COLLECTIVE MADNESS
“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
The illegals were right. In one world, you don't need no steenkin' passport.
ReplyDeleteWe need some Photoshop experts to verify that this is indeed what Barack was alluding to in Berlin.
ReplyDeleteThis is an important find. I urge you to pass it on.
ReplyDeleteI'll pass it on to my friend Dale.
ReplyDelete---
Wall Street Journal movie review--
The Dark Knight My wife went to see this the other night--midnight showing--said it was a great movie. George as Batman.
I figure as long as the American People get the whole story, they will make the right decision.
ReplyDeleteAnd how can they NOT get the whole story when the MSM gives such FAIR treatment to the candidates?
Wadeusaf:
ReplyDeleteDoug,
President George Bush’s first day in office was January 25th, with delays in confirming persons to head the various branches of Government involved including DoD and State, there was no working group of Principles to even look at the stuff until late February.
The memo while dated January 25th lacks actionable detail, but has proposals for meeting a threat and indicates two policies left for the incoming president to determine. At the time Saddam was shooting at our pilots in the no fly zone. And CIA had, as we now know, little to no contact with the Northern Alliance or Southern Afghanistan tribes. Even if they had relations with the NA, it would have taken the CIA and analyst-ists months to determine what policy they wanted the Bush administration to follow. As was the case post 9/11, so much more so was the case prior to 9/11.
I imagine the two policy papers, one from 1998 and the other from December of 2000, both no doubt had the hall mark of President Clinton style, and would have to be revised, and revisited before putting any policy forward.
Jul 25, 2008 - 12:15 am
Wadeusaf:
President George Bush’s first day in office was January 22nd, not the 25th.
Jul 25, 2008 - 12:18 am
Doug:
How could this statement be justified?
“No al Qaeda plan was turned over to the new administration.“
Jul 25, 2008 - 12:54 am
Doug:
…the memo IS addressed to Condi, and deals almost exclusively with “Al-Qida”
Jul 25, 2008 - 12:56 am
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
Sorry Indeed!
Tons of personal garbage, I get something substantive going...
Wouldn't be prudent, I guess to go on about Condi's blatant LIE.
"We *urgently* (underlined) need such a Principals level review on the al Qida network"
ReplyDeleteDespite Clarke’s request, there was no Principals Committee meeting on al-Qaeda until September 4, 2001.
Clarke, you will recall, was transfered out of that position, was not pleased at all, "Chicken Little" - dismissed.
Refers to this Clarke Memo which I posted about in previous thread, and at BC.
ReplyDelete(Before Communication)
---
Washington, D.C., February 10, 2005 - The National Security Archive today posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, Washington, D.C., February 10, 2005 - The National Security Archive today posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, January 25, 2001, memo from counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice
- the first terrorism strategy paper of the Bush administration.
PDF!
ReplyDeleteFollow the money!
ReplyDelete(of the ever so fair and balanced media)
-- Putting Money Where Mouths Are
Media Donations Favor Dems 100-1
The New York Times' refusal to publish John McCain's rebuttal to Barack Obama's Iraq op-ed may be the most glaring example of liberal media bias this journalist has ever seen. But true proof of widespread media bias requires one to follow an old journalism maxim: Follow the money.
Even the Associated Press — no bastion of conservatism — has considered, at least superficially, the media's favoritism for Barack Obama. It's time to revisit media bias.
True to form, journalists are defending their bias by saying that one candidate, Obama, is more newsworthy than the other. In other words, there is no media bias.
It is we, the hoi polloi, who reveal our bias by questioning the neutrality of these learned professionals in their ivory-towered newsrooms.
Big Media applies this rationalization to every argument used to point out bias. "It's not a result of bias," they say. "It's a matter of news judgment."
And, like the man who knows his wallet was pickpocketed but can't prove it, the public is left to futilely rage against the injustice of it all.
The "newsworthy" argument can be applied to every metric — one-sided imbalances in airtime, story placement, column inches, number of stories, etc. — save one...
