Headspace-On my stereo: Swiss Movement by Les McCAnn & Eddie Harris; In my backpack: The End Of Faith: Religion, Terror And The Future Of Reason by Sam Harris; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Riveted by Robyn Sarah; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

For right now I'm just going to bask in the news from Beirut. As is the case in all Middle East politics, there are way too many factors to discuss on a blog as to why what is happening is happening. I don't care about why right now. An occupied people are demanding their occupiers get the ^%$# out and the puppet government of that occupier has resigned. That is all a very good thing. For the views of someone who knows a lot more about the Middle East than I do, take a look at Perhaps Victory In Martyr's Square.

From Dan Gillmor at Grassroots Journalism comes this post concerning a job opportunity for a hacker with a social conscious. The idea is wonderfully perverse and subversive; go for it. Bush will hate this.

A group that wants to assist free speech in authoritarian nations is looking for a technically savvy person—a CTO or lead engineer type—who can do a short term study, possibly leading to a longer-term job. This is a paying gig for the right person. The project is intended, in its initial form, to make possible blogging that is impossible (or at least extremely difficult) to trace. One of the people involved calls it an "anonymous, anti-tyranny blogging service." If you're interested, please send e-mail to Jim Hake.

Headspace-On my stereo: Saint Dominic's Preview by Van Morrison; In my backpack: The End Of Faith: Religion, Terror And The Future Of Reason by Sam Harris; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: The Marsh in Winter by Timothy Walsh; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

This was a weekend for watching amazing students. It began on Friday with Seven Little Words (25 February) and concluded today with a three-hour bus trip to the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan, outside of Detroit. We had 33 7th-, 8th- and 9th-grade students and parents on the trip along with myself and our congregational rabbi.

I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the center. I took part in a similar trip a few years ago when I chaperoned a smaller group from another synagogue to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. That trip was overwhelming. It was hard to imagine any lesser memorial coming close. The group of people who came together to conceive and implement the center have exceeded my paltry imagination.

The center is laid out as a journey that begins in the shtetls of Eastern Europe. From that well-lighted exhibit visitors descend down a series of ramps to the darkness that is the Third Reich and the Shoah. In a moment reminiscent of the National Museum walk through a cattle car used to transport Jews to the camps, this center directs visitors to walk under a reconstruction of infamous wrought iron Arbeit macht frei arch at the entrance to Auschwitz.

The national museum offers a walk-around for those who cannot bear the idea of stepping through the cattle car. Visitors to the Holocaust Memorial Center can step to the left and view the Auschwitz exhibit through a conventional entrance.

From the depths of the Shoah, visitors ascend ramps that take them past the memorial wall to those who risked their lives to oppose the Nazis and protect Jews. The tour is completed with a multimedia presentation that emphasizes communication, independence and interdependence as a way to fight prejudice and genocide. Our students had the additional opportunity to speak with a French survivor of the Shoah.

It was during the rabbi's debriefing with the students, however, that I was the most impressed because they finally got to speak. They talked about their reactions and their personal experiences with anti-semitism.

One boy told how in first grade he was always picked last for kickball team. "I always thought it was because I was so small," he said. But then he asked and got the answer he did not expect. "They told me that I got picked last because they didn't like Jews." Other students told similar tales.

Then the rabbi started talking about Rwanda and Darfur. Many of the students had heard of the movie Hotel Rwanda, but when the rabbi started talking about Sudan and Darfur there was a look of confusion of the students' faces. A young woman, one of my students, raised her hand and asked a question about Darfur:

When did this happen?

And in a teaching moment that I know I will remember forever the rabbi replied:

It... is... happening... right... NOW!

If nothing else had happened today, this moment would have made the entire trip worth any price.

We had too little time there. I think the students would have benefited from one or two hours longer so that they could have wandered the exhibits at their own pace.

Dayenu.

Headspace-On my stereo: Heartattack And Vine by Tom Waits; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Beauty or Flight by Denver Butson; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

My dad suggested that I take a look at Ohio Senate Bill 24, the self-proclaimed: Academic Bill Of Rights For Higher Education. I'd heard about the Bill but hadn't taken the time to actually read it closely. I did so this morning and found much wanting in the 92 lines of bill's text. My major objection is that the Bill's aims are the opposite of what it pretends to say they are. Here's what I mean.

This Bill, the heart of which was crafted by neo-conservative pundit David Horowitz, is not unique to Ohio. The same legislation has been introduced in California, Indiana, New York, Rhode Island and Tennessee. An article on Horowitz's Frontpagemag indicates that its influence also extends to Colorado and Georgia.

Horowitz fears university programs that, he says:

...teach students to identify with America’s terrorist enemies and to identify America as a Great Satan oppressing the world’s poor and causing them to go hungry. The question is: how long can a nation at war with ruthless enemies like bin Laden and Zarqawi survive if its educational institutions continue to be suborned in this way?

What Horowitz, and his supporters, really fear, is dissent. It seems to me that what this legislative hijacking seeks to create is a higher-educational equivalent of the Bush Administration's Free Speech Zone, where students and faculty will be allowed to speak their minds, as long as they do so in the fenced area on the other side of town, down near the rail yard and between the water treatment plant and the solid-waste transfer station.

Horowitz makes it clear that regardless of the density of the language in the Bill, the document's, and his, purpose is to counter a perceived liberal bias in public and private university courses.

Lines 17-22 of the Bill read:

In the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts, the fostering of a plurality of serious scholarly methodologies and perspectives shall be a significant institutional purpose. In addition, curricula and reading lists in the humanities and social studies shall respect all human knowledge in these areas and provide students with dissenting sources and viewpoints.

