news notes

1st Obama admin. Int. Sec. (Salazar) news conference
my question
can we transform the way the nation (as a whole) thinks about the environment
can we change the way that part of the nation that thinks thinking about the environment is heretical thinks about the environment
can we shift the balance
(toward ... ?)

this new interior dept. promises to be active
my question
how can we track what it is doing so that we, the voters, the letter writers, know about it in a way that is fully textured and comprehensive in scope, at the same time

i picture a screen (a page) on which appears, through graphical ingenuity, actual reporting on hundreds of issues at the same time ...
for example, you can see where there is a lot of pollution being generated, and where there is work being done on watershed improvement, and how many people are involved ... different colors show whether the stream is muddy or clear, and little dots show the people at work, all, and little green dollar signs show how well funded the project is, and they can be seen moving from the funding source to the project ...
of course, you can zoom in on a given report to see more detail ...

can we pulse out conceptual splashes across the landscape of the body politic, and monitor and document the response (creating channels or media for responding)

these techniques aren't just for Interior ... you could visualize (for public access) the whole scope of Administration (the) on a single screen

meanwhile, Yahoo!TM coverage of The GrammiesTM made me cringe in all sorts of different ways ... i can't link you to it because Yahoo!TM doesn't archive its TV coverage ... i guess you could search on "2009 Grammies," or some such
SAY, are we going to regulate the media, now, so we can get some quality? (i rate US production values very high, but what's the purpose of it all?)

returning to politics
i think the Repubs. are digging in their heels in a mighty way ... just out of orneriness
this comes out very strong reading The Arizona Republic, now
is there anything to their arguments
i don't think so
because all they are saying is "danger, danger, danger"
i want to talk about what we can accomplish, period
but
a lot of people are inclined to take them seriously, and that gives their obstructionist actions weight, and makes it hard for the administration to move forward
like wading in mud
so i'm trying to think what to make of it, and decide to tell the president to be mightily patient

and talk about what we can accomplish
(as a matter of fact, i fault him for talking about danger so much, himself, these last weeks)

ok, then, what can we accomplish
i can see, now, why we turn to danger ... seeing possibilities is hard!
we'll get criticized this way and that

the city has its roots out far and wide
sucking nutrition from the land
and we are little insects in its branches
leaves on its branches
parenchyma
city as tree
tree as forest generator
forest as the benign environment, paradise
how do trees create the benign?