The route referred to as the Northwest Passage is open, as of now. It will close as the season changes, but this is the first time, since our knowledge of the globe included the Arctic, that it is navigable without an ice-breaking ship. It is now "fully navigable"; monitoring since 1978 has not seen this much retreat of ice cover.

A new era is beginning, with Russia planting its flag on an undersea ridge, for the expected oil, and Canada asserting territorial control over the Passage, where it goes between northern islands. There will negotiations between countries over valualble port rights, and Lloyd's is already underwriting policies, I hear.

We've lost ground where we could have advanced, these last few years. Various private ventures have begun to make inroads on the old ways, with solar and wind vendors popping up, large-scale installations like solar-thermal here, or wind/flow battery an King Island, Tasmania, or an 11 Mw solar installation in Portugal. My city, Chicago, has told the electric company off and is now allowing rooftop generating, by wind or solar. But we're way behind where we should be.

The dreary awfulness of Iraq hangs over everything, but it is in a sense only a symptom of the disease, which is a runaway executive. Efforts to change the direction in Iraq will continually bump up against the executive's intransigence.

The White House and George Bush have to be brought to heel, and Congress must do it, by not taking no for an answer regarding all the pending questions. Pressing for resolution will be scary for representatives and senators since they will have to do more than talk politely to each other. They will have to threaten and deliver charges of contempt, or they will lose all power to affect the course of events. Failing to force the issue may mean war with Iran in our future.

Some of us have a plan to get Congress' attention and stiffen its spine, through the offices of our individual reps and senators. It will only work if there is some publicity, though, so I'm hoping to get your support.

The plan is a response to the feared ineffectiveness of street demonstrations, since they are hobbled by new "anti-terrorism' security measures. It avoids the problem of a calling campaign since that can be blocked. It is simply to have many emails arrive on one day, or at least dated that one day. It can't be blocked since it is not spamming, but legitimate emails from individuals. Even if the servers choke (not a bad thing) the mail will pile up in the internet "hallway."

The chosen date is September 17th, Constitution Day. It follows conveniently after a march on Washington scheduled for the 15th, and after the discussion over Petraeus has run its course. We're calling it Redress Day. The goal will be for individuals to find their own wording for any version of "make them answer".

Other links:

A Time To Act

Impeachment Quickie