As you may have gathered, there's a lot afoot here at Worldchanging. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be releasing some new work (including the video of the talks I gave in Seattle shortly before COP15 and of the talk I gave at the Bright Green Expo there), some news about changes in editorial direction (including updates about the upcoming second edition of Worldchanging: A User's Guide and Bright Green) and a whole mess of announcements of speaking gigs and other public appearances over the next year.
Last year, as you also may have gathered, was a remarkable year for us. We suffered the slings and arrows of recession (like so many other nonprofits), but we also put out an astonishing amount of new work, much of which appeared elsewhere in print, on the radio or on television or was unveiled on stages from Amsterdam to Jerusalem, Vancouver to Copenhagen. Much of the best of that work has enriched the second edition of the Worldchanging book.
Now we're going to be shifting gears. After six years of covering the most compelling solutions to the planet's biggest problems, we've learned some things about the cutting edge of sustainability and social innovation; we also feel strongly that the debate about how to build a better future needs to move farther, faster, and be more willing to grapple with the future's hard realities. We think 2010 is going to be a watershed year for the fate of the planet, and we want to do our utmost to contribute in the most meaningful, creative ways we can. We're going to push the edge of the envelope of that discussion, and we hope you'll join us in a new spirit of exploration.
In the meantime, we wish you the happiest of new years, and want to thank you all for being such a passionate, intelligent, engaged community of readers.
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(Posted by Alex Steffen in Features at 2:40 PM)
Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE)
In the past two weeks, Castle has blasted multiple press releases publicizing stimulus funds awarded to his state. In his most recent release, he not only calls the money “imperative,” but in “announcing” the funds, he tacitly claims credit for securing them:
Washington | January 7, 2010 – Delaware Congressman Mike Castle announced today that $5,230,610 has been awarded to the State to assist families and individuals in need. [...] “As we face the coldest season of the year, it is imperative we provide those programs serving Delaware’s most disadvantaged families and individuals with the resources necessary to house, feed, and protect those in desperate need,” said Rep. Castle. “These grants, totaling more than $5 million, will help the invaluable organizations and programs which are working to help the homeless, hungry, and those facing economic hardship throughout the State.”
Nowhere on the release is the source of they funds or the word “stimulus” mentioned. But the stimulus Castle opposed is the source of the “imperative” funds he now champions:
– The Castle release announces $4,735,313 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Continuum of Care program. According to the HUD website, the Continuum of Care initiative is enabled through $1.5 billion in money authorized by the stimulus.
– The Castle release announces $495,297 to Delaware’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). According to Grants.gov, the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program is enabled by $100 million in funding through the stimulus.
While Castle’s duplicitous release reeks of hypocrisy, it places him firmly within the status quo of Republican lawmakers. Castle’s leaders in the House, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Eric Cantor (R-VA), have lavished praise upon stimulus projects in their districts, while attacking the stimulus as a failure to the DC press corps. And Castle’s prospective leader in the Senate, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), has also ridiculed the stimulus as a complete waste, while firing off releases boasting about stimulus-funded construction.
There’s nothing left to do:
— Everybody hates Joe Lieberman.
— Experiments in industrial policy.
— DNR-V Form for vampire doctors.
— Good pizza is priceless.
— It’s legal in DC.
“Everything With You” by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
In recent days, attention has been turning toward Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), in the failed Christmas Day bombing. Politico’s Laura Rozen wrote that it appears that “knives [are] out” for Leiter. On Tuesday, former Bush White House adviser Karl Rove also jumped on the NCTC during an appearance on Fox News, saying that the agency was “where the problem probably occurred”:
VAN SUSTEREN: But somebody had the job, Karl, to coordinate all this information into one center place. I cannot believe that after 9/11, we didn’t figure out that we have to have some sort of central resource –
ROVE: Well, we did. We did. [...]
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, who’s in charge of that?
ROVE: The counterterrorism center is where the problem probably occurred because, look, there are lots of — we know that the State Department passed on the information. We know the CIA received it. We know the counterterrorism center received it.
It was surprising that Rove pointed the finger at the NCTC, since Leiter served with him in the Bush administration. Leiter became NCTC director in 2007, and then was retained by the Obama administration. But maybe Rove forgot these details and remembered them only after his Fox News appearance, because today during another Fox interview, he tried to shift blame away from the NCTC:
ROVE: In fact, the biggest problem is not within the NCTC and the intelligence community — Look, I want to say one word of defense for them. There’s a lot of information flowing through there. It seems to me this should have been caught, but there is a lot of information flowing through there, and the expectation that human beings are going to be perfect 100 percent of the time or that the system of computers and algorithms of detection software is going to be perfect 100 percent of the time is just wrong.
