Sunday, January 11, 2009

Tesla proves that 100% electric is more than possible, viable and safe for the American road.


"...Silicon Valley’s electric-car sensation, Tesla Motors, will have its first show-floor display at Detroit this year. Having established itself as a production automaker (with more than 150 examples of its $100,000 Roadster sold to date), the fledgling maker doesn’t have anything new to unveil...." (click title to entry - thank you)

January 11, 2009 1:20 PM PST
Tesla debuts zippier Roadster Sport (click here)

For all you well-heeled auto fanatics, there is good news: Tesla Motors has made a faster car.
The luxury electric carmaker on Sunday lifted the curtain on the Tesla Roadster Sport at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Tesla said it has begun taking orders for the $128,500 sportscar, which will be available in late June.
The Roadster Sport has a bit more zip off the line than the original rocket-like Roadster, Tesla's first electric car favored by tech tycoons and Hollywood types....

9 Days until Inauguration - The issues with Iran aren't that complicated. Quite a different approach from "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran."


..."Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Obama reiterated his intention to work directly with Iran — a country whose president has called for Israel’s destruction — to improve relations and halt a nuclear program that Tehran describes as peaceful but which the West believes is not."... (click title to entry - thank you)

The Iranian circumstance today is vastly different than the time of Jimmy Carter. The Ayatollah has returned to power and until the invasion into Iraq there was a increasingly wonderful Moderate Political movement that was replaced by the administration of the extremist of Ahmadinejad.

The 'idea' that the USA has caused the tensions that now exist between itself and Iran, including in its alliance with Israel, is to realize the trend is reversable. Iran today has nuclear capacity that actually was engaged by the USA through poor design only to be taken over by Russia to insure completion. So for the USA to now say it doesn't approve of peaceful use of Iranian nuclear capacity is a bit ludicrous. The only problem is the assertions that Iran will not maintain a 'peace' only use of nuclear technology.

The moderates need to return to Iran and that will occur when the sanctions work and Iran is again distanced from a threat to its soveriegnty as Iraq is turned over to the Iraqis without the influence of Western military. To say its a balancing act is understating the outcome, but, if Russia can be a partner to priorities of a world without nuclear threat a favorable outcome can be achieved without confrontation of any kind.

I believe a nuclear non-proliferation agreement can be a focus to any negotiations including the disarmament of other countries including Pakistan that were never supposed to have a nuclear weapon to begin with.

The problem currently is that the global balance is chronically challenged through a lack of diplomatic agreements that work for countries rather than victimizing them.
Of concern, Georgia needs to stop its brinkmanship, AGAIN :


Tskhinvali says Georgia moves troops to S.Ossetia border (click here)
15:03
09/ 01/ 2009
MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti) - The Defense Ministry of South Ossetia said Friday Georgia was moving troops towards its border, the republic's information and press committee said.
The committee cited South Ossetian Deputy Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseyev as saying that four Georgian armored vehicles and 16 trucks had approached the village of Mereti, Gori district.
"Considering that each vehicle has at least 20 people, Georgia has moved at least 300 people to Mereti," Gasseyev said.
At the same time Gasseyev voiced concern over the stance of the EU monitoring mission tasked with ensuring security along the border with two breakaway republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Both republics have refused to allow EU observers on their territory....

Okay. Time out. Where are the scientists? The only way 21 million cubic metres of technical gas per day is needed is if the pipeline is used wrong.

This isn't rocket science and the agreement cannot be that complicated. I have to agree with President Medvedev in that inconsistency only breeds problems and escalates tensions internatinoally.


(click title to entry) ..."Such conditions make a mockery of common sense and are a violation of agreements we reached earlier," President Dmitry Medvedev said. "Such actions are meant to thwart the agreement to monitor the gas transits - they are blatantly provocative and destructive."...

This should not be that difficult to deal with unless there are inconsistencies in the use of the pipeline and its ability to maintain a constant pressure thoughout its length. The principles of gas pressure does not allow for such high fluctuations in the amounts of gas needed to maintain pressure. Ideally, once the pipeline is primed and operating a steady delivery of purchased product should be easily monitored throughout the pipeline. If the pipeline is in disrepair it may need state of the art reconstruction that will computerize the flow and detect falls in pressure that would dictate leaks or misuse, however, when dealing with 'gas' I would hope there would be little to no disrepair to speak of.

The scientists of all countries involved should be able to determine the amount of 'mechanical gas' needed to provide UNINTERRUPTED service to any of the consumers of Russia's GASPROM. This isn't that difficult to manage. It just isn't. 21 million cubic meters is a lot of gas to be consumed as 'technical gas' on a daily basis. It must be a highly inefficient gas pipeline to demand that type of 'priming' on a daily basis. The problem is probably that there are different flow rates throughout the system and the volume in some areas of the pipeline falls when more gas is used than is delivered, hence, requiring more 'priming.' That isn't 'technical gas' that is using volumes of gas that would normally be technical gas as an end product to the consumer. There has to be an understanding that the pipeline only requires a 'specific' amount to prime its delivery to maintain pressure and any more than that is considered delivered product. It seems there are inconsistencies that need to addressed.

