Energy what can I do:

Most of us can not come up with new ways of converting sunlight to energy. At best what we can do is perhaps even more important. We can conserve energy and thereby reduce our “carbon footprint”. As we live our day to day lives we are all net consumers of energy. That is to say we consume more energy than we produce. This has given rise to corporations whose purpose is to supply us with the energy we require. Initially these corporations were coal companies that mined coal in Pennsylvania and distributed it to cities in the northeast and Midwest. Today there are a number of companies distributing energy in many forms.

Regardless of the form energy takes it is today largely based upon the burning of carbon with the accompanying release of energy and carbon dioxide. This is where the carbon footprint comes in. The footprint is an attempt to quantify the amount of carbon required to be burned to accomplish the energy release. Obviously solar and wind generated electricity has almost no carbon footprint.

For the health of the planet we desire to lower the carbon footprint of the nation as a whole. The reasons for this is that scientific opinion seems agreed that higher levels of carbon dioxide are causing the average global temperature to rise. As temperatures rise polar ice will melt and cause elevated sea levels. Some would argue that the polar ice is a driving mechanism for the ocean currents which circulate the oceans and move heat from the equatorial zones to the cooler polar regions.

As anyone who has not been lost in space for the past 15 years can tell you this concept is rejected in some sections of the economy. America has joined in discussions but has not signed treaties like the Kyoto accords. There are legitimate reasons for not signing such treaties. There is no reason to not conserve energy where ever and when ever we can.

We are not going to conserve our way into energy independence. However as we transition to a solar based energy infrastructure we simply must husband our remaining supply of energy. That is to say we must all reduce out carbon footprint. We can do this by driving more fuel efficient cars and driving those cars less. We can do this by using more efficient light sources such as florescent lighting. We can do this by keeping our homes warmer in summer and cooler in winter. Individually these are small changes collectively they add up to large savings.

Solar panels: http://sharp-world.com/solar/

One last thing we can all do is to insist that basic research be funded to address these issues at a national level. I don’t care who does the research and ultimately I don’t care if Exxon becomes an electricity producer. So long as the energy produced is not based on fossil fuel burning. And that is it cheap enough for me to afford it.

More on solar:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=solar+energy+production&btnG=Google+Search

Sustainable Competitive Advantage:

America has done some very strange things with her natural resources over the years. During the Second World War we pretty much mined out the Missabe Range in Minnesota. We pumped a huge amount of oil from beneath Texas and other locations. Most of these resources went to defeat Germany and Japan.

Within several years of the end of that war a cold war with communist Russia and communist China was begun. Many can argue that those struggles were necessary and I am not going to get into that argument. I will only observe that America continued to use her resources at an alarming rate over the next several decades.

With the dawn of the new millennium America found herself running on empty. Actually the tank had run dry years before but the economy continued on the inertia of excessive spending by people who did not realize that they were bankrupt. America’s competitive advantage was a thing of the past. We were using other peoples resources to sustain the American way of life as though we had a god given right to do that.

Now comes the oil price shock of 2008. Actually I am of two minds on this whole higher price issue. I say this because there is no doubt in my mind that the burning of fossil fuels is in fact causing global warming. To slow and stop this phenomenon we simply have to reduce the amount burned. Given those facts how do you accomplish that task? One way to do that is to increase the cost of the thing you are burning to the point that the average citizen sees that he is throwing away a major part his paycheck. Then and only then will he support efforts to replace fossil fuels with some source that is more sustainable and less damaging.

Would it not be ironic if the very people we are pissing and moaning at for being religious children who bicker incessantly among them selves prove to be the very people that force the west to change (mend is a better word) their ways and take care of the earth as humanity’s home.

I feel we have not seen the worst of this crisis so long in coming. The triage of the American economy is going to be very ugly and very brutal. Can the country survive as we know it? This crisis is so deep and so important that in fact it may change the very nature of America.

China Earthquake vs. New Orleans Hurricane:

Natural disasters almost invite comparisons. There are many reasons why this is so and almost as many reasons why we should not make such comparisons. America has long portrayed China as an government that is ungodly at best and spawn of the devil at worst, all the while touting the vaunted ability of capitalism to care compassionately for the least regarded of her citizens.

Now comes a test for all the world to see. America went first as the hurricane struck a mighty blow against the city and people of New Orleans on August 29, 2005. Large sections of New Orleans remain uninhabited now some 34 months later. On May 12, 2008 the ground shook in the northeastern Chinese city of Chengdu the Sichuan provincial capital. The 7.9 magnitude quake left an immediate death toll of 5,000 to 9,000 souls. Days later this had grown to tens of thousands and continues to rise.

Clearly the death toll in China far exceeded the death toll in New Orleans. This somewhat invalidates the relief effort appraisal that will follow in days and weeks to come. However both tragedies serve to highlight the helplessness of the man in the street regardless of the form of the government in power. What I will be watching closely as will the rest of the world is how China deals with this crisis. How well or how poorly she addresses the needs of the average Chinese citizen will speak volumes to the effectiveness of the Chinese government and their “fitness to rule.”

