PAUL RANTS

Posted by Paul at July 27th, 2008

Here’s a preview of a McCain presidency: more petroleum based governing. His campaign pockets a cool million to allow offshore drilling. And of course that barely scratches the service; McCain regularly woos Bush/Cheney and Big Oil with a series of flips to the right on everything from corporate taxes to torture. He’s convinced some people that we can drill our way out of dependence, when any sentient economist will tell you the price of oil is driven up on the commodity market. And oh yeah, we got plenty rolling in already. If you doubt that, then maybe you’d still like to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Or just release the White House from the grip of Big Oil. In either case, McCain is not your man.

UPDATE: Obama’s Energy Plan Calls For Innovation, Conservation

UPDATE: MIT Researchers Deliver Solar Energy Storage Breakthrough Gee, what if we gave these guys 10 billion dollars a month, instead of war contractors? How independent would we be from foreign oil — and future terrorism — after the same 5 year investment?

Posted by Paul at July 13th, 2008

I’ve been teaching seniors to use the internet for over a decade. Most of them want to research a medical issue or get emailed photos of their grand kids. The more mouse-savvy get introduced to the the wonders of Google maps, internet radio, online shopping, and the like. They are usually retired, but sometimes, because of the bad economy, are re-entering the workforce and need to learn how to get around on a computer. A little late in life perhaps, but then none of them aspire to be President of the United States or anything.

That’s right, John McCain doesn’t know how to use the internet. I find this troubling. A president should be intellectually curious. The internet has been around for twelve years. Personal computers have been around for twenty. He never thought to try and use one? Four year olds can do it. He could read what blogs are saying about him, or at the very least, learn some facts about Shiites and Sunnis. Maybe he can discover online that people are concerned about the economy and the 10 billion a month we spend occupying Iraq (then he might instruct his wealthy surrogates to stop referring to Americans as whiners). Or at least he could watch a dog skateboard on YouTube.