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johnaries's Journal
Posted by johnaries in General Discussion
Fri Aug 28th 2009, 05:45 PM
I know it won't do much good, but I send off this email to both of my Repuke Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker:

I am a hard-working Tennessean. And I am angry and sick and tired of being squeezed by big corporate interests. Especially Insurance and Pharmaceutical companies.

When the CEO of UnitedHealth makes $100,000 an hour by rationing health care, there is a problem.

America has the best health care in the world - if you can afford it. When over 60% of bankruptcies are because of medical bills, and over 50% of those have health insurance, THERE IS A PROBLEM.

We need a public option. Period.

As far as the deficit is concerned, get rid of the unfair Bush tax cuts for the rich. Since those unfair tax cuts have been in place the rich have multiplied their income 7 times, while we hard-working Americans have actually lost buying power to inflation.

Please, do the right thing for all Tennesseans, not just the rich.

Sincerely, John.
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion
Wed Aug 26th 2009, 09:20 PM
"let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth."

Is there any statement that sums it up any better? We can argue over petty details, but that is the core. That is what we are striving for. That is the goal.

"The state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth."

That is why we need Universal Health Care. That is we need a single-payer, or barring that, a competitive robust public option.

Why should a baby or any child die because their parents are too poor to afford health care to save their life?

"The state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth."

If that is not convincing enough, if the person you are talking to is still in full "denial mode", you can hit them with this from the same speech:
"The President, the Vice President, the members of Congress have a medical plan that meets their needs in full, and whenever senators and representatives catch a little cold, the Capitol physician will see them immediately, treat them promptly, fill a prescription on the spot. We do not get a bill even if we ask for it, and when do you think was the last time a member of Congress asked for a bill from the Federal Government? And I say again, as I have before, if health insurance is good enough for the President, the Vice President, the Congress of the United States, then it's good enough for you and every family in America."


{emphasis added}

In the full speech, Ted ties Health Care to the economy. Something that rings as true today as it did back then. as President Obama keeps trying to remind us:

"Finally, we cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society. So I will continue to stand for a national health insurance. We must -- We must not surrender -- We must not surrender to the relentless medical inflation that can bankrupt almost anyone {~OP note: 60+% of all bankruptcies are the direct of medical bill, and over 50% of those had medical insurance.~} and that may soon break the budgets of government at every level. Let us insist on real controls over what doctors and hospitals can charge, and let us resolve that the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth.


the state of a family's health shall never depend on the size of a family's wealth.

we cannot have a fair prosperity in isolation from a fair society.

if health insurance is good enough for the President, the Vice President, the Congress of the United States, then it's good enough for you and every family in America

Granted, that's a little long to chant in a protest. For those occasions, how about something simple short like

Health, NOT Wealth!


edit to add link you have to read: http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/08/...

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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion
Fri Jul 31st 2009, 08:51 PM
And, while we're at it, all you other anti-Obamites.

Major Economists agree that we have officially shifted from Recession into Recovery. And they all agree that it's thanks to Government Stimulus.

The bank bail-outs WORKED!
The government mortgage program WORKED!
The TARP program WORKED (and since it is just started in earnest is still working)!
Obama's CARS program worked so well it ..., well, you know.

Every Obama economic program is WORKING!

Sure, there are still a lot of problems. Obama told us there would be. It will still be a long time until we're where we need to be. Just like Obama told us.

But, we're on the road. We're on track. And we have turned around very quickly, considering the circumstances. Frankly much quicker than I expected, myself.

Keynesian Economics works.

I would include links, but it's about to be all over the news. Except, of course, for FOX.

Fox News Special Report - Recovery is bad for America. Next step to Socialism and loss of American Freedoms!
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Aug 05th 2006, 10:58 PM
My community is blessed with a small paper that basically prints every LTTE it receives. I had previously written a LTTE on Global Warming recommending Al Gore's movie and Tom Brokaw's special and also saying that the debate is over - the only critics are paid spokesmen for the Oil Industry. Someone sent a letter saying he agreed that we should conserve and lower pollution, but in reply to my "paid spokesman" comment with a list of scientists and also Sen Inhofe. My reply:

Since we agree on the actions that all of us should take on alternative energy and pollution, I suppose I should stop here. However, you seem to love debate, and you gave me so many rich sources to prove my point that Climate Change is only disputed by paid spokesmen for the Oil Industry. Also, I'm hoping that as more realize that the Climate Crisis is real that they will be more motivated to take action.

