Solar Economics

Fox: The President visited DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy center, billed as the largest solar photovoltaic center in the country. The company's 90,500 solar panels are able to generate about 42,000 megawatt hours each year, but the project cost $150 million to build and only provides power to 3000 homes, prompting critics to say the administration doesn't have an overall energy strategy.

In remarks after a tour of the plant, the President blasted his opponents on energy reform, saying, "The closer we get to this new energy future, the harder the opposition's going to fight. The more we're going to hear from special interests and lobbyists in Washington whose interests are contrary to the interests of the American people, " Obama said.

Normally people pay about $0.15 /kW-hr on their bill. The company would have to charge customers at least $0.80 /kW-hr for this plant in order not to go under.

People want to think solar and wind are free because there is no fuel, but the capital costs are so high and you don't have much control over when you can use it.

You also have yearly maintenance costs, plus just the cost of financing the $150 million, which will be at least $10 million /yr.

Politicians live in dreamland and want people to think that it is free.

Example on How the Media Pushes Healthcare

Here's how the liberal media promotes Obamacare. Here's a story of how a 39 year old lost his job, his wife has cancer, and is joining the Army for the health benefits, but will now be forced to be seperate from his family.

The message is that if there was national healthcare, he wouldn't have to do this. You don't want to seperate a man from his wife with cancer, do you? So you should go support national healthcare so something like this doesn't happen.

For this one story, there are many others which can be sited which demonstrates the fallacies of

Is the story heartbreaking? Absolutely! But the media is showcasing this one story, at the expense of others. It's not just what the media prints, it is what is doesn't print. How many times have the printed a story about someone being denied care in the UK?

Bible Translation History 101 for N.C. Pastor

A pastor in a small Southern town plans to burn and Bible or religious material that isn't the King James Version.

What makes the King James Version so special? Does it sound fancy and official because it's in old English?

It borrowed heavily from the previously published Douay-Rheims Bible. This English language Bible was translated from the Latin Vulgate Bible. The Latin Vulgate was itself a translation by St. Jerome in the 4th century. When the Bible Canon was being originally formed, Jerome was tasked by Pope St. Damasus with translating the scriptures from Greek and Aramaic into the one language that was being commonly spoken at the time, Latin.

In the centuries between the Old and New Testatment, Hebrew became a dead language and the Hebrew bible was translated into Aramaic by Palentians Jews. Greek Jews also translated the Bible between 250-100 B.C. Called the Septuagint, the Greek Orthodox Church still uses this version today in some of its liturgy.

While versions of the Bible have been created over the centuries which either unintentionally or intentionally distorted a truer translation, most of these have already been purged.

CANTON, N.C. (October 13, 2009)—The Amazing Grace Baptist Church in Canton, N.C. will celebrate Halloween by burning Bibles that aren’t the King James Version, as well as music and books and anything else Pastor Marc Grizzard says is a satanic influence.

Among the authors whose books Grizzard plans to burn are well known ministers Rick Warren and Billy Graham because he says they have occasionally used Bibles other than the King James Version, which is the sole biblical source he considers infallible.

According to the church’s Web site, members will also burn “Satan's music such as country, rap, rock, pop, heavy metal, western, soft and easy, southern gospel, contemporary Christian, jazz, soul (and) oldies.

“We will also be burning Satan's popular books written by heretics like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, John McArthur, James Dobson, Charles Swindoll, John Piper, Chuck Colson, Tony Evans, Oral Roberts, Jimmy Swagart, Mark Driskol, Franklin Graham, Bill Bright, Tim Lahaye, Paula White, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, Joyce Myers, Brian McLaren, Robert Schuller, Mother Teresa, The Pope, Rob Bell, Erwin McManus, Donald Miller, Shane Claiborne, Brennan Manning (and) William Young.

The World Reacts to Reckless Spending

Gold hit a record of $1068 today, and other countries are dumping the dollar. The Post puts blame on the Fed, but Congress and Obama share some of the blame. There are two ways to dump dollars on the market. One is via the Fed, but the other is by borrowing and spending.

