I guess I better offer my definition of support. I will support, or not support, whatever initiatives he brings forward based on my opinion of what is best for the country. I will question and debate those initiatives freely with anyone who cares to engage. I will continue to invest more of my time into educating myself on the facts before reaching a decision. I will criticize him when I consider it appropriate, but when I do so, it will be without malice, it will be performing what I see as my duty as a citizen. As I said in my last post, this bear has been awakened and will not go back into hibernation.

Here goes with my first criticism. Having campaigned on change, implying that he was an outsider and would lead on a bipartisan basis, I find his early appointments disturbing. Two of his first appointments, Rahm Emanuel and John Podesta are both strongly partisan Washington insiders. From a man who claimed to want to heal the divide in our nation, these choices run up major red flags for me. The divide in our nation is huge, and does need to be healed, but highly partisan staff selections, aka politics as usual, is not going to do it. Obama has already made history as the first black President. Only time will tell if that is the most significant historical aspect of his Presidency, or if it becomes more of a footnote, overpowered by the positive change he can produce.

The issue that shocked me fully awake, our nearly doubled dependence on imported oil since the first oil crisis, proved to me that the problem came not only from ‘the other side’, but that even ‘my side’, were every bit as much to blame. The economic meltdown that has happened since is exactly the same, both sides have played their parts in allowing this crisis to occur. The voters assigned much of the blame to the republicans, every bit of which was richly deserved. They did not, however, assign the democrats the substantial share they deserve. That this fact almost certainly changed the outcome of the election may be good or bad, only time will tell for sure.

What worries me most is that Politics as Usual was once again successful. We have apparently bought the hype, the billions spent on spin machines has once again kept our eyes on false issues, partial truths, the product of our electoral process. We the people do indeed have the power to end Politics as Usual, by demanding honesty, integrity, and accountability of our elected officials.
If the response I have had on this blog is any indication, obviously that is not going to happen. It was 4 months ago today since the last comment was posted on this blog, and that one was by me. As my mother used to say, “so be it.”

Do you detect a touch of bitterness in some of my words? I have tried to keep it out, but do confess to feeling more than a touch of bitterness. Let me be very clear, it comes not from the result of the election, but from the manner in which it occurred. I care very little which decisions and courses of action are selected, but care very much about the reliability of the information upon which those decisions are made.

More of my ramblings will be coming, I guess. They do help me clarify my thoughts, and at least give me the satisfaction of being able to say that I tried. Our corrupt and greedy establishment has managed to awaken me from my hibernation with such fervor that I will never be able to return to that blissful state.

Obama? McCain? A week ago, I would have said that it looked like Obama would win the election for President, and though that is still the likely result, that contest has tightened significantly. Regardless, the race for President will not be decided until all the votes are counted.

As important as the election is to the future of our country, it pales in comparison to the larger battle which has been raging, and who’s winner has indeed been determined. That bigger battle is honesty and integrity versus Politics as Usual. Our current crisis, the most serious since the depression, posed a risk to the establishment that we the people would wake up. We the people are indeed the sleeping bear that philosophers have warned against awakening.

As the financial markets were crashing the leadership of the most unpopular administration in a great many years boldly proclaimed that they needed immediate Congressional approval for $700 billion tax dollars to be spent to save the economy. After failing to pass on its’ first trip through Congress, our leaders on both sides solemnly retreated to thrash out an agreement, emerging a few days later and passing the biggest bailout in the history of the country.

It did have a few more strings attached, which is good, but it also had some more plumbs attached, about $100 billion or so more tax dollars to entice those who initially opposed the bill to support it. With the bill passed, bipartisan efforts appeared to cease as both sides cranked their awesome spin machines up to wide open to get the blame to land on the other side. Politics as Usual, except that now both sides were essentially in panic mode. Heaven forbid that the mess they created got so big, hurt so many so badly that they accidentally awoke the sleeping bear, We the People.