The coming Nirvana of LOVE in 'Rat's Idylic Amerohispanic Union of the Americas:
ReplyDeleteLatino-vs.-black violence drives hate crimes in L.A. County to 5-year high - Los Angeles Times
The largest number of racial hate crimes involved Latino suspects against black victims, followed by black suspects against Latino victims. Latinos also made up the largest number of suspects in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. Whites were the leading suspects in religion-based incidents. Overall, blacks made up nearly half the hate crime victims, totaling 310.
Levin said other areas of the country have reported similar increases, including a 30% increase in New York last year; a 10-year study published last fall found that hate crimes in New York began to increase two years ago after declining over several years.
Levin said several factors may be driving the rise, including deepening economic distress, growing ethnic diversity and population density in neighborhoods and what he called "increasingly inflammatory rhetoric" over illegal immigration.
---
It's the awful anti-illegal rhetoric at fault, you see, NOT the ethnic cleansing of neighborhoods and elimination of jobs for CITIZENS!
Melting pot,
NOT!
That ENTIRE ARTICLE blames the messengers, never the perps and the real problems they present.
ReplyDelete---
"The county report found that the largest number of religion-based hate crimes was directed against Jews. In its own survey released in March, the ADL found anti-Semitic incidents declined last year to 186 from 204.
The incidents included the defacing of L.A. City Councilman Jack Weiss' office in Sherman Oaks with swastikas."
---
(but that's probly because Jack is a fucking Nazi!)
...He's been sitting on a proposal dealing with policies that resulted in the murder of Jamiel Shaw, and dozens of other innocent black kids since it was proposed after Jamiel's murder.
(Department of Public Safety!)
He's waiting for Chief Ratton to Clarify Special Order 40, which resulted in a bunch of these murders, you see.
Ratton's a very busy man, you see, with no time to attend the ethnic cleansing occuring on his watch.
"Please support the SAVE Act and help America's teenagers get jobs next summer.
ReplyDeleteData from the Department of Labor show that only 37 percent of teenagers ages 16 to 19 are employed, compared with 51 percent in June of 2000. This is the lowest youth employment rate in over 60 years.
The youth employment rate is so low not because today's youths don't want to work, but because illegal aliens are working these jobs. Teenagers on summer vacation cannot find jobs mowing lawns, cleaning pools, or working in restaurants because rogue employers would rather hire illegal aliens at cents on the dollar.
The bipartisan SAVE Act can help out America's teenagers by preventing illegal aliens from taking these jobs. Please support this legislation and help our young people get back to work. "
---
Also, support it and help get rid of the illegal INVASION!
Jul 25, 2008 - 12:56 am
ReplyDeleteSorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.
A first?
Sorry Indeed!
Tons of personal garbage, I get something substantive going...
Wouldn't be prudent, I guess to go on about Condi's blatant LIE.
Sure is curious. I'm with you fwiw.
Electric Car Jolts Maui
ReplyDeleteThrough his Internet research, Joiner found a futuristic-looking, three-wheeled car (classified as a motorcycle). The Aptera, which will go over 80 mph with a range of 120 miles, sells for around $30,000.
Mat,
This goofy old Bud/Nemisis lives right down the hill.
Bought 4 of these suckers - must have something planned.
I'll have to pay him a visit.
I'm wondering if you couldn't generate your own electricity, if you had a fleet, for less than 30c/kw, even if you did it w/a diesel generator!
He's got enough solar panels for one.
A first except for some riotous threads in the past w/habu and Terrorita instigating chaos and insurrection.
ReplyDeleteMore Murder of Electric Vehicles, Mat!
ReplyDelete(or there's another Dale in Arkansas)
Clarke is on Team Obama, now, doug.
ReplyDeleteGet with the program.
There are so many more Latins in America than Blacks, which side will be cleansed, first?
The end of problem, as in Iraq, is segregating the populations, ghettoize 'em and then let 'em alone, to stew in their own juices, behind the blast barriers.
