A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

Share

 

4 November 2019 — 0500 mst

Debo, Greta, and five recommended reads

How do constituents get in touch with Debo Powers, the new state representative for House District 3 (Columbia Falls)? She’s not listed on the legislature’s website. Nor is she listed on the website for the Flathead Democratic Party. I found a gMail address for her in a spreadsheet on the website of the Flathead County Elections Department, but when I sent her an inquiry, she did not reply. I’m beginning to get the sense that she’s a placeholder who will not seek election to the seat in 2020. In the meantime, however, she’s a state representative and people need to know how to get in touch with her. They might want to ask whether she’s the Debo Powers who wrote Leading the Dream: the journey of a successful charter school.

Get thee aboard a Boeing 787 bound for Spain, Greta Thunberg. Trying to reduce her carbon footprint, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist travels by train, boat, and electric automobile, and appears to be part of a movement that wants to ground all aircraft. Now she’s in California, wondering how to cross the Atlantic to reach an environmental conference that has been moved to Spain because of civil unrest in Chile. The unrest, incidentally is severe and is reminding observers of the Allende and Pinochet eras. Readers seeking a sense of that time might consider watching the movie Missing, starring Jack Lemon and Sissy Spacek.

Perhaps she can hitch a ride on another sailing vessel, reveling in the purity of the cold, rough, voyage across the angry Atlantic in November. But she’d be smarter to travel by a modern jetliner such as the 787. They’re surprisingly fuel efficient. Moreover, there’s no mode of transportation that does not in some way employ petroleum products, such as lubricants. She’s been traveling by train and electric car in North America. Except in urban areas, most trains are diesel-electric. And with the possible exception of a few places in Canada, the electricity that fuels the trains and cars she rides is at least in part generated by fossil fuels. She’s made her point, and her Greener than Thou attitude is beginning to be off-putting.

Three reads on threats to democracy that will sober and scare the bejesus out of liberals. Two reads on congressional apportionment that everyone may find useful.