Thank you for mentioning Sen. Inhofe first. Most of us already realize that many Congressmen are little more than "paid spokesmen" for the Oil and other Corporate Lobbies, and one of the most important actions we can take is to remove these people from office and replace them with legislators who will represent the People, and not big corporation Lobbies.

As for the rest of your list, most of the information I supply below comes from Sourcewatch.org and Exxonsecrets.org:

S. Fred Singer acknowledged during a 1994 appearance on the television program Nightline that he had received funding from Exxon, Shell, Unocal and ARCO. Singer's

National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) In 2002 ExxonMobil donated $30,000 for "educational activities" and a further $15,000 for general support. In 2003 the company boosted its general operating support to $25,000 with another $30,000 for 'global climate change/EnviroTruth website

Frank Wentz and Matthias Schabel claimed that global warming was real, The Nature journal article that you refer to claimed that satellite data showing a cooling trend was faulty. The article was published in 1998 and there has been a great deal of data released since then that support a temperature increase.

William H. Gray is on the board of directors of ACCF. ACCF has a conservative perspective of economic policy and favors policies that favor big business. The ACCF also includes many members of the American Petroleum Institute.

Willie Soon - his climate studies were partially funded by the American Petroleum Institute. He and Sallie Baliunas who you also mentioned are both employed by the George C. Marshall Institute. The George C. Marshall Institute has received $630,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998.

Speaking of the GMI, the last name on your list was Frederick Seitz who happens to be Chairman Emeritus of the Marshall Institute. Mr. Seitz also applied to work for the RJ Reynolds Tobacco company in 1978 and oversaw $45 million from them to fund research to disprove the harmful effects of smoking, So, according to him both the harmful effects of smoking and Global Warming are "junk science".

So, again I thank you for supplying a list of some of the "paid spokesmen" I spoke of.


Oh, that was just TOO easy and TOO much fun!
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Aug 05th 2006, 11:28 AM
In the GD: Politics forum, DUer boolean posted an excellent summary of a combined capitalist/socialist society:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

The government should NOT stick its nose in:
1) Perfectly competitive products and services
2) Commodities
3) Trade

The government SHOULD regulate and monitor:
1) Essential services such as electricity, water, etc.
2) POLLUTION CONTROLS
3) Monopolies

The government should CONTROL and RUN:
1) Health care
2) Education
3) Infrastructure


I think this is a perfect outline of a BALANCED economic policy. Although because of the negative connotations of the term "socialism" in our society, I think it would best to avoid using it.

Which is why I propose the term Economic Civil Rights and emphasize that it is for a Balanced economic policy.

Although the current laissez-faire policy was originally intended to encourage individualism, in todays corporate atmosphere individuals are at a disadvantage because we do not have the available resources that corporations have. Ever try to sue a corporation? How many lobbyists can you afford?

Therefore, we need an economic policy that BALANCES the rights and interests of individual consumers and workers with those of corporations and protects everyone's Economic Civil Rights. Corporations and Individuals, both; not just Corporations.

Here are some of my suggestions of policies to implement:

1. Balance the Federal Budget and pay down the debt (the debt is hamstringing the ability of the Government to act)
2. Living Wages
3. Universal or Single-payer health care.
4. Roll back the tax cuts for the wealthy. Only a graduated tax structure is fair. Those who CAN afford to pay more SHOULD pay more.
5. Capital Gains tax - an income tax should tax INCOME, not PAYROLL only.
6. Eliminate tax breaks that encourage outsourcing to foreign countries.
7. Fair and Balanced trade that benefits both countries, not Free Trade that only benefits one country and corporations.
8. Better controls of the use of public resources. This includes pollution controls, since our air and water are PUBLIC resources and belong to all of us.
9. Improve Education

Any other ideas?

It's time for all of us to stand up for our Economic Civil Rights!
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Jul 01st 2006, 06:49 PM
Special thanks to Miss Waverly and Yoda Yada (because I stole some of your ideas)!

