Jack Nicholson's 1978 Chevy

PRESIDENT Carter wore a cardigan in the White House to show leadership on energy conservation and he was virtually laughed out of office.

Here we are, thirty years later, facing a failing auto industry, a deteriorating environment, and a War for Oil, while Big Oil continues to record record profits.

Heaven help us.

Hurricane Kyle Headed Toward Maine

A TORNADO ripped right by our farm a few years ago. Bent the birch trees down into the pond, their rubber-band trunks almost snapping.

Now Kyle, a Category 1 hurricane, is going to slam the coast before sunrise.

It feels tropical up here, raining since Friday. The atmosphere is thick, the late-summer foliage lush with a last hoorah of bursting green. Mosquitoes all over the place.

We're too far inland to feel any major effects when Kyle washes ashore.

I hope.

The View From Here

Fireworks. Click to enlarge.

The Meaning of Life

THANKS to CNN.com's live video feed I was able to see Barack Obama's town hall in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, and thanks to Political Punch, I'm able to print his great answer to a young man's probing question.

"What does life mean to you?" the man asked, instructing the Democratic nominee that he be as intellectual or spiritual as he would like.

And so Barack answered.

"Oh goodness. What does life mean to me?

"I don't know where to start on a question like that. Let me just say a couple things. Right now what I think about most is my daughters who are 10 and 7. And not that I'm biased but they are perfect in all ways.

"When I was your age, I thought life was all about me. And how do make my way in the world and how do I become successful and how do I get the things that I want. And right now life for me revolves around those two girls. And I think about what kind of a place am I leaving them.

"Michelle and I have been incredibly blessed. As long as God's looking over, my girls are going to be OK. They can go to great schools, will be able to afford college, are in good health and will be well cared for if they ever get sick.

"Are they living in a county where there’s a huge gap between a few who are wealthy and a whole bunch of people who are struggling every day? Are they living in a county that is still divided by race?

"Are they living in a country where because they’re girls they don’t have as much opportunity as boys do?

"Are they living in a country where we are hated around the world because we don’t cooperate with other countries as effectively as we should? Are they living in a country where they are threatened by terrorism and a nuclear explosion could happen in a major American city? Are they living in a country in which because of a lack of sensible energy we are not only ransoming our future, but we’re also threatening the very livelihood of the planet?

"What life means to me is that every day I wake up trying to figure out how can I secure their futures and the futures of all children. How can I make sure that we are giving a planet and a country to them that is better than the one we got? And, you know, so I guess what I’ve discovered is that life doesn’t count for much unless you’re somehow giving yourself to something larger than yourself. And that’s part of my Christian faith. It’s also part of the reason I am running for president of the United States."

::

Words from the leader I want in the Oval Office. If he's your choice, why don't you take this exchange, put it in an email and send it to everybody you know. There's no reason that smears are the only emails making the rounds.

Know hope.

Mother Earth is Saying, 'Enough'

BARELY into the second week of June and the temperature in Maine has already broken 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It's still spring.

After days of nonstop rain, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa are flooding as I write this. Iowa rivers are expected to overflow soon.

Snow dumped on the Pacific northwest today. It's June.

Deadly tornadoes, twisters, and waterspots have touched down all over the nation, and in some unlikely places.

A giant sinkhole sunk in Texas a few weeks ago.

A southern Illinois earthquake in April sent aftershocks into Tennessee and Alabama. And Canada.

Brush fires have ravaged California and Florida.

A tsunami recently destroyed a chunk of Burma.

An earthquake recently destroyed a chunk of China.

Hurricane season in the Caribbean is expected to be vicious this summer.

And this is a short list.

We must take better care of our planet.