This and that

-A co-founder of Greenpeace makes the case for nuclear power, from an environmentalist perspective.

-Remember when right wingers got their panties in a twist about the alleged role of French and Russian officials in oil smuggling during Saddam's regime? Well in American-occupied Iraq, oil smuggling still reportedly costs the country billions of dollars in income.

-It's silly season again. Last January, there was some nonsense called Not One Damn Dime Day, scheduled to coincide with President Bush's second swearing in. I've seen other similar days organized to boycott gasoline, in order to 'send a message' about the 'power' of consumers. Except the very nature of a one day boycott undermines that message. If you boycott gas on, say, January 20, all that means is that gas sales will probably INCREASE on January 19 and 21; what this means is that the OVERALL profits for the period of January 19-21 will be about the same. I'm sure Big Oil was hardly quaking in their boots. Now, another email circulating around the Internet is calling for a boycott of ExxonMobil to protest supposedly high gas prices. Now, there are many reasons to dislike ExxonMobil but in terms of gas prices, are they really any worse than anyone else? In terms of corporate irresponsibility, are they really worse than, say, Shell? These one day boycotts are pointless acts whose real objective is to make you feel better, not to effectuate even the slightest bit of change. If you REALLY want to lower demand (and thus prices) for gas, then eschew these self-indulgent gimmicks and make a lifestyle change. Oil prices aren't going to collapse just because you fill up your SUV from a Getty station instead of an Exxon one.

-The Glens Falls Post-Star's poll question of the week is: "Is the spirited campaign between [the GOP's] John Sweeney and [Democrat] Kirsten Gillibrand likely to affect you in the fall?" Unfortunately, the daily fails to mention that corporate lawyer Gillibrand has several primary challengers. The paper has apparently decided that her challengers are irrelevant and has annointed Gillibrand as the nominee. This gives lie to the pretense advanced by so many in the journalistic establishment that "We don't make news, we just report it." It's bad enough when the paper and other mainstream media outlets are complicit in advancing the falsehood of the two-party system; some 40 percent of Warren County voters belong to neither the Democrat nor the Republican parties. But now, this paper is even ignoring those from WITHIN the two largest parties. It's true that Hillary-wannabe Gillibrand is the most well-financed and most aggressive of the Democrat challengers to Sweeney. But contrary to what the local media implies, she's not the only one.

-The US is a tough country to love. America is like that cousin you have who's really successful at what he does but who never, EVER let's you forget how successful he is. And who, while quick to find fault with others, never notices any in himself. Of course, the risk of being so self-satisfied at such grandeur is complacency toward structural weaknesses, whether in your life or in your country. Personally, I've always found pride in one's country to be meaningless. How can you have pride in a hunk of land that occupies the space between arbitrary borders? It's like being proud of rain or dust. I do, however, have pride in the values most Americans say that country represents. Unfortunately, when you urge your countrymen to be more faithful to those values they proclaim to hold dear, it is often confused with 'self-loathing' or 'America hating.' Nina Burleigh offers more thoughts on patriotism/nationalism