NC Media Watch

The carbon credit hoax is a loosing game with no score keeper

Russ Steele

Can someone explain this to me?

As I understand it the whole carbon credits game, CO2 polluters buy carbon credits, which are used to plant trees that take CO2 from the air. On the other hand, every tree removed to reduce the fire danger is one more tree that will not be removing CO2 from the air. Are we removing more trees that we are planting? Who is keeping the records? Are we winning or loosing the carbon credits game?

The Governor is buying carbon credits, which will be used to plant trees and other notable are doing the same. Yet in the National Forests and around Lake Tahoe we are removing trees to reduce the ladder fuels that enable the development of uncontrolable crown fires in old growth timber.  How do we account for the removal of the trees in the global warming calculation? If the Governor buys ten new trees for every flight, to and from LA to Sacramento, and the foresters are remove 100 trees a day to reduce the fire danger, we seem to be in loosing CO2 sequestering game. Who is keeping score?

Al's religious and political supporters list (Updated)

Russ Steele

We are watching Al Gore at 6PM on CBS. From the clips it looks like we are going to see a lot Al's new $300 million ad campaign. The ads will have public figures supporting Al's global warming mantra. I will be compiling a list of the scientifically challenged supporting of Al's questionable science of global warming.  Let Al and his supporters know what you think below!

Al Gore's message Center:

Al Gore: Web page to send Al a message here.

Religious Message Center:

Rev. Al Sharpton:  E-mail at Sharpton's National action network here: [email protected]

Rev  Pat Robertson E-mail web page URL to Send Pat a message here.

Political Message Center:

Nancy Pelosi: Web page for sending e-mail to Nancy here.

Newt Gingrich: Web page for sending e-mail to Newt here.

"Who's is Your City" book review in Sunday Union

Russ Steele

The Union has a AP Review of Richard Florida's latest book "Who's is Your City."  My copy is in the mail according to Amazon, and should arrive real soon now. As Nevada County struggles to find our next economic engine, or cluster of engines, it is important to know how we will fit into the global economy, now and in the future.  Thomas Friedman's view, outlined in his best­selling book “ The World Is Flat,” is the Internet and low cost air transportation has flattened the global economy.  Florida on the other hand sees a more spiky world, with clusters of creative people creating and designing the products that the flat earth folks are manufacturing and distributing.

In our economic past Western Nevada County is known around the world for our cluster of video products. Grass Valley, because of Grass Valley Group, has instant recognition in the video industry world wide. But, over time that video cluster is becoming more spread out. Telecommunication integrated circuit chip design is another cluster that developed in western end of the County. Industrial glass blowing is another, that garners recognition from it's location in Nevada County. But, these clusters are aging out, and we need to start thinking about future clusters.

This is where reading and understanding Florida's point of view becomes important. He has some insights that can help us shape our current economic development efforts. I found it interesting the Nevada County was one of the creative clusters in Florida's "Cities and the Creative Class," and earlier book on economic development.  If you have not done so already, I recommend that we all read "The World is Flat." We live in a global economy, be it flat or spiky, and we need to find a prosperous niche. Recognition of were we fit in the real world is a vital first step.

I will have more on Florida's latest book, when "Who is Your City" arrives on my doorstep.

I am turning on the lights tonight

Russ Steele

We will not be participating in the global stupidity of turning out our lights for an hour tonight. In fact, I am turning on all the lights I can find in the house at 8PM Local. The cost is less that 1 cent per bulb, the value is priceless.

We will not support the obscurantism promoted by the global warming true believers. Oh, by the way all of you environmentally challenged, one candle generates as much CO2 as a twenty watt bulb, blow it out and save the world.

(HT to Reference Frame)

Biggest Newspaper Ad Revenue Plunge in More Than 50 Years

Russ Steele

Jennifer Saba writes in Editor and Publisher the newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in advertising revenue in more than 50 years.

According to new data released by the Newspaper Association of America, total print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4% to $42 billion compared to 2006 -- the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring advertising expenditures in 1950.

She also writes that Internet ad revenue is slowing, even while is it growing. Typical of the press to emphasis the negative.

There are signs that online revenue is beginning to slow as well. Internet ad revenue in 2007 grew 18.8% to $3.2 billion compared to 2006. In 2006, online ad revenue had soared 31.4% to $2.6 billion. In 2005, it jumped 31.4% to $2 billion.

According to the Union Editor and Publisher these national trends are not impacting local paper as they are in the "sweet spot" of local news.   If this is true, why has the A section continued to shrink. It used to be 12 pages in the A section, then 10 pages, and now we are moving toward 8 pages. True there is some variability, but more and more the A section is only 8 pages. Also, the physical size of the A section was shrunk, reducing the number of ads and stories needed for a single section.

I am sure the declining local economy is having an impact on Union revenues. It would be truly sad if we lost our local news paper, so lets get busy and crank up the local economy. Maybe the Union would like to step up to the challenge of getting some community consensus on which economic engines should we focusing on. Once we know where we are going, where "there is"  we can decide how to spend our limited economic development budget to get there.  Where can we get our most bang for the investment buck. We cannot get there from here until we know where there is. The Union could be big help in framing the our local economic development issues and get a dialog started, then help the community make some important decisions about where "there is, Once we know were we are going it is much easier to figure out a path to success.   