I wonder what constitutes serious scholarly methodologies. Will each university, or perhaps the legislature, gather a board to make that determination? And can you imagine the checklist a professor would have to maintain to ensure that a reading list respects all human knowlege in these areas and provides students with dissenting sources and view points? How many dissenting sources and view points would be adequate?

A few lines further down the Bill assets in lines 27-29:

Faculty and instructors shall not use their courses or their positions for the purpose of political, ideological, religious, or antireligious indoctrination.

Now there's a loaded word: indoctrination. Indoctrinate: to instruct especially in fundamentals or rudiments; to imbue with a usually partisan or sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle. One of the things I learned in college was how to develop a point of view. And I learned it by listening to other's points of views and engaging in debate with them.

In the sciences—Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, etc.—opinions don't count, only those theories and laws that have withstood the scrutiny of the scientific method have any place in the a classroom. In the non-sciences—Economics, History, Political Science (a misnomer and holdover from the Sputnik era), Psychology, Sociology, etc.—however, facts are difficult to come by.

For instance, take the fact that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492. Well, not really, he never actually landed on either the North or South American continents and he was preceded by a large number of explorers from both Europe and Asia. Or how about the fact that children from homes with single parents do not do well in school. I can get two Sociologists in a room and get three differing opinions on the importance of stable, two-parent households.

In grade school and junior high students are mostly treated as empty vessels into which we shovel data that we expect them to process and assimilate. In high school and college however, we begin to expect them to think: to take positions. And I think they learn best—I know I did—when they have plenty of models of thinking people to learn from.

But what about professors that give students bad grades for ideas they don't agree with? Lines 21-26 of the Bill read:

Students shall be graded solely on the basis of their reasoned answers and appropriate knowledge of the subjects and disciplines they study and shall not be discriminated against on the basis of their political, ideological, or religious beliefs.

There's another loaded word: reasoned. In the absence of examples of actual papers or tests on which bad grades were given I must speculate. I accept that such an instance might occur, but I think it more likely that a student, believing passionately in their position, may fail to present a researched and reasoned support for that position and gets a bad grade for sloppy work. Must any grade below an A be submitted to an academic review board to check on the reasonableness of the students argument?

There is plenty more in the Bill that I find fuzzy. I would hope that others will read it closely and feel free to challenge me on any point it contains.

After all, that's what a free healthy exchange of idea is all about.

Thanks for the idea, dad. I love you.

Headspace-On my stereo: Jazz After Hours on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Beauty or Flight by Denver Butson; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

The blogpile has started to overflow again so, without comment, here are 26 (in no particular order) items that I've come across in the past three weeks that I thought I would enjoy blogging about but just got too buried to deal with. One of the things I've noticed about the blogpile is that it closely mirrors my internal thought processes. My friends know not to ask what I'm thinking about because they're likely to hear something totally divorced from any conversation or event in the past hour; or so they think.

Teri Schivao... Matt Cooper... Murder in the family... Unequal protection...; Clark Howard... Matrix pong... Feministe... Feministing... Jerry Brown... Amazon's vanity press...; Artist Review Today... Life hacker... Marietta watch... MIT OpenCourseWare... Oh My News... Got time...? Orthodox Jews in fiction... Responses to Ayelet Waldman... Costco... Souce Watch nee Disinfopedia... Battle For America... Daou Report... The Moderate Republican... iPodpeople... Your Daily Art... Thomas Merton...

Headspace-On my stereo: Pontiac by Lyle Lovett; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Snowbanks North of the House by Robert Bly; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

At the invitation of one of the students I tutor, I went to see Those Seven Little Words (I love you, so you're probably gay) at Ballard Brady Middle School this evening. The show benefited Orange High School's Gay Straight Alliance. The show was fun in a cabaret kind of way and the audience was enthusiastic in its response to the music and the dialogue. About 100 people attended.

But that wasn't what impressed me; it was the students. That they are learning in an environment where they can belong to the GSA is a wonderful thing. Being a teenager is tough. I can only imagine how tough it must be to be gay as well. I went to a high school where wearing anything green on Thursdays meant you were queer; gay came later. (I Googled the custom and found lots of references, but came up blank for an origin. Anybody have a clue?)

The only experience I had in high school that was even remotely homosexual was a guy paying me a compliment in the locker room. That he might have been making a pass didn't occur to me until many years later. At the time I just said thanks and finished getting dressed.

Fast forward 30 mumble years and I was seeing a very different high school crowd where some 30 students (two of whom I know) could wear GSA t-shirts with It's about equality! printed on the back. Someone with gaydar would probably be able to point out who in the group was gay and who was straight but that wasn't important. The students were having a great time and publicly showing their support for each other. In a world where homophobia is resurgent that is important.

When I see things like this it gives me hope that we're not backsliding as badly as I sometimes fear we are.

The show's star, Greta Rothman talked a bit about how she came to do the show as a benefit for GSA. She works at the Western Reserve Academy in Hudson and after performing the show on a small club stage at Playhouse Square for two months (her brother, Andrew commented that the stage at Ballard was larger than the whole club) agreed to present the show at Western Reserve. Says Rothman:

Perhaps the most beautiful thing of all is that when I performed the show at Western Reserve Academy it triggered dialogue about a subject that people there had been afraid to address.

The positive response from students and administration there, she said, moved her. So much so, that she has embarked on what she calls the Cafeteria Tour.

There's no mention on the website of where the show may appear next. Watch for it. Go see it. And pay as much attention to the audience as you do to the show.