In both interviews, Rove insisted that the real problem was with the Obama administration, who decided to “treat the Christmas Day bomber as a criminal defendant” (just like the Bush administration did with the shoe bomber). Watch the two clips:
Today, the White House defended Leiter against a New York Daily News article that Leiter “did not cut short his ski vacation after the underwear bomber nearly blew up an airliner on Christmas Day.” National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough disputed the Daily News’ story, saying that Leiter was “intimately involved in all aspects of the nation’s response to the attempted terrorist attack” and took “six days of annual leave” after the event.
Today in his speech on the attack, Obama made clear that he wasn’t interested in playing the blame game. “Ultimately, the buck stops with me. … When the system fails, it is my responsibility,” he said.
Transcript:
VAN SUSTEREN: But somebody had the job, Karl, to coordinate all this information into one center place. I cannot believe that after 9/11, we didn’t figure out that we have to have some sort of central resource –
ROVE: Well, we did. We did.
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, whoever’s in charge of that –
ROVE: The counterterrorism –
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, who’s in charge of that?
ROVE: The counterterrorism center is where the problem probably occurred because, look, there are lots of — we know that the State Department passed on the information. We know the CIA received it. We know the counterterrorism center received it. They get a gigantic amount of data. And the question is, How do you pick out these pieces and understand them and analyze them?
VAN SUSTEREN: Well, somebody has that job!
ROVE: And someone had that job. And many people have that job because you can’t trust one person at this. And there are lots of data streams that need to be evaluated simultaneously by different people.
VAN SUSTEREN: And it’s apparently an enormously complicated job. It’s terribly difficult. But whoever had it apparently isn’t up for the job.
ROVE: Yes, and look –
VAN SUSTEREN: For whatever reason. And — and I — you know, I might have failed worse than this person on more occasions, but I don’t have that job! I haven’t accepted that job. Whoever has that job really shouldn’t be in that job.
ROVE: Well, look, no, that’s — that’s — that’s a continuing problem that every day you have to work on.
. . . .
GALLAGHER: Is it your sense, Karl, that we’re nowhere near that mindset?
ROVE: No, we aren’t. In fact, the biggest problem is not within the NCTC and the intelligence community — Look, I want to say one word of defense for them. There’s a lot of information flowing through there. It seems to me this should have been caught, but there is a lot of information flowing through there, and the expectation that human beings are going to be perfect 100 percent of the time or that the system of computers and algorithms of detection software is going to be perfect 100 percent of the time is just wrong.
We live in a dangerous world in which it is a complicated puzzle to find actors like the Christmas Day bomber. But this system clearly broke down. To me, the problems are equally in the aftermath of it. The biggest judgment failure in my mind was the immediate decision by Holder and others to treat the Christmas Day bomber as a criminal defendant, not as an enemy combatant.
One thing that I don’t think gets discussed enough in the context of former Gitmo detainees doing radical stuff post-release is that being unjustly imprisoned in a legal netherworld for years is exactly the kind of thing that would radicalize someone.
Like imagine a story about Soviet errors in their effort to pacify Afghanistan. The story goes that shortly after the invasion, Soviet forces in some city came under attack unexpectedly. After the attack, they engaged in a somewhat hasty roundup of people who they thought might have been involved. Many of the people rounded up were quickly released after a few days when it became clear they had nothing to do with anything. But one guy in the roundup had stolen this other dude’s girlfriend six months earlier, and so the other dude told Soviet authorities that the one guy was involved in fanatical Islam. Plus there’s the innocent guy who just had a really bad attitude about having been unfairly imprisoned and spat at Soviet soldiers a lot. Those two guys wind up in jail for three years in poor conditions. Eventually, the Soviets let a bunch of people go for one reason or another. Then those two guys end up joining a mujahedeen group and fighting against the Soviets.
Would you call that “recidivism”? And if you were to say that someone had made a policy error here, what would you say the error was?
