TGI(WB)F!
Look up in the sky! Its a Bird:
www.blognetnews.com/…/
Dedicated to John and Susan at:
http://www.thedrunkablog.blogspot.com/
Though it is rarely discussed John and Susan have a clutch of messenger pigeons that they race on most weekends
I am not even going to get into this until after the conventions. There will be plenty of time to talk about it then. Right now it looks like we are on a fault line. One guy wants to get us off hydrocarbons as fa uel and headed towards a new green future. The other guy wants nukes, clean coal, and “drill often and drill here”. I will let you guys figure out whom is who.
John McCain like every other Republican in America wants to avoid what their 30 years of dereliction of duty has wraught. Nixon, Regan and Bush (my version of lions and tigers and bears, oh my!) all increased our dependence on oil and easy Chinese money. Bush in particular ushered us to the brink of a world depression. Grover Norquist, who wants to take us back to the 1930s is about to succeed:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_norquist.html
BILL MOYERS: If states refuse to raise taxes to fix some of those problems we’ve just seen, that certainly won’t bother my next guest. He’s a sworn opponent of all taxes. He’s also the most powerful man in Washington not to hold a public office.
Officially, Grover Norquist heads an organization called Americans for Tax Reform where for almost 20 years now he has crusaded for lower taxes and less government. Unofficially he’s been the linchpin in Washington for the conservative revolution that now controls the government. His weekly meetings of activists became the politburo of strategy where all stripes of conservatives bear their differences in order to bury their hatchet in Democrats. From the Christian coalition to log cabin Republicans to the National Rifle Association on whose board he sits, this Harvard graduate keeps the troops on mission and on message. His success prompted Senator Hillary Clinton to muse aloud, if only Democrats had a Grover Norquist. Welcome to NOW.
GROVER NORQUIST: Glad to be with you.
BILL MOYERS: Well, you do have it all. You have the White House, the Congress, the regulatory agencies, the courts more or less. The last time Democrats, liberal Democrats, held that kind of power, they made some mistakes like the war in Vietnam that they couldn’t sustain the support of at home, emphasized parochial interests at the expense of the sort of bedrock universal values of American society. What are the errors you think conservatives running everything could make?
GROVER NORQUIST: I think it’s very important to always make sure that you’re talking to the entire coalition and to as many Americans as possible; not to go chasing after one little group or another. The Democrats would bring new groups into their party and not notice that larger groups are going out the back door. And so what I try and do whenever I work on an issue or work with political leaders is make sure that when you’re talking about a new approach, how does that…how does the entire coalition view that new approach? Is there a better or different way to do it that irritates fewer people and that satisfies a larger constituency?
BILL MOYERS: And that’s what you did at your Wednesday morning meetings? Those meetings became famous, for all kinds of conservatives being in there hammering things out.
GROVER NORQUIST: And we now have 27 versions of that at the state capital level, including one in New York City. So we’re taking the model of the “leave us alone” coalition from the national level to the state level as well.
BILL MOYERS: “Leave us alone?”
GROVER NORQUIST: Um-hmm. Look, the center right coalition in American politics today is best understood as a coalition of groups and individuals that on the issue that brings them to politics what they want from the government is to be left alone. Taxpayers, don’t raise my taxes. Property owners, don’t restrict or limit my property. Home schoolers, let me educate my own kids. Gun owners, don’t restrict my Second Amendment rights. All communities of faith, Evangelical Christians, conservative Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, Orthodox Jews, people want to practice their own religion and be left alone to raise their own kids.
BILL MOYERS: Do you have any sympathy for those states we just saw a few moments ago? Under the president’s plan, those states do not expect any direct aid from Uncle Sam. Do you have any advice for them?
GROVER NORQUIST: Sure, two things. The most important thing for President Bush and the federal government to do is to create a pro-growth economic policy because its economic growth that brings in more revenue for states and local governments. At the state level what they really have to do is take a long run view and limit the growth of spending, put limits on how much you spend. And then California, the state owns a whole bunch of land and other things that it could sell off it doesn’t need, and it needs to figure out which of those government jobs need to be in government, and what can be privatized or contracted out.
