Taken for a Ride on the Interstate Highway System
50 Years Driving in the Wrong Direction

The 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower's signing of the Interstate Highway Act is a good time to dust off this review of the PBS documentary, "Taken for a Ride" that I wrote 10 years ago when President Clinton visited my city during the 1996 presidential campaign. Riding a "Presidential Special" from Columbus to Toledo on tracks that no longer carry passenger trains, Clinton crowed, "I'm goin' to Chicago (for the Democratic Party convention) and I'm goin' on a train!" I wanted to ask him why the rest of us could no longer travel to our state capital by train; why we are the only industrialized nation on earth that refuses to subsidize its passenger rail system? And I asked a question that makes me sick to my stomach to read 10 years later: "How many more billions of dollars and how many more lives will we pay for Mideast oil.?"

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Peak Oil and L.A.

I have visited 43 states, about 20 foreign countries, and 4 continents, but somehow never made it out to California. That changed last week when I had to take a business trip to L.A. I spent 5 days there, seeing some sights and taking care of business. I visited the La Brea Tar Pits, toured Hollywood, got harassed by the LAPD at Hollywood and Vine, spent a day at Universal Studios, checked out Venice Beach, and drove around the city quite a bit. The topics of Peak Oil and energy utilization were constantly on my mind, but what I saw there was mostly depressing.

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Monday, oil topped $79 a barrel. It's fluctuating and you might want to watch it here:

321energy

And, if that isn't enough fun, here is a page with some more nightmares:

DrumBeat: July 16, 2006