I do not know if meaningful parallels can be drawn between these two natural disasters. I know I for one in this year of Olympic competition will watch closely this non Olympic competition closely. Perhaps even more closely than I will watch the athletes of these two countries compete on the playing fields of the Olympics. To me and to many the out come of the relief effort is far more important than any athletic records that may be set.

Picking Up the Pieces:

We oldsters have a huge investment in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That investment is our children. And these children are returning with injuries of a nature largely unseen before this war. For many American parents hopes of a fulfilling retirement in which I lifetime of hard work can pay dividends has vanished. These lost dreams have been replaced with the bitter reality of providing extended care for war wounded adult children.

This video clip and associated article gives a glimpse into the lives of some of these AARP families. It is narrated by Jane Pauley.

http://www.aarp.org/family/caregiving/iraq_vets_tv/?NLC-WBLTR-CTRL=F4-52308

An astounding fact is that one in four homeless people are Viet Nam veterans. The cost to America of ignoring the problems of this new group of war survivors will be far larger than the enormous costs that it will take to ensure that these fallen warriors are returned to useful lives.

It makes no difference if you are for or against the conflict in the Middle East. These people and their problems are with us now and will be with us for years to come because they are our sons and daughters and in some cases our grand sons and grand daughters.

Remember Them All

We all tend to forget the young men and women who fight and die every day.

Regardless of your political stripe these young people are the Hero’s of America.

Let us be resolved that they shall not have died in vain.

http://s259.photobucket.com/albums/hh289/Impish_Dragon/?action=view&current=Untitled.flv

Let us take a moment to remember them all including my Marine Corp grandson.

Lee Iacocca an American Engineer

A bit of background first. Scotland has always provided the engineers that made the machines work in England. England became a Great Power (this has become a very dated term in today’s parlance) by using Scottish engineering coupled with English labor. My mother’s people all came from up close to the border with Scotland.

I went into engineering initially when I entered university. I quit before I finished a degree plan but returned some years later and got a degree not in engineering but in computer science because I could even back then see that computers would be the guiding force controlling the factories of the future.

I left science for a short period to learn more about the business side of corporations. I returned to my roots in research and development some 8 years later. This time in charge of the personal computers (there were 2 of them in the whole of the research center) section of the computer group. Some 11 years later I took early retirement as the company had decided to out source my group entirely. When I left there were 1,200 personal computers and my staff of 5 (6 including myself because I hate sitting on my ass as a manager) was responsible for their care and feeding.

This short biography is not meant to do anything other than to show that even dumb heads like me can solve large problems if given a chance. America engineers made America great not the bankers not the Generals and certainly not the politicians. But only those engineers that tinkered and kept getting their hands dirty. Men like Edison and Westinghouse and yes Lee Iacocca.

I too feel that America can and will solve the major problem she faces. That problem frankly is dependence upon fossil fuels for energy. Ultimately we must harness solar power for it is the only limitless supply of clean energy. I am not particularly godly but I might even say god made the sunshine for us to use. And hope a bolt of lighting does not strike me dead at the keyboard.

There are many other things that are wrong with America starting with racial divisions and drugs and continuing all the way down to too many wanting to sit on their collective asses and do nothing. All of those can and must be addressed in due time. First things first. America must solve once and for all the energy problem. I honestly feel given America expertise at problem solving and knowing that we have produced fine solutions before think it can be solved.

Simply put energy is wealth. If American engineers can crack this energy-nut wealth will flow back to America as will jobs and hopefully a strong middle class to help the poor and restrain excesses of the rich. Then and only then will you see an America fit to be a world leader. Currently I am ashamed of the example America is setting.

More at:
http://www.kottke.org/remainder/07/04/13213.html

Black vs. White

Black vs. White

And now comes the election and America is facing suck it up time. Let us review in June Hillary Clinton dropped out of the race and was nominated for Vice President on the 5th vote. Mc Cain picked Romney several weeks later. This after introducing senate Bill 408 putting an amnesty in effect for illegal aliens already living with in the nation’s borders.

Could such a scenario happen? I seriously wonder. Many have asked about slavery in America and the black man’s role in governance. To understand this a bit better you need to examine American history closely. Black slaves were important into the south because no white immigrants were available to work the vast southern plantation system that began to develop. The law is shaky at best and really has no basis in what we call common law.

In fact England outlawed the importation of slaves in 1807. This event marks the beginning of the horrors of what came to be called the middle passage. In 1808 as a concession to England and in the hope of stopping the impressments of American sailors and stopping capture of their ships Congress forbids importation of slaves. England was having none of it however and American slave ships with a living cargo of slaves in transit to the sugar islands of the Caribbean continued.

An interesting ploy was developed by ship’s captains when pursued by ships of the British navy. Without the evidence of the slaves on board the captain could argue that his ship was not carrying on business in the slave trade.