Maureen Dowd weighs in: Once again, just as W. runs into political trouble, he floats above the fray while the help takes out his opponents. ...Swift Boat assassins can rid the president of any meddlesome adversaries now.

Headspace-On my stereo: Jazz After Hours on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: In the Apartments of the Divorced Men by Sue Ellen Thompson; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Last week at the Cleveland Bloggers' MeetUp (Dinner Conversations..., Thursday 17 February) one of the topics that arose was that of bloggers posting to cleveland.com, the website maintained by our sole daily newspaper: The Plain Dealer. Our immediate response was how much are you going to pay us? The rational was that we all were very cheaply and conveniently publishing our own blogs, so why should we provide free content to a for-profit publication? The conclusion was, we shouldn't.

I raise this because this morning I read Steve Outing's In Defense of Citizen Journalism at Editor & Publisher. (I found the story via Dan Gilmor' Defending Citizen Journalism. Outing discusses issues raised by 16 editors and news directors concerning blogs in Julie Moos' News Leaders Debate: Building Audience With Blogs.

The point that caught my eye in Outing's piece was No. 6:

"In our newsroom, we try not to say no, rather we say 'how'. ... So, how can we add these very important voices while maintaining our journalistic oversight? One way might be to identify community members who uphold our ethical and journalistic beliefs and invite them to send in opinion and commentary. It would take some time to identify them, but it would be worth it to have intelligent people adding new perspectives to the community conversation."

The problem with this news director's statement is obvious: He's stuck in the old mindset of "only we know what's best." His idea of opening up to the community is hand-picking those whose voices will be heard on his site. Sorry, but in an age when technology has made it possible for any and everyone to inexpensively share their thoughts, wisdom, and nonsense [Emphasis mine.] with the rest of the world, this old-style gatekeeping increasingly is out of step. Newsrooms that ascribe to this philosophy will find their influence waning as competitors truly open up to their communities—gaining loyalty in the process.

There's nothing wrong with seeking out the best voices and giving them a home on a news site; that's laudable. But if that's all you're doing, that's exclusionary in a time when technology makes exclusion undesirable.

There will be some bloggers, of course, who will think that being hosted on the local newspaper's website is prestigious, but I think that number is small and shrinking. There is the argument that a newspaper (or other local media outlet) can offer greater exposure to a blog, but I think that reasoning falls flat if a reader has to wade through dozens, or hundreds, of blogs.

If the media outlet is acting as gatekeeper it defeats the purpose of publishing blogs. If it doesn't act as gatekeeper, it's no better than any other hosting service.

I think old-style media outlets will spin their wheels for a few years trying to figure out how to make a buck (and that is truly the only thing they are driven by and that is not a bad thing) off of this blog thing while bloggers, and whatever communication technologies follow, continue to leave them farther and farther behind.

Headspace-On my stereo: National Public Radio's Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Job by William Baer; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Yesterday while tutoring a sixth grader we read a story about Logic. The gist of the story was that an old man asked a young boy, "Which is closer, the Sun or Ch'ang An?" [An ancient capital of China.] The boy replied, "The Sun, of course, I can see the Sun but I can't see Ch'ang An." The next day the old man took the boy to the marketplace along a main road where they watched many people dressed in exotic clothing walking by.

The boy watched in wonder at all the strange sights. Again the old man asked the young boy, "Which is closer, the Sun or Ch'ang An? This time the boy answered, "Ch'ang An, of course."

When the old man asked why the young boy had changed his answer, the young boy replied: "Today I've seen many people from Ch'ang An, but not one person from the Sun."

What made me think of this story is a posting by PZ Meyers concerning James Lileks' article Can Intelligent Design Be A Compliment To Evolution? In James Lileks on Intelligent Design creationism and evolution, Meyers does his usual focused dissection of the fuzzy logic that those driven my superstition and ignorance cling to to keep their fantasies alive.

Right from the beginning of his argument, Lileks flounders when he says: To the proponents of intelligent design, the facts suggest the hand of the Big Guy. Meyers jumps right in and correctly says that there are, in fact, no facts that suggest the hand of the Big Guy. (I have to wonder if Lileks thinks he's showing that he's not some Bible-thumping troglodyte by referring to God in such an impersonal way.)

Lileks' argument seems to me quite like that of the young Chinese boy. In both cases the young boy makes logical assumptions based on erroneous data. In the first case he believes that which he can see must be closer than that which he cannot see; and in the second case he believes that a place from which a person visits his village must be closer than a place from which no person visits.

In the same way, Lileks, and his ilk, make bad assumptions—there must be a god—based on incomplete data—they don't understand the mechanisms of biology and the mathematics of probability.

By pretending to be reasonable, Lileks seeks to dumb down the science education of our youth. In a global economy where our competitors are not wasting precious educational time on this nonsense, it is a dumbing down that we can ill afford.

Headspace-On my stereo: National Public Radio's Jazz After Hours on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: Job by William Baer; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

I was way too young to have ever been called before the House Unamerican Affairs Committee, but it's starting to look that I may get a chance this fall when I turn 50 and become eligible for membership in the AARP. I can hear the question now: "Mr. Hess, are you now or have you ever been a member of the American Association for Retired People?"

The first ad from USA Next has come down on the American Spectator page. Instead, you'll find this one (aptly named usareplacement.gif):

Newsday compares the team putting together this piece of slimy work to the crew from Quentin Tarantino's 1992 masterpiece Reservoir Dogs. Ellis Henican writes in Bash-The-AARP Effort Off To A Smarmy Start:

Finally rested up from their cynical assault last year on John Kerry's patriotism, the most ruthless smear squad in American politics is back together again.

