mm482: Windy panacea? Not so fast!

August 28, 2008
© Damian Chung | Dreamstime.com

© Damian Chung | Dreamstime.com

MUDGE’s Musings

Oops.

Turns out that all those ambitious windmill plans might be more worthy of Don Quixote than Michael Bloomberg.

Seems that generating power is only part of the equation, whether you use boring and dirty old technology (coal-fired) or exciting and clean new technology (wind turbines).

See, that power has to get from those lonesome windy landscapes to the nation’s factories (ah, an optimistic curmudgeon!), shopping malls and homes, and it won’t get there by wishing it so.

No, that generated power, sulfurously filthy or delightfully green, needs the national power grid to get from Windyvastwasteland, Texas to where it’s needed, and folks, the national power grid is a subtle but critical part of what one of my favorite amateur pundits calls, in a most memorable coinage, “this country’s infrastructure osteoporosis.”

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Posted by mudge

mm476: The next Windy City?

August 22, 2008
© David Davis | Dreamstime.com

© David Davis | Dreamstime.com

MUDGE’s Musings

Two recurring themes on this site converge this week, as alternative energy, mainly windmills, and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, not a presidential candidate, occupy the same NYTimes story.

nytimes[3]

Bloomberg Offers Windmill Power Plan

By MICHAEL BARBARO | Published: August 19, 2008

In a plan that would drastically remake New York City’s skyline and shores, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is seeking to put wind turbines on the city’s bridges and skyscrapers and in its waters as part of a wide-ranging push to develop renewable energy.

The plan, while still in its early stages, appears to be the boldest environmental proposal to date from the mayor, who has made energy efficiency a cornerstone of his administration.

Mr. Bloomberg said he would ask private companies and investors to study how windmills can be built across the city, with the aim of weaning it off the nation’s overtaxed power grid, which has produced several crippling blackouts in New York over the last decade.

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4 Comments | Environment, Technology | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mudge

mm446: Clueless in America, and Michael too

July 21, 2008
mccainbush From Daniel Kurtzman, About.com

MUDGE’s Musings

Frank Rich of the NYTimes eviscerated John McCain over both his supposed area of expertise, military affairs, as well as Sen. McCain’s admitted area of weakness, matters economic. It wasn’t pretty.

nytimes

It’s the Economic Stupidity, Stupid

Op-Ed Columnist | By FRANK RICH | Published: July 20, 2008

THE best thing to happen to John McCain was for the three network anchors to leave him in the dust this week while they chase Barack Obama on his global Lollapalooza tour. Were voters forced to actually focus on Mr. McCain’s response to our spiraling economic crisis at home, the prospect of his ascension to the Oval Office could set off a panic that would make the IndyMac Bank bust in Pasadena look as merry as the Rose Bowl.

“In a time of war,” Mr. McCain said last week, “the commander in chief doesn’t get a learning curve.” Fair enough, but he imparted this wisdom in a speech that was almost a year behind Mr. Obama in recognizing Afghanistan as the central front in the war against Al Qaeda. Given that it took the deadliest Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul since 9/11 to get Mr. McCain’s attention, you have to wonder if even General Custer’s learning curve was faster than his.

Mr. McCain still doesn’t understand that we can’t send troops to Afghanistan unless they’re shifted from Iraq. But simple math, to put it charitably, has never been his forte. When it comes to the central front of American anxiety — the economy — his learning curve has flat-lined.

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3 Comments | Afghanistan, Economy, Iraq occupation, McCain, Politics, Presidential election, Recession, War | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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mm349: What’s Mike really going to do next?

April 16, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

Thought I was done with Michael Bloomberg.

Not so fast, tiger.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC for U.S. President 2008
mm024: Bloomberg?
mm038.1: Jews Sorta Like Bloomberg Even Though…
mm051: Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg’s Money, Visibility…
mm054: Chicago Tribune news: An Idea for Bloomberg
mm057: Bloomberg for President?
mm058: What Kind of President would Michael Bloomberg?
mm064: How to take down plutocrat Michael Bloomberg…
mm066: Michael Bloomberg’s Knightly Ambitions
mm069: The Votes Are In for New York’s Mayor Mike
mm086: Bloomberg Takes School Plan… to Midwest
mm110: Grading Mayoral Control
mm117: The cure for the Electoral College is worse…
mm208: Overdue — a Bloomberg post
mm238: Bloomberg’s candidacy — closer to real?
mm248: Political Potpourri
mm254: Bloomberg – just won’t go away…
mm263: This man -so- wants to pull the trigger
mm280: Bloomberg for Vice President? Take 2
mm285: Mayor Mike tells some hard truths
mm290: Gassing ’bout birds and supermen
mm300: Bloomberg: I’m not running, but…
mm301: Sorry, Mudge, the answer is no!
mm304: Mike, now I’m done!

This is all good sport in New York City, where, after all, Bloomberg is the two-term mayor, in a term-limit district. What’s a billionaire to do? Next?

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4 Comments | Obama, Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mudge

mm331: Obama at Cooper Union: Lincoln for our times?

March 28, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

He could have spoken anywhere; that’s what the communications age is all about. Perhaps he should have spoken in Pennsylvania; after all, its April 22nd primary represents the next towering challenge to his candidacy.

But, he spoke in New York City, because that’s where beats the economic heart of the country (and not too long ago, the planet). And his speech was about our economic distress, the Wall Street half of the equation, where “pain trickled up.”

