A BP station in downtown Chicago charges a jaw-dropping $4.79 a gallon for regular gas on May 3, 2011. Chicago has some of the highest gas prices in the nation. ( AFP PHOTO / Mira OBERMAN )
High gas prices: Want to be a cool 'hypermiler'?
When gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008, Americans started driving less – and when they drove, they drove less aggressively. But today, with prices back at $4, demand doesn't seem to be declining, a Reuters analysis shows. Perhaps $4 just doesn't count as sticker shock anymore. Or maybe it's just too hard to break the bad driving habits – hard acceleration, sudden braking, speeding – that contribute to excessive oil consumption.
It's not just that we're constantly rushing from place to place. America's roadways are like middle school hallways: peer pressure is immense, and everyone ends up following the cool cars in the fast lane – or being pushed faster by bullies behind your bumper.
Activists have tried changing behavior by linking moderate driving to environmental well-being, patriotism, even the war on terror. It hasn't worked. Maybe it's time to make fuel efficiency cool. How?
• Hollywood could start by making a reality TV show featuring wives of NASCAR drivers competing to use the least gas during weekly errands. Think "The Biggest Loser" meets "Army Wives."
• Progressive Insurance already offers drivers the opportunity to save money on insurance by installing a device that monitors driving habits. Couldn't state and local governments allow drivers to opt-in to a similar program that offers big tax refunds in exchange for efficient driving?
• Use the social-media stick and carrot: Surely it wouldn't be hard to create a driving app that automatically posts our gas mileage to all our Facebook friends. How many "likes" would you get if your Corolla hit 42.5 mpg this week?
• PETA uses naked models to advocate for animal rights. Could AAA do the same to create awareness for proper tire pressure?
There's already a group of Americans who push their cars to the limits of efficiency. They're called "hypermilers." And they can squeeze every mile out of a gallon of gas, sometimes doubling mpgs to 40, 50, or even 70. Monitor reporter Mark Clayton profiled them back in 2008. Here's a list of their basic tips.
I used some of these hypermiling tips myself last weekend, when my car's gas needle was hovering at "E" with the nearest station 8 miles away. You'd be surprised just how far you can coast in neutral.
President Obama listens during one in a series of meetings discussing the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1. ((Credit: Photoshot/Newscom))
Eight reasons why Obama was right not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body
1. Death photos can carry an emotional wallop, and these may rile many Muslims needlessly and perhaps cause retaliation on Americans.
2. It's standard practice in US death-penalty cases not to release images of the executed.
3. Why imitate the jihadists who post gruesome pictures of their victims?
4. Many Al Qaeda supporters won't ever be persuaded that he's dead. Most of the world is already convinced.
5. With the Arab Spring, the world is moving beyond Al Qaeda quickly. Why parade Osama bin Laden's image before the public even more?
6. Let's spare children the sight of such bodily violence.
7. The body of Osama bin Laden is not a trophy. It was his actions, not his body, that were the worse manifestation of a losing ideology that justified purposeful killing of innocents.
8. Let's now focus on further tasks to suppress jihadists.
Standing on the ashes of the terrorist attack upon the World Trade Center in New York, New York, on Sept. 14, 2001, President George W. Bush pledges that the voices from across America calling for justice will be heard. ((Credit: Eric Draper/Eric Draper /White House via CNP/Newscom))
After bin Laden: Obama should invite Bush to ground zero visit
First, the royal wedding. Then, the good news that US Navy SEALs had pulled off a spectacularly successful mission that took out the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. The two events hardly go together, except that they both united a weary world and left people feeling hopeful again.
This week President Obama has an opportunity to prolong the unity. What if, when he visits ground zero on Thursday, he invites President Bush?
It took the work of both administrations to finally catch up with the terrorist who took responsibility for 9/11. The intel tip that led to the courier that led to the house that bin Laden built goes back to 2005. President Obama called President Bush to personally deliver the news of the successful mission. Obama people have shared the credit with the Bush people, and vice versa.
