TGIF.
John +2
by John Cole| 63 Comments
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
This post is in: Domestic Politics
In his speech yesterday, Al Gore set a goal of achieving 100% carbon-free electricity by 2020. Jerome at The Oil Drum has some thoughts on whether or not this is realistic:
The short answer is: while 100% is probably unrealistic, it’s not unreasonable to expect to be able to get pretty close to that number (say, in the 50-90% range) in that timeframe, and it is very likely that it makes a LOT of sense economically.
The goal might be unrealistic, but I think it makes a lot of sense to set goals high. If we set the goal at 100% and achieve 60%, it’s a hell of a lot better than setting the goal at 60% and achieving 40%.
Read the post. It’s a little technical, and it’s a lot to get your head around, but it’s comprehensive and addresses three things:
1) is it technically feasible to build the requisite capacity within 12 years?
2) what will it cost, and what will it mean for power prices?
3) how can the intermittency issue be dealt with?
Update: Jack Cafferty asks:
Is Al Gore’s call for carbon-free electricity in 10 years doable or “ridiculous”?
Best comment:
J, Maryland July 18th, 2008 2:15 pm ET: Ridiculous! Lets not even try…
100% Carbon Free: Is Al Gore Being RealisticPost + Comments (148)
by John Cole| 63 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Media
This line of attack from AP is what I would consider underwhelming:
Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security “a disgrace,” he still cashes his own retirement check every month.
“I’m receiving the benefits, the system is broken and, unfortunately, my children and grandchildren, according to the trustees of the Social Security system, will not have the same benefits the present retirees have,” McCain told reporters Thursday on his campaign bus.
McCain’s 2007 tax return shows Social Security benefits of $23,157 for the year, an average of $1,929.75 a month. He said he started receiving the payments “whenever I was eligible.”
So what? I rail against the government on a daily basis, but I still vote and use public roads. McCain paid into the system, he is entitled to his payments. There is no hypocrisy here.
If you want to focus on McCain and social security, I would point to the fact that he appears to not understand how the system works.
by John Cole| 41 Comments
This post is in: War on Terror aka GSAVE®, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.
Fear-mongering to the very end:
European terrorists are trying to enter the United States with European Union passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday.
Chertoff’s comments on Capitol Hill comes as the country is entering a potentially vulnerable period with the presidential nominating conventions coming up next month; the presidential election in November; and the transition to a new administration in January — all of which may be attractive targets for terrorists.
***“The terrorists are deliberately focusing on people who have legitimate Western European passports, who don’t appear to have records as terrorists,” Chertoff told lawmakers. “I have a good degree of confidence we can catch people coming in. But I have to tell you … there’s no guarantee. And they are working very hard to slip by us.”
Chertoff also brings up the specter of the old stand-by, the dirty bomb. Really, there is so much gibberish here that it is hard to unpack it all. How we are becoming more “vulnerable” as a nation because of the upcoming conventions is beyond me, but they want you to think we are. Additionally, aren’t we all aware that there always remains the possibility that something will happen?
What, really, is the point of this nonsense other than typical fear-mongering?
by John Cole| 18 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008
And now the Democrats join the Republicans in forming an “independent” group to go after the opposition:
The Democratic National Committee plans to target Republican John McCain and help Democrat Barack Obama with an independent ad campaign run by veteran Democratic strategist Jonathan Prince, Democrats familiar with the decision said Thursday.
By law, the effort would be prohibited from coordinating with either Obama’s presidential campaign or with the DNC. The ads would be financed with party money, however.
The Democrats asked for anonymity because the decision had not yet been formally announced.
Honestly, is there a bigger joke than Campaign Finance reform? If anyone can explain how all this nonsense is preferable to just lifting the restrictions and requiring only immediate disclosure, fill me in. I am all ears.
by John Cole| 38 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Ethanol mandates are going to turn out to be one of the bigger blunders in recent memory:
Catfish farmers across the South, unable to cope with the soaring cost of corn and soybean feed, are draining their ponds.
“It’s a dead business,” said John Dillard, who pioneered the commercial farming of catfish in the late 1960s. Last year Dillard & Company raised 11 million fish. Next year it will raise none. People can eat imported fish, Mr. Dillard said, just as they use imported oil.
As for his 55 employees? “Those jobs are gone.”
Corn and soybeans have nearly tripled in price in the last two years, for many reasons: harvest shortfalls, increasing demand by the Asian middle class, government mandates for corn to produce ethanol and, most recently, the flooding in the Midwest.
We should start a list of things that Ethanol has impacted.
by John Cole| 20 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Media
For the love of everything Holy, please find something useful for these people to do. They have been at this all damned day. Fix potholes, serve in Iraq, give blood. Anything. I have an old rubiks cube lying around somewhere if that will occupy them.
*** Update ***
Seriously, this from the bottom of the first post I linked, is classic:
The finger pointing about who attended what hearing when seems besides the point anyways.
Both men have been AWOL from their day jobs for most of the past two years while they are running for president.
Any guess why they are finger pointing? Maybe because a certain band of idiots has devoted a large chunk of time and bandwidth covering the “finger pointing?” I dunno. Just a guess.
This will only get worse in August.