http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/ Alaska, MN News http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/f42313bfae3d57c839c816d0ede84468.html Ok Peter on to your 4th and 5th questions They are actually related so I will respond to them together Your question 4 asks for a costtodegree formula and your question 5 asks whether trying to target a cooler global climate is really such a good ideaSince as I've indicated above I can't give you a cost but only a strategy for keeping costs low and in the private sector as much as possible I will not be able to give you a costtodegree formula either But it gets worse It's not just the cost side of the equation that I don't have a concrete answer for Peter what we are talking about here is no less than terraforming Earth and we do it without the absolute certainty you crave as to what effects we will bring about I freely admit it: this is terrifying stuff If you don't already feel the terror in your gut at the thought of what I'm talking about doing then look at this: http:enwikipediaorgwikiImage:As08162593jpg That's it folks We got no where else to go If we screw her up the show is over And yup we're talking about tinkering around with the ATMOSPHERE without positively knowing what will happenBut ladies and gentlemen the news is that that experiment has been underway for over a century and a half We're already terraforming Earth and we did so with an ignorance that makes our present uncertainty pale by comparison What we are talking about doing is the UNdoing of the unwitting experiment we've been conducting for so long nowYou know there are two approaches to this What I've proposed above is a passive approach: NOT putting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere There are also active approaches: taking active measures to cool the Earth directly Active measures would include things like deliberately increasing the Earth's albedo by say dispersing huge clouds of sulfur ash to reflect the incoming light from the sun Think I'm joking Think again: http:wwwrollingstonecomnewsstory12343892candrevilsavethewor Scared nowAt our present stage in the crisis I believe the measured and reasonable thing to do is to stop putting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere immediately The active approaches simply cannot be riskjustified thankfully But that is for nowdo nothing for too long and they may be our only shot So how can I be surethat taking measures to cool the global climate will be a good thing Again there is no way to be sureBut staying our present course is far more likely to lead to catastrophe and by taking the measures I've recommended above we can at least throttle our impact should the planetary system throw us a curveball We haven't even talked about curveballs but they may be in our future Example: http:earthobservatorynasagovNewsroomMediaAlerts20082008052826907BTW Peter if we are ever farming Greenland we will be doing it only after a catastrophe of unimaginable horror will have occured The ice on Greenland is just that: ON Greenland When Arctic ice melts it does not raise sealevel since it was already IN the ocean But if the Greenland ice fully melts then you really will see sealevels rise in the way Gore depicts with all the accompanying human death and suffering And that may not be all Ice of course is fresh water If you were to have a rapid melting of Greenland ice into the Atlantic you would thus wind up with a region that would be locally less salty But fresh water and salt water have different densities so having a local region that is less salty would very likely affect the Gulf Stream The Gulf Stream acts as a barrier keeping arctic waters from northern Europe Shut down the Gulf Stream let those waters in and despite the fact that the global climate would be warmer northern Europe would be plunged into a true ice age This is precisely the scenario Kim Stanley Robinson describes in his Forty Days trilogy http:wwwwiredcomscienceplanetearthnews200707stanleyrobinsonq Is this sure to happen No Is this a possible scenario You betSo please: watch what you wish for http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/4642c8823da7ed0f2e9873fbb930f132.html Tommy I'll need more time to understand the econonmics of nuclear My impression is that it does turn a healthy profit for companies like Southern Cal Edisonbut I need to research that further Also I would envision the creation of a consortium of power companies coming together under federal mandate to create a standard powerplant design that could be suited to each site Having a productionline nuclear design would reduce costs all around making the business case all the strongerThat said I would emphasize that I am indeed in favor of pursuing ALL forms of renewable energy that do not contribute greenhouse emissions I have driven many times through that California wind farm that you see in all the commercials and that is a thrilling sight more of which I would love to see HSBC uses geothermal energy to heat and cool its newer buildings An Edison project http:wwwedisoncompressroompraspid5885 that looks extremely promising is the development of a Stirling Enginecapable of powering over a quartermillion homes Apparently the project looks good to some folks other than just me too: http:climateerinvestblogspotcom200804100millionintostirlingen Never heard of a Stirling Engine See my remarks above about the dearth of imagination from our storytellers These and others like them must absolutely be encouraged and where it makes sense subsidized These REALLY are keys to our national security because not only do they move us towards the energy independence we so desperately need from a security standpoint but they are also the technologies we can safely EXPORT to developing nations Nuclear may be an option for our own use but I can't conceive helping other nations to develop it We need these alternatives to offer to other countries as a safe way to help them provide clean power for their peoples By sharing these technologies we not only protect the planet and help