The Republican presidential race appears to have shifted from debating the economy to discussing social issues - same-sex marriage, abortion and, amazingly enough, birth control. The year is 2012 and ...
Mitt Romney believes that his best line of attack is making the claim that he has not spent a moment as a D.C. politician while his two main opponents, Newt ...
No two ways about it, Rick Santorum had a good night. Not only did he sweep Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri but he also got off the best line of the ...
Few would argue the fact that Citizens United has been a major player in the Republican primary...and many if not most would concede that none of it has been healthy ...
As if you needed another reason to not vote Romney.
Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if ...
In a perfect world, the Republican contest to find a nominee to face Barack Obama would go on forever...or at least until August. You cannot attach a number to the ...
I suspect there are a ton of conservatives secretly agreeing with Begala and while it's too early in the game for Dems to get cocky, it's difficult to not smile ...
Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole.
"Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly ...
After the beating Gingrich took last night, it's hard to imagine under what scenario he can make a comeback. Florida is going to Romney and for Gingrich to regain the ...
There's a lot out there on the President's SOTU, so I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet.
The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents ...
The highlights from last night's debate.
- Newt Gingrich can't wait to become president so he can revisit the early 60s and overthrow Castro in Cuba. War, baby, war.
- Santorum, who ...
It appears that the South Carolina verdict is forcing Romney to start taking Gingrich seriously.
“We’re not choosing a talk show host, we’re choosing a leader,” Romney said, saying that their ...
Mike Huckabee offers advice to Mitt Romney concerning his unreleased tax returns.
Let him [Romney] make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and ...
Via Political Humor...
"Mitt Romney is coming under fire because even though he is a multimillionaire, he only paid 15 percent in taxes. That's not a tax, that's barely a tip." ...
Good line.
My guess is that after Romney fails to beat Obama in the general, Huntsman will be back in 2016. The most electable guy in the field and he could ...
I found this pretty funny...and accurate. It comes from a reader over at Balloon Juice.
So, let’s review. The contenders for the GOP nomination are
A vulture capitalist who believes that any ...
Lively little debate going on at one of last week's posts with Libertarianism put under the microscope.
ocLiberal:
I know I am in sketchy territory here, (start the indignant shouting now) but ...
In the contest to determine the winner of the Far-Right Politics gold medal, rack up a few more points for Newt Gingrich.
“I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal ...
Via Political Humor...
"Congratulations to Mitt Romney. He won the New Hampshire primary last night. See, this is proof that even the multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire can beat the odds ...
For the second year in a row, the Rachel Maddow Show is the only cable news show nominated for a Television Critics Association award. The category is “Outstanding Achievement in News & Information”. If you’re one who watches Rachel’s show, you’re not surprised. If you’re not a regular viewer, then the following clip might help you understand why there is no one out there who consistently brings this high a level of intelligence and understanding to the issues of the day in the way that Rachel Maddow does.
I think Maddow’s take is pretty insightful, but I don’t think we should rush to judgment. Oil spills happen, both naturally and otherwise. We know this, and we have known this for many years. But we still need to drive our cars to work, and make plastic, and heat our homes. No one is willing to give that up, no matter how many dead manatees make it onto the news. And so any reactionary measures are likely to cause more harm than good. The best we can do is minimize oil spills by imposing rigorous standards of procedure, multiple layers of oversight, and trying to reduce overall consumption of oil as much as possible.
Here’s what we have to gain from getting out of oil (Middle Eastern or otherwise): (1) no more dependence on decadent dictatorships – we can’t really go around preaching peace and freedom when we’re forced to publicly make out with crime lords, opium barons, and people who consider themselves living gods; (2) significantly reduced greenhouse gas pollution; (3) we can stop getting ripped off by OPEC; (4) we can avoid coming tensions with Russia, Canada, and Greenland over access to Arctic oil deposits; (5) the exorbitant prices our citizens pay to meet their daily energy needs will no longer line the pockets of speculators, currency manipulators, and day-traders; (6) we will have incentives to develop new energy technologies, which we can then market to the rest of the world.