Last night, at a bipartisan dinner with leaders of Congress, Mr. Obama talked about bin Laden and the unity that followed his death. "It is my fervent hope that we can harness some of that unity and some of that pride to confront the many challenges that we still face," he said.
Having President Bush by his side just might help him do that. Can you imagine Obama and Bush joining hands over something like this? Not a royal wedding, exactly, but an unforgettable image of what's possible with persistence and cooperation.
(For the Monitor's coverage of the bin Laden mission and its aftermath, click here.)
People watch election results announced by national media on TV screens in Toronto May 2. Canada's Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper won. ((Credit: ZUMA Press/Newscom))
Canada election: four ways that history was made May 2
Canada rarely gets earthquakes but it felt a big temblor on May 2. When the rest of the world was glued to news about Osama bin Laden, Canadians voted in an election that shook up their political landscape.
On the surface, the election simply saw more of the same: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who took office in 2006, will stay in power. But wait, much more happened below the crust:
1. For the first time in Canada’s history, the Liberals came in third place, with only 19 percent of the vote. The party of Pierre Trudeau, Lester Pearson, and Jean Chretien that so dominated politics for decades and defined Canadian identity fell from grace. The loss forced its leader, former Harvard academic Michael Ignatieff, to resign. (He even lost his own seat in Parliament).
2. Bloc Quebecois, the political party that long championed separation for Quebec province, also lost big time. Its seat count went from 47 seats to 4. This will alter one of Canada’s long-standing debates about its unity.
3. A party with socialist roots in the Great Recession, the New Democratic Party, essentially grabbed the left-of-center votes from the Liberals. It came in second with 31 percent. The NDP, long a small minority, is now the official opposition party for the first time in Canada’s history, with the charismatic Jack Layton at its helm. Many of its MPs are fresh faces, some of whom didn’t even campaign.
4. For Conservatives, their victory was sweet and historic. The party has not won a majority in Parliament in 23 years. Mr. Harper has had to rule over a minority government for the past five years, forming coalitions to get anything done.
The prime minister's popularity was largely due to his stewardship of the economy during the global recession. Canada did far better than its neighbor to the south in weathering the storm and in a recovery. Now, with majority rule and 40 percent of the vote, the Conservatives can pass many of their measures more easily.
Harper’s long-term goal was supposedly to break the Liberals’ hold on politics, as well as have a strong showing in Ontario for his western-based party. This politician from Alberta may have done both.
But he may also have helped Canada achieve a largely two-party political system. Stark blue-red differences will mark the New Democrats and the Conservatives in Parliament. Canada’s image as a mainly liberal nation may soon be gone if the Conservatives can rule for the next four years.
A woman walks past a screen announcing the death of Osama bin Laden, on May 2, 2011 in a street of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images/Newscom)
Osama bin Laden: How long will it take to kill his ideology?
As Americans cheer the killing of Osama bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan yesterday, here’s a sobering thought:
It took roughly 10 years to find and kill Osama bin Laden. It may take much longer to kill his ideology.
Take the US Civil War. General Lee’s surrender ended the Confederate rebellion. But it did not end the South’s leading idea: a rejection of the truth that “all men are created equal.” Ridding the South of that poison would take another 100 years – at least. Forceful federal action was needed, but so was the quieter work of changing attitudes in schools, churches, and homes.
At the heart of bin Laden’s hateful ideology is the concept that all men must submit to theological tyranny. He did not originate this teaching. He was simply the most visible modern figurehead of that radical Islamist slogan going back to the 7th century: “We love death more than you love life!”
Ridding the world of that extremist poison will be the work of generations. And like yesterday’s raid, this fight will sometimes be waged with arms. But the most important work will be wrought in mosques, markets, and madrassahs.
As President Bush put it in his address to Congress shortly after 9/11:
“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.”
