News for September 12
September 12, 2008 by Barbara
Filed under News and Analysis
‘Drill, Baby, Drill’
As Hurricane Ike bears down this weekend on the Texas Gulf Coast — home to many of the nation’s offshore oil rigs — the U.S.’s energy future is getting renewed attention. A graphic from Grist shows how much new offshore drilling will really impact U.S. oil consumption, while Tapped and The Brookings Institute discuss moves to increase use of public transportation. ProPublica also takes a look at the recent oil scandal and what that might mean for pending legislation in Congress. Links include:
Grist | “A pipe dream … ”
The Brookings Institute | “While there is definitely a need for additional resources for the American public transit system, this must be about more than just money. We need an extreme makeover with a fundamentally new approach to almost every aspect of national transportation policy: how we allocate funding, set priorities, apportion responsibilities, engage the private sector, price the system, connect transportation to other policies, and how we move from our current decisionmaking to empirically-grounded policy.”
Tapped | “A key message of both Republicans and Democrats who spoke about mass transit policy at the RNCC event was that the federal government must actually incentivize railways over highways, instead of throwing up years worth of bureaucratic barriers in front of states and municipalities that want to construct rain lines.”
ProPublica | A series of inspector general reports alleging cocaine use and government regulators literally jumping into bed with Big Oil would make a splash regardless of when it came. But whether it was PR panache on the inspector general’s part or a happy coincidence, yesterday’s reports came just as Congress is set to debate expanding offshore drilling.
Don’t Tell Me Words Don’t Matter | GetReligion
GetReligion criticizes ABC’s Charlie Gibson for asking Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in her first interview since joining the GOP ticket, if she thinks the U.S. is fighting a holy war: “Apparently Gibson messed up big time when he tried to explore Palin’s religious views.” GetReligion points out that “because he didn’t mention her introductory clause that completely changed the meaning of the statement.” What are your thoughts? And what did you think about the entire interview? Post your comments!
- Related link: God’s Plan | Spiritual Politics
- Related link: Palin, McCain and the Bush Doctrine | Matthew Yglesias
I Don’t Like Ike | Alas, a Blog
At best, it looks like much of the Texas coastline is going to get walloped with tropical storm-to-hurricane force winds, and very serious, if not catastrophic, damage in Galveston and Houston. Ike is currently forecast to come aground early Saturday morning. Stay safe, Texas.
Sept. 11 and the Non-Crisis of Values | NPR
In an open society, vigilance comes in the form of debate, hypersensitivity and constant argument. We are right to be worried about the obnoxiousness of our recent disputes, the way media distort them and the sense many Americans have that they lack community, neighborliness and belonging. In fact, we share all that. There may be a crisis of community, manners and culture, but not of values. We are wrong to worry too much about being a nation divided or a nation where individuals and families have no shared fundamental beliefs.
GOP Seeks to Contest Voters from Foreclosed Homes | Crooks and Liars
The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.
Barbara Schwartz is the editorial director at the Xenia Institute. She lives in Oklahoma City, Okla., and currently is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa.
