AAEA Only Environmental Group To Support ICC

Congratulations to Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich, left, for getting the Intercounty Connector (ICC) approved. The much needed project has been languishing for decades. Governor Ehrlich announced federal approval of the project today and construction is expected to begin this Fall. The $2.4 billion ICC is an 18-mile east-west highway linking I-270 in eastern Montgomery County to I-95/US 1 corridors in northwestern Prince George's County. The Washington Metropolitan Area is finally starting to catch up on its transportation infrastructure needs. Now if we can get the subway system linked around the I-495 Beltway and an outer beltway, this region will be second to none and travel times will put families together faster.

The approval by the Federal Highway Administration was granted following extensive review of the project’s environmental impact study and public comments. AAEA presented testimony at one of the hearings. The Federal Highway Administration approved the State’s preferred alternative, Corridor 1, which is a six-lane controlled-access highway that is the southern of the two proposed corridors.

House Passes Alaskan ANWR Oil Drilling Bill Again

The House passed a bill to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) by a vote of 225 to 201 on May 24. The American-Made Energy and Good Jobs Act (H.R. 5429) was introduced by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard W. Pombo (R-Calif.). The legislation is expected to die in the Senate.

Bringing people together one appliance at a time

We recognize the need to leverage the vertical and technical expertise of 3rd parties in extending the reach of search deeper into corporate networks. As a result the Google Enterprise Professional partner program has grown tremendously since its inception. Its a no brainer for the partner as they get to market and sell value added services and solutions they've integrated with the Google Search Appliance. And Google gets to provide its users with great search access to a broader set of enterprise information. Win-win.

Less brouhaha, however, is made of a more subtle phenomena that we're starting to notice. For our partners, adding the power of a Google Search Appliance to a solution or product can provide fast and relevant search, but it can also uncover new challenges and customer requirements as the scope of their customer relationship expands. This can lead to new opportunities where the partner can certainly choose to increase their footprint. In many cases, however, this results in our partners talking to each other and we're seeing them leverage each other's services and form complementary relationships where they can go in together and provide a more complete interdependent solution for their collective customers. There's the portal solution provider who seeks help from a security services firm to deal with new access control requirements on previously unsearchable restricted document stores. And the professional services firm who, while deploying a custom user interface for a search appliance, joins forces with a software vendor who's created an appliance connector for the customer's legacy system. There's the systems integrator who cooperates with the business intelligence vendor to help their customer realize the benefits of a single interface for information access and decision making.

In many cases the Google Search Appliance provides the interface that brings together disparate systems and business applications that would never have otherwise worked together. Now we're bringing together partner solution providers, application vendors, and integrators who would never have otherwise worked together. We're happy to make the world a more cooperative place, and its a nice side effect that this teamwork ultimately results in an improved user experience.

Immigration: Standardized Legalization

Although we do not believe a wall would be environmentally damaging to flora, fauna or folk, it just has that negative image of the Berlin Wall. We need a standardized process for all immigrants and we should stick to it. If Mexicans are just coming to America to make some money, then maybe President Bush's 'Guest Worker' proposal will work. If they want to live here permanently, then they should get in line. No amnesty for illegals though. If they do not learn to speak English and reside here illegally, they will never get ahead. Although some want to pit blacks and Latinos against each other for low-end jobs, such positions should not be an ultimate goal.

The Senate just passed immigration legislation. Now the House needs to help solve this problem before the elections recess. Let's put a Statue of Liberty on the U.S./Mexico border and huge processing facilities to manage legal immigration and guest workers. Mexican Americans and Mexicans are vital to our vibrant sustainable economy. In order to maximize the environmental benefits of their pursuits of the American and Mexican dreams, we need a predictable process that will be positive for everyone. Does anyone know why NAFTA didn't solve this problem?

Environmental Perspective: AAEA Supports Iraq War

AAEA supports the war because we believe it will ultimately lead to an improved environment in Iraq and the Middle East. Notwithstanding the faulty intelligence that got us into the war, we understand the post 911 need to communicate to the rest of the world, particularly totalitarian regimes and hosts to terrorists (including our ally Saudi Arabia), that the U.S. will not tolerate attacks on our homeland. Evil doers everywhere are not safe if the U.S. is attacked anywhere. Will there be mistakes? Yes. Will Iraq prosper if insurgents are defeated and democratic capitalism is allowed to flourish? Yes. As President Bush says, "Democracies do not attack each other." A stable Iraq will benefit the entire Middle East. Unfortunately, war, like race relations, is just another one of those issues that is probably beyond our human capability to solve. Thus, we are left to do the best we can. Hitler had to be fought. No doubt about it. Yet war is environmentally destructive by its very nature.

We are probably as hypocritical as many politicians on the issue of war. However, we reject the notion of supporting the troops but opposing the war. That is disingenuous. If you oppose the war then oppose our men and women fighting there. Straddling the fence is a spineless cop out. Yet from a purely environmental standpoint, war is environmentally damaging. We must do everything we can to prevent it because it is insanity. But just as we were pulled into the insanity of World War II, we prevailed in Germany and Japan and assisted them after the war. We believe the U.S. has the best intentions for the Iraqi people and will do everything in our power to assist them in achieving peace and prosperity. Hopefully, the end result will be a highly efficient and sustanable environment. War, like disease and death, is from the Devil. We simply have to do the best we can while living in his world. We wish President Bush good luck as he does the best that he humanly can to address terrorism.