Today on his radio show, Glenn Beck wanted to discuss the census. “Apparently the census has come out,” he said. Beck’s co-host then chimed in, “Yeah and there’s a little confusion because there’s three boxes you can check if you’re a certain race. … I don’t know what the race is because there’s three different terms for them. Black, African-American, or Negro.” Instead of having any consideration to take issue with the term “Negro,” Beck launched into a tirade against “African-American”:
BECK: African-American is a bogus, PC, made-up term. I mean, that’s not a race. Your ancestry is from Africa and now you live in America. Ok so you were brought over — either your family was brought over through the slave trade or you were born here and your family emigrated here or whatever but that is not a race.
Listen here:
Previously, Beck has said that he doesn’t have “a lot of African-American friends, and I think part of it is because I’m afraid that I would be in an open conversation, and I would say something that somebody would take wrong, and then it would be a nightmare.” And recently on his Fox News program, Beck hosted a group of black conservatives and complained that some of them refer to themselves as “African-American.” “Why not identify yourself as Americans?” he asked, adding, “I don’t identify myself as white, or a white American.”
(cc photo by fortes)
Charles Murray thinks things are looking rather dusky in Paris these days:
I collected data as I walked along, counting people who looked like native French (which probably added in a few Brits and other Europeans) versus everyone else. I can’t vouch for the representativeness of the sample, but at about eight o’clock last night in the St. Denis area of Paris, it worked out to about 50-50, with the non-native French half consisting, in order of proportion, of African blacks, Middle-Eastern types, and East Asians. And on December 22, I don’t think a lot of them were tourists. Mark Steyn and Christopher Caldwell have already explained this to the rest of the world—Europe as we have known it is about to disappear—but it was still a shock to see how rapid the change has been in just the last half-dozen years.
As Henry Farrell says “I rather think that the word that Murray was looking for here is ‘white’” rather than the strange euphemism “looked like native French.”
It’s worth making a few quick points here though:
— In France, French-born children of immigrant parents outnumber immigrants.
— Most French immigrants immigrated from elsewhere in Europe.
— Residents of predominantly black areas like Martinique are citizens of France.
— A lot of the people on the streets of Paris at any given time are tourists.
As a last point, since he’s a racist, I’ll grant that Murray’s eye for ethnicities may just be keener than mine. But in my experience, at least, the difference in skin color between “white” European Mediterranean people (from, for example, southern France) and “brown” Arab Mediterranean is not always obvious, especially in dim light. So at a minimum, I’ll tip my cap to Murray’s diligence in cataloguing everyone’s ethnic origins so precisely.
As Ezra Klein says it’s very doubtful that Democrats can retain 60 Senate seats over the long run. At the moment, they likely to lose a few. If the political context changes, it’s actually possible (given the 2010 map) to imagine them picking a few up. But then they’d just drop below 60 in 2012 when they have to defend the gains made in 2006. Simply put, 60 seats is unsustainable for a political party that aspires to any level of ideological coherence.
What’s also true, I think, is that as long as the GOP remains in Michael Steele / Sarah Palin / tea party mode it can’t possibly win a majority. You already saw the pre-tea GOP willfully throw the VA-Sen 2008 race to Mark Warner rather than accept a moderate nominee. The fundamental lack of any kind of pragmatic spirit whatsoever is bound to doom them.
In Beltway terms where the horse race is all that counts, this makes Steele and the hard line a disaster for the GOP. And in an sense they are. But in substantive terms it’s in many respects a huge win. The combination of the supermajority rule in the Senate and a complete and utter lack of moderation in the Republican ranks makes it impossible to get anything done. Not simply because the minority can block things, but because it’s inherently difficult for vulnerable members to vote “yes” on pure party-line measures—they lack to have some bipartisan “cover.” This is the essence of the Ungovernable America situation, and the odds are that it’s going to get worse in the future not better, unless we start seeing some support for reform of the senate.
Something that’s long puzzled me is the idea that bringing more transparency to the earmark process would reduce earmarking. John McCain spent the summer of 2008 running around the country promising to name-and-shame earmarkers. “I’ll make them famous,” was one of his lines. But getting famous is the whole idea. I noticed earlier today that Ben Nelson’s website dramatizes this in a particularly clear way:
The thing that would reduce earmarking would be the reverse of transparency. If you couldn’t brag to your constituents about all the bacon you’d brought home, then there’d be less reason for members to spend their time on it.