It was Congress that added $1 trillion to the debt with the "stimulus" plan, and now the Obama administration is seeking to add trillions more in debt with his largely unfunded government healthcare program.

This all leads leading to fears that the government will monetize the debt.

So what happens next?
NY Post - Ben Bernanke's dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.

Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen -- not the greenbacks -- a nearly complete reversal of the dollar's onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar's share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent -- compared with two-thirds a decade ago.

Fed boss Ben Bernanke may be forced to raise rates in order to restore faith in the dollar — and help bring the euro and the yen back to earth.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks -- the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.

Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.

After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy -- ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other....

Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.

They grumble that they've loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, but are getting paid back by a currency that's worth 10 percent less in the past three months alone. In a decade, it's down nearly one-third.

The Human Casualty of Political Correctness

What is more important to Obama, Afghan "civilian" casualties or American Marines? Bush was no stranger to impeding the military with strict rules of engagement, but Obama's new rules takes it to a higher level.

This not only hurts morale, but it hurts recruiting. Who wants to go sign up under these conditions?

AP: Then Bernard's only son, 21-year-old Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard — a Marine like his dad — was killed in an insurgent ambush in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, the latest victim of a surge in U.S. combat deaths....

The loss of his son and the furor over the photo have given new resonance to his view that changes must be made in how the war is fought before President Barack Obama sends any more troops to battle the Taliban and al-Qaida....

Bernard's criticism is aimed at new rules of engagement imposed by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the senior American commander in Afghanistan, five weeks before Joshua Bernard was killed. They limit the use of airstrikes and require troops to break off combat when civilians are present, even if it means letting the enemy escape. They also call for greater cooperation with the Afghan National Army.

Under those rules, John Bernard said, Marines and soldiers are being denied artillery and air support for fear of killing civilians, and the Taliban is using that to its tactical advantage. In a letter to his congressman and Maine's U.S. senators, Bernard condemned "the insanity of the current situation and the suicidal position this administration has placed these warriors in."

"We've abandoned them in this Catch-22 where we're supposed to defend the population, but we can't defend them because we can't engage the enemy that is supposed to be the problem," he said in an interview with the AP.

The military says the new rules, while riskier in the short run, will ultimately mean fewer casualties.....

Marines are trained to "kill people and break things," not to be police officers and nation-builders, he says.

The Taliban "are tenacious and you have to fight them with the same level of tenacity," Bernard said. "If you're going to try to go over there as a peacekeeper, you're going to get your butt handed to you, and that's what's going on right now."

Bernard also disagrees with U.S. troops working side by side with Afghan soldiers and police. The mission on which his son was killed was compromised by someone who tipped off the Taliban, he says, citing gunfire from all directions that targeted the Marines' helicopter when it landed. Bernard believes the Marines were led into a trap.

Making Nobel Irrelevent

Alfred Nobel's Peace Prize has quickly become irrelevent. The once vaunted prize which highlighted efforts to better the world through peace, has become a sham in which Norwegian committee endorses politics. Eventually, it's irrelevance will become known and few people will tune in to find out who won.

Historically the award not only rewarded the person, but their effort as well. While Mother Theresa was "discovered" by Malcolm Muggeridge, her efforts received a huge boost with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The first slip was awarding it to Stalinist Le Duc Tho in 1973 for the Paris Peace Accords. The Nobel committee was awarding a prize to the aggressor for the pretending to talk about ending the war. Imagine if Hitler came to some peace agreement after conquering Poland, and then being awarded a peace prize. Even Tho declined the award stating there was no actual peace. Of course, peace to him was conquering Vietnam.

When the Nobel committee awarded Yassar Arafat the award in 1994, it resulted to wishful thinking that Arafat had renounced his violent past. When he instigated violence shortly thereafter, the Committee should have renounced his award.