Beacon blinking out: Dark view of America

Dark Ages America:
The Final Phase of Empire
By Morris Berman
W.W. Norton & Company. 416 pp. $25.95

Reviewed by Gresham Riley
From the Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 May 2006

To readers who already believe or suspect that the United States is in deep trouble at home and abroad, Morris Berman’s new book will come as no surprise.

To those who, like Ronald Reagan twenty years ago, continue to think of the U.S. as "a city on a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere," it will most likely be dismissed as simply another exercise in knee-jerk anti-Americanism. Ironically, such a response will only hasten the outcome that Berman sees as inevitable: the end of the American empire and the dawn of a new "Dark Age."

Morris Berman is not another crackpot eschatologist. He is a serious and careful scholar who charts the final phase of a movement that began as 13 colonies, became transformed into a Republic, changed again into an empire, and now (like Rome at the time of Constantine’s death in A.D. 337) can only look forward to the sun’s setting on its period of world domination.

Berman believes that four characteristics of the West after the fall of Rome have reemerged in American society, and he uses these features to build his case for the book’s main thesis: the triumph of religion over reason; the atrophy of education and critical thinking; the integration of religion, the state, and the apparatus of torture; and the political and economic marginalization of our culture.

The critical turning point in our history, Professor Berman argues, was the transubstantiation of the American republic into an American global empire. Unlike bread and wine, this change was not a miracle but the result of deliberate choices by policy makers and support from the public. Two in particular, one in the foreign policy arena and the second having to do with monetary policy, loom large in Berman’s account.

Regarding foreign policy, common wisdom has it that the diplomat George Kennan was the architect of American Cold War strategy, the principle doctrine of which was the political--not military--containment of the Soviet Union as elaborated in his now famous "long telegram" and the "X" article in Foreign Affairs. Of much greater significance, in Berman’s view, was a subsequent top secret National Security Council document known as NSC-68 (1950), written by Paul Nitze and approved by his boss, Harry S. Truman. Basically, NSC-68 declared that "a defeat of free institutions anywhere is a defeat everywhere" and that, consequently, there was no such thing as "peripheral interests" with respect to American foreign policy. NSC-68 embodied an "Orwellian vision of world domination and permanent war" that guides our decision-making today.

The economic policy choice was the withdrawal by Richard M. Nixon in 1971 from the Bretton Woods Agreement (1944). As described by Berman, Bretton Woods "created a system of more or less fixed exchange rates among world currencies, and placed controls on international capital mobility." The objective was "to create a favorable environment for trade and investment while allowing countries to pursue full employment and social welfare policies." By withdrawing from the agreement, Nixon paved the way for American economic hegemony.

Berman explores these and other "policy roads" taken and not taken in a decidedly non-academic, informal style that is easily comprehensible to the intelligent lay reader. At the heart of his analysis is the idea that becoming an empire was the beginning of the end, because "the process of trying to maintain an empire would generate the resistance sufficient to undermine it."

Empire not only sets loose forces that eventually undercut it, but also corrodes the values, manners, indeed the very personhood, of its citizens. The emptiness and ignorance of the American public provide further evidence for Berman’s conclusion that there is no warding off the Dark Ages. Symbolic of the emptiness at the core of America is the replacement of values derived from the Western heritage and the Enlightenment by a MTV culture: unfettered individualism, consumerism, and hedonism.

As for basic knowledge, there is such a lack of it, Berman writes, "that one has to wonder if we are talking about ignorance or just outright stupidity"--adults who don’t know who our enemy was in World War II; who quiz their travel agents about whether it's cheaper to get to Hawaii by train or plane; who can’t locate the United States on a map; who can’t name the three branches of government; and who lack even an elementary understanding of thesis and proof, evidence and argumentation.

Although Dark Ages America breaks no new ground, Professor Berman assembles with uncommon clarity a vast amount of scholarship, data, and commentary in support of conclusions that most readers will resist. Unfortunately, this timely and important study will most likely be perceived as insufficiently scholarly by the "theory class" and as excessively gloomy by the "leisure class" to be taken seriously by either. Berman obviously anticipated some such reception. But, he explains, "there is value in the truth for its own sake, not just because it may possibly be put to some utilitarian or optimistic purpose."

Gresham Riley, President Emeritus of Colorado College and former president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, lives in Philadelphia.

Spring Organic Weeding Report

If you did your homework as described in our previous updates (Pre Spring, Winter) then you should be reaping a deep green, lush and beautiful lawn without using herbicides or pesticides while using very little commercial fertilizer. The plant and animal inhabitants of your local water body will appreciate your hand-pulling weeds from the yard. Spreading a very light deposit of fertilizer just before the last big snow really produced excellent results. (We're not purists although we do recommend using the bare hand for weed pulling instead of a glove)

Having reaped what we hope you sowed, you cannot let down or your good works will be overrun by the relentless march of weeds and clover. Although clover is an excellent nitrogen reforming natural fertilizer, it will also take over if left unchecked. Its root network makes it a constant interloper, so remember to pull the root as much as possible. The pulled weeds also make a good natural fertilizer for the trees. And after building up a foot or two of discarded weeds and grass, it takes less decorative mulch to provide adequate nutrition around the base of the tree. Don't forget to apply some limestone (calcium carbonate) sometime before adding the decorative mulch.

