Terry Cowgill

A Windmill In Every Back Yard

All right! You go, Boone! An inveterate 80-year-old oil man, the legendary T. Boone Pickens, came out strongly today for alternative energy on the very conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page.

And I couldn’t agree with him more. Pickens trots out some interesting stats:

“In fact, if we don’t do anything about this problem, over the next 10 years we will spend around $10 trillion importing foreign oil. That is $10 trillion leaving the U.S. and going to foreign nations, making it what I certainly believe will be the single largest transfer of wealth in human history.”

If you are still inclined toward more domestic drilling as the solution to our energy problems, those are pretty powerful numbers, especially when you consider the U.S. has only 3% of the world’s proven oil reserves.

And I like Pickens’ emphasis on national security. This is an angle that could bring just about everyone together: conservatives who want to minimize our vulnerability to coercion at the hands of foreign governments; liberals who are concerned about the environment; and quasi-isolationist libertarians who value self-reliance.

Pickens prefers natural gas (for automobiles), and embraces wind and solar to replace the coal- and oil-fired electricity generation plants that foul our air. For some reason, he does not even mention nuclear power, which (as I have written before) could be an important piece of the energy independence puzzle.

For the record, I like windmills. Every time I see one, I’m reminded that there’s a little less crude oil we have to buy from some feudal monarchy in the Middle East that trains terrorists to blow up Americans.

Take a ride up Route 22 into Stephentown, N.Y., or up Route 7 into Pittsfield, Mass., near Lake Pontoosuc. An enormous windmill (see image at top of this post) rises up on a nearby ridge that cuts the electricity bill of the Jiminy Peak ski resort nearly in half. It is an impressive piece of machinery and a pleasure to look at.

And I don’t have a NIMBY attitude about them. I don’t have enough money to put one up, but if an energy company approached me about building one on my property, I would seriously consider it. Any offers out there?

BTW …

… Two pieces in today’s NYT that reinforce my strong desire to send George Bush packing for Crawford. It’s been an open secret for years that the Bush admin has politicized the Justice Department. But today we learn that former Attorneys General Alberto Gonzalez and John Ashcroft applied ideological litmus tests to candidates for career civil service posts at Justice, including internships.

Then we learn that when the White House received an email from the EPA concluding greenhouse gasses are pollutants that need to be controlled, the Bush admin simply refused to open it. Could this be a variation on “No news is good news?”

Now, more than six months later and under pressure from The White House, a watered-down and redacted version of the EPA report will be published. Why not let the EPA release the original version and if Bush admin officials disagree with it, then they can challenge it in public?

I know the Dems are trying to paint a President McCain as a second term for GWB. In some ways it would be, but I can’t picture McCain engaging in this type of disgraceful behavior. As for a President Obama, well, who knows? He’s a blank slate. Even his supporters know little about him. I guess you know which way I’m leaning …

R.I.P., George Carlin

First it’s Timmy; now it’s George. I know among his many attributes, George Carlin was a scathing social critic. But I was partial to his observational humor, as in this brilliant riff about “finding a place for your stuff.”

St. Timmy’s Passing

Update 1:30 p.m. Wednesday: After reading this interview, my opinion of Timmy has been raised a notch. Good for him for his willingness to discuss MSM bias without dismissing it as some kooky right-wing grievance.

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To this point, I have resisted commenting on the passing of NBC’s Tim Russert. I have mostly been watching in disbelief as much of the news media heap so much praise on the fallen newsman that you’d think he was the journalistic equivalent of Jesus himself.

I agree with Colin McEnroe. You tend to feel awkward when someone who mostly annoys you kicks the bucket, especially if you’re a writer and get paid to give your assessment of people like Russert.

But mostly I have held back from writing about Russert because I have been waiting for a piece like this. That’s how brave I am. I’m not sure whether it’s OK to speak ill of the dead until someone else does it. But Jack Shafer jumped in first, so here goes.