I have bullet-pointed the other issues I think are important to winning the elections and added that because of election fraud we may NEED a land-slide win:

We should also focus on other main issues such as:

> The Iraq Quagmire and bringing our troops home. (a special Thank-you to John Murtha, John Kerry, and Russ Feingold)
> Torture - NEVER acceptable. The Geneva Convention applies whether you call the POW’s or “enemy combatants.”
> Homeland Security - especially since there are increasingly more reports that we are not safer here at home. For one thing, Port Security is STILL an issue!
> Illegal, ineffective NSA spying. Not only is it illegal, it is only creating “red herrings” that is wasting our intelligence man-power. As one expert said, this administration is not connecting the dots it is simply collecting more dots.
> The increasing deficit. Repeal tax cuts for the rich and stress better efficiency in government. Stop the huge Republican “earmark” giveaways!
> Increase the minimum wage and wages overall. This is not only good for the workers, by increasing consumer buying power it is also good for the economy.
> Stop or at least slow down out-sourcing. Get rid of corporate incentives to move off-shore.
Republican corruption. Abramoff, Delay, Valerie Plame’s outing, Sybil Edwards and other whistle-bower protections, etc.
> Health Care. Most Americans want Universal Health Care.
> Also extremely important: Election Fraud. Without clean elections, we have no Democracy. (A special Thank-you to John Conyers)
> Of course, we also cannot forget “healing and re-uniting the country” after Bush has proven he is a Divider, not a Uniter. The “United” States should be more than just a name.

However, by adding the environmental debate and building on Al Gore’s work Democrats can win a landslide in 2006 and 2008! And until Democrats can regain power and do something about Election Fraud, we may NEED a landslide.


Here are the addresses I'm planning on sending it to:

Howard Dean democraticparty@democrats.org
DCCC dccc@dccc.org
John Kerry http://kerry.senate.gov/text/contact/email...
Russ Feingold http://feingold.senate.gov/contact_opinion...
John Conyers John.Conyers@mail.house.gov
Harold Ford mailto:haroldford@fordfortennessee.com

Any other "send to" suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I think Reckon's idea is excellent. I encourage anyone so-minded to use any portion of my letter whether copy/paste or paraphrased along with your own ideas/suggestions and send your own letters, especially to any Dems running in your state.

We can make a difference. And we will NEED a landslide to overcome Republican Election Fraud!

edit:
Here is the link to the research topic Reckon started:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

but for some reason it has been edit-locked by madmunchie without any explanation. I think I will pm madmunchie (being respectful, of course) to find out why.
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Jul 01st 2006, 04:34 PM
An email I just sent Howard Dean:

Al Gore is changing the debate! As more and more people are exposed to Gore’s message either directly or indirectly, I have noticed in both personal conversations and in the press that more and more people are recognizing the reality of global warming and environmental issues in general are becoming more of a concern to the general public. The protests of global warming nay-sayers are becoming increasingly shrill and impotent and are largely being ignored. Personally, Gore’s comments comparing these protests to previous Tobacco Industries efforts is the most powerful argument - this is a comparison that Americans remember and understand.

If those of us seeking a return to Democracy build on the groundwork that Al Gore has laid, environmental issues can become one of the most important issues in both the 2006 mid-terms and the 2008 elections, if not THE most important issue. According to this Berkeley paper http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~es196/pr... , all of the White Euro-American mainline pastors studied interpreted Genesis 1:28 as instructing Christians to be “stewards of the Earth”, and 40% of White Euro-American Fundamentalist pastors agreed (along with all African-American participants).

It’s obvious that Republicans are using anti-abortion and gay marriage rhetoric to court Fundamentalists, but their efforts have been purposely ineffectual because they don’t want to lose these as campaign issues - and blaming “activist judges“, even though the Supreme Court is stacked with a Conservative majority. Fundamentalists are beginning to realize this and are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Republican Party. If we can continue to change the debate to environmental issues, we can SPLIT the Fundamentalist vote! We can turn a significant portion of the Republican base to vote Democratic!

Further, as Gore and Tom Brokaw have both stated in interviews on Dave Letterman, there are several major corporations that have already started to move in environmentally friendly directions. If Democrats support legislation and prosecution that severely fines the largest polluters (which could be a large revenue stream to help counter the deficit) and offers incentives to environmentally friendly corporations, think of the potential campaign contributions we could gain from these major corporations who are already acting!

