cirque du bebe

Yes, I’m a little late. Sorry! First, let’s take a look at the different options we have for alternative or renewable energy sources. NOTE: unless otherwise stated, all quotes are from Wikipedia.

Solar Energy
Use of this energy resource has existed since the time of the “early Greeks, Native Americans and Chinese” who positioned their housing to effectively use the sun to warm the interior.

Uses of Solar Energy

Solar Lighting
Light from the sun is collected via specific window types, sizes and orientation to provide lighting within residential or commercial buildings. This is called daylighting. Hybrid Solar Lighting (HSL) collects sunlight using mirrors “that track the sun. The collected light is transmitted via optical fibers into a building’s interior to supplement conventional lighting”.

Solar Thermal
“Solar thermal applications make up the most widely used category of solar energy technology. These technologies use heat from the sun for water and space heating, ventilation, industrial process heat, cooking, water distillation and disinfection, and many other applications.”

Electricity
Electricity is generated in many ways but most commonly using Photovoltaics. This fancy term applies to that solar cell on your calculator as well as those solar panels used at a large plant.

Sunshine to Petrol
From Sandia.gov: “… intended to chemically reenergize carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide, which ultimately could become the building block to synthesize a liquid combustible fuel”. Is that enough to make your brain hurt? Try reading the rest of the article.

Wind Energy
The most common use of wind to create power are the wind turbines I’m sure everyone has seen at some point or not either in photos, on television or in movies. If not, this link has some examples. This type of energy is used widely in Europe and believe it or not the United States appears to be a large supporter of investing in this technology.

Uses of Wind Energy
Wind power can be used to “crush grain or to pump water” or be “connected to electrical grids, as well as in individual turbines for providing electricity to isolated locations.”

Negative Effects
Those who are against using Wind Energy cite the other negative environmental effects it causes. To install a wind farm, you must have a large piece of land due the size of them and the required spacing between them. Apparently, there is some argument as to the number of birds and bats killed by the turbines that lie within their migratory path. In Ireland, the pollution caused construction of a wind farm is attributed to the massive amounts of fish dying in a nearby river. The noise caused by offshore turbines might cause harm to sea mammals especially larger creatures such as whales.

Water Power (Hydropower)
This type of energy resource has also been used for a very long time. Think of one of those old mills where the big wheel outside of the building that used the river next to it. Effective, clean power.

Uses of Hydropower

Hydroelectric
Hydroelectric power is generated from dams, think Hoover Dam. This type of power source is widely used across the globe.

Tidal Power
Using water harnessed from tides, this type of power uses turbines sort of like the wind turbines do to generate energy.

Wave Power
Wave Power is more theory right now than actuality. This theory is being put to test in Australia at Port Kembla. This type of power uses generators to harness energy from surface ocean waves.

BioFuel
I’m simply going to put a link to Wikipedia for this one. There’s a lot for it and I’m running short on time.

Nuclear
I’m simply going to put a link to Wikipedia for this one. There’s a lot for it and I’m running short on time.

CANDIDATES’ VIEW ON THIS TOPIC

This has all been paraphrased from the individual candidate’s web site. To find out more, click on their name and it will take you to their Environment or Energy page.

Hillary Clinton
Agenda includes reducing carbon emissions, enacting standards which will reduce electricity consumption by businesses, invest in green industries, and increase appliance efficiency standards. Improve emissions standards for federal buildings. Introduce “Connie Mae” program so low to middle income families can invest and purchase “green” housing.

Barack Obama
Agenda includes reducing carbon emissions, rewarding forest owners/farmers, invest in clean energy industry, and support next generation biofuel such as Ethanol and increase fuel economy standards. Make U.S. at the forefront of clean energy investment and technology and of course, reduce dependence on foreign oil.

John McCain
Agenda includes limiting carbon emissions, investing in nuclear energy, reduce dependence on foreign oil. He didn’t really have that much on his site. There seems to be more for him within the site I mention below (The League of Conservation Voters) that they’ve gathered from speeches and press releases and such.

