover how to research information in books and journals and not just on-line. Their professors, who might be tempted to think that they are hip enough and therefore ready and relevant to teach the new generation, might remember that Kurt Cobain is now on the classic oldies station. The college class of 2014 reminds us, once again, that a generation comes and goes in the blink of our eyes, which are, like the rest of us, getting older and older.
Here is the list of 75 touchstones of cultural change guaranteed to give you twinges of your own aging, even if you were in the class of 2010:
The Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014
Most students entering college for the first time this fall—the Class of 2014—were born in 1992.
For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.
1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.
2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.
3. “Go West, Young College Grad” has always implied “and don’t stop until you get to Asia…and learn Chinese along the way.”
4. Al Gore has always been animated.
5. Los Angelenos have always been trying to get along.
6. Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.
7. “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo.
8. With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.
9. Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus’s folks on Parents’ Weekend.
10. A quarter of the class has at least one immigrant parent, and the immigration debate is not a big priority…unless it involves “real” aliens from another planet.
11. John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.
12. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.
13. Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.
14. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.
15. Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.
16. Korean cars have always been a staple on American highways.
17. Trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus helped build their Beanie Baby collection.
18. Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess.
19. They never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.
20. DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.
21. Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn.
22. Cross-burning has always been deemed protected speech.
23. Leasing has always allowed the folks to upgrade their tastes in cars.
24. “Cop Killer” by rapper Ice-T has never been available on a recording.
25. Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks.
26. Unless they found one in their grandparents’ closet, they have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides.
27. Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive.
28. They’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day.
29. Reggie Jackson has always been enshrined in Cooperstown.
30. “Viewer Discretion” has always been an available warning on TV shows.
31. The first computer they probably touched was an Apple II; it is now in a museum.
32. Czechoslovakia has never existed.
33. Second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.
34. “Assisted Living” has always been replacing nursing homes, while Hospice has always been an alternative to hospitals.
35. Once they got through security, going to the airport has always resembled going to the mall.
36. Adhesive strips have always been available in varying skin tones.
37. Whatever their parents may have thought about the year they were born, Queen Elizabeth declared it an “Annus Horribilis.”
38. Bud Selig has always been the Commissioner of Major League Baseball.
39. Pizza jockeys from Domino’s have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes.
40. There have always been HIV positive athletes in the Olympics.
41. American companies have always done business in Vietnam.
42. Potato has always ended in an “e” in New Jersey per vice presidential edict.
43. Russians and Americans have always been living together in space.
44. The dominance of television news by the three networks passed while they were still in their cribs.
45. They have always had a chance to do community service with local and federal programs to earn money for college.
46. Nirvana is on the classic oldies station.
47. Children have always been trying to divorce their parents.
48. Someone has always gotten married in space.
49. While they were babbling in strollers, there was already a female Poet Laureate of the United States.
50. Toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.
51. Food has always been irradiated.
52. There have always been women priests in the Anglican Church.
53. J.R. Ewing has always been dead and gone. Hasn’t he?
54. The historic bridge at Mostar in Bosnia has always been a copy.
55. Rock bands have always played at presidential inaugural parties.
56. They may have assumed that parents’ complaints about Black Monday had to do with punk rockers from L.A., not Wall Street.
57. A purple dinosaur has always supplanted Barney Google and Barney Fife.
58. Beethoven has always been a dog.
59. By the time their folks might have noticed Coca Cola’s new Tab Clear, it was gone.
60. Walmart has never sold handguns over the counter in the lower 48.
61. Presidential appointees have always been required to be more precise about paying their nannies’ withholding tax, or else.
62. Having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.
63. Their parents’ favorite TV sitcoms have always been showing up as movies.
64. The U.S, Canada, and Mexico have always agreed to trade freely.
65. They first met Michelangelo when he was just a computer virus.
66. Galileo is forgiven and welcome back into the Roman Catholic Church.
67. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has always sat on the Supreme Court.
68. They have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S.
69. The Post Office has always been going broke.
70. The artist formerly known as Snoop Doggy Dogg has always been rapping.
71. The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.
72. One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.
73. Silicone-gel breast implants have always been regulated.
74. They’ve always been able to blast off with the Sci-Fi Channel.
75. Honda has always been a major competitor on Memorial Day at Indianapolis.
Beloit College ranks among the best small, liberal arts colleges in the U.S. Beloit College is part of a consortium our family has some fondness for, the 40 colleges in the group Colleges That Change Lives (CTCL). Every high school student should be aware of this group, and the methods developed to make application to several of these colleges easier (our son chose Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin).
This list highlights areas of potential ignorance teachers need to consider. Notice there is little on the list about the Cold War, Vietnam, nor popular books. The skew to technology includes an implicit skew away from some of the traditional ways we have transmitted culture to our children: Newspapers, magazines, books, Broadway plays and musicals. Even broadcast television is notable for the pop culture icons, and great changes in television viewing methods and habits.
