Scratch my snark. That article is terrifying. One wonders just how in the hell we're ever going to pull off such a rapid and relatively immediate switch over from oil to another energy source. Christ! Everything around me running on oil. Damn humans and their wings of wax and feathers.
@Airvault: Just live close to public transportation. That's the best advice I can give. People will flock to urban areas to shorten commutes and/or take the subway or bus to get around.
It's interesting how if we rely more on wind, solar, biomass and energy efficiency we will be outsourcing our energy supply to Russia and China. I can't wait to see the big tankers full of wind and sun arriving in our ports.
@FrankenPC: I'm pretty sure anything by her appearing in print was dictated into a tape recorder on the back of a four-wheeler, transcribed on an IBM Selectric hooked up to a generator and then strapped to a Caribou shot out of a cannon, aimed in the general direction of the Wire Services.
@HiredGoons: She could also use a lesson on who we actually depend on for oil. Russia and China are not major suppliers for the US. I'm not even sure we get any oil from China since China is one of the giant consumers. She listed Russia and China because they sound scarier than Canada and Mexico.
"....it's something hated by the energy conglomerates that Obama says will help save the earth from environmental destruction, which naturally leads us to lean toward being in favor of it."
I got a chill when I read that last sentence. Are you naturally lead to be in favor of it because of the "save the earth" and the "hated by energy conglomerates" part, or the "Obama says" part?
@The Cajun Boy: The energy conglomerates are nasty fuckers, the lot of them. They are in large part why the US has had no energy policy for the past 20 years. We need to strip them of their power over the Congress.
Still, Cap and Trade doesn't really do anything other than tax the shit out of consumers and industries that can least afford it. I'd be in favor of a plan like this if we invested in making alternative fuel technologies more available and affordable prior to its inception.
To me Cap and Trade is like taxing the hell out of driving a car when there is no public transportation available in a city. You have no true alternatives.
@momof3wildkids: one teensy correction; the us has in fact had an energy policy for the past 30 years: make the energy conglomerates in general and the oil cos and the coal cos, especially the saudis who love the bush family so much even richer, while preventing anything that looks like alternative energy green energy or conservation. it's been an extremely clear and focused policy if u look back at three decades of results since the 70s when opec had the world by the balls and nobody has done anything to fix that since. accident? i think now. policy? absolutely.
"...the resources that God created right underfoot on American soil." Question? Same God that put half of the world's oil underneath countries that are primarily Muslim and allows nuclear technology to be doled out to the likes of Iran and Pakistan? Or are there multiple gods working in the field of energy and the Islamic God is just better at it?
Please, don't take my making fun of Sarah Palin as any sort of support for Cap and Trade. As soon as I figure it out, I will be strongly against it.
@ChillbearLatrigue: A very poor spokesperson who is light on the details (and coherency), but that doesn't mean she is wrong.
Cap and Trade imposes significant taxes on energy which will hit the vast majority of Americans, saving those who are "poor enough" to qualify for energy credits - whatever those are. More importantly, it will tax the industrial complex of our nation at a time we and they can least afford it.
There must be a better way to encourage alternative energy sources than taxing the shit out of our current ones. The US has had a horrible energy policy for 20+ years. This will make it no better.
@momof3wildkids: You're absolutely right. Our Energy Company sent out a flier explaining their position on cap & trade as well as the potential for renewables in our state. What it boiled down to was that no matter how the policy changed they would be passing the costs to the consumer and that they would not shoulder a single penny of it. It basically told us to prepare for significantly higher power bills ...and that they like their Scotch at least 50 years old and their cigars Cuban
@Dürer's Rhino: Well of course the energy companies aren't going to eat the cost. They are a BUSINESS. They want to make money for themselves and their shareholders. Even if the US were to nationalize the power companies, the cost is going to be passed on to the consumer.
Unless you plan on capping rates (and we saw how well that worked out in California a few years back), consumer energy costs will soar under this plan.
@bowel_and_the_obstructors: I have no problem with their "true cost" if there is a viable alternative available. The US has mistakenly not allowed nuclear power plants to be built in decades, we have limited refineries, limited natural gas distribution, etc..