Mike Huckabee
Agenda includes energy independence, pursuing all venues of alternative energy.

Ron Paul
Agenda includes no subsidizing logging in National Forests, encourage development of sustainable energy sources such as solar and wind power, ending government funded projects that harm the environment.

I didn’t get to read through all of the candidate’s material on this and tried to pick out the highlights of their positions on this issue. However, you can go to each of their sites by clicking on their name or use this really good link which sums up each candidate’s Environmental position: http://www.lcv.org/voterguide/

No soapbox on this one people. I’m still exhausted. Take care!

Due to work obligations and lil’ Monkey coming down with a cold (Where is this kid getting all of these germs?! At least, it’s just a head cold and no diarrhea this time!), Politics Wednesday will be postponed until next week.

In the meantime, I said last week that I was going to cover Education this week. However, from our poll, it looks like I’m the only one that voted for it. So should I cover the Environment or Tax Reform next week, or keep on with the Education?

There’s so much information on this topic so I’m going to present the history of Iraq and then the Iraqi War numbers.

HISTORY

PARAPHRASED AND QUOTED FROM WIKIPEDIA

You may remember something about Mesopotamia (3000 B.C.) and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers from your high school history class or perhaps earth sciences. This is the area that Iraq exists within today. It was inhabited by the Sumerians, then the Babylonians (no, not the people from Babylon 5), then the Assyrians, then the Persians, so forth and so on. Alexander the Great and the Greeks took over at one point in time as well. In other words, lots of cultures and peoples have called this land their own over the centuries.

The longest period of rule was by the Ottoman Empire, from roughly the 16th century until World War I. At that time, the Ottomans sided with the Germans and the Central Powers in the war. The British captured Baghdad in 1917 and an armistice was signed in 1918. “On 11 November 1920 it became a League of Nations mandate under British control with the name ‘State of Iraq’.” The British turned it into a monarchy and did not take into account the different ethnic groups when dividing it up into territories (especially the Kurds and Assyrians to the north, meaning they supported the Sunni population mainly). During the Brits occupation, the Shi’ites and the Kurds fought for independence. British occupation came to an end in 1932 when the mandate officially ended.

In 1948, Iraq was a part of the war against the newly formed State of Israel. Iraq never signed the cease-fire agreement. They did however sign the Baghdad Pact in 1956 which allied them with Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. The Pact “committed the nations to mutual cooperation and protection, as well as non-intervention in each other’s affairs.”

The monarchy established by the British was overthrown by the “Free Officers”, a military group inspired by the words of an Egyptian leader named Nassar who criticized the legitimacy of the monarchy. At that time, the Baghdad Pact ceased and a republic was formed.

At one point in the 60’s, Iraq tried to challenge the sovereignty of Kuwait when it gained independence from the British but was forced to back down by the British. They would continue to have border disputes with Kuwait and Iran well into the 70’s. “In retrospect, the 1970s can be seen as a high point in Iraq’s modern history. A new, young, technocratic elite was governing the country and the fast-growing economy brought prosperity and stability.”

In 1979, the president at that time resigned and this was the point that Saddam Hussein took over the country. Territorial disputes with Iran resulted in an eight year war with Iran that in the end was won by neither side. The invasion of Kuwait in 1990 would result in the Gulf War. After the Gulf War, the United Nations would impose economic sanctions on the country “providing for a full trade embargo, excluding medical supplies, food and other items of humanitarian necessity”. These sanctions “were linked to removal of weapons of mass destruction by Resolution 687”.

And think we all remember what happened starting in May 2003. If not, Wikipedia has more information on it here.