How to continue meeting our energy needs without oil is a difficult problem, and the solution is a widespread and gradual switch to nuclear power in as many areas as current technologies allow, with investments in other renewable energy forms as they pertain to various locations (for example, thermal energy for the ring of fire, solar power in the southwest, hydroelectric power for the Mississippi, and wind farms up and down the East Coast). Such a switch could provide jobs and incentives for science and technology training, both of which would have positive residual effects. We should put such a system in place in as minimally-invasive a way as possible: encourage the free market to take up the mantle, pass the torch from federal to state and local governments…
To correct this problem, we don’t necessarily need more regulation, as liberal birdsong calls for, nor do we necessarily need less regulation, as conservative hacks continue to chant, but we could use some smarter regulation with less of a focus on GDP growth and more of a focus on creating a happy, healthy, society. The word “regulate” originally meant “to keep regular”. The Media’s visceral coverage of the oil spill should show Americans that our times and our policies are anything but regular:
I agree with Frances … A return to a simpler lifestyle would benefit the whole planet and probably erase much of the stress of everyday life as it is today.
Many people would be happier as farmers as is evidenced by the great number of people who garden for a hobby. No one sells insurance for a hobby.
Christopher, the only way I will feel a bit better about using nuclear energy is if it is taken out of the hands of private enterprise and the U.S. Navy takes it over as they have a perfect track record of safety and the best standards and protocols in the world for its use and the strictest. I think nuclear is too dangerous a tool to be regulated by local and state government. The effects of a meltdown would be beyond the scope of their ability to handle. Nuclear should always be regulated by Federal and the Navy. Hyman Rickover set the training and operations standards for the world. My late husband trained under him and spent 20 years in the Navy and was a Nuclear Power Station Operator and Electronics Specialist. He told me that going Navy with nuclear power for domestic use was the only smart way to go. I believe what he told me. Thank you, military personnel for how well you keep us safe. This Memorial Day weekend past, all I could think about was your sacrifice and your honor. Thank you!
Nuclear power is and will always be a bad idea because just one
major accident would more then likely cause hundreds of thousands
of deaths and no matter how “Fail Safe” a system is engineered
sooner or later there will be a major accident.
Solar works just about as well in Colorado as it does in Arizona
because the cells dont like heat and their power out put is lessened by it. They do love sun however, they also do very well
with partial sun which means States that are cold and have at least
some sun are prime for this renewable energy. The main problem with
solar is once you install it theres no monthly bill and that doesnt
set well with corporate America, and theres a lead acid battery
problem if your storing your power as opposed to having your friendly power co. hook up a transfer box to your incoming line which I do believe is a law at least here in California — and
if you produce more power then you need the local “Friendly”
power company has to, by law, buy it from you. I have a freind—-
STOP LAUGHING — I do have a friend !!! anyway this guy actually
gets a check from the power company, how cool is that ?
Oh yea I almost forgot — what ever happened to water injectors??
These were simple after market kits you would buy for your VW bugs,
although they could be used on any gasoline powered engine —-
Here’s how they worked, you would install a reservoir “included with the kit” in the engine compartment of your VW, you would then
tap the riser on the carburetor, add a fitting, run a line and
your done….the vacuum of the engine would suck the water into
the carburetor with its flow rate governed by a very simple
regulator, once in the compustion champer the water would vaporize
which had three really cool effects — first you would get a few
more horses out of the engine, next the compustion champers stayed
much cleaner but most inportant —- 30% better gas mileage, well
thats what they advertised, I only got about 20%, but come on! this
was back in the 70′s — gee I wonder why not to many people have
heard of this and the millions of gallons of fuel it would save if it were applyed to todays cars ? oh yeah its that millions of
gallons of gas it would save, how could I be so foolish to think
these things ever exsisted ? I must have been dreaming.
I’m glad you are on this one, trying to find an alternative to our oil dependency, however……do you really think that ‘big oil’ will ever allow this to happen? (-:
Next week we will talk about opposable magnet motors which require
no fuel and run forever—well at least until the bearings give
out. horsepower only determined by the size of the motor.
They wont work in cars but they sure can run a generator — and as
already mentioned no fuel. The only drawback is the Government
made them illegal, last I heard you wont go to jail if you build
one but they will take it away from you.
John Lennon, a dude most people never heard of once said a very
smart thing, and I quote–” I wanna hold your hand “, No thats
not it, ummm oh yea ” There’s only solutions”.
Yes we need oil but only about half of what we use.
Yes I will shut up now.