Interview with Boston Globe

A civilization running on empty
By Anna Mundow May 21, 2006

In ''The Twilight of American Culture" (2000), historian Morris Berman warned that voracious consumerism and corporate greed were corroding American culture and fostering anti-American sentiment. Now, in ''Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire" (Norton), Berman argues that US policy abroad and the erosion of democracy and civic culture at home have brought the nation to the verge of collapse. He spoke from his home in Washington, D.C.

Q: How did we get here?
A: In the book I focus on the structural properties of how we got here because claiming that it's George W. Bush is a very superficial analysis. I do consider Bush a discontinuity with pre-9/11 days, but there's also continuity with our foreign policy since World War II. Joe McCarthy said that McCarthyism was Americanism with its sleeves rolled up. Well, Bush is essentially Wilsonianism or Trumanism with the sleeves rolled up. We feel that the world is at our disposal. And when other nations move to protect their resources, for example, we get enraged and interpret it as anti-Americanism.

Q: Wasn't this imperial role forced on the US?
A: By the late 1790s, virtue here was defined as success for yourself and your family in a competitive market. We are still reaping the effects of that. We undertook, after all, to annex half of Mexico in the middle of the 19th century. That was hardly foisted on us; it was part of Manifest Destiny and a religious vision. But the real imperial role gets going after 1945, with the development of the national security state. And from the time of Truman until the present -- with one exception, Jimmy Carter -- nobody could become president unless they indicated that they were going to serve and expand the national security state.

Q: Isn't the war on terror protecting the American way of life?
A: The real question is where 9/11 came out of. Americans have trouble getting their minds around the fact that what happened on 9/11 was reactive rather than offensive. We had been doing certain things to the Arab and Islamic worlds for decades, and finally they decided they weren't going to take it anymore. That does not mean that it's OK for 3,000 citizens to get slaughtered, of course not. But are we interested in how many of their citizens we slaughter? How could they do this when we're so good? George Bush said. Well, examine the possibility, as Jimmy Carter suggested, that we're not all that good.

Q: Is the US prepared for the next attack?
A: If you mean the attack we're going to launch against Iran, I think the government is going to prepare us by rerunning all the cliches. Regarding an attack on us, I myself cannot see how the detonation of a nuclear device in some American city will not occur within the next decade. We might catch it in time, but . . . maybe not.

Q: What are our choices?
A: That we will not decline is not a option because it's built into the structure of how we live. We've really sealed our fate. At the end of the book I say that there are two possible paths: One is that we decline rapidly; the other is that we decline gradually. And you can have gradual decline if you exercise some intelligence as to your impact on other people, but that requires something that has historically never been our strong suit: empathy.

Q: Where will the US be internationally by, say, 2030?
A: We're riding various bubbles. One bubble is the belief that George Bush is protecting us from terrorism. Another is the illusion of economic well-being. By 2030, maybe a bit later, we'll be pretty much a second-rate power in the world. Remember that the shift in perception toward the British Empire only came with the [1956] Suez crisis. Well, we're heading for our very own Suez. How long before OPEC switches from dollars to euros, and a devaluation of at least 25 percent of the dollar results? How long before China, Japan, and the [European Union] stop floating enormous loans to us to support a wasteful consumer lifestyle? I mean, does everybody really need all this stuff?

Q: You don't think much of Christian fundamentalism?
A: Oh, it's a wonderful thing. Clearly it's the right path: flexible, engaged, empirical . . .

Q: You don't think much of Islam?
A: There are many Islamic scholars who agree that at some point it became frozen intellectually. Within Islam, as within Christian fundamentalism, you can't voice a criticism without generating an angry reaction.

Q: Aren't you advocating a form of fundamentalism yourself, a return to a pre-industrial age? A:Even if I thought that would be wonderful, it's not going to happen. The only way we will pull back is when the system crashes, something I do think is in the cards. And although I have a lot of problems with Martin Heidegger because of his association with Nazism, I think he was right when, referring to the role of technology and consumerism in our lives, he remarked, ''Only a god can save us now." There are, in other words, fundamental values we lost along the way.

Q: Do you feel at home in America?
A: A lot of the time I don't. What have we become, finally? A civilization dedicated to turning everything into a market. It's an empty vision, it seems to me, and that makes me sad. Surely the Founding Fathers had something better in mind, right?

Anna Mundow, a freelance journalist living in Central Massachusetts, is a correspondent for the Irish Times. She can be reached via e-mail at ama1668@hotmail.com.

© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Mini brings home a report card

It's always gratifying to see your efforts rewarded. This review of the Google Mini by Small Business Computing brings back some memories of when we designed the product.

When we built the new Mini, we wanted to make sure we were creating a product which fit the needs of small and medium businesses. In fact, to validate that we were satisfying these businesses, we hit the road to test it out. We would literally throw a Mini in my trunk, drive to a local business, and watch them set it up. We really tried to optimize the out-of-box experience to not only make it easy to set up but also make customers excited to use it. As we did these studies, we'd smile with delight when they understood the UI, and, sometimes, we'd cringe when they ran into a roadblock. We'd then come back to the office and design ways to alleviate the roadblocks.

