Good News Friday

Best news of all is that today is my birthday. As you can see from last night’s post, one of my presents came early!

11/11/11 is a lucky day, and you know at 11:11 I’ll be performing some kind of ritualistic rain dance (no animals will be sacrificed, I promise.) Both times: a.m. and p.m.!

I’m officially of an age where the AARP has taken an interest in me. Gah.

Other good news from around the ‘nets:

• The State Department has puts the brakes on the Keystone XL pipeline.

• A Federal judge stands up to Wall Street, telling the SEC that its settlement with Citigroup — allowing it to pay a fine, not admit wrongdoing, and get off with a charge of “negligence” — was a bunch of bullshit.

• Boulder, CO passes an amendment saying corporations are not people.

(Just as an aside, I first learned of the whole concept of corporate personhood way back in 2003 when I read this Orion article on the topic, where I learned a few towns across the country have actually already taken this step. Might be something worth revisiting.)

• The Senate killed Rand Paul’s attempt to overturn the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. I am especially pleased to report that Sen. Lamar Alexander voted with the majority on this one. Good on ya, Lamar. I don’t get to say that often, so drink it up.

• Alaska Airlines has transitioned 75 of its planes to a 20% cooking-oil-based fuel. Is that KFC I smell, or did we just miss our flight?

• The cost of solar power continues to plunge, and could be cheaper than fossil fuels by 2018.

• The Senate has voted to uphold net neutrality.

Good News, Local Edition:

• Gov. Haslam will ask prosecutors to drop charges against the Occupy Nashville protesters.

• The Tennessee Wilderness Act is one step closer to passage. It’s just a bill, yes it’s only a bill, but soon it will be a law…. (we hope)!

• Metro Water is installing a grid-fed wind turbine and solar panels on Love Circle to lower its electric costs. Note to Metro Nashville Airport Authority: you’ve got a lot of real estate out at the airport just begging for a solar array. What’s stopping you? Just sayin’.

• Several upscale restaurants in town are adding $1 to every tab to help Room In the Inn, a non-profit serving Nashville’s homeless population. Great idea.

• Putnam County Board of Education is looking into biodiesel to fuel its school bus fleet.

17 Comments

Filed under Good News

17 responses to “Good News Friday

  1. I am so glad I found your blog! Every single item listed here (I am sure that including your birthday announcement!) is great news!!
    And I love the item at the bottom about restaurants in the Nashville area adding a bit to each ‘check’ to help those who are suffering!
    I am sharing with all my compassionate friends and activists. We do need good news EVERY DAY…living in the State of Hate…thanks much,
    Mary in Knoxville…oh and our news here…on Tuesday our voters elected the first female Democratic Mayor EVER! Congratulations, Madeline!

  2. Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
    Happy Birthday, Dear Southern Beale, bringer of light, truth, humor and necessary enscourgement to the repuKKKlicans for alla their nefarigregious deee-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeds!
    Happy Birthday to you!

    Hurry up and blow out the candles, I want some damn cake!

  3. Happy Birthday and thanks for the good news! Hope you have a great day and coming year and THANK YOU for telling it as you see it!

  4. Jim

    happy birthday

  5. Herald Trumpets! (hear that?)

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

  6. Roadmaster1968

    Happy Birthday to you! Have a great one.

  7. Happy Birthday. Have a wonderful day and thanks for all you write.

  8. Thanks for the birthday wishes everyone!!!!

  9. John Weiss

    Happy birthday!

    It’s depressing to begin getting all that AARP stuff, sure enough. Look at the bright side: Medicare and SS are pressing on it’s heels!

  10. PurpleGirl

    Happy Birthday, SoBe. May there be many more healthy and happy ones for you (and Mr. SB).

  11. Barb_in_GA

    What democommie said! Happy birthday, SoBe — go enjoy yourself in whatever way pleases you most.

  12. ThresherK

    Happy B’day to a fellow November Scorpio, which should explain some things. Looks like your “many happy returns” arrived at your feline sanctuary yesterday.

    I have received only a trickle of the (unrequested) AARP mailers my wife has been throwing out for a number of years.

  13. Happy birthday my dear and many, many blessings on your path to the next one. Also, too, itsy bitsy kitty best bday present from the universe, ever.

  14. Like Marcello said in La Citta del Donne, “Fifty and still nifty.” You have a very auspicious and interesting birth date. The first Veteran’s Day speech by JFK. Less than one year after little John-John was born to the Kennedys just seventeen days after his election. Imagine how happy they must have been to find out that Caroline had a baby brother. Another notable November birthday was, of course, Jimi Hindrix, born 11/27/42. In your honor, a quote from that famous speech given the day of your birth.

    It is a tragic fact that these hopes have not been fulfilled, that wars still more destructive and still more sanguinary followed, that man’s capacity to devise new ways of killing his fellow men have far outstripped his capacity to live in peace with his fellow men.
    Some might say, therefore, that this day has lost its meaning, that the shadow of the new and deadly weapons have robbed this day of its great value, that whatever name we now give this day, whatever flags we fly or prayers we utter, it is too late to honor those who died before, and too soon to promise the living an end to organized death.
    But let us not forget that November 11, 1918, signified a beginning, as well as an end. “The purpose of all war,” said Augustine, “is peace.” The First World War produced man’s first great effort in recent times to solve by international cooperation the problems of war. That experiment continues in our present day — still imperfect, still short of its responsibilities, but it does offer a hope that some day nations can live in harmony.
    For our part, we shall achieve that peace only with patience and perseverance and courage — the patience and perseverance necessary to work with allies of diverse interests but common goals, the courage necessary over a long period of time to overcome an adversary skilled in the arts of harassment and obstruction..

    Now that the U.S. has broken its precedent of not starting wars of aggression, Veteran’s day has pretty much lost most of its meaning for me. I still honor those who sacrificed. But I know that many have sacrificed in vain.