So the chained slaves simply had several cannon balls attached to the first member of the upwards of 100 slaves chained together. This man was tossed over board and the rest of the helplessly bound slaves followed into the depths of the ocean. Their cries muffled by a blanket of sea water. The cries were however not muffled in the minds of the New England crew and explain the high incidence of insanity amongst those who returned to New England. The entire time-line of these events and the events that lead up to slavery can be found at:

http://www.yale.edu/glc/curriculum/amistad/abolitionism.html

As you can clearly see there is no single defining event that can be pointed to as seminal to the establishment of slavery. No America more or lest drifted into becoming a slave nation. It remained for a terrible amount of loss of life by both the north and the south before this practice was stopped. In fact the practice of share cropping continued until well into the 20th century. Poll taxes were used to deny the Black citizen the fundamental right of every citizen to vote. Black protest was as surly stifled as the cries of the hapless slaves in mid ocean were stifled in earlier years.

Now let us fast forward to the election of 2008. Can America accept an elected black man as president of the United States of America? Remember this is the same America where female tennis players’ from one of the most prestigious Eastern universities were referred to as “nappy headed little hos” considering this can you understand my doubts? I do not support such rhetoric by Don Imus or anyone else. But to ignore the fact that it happened is to over look an important clue.

I personally feel mister Obama has his work cut out for him. I hope that I am wrong but I fear that I am not.

Anti Mexican Screed:

There is an email that rivals anything produced by Karl Rove and his group of divisive boys and girls. I read this piece of trash a number of weeks ago and frankly had this reaction:

If that is how the government decides to spend its treasure then so be it. You see I have always thought it is far better for a government to spend money on its citizens than to spend the same moneys blowing up citizens of another country.

Now you and some others may feel that illegal aliens are not citizens and so are entitled to nothing. You answer to such criticism is if you wish to spend the billions upon billions of dollars required to deport these people. Please do NOT expect my support for such foolishness.

What we have here is a disagreement on how the treasure of the country is to be spent. I for one would like to see those dollars spent to better the lot of people who reside in the USA. I feel the fundamental goal of government is to redress inequalities amongst the citizens. If that requires expenditure of vast sums of dollars raised by taxing rich and poor alike then so be it. In fact the rich do not now pay their fair share and this is increasingly the case.

I guess my fundamental question is what have you got against Mexicans? They did after all own all of the land we currently call Texas. They did until the white Anglo Saxons came to Texas and stole that land by force of arms. All of a sudden the Mexicans found them selves strangers in what had been their land. The same can be said of the Plains Indians.

All I know is that the American public was lied to by the current administration. Iraq had nothing to do with the attack upon the World Trade Center. The then leader of Iraq was indeed a very bad man. That however did not give America the right to invade his country. Indeed most of the rest of the world was opposed to American intervention in Iraq. With arrogance seldom equaled America told the rest of the world to “Bugger off”. Which is fine and dandy except do not expect those you have just shot a rod at to embrace your actions.

We are now facing the reality of gas prices that are on par with the rest of the world and we are sniveling like a bunch of overgrown spoiled brats which is in fact just what many Americans have become. Well we lash out and punish our fellow Americans? I expect we will. We did after all expropriate the businesses and homes of Japanese Americans during the Second World War, with no justification what so ever.

No where in this document were the actions called criminal. So I guess if it’s not criminal it becomes a case of citizens saying “Gee whiz I wish you all would not do that”

America at the Crossroads:

Perhaps not since 1860 has America been in so much peril. The reason I pick 1860 and not 1940 is because the forces that most threaten America are not external. They are home grown perils. Let us consider them one by one.

We are told there is a banking crisis. How did this happen. Was it because banks external to America were being poorly managed? It was not. Simply put American banks got into trouble when they permitted Wall Street brokers to roll good loans with bad loans and market the resulting product. Now when you mix horse-shit and corn meal the result is not that you make the horse shit more editable. The result is that you make the corn meal uneatable.

What these fine folks have forgotten is that America has run for the past 20 or 30 years on the sweat of the rest of the world. America is a debtor nation running on borrowed money or to use the fancy term borrowed capital. When horse-shit got mixed in with the corn meal the backing for the massive borrowing America must do on a daily basis went to hell in a hand basket. No one wanted American IOUs.

How does one make good on a promise to repay? Generally speaking one does that by having a job. But a funny thing happened over the last 2 decades. All the well paying jobs left America. Not only did the jobs leave in many cases the machines of production were sold lock, stock and barrel. The former American factory is an empty shell both jobs and machines are most likely now in China or Mexico. Who did this you might well ask. Was it nasty ayatollahs from Iran? No folks this was done by American business men in their eternal quest for ever larger profits.

Today a greater percentage of Americans are incarcerated than any other nation on earth. Yes folks America has finally drawn ever with and surpassed such nations as Russia and China with regard to this important statistical measurement. How can this have happened? There are many answers to this but none of those answers can be laid at the doorstep of other nations. I myself feel that drugs have so thoroughly and persuasively penetrated the American system of justice that it has become incapable of delivering justice.

There is a moral to all of this and it is best summarized in the words of Pogo from back in the 1970s. “We have met the enemy … and he is us.” America is at a crossroads. Which road will we choose? Corn meal for starving African and American children or gas-a-hol for American Hummers. Vote carefully this fall. The republic is in jeopardy. Never so much since the year before the American Civil War.