Long Live The People's Republic of China

伟大的祖国万岁，伟大的中国人民万岁，世界人民大团结万岁！！！

Excelon Quits the United States Chamber of Commerce

The company just quit United States Chamber of Commerce, along with some other companies that is specialized in new energy and utilities. The company has a fleet of nuclear powerplants and has a vested interest in passing the new carbon curbing law. Though the law has been passed by the House of Representatives, it has to wait for the Senate's approval. But that doesn't seem likely in the near future. Since the Senate and the Obama's administration are troubled by the health-care reform. Many states with coal-fired power plants may put up a fierce resistance to the new law. For the past few months they have been gaining ground, but now green businesses are leading the fight against the resistance of the new law. National Manufacturers Association and Chamber of Commerce believe that the new law will raise cost for their members. But excelon firmly believe that the new law actually would create jobs. Of course there is great financial incentive for excelon to sport the new law. If cap and trade system were adopted, excelon would benefit tremendously. Even though excelon may not win the battle it could gain from the grain stance it took in the campaign.
Many people probably don't know that in Chicago there is a Chicago Climate Exchange. As far as I know there are many companies already voluntarily dissipate in the trade of greenhouse gases. And the CCE trading has reached billion-dollar level. Companies that joined the game early certainly are looking forward to a formal system in which their advantage could turn to more profits. We're still not sure about the future of carbon reduction. The final law would be a compromise between the House and the Senate. But no matter what, without this legislation, America cannot assume the leading role in the battle against climate change.

Without a known enemy, America is at war with itself

Ever since the end of the cold war, America seemed lost its ultimate enemy, and thus its ultimate unitor. There may have been small "evil", like Saddam Hussein, or North Korea, Iran, maybe the combination of them called the "axis of evil". Then there's this unvisible "terror" like al qaeda, pervasive and faceless. At last, there's some potential "big evil" like China. But none posed the threat like the Nazi Germany or the Stalinist Soviet. Even if the "war on terror" for a very short period of time pull americans together. The united front fell apart quickly.

Now, Americans are at war with each other. The monsters and the devils, they discovered, are among themselves. They are radicals, communists, illegal aliens, gun-hangers, baby-killers, wealth distributors, muslim, bankers, and the list go on and on. In the name of democracy, they fight an unending war with each other. Their news became part of a propaganda machine, aiming and destroying the other side. It makes me think: what's good if no consensus and progress can be made? What's real about the motto "government of the people, by thepeople, for the people", if the people are so divided by fixed ideology while suffering common disease?

The effect of losing an real enemy and the failure of creating an replica have led to a total collapse of the domestic consensus building mechanism. So it seems that democracy works well with imperialism and global struggle, not that well with pax americana.