THE NUMBERS

According to Friends Committee on National Legislation (as of 6/2006):

CASUALTIES

ARMED FORCES

U.S. Killed — 2,500
U.S. Wounded — 18,356
U.S. MIA — 1

U.K. Killed — 113
U.K. Wounded — 83
U.K. MIA — 0

IRAQI Killed — 6,400
IRAQI Wounded — Unknown

CIVILIANS

IRAQI
Killed — 5000
Wounded — 8000

COALITION CIVILIANS & CONTRACTORS Killed — 337 (from 36 different countries)

JOURNALISTS — 99

UNITED NATIONS — 16

COST OF WAR

Original estimate: 25 billion to fight; $4 billion/month
Cost as of 6/2006: $480 billion

Post-war Reconstruction donations (in millions)

U.S. — $550
UK — $330
Australia — $100
Japan — $100
Spain — $56
Norway — $21
Netherlands — $21

According to WIKIPEDIA:

CASUALTIES

ARMED FORCES

U.S. Killed — 3,921
U.S. Wounded 8,691 (medical air transport required)
U.S. Wounded 19,970 (no medical air transport required)

NOTE: Of all the wounded 12,912 were unable to return to duty within 72 hours.

IRAQI Security forces and police: 6,327 police and 3,463 soldiers killed

CIVILIANS

JOURNALISTS: 114 (plus 40 media support workers)

CONTRACTORS: 933 (both U.S. and other countries)

AID WORKERS: 95

COST OF WAR

$474 billion has been spent as of 12/2007

SOAPBOX AREA!!

After reading the history of Iraq and understanding it a little more clearly, I’m thinking to myself, why are WE cleaning this mess up? The British started it, it’s THEIR BLOODY mess! Okay, okay, that’s probably unreasonable. I really like British people, British music, Monty Python and London was fabulous. So please, no hate mail.

But more seriously, I never did agree with this war. The link of Saddam Hussein to 911 was disproven by the September 11 commission so that reason is out the window (unlike so many people tout) and no WMDs were found. So why do I think we’re in this war? War is big money, for the consulting companies and all of the people who have their hands in the pockets of the President, Vice President (hello, Halliburton) and the rest of the politicians in Washington.

As for the whole concept “if you don’t support the war, you don’t support our troops” — please, stop for a minute and really give that some thought. How is putting them in harm’s way in a war which didn’t really need to be started SUPPORTING THEM? Wouldn’t it make more sense that supporting them would mean returning them to their family and friends in ONE piece with all of their senses in tact?

Now that being said, I do think our troops are doing an excellent job with what they’ve been given. They just need leaders that can come up with a better resolution than throw more bodies at it. And truth be told, they NEED to finish that job because if not, we’ll end up with another unstable area like Afghanistan (see section named “Soviet invasion and civil war” within this page) which has been determined as a “terrorist breeding ground”. Then we’d be no better than those darned Brits! Again, Brits, just kidding! Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!

The thing that makes me most angry about this is the money being spent on it. We could use that money for really important things HERE in AMERICA. Education for one (which I will be covering next week). How about that immigration problem? Or Homeland Security? Bring the troops home and secure the borders?

Wow, okay I think I’ve gone far enough. I’m guessing this post isn’t very “flame retardant”. I expect I’ll be getting a few comments on this one.

This is only the second installment of my “Politics Wednesday” posts and it’s going to be a disappointment. At least, it is for me.

Straight out of the gate, I was going to take on one of the major issues the media covers constantly. But after some consideration, I figured it might be a good idea to get a run down of each of the candidates’ platform. Then as I was trying to put the list together of all of them I realized it was just too much information (probably why most of us just use what little the news sound bytes give us). Then I was going to do only the front-runners.

But due to the kind of week I’ve had, I’m only going to point you in the direction of WashingtonPost.com’s candidate breakdown which seems more in depth than most of the other news sites I used while researching. I do apologize. I had great hopes for this week’s post but lil’ Monkey’s virus just isn’t getting better. Also, if you go to the home page of my web site, I have a nifty little widget on there from WashingtonPost.com that does a brief run down of each of them with the latest news headlines on each.

Will try to do more next week.