Posted on 06/21/2010 11:48:34 AM PDT by Rhonda Robinson
Reason Magazine rightfully praises comedian Jon Stewart the only man whos actually willing to ask inconvenient questions every now and then for taking Americas politicians to task for talking about making the country energy independent, but doing exactly nothing to actually achieve this lofty goal.
Americas, and the Wests as a whole, dependence on Middle Eastern oil is a tremendous weakness. Theres no reason not to develop alternative energy resources. In fact, the opposite is even true: our oil dollars are used to either keep dictatorial regimes in place or to fund the very terrorist organizations who have declared war on us and our way of life or both. By buying oil, then, we are strengthening and enriching our enemies. If that isnt the very definition of a stupid foreign policy, I dont know what is.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsrealblog.com ...
Well said-he's just like many a libtard coward. As the great Eric Hoffer said "Those who bite the hand that feeds them usually also lick the book that kicks them"
This little weaselnuts bastard has a lot of influence over an army (well, a gaggle) of young sheeple who actually regard him as a news source (God help us), and he helped BO get in. I can never forgive him for that.
Sorry for the typo-in the Hoffer quote, it’s supposed to be boot not book-(long day.)
Actually, the DoE was created for National Security with respect to nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
The Department has four overriding National Security priorities: insuring the integrity and safety of the country’s nuclear weapons; promoting international nuclear safety; advancing nuclear non-proliferation; and, continuing to provide safe, efficient, and effective nuclear power plants for the United States Navy.
Just read some of the threads on FR, lot of people left & right how no idea how power is produced and what it takes to produce it or how much of it we use. It amazing that our schools do such a poor job in educating our citizens in relatively simple concepts. It must be on purpose.
The Department of Energy was formed after the oil crisis on August 4, 1977 in order to end the United States dependence on foreign oil by President Jimmy Carter’s signing of legislation, The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977.
The United States, eager to make a nuclear bomb before any other nation, started the Manhattan Project under the eye of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After the war, the Atomic Energy Commission was created to control the future of the project.
In 1974, the AEC was abolished and gave way to Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which was tasked with regulating the nuclear power industry, and the Energy Research and Development Administration, which was tasked to manage the nuclear weapon, naval reactor, and energy development programs. Only a few years after that, the Energy Crisis called attention to unifying these two groups. The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, which Carter signed on August 4, 1977, created the Department of Energy, which assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission, and programs of various other agencies.
The department began operations on October 1, 1977.
While your history is more complete than what I provided, (its not really my area of expertise), my point was that the DoE mission is not really energy independence, at least that is not its top concern. It is the agency that is supposed to be keeping our nuclear (power and weapons) infrastructure up to date and safe.
I try to point out, not necessarily to you, but in general when a certain agency actually has a real and important national security role, as opposed to being a self licking ice cream cone like education or HUD, lest all the agencies be painted as evil or unconstitutional when a few actually serve a good function.
FRegards,
Since it took on the added responsibility of nuclear power and weapons infrastructure safety the DOE has not lived up to its goal of why it was created in the first place and seems to have forgotten it.
Expanding nuke power sounds good until you think about all the cheap illegals doing the work that “Amercians won’t do.” With our screwed up government and corporatists, we could easily have new arrivals from Iran setting up shop or have a ghetto hiring program where we waive brain requirements.
Our society is so suicidal, incompetent and screwed up, we are guarenteed to nuke ourselves in no time.
I think you are missing my point. Why do you think it was created?
The nuclear power and weapons role is the main mission. Reorganizing from its original AEC org to DoE was mainly a name change. The national security role in DoE trumps its other responsibilities.
For the original reason to ensure energy independence. That was probably just a PR move on the part of the Feds to get the public to accept the DoE’s creation. It isn’t really surprising considering how far Left our federal government is.
The excuse that they will all be charged at night and not stress the grid is another pie-in-the-sky fairytale. Mainly because with several million vehicles all demanding massive power at the same time, the “low demand” hours will rapidly become peak hours.
You also seem to think that electricity just happens all by itself as demand increases. Our electrical grid is already out of date, pushed to it's limits and getting older and more tired by the day.
As more and more Coal fired plants are shut down to make room for people like yourself who believe that all we need is Wind and Solar power to keep things moving, you are in for a great disappointment. Your enthusiasm is not what makes this happen. Cold stark reality is still in charge.
Don't bother to spew the “Nuclear Power” option either. That option is dead on the vine and the facts are that it takes over 12 years to even build one and there are not very many new ones in the planning stage these days, with enough capacity to catch up to the proposed demand.
