What do you want to hear from Obama tomorrow?

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

This was a question posed on the Thom Hartmann show today.

I want to hear that regulation of all corporations is back on, they cannot regulate themselves.
That we are not going to drill for anymore oil or natural gas.
That America is going to be the leader in renewable energies. Solar, wind, geothermal, tidal.
That a "Manhattan type Project" will start on Wednesday, to put this country on the alternative energy track.
That in 10-15 years, despite the screaming and blustering of the auto industry, gasoline and diesel vehicles will be outlawed.
That electric vehicles will be the only allowed.
That within one month, production of solar panels, windmills and anything related to renewable energy will be started.
That the currently unemployed will receive first consideration for those jobs.
That now is the time for change in the way we live, do business, think.
An apology. An apology to all Americans. An apology to Democrats for seeming to forsake them.

Just think about this.

If we all had electric cars, we would need to recharge them. Putting recharge stations in at the local malls,
parking lots, would create an untold number of jobs. Reconfigure the parking meters in local communities to a recharge station.
Put in your 50 cents per hour and recharge away. Over the parking lots in malls, install solar panels to supply the power for recharging.
If installed correctly they could even act as a cover for our cars, as the gas stations have to protect you from pumping in the elements.

Put solar panels in the median strips of our national highways, they cut right through the heart of many communities,
delivery would be easier here than from a "farm" 10's or 100's of miles away.
Unused land, going to waste for beauty and a little safety.

Get to work capturing the power of the tides. Up and down, in and out, regular and predictable. Use that to generate power to turbines
that would manufacture electricity to be delivered along the costal areas, with probably enough excess to export inland.

These are just some ideas, rapidly entered here.

Do I think I'll hear any of these? Unfortunately probably just the apology, and not the one to the Dems.

[HopeHoops]

1. "Free ice cream on Thursdays!"

Well, that wouldn't be bad no matter how you look at it. Free ice cream is ALWAYS a good thing.

[NoNothing]

2. So no more road trips?

What happens if I want to go more than a couple of hundred miles? Are truckers going to just work a few hours a day? Not to mention, thanks for screwing over anyone who just bought a car under "cash for clunkers." Good news! It will be illegal in 10 years!

There are lots of good ideas for things we can do. Wildly impractical and draconian ones are not necessary.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

13. Technology is here now....

and was before for autos to travel for more than a couple hundred miles.

That is an old auto manufactures meme.

Just spent a day with an auto engineer who worked for GM and Chrysler, forced retirement,
he said the tech is here now to have autos run just as far and as fast as gas powered cars run today.

That includes trucks, big rigs included.

I have a service company, just bought a new truck, I would feel your pain.

What are your ideas? I would love to hear them!

[NoNothing]

25. I don't believe it

It's a simple matter of physics. You need so much energy to accelerate so much mass against so much air resistance. Batteries can only store so much energy and only charge so fast. Unless there's a totally-unknown top-secret battery technology that is being covered up, it's impossible with existing technology. You might be able to get a small, light car to go about as far on a battery charge as a tank of gas will get you, I'll grant you that. Then what? I can fill my tank in 2 minutes and be on my way. What battery technology charges that quickly?

[NoNothing]

31. As for my ideas:

Raise gas taxes to encourage the use of electric vehicles where practical, and transition liquid fuels to more ethanol and biodiesel (at reduced tax rates). Push along research into methane solid to storage to facilitate most combustion engines (there will always be a use for them) to run on CNG instead of liquid fuels and push forward retrofitting existing vehicles to CNG by forcing the EPA to get off its ass and approve some conversion kits.

[Deep13]

3. That Limbaugh has agreed to suck all the oil out of the Gulf with a straw. nt

[Sebastian Doyle]

4. Best argument for dumping gasoline powered engines: It's 19th century technology!

What else do you use, on a daily basis, that was invented in the 1800's?

Even the Edison filament lightbulb, which was the standard for a century is on its way out, with compact fluorescents taking their places now, and LED bulbs beginning to take over from there.

Seriously, what else are we still holding onto from your great great grandparents' era?

[jp11]

12. There are lots of things:

the safety razor

records

tin cans

photography, mainly instant cameras

matches

postage stamps

bicycles

pasteurisation

telephone

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have improved much more than we have on such a machine as the internal combustion engine.

[zipplewrath]

16. Interesting list though

Look at the things that are "on their way out". Records are going away fast, even CD's. Photography is becoming predominately digital. Postage stamps are on the wain as well. And I don't know how to address the telephone, but you won't recognize it within 10 years.

But the IC engine isn't in that class AT ALL. It isn't anywhere close to being phased out for cars and trucks. It is a tad strange that we aren't using turbine engines in hybrid vehicles. It would allow a greater variety of fuels to be used as well.