The litney of murders you relate, doug, seem much more serious hate crimes than some graffiti tags on an office. But hey, they were swastikas, and nothing is more dangerous than spray paint and evil thoughts.
That you still bother to participate at the BC says more about you, than the hall monitor.
Electric automaker, batterymaker score Google funding csmonitor.com
ReplyDelete(I'm still partial to NiMh too, Mat:
ReplyDeleteLithium's had a history of incendiary events)
That's a mighty humanistic plan 'Rat:
ReplyDeleteI'd rather cleanse the USA of Illegals and have a real country again.
...not in the cards with Crooks like them and sell-outs like you, tho.
Not sold out, amigo.
ReplyDeleteJust goin' with the flow. It is easy to see what the outcome of the upcoming election will be, with regards immigration.
Comprehensive Reform.
Whether Maverick or Obama is the winner. The denial of that reality is the sell out.
To support Maverick is to vote for more illegals, plain as day. Even if he secures the border, which is doubtful, he'll not cleanse the country of illegals, except by legalizing them.
Get with it.
Doug,
ReplyDeleteMy next Isra_vehicle:
Battery
Lithium
Maximum Speed
25 / 45 km/h
(due to EU regulations),
up to 60 km/h technically possible
Distance Range
Approx. 130-150 km
Charging time
2.5-4.5 hours
http://www.e-max-ltd.com/products/e-max_140l.php
Did the founders go with the flow?
ReplyDeleteWhy do you pretend this place will still resemble the USA in any meaningful way?
I guess lithium is fine on a scooter where you can abandon ship quick-like!
ReplyDeleteThe VentureOne on KTLA
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4iS07TLrzI
Doug,
ReplyDeleteThat scooter will be tax free in Israel. For a $4,000 maintenance free bike and $1 per 100km fuel cost, you can't go wrong.
Fly the Road
ReplyDeletehttp://www.damonclifford.com/blog/2008/07/14/auto-x-prize-venture-vehicles-fly-road
http://www.flytheroad.com/index.html
ReplyDeleteoff topic
ReplyDeleteIranian military convoy rocked by mystery explosion
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have launched an urgent inquiry after a mysterious explosion wrecked a
military convoy in Tehran, killing at least fifteen people and injuring scores more.
By Con Coughlin
Last Updated: 1:55PM BST 25 Jul 2008
The explosion took place in the Tehran suburb of Khavarshahar as the military convoy left a munitions' warehouse
controlled by the Revolutionary Guards. According to reports received by Western officials, the convoy was taking a
consignment of military equipment to Hizbollah, the Shia Muslim militia Iran supports in southern Lebanon, when the
explosion occurred.
Senior Revolutionary Guard commanders immediately imposed a news black-out following the explosion, even though it
could be heard throughout the capital Tehran, and no details of the incident have so far appeared in the Iranian media.
But Western officials yesterday said they had received reports that the explosion took place in Tehran on July 19, and that
the Revolutionary Guards had launched an investigation into the causes of the blast.
"This was a massive explosion that was heard throughout Tehran," one official told the Daily Telegraph. "Even though lots
of people were killed the Revolutionary Guards are trying to conceal what really happened."
Iran is believed to have recently stepped up arms shipments to Hizbollah in preparation for any future armed confrontation
with the West over its controversial nuclear enrichment programme.
The Revolutionary Guards' investigation into last weekend's explosion is understood to be looking into the possibility that it
was caused by sabotage. Iran has suffered a number of unexplained explosions in recent months, including an explosion
at a mosque in Shiraz, which had been holding a military exhibition, and another incident at a missile site that killed
dozens of Iranian technicians.
Last month Seymour Hersh, the respected American investigative journalist, reported that US President George W Bush
had authorised up to $400 million (£200 million) to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran to destabilise
the regime.