On Monday, RedState.com editor Erick Erickson defended some of his controversial tweets on The Colbert Report, telling Stephen Colbert that he compared White House health care spokesperson Linda Douglass to Joseph Goebbels because she had been “referring to those people who were opposed to health care as being brownshirts.” As ThinkProgress noted, Douglass never said any such thing. Douglass appeared on Colbert’s show last night to correct Erickson’s lie, calling it “completely false” and “crazy, made-up stuff.” Watch it (about 4:00 in):
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c |
Since the failed Christmas Day terrorist attack, conservatives have been attacking the Obama administration for failing to “connect the dots,” with many calling specifically for the resignation of Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. They have criticized her for initially telling CNN that “the system worked,” even though they dishonestly took her quote out of context to do so.
Appearing on Fox News Tuesday, RNC chairman Michael Steele said, “I agree with the Republican leadership that’s called for [Napolitano's] resignation.” Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted, “Secretary Janet Napolitano should resign, saying ‘the system worked,’ undermines the confidence of Americans.” And yesterday, a group of prominent conservative activists sent Napolitano a letter demanding her resignation.
But a former head of the Department of Homeland Security said much of this criticism is “misplaced.” Tom Ridge, who served under President Bush, defended Napolitano, explaining that blame for the incident does not rest solely on her shoulders:
RIDGE: [Neither the] Secretary of Homeland Security, nor can the department, act on anything until they get the information. … And the Department of Homeland Security could not have revoked the visa. The Department of Homeland Security could not have put this name on the National Counterterrorism Center. … So while there is obviously some criticism pointed in the department’s direction and at the Secretary, I think by and large it is misplaced.
Watch it:
Ridge certainly knows more about how DHS operates than many of Napolitano’s critics. A preliminary review suggested that a “systemic failure” is to blame for allowing suspected bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board the plane with explosives, President Obama said last month. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said yesterday that a comprehensive review to be released later today will cite holes in airport security and problems sharing information between intelligence agencies — not a specific person or agency.
Last month, Ridge also defended Napolitano against the right-wing attacks on her initial statement, saying, “I don’t think any right-thinking person actually believed that Secretary Napolitano thought the system worked.” “I think what she was referring to was that after the incident occurred, there are certain procedures and protocols to put in place,” Ride said. “That worked smoothly.”
Transcript:
HOST: Now I want to ask Gov. Ridge before you we let you go, is Janet Napolitano, who currently holds the job that you did as Secertay of Homeland Security, is she — as I don’t have to tell you — is taking a lot of heat for her comment right after this happened that the system worked, she said the comment was taken out of context. Is she being treated fairly?
RIDGE: Well I would say I’m sure she regrets making the statement, but let me try to explain something and thank you for the question to your audience. Secretary of Homeland Security, nor can the department, act on anything until they get the information. They only consume information, they don’t generate intelligence. They have to act on intelligence. And the Department of Homeland Security could not have revoked the visa. The Department of Homeland Security could not have put this name on the National Counterterrorism Center. There Department of Homeland Security couldn’t have done anything with Maj. Hasan.
So while there is obviously some criticism pointed in the department’s direction and at the Secretary, I think by and large it is misplaced. It was a statement that a lot of people have difficulty with, and I’m sure she regrets. But the Department of Homeland Security consumes information and acts on information when it receives, if there’s a vacuum, if there’s no information it’s pretty difficult to act.
Tesla Motors and Panasonic will collaborate to develop next-generation battery cells for electric vehicles. Tesla will use Panasonic cells featuring a Nickel-based Lithium ion chemistry in their newest battery packs.
In December, Panasonic announced the development of two new 18650-type (18 mm in diameter, 65 mm in height) high-capacity lithium-ion battery cells. The newly-developed high-capacity 3.4 Ah and 4.0 Ah lithium-ion battery cells have an improved nickel-based positive electrode (Panasonic’s proprietary positive electrode material based on LiNiO2, allowing for high capacity and durability). The 4.0 Ah cell uses a silicon-based alloy for the negative electrode instead of carbon, and offers a volumetric energy density of 800 Wh/L, compared to the 620 Wh/L in the current 2.9 Ah cells.(Earlier post.)
Our collaboration with Panasonic will accelerate the development of next generation EV cells, enabling Tesla to further improve our battery pack performance. Combining Tesla’s rigorous cell testing and understanding of EV requirements with Panasonic’s cutting-edge battery technology will result in custom cells optimized for use in EVs.