And thats where you are incorrect. DoE was simply the new name of a re-org. These go on all the time. The purpose of DoE is to maintain our nuclear stockpile and nuclear reactor building infrastructure for DoD. All other things are second to these. Energy independence is a great goal, and it may be a side focus of DoE today as this is a national security issue, but it was not the purpose of DoE.
We do not, unfortunately, educate our own citizens well on why certain govt agencies exist and how they support the national security infrastructure. However, as you are aware, we also have agencies that serve no national security function and are political tools only. When we get our ire up at the govt, we should be careful where we direct it, because some of the agencies have important roles and most of those still perform those well. You just dont hear about success in media.
How long has it been since we have built new nuclear reactors in this country? When was the last time we had a breeder reactor creating plutonium? When was the last time we created a nuclear weapon? We have been dismantling our nuclear weapons stockpile for some time now.
When the nuclear reactors are shut down and we have no more nuclear weapons (the Leftists are seeing to that) what will be the mission of the DoE?
Now youre just getting hysterical....
The DoE (or its former self) was providing for the development, building, monitoring, and disposal of our nuclear arsenal long before the energy crisis of the 70’s.
As to nuclear power for civil use, when an admin with a positive view towards nuclear power comes back into office, it will be the DoE and the contractor base that it maintains to keep Navy subs and carriers powered that will provide the base for that reactor industry to rebuild. Otherwise it would be lost completely.
Understand, I agree with your concerns. Its not DoE’s fault for lack of nuclear energy industry today. In fact, they are holding the line best they can while politicians fiddle.
I don’t think I’m getting hysterical at all. You have a bureaucracy that has a declining mission. There is a renewed desire for nuclear power in this country but the regulatory hurdles set up by the bureaucrats are there to discourage and hinder development, not encourage it.
From what I have seen since the creation of the DoE its goal is to make us more energy dependent on other nations which leads to a national security problem (1973 38.8% imported vs. 1977 47.7% imported vs. 2009 60% imported). It’s the same with nuclear weapons. We’ve continually reduced our nuclear submarine forces and carrier battle groups, and like I have mentioned before, reduced our nuclear weapons stockpile with the implementation of various treaties.
As America stands down and shuts down China and India are standing up. And the bureaucrats are there to assist the political leadership in this country in the shutting down the independence and global influence of this America. This process has been ongoing since about 1970 and at the present time this it is moving even faster since Obongo came into office.
Show me some trend that indicates we are not sliding backwards in regards to our energy policies or military policies in regards to nuclear power, coal, and petroleum.
FR is just too slow this morning for me to deal with anymore. Maybe is just my service, but other sites are normal and quick. Dont know whats up.
Hysterical was sarcastic, but your worthy complaint is still miss directed if you are pointing the finger at DoE. Its appropriate to point that complaint at the administration, at the Congress, at the EPA, and many other places that have either neglected their sworn duty or grown beyond their original mandates into bureaucracies that block common sense development.
Hope you see my point. If not, well, your entitled like any other to your thoughts and I dont fault you for that. Just tried to present a little more insight, thats all.
I probably am done today as long as FR remains a web slug.
Regards,
Yes, FR is slow today. They are still recovering from the crash they had over the weekend.
I didn’t realize you were being sarcastic. Try to throw a sarcasm tag in when you do that. I understand the point you are making but your focus seems to be more on the nuclear safety issues than energy independence side of what the DoE was also created for.
The DoE is doing exactly the opposite of its primary mission and other bureaucracies are having the same problem. All of these bureaucracies are being used to drive America backwards as fast as possible to help us become more ‘equal’ to all other nations and Americans are not happy about it.
Is the Department of Homeland Security really protecting this country from our real enemies or are they focusing on turning the citizenry into the national enemy? Is the Department of Education improving our educational establishment? It’s just the opposite. How about our Border Patrol? Are they protecting the border effectively. Nope.
Do we really need a Treasury Department or an Office of Manangement and Budget if they can’t even balance the national budget? Look at our national debt. $13 and climbing asymptotically. If you include the unfunded liabilities enronized out of the current balance sheet you have about $130 trillion of total national debt. We are past the point of trying to ever pay the money back. It’s only a matter of time before we collapse and take everyone down with us.
Just about every where you turn within our Federal and State governments you see the leadership rushing faster and faster to implode what is left of America. The Baby Boomer leadership has an unprecedented death wish the likes I would have never imagined.
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