Related Content
Iranian chief 'stalls' nuclear talks with 'rambling' history lecture
(/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/2454811/Iranian-chief-stalls-nuclear-talks-by-giving-rambling-history-lecture.html)
Bomb blasts kill one in Gaza Strip (/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2456625/Bomb-blasts-kill-one-in-
Gaza-Strip.html)
Back to top
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008
W
Doug: I'd rather cleanse the USA of Illegals and have a real country again.
ReplyDeleteIt's called amnesty. Everyone who is illegal becomes legal overnight. No more illegal problem! But seriously, Doug, we have it good compared to France. Our illegals come from the Western tradition, and they bring good church-going folks who aren't afraid of doing some hard work. If these sorts of jobs weren't there, they wouldn't migrate. At least they aren't coming up here bringing their imans and honor-killings.
"I'm still partial to NiMh too, Mat"
ReplyDeleteI hope Chevron chokes on it. Science and innovation will move on.
http://www.evworld.com/images/honda_fcxclarity_sweden.jpg
ReplyDeletePHOTO CAPTION: Honda's FCX Clarity fuel cell sedan represents the current state-of-the-art in hydrogen vehicle technology. Reputed to cost in the neighborhood of $800,000, it boasts numerous advanced in its electric-drive train including system size and weight reductions and the use of lithium-ion batteries. The car will be leased in limited numbers to customers in southern California starting this summer.
So Where Can We Find Clean Hydrogen?
ReplyDeleteThe real answer is that we don't know yet. On the small scale, it is possible. But on the large scale, that's the $10 trillion question. Many think it won't happen because other better ways to do things will be used instead, others - and that probably includes many of the companies investing in hydrogen fuel cells - seem to take the Fields of Dream approach: Built it and they will come.
The problem is that, even in the most optimistic scenarios where we have so much clean energy we don't know what to do with it, it would probably still make more sense to use that energy directly to charge batteries and hypercapacitors in electric cars instead of cracking water and then compressing hydrogen (which is hard to transport and keep in tanks for a long time), which is likely to be less efficient and cost effective.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/honda-fcx-clarity-fuel-cell-hydrogen-car-leases.php
Metuselah: So Where Can We Find Clean Hydrogen?
ReplyDelete1. Coal gasification to methane.
2. Methane to hydrogen, combined with carbon capture and storage.
3. ???
4. Profit!
And what's your distribution cost, Tes? And that's on top of all the costs for the conversion cycles. Now compare that with going straight to electricity and having home owners charge their electric vehicles from solar panels on their roof.
ReplyDelete3.???--From nuke plants you ninnies
ReplyDeleteBob just wants us all to look like his Martian friends. :)
ReplyDeleteFrom The National Enquirer To You Complaint filed by reporters in Edwards affair. Also neat stuff about Brad Pitt!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHe ventured forth to bring light to the world
ReplyDeleteThe anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
-Gerard Baker
"And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
BACKGROUND
Obama fears the Blair effect as tour continues
The Europhiles are not the future, Mr Obama
The Bugle - Barack Obama is coming to Europe!
Our leaders go after some Obama magic
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.
He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the
Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.
And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.
And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.
And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.
From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.
The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.
And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.
Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.
And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.
Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.
But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.
And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.
Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.
On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”
Metuselah: Now compare that with going straight to electricity and having home owners charge their electric vehicles from solar panels on their roof.
ReplyDeleteI have a 1400 square foot rambler that sits west to east the long way. Suppose I cut down all the trees so there's no shade. Since I don't get sunlight on the northern side of my house, that's 700 square feet of solar panels. Suppose I get the latest techology that is 30% efficient, and costs about $15 a square foot. Total outlay for the solar cells, about ten grand. Sunlight at noon give me 130 watts per square foot, so that should be 39 watts per square foot, but since the sun moves across the sky I need to take the square root of 0.5 to get the root-mean-square of that power (sorry, a little calculus there), so over the entire daylight period I average 27.6 watts per square foot, and since there's no sun at night I take half of that, which gives me 13.8 watt-hours per square foot. Times seven hundred square feet gives me a grand total of 9.66 kWH.