—JB Straubel, Tesla’s Chief Technology Officer
Panasonic is one of the world’s largest producers of Lithium-ion battery cells. Furthermore, Panasonic is midway through a 3-year US$1-billion investment in lithium-ion battery cell R&D and production facilities. The first of the new facilities in Suminoe, Japan will begin production in April 2010.
Being selected by Tesla to provide cells for their current and next- generation EV battery pack is a tremendous validation of Panasonic’s nickel-based chemistry and the extensive investments Panasonic continues to make in lithium ion R&D and production.
—Naoto Noguchi, President of Panasonic Energy Company
Tesla’s current battery strategy incorporates proprietary packaging using cells from multiple battery suppliers. This new cell will also be compatible with other cell form factors to enable the continuation of Tesla’s strategy of using cells from multiple suppliers. Tesla has already delivered more than 900 cars to customers in North America and Europe.
| Counties projected to violate proposed Primary 8-hour Ground-Level Ozone Standards in 2020. Source: EPA. Click to enlarge. |
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the strictest standards to date for ground-level ozone. Ground-level ozone forms when emissions from industrial facilities, power plants, landfills and motor vehicles react in the sun.
The agency is proposing to set the “primary” standard, which protects public health, at a level between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million (ppm) measured over eight hours. EPA is also proposing to set a separate “secondary” standard to protect the environment within the range of 7-15 ppm-hours. This seasonal standard is designed to protect plants and trees from damage occurring from repeated ozone exposure, which can reduce tree growth, damage leaves, and increase susceptibility to disease.
In September 2009 Administrator Jackson announced that EPA would reconsider the existing ozone standards, set at 0.075 ppm in March 2008. As part of its reconsideration, EPA conducted a review of the science that guided the 2008 decision, including more than 1,700 scientific studies and public comments from the 2008 rulemaking process. EPA also reviewed the findings of the independent Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which recommended standards in the ranges of the new proposal.
EPA is proposing an accelerated schedule for designating areas for the primary ozone standard. Also, EPA is taking comment on whether to designate areas for a seasonal secondary standard on an accelerated schedule or a 2-year schedule. The accelerated schedule would be:
By January 2011: States make recommendations for areas to be designated attainment, nonattainment or unclassifiable.
By July 2011: EPA makes final area designations.
August 2011 Designations become effective.
December 2013: State Implementation Plans, outlining how states will reduce pollution to meet the standards, are due to EPA.
2014 to 2031: States are required to meet the primary standard, with deadlines depending on the severity of the problem.
Ground-level ozone (smog) is linked to a number of serious health problems, ranging from aggravation of asthma to increased risk of premature death in people with heart or lung disease. Ozone can also harm otherwise healthy people who work and play outdoors.
Depending on the level of the final standard, the proposal would yield health benefits between $13 billion and $100 billion, according to the EPA. This proposal would help reduce premature deaths, aggravated asthma, bronchitis cases, hospital and emergency room visits and days when people miss work or school because of ozone-related symptoms. Estimated costs of implementing this proposal range from $19 billion to $90 billion.
EPA will take public comment for 60 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. The agency will hold three public hearings on the proposal: 2 Feb. 2010 in Arlington, Va. and in Houston; and 4 Feb. 2010 in Sacramento.
| Top: Reported sales of US hybrids in 2009 resulted in a 2.8% new vehicle market share. Bottom left: relative new vehicle share of hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles. Bottom right: Unit sales of hybrid and non-hybrid vehicles. Click to enlarge. |
Reported sales of hybrids in the US rose 42% in December 2009 year-on-year to 25,167 units; sales for the year decreased 7.5% to 290,280 units [1], representing a new vehicle market share for calendar year (CY) 2009 of 2.8%. Overall, light duty vehicle sales rose 15.1% in December 2009 year-on-year, according to figures from Autodata, with sales for the year being down 21.2%.
December 2009 had 28 selling days vs. 26 days in December 2008; all comparisons here are by volume, not by adjusted day sales rate. These figures do not include sales of the new Mercedes S400 hybrid (Mercedes-Benz does not break out its sales by powertrain type) or the new BMW ActiveHybrid X6, which began reaching BMW Centers in December.
| Monthly reported hybrid sales. Click to enlarge. | Monthly new vehicle market share. Click to enlarge. |
Toyota. Toyota reported December sales of sales of 17,964 hybrid vehicles, up 47.2% over December 2008. December sales of all light-duty vehicles reached 187,860 units, an increase of 32.3% over the same period last year.