We should also focus on other main issues such as the Iraq Quagmire and Homeland Security - especially since there are increasingly more reports that we are not safer here at home. Also the increasing deficit, Republican corruption, etc. However, by adding the environmental debate and building on Al Gore’s work Democrats can win a landslide in 2006 and 2008!
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sun Jun 04th 2006, 12:52 PM
The fact that Gore did not want his rescue efforts post-Katrina publicized stands in stark contrast to B*'s "photo-ops". Just as how quickly he was able to respond stands in stark contrast to B*'s lack of response.

We need to show people more of the "Real Al Gore".
http://usliberals.about.com/b/a/202095.htm

Al Gore Quietly Funded, Facilitated Mercy Mission in New Orleans
In case you missed this AP story (via CNN) from last Saturday, " Al Gore helped airlift some 270 Katrina evacuees on two private charters from New Orleans, acting at the urging of a doctor who saved the life of the former vice president's son.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/nation/0509/09...

Gore responded immediately, telephoning Kline and agreeing to underwrite the $50,000 each for the two flights, although Larry Flax, founder of California Pizza Kitchens, later pledged to pay for one of them.

"None of the airlines involved required a contract or any written guarantee of payment before sending their planes and volunteer crews," Simon wrote of the American Airlines flights. "One official said if Gore promised to pay, that was good enough for them."

He also recruited two doctors, Spickard and Gore's cousin, retired Col. Dar LaFon, a specialist in internal medicine who once ran the military hospital in Baghdad.

Most critically, Gore worked to cut through government red tape, personally calling Gov. Phil Bredesen to get Tennessee's support and U.S. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta to secure landing rights in New Orleans.

About 140 people, many of them sick, landed in Knoxville on Sept. 3. The second flight, with 130 evacuees, landed the next day in Chattanooga.


Al is a true hero.

One of the few pictures taken - notice Al actually broke a sweat. Again, a stark contrast to B*.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/03/...


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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Mar 18th 2006, 07:44 PM
I went there looking to see if the warrantless search article was up yet. It wasn't but look what I found:

Invest in corporate America. Just don't work there
By Richard J. Newman

Posted 3/18/06

Uncooperative data are a drag. When I was researching various ways in which overseas workers and companies are pulling ahead of those in America, I came across some unwelcome evidence. I looked up how many U.S.-based companies belonged to the Fortune Global 100 in 1995 and how many in 2005. I expected to find American companies sliding down the list, replaced by the Samsungs of the world, aggressive upstarts fueled by ambition, hungry customers new to the middle class, and cheap labor. But that's not what has been happening. In 1995, there were 24 U.S. companies in the Global 100. In 2005, there were 33. Corporate America has apparently been getting a bigger share, not a smaller share, of the world's business.
...........

So is the notion of America's falling behind a bogus premise? You could argue that. Or you could look deeper. Here's what you can't tell from revenue rankings and patent data: where the growth and innovation that show up on the bottom line of U.S. corporations is taking place. Are those patents all coming from laboratories on American shores? Or are many of IBM's patents coming from engineers in India and Russia and eastern Europe? Here's a clue: Nearly half of IBM's engineers and technical specialists work outside the United States. Hiring trends are similar: While big U.S. firms like Microsoft, Accenture, and EDS are taking on modest numbers of American workers, their payrolls are mushrooming in places like India. Corporations closely guard the details of patent and employment data, but this much is obvious: American companies are becoming less American.
........

But there is another important trend, beyond offshoring and globalization, that many are missing: There's a growing wedge between U.S. companies and their American employees. What used to be good for General Motors, so to speak, also used to be good for the Americans who worked for General Motors. In many ways (putting labor disputes aside), the interests of U.S. companies and U.S. workers were closely aligned, especially when borders were harder to breach and trade seemed like more of a zero-sum game.
........

