Mickey, there IS no “viable alternative energy source” The reason they remain unviable despite over 30 years of massive subsidies is that the energy is too dispersed. It is literally idiotic to think that solar power can be anything other than a fraction of specialty power, usually in places where it’s too expensive to run wires and not large enough to build a generation system.

I do some back of the envelope calculations, careful to err on the side of generosity over on No Oil For Pacifists some months ago, for a guest piece:
Solar: Flat out wrong for all time.
The key fact is that, if you want to generate all of the US power grid’s power from solar, you will need to cover a surface area of not less than 4/5ths of the entire state of Delaware with either “little blue cells” or reflecting surface (for solar thermal).
A STATE.
A small one, yeah, but… A STATE.
Even the “20%” call means we only need to cover 1/5 of Delaware? Yeah, like the greens would not SCREAM bloody murder at that idea.

That area is based on the actual solar energy falling to earth at the surface, is not something based on “current limitations” but presumes some pretty spectacular improvements on the tech just to get that much. In other words, it’s not something that can be “jiggered”, “tricked”, “outsmarted” — it’s based on absolute numbers which are as inviolate as the speed of light in a vacuum. That’s the best you can hope for — 4/5ths of DELAWARE.

There is exactly one solar energy option which has any possibility of providing power in a serious, rational way, and it’s the one that very little money actually goes to — it’s called Ocean Thermal, or OTEC — which works basically by using the vast surface of the ocean as a collector. There are substantial problems with developing this, but it might be done.

In reality, the only thing which can supplant oil in an effective manner is Nuclear — and it’s clear that that would work and could be done, but the Greens reveal their true agenda by rejecting this, too — their goal is to eliminate power usage, effectively destroying society. Greens, and Postmodern Liberalism, is a suicidal meme which has at its heart the destruction of modern civilization. I don’t think most of them grasp that, but that is the only possible outcome of their ideas and ideals.

Actually, Mickey, they backed off on this count — it’s 30 mil or thereabouts last I checked because the 46 uncovered number includes the illegal aliens who they were always claiming would not be covered.

Oh, and, as far as the “lockstep” crap, the best sign of this is the signs at a protest rally. You get a few thousand liberals together, what happens? You get a protest march with half-a-dozen of the same signs professionally made by “community organizers”.

Put a real million man march together, and you see almost all hand-made signs done by obvious non-professionals, with a vast and widely disparate (i.e., “diverse”) collection of expressions.
Oleg Atabashian, an immigrant from Russia, comments on the march in two articles:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/america-awakes-reflections-on-912/
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/america-awakes-reflections-on-912-part-ii/
Atabashian’s take, having lived in the USSR, is of particular interest — he has a number of other pieces here:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/author/olegatbashian/

And here are pictures of the “lockstep” crowd:
http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/08/pelosi-astroturf-healthcare/#more-3412
(contrast the one shot of the pro-Pelosi crowd with the anti-Pelosi crowd. WHO is supposedly in lockstep, again? The one with professional organizers or the one that’s actually made up of a real grass roots protest?)

You find some professionally printed signs here, but, they’re doctors, they can afford to send something off to the printer. And there’s plenty of non-professional signs:
http://www.lookingattheleft.com/2009/09/doctors-against-obamacare-rally-in-d-c/

I just think it’s funny how liberals make bald-faced claims like this but fail to substantiate them with any sort of actual data to support it.

Makes “debating” things a lot easier, don’t it? When you can just make up anything you want to and blurt it out?

I hear your mother once had sex with a gorilla. Is it true?

(I have no evidence of any kind to support that statement, but… hey, what the heck? If that’s the kind of “factless debate” you want, it can be arranged.)

What say, next time, you stick to demonstrable facts instead of stupid baseless accusations, and also offer some support of the facts you claim?

Or is that too much work for a liberal genius-with-a-’y’ like yourself?

If you’re all so righteous and have no superior moral justification for selfishness then why is it that when only 46 million people need healthcare you’re imposing the requirement for everyone to have it ?
According to the last bill, the one that just passed the house, small business owners are going to be required to purchase insurance for their employess. Should they choose not to they will have to pay additional taxes, a fine. If we as Americans protest what is clearly unconstitutional by not paying we can go to jail for up to 5 years.
Never in our history has the federal government required us to purchase anything for ourselves or anyone else.
That provision in this bill will more than likely not appear in that form by the time it reaches the sentate because there will be enough outcry that you guys will never get away with it.
So please, dont tell me that liberals are not looking for some moral justification to be selfish when they are willing to impose unconstitutional jail sentences on Americans for the sake of power.

” just think it’s funny how you conservatives march in lock step with whatever your leaders ”

Nice try, but even you have admited that right now we have no leadership to follow.
Were actually capable of thinking on our own without some head of the collective spewing marching orders from generated speech on a teleprompter.
Right now you guys are looking at one of the greatest failures of a president weve ever seen whos broken umpteen promises, done exactly what he said he wouldnt do, screwed you all in so many ways its not even funny and yet you cling to him like your messiah anyways.
You all follow the marching orders of your PC doctrines to the point that as soon as you open your yaps its possible to identify you immediately.
You all support a healthcare bill for simple expedience sake because its what you’re supposed to do…
and yet you dont even know whats in it, you havent even read the damn thing, but hey, a dem wrote it and thats all that counts.Right ?

And by the way, if everything Obama has said hes going to do is as screwed up and late as everything so far we are going to have to drill baby drill.
Until you guys can get you crap together and actully produce a viable reliable alternative energy source that doesnt destroy the country were going to need some oil til then.
Sure as hell wouldnt hurt to have some laying around at the rate you guys are going at.

JMJ

Were all supposed to walk in lockstep like liberals behind everything every conservative says ?

No one on the right denies that we need to end our dependence on oil.
How far up your rump did you have to reach to pull that one out ?
Dont tell me you’re so delusional that you think ending our need for oil will stop the radicals from hating us and Israel ?
I doubt Netanyahu was saying anything of that sort.
========================

Erics blog has some of the weirdest tech anomilies going on at times.
Just restart.

JMJ

JMJ