[jp11]

23. I think we are on the horizon to seeing it starting to get phased out, has it taken too long

I think so, it became too reliable,conveinant, and cheap so a replacement wasn't pushed or really embraced.

There are plenty more things invented that went through evolutions, pretty much the more technical the more likely it has changed.

http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/Nineteenth.htm

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. I think it's safe to say that Alex Bell wouldn't recognize an I Phone as his invention.

A typical cell phone - even the lower tech models - probably has more in common with the fictional Star Trek communicator than the original Bell telephone.

Probably the most reasonable comparison to cars that should be made is railroads. They have evolved from coal-fired steam engines to 300 MPH Bullet Trains, though unfortunately the latter is not available here yet. The same degree of evolution should be the case with the automobile, but it's not, because of the goddamned oil industry.

[XemaSab]

20. People aren't riding around like this anymore:

[jp11]

22. You are correct many if not all the inventions went through changes

including the early internal combustion engine, the new ones can't run without various computer modules and have seen increases in complexity as well as fuel efficiency.

Only very simple practical inventions remain virtually unchanged ie spoons/forks, scissors, anything with some level of complexity has seen improvements in design and often efficiency.

[XemaSab]

41. I'm going to second the person above who said that Bell, among others

would not recognize a modern phone, the Wright brothers would be floored by modern airplanes, and Morse would not recognize today's communications technology.

IN MY LIFETIME I have gone from having a rotary landline to having a push-button landline with a corded receiver to having a cordless phone. Other people have also had briefcase cell phones and car phones, but those were yuppie toys when they were around. Now I have a cell phone smaller than my wallet that I can use to surf the 'net and play music. (And on edit, take pictures and send text messages!)

I went from having an 8 track and record player to having a tape player, a CD player, and then an iPod.

The first data storage systems I remember were the old large, thin floppy disks, then we got the smaller harder disks, then we got CD's, and now we have thumb drives.

The first computer I had was a black and white Mac Plus (with a 20XP dataframe! all for the low, low price of $3100!!!), and now I have a MacBook about the size of a paper notebook that I can use to access the internet anywhere where there's WiFi (and the downward size on those seems to be limited by the screen size and the keyboard size). (Furthermore, I'll be surprised if we're still using small WiFi hubs in 5 years.)

It's not like there have been small changes in design and efficiency for computing and communications; the changes in the last 25 years have been radical. A modern pocket calculator has more computing power than the lunar lander did, and the people who designed the Apollo Guidance Computer said that if they'd known what they were getting into, they would have thought that the project was impossible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8

Cars haven't kept up for the same reasons that we're still burning coal. There's a LOT of money to be made keeping things the way they are.

[NoNothing]

32. Tell that to all the people with train fetishes n/t

[Sebastian Doyle]

37. See post #26

where I address the progress in train technology, compared to automobiles.

[Arkana]

5. That he's calling in the Thundercats and Optimus Prime.

[Sebastian Doyle]

7. Fuck that. Bring in Skeletor

Tell him to use his freeze ray on the Gulf, make the whole thing a huge oily ice cube and then bring Kirk & Spock in to slingshot that bitch right into the sun.

[spanone]

6. you expect a lot from a man who has a congress to deal with

[Birthmark]

8. I'd like President Obama to announce:

"Effective immediately, I am switching parties and becoming a Democrat."

[Laelth]

27. +1 (in a half-joking way) n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[YvonneCa]

9. I want to hear a longterm PLAN for energy going...

...forward. Longterm. Tell us how we get off fossil fuels and on to clean energy.

Short term...I want Obama to tell the truth as he knows it about the Gulf situation. And then I want him to call up the troops (volunteers) to clean it up. Like a 'Peace Corps'...encourage young, out of work graduates (or almost graduates) to come and work to bring the gulf back to life in OUR TIME. It hurts me to think that I won't live long enough to see the gulf area restored.


And it would be SO good for our youth. :patriot:

[treestar]

10. Whatever he wants to say; he's a smart guy

You're setting him up, since he won't say everything on your list.

He's no one's puppet, so I imagine he'll consult his own judgment, not a poster on DU.

[Marr]

11. I'm done with speeches.

There are actions I'd like to see him take.

[whatchamacallit]

14. Yeah, I don't even bother to tune in anymore

I can get the play-by-play here on DU if I want.

[zipplewrath]

15. A more "reasonable" list

That we are not going to drill for anymore oil or natural gas.

In water, that is. They can still drill on land. Ultimately I suspect even that will be too much. But we need a methodology to prevent these "spills" before drilling any new ones. And there has to be a demonstration first.

