Columns & Podcasts

Empathy not a liberal issue  (June 12, 2009)
Empathy is code for activism of the liberal variety?

As an unapologetic liberal, I didn’t know that. When I asked my left-leaning friends, they didn’t know that either. Guess we didn’t get the memo from Liberal Headquarters, which is apparently somewhere in California, probably San Francisco.

Right-wing pundits Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly assert that in President Barack Obama’s nomination announcement of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, he used the word “empathy” as a code for his obviously liberal activist views: yet another proof that he’s a Socialist. No doubt, Limbaugh et al would have defined Obama as a Communist, but since the fall of the USSR, there are very few Communists to blame for anything. Calling someone a Communist only reveals how out-of-touch the caller is. Read more...

CAFO outcry comes from farmers  (May 29, 2009)
You know all of those claims by proponents of agribusinesses about how “urban move-ins” are filing the lawsuits against concentrated animal feeding operations because they aren’t accustomed to smelling fresh country air?

It is all made up, a total fabrication, stemming from the fertile imaginations of public relations people in the employ of agribusinesses such as Smithfield/Premium Standard Farms, Tyson, Seaboard and MOARK/Land O’ Lakes. Read more...

Cap-and-trade requires strict oversight  (May 1, 2009)
If, in spite of all the information collected by reputable and credible scientists, you’re one of those global warming skeptics, read no further. This column might be harmful to your mental health.
Cap-and-trade. Read more...

Bulldozer Academy faces backlash  (April 17, 2009)
What members of the Central Missouri Development Council (aka Bulldozer Academy) — headed up by the never-at-a-loss-for-words Don Stamper — can’t seem to recognize is that they are their own worst enemy. They have met the enemy, and it is them. Read more...

CAFO subsidies no help for rural economies  (April 3, 2009)
As reported by the Associated Press, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., has earmarked a bundle of money — about $250,000 — to Premium Standard Farms on the dubious premise that concentrated animal feeding operations are a boost to the rural economy. PSF plans to use the money to find ways to reduce the amount of hog poop it produces via a dewatering procedure. Read more...

AIG execs take the money and run  (March 20, 2009)
One thing I know is that my set-aside retirement fund has dwindled by about 40 percent. Read more...

Need for new plant a powerful question  (March 6, 2009)
While the primary debate about construction of Callaway 2 is about who pays, there’s an even more fundamental question: “Is it needed?” Read more...

Mayor's letter to Ameren chief crossed line   (February 20, 2009)
Here’s what Tom Voss, CEO of AmerenUE, had to say in July 2008 about the construction of another nuclear power plant, tagged Callaway 2:

“We just couldn’t do it. The risk would be too great. We don’t think people would lend us the money. We don’t think our board of directors would approve it. And we don’t think our stockholders would think it’s prudent.” Read more...

It’s not safe to get in the water   (February 6, 2009)
It seems as though “non-support of aquatic habitat” is not the only problem Hinkson Creek has. Recently, because of a lowering of the amount of bacteria that the Environmental Protection Agency will allow, Hinkson is now impaired for “non-support of recreation in and on the water.” This impairment is for the full in-city stretch of Hinkson Creek to its confluence with Perche Creek, mostly downstream of Interstate 70. The full length that is impaired is 18 miles. Read more...

CAFOs – Economics, emotion and passion (14:20)
February 4, 2009

Read entire script...

Panel acts as if stream rules don’t apply   (January 30, 2009)
The Current River is held in high esteem by Central Missouri residents, has been the site of many float trips by Columbia residents and has been designated by Congress as one of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, with a corridor managed by the National Park Service. It belongs to all U.S. citizens - from Maine to California, from Florida to Washington. Read more...

Columbia needs a sustainability director   (January 23, 2009)
Back in the fall, the Columbia City Council considered creating a new position called "sustainability director." City staff wanted the position to be created. The salary for this position was in the budget.

But the council couldn’t come to an agreement on a definition (or job description) for this position, and eventually the notion was pushed aside. Read more...

Repairing Hinkson benefits everyone   (January 16, 2009)
Hinkson Creek is polluted. After much study, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources added it to the Impaired Water Body list, in that it does not meet its "designated and beneficial" uses. Recently, the impaired range was extended from 11 to 14 miles. Read more...

Scientists predict dramatic Midwest climate change   (January 9, 2009)
On Dec. 31, the day before New Year’s Day, the temperature peaked at 67 degrees here in Columbia. At the Lake of the Ozarks, the temperature made it over 70 degrees (72 degrees, to be exact). Read more...

Auto industry bailout is capitulation at any speed   (January 2, 2009)
In case you’ve been in a coma or lost in the desert or have been somewhere with no TV, radio or newspapers, the Big Three, as they’re called, of the automobile industry - GM, Ford, Chrysler - are hankering for a bailout and are asking Congress to pony up somewhere in the neighborhood of $35 million. Their claim was that unless the money is forthcoming, all three of them will go down the tube along with millions of jobs. Read more...

Bush rules must be questioned, changed   (December 19, 2008)
Back when President George W. Bush was elected for the first time, he came up with cute names for destructive positions.

"Clear Skies" was the name given to allow expansions of industrial facilities to exempt such expansions from provisions of the Clean Air Act.

"Healthy Forests" was not at all healthy, unless it is assumed that clear-cut forests - with no trees whatsoever - are healthy. Read more...

Next DNR director has mess to clean up   (December 12, 2008)
With a whimper, not a bang - so ends the reign of Department of Natural Resources Director Doyle Childers.

He has submitted his resignation and, as reported in The Kansas City Star, will be gone by Jan. 12. Chances are that he will be gone before that - most likely by the end of this month - but the exact date of his departure is unknown.

One thing is for sure: DNR has been politicized as never before. Read more...

Mercury rules are needed   (December 5, 2008)
There is absolutely no doubt that mercury, whether standing alone or in compound with other elements, is harmful to health.

It affects the central nervous system - hence the term "mad as a hatter," since hatmakers once used mercury to cure hats. It is especially detrimental to the developing nervous systems of fetuses and young children. It is also an airborne toxic contaminant that federal and state governments refuse to regulate. Read more...

Wind, sun can best serve energy needs   (November 28, 2008)
In all the hoopla about Barack Obama being elected as president, one of the more significant state ballot issues almost got lost. Although there were a few articles about this, it is suspected that most people are unaware we now have a renewable energy standard for this state, one that calls for utilities companies to provide energy from sustainable and renewable sources while affording consumers protection from higher rates. Read more...

Effects of Bootheel uranium search costly (November 21, 2008)
Something’s going on down in the Bootheel. At this point, it is all still pretty much a mystery, but if all comes together, it is likely to be an environmental disaster.

All that is known at this point is that a consulting firm - Gustafson Inc. of Boulder, Colo. - is doing some exploratory work for the U.S. Department of Energy and the Bendix Corp. Apparently, the engineers and geologists at Gustafson think that underneath all that rich topsoil deposited over thousands of years by flooding from the adjacent Mississippi River, is uranium. Read more...

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