I've been trying for year's to have Southern CT Gas bring the gas line up our street 115 feet so I can use natural gas for heating vs oil. Five other neighbors would jump on the nat gas band wagon with me. They won't do it.
I would not be against Cap and Trade if we had other options available to the consumer and industry.
@momof3wildkids: And the problem all along has been that the traditional energy sources have been cheap. Industry and consumer alike need a kick in the ass and cap and trade might do it.
@bowel_and_the_obstructors: I see where you are going with this. However, I believe that government intervention has put us in this pickle, to some degree. There were plenty of companies who wanted to build nuclear plants, but the US gov't threw a wrench into those plans after 3-Mile Island. Refineries? We don't have enough not because of consumers and industry, but because of gov't intervention.
I hope the US can develop viable alternatives to the fossil fuels and foreign dependence on oil without cap and trade happening first. After additional options are available, cap and trade makes sense to me.
There were plenty of companies who wanted to build nuclear plants, but the US gov't threw a wrench into those plans after 3-Mile Island.
Consumers, in the form of city, county, and state legistlators, had everything to do with nuclear power becoming undesirable to end-users. It's true that 3 Mile Island was a catalyst but that event also taught us that the safety regulations put in place by the US government worked. People became afraid of it though, and after Chernobyl, no amount of safety precautions could be placed to convince most that nuclear power at least as safe as any other method, and a whole lot less expensive in the end.
Were I more industrious, I'd run out and buy a wide-ruled composition pad then write out the piece in big loopy letters, dotting the i's with smileys and hearts and doodling oil rigs and guns and balloon-lettered 'Todd's. While it wouldn't be the original unedited post as submitted, it would likely be a reasonable facsimile.
08/03/09
08/03/09
07/15/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
The coal's technology? The state's?
FAILIN.
07/14/09
On another note, I had no idea Palin could write.
07/14/09
The rest is clearly God's work.
07/14/09
I was unaware coal had its own technology. We should really take care of coal before it decides to rise up against us, and burn OUR bodies for warmth.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/15/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
"Hey, Ford, fuck you and your lame pension program! But here's my latest idea for a moderately priced sport utility vehicle."
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
What are you talking about? They should have that little mess in Harriman, Tenn. cleaned up in no time.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
I got a chill when I read that last sentence. Are you naturally lead to be in favor of it because of the "save the earth" and the "hated by energy conglomerates" part, or the "Obama says" part?
07/14/09
07/14/09
Still, Cap and Trade doesn't really do anything other than tax the shit out of consumers and industries that can least afford it. I'd be in favor of a plan like this if we invested in making alternative fuel technologies more available and affordable prior to its inception.
To me Cap and Trade is like taxing the hell out of driving a car when there is no public transportation available in a city. You have no true alternatives.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/15/09
07/14/09
Please, don't take my making fun of Sarah Palin as any sort of support for Cap and Trade. As soon as I figure it out, I will be strongly against it.
07/14/09
Cap and Trade imposes significant taxes on energy which will hit the vast majority of Americans, saving those who are "poor enough" to qualify for energy credits - whatever those are. More importantly, it will tax the industrial complex of our nation at a time we and they can least afford it.
There must be a better way to encourage alternative energy sources than taxing the shit out of our current ones. The US has had a horrible energy policy for 20+ years. This will make it no better.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
Unless you plan on capping rates (and we saw how well that worked out in California a few years back), consumer energy costs will soar under this plan.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
I've been trying for year's to have Southern CT Gas bring the gas line up our street 115 feet so I can use natural gas for heating vs oil. Five other neighbors would jump on the nat gas band wagon with me. They won't do it.
I would not be against Cap and Trade if we had other options available to the consumer and industry.
07/14/09
07/14/09
I hope the US can develop viable alternatives to the fossil fuels and foreign dependence on oil without cap and trade happening first. After additional options are available, cap and trade makes sense to me.
07/14/09
Consumers, in the form of city, county, and state legistlators, had everything to do with nuclear power becoming undesirable to end-users. It's true that 3 Mile Island was a catalyst but that event also taught us that the safety regulations put in place by the US government worked. People became afraid of it though, and after Chernobyl, no amount of safety precautions could be placed to convince most that nuclear power at least as safe as any other method, and a whole lot less expensive in the end.
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09