Townhall Talks..

[ilikekicks]

Editors Note : Yep, its disclosure time once more. If you have thin skin or a ' politically correct ' agenda, read no further as you may not like whats going to be said. Its not a something that requires idiots calling someone a ' denier ' or a ' planet scavenger ' or anything of such.

 

Some of this can be taken as *satyr*, some as me just being my normal anal-retentive self or as something serious. You can choose which it is for yourself as were all of differing flavors of life.

 

 

 

 

Some of you have been following my recent journeys in regards to a local Town Board Member seat. Sure, you have asked about what I was wearing, but some of you have actually shown concern in how things work and how the polls are going..

 

Tonight was the last time the discussions/debates would happen, a somewhat fiery issue hit.

 

The topic of ' energy ' came up. There are a few farms in the area that grow corn crops for Ethanol producers. There are also a few mines/quarries that work anthracite coal and other minerals. Theres Natural gas wells and many people use them as fuel for their home heat and generators for electricity. Theres a HUGE Hydro Plant in Niagara Falls. Theres all too many of those  wind turbins.. 

 

A question came up in regards to what *I* would say if newer regulations came up for discussion and where I would stand on ' Fracking ' and other such items.

 

Being blunt, I had to laugh at most of it. Im sure it displeased many of those there but the whole ' scare tactics ' and ' foul mouthing ' of everything doesnt sit well with myself.

 

The Wind Turbins are an absolute Joke! For what they cost, they have to run for 5 years with no maintenance or repairs just to break even on putting them up. They are an eyesore and drive away some of the wild life in the area.

 

Natural Gas can leak and is quite flammable and is odorless ( not really detectable without equipment looking for it ).

 

Everyone hates coal, but it used to provide quite a bit to the local economy in jobs and commerce.

 

' Fracking ' a/k/a line boring is demonized by so many. It really started with a movie called ' fracnation ' in which blatant lies were told and displayed. The riging of a compressed methane tank to a water fixture in someones house showing how the tap water would catch fire : News to everyone, http://rt.com/usa/flammable-water-dakota-fracking-023/ its nothing new. The Well my house ( and all of my neighbors ) that provides our water supply is tested twice yearly for PH/Methane/Dioxins/Sulfers and other chemicals and NATURALLY OCCURRING items due to the chemistry of the planet. Guess what? Theres Methane in my water. It was in the wells out here before I was born in the 1960's!

 

The problem with ' Fracking '. Its noisy! I moved out here to get some quiet time and those rat-bastids are constantly drilling and running pumps 15 miles away.. and I can STILL hear them! They also drove the yummie critters ( Deer ) away in some areas!

 

Ethanol! When done by industry and forced into the fuel supply by government ( and all those subsides they give ' big oil ' to make it ) doesnt work. Tax dollars go to companies to drive down costs.. when those buying the stuff already paid for it.. DUH! Its ' less efficient ' and doesnt provide the mileage or full-on regular unleaded gasoline.. Sugarcane is another story, but corn ethanol.. its just raising the costs of produce all over the nation.

 

Someone mentioned the ' West Valley Demonstration ' project.. its a Nuclear Waste dump about 20 miles from our town.. Then they asked what I thought of Nuclear energy. Hmm.. Higher Cancer rates, radiation, waste products that need disposal.. not to mention if a Jihadist walked in to pay a visit.. Not at all for having such a thing where I live. Talk to those folks in Japan and ask them about the mercury content in their fish and the thyroid problems that have started in their people since their plants were washed-out a few years back. 

 

One of the people stated they bought a new Chevy Volt so they wouldnt use any fossil fuels and so she wouldnt be filling ' big oils ' pockets. I asked her " So you charge your car with an extension cord every night? " to which she replied ' yes '. I then informed her that her electricity from the towns grid is from a coal plant and coal produces 3 times as much carbons then refined crude/gasoline and that by causing a heavy draw on the grid it also increases her electric bill. She stated her electric bill went from 140$ a month up to almost 300$ a month. Maybe a Prius would have been financially/environmentally better for her way of thought? 160$ a month.. that buys quite a bit of gasoline.. shes not saving any money AND shes promoting the usage of coal still by consuming a product ( electricity ) made from its burning.

 

EVERYTHING has a trade-off. One type of energy isnt any better then the next. They all have pro's and con's to them and their usage. Theres a LOT of die-hards out there that just dont want to hear such and Im sure I lost some votes tonight ( and I really dont care if I did. Id rather be honest about things then promise some crap that cannot happen ) but some of the people there were really into the history of ' green ' and it was a breathe of fresh air to hear some of their opinions.

 

Being an agricultural center/area, the people ' out here ' care quite a bit about the ' Environment ' as if it takes a dive, they are bankrupt the next day. I think they have a better insight into what the values are of such moreso then some ' I have too many degrees of education and know it all because I read it on the internet ' types. ( if such a statement offends you, smoke a joint and relax, it DOES help your blood pressure levels ).

