Escalating the Effort Against Global Climate Change

Progress on climate change has stalled on multiple fronts, for example:

1. The Carter administration put solar panels on the White House roof, then the following, Reagan, administration removed them.

2. In the late 1970s Mobil Oil bought Tyco Laboratories, a company that produced solar panels, and did little, to nothing, with the company... Shut Mobil Tyco down 19 years later.

In order to bring all the truck and train transportation capacity o'er to renewable energy operations one needs to use intermediate steps, because there is not, nor will there soon be, sufficient renewably generated electricity; nor will there soon be infrastructure to get that electricity from where it is generated to where it will be put to use.

The first, already available, solution is FSHEV technology. Everywhere there are FSHEVs (Full Series Hybrid Electric Vehicles) there is V2G (Vehicle to Grid) electricity generation capacity available! This would come in handy not just in a war zone, like Ukraine, it would help in areas where natural disaster, or terrorist(s), have recently disabled electricity provision.

FSHEV technology has been around for decades... A list of companies, and their vehicles, that have already demonstrated the feasibility of FSHEVs are in the next paragraph. The company efforts referred to are the work of industry insiders who've already invested billions in developing and building military, civilian and commercial vehicles. 

What's already been done, by and for: Nissan's Note E-Power; DARPA/ONR: General Dynamics Land Systems' RST-V (a.k.a., Shadow) and Georgia Tech Research Institute's Ultra AP; Lotus' Evora 414E; BAE's proposed upgrade to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle; etc...

This could have created progress towards significantly increased fuel economy; less associated Green House Gas (GHG) emissions; obviate diesel fuel; less Lithium, because onboard electricity generation means smaller battery capacity is needed; fewer, to no, Rare Earth metals required by electromagnetic systems; etc... 

The application of this technology is being stopped by hugely wealthy and powerful oil and gas industry players who care much more about increased profits than responsible behavior requisite to limiting global climate change.

Even more modest intermediate steps use older technology like: replacing the accessories belt with an electric motor/generator (EM/G), and batteries, to power electric accessories; moderated supercharging to allow the use of smaller displacement internal combustion engines (ICE); combining the aforementioned to require an even smaller ICE...

In short, holding oil, gas and coal industries, plus current vehicle manufacturer's, feet to the fire... Using charges of criminal negligence, for playing a huge part in creating, and denying (for decades), that their efforts were, in fact, a major reason for the severity of global climate change; the cause and effect of burning fossil fuels. RICO charges might also be considered. This could be the most important way to bring the world closer to taming the effects of transportation on Climate Change...

Also, reducing the need for oil and gas to be extracted to produce products for which demand would be significantly reduced.

A total of more than 50 years have passed and this inactivity from the Oil and Gas industry cartel, combined with the activity, lack thereof, from vehicle manufacturers and Republican lackeys, has assured that we have made incredibly minimal progress in the battle against Global Climate Change.

Now is the time to accelerate efforts, because we've lost too much time to the Hydrocarbon industries, and their cohorts, that have (continue to) put profit, kick backs, far above responsible behavior.

Unfortunately, one must imagine how much better we would be doing against Climate Change without the aforementioned, probably criminal, irresponsible activity.

P.S., Bracket research 'twixt and 'tween:

The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida M. Tarbell, originally published in 1904.

Blowout, by Rachel Maddow, copyright 2019.

 

Taxes, Texas (from a draft discovered recently)

It is difficult not to see tax problems in Texas as local problems, because it was intentionally set-up to appear as such. The County Tax Assessor/Collector’s office has the primary responsibility for determining, collecting and distributing property taxes. Sales taxes are collected at the time of purchase, by the vendor selling a taxable item.



The vast majority of that tax money is bound for state coffers. The state of TX does not have its own revenue stream, and is hiding behind local collection agents when the state’s revenue problems are discussed.



This is a shameful fact that will be largely avoided by the state’s incumbent elected officials attempting to get re-elected this year. Why? It’s because, taxes (talk or action) are not the stuff of successful political campaigns.



Unfortunately, the recent economic turmoil, combined with the structural budget deficit (created intentionally by a special session of the legislature in 2006), will cause state coffers to come up well shy of the funds needed to continue to pay for even the reduced, in the 2003 legislative session, activities of the state’s agencies.



I have made suggestions to rectify the state’s problems with its indirect, and intentionally insufficient, funding in my blog (http://blueboomerhd.blogspot.com/2009/01/taxation-suggestions-for-texas.html ).

Constitutional, U.S. and TX, details...

There are some who would try, once again (there’s always someone not happy with how history has been documented), to rewrite the story of the United States of America. This is just a short refresher on what I feel are salient points from the past; precedent for the future.