By the time we released the product, we thought that we had a winner - easy to use and meeting the business needs of companies. But, it was nice to see Small Business Computing validate this with their recent review of the new Mini. We're glad to see this, but we're not done. Today, it's back to the office to make the Mini even better.

Our Greatest Weakness Is Addressed In New Book

AAEA has been aware of Karen Bowlding, left, and her environmental work for twenty years and now she has inked a new book that could help in solving one of the black community's most serious problems: the breakdown of the nuclear family unit. The results of this breakdown are apparent and have exponentially increased the environmental damage from a much more volatile dysfunctional tenth in our community.

Mrs. Bowlding's book, ‘‘Living in Autumn While Preparing for Spring: The Journey Towards Marriage,” is featured in the Prince Georges Gazette. Read the book. Get married. Raise children. Work hard. Improve our community.

Indexing Documentum

A single search box for all your enterprise content? That goal moved a major step closer for Documentum users last week, when Sword, one of our key partners in Europe, announced a connector between the Google Search Appliance and Documentum. With just an in-house Google Search Appliance and Sword's new connector, enterprise information seekers can now securely search for information in their Documentum system along with the rest of their enterprise information. Pretty cool stuff.

Sword, a global solutions provider and one of our earliest enterprise partners in Europe, is an expert on both Documentum and the Google Search Appliance. For details on their connector, check out http://www.sword-group.com.

President Aggressive On Climate Change & Energy

Norris McDonald & President Bush At The White House

President Bush outlined his very aggressive programs to address global warming and energy issues today at a nuke plant in Pennsylvania. Although this president does not get credit from the mainstream media and the traditional environmental groups, he is blazing an innovative energy and environmental trail that is second to none. AAEA is excited to be involved in these history making programs. We are also amazed that our colleagues in the movement and the biased critics in the media are on the wrong side of history regarding 21st Century energy and environmental issues.

President Bush reiterated his revolutionary energy and environmental agenda, The Advanced Energy Initiative, at the Limerick Generating Station in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. It is also interesting that while former Vice President Al Gore is making movies about climate change, he never convinced his boss in 8 years to come close to proposing the visionary policies and programs being promoted by the Bush adminstration.

Poll: Americans changing driving habits as gas prices soar

Relevant article with an irrelevant tone:
USA Today

AAEA Supports Global Nuclear Energy Partnership

President Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) proposes to expand the use of nuclear energy by developing a worldwide consensus on using this emission-free technology to meet growing electricity demand. It will achieve this objective by having nations with secure nuclear capabilities to provide potential partner nations with nuclear facilities, fresh fuel and recovery of used fuel for recycling.

AAEA Preaident Norris McDonald recently met with Dennis R. Spurgeon (left), Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in Washington DC. The two-hour meeting included other environmental groups: Greenpeace, NRDC, Public Citizen, Union of Concerned Scientists and others. Assistant Secretary Spurgeon appeared to thoroughly enjoy the sometimes spirited discussion. AAEA was the only group supporting the program, which led to some interesting exchanges with our recalcitrant enviro colleagues.

Update: The House approved $120 million for GNEP on May24, 2006, less than
half of the $250 million requested by the Bush administration.

Update: 8-3-06 DOE announced $20 million to conduct detailed siting studies for public or commercial entities interested in hosting the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership facilities. Entities may qualify to receive up to $5 million per site.

I love driving in my car

The Observer | Comment | I love driving in my car

I could not tell if the look on the woman's face was disdain or pity. But either way she did not understand that I wanted to rent a small car, not a big one. 'Are you sure you don't want an upgrade, honey?' she said, eyeing me suspiciously 'The car you've booked is really small.'
...

Woodrow Wilson Bridge Dedicated Today

AAEA was the only environmental group in the U.S. to support the 12-Lane Woodrow Wilson bridge replacement. AAEA organized community support, generated publicity, and testified at environmental impact statement (EIS) hearings to assure construction of the new bridge. DOT Secratary Mineta, Governors Ehrlich and Kaine, Senator Warner, numerous congressmen, Mayor Williams and several hundred members of the community turned out for the dedication. The Blue Angels flew by and security was very tight on and below the bridge.

MORE

At least 1 % of the nation's trucked gross national product (GNP) crosses the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. The twice per day bumper-to-bumper bottlenecks increase air pollution, reduce parental time with children, and inhibit efficient business activities. Fortunately, the bridge is designed to handle mass transit, interstate and local traffic, pedestrian and bike lanes. Combined with the improvements at the Springfield "Mixing Bowl," the congestion should be significantly relieved.

The Washington Post Consistently Misrepresents President Bush On Clean Air

Just as CBS and Dan Rather tipped their partisan hand during the last presidential election, The Washingon Post clearly has a biased agenda to paint President Bush as 'weakening clean air laws and regulations' when this president has proposed and passed some of the most visionary clean air initiatives in history. President Bush's Clear Skies Initiative would have cleaned the air more than the last quarter century of litigation to try to stuff 'command and control' compliance down the stacks of the utilities. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 will hopefully reinvigorate the nuclear industry, which will be a pure technological clean air mechanism. Nuclear power plants are an emission free source of electricity production.

