My run started on the beach and then circled back along Ashworth Avenue.  As I stood upon the bridge connecting Ocean Avenue and Ashworth Avenue I peered across Hampton Harbor and the adjacent marshland to see Seabrook Nuclear Power Station.   On this clear and bright day, it was difficult to demonize this power plant, as many had done 25 years ago when New Hampshire Public Service attempted to begin commercial operation. 

New England can fool you.  The relatively small size of the constituent states combined with a very urban coastline tricks one into thinking that the region is congested, crowded, and lacking in open spaces and natural beauty.

In fact, one doesn’t have to travel far from urban centers like Boston and New Haven to find green, pristine, and beautiful places.  For the past 10 years, my family has been taking summer trips to Wilson Pond, a beautiful spot down the road from Farmington in Central Maine. It is far from our home in Los Angeles in every way.

On this morning, my best friend of 20 years tossed the Lewiston Sun Journal on the coffee table and told me to peek at the lead story.  Apparently, an Auburn, Maine man’s idea of humor was to roll a pig’s head into a mosque.  Furthermore, the man said that the police told him that his only offense was littering.  Of course, the police didn’t quite see it that way, nor did the worshipers at the mosque.

Shouldn’t $70/barrel crude oil hurt more than this? 

In the early ‘80’s high real interest rates, high inflation rates, long lines at the pump, and general economic disruption accompanied $37.00 per barrel nominal oil prices.  One would think that the price shock of today’s $70.00/barrel oil price should create similar disruption in today’s economy.