Stories by Art Hobson
RSSCOMMENTARY: Concerning Chemical Weapons In Syria
THEIR USE MUST BE PREVENTED, BUT US MUST BE CAREFUL WITH MILITARY ACTION
It now appears that sarin, a chemical weapon, was used in Syria’s civil war. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY: America Heads Toward Brighter Days
RAPIDLY CHANGING CULTURE AFFECTS POLITICS OF GAY MARRIAGE, GUN SAFETY, WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT
American culture is changing, affecting our politics and pointing toward a brighter future, but it creates significant dark spots. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY: Nuclear Weapons: Pressure Tactics Aren’t Working
In dealing with dangerous nations such as Iran and North Korea, an attitude of wary toughness is appropriate but all too obvious in America’s foreign policy. Respect and understanding are also essential if we really want to solve these problems rather than just thump our own chests. Continue reading...
Battle To Save The Illinois River Continues
CORPORATE INTERESTS BELIEVE A HEALTHY ILLINOIS RIVER IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH INDUSTRIAL HEALTH
There are new developments in the standoff between Arkansas’ chicken industry and those who support a healthy Illinois River. The river fl ows from Washington and Benton counties into Oklahoma where it’s a major tourism source and forms Tenkiller Lake that feeds into Tulsa’s water supply. Continue reading...
Transportation And The Urban Fabric
FLYOVER BRIDGE BEING BUILT ACROSS EXPRESSWAY ANOTHER BLUNDER CAUSED BY A PRIOR MISTAKE
Alex Marshall’s excellent book “How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl, and the Roads Not Taken,” notes every city stands on three legs: politics, business and transportation. As you might have noticed, I’m interested in the third of these legs because how people get from A to B bears on so many social and scientifi c topics. Continue reading...
US Should Pressure Israel To Act Rightly
COUNTRY HAS RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF, BUT SHOULD STOP EXPANSIONIST WAYS IN WEST BANK REGION
The Middle East, riven by wars, religious intolerance, ethnic rivalries, fundamentalist ignorance, suicide bombers, and political instability, all mixed with precious oil, big money, Israel’s nuclear arsenal, and Iran’s nuclear ambitions, is surely the planet’s most volatile neighborhood. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY: What's Ailing The American System?
COUNTRY LAGS BEHIND OTHER DEMOCRACIES IN CHILD POVERTY, INCOME INEQUALITY, SOCIAL MOBILITY
America is no longer the greatest nation on Earth. In fact, it’s not even among the top 10. There’s plenty of evidence. Continue reading...
Highway Plan A Subsidy For Drivers
SALES TAXES SOAK THE POOR; MONEY SHOULD GO TO BUILDING MASS TRANSIT, WALKABLE COMMUNITIES
I can’t think of a worse way to spend Arkansas sales tax dollars than on highways. Of all forms of taxation, sales taxes are the most unfair because they soak the poor, who must spend larger fractions of their income on taxable items while the rich invest much of their income. Continue reading...
Not Another Half-Cent For Highways
10 REASONS TO VOTE AGAINST PROPOSED SALES TAX ON THE BALLOT IN NOVEMBER’S GENERAL ELECTION
The Nov. 6 general election will include a vote on a half-cent statewide sales tax to raise $2.3 billion, primarily to fi nance more roads, including the widening of Interstate 540 to six or eight lanes. Here are 10 reasons you should vote against it. Continue reading...
How Economics Is Tied To Global Warming
ESSENTIALLY ALL ECONOMISTS FAVOR CARBON TAX OVER CAP-AND-TRADE FOR AT LEAST THREE REASONS
To see global warming in action, look around. Continue reading...
Calling On Area To Build Wisely
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS SHOULD ATTEMPT TO CURB SPRAWL
Our region’s cities and towns are mostly wonderful places to live. However, our too-rapid growth means we’d better pay attention or things will go rapidly awry. Continue reading...
Increased Cynicism Toward Science Hurts
WE MUST ACCEPT WE ARE CHILDREN OF THE UNIVERSE AND BEGIN THINKING FOR OURSELVES
Nina Federoff is an accomplished woman. A pioneering researcher in plant genetics, she holds an honored professorial chair at Pennsylvania State University, is a member of the Santa Fe Institute on complex systems research, and was science and technology adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from 2007 to 2010. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY: America Needs To Try To Avoid Wars
DETERRENCE BEST STRATEGY
FAYETTEVILLE — If Americans don’t start thinking seriously about the current battle fervor in the Middle East, we may soon find ourselves dragged into another foolish and counterproductive war. Continue reading...
