Posts Made By: Tom Rodstrom

12-Year-Old May Hold Key to Solar Energy

Solar technology is improving all the time, but one 12-year-old boy may have the key to making solar panels that can harness 500 times the light of a traditional solar cell.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2330778,00.asp

ON EDIT: There was a problem with the original Yahoo link.

Thanks for the memories George ...

The memories of the $5,700,000,000,000 you have squandered in the last 8 years. The national debt was $5.6 trillion when you took office. Now the national debt limit has been raised to $11.3 trillion to cover the $700 billion cost of bailing out your trickle down economy. You have more than doubled the national debt. It seems that all that trickles down is taxpayer debt.

Let's see, $5.7 trillion, that's $41,304 for each one of us 138 million taxpayers. I don't recall getting a $5,163 yearly break in my taxes. For each family of four, the debt grew by $73,442 or about $765 for each month you have been in office. I know that $765 a month is chicken feed for you, you oilman buddies, and the man you hope replaces you, but for most of the families I know it would make a big difference.

Once again George, thanks for the memories.

... I wonder how many memories it takes to get a cup of Starbucks?

This interview of Kevin Phillips is a real eye opener. It is a non-partisan look at the economy and the politics behind it. It blasts all of Washington and the Presidents past and present, John McCain and Barak Obama.

BILL MOYERS: If you read only one book on the route to this financial meltdown, I recommend this one: BAD MONEY: RECKLESS FINANCE, FAILED POLITICS, AND THE GLOBAL CRISIS OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM. The author, Kevin Phillips, has a history of being way ahead of the curve. As a young man working for Richard Nixon, he wrote THE EMERGING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY, a book that uncannily predicted how the GOP would regain power in Washington. Kevin Phillips saw our current crisis coming a long time ago. And in one book of historical insight after another, laid out the clues he was tracking. As recently as last spring in the AMERICAN PROSPECT magazine, Phillips wrote that what he thought was about to happen would be "unusual and potentially tragic."

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09192008/watch2.html

Methane is a poisonous gas and can be a WMD. With the laws we have now, this guy could be in real trouble. 8O

Man charged after allegedly passing gas toward cop
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080925/ap_on_fe_st/odd_flatulence_charge;_ylt=Arv4f2Ni1rufjoE7XwOA.p4DW7oF

I was thinking about this early this morning and it came out in another thread, but it is an interesting question.

Where was our military expert, MCCain, when our troops were first sent into Iraq without adequate planning, training, strength and logistical support?

I think the answer is that he was waiting for Iraqi's to throw Rose petals at the feet of our victorious troops instead of IED's and Roses on their graves.

I have found a cached page which was originally on the official Barack Obama web site. The original page has been removed.

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:TUpxIVFgS_cJ:my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/HopeTacos/gG59KJ

It is a personal page of a Barack Obama grassroots supporter, not a page generated "from the top". It appears that a music teacher who supports Barack Obama wanted to do something to help and decided that having her students sing in support of the Obama campaign would be a good idea. Others helped with cameras and editing. It does not appear that this was an idea that came from the top. It also looks like the video came from Venice, CA and if I recall correctly, those people listen to a "different drummer".

Lockeed & Halliburton can rejoice because the cold war arms race is back.

Russia modernizes missiles in response to US plans
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_missiles

I'm in my 60's and I talked to my mother yesterday about Obama. We both realized that we never thought we would see a Black President in our lifetime and further that we would like it. Times have certainly changed.

With Barack Obama and Joe Biden I think that the White House in being controlled by good, decent people for the first time in 20 years. I sincerely hope that they can wrest control of Washington from the vested interests that have made a science of screwing the average American.

Finally, in the tears running from Jesse Jackson's eyes to the hope in the eyes of the Black Americans and in the faces the young Americans I realized that the message of hope was for me too. The hope to strengthen the better side of me and the rest of America.

I am really tired of the cynical view of Washington that I have held for so many years.

Thank you, Jim. I'm sure that I am not alone when I say I hope that you are a strong contributor to this next election cycle.

Wishing you a speedy recovery.
Tom

Welcome back, Jim, good to hear from you. I haven't been posting lately because I've been busy trying to kill a deer. Yes, liberals do that too. For health reasons I was smart enough not to take my Obama sticker to the range when I zeroed my rifle. Some of those good old boys are pretty good shots.

Your analogy of lions and lambs is interesting and there are studies which show that there is a biological difference between liberals and conservatives. I think that some of the Republicans are the lions. They do hunt together and like to prey on defenseless animals, the weaker the better. They will also try to kill other predators which threaten to take some of their spoils. Their success is based on fighting ability. When it comes to dividing the spoils, the strongest get all they want and the weaker get less. In bad times the weak and the young can starve. The lambs are also Republican. They are the average Joe (the plumber) animals who believe that eating the lion's dry grass is good for them when in fact they are only being fattened up so they can be harvested.

Democrats are the animals who learned that fighting ability alone is not the way to the top of the food chain. They nurture their young and try to keep the whole tribe strong. They have learned that knowledge and co-operation are the key to the top. In time they learn how to put lions in a cage.

IMO your analysis of the election is mostly accurate. Bush lost the election for McCain and there was little he could do. He was as left as current Republicans get. I do believe that Rev. Wright cost Obama dearly (up to 10%) and that was the only thing that made it close.

Currently the Republican party is the free market, winner take all, rule by force party. The Democrats are the spread the opportunity for all, government for the people, rule by consensus party. I'm not sure that the Republicans can do much without changing their core values. I think that they will have to wait until Democrats overshoot the mark and somehow screw things up.

All the Best
Tom