What could old Europe possibly teach us?

OK, sure, but besides modern transportation that is fast, convenient, energy efficient and popular. And it's more environmentally friendly? Commies.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood boarded a train at Madrid's Atocha station along with Spanish Development Minister Jose Blanco for an hour-and-a-quarter trip to Zaragoza, a stop on the line heading to Barcelona.

Lahood has been touring Europe this week, riding a TGV bullet-train in France and attending a transportation conference in Germany that also featured officials from the German railway system, Deutsche Bahn.

Obama last month unveiled an $8 billion plan to build a high-speed rail network in the U.S. and upgrade existing services. The U.S. president cited Spain, France, China and Japan as countries with systems for his nation to emulate.

As an avid train user, the system over here is so much easier for business (and personal) travel compared to flying. I wish the Eurostar between Paris and London could have more consistent pricing because it's such a time saver. No miserable journey to the airport and faster security lines but the prices can range from 50€ up to 400€ each way. Inside France the prices are much more reasonable with a bit of advanced booking. It's possible to do what would take us 10 hours (maybe more) in a car in 2.5 hours. Not too bad at all. Read More......

Sarah Palin's home town newspaper discusses whether the anti-Christ will be gay

Perhaps they ought to consider whether he'll be a dingbat who thinks Africa is a country.

The reason I'm posting this is because of the comments after the article. They're wonderful. All 500+ of them. Check them out. H/t to reader Judy. Read More......

At least they're promoting ethics

Like the Dutch program, I have my doubts about programs like this. Maybe over time but this system desperately needs a hard jolt of reality to change attitudes and a little card is not going to cut it. It's also a false argument to make this a fight between money or ethics, as the Times suggests. Money is what makes the system work and there's nothing wrong with making lots of money. Especially now after the losses, Americans need profits to be made on Wall Street to rescue their retirement plans. (Real profits, of course.)

The issue with the greedy pack has been making money from business that doesn't exist and asking for Champagne socialism where the government keeps you afloat so you can maintain an exclusive lifestyle when again, you haven't generated profits that are greater than your losses. Maybe I have old fashioned ideas about profit and loss but in my world, a balance sheet is a balance sheet. That's not even ethics, it's reality.

It's a good idea and definitely positive to see students proactively looking into this ongoing problem. Promises and talk is cheap and we are well past voluntary codes of ethics. Until business can show an ability to behave, someone is going to have to act like a grownup and set the rules, including punishment for bad behavior.

Nearly 20 percent of the graduating class have signed “The M.B.A. Oath,” a voluntary student-led pledge that the goal of a business manager is to “serve the greater good.” It promises that Harvard M.B.A.’s will act responsibly, ethically and refrain from advancing their “own narrow ambitions” at the expense of others.

What happened to making money?

That, of course, is still at the heart of the Harvard curriculum. But at Harvard and other top business schools, there has been an explosion of interest in ethics courses and in student activities — clubs, lectures, conferences — about personal and corporate responsibility and on how to view business as more than a money-making enterprise, but part of a large social community.

“We want to stand up and recite something out loud with our class,” said Teal Carlock, who is graduating from Harvard and has accepted a job at Genentech. “Fingers are now pointed at M.B.A.’s and we, as a class, have a real opportunity to come together and set a standard as business leaders.”

As Joelle reminded me, focusing on ethics is nothing new. When she was doing her MBA at BC back in the late 1980's, ethics were all the rage at Harvard and other supposedly leading edge MBA programs. How'd that work out? Read More......

Fighting back and helping our own

Reader E writes:

Thanks for your post on "where are the liberal groups on Health Care"? I know you guys hit this theme regularly on lefty issue groups and it needs to be hit even more. It is not simply that these groups are complacent because Obama won, they were close to invisible before. They need their folks fighting to go on the talk shows.

BTW: it is related to my feelings on the Prop 8 thing. I think Prop 8 is an abomination and should not have won. Full stop.

And as lefty straight guy who 15 years ago did not think gay marriage was a big issue (and most of my gay friends had real philosophical issues with buying into what they perceived as a hetero structure--perhaps my friends were more extreme than most, but I really doubt it), I now view it as essential that more people are trying (it always takes work) to bond together in love for the long term in the context of the community.

Why do I bring this up? It cannot be said enough that the No on 8 forces screwed up royally. As a California voter I remember reading blog posts in August that said we need not worry, so I didn't and focused on Obama and non-california races. The landscape of the gay marriage issue has evolved very fast on the left, right, and ESPECIALLY the center but the No on 8 were clueless. They didn't rally their base--people like me, they didn't attack the right for what they were (that Mormon ad would have been good), and they didn't treat the center with respect--ie we know this different than what you are used to, but if we have a conversation I think you will see that it is the right thing to do and that the reasons you are uncomfortable (if you are) don't really add up anymore.

So I am as disgusted by Prop 8 as the next person, but I try to look in the mirror and remember my own complacency. Being angry and lashing out is not really all that interesting to me, learning about oneself and ones tactics and running a good campaign is interesting to me.