Now suppose I get the latest electric car which gets 7 miles per kilowatt hour and costs say only $90,000. This means for the unbelievably low price of 100 K I can drive 67 miles every day, only one mile short of my one-way commute! At the breakneck top speed of 25 MPH, enforced by a built-in electronic governor ever since the oil lobby managed to push that little catch through for electric cars.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDrat, 2164th.. You beat me to it.. That is hilarious...
ReplyDeleteListening to Obama is like eating cotton candy, first bite tastes kinda good, then it's all sweet sickness.
ReplyDeleteAnd the miracle child said, after reading from the scroll of the book of Isaiah, today you have seen this prophesy fulfilled before your eyes.
Now, if they'd just run him out of the village.
McCain can't buy an Hispanic vote, suck up as he might. harhar serves him right.
ReplyDeleteYou need to figure out some way to get energy from all that rain, T.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWell, doug, the US would "look" just as it does, today.
ReplyDeleteThat's if the border was secured, today.
If the border had been secured when I first called for securing the border, three years and four million immigrants ago, it'd look more like it did, then.
The key to "saving" what was is to stop the influx, as soon as practicle. That is not happening.
Those that are here now, they can be assimulated with time, if the borders were secured. Since the border is not and will not be secured, there you have it, the US will continue to morph into something different.
That is the position of both Obama and Maverick.
Both are agents of change.
Given that reality, one should make the best of it, for oneself, one's family and the country.
ReplyDeleteThe country's elected leaders will set the course, there will be a new decider. Which ever one of the candidates win, the outcome, on immigration, will be the same.
More.
The worse policy, with regards immigration is more of the same.
ReplyDelete"Now suppose I get the latest electric car which gets 7 miles per kilowatt hour and costs say only $90,000. This means for the unbelievably low price of 100 K I can drive 67 miles every day, only one mile short of my one-way commute!"
ReplyDeleteNo.
For $500 a month, you get a brand new electric mid size sedan, free of maintenance costs (no oil change, filters and all the other crap). Also included in that $500, is an unlimited miles plan, and pollution free cities. Coverage starts in Israel and Denmark.
http://shaiagassi.typepad.com
Israel is building a medium size solar electric plant (1000 MW) to deliver the extra electrons needed for the country, and that's it. Denmark's electric capacity comes from 30% wind power, rising to 50% in the very near future.
Excellent, Host...made my day
ReplyDeleteBobal: You need to figure out some way to get energy from all that rain, T.
ReplyDeleteWe did, right here, and we're going to go pay a visit around Labor Day, maybe play some of the quarter slots in Coulee City, maybe catch the laser light show.
"Gordon the Leper"
ReplyDeleteToo, too funny.
Don't miss Gabriel Sherman's "Obama and the Press Break-Up" (The New Republic) at RCP today.
Here you go, Tes.
ReplyDeleteA Moment of Transformation:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2943464643870391799&hl=en
Excellent idea T. now do it without ruining the steelhead runs!
ReplyDeleteI don't want no lectric car, or a scooter. I want a four wheel drive full size pickup truck and a camper.
ReplyDeleteTes,
ReplyDeleteListen to min 20:35
"I don't want no lectric car, or a scooter. I want a four wheel drive full size pickup truck and a camper."
ReplyDeleteYou already got those!
Oh, that's right, forgot.
ReplyDeleteActually Mat, I don't have one right now. Have had in the past, and am doing some looking.
ReplyDeleteSome people out this way build their own customized campers. Some are really fancy, fine wood work,etc. Quess I could build one on my 1960 F-600.
ReplyDelete"Have had in the past,.."
ReplyDeleteHow come you got rid of it, Bob?
Bobal: Excellent idea T. now do it without ruining the steelhead runs!
ReplyDeleteYou do that with fish ladders. The first total barrier to fish on the Snake river is at Twin Falls.
Doug: A first except for some riotous threads in the past w/habu and Terrorita instigating chaos and insurrection.