 

Talk of the icecaps melting and water levels rising.. It lead to a part of the discussion where *I* learned something ( YES folks! It is possible! Im no longer a granite head and CAN in fact absorb info and learn something new! ). The subject of the ' Medieval Climatic Anomaly ' in Greenland came up. Some dismissed it as an outright lie with no evidence to back it.. low and behold, someone brought their MacBook and pulled up the fact that there are birch tree remains under the ice. That was something I NEVER heard of before. How can trees start in ice/tundra? Maybe that area was really ' green ' at one time.. no?

 

 

The usage of the term ' Global Warming ' came up and was quickly put to shame as the planet cooled and everyone knows such ( but some wont admit it ). The new name ' Climate Change ' came along.. still the same theme, just a new name..

 

Then the talk of the Ice Age.. the earth was warm, it froze over, now its warm, it could freeze over again.. who knows? Do they even teach that in school today?

 

What things finally boiled down to was my saying ' I absolutely REFUSE to tax energy! '. None of this carbon crap tax. If people want food, and want it affordable, the entities that ' are ' need to knock it off with going after those whom are out on their tractors burning diesel and gasolines. Theres no such thing as a rechargeable tractor or solar/wind powered harvester for the fields. Common sense folks! Tax the products needed to make food and the cost of food goes up. With that happening, people cant afford food anymore and get a food-stamps card which costs everyone more in taxes.

 

Its a very vicious circle and people dont really look at how large it really is.

 

People can worry about the air they breathe. They can worry about the water they drink. Rightfully so! They also need to realize mankind wont survive on an empty stomach and that being a pompous ass about being ' green ' ultimately leads to mass starvation/a food shortage and rioting/wars fought over for what little food would be left. ( An unfortunate reality some will say would never happen yet it has, many times in history. )

 

 

It was 1:00am when I left. The TownHall Meeting ended at 9pm. Quite a few of us ( about 50 ) sat around discussing the subject and it was too damn interesting to leave. I thought I would share this for everyones entertainment. The November elections are coming faster then I thought they would !

 

-ILK

 

[Shafted]

Based on experiments with E-10 gasoline, I found that gas mileage dropped by 10%, meaning 10% more gasoline must be burned in order to go the same distance. Also the ethanol is slowly eating away at every rubber and plastic part in the fuel path. And people wonder why people have so many fuel pump problems in modern cars. I won't even get into how many small engines have been completely destroyed by the crap.

 

Conclusion: E-10 gasoline costs us more overall than straight gasoline.

 

Wind power is only cost effective on a micro scale. If you like wind power, put up your own wind turbine. It's more affordable than solar, if you have the wind like I do.

 

The only truly green electric cars are the ones being plugged into people's solar, wind and microhydro  systems. Period.

 

As long as coal remains 1/3rd the cost of it's closest competitor (natural gas) it will remain the dominant source of fuel for electric power generation.

 

I am for the piplines.

 

I am for fracking, but not in geologically unstable areas.

 

Only the little minds are worried about climate change. Climate change is happening now, has always happened and will continue to happen. It happen before we were on this planet and will continue long after we're gone.

[Bubba136]

Well! Lots of common sense displayed here. Will wonders never cease? Opinions like these proffered by "pols," being so politically incorrect, are sure paths to electorial defeat. No one wants to hear the truth these days. And, so much truth is put forth in these last two posts...........

[Shafted]

The opportunities for energy independence are in reality only for those who create their own. Small scale residential energy generation is the future of energy.

[meganiwish]

Global warming, I'm not in a position to agree or disagree.  Sometimes the world is warmer, sometimes cooler.  If they say it's warmer now, so be it.  Then the White House banned its staff from using the term and they had to say 'climate change'. A useless, meaningless phrase, since the nature of climate is change.  One might as well talk of the sky turning blue.  Then the political correctos took up the phrase climate change because it sounds more earth friendly.  It's all tosh and ILK is quite right.

[Amanda]

Megan is right. Climate change is not a new thing here on earth, it's happened many many times over the millennia . We humans are lucky to have been born into a brief window of clement weather. Rather like a spider who has built his web right across the door way of a busy paper shop out of hours on a warm and sunny Sunday afternoon in October. The changes are in full swing already and we will be subject to them.

[Shyheels]

Nice analogy.

In point of fact we are still in a cool phase, geo-historically speaking. There have been periods in the earth's history that were far warmer than even the most dire warnings being issued today.

[Rockpup]

I started to dislike cracking after feeling a sharp bang of an earthquake caused by it northwest of the Dallas area when visiting the Inlaws. They stated a few areas are trying to ban it as the quakes have caused damages to homes.

I think lowering our consumption of fuels makes sense on several levels, and do not miss the yellow haze our old coal power plant used to put out. I do think its funny that our govt has put such an emphasis on hybrid/EV while existing clean diesels can be sold in the EU. What's the VW Polo Bluemotion getting? 60mpg using US standards? While using existing infrastructure?

[ilikekicks]

I think the total outlook is theres no real ' winner ' with any kind of energy.The effects of using each one may be different, but they all amount to the same result. What really bothered me about the whole thing is there are some whom will support one item and demonize the others when theres no meaningful difference . 

 

I have a 36square roof on my barn and I planned to install solar panels and a charging system this coming winter. I figured it would be a neat experiment and maybe there would be some beneficial gains. I just have a gut feeling that as soon as I turn on my guitar amp, the stored energies wont be enough to last very long at all.