The class of 2014 graduates a complete century away from the outbreak of World War I. Their parents may not have known the administrations of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson — Richard Nixon and Watergate may have been learned only from history books, by their parents.
How much more distant is the class of 2018, who enter high school as freshmen this year — next Monday, in Texas?
More:
3 Comments | College, College-ready, Communication, Cultural Literacy, Current History, Higher education, History, Teaching, Technology, Technology in the classroom, Writing | Tagged: Beloit College, Class of 2014, College Life, Colleges that Change Lives, Cultural Literacy, Culture, Current History, E-mail, Future Shock, Higher education, History, Mindset List, O Tempora O Mores, Ron Nief, Technology, Tom McBride | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What would George Washington say and do about a mosque in Manhattan? (“To bigotry, no sanction”)
August 17, 2010Double encore post. And look at the date
August 17, 1790, found U.S. President George Washington traveling the country, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Washington met with “the Hebrew Congregation” (Jewish group), and congregation leader (Rabbi?) Moses Seixas presented Washington with an address extolling Washington’s virtues, and the virtues of the new nation. Seixas noted past persecutions of Jews, and signalled a hopeful note:
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now (with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events) behold a government erected by the Majesty of the People–a Government which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance, but generously affording to All liberty of conscience and immunities of Citizenship, deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine.
George Washington's reply to the Newport, RI, "Hebrew congregation," August 17, 1790 - Library of Congress image
President Washington responded with what may be regarded as his most powerful statement in support of religious freedom in the U.S. — and this was prior to the ratification of the First Amendment:
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
Below the fold, more history of the events and religious freedom, from the Library of Congress.
3 Comments | Famous quotes, Freedom - Political, George Washington, Historic documents, History, Quotes, Religion, Religious Freedom | Tagged: Civil Rights, Famous quotes, George Washington, History, Quotes, Religion, Religious Freedom | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Coming Soon: FRONTLINE, “Top Secret America – the top secret world the government created in response to the 9/11 attacks”
August 16, 2010Coming this fall:
Vodpod videos no longer available.
FRONTLINE: Coming Soon: Top Secret America – th…, posted with vodpod
Where is Frank Church now that we really need him?
Leave a Comment » | Government, History | Tagged: 9/11, Government, History, National Security, Top Secret America | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Photog (and Eagle Scout) Luke Sharrett leaving NY Times . . .
August 13, 2010Go see the photos. Seriously. “The Capital was his classroom”, by David Dunlap.
Doubtless, there are other accomplished photojournalists in Washington who have won an Eagle Scout medal with bronze palm. Luke Sharrett of The Times may be the only one who earned his just six years ago.
And he is almost certainly the only photographer who’ll be leaving the D.C. press corps on Friday to start his junior year in college.
“Why are you doing that?” President Obama asked him as Air Force One was taking off the other day.
Dunlap does not say whether Sharrett earned the Photography Merit Badge. Anyone know?
Leave a Comment » | Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout, Education, Higher education, News, Newspapers, photography | Tagged: Back-to-school, Boy Scouts of America, Eagle Scout, Education, History, History images, Journalism, Luke Sharrett, Newspapers, photography | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
GM profits, Tea Party turns to gin
August 12, 2010According to the Associated Press, General Motors turned a profit of $1.33 billion last quarter. “Billion,” with a b.
Tea Partiers and Republicans have made a run on liquor stores to stock up on gin for the afternoon. News is turning against them.
First, they argued that the Obama administration was crazy to try to save GM. Couldn’t be done, won’t work. Cutting 3 million workers loose in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Texas would help depress the market for migrant fruit pickers in those states, the Republicans argued implicitly — and that would help reduce immigration troubles, which bug Republicans chiefly because it’s a sign of good economic times for working people.
Second, they argued that Obama had effectively nationalized GM and Chrysler. Nationalized companies rarely turn profits (except for tin-pot dictators). The simple reporting of a profit by the company reiterates the point that the GM rescue was not “socialism,” and was no nationalizing of the company. Obama starts to look like a hero, Tea Party dreams start to look like wet tea leaves.
Third, it means Tea Party self-enrollees may actually have to buy American. They had hoped to kill off the U.S. auto industry, so no one would complain when they drove Mercedes, Lexus, and the Kia they bought for their nephew. Now, with Cadillacs, Chryslers and Lincolns still being made, they have no excuse.
Fourth, it means there are three million voters in the American midwest who owe their jobs to Obama. While at least of million of those people may be convinced to buy the Tea Party Home Lobotomy Kit and vote against Democrats in the fall, the odds of even half of that group being suckered in are slight.