In 1775 the second Continental Congress convened in colonial Philadelphia and produced both of the following documents: 

The Declaration of Independence (announcing the creation of these United States of America);

The Articles of Confederation (creating a weak central government that was to coordinate the activities of the 13 new States).

Those who propose a smaller, less intrusive, federal government have somehow forgotten that that has been tried and declared a failure here already.

1787 was the year that saw another convention in Philadelphia, PA. This one came to be known as our Constitutional Convention, after a document (similarly named) emerged. The U.S. Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation creating a stronger, more workable, central government for the USA.

1836 was the year that Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Ten years later the Republic of Texas had serious debt and was facing a difficult dispute with Mexico about the southern border; Mexico claimed the Nueces River as the border while Texas claimed territory further south, to the Rio Grande. Upon acceptance of the U.S. offer of statehood, the border war shifted from Texas vs. Mexico to the U.S. vs. Mexico: the Rio Grande became the border.

The noise one sometimes hears about Texas seceding from the United States should be balanced with the notion that, as an independent nation, border defense (amongst a multitude of other things) becomes our solitary responsibility once again. Such lonely and expensive pursuits have been tried and found wanting. 

Some elements of the U.S. Constitution have been bandied about of late, so some details need to be clarified.

The Bill of Rights, Amendment Two, reads:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The aforementioned Amendment relates back to The Constitution, Article 2, Section 2/1:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States…

It is a mystery to me how one comes to believe that somewhere in those words a singular noun or pronoun exists, let alone the idea of defining an individual’s right to, “keep and bear arms.”

This is where Texans find the individual’s right to, “keep and bear arms.”

The TX Constitution, Bill of Rights, Article 1, Section 23:

RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. Every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms in the lawful defense of himself or the State; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms, with a view to prevent crime.

The US and TX Constitutions are amendable documents, because none of the originators thought they were able to foretell the needs and circumstances the future might create.

 

We have, in these United States of America, created a formidable union that attempts to allow for all the potential fallibility and foibles of humanity while assembling a whole that accrues the strength that is the sum of all its parts. We can’t, don’t and won’t always agree on all the details associated with the continuity of such an immense conglomeration, such as are these United States, but we must try to come together and make our best effort.

We must work together to invest in, maintain and improve that which we’ve inherited, so that future generations can have the power of opportunity that we were given by our ancestors.

2nd Amendment Explained...

The 2nd amendment was written in the 18th century and taken out of context in this the 21st century, as it was in the late 20th century.

To, "bear arms," in the 18th century included muzzle loading: pistols, muskets and rifles; swords; bow and arrow; spear; lance and pike... As it was when serving in the British military.

The, “well regulated militia,” part referred to the Militia Act of 1792.

The founding fathers were trying to avoid forming a standing army as we'd just been liberated from the only colonial power, England, to have said full-time military; cudgel of the monarchy against citizens and colonials.

Article 1, Section 8 (clause 12 – 16) of the Constitution defines the establishment of an army, militia and navy. The Revolutionary War had made clear the limits of a land based fighting force dependent solely on a militia.

The, “second amendment rights,” declared by any who want to carry a gun, any and everywhere, don't exist. Carrying a gun, a tool designed to kill, should require training, licensing and limits.

Living Indoors Made Affordable...

In 1999 the last of Glass-Steagall was effectively erased from the law of these United States; President Clinton's big, bi-partisan mistake.

The casino that is Wall Street was unable to access the biggest financial transaction that the vast majority of Americans would ever make, home mortgages, and that aggravated said casino beyond what little sanity was ever involved with the business on the, “Street.”

Since then the cost of living indoors has more than quadrupled while wages stagnated by comparison, making housing difficult to afford for a great many Americans; enter late fees and penalties (junk fees, to line the pockets of the casino's robber barons).

Also, the Great Recession of December 2007 was made possible... Inventory of homes, apartments and condominiums shrank, artificially, while demand remained reasonably steady... Justifying the pseudo-marketing rise in prices.

Those who support smaller government, when government doesn't benefit partisan Qpublicans and/or their benefactors, have quashed one element of life (living indoors) oft expected by citizens living in the nation with the largest economy in the world, these United States of America.

Democrats need be (re)elected to the Presidency and the US Congress in majorities large enough to re-instate the regulatory environment that makes home ownership more attainable, by restraining/regulating the unfettered pursuit of profit on Wall Street.

 

Economic Gains Explained...

 

Keynesian, government spending increases economic growth (see also: New Deal, Great Society, Green New Deal, etc...)!  Since the Ray-gun's administration Qpublicans have tried, with too much success, to insist that, "government is the problem."  It is not.

Economic growth is also encouraged by well compensated citizens (employees) that can afford to spend money into the economy.  Inflation driven by higher wages (plus benefits) is still, as it always has been, Qpublican/right wing-nut, economists' fecal matter.