ReplyDeleteOne of Trish's unforgivable sins was to say me and habu were one and the same.
Rat at Fri Jul 25, 01:59:00 PM EDT
ReplyDelete100% agreement from me. You beat me to it by a year. Damn.
My suggestion at around the time of W's 5 points speech.
Clear fields of fire as first step, and turn the fencing project over to the border county ranchers with help from the 4-H clubs and boy scouts. It could have been done in a couple of months. Instead we got Chertof and his litany of excuses and $5 Billion high tech boondoggle that would only have covered a fraction of the border, if it ever got built, which it hasn't.
Damned bureaucrats.
...Iran has suffered a number of unexplained explosions in recent months, including an explosion
ReplyDeleteat a mosque in Shiraz, which had been holding a military exhibition...
ROP
You do that with fish ladders. The first total barrier to fish on the Snake river is at Twin Falls.
ReplyDeleteNay, it's upstream from Lewiston here a ways. And, fish ladders don't work worth a shit.
Sold most everything I had not much use for, Mat.
ReplyDeleteLOL. So now you changed your mind? :)
ReplyDeletePat Lang expands on David Brooks:
ReplyDelete"Obama speeches almost always have the same narrative arc. Some problem threatens. The odds are against the forces of righteousness. But then people of good faith unite and walls come tumbling down. Obama used the word “walls” 16 times in the Berlin speech, and in 11 of those cases, he was talking about walls coming down.
The Berlin blockade was thwarted because people came together. Apartheid ended because people came together and walls tumbled. Winning the cold war was the same: “People of the world,” Obama declared, “look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together and history proved there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one.”
When I first heard this sort of radically optimistic speech in Iowa, I have to confess my American soul was stirred. It seemed like the overture for a new yet quintessentially American campaign.
But now it is more than half a year on, and the post-partisanship of Iowa has given way to the post-nationalism of Berlin, and it turns out that the vague overture is the entire symphony. The golden rhetoric impresses less, the evasion of hard choices strikes one more." David Brooks
------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah, but is the overture really "the whole symphony" or is there something else which is not seen?
Brooks has put his finger on one of the issues that Americans have with the man.
Obama is clearly Europe's man in the contest to become president of the United States next year, but the sale is not made to those who will elect the president. I think it is likely that Obama will be elected but the outcome is still in doubt.
Few Europeans understand the complexities of American politics or political culture. They think they do, but they do not. They tend to think that Americans are unsophisticated Europeans who would do better if they knew how. This view is largely self deception and based on a mistaken belief that the US is a cultural extension of Europe.
In fact, we are an alien race, far, far removed from ancestral roots. Most Americans are largely without ideology, without any sense of history that extends beyond the 4th of July and the date of their own birth, and without any interest in the outside world. Even the coastal zones are filled with people who have never been to any foreign country, do not have a passport and certainly do not speak any language other than the "English" of their region. Americans just do not care about worshipful crowds in any European city. A big crowd in Paris might actually hurt Obama's chances.
The soaring rhetoric of such speeches and the appeals to the better angels of our natures move people who are already within the percentage of the population who favor the idea of Barack Obama. John Kennedy's speeches moved many in 1960, but nothing like all. His false claims of a "missile gap" with the Soviets had as much to do with his election as his exhortation to become one of "freedom's frontiersmen." His wife and children were appealing, but by '63 he was thought by many Americans to be a remarkably ineffective president. At the same time, his picture was to be seen on the walls of shacks and mud huts around the world. Would he have been re-elected in 1964? This is an open question. Khrushchev thought him a posturing, empty suit. From that came much mischief. He forced the Soviet Army out of Cuba? Yes, but would they have been there if the Soviet leadership had not thought him weak and a dreamer?
There is something hollow about Obama's candidacy, something that gives citizens a chance to think him less rather than more. He should be far, far ahead of McCain in the polls. The Republican Party is a wounded beast. McCain increasingly looks like a declining, mean old man. Obama should be at least ten points ahead in national polls. Yes. Yes. I know we don't elect presidents on a national basis.