That America is going to be the leader in renewable energies. Solar, wind, geothermal, tidal.

You do realize they're gonna throw nuclear in this mix as well right? I'd say hydroelectric as well but I think we've dammed about every river out there.

That a "Manhattan type Project" will start on Wednesday, to put this country on the alternative energy track.

I prefer the "interstate highway" metaphor myself. For one thing, it isn't even clear what we should start building where. That "smart grid" we've been hearing about for so long is almost assuredly part of it.

That in 10-15 years, despite the screaming and blustering of the auto industry, gasoline and diesel vehicles will be outlawed.

Steadily increasing emmission standards instead. We're a long way from even knowing how to do what you suggest. But we can make the emmission standards force us towards vehicles that use less and less gasoline. Adjusting the definition of emmissions to include/credit hybrid vehicles for the elecriticty they use that wasn't generated by the gas engine will encourage hybrids that use their gas engines less often.

That within one month, production of solar panels, windmills and anything related to renewable energy will be started.

Kinda weird statement since they are already under production. I think what you are really getting at is that we don't need the government doing studies. We need the government prepared to give contracts to people ready to start on projects. The more mature the project plans, the bigger the contract.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. lol, wut?

:eyes:

[XemaSab]

18. I am 100% behind the spirit of your OP

One of the most effective symbolic moves that he could make is to announce that the White House is going solar by the end of the year, all the federal buildings in DC are going solar by the end of next year, and all the federal, state, and local buildings in the country are going solar by the year after that. I want that to include city hall, schools, police stations, fire stations.... all the way down to the dog catcher.

It doesn't even have to be solar. Small-scale wind and geothermal would also work well.

The second thing he could do is mandate an all-electric fleet (with possible exceptions for agencies such as the forest service, the park service, and the BLM) with a charging station behind every government building.

These things wouldn't fix the country's energy problems by a longshot, but it would sure as hell help to avoid the appearance of hypocrisy with the government telling people to do things that they themselves are not willing to do.

Finally, he can take all the scrilla that we've been throwing at fossil fuels and throw it at renewable energy and nuclear. I know renewables are hella spendy, but there's no amount of money that isn't worth avoiding another disaster of this magnitude.

[Fumesucker]

19. Outlaw cars for people who are not wealthy?

That's basically what outlawing gasoline and diesel engines in 10-15 years will do.

For most practical purposes there are *no* electric cars on the roads of America today, there are plenty of people who can only afford to drive a 10 year old car or even older. My only transportation at the moment is a thirty (30) year old motorcycle that runs on.. gasoline, my insurance is $100 a year and I get about 60 mpg, any more than that and I'll be back to staying home all the time again that was driving me out of my mind.

I really wish people would think through what they say before they come out with statements that are so unbelievably elitist.

[Warpy]

21. BP into temporary receivership, top execs out without their golden parachutes

and the focus now diverting resources to drilling multiple pressure relief wells while plugging the well that now exists.

BP to exit receivership when this crisis is over and when their policies and procedures have been reviewed top to bottom and changed in favor of safety, not profit.

Notice I'm not mentioning cleanup. I don't think cleanup is possible on this scale. I think limiting the damage is the best we can do and putting BP into temporary receivership is the best way to do it.

It would also serve as a warning to other corporations out there that their corrupt management is under notice to clean their own acts up or they'll be gone, too.

[anarch]

24. I honestly can't imagine what Obama or anybody else could say

that would make me feel any better about the gigantic clusterfuck that we've turned this planet into.

[Smashcut]

28. Well first of all I'd like to know why BP has been allowed to abridge the freedom of the press

On a public beach, aided and abetted, either by neglect or actual assistance, by state and federal
officials.

That'd be a good start.

[flyarm]

29. Truth the damn truth and not PR bullshit! and that the government will take their responsibilites

back from BP!

I am damn sick and tired of being told BP is in charge of our beaches , our air , our airspace and FAA, our coast guard, our national guard, our wild life recovery, our scientists, our media reporting truth.. and their phony assed phone lines!

I am damn sick of the cover ups..will the grownups please take charge!!!!!!!!!

We are losing our Gulf..we are losing our wild life..we are losing our marine life..we are losing our Livelyhoods, and our property values and what next ?? we have to lose our lives and the health of our children?????????To save a corporate Oil company????? or to cover the asses of those in congress that allowed this..stop the damn excuses or the blame game..just get the government down here and do what their fucking jobs are..protect the American people and our lands and our lives!


I got this in a email this morn ..
From a Fla environ group..

"A gray, algae-like substance" is washing ashore at Marco Island


Could it be dead algae from spill and toxins?

