In Katrina, “at least 1,836 people lost their lives…. Total damage was $81 billion.”

I get it.  Many progressives are angry with Obama for many grievances, some of which are genuine, such as his inane seeming embrace of offshore drilling (though, ironically, he actually closed off most of the coastal US to offshore drilling).  But some progressives seem to be taking the anger a bit far.

I’ve been as outspoken as anyone on the devastation — human and environmental — that the BP oil disaster is going to cause (see “The human dimensions of oil spills” and “The BP oil disaster is a health disaster, too” and “BP’s dispersants are toxic “” but not as toxic as dispersed oil“).  And 11 people have been killed in this tragedy (so far) — by the reckless behavior of BP.

That said, I would have thought people knew what happened in Katrina.  But maybe not.  Of Katrina, Wikipedia reports:

Read more

So how is the president doing on

1. Actually responding to the disaster,
2. Appearing to respond to the disaster, and
3. Messaging on the disaster?

Grade on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being the worst).  Feel free to provide a score on how hard this is going to hit his Presidency.  My scores below.

NYT columnist Frank Rich opines:

Read more

Energy economics expert Craig Severance has written a sequel to “Peak oil production coming sooner than expected.”

It’s time we moved on to something else, or this is going to kill us.

Not only are world oil supplies running out, but what oil is still left is proving very dirty to obtain.  We need to kick our oil addiction now if we expect to preserve any hopes of economic prosperity, or unspoiled habitats.

“This is What the End of the Oil Age Looks Like.”

Read more

From the masters at the New Yorker:

Read more

Women across the nation are preparing to play an integral role in the green economy, and the United States will need their help if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the recession and compete in the new economy on a global scale.  CAP’s Jorge Madrid has the story in this repost.

Read more