The Next Open Thread

by DemFromCT

In this abbreviated inter-holiday week, let me just say, on behalf of all the contributors to this group blog, thank you for reading us, and have a happy and healthy New Year.

Krugman is great reading if you can get to see it. it's a long list:

A year ago, Mr. Bush hadn't yet openly reneged on Scott McClellan's 2003 pledge that "if anyone in this administration was involved" in the leaking of Valerie Plame's identity, that person "would no longer be in this administration." Of course, some suspect that Mr. Bush has always known who was involved.

A year ago, we didn't know that Mr. Bush was lying, or at least being deceptive, when he said at an April 2004 event promoting the Patriot Act that "a wiretap requires a court order. ...When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

A year ago, most Americans thought Mr. Bush was honest.

A year ago, we didn't know for sure that almost all the politicians and pundits who thundered, during the Lewinsky affair, that even the president isn't above the law have changed their minds. But now we know when it comes to presidents who break the law, it's O.K. if you're a Republican.

This is an open thread. And Chris Mooney's Republican War On Science  is for the TNH bookclub Sunday.

The

Comments

[Melanie]

Dem,

How far do I need to get into the book by Sunday?

[DemFromCT]

hey, any part will do! After all, there's likely stuff to talk about that's not in the book.

[emptypockets]

Question for Bay Areans (always thought that term sounded like a seaside white supremacist group):

This article says that San Francisco's Transbay terminal will finally get developed, and provide improved rail service and generally catalyze the spruce-up-ification of the whole lower SoMa/Mission Bay area.

The Transbay Terminal - expected to be complete by 2013, three years sooner than previous projections - will serve nine Northern California counties and various transit agencies both public and private, including trains, subways, buses and ultimately, it is hoped, high-speed rail to Los Angeles.

Anyone heard more about this? Is it going to replace the Caltrain station at the end of the N-Judah line, or is this not Caltrain? And if not Caltrain, who is it? And where are those 9 counties?

More to the point: is there anyplace that is an outlying area today that may turn into a booming easy-commute suburb in ten years because of this? I would love to move back there but not sure I can afford it -- I'm wondering if this will open up some more livable space in the long term.

Second, on the topic of transportation, read this piece on BioWillie, a biodiesel blend being promoted by Willie Nelson. It's not that I'm so enamored of biodiesel or even know jack about it for that matter. I just love Willie Nelson though, and am really glad to see him (particularly as a Texas good old boy icon) getting behind another great movement. He has done some really terrific work for American farmers with FarmAid, from the few pieces I've read, and at 72 is still going strong. Now he's found a way to help both the American farmer and the American trucker. He's an amazing guy.