Hot off the Press: Years of clean-up, generations of environmental ruin edition

The California House approved a state-wide ban on plastic bags that will also impose a nickel charge for the use of paper bags (which will need to contain recyclable material): http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/science/earth/03bags.html?ref=us. I always take a cloth bag to the grocery store, and think this is generally a good idea. However, will I need to pay a nickel every time I get a paper sleeve for a PBR tall boy at the corner market? If so, I suppose it's no big deal. I'm not one of those hardline libertarians who say, "If I want to pollute, I have the goddamn right to do it!" Yeah, just like BP. The bill still has to pass in the Senate, which may not happen.

The University of Arizona is turning to '80s-style soccer hooligan detainment to keep its students from rushing the field at football games: http://azstarnet.com/sports/football/college/wildcats/article_f489d795-485b-5d33-b6e6-eed7451bf6a6.html. Boooooooo! What is this? The NFL? Rushing the field should be the right of every college student, regardless of whether coaches think it's a safety issue. CRG sports writer Mike Hlas wrote about it to calm any fears Hawkeye fans about being beaten in Tuscon this fall and having the field rushed in celebration: http://gazetteonline.com/blogs/the-hlog/2010/06/03/fear-not-hawkeye-fans-the-zonazoo-will-be-contained-for-the-iowa-arizona-football-game.

"Universities are offering doctorates but few jobs": http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-phd-blues-20100604,0,6349908.story.

Here's a NYT interactive graphic about the history of the soccer balls used at the World Cup: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/06/magazine/20100606-world-cup-balls.html.

A valley in Colorado is finding solar energy development harder than it seems: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/us/04electricity.html?ref=us.

A small Illinois community is trying to wrap its mind around the strip club located in a former school: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/us/04club.html?ref=us.

Vladimir Putin has proposed legislation that would allow Russian intelligence services to imprison people for two weeks without involving courts: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,698542,00.html. The sad thing about this is you could say it's not as bad as the Patriot Act; at least there's a limit to how long prisoners can be detained without legal reason.

In a blatant PR move, BP has bought Google and Yahoo search terms related to the Gulf oil spill (like "oil spill") to funnel news seekers to the corporate website for information: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Broadcast/bp-buys-search-engine-phrases-redirecting-users/story?id=10835618. A sponsored link should be obvious on Google (it's highlighted, which means I never click it) but this is still fucking scary.

But several search engine marketing experts are questioning BP's intentions, suggesting that controlling what the public finds when they look online for oil spill information is just another way for the company to try and rebuild the company's suffering public image.

According to Kevin Ryan, the CEO of California-based Motivity Marketing, research shows that most people can't tell the difference between a paid result pages, like the ones BP have, and actual news pages.

"If you look at it from BP's perspective it's a brilliant move," Ryan said. "The other option BP had was to just not do this and let the news interpret what's going on.

"But they're getting so much bad press that directing traffic to their own site is a great PR strategy," he said.

Peak oil "collapsitarians" are preparing for a world without oil, and some are profiting from it: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06peak.html?ref=us.

Deep thoughts from CRG sports writer Mike Hlas about Iowa State being orphaned by conference expansions: http://gazetteonline.com/blogs/the-hlog/2010/06/05/hlas-column-a-big-12-breakup-would-leave-iowa-state-heartsick.

LA is putting the clamps on its apparent runaway medicinal pot dispensary problem: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pot-shutdown-20100607,0,854268.story.

Democrats are opting not to hold large town hall meetings (reminiscent of those popular last year) in hopes of avoiding face-to-face encounters with angry voters: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/us/politics/07townhall.html?ref=us. I'm not sure if Republicans are holding many town hall meetings (and Tea Party protests don't count), but this is yet another reason why I'm not a Democrat: they are spineless chickens. You can't please everybody, but at least have the balls to meet constituents and hear them out.