William Jennings Bryan was an orator at the soaring level of Barack Obama. His "cross of gold" speech still lives in legend, but he was never elected president. pl
25 July 2008 in Politics |
There is something hollow about Obama's candidacy, something that gives citizens a chance to think him less rather than more.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, see the picture two posts below of an empty suit.
It's more than the man, it's the Team.
ReplyDeleteAn above average staff can carry a President, as much as an inadequate one can tear him down.
He had full faith and onfidence in Bremer's plan, but forgot that Bremer ever had a plan. No matter how ill thought out or ill prepared it was. Mr Bush approved it, in his written reply.
Who on his staff did that, or was Bush actually managing the correspondence without an active assistant interfacing and reading his mail...
One who at least uses a highlighter to mark the important passages.
That's a real important aspect of a Presidency's success or failure, who's running the staff and how good is it.
How many Brownies are there in Obama's rolodex, as compared to Maverick's?
The 6th Book of Moses..
ReplyDeleteHe ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers
-Gerard Baker
"And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
BACKGROUND
Obama fears the Blair effect as tour continues
The Europhiles are not the future, Mr Obama
The Bugle - Barack Obama is coming to Europe!
Our leaders go after some Obama magic
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.
He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the
Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.
And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.
And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.
And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.
From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.
The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.
And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.
Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.
And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.
Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.
But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.
And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.
Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.
On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”
PURE GENIUS
Couple of points from Shai Agassi's (Project Better Place CEO) recent address to the House of Representative's Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming:
ReplyDelete* for the cost of about 2 months of oil ($100B), the U.S. could put in place electric car infrastructure to end oil dependence
* for the price of about 1 year worth of oil ($500B), the U.S. could create fully renewable electrical generation sufficient to power all of the nation’s vehicles
Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature approved and the Governor signed into law a comprehensive energy bill which provided for the development of renewable energy, subject to PSC approval. FPL, a subsidiary of clean energy leader FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL), presented a proposal to the PSC for three solar energy centers that includes the world's largest photovoltaic solar array and the first "hybrid" energy center that will couple solar thermal technology with an existing natural gas combined-cycle generation unit.
ReplyDeleteThe projects are:
The DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center. Planned for construction on FPL-owned property in DeSoto County, Fla., the DeSoto project will provide 25 megawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity, making it the world's largest photovoltaic solar facility. DeSoto is expected to be in service by December 2009.
The Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center. Planned for construction at FPL's existing Martin Plant site, the Martin project will provide up to 75 megawatts of solar thermal capacity in an innovative "hybrid" design that will connect to an existing combined-cycle power plant. It is the world's first project to integrate solar thermal steam generation into a combined-cycle steam turbine. When the power of the sun is being harnessed to produce electricity from steam, less natural gas is required. The Martin facility is expected to be on-line at the end of 2009 and completed by 2010.
The Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center. Planned for construction at the Kennedy Space Center, the Space Coast project will provide 10 megawatts of photovoltaic solar capacity in an innovative public-private partnership. Space Coast Solar will be operating by the first quarter of 2010.
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ReplyDeleteSempra Chooses Nevada for First Solar Power Project
ReplyDeleteSempra Generation, a subsidiary of Sempra Energy, said July 24 that it will develop the company’s first solar energy project.
The 10-megawatt photovoltaic power-generation facility will stand adjacent to Sempra Generation’s El Dorado Energy power plant near Boulder City, Nev.
Planned for completion this year, the El Dorado Energy solar project would be the largest operational thin-film, solar-power project in North America, said company spokesman Art Larson.
Arizona-based First Solar will engineer and build the project. It will also monitor and maintain the plant, which is designed to deliver enough energy to power 4,600 households.
Construction is slated to begin this week, and Sempra Generation hopes to begin entertaining contract bids shortly.
“Generation will entertain any bids from utilities and power customers in the area,” Larson said.