And they're revving up for another nasty job.

Their latest ugly enterprise? Sliming the AARP, which had the nerve to come out against President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security.

This is the same gang of rhetorical hatchet men behind the deceptively named Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. During last year's presidential campaign, they were telling vicious lies about Kerry's combat record in Vietnam. Now, they're turning their trash talk on the nation's largest and most effective senior citizens lobbying group, which they'll try to tar as an extreme left-wing cabal.

Any reason not to name names?

Ex-Marine Chris LaCivita, who wrote the incendiary Swift Boat commercials ripping Kerry's war record, is coordinating the anti-AARP media campaign.

Rick Reed, whose Virginia-based ad agency Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm handled production on the Swifties' print and broadcast ads, will be standing over the editing console again.

Creative Response Concepts of Arlington, Va., the Swifties' public relations firm, is handling PR this time, too.

And lurking in the shadows nearby, ready to rush out any late-breaking anti-AARP books, is the hard-right print shop known as Regnery Publishing. These are the ruthless knife-twisters who published the hateful anti-Kerry screed, "Unfit for Command."

I think that I'd much rather hang out with Mr. White and his spectrumed buddies than the crew from USA Next.

Headspace-On my stereo: National Public Radio's Fresh Air on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Broker by John Grisham; On my computer: To Capitalize Ungodly by Matt Cook; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

[Update II, 23 February] I inadvertently overwrote this file this morning (this is what I get for waking up so early) and have had to recreate it from memory. For those of you who might have read the original, I apologize for the stumble.

[Update I, 23 February] The American Spectator has pulled down the original ad below and posted the aptly named usareplacement.gif. I have to wonder if they see the irony in that name. I doubt it.

Just when I am beginning to think that there might be reasons to believe that the Bush administration is not as bad as its opponents say it is, the people at the top pull this kind of shit. (You say the White House doesn't control these people? If you think there's anyone who sneezes without Karl Rove getting a request in triplicate, I've got great options on river-front property in Baghdad.) The internet ad above appeared on the website for the American Spectator and linked to the website for USA Next.

Glen Justice said in his New York Times article A New Target For Advisors To Swift Vets:

Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.

In the story Justice names names:

To help set USA Next's strategy, the group has hired Chris LaCivita, an enthusiastic former marine who advised Swift Vets and P.O.W.'s for Truth, formerly known as Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, on its media campaign and helped write its potent commercials. He earned more than $30,000 for his work, campaign finance filings show.

Officials said the group is also seeking to hire Rick Reed, a partner at Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, a firm that was hired by Swift Vets and was paid more than $276,000 to do media production, records show.

For public relations, USA Next has turned to Creative Response Concepts, a Virginia firm that represented both Swift Vets - the company was paid more than $165,000 - and Regnery Publishing, the publisher of "Unfit for Command," a book about Senator John Kerry's military service whose co-author was John E. O'Neill, one of the primary leaders of Swift Vets.

[snip]

Formerly known as the United Seniors Association, USA Next was founded in 1991 by Richard Viguerie, a Republican pioneer and mastermind of direct mailings, who raised millions of dollars from older Americans using solicitations that sent alarming messages about Social Security. In 1992, there were allegations that the group was used as a device to enrich other companies owned by Mr. Viguerie, drawing criticism from watchdog groups and Democratic lawmakers.

One name in Justice's story set me back in my chair: Art Linkletter.

USA Next has been portraying AARP as a liberal organization out of step with Republican values, and is now trying to discredit its stance on Social Security. USA Next's campaign has involved appearances by its leaders, including Art Linkletter, its national chairman [Emphasis added.], on Fox News and various television programs. Its commercials are to be broadcast around the country in coming weeks.

I fondly remember Linkletter for his weekday afternoon show and the Kid's Say The Darndest Things segment. One of the things Linkletter would do was go out into the audience and ask women if he could look in their purses. He once got caught flatfooted when a woman pulled out a breast pump and Linkletter couldn't figure out how to disengage gracefully.

A Google turned up the website for Sterling International which represents Linkletter. His position as national chairman for USA Next is not mentioned in his bio. I emailed Sterling using its speaker request form and asked if Linkletter really believed that the AARP was against our troops and for homosexual marriages.

Any one want to give me odds on my chances of getting a reply?

I didn't think so.

Headspace-On my stereo: National Public Radio's Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; On my computer: Song by W.H. Auden; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Hunter S. Thompson is dead at age 67. For whatever reason, Thompson chose to turn a gun against himself and end his life. Thompson, more than any other person, is responsible for my decision to become a writer. I remember the moment clearly. It was nine o'clock on a fine summer morning in 1969, a month before I would enter high school and I was a nearly fourteen-year-old, clueless, skinny red-haired kid with glasses and freckles living in the countryside near Marietta, Ohio.

On the ground next to me was a stack of books, about as many as I could carry the hundred yards or so from my house to the barbershop parking lot where the Washington County Library bookmobile would pull up and I could exchange one stack for another. My reading was chaotic. I never knew what I might like. Because the driver had to get to the next stop on time I just pulled volumes from the shelves and added them to the stack I scooted along the linoleum floor. On that morning I spotted the title "Hell's Angels." I grabbed it.

Then my favorite reading place was in the grass beneath a weary weeping willow on the bank of our small pond. I propped the stack against the trunk and opened Thompson's masterpiece and didn't look up until I hit the last page. Never in my short and vapid life had I felt the buzz his words gave me.

