General Kayani’s “Silent Coup” in Pakistan: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What are the consequences of General Kayani’s 3 year extension for the US war in Afghanistan? [...]

Mormon Church urges civility on immigration

DJ details LDS urgings that the ever-polarizing immigration issue be dealt with in a civil manner by all involved. Civility is considered an important ethic for Mormons.

The Republican Attorney General in Utah just came down very hard on state employees who leaked a bogus blacklist of supposed illegal immigrants, saying “I see it more [...]

Jerry Brown. Grasshopper or Lotus Flower?

Tom Meyer. meyertoons.com

Calbuzz on the ever-elusive and victory-by-being-pummeled California gubernatorial campaign of Jerry Brown

With anxious Democrats from one end of the state to the other wetting the bed over Krusty the General’s Sun Tzu fight-by-indirection approach to the battle for governor (“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot [...]

Use your iPhone to find your car

You’re in a big parking lot, like at an airport, and want to easily find your car when you return.

Just use Google maps on the iPhone plus the free Evernote app.

When you park the car, open up the map app. Your current location is indicated by the blue dot. Press the blue [...]

It’s no wonder Netroots are muddled

Netroots, who are meeting now in Vegas, need to figure out who they are beholden to, if anyone and what to do about their obviously conflicting agendas.

DailyKos: The “Liberal” Netroots: An army beholden to Democrats or an independent force to be reckoned with?

Given the record of scorn displayed toward progressives who organize [...]

World’s first molten salt concentrating solar power plant

Archimede is the first plant in the world to use molten salts not just to store heat but also to collect it from the sun in the first place.

This is a competitive advantage, for a variety of reasons. Molten salts can operate at higher temperatures than oils (up to 550°C instead of 390°C), [...]

Rethink Afghanistan: What does it mean to be less safe?

I am the Afghanistan Blogging Fellow for The Seminal and Brave New Foundation. You can read my work on The Seminal or at Rethink Afghanistan. The views expressed below are my own.

In our latest video from Rethink Afghanistan, we hear a tale of the deadly consequences of war directly from those most affected [...]

Surely it will be different this time

Starbucks Union and Wobblies celebrate Starbuck’s CEO birthday

On Monday, July 19th, members of the Industrial Workers of the World’s Starbucks Workers Union met at the house of Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz to wish him a very happy 56th birthday and to assure him that the Starbucks Union isn’t going anywhere. We had members from all parts of the country in attendance. [...]

Prop 23, climate change, and California’s broken proposition system

(From my latest article for CAIVN)

Proposition 23, which will be on the California ballot in November, seeks to effectively abolish the landmark AB32 bill. Also known as the Global Warming Solutions Act, AB32 passed in 2006 and was strongly supported by Gov. Schwarzenegger.

“Follow the money” is always good advice in politics. So far, [...]