Sempra Generation is not the same company as the Sempra Energy utilities, SDG&E or SoCalGas, and is not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission.
Sempra Energy trades on the New York Stock Exchange as SRE. Shares were at $54.65 late in the day on July 24.
— Liz Wiedemann
The long and short is, you only need an additional 6 percent of electric capacity added to the national electric grid to replace completely the entire national fleet of gasoline vehicles with that of electric vehicles. If the plan is to accomplish this in a decade, that's 0.6% per year of added electric capacity to the grid. That can easily be achieved using "green electrons".
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBut that is not the plan, mat.
ReplyDeleteThere are 250 million fuel burning vehicles with and average life span of about 18 years, more here in the southwest.
Current auto sales & production is 14 million units annually.
So if, tomorrow the entire auto production went electric, which it cannot, it would be over 17 years to replace the existing fleet.
Which is not to say we should not start, but it is a thirty year progtam of duelling fueled vehicles. Bio-ethanol and oil blends and electric, at best.
"But that is not the plan, mat."
ReplyDeleteThat's the plan for Israel. Ten years. If America decides she wants to continue getting raped by the Saudi cartel, GM, Imperial Oil, etc., that's up to America.
Salvation lies within. Even Dostoevsky finally understood this.
ReplyDeleteTen years in a country of six million people and about a million civilian vehicles, maybe more.
ReplyDeleteOn Jan. 21, Renault-Nissan President and Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn announced in Jerusalem that his company was joining Agassi's Project Better Place in the Israeli market. Israel was chosen, the two said, because it was an ideal testing ground for the electric car. Ninety percent of automobile owners drive fewer than 70km (43.5 miles) per day, and the country's main cities are within 150km (93 miles) of each other.
Educating the Public
Renault (RENA.PA) is planning to begin mass production of electric cars in 2011 (BusinessWeek.com, 1/24/08). "We're talking at the outset of about 10,000 to 20,000 cars a year in the Israeli market to make this a viable venture," predicts Ghosn. That's an ambitious target for a country with annual new car sales of under 200,000.
Hard toi find how many cars are in Israel, after '85, but I did find this
By 2012 perhaps 7% of Israeli cars could be electric. Of course the project, like all revolutionary and complex programs might suffer delays. But it is likely that at some point between 2010 and 2012 there will be enough accomplished on the ground to make for good journalism.
So if 7% of the cars are electric in '12 and they are building 20,000 per year, best bet, in '12 is 40,000 units.
To build 800,000 units, it'll take 40 years at optimum plant production.
Sure that plant in Jordon can expand, but how fast? To get to a million vehicles, will take 50 years, not 10.
Those expansion plans better already in the works, funded and underway, to meet that 10 year deadline.
In 1985 Israel's 13,410 kilometers of roads were used by 776,000 vehicles, of which about 624,000 were private cars, about 115,000 were trucks and other commercial vehicles, and about 5,500 were buses. In 1988 there were two main public carriers--Egged, with about 4,000 buses operating throughout the country, and Dan, with approximately 1,500 buses. Both of these carriers were cooperatives that charged subsidized tariffs determined by agreement with the government.
ReplyDeleteAbout 2 million cars Israel. That 10,000 to 20,00 figure you have, is the initial first year test introduction. (Mainly to service fleet vehicles). In 2011, mass production kicks in, and they'll be adding them at a yearly pace of 200,000 units plus.
ReplyDeleteAnother point to realize is that something similar to Moores Law is going to apply to battery development, performance and cost. Same for development performance and cost of solar energy. Compare the price/performance curve of microchips to that of gasoline vehicles, and you begin to understand how royally screwed you've got to be by the Saudis and their agents to continue on that same path.
ReplyDeleteDr. Bill says we have to go to natural gas driven cars and trucks.
ReplyDeleteAbout 2 million cars ^in Israel.
ReplyDelete"From that came much mischief. He forced the Soviet Army out of Cuba?"
ReplyDeleteBzzt. Wrong.