Here’s what I liked about Russert: his humble beginnings; his passion for journalism and politics; his strong family life; he worked for Pat Moynihan (whom I admired) and; sometimes, the way he ran Meet The Press.

Here’s what I did not like about him: Russert was a slippery player in the Scooter Libby-Valerie Plame imbroglio; he is the very embodiment of the Washington media establishment; and nowhere is the incestuous world of power journalism more on display than in the self-indulgent assumption that the rest of the world cares as much about Russert’s passing as the media do.

Let’s face it: the coverage of his death is more fitting for a head of state than a TV journo. I think Terrence McCarthy got it right on Colin’s blog. It’s likely Russert is rolling his eyes from the grave at the excessive coverage of his passing. Then again, maybe he’s just flashing that wolfish grin …

Wow!

I am just now getting around to posting an update on the whopper of a storm that hit the Northwest Corner last night. I write this from the offices of The Millerton News because it’s the only place I can find that has both Internet access and power.

Last night between 9 and 10 p.m. a powerful front rolled into our area. There wasn’t a whole lot of rain but the combination of wind and lightning was a sight and sound to behold. We lost power at about 10 and as I write this at 2:45 p.m.Wednesday, CL&P tells us we might get it back late tomorrow.

When I awoke at 6 this a.m. and still had no power, I drove straight to the McDonald’s in Millerton hoping it would be open. Thankfully, it was. But on the way I saw dozens of trees and limbs down over power lines, along with several utility poles snapped like toothpicks.

We are going to try to put together both the LJ and The Millerton News tomorrow for Friday distribution. But it’s possible we won’t be able to, in which case we will start as soon as we get power back at our Bissel Street plant.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for someplace to eat, Millerton has plenty of power. I suspect the restaurants will be doing a great business. When I took my kids to lunch today at Mickey Dee’s, I’d say 75% of the cars in the parking lot had CT plates.

Got any storm stories to share? Feel free to leave a comment here and unburden yourself.

P.S. To follow the power situation, click here to see CL&P’s stats on the number of people who are still in the dark.

The Great Showdown

Two things: I wanted to thank my readers who contributed comments on this blog for use in my story in this week’s print edition on rising fuel prices. I wasn’t able to include everyone’s words but there were some valuable quotes and words of wisdom for which I am grateful.

Clearly, something needs to be done. I am not for a government mandated price freeze of the sort Richard Nixon imposed in the 1970s. After all, we’re in a global economy and that sort of micromanaging will not work.

However, for what earthly reason are energy trades exempted from the kind of regulatory scrutiny that bond and stock traders must routinely cope with? Perhaps former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, who helped lobbyists craft the so-called Enron Loophole, could explain why energy traders need such a comparatively unregulated environment. Note: Evidently, McCain is a defender of the loophole.

Second: I don’t write much about sports on this blog, even though I’m a fan. But tonight marks the return of one of the great rivalries in sport. We’re talking Celtics vs. Lakers in the NBA finals, folks.

It’s hard for me to get to worked up because I haven’t been following the Celts for years. When I think of those two teams, it conjures up images of Magic, Kareem and Worthy going up against the best front-court in history of basketball: Bird, Parrish and McHale.

But I will still be watching with interest. It’s gratifying to see the Celtics doing so well again. Looks like the maneuvering that gave them Garnett and Allen to support Pierce has worked like a charm. I’ve got one question: why do all the games (even those on the weekends) start at 9 p.m.?

I understand the need to give people in southern California the time to get home from the office for a 6 p.m. start, but is it necessary to make East Coasters stay up until the wee hours on a Sunday? I am demanding action! Where’s Dick Blumenthal when you need him?

Telling Tales

Update 11 a.m. Friday: Now McClellan says the tone of the book (and the title) “evolved over time” — apparently under pressure from his publisher, who thought What Happened was boring.

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SALISBURY TOWN GROVE — I have been absolutely amazed at the amount of attention Scott McClellan’s new book, What Happened, has received — although I suppose I should never underestimate the propensity of the news media to flood the zone with a hot story.