We wish The Washington Post would report the news instead of fashioning news according to its own view, which appears to be overly influenced by partisan, mainstream environmental groups. The most recent example of this is a quote from an article today entitled, Justices to Hear Environmental Appeal on EPA Emissions Rule: "Lightening the industry's environmental load was a key component of the administration policy adopted by Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001." The decades-in-and-decades-out litigation dance of the mainstream environmental groups against EPA and EPA against the utilites does not lead to technological retrofits. It simply leads to more litigation, which does nothing to clean the air. The appeal by Environmental Defense will be heard by the Supreme Court and they might prevail in their insistence on implementing the ineffective New Source Review air regulation, but it will not lead to clean air. And this is ashamed since the Clear Skies Initiative was based on emissions trading concepts developed by Environmental Defense.

"Search to Start." At AIIM

Today's AIIM Expo begins with Dave Girouard telling attendees that search is no longer the last place people go to find information inside a company. More often, it is the first place they start.

Dave's keynote on "Search to Start. Not to Find" demonstrates how consumer expectation now drives innovation in IT, and discusses ways companies can embrace this change for better information access.

The keynote is one of many events putting Google search front and center at the AIIM Expo -- described as the world's largest and most important annual event for the enterprise content and information management industry.

• In the last seven months, Google Enterprise has added 75 partners to the Google Enterprise Professional program.

• In the Google Partner Pavilion, a number of Google Enterprise Professional Program partners will demonstrate how they are extending Google search technology deeper into enterprise applications.

• A series of partner announcements illustrate new functional for enterprise search inside of business. These include:
• BusinessObjects
• CH2M HILL
• Information Builders
• MetaCarta
• Sapient
• Sword

These partner announcements will mean an improved search experience for business users and enhanced functionality for corporations. For example Sword, a global solutions provider, is announcing the GSA Connector for Documentum, the first connector for the Google Search Appliance that enables secure, direct indexing of content within EMC Documentum's market leading ECM platform. Sword, in close partnership with Google and lead by Olivier Colinet, technical lead for the Sword connector work, has developed a world-class solution to bring Google-powered search to the large ECM repositories inside corporations, helping fulfill the vision of simple, secure, unified enterprise search.

Innovation should never be at the expense of user simplicity. And we thank all our partners for embracing and promoting that idea, and helping to make enterprise search better for all business. We look forward to seeing all the cool, and innovative things that the partner and developer community can do with search in the enterprise.

"Green" Gavin Vetoes Healthy Saturdays

Featured in the Vanity Fair "Green" issue as some sort of model green mayor, today Gavin Newsom vetoed the Healthy Saturdays proposal in Golden Gate Park.

What a charlatan.

SF Chronicle

The Myth of Tuning

Most enterprise search vendors admit that their algorithms provide generally poor results. To compensate, they ask customers to "tune" the search algorithms to meet their specific needs. Sounds good so far, right? In reality, this customer-implemented "tuning" in the context of enterprise search involves significant manual work to create the relevancy algorithm. Common methods employed are boosting metadata terms during indexing, boosting specific documents via scripts or formulas, and boosting specific term weightings at query time. These and other approaches require a significant amount of manual programming work on behalf of the customer, are often based on trial and error approaches, and are just hard to maintain. After all, do you want to run your business or get your Ph.D. in search?

The biggest problem with this "tuning" approach is the complexity of administering the code and scripts. Search administrators, representing the needs of thousands of users in their organization, must manually assign weights or boosts to specific metadata, documents, or query terms. These assignments are made through complex configuration scripts and algorithms that must be coded into the engine. Anytime a value is modified, the engine must be restarted, and sometimes the content re-indexed. Therefore, tuning search is a bit like the Butterfly Effect. In the classic example, mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz asks: If a butterfly beats its wings in Brazil, will it set off a tornado in Texas?

Well, tuning search in the enterprise can likewise set off a tornado of search results chaos! Using these technologies, the act of "tuning" is actually more comparable to building your own search algorithm. We at Google, on the other hand, recognize that search is a complex science with hundreds of factors that must be taken into account. The Google Search Appliance leverages the work of thousands of engineers to get the correct answer, right out of the box, with no "tuning" required. The system also adapts to the needs of your enterprise, taking into account corpus specific factors and learning how users query, when they misspell words, and how often content is changing.

So we recommend you focus your efforts on more business-style tuning, including creating intuitive user interfaces, uploading your companies unique acronyms and vocabulary as synonyms and suggested queries, and promoting key results using KeyMatch. The Google Search Appliance will take care of the rest, providing fast, secure, and accurate access to information throughout your enterprise.

The New York Times Endorses Nuclear Power

In a headline entitled, "The Greening of Nuclear Power," The New York Times states on its Editorial Page that "Suddenly nuclear is looking better. Nuclear power has a good safety record in this country...there is no doubt that nuclear power could serve as a useful bridge to even greener sources of energy." WOW. And to think that just five short years ago AAEA was the lone nonnuclear group in the U.S. supporting nuclear power. Of course, the NYT somehow failed to mention this fact and that AAEA is still the only environmental group in the U.S. currently supporting nuclear power. Sigh.

Be Aware

The Leon Charney Report

Morris Berman Featured on The Leon Charney Report
04/30/06

Watch with:

Real Media

Windows Media Player

Dark Days for America?

