The Top 10 News Stories Of 2010

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Because it is that time of year when we have to endure lists, and because all of the other lists are going to be some version of a Barbara Walters soft white light view of the world, I give you some holiday party talking points for what should be the top 10 news stories of 2010.

#10. Obama’s Health Care Reform

Depending on your point of view, Obama either accomplished something that many presidents have failed to do or he created what amounts to a huge gift to anyone with health insurance stock in their portfolios.

Either way, most of the meaningful provisions of this historic legislation don’t even go into effect until 2014 and in the intervening time the Democrats will be so busy trying to prevent Sarah Palin from becoming our next President that the they will acquiesce to amendments and compromises to the bill that will strip away all of the good and make even the cost of Advil out of reach for most Americans.

Isn’t that always the way with Democrats though, one baby step forward, 10 Andre-the Giant steps back?

#9 World Cup in South Africa

Most Americans would rather watch badminton, curling, or avant-garde French cinema than what the rest of the world calls football and we belligerently refer to as soccer.

Why?

Because football is for men and steeped in war metaphor with bombs and blitzes and aerial attacks. Football is American. Soccer, the ultimate team game, is for commies. If soccer were to catch on in the USA, what would be next, National Health Care? That is why the success of the World Cup offers a glimmer of hope to Godless commies marooned here in the USA.

Kerry, Edison and the Energy Quest

Originally published at NYTIMES/ DOT EARTH blog. Written by Andrew Revkin

As oil flowed unabated from the Gulf of Mexico seabed, Senator John Kerry used a speech today (May 5th) at a green jobs conference in Washington, D.C., to press the case for an energy bill that speeds the country’s journey to a post-fossil future and constrains emissions of greenhouse gases.He cited a fabled remark made by Thomas Edison in a 1931 discussion with Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford on the world’s energy future (which I used in a 2006 article on declining energy research and in this 2007 magazine  story on climate choices):

I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.

Earlier in the year, it appeared that preserving a strong climate component in energy legislation was going to be a tough challenge, with Kerry conceding in one news story that “climate sort of follows; it’s on for the ride.” But in the prepared text of today’s speech, which is appended below, you can see he’s aiming to keep carbon constraints a central component. As he told me in an e-mailed statement in March, “Energy transformation and climate reform go hand in hand; that’s all we’re trying to communicate.”