air conditioning units / national health care / energy

Our next meeting is Monday, June 29, with these suggested topics:

1. Phase 1&2 a/c unit concerns - presentation by resident Don Hauser
2. Two major reforms, which the President ran on, are before Congress now. Can further government action improve

• Health care?
• Energy supply and demand?

Regarding item #1:

The claim is that the metal pans, below the attic evaporators in many homes here, are rusting away and will eventually cause failure in those units, possibly extending to ceiling damage.

Site critical of Pulte

Regarding item #2a:

Slate: Health Care Reform: An Online Guide and from this

infantile denial lies at the heart of much contemporary political disaffection

NY Times editorial: A Public Health Plan

KCRW's To the Point: Competition and the 'Public Option'

The Economist: Heading for the emergency room

Other: Bill Moyers , CSPAN

the President also http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/

Newsweek cover: the cause of Ted Kennedy's life. Also, from Weisberg:

Obama started by courting the major interest groups, and so far none of them—insurers, drug companies, hospitals, or doctors—has come out against him. He has repeatedly stated his flexibility and openness to compromise. Instead of proposing a plan, or even endorsing any specific policies, he has laid out eight broad principles—universality, affordability, portability, quality, choice, prevention, fiscal sustainability, and financial protection—and left the rest to Congress.

Regarding item #2b:

The President

MSNBC , NY Times , CS Monitor , Bloomberg

NPR: Putting A Financial Spin On Global Warming - from that:

A sense of doom or shame only motivates a small segment of the public — and puts off the rest

The piece errs, as so many do, in not drawing a distinction between climate change and energy use.

See also another blog of mine and post there: Jimmy Carter's malaise speech.

This is my principal concern; I can't emphasize this enough. It's summarized in this 2004 interview with Richard Heinberg. Here are active links updated from those in the interview: Richard Heinberg's Museletter and Energy Bulletin.