The Leonard Lopate Show
Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Airs weekdays at 12PM on 93.9 FM and AM 820 and Tuesdays through Saturdays at 3AM on AM 820

Listen to the whole show

Cultural historian Morris Berman explains why he thinks modern-day America is medieval. And Time columnist Joe Klein tells us what he thinks is wrong with American politics today. Plus, some poetry from a self-confessed sinner. And Sebastian Junger shares his true-crime take on the Boston Strangler.

Host Leonard Lopate lets you in on the best conversations with writers, actors, ex-presidents, dancers, scientists, comedians, historians, grammarians, curators, filmmakers, and do-it-yourself experts. Live interaction is critical to Lopate's conversational and personal style. "I think it's crucial to maintain eye contact when you're discussing complex matters with the likes of John Updike, Doris Lessing, Bill Bradley, Mark Morris, and Francis Ford Coppola, all of whom are return guests to Leonard Lopate on WNYC, " says Lopate.

Offshore Wind Farm Approved In Texas

The Houston-based Superior Renewable Energy, LLC (SRE) has been approved by the Texas General Land Office to build over 100 wind turbines from 3 to 8 miles off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico. SRE plans to build approximately 500 megawatts of capacity, which is enough electricity for 500, 000 homes. SRE will pay Texas an initial fee of $80,000 and 4 percent of revenues for 20 years and 5 percent thereafter as royalties. Texas waters extend out 8 miles due to a special law while state waters usually extend out 3 miles.

SRE has already completed construction of the 50 megawatt Kumeyaay Wind Power Project in San Diego, California and is about to complete a 90 megawatt project in New Mexico. It is estimated that the Texas project will prevent the following emissions: 9 million pounds of sulfur dioxide, 4 million pounds of nitrogen oxide and 1.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide.

Kudos To New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky

New York Assemblyman Richard Brodsky has given up his quest to be attorney general in order to donate a kidney to his ailing 14-year old daughter, Willie. We have battled with Asssemblyman Brodsky on energy and environmental issues in New York but we admire his dedication to his family. He has also promoted environmental justice legislation in the New York legislature. Willie suffers from an autoimmune disease and received her first donor kidney from her mom, Paige in 1995. Our prayers are with you and your daughter Richard.

Ozone Friendly Inhalers Are Not Friendly To Asthmatics

We do not like the ozone friendly inhalers because they just do not spray fast or forcefully enough and that is unacceptable for an acute asthma attack. AAEA President Norris McDonald tried it and did not like it. The Food & Drug Administration has set the end of 2008 as the deadline for phasing out inhalers that use the ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) propellant gas. The non-CFC inhaler will also be more expensive and could pose a burden on low-income people. If only we could figure out how to transfer the ozone in smog from ground level to the stratosphere. Inhalers account for less than one percent of CFC use.

CFC use is being ended in accordance with the Montreal Protocol, a global treaty intended to save the upper atmosphere's ozone layer, which protects humans and the Earth from cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the Sun. The main suppliers of asthma inhalers are: GlaxoSmith-Kline (Ventolin brand), Schering-Plough (Proventil & Warrick generic brand - - pictured above). 3M will manufacturer the new ozone friendly inhalers for Schering-Plough. Armstrong Pharmaceuticals and Ivax (recently acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Indistries) also produce inhalers.

AAEA Overlooked On Wind & Bridge Projects

Why is AAEA enthusiastically included when out front early and aggressively on important projects that have environmental and energy considerations but ignored and excluded when late-stage publicity and promotional events are held to highlight the projects? For instance, AAEA testified at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hearing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston in 2004 on the Cape Wind Energy Project being proposed for Nantucket Sound, but when the Cape Wind folk came to the National Press Club on April 20 with numerous environmental group speakers and 55 coalition members, AAEA was not included. None of these groups stepped up to support the project at the FERC hearing or early in the process. AAEA even met with the Cape Wind company at their headquarters and we were quoted in the Boston Herald. Our exclusion does not affect our support for the project. It is a great emission free source of electricity if it can withstand the assaults by the Kennedys and other opponents in Congress.

AAEA was also the ONLY environmental group in the country to support the Woodrow Wilson Bridge replacement. The first 6-lane span will be dedicated on May 18th. We already know we will not be recognized because we have not been credited to date, even though the project issues periodic newsletters that include environmental articles. AAEA organized community support, generated publicity in the media, and testified at environmental impact statement (EIS) hearings to assure construction of the 12-Lane Woodrow Wilson replacement. At least 1 % of the nation's trucked gross national product (GNP) crosses the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Again, enthusiasm for our early support and completely ignored now.

And just above the bridge replacement is the $2 billion National Harbor Projrect. The Sierra Club vilified us and publicly challenged our credibility because of our support for the project before they eventually decided to support it at the 11th hour. Their litigation almost derailed the project. Now they get quoted in the newspapers and at events about the project while you would never know that AAEA was the principle environmental group supporting the project.

Bolivia & Venezuela Take Over & Tax Oil Companies

Bolivian President Evo Morales, left, nationalized his country's oil and gas reserves in a May Day surprise last week. Bolivia has gone back and forth between privatization and nationalization for decades, but the country has neither the capital nor the expertise to operate Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) without foreign help. Of course, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, right, supports the nationalization by Bolivia and has pledged financial and technical support. Brazil, Spain and France have poured $4 billion into Bolivian gas production and are livid. All investements from these countries have been suspended. Natural gas is the main hydrocarbon produced by Bolivia and its difficult transport could make it hard to market without foreign cooperation. Natural gas is also available from many countries.

