They Can't Go Anywhere Without Me

Feel good story of the week.  And it involves an airline of all things.

Better, Stronger, Faster

And now with more parking. Today, my Jewel reopens after closing some 15 months ago.

Good On Him!

Obama issued an executive order saying any hospitals that receive Medicare of Medicaid funding (damn near every one of them) may not deny visitation nor the right to make medical decisions to anyone designated by the patient. In other words, the partners of gay and lesbian patients will be allowed to visit their loved ones and make the medical decisions for their partners, just like husbands and wives of different genders.

Emissions, Clunkers, and Global Warming

Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced new requirements for emissions standards for automobiles.

The agreement announced at the White House will lead to a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide and other emissions by 2016 from vehicles sold in the U.S.

To meet that standard, according to the White House, new vehicles sold in the U.S. seven years from now will have to average 35.5 mpg, up from 25 mpg today. The agreement, coupled with increased fuel-efficiency requirements Congress approved in 2007, would add $1,300 to the price of a new car in 2016, the administration estimated.

The plan does not spell out specific mileage requirements, but effectively would require them by capping the greenhouse gas emissions that scientists blame for global warming. The new limits are projected to reduce U.S. oil consumption by about 5% a year from 2011 to 2016. The nation currently uses about 7.1 billion barrels a year.

A couple of key things here to keep in mind. This is an EPA administrative rule, not a law passed by Congress and signed by the president. That means this could, in theory, be temporary. A new administration might change the rules. Now industry being what it is once this process gets moving forward even rule changes that favor less efficient cars aren't going to stop it completely.

More importantly, is "a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide and other emissions by 2016 from vehicles." This could be more accurately stated as "a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions per vehicle mile." Why the difference? Because an increase in the number of cars on the road and/or the number of miles being driven will offset the reduction in pollution per mile. And the increased fuel economy inherent in this change will lower the operating cost of driving a car, increasing the incentive to use a car.

We've seen the opposite before. High gas prices, equating to higher operating costs, drastically lowered the number of miles driven last year. Lower operating costs can therefore be predicted to increase the miles driven.

And as the White House admits this will increase the cost of a new car, by $1300 in their estimate. This will discourage some people from buying the cars and they will stay in their older, less efficient, more polluting cars. The administration and Congress are considering a program here as well. They have a Cash For Clunkers idea that will give money to a person trading in his/her car for a more fuel efficient new car. Germany has a similar program in place and it is the only country in the developed world to see an increase in new car sales last year.



This idea has some limits as well. First it is aimed at only new cars. Obviously this is also part of a stimulus plan to help jump start new car sales and hence employment in the U.S. However, the worst polluting cars on the road tend to be the really old cars owned by the poor. Many of those people cannot afford a new car no matter what, or if they're given a loan, are more likely to default. These people, and hence their high pollution cars, are likely not be involved.

If the ultimate goal of Cash For Clunkers is to reduce pollution, as opposed to boosting new car sales, a better idea may be to out-and-out buy these cars from the people for above market price. The former car owners could use the cash to buy newer (probably still used) cars that will pollute less.

Although I think both programs have room for improvement both should have positive effects. (Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good) If going forward new cars are more fuel efficient then even if more cars are sold to an increasing population the gasoline consumption and pollution creation will decrease compared to doing nothing. Even if the Cash For Clunkers doesn't remove the real clunkers from the road, if financially better off people take advantage of it more, better used cars will come on the market. That should reduce used car prices and more people will be able to afford better used cars. "Better" being defined as more fuel efficient and less polluting.

Everything helps. The new car emissions standards are a good down payment. Combine these two ideas with a Cap And Trade regime that Obama has proposed and/or a carbon tax to increase the cost of polluting directly and the U.S. could be making real progress towards combating climate change.

The Goose Rises

The original Goose Island brew pub on Clybourn is staying open. Other than some little event back on 11/04, this is the best news I've read in a long time!

Today's Stat

100,000
New lowland gorillas have been found in a remote part of Congo.



I heard this yesterday on NPR and it's making the rounds of the newspapers now. It effectively triples the previous estimate of lowland gorillas in the wild.

Happy Days

First, I reached into the pocket of a pair of shorts I hadn't worn since last summer and found $30.

Second, a buddy calls me and says he has two tickets for both the Saturday and Sunday Cubs/Cardinals series this weekend AND is getting us a hotel room for massively cheap right in downtown St. Louis.

New Species Found

Like a squished version of Jabba The Hutt.

(AP Photo/David Bickford)

Scientists have identified another new species in Indonesia. This one a small brown frog that has no lungs. The species lives in cold, fast moving, oxygen rich waters. It breaths through its skin.

How freaking cool is that!

Another Reappearance

A lynx has been spotted in the Italian Alps. They were wiped out by hunting nearly 100 years ago.

Wild Life Returning

It seems forever since I posted a story marked as "good news." Well, here are three.

Perch appear to be rebounding in Lake Michigan.

Cougars, aka Mountain Lions, have been spotted in Illinois and Wisconsin for the first time in over a century.

Obviously with a top predator like a mountain lion stumbling into a populated area there are safety concerns. The apparent surge in perch numbers seems does not yet seem to be confirmed. Still, both make me smile. Humans, in our modern form, have invaded and pushed back nature to the point where we have killed off thousands of animal and plant species. To see some come back makes me think that all hope is not lost.

