Needlenose

English professor and liberal gadfly Jack Gillis emailed this to me (and several others) the morning after the State of the Union address:

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Quote from Bush’s speech:

“A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.”

Let’s do some math. In 1992, Al Gore published a book in which he predicted the replacement of the internal combustion engine in 25 years (probably by a hydrogen engine), for which comment he was cruelly, deceptively and dishonestly excoriated by the GOP. 1992 + 25 = 2017.

Last night, Bush said substantially the same thing except he said “the first car driven by a child born today.” If Learner’s Permits are granted at 15 1/2 (as in most states, I think), 2003 + 15 = 2018.

So, according to the GOP logic, calling for hydrogen cars by the year 2017 is “Banning cars!” “Destroying freedom!” “Absolutely flaky!” but calling for hydrogen cars by 2018 is “Visionary!” “Brilliant!” “Bold!”

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An example of the dangers of the looming Clear Channel monopoly.  It’s one thing to complain, like a wailing Cassandra, of the general danger of our broadcast and print media falling into the clutches of a single monopolist vendor like Clear Channel Communications.   It’s quite another to share an actual example of the speech-throttling and community stomping effect of the growing monopoly in a regional market like the aquisition of the San Francisco Bay Area’s KMEL by the Clear Channel octopus.

Of particular interest, note the firing of radio personality David “Davey D” Cook after his show “aired Rep. Barbara Lee’s and the Coup’s Boots Riley’s objections to the war in Afghanistan.” Better watch out, Jeff Chang (author of the piece) – maybe the San Francisco Bay Guardian will be the first print target of your paper and you’ll find yourself on the street! Preposterous? Well check out the shenanigans of New Times Media, Clear Channel’s “mini-me” in the local entertainment calendar-rag business. New Times Media would make a great first print acquisition for Clear Channel, who should then have little trouble in either gobbling up or shutting down the Bay Guardian.

If you saw the State of the Union speech on Tuesday or any of the media analyses that followed, you may have noticed that Bush really made an effort to polish his “compassionate conservative” credentials during the speech — promising initiatives to develop cleaner hydrogen-burning cars, help AIDS victims and the children of drug addicts, etc., etc.

In other news likely to have a similar impact on future governmental policy, I farted into the wind this morning.

A $452,000 annual salary? Appoint me!Members of the new Federal Public Company Accounting Oversight Board voted themselves $452,000 annual salaries recently, citing the need to pay industry-level wages in order to remain competitive and attract top talent. Nay-sayers like Ralph Nader decry this evident greed, pointing out that executive salaries in the private sector are already “above any reasonable assessment of their performance,” and suggesting that folks who work for the public interest would certainly be happy to work at the same salary level as the U.S. President ($400k/year, not counting ‘perks’ like free travel on Air Force One, bodyguards, lifetime pension and a future home-town library).

In spite of such lavish remuneration, these spots have been notoriously tough to fill – apparently at least 2 of the 5 board members must be actual CPAs (i.e. have some appearance of qualifications), and the nominees must be willing to divest themselves of “conflict of interest” engagements and investments before assuming the post. Is that all?