Read All About It: From Past To Present
STORY OF CHANGES IN TRANSPORTATION IN NORTHWEST ARKANSAS MAKES A LENGTHY, EVOLVING SAGA
I love following the news. It’s grander and less predictable than any novel or reality TV, and it’s happening everywhere. Continue reading...
Drive-By Shooting Reported
SPRINGDALE — Police are investigating a drive-by shooting reported on Braxton Drive on Friday night.
Continue reading...
Council Does Not Represent The People
REQUEST TO CANCEL PUBLIC VOTE PROMISED ONE AND A HALF YEARS AGO IS ARROGANT, WRONG
In August 2010, the Ozark Regional Transit governing board, a representative body comprising mayors and county judges, set an election date for a quartercent sales tax to support the transit system. Continue reading...
The World Needs Scientific Literacy
ALL NATIONS SHOULD REQUIRE STUDENTS TO PURSUE GENERAL EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES
When I speak to groups about scientifi c literacy, I often begin by asking audience members to shout out a signifi cant global problem. A typical list of responses might include poverty, prejudice, overpopulation, the economy, environment, gasoline prices, terrorism, drugs, crime, war, pollution, biodiversity, nuclear weapons, disease — you get the idea. Now, think through the causes and solutions of these problems. I think you’ll agree that nearly all are related to science and technology. Continue reading...
Who Put The Phosphorus In The River?
STREAMS ARE SENSISTIVE TO EXCESS POLLUTION, WHICH TURNS WATER GREEN, SUFFOCATES FISH
Phosphorus pollution in the Illinois River continues to fester. Recently, the Northwest Arkansas Council, a regional business group, asked Washington and Benton counties and five cities to finance yet another study of the problem. A new scientifically objective study might help. Continue reading...
Why Is America No Longer On Top?
CITIZENS NEED TO RECOGNIZE OUR NATION’S REAL PROBLEMS IN ORDER TO SOLVE THEM
Americans are beginning to realize that we’re no longer number one. In significant categories such as health, poverty, mortality, homicides, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage abortions, income disparity, marriage duration, transportation, and incarceration, we’re not even in the top 15. My column of June 5 discussed this in more detail. The only area in which we’re far-and-away number one is military muscle — a dubious distinction. Continue reading...
PEOPLE & PLACES
Williams Marks 98th Birthday Continue reading...
No Excuse For America’s Oil Burden
UNITED STATES’ IMPORT PROBLEMS NOT CAUSED BY SHORTAGE OF DOMESTIC OIL PRODUCTION
America’s oil imports burden us with enormous environmental, social, strategic, financial and political costs. During the 2000-09 decade, we paid $1.7 trillion, or 30 percent of that decade’s trade deficit, for foreign oil. Oil imports exceeded 60 percent of total oil consumption every year since 2000. Continue reading...
Blame Taxes For Stasis
TODAY’S INEQUALITY LIKE THAT OF THE ROARING ’20S
Are you working harder just to stay in the same place economically? If so, welcome to the crowd. Among prosperous nations, America is unique in favoring the rich and slamming the middle class. The ratio of the average income of our richest 10 percent to that of our poorest 10 percent is higher in the U.S. than in any other prosperous nation. The same is true of the richest and poorest 20 percent. As measured by these ratios, the income disparity of most other advanced nations is about half of ours. And the U.S. finishes last among prosperous nations in the United Nations’ index of income equality. Continue reading...
Area Transportation At A Crossroads
AMENDMENT TO CREATE 10-YEAR, HALF-CENT SALES TAX FOR MORE FOUR-LANE ROADS TO BE ON BALLOT
LITTLE ROCK — America’s carcentered transportation system puts us at a disadvantage. Other nations do far more pedestrian, bicycle, bus and train travel, resulting in fewer accidents, less pollution, more exercise, better health, less sprawl, less oil consumption, reduced expenses and better mobility for the elderly and disabled. Continue reading...