BILL MOYERS: You’re on record as saying, my goal is to cut government in half in 25 years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bath tub. Is that a true statement?
And the Holy Satanic trilogy of George Mason University, Southern Methodist University and the University of Chicago have supplied all the intellectual fire power. SMU is where George Bush, jr. will try to lock up his presidential papers and avoid jail,
:}
Oh but I digress…One of the finest posters at The Oil Drum JoulesBurn who Blogs at:
http://satelliteoerthedesert.blogspot.com/
Had this little cutey today:
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3855#more
Posted by JoulesBurn on April 15, 2008 – 7:45pm
Topic: Policy/Politics
Tags: gas prices, John McCain, politics (list all tags)
For immediate release from John McCain’s campaign:
John McCain, who just hours earlier proposed a “tax holiday” in which the 18 cent federal tax on gasoline would be suspended during the summer driving season, has reconsidered and has instead proposed that the U.S. gallon be redefined to be equal in volume to the current U.S. quart. “This will immediately lower the price at the pump by 75%, providing visible relief to millions of Americans”, quipped McCain. “I rejected the idea of setting it equal to the liter, for obvious reasons”.When questioners suggested that this move wouldn’t actually change how much consumers spend to fill their tanks, McCain responded “Well, neither would my previous proposal”.
In unrelated election news, the McCain campaign announced that P.T. Barnum has been posthumously appointed as their policy director. Also, Hillary Clinton has proposed a suspension of the law of gravity, at least during the summer flying season, to help the beleaguered airline industry. Barack Obama reportedly had no comment on these suggestions, other than to say that Americans are definitely “atwitter” about gas prices.
We interrupt this vacation from reality with the following observations…(under the fold…)
Jodie Foster, Pregnant Man, Iran, Prince Philip, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, American Idol, Obama, China, Beyonce, Rolling Stones. (sorry for the deception but please read below)
Normally I wouldn’t bother to cover this but since it’s on the list I felt I needed to “dis” it as much as I could. I even took the time to get Buzzes top searches for the week to punch it up a bit. I even checked every category Energy Tough Love has to publicize this human indignity. The list of “Religions” that I used to start this meditation on the relationship between Religion and the Environment placed Juche well down on the list but with 18 million adherents that still alot of folks. I had never heard of it before and I even asked a couple of people if they had heard of it. Imagine my suprise when I typed it into a search engine and up popped this Prick who claimed he was god:
During his lifetime he forced millions of people in North Korea to worship him. Can you imagine anything more degrading or disgusting then a man who points a loaded gun at your head and demands that you treat him like a god. You must pray to him. Oh most Divine Leader. Makes me want to puke. But then he is followed by this buffoon:
Now they are “worshiping” something no better than a trained monkey. If they had an ENVIRONMENTAL group in North Korea, I wish them the best of luck but I ain’t gonna publish it. I ain’t even gona type it into a search engine. If anybody ever deserved to get a nuke shoved up his poop shoot. This would be it.
As I have said many times, collaboration between Environmentalists and Industry is never a good idea because the Environmentalists have to sacrifice some of their integrity to participate. We have no time for that now. Every little bit of the Earth that is unsullied is now sacred.
www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FutureGen
How can a project that has 2 of its own web sites and a Wikipedia listing be so wrong? Well let’s see COST?
