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August 09, 2008 03:40 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 46 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

Next weekend will be less busy for some of you.

Comments

46 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread

  1. While you guys all get to take it easy I have to move my daughter & 2 friends up to Ft. Collins – school starts soon. (They have all promised to register up there so they can vote for Betsy.)

    1. I’m beginning to have serious concerns about your company and your employees.  You spend so much time on Pols, when is the captain navigating his ship??????

      🙂

      1. My oldest graduated from there 2 years ago and #2 is now in her sophomore year there. What a lot of stuff to move.

        When I was in school it was a bed and a bag of clothes. My daughter and another were reasonable. But one of the girls brought up enough to fill half of one of those large U-Haul trucks.

        Anyways, they’re moved in up there and I’m back here with the U-Haul truck returned. And I think that truck got better mileage than my car gets in city driving…

          1. I graduated from C.U. – Physics & Math. But my wife & 2 of my 3 daughters are all CSU. In the case of my daughters a large part of it was that they didn’t want to go to school right here in Boulder. As my wife & I are perfect parents we can’t understand why they wanted to be an hour away from us 🙂

            1. Well, I anticipate feeling it.  When my son was 4, he got really upset once when I mentioned that he would grow up and move away someday.  “Mommy, why would I ever want to live away from you?” he asked.  Now he’s 14 and saving up to move away as soon as possible.

    2. Ketevan Melua, who goes by Katie, was born in Soviet Georgia and spent her early years in Tbilisi and Batumi. After the civil war in Georgia in the early ’90s, her family moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland. She lives in Notting Hill.

  2. There is a vigorous conversation on a previous thread about electric and other alternative vehicles.

    There was an AP story in the local (alleged) news paper about the increased use of “golf carts” as short range urban vehicles.  

    Sales are booming, and it isn’t just the old retirees anymore.  Apparently, a lot of states either permit them if they have lights, wipers, etc.; or it’s left up to communities to permit or not.  The trend is to permit on roads with 35mph limits or less, no parking on the sidewalk, and insured.  Also “licensed” but I’m puzzled at how that is done.  Maybe a local permit.  

    Obviously, they also have weather limitations.  Very cold, hard rain, snow, they stay in the garage.  Also, what about hot, no A/C.  We are too spoiled to wander out in this humidity in FL except for maybe a three minute trip to the store; oasis to oasis.

    Actually, both of those issues could be met at the cost of, er, more cost and greatly reduced driving range.  

    On a different note, all this talk about inadequate range for electrics is a red herring.  Since so many American families have two – or more – vehicles, if one adult commutes 50 or less miles to work, one should be an electric. New employment benefit: Free car recharging while at work.  

    1. I hope GM can pull it off.

      Your first 40 miles or so are electric, then the gas engine kicks in. So it’s like having your golf cart and driving it too.

      1. Why is it that Tesla Motors (Lotus with a plug) can get a range of 120 miles with 105 mpg equivalent fuel economy with the ALL-electric Tesla Roadster, but U.S. manufacturers are struggling to get 50 miles per charge.

        The range issue is a clever ruse in any event.  Most Americans (even in rural areas) rarely commute more than 50 miles.  And night recharging means consumers can charge more frequently (but also more conveniently) for something like 4 cents on the “gallon”.

        1. It has less electric range because the battery is smaller. It also has to carry the weight of an engine and fuel, and it’s also a family-sized car, not a two-seater with a trunk that’s 15″ tall x 14″ deep.

          But GM is banking on the fact that people generally drive less than 40 miles round-trip, which means that they will be all-electric most of the time. But they also have the option to take longer trips.

          If they can pull it off, it will be a wonderfully versatile vehicle for a quarter of the price with the same benefits.

        2. Tesla’s estimated range is 220, not 120.  And Tesla’s a US company (started and funded by Elon Musk).

          It’s an issue for me because my two-way commute is more than 50 miles, but it’s not an issue for most people.  The problem is, some families don’t want to own two cars – one for daily driving and one for trips.  Rentals are inconvenient, so we wind up with a lower standard…

    2. Current state law, C.R.S. В§ 42-4-109.5,prevents Coloradoans from utilizing the Neighborhood Electric Vehicles on public streets.  We need to amend state law and then work on municipalities to change or even add ordinances to allow the usage of these electric vehicles.  There will be some structural changes needed, but for the most part the NEV would be just another vehicle on the streets.

       These vehicles are a lot more then a golf cart.  Some states allow them to travel upto 35 mph, which keeps them going within a reasonable rate of speed to avoid traffic problems.

