A capricious Mother Nature, brandishing weapons of deluge, drought, scorching heat, and frost, has long possessed a power to destroy the livelihood of farming families populating small prairie towns like Walnut, Iowa. In a state where more than 85 percent of the land is devoted to agricultural purposes, talking about the weather represents a culturally-ingrained aspect of discourse. But these days the focus of that conversation is changing in Walnut, home to the state’s newest large-scale wind farm. ‘The conversation when you’re out for coffee now is: ‘You think the wind is blowing enough to get ’em going today?,” Leo Rechtenbach says, referring to the 102 wind turbines that sprouted from fields and pastures of his rural community in the past year. Leo and his wife, Jeanette, belong to a growing population of Iowa wind farmers. These people don’t actually have to perform any kind of sunburnt backbreaking toil resembling traditional farming; they just have to rent small parcels of their land to an energy company, then sit back and watch as the modernistic windmills shoot up from the earth like albino sunflowers hybridized with Jack’s beanstalk. The power of wind represents the fastest growing energy source in […]
BEIJING — Shanghai and Beijing are becoming new lands of opportunity for recent American college graduates who face unemployment nearing double digits at home. Even those with limited or no knowledge of Chinese are heeding the call. They are lured by China’s surging economy, the lower cost of living and a chance to bypass some of the dues-paying that is common to first jobs in the United States. ‘I’ve seen a surge of young people coming to work in China over the last few years, said Jack Perkowski, founder of Asimco Technologies, one of the largest automotive parts companies in China. ‘When I came over to China in 1994, that was the first wave of Americans coming to China, he said. ‘These young people are part of this big second wave. One of those in the latest wave is Joshua Arjuna Stephens, who graduated from Wesleyan University in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in American studies. Two years ago, he decided to take a temporary summer position in Shanghai with China Prep, an educational travel company. ‘I didn’t know anything about China, said Mr. Stephens, who worked on market research and program development. ‘People thought […]
If we fail to reform our health care system this year, a major reason will be that a majority of Americans are satisfied with their health coverage and believe that reform could hurt them. According to a recent (unscientific) Consumer Reports survey, 64 percent of readers are satisfied with their plans — down from 67 percent in 2007, but still a clear majority. A recent New York Times poll found that 59 percent of Americans do not think that health-care reform will benefit them personally; 69 percent are concerned that reform could harm the quality of their own care and 68 percent are concerned that it could limit their access to treatment. This is deeply misleading, for two reasons. First, what does it mean to say that you are satisfied with your health insurance? Consider homeowner’s insurance. Until you need it — your house burns down — you have no way of judging its quality. The same goes for health coverage; until you have a serious illness, the kind where your plan’s limits and exclusions may kick in, how do you know if your health coverage is any good? For one thing, as the House Energy and Commerce […]
WASHINGTON — Want to know why the Obama administration’s announcement of $2.4 billion in electric vehicle grants could be very important? It’s simple: The commitment show that Washington may be getting serious about keeping batteries from becoming the new oil. Right now, overseas manufacturers, primarily in Asia, are the world leaders in the mass production of advanced vehicle batteries. Even US-made hybrids such as the Ford Fusion have a foreign battery at their core. But the White House and many lawmakers in Congress say they don’t want to swap reliance on Saudi oil for reliance on South Korean batteries as part of the nation’s green energy future. Thus the administration has steered $1.5 billion of the $2.4 billion in electric technology development funds to battery manufacturing projects. ‘I don’t want to have to import a hybrid car, said President Obama at an appearance in Warakusa, Ind., Wednesday. ‘I want to build a hybrid car here. If you think the comparison between oil and batteries is overblown, consider that IHS Global Insight predicts that by 2020 some 47 percent of the vehicles sold in the US will have some kind of battery power at their core, either […]
Obama’s grass-roots network is put to the test A group that helped elect the president is being reshaped to push healthcare legislation. By Peter Wallsten August 10, 2009 Reporting from Washington - To win the White House, Barack Obama and his political team built a vast grass-roots network of supporters and volunteers that came to be considered one of the most valuable assets in American politics. Their ambition after the election was to reshape the network, with its trained organizers and 13 million e-mail addresses, into a ground-level force to push the new president’s policy goals. But now, entering a crucial congressional recess month in which Obama’s healthcare plan faces stiffened opposition, some members of the network say that the group is still figuring out how to operate. Some also say their work has been slowed by tensions over tactics, disenchantment among some core supporters and an effective GOP resistance. In Farmington, Mo., Obama backer Craig Hartel wonders why the movement has balked at pressuring centrist Democrats who are wavering on whether to support a public health insurance option that would compete with private insurers. In Chester, Va., Beth Kimbriel often volunteers 40 hours a […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