What have we seen since then? We have seen Democrats blaming Republicans, Republicans blaming Democrats, everyone blaming Wall Street speculators and corporate executives. The most sophisticated spin machines ever created using every trick in the book to get us to vote for one side or the other: quotes out of context, misinformation, smears, personal attacks, denials, outright lies, elevating negative campaigning to new heights. The mass of pure BS so has been huge that it is impossible for us to sort through seeking the truth. In reality, both sides know they bear responsibility for a major portion of the blame, but that is the beauty of Politics as Usual. Both sides can use their attacks on the sins of the other side to obscure their own faults.

Who is the big winner of this election season? (drum roll) Politics as Usual. The sleeping bear awoke, but Politics as Usual was able obscure the bits of truth coming out with so much pure BS that the bear was overwhelmed. The problem was too confusing, The slimy concoction spewing from the spin machines was too slippery for the bear to be able to find the truth. Once it realized that at least a part of what its’ side was accusing the other side of was true, it was easy excuse the accusations the other side was shooting back. The mass of spin once again convinced the bear that it was powerless to even find the truth, much less find the best answer. An unhappy bear to be sure, and one still capable of taking a nasty swipe with its’ claws, but a bear once again buying the essence of the spin from one side or the other. Politics as Usual is once again victorious.

Who is truly to blame for the mess we are in? The President? Congress? Either or both candidates? Wall Street? Corportate America? The Media? Democrats? Republicans? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that all of the above absolutely deserve a portion of the blame. The greed and corruption which created this mess have indeed been rampant in all of the above. Who’s job is it to keep them in check? That is where the blame truly rests.

Who is the guilty party? I am. That’s right: me. I allowed myself to be lulled back to sleep after being awakened by the first oil crisis. Sure, I took a few swipes with my claws. I did my part, I even bought what was then one of the most green cars on the market: a shiny new 1977 Honda Accord,40 MPG, and the only car able to meet California emission standards without using a catalytic converter. Soothed by the comfort of knowing I had done my part and that my side was talking a good show for progress on energy, I could focus my efforts on my own life and let our leaders take care of the problems. Politics as Usual won that round with me.

It was not the economic meltdown that awoke me this time; it was one of the contributing factors that finally got me fully awake, alert, and angry. The news that our oil imports had gone from 35% at the time of our first oil crisis to more than 60% shocked me awake. Proving for myself that this statistic was indeed true opened my eyes further. What I have seen since, as the situation has gone from bad to far far worse has angered and disgusted me. All I have seen is Politics as Usual.

Obama, McCain, business leaders, media, I give you fair warning. Politics as Usual will NOT lull this bear back to sleep this time. I am sick and tired of having to sort through a 50 pound bag of garbage just to find 1 pound of truth. I trust none of you, I will accept nothing that any of you say unless properly supported facts I can verify. I don’t care which side wins, both sides have some good ideas and some bad. Whichever side wins, let me remind you that I am your boss, I demand honesty and integrity, and real solutions to the real problems our great nation faces. When the election is over, this bear will not hibernate. This bear will do what I can do to awaken my fellow bears, also known as We the People, your employers.

My previous emails to both campaigns have gotten me onto the email list from Obama’s campaign, I have been getting at least one email a day (yes, of course I have saved them, and if there is interest, I would be willing to try to assemble them into some sort of zip file).

Here is a direct quote of the email I received this morning when I did checked my email:

Rick –

Even Karl Rove had to admit yesterday that the McCain campaign’s lies and negative attacks have gone “too far.”

John McCain is running the most negative and dishonest campaign in modern presidential history. He has demonstrated that he’d rather lose his integrity than lose this election.

It’s right out of the Bush-Rove playbook. Unfortunately, as Karl Rove knows better than anyone, these shameful tactics have worked in the past.

This year, we can’t let that happen.

Our goal is to bring 50,000 new donors into our movement by Friday at midnight.

And if you make your first online donation today, your gift will go twice as far. A previous donor has promised to match every dollar you donate.

Double your impact right now. Your matched donation of $5 will become $10 if you donate today.

The culture of corruption and dishonesty that has hurt America so badly the last eight years is playing an even larger role in McCain’s campaign.

