Jerry Pournelle's Space Access Solution

Dr. Jerry Pournelle is a science fiction writer who has spent much of his time working in real world science and politics. These ideas make plenty of sense to me, just as they did 5 years ago.

With just a little encouragement, this country could assemble the infrastructure and start beaming solar power from space. I believe only our current litigious society and short-term decision making (corporate & political) prevent this from happening - the technology exists.

Mail 242 January 27 - February 2, 2003:
"Be it enacted by the Congress of the United States:

The Treasurer of the United States is directed to pay to the first American owned company (if corporate at least 60% of the shares must be held by American citizens) the following sums for the following accomplishments. No monies shall be paid until the goals specified are accomplished and certified by suitable experts from the National Science Foundation or the National Academy of Science:

1. The sum of $2 billion to be paid for construction of 3 operational spacecraft which have achieved low earth orbit, returned to earth, and flown to orbit again three times in a period of three weeks.

2. The sum of $5 billion to be paid for construction and maintenance of a space station which has been continuously in orbit with at least 5 Americans aboard for a period of not less than three years and one day. The crew need not be the same persons for the entire time, but at no time shall the station be unoccupied.

3. The sum of $12 billion to be paid for construction and maintenance of a Lunar base in which no fewer than 31 Americans have continuously resided for a period of not less than four years and one day.

4. The sum of $10 billion to be paid for construction and maintenance of a solar power satellite system which delivers at least 800 megaWatts of electric power to a receiving station or stations in the United States for a period of at least two years and one day.

5. The payments made shall be exempt from all US taxes.

That would do it. Not one cent to be paid until the goals are accomplished. Not a bit of risk, and if it can't be done for those sums, well, no harm done to the treasury.

I had Newt Gingrich persuaded to do this before he found he couldn't keep the office of Speaker. I haven't had any audiences with his successors.

Henry Vanderbilt points out that having a prize, say $1 billion, for the second firm to achieve point (1) above will get more into the competition, and produce better results. I agree."

Solar arrays in space can also be used to block sunlight or reflect more sunlight onto Earth's surface. This could help us control global climate change, or even create it where desirable.

Running Out of Fuel, but Not Out of Ideas

We taught the world how to use nuclear power safely, and then pretty much abandoned it.
We've developed the best low-impact drilling techniques in the world, and we prohibit their use in vast oil reserves here at home.
We have hundreds of years worth of energy in the form of coal, and we're doing little to exploit it - even though technology for using it cleanly has been demonstrated repeatedly.
We've started building windmills and solar plants, but they will take enormous areas of land to provide higher cost energy than the alternatives - and they only supplement existing power sources when the sun is shining and/or the wind is blowing.
While the prices are high and profits are possible, we need to develop more of our own energy resources before others in the world own them.
Here are some excerpts from Ben Stein's column:

Everybody’s Business - Running Out of Fuel, but Not Out of Ideas - NYTimes.com:
". . .
Gasoline is unimaginably important in our lives in the United States. Without gas in virtually limitless supply, and at prices we could afford, American life would change. We could no longer afford to live so far from one another and from our jobs. We could no longer afford to cruise in cars incomparably larger than those of our counterparts in Europe and Asia. In a way, we would stop being America as we know it.

Maybe this would be a good thing. After all, do we really need to have a 6,000-pound S.U.V. take a 100-pound high school student across town to buy a Diet Coke? Do we really need cars so big that they have flat-screen televisions for the children in the back? Do we really need to pour so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere? And it’s certainly not great to belch out immense quanta of carbon monoxide, a deadly poison.

But we have become addicted to gasoline. (I, of course, include my own bad self.) Even if we all bought smaller cars, we would need gasoline and lots of it — although a great deal less than what we use now. And while I have previously said, and I believe, that we are in a temporary price bubble, the prognosis for gasoline is grim in the long run.

Long ago, when I was a thin 29-year-old, as the Arab oil embargo was creating gasoline lines in the United States, we imported a bit more than one-third of the oil we needed. As a junior speech writer for President Richard M. Nixon, I wrote what I think was the first comprehensive message to Congress about a national energy policy. My superb bosses, Dave Gergen and Ray Price, edited it. But as a nation, we did almost nothing to enact the many plans we had to make ourselves energy independent. (To be fair, R.N. also imposed some really poor restrictions on energy, especially a mind-numbing set of price controls on oil, depending upon whether it was “old” or “new.” These were a pure negative.)

