Dowbrigade

THE WAR IS LOST. By most measures of what the Bush administration forecast for its adventure in Iraq, it is already a failure. The war was going to make the Middle East a more peaceful place. It was going to undercut terrorism. It was going to show the evil dictators of the world that American power is not to be resisted. It was going to improve the lives of ordinary Iraqis. It was going to stabilize oil markets. The American army was going to be greeted with flowers. None of that happened. The most radical elements of various fascist movements in the Arab world have been energized by the invasion of Iraq. The American occupation is a rallying point for terrorists. Instead of undermining extremism, Washington has sponsored its next phase, and now moderates in every Arab society are more on the defensive than ever.

By James Carroll in the Boston Globe

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court threw out more than 100 death sentences in Arizona, Montana and Idaho on Tuesday because the inmates were sent to death row by judges instead of juries.

The case stems from a 2002 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the high court found that juries, not judges, must render death sentences. But the Supreme Court left unclear whether the new rules should apply retroactively to inmates awaiting execution.

from the New York Times

Get ready for the biggest boondoggle of our lifetimes. The recent collapse of the Eastern power grid has set the stage for a naked power grab on the part of the Federal government, and a possible future source of funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

The basic problem is that energy deregulation has been too successful, so far as it goes. It insures producers of a profit by leaving rates at the mercy of the marketplace. Deregulation and good old capitalist competition have induced private corporations to invest in electrical production, building oil, gas and nuclear plants at a rapid pace. However, the transmission grid that brings all that extra energy to the end users (us) is, by nature, monopolistic. It makes no sense to have competing sets of wires draped across the country and through neighborhoods in order to offer choice in who actually delivers the juice to your house.

The logic follows almost inexorably that if there is going to be a single set of delivery infrastructure, and if electricity is an absolutely essential and obviously vulnerable resource (both to terrorism and mismanagement), the only logical authority with the clout and ability to step in to create, maintain and defend the electrical system we need to make it through the NEXT 50 years is – the Federal Government.

We clearly need a complete overhaul of the infrastructure. Any doctor or exterminator will tell you equipment designed in the 50’s and built in the 60’s and 70’s cannot meet the needs of the 21st century. The new system must reflect the technological advances of the past half century as well as anticipate the demand of the next. There is buzz around now about a superconducting, or semi-superconducting, backbone for the new consolidated grid.

Whether that particular futurism is ready for prime time aside, one thing is for sure. This system is gonna cost big bucks. It will make Boston’s Big Dig look like a latrine trench. It will dwarf any public sector investment in the history of the world. And we all know who will be paying for it. Us. And out children. And grandchildren. Will they thank us, or curse the darkness?

Forrester Research on Tuesday predicted a steep fall in CD sales, as audio and video file sharing over the Internet continues to emerge as a preferred option among consumers.

“The shift from physical media will halt the music industry’s slide and create new revenues for movie companies, but it will wreak havoc with retailers like Tower Records and Blockbuster,” Josh Bernoff, principal analyst at Forrester, said in a statement. “As a result, we’re about to see a massive power shift in the entertainment industry.”

from CNet