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As a counterpoint to yesterday’s State of the Union commentary, I would like to make note of a couple items which suggest that, if things are intractably screwed, overall, there are nonetheless some things to be glad of.

First, the permanent Orange Alert is going away, at last. Thank you, Obama and Obama administration. Sweet fucking Christ. This doesn’t really matter that much to be honest, but it still feels so good that we have a government willing to shitcan this useless, pointless, brainless fear-prompter-as-designed-by-committee-of-idiots system.

Second, more evidence that, all the shouting and spin aside, Democrats may indeed have won the war when it comes to health care.

And, while I’m sharing doom-and-gloom-dispelling links, I may as well note this one, even if it was from a week ago: Republican brand in Calif[ornia] is “dead.” I’m not sure how much good this does the rest of us but, hey, 1) it’s still a pleasant thought and 2) maybe it’s just me but, this doesn’t seem like much of an exaggeration at all, and that does seem kind of impressive.

As you know, I keep a file of quotes (among other things) that I find amusing or interesting. Recently, I’ve been thinking of one from a couple of years ago:

“Climate change is a global problem that cannot be fixed with global economics, which we have; it requires global governance, which we don’t have.” – Stewart Brand

I found this observation insightful at the time, and still do; it now ocurrs to me that the point is actually quite relevant to other issues as well, besides climate change.

Various issues involving our global economy, in particular, have gotten me thinking in this direction recently. I don’t have a firm grasp on all the issues involved in global economics (does anyone?), but it’s hard to avoid seeing a number of current challenges with similarities to climate change, in that said challenges are out of scale to our systems for dealing with them.

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Reports of  Mumbai flowed to my radio as I traversed the rural midwest for the holiday. The recurring topic was the nationality of the attackers. My first thought was “are these guys really Pakistani?” They seem to be well-trained, if only because the amount of carnage from ten people showed a great deal of lethally-efficient planning.

That, alone, is certainly no indication of nationality. Fanning the nuclear-powered tensions certainly fuels chaos. “If this is part of the intention”, the second thought, “Do these guys have a cause?” The BBC suggests that this may be more like the events of Columbine or Va Tech, without a cause other than celebrity. I continue to pour over reports and photos looking for answers, dots to connect met with only more dots and fewer lines. Anyone else care to share their reaction?