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php

Florida

A gray, algae-like substance was washing ashore at a Marco Island beach this afternoon. Jeff Kutzke, a battalion with the Marco Island Fire Department, said Nancy Richie, the city’s environmental specialist, has been notified of the event. “We found it during our normal beach patrols and we’ve asked her to take a look at it,” Kutzke said. Kutzke said he was not aware whether any samples had been taken of the odorless material. Patty and Eddie Webb of Marco arrived at South Beach at about 1:30. Eddie Webb said he encountered the material when he entered the water. “It’s some kind of algae because it’s fibrous in nature” Eddie Webb said. As the Webbs lounged on the beach at about 5 p.m., children and adults frolicked in the water, undeterred by the unusual material, which rolled into the shore in sparse patches.



you want to swim in that toxic shit???????? Want your kids or grandkids in it??????

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Thank you to n2doc
for posting this:

Scientists Locate 23-Mile Long Oil Plume Off Florida's Treasure Coast ScienceDaily (June 12, 2010) — A team of dedicated South Florida researchers from the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (NOAA/AOML) were determined to check on whether oil was, as predicted, being pulled into the Loop Current and carried toward the Dry Tortugas.

The University of Miami's 96-foot catamaran the RV/F.G. Walton Smith had just completed a two-week National Science Foundation (NSF) sponsored cruise sampling the deep submerged plumes near the Deepwater Horizon well site. NOAA/AOML offered to pay for a few additional days, but the ship which is part of the University National Laboratory System, had to return to Miami on its tight schedule. The best they could do was extend the trip home by 18 hours.

Using funding provided through CIMAS, a team was rapidly assembled that included UM and CIMAS oceanographers Tom Lee and Nelson Melo, as well as a group of scientists led by Michelle Wood, director of the NOAA/AOML's Ocean Chemistry Division. A sampling plan was pulled together using particle trajectories calculated by the UM Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science's Coastal Shelf Modeling Group, in combination with information provided by Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecast Service (ROFFS) and remotely sensed images from UM's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (CSTARS). Using these sophisticated tools, the team decided that the most likely pathway for oil to reach the Florida Keys was for it to be pulled into a counterclockwise rotating frontal eddy in the northeast corner of the Loop Current, and then south along the eastern frontal zone of the Loop Current to the Dry Tortugas.

They set out, borrowing surveying equipment from NSF scientists who were leaving the ship, including geological oceanographer Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi and Samantha Joye from the University of Georgia. As they traveled into the eddy field they saw areas of sheen, but no tar balls.

hanging course to the south, however they found an area of strong flow convergence within a southward flowing jet that resulted from flow being pulled into the eddy. Knowing that this was just the type of oceanographic feature that would concentrate any floating material, including oil, they followed it. At about the same time a U.S. Coast Guard flight that had been sent to visually survey the area spotted what they thought could be an oil slick in the area and contacted the scientists aboard the Walton Smith to have the ship get a closer look at the slick.

more

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/1006140926 ...

and if you think I am mad..you are damn right I am mad!

I guess I am not supposed to give a shit kids will be swiming in this toxic soup..after all the Pres said come on down and spend your money and enjoy our beaches...well it won't be my kids or grandkids swimming in it..that is for damn sure! And my back yard is the Gulf Of Mexico!

RFK, Jr. Discusses Health Effects of Oil Spill


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x475209

I thank L. Coyote for posting this

[jtrockville]

30. I want to hear him say: "COAL IS FILTHY".

It's the biggest reason I didn't sign the petition he just sent out. No mention of coal. Does he still think coal can be clean?

It will probably take the folks in Tenessee a decade to clean up after the biggest coal ash spill in our nation's history.

[Coyote_Bandit]

33. I prefer

to judge the administration by their action or lack thereof. I don't care what is said. I care about what they do.

[blindpig]

34. Expropriate without compensation.

No pony for me.

[lib2DaBone]

35. That he is starting a massive public works job program...

That he is outlawing all credit default swaps and that he is imposing a 1% trading tax on Wall Street to help pay for health care. That he is raising Social Secutiy payments by 20% for all Seniors.

Above all.. that he is bringing our troops home and closing more than half of our 185 military outposts around the world.

[frustrated_lefty]

36. Independent regulation of banks, investment, oil and healthcare.

BP in receivership.

Withdrawal from Iraq, a public option, and criminal investigations into Cheney's energy commissions.

Those last are pipe dreams, but you asked.

[harun]

38. I'd like to care, but I don't. He'll give a great speech then his people

will tell BP how much they worship them and want to protect them.

[scarletwoman]

39. I can't think of a single thing that wouldn't be pure fantasy. So, the answer is "nothing."

I already did the wishful thinking thing when I voted for him, I've learned my lesson.

sw

[meow mix]

40. ill go with this one

lolz would be nice