The Prius posted 11,775 units, up 49.8%.
Camry Hybrid posted 1,513 units, a decrease of 19.9% from the year before, representing 4.3% of all Camry models sold. Sales of all Camry models increased 38.2%
Highlander Hybrid posted 1,029 units, an increase of 15.6%, representing 10.9% of all Highlander models sold. Sales of all Highlander models increased 21.2%.
Rx hybrid sales posted 1,598 units, up 9.2%, representing 13.5% of all Rx models sold. Sales of all Rx models were up 19%.
GS hybrid sales posted 54 units, up 5.9%, representing 5.1% of all GS sales. Sales of all GS models were down 11.4%.
LS hybrids posted 15 units, down 70%, representing 0.7% of all LS models sold. LS sales rose 43.7%.
The new dedicated hybrid HS250 sold 1,980 units.
| Reported hybrid sales as a percentage of OEM light vehicle sales. Click to enlarge. |
TMS calendar year hybrid sales totaled 195,545 units, down 19%. For the year, TMS reported total annual sales of 1,770,149 vehicles, a decrease of 20.2% percent from the same period in 2008.
Ford. Ford reported December sales of hybrid vehicles totaling 2,843, up 147.4% versus a year ago. Total Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales increased 33.5% to 179,017 units in December.
Sales of the Escape and Mariner hybrids totalled 1,157 units in December, an increase of 0.7%, representing 5.2% of all Escape and Mariner sales. Total Escape and Mariner sales increased 56%, propelled by a 74.7% increase in Escape sales to 19,156 units.
Sales of the Fusion and Milan hybrid sedans reached 1,686 units in December, representing 8.0% of all Fusion and Milan sales.
December was the best sales month for EcoBoost (1,662), and total EcoBoost sales since introduction now total 4,973. The conquest rate for the Taurus SHO is 60%. EcoBoost provides customers up to 20% improvement in fuel economy and a 15% reduction in emissions versus larger-displacement engines. EcoBoost is standard on the Taurus SHO and available on the Ford Flex, Lincoln MKS and Lincoln MKT.
For the full calendar year, Ford hybrid sales totaled 33,502, a new record and up 72% versus a year ago. Total Ford, Lincoln and Mercury sales decreased 15.4% for the full calendar year to 1,620,888 units.
Honda. Honda reported December hybrid sales of 2,110 units, a 103.5% increase year-on-year. Total Honda sales for December increased 24.5% to 107,143 units.
The Civic Hybrid posted 471 units, down 54.5% year-on-year, representing 2.1% of all Civic sales. Sales of all Civic models increased 29%.
The new dedicated hybrid Insight sold 1,639 units.
For the calendar year, Honda’s hybrid sales rose 13% to 35,692 units. Total vehicle sales dropped 19.5% to 1,150,784 units.
GM. GM reported total hybrid sales in December of 1,408 units, a decrease of 45.9%. Overall, GM dealers in the US delivered 208,511 vehicles in December—a total sales decline of 6% from the previous year, driven primarily by declines in fleet sales (-33%) and in sales of non-core brands (-55%).
For the year, GM hybrid sales increased 30% from the year before to 16,142 units.
Nissan. Nissan reported sales of 842 Altima hybrids in December, an 18.6% increase, representing 4.5% of all Altima sales. Sales of all Altima models increased 7.7%. Total December sales increased 18.2% to 73,404 units.
For calendar year 2009, Altima hybrid sales totalled 9,357 units, a 6.1% increase over 2008. Total combined Nissan and Infiniti sales in the year reached 770,103 vehicles, compared with 951,350 vehicles sold in 2008, a 19.1 percent decline.
[1] The CY 2009 total includes 42 hybrids posted by Chrysler in January 2009.
On the Wonk Room, Igor Volsky highlights a new study in Health Affairs that shows how misguided — and political — Republican lawmakers’ opposition to health reform legislation is. “States with the most to gain under health care reform are overwhelmingly represented by Republicans, while those states likely to do worse are much more likely to have Democratic senators,” conclude the study’s authors. From their findings:
[T]he states most likely to “win” as a result of health care reform are Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. All of these states have a relatively high number of uninsured and all are in the bottom half of states in terms of cost under both financing mechanisms. … Among the states most likely to “lose” are Delaware, Nebraska, and New Hampshire as well as the District of Columbia. Each of these states has a relatively lower-than-average proportion of uninsured residents, and each would fall in the “High Cost” category under either of the financing options. There are four states — Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, and Rhode Island — that while also “Low Benefit” are “Low Cost” as well.
