A Siegel

With The Pickens' Plan, T. Boone Pickens speaks to the need to end America's oil addiction, to move off oil. With The Pickens' Problem, T Boone Pickens speaks to continuing the status quo, to drilling the hole deeper when it comes to oil addiction. Unless the second is resolved, it is hard to take the first seriously. The Pickens' Problem is undermining the chances that The Pickens' Plan will ever see fruition.

Gasoline prices at the pump have gone up by over $2.50 since before the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom to today. A question asked: How much of that price increase is a premium due to the Iraq War and other Middle East tension? A question asked ... Answered?

Legendary conservative oilman T. Boone Pickens says oil is a dead end! And, somewhat like another oddball Texan, Ross Perot, Pickens is investing a substantial sum to convince America of the challenge ... and a proposed solution path. Let's take a look at some strengths and weaknesses of PickensPlan.

The situation is dire. How can we communicate this more forcefully? There are many serious issues out there, from FISA to Flooding, gas prices to gotcha politics. Yet, every moment that passes, we are pumping more CO2 into the atmosphere and we've crossed the line of atmospheric levels able to sustain viable, progressive modern society. 350 ppm or bust ... Spread the word!

Have you noticed? Right now, much of Iowa and the Midwest is suffering through a 500 year flooding event. Does it seem like 100 and 500 year events are becoming ever more frequent? If your answer is yes, your impression fits with the scientific analysis. ... What is "normal' is changing around us.

The McCain campaign's greenwashing efforts are getting hit from all sides and could actually provide a unifying factor across the political spectrum: everyone finds it absurd. As per EarthFirst, Finally, Something the Righties and Lefties All Agree On: McCain Needs to Stop this Environment Crap.

This year could be a breakthrough year to truly change the nature of dialogue and action in Washington, DC, and nationwide. On the tip of the toungue: will there be a super majority in the Senate (59 Democratic Party, One Socialist (Sanders), and the only Connecticut for Lieberman Senator)? One of those seemingly long-shot, now truly competitive races that could help achieve this change: the race for Alaska's next Senator.

My six-year old son is addicted to the Berenstein Bears. One of his first successfully read books: Ready, Get Set, Go which teaches adjectives and suggests that no one is best at everything. How many times read between us? 10? 25? Maybe 50? As any parent can tell you, a favored book like that becomes imprinted in your brain.

Montgomery County, Maryland, is moving toward a stronger building code, with requirements for new homes to meet the Energy Star home building parameters. This is the type of measure rapidly implementable across the country to help foster the move toward a more sensible building infrastructure such as envisioned by Architecture2030 (which has a plan to a deCarbonized building infrastructure by 2030). But the Bush administration is opposed.

Skepticism ... the ability to question unquestioned beliefs and stated certainties is a powerful intellectual tool. Sadly, "skepticism" is receiving a bad name through association with those ready, willing, able, and enthusiastic about denying the reality before their (and our) own eyes about the global changes in climate patterns and humanity's role in driving these changes. What is typically viewed as a secondary definition seems, in today's ideological environment, to becoming the dominant concept when it comes to Global Warming. Skepticism has become, it seems,

the doctrine that true knowledge or knowledge [re Global Warming] is uncertain

Yes, there are doctrinaires who have a "doctrine" about "uncertainty" in the domain of Global Warming, no matter what science tells us, no matter what is happening in front of us, no matter ... Questioner ... Skeptic ... Denier ... Clearly, not every question, not every challenge to data, not every voicing of concern is the same. Nor is every motivation the same. This is not simply about "fossil-fuel-funding" (although it can be at times). This is not simply about seeking Rapture and the end of times (even though it can be). This is not simply about political beliefs creating thought structures for dealing with science (but it can be). Too often, it seems, those discussing the issue of "skeptics" and "deniers" simplify the motivational path. Thus, we will see blunt statements that X motivation, Y reasoning drives skepticism when, in reality, the situation is more complex. While it quite possibly exists, I have yet to see a treatise examining and deconstructing different types and motivations for deniers and skeptics when it comes to Global Warming. Thus, here is a shot at "Typing Skeptics: Providing a Window on the Varying Motivations for Global Warming Skeptics ..."