Just this past week, John McCain hired a Washington super-lobbyist to fill positions in a potential McCain-Palin White House. At least 177 lobbyists have been on McCain’s campaign staff, and apparently he hopes to run the White House the same way.

Also this week, the McCain campaign continued to repeat a number of outrageous lies, even after watchdogs in the media called them “shamelessly misleading,” “thoroughly dishonest,” and “a toxic mix of lies and double-speak.”

They also lied about the crowd size at one of their rallies — reporting 23,000 attendees when there were only 8,000.

McCain’s campaign — run on lobbyists and lies — is no match for this unprecedented grassroots movement. More than 2,500,000 people have stepped up to own a piece of this campaign.

But if we want change, we must continue to grow this movement and put an end to these dishonorable political tactics. And we have just 50 days left to do it.

Right now, a previous donor — an ordinary person just like you — has promised to match your donation if you step up today.

Double your impact to combat McCain’s dishonest campaign tactics — make a matched donation of $5 or more today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/match

Thanks for all you do,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

That hypocritical blantant distortion of truth was too much for me, and I have sent the following reply back to his campaign.

I have just received David Plouffe’s email regarding Karl Rove’s comments on negative campaigning going to far by the McCain campaign. Though I agree completely with Mr. Rove’s comments, which were also echoed by Rudy Guiliani, you have omitted one detail from your message. That one detail is that those comments were directed equally at YOUR campaign and McCain’s. Shame on your for this hypocritical distortion and misrepresentation in your campaign emails. You obviously do not get the point, and worse, this proves just how willing you are to distort and misrepresent the facts to suit your needs. How stupid do you think we voters are?

Though I have never been an Obama supporter, I have been listening, particularly on energy, with an open mind, and trying to decide who I will honor with my vote. The Audacity of Hope? How about the audacity to claim change when your ethics and methods are nothing but politics as usual, exactly what has driven congressional approval ratings to their lowest levels ever.

Please remove me from your mailing lists.

I had really hoped to be able to avoid one sided comments on this blog, instead focusing on the extremely important energy issues, however Obama’s email, in my opinion, crossed the line. Though I stand by my earlier comments that I will vote for whomever can convince me they have the best plan for attacking oil imports.   I cannot imagine a situation now where I would be able to believe much of anything I hear from the Obama campaign, especially on something as critical as energy and oil imports.

Rick

Got to quote Colonel Potter again “HORSEHOCKEY!”  Let’s get our eye back on the energy ball and really try to deal with the problems.

]]> http://uncrossingthewires.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/bs-on-the-risks-of-nuclear-power/feed/ 1 Rick http://uncrossingthewires.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/interesting-article/ http://uncrossingthewires.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/interesting-article/#comments Sat, 16 Aug 2008 07:56:37 +0000 rixkix http://uncrossingthewires.wordpress.com/?p=35 Continue reading →]]> I just read a very interesting article on the Fox News Forum by James Pinkerton.  The gist of the article is that whomever is elected as the 44th President brings Arnold Schwarzenegger aboard as the newly created position of Energy and Environment Czar.

Rick

Rix

Note:  I did not get this directly from Politico but rather from an article here on Fox News which included the Politico quote.

As I get time, I will do more digging on this for more of the details.  I am concerned about the costs to modify our vehicles to accomodate natural gas, grid cost of the electricity produced, and who knows what else as I find the details.  And and all are encouraged to send me links to any further info on this and join the evaluation team.  I am going to be trying to approach this the same way I approached evaluating sophisticated, high dollar proposals throughout my career, objectively, and as thoroughly as details and data permit.  I would welcome any assistance on the project, it would allow the results to be available sooner.

Here is a link to the story I read.

It’s getting sleepy on my side of the planet, good night all.

