the bigger they are...

our benighted leader saw fit to declare that the USA would reduce its mideast oil consumption by 75%. What he didn't mention, but everyone else noted, is that the middle east actually ranks only fifth as an oil source for America. News sources say it provides less than 20%, but let's call it 20% for easy yet conservative math. Three fourths of that 20% would be of course 15% of our total that we'd have to get from conservation. Or of course, our friends in other areas: Canada, Nigeria, Russia and Venezuela. Other than Canada, one can see the "stability issue" quickly. But worry not, the USA is already hard at work making friends with Venezuela. Bush has offered drilling in Alaska and increased use of ethanol as solutions, but no analyst finds those ideas credibly replacing 45,070,200,000 gallons of oil per year (15% of US consumption). Let's be clear, Venezuela already knows they have us over a barrel (get it?). Solar panels, anyone? Perhaps a wind turbine on top of that detached garage?

They finally fixed the lights on the pedestrian overpass for the light rail stop near my house. I had called weeks ago and reported that 1, then several of the lights had gone out, but they didn't even give me a reference #, so I had no way to find out what happened to my reports. Which got me thinking about Perot and others who cry that government should act more like a business. But TriMet has a web site and a phone number for complaints, just like a business. TriMet even recently added an automated system that can tell you when the next bus or train will arrive. More famously, even Google makes use of TriMet data to offer trip planning. My belief is that governments do act like businesses, but only after businesses have reached sufficient consensus on the next big improvement. Governments should move slowly in many ways, in the interest of greater stability. Just as the Supreme Court refers to the 50 states as labs for new ideas in legislation and justice, it seems like government uses companies as labs for new management and operations ideas.