As I wrote this morning on Denis Horgan’s blog, the reax to these sorts of affairs is always so predictable. It’s ironic that the same people who hated McClellan and thought he was a liar are now praising him as a truth teller because he’s saying exactly what they want to hear. In fact, lots of lefties I’ve spoken to are swallowing this book whole, while many conservatives attack the messenger.

It’s sort of like these endless studies that come out about one thing or another. If the study confirms what we already believe, we say, “See, I told you so.” If we don’t like the study’s conclusions, we attack the methodology or the group that sponsored it.

McClellan was quite possibly the worst White House press secretary in my lifetime. I’d say he was the only Bush administration official more inarticulate than the president himself. He’s certainly entitled to write a tell-all book, but I would think someone with Denis’s level of sophistication would be a little more skeptical in assessing it.

Let’s face it, it’s not Swiftboating to point out that press secretaries in the Bush admin have been routinely left out of important discussions and that it’s questionable whether McC could have known all the things he claims. So, dear lefty friends, shouldn’t we be looking at What Happened with a critical eye? Why no, we can’t do that. It’s exactly what Bush, Cheney and Rove would want. Ergo, McC must be telling the truth.

As I said on Marshall and Mike this morning (click here to get podcast), I can understand that McC was torked off at Rove and Libby for sending him out to lie about their involvement in l’affaire Plame and perhaps he feels foolish now to have huffed and puffed about Saddam’s WMDs.

But is there really any need to write about Bush saying he couldn’t remember if he’d done coke because the parties he went to as a young man were so wild? That sort of thing just comes across as petty and score-settling. I think it even undermines McC’s credibility.

Yes He Can!

Update to the post below: The guy who will lose in the fall to the old warmonger will speak at the commencement exercises at my graduate school alma mater. That’s right, Obama will be in Connecticut Sunday to stand in for the ailing Ted Kennedy and sing to the teeming liberal masses at Wesleyan University.

When I got my degree there in 1990, I got to see Bishop Desmond Tutu speak. Like Obama, the bishop was uplifting, but he had that piercing and high-pitched quality to his voice. Fortunately he did not speak in bromides of the sort favored by Obama. Frankly, I think we got a better deal than the class of 2008. Yes We Did!

Paying for the Privilege

You know, now that the kerfuffle over the purchase of land for a new Salisbury-Sharon transfer station has subsided (at least for the moment), I’ve had time to consider some other thoughts about garbage. Yes, it’s time to talk trash!

One of the central questions posed by opponents of the Luke and Fitting properties was “What about Sharon? She hasn’t committed on paper to anything. She will get all of the benefits of the new transfer station while assuming none of the up-front costs and the associated risks.” [apologies to Mike LaRose for the use of the feminine pronoun!]

Still others have asked, “What about Millerton? Would we want to invite Millerton to join us since residents there have been without a transfer station for 15 years?” Well, if you listen to my simple proposal, the answer to both of those questions will be: “Who cares about them? Build it and they will come.”

Continue reading Paying for the Privilege…

Student art show will be moved next door after fire

News alert: This bit of news was too late for this week’s print edition and is going up here and on the home page at tcextra.com. I’ve been to this event several times and recommend it highly.

LAKEVILLE — A relatively minor fire Wednesday morning in the basement of The White Gallery will not put the brakes on a planned student art show and reception this weekend.

Entitled “Blue & Gold,” the show featuring works by students at Housatonic Valley Regional High School will be moved next door to Borden Realtors at 346 Main Street in Lakeville, said Susan Galluzzo, co-owner with her husband Tino of The White Gallery.

The show will run from Friday, May 16, through Sunday, May 18. There will be a reception for artists on Friday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., also at Borden’s. Exhibit hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday to Saturday. All proceeds will benefit young artists in the art program at the high school.

The show is sponsored by Borden’s and the White Gallery.

– Terry Cowgill