AAMP!itude

lame duck meets endangered species?

I didn't hear the State of the Union speech, last night... but hearing about it, on newsradio, reminded me that the closest I've ever gotten to Bush43 is this masked actor doing a little agitprop at the inauguration in 2000.

From the photo, you might guess that the skit is about saving the polar bear from the ravages of oil & gas exploration in the Arctic. Yeah, well, one of the big issues, at the time, was whether to allow drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge).

I don't think it's happened, yet, but about a week-and-a-half ago, there was a hearing on Capitol Hill about the plight of the polar bear... whether they could survive their habitat melting away... that is to say, the ice bergs and ice floes they depend on to hunt seals and whatnot have been melting due to global warming.

A Washington Post editorial noted:

"A September report from the U.S. Geological Survey revealed that a melting of Arctic ice caused by global warming would wipe out two-thirds of the world's polar bear population, estimated at 20,000 to 25,000, and all of Alaska's estimated 4,700 polar bears, by 2050."

This USGS report has been challenged by some experts and academicians. Other researchers agree that the polar bear population is shrinking. There's a good discussion of this controversy in Macleans magazine.

The article also gives the Inuit point of view, that the polar bears they track and hunt are not declining in number.

Whatever the case may be, it's important to realize that there are many polar bears in Canada, and it's not just a U.S. concern. (There're probably many in Russia, too.)

Polar bears of the world, unite!!

In related news... the AP reported on January 28, 2008:

"Conservation groups on Monday sued a federal agency over an offshore petroleum lease sale in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, claiming the government has not disclosed documents that could show harmful effects to polar bears and other marine mammals."

Toyota - GM

It was reported today that General Motors and Toyota sold about the same amount of vehicles last year (9.37 million).

I feel like I contributed to sales in both camps, as I bought an '07 Pontiac Vibe this past fall.
The Vibe is a Toyota Corolla station wagon made to look like an SUV. Toyota's version is the Matrix.

The Vibe is made at the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California. (That might be the only car plant in Calif. and west of the Rockies.) The Matrix is made in Cambridge, Ontario.

The NUMMI plant is a joint venture between Toyota and GM since 1984. Corollas roll off the same assembly line. The plant also makes Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks.

The main reasons for my buying the Vibe was its large, flexible interior space (see picture at the Pontiac website) and good gas mileage. (I'm getting about 35 mpg, due to mostly highway driving.) I also appreciated the fact that the drivetrain was of Toyota design and assembly, so hopefully the reliability would be high.

It's about time for me to change the oil, although current low mid-Atlantic temperatures preclude that, this week. (Since I have to do it outdoors, I'll wait till it gets a little warmer.)

What bugs me is that the owner's manual doesn't describe how to change the oil. There aren't any pictures of the oil pan drain plug.

I hope it's not hard to find.

(I don't think Pontiac expects the owner to change the oil himself. Why is that?!)

The Baltimore-L.A. connection

Lately, I’ve been noticing a Baltimore-L.A. connection.

During the Christmas holidays, I was in L.A. I read in the newsprint L.A. Times about the Zell meeting or press conference, where he discussed his intentions toward the newspapers he’s gained control of: Chicago Trib., L.A. Times, Baltimore Sun, etc. Of course, the article discussed possible real estate machinations in L.A., and barely mentioned the other cities. So I had to scan the Baltimore Sun online to learn what might be happening in Charm City.

I had to do the same thing when it came to the coverage about Rick Neuheisel being hired as the new UCLA football coach. I don’t think I ever knew that he had been with the Ravens (I barely pay attention to football). The article in the L.A. Times about his hiring didn’t describe what he’d been doing for the Baltimore team, so I had to find an article online at the Sun website.

I just picked up the latest issue of the Baltimore City Paper, the free weekly. The cover story is about a big drug bust involving a Baltimore drug wholesaler and his Latino (Mexican or Mexican American) suppliers in L.A.
It turns out that this Baltimorean was key to a series of arrests that eventually included a L.A. grocery chain owner, who the authorities have been itching to convict as a drug trafficker.
The grocery guy is a former business associate of a fellow who owns parking lots and warehouses in downtown L.A. This real estate magnate has a son, who (the article says) was convicted in the mid-90s in the biggest drug case in Minnesota history. (Is that still the largest on record? Was Guy Noir involved?)
The son was pardoned by Clinton in 2000. Afterwards, it “became publicly known” that the father had “donated money to prominent local, state and congressional representatives to write letters on his son’s behalf.” He had also persuaded the U.S. Attorney (L.A. District), L.A. County Sheriff, and the L.A. (Roman Catholic) Cardinal to lobby the White House.
The scandal got worse when Drug Enforcement Administration documents “later surfaced that alleged [the businessmen] were major Southern California drug traffickers.”

Anyhow, the impression I get from these three stories is that Baltimore is in danger of becoming a background backwater accessory to news and scandal out of L.A. Of course, Baltimoreans wouldn’t think so… but maybe it’s become a moot point, by now.

New hampshire primary voting

Wonder how my relatives in the Granite State voted in today's primary... (if they did vote)

Some of 'em live around Manchester and one lives in Rochester.