I had read about Magic. There, in the hot, green shadows, I felt it. I knew two things that morning. First, that I had to get out of Marietta as quickly as possible. Second, that my grail would be to someday write something that could make another human know how I felt when I read the ending of Thompson's book.

So, it was always at night, like a werewolf, that I would take the thing out for an honest run down the coast. I would start in Golden Gate Park, thinking to run a few long curves to clear my head… but in a matter of minutes I'd be out at the beach with the sound of the engine in my ears, the surf booming upon the sea wall and a fine empty road stretching all the way down to Santa Cruz… not even a gas station in the whole seventy miles; the only public light along the away is an all-night diner down around Rockaway Beach.

There was no helmet on those nights, no speed limit, and no cooling it down on the curves. The momentary freedom of the park was like the one unlucky drink that shoves a wavering alcoholic off the wagon. I would come out of the park near the soccer field and pause for a moment at the stop sign, wondering if I knew anyone parked out there on the midnight humping strip.

Then into first gear, forgetting the ears and letting the beast wind out… thirty-five, forty-five… then into second and wailing through the night at Lincoln Way, not worried about green or red signals, but only some other werewolf loony who might be pulling out, too slowly, to start his own run. Not many of these… and with three lanes on a wide curve, a bike coming hard has plenty of room to get around almost anything… then into third, the boomer gear, pushing seventy-five and the beginning of a windscream in the ears, a pressure on the eyeballs like diving into water from a high board.

Bent forward, far back on the seat, and a rigid grip on the handlebars as the bike starts jumping and wavering in the wind. Taillights far up ahead coming closer, faster, and suddenly—zzaapppp—going past and leaning down for a curve near the zoo, where the road swings out to sea.

The dunes are flatter here, and on windy days sand blows across the highway, piling up thick drifts as deadly as any oil slick… instant loss of control, a crashing, cartwheeling slide and maybe one of those two-inch notices in the paper the next day: "An unidentified motorcyclist was killed last night when he failed to negotiate a turn on Highway I."

Indeed… but no sand this time, so the lever goes up into fourth, and now there's no sound except wind. Screw it all the way over, reach through the handlebars to raise the head-light beam, the needle leans down on a hundred, and wind-burning eyeballs strain to see down the centerline, trying to provide a margin for the reflexes.

But with the throttle screwed on there is only the barest margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right… and that's where the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes exhilaration and the vibrates along your arms. You can barely see at a hundred; the tears blow back so fast that they vaporize before they get to your ears. The only sounds are wind and a dull roar floating back from the mufflers. You watch the white line and try to lean with it… howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica… letting off now, watching for cops, but only for the next dark stretch and another few seconds on the edge… The Edge… There is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over. The others—the living—are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now or Later.

But the edge is still Out there. Or maybe it's In. The association of motorcycles with LSD is no accident of publicity. They are both means to an end, to the place of definitions.

Res Ipsa Loquitur...

From Susie Bright in an interview for The Boston Phoenix: For me, reading’s like the inhale and writing’s like the exhale. Which part of the oxygen process do you want to cut off? Thanks to John Ettorre at Working With Words.

Headspace-On my stereo: Satellite Radio's Classic Rock at Arabica on Lee; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; On my computer: Written for a Personal Epitaph by Dylan Thomas; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Could you bear to tell the world that "This finger has killed;" that you "enjoy funerals;" that you "liked yourself better as a boy" or that you "talked someone into suicide?" These and many more confessions are on Postsecret, turned loose in my world by Virtual Lori. I cannot help but contemplate what I might put on such a postcard. How about you?

To comment, see below. For longer musing, try our symposium.

But I don't care. This bit of silliness comes courtesy of Colette. Without a doubt the one that turned heads here at the Arabica on Lee was Pants Error: Do These Pants Make My Ass Look Fat? Yes, No, Ignore.

Headspace-On my stereo: Satellite Radio's Classic Rock at Arabica on Lee; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; On my computer: Written for a Personal Epitaph by Dylan Thomas; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

In every generation there are prophets. In ancient, and not so ancient, times prophecy was attributed to contact with the metaphysical, i.e. superstition and fraud. But there are genuine prophets; visionaries able to see a future with uncanny accuracy though anthropological, sociological and tecnoligical understanding. Jeremy Rifkin is one such prophet.

I first discovered Rifkin in the late '80s when I read his Time Wars. I was fortunate enough to meet and interview him in the mid '90s after he published The End of Work. Both books are excellent and that is the reason I'm looking forward to reading The European Dream.

Jill Owens a reviewer for Powell's writes:

Rifkin's thesis is that the goals of human rights and the flexibility afforded a post-modern, network- and community-based system of government found in the EU experiment is the better contender for success and progress in the global world order—a compelling, if not revolutionary, idea. But his major achievement in The European Dream is to draw together and cohere the complex historical, philosophical, and theological forces that have created such very different worldviews for shaping the future for us and our neighbors across the pond. Rifkin's enormous scope and clarity of vision is fascinating exploration of all sides of the equation, and his engaging and intelligent prose is a welcome vehicle for these ideas.

At a time when a large segment of the United States is quick to condemn anything European, Rifkin is sure to get a lot of flack for even suggesting that they're on the right path and we're not. I'll withhold final judgment until I've had a chance to read the book, but at a minimum, I expect to have my understanding of the world once again jolted more than just a little.

From Bill Maher on Jeff Gannon, with Leslie Stahl, Sen. Joseph Biden, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Robin Williams, who steals the show with the final line: Uptight? Better latent than never. Call now.