      Regardless of the current situation with the Colorado and Aurora laws, I will be pushing the NEV as a viable, and available right now, alternative to the petrol fueled cars and something those who cannot pedal a bicycle to get around the city in.

      1. Yes, it starts here, at the local/state level.  

        By the way, there is a story in today’s paper about The Villages, a huge seniors development near Ocala.  They have 30 golf courses. And a synchronized cart team.  

        And they don’t pay property taxes because they are greedy, selfish old peeps who don’t give a flying fuck about the kids on the other side of their gates. They got an exemption!  

        1. many technologies and viewpoints is needed to overcome the inertia of bureacracies.  If NEWSMAN and I can come together on an issue, so can many others.

          Thank you NEWSMAN, the Conservative Voice of CD-5, for joining with me, The Progessive Voice for Aurora, to bring about a useful means of transportation for our fellow citizens of Colorado. Will you join me in the next step?

          I contacted Rep. Don Marostica today to tell him I support his efforts to pass a bill that would allow NEV’s to be licensed and become an important part of Colorado and Aurora’s means of transporting people and goods.

          1. Ok, since you do have some pull – can you get some car company, preferably BMW, but Acura, etc. would be ok – to create a 4-door electric (not hybrid – 100% electric) nice sedan.

            I’ll buy it tomorrow. An electric with a 200 mile range I can make work. But I don’t want a hybrid as there are too many compromises in the design.

            I am hopeful. I was going to buy a new car about 6 months ago and decided that buying a gas powered car is nuts. So I’m sticking with my existing one until someone comes out with a good electric (or Hydrogen with filling stations somewhat convenient).

            1. 94% of gaseous hydrogen is produced from natural gas. There is no infrastructure for producing or transporting hydrogen form other sources such as water. The path of least resistance is what producers will take, which means switching from one limited fossil fuel resource to another.

              1. Factories used to have coal fired motors in their basements that directly powered all mechanical machines via a series of drive belts and crankshafts. When electric motors came along most people said that there would be no change because of the gigantic investment in the existing system.

                And guess what, everything switched over to an individual electric motor powering each machine.

                The worlds Navy’s ran on coal with coaling stations all over the world. Gigantic infrastructure in place including islands throughout the pacific countries had fought for to have sufficient coverage.

                And yet once oil fueled ships were proven, the world’s Navy’s switched over quickly.

                It’s critical to get cars converted over to electricity. Because then virtuall all energy needs become a question of electrical generation and that gives us the ability to easily convert to different methods of production.

                At present, if they invent workable cold fusion tomorrow and electricity is basically free, we still are in an oil & CO2 crisis because all of the world’s cars cannot take advantage of that.

                Bio-fuels, hybrids, etc are all dead-end approaches. They can help a bit now, but they are not where we are going to be in 20 year. Probably not where we are going to be in 10 years.

                1. Hydrogen will just be another fossil fuel. We can and do generate electricity from sources other than hydrogen.

                  But I have news for you–oil is where we will be in 10 years unless you are proposing that the government buys everyone a new car and pays to double auto manufacturing capacity as well as instantly re-tool it to make cars that haven’t been invented yet.

                  The median age of cars in the US is 9.2 years, meaning half of the cars on the road are older than 9.2 years. Most people can not afford to buy new cars every couple of years, and fewer will be able to if the cost of new technology cars is substantially more than current cars.

                    1. But it’s not going to happen.

                      For that to happen, you would have to outlaw gasoline cars today, switch car production essentially overnight 100% to a type of car that hasn’t been invented yet, and the cars would have to sell for the same price as current models. That’s about as likely as me having brunch in a nice wooded grove on Mars in 10 years.

                      If we do a Manhattan Project kind of effort to invent technology for electric cars in the next 2-3 years I think we would be extremely lucky to have 10% of the cars replaced with electric in 10 years. Not that that’s insignificant. Combined with some novel efficiency measures like government-subsidized tire pressure monitoring systems and enforcing speed limits, it could be enough to break the back of OPEC.

  3. Democrats have a much smaller edge in the 2nd Congressional District, where Eldorado Springs conservative U.S. Rep. Mark Udall is leaving to run for the U.S. Senate against Boulder liberal Dick Wadhams and whatever sock puppet he’s manipulating these days. But 2nd District Republicans, mired in a losing streak, settled for signing free agent Scott Starin to a suicide-squad candidacy this year.

    You go Bob!

  4. From my mom:

    Barack Obama and his family are vacationing about a quarter of a mile from us on Kailua Beach.  For those of you who have been here before, you know what a beautiful beach and ocean we have in Kailua.  Early morning beach walks will be even more interesting now.  

