Wednesday

Wednesday May 20, 2009

. . . .H.R. 627 the Credit Cardholder Bill of Rights Act of 2009 was voted in by the House today as amended by the Senate yesterday. This is good for you, and good for credit cardholders everywhere as I detailed in yesterday's post (read below). You can check the entire bill and the vote on it here at Open Congress.

. . . . . The other one to watch right now is another House bill, introduced on May 14th. H.R. 2454 the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 introduced by Waxman, the Chair of the House Commerce Committee. To quote Open Congress:

This is the Waxman-Markley comprehensive energy bill, known for short as "ACES," that includes a cap-and-trade global warming reduction plan designed to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020. Other provisions include new renewable requirements for utilities, studies and incentives regarding new carbon capture and sequestration technologies, energy efficiency incentives for homes and buildings, and grants for green jobs, among other things.

. . . .Steve Earle's new album, Townes, debuted at #19 on the charts today. Buy it, Steve is a gifted songwriter and singer.

. . . .It's Wednesday, I miss Lost already, and yes, they did a great job this season. They answered as many questions as they opened up, and I'm still in jaw-dropping wonder at the season finale, it was excellent. And I was so damn happy to see Vincent, Bernard and Rose. I love Rose, just thought I'd say that.

. . . .I want to make something really, really clear. I am not a Republican, that's obvious from my merciless pummeling of them in their current incarnation (read this as since Rove and Bush Sr.), nor am I a Democrat, that party had all the hope in the world during the 60's and turned into a bunch of sniveling party hacks who shot themselves in the foot every time they turned around during the 80's and 90's. That said, I know I'm not unique. I am someone who is classified as an independent; definitely very, very liberal on social issues and issues of personal choice and privacy, and very conservative (re - the real Webster's dictionary definition of it, not the Bush/Rove/Cheney/Limbaugh/Hannity Orwellian 1984-speak definition that they twisted it into) on issues of fiscal policy (that would mean that the complete deregulation of the financial markets led by Bush, Paulson, and Sen. Phil Gramm in order to line their own pockets and the pockets of their largest campaign contributors and friends is definitely not conservative, nor did it follow the economic policies of John Maynard Keynes or Kenneth Galbraith, both of whom established regulatory policies in the 50's and 60's that lead to the sustainable growth of the entire country, nor was the largest expansion of Federal power and government under Bush conservative) and on issues of National Defense (that would mean that the criminal actions of Bush and Cheney in prosecuting a war in Iraq in a twisted, drunken desire to settle some "daddy" issues for Bush, Jr. while allowing the true perpetrators of 9/11, Al-Queada to grow stronger and more bold, till now they are 60 miles from Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, and fully nuclear armed country, and the most unstable government in the region was not in America's long-term best interests. The very thought of the Taliban, and shariyah law having it's hands on a fully functional nuclear arsenal is frightening).
. . . .What I am is someone who has always believed in the American experiment, that being democracy. Democracy is not the two-party system we have. A democratic republic, by definition, is a representative democracy, not a direct democracy, and not a democratic two-party system. It ain't fucking semantics! It's important, as American citizens regain their political sense of self to understand these points.
. . . .The Republican party is the younger sibling. It was born in Jackson, Michigan in 1854. Jefferson and Madison organized the Democratic Party in 1800.
. . . .I was given a Libertarian education at a Libertarian university. In it's ideal, it's a perfect political philosophy, however the country is way too full of stupid people, greedy people and those who would willingly take advantage of someone who is in a weaker position for it to be a viable long-term solution.
. . . .The whole rant here leads to this. I have the utmost respect for Colin Powell, a man, a soldier who wore the uniform, was under fire in battle, led men in battle and lost men in battle. An elder statesman who served his country as a soldier and as Secretary of State, and a man with enough honor to walk out on his boss, the President of the United States, when he discovered that the man sitting in that chair had no honor.
. . . .I am behind Colin Powell fully in his getting right back in Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh's face and letting them know that he is a Republican, that is his party and his conviction, and he ain't about to leave because they decided to kick him out! From the Boston Globe:

Colin Powell issued a sharp rebuke Tuesday night to Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney for trying to exclude him from the backbiting Republican Party.

