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Snow in America: traffic, global warming and a naval air station in California

Updated on 09 September 2008

By Jon Snow

Jon Snow's post-convention delve into the real America continues with a trip to Los Angeles.

As we continue our road journey by RV (recreational vehicle) from the Mexican Border to Seattle, taking the temperature of America before the great vote, we are leaving San Diego of Some Like It Hot fame.

Great hotel for a drink, too expensive to stay in ever since Marilyn Monroe made it famous.

Visited the massive naval air station here: the biggest in America. Living in an age of Cold War warfare, where submarines were the issue... amazingly relaxed security. Never asked me for identification.


'Even schools have multi-story car parks in LA.'

Charming laid-back Californian characters working there. Enough choppers to ship the entire Taliban out of Helmand, but gearing up for anti-sub warfare...

So, to the twelve-lane highway to Los Angeles. As we leave San Diego, we glimpse clusters of gated communities on nearby hilltops, alarmingly reminiscent of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.

One hundred and four miles of bumper to bumper all the way to LA. This country doesn't begin to get global warming... this is the end of the planet. Carbon incineration before your very eyes.

There's a lot of green talk and recycling stuff, but the car is god. Even schools have multi-story car parks in LA.

Tomorrow, what goes on inside those schools, some of which have 5,000 pupils...and we thought 35 to a class was overcrowding!

Best wishes, Jon Snow in LA

Jon Snow is making a documentary for Channel 4 which will be shown in the autumn.

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