Resource Competition
I think that most 'Green' alternatives to a nuclear and coal power are a waste of time, and that oil is running down at viable prices. That will not be a surprise to any reader of this blog. I don't mind solar power research and think that it has been quite good for the German economy, so far as it goes.
However, if you do support things like wind turbines and hybrid cars, neither of which are bad in the abstract though they are costly and not all they are cracked up to be, ask yourself--where do the materials for these things come from?
Read this report in The Australian/Times Online. It details how 95% of the available supplies of rare-earth minerals are being sown up by China, and how Japan and other states are increasingly turning a blind eye to smuggling and the sort of supply-sourcing that undermines governments and causes political backlashes.
The world is in such trouble, of a predicted and manageable kind. I am very close now to thinking that it might be too late, but, as my friend Martin Kelly says, there is always hope, and anyway, stupidity and crisis have been bedfellows before, and people have got on with things.
I think that most 'Green' alternatives to a nuclear and coal power are a waste of time, and that oil is running down at viable prices. That will not be a surprise to any reader of this blog. I don't mind solar power research and think that it has been quite good for the German economy, so far as it goes.
However, if you do support things like wind turbines and hybrid cars, neither of which are bad in the abstract though they are costly and not all they are cracked up to be, ask yourself--where do the materials for these things come from?
Read this report in The Australian/Times Online. It details how 95% of the available supplies of rare-earth minerals are being sown up by China, and how Japan and other states are increasingly turning a blind eye to smuggling and the sort of supply-sourcing that undermines governments and causes political backlashes.
The world is in such trouble, of a predicted and manageable kind. I am very close now to thinking that it might be too late, but, as my friend Martin Kelly says, there is always hope, and anyway, stupidity and crisis have been bedfellows before, and people have got on with things.
Comments
What if an article v convention or a new federalism started to take things back? Do you think that would work?
We translate 'Imperator' as 'Emperor'. I think a neater translation is 'Commander', and I'm not the first to place the use of the term 'commander in chief' in that light.
Martin Kelly's point, amongst others, about a slow motion coup against the republic last year and this by financial interests is well made, I think. Have you gone over to conservative cabbie yet?
One final point--I wouldn't write off the judges. Many of them are minimalists or sticklers for procedure, and they may yet revolt and encourage federalism....now that is wishful thinking.