At least the few examples up until 2000 were under the semblance of peace. After 2000 the Prize was used often to endorse political stances. In 2001, Kofi Annan won for opposing Bush. In case you didn't get it, they gave it to vocal Bush critic, Jimmy Carter. The feckless Mohammed ElBaredei won in 2005. All hell broke loose in 2007, when Al Gore won for global warming. Few could say with a straight face that promoting global warming alarmism is akin to peacefully resolving a conflict. Gore had one major advantage: he's not Bush.

So, it should be really no surprise Obama won, for doing only one thing: not being Bush.

From Obama's acceptance speech:

To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize — men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace. [Okay so decline it]

But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. [Really? Which one?]

Afghanistan Needs an Exit Strategy

What happened to the media asking questions about exit strategies? Ever since Obama has been elected, critical questions about the war effort has ceased. Anyone with half a brain could guess the effect of Obama's strict rules of engagement on morale.

9/11 brought us to Afghanistan but it doesn't have to keep us there. We don't have to nation build.

It's high time we get some leadership from Obama on Afghanistan and get a critical media again. Can Obama answer any of these basic questions:

What's our mission?
Why is it important?
What are our objectives?
What are our alternatives?
What does success look like?

The Times (of London), a credible broadsheet, reports on the declining morale:

Times of London - American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban....

“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not....

“We’re lost — that’s how I feel. I’m not exactly sure why we’re here,” said Specialist Raquime Mercer, 20, whose closest friend was shot dead by a renegade Afghan policeman last Friday. “I need a clear-cut purpose if I’m going to get hurt out here or if I’m going to die.”
...
Sergeant Christopher Hughes, 37, from Detroit, has lost six colleagues and survived two roadside bombs. Asked if the mission was worthwhile, he replied: “If I knew exactly what the mission was, probably so, but I don’t.”
...
The men are frustrated by the lack of obvious purpose or progress. “The soldiers’ biggest question is: what can we do to make this war stop. Catch one person? Assault one objective? Soldiers want definite answers, other than to stop the Taleban, because that almost seems impossible. It’s hard to catch someone you can’t see,” said Specialist Mercer....

The soldiers are angry that colleagues are losing their lives while trying to help a population that will not help them. “You give them all the humanitarian assistance that they want and they’re still going to lie to you. They’ll tell you there’s no Taleban anywhere in the area and as soon as you roll away, ten feet from their house, you get shot at again,” said Specialist Eric Petty, from Georgia.

The soldiers complain that rules of engagement designed to minimise civilian casualties mean that they fight with one arm tied behind their backs. “They’re a joke,” said one. “You get shot at but can do nothing about it. You have to see the person with the weapon. It’s not enough to know which house the shooting’s coming from.”...

The soldiers joke that their Isaf arm badges stand not for International Security Assistance Force but “I Suck At Fighting” or “I Support Afghan Farmers”.

To compound matters, soldiers are mainly being killed not in combat but on routine journeys, by roadside bombs planted by an invisible enemy. “That’s very demoralising,” said Captain Masengale....

"You carry on for the guys to your left or right,” added Specialist Mercer.

Media's Health Care Blitz

The media is blitzing to force public opinion on healthcare. They are trying to show that there is momentum for support. They know people in general like bandwagons so they want to demonstrate that the right bandwagon is to be pro-Obamacare. The AP produced a "dramatic" poll showing a uprising of momentum:

WASHINGTON — The fever has broken. The patient is out of intensive care. But if you're President Barack Obama, you can't stop pacing the waiting room. Health care overhaul is still in guarded condition. The latest Associated Press-GfK poll has found that opposition to Obama's health care remake dropped dramatically in just a matter of weeks. Still, Americans remain divided over complex legislation that Democrats are advancing in Congress. The public is split 40-40 on supporting or opposing the health care legislation, the poll found. An even split is welcome news for Democrats, a sharp improvement from September, when 49 percent of Americans said they opposed the congressional proposals and just 34 percent supported them.

So this is the poll that the AP has cited as a game changer.