Headspace-On my stereo: Satellite Radio's Classic Rock at Arabica on Lee; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: The Rule Of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason; On my computer: Written for a Personal Epitaph by Dylan Thomas; On my screen, The Office: Christmas Special (***) directed by Stephen Merchant and written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Beware of people with laptops in coffee shops. Sitting at Arabica this afternoon I eavesdropped on two old-school Cleveland Heights politicos and heard the phrase New Urbanism come up. (Eavesdropping was actually a skill assignment in journalism school, along with learning to read documents upside down on someone else's desk.) This wasn't a phrase I was familiar with so I Googled it to grasp a better understanding of the conversation. Google came up with 155,000 hits.

The top hit was for NewUrbanism.org which carries the tag line: Giving more people more choices about where and how they want to live. Going deeper into the site I found a section on Smart Growth. This is something my friend David Beach has been talking about at EcoCity Cleveland for more than a dozen years.

Here in Cleveland Heights we're conducting a number of experiments in this New Urbanism. Across the street from the Arabica on Lee, the old Ohio Savings bank building will be torn down to make room for Domain On Lee, a mixed-use development that will have commercial and residential space built on and around a parking garage. The idea, as I understand it is like the Coventry parking garage only with apartments/condos added to the upper floors.

The goal, said one of my eavesdropees when I queried him, is to get people out onto the street. He cited the bad example of how people visiting Playhouse Square seldom have to actually walk along Euclid Avenue to get from their parked cars to the shows. As a result, the downtown experience is isolated. You have sold-out theatres and no one is walking down the sidewalk. The support establishments, such as restaurants and bars, are missed.

It certainly makes a lot more sense than a convention center.

Says U.S. Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) at the Conservative Political Action Conference: "We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons and facilities to make them inside Iraq." Can you say loony tunes?

Headspace-On my stereo: Satellite Radio's Classic Rock at Arabica on Lee; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: In the Ancient Tradition by David Budbill; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

Because I'm a firm believer in the maxim, Nothing Is Sacred, I offer up a funny line quoted by Pike Speaks concerning the commissioning of the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter, SSN-23. From Conan O'Brien, "This week the U.S. Navy launched a nuclear submarine named after Jimmy Carter. Experts say the sub will be ineffective for four years but tremendously respected once it's retired." And from John's link to Scrappleface:

The U.S. Navy on Saturday will commission its newest nuclear-powered attack submarine, the Jimmy Carter, with many new features, including multiple-warhead Nerf missiles.

President Carter, who brought peace to the middle east, vigorously defended America's right to give away the Panama Canal and, in 1994, convinced North Korea to abandon talking about its nuclear weapons, said he's honored to have his name on "one of the most powerful peacemaking devices on earth."

On a more serious note, the formal commissioning ceremony for the Carter is today. According to a Salon's 3.2B Cater Enters Fleet Today:

The USS Jimmy Carter enters the Navy's fleet as the most heavily armed submarine ever built, and as the last of the Seawolf class of attack subs that the Pentagon ordered during the Cold War's final years.

The $3.2 billion Jimmy Carter will be commissioned Saturday, signaling the end of an era in submarining and more uncertain times for the multibillion-dollar industry.

The 453-foot, 12,000-ton submarine has a 50-torpedo payload and eight torpedo tubes. And, according to intelligence experts, it can tap undersea cables and eavesdrop on the communications passing through them.

Sadly, the Carter marks the end of an era in. Just as the demise of the Apollo program saw the end of the greatest rocket ever built—The Saturn V—so too is the Carter the last of a long line of mammoth peace keepers in the Silent Service that have protected the United States for nearly 50 years.

The future of the submarine Navy now lies in smaller, less expensive boats like the Virginia class, SSN-774.

Headspace-On my stereo: Satellite Radio's Classic Rock at Arabica on Lee; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: In the Ancient Tradition by David Budbill; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

In Jimmy Carter Is A Traitor, my friend John Pikes linked earlier this week to a story from Powerline that claims to support that assertion. The last time I checked, being a Traitor is a capital offense. A quick read of the legal language finds that a traitor is one guilty of treason, i.e. "the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family."

Because I know John to be a reasonable man I followed his link back to Powerline to see just what was being charged. In a 16 February entry, Jimmy Carter Revisited, Powerline writes:

We've been pretty tough on Jimmy Carter, but with hindsight, probably not tough enough. If you search our site for "Jimmy Carter," you'll find all of his disgraceful acts that we've commented upon. His history is a sorry one: he started out as a Midshipman and served honorably in the Navy. But at some point, his leftist politics took hold and he started aligning himself with America's enemies.

I did not do the search on the site, but I did follow the particular link associated with this news story. The link jumps back 16 months to 17 October 2002 and Frontpagemag's Carter, Democrats Asked Soviets To Stop Reagan. Frontpagemag's story is based on a review of the book Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism by Peter Schweizer. The review of Schwiezer's book is posted on NewsMaxStore, part of the NewsMax group.

Schwiezer, the Frontpagemag story tells us:

...after scouring once-classified KGB, East German Stasi and Soviet Communist Party files, discovered incontrovertible evidence that the Soviets not only played footsie with high-ranking Democrats, they also worked behind the scenes to influence American elections.

Whenever someone used the word "incontrovertible" my lemmings' meter starts ticking. Schwiezer's core charges are that in 1980 and 1984 President Carter attempted to influence the outcome of our presidential elections by enlisting the aid of the Soviet Union.

