Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

One thing struck me while on vacation. Southern California, including Los Angeles, had hardly any smog during the entire 3 weeks we were there. Summer is a peak time for smog in Los Angeles, and to have such perfect conditions for such a long period during summer is astonishing. The air quality was worse in NYC when we left than it was in Los Angeles the whole trip.

I talked to lots of people about this on the trip. They all said my impression was right: smog is way down in Los Angeles. Some even said straight out that Los Angeles has beaten the smog problem. I bet that is an exaggeration, but something amazing has happened. It took decades, but Los Angeles has cleaned up its air a great deal.

What has changed? Well, government regulation has been a large part. Smog control devices and emissions standards have been a large part of the solution. It takes time for such things to work as old cars have to be replaced with new cars covered by the new laws. I also notice that there are more and more hybrid cars on the road in Southern California than I have ever seen before...and fewer SUVs, though there are still plenty of those. The busses in Los Angeles have also largely been replaced with clean air busses (bio fuels, CNG, etc.). All of this adds up to a much cleaner, more pleasant city!

As to the newsletter, I am thinking of dropping it, or at least putting it out less often. It will remain sort of minimalist...which might please some, others might miss the local detail. But I hope it remains useful.

Click on an advertiser or two if you visit the newsletter, spread the word about it, and if you want more political info (whether or not I continue the newsletter) you can always go to Culture Kitchen, one of America's fastest growing progressive blogs.

Anyway, here is this week's newsletter.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

DAILY KOS vs. FOX NEWS

FOCUS ON MISSISSIPPI: Insurance After Katrina

REPUBLICAN CHICKENHAWKS