Perhaps the hardest part of the struggle will be breaking the hypnotic effect that radical Islamist sermons can have on young men. Years ago, I asked two of our European freelancers to investigate Britain’s “jihadi echo chambers.” I still recall the anecdote they published about an Irish man who converted to Islam:
By portraying militancy as the ultimate expression of piety, Abu Osama and preachers like him are leading young Muslims down the path toward violence.
"Some of the people tell you Islam is a religion of peace because they think that then you'll want to convert," says Dublin-born convert Khalid Kelly, who soaks up Abu Osama's sidewalk sermon. "But you cannot possibly say Islam is a religion of peace; jihad is not an internal struggle."
Armed struggle was the last thing on Mr. Kelly's mind until his conversion several years ago. "I was your average Irish drunkard, partying and so on," he says. Arrested in Saudi Arabia, where he worked as a nurse, for brewing his own alcohol, Kelly found Islam in prison - an increasingly common arena for Muslim conversion and radicalization.
After his return to Britain in 2002, Kelly quickly became a disciple of Bakri, a radical Syrian-born cleric based in Britain, who is most widely known for celebrating 9/11, and more recently, blaming 7/7 on British foreign policy. Through Bakri's circle, which is now largely underground, Kelly met Abu Osama. Now, they gravitate toward obscure mosques that nurture homegrown extremists.
"The imam here" - Kelly nods at the mosque - "said, 'Pray for the victory of the mujahideen in all the world.' He's talking about Osama bin Laden, but he can't say that."
The good news is that attitudes toward Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden have been dropping across the Muslim world since that article was published in 2005. And as this year’s Arab Spring reminds us, entire regions defy decades of dictatorship once they perceive the promise of self-government. As one Libyan protester, Mutaq Saleh, told the Monitor: "We've broken a barrier of fear. We're not going back to that."
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A copy of President Obama's birth certificate is held outside the White House on April 27. Obama released the "long form" version of his birth certificate hoping to end controversy on the place of his birth. ((Credit: Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT/Newscom))
Obama's long-form birth certificate: proof too late?
Have you seen the long-form birth certificate of President Obama that the White House released today? (Click here to view it.) It's unequivocal proof that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961 – just as his short-form certificate said, and just as local newspapers reported at the time.
Will this finally quiet the people who believe the president is not a "natural born citizen," as the Constitution requires? The voice of the "birthers" has gotten so loud it's hard to imagine even this latest evidence completely silencing their bogus claim. Now, 45 percent of Republicans believe this lie, according to a New York Times/CBS poll. Several Republican-controlled legislatures have set in motion "birther bills" requiring presidential candidates to prove their birth creds.
The birther decibels were amplified by out-there Republican celebrities such as Donald Trump, but also by more traditional members of the GOP establishment, people such as House Speaker John Boehner. He and others have said they, personally, believe Obama was born in America, but who are they to tell voters what to think?
I saw an example of this just yesterday, when the Monitor hosted the new Republican National Committee Chairman, Reince Priebus, at a breakfast with reporters. He stated clearly his belief that the president was born in the United States. But he added, candidates such as Mr. Trump can say what they want. It's up to voters to decide.
Yes, free speech is free speech. But that doesn't mean the message shouldn't be roundly condemned by Republicans who don't buy it. Saying "I don't believe it but others are free to" is just another way of allowing a lie to live and grow – and an obvious pander to a sizable chunk of GOP voters.
But here's another reason this birther business ballooned. The White House didn't act soon enough to prevent the build-up of all that hot air. Yes, it often refuted the claims. And Mr. Obama released his short-form birth certificate long ago. But why wait so long on the long-form proof? Could it be that, gasp, the White House saw a political advantage in the president's opponents being distracted by a nonissue?
It appears that responsible people in both parties have played a known lie to political advantage. No wonder Washington has such a credibility problem. And don't be surprised if the birther conspiracy lives on. It was allowed to.
