I haven't put in any political commentary for a while, and I really have little to say about the federal government's new Operation TIPS program that Tom Tomorrow hasn't already said better, so go pay his site a visit.

I will say this: I predict that some 90% of their calls will be bogus tips from truckers or truckers' spouses/partners who are angry at their other half for cheating on them while one of them is on the road. Nine of the remaining ten percent will be needlessly alarmist calls about some very mild case of constitutionally-protected dissent.

The upshot being that more than anything this program will waste taxpayer money while creating a needlessly intrusive and ill-foreboding system of citizen informants.

Who needs that? Definitely not me.

Songwriter Janis Ian offers this thought-provoking analysis of Internet file sharing. One of the most lucid, well-reasoned arguments on the subject I've yet encountered. Link courtesy of The Null Device

...he would be wondering what to do with all of the nuclear waste.

According to MapScience, under the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste plan, this is my...

Distance from the nearest nuclear waste route: 40.8 miles Distance from Comanche Peak, the nearest waste source: 140.4 miles

Not too bad, until you realize that I travel on the route on a regular basis. That 40 miles is nothing in Texas—people regularly drive that far to go out to dinner at a restaurant. Try it yourself and see what your results are.

And check out these chilling facts!

Yet more proof that the energy plan of the Bush administration is ill-conceived, dangerous to both the environment and national health conditions, and completely lacking in a forward-looking vision. Hell, it doesn't even promote technologies available in the present that could reduce emissions and nuclear waste. Instead funding for alternative sources research is reduced while they propose wildlife-refuge oil drilling, national missile defense, and initiatives against Iraq.

News flash: we won't need missile defense or action against Iraq if we don't need oil, if we don't behave badly in other countries because of our dependence on oil, thereby giving them reasons to hate us (and no, I am not saying we are responsible for 9/11, but we are partially responsible for the global climate in which it happened). And contrary to what the Bush administration says, drilling in ANWR would be inconsequential in reducing this dependence.

You want nuclear waste solutions? These are nuclear waste solutions:

Solar / photovoltaic Wind Hydroelectric Fuel cells

In other words, stop producing nuclear waste until we know we can store and transport it safely. Fund some research to hurry along the most promising technologies that are still prohibitively expensive (e.g. fuel cells). Reduce our dependence on oil by creating viable alternatives.

Bullying the world because of oil will get Americans killed. Shipping nuclear waste across the country will get Americans killed.

To put it simply: Think! Think!

Does anyone in the administration do that?

This rant brought to you by the Hell In A Handbasket files of Makura No Soshi.