I recently had an opportunity

to visit some shorelines on Lake Michigan

and Lake Huron (after almost 2 decades away)

and the peaceful inland seas,

were beautiful and restoring.

But what stunned me most

was the green algae mats, most places

(both dead and living).

Don’t worry — Oil Spills? — We got it covered!

Covered with what? … maybe should be the next question.

Granted America needs the energy … but what sort of safety measures are in place?

When Murphy’s Law kicks in again — as it always does — will America’s Energy Corporations be ready, to mitigate the fallout?

Did you know that ‘Cap and Trade’ is an Old School Solution?

There’s a new Carbon Solution in play, that is CLEARLY a contender …

Cap and Dividend:

The CLEAR Climate Solution

The cap-and-dividend CLEAR Act, introduced by Senators Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins, is simple, fair and built to last. Simple: a 100% auction of permits to pollute, a return of most of the money raised directly to the people, with the remainder used for clean energy investments. Fair: each American gets an equal monthly refund from auction proceeds so that those who use less energy will do better than those using more.

http://chesapeakeclimate.org/c…

Thankfully, Financial Reform appears to be back in play again. This little News Item today, indicates a “strategic pivot” is about to occur:

Obama presses for financial reform

Mar 25, 2010 – Reuters

Financial regulation reform vaulted to the top of President Barack Obama’s post-healthcare agenda on Wednesday, with both Democrats and Republicans upbeat about passing legislation soon.

After a meeting with Obama, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said the president wants results soon from Congress on proposals to tighten U.S. government oversight of banks and the capital market.

[…]

“We’re going to get a bill done,” Dodd told reporters outside the White House. He was joined by fellow Democrat Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who said the issue will be Congress’ No. 1 concern after a two-week Easter break.

[…]

Pivoting from their victory this week on healthcare reform, Democrats are pushing hard for a crackdown on risky bank practices, over-the-counter derivatives, credit rating agencies and other segments of the financial sector, with the aim of preventing another crisis.

[…]

Building on the President’s Health Care Agenda

The President’s vision is the right one, […] Congress should enact specific policy changes that are consis­tent with that vision and that would fulfill its promises. However, Congress should be bolder than the White House and broaden the scope of change well beyond the President’s specific policy recommendations by:

— Expanding the proposed tax provisions to cover all health plans, not just HSA-qualified plans;

— Encouraging health insurance portability through individual ownership, a defined-contribution system, and establishment of a consumer-based “health exchange” marketplace; and

— Transforming the health care market into a more consumer-based system in which individuals are empowered to take direct control of their health care decisions.

http://www.heritage.org/Resear…

Nina Owcharenko, 05/11/06

That is the advice from the Conservative Think-Tank — the Heritage Foundation!

AND the President they are talking about — is George W. Bush!

SO … a Health Exchange Marketplace = Marxist Socialism ???

Oh Really!?

What do you want? [from life]

A great job?

A fulfilling relationship?

Go sailing around the Pacific for a few years in your very own luxurious boat?

Or just to get along better with yourself?

Perhaps you want one of more of those things. But beneath those many common wishes, if you take it a step further, often lies a wish to find happiness.

[…]

Here are seven such ideas about how you can find happiness.

How to Find Happiness: 7 Timeless Tips from the Last 2500 Years

by Henrik Edberg

RED PAPER

AN OVERVIEW OF THE DESERTEC CONCEPT

(pdf)

Within 6 hours deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind consumes within a year.

[…]

Over 90% of the world’s population could be supplied with clean power from deserts by using technologies that are available today.

The Tech is Available TODAY.

The fact that Newspapers are folding, left and right, is hardly News. It’s a long-term trend playing out, due to the ‘Market Forces’ of the Internet.

What is News is the effect that Internet Bloggers (aka Citizen Journalists) are having on the long, slow fade of “Traditional” News.

It seems fewer and fewer people are willing to pay for their News, these days — and WHY should we when we can find it FREE on-line, often with a dash of humor and wit throw-in, for free too!

One Problem though — Bloggers to maintain credibility, have this little habit of citing those very same “Traditional” News Sources who are quietly fading away, as we speak Type.

I think there is a “Chicken and Egg” thing going on here — just few of us have yet to realize it.

Could be someday we go out to get our Information Breakfast — and it turns out that both “nutritional items” have turned up MISSING! (the Blogger and the Source)

A narrative is a story that has a beginning, middle and end. It engages the reader’s mind and heart. It shows actors moving across its stage, revealing their characters through their actions and their speech. At its heart, a narrative contains a mystery or a question-something that compels the reader to keep reading and find out what happens.

[…]

A traditional news feature starts with an anecdote or scene, moves to a nut graph that tells the reader where the story is going and then spends the rest of the piece explaining and supporting the nut graph.

A narrative, on the other hand, lets the story unfold through character, scene and action-usually without summing up the story and telling readers what it’s about. A narrative also attaches a little story  to a big story — it is built around theme.

In journalism, a Nut graph is a paragraph, particularly in a feature story, that explains the news value of the story. […] ie, “in a nutshell” paragraph

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…

http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/…

News Feature v. Narrative: What’s the Difference?

Rebecca Allen — January 9, 2006

In a Nutshell, People like Stories.  

Framing, as a theoretical concept, emerged from agenda setting–the notion that media coverage does not tell the public what to think, but it does have an effect in telling them what subjects to think about. (3)

Framing took agenda setting beyond audience salience and added that media coverage also indicated how that subject was to be approached by the audience, the acceptable range of terms, connections, and interpretations […]

Framing also has roots in cognitive theories about how the human brain works. (6) It ties into schema theory, the idea that the synapses of our brains do not purely save and store facts. Instead, our brains link related ideas in associative patterns; ideas fitting patterns more easily find room than those with no existing “hook” to hold them.

Ideas need the right frame to have a lasting impact.

A frame must find a common “hook” in order to take up its new residence.