Before some 1,500 business leaders in Boston, as well as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and wife Gisele Bundchen, the retired general and former secretary of state spoke openly of the dispute roiling the Grand Old Party after election setbacks and polls putting its popularity at roughly one of five Americans.

"Rush Limbaugh says, 'Get out of the Republican Party.' Dick Cheney says, 'He's already out.' I may be out of their version of the Republican Party, but there's another version of the Republican Party waiting to emerge once again," Powell told the crowd.

. . . .Powell's voice, along with those of Christopher Buckley, Peggy Noonan and George Will are what is needed right now for the Republican Party to be the "loyal opposition" and work with the President and Congress to do what's right for the country. Not the voices of idiocy echoing hollowly out of the mouths of Cheney, Limbaugh, Malkin, Coulter, Hannity, Palin and Gingrich. You will notice, pointedly, that Bush Jr. has said nothing, and in fact, is now doing speaking tours with Bill Clinton, not attempting to destroy the country by splitting it. Whatever kind of bad President he may have been, GWB was an American and was one of only 44 men to have even sat in that seat, and he does understand that.

. . . . .I've read all of Jefferson's writings, all of John Adam's writings, all of Franklin's, Paine's & Madison's. What made this country unique and great was that this group understood that for this country to be great, what made it great was a group of people who had differing opinions respecting one another, respecting one another's dedication to the country and the American ideal, agreeing to disagree and then sitting down together and hashing out a common solution that served the greater good and a higher purpose. That's what makes us America, and I'm sick to death of the politicians of this country, the leaders of the two current parties and the media trying to turn this all into a cartoon. In real life, there's a lot of shades of gray, with a huge sliding scale in the spectrum in between both ends, and there is not now, nor has there ever been any good purpose served by slavishly following one or the other extreme end of the idealogical bandwidth.
. . . .We are so far past idealogical arguments. We need practicality and purpose, we need that common solution that serves the greater good and the higher purpose, and I'm just a little bit scared that those we've put into power, even the President who is so popular aren't up to the task.
. . . .Yes, I support this President. I'm an American, if he fails, we all fail. We are truly in crisis, and he was elected as our leader. This country needed that change. Look at the legacy that Bush 2 left. Remember, it's only been a little over 100 days since he left office after 8 long years, and look at the legacy he left. How can you miss it. Dick Cheney, since emerging from his undisclosed location has become a true media whore.

. . . . .In Part 10 of the continuing series from NPR on upgrading the National Electrical Grid (it ain't high-tech, it ain't cool, it ain't sexy, but it's the cheapest thing we can do that will have the largest impact on high energy consumption and cost) A New Grid and Also New Habits Are Needed:

Power companies are planning to beef up the nation's electricity transmission grid. At the same time, conservationists are trying to reduce the vast amount of power wasted in Americans' homes and offices. That raises a question: If we simply used energy more efficiently, would we need to spend billions of dollars on a new grid?

To answer this question, we first need to know how much electricity buildings of the future could save. A good place to start is an office in downtown Washington, D.C. — the new home of the U.S. Green Building Council, which pushes for and certifies hyper-efficient construction.

Project architect Ken Wilson says the idea is to make the office a model of efficiency. It's a glimpse of the future.

'The Mother Of All Green Projects'

"What we're doing in this project is dramatic," he says. "The energy load for our lighting is being reduced in half. And we've loaded it up full of all kinds of energy-saving devices that are in some ways a paradigm shift."

For example, there are no desktop computers in this office — only energy-efficient laptops. And even those won't be humming away all the time. The new paradigm is that energy is only consumed when it's actually needed.

A set of cubicles has something that looks like a smoke detector overhead. The gizmo actually senses human bodies and is wired into the work pod's electrical outlets.

"The idea is that when someone leaves the pod, and the occupancy sensors will sense that they're not there, then that outlet shuts off. And so if they've got a task light plugged into that or a laptop computer into that, it goes off," Wilson explains.

The laptops revert to battery mode or save active work and shut down, saving energy that would otherwise be wasted. Air conditioners are also set up so that they don't cool empty offices. Brendan Owens of the Green Building Council points out that instead of desks, there is a broad corridor of white carpet near the windows that reflects natural light deep into the work space.