However another poll question shows that people still don't like Obama's approach:

What the report on the poll doesn't mention that the poll asked more Democrats this time. Compare the percentage of Democrats and supporters:

Not to be outdone, Yahoo wants to show how a "silent majority". Even ignoring the breakdown of the AP's poll respondents, the 40% that support hardly constituets a majority.

Letterman and Power

David Letterman, left wing late night comic, was forced to reveal that he had been shagging the staff for many years due to an extortion plot.

The left wants to give Letterman a pass because it was consentual. (Consent doesn't actually matter, because the same left wing as wants to give Roman Polanski a pass).

In reality, it is an abuse of power. He's created an environmental in which females have to sleep with him to get ahead. One of his girlfriends/staff, Stephanie Birkitt, was frequently on the show as part of sketches. Would she have been there had she not been sleeping with her boss. Can anyone in corporate America imagine the results of a boss constantly promoting female staff that he was schtuping?

So where is the feminist movement on this abuse of paternal power?

Obama, the Empty Suit

Despite passionate personal plea by Obama to get the Olympics Games to Chicago, the IOC quickly voted out Chicago.

Anytime Obama is in an international forum, he's apologizing for America. If America is so bad that not even its President is proud of it, why should the IOC

The European establishment loves Obama, because they know he is a weak empty suit. The weaker America is, the seemingly higher prominence the Europeans have and the more often they can get their way. They like Obama, but they don't respect him.

Times (UK) - Chicago’s dismal showing today, after Mr Obama’s personal, impassioned last-minute pitch, is a stunning humiliation for this President. It cannot be emphasised enough how this will feed the perception that on the world stage he looks good — but carries no heft....

Mr Obama was greeted — as usual — like a rock star by the IOC delegates in Copenhagen — then humiliated by them. Perception is reality. A narrow defeat for Chicago would have been acceptable — but the sheer scale of the defeat was a bombshell, and is a major blow for Mr Obama at a time when questions are being asked about his style of governance.

Most Annoying Political and Pop Words and Phrases

The word "change" - as always being for the better, without defining what is being changed and how it is being changed. Obama did it on the campaign. Many corporate managers have been lecturing employees about the important of undefined change for years. Let's remember that Coke changed to New Coke.

"Going Green" - It's frequently used by companies that wanted to reduce some sort of service, so they try to sell the "environmental benefits"...e.g., a bank wanting you to switch to paperless statements. Before interrupting a conversation, people used to say "Sorry to interrupt, but..." Now they say, "I don't mean to interrupt, but" - and then interrupt. If you don't mean to intterupt and yet you do, you are either a) dumb or b) a liar.

Claiming "the debate on _____ is over" - long before it actually is. This has been frequently used to discuss "global warming" and health care "reform." If you have to say the debate is over, it probably isn't. No one has to say, "the debate over whether the Earth is round is over."

Going viral - because the same 10,000 people watched a video of a kid on novacane watched a video of a cat playing the piano, doesn't mean the video forces indisicriminate and random people to watch it.

When politicans say "I mispoke" instead of "I lied and got caught." Mispeaking is saying "trading" instead of "training". Saying that when your plane landed, you were under sniper fire, and then it is proven that there was no sniper fire, is called lying.

"Scientists say" - Preceeding whatever you say with this phrase is an attempt to end any rebuttal. If you say scientists said it, how can someone disagree with scientists.

"The American People want" - Similarly, speaking on behalf of the American people...

"Working Families" - Which families aren't working again?

"Bipartisan "- if a bill is bipartisan then it must be perfect and never be criticized. You only need to get one Republican (usually Olympia Snowe) to vote for a bill and it instantly because "bipartisan" (and cannot be criticized).

Preceeding a phrase with: "To be honest with you" or "I'm not gonna lie." - So if you don't say that, can I assume you are lying?

"A Teachable Moment" - Barack Obama's favourite phrase. When he's f'd up, it's a lesson for everyone else.

"A post 9/11 world" - It's a little dated now, but it was so annoying that it is worthy of mention.