If the Union does not think it is there job to help frame the issues. Who's job it it?

Is Al Gore's time up, or does he have a plan?

Russ Steele

Is Al Gore's 60 Minutes appearance on CBS a renewed quest for the White House, or is it his final 15 minutes of fame? Depends on which blog you are reading:

More of the same when it is time for change

Russ Steele

Dave Moller writes in the Union this morning, Flat growth for funding of business groups

Despite a recent report calling for county government to spend much more cash to spur economic development, Nevada County's general fund money available for business groups remains flat.

The County spent $50,000 on a seriously flawed study and when these flaws were brought to the Supervisors attentions, their answer was we need to ignore the details and look at the bigger picture. According to my discussion with the Supervisors, the take away message from the flawed study was that we have to change how we are doing economic development in Nevada County. So where is the change in this current budget? 

In studying economic development funding there is a consistent trend. When the local economy is going well, no one sees a need for funding more on economic development. On the other hand, when the economy is in the tank there is not enough money for increased economic development.  And, what little money is available is spread around to keep everyone happy, rather than decide what the highest priority is and put some serious money into that priority project.  The real problem is we have no clue as to what that priority project might be. As a community, we have not decided what we want our economy to look like in five or ten years. Since we have no vision of where we are going, we have no way of defining the steps to success, nor a list of priorities to be working on.

Our highest priority today should be to define what we want our future economic engines to be and then craft a plan, with a list of funded priorities, to make that vision real.  But, change is hard and it requires a visionary leader willing to step up and LEAD.  That leadership is currently missing and unless someone, or some organization, is will to step up to the challenge we are doomed to just more of the same.

It maybe time to find a new bank

Russ Steele

For the first time in 10 years, Ellen could not find a parking place at Citizens Bank in Nevada City. It seems the bank has a new neighbor, the Victor Community Support Services. "All the spaces are being taken by clients of our new neighbor," said the teller.

Checking out the Victor Community Support Services, I found this message on their web site a little disconcerting:

Victor Community Support Services provides intensive community-based mental health services to youth involved in the juvenile justice system, residing in Nevada County. Services are provided by a multi-disciplinary team, in partnership with the Probation Department, Juvenile Court, and Nevada County Behavioral Health.

Services are provided to youth with psychiatric conditions that are a clear impediment to preventing further delinquency. In tandem with the Mental Health Court and the Probation Department, the adolescent is held strictly accountable for their behavior while matching them to appropriate diagnostic, therapeutic and community based interventions. (Emphasis added.)

Is this the right neighbor for a neighborhood bank, a service that treats habitual delinquents?   I am going to be real careful when using the ATM, checking first to make sure that none of those habitual delinquent clients are hanging around.  I think we will be using the Glenbrook Branch from now on. The Grass Valley Branch parking is a real bear, now we have two Citizens Bank Branches with congested parking lots.

What do you think?  Is this the right neighbor for a community bank?    

How not to create jobs in Nevada County

Russ Steele

At one time the Nevada County Economic Resource Council had a vision that we could create a cluster of solar energy business in the County and helping company called DayStar Technologies move to here from Colorado. DayStar was developing some interesting leading edge technology called CIGS, thin film copper-indium-gallium-di-selenide solar cells for the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. Layers of the semiconductor are deposited along with other layers of material that enable the solar generated electricity to be carried out of the cell to the circuit connected to a battery or more directly to the utility electrical grid.

The ERC was helping this new Nevada County company find some additional financing, when in June 2004 DayStar Technologies announced that "it has elected to relocate the Company from Grass Valley, California to Saratoga County, New York where it will establish its corporate headquarters, manufacturing plant and research and development facilities.  To assist DayStar in its relocation efforts, the New York State Department of Economic Development has provided a package of State and local economic incentives valued up to $11,136,000."

In December of 2007 DayStar Technologies moved its Corporate Headquarters and research facility back to California,  following a struggle to keep the company viable, and is now located at 2972 Stender Way, Santa Clara, CA 95054. It makes me wonder that once New York's incentive money was gone, and the pool of grants dried up, DayStar moved back to California.

Now this from the Sac Bee yesterday, a major competitor of DayStar, OptiSolar is moving to Sacramento:

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has approved an economic incentive agreement with OptiSolar to bring a large photo-voltaic manufacturing plant to McClellan Park.

The incentive agreement will provide up to $20 million over 25 years for OptiSolar to locate its 600,000-square-foot solar panel manufacturing plant at the former air force base in North Highlands.

About 500 jobs will be created in the next three years because of the plant. The county will also benefit from taxes derived from the plant.

It seem to me this is very steep price for economic development, a $20 million incentive for 500 jobs.
That $40K for each job. "So, how may jobs does Nevada County want at $40K each," asks a regular reader of this blog? 

History has proven that using economic incentives to attract jobs in not a good bargain, once the incentive money run out the company moves on to the next location which is offering incentives. We should not be buying jobs for Nevada County with incentives.

Necklace of sunspots emerging

Russ Steele

After a long quiet periods the Sun is becoming more active, with a string of sunspots emerging around the Sun's equator. These are Cycle 23 spots, we are still looking for more Cycle 24 spots.

Click on the image for a larger view of the emerging spots.

UPDATE: Anthony Watts has an update and long discussion thread this morning at Watts Up With That.