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            <title>“Making the Future: Occupations, Interventions, Empire and Resistance” by Noam Chomsky</title>
            <link>http://www.progressiveomaha.com/tikidir/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=25&amp;comments_parentId=677</link>
            <description><![CDATA[This is an easy quick read of 350 pages but in paperback size.  It is a compilation of Naom’s column’s he wrote for the New York Times Syndicate from 2007 to 2011.  The original book was banned at Gitmo.
Unfortunately, the columns receive little distribution so here is a chance to see Mr. Chomsky’s writings on a wide variety of topics in a form that lends itself easily to reading a few here and there around your schedule.  Each column is about 10 pages or less.

When I ended up reading the book I had numerous pages marked for their quotes and explanations of issues that I thought needed to be included in my thoughts/writings.  Rather than quote at length as I had anticipated I am going to just list some of the titles to give you an idea of the content and strongly suggest you read the entire book:

Threats, Talks and a Hoped-for accord with North Korea

We own the World

Gaza and the Future of a Palestinian-Israeli Peace  (Absolutely a must read
)
The Somalia Syndrome

Iraq Oil: A Deal with the Devil

Nuclear Threats: All Options are on the Table

Georgia and the Neo-con Cold Warriors

A tradition of Torture

The War in Afghanistan: Echoes of Vietnam

The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks

War, Peace and Obama’s Nobel

Making War to Bring Peace

Presidential “Peacekeeping” in Latin America

Rust Belt Rage

America in Decline

After 9/11, Was War the Only Option? 

Occupy the Future

Etc,etc,etc

In these columns you get a perspective seldom seen on MSM.  This book will be an eye-opener for many.  It would make a good companion to Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the World” for obtaining an overview of views considerably different than what corporate media typically present.]]></description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:19:13 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>“Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era” by Amory B. ...</title>
            <link>http://www.progressiveomaha.com/tikidir/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=25&amp;comments_parentId=675</link>
            <description><![CDATA[This book is not a quick read.   It is filled with data of all types recording the current energy crisis and the implications for the future in light of Global Climate Change, diminishing fossil fuels, and the pressure of future energy needs.

In addition, the book presents multiple methods of actually meeting problems in the energy sector while still not destroying our Earth totally.  The author maps out ways to reach needed goals of nearing zero use of Fossil fuels by 2050.  There are charts galore and, more importantly, he lays out ways of cutting energy needs through design engineering of entire systems instead of piecemeal attacks.

In the auto industry, for example, he has us driving totally electric cars that travel several hundred miles on one charge.  This is largely possible using a total system approach to the design which would stress graphite materials thus cutting weight drastically while making the vehicle very strong.  Graphite materials are already in use with expensive bikes.  He has confidence that prices will come down pretty quickly since as weight is cut all other components can be also shaved down in size yet still perform better than conventional methods.  So a car can get its range on battery doubled by proper design that takes the total picture into its design.

There are other ways he has of cutting down on the use of energy in auto use that include cutting down on the need to travel to work etc.  I cannot adequately describe what’s contained in this roadmap for the entire world.  One of the remarkable themes in the book is that frequently it is actually cheaper to make something energy efficient with the distinct possibility that the redesign or replacement can be paid for through savings in energy used.  He applies this to business all over and claims many well-known companies right now have moved aggressively towards energy efficiency as a method of helping their bottom line.

However, from my point of view the book also exhibits a little of the typical engineer’s belief that any problem can be worked out through technical fixes of one kind or another.  Lovins has Natural Gas as a source for near term use to bridge Fossil Fuel use into the new cleaner energy sources.  All through the book he acts as though the use of Natural Gas is benign.  It is page 233 before he even mentions ‘fracking” as a method commonly used to get the gas into the energy system.  Then he spends most of that page downplaying the costs of fracking claiming it can cause “local” problems “if badly done”.  Little is said of ground water contamination and he describes fracking as forcing water into the area under high pressure.  I think water used that way probably will be severely affected but he also does not mention all the additives put into the water to be used for fracking.  

At times, he quotes from big companies concerning their supposed energy savings seemingly taking their claims at face value.  Not a good idea.  It does not hepl that two forwards are written by people who might be viewed with considerable skepticism, the Presidents of Shell Oil and Exelon Corporation.

He also lists CO2 sequestration as if that might allow coal to be used as part of our near future energy sector.  The costs involved in such  have got to be prohibitive.  The science of stuffing a gas into underground storage  expecting it to stay there w/o causing significant problems is Faith-based science at best.  He also ignores the environmental and human costs in mining the coal.

But to return to the positive…
The book lays detailed methods of actually attacking the energy problems and presents a way towards total retirement of Fossil fuels without as much pain and suffering as you might expect.  Indeed, he shows how such an attack could revolutionize our foreign policy as we are weaned off oil.  The Middle East, for instance, would have little value as a spigot for our energy if we moved into clean renewables.  By the way, he does NOT see nuclear power as a viable alternative at all.  

Good book to read…

Steve]]></description>
            <pubDate>Fri, 06 Apr 2012 03:25:12 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>&quot;What's the Matter With Kansas?&quot; by Thomas Frank  </title>
            <link>http://www.progressiveomaha.com/tikidir/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?forumId=25&amp;comments_parentId=674</link>
            <description><![CDATA[A short read 294 pages that are small size...    This book looks at Kansas and it's turn to ultra right wing in religion/politics.  It's well worth reading.  The author spends considerable time and energy explaining WHY large numbers of poor and middle class consistently vote against their best interests.  Turns out Koch industries is based in Wichita and their money pervades all of Kansas politics as it does the Nation.

There's lots in here.  I'll quote just one paragraph as an example:

Quote:  While the Wichita Cons worked hard to build their movement, they would not have succeeded so extravagantly had it not been for the simultaneous suicide of the rival movement, the one that traditionally spoke for the working-class people.  I am referring, of course, to the Clinton administration’s famous policy of “triangulation”, its grand effort to minimize the differences between Democrats and Republicans on economic issues.  Among the nation’s pundit corps “triangulation” has always been considered a stroke of genius, signaling the end of liberalism’s old-fashioned “class warfare” and also of the Democrats’ faith in “big Government.”  Clinton’s New Democrats, it was thought, had brought the dawn of an era in which all parties agreed on the sanctity of the free market.  As a political strategy, though, Clinton’s move to accommodate the right was the purest folly.  It simply pulled the rug out from under any possible organizing effort on the left.  While the Cons were busily polarizing the electorate, the Dems were meekly seeking the center.  In Wichita Republicanism appeared dynamic and confident; the Democrats looked dispirited, weak, spent. End quote.

This paragraph aptly describes the Democrat Party ever since, in my opinion.  In fact, I intend to use this paragraph in my returns of pleas for money from the Democrats because it so well defines how bad off the party has become.  Gutless and Republican lite...]]></description>
            <pubDate>Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:05:18 +0100</pubDate>
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