Potential presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses a tea party crowd in Boca Raton, Florida, April 16. ((Credit: ZUMA Press/Newscom))
The last reason you'll read about Donald Trump's popularity
The guessing games about all the reasons for Donald Trump's political popularity have only begun.
Is it the hair? His stance on the birther issue? His reality-TV show as a tough boss and straight shooter? His financial success? Do any or all of these really account for his high ranking in the GOP presidential field?
Here's my guess: A big chunk of Americans don't feel part of national politics and thus gravitate toward someone outside the traditional parties, even if he's not a regular guy. Mr. Trump is clearly an outlier, at least in style, with the staid GOP. And he's never held elective office, a real bonus to many who prefer the untainted.
Bold, bucking people like him (or Ross Perot or Ralph Nader) who tweak the noses of the party bosses stand an easy chance of winning over the alienated.
The rapid rise in the number of independent voters as well as the growth of the tea party movement reflect a growing disenchantment with the current party structures. Politics is seen as too just too inaccessible for common folk.
The Internet's ease of access – Facebook, Twitter, etc. – helps counter this trend by allowing the Democratic and Republican parties to reach people more directly. Barack Obama certainly knew that in 2008. But the Internet also allows informal groups, like MoveOn.Org or the tea party, to easily rally people behind a cause or a new upstart candidate.
Distrust of establishment politicians is an old problem in America's democracy. Trump has tapped into it, like many before him. But even he might admit that voting a shin-kicker like himself into office won't solve the problem of voters feeling estranged from their government.
A billboard in Phoenix last January is an indication of the attitudes of Arizona residents on gun rights. (Art Foxall/ART FOXALL/Newscom)
Nice shot, governor
The National Rifle Association rates Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer as an A+ gun supporter. This week, though, she flunked an NRA test.
Good work, governor.
The gun-rights Republican vetoed a bill that would have partially lifted the state's ban on guns at college and university campuses. The bill, altered from earlier wording that would have allowed loaded guns in classrooms, was changed to allow them only on a "public right of way." In her veto letter, the governor said that the bill was too vaguely worded and might have been interpreted to permit weapons at K-12 schools.
Across the nation, the gun lobby has been working hard to get weapons on campuses. It is pushing to lift the ban in Texas and eight other states. But this is one area where those who support reasonable restrictions on guns have had success. Since the mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007, guns-on-campus bills have been shot down or died in 24 states.
The NRA argues that people on campuses need guns for self defense and that the presence of guns will not lead to more violence. They point to Utah, the one state that has lifted the ban, as Exhibit A. It has not seen violence increase on campuses since the ban was removed in 2006.
The entire guns-on-campus push, however, is more about increasing gun acceptance than the need for self defense, points out Adam Winkler, in a recent New York Times op-ed. A professor and gun expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, Mr. Winkler says there are fewer than 20 homicides on campuses per year. The real issue, he adds, is getting the next generation used to having guns everywhere.
But college is a place where it will never make sense to have guns. For all of their independence, college students are still working at growing up. Federal law recognizes this by banning anyone under 21 from buying a gun from a dealer. Does America really want to mix frat parties with Glocks? And as law enforcement officers frequently point out, when a shoot-out is going on, it's not easy to tell good guys from bad guys.
Gov. Brewer seems to have stopped the campus-guns drive because of a technical concern. Let's hope that if this bill is reworded and comes to her desk again, that she will veto it simply with the understanding that guns don't belong on campus.
Iranian soldiers in camouflage march during the military parade on Army Day in Tehran on Monday. ( Credit: Chine Nouvell / SIPA / Newscom)
Are these crazy suits Iran's answer to pro-democracy protests in Syria?
The United States has accused Iran of sending special gear to Syria's regime to help quell the protests there. One can only wonder if these camouflage suits – see picture of Iranian soldiers in a military parade on Monday – were included in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's care package to President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrian soldiers would certainly need to hide themselves as they shoot down innocent civilians demanding freedom. Instead of standing atop buildings with sniper rifles, perhaps they could blend into the crowds with these suits. That way, they might be mistaken for Muslim women dressed head to toe to cover themselves from prying eyes.
