My Official Response

The Islamic State of Iraq, the attempted shadow government of Al Qaeda in Iraq, released a statement tell us to stop looking for our kidnapped troops.
I believe our official response should either direct them to do something anatomically impossible or involve mailing bacon to all of their donors. I would specify, but this is a family publication.

When I left work this morning I noticed that our flag was flying at half-staff. Our flag here generally only flies at half staff when we lose someone from our group. I have to track every mission running when I'm on shift as part of my job and seeing the flag lowered was shocking. I hadn't heard anything. I turned around to ask and was immediately directed to a note saying that our flag was flying at half staff for Peace Officer's Memorial Day. Needless to say I was relieved and the guy who wrote the sign was probably tired of answering the same question over and over again.
I am glad that we are paying tribute to our brothers and sisters in blue. They are just as much on the front lines as we are.

If you are curious, I finished The Weathermakers, that book on climate change. I know it is a book meant for the general public and not scientists, but I do wish he'd gone a little more in the science of how they isolated Carbon Dioxide as the driver of current climate change.
I also want to know how the percentage of households owning firearms was at all relevant to the damage done by Katrina. Corruption, piss-poor leadership at all levels, Ray Nagin, Ray Nagin, and, you know, THE HURRICANE, are all probably higher on the list than the existance of firearms. Just me.
Whether I'm sold or not on the CO2 issue, I agree with most of his recommended changes. More efficient use of resources, wind power, solar power, renewable energy, and trying to harness market forces to drive change are all good things. A lot of the technology is out there already and we may be reaching a tipping point in market demand for such things.
My motives may be different, but so what. If I bike because it is cheaper, guaranteed exercise, and more environmentally conscious, it probably doesn't matter which is the priority as long as I follow through and bike.
I'd be more than happy to cover my roof in solar panels and go off-grid, maybe even sell some surplus back to the power company. I'd love to see a Fidel-less Cuba processing sugar into fuel and selling it to Venezuala.
There are some major kinks to work out with the Carbon trading schemes, but there seems to be a future there. BP has the foresight as a company to get into energy production outside of hydrocarbons. Hopefully others will follow. There is money to be made there too. And unlike the author, I don't think the profit motive is evil (even if I see myself working more in the public sector than private). I learned in the last book that the Pilgrims started getting their best crop yields when they abandoned communal farming and alloted each family a plot to work for itself.
Corn ethanol sucks. Sorry Iowa. Don't vote for me. It is a scam. If you buy a flex-fuel car, you are a moron. First, there is unlikely to be any ethanol available at the pump where you are anyway. Second, flex fuel vehicles are not optimized for either gasoline or ethanol, which decreases their potential efficiency. Finally, using current processes, corn ethanol saves neither energy nor carbon when you consider the whole cycle involved.
I'll admit that the biodiesel we run in our car is also imperfect, but far better than ethanol as a partial solution.

It's funny how the diatribes fill the space here. I can talk about what I read but not what I do at work. My war blog is just more of my usual ranting and raving. Oh well.