Now, imports supply nearly two-thirds of our daily needs, according to the United States Energy Information Administration. Most of this oil comes from countries that are either unstable (Nigeria) or whose leaders or people dislike us (Venezuela, Saudi Arabia). Even in Canada, long our best friend on earth, and an immense oil supplier to us, there is an active movement of environmentalists who believe it best not to develop Canada’s vast oil sands and send the oil to us. That movement has recently had some frightening success.
. . .
In my humble view, we are now in a short-term oil bubble. It will pass and correct, as bubbles do. And speculators will make millions, whichever way it goes. But the long run is terrifying. If we are at or past peak oil, if oil states stop or even hesitate to send us the juice, if Canada decides not to fill our needs, we are in overwhelming trouble.

So, what to do? First, we do not kill the geese — the big oil companies — that lay the golden eggs. We encourage them and cheer them on to get more oil. They need incentives, not hammer blows.

BUT most of all, we treat this as a true crisis. As my pal Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, says, we need a new moon-shot mentality here. We need to turn coal into oil into gasoline, to use nuclear power wherever we can, and to brush aside the concerns of the beautiful people who live on coastal pastures (like me). And we need to drill on the continental shelf, even near where movie stars live. This must be done, on an emergency basis. If we keep acting as if the landscape were more important than human life, we will make ourselves the serfs of the oil producers and eventually reduce our country to poverty and anarchy."

Safe (?) Deposit boxes aren't always

Add to this the assumption by the IRS that any cash in a safe deposit box constitutes "ill-gotten gains", and you may want to take estate planning to a new level.

The Silver Bear Cafe:
"The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they're supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a 'Good Morning America' investigation found some states aggressively seize property that isn't really unclaimed and then use the money -- your money -- to balance their budgets.

Unclaimed property consists of things like forgotten apartment security deposits, uncashed dividend checks and safe-deposit boxes abandoned when an elderly relative dies.
. . .
San Francisco resident Carla Ruff's safe-deposit box was drilled, seized, and turned over to the state of California, marked "owner unknown."
"I was appalled," Ruff said. "I felt violated."

Unknown? Carla's name was right on documents in the box at the Noe Valley Bank of America location. So was her address -- a house about six blocks from the bank. Carla had a checking account at the bank, too -- still does -- and receives regular statements. Plus, she has receipts showing she's the kind of person who paid her box rental fee. And yet, she says nobody ever notified her.

"They are zealously uncovering accounts that are not unclaimed," Ruff said.
. . .
Ruff is not alone. Attorney Bill Palmer represents her and countless other citizens in a class action lawsuit against the state of California.
"They figured the safety-deposit box was safer than keeping it under the mattress," Palmer said. "In the case of a lot of citizens, they were wrong, weren't they?"

California law used to say property was unclaimed if the rightful owner had had no contact with the business for 15 years. But during various state budget crises, the waiting period was reduced to seven years, and then five, and then three. Legislators even tried for one year. Why? Because the state wanted to use that free money.

"That's absolutely correct," said California State Controller John Chiang, who inherited the situation when he came into office. "What we've done here over the last two decades has been dead wrong. We've kept the property and not provided owners with the opportunities -- the best opportunities -- to get their property back."

Chiang now faces the daunting task of returning $5.1 billion worth of unclaimed property to people. Some states keep their unclaimed property in a special trust fund and only tap into the interest they earn on it. But California dumps the money into the general fund -- and spends it.

"It's supposed to be segregated and protected," Palmer said. "California has taken all of that $5.1 billion and has used it as a massive loan."

California became so addicted to spending people's money, that, for years, it simply stopped sending notices to the rightful owners. ABC News obtained a 1996 internal memo in which the lawyer for the Bureau of Unclaimed Property argued against expanding programs to notify rightful owners. He wrote, "It could well result in additional claims of monies that would otherwise flow into the general fund."
. . .
It's not just safe-deposit boxes. A British man went to retire and discovered the $4 million in U.S. stock he had been counting on had been seized and sold for $200,000 years earlier -- even though he was in touch with the company about other matters.

A Sacramento family lost out on railroad land rights their ancestors had owned for generations -- also sold off as unclaimed property.

"If I had hung onto it, I would be a millionaire, multimillionaire," said John Whitley. "But that didn't happen because we didn't get to hold it."

California's unclaimed property program was so out of control that, last year, the courts issued injunctions barring the state from seizing any more property until it made reforms. Since then, Chiang has taken several steps to try to clean up the program.

For example, the state now sends notices alerting citizens about unclaimed property before it is handed over to the state -- the only state to do so. Once unclaimed property is delivered to the state, it is now held for several months while the state tries to contact the owners, rather than it being immediately sold off or destroyed.

Which raises the question, in the Internet era, is anybody really lost anymore? California and other states are just beginning to make use of modern databases that can find most anyone in minutes. Unfortunately, California only uses those databases to search after it has already seized a citizen's property.