I am asking both candidates to respond to the following question. If you are elected, and re-elected, at the time you leave office after 8 years, please give me your best estimate of the following statistics:

Percentage of our oil we are importing (1973 = 35%, 2008 = 60%+)

Percentage of our energy derived from renewable sources (1973 8.4%, 2007 7% (year end, latest figures I have found, so far))

Price we will have to pay to put one gallon of gas in our car (we all know how ugly that number is today)

I will decide my vote based on the responses to this request. I can see several possible outcomes:

Neither candidate responds – I will understand that politics as normal is the rule of the day. I will also conclude that neither candidate has a solid grasp on the significance of our energy crisis, and has no solid plan to solve it.

I get a response from one or both campaigns, whether directly, or through listening to the campaign hype. Any candidate able to communicate an response, no matter what their vehicle, will get one “Atta Candidate”,¹ or AC for short. added to their account.

I will be listening to all of the hype, and once that first AC is earned, further ACs may be earned your ability to convince me that you know what you are talking about, and/or, that you are indeed committed to eliminating our oil imports as fast as reasonably possible.

My vote will go to whomever has the most ACs when I cast my vote.

A word of warning, however, don’t be setting off my Energy BS Detector. I have some experience in the energy industry, worked in it for more than 30 years. Not only in the industry, my specialty was Procurement. I have been trained in BS detection by some of the best around, including some senior level staff from Bechtel. My experience, combined with the wealth of statistical information published by the Department of Energy, give me a pretty well developed ability to spot weaknesses, and of course, outright mis-statements of fact. An outright lie will automatically trigger a Full BS Alert (FBSA), which resets the AC score to negative 5. I may also issue lesser BS1s, BS2s, or BS3s, (each reducing your score of ACs by that number) for lesser instances, at my sole discretion.

Considering the profound role Energy plays in our current crises, I have decided to focus my efforts on this arena. I will apply your net AC/BS score to all of the issues, and vote based on that score. If you’re BS’ing me on Energy, I will assume you are BS’ing me everywhere. Accumulating ACs on Energy subject, an area I understand, also increases your credibility on the rest of the issues, where matters are not so simple to define. Convince me you have the best plan, and the commitment to stay with it, I will trust you with it all.

Good luck on the campaign, I know it will be entertaining. With my BS Detector by my side, I will be able to appreciate the entertainment value far more this time. And, I believe, better meet my responsibility to the United States of America by casting the most carefully and accurately considered vote of my life. This is as it should be. The issues our vote will decide this time are at least as important as any in my 41 years of being able to vote, perhaps, as I personally believe, even more so. I owe this much to my country, along with an apology for taking so long to figure it out.

1. “Atta Candidate” or “AC” comes from the old fashioned American slang term of “Atta Boy” but modified for political correctness.

Rick Olson

US Citizen retired and living in Thailand

The 1973 oil crisis began on October 17, 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC, consisting of the Arab members of OPEC plus Egypt and Syria) announced, as a result of the ongoing Yom Kippur War, that they would no longer ship oil to nations that had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt (the United States, its allies in Western Europe, and Japan).

There is also a fascinating chart right beneath that opening statement of the article, showing the price history of oil from 1861 through 2007.  Wow, the spike now is almost as big as the spike of 1973 and 1979 combined.  The price of oil did not pass $40 per barrel until sometime after 2001, I can’t tell exactly from the chart.  Even when historical prices are adjusted for inflation into 2007 dollars, we only crossed $40 one time, at the end of the run up from the 1979 crisis.  Today it is $140 plus.  The cost of crude has more than trippled in less than 7 years.  Mind boggling.

I have not yet read it all, but also looks a very good source of accurate facts to help explain how we got here from where we were in 1973.  Be careful if you read it, the data does tend to lead you to some rather disturbing conclusions.  Have a look, the link is above.

I will write a separate piece on the not so good information later, but don’t want to let this much to wait.  The other issue is one source that is giving data in a very confusing way.  Whether deliberate or accidental, it sure does present golden opportunities to distort the data.  I need to do some more homework on that one.

Misinformation, hype, emotional arguments are all on the agenda for an article on how much they are hurting us in trying to solve the energy issues, so I will wait till I have that one finished and use it there, it will be a good example.

I have added the Required Reading tag to this article.

Rix