American companies that are struggling need to take even more from those helpful low-cost countries. What is good for General Motors these days is massive cost-cutting, to help reverse an enormous $10.6 billion loss in 2005 and keep the company afloat. And the way companies cut costs these days is by shipping any work that is transferable overseas and building stuff there, too. In the old days, of course, the fortunes of companies and their workers rose and fell in unison; manufacturers laid off U.S. workers when times were tough and rehired them when business picked up. But jobs that go overseas are gone forever, or at least until assembly line workers and engineers in China and India start to earn the same as their American counterparts. And that's not going to happen before the unemployment insurance runs out. Companies exist to make money, not to keep people employed. But U.S. companies can increasingly make money while bypassing American workers. "The fate of U.S. workers is no longer part of corporate decision making," says Hira. That sounds ominous, yet for Americans with the energy to get off the couch and pay attention, it's an opportunity. Those who are creative, entrepreneurial, well educated, and able to consistently learn the latest skills will thrive. But if you have the choice, it's probably better to be a stockholder of corporate America than an employee.

(emphasis added)


http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/artic...

American companies are becoming less American. That's what "Free Trade" does for us in a Global Economy.


edited title to be more descriptive

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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Thu Mar 16th 2006, 04:12 AM
The tension here on DU is just a symptom of our frustration. However, the "you are with us or against us" meme is a Neo-Con tactic and is a dangerous road.

Since DU has the wonderful new Journal feature, I noticed while adding some of my previous posts that I could be considered a "flip-flopper". I had one post saying "we should all vote Dem this election", and I had another post saying "I am proud that Dems can't agree, because it proves that we are Independent Thinkers".

To be honest, I still think that we need to maintain our Independent Thinking. However, if we want to accomplish something, we have to learn to COMPROMISE. Our nation was built on compromise. The Constitution is nothing more than a series of compromises.

When 2 sides take opposing positions, usually the Truth lies somewhere in between. When both parties can come to a compromise, the compromise is usually much closer to the Truth than either side.

All of us here on DU are very passionate about our beliefs. That's why we are here. But no one here will argue against the fact that our nation is under attack from within, and that the very foundations of our Democracy are at stake. If we want to reach a viable strategy we need to be able to discuss the issues dispassionately and learn to find a working compromise that we all can live with and support.

At the same time, we must realize that every now and then everyone just needs to "vent". All of us sooner or later come to DU to vent their frustrations, because we know we are among friends and at least someone here will sympathize with our frustrations.

However, after we have vented our frustrations, we all need to just "let them go" and figure out a way to work together to solve this mess that our country is in. In extreme circumstances, sometimes the old adage "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is a very useful axiom.

So, let's all vent our frustrations and get them out of our systems, then apologize to those you've pissed off, and have a group hug. And then decide TOGETHER just what the hell we're going to do to solve this mess TOGETHER. NOBODY is going to be 100% happy - except maybe the RW'ers if we can't learn to work together. We need to "prioritize." Let's solve the immediate problems, and then we can argue among ourselves on the minor details.

Questioning someone else's dedication is counter-productive. "You are with us or against us" is a Karl Rove tactic. Don't fall into that trap.
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sun Mar 12th 2006, 04:54 PM
Because it PROVES that Democrats think for themselves. The Deomcratic party is the party of Individualism and Diversity.

For 12 years we had a party in power in Congress that marched in lockstep, and look where that's gotten us.

It's time that Americans once again elect representatives that think for themselves and vote their conscience - not how the Party tells them to vote.

"Democrats have trouble agreeing on anything" - DAMN STRAIGHT! That's why we are Democrats, so we can have our own opinion and not the Party Line. Democrats are for Freedom of Thought and Freedom of Opinion. That's what distinguishes us from Republicans.
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Mar 11th 2006, 03:14 PM
Time to clean house in the Republican Congress and sweep the Culture of Corruption out the door!

Vote Democratic!
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Sat Mar 11th 2006, 03:09 PM
John Kerry, like many Dem candidates past and present, is an eloquent speaker. He laid out very intelligent plans that took into consideration many nuanced views.

Why, then, was there a public perception that Kerry "had no plan"? Why did so many people say "I see your mouth moving, but all i hear is blah, blah, blah"?

The answer is simple and obvious.

In this ADD, Power Point society, people don't "get" eloquence". They want bullet points.

So, that's my suggestion. Give 'em bullet points.

Lay out the plans in KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) terms. THEN follow them up with the eloquent, nuanced explanations.

Just my thoughts, anyway.
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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Mon Mar 06th 2006, 09:38 PM
Bushit keeps saying that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and implying that the solutions are "just around the corner" (just like a stable Democracy in Iraq). That it's sometime in the near future.

Well, the future is.... NOW!