Yeah, solar, as far as it is possible and practical, is definitely the way to go. In college, one of my friends was a civil engineering student who designed a smart house for Skanska, and, as far as we can do those things, it’s awesome. And there are also new systems being developed in Japan where train stations and other crowded public places can be powered by energy harnessed from people’s footsteps by floors with sensors. But a lot of this is obviously experimental. I still think nuclear energy can serve as a sort of base until we improve on using these experimental forms of energy. I know that nuclear facilities will have accidents someday, but with today’s technology and a comprehensive plan to gradually switch to renewable, clean energies over say 40 years, the chances of a major accident are extremely low. We can store waste in Nevada until the safety technology exists to send it into the sun or store it in outer space somewhere.
We need to get off fossil fuels. Did anyone notice or hear that as of three weeks ago there was enough oil dumped in the Gulf that would run this country for an HOUR?? A HOUR??? Isn’t that a wake up call to ANYONE what a serious issue this is? We consume 25% of the world’s oil…now does anyone see a problem with this? Oil is not unlimited in supply no matter where we drill! Then to think of trashing areas ie Alaska and now the gulf to get it is just plain out there!
When you get some time watch the documentary on “Who killed the electric car” it will blow you away! How after the research went into it the big three killed the project!
I think Maddow’s take is pretty insightful, but I don’t think we should rush to judgment. Oil spills happen, both naturally and otherwise. We know this, and we have known this for many years. But we still need to drive our cars to work, and make plastic, and heat our homes. No one is willing to give that up, no matter how many dead manatees make it onto the news. And so any reactionary measures are likely to cause more harm than good. The best we can do is minimize oil spills by imposing rigorous standards of procedure, multiple layers of oversight, and trying to reduce overall consumption of oil as much as possible.
Here’s what we have to gain from getting out of oil (Middle Eastern or otherwise): (1) no more dependence on decadent dictatorships – we can’t really go around preaching peace and freedom when we’re forced to publicly make out with crime lords, opium barons, and people who consider themselves living gods; (2) significantly reduced greenhouse gas pollution; (3) we can stop getting ripped off by OPEC; (4) we can avoid coming tensions with Russia, Canada, and Greenland over access to Arctic oil deposits; (5) the exorbitant prices our citizens pay to meet their daily energy needs will no longer line the pockets of speculators, currency manipulators, and day-traders; (6) we will have incentives to develop new energy technologies, which we can then market to the rest of the world.
How to continue meeting our energy needs without oil is a difficult problem, and the solution is a widespread and gradual switch to nuclear power in as many areas as current technologies allow, with investments in other renewable energy forms as they pertain to various locations (for example, thermal energy for the ring of fire, solar power in the southwest, hydroelectric power for the Mississippi, and wind farms up and down the East Coast). Such a switch could provide jobs and incentives for science and technology training, both of which would have positive residual effects. We should put such a system in place in as minimally-invasive a way as possible: encourage the free market to take up the mantle, pass the torch from federal to state and local governments…
To correct this problem, we don’t necessarily need more regulation, as liberal birdsong calls for, nor do we necessarily need less regulation, as conservative hacks continue to chant, but we could use some smarter regulation with less of a focus on GDP growth and more of a focus on creating a happy, healthy, society. The word “regulate” originally meant “to keep regular”. The Media’s visceral coverage of the oil spill should show Americans that our times and our policies are anything but regular:
http://www.theinductive.com/blog/2010/6/2/coherence.html
Congrats to Rachel for the TCA nomination. This is a perfect example of why it is so deserved.
Christopher, we lived without copious oil consumption before and we can do it again. Human life doesn’t depend on oil, only our lifestyle.
Bravo Rachel! You, more than anyone on Cable News, deserves this TCA nomination.
I agree with Frances … A return to a simpler lifestyle would benefit the whole planet and probably erase much of the stress of everyday life as it is today.
Many people would be happier as farmers as is evidenced by the great number of people who garden for a hobby. No one sells insurance for a hobby.
Christopher, the only way I will feel a bit better about using nuclear energy is if it is taken out of the hands of private enterprise and the U.S. Navy takes it over as they have a perfect track record of safety and the best standards and protocols in the world for its use and the strictest. I think nuclear is too dangerous a tool to be regulated by local and state government. The effects of a meltdown would be beyond the scope of their ability to handle. Nuclear should always be regulated by Federal and the Navy. Hyman Rickover set the training and operations standards for the world. My late husband trained under him and spent 20 years in the Navy and was a Nuclear Power Station Operator and Electronics Specialist. He told me that going Navy with nuclear power for domestic use was the only smart way to go. I believe what he told me. Thank you, military personnel for how well you keep us safe. This Memorial Day weekend past, all I could think about was your sacrifice and your honor. Thank you!