United States No Longer Top Nation
EXAMINATION OF FACTS LEADS TO DOUBT, AND DOUBT IS BEGINNING OF WISDOM
There was once a floating utopia, regarded by her creators as beyond compare, No. 1. Such hubris led to disaster. On her maiden voyage, she carried her proud name to the bottom of the sea: “Titanic.” Since at least the ancient Greeks, humankind has known that excessive pride destroys nations. From Easter Island to the great Mayans to the ancient Romans to Hitler’s Germany, many a proud culture has shunned reality and thus collapsed. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Possible Energy Futures, Part 3
EVEN SKEPTICS AGREE ON FOSSIL FUELS’ EFFECTS
Editor’s Note: This is the final column in a three-part series on energy and climate. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Coal Waste Is A Problem
AMERICA NEEDS TO EXPLORE POSSIBLE ENERGY FUTURES, PART 2
In Part 1 I presented an ideal but feasible plan to get America unhooked from fossil fuels by 2050 while providing the energy services we need to prosper. Our energy economy would transition to energy efficiency and renewables — primarily solar — with little fossil or nuclear power. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Possible Energy Futures, Part 1
AMERICA CAN SOLVE PROBLEMS
Rising gasoline prices and Japan’s nuclear calamity remind us that we have an energy problem. Continue reading...
MODERN TIMES The Evidence Of Evolution
‘GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH’ BOOK LABOR OF LOVE FOR BIOLOGY
Evolution : It’s a simple concept. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Search For Life Continues
MISSION FINDS 1,235 POSSIBLE PLANETS
NASA’s Kepler mission — aptly named for the discoverer of the laws of planetary orbits and one of history’s most passionate scientists — has found 1,235 possible planets orbiting other stars. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Supporting Liberal Ideals
WINNING ELECTIONS NOT ALL THAT MATTERS TO AFFECT POLICY
I changed my voting philosophy last November when I voted for the Green Party’s John Gray for U.S. Senate. I rejected Blanche Lincoln’s conservative positions on health care and global warming, but underneath this was the feeling that America has become dangerously conservative since 1980, and that this is partly the fault of liberals who should stand more firmly for progressive principles. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Israel Needs Tough Love From US
Despite major disagreements with some Israeli actions, the U.S. government and most Americans, including me, have supported Israel since its founding in 1949. Israel continues receiving $3 billion annually in mostly military assistance from the U.S., amounting to onethird of all U.S. foreign aid. Furthermore, U.S. diplomatic support has been crucial for Israel, with the U.S. often standing alone with Israel at the United Nations. For example, during 1972-2006 the U.S. vetoed, by its single vote, 42 U.N. Security Council resolutions that were unfavorable to Israel. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY: Paying For Arkansas Roads
CURRENT FUNDING WILL COVER $4 BILLION OF NEEDED $19 BILLION
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Arkansas automobile transportation is at a dead end, with $19 billion needed for infrastructure over the next 10 years while current funding will provide only $4 billion. The underlying problem is that we drive too much because subsidies shield us from the true cost of driving. Now the Arkansas Blue Ribbon Commission proposes to make the problem worse by increasing these subsidies. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY A Problem We Can’t Bypass
ROADS-ORIENTED VISION WILL DESTROY WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT OZARKS
The Nov. 13 Northwest Arkansas Times stares back at me as I write these words. The large photo, above the headline “Survey Knocks Transport,” says it all. We see cars packed into North College Avenue’s (U.S. 71) dreary five lanes through Fayetteville, with no sidewalks, pedestrians, bicycles, bike lanes, or buses in sight, with electric lines cluttering one side and the standard signs advertising the standard fast-food eateries. It’s not a pretty picture, socially or aesthetically. It’s a perfect example of James Kunstler’s point in his classic “The Geography of Nowhere,” a book that I urge you to read. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Religious Fundamentalism Unhealthy
My last column covered the first half of the recent sermon the Unitarian Fellowship kindly asked me to give. It being my only sermon in decades, I value it highly. So here’s the second half. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY A Personal Philosophy
People don’t often ask me to preach, but I had the good fortune to be asked to preach to Fayetteville’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on a recent Sunday morning. This article is based on my sermon. Continue reading...
COMMENTARY Look Of Global Warming
ANTI-SCIENTIFIC MINORITY, INHOFE STRIKE AGAIN
Global warming, with the unkind assistance of a powerful anti-scientific minority of Americans led by Sen. James Inhofe and other Republicans, is striking again. Continue reading...