I haven't read Schwiezer's book so I don't know if he reprints photostatic copies of these documents or not—I doubt it since they would be written in Russian—but didn't we just bring down Dan Rather because of phony documents? (And, at least Rather produced something.)

Given that I had never heard of NewsMax, and in light of the James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon/Talon News debacle, (See Daily Kos for the best total coverage) I thought I should do some cursory surfing to see what had been written about it. Wired News reported back in December 2000 that:

On a shoestring budget compared to other media sites, NewsMax has attracted a loyal audience of a few hundred thousand visitors a month, many of whom swear that it offers the only unbiased news available in the United States.

If its growth trends continue, NewsMax's founder, Christopher Ruddy, says the site will one day become "the CNN of the Internet." That's because, Ruddy said, NewsMax is reporting something that others in the media are skipping: the truth.

To be sure, the truth according to NewsMax is very different from the truth according to, say, The New York Times. On a given day, NewsMax will feature headlines like "Gore's Swan Song: Hail to the Cheat!" and "Democrats Plot Against Bush."

Truth is a very flexible thing when it comes to reporting at NewsMax. When Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) received the German Media Prize for 2004, NewsMax led with:

Senator Hillary Clinton has been awarded the "German Media Prize" of 2004, the organizers said Friday.

The prize is awarded to left-wing political figures.

But, according to Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid, Hillary is not the only New York politician to be honored with this award for left-wing political figures. Surprise, surprise, reports Willis, the 2001 honoree was that left-wing pinko Mayor Rudolph Guliani.

Recently I called Bill Moyers to account for sloppy fact checking and his lazy attribution of a caustic quote to Interior Secretary James Watt in my Monday, 7 February entry: Attribute, Attribute, Take Two....

I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980. He remains the only president who I've voted for that I continue to believe is a good and honorable man. His public writings and actions continue to support my opinion. If Powerline or NewsMax or Schwiezer have documentary proof that President Carter is a traitor, then they should make those documents public and allow the full scrutiny of politicians, journalists and bloggers to fall upon them.

For the record, I'm not holding my breath.

Headspace-On my stereo: Talk Of The Nation on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

Better to trash the 1st Amendment to the Constitution rather than risk being tarred as a lover of smut. That's the message the Ohio delegation—with the exception of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH, 10th)—sent to us yesterday with the passage of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005. I don't listen to Howard Stern, his humor just isn't for me, but I may have to start just to support a dwindling voice for freedom of speech. Says the Center for Creative Voices in Media:

As a result of today’s House vote, the American public will be denied even more opportunities to view quality programming, repeating the tragedy of last Veteran’s Day when broadcasters fearful of an FCC fine abruptly canceled “Saving Private Ryan”—a multiple Oscar-winning tribute to veterans. Today’s House action revokes the public’s right to choose what to watch—and what not to watch—and turns that choice over to Big Brother: the FCC, the Parents Television Council, and the giant media conglomerates who will self-censor programming to avoid these exponentially increased penalties.

I feel a lot more threatened by those who want to return to Father Knows Best than I do by a nanosecond exposure to Janet Jackson's right nipple.

Cailin pointed me to David Kirkpatrick's For Democrats Rethinking Abortion Runs Risks in the New York Times. You run a huge risk being alive because you're going to end up dead. Deal with it. And learn to live.

In the March issue of The Progressive, Barbara Ehenreich puts down her two cents worth in God Owes Us An Apology. Superstition and ignorance are still the real enemies of reason and intelligence.

Headspace-On my stereo: Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

Last night was my second experience with the Cleveland Bloggers Meetup group. It was again a positive experience. The turn out was larger than the first with: Bill Callahan, Callahan's Cleveland Diary; Collette, Dancing on Collette's Grave; Steve Fitzgerald, Lakewood Life; Adam Harvey, Organic Mechanic; Will Kessel, Collison Bend; George Nemeth, Brewed Fresh Daily; John Palmer, Verity Media; Chas Rich, Sardonic Views; and Jerry Ritcey, Red Wheelbarrow in attendance.

George, line with his Blogs Are... post, asked us to talk a bit about why we blog. Because I was next to last to talk I had some time to consider what my answer might be. I'd not really thought about it before and I surprised myself with my response.

I told the other bloggers that Have Coffee Will Write is dinner-time conversation. When I was growing up in rural Southeastern Ohio we had dinner seven days a week. Not the meal, the experience. I sat down every evening with my father, brother, grandmother and grandfather at the dinning table. We ate, of course, but more importantly, we talked. I think that a great deal of how I think was shaped by those conversations.

If it shows up here in my daily musings, that is a good thing.

Pass the potatoes, please.

Headspace-On my stereo: Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

I like to set the record straight when I can. I've been guilty for many years for holding an erroneous opinion of President Ronald Reagan. Long before I knew him as a politician, I knew him as a Hollywood actor. Like most boys growing up I liked action movies. The genre contains a healthy dose of both westerns and war movies, and Reagan appeared in a quite a few of them. The one I remember most vividly was the 1943 This Is The Army.

During WW II Reagan served in the U.S. Army in the 1st Motion Picture Unit. Here is where I've been wrong. Because of my prejudice against him, I assumed that he got his cushy job through connections. That was not the case.

Reagan enlisted in the reserves as an Army private in 1937 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the cavalry that same year. Following Pearl Harbor, Lieutenant Reagan went on active duty, but not without some difficulty. He initially failed an eye exam and only his persistence enabled him to be accepted for active duty with a limited-duty classification.