Or they could pretend to be going to a Star Wars convention, joining others trying to look like Chewbacca (or Chewie), a legendary Wookiee and co-pilot of Han Solo's ship.
Iran and Syria are odd bed-fellows, as far as Mideast alliances go, and these military outfits give a hint of just how odd. Mr. Assad runs a secular regime, while Iran claims governance derives from Islamic mullahs. Iran praises the "Arab spring" protests in the region, claiming they are driven by Islamic fervor, but then hypocritically denies that Syria's uprising is legitimate.
If Assad falls, Iran might lose a key ally in its many attempts to make trouble for Israel. No wonder it's trying hard to now cozy up to post-Mubarak Egypt.
Perhaps these camouflage suits might come in handy if Iranian agents try to slip into the crowds of protesters throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Or, better yet, they might catch on as a popular Halloween outfit in America this fall. "Trick or treat, I'm an Iranian fighter." (It can replace Harry Potter's invisibility cloak.)
Come to think of it, why did Iran even reveal this costume in a military parade? So much for keeping camouflage gear secret and the element of surprise.
Tom Cruise tries to act like a Japanese warrior in the 2003 American movie, The Last Samurai. (WARNER BROS./Newscom)
Learning from Japan, once again. I'll bow to that.
The giant American electric utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority, has become the first US operator of atomic reactors to apply lessons from Japan’s nuclear crisis. The TVA announced plans Thursday for new safety measures – such as adding another back-up power system – based on mistakes made at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
This is hardly the first time in recent decades that Japan has influenced America, even by a negative lesson. From industry to arts, from food to kid games, more Japanese ideas and styles now seem to embed themselves in American life than the other way around.
Japan’s national slogan from the late 19th century – “learn from the West” – could easily be updated to “teach the West.”
Sushi and edamame are now staples in US grocery stores, as is the game sudoku in newspapers. What American child since the 1980s hasn't been touched by Nintendo's Game Boy or Pokémon? Who hasn’t tried to sing karaoke, fold origami paper, or write a haiku poem? Who hasn't used kamikaze to describe sacrificial suicide, marveled at a Japanese player in Major League Baseball, or learned a bit of karate or jujitsu for self-defense? Who, by now, doesn't know the word tsunami?
What baby-boomer doesn’t remember John Belushi as a samurai in a deli on Saturday Night Live? What Hollywood director doesn’t learn from the films "Seven Samurai"or "Rashomon" by Akira Kurosawa (not to mention the sci-fi Godzilla movies or the influence of manga comics on action films)?
When US automakers describe their recent progress, they use Japanese automakers as the standard of excellence. Lexus defines quality, as Sony once did for analog TVs. Sony also set a high standard for personal music devices (Walkman) that led to the iPod.
Management techniques from Japan, such as encouraging workers to suggest innovations in the workplace, are now standard in US companies.
Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake made women’s wear both elegant and transportable. Zen Buddhism had a powerful effect on the new-age movement in the 1960s, imported by proponents such as Allen Watts, a Briton who moved to America. Japanese aesthetics are now common in American homes, pottery, painting, and gardens (all of that really started in the 19th century).
After World War II, of course, it was the US that tried to teach the Japanese a thing or two.
The American Occupation from 1945-52 implanted new forms of democracy, pacifism, unions, and other “modern ways.” Japanese companies adopted American technology and management techniques. US cultural trends (e.g. Disneyland) were closely imitated. So many American-style dairy farms were built in the northern island of Hokkaido – to provide milk for Japanese children – that parts of the landscape look like Wisconsin.
The cross-flow of ideas across the Pacific may now favor those from Japan – even if they are only negatives lessons like those from the Fukushima disaster. The US hardly plays the big-brother role these days. Sayonara to that.
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