Volsky writes that “if Senators and Representatives dropped their ideological allegiance and voted to advance the interests of their constituents, the health care reform effort would actually attract bipartisan support.”
Just hours after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s failed attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner over Detroit on Christmas Day, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), who is running for governor in Michigan, began politicizing the event. Hoekstra baselessly claimed President Obama had not paid enough attention to Yemen — the base of Abdulmutallab’s radical affiliations — and even tried to raise campaign funds off the incident.
Last night on Fox News, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the failed terror attack was good for Hoekstra, even adding that it was “probably” the reason the leading Democratic candidate for Michigan governor dropped out of the race:
GINGRICH: In Michigan, I think Pete Hoekstra is putting together such a good campaign and has gotten such a boost out of having been intelligence committee chairman now with the attempted attack on Detroit that Pete really is becoming a dominant figure in the state.
I think that was part of why Lt. Governor Cherry probably dropped out. He’s faced with a president who clearly couldn’t have defended Detroit. We were lucky that the terrorist didn’t know how to set off the bomb or we would have had a huge disaster.
Watch it:
Republicans have no shame in playing politics with terrorism and have a habit of leading on that terror attacks and serious national security crises are good for their side, a point exemplified by a comment from Charlie Black, top aide to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ), during the 2008 presidential campaign:
The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an “unfortunate event,” says Black. “But his knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us.” As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. “Certainly it would be a big advantage to him,” says Black.
Al-Qaeda is not an organization primarily focused on Israel issues, and obviously is not an organization that would go out of business even if a Palestinian state were created. But Israel’s conduct, and America’s attitude toward that conduct, are an important lens through which Muslims see the United States. So time and again you tend to hear things like this about people who wind up working with al-Qaeda:
H[is brother] described Mr. Balawi as a “very good brother” and a “brilliant doctor,” saying that the family knew nothing of Mr. Balawi’s writings under a pseudonym on jihadi Web sites. He said, however, that his brother had been “changed” by last year’s three-week-long Israeli offensive in Gaza, which killed about 1,300 Palestinians.
This reality makes a lot of American Jews uncomfortable to the point where they try to insist on denying that Israel has anything to do with anyone’s motives for doing anything, but that’s absurd. A ton of people have died in the past ten years of Israeli-Arab fighting and the vast majority of them have been Arabs, and the American approach to these issues has conveyed the impression that America cares more about Israeli life than about Arab life. That’s good for al-Qaeda recruiting and bad for American efforts to secure cooperation. This is one reason why the sometimes tempting idea of just trying to wash our hands of the whole business almost certainly won’t work. It’s strongly in our interests to bring the conflict to an end and stop generating bad blood.
Little-known rumor: Ann Coulter has had the image of dead Jesus Christ from the Shroud of Turin printed onto a latex blow-up doll and given it a hard, rubber dildo. See, in the same moment, she can fuck herself with both the dead and resurrected Christian savior. She's been known to entertain guests by hanging the doll on a cross in her dining room, next to her chair, so that the cock is right at head level. That way, during wine and dinner conversation, she can turn, look lovingly up at the Lord's son, and then lap on his dick like Lolita with a lollipop. She says it's so Jesus knows he's always welcome. When she gets really drunk, she tells her guests that there's only one way to redeem herself for her sins, and she deep throats Christ's dildo. She doesn't care if Christ can't come. She believes that what she's doing is banking her sins and that when she gets to heaven, Jesus will be there, and she'll take his holy peter in her mouth so Jesus can jizz down her throat for every transgression she has asked him to forgive. Buckets of Christ cum: the price of entering the pearly gates.
The Rude Pundit believes the rumor to be true because he's read Coulter's latest "column" (if by "column," you mean, "Sub-street corner Jesus ranting that'd make Jack Chick go atheist), where she defends Brit Hume's Christ-can-save-Tigers-Woods remarks on Fox "news." Coulter agrees, like a whore whose pimp is God. In one of the great reductionist arguments in the history of arguments, the kind of thing that’d make Plato stop buggering a boy for a moment and say “What the fuck?” Coulter asserts, “God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you're in. Your sins are washed away from you -- sins even worse than adultery! -- because of the cross.” Wow, Christianity sure seems like the McDonald’s of religions.