Like many in his generation, Reagan volunteered for overseas duty, but his classification prevented him from accomplishing that goal. He served our country honorably throughout the war and rose to the rank of Captain. His term of service concluded in 1953. Of Captain Reagan, Major General James P. Hodges, the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Intelligence, wrote that he:

...has proven himself to be an officer of exceptional ability, demonstrating unusual initiative, and performs his duties in a superior manner. Captain Reagan has received a 'superior' efficiency rating continually since 1 July 1943.

I was wrong about this aspect of President Reagan's life. I wish I could say the same about all the real chicken hawks out there.

Headspace-On my stereo: Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Not Only The Eskimos by Liesel Mueller; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

Today the United States Navy honors our 39th president and one of my personal heroes—James Earl Carter Jr.—with the commissioning of SSN 23, the U.S.S. Jimmy Carter, the third and final submarine in the Seawolf class. President Carter is our only president to pass muster and join the elite of the elite: the officers of Admiral Hyman Rickover's nuclear Navy. Only about 20 percent of those who run Admiral Rickover's grueling qualification gauntlet finish it. Carter rose to Lieutenant Commander (O4) during his seven years of service.

I do not know for certain, but I think this may be unique. I am not aware of a president honored by the naming of a vessel, on which he might have served, for him. It is specially fitting that President Carter should be so honored by having his name placed on one of the Seawolf class. The Carter and her sister boats (not ships) USS Seawolf, SSN-21 and USS Connecticut, SSN-22 are truly submarines of the 21st century.

The Carter is particularly innovative. According to one website, she is differentiated "from all previous undersea vessels by its Multi-Mission Platform, which includes a 100-foot hull extension to enhance payload capability. The MMP enables Carter to accommodate the advanced technology required to develop and test new generations of weapons, sensors and undersea vehicles for naval special warfare, tactical surveillance and mine-warfare operations."

Smooth seas and safe returns to all the crew of the USS Jimmy Carter.

Headspace-On my stereo: Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Not Only The Eskimos by Liesel Mueller; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

OK, as PZ Myers notes in A Visitor From Space! Err, Ummm, I Mean, Canada!, it's a Science Fiction cliche, but outsiders do help us see that which we are too close to. Myers comments on Rapture Awaits In Florida Panhandle by the Toronto Star's Tom Harpur. The reporter writes about a trip south from Toronto to the panhandle of Florida where he encounters "some of the most intense conservative evangelical activity in the entire U.S. Superchurches, training schools, and all kinds of crusades abound."

The money quote from Harpur is:

Gary Frazier shouted at the top of his lungs: "Wake up! Wake up!" And roughly 800 heads nodded approval as he added that the left-wing, anti-Israel media—"for example, CNN"—will never tell the world the truth about Islam. According to these three and the millions of Americans they lead, Muslims intend ultimately "to impose their religion on us all."

The whole Left Behind series would be silly on the level of L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth series if it were not so wildly successful and read as gospel and not bad fantasy.

Myers muses:

In a rational world, here’s what I would like: our media to treat these nutballs as totally clownshoes poison—the only stories about them would mock their lunacy, rather than putting up a respectful facade. For our politicians to denounce them as dishonest frauds who are dragging our country and the world into the sewer. For our electorate to shun any politician who so much as shakes hands with one of these scamming hatemongers.

Seems reasonable to me.

Headspace-On my stereo: Morning Edition on WCPN, 90.3; In my backpack: The Muse Is Always Half-Dressed In New Orleans by Andrei Codrescu; On my nightstand: London Bridges by James Patterson; On my computer: Not Only The Eskimos by Liesel Mueller; On my screen, Cracker: Lucky White Ghost (***) directed by Richard Standeven and written by Paul Abbott.

Today is the first day of the Kyoto Protocols. It's hard to pinpoint exactly when the process leading up to today began—I remember reading about Green House Gases when Richard Nixon was president—but by any political measure it has been a long journey. While the United States is still not a signatory of the protocols, the rest of the world is and despite White House hubris, we are all now going to live with the effect of the Kyoto.

In Ten Gallons of Kyoto, Viridian's Bruce Sterling offers what he sees as a comprehensive and objective look the protocol by The Gallon Environment Letter, a Canadian environmental group.

Colin Isaacs, editor of The Gallon writes in the introduction:

Preparing this issue has been a particular challenge: we know that some of our readers are Kyoto experts while others still have no truck with Kyoto. There is so much nonsense being written and said about Kyoto in the daily and electronic media by writers who just do not understand the complexities of the Kyoto Protocol that we have tried to set the record straight, providing information and analysis to help the ordinary business and typical citizen get a good grounding in this most complex of subjects.

We could have written several books on Kyoto, and many have, but we hope that in the brief format for which the Gallon Environment Letter is known we have been able to provide at least a few gems of information for everyone, whether Kyotophile or Kyotophobe or somewhere in between.

Lisa Hymas over at The Gristmill, however, offers a sobering caveat in It's Too Late To Stop Climate Change. Her basic, and valid point, is that global climate is an aircraft carrier, not a swift boat; the beast just doesn't stop, or turn, on a dime. Hymas quotes Mark Hertsgaard from the San Francisco Chronicle:

At the core of the global warming dilemma is a fact neither side of the debate likes to talk about: It is already too late to prevent global warming and the climate change it sets off.

Environmentalists won't say this for fear of sounding alarmist or defeatist. Politicians won't say it because then they'd have to do something about it. The world's top climate scientists have been sending this message, however, with increasing urgency for many years.

This is not to suggest that, in any sense, we're a day late and a dollar short. It took us the better part of a century to get where we are now and it's going to take us at least that long to restore the balance.