Nuclear power is and will always be a bad idea because just one
major accident would more then likely cause hundreds of thousands
of deaths and no matter how “Fail Safe” a system is engineered
sooner or later there will be a major accident.
Solar works just about as well in Colorado as it does in Arizona
because the cells dont like heat and their power out put is lessened by it. They do love sun however, they also do very well
with partial sun which means States that are cold and have at least
some sun are prime for this renewable energy. The main problem with
solar is once you install it theres no monthly bill and that doesnt
set well with corporate America, and theres a lead acid battery
problem if your storing your power as opposed to having your friendly power co. hook up a transfer box to your incoming line which I do believe is a law at least here in California — and
if you produce more power then you need the local “Friendly”
power company has to, by law, buy it from you. I have a freind—-
STOP LAUGHING — I do have a friend !!! anyway this guy actually
gets a check from the power company, how cool is that ?
Oh yea I almost forgot — what ever happened to water injectors??
These were simple after market kits you would buy for your VW bugs,
although they could be used on any gasoline powered engine —-
Here’s how they worked, you would install a reservoir “included with the kit” in the engine compartment of your VW, you would then
tap the riser on the carburetor, add a fitting, run a line and
your done….the vacuum of the engine would suck the water into
the carburetor with its flow rate governed by a very simple
regulator, once in the compustion champer the water would vaporize
which had three really cool effects — first you would get a few
more horses out of the engine, next the compustion champers stayed
much cleaner but most inportant —- 30% better gas mileage, well
thats what they advertised, I only got about 20%, but come on! this
was back in the 70′s — gee I wonder why not to many people have
heard of this and the millions of gallons of fuel it would save if it were applyed to todays cars ? oh yeah its that millions of
gallons of gas it would save, how could I be so foolish to think
these things ever exsisted ? I must have been dreaming.
Hi Greg,
I’m glad you are on this one, trying to find an alternative to our oil dependency, however……do you really think that ‘big oil’ will ever allow this to happen? (-:
Next week we will talk about opposable magnet motors which require
no fuel and run forever—well at least until the bearings give
out. horsepower only determined by the size of the motor.
They wont work in cars but they sure can run a generator — and as
already mentioned no fuel. The only drawback is the Government
made them illegal, last I heard you wont go to jail if you build
one but they will take it away from you.
John Lennon, a dude most people never heard of once said a very
smart thing, and I quote–” I wanna hold your hand “, No thats
not it, ummm oh yea ” There’s only solutions”.
Yes we need oil but only about half of what we use.
Yes I will shut up now.
To Jan, Not a chance.
Greg,
I can’t wait until next weeks talk about opposable magnet motors, this should be fun! Tee Hee!
Yeah, solar, as far as it is possible and practical, is definitely the way to go. In college, one of my friends was a civil engineering student who designed a smart house for Skanska, and, as far as we can do those things, it’s awesome. And there are also new systems being developed in Japan where train stations and other crowded public places can be powered by energy harnessed from people’s footsteps by floors with sensors. But a lot of this is obviously experimental. I still think nuclear energy can serve as a sort of base until we improve on using these experimental forms of energy. I know that nuclear facilities will have accidents someday, but with today’s technology and a comprehensive plan to gradually switch to renewable, clean energies over say 40 years, the chances of a major accident are extremely low. We can store waste in Nevada until the safety technology exists to send it into the sun or store it in outer space somewhere.
We need to get off fossil fuels. Did anyone notice or hear that as of three weeks ago there was enough oil dumped in the Gulf that would run this country for an HOUR?? A HOUR??? Isn’t that a wake up call to ANYONE what a serious issue this is? We consume 25% of the world’s oil…now does anyone see a problem with this? Oil is not unlimited in supply no matter where we drill! Then to think of trashing areas ie Alaska and now the gulf to get it is just plain out there!
When you get some time watch the documentary on “Who killed the electric car” it will blow you away! How after the research went into it the big three killed the project!