Officials vow to
not give up on
FutureGen
Durbin blames politics for decision to scrap plant
By DAVID MERCERTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHAMPAIGN — Officials promised Wednesday to fight the Department of Energy’s decision to scrap a futuristic, low-pollution power plant planned for central Illinois, but the leader of the state’s congressional delegation seemed resigned to its end.Sen. Dick Durbin said he hopes to fund the $1.8 billion FutureGen power plant through earmarks in the federal budget, but wasn’t optimistic it would work.“If the administration doesn’t support it, we’ve seen that this president is willing to use his veto pen over and over again,” Durbin said. “Without the support of the administration, it’s an uphill struggle.”Durbin spoke not long after Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said publicly what he’d told members of Illinois’ congressional delegation and Illinois economic development officials in a private meeting Tuesday.Rather than spend money on FutureGen, which was to have been built by a consortium of coal and power companies in Mattoon using mainly federal funds, the DOE plans to put its finances into a handful of projects around the country that would demonstrate the capture and burial of carbon dioxide from commercial power plants.“This restructuring … is an all-around better deal for Americans,” Bodman, an Illinois native, said in making the announcement to scuttle the program.The department will now solicit industry applications for participation in the new projects. The idea is for the government to pay for building the carbon capture and storage facilities and industry to build the modern coal-burning power plant. Each project would be designed to capture 1 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas linked to global warming, officials said.The coal and power companies planning to build the plant, known as the FutureGen Alliance, issued a statement saying it “remains committed to keeping FutureGen on track” but it was unclear how that would be possible without the federal funding.FutureGen was envisioned as a unique research project that would trigger development of a virtually pollution-free coal plant where carbon dioxide emissions would be captured and buried deep beneath the earth.
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For a listing of the last ten AP postings on FutureGen go here.
Click on the Length of Search box and pick Archive, the type in FutureGen in the submit Box and click submit.
The Project escalated in cost from 750,000 million $$$ to 1.8 billion $$$ in a little less than 5 years. That is more than enough to build a “new generation” nuke on the same site. But think about this. What would it actually cost. We all know that typical Utility Construction Projects come in with at least 20% cost over runs and sometime as high as 40% is acceptable. Which means that the real cost would likely hover at just under 3 billion $$$. Can anyone say Too Cheap To Meter???
URGENT ACTION ALERT!!
Dear Diane,
Our threatened climate and your children, born and unborn, need you to take action NOW, right now, sometime Friday, December 7th! The word from Capitol Hill is that the U.S. Senate may vote on the energy bill by as early as Friday evening.
You can call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or look up their direct phone number here .
You can use this sample script: “Hello, I’m ___________, and I’m calling to urge that Senator ________ oppose efforts to prevent the energy bill from coming to the Senate floor for a vote and support the use of our tax dollars for renewable energy, not subsidies for fossil fuels. For the good of our economy, our pocketbooks and the environment, we want the House energy bill to be passed now.”
This afternoon the House of Representatives passed a good energy bill by a 235-181 vote. Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, described it this way:
“It is a bill of firsts: the first increase in fuel economy standards in more than three decades, the first national requirement for renewable energy…and the first energy bill to provide billions for clean energy instead of shoveling subsidies to Big Oil and other polluters. Instead of a pork-laden monstrosity tailored to the needs of the dirty energy industry, this bill will give us clean electricity, greener cars, provide billions for clean energy instead of Big Oil’s bottom line, strengthen our economy, make us more secure, and begin to address the challenge of global warming. It is a tremendous achievement for the Congress, but more importantly, it is a victory for the hardworking American families who are now suffering as a result of decades of failed energy policies.”
As you may know, I’ve been on a climate emergency fast since September 4th. Today is my 94th day without solid foods. The focus of this fast from day one has been to help stimulate grassroots pressure on Congress to get them to pass the strongest possible climate legislation. And it is happening!
But there’s a big hurdle, and that’s the planned filibuster by Senator Inhofe, dirty energy advocate and global warming denier number one. To get over that hurdle, we need 60 U.S. Senators willing to stand up for the right thing, willing to vote the right way, willing to follow their conscience and not bend to the demands of the dirty energy lobby.
Tomorrow needs to be a day the U.S. Senate never forgets. Their phones need to be ringing off the hook, hearing from all of us. Senators and presidential candidates Clinton, Obama, Biden and Dodd need to be in D.C. to vote — no excuses on an issue this important! Republican and Democratic Senators need to stand up for the Earth!
You can call your U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 or look up their direct phone number at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm .
You can use this sample script: “Hello, I’m ___________, and I’m calling to urge that Senator ________ oppose efforts to prevent the energy bill from coming to the Senate floor for a vote and support the use of our tax dollars for renewable energy, not subsidies for fossil fuels. For the good of our economy, our pocketbooks and the environment, we want the House energy bill to be passed now.”
And please send this alert out widely to others who might be responsive.
Let’s make history this week! It’s time to act!
For future generations,
Ted Glick, coordinator, U.S. Climate Emergency Council
P.S. You can go to our website, http://www.climateemergency.org, for more information about the energy
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Germany is a perfect example of how producing energy with no pollution (in many case no burning) leads to an economic expansion and creates new good paying jobs. Bush and the Republicans have been wrong all along. Nixon, Reagan and Bush oh my!
Sierra, Jan-Feb, 1995 by Curtis Moore
<< Page 1 Continued from page 6. Previous | Next
The cumulative effect of all these programs is to place Germany in a commanding position as nations beset with environmental problems search for ways to reduce pollution quickly and inexpensively. Thailand, for example, decided to install scrubbers on its coal-fired power plants after a single episode of air pollution in Mae Mo District sent more than 4,000 of its citizens to doctors and hospitals. Smog-bound Mexico City has been forced to implement emissions controls on cars and factories. Taiwan is even going so far as to require catalytic converters for motorcycles. Such mandates will almost inevitably benefit Germany because, as Harvard Business School economist Michael Porter explains, “Germany has had perhaps the world’s tightest regulations in stationary air-pollution control, and German companies appear to hold a wide lead in patenting–and exporting–air pollution and other environmental technologies.”
In the United States, however, where environmental standards were relaxed by a succession of Reagan/Bush appointees, often in the name of competitiveness, “as much as 70 percent of the air pollution control equipment sold…is produced by foreign companies,” according to Porter, whose 855-page study of industrial economies, The Competitive Advantage of Nations, examines the impact of environmental regulations on competitiveness.
Germany’s actions continue to contrast sharply with those of the United States, even under President Clinton, whom most environmentalists supported as the green answer to George Bush. Germany’s emissions limits on power plants and incinerators are 4 to 300 times more stringent than those of the United States. German companies that generate electricity from wind, solar, or other renewable forms of power are reimbursed at twice to three times U.S. levels. German recycling is mandatory, while American programs are usually voluntary where they exist at all.
Still, support for Germany’s environmental initiatives is by no means unanimous. Wolfgang Hilger, for example, the chairman of Hoechst, Germany’s largest chemical company, complained bitterly in 1991 that the government had lost all sense of proportion. He claimed that regulations had jeopardized 250 jobs at his company, and threatened it with a $100-million loss. But Hilger represents a minority view. Most German citizens and businesses remain convinced both that environmental protection is essential and that the technological innovation stimulated by stringent environmental requirements will, over the long term, strengthen their national productivity and competitiveness.
Tragically, U.S. political leaders continue to embrace the outmoded and false view that the environment can be protected only at the expense of the economy, when the truth is precisely the opposite. Meanwhile, products of American genius continue to depart for Japan, Germany, and other nations, only to be sold back to U.S. industry sometime in the future. So far, the homes-from-pollution process hasn’t traveled full circle back to its place of invention in the United States. But don’t be surprised if sometime soon you see a piece of wallboard being nailed into a new office or a remodeled home only to find it boldly emblazoned: “Made in Germany.”
Bill Richardson turned 60 today and I would just like to wish him all the best and big presents.
This site is real funny. I am only going to put a little of it up, but please visit. The site will put a smile on anyone’s face.
http://freeenergynews.com/Directory/Humor/index.html
You are here: FreeEnergyNews.com > Directory > Humor
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The lighter side of light. The gassier side of gas.
Finally found . . . the treasure at the end of the rainbow.
Waste to Energy: Treasure from Trash
(Thanks Nathan Allan)
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Galaxies Colliding
In the constellation of Pisces, some 100 million light-years from Earth,
two galaxies are seen to collide. (PhysOrg; Aug. 26, 2005)
AND WE THOUGHT WE HAD IT BAD
(Which planet’s insurance policy would cover that one?)
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