    Aloha,

    Cynthia

    Knowing my mom don’t be surprised if she happens to bump into Obama and at the end of the conversation Obama is a strong supoporter of wave energy…

  5. N.Y. Times article – this is Russia deciding that it is going to conqueror one of it’s neighbors. However this works out, it totally changes the balance of power for the ex-USSR countries at a minimum.

    And how can the U.S. tell them no after we did the same thing in Iraq? The blowback keeps expanding…

    1. I am discomforted by how fast the Russians moved.

      They moved Naval, armor and air elements into 2 seperate theaters very rapidly.  

      Because of Iraq and our failure to resolve the improving, but unfinished, situation in the Balkans there is little we can do.  Russia is going to annex S. ossentia and Abkhazia: can you say Sudatenland.  What next Moldova?  

      Bush so cocked up our strategic situtation by: 1. eroding our credibility, 2. not thinking through the Balkan policy, 3. driving up O&G prices thereby strengthening Russia, 4. Looking into Putin’s eyes and ignoring his anti democratic behavior (why would he Bush would do it if he could get away with it).

      1. I know that this is a relatively new story, but didn’t Georgia fire first?

        I agree though that Bush has put us in a difficult situation strategically in central Asia, but hopefully the Russians will respond to some sort of ceasefire agreement soon. I just hope the president can tear himself away from photo ops with the beach volleyball team long enough to maybe provide some leadership. He is still president right?

        1. S. Ossentia is part of Georgia that broke away in 1994 but was never recognized by anyone but Russia. So can you “invade” your own country?

          Pro Russian rebels have been ramping up attacks recently and Georgia may have overplayed their hand.

          The fact that Russia was able to move elements so quickly indicates they either directed pro Russian rebels to escalate attacks to draw an attack as a pretext or they just happen to be able to mobilize forces faster than anyone other than the Israelis.

          I need more info. That is why I was so exsaperated with the wall to wall Edwards coverage yesterday.

    2. What are we going to do?  Go to war with Russia too?  This is what the tough guy hawks with their screw everybody but us and we’ll do whatever we please attitude don’t get.  Yeah we may be the only remaining superpower but that doesn’t mean we can have our own way everywhere in the world at once and all the time.  Rome used to be the greatest super power until it got overstretched and stopped producing anything in the home country but mouths to feed.  

      We’re just lucky the Russians and Chinese aren’t all that crazy about each other.  We might want to start being a little less dismissive and disdainful of our “old” European allies, too.  We really can’t just tell everybody else to screw themselves and take on the the whole world alone, much as righties love turning up their noses at foreigners and ridiculing opponents for looking French while munching their freedom fries.

    3.    Could Lithuania be next?  And to think, our president looking into the soul of Vladimir Putin and saw good in there…

        Not since Jimmy Carter kissed Leonid Brezhnev has there been such a mis-reading of one of our adversaries.

    4. KUT, Iraq – After five years of fighting Shiite militias and Al-Qaeda insurgents in Iraq, Major Emzar Svanidze’s 2,000 Georgian troops are packing up to fly home where a new war awaits them.

      http://www.thetimes.co.za/News

      Here Georgia sent troops to Iraq in a show of solidarity with the Bush administration — and probably in the hopes of Bush smoothing their entree into NATO. How will Bush show his solidarity with Georgia, now?

      Tough situation.

  6. Let’s pass a resolution to Ban Russian Music videos from appearing on Pol’s until they pull out of Georgia.

    It’ll be like the California grape boycott, only way more obscure.

    Our slogan can be

    Girls say Yes to Pol’s that say Nyet.

    That should be about as effective against the Russians as anything Pelosi would propose.

    1. Maybe we should invade venezuela

      Makes as much sense as invading Iraq to go after al Qaeda.

      I think Georgia is a crap sandwich a long time in the making.  No good solutions. Only less bad ones.  

  7. http://www.marketwatch.com/new

    Since last January, Sen. Obama’s fitness for the presidency has been the only question that matters in American politics. The pollsters and pundits agree that if Obama can show the voters that he’s up to the job, he’ll win. If not, he won’t.

    But that begs another question: Is McCain fit to lead America?

    That question hasn’t been asked, nor has it been answered…

    A careful look at McCain’s biography shows that he isn’t prepared for the job. His resume is much thinner than most people think…

    Lack of accomplishments…

    Shallow…

    No leadership…

    Living in the Sixties…

    No principles…

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