8/11/2007

I need a break.

See you in a few days.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoy the break - you deserve it!

For anyone else interested this was something stumbled upon today:
Religion and Politics 2008:


"Examine how the 2008 presidential candidates are faring in opinion polls and compare their stances on pressing religious issues, from abortion to the Iraq War."

I discovered it after receiving information about Event Transcript - Mormonism and Democratic Politics: Are They Compatible?

ZenPanda said...

Here's wishing you a fun filled weekend!

The offline blog is great!

a-fire-fly said...

Perhaps some of your "contributors" can bother themselves to write something in you absence?

Anonymous said...

Is it me or is this a hit piece by the drive-by media?

Why not wind instead of coal?
By RICHARD ECKE
Tribune Staff Writer

Ordered in an fashion to suggest support for wind power a brilliant idea, the writer or editor seems to point the reader toward serious doubts about the costs worth pursuing wind power.

Mr. Ecke made me wonder why the costs of the current coal plant financing shenanigans are not equally factored into the story.

It seems City/taxpayer money spent and moving money targets yet to be spent on the coal plant project should be used to compare to the costs of a farsighted plan of private industry.

Anonymous said...

This story is very biased against wind. It fails to point to several base load solutions for wind power.

Surplus wind energy can be stored as compressed air or (pumped) impounded water to drive a turbine during during low production periods or peak demand.

The storage of air from a wind farm makes much more sense than trying to contain combustion products (CO2)at a loss.

http://www.bwea.com/ref/stop.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity

The story is complete bull. The capital cost of a coal plant like HGS exceeds equal wind scale. Add carbon capture, increasing fuel handling costs, and the long range harm to land, air, water and life. Enough of this non-sense already.

Anonymous said...

I thought the story was fairly balanced. It could have gotten into some options for making wind viable, but it could have done the same for other energy sources, too. Since it didn't do that for any of them, it treated them all fairly. Usually the press just extols the virtues of alternative energy sources, without giving any of the drawbacks, such as the need for firming power. Readers then get a misleading picture, thinking that it is such an easy thing to solve, if we just use wind power or some such. The truth is, it is very complex, and has been difficult to solve because there are no easy solutions. Thanks to the Trib for getting that across, for a change.

It is not a bias against wind to ask tough questions about it. Wind, like any other energy source, has to answer the tough questions if it is going to survive in the marketplace. The Trib actually is helping wind by asking hard questions that wind advocates need to get answers for.

Anonymous said...

But isn't it bias to not ask questions about the real costs and alleged misappropriations of funds involving taxpayer gifts to Tim Gregori and Tim's coal plant?

Wouldn't it be nice if the Trib linked facts in their stories?

Then we could read facts and decide for ourselves what conclusions should be drawn.

Concerned Citizen said...

Sorry John that you took so long to face reality here.....

"Lawton said the city would be happy to snap up wind power at the old price.
"Will they sell it to us now for $42?" Lawton asked."

The City and SME had the opportunity, but failed to even look in that direction as they were stoned on coal!

They coulda and shoulda, but didn't..........

JT

Anonymous said...

I, too, am a little amazed at how incompetent Lawton comes across in that article. I wondering just how in the hello we allowed this guy to get us INTO this position? Is is the fact that our wonderful dereg made incompetent city managers suddenly energy experts? (and ms. ballsaringy too!) I dunno. I'm wondering when the hell the state legislators are going to do the courageous thing and create a public utility and stop all this nonsense.

LK

Anonymous said...

Speaking of the Trib, does anyone besides me see it as very strange that the trib included a letter to the editor from some woman in Conn. regarding Indian sovereignity?! It was a bizzare letter, and to print it even MORE bizarre! That paper gets worse by the day. By the way, was there ANY news in the Mon. edition? If there was, I missed it.

LK

Anonymous said...

The only value in the paper today was it forced me to stretch when I plucked it off my porch.

I would like a morning newspaper to last at least as long a cup of coffee. The tribune ain't it.

Anonymous said...

"Lawton said the city would be happy to snap up wind power at the old price."

That's a Liberal for you...liberal with everyone elses money. Especially when they want to cover up their own stupidity...er, sorry, mistakes.

Anonymous said...

Dear Anon 6:14 p.m.,

The Trib should be asking tough questions of Tim G., Lawton, et al.

For credibility sake, it needs to ask the toughest questions of those people/groups that it is friendlist toward in its editorials. It doesn't always succeed in that regard.