A FREIGHT train, its dozen cars loaded with coal covered in a light dusting of snow, snaked through the narrow valley, sometimes following the two-lane highway and sometimes crossing it. The valley was silent and snowy, and though it was two days into 2012 it could easily have been 1982, 1942 or 1922: coal has been mined in Appalachia and carried out by rail for well over a century.And by some... (more...)
ALABAMA’S immigration law, boasted Micky Hammon, an Alabama legislator and one of its co-authors, “attacks every aspect of an illegal immigrant’s life. They will not stay in Alabama…This bill is designed to make it difficult for them to live here so they will deport themselves.” It is not, however, designed to introduce visiting executives from Mercedes-Benz, which employs thousands at its... (more...)
IT IS becoming hard to remember that Barack Obama’s speeches were once described as inspiring, visionary and transformational. His state-of-the-union message on January 24th was none of those things. Then again, circumstances were against him. He said, as presidents must, that the state of the union was “getting stronger”. But everyone knows that the true state of the union is dire: 13m... (more...)
INTO San Pedro Bay they pull, the huge ships from Asia, each with thousands of containers full of lawn chairs, toys or iPads. As they enter the bay they go left, to the Port of Los Angeles (America’s largest), or right, to the Port of Long Beach (the second-largest): geographically and logistically, the two are one harbour, even though rival cities operate them in competition. Gantry cranes... (more...)
That way, dear IT WAS a well-earned thumping. When Rick Perry, governor of Texas, entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination last August, he was instantly considered a heavyweight. But within weeks he had cheerfully threatened the head of the Federal Reserve with personal harm, and had forgotten his own reform proposals in a televised debate. After a fifth-place finish in... (more...)
WHEN the Titanic steamed serenely into its iceberg 100 years ago, those on board could at first not believe that the great ship would go down. Mitt Romney is at least not making that mistake. After his astonishing defeat in South Carolina’s primary on January 21st, the man who looked invulnerable just a week before has ordered his campaign into panic mode. Mr Romney and Restore Our Future,... (more...)
Among the illustrious FOR four years New York was adrift. When Eliot Spitzer, a crusading lawyer, became governor in 2007, his uncompromising ways caused political gridlock in Albany, the state capital. Just over a year later, he was caught frolicking with a prostitute and resigned. His successor, David Paterson, was affable enough, but too weak to push the state legislature to balance the... (more...)
Unintended consequences “YOU don’t lose guns. You don’t walk guns. You don’t let guns get out of your sight,” said Carlos Canino of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), in an angry interview with congressional investigators. He was talking about Operation Fast and Furious, a fatally misconceived effort to fight drug-trafficking that had led some of his... (more...)
ABOUT one in five Americans lives in one of the roughly 700 counties or cities that have signed contracts with private firms to install street cameras to record drivers who speed or run a red light. In theory, those systems sound like a good idea. Knowing they can be filmed, drivers might behave better. The vendors say that their cameras are one reason why traffic deaths have been falling.On the other... (more...)
I hope I still have a teacher THE Chester Upland school district is one of the poorest in Pennsylvania. It gets about 70% of its budget from state funds (richer school districts get most of theirs from local property taxes). Most of its 3,600 students come from low-income families, and about 80% are eligible for free or cut-price school lunches. Academically, it is no better off. Only half... (more...)