An interesting site, new to Left-Handed Complement, “The Reality-Based Community” has been added to our blogroll with alacrity. There, yr (justifiably) humble svt found some incisive analysis, and, usefully, a transcript of this powerful statement.

reality-basedcommunity

Obama on the economy

March 27, 2008 | Posted by Mark Kleiman

Public images, once established, are hard to change, and it isn’t going to be easy for Barack Obama to escape the “pretty words, no substance” label that his opponents and some journalists have tried to pin on him. But if anything could do it, today’s Cooper Union speech ought to.

Those familiar mainly with the Obama of the stump speeches, the election-night speeches, and the Ebeneezer Baptist Church address on MLK Day — the Obama of the “Yes We Can” music video — will find the Cooper Union lecture a significant change of pace. No soaring images, not much poetry, few applause lines, lots of analysis and substantive proposals, only one Obama-esque turn of phrase in describing the current crisis in mortgage-backed paper:

“What was bad for Main Street was bad for Wall Street. Pain trickled up.”

The speech itself: workmanlike, serious, substantive.

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5 Comments | Economy, History, Obama, Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mudge

mm304: Mike, now I’m done!

March 3, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

Independent nonpartisanship has a flexible definition for NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

A frequent subject at this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere©, we’ve been intrigued for most of a year with his potential independent candidacy for U.S. president.

See below for a list of links.

Bloomberg left the Republican party last year, many believed in preparation for a run at the presidency as an independent.

Apparently, though, the Republican party in New York State is still close to his heart, or his wallet.

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mm301: Sorry, Mudge, Mayor Mike says the answer is no!

February 29, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

Last post, Michael Bloomberg told us that no, he is not a candidate for the presidency in 2008.

Today, some interesting commentary.

bloomberg8229

nytimes

Declining to Enter Field, Mayor Eyes Sideline Role

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and DIANE CARDWELL | Published: February 29, 2008

For more than two years, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had the ultimate presidential campaign that wasn’t. Aides spent hundreds of hours and untold dollars plotting out a route to the White House. But the prospects for his maybe-I-will, maybe-I-won’t campaign were never tested in the quiet of a voting booth.

This week, as Mr. Bloomberg officially ended his flirtation with a presidential campaign, he said he would seek other ways to influence national politics and spread his gospel of “independent, nonpartisan” politics, perhaps to whoever takes up residence in the White House next year.

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2 Comments | Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mudge

mm300: Bloomberg: I’m not running, but…

February 28, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

It’s only fitting, for mm300, to return to a most intriguing topic here at this nanocorner of the ‘Sphere©, the potential independent presidential ambitions of Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City.

Faithful reader won’t mind being reminded of some of our previous posts that consider Mr. Bloomberg’s elaborate dance over the past several months.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg of NYC for U.S. President 2008
mm024: Bloomberg?
mm038.1: Jews Sorta Like Bloomberg Even Though…
mm051: Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg’s Money, Visibility…
mm054: Chicago Tribune news: An Idea for Bloomberg
mm057: Bloomberg for President?
mm058: What Kind of President would Michael Bloomberg?
mm064: How to take down plutocrat Michael Bloomberg…
mm066: Michael Bloomberg’s Knightly Ambitions
mm069: The Votes Are In for New York’s Mayor Mike
mm086: Bloomberg Takes School Plan… to Midwest
mm110: Grading Mayoral Control
mm117: The cure for the Electoral College is worse…
mm208: Overdue — a Bloomberg post
mm238: Bloomberg’s candidacy — closer to real?
mm248: Political Potpourri
mm254: Bloomberg – just won’t go away…
mm263: This man -so- wants to pull the trigger
mm280: Bloomberg for Vice President? Take 2
mm285: Mayor Mike tells some hard truths
mm290: Gassing ’bout birds and supermen

Indeed, mm066 is the single most hit post on this site.

Obviously, he intrigues many of you as much as he does yr (justifiably) humble svt.

So Mayor Mike wrote an opinion piece in today’s NYTimes.

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3 Comments | Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by mudge

mm295: Yet again, answering a question nobody asked

February 24, 2008

MUDGE’s Musings

Ralph Nader, who made his name beating up on a GM car with its engine in the wrong place, once again finds himself in the wrong place, announcing another 3rd party run for the presidency.

nytimes

Nader to Run Again

By Sarah Wheaton | February 24, 2008,  11:26 am

“Dissent is the mother of ascent,” Ralph Nader said on “Meet the Press” this morning. “And in that context, I have decided to run for president.”

Beginning his third third-party run in as many presidential elections, Mr. Nader, a consumer advocate, cited a litany of issues he feels have been “taken off the table,” including single-payer health care, the war, labor law reform, and “cracking down on corporate crime.”

Nice to know that while certain bodily functions may diminish or even disappear by age 74, the ability to be a fatuous obsolete horse’s ass stays strong well into one’s eighth decade.

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4 Comments | Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , | Permalink
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mm291: White (haired) man speak with forked tongue

February 20, 2008

MUDGE’S Musings

Late start tonight; busy day led to a busy evening.

Did get time to step outside into the crystal clear 13°F night to gander at the lunar eclipse.

Very cool. Cold, actually, but fun to see.

Puts our everyday concerns into perspective, when you get that all too rare chance to slow down, pause and look up to see the cosmos working in its own time and rhythm.

To business.

As part of the NYTimes series of extended coverage of the presidential candidates, they’ve just published the following:

nytimes

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk

By JIM RUTENBERG, MARILYN W. THOMPSON, DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and STEPHEN LABATON | Published: February 21, 2008

WASHINGTON — Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.

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2 Comments | Politics, Presidential election | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
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