If California does get better at locating people, that could present another challenge. Remember, right now, the state spends the money.
. . .
California is not the only state to come under fire for its handling of unclaimed property. In Delaware, unclaimed property is the third largest source of state revenue. Idaho recently passed an unprecedented law that says the state gets to keep unclaimed property permanently if the rightful owners don't claim it within 10 short years. And all 50 states pay private contractors 10 to 12 percent commissions to locate and seize accounts for them. It's an inherent conflict of interest: the more rightful owners are found, the less money the contractors make.

Of course, there are some states who handle their people's property with respect. Oregon never takes title to unclaimed property. Instead, it holds it in a perpetual trust fund.

Colorado uses the interest on its unclaimed property fund to pay for some state programs, but leaves the principal untouched.

Missouri, Iowa and Kansas make extra efforts to reunite people with their property - even setting up booths at state fairs to get the word out. The State of Maryland actively compares the names on unclaimed accounts with state income tax records. If it finds a match, the state simply cuts a check and sends it to the citizen.
. . .
So, the question for citizens is, how do you protect yourself?

Make contact with your bank, your brokerage firm, etc. at least once a year, in a way that creates a paper trail. Make sure they have your current address.

If you own stock, occasionally vote your proxies or take other steps to keep your stock ownership active. Stay in touch with your broker.

Write a list of all your accounts and keep it with your will, so your heirs will know where to look.

Consider insuring valuables even if you keep them in your safe-deposit box. That way, you're covered financially if the bank or state makes a mistake and empties your box. Plus, safe-deposit contents have been known to be destroyed by fire or flooding.

If you want to search for unclaimed property in your name, you do not need to pay other people to do it for you.

Check out the following links for more information:
National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators

www.missingmoney.com "

AZ Governor Yanks Sherrif Joe Arpaio's Illegal Immigration Funding

The citizens of Arizona always vote overwhelmingly in favor of legislation to make illegal immigration more difficult. Almost all of us want the border secured, and many of us want a guest worker program that verifies; Who is coming here, Where they're gong to work, & that they Return home when their paperwork expires.
Our public officials, however see the illegal immigrants as valuable constituents (perhaps voters), and works to confound every law our initiative process can get on the books. A notable exception is Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who send his officers out to arrest illegal aliens and either puts them in jail or turns them over the federal government for deportation.

Valley Fever - Governor yanks Arpaio's immigration funding:
"Much of the money for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration-enforcement efforts lately has poured out of a special pool of state money.

But New Times has learned that Governor Janet Napolitano's turning off the spigot.

In what appears to be a prelude to a major fight between Napolitano and Arpaio, the governor issued an executive order last week to develop a new task force--headed up by the state Department of Public Safety--to find and arrest tens of thousands of felons with outstanding warrants.

And, according to a letter from DPS Director Roger Vanderpool to Arpaio outlining the new effort, the task force will be funded with the money that Arpaio isn't getting anymore.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted just last week to renew an agreement between the DPS and the Sheriff's Office that would've allowed Arpaio to obtain $1 million in special funds for fiscal year 2009, which starts in July.

A review of receipts and requests for reimbursement from the Sheriff's Office shows that most of the money obtained last year was used to pay the salaries and overtime expenses of deputies involved in immigration enforcement. The state funds also were used to lease numerous vehicles from Fox Rent A Car and also to purchase radios and other equipment.
. . .
Whether the governor's tactic of escalation works politically remains to be seen. Recent polls show that most county residents still approve of Arpaio's methods, despite criticism that he's racially profiling practically anyone who's skin's brown as a potential illegal alien--notably American citizens."

Notes: 2/3 of the people sheriff's officers pick up in sweeps turn out to be illegal aliens, the other third are promptly released. The sweeps take place where illegals congregate - its like looking for burglars at the scene of frequent robberies, or drug dealers where the junkies hang out.

Responsibility for the 60,000 outstanding warrants is disputed - Sheriff Joe says they're the responsibility of the Phoenix PD. Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon disputes this - this may be part of the reason for a recall petition for the mayor.

US Energy Policy: Self Flagellation + Aide & Comfort for Our Enemies

If Obama wins, he wants a return to policies that worked so well for Jimmie Carter. Do you remember the 70's? I for one was glad that the USMC picked up most of the tab for my travel expenses during that period, and I was particularly glad to be overseas during the period when long lines were common at U.S. gas stations.
If McCain wins, he'll just stick with our stupid policy of not drilling for oil we already have - want more of the same?
Of course if Hillary wins (!) we may be too distracted by the Democratic party's civil war to care about gas prices.
Here are some long extracts from an excellent article:

OVER A BARREL - New York Post:
"May 11, 2008 -- As you go deeper into debt filling up your tank with $4 gas this weekend, look on the bright side - you're helping to fund countries that hate you.

