Bush pardons Scooter Libby dressed in giant turkey costume

In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume

"Greasy Rider" hors d'oeuvre

This will probably be the last post this week. I'm off to subject myself to a food coma for Thanksgiving. But here's an hors d'oeuvre of Greasy Rider, for those of you who haven't read the book already.

Page187:

There's yet another quirk to the Mercedes that I've failed to mention: when it's traveling faster than fifty miles per hour, the heat stops working. I don't know why. It's not an issue around home, because I usually don't take it onto the highway in wintry weather. But it was an issue when we reached I-80 and started to ascend the foothills of the Rockies. Iggy discovered through various experiments that if we turned off the fan altogether and cranked up the thermostat on the dashboard, a trickle of warm air would seep through the vents. Whether this made any real difference in cabin temperature, I'm not sure, but it didn't hurt. The best we could do was slip on as many layers of warm clothes as possible--which meant three or four T-shirts and a sweatshirt--and hope to avoid freezing to our seats.

Snowflakes began to fall somewhere around Laramie, a nearly treeless town lying exposed at seventy-one hundred feet in elevation, but vanished upon hitting the warm ground. To our left, a giant, fully tricked-out Toyota Sequoia, all fift-one hundred pounds and fifteen miles per gallon of it, weaved back and forth in its lane from the sixty-mile-per-hour wind gusts and roared past us like we were riding a tandem bike.

Iggy gazed at the vehicle, which quickly vanished into the snowy haze. "I bet the people in that Sequoia aren't happy people."

"They're rich, unfulfilled, miserable people," I said, nodding.

"But they're warm," Iggy said.

"Yes, they're warm."

"And they don't have to blinkerbate," he said.

"That's true."

"And if they hit bad snow, they shift into four-wheel drive," he said.

"And they've got antilock disc brakes...But they're miserable," I said.

"I wouldn't mind being miserable if I were warm. And had four-wheel drive. And blinkers that worked," he said.

"Now you're sounding like me."

Whoops

Regarding those pesky pirates: it turns out that the Indian navy didn't sink a pirate mother ship earlier this week. It was really a Thai fishing trawler. The Indian navy didn't realize their mistake because they didn't leave any survivors. Or so they thought. Turns out one of the fishermen lived, and clung to a metal barrel for five days before being rescued at sea.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is suddenly so enraged over piracy that columnist Bret Stephens asks the question, "Why don't we hang pirates anymore?" in his column. Oil, of course, is mentioned only once, in passing. This matter's not about oil. It's about enforcing international law, and protecting the world from sea-bound terrorists. It's never about oil.

Potential benefits to global warming

Some of the potential benefits to global warming: my heating bills will go down here in North Carolina. (It was freezing out this morning. Very unpleasant.) And given that my house is at 2,500 feet in elevation, it could very well become oceanfront property in a decade or two.

Redford is pissed off

He spoke last night on Maddow about how earlier this month the Bushies, under the cover of darkness, opened federally protected lands to oil drilling. (By the way, he's got to be coloring his hair. No one that old is that blond. And if he's doing that, why doesn't he get some of the Botox? The dude needs it.)

Oil tanker pirate update

Kenya is preparing for the possible major oil spill off its coast when forces inevitably raid the Saudi oil supertanker being held by Somali pirates.

Ecological catastrophies, piracy, terrorism fincancing, war--all byproducts of the oil business. Hmmm...I feel like there's some other downside to it that I'm missing. Oh yeah, global warming.

Even so, the New York Times says today that the Economic Meltdown will be deterring countries from breaking their dependence on fossil fuels. If you read the article, though, it shows no real evidence of this.

If ever there was a time for countries to get motivated on starting a new green industrial revolution, it's now.

Greasy Rider column is up and running on Outside magazine web site

Head here for the first weekly installment of the Greasy Rider column on Outside magazine's web site. The first question: "Why do you drive a grease-powered car, and should I do it too?"

To find the witty, action-packed answer to this question, click here.

C-SPAN BookTV video

I should've worn makeup.

Arugula update

I've got a design for my winter garden. I'll build raised beds using 2"X12" boards, and put storm windows atop them.