avert disaster but think of the diplomacy they representIn the end though the thing I would want to stress is this: under no circumstances may we morally entertain half measures I believe that nonnuclear solutions are just that They simply will not provide the power that you know we as a country will consume Half measures not only fail to address the climate crisis but they risk lulling us into complacency thinking that we have addressed itThe climate crisis must be solved overwhelmingly We do it and we do it BIG In my present opinion nuclear is the only way to ensure this victory http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/49b89e28d6e15eaeab70426dd7b863f0.html John Lewis: McCain akin to George WallaceMcCain: That accusation is beyond the pale http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/02dee4e5542bb76da356573295ceb17c.html Putt Putt I do recall reports of the heated exchange between Cheney and Patrick Leahy from four years ago Regardless of how you try to spin the story the Senate was not in session and he didn't yellthe expletive The following link puts the exchange somewhat into contexthttp:wwwwashingtonpostcomwpdynarticlesA36992004Jun24htmlCheney doesn't deny that he told Leahy to Fhimself and I don't dispute that he did I'm not justifying Cheney's language but he didn't take to the podium and scream into a microphone like Angry Al Franken does Do you have a source for the Hey Senator Go cheney yourselfquote or did you pull that out of your embellisherAngry Al would love to be a senator so he could drop the Fbomb live on Cspan Angry Al could also filibuster reading his Playboy articles or telling jokes about raping Lesley Stahl and make his satirethe center of attentionJust like Angry Al Franken Jigar Ashwin Madia relocated to run for office Madia's campaign has been even more shameful than Franken's with everything from stolen scooters to outrageous lies making the daily news Franken is a tax cheat who failed to carry workers compensation for his employees The DFL made both of these candidates poster boys for their socialistic platform Both Madia and Franken are embarrassments and neither one deserves an opportunity to represent Minnesota http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/2b299b1c88d6ebe9effd114334626dd7.html East Coast Ashwin: Madia a Recipient in 5 Million HCAN Ad CampaignHealth Care for America Nowis another East Coast based socialistic arm of the Democratic Party that this is supporting Jigar Aswhin Madia HCAN describes itself as progressiveLocally the HCAN attacks ads are already running on TV When you see these ads remember this: Madia: Socialized MedicineThe Politico Yesterday Health Care for America Now lauded Sen Barack Obama DIll Today the progressive health reform group is bashing Arizona Sen John McCain and seven of his fellow Republicans The group launched a nearly 5 million ad campaign questioning why McCain and fellow Republicans favor health care policies that would leave consumers to fight insurance companies alone The campaign will run for the next two weeks on radio and television and in direct mail and phone calls The McCain ad features a woman suffering from cancer who says under McCains plan she could lose her employerbased coverage and be unable to buy insurance on her own because of her preexisting condition He wants me to fight cancer and the insurance companies she asks Fine Ill take you both on A similar ad targets Sen John Sununu RNH and Reps Ric Keller RFla John R Kuhl RNY and Tim Walberg RMich It also targets Republican candidates Blaine Luetkemeyer in Missouri Marty Ozinga in Illinois and Erik Paulsen in Minnesotahttp:wwwcbsnewscomstories20081008politicspoliticothecryptmai http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/2ad744f01663cf9d5779ab9eb652ad5b.html William I appreciate your thoughts And I'd like to share my thoughts concerning nuclear and it's from a business perspectiveDo we really want to encourage an industry that cannot compete economicallyAnd the simple fact is nuclear cannot compete economically without a massive public subsidyAnd if we're going to subsidize an industry we should be subsidizing industries that can compete economicallyThere's lots of talk about nuclear now; just wait until the NIMBY's find out it's going in their city; just wait until the people downwind find out a nuclear reactor is planned upwind You know the court battles that are bound to happen before a shovel of dirt is turned let alone a kilowatt producedWhile all of this is going on real renewableenergy progess could be proressing Subsidies need to go to businesses that can compete; not nuclear that cannot http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/f96d1465abce1248460e37f091989478.html Dck Cheney stood in the Senate and yelled at Senator Patrick Leahy Hey Senator Go cheney yourself For more information about this link hereAnd thank you for bring up foul language When Cheney dropped the FBomb in the Senate to a Senator he was defiant and unapologetic Cheney went so far as to tell Neil Cavuto on Fox News that telling Senator Leahy in the Senate to go cheney himself felt good to do and needed to be saidTo this day Dck Cheney has never apologized for dropping the FBomb in the Senate to a SenatorCheney of course is a republiCon Good and decent conservatives were mortified at the news of the Vice President of the United States using such language in the hallowed halls of the Senate; bootlickers everywhere cheered with partisan delightBut when news that Democratic Party candidate Al Franken has used the same language they cheered when Cheney used the bootlickers howled and claimed it proves Franken is unfit for the SenateTo recap how bootlickers reacted: Cheney swearing in the Senate good; Franken swearing but NOT in the Senate badWhich of course demonstrates the blatant hypocrisy today's GreedOverPrinciples party has come to stand for http://www.axtora.com/homesites/us/minnesota/alaska/content/245709b8ddbf6e4e7499246559cfbb2b.html A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state's public safety commissioner