From Russia to Iran to Venezuela, America's adversaries are splurging on oil windfalls, while programs directed against Uncle Sam and his allies are funded by petroleum revenues. Big bucks are allowing the oil sultans and dictators to intimidate US allies, buy politicians and academics, and purchase election outcomes.
. . .
the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel, and the non-cartel producers like Russia, make sure that international oil companies do not own reserves in the ground. Exxon, for instance, spent only 4 percent of its exploration budget in the Middle East last year - local governments do not allow Western companies to take control of their own destiny.

Thus, the global oil production is at the mercy of opaque and corrupt national oil companies, while the governments that own them enjoy skyrocketing oil prices and the growing, mindboggling wealth.

The revenues of the major oil producing countries have quadrupled in three years. Since 9/11, oil prices have more than quintupled. This year Europe and the US will spend approximately $2 trillion on imported oil, while the world will spend close to $3 trillion.

This money recycles back to the US and the West, often in the most legitimate ways. Sovereign Investment Funds have acquired large chunks of America's financial flagships: Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Blackstone and the Carlyle Group.

A foreign government acquiring a serious stake in US corporate gems can influence US policies in the Middle East and elsewhere.
. . .
Today's attempt to overthrow the pro-American government in Lebanon is bankrolled by Iran. Hezbollah is a wholly-owned Iranian subsidiary. Its chief has the official title of the "representative of Iran's Supreme Leader" in Lebanon. Iran paid for the 27,000 rockets Hezbollah has aimed at Israel.

Iran also buys Hamas weapons and popularity in Gaza. In a recent children's TV broadcast by Hamas' Al Aqsa TV, a "Hamasnik" boy is shown assassinating President George W. Bush in the Oval Office and declaring that the White House will be turned into a mosque. Money may not buy you love, but it sure pays for propaganda.

Al Jazeera, the Qatari Arabic and English language TV is a propaganda arm with global reach. Viciously anti-American, it talks to tens of millions of Arabic speaking Muslims worldwide, as well as audiences in Pakistan, India, London and Detroit.

Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Salafi-Jihadi ideology known as Wahhabism, is financing hundreds of religious seminaries (madrassahs), educating generations of US-hating and anti-Semitic Muslim extremists from Michigan to Manila. Some of them will pick up arms to fight the US and its allies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Wahhabis deny other religions the right to exist in dignity, as a recent religious ruling (fatwa) in Saudi Arabia demonstrated. Two journalists who argued for tolerance were sentenced to death.

In the US a majority of mosques partake of Saudi and Gulf largesse. The Saudis often provide religious leaders (imams), textbooks and curricula, to Muslim communities and schools. There is little to no control as far as the content of the teachings or school books, but a Freedom House study found that these are anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-American and anti-Israel.
. . .
If all this were not enough, Hugo Chavez, the socialist-fascist ruler of Venezuela, is spending billions in dollar oil subsidies to assemble an empire of dependencies in Latin America. According to evidence on a laptop taken from a dead guerilla leader in the neighboring Ecuador, Chavez supports the FARC narco-guerillas who are attempting to overthrow the democratically-elected government of President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia.

Chavez, an ally of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, provides cheap oil and loans to Daniel Ortega and his wife, the Sandinista rulers of Nicaragua. Chavez also supports leftist leaders and forces in Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay. Their intent is to deny the US influence and allies in South America, and ease the way for an Iranian-Hezbollah penetration of the Southern Cone.

Russian leaders, more anti-American today than ever, have written the book on using money and energy muscle to buy friends and influence neighbors. They made an example out of Ukraine, by cutting gas supply to it on New Year's Day for four days.

They also intimidated France and Germany into bucking the US at the Bucharest NATO summit and objecting to Georgia and Ukraine being issued a North Atlantic Treaty Association membership plan.
. . .
Finally, Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and even US friend Kuwait are dumping the greenback in favor of the Euro in energy transactions. This is likely to decrease demand and increase the supply of dollars, sending the US currency into a tailspin. Weaker dollars and higher inflation may add insult to injury in the prolonged process of America's economic deterioration.
. . .
the US needs, in the short term, to expand its domestic energy sector. Increasing oil and gas production in the West, along the Pacific and Atlantic continental shelf, and in Alaska will help, and so will a coal and nuclear power build-up.

The US Congress should also abolish corn ethanol subsidy and lift tariffs on the really competitive ethanol made from sugar cane. Brazil and Africa can produce more ethanol than Iowa and Nebraska."

Regarding these last points - Africa could certainly use the money, and we could gain some valuable goodwill by doing more business with Brazil.
Emphasis added.

Sync - voice recognition in more cars this fall

More choices in life is good thing. This system is optional, so if you hate Micro$oft you can order your car without the system. Personally, I think voice control is a useful addition to cars, and Microsoft's system seems to be a good value compared to their competition. If