Some background:

A - Although I'm sure you've seen the GM commercials by now, GM is not the only company making E85 (85% Ethanol)vehicles. Some companies actually stopped building E85 versions of their popular models because of a lack of demand.

B - The State of Mn has already passed a law requiring that all diesel sold in the state be at least B20, which is basically a mix of 80% standard diesel and 20% (wait for it....) USED vegetable oil! Although most modern diesel engines can handle much higher mixes, and the bio diesel actually cleans the engine and extends the life of the engine. There is a DUer ( wish I could remember his name) who has posted that he has a diesel pick-up truck and when he needs to fuel up he goes by the gas station first and gets a few gallons of diesel, and then stops by the local fast food restaurant and fills up with used oil before they get pumped into the grease traps. The only notable difference he related is that his truck always smells like KFC.

C - Fuel cell vehicles work. Right now. Today. The only 2 issues are 1. they cost about $3k more to produce (right now) than internal combustion engines and 2. problems with producing and storing hydrogen.

However, there are fuel cells that can run off of ethanol and even gasoline (and get over 100 mpg from gasoline), which only leaves the problem of the additional cost of building them - which will go down somewhat if demand increases and which I also address later.


Here's just part of my plan, focusing on "transportable" fuel:

1 - SUPPLY. Stop paying subsidies to farmers to "not grow crops". Instead, offer them guaranteed low interest loans to start growing energy crops like corn, switch grass, etc.

2 - INFRASTRUCTURE. Offer tax incentives (after allowing the "give the rich a free ride" tax cuts to expire) to gas stations if they supply Ethanol and Biodiesel. (NOTE: Most gas and diesel stations use "blend" technology. You know how most stations offer REG (low-grade), SUPER (mid-grade), and PREMIUM (hi-grade) gas?

Most of them only have 2 tanks, Regular and Premium (only 2 tanks are cheaper because of EPA standards, and since Ethanol is safer for the water table the stricter EPA standards are not necessary which also makes it cheaper for the station, but that's another discussion), and the dispensers are set to "blend" the 2 tanks to create the mid-grade fuel by using 50% Reg and 50% Prem (or 60% Reg, of 70% Reg.... the location can control the percentage. Think about that and why you may not be getting the benefit from your mid-grade fuel you expected, if you actually BUY mid-grade fuel. Who does?).

SO, offer the gas stations a temporary tax incentive (5 years?) to replace the REG gas with Ethanol, and instead of Mid-grade re-mix the dispenser ratios to offer pure Ethanol (for fuel cell vehicles), an E85 blend (for "flex-fuel" vehicles), and Premium for gas-only vehicles.

3 - Demand that as all government-owned fleets are replaced they are replaced by E85, fuel cell, or hybrid vehicles. (trust me, I work in the transportation industry. This will prompt a LOT of change in our infrastructure).

4 - Offer tax incentives to CONSUMERS to encourage them to buy alternative energy vehicles. These should be done in the form of immediate "sliding scale rebates".

We must remember that most average consumers for large purchases (such as cars) will only take advantage of a rebate if it can be applied to the initial purchase price, which in effect lowers the purchase price.

For an example, if someone buys a hybrid vehicle, they get a tax refund of (example) $1000. Rather than wait for the $1000 refund later (because they simply don't have the money to spend "right now"), they are much more likely to take advantage of the refund if it can be applied directly to the purchase price. But, I'm sure car companies will be willing to work with the Government on this issue since it will ultimately increase their sales.

As far as the "sliding scale" aspect, I suggest that the amount of the rebate be directly tied to the "energy efficiency index" of the car. For example, $1000 for a hybrid, $3000 for an E85, %5000 for a fuel cell car (just pulling those outta my butt, but you get the idea).

I am still in favor of long term research, but these are things we could implement TODAY, and begin to see benefits by the end of the fiscal year - not ny 2025. I hope that by 2025 we'll have even better options - if we choose to take advantage of them!

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Posted by johnaries in General Discussion (01/01/06 through 01/22/2007)
Mon Feb 27th 2006, 09:11 PM
Larry just seems to sort of "fake laugh", while Jon seems to carry the interview by himself.

Am I imagining this? Does anyone else see what I'm seeing?

Does Larry really understand that's he's not worthy to lick Jon Stewart's boots??!?!?!?!?!
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