Chavez plans to raise $1 billion in revenue per year by imposing a new tax on companies extracting oil from Venezuela. Companies affected include Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron Corp, ConocoPhillips, Total, BP PLC and Norway's Statoil ASA. Chavez and Morales believe the oil companies have been exploiting their countries' vast oil and gas reserves. Of course, they could not have developed these resources without the big oil companies. The U.S. gets about 15 percent of its oil imports from Venezuela.

User-centric, Enterprise secure

Today, Google released Google Desktop 4, the next generation desktop search and information application for users. Building on a great thing, Google Desktop 4 added Google Gadgets - visually slick mini-applications that run on your desktop or in your sidebar for delivering specific topical information. We applaud our friends on the desktop team who continue to bring rapid innovation to the user experience in both the consumer and enterprise world.

But, along with the sizzle comes some of the more mundane features that you can't look at or touch (or move around your desktop), but are key to providing the highest quality, most secure information solution in the enterprise. With version 4 of Google Desktop, we have simplified and enhanced the security capabilities to help ensure that no information leaves your enterprise network. When Google Desktop introduced the Search Across Computers feature, there was concern about unintentional transmission of corporate information outside the corporate network. And although we offer group policy settings to fully disable the Search Across Computers feature for both enterprise and consumer versions of the product, we heard feedback from some business customers that they wanted an easier way.

Therefore, we're pleased to announce the Search Across Computer network disable feature. This allows network administrators to block a particular URL, at the network level, that will disable Search Across Computers entirely.

Our goal is to provide a great user experience while maintaining corporate security and conforming to your policies. So give the new Google Desktop 4 a spin, and thanks for all the great feedback.

CIO Insight Talks Enterprise Search With Google

The Executive Editor of CIO Insight Dan Briody recently interviewed Dave Girouard, VP & GM of Google Enterprise, about what Google is doing to improve search inside of business, what CIOs are asking for, and what's next. Read the full transcript of the discussion at CIO Insight.

Interview with Michael Krasny

Wed, Apr 26, 2006

Cultural Historian Morris Berman

Listen (entire program)

Cultural historian Morris Berman joins Forum to discuss his latest book, "Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire."

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests: Morris Berman , Berman is a visiting professor in sociology at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and author of "The Twilight of American Culture."

Clear Sighted Historical Perspective

Review of Dark Ages America
May 5, 2006
Reviewer: Dave Alber (CA) - See all my reviews

Morris Berman's Dark Ages America is an exceedingly well-researched study of contemporary America. More than exposing the problems of the present political regime, Berman's book exposes the large-scale structural dilemmas beneath the surface of American consciousness, which present an extraordinary amount of momentum toward a disastrous future. Gleaning insights from macro historical perspectives, such as present in Joseph Tainter's The Collapse of Complex Societies, Berman demonstrates that America has moved beyond the `Twilight' phase of its cultural history and that `post-9-11 America' is quickly moving into `Night.'

Berman explores four characteristics of the European Dark Ages. With exhaustive, always relevant, and often humorous findings, he demonstrates that contemporary America vigorously expresses (if not outright flaunts) these outward symptoms of cultural, moral, political, and economic decay. The signs are: the triumph of religion over reason; the breakdown of education and critical thinking; legalization of torture; and marginalization of the United States on the world stage.

Each page of Dark Ages America is compact with information, yet Berman's fluid and accessible prose pulls arguments and insights together into a clear-sighted and unified vision. For those readers who still see the light of youth in dead forms, this book will be a shocking revelation. However, for seekers of truth, this book is a sobering, yet ultimately hopeful vision of America's present cultural crisis. I highly recommend it!

DAMU SMITH Died This Morning

A public celebration of Damu’s life has been scheduled for Saturday, May 20th at 5:00PM at Plymouth Congregational Church, 5301 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, D.C. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the:
Asha Moore Smith Trustc/o The Praxis Project1750 Columbia Road, NW - 2nd FloorWashington, DC 20009

1952 - 2006

Damu Smith Web Site

Our condolences to his family. Damu was an environmentalist hero among many other causes he championed. It was a little over a year ago when he was diagnosed with colon cancer.

Washington AFRO American

Washington Post Obituary

More Info & Links

Bush Admin Promotes Use Of DDT On Malaria In Africa

The Washington Times reported today that the Bureau for Global Health for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) wants to aggressively use DDT and other insecticides to reduce deaths from malaria in Africa. AAEA has supported the use of DDT and other pesticides to reduce these deaths for years. It is good to know the current administration is stepping up its attack in this area. The President's Malaria Initiative (PMI) has already dedicated $1.2 billion to reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in 15 African countries by 2010. Many of these programs involve indoor spraying. AAEA advocates widespread outdoor spraying to eliminate the malaria carrying mosquito by using DDT just as it was eliminated in the U.S. Then suspend spraying. We are even taking the Bald Eagle off of the Endangered Species List here.

