by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The Olympic torch has arrived in San Francisco today, under tight security. The proteststhat we saw in Paris and London are likely to happen here as well. Butnot to worry: "I like to think in San Francisco we know how to do aprotest. Here in San Francisco, we're not the type to jump on people ina wheelchair to try to snuff out the flame," said David Perry, aspokesman for SF's Olympic torch preparations.

Prominent Arizona businessmen are backing a California ballotinitiative that would force the state to quadruple its production of alternative energy sources by 2025, but unions, industry experts, and environmentalists oppose it."John Sperling is genuinely well-intentioned and wants to do somethingabout global warming. But the initiative was put together by people whodidn't know what they were doing," said Ralph Cavanagh from the NaturalResources Defense Council.

Governor Schwarzenegger is taking some heat from protesters who are upset with his plan to close 48 state parks. Schwarzenegger waspaying a visit to the American River Parkway to plug his plan for parkvolunteers.

There's more...

Image courtesy Sacbee.com

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Maybe we are finally doing something about global warming: theHouse of Representatives has passed a major energy bill, by a 235-181vote, that would increase vehicle fuel economy standards by 40% to35 miles per gallon, reports the LA Times. But the bill faces a tougherbattle in the Senate, and is strongly opposed by the BushAdministration, which is concerned about measures that would repeal $13billion in tax breaks for oil companies, and require utilities togenerate more power from alternative energy sources. Should it pass, itwould mark the first time fuel economy standards have been raised since1975.

Economic analysts are making dismal predictions about the California economy in the next year, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Tighter creditand falling home sales will contribute to slow growth and an elevatedunemployment rate. The state budget deficit is also expected to widen,and decreased public spending is in turn expected to slow down therecovery.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Part 2 of a 4 Part Series

By Marilyn Dudley-Flores, Ph.D
CEO
OPS-Alaska

Sweatshop Universities – America for Dummies

President Richard Nixon’s Administration ended the Apollo program that made the United States a space-capable society and one respected for its science and technology. But, the Nixon Administration ended more than a space program. Ramping up to human Mars exploration would have laid the groundwork for “big science, great policy” answers to not only issues of long-duration space exploration, but also to alternative energy sources, epochal climate change offset, and disaster mitigation.

It was not to be. The decisions of the Nixon Administration “dumbed down” American postsecondary education as a consequence of the lapse of the Apollo program and the follow-on science and technology events that did not happen in the 1980s and 1990s. The Apollo Era had stimulated knowledge production and technological advancement because the federal government poured money into colleges and universities to grease the engines of prestige on the America-to-the-Moon front during the Cold War.