"At the peak of the day, when we're getting most of our light outside the space, we can turn off all our interior lights, and that shuts our demand way down," Owens says.

The office kitchen is outfitted with two giant, hyper-efficient refrigerators — to serve the needs of a young and hip work force that saves energy by riding bikes or transit to work and likes to brown-bag for lunch.

Wilson, the architect, says when this "mother of all green projects" is done, it should use about half the electricity of a conventional office. In fact, the job should end up earning the highest possible rating — platinum — from the U.S. Green Building Council, the very folks who will populate the work pods and offices.

Planning For Future Demand

Because this office is a showcase, Wilson could make many expensive choices and not worry so much about whether they'd ever save enough in energy bills to justify the cost. That said, Wilson imagines the energy savings if every office in downtown Washington were able to accomplish what this one is doing.

"Certainly if you were to take every building and cut the energy use by 50 percent, that would go a long way toward solving the need for more power plants," he says.

And if you don't need more power plants, you don't need more transmission wires. Right? Well, not so fast.

Revis James, who works for the industry-funded Electric Power Research Institute, says his organization spends a lot of time looking down the road 20 or 30 years to see what our future electricity needs will be.

James says demand has been growing thanks to a proliferation of energy-hungry microwaves, computers, giant TVs and other plug-in devices. That wave of invention may be cresting.

"Over the time frame of the next 20 or 30 years, I don't think we're going to see a tremendous change in the fundamental nature of the devices and the types of things that create a demand for electricity," James says.

What will really drive new demand is the steady trickle of a growing economy — and constant population growth.

"When you take a very moderate growth rating assumption, and you extend that out into time — not just a couple of years, not just five years not just 10 years; you extend that out for 50 years — even modest growth rates translate to significant amounts of energy," James says.

For example, the Census Bureau projects that in 30 years, the United States will have 100 million more people, in addition to the 300 million residents today. And James figures that population growth will more than wipe out the gains from efficiency programs.

What's more, some of the things that are now powered by fossil fuels, like cars and even furnaces, may eventually be phased out as climate change is addressed.

"A time will come when the emissions we get from natural gas will become too much, and we'll have to eliminate that, too," James says.

What energy source is left? Electricity, presuming it's from a carbon-free source.

So even the optimists acknowledge that new transmission lines must be built, and the existing electric grid must be made smarter.

That brings us back to Owens, at the Green Building Council's flashy new digs in Washington.

"We need to have the smart grid work with smarter buildings to really make sure the potential of both is optimized," he says.

Both approaches are tools for getting the job done, but they're not solutions in themselves.

. . . .Terminator:Salvation will come out while I'm out of pocket and won't be able to see it until the early part of June. I really hope that Christian Bale can bring his intensity and focus to the part of John Connor and breathe new life into this franchise. After all, we've only got 9 years until it's 2018!

. . . .Much will be made in the next few days of Iran's testing of a missle with the capabilities of reaching Europe and Israel. It's a tempest in a teapot. At the end of the day, Ahmadinejad is a Hugo Chavez. He is one of the three largest suppliers (Venezuela and Saudi Arabia being the others) of the world's heroin, oil. He is also Western educated, has more power than the Ayahtollah, and realizes that at the end of the day on a geo-political scale, it's all about money and power. What he wants is recognition and a seat at the table, and he realizes that he's going to have to shake some people up to get it. He also knows that turning his own country into a war zone again, after the millions of Iranians lost in the Iran-Iraq war of the 80's, is a complete mistake. I'm, again, much more scared of the Taliban and shariyah law being in control of a nuclear arsenal in Islamabad, Pakistan than I am of Iran. Iran wants recognition; the Taliban want to reshape the world into an earthly vision of a holy war that they believe is being carried out even now in the heavens, and they aren't afraid to burn themselves down to attain that vision.

. . . . Outta here for today. Kiss your kids, tell the ones you love out loud that you do. Seize the precious moments before they slip through your hands. This rodeo is a one-way ticket, no one gets out alive, and we don't get to dictate the terms and circumstances of how our ticket gets punched. It's not about tomorrow or yesterday, it's about right fucking here and now. This ain't no dress rehearsal. Change your life, and in doing that, change the world around you.
. . .Got your back, out there in the night.

The Desolation Angel
[where: 27.52N, 91.59W]