In fact, the entire "column" could be viewed as a sarcastic take on the bullshit version of redemption offered by some interpretations of Christianity. Rape a newborn and drink its blood? Just confess, and it's heaven for you. That's actually not much of an overstatement. Coulter quotes Romans 10:9 on confession and adds, "If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you've ever done is gone from you. You're every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham." Seriously, that looks like a sentence the Rude Pundit could have written facetiously.
It hardly needs to be said that if some broadcaster at a "news" network had said that Islam is the only path to redemption, he would be hounded out of his job. The second you say that your sky wizard is so very much bigger than other sky wizards, you have entered the realm of absurd. In fact, the only rational reaction one can have to Coulter or Hume is, "Hey, if Tiger Woods doesn't want to have to worry about anything, he should become an atheist and party on."
This morning on CNBC, Gov. Sean Parnell (R-AK), who assumed office after Sarah Palin’s sudden departure to become a professional right-wing partisan, spoke to the hosts of Squawk Box about issues concerning his state. As the leader of an oil-based economy, Parnell chided the Obama administration for seeking to curb the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. However, during the interview, he said he “gives the President kudos” for supporting the Alaskan natural gas pipeline construction project, an infrastructure effort stalled under then-governor Palin. Asked about the national spotlight Palin has brought Alaska with her conspiracy-fueled tirades and baseless smears against Obama, Parnell conceded that the attention has been “some sour with the sweet”:
QUINTANILLA: I was going to say, do you think she’s bringing attention to Alaska all in a positive way or has there been some sour with the sweet?
PARNELL: You know as well as I do there’s been both. I have the greatest respect for Governor Palin and she’s put Alaska on the map. [...]
KERNEN: One of the largest infrastructure projects in history is your pipeline, natural gas pipeline, that would seem like a natural for the stimulus. […]
PARNELL: Well listen I’ll give the President kudos for that one. He says the natural gas pipeline is one of his five green projects.
Watch it:
As the Alaska press has noted, although Parnell ran on a ticket with Palin, he has a markedly different style and character. He is often willing to work with both Democrats and Republican in the legislature, and has shown an interest in advancing social issues. While Palin constantly sought publicitly, Parnell has prided himself on accomplishing goals by working quietly behind the scenes.
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worldchanging2 : 2010 as Watershed Year [+0] - thinkprogress : GOP Senate Candidate Rep. Mike Castle Takes Credit For Over $5 Million In Stimulus Funds He Voted To [+0]
- yglesias : Endgame [+0]
- thinkprogress : Rove Backs Off His Criticism Of Counterterrorism Center, Perhaps Remembering Chief Is A Bush Holdove [+0]
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sca_garb :: alysten : Linen Gloves [+3] - yglesias : Gitmo “Recidivism” [+0]
- thinkprogress : Beck: ‘African-American is a bogus, PC, made-up term. I mean, that’s not a race.’ [+1]
- yglesias : Charles Murray Sees Nonwhite People [+0]
- yglesias : What Tea Parties Hath Wrought [+0]
- yglesias : Earmark Transparency [+0]
- thinkprogress : On Colbert, Douglass calls Erickson’s false ‘brownshirts’ claim ‘crazy, made-up stuff.’ [+0]
- thinkprogress : Ridge Defends Napolitano From Right-Wing Attacks: The Criticisms Are ‘Misplaced’ [+0]
- greencarcongres : Tesla and Panasonic Collaborate to Develop Next-Generation Battery Cell Technology [+0]
- greencarcongres : EPA Proposes New Tougher Ground-Level Ozone Standards [+0]
- greencarcongres : Reported US Hybrid Sales Up 42% in December, Down 7.5% for CY 2009; New Vehicle Market Share of 2.8% [+0]
- thinkprogress : States ‘with the most to gain under health care reform are overwhelmingly represented by Republicans [+0]
- thinkprogress : Gingrich: Hoekstra’s Campaign Got A ‘Boost’ From Failed Airline Bomber [+0]
- yglesias : Israel and al-Qaeda [+0]
- rudepundit : (no subject) [+0]
- thinkprogress : Gov. Parnell concedes Palin’s spotlight-seeking has brought ‘some sour’ attention to Alaska. [+0]