A couple interesting things I read about today...

I read an interesting article today about Rudolph Guliani. Essentially the obvious goal of the article was to question any credibility people think he has. It talked about how pretty much everything the guy has received popular credit for was all about a narrow point of view and most of it was done by people before him. It talked about the whole 9/11 situation being the whole reason he is even a viable candidate, but it also pointed out how much of he screwed up in that situation. One of the most interesting things it talked about is how Guliani is credited with making NY a desirable place again. That by the end of his term, the dirty and dangerous city that was NY had once again became a romantic and hot place to live and play. But it was pointed out, from a social analytics point of view, that this had much more to do with being the aftermath of tragedy and being the focus of the world's attention. There wasn't really much different when Guliani left his mayoral office than before he came in (except for the world trade center stuff). The main point of the article was to show how Guliani will essentially be the same leader as George W. That he hasn't really done anything before, so there is no reason to believe this will change if he were to become the pres. Guliani is a politician in all of the worst ways. He's a scandal waiting to happen.
Of course, I know a lot of this was rhetoric and opinions and that all reporting is about the slant the author wants to put on it, but I do like the perspective. I guess the important thing is to read similar stuff for all candidates. Most of the time, however, I believe that by the time a candidate gets to the point of being a viable presidential candidate, he (or she) has so many skeletons in the closet (or maybe not even hidden away) that its all about choosing the least of the evils.

The other article I read was about environmentalism and how people are too quick to blame big corporations for all of our problems and how taking that route of activism just supports the problems. An interesting slant. It wasn't so much a big corp supporter as much as someone urging people to take a look at themselves and their neighbors and realizing that most of the big corporations are made of ourselves and our neighbors. Each of us has something we have to sacrifice and just say "well, i do what I can do, but that other thing is just too much, so I will let it go." (Like driving a car or using plastic bags at the grocery if you forget your totes or buying that budweiser when that burger joint doesn't have the local organic brew available.) Essentially, transfer that point of view to a big 30,000 person corporation and try to understand the difficulty in turning things around. The author wasn't trying to make excuses, but more trying to point out that it is more a fundamental core value issue instead of that "big bad corporation" killing our environment. We constantly are trying to balance environment concerns with personal economic needs. It is something to the effect of what do i need to do to minimize cost to myself while staying within the accepted code of environmental consideration. It isn't until we change our whole paradigm that respect for the environment can really be achieved.
There are no easy answers.

So that was one of my main pursuits today. Reading. It was nice to relax in the air conditioning and drive to the coffee shop to drink expensive imported coffee while using their internet. (Obviously I am not pointing fingers or trying to claim righteousness... I am in the thick of our capitalism.) I have multiple invitations to go on rides tomorrow. A long mtn bike ride south of town. A long mtn bike ride north of town. A long haul trucker ride on the road in and around nashville. I think I may just chill at home again and read on Harry Potter number 6 some more. It is still summer and it is still hot. I did a long ride last week, so I am not exactly lacking the activity or fitness right now. Six hours of sweating and dehydrating and wearing myself out for days to come is not so appealing right now. Sleeping in, sitting at my house in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee and a good book, and maybe even a little bit of house cleaning could work.

Saw a good movie tonight. The Prestige