Health care is going to be the same. Global warming. All these. So I think you do a service to call out these weaknesses.

I also think that it is up to blog READERS to insist their groups advertise on the blogs. It may be unfair, but you guys come across as self-serving when you complain (just being honest--even though I agree with the basic point). But as readers and members of these groups we can speak from a different perspective. We the readers (and members of Sierra Club, ACLU, etc and donors to whomever) need to insist on it. I think the ads will pay off BTW, because membership will increase.

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GOP: Let's ignore the environment and be very afraid

Always predictable. They're a bunch of complete chickens, afraid of their own shadow and the terrifying world that addresses climate change. Yes, jobs will be lost as they are with any innovation or change but what about the jobs created? What about the environmental benefits? What about the health care costs related to doing nothing? Don't they count? Are the Republicans always going to run in fear of practical change? Sheesh. Change your diapers and dare to think about the new opportunities that are waiting. Heaven forbid new businesses are created that are outside of the old energy structure. What ever will we do?

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, in the GOP's weekly radio and Internet address, said the House's climate bill was "a classic example of unwise government." The address culminated a week of coordinated Republican attacks on the Democratic proposal, which would require the first nationwide reductions in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

GOP House members used the weeklong Memorial Day break recess to drum up voter opposition to the Democratic bill. The governor's criticism echoed Republican lawmakers' arguments at "energy summits" in Pennsylvania, Indiana and California and at other forums during the week.

The proposal to cap greenhouse emissions "will cost us dearly in jobs and income and it stands no chance of achieving its objective of a cooler earth" because other nation's such as China and India will not have to follow, Daniels said.

"The cost for all American taxpayers will be certain, huge, and immediate. Any benefits are extremely uncertain, minuscule, and decades distant," he contended.

It's all more of the same thumb sucking that got us into this mess in the first place. These people wouldn't know a business opportunity if it was plopped on their lap. Taking the lead in a growing market sounds like a decent idea for a country looking to create jobs. Cowards and clueless 'til the very end. Read More......

New French government report declares Mormons a cult

Along with Satanism, Scientology and the GOP's friends over at the Moonie newspaper. I've often said that the radical Mormon activists who we're forced to deal with - the ones who forcibly baptize dead Jewish Holocaust victims in an effort to steal their souls, the ones who spend tens of millions in other states to force Christians and others to live according to Mormon views of morality - bear a striking resemblance to Scientologists. We have a Scientology mother ship here in DC, and if you ever talk to any of its inhabitants it's remarkably like talking to activist Mormons. Sweet as pie to a fault until you question them on anything, then the long knives, and the lawyers, come out.

Here's the report, in French. Read More......

And the child molester is...

A Republican. Read More......

Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning. This past week seemed very long.

And, just in case you haven't overloaded on the Sotomayor nomination, here's the weekly address from your president, unfiltered, on our next Supreme Court Justice:
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Buckwheat Zydeco

Really fun music, for me, at least. Check out the crowd and take a guess what year it was filmed. We're in trouble if that look returns any time soon. Read More......

Obama to focus on cyber security

Long overdue in Washington but what a tough job someone is going to have. It's never going to be 100% but putting someone in charge to develop and oversee a strategy is a great idea. NY Times:

President Obama declared Friday that the country’s disparate efforts to “deter, prevent, detect and defend” against cyberattacks would now be run out of the White House, but he also promised that he would bar the federal government from regular monitoring of “private-sector networks” and the Internet traffic that has become the backbone of American communications.

Mr. Obama’s speech, which was accompanied by the release of a long-awaited new government strategy, was an effort to balance the United States’ response to a rising security threat with concerns — echoing back to the debates on wiretapping without warrants in the Bush years — that the government would be regularly dipping into Internet traffic that knew no national boundaries.

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Consumer sentiment up

The mixed bag continues but since the US is a consumer oriented market, it's good news. Reuters:

U.S. consumer confidence improved in May to its highest level since last September, prompted by hopes the government's economic stimulus program will bring the economy out of recession.

Analysts monitor consumer sentiment as a leading gauge of consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its final May reading on consumer sentiments was 68.7, higher than an early May figure of 67.9 and a final April reading of 65.1.

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First quarter GDP down 5.7% - but that's actually not bad (relatively)

Slightly missing the forecast though it was not far off. Now we only have to wait another quarter to see the longer term trend.

The economy sank at a 5.7 percent pace in the first quarter as the brute force of the recession carried over into this year. However, many analysts believe activity isn't shrinking nearly as much now as the downturn flashes signs of letting up.

The Commerce Department's updated reading on gross domestic product, released Friday, showed the economy's contraction from January to March was slightly less deep than the 6.1 percent annualized decline first estimated last month. But the new reading was a tad worse than the 5.5 percent annualized drop economists were forecasting.

It was a grim first-quarter performance despite the small upgrade. It marked the second straight quarter where the economy took a huge tumble. At the end of last year, the economy shrank at a staggering 6.3 percent pace, the most in a quarter-century.

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