Kites Are The New Prius

 Are we solving the energy crisis sooner than we predicted? While many have been looking into solar energy, others have been looking at a renewable resource here one Earth: wind. Windmills are no new idea, but kites are a whole other story. MSNBC shares;

“The jet streams are like a river of free, clean, and concentrated energy flowing above us, waiting to be tapped into,” says Cristina Archer, a California State University, Chico, assistant professor of environmental sciences who has written research papers on the topic.

That promise has inspired a throng of entrepreneurs and inventors who are now trying to transform what was once stuff of science fiction into real energy businesses. The goal is the same: build mega-watt systems that can wean the world off fossil fuels and grab a slice of the $63 billion global wind energy market. The U.S. Department of Energy expects that wind will provide 20 percent of the nation’s energy by 2030 – up from just 1.8 percent today.

This is possibly THE solution to what Thomas Friedman referred to as 'Code Green' in his Hot, Flat, and Crowded. This would create revenue, jobs and international market in terms of U.S. participation beyond our dreams. The fact that this could arrive in just a few years sweetens the deal. The U.S. must jump at this chance before other countries catch up.

Murkowski Gets a Boost!

 While Lisa Murkowski has been running anxiously around the state, teaching people how to write her name, the Supreme Court has been helping her. They have made it possible for voters to view a list of legible write-ins, but with a few minor setbacks. Center Daily Times reports;

But the Supreme Court decision allows voters at early voting sites to see the lists if they say they need help and want to be shown a list of write-in candidates. The decision could aid Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in U.S. Senate bid; her campaign had fought to keep the lists at polling places. 

“This stay will ensure that Alaskans can continue to get the assistance they’re entitled to under law,” said campaign manager Kevin Sweeney in a statement. 

The Supreme Court did say the lists must not disclose the party affiliation of the write-in candidates. And the ballots of those voters who ask for the list must be segregated from the ballots of other voters, pending any additional appeals.

 Will this help the underdog favorite? This is yet to be seen. Although this new service may not be the most user friendly, hopefully voters and Murkowski supporters step up to the plate and do their part.

Murkowski Gives Miller the Old 'One, Two'

Not surprisingly, candidate for Alaskan Senate, Lisa Murkowski, has handed Palin's favorite, Joe Miller, more than he can handle. While the befudlingly beloved ex VP candidate has mad a choice not unlike many of her other choices, unwise and rash, for some reason people have been picking up steam behind her as they usually do, to the demise of the rest of us 'non-Tea Party elitists'. Joe Miller, seemingly unqualified with a muddied past, was recently winner of the Alaskan Primary. Thankfully, opposition Murkowski has decided to go around the state teaching people how to write her in. While she is not yet winning, her ratings are quickly rising. As is seen in this video provided by MSNBC , she appears better versed and practiced than Joe Miller.

Toyota Bites the Dust Again

 Toyota- the world's leading symbol of car safety features and automotive environmental conservation. Not anymore. In what seemed to be Toyota's slow but steady rise back to its seat of power, the currently scrutinized company is taking another one on the chin and hard. After last years accelerator mayhem, the Japanese company swore to the world that it would prove itself once again despite the 'hiccup', but now, their rise back is becoming unrealistic.
 Since the beginning of this year, they have quietly been experiencing mistakes time and time again until now; they are recalling 1.5 million vehicles from around the globe. MSNBC shares;

Toyota's seemingly endless series of recalls began in October 2009, when it announced it would take steps to resolve a problem with so-called sudden acceleration in its vehicles. 

That recall, blamed on loose floor mats that could jam the throttle on a variety of Toyota products, was followed by another, in January 2010, resulting from a potentially sticky accelerator assembly. 

But Toyota has also had to recall millions of other vehicles ranging from the 2010 Prius (which has had issues with potentially defective brakes) to some of the carmaker’s pickup and minivan models, which have experienced excessive corrosion severe enough to cause spare tires and other parts to fall off while driving. 