Fifth, and most important, GM’s showing a profit pulls the cloak from the platform of the Tea Partiers, and all that’s left is a naked guy with skinny legs and a sore need for a tanning bed and exercise. The Tea Party works on being against stuff. If they had to actually come up with a workable program for anything, they’d quickly be exposed.
So, that gut at the end of the bar finishing the fifth of gin and mumbling a lot? He’s a Tea Partier, praying for Chrysler to crash. Tell the bartender he is picking up your tab.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Jim Stanley.
5 Comments | 2010 Elections, Economics, History, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: 2010 Election, Economics, General Motors, History, Politics, President Obama, Tea Party | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
History in photos – great art, good student project?
August 12, 2010Earlier I found an idea I’ve not been able to incorporate into my classes, but which I still like: Take historic photos of your town, go to the same place today and see what it looks like.
Students could do this: Comparing historic images with places today
A Russian photographer takes the exercise further, and creates sometimes-stunning art.
Sergey Larenkov has photos from Europe in World War II. He blends parts of those images with photos of the same places today, in cities across Europe. He has images from Berlin, Leningrad, and other cities (crawl over his LiveJournal site — there’s good stuff).
Sergey Larenkov, World War II historic photo overlay on modern shot - is this Leningrad? Whose soldiers, what year?
Sergey Larenkov work, the Siege of Leningrad, and Leningrad today (reverting to the name St. Petersburg)
Ghostly, no?
The photos show the destruction of war, and how far Europe has come since then. It’s an astounding view of history. If a picture is worth a thousand words, these photo mashups are worth ten thousand words or more.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Alices’ blog at My Modern Met.
6 Comments | Education, Famous Battles, History, History images, photography, War, World War II | Tagged: Education, Famous Battles, History, photography, Siege of Leningrad, Student projects, World War II | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Carbon-cutting schemes work, in Great Britain
August 11, 2010Another press release that will have the climate change critics pulling their hair, from Great Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change about the Carbon Reduction Commitment plan (CRC):
50 days for businesses to register for carbon cutting scheme (Press Release)
With just 50 days to go until the end of registration for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), Greg Barker is calling on the remaining organisations to register now.
Currently 1229 of the organisations required to register have done so.
Launched in April 2010 the CRC requires large public and private sector organisations to register with the Environment Agency by 30th September 2010.
Greg Barker, Energy and Climate Change Minister, said;
“This new Coalition Government wants to boost energy efficiency in business because we know that saving energy saves money. The CRC will encourage significant savings through greater energy efficiency and importantly will make carbon a boardroom issue for many large organisations.
My message to businesses today is to register now. I understand the original complexity of the scheme may have deterred some organisations and I want to hear suggestions as to how we can make the scheme simpler in the future.”
With just 50 days to go until the end of registration for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), Greg Barker is calling on the remaining organisations to register now. The Minister visited Westminster Fire Station this month to meet fire fighters and see some of the measures recently installed to improve the station’s energy efficiency.
The London Fire Brigade is one organisation that has registered for the CRC. Energy efficiency projects put in place by the Brigade have led to savings of £260,000 in 2009/10 and over £1 million since the Brigade started focusing on the need to be greener. Despite the organisation growing overall carbon emissions on their buildings are down by over 18% on 1990s levels.
Greg Barker visited Westminster Fire Station this month to meet fire fighters and see some of the measures recently installed to improve the station’s energy efficiency. Chairman and Leader of London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority Councillor Brian Coleman AM, FRSA, said:
“This isn’t just about protecting the environment, it makes excellent business sense. Last year we saved the taxpayer over a quarter of a million pounds by making our fire stations greener and reducing our energy bills.”
The CRC will help to ensure that organisations play their full role in contributing to the UK’s emissions reductions of at least 34% on 1990 levels by 2020 through improved energy efficiency.
Find out more about CRC on the DECC website
Imagine that: Saving energy both reduces carbon emissions and saves money.
1 Comment | air pollution, Climate change, climate_change, Environmental protection, Europe, Green Politics, Science, Technology | Tagged: air pollution, Carbon Cutting, Climate change, Environmental protection, Government, Great Britain, Green Energy, Green Politics, History, Science, Technology | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Obama Blows Off the Boy Scouts? – ColbertNation report
August 6, 2010Vodpod videos no longer available.
Obama Blows Off the Boy Scouts | July 28, 2010 …, posted with vodpod
How was your time at the Jamboree? Did you have time to miss Obama?
If you had time to miss him, you weren’t there.
Here’s Obama’s video address to the Scouts:
Earlier at Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub:
1 Comment | Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, History, Hoaxes, Political Smear, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: Boy Scouts of America, Colbert Report, History, Hoaxes, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 