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Obama Starts ‘Remaking America” By Tackling Banks, Afghanistan
Ken Fireman and Edwin Chen, Bloomberg
President Barack Obama begins his “new era of responsibility” today by gathering economic advisers to tackle the banking crisis after an inaugural address in which he outlined an agenda aimed at nothing short of “remaking America.”
Obama’s speech yesterday was dominated by twin themes of optimism about the future of the U.S. and a sober warning on the difficulties of managing two wars and the worst economic climate in generations. “Starting today we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America,” he said.
(21 January 2009)
Pile up! KU report makes commute even more depressing
Carolyn Szczepanski, Pitch (Kansas)
It’s going to take more than a great big stimulus package and a giant dose of optimism to dig the country out of our transit and infrastructure challenges. So says a new report from the University of Kansas Transportation Research Institute released last week.
“Humankind confronts interrelated crises of energy and transportation in a rapidly changing world where we must deal with spiking petroleum prices, decaying bridges, growing congestion in all modes, an aging and inattentive driver population, a shortage of adequately trained transportation engineers, and the diverse ramifications of global climate change.”
And that’s just the introduction.
… The reports’ findings aren’t necessarily surprising. But it’s depressing to see all the statistics line up, describing an American landscape where we’re all confined to individual metal boxes, driving inefficient cars on unsafe bridges and congested freeways while texting on our cell phone and spewing more than our fair share of greenhouse gases.
(19 January 2009)
The report is online: Top Transportation & Energy Issues Facing the Nation (PDF). No mention of peak oil.
(19 January 2009)
Crop to Cuisine: The Politics of Food
Crop to Cuisine via Global Public Media
A day before President Elect Obama is sworn in, Crop To Cuisine explores the politics of our food. We speak with Professor and Author of Food Politics Marion Nestle about the incoming administration and the potential changes coming to the USDA because of it. We also speak with Bart Miller. He is the Water Program Director at Western Resource Advocates. He shares his experience in the politics of water in Colorado government. And Maeve Conran reports on a measure in Longmont, CO where backyard chickens have become a heated issue amongst city residents.
For more information about our guests, additional resources on local food and agriculture, or some kickin’ recipes, visit www.croptocuisine.org. I’d like to know how you experience your food.
(19 January 2009)