Joe Phillippi, chief analyst with AutoTrends Consulting, and others caution it will be difficult, if not impossible, for Toyota to ever fully regain its once-lofty perch as a bastion of automobile safety. And other makers are clearly taking advantage of that challenge.

 While ordinarily the ups and downs of a vehicle company would affect nothing much beyond itself, the problem is much more serious in this case. Toyota is still the world's leading mass producer of environmentally friendly cars. A cultural dislike towards Toyota and its leading green product, the Prius, could lead to major back tracking in huge environmental steps. The world cannot afford for a 'motor-driven' country like America to regress to the days of Humvees.

Mental Health Break: Winnipeg's Face Kicking Budget

The Next Palin? Or Worse?

In this era of reality TV potentials running for offices, we have yet another unlikely candidate in it for the win. Need I say Christine O'Donnell? Proclaimed by many as the 'Palin Mini Me', it appears that the situation is much worse than current popular consensus. The Atlantic reports:

Sarah Palin was wounded by Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson in their 2008 interviews because she seemed at some level aware of what she didn't know. She was obviously uncomfortable with Couric's "What newspapers, specifically, do you read?" question because she sensed that the topic held perils. 

O'Donnell on the other hand, comes across as a perfect, unflappable product of the talk-show culture. Sarah Palin knows that she is bad under open questioning -- so she avoids it, speaks only to selected audiences, is interviewed only by Fox. If she were to run for president this would make her brittle for the unavoidable main campaign. Christine O'Donnell shows that the other path can create a better, unshakably on-message product for this era.  

Not only is this woman Sarah Palin Jr. in many respects, she has perfected one of Palin's many flaws; O'Donnell is a natural on TV. So much so, she might have enough bearing to actually win. This frightful concept shows too many implications of where our media inflicted society is taking our politics. Could this win be the revenge of Sarah Palin's loss?

No Miracle in Chile? I Dare Say!

Apparently, not everyone believes in miracles. After the incredible moment of the last Chilean miner being pulled out of the mine, it is difficult to comprehend that anyone would be so blind as to not see the epicness of this entire trial. While not to go as far as not at least feeling joy and empathy for these miners, the Chicago Sun Times blogger, Robert Ebert opposes the miracle in this situation. Robert Ebert writes:

I'm not a miracle. And neither are the Chilean miners. We are all alive today for perfectly rational reasons. Yet there is a common compulsion to describe unlikely outcomes as miraculous -- if they are happy, of course. If sad, they are simply reported on, or among the believing described as "the will of God." Some disasters are so horrible they don't qualify as the will of God, but as the work of Satan playing for the other team.

 Like so many of us, I watched with joy as the miners emerged from their tomb, one after another. In a year of sadness, it was a blessed moment. One can sympathize with those who called it a miracle, but actually it was the result of perfectly understandable engineering techniques. The construction of the mine itself, so deep in the earth, was a much more impressive feat, but no one thought to describe that as a miracle.

While we are all entitled to our own opinions, is it really not a miracle that 33 men survived 17 days on 48 hours worth of  rations with no contact to the outside world so many of us take for granted? Or that their camaraderie, careful planning and cheerful outlook from 69 days trapped underground in that 'impressive feat' of a mine was not a miracle? The fact that no one came up significantly mentally or physically harmed after two months of bare provisions is not a miracle within itself? It may not be my place, but given the chance, I would ask Mr.Ebert to re-evaluate.

DADT Repeal Held Off

The Don't Ask Don't Tell policy has been in a limbo of severe dissaproval and support in these last few months. Countless civilians and soldiers have been pushing for its repeal, and just as it was coming close to a decision, it looks like it may be held off for a while longer. While Obama has also been pushing to repeal DADT, he does not have the rights to and is now holding off the final decision of the judges to put his position in a more favorable view. Politico informs:

The Obama Administration filed an appeal Thursday in a bid to halt a judge’s order striking down the Pentagon’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting gays from openly serving in the military – escalating a politically awkward fight that has the Justice Department battling to preserve a policy that President Barack Obama wants to dismantle.

Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips for an emergency stay of her order voiding the 17-year-old policy. The government also filed a formal appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, seeking review of Phillips’ decision which bars the Defense Department from enforcing the policy against any service member, anywhere in the world.

Judge Phillips, the original judge to pass this act, will be in power to repeal, if Obama's plans pan out. If not, the DADT will be repealed sooner or later, but sooner is preferable to the majority in this case. If the judge does not recognize this as a violatons of the first amendment, who knows what will break out?

Rewards After Disaster

The day of October 13, 2010, the last of 33 miners was finally pulled up from an underground entrapment in a Chilean mine. After being contained for 69 days, the miners were met with a global appreciation and welcome. Rewards and gifts are coming from far and wide. The New York Times informs:

SAN JOSÉ MINE, Chile — The lucky ones now have more than $10,000 in the bank and a free vacation in Greece awaiting them. But for the moment, many of the family members of the 33 miners trapped under the hard volcanic rock here for more than two months seemed content to remain at Camp Hope on Thursday, tending to their tents and sweeping away the desert dust from their makeshift dining tables.

The miners are also said to have offers for  a week long vacation in Greece, autographed soccer jerseys from Manchester United and Real Madrid, visitation offers from the New York City marathon, gifts of iPod touches and Oakley glasses and many more to come. The miracle of this story is truly heart warming. The global outreach they are receiving is deserved and hopefully they will heal from this experience unharmed.

Mental Health Break

In this pressing time and state of confusion, political parties are looking left and right (and center) for support on their issues. The Republicans seem to have found one such supporter: leukemia. In their battle against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republicans find that they and leukemia share a common disposition to fair treatment and medication for all. The Onion reports:

WASHINGTON—Citing a mutually shared vision of health care in America, congressional Republicans and the deadly bone-marrow cancer leukemia announced a joint effort Wednesday to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the historic new bill that extends health benefits to 32 million Americans nationwide.

"Republicans have no greater ally in this fight than leukemia," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who was flanked by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), and the abnormal increase in white blood cells. "Denying insurance to Americans with preexisting conditions and ensuring that low-income Americans stand no chance of receiving quality health care are just a few of the core beliefs that the GOP and leukemia share."

Hopefully leukemia will help them overturn this act. It will definitely help gain support for this righteous cause. Good luck Republicans. *This article is a joke, no offense intended to anyone.

Political Me

The Quiz

The following are my scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative

Conservative/Progressive score: 9
You are a social progressive. You generally consider yourself a humanist first. You probably think that religion and patriotism go too far in society. You probably consider yourself to be a citizen of Earth first rather than a citizen of your country.

Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 12
You're a Social Capitalist, you think that, left to its own, Capitalism leaves a lot of people behind. You think that Health Care should be free to all, that the minimum wage should be raised, and that the government should provide jobs to all that are capable of having them. You likely hated the Bush tax cuts, and believe that the middle class has gotten poorer, and the rich have gotten richer over the past several years. The far extreme of social capitalism is socialism.

Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 6
You're a Moderate. You think that we all have certain inalienable rights that must be protected, but that sometimes laws need to be made to protect the majority's lives or quality of lives. You might think that the 2nd amendment isn't necessary anymore because letting everyone a gun is extremely dangerous to the community. You might also be against illegal drug use or public pornography because of its possible harmful effects to society.

Pacifist/Militarist score: 3
You're a Pacifist. You are angered that the United States thinks it should dominate the world through its military force. You think that the only time war is necessary is when we are in direct danger of being attacked. You also believe the US spends way too much of its money on defense, as we can practically cut it in half and still easily defend ourselves, and use that money to fix all our economic problems.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Hardcore Democrat