Op Ed

I just read an op ed piece that really slammed Obama for linking the oil spill to our dependence on oil.
It seems that people are taking offense to being told to change our energy habits. But the strategy is interesting because it is so childish. They contend that talking about the future when oil is still spilling is ignoring the present crisis. And also to "exploit the crisis" to address energy habits is bad. This is an impregnable defense mechanism and proof that oil propaganda has been doing their job. D.C. think tanks funded by Shell and Exxon pay smart people to create these arguments and they earned their money. Propaganda is the strongest force in America right now. I'll bet a think tank kid wrote that original op ed piece. It reads like a speechwriter's hand is behind it.

Anyway, it's an impossible task to change the mind of someone with cyclical thinking (I should know) but I'm never one to back down from a challenge. I doubt the blogger will post my comment so here it is. What do you think? I didn't see Obama's speech or read the whole op ed piece but did I really need to?


"300 million people can't all plug the hole in the well so I think it's a fair answer to the question of "What can we do?"

We can't afford not to have renewable energy. Coal and nuclear and oil only make economic sense when environmental costs are kept off the books. Anyone who tells you different probably worked for Enron.

The strategy of expecting 300 million people to all concentrate on plugging a hole in a broken oil well is not valid but it's a very good smoke screen. Like someone living in Kansas should just sit in their house and worry about the marsh of Louisiana?? Or Obama is living in denial by looking to the future when the oil well is capped and everyone goes back to driving 40 miles to save $10 on their grocery bill? Please think about the big picture.

The shock doctrine works both ways: when people are most disoriented and fearful is when propaganda has an opportunity to be assimilated. In this case, instead of linking Iraq to terrorism, the oil well is being linked to our oil addiction. Is that such a stretch?

There's been a 100 year long energy propaganda war in America and maybe the tide is turning. Don't believe me or Obama but do some independent research and do it fast."

Another Wise Quote to Ignore...

"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley

What does he know? Arrogant cocksucker.

Solar Poster Contest

I want to get some submissions for a propaganda contest on Solar. Getting third graders to make posters is a good idea because it normalizes behavior. Like ,the way to prevent Graffiti is to get third graders to paint murals all over the city and when they get tagged the kids will feel violated. So, in addition to solar related projects in schools we're going to need some propaganda that targets adults. This one is excellent.

So, something like kids in Texas turning on a spigot and no water is coming out. A look of fear and disappointment in the kid's eyes. A coal burning power plant in the backgroung.
Buy Solar!

The implication being if we rely on fossil fuels then the power plants must be cooled or use steam turbines and that is depleting the water tables. But the public can find that out later. For now, they need to equate the lack of solar with the lack of water. I feel that's what gets a response. It is a war against carbon. this is not a lifestyle choice that's simply "ethical". Fossil fuels have gotten us where we are but it's time to kick the addiction. How about that? "Kick the addiction." With a giant smokestack instead of a cigarette. Work on it. I want results by next week.

Here's a Soviet one that I love. It's about nuclear power but use it as a model for solar.

I think there are two things to include:

1. The Sun
2. A Poster Child

The propagandists at Ford and Shell have been working hard for 100 years to spread their misinformation so we've got to move fast on this.
Winner will be judged by the public.

Motorcycle Madness

I've made enough money to justify a real motorcycle. It's summertime and the weather is fine. I can reach right up and touch the sky. The two bikes that call out to me are a 1976 Suzuki 750 with a full touring package to allow me to make the trip to Labrador.
The other bike is a 1981 Honda CB750 with a luggage rack that is begging for a tent.
They are both listed for $800 which is reasonable since they are in good condition. I've offered them $600 for the bikes. Maybe I'll get both of them but neither will fit in El Conquistador. Driving around in a box is exhausting. Portsmouth is becoming like Los Angeles with traffic lights every fifty feet and Walmarts and Targets and planes flying around. It used to be a nice town.

In other news I'm taking design submissions for a new bridge downtown that would avoid Market street. I want to close down Market Square to car traffic so the route 1 bridge has to connect to Bow street or to Prescott park. No cars downtown. That's it! Let's pretend we give a shit.

The Van is Back on the Road

After 6 months of stagnancy in a field in Stratham I have The Van back on the road. You are all warned.

Of course, it took two days of labor to get the thing to start but I got well acquainted with the points, the vacuum advance mech., the condenser and the distributor cap and rotor. It needs new oil filter and oil and some better tires and an alignment to be drivable. I feel this is a mode of transportation that is coming to an end. As long as it is running right I can maintain it but the endless labor to keep it working does not correspond to a diverse lifestyle. Only by living in the van was I able to have the time to keep the van running. Now it's like a bitchy mistress who demands more time than I want to give her. For instance, the points were not opening anymore. They had burned a hole in the contacts. And the gap was supposed to be .17 inches. Well, it didn't open at all so the gap was 0. Now, I only have feeler gauges in millimeter. So you multiply .17 times something like .2453 and I got .04mm, which sounded about right. Anyone have an opinion about this? So I gaped the points and put an old rotor and dist. cap on (since the old one suffered damage when the points stopped opening) and it fired up. Good old girl. I need to borrow an oil bucket to change the oil. Anyone have one?

But it did feel good riding in a legend. Maybe I should sell tours of the van. "Ride the Legend!" I can tell stories of the van's adventures in Mexico.