Electrocution Deemed Illegal

In Nebraska.

The Nebraska Supreme Court relied solely on the Nebraska constitution in its 6-1 decision. No appeal to SCOTUS will be possible. It sounds as if the Nebraska will ask the legislature to find a new method of execution.

Decision's Money Quote: “We recognize the temptation to make the prisoner suffer, just as the prisoner made an innocent victim suffer. But it is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it. Condemned prisoners must not be tortured to death, regardless of their crimes.”

NJ Follows Through!

It is a done deal. New Jersey bans the death penalty.

The Garden State Does Right

The process was a little convoluted and the expected sniping was there, but New Jersey is about to repeal their death penalty. I don't see this as the first domino to fall that will lead other states to repeal but it will give more ammunition to those fighting for repeal.

More CPD Good Deeds

This blog is not going to start fellating the CPD on a regular basis but here's another incident where the Chicago Police Department does the job they are paid for and rescue another person from burning to death.

CPD Hero

The news for the Chicago Police Department has been dominated by the bad for over a year now. It is easy to get lost in all the scandals and beatings and apparent cover ups. Despite counting several police officers as friends, and one as one of my best friends, I'm at the point where I can no longer give the police the benefit of the doubt when a new story breaks. There are too many "rouge officers" for that term to hold much meaning.

BUT DON'T FORGET There are still more good officers out there than bad and they are doing a dangerous job on our behalf. Stories like this need publicity too! A police officer, responding to a burning building, caught a child that was dropped from a window to safety. As I write this the officer's name is not published in the paper but s/he performed a great, if seemingly innocuous, act of heroism.

Corking The Needle

Some evidence that SCOTUS's decision to review lethal injection is slowing the rate of executions in the U.S.

One Step At A Time

San Diego Mayer Jerry Sanders backs gay marriage rights after having publicly opposed it for the past couple of years. In announcing his support for equal marriage rights he also revealed that his adult daughter is a lesbian.

In the end, I could not look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships -- their very lives -- were any less meaningful than the marriage that I share with my wife Rana

I remember when I discovered that one of my closest friends was gay. We'd been friends for years. We played softball and racquetball together. I had keys to his house, sometimes crashed on his couch and regularly used his washer and drier.

When I realized he was gay I didn't come out and say anything to any one for a few days. I think I was a slightly nonplussed. A couple of days later I asked his younger brother, subtly, about it. He confirmed what I knew. By the time it already didn’t matter to me. I never had anything against homosexuals. I just had never known that I knew any. My friend was still my friend. He was still the same guy I had always known. I still played sports with him, still watched Bevis and Butthead and The Muppets at his house before going out to the bars, still did my laundry at his house.

Ultimately, this is what is going to change opinions across the country. As more and more people realize they have known and befriended gays and lesbians their entire lives the prejudices will begin to disappear. It may not be as fast as many would like and there will always be residual hatred by those that don’t like people different than them. Ultimately though, and it seems to be happening quicker and quicker now, equality will come.

Bald Eagles

For most of my life I've never seen a bald eagle in the wild. This despite a childhood of camping vacations with my family. We went to the Ozarks, the Appalachian Mountains, the Rockies. Lot's of places where one would expect to see bald eagles. Those vacations more or less ended in the mid 1980s.

Afterwards my best opportunity would have been on the rare visits to Quincy, IL and Hannibal, MO, where my family is from. The route we took crossed the Illinois River near a spot a mating pair of eagles lived. Never, ever saw one.

Then two years ago I was in Seattle and I saw one over Pugent Sound while crossing it on a ferry. This weekend I was visiting Mom in St. Paul, MN. (some pics to follow once I get them loaded to FLICKR). On Saturday we were in Stillwater, an old river town along the St. Croix river. There was an eagle circling on the Wisconsin side of the river. After breakfast Sunday we went down to the Mississippi River. Again there was a bald eagle circling over head. On the trip home we took I35 south to I90 and I90 back to Chicago. As we crossed the Mississippi at La Crosse there was another eagle circling.

Now my limited experience is far from any kind of scientific evidence but just one person's observation that the efforts to protect endangered species can and does work.

Today's Stat

500
home runs. Jim Thome, one of the truly good guys in professional sports, hit his 500th career home run last night. And to top it off, it was a game winner in the bottom of the 9th!

According to the report on NPR this morning, Thome wrote his late mother's name in the dirt behind home plate before stepping into the box. The fan that caught the ball, Will Stewart of Austin, Tx, returned the ball to Jim Thome who gave him a bunch of stuff including season tickets. Mr. Stewart returned Thome's largesse. True this ball doesn't have the monetary value of the Bond's ball* but it is awesome to see a fan respect the game and its milestones without trying to profit from it.


* It seems as if the man who caught Bond's 756 home run had to sell it because he would have had to pay taxes on it.

Thomas Foust, Local Hero

Seventeen year old Tom Foust, with the help of two friends, rescued an elderly woman from near certain death when her car was stuck on railroad tracks in north suburban Glenview.

Way to go Tom, Tyler, and Zach! If I'm ever in a similar situation I hope I am as brave and selfless as you guys.