WRAPUP 1-Russia-Ukraine deal on gas for Europe hits trouble (click here)
Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:44pm GMT

...The declaration, a copy of which has also been seen by Reuters, stated that Ukraine had not siphoned off any transit gas and that it had no outstanding debts to Russian export monopoly Gazprom -- a central bone of contention between the two countries.
It said Russia must supply volumes of "technical" gas, at no cost, to Ukraine to maintain pressure in the pipeline system -- a demand Gazprom described as "an attempt to legalise the theft of gas".
Gazprom said Ukraine was demanding 21 million cubic metres of technical gas per day -- enough to meet the daily needs of a country like Austria.
"Ukraine has again taken a destructive position," a Gazprom statement said....

Those adverse to our democracy are being replaced. Strict Constructionists are no longer needed !

The CDC will play a role in the new health care structure in the USA, we don't need people that favor politics over science or the best outcome to the wellness of the nation. The considerations for our new healthcare focus will have to include all the issues Americans face and the best way to rehabilitate a nation suffering from obesity and poor diets with food pyramids that don't serve the best outcomes to our children or adults.

One of the issues facing the country is affordable healthcare. The COBRA system is prohibitive and is no answer to providing insurance to the uninsured, underinsured or uninsurable.

For Unemployed Americans, COBRA Simply Costs Too Much (click here)
January 11, 2009 by admin
Washington (SmartAboutHealth) - Families USA released a new report which has revealed that for many unemployed Americans, COBRA health insurance is simply too expensive.
Families USA, the non-profit group, put out the report this week, focusing on COBRA, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985.
The goal behind COBRA was to make health insurance affordable for unemployed Americans.
Families USA has found though that this is not the case, as they compared the average monthly premium for family health insurance under COBRA to how much compensation an average unemployed American received.
They found that the average compensation is around $1,300 for an unemployed American, while the average monthly premiums for family health insurance coverage under COBRA is $1,000.
This leaves next to nothing for families to live off of, making COBRA simply too expensive.
Overall, only 25% of those who are actually eligible for COBRA sign up for it, mainly due to the high cost.
With 47 million Americans living without health insurance, this is not a positive sign.




...During Dr. Julie Gerberding’s six years directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, critics lambasted her, accusing her of sacrificing science for politics and carrying the Bush agenda on global warming and other issues into the world of scientific research....

...New administrations often clean house at the top of their agencies. Gerberding’s resignation, effective Jan. 20, became public Friday. She was unavailable for comment Saturday.


As the CDC’s first female director departs, some health care advocates say they hope a change in leadership spurs a change in direction and priorities for the agency, which employs 9,000 people and has a budget of $9 billion.

“In the last eight years, across the board in government, politics has been trumping science,” said Jeff Levi, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health, a public health watchdog group based in Washington. Levi said he hopes the new administration “returns to science as the basis of policy.”

Gerberding was criticized in 2007 after it was alleged she let the White House censor her congressional testimony on climate change. A deleted section of the testimony included the statement that “catastrophic weather events such as heat waves and hurricanes are expected to become more frequent, severe and costly....”

Israel sees progress and hopeful for end of conflict now in its 16th day.



It seems to me there has been too much left to chance with the children of Gaza and anyone under 18 years old is a child. With a population so impressionable an ordinary ceasefire cannot go into place without providing for the 'de-programming' of the young people of Gaza and a revitalized educational system that insures their future, both through peace and prosperity in learning.

If Israel is to make retribution to Gaza for ending the reign of Hamas, Israel has to take the children of Gaza into their hearts and instill a future that is without violence, with only promise and a way to learn to be happy instead of angry.

(click title to entry - thank you) ...Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza's main city, as warplanes carried out at least 50 air strikes on the 16th day of a war launched to combat Palestinian rocket fire, which has continued despite the offensive....

...Civilians again fell victim in Israel's offensive on the impoverished and isolated Palestinian enclave, one of the world's most densely populated places where half of the 1.5 million residents are less than 18 years old....

...Israeli officials suggested the end may be close of its offensive, which has killed hundreds of civilians, despite having last week waved off a UN resolution calling for an immediate halt to the fighting....

...Earlier Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the Jewish state was nearing the goals it had set for its operation, but said fighting would continue for now.


'Israel is approaching these goals, but more patience and determination are required,' Mr Olmert said at a cabinet meeting.

He told ministers that Israel 'dealt Hamas an unprecedented blow,' government secretary Oved Yehezkel quoted Olmert as saying. 'It will never be the same Hamas.' Israeli forces have demolished some 200 smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border - Hamas's main resupply route - representing 66 per cent of the total, according to military spokeswoman Avital Leibowich.

The army said it had blown up 20 tunnels on Sunday alone, and an Egyptian security official said shrapnel from one of the strikes wounded two Egyptian police officers and two children at the Rafah crossing into Gaza....