The government and green technologies

A part of Obama's massive stimulus program that he's going to push in January is to set aside a whole lot of money for the government to create green technologies (to gin up a new "green collar economy" that will usher American industry into the next century). Does that mean he's going to create a "Manhattan Project" for green technologies? I hope not. We're better off providing tax breaks, grants, and incentives for corporations and universities to innovate. That's where all of the exciting stuff is already happening, and these are the people who are going to make the breakthroughs. Let capitalism do its thing, and not get government too involved.

Oil tanker pirates update, part 5

In response to the Saudi oil tanker recently taken hostage, Iran is saying that they're going to start using force against Somali pirates. And ship owners are demanding some sort of UN-backed naval blockade of the Horn of Africa. Meanwhile, the pirates holding the ship are saying they're willing to reduce the ransom. Think they'll get it down to $0?

Greasy Rider group on Facebook

Don't forget to join the Greasy Rider group on Facebook. Type "greasy rider" in the search box and you'll find it.

Spinal Tap on Global Warming

History's greatest band tackles the world's most perilous issue by reuniting for Live Earth.

Greasy Rider goes Prime

My recent book reading at the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne Vermont will be replayed on C-SPAN2's BookTV this weekend. You can see it at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. (yes, Prime Time) Eastern Time on Saturday, on CSPAN2, or streamed online by clicking here.

Amazon reviews?

If you've read and (hopefully) enjoyed Greasy Rider, feel free to leave a review of your impressions on Amazon. Help get the word out.

Pirate update

No word on any new developments with the oil supertanker taken by Somali pirates. The Indian navy has said they're now going to actively pursue pirate vessels. Middle Eastern countries are meeting to see what they can do. But just when the tide seems to be turning in a positive direction, the UN has threatened to help. Never a good thing.

Solar panels required on malls and big box stores

Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick is aiming to require malls and big box stores to put solar panels atop their buildings--forcing them to become more energy efficient, and save money in the long run. (You'd think companies would want to do this on their own, but they don't.) To see how this system can work well, check out the Google chapter in Greasy Rider. Google recently installed solar panels atop its headquarter buildings. The panels supply 30 percent of the electricity for the campus, and will pay for themselves within eight years. In other words, Google will be getting 30 percent of its electricity for free in eight years.

House cleaning

Henry Waxman has defeated John Dingell (from Michigan it should be noted) as the leader of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell has been the leading Democrat on this committee since, like, Henry Ford was a boy.

Dingell, though a staunch and important Democrat, was no friend of people who wanted high emissions or fuel efficiency standards. Waxman is.

This is a big deal--and signals where the House is headed. Not that I really know about this stuff.

Hijacked oil tanker update

In yesterday's chapter of the oil tanker pirate drama, we learned that a destroyer in the Indian navy was forced to fire upon a pirate "mother ship" and sink it. Today, we discover that the oil tanker pirates are demanding $25 million in ransom. (The ship is holding more than $100 million in oil.) They're not gonna get a dime, of course. Stay tuned.

US Mindset Changes on Gas Guzzling

Maybe the plummeting price of gas doesn't ruin my chances of ruling the roads in my grease-powered car. This Financial Times article asserts that Americans are still looking for alternatives to fossil fuels. Here's the section of the article I find the most enlightening:

Greg Melville also exemplifies the changing American mindset. He wanted to prove alternative fuels, such as vegetable oil, were feasible and so drove cross-country in a "French-fry car'' - a 1985 Mercedes station wagon powered on oil collected from restaurant waste en route. He lived to write a book about his adventure in Greasy Rider, which motivates others to turn towards alternatives.
Even though petrol prices are down again, Mr Melville expects Americans will continue to find new ways around fossil fuels because many are motivated by fears of climate change, not just loss of income. It is why he hangs out washing to dry, composts vegetable waste and buys local foods, which do not require packaging and fuel to get to his market.
He expects others to follow the energy-saving route. People will not trade in their hybrids to go back to SUVs, he says. "There is a definite shift in mindset that goes beyond the price of gas.''