An interesting take on McCain's VP pick.  check the video from an alaskan tv station.

"The taser incident (requested by the son, not that that justifies it), an illegal moose killing (moose eaten by Sarah Palin and other family members), and the beer drinking occurred in 2002-2003. It was only in 2005- after a nasty divorce- that Palin and her family reported the ex-brother-in law.

They filed 36 complaints against the ex, including for behavior they had COVERED UP for years. The trooper has had no other complaints filed against him other than from Palin family members.

That was before she was governor. The trooper was disciplined, perhaps not adequately for many people.

Then Palin becomes governor, and she, her husband and senior staff all try to get the DPS commissioner to fire the trooper. The commissioner refuses, and is fired.

Palin denies any pressure; senior staff won't comment (they will when they are put under oath shortly) or "can't recollect."

Palin has been so busy pointing fingers at other politicians that people didn't realize that she was as much "politics as usual" as anyone.

There's considerable sentiment in Alaska that she has engaged in a major coverup. As we know, the coverup is usually worse than the crime."

You have to see this video. Just click below the fold. Scarborough is so enraged at the suggestion that Iraqis themselves want a timeline for withdrawal of US troops (just what Obama has recommended for months) that he says he will enjoy watching their leader get the same treatment Mussolini got after WW2.   more »

Why is this such a popular search? Would this make you dream stronger? Or maybe keep mental drafts out of your dreamscape like silicone caulk for the mind? Hehey.   more »

A strange compelling blog by an LA woman. Shhhh, she doesn't want to know we are reading it. Don't disturb the endangered creature in her natural habitat.   more »

That is what is important to get this renewable/conservation energy re-evolution going. This critique of his plan highlights the problems this emphasis could cure. Remember what happened to the Clinton effort to get national healthcare in 92-93? It was killed by democrats in congress in the pocket of the healthcare industry. We are in danger of that happening again, across the board, on healthcare, energy, and oil war. Winning this election is just the beginning of the reform battle.   more »

And the local government does almost nothing about it. So you thought your local officials were incompetent? Hehey. Here's a picture from the weird rat video posted on youtube by the neighbors who sued over it all.    more »

Will the arctic conveyor, the salt/fresh melt water driven current that drives the Gulf Stream, stop once the Arctic ice cap melts? That depends on how fast Greenland ice melts.   more »

Since only demand reduction can really fight GHG climate disaster and recession due to soaring oil prices. There ought to be quarterly targets on oil use reduction. That would be real energy security. It would be a good way to counter the drill our way out of this notion taking hold in mass media. Miss two quarters in a row and rationing kicks in until the target reduction is back on track.   more »

Wow, what a price rise in coal generated electricity. Natural gas is expected to go up 30% over for next heating season too. It would seem that this is the time to invest in a storage and energy use timing system to lower electric bills by getting off peak power rates. Add that to ground source heat pump heating and the extra costs would dissapear.   more »

Check this discussion of globalization, to me it boils down to considering the advantages and disadvantages of global trade and investment. Including the huge carbon footprint and environmental destruction it can bring with it. First and foremost, GHG intensive fuel for trans oceanic shipping should be eliminated. There is plenty of wind out there to do the job   more »

This is good news. Audi's A1 will be out in 2009 with an initial production of 100,000 per year. How many of that number will feature the plugin hybrid option? Hard to tell. But VW also has a model based on the same platform.    more »

It may seem like a joke, the energy policy mensch (!?!) Paris Hilton responds to the McCain ad that tries to ridicule Obama. Paris really gets the energy plan right. Secretary of energy maybe, Barack? She could charm powerful capitalists with this: Click and check her video below the fold.    more »

How about a list of worthy sacrifices people would be happy to make for a cured climate and a revived booming renewable/conservation energy economy. A job in every town, for everyone. Better than a chicken in every pot. Redesign the grand energy plan to include voluntary sacrifice, that could speed things up signifigantly.   more »

More of the old texas oil shill (industry lobbyists) three step. Divert (attention from real energy solutions like plugin hybrids), delay (the manufactire of those alternatives), in order to keep on guzzlin', neeehaaaaww! The majical hydrogen economy revisited, yet again. Truly astounding! The scientific illiteracy in this MIT press release.   more »

But could that really happen? Well here is the radical (renewable energy) revolutionary reasoning behind that astounding claim of 100% rooftop solar in 20 years, hehey.   more »

You can sacrifice convenient, always on, always maximum peak load power from your utility. For that small individual inconvenience of adjusting your high power uses around power grid inputs, like solar, water, wind, and biogas, it can be done.   more »

So the opposition says we need baseload power? That only nuclear or coal power plants can provide? Actually renewables do provide baseload now. Thanks to concentraing solar furnaces that store heat as molten salt for 24/7 power generation from turbines. These can be mounted on factories to proviode process heat and baseload power for the grid, with cogeneration efficiency. Making factories net energy grid electric producers, rather than consumers.   more »

The old "energy density" talking point against renewables repeated once again? Yep. This one is easy to overcome. Renewables and conservation need not use up signifigant land areas. Nuclear does. The operation, mining, processing, transport, waste storage all put land at risk of long term contamination, groundwater and surface water too. The land used has to be restricted for centuries from human use.   more »