AAEA, like USAID, also supports using a rotational mix of pesticides in addition to DDT because mosquitoes can become resistant. USAID plans to utilize DDT in Mozambique, Ethiopia and Zambia. South Africa has used DDT effectively in the eastern part of the country. The PMI is using pesticides other than DDT in Uganda, Angola and Tanzania. Hopefully Uganda will lift its ban on DDT. Namibia should also utilize the pesticide to eliminate malarial deaths. Mainstream environmental organization place more value on animal life than human lives in Africa regarding malaria and the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants ratified by 122 nations calls for elimination of DDT.

EPA Gives Flexibility To Oil Refiners On Oxygen Content

On May 5, an EPA final action will take effect that will provide U.S. oil refiners with more flexibility in refining operations. program. As required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, EPA is removing the reformulated gasoline (RFG) two-percent oxygen content requirement that reduces production burdens. RFG is made up of many components to ensure low vehicle emissions. Although oxygenates can be used to produce RFG, other gasoline components can be used to ensure that RFG continues to meet its clean air requirements. This removal of the two-percent oxygen requirement takes immediate effect on May 5 with its publication in the Federal Register.

RFG is required by the Clean Air Act in large metropolitan areas with the greatest ozone pollution, but other areas may choose to use RFG to take advantage of its clean air benefits. Seventy-five million Americans across 17 states and the District of Columbia breathe cleaner air as a result of the program. EPA estimates that RFG reduces emissions of ozone-forming pollutants by 105,000 tons per year, the equivalent of eliminating the ozone pollution from 16 million cars. RFG also reduces toxic pollutants by about 24,000 tons per year, the equivalent of eliminating the toxic emissions from over 13 millionvehicles.

Trucking In Fuel Economy Litigation

The same blue states are suing again. This time it is to force the Bush administration to raise fuel economy standards for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and other light trucks (SUVs are classfied as light trucks). Actually, President Bush already raised fuel economy standards for light trucks from the current 21.6 miles per gallon to 24.1 mpg by 2011 in annual steps. We hate litigation at AAEA because it rarely leads to environmental improvements. We believe President Bush's tradable CAFE credits idea would be much more effective in improving fuel economy. The administration is also closing a loophole that provided an exemption for the largest SUVs like the Hummer H2 and others over 6,000 pounds.

Litigants believe the administration analysis did not adequately consider the benefits of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) on the environment, gasoline consumption and global warming. California is the lead plaintiff. California passed a law in 2002 mandating reductions in carbon dioxide "emissions" beginning with model year 2009 for new cars and trucks sold in the state. It is the equivalent of a fuel economy program. Automakers filed a lawsuit to block California's new greenhouse gas regulation. The litigating states include: 1) California, 2) New York 3) Connecticut, 4) Main, 5) Massachusetts, 6) New Jersey, 7) New Mexico, 8) Oregon, 9) Rhode Island, 10) Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Asthma Day & Month

May 1st is World Asthma Day and May is World Asthma Month. Asthma programs that address environmental triggers work best when closely connected to front-line health care providers and local communities, according to an international study of over 400 asthma programs. The U.S. EPA funded the $700,000 three-year study completed by the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The study, called the Asthma Health Outcomes Project, found that the asthma programs used a variety of approaches, such as educating healthcare providers or intensive home visits with follow-up support to families, to address environmental triggers that make asthma worse.

The programs work to improve health outcomes, such as reduced emergency room visits, improved quality of life, and fewer missed days of school or work. EPA will host the first National Asthma Forum in Washington, D.C., on May 22-23 to discuss the findings of the study and successful programs to serve as models for other community programs. Workshops will provide tools and resources to help participating communities achieve better health outcomes for theindividuals they serve. Information on asthma and EPA's Asthma Initiative and the report: http://www.epa.gov/asthma/ahop.html

Kofi Annan Rewards Enviro Benefactor?

Achim Steiner was a judge on the Zayed Prize for Global Environmental Leadership panel that awarded Annan $500,000 in 2005. Steiner was just named to head the U.N. Environmental Program. Of course the U.N. denies a quid pro quo. The Zayed Prize is sponsored by the United Arab Emirates. Steiner previously headed the World Conservation Union.

States Sue Bush Admin for Higher SUV mileage

"America is addicted to oil."

- George W. Bush
State of the Union (Jan 31, 2006)

California today launched its latest skirmish with the Bush administration over environmental rules, suing the federal government over SUV gas-mileage standards that the state considers too lax.

The suit, joined by nine other states, argues that the federal government didn't fully consider potential damage to the environment when it announced new fuel efficiency standards for sports utility vehicles and light trucks. Under the administration's new standards, issued in March, those vehicles must have a fleet-wide average of 24 mpg by the year 2011.

San Francisco Chronicle (May 2, 2006)

Price For Carbon Dioxide Drops

The price for Kyoto Protocol carbon dioxide (CO2) emission credits has dropped from $38 to $17 per ton this year, but it is still very early in the Emissions Trading System of the European Union. Firms operating under the protocol will ultimately have to pay $50 per ton through 2007 and $125 per ton in 2008 for not meeting their emissions targets. Companies reducing emissions beyond their quota can sell credits and those exceeding their quoto must purchase credits. Polluting less has caused the price to fall. Hopefully speculation will not lead to credits being overly used instead of companies performing efficiency retrofits and innovative practices.