Steven T’s Recent Comments

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  Yup

  Yes you do, jabailo.  So sorry, but I'm not buying it.On 'So am I' posted 8 months, 1 week ago 4 Responses

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  Yes but

  Perhaps my expectations are too low, but we're dealing with a federal government that hasn't enacted a major new type of tax in years.  Indeed, anti-tax hysteria seems to be deeply embedded in the structure and culture of the beltway.  Remember how Clinton was routed with his healthcare plan in 1993?  Clearly the Obama administration is trying to avoid an encore performance.

  Now, perhaps they've gone too far in the other direction.  But remember that Congress will weigh in.  If there's the political will, the proposal will be improved.  And if not, then a tougher proposal would have been DOA anyway.

  The tide may have turned on global warming, but we don't yet know how far we can push politically.  

  The other factor that may be worth mentioning is that the proposal essentially amounts to a back door pollution tax that has the potential to eclipse more conventional taxes, e.g., the payroll tax.  Is that not the general direction we wish to go?  Might this be an expedient way to take the first step down that road?

  That's a genuine question rather than a veiled comment.On What percentage of auction revenue is rebated? posted 8 months, 1 week ago 10 Responses

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  An FYI and a question

  As an FYI, Dan Neil is one of the best automotive journalists in the US.  He won a Pulitzer for his automotive reviews.  One reason is that he's such a good writer, but he also transcends the tendency in automotive journalism to be a mindless gearhead.  RE:  to know lots of details about existing products but lack a basic social consciousness of how the automobile impacts society and the environment.  Neil also has balls, e.g., a while back he panned General Motors' products so relentlessly that GM boycotted the LA Times for a while.  That was a lot of ad revenue.  I suspect that the only reason Neil wasn't fired was because of his Pulitzer.  He's worth keeping an eye on if you follow the auto industry at all.

  Secondly, I get that hydrogen fuel cells on cars represent a dead end, but why wouldn't they be a good idea for stationary uses, e.g., neighborhood-level electricity generation?  In other words, just because this technology isn't useful for one particular application, does that mean it has no other prospects?On L.A. Times: 'Hydrogen fuel-cell technology won't work in cars' posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago 77 Responses

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  Journalistic corruptions

  Ted Clayton:  Regarding your second posting, you make a reasonable point about the media being slaves to the story.  Yes, that phenomena needs greater discussion.  However, as a journalist I think that Will's repeated basic ethical abuses symbolize the corruption and ineptitude of the national press.  This anything goes attitude needs to change for reasons that go far beyond coverage of global warming.  

  Pompey Road:  George Will isn't a journalist.  He's a scholar-turned right-wing columnist/pundit.  Unlike, say, Walter Cronkite, he has never abided by basic mainstream journalism standards of factually grounded, objective reporting.  Alas, today's news media tends to conflate punditry and journalism to the degree that the public can't distinguish between the two.  This is a big reason for the declining ethics of the news media.On Conservative columnist lies to millions of people, again, ho hum posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago 36 Responses

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  Good Will hunting

  George Will is a "good person?"

  I've never met the guy, so I don't know what he's like in person.  I hear he has a DD kid who he adores, so I suppose that makes him "good."

  But that's not what's being debated today.  On the table is the proposition that George Will systematically lies to the American public and his corporate masters stand by and do nothing.

  That's bad for journalism, bad for American governance and bad for the health of the planet.

  Mind you, George Will is not some uneducated turnip who just fell off the truck.  He has more education than 99 percent of his readership and has held some pretty high-priced real estate in op-ed sections of newspapers throughout the country.

  George Will has real power as a pundit.  He has repeatedly used that power in ethically questionable ways.  This is not something new, nor is it limited to "environmental" issues.

  For example, way back in the 1980 presidential campaign Will acted as a debating coach for Reagan . . . and then went on the air for a major network and acted as a pundit -- without revealing his role with the Reagan campaign.

  That violates a pretty basic journalistic tenet.  Yet Will never paid a price.  He is one of the right's untouchables.

  Maybe that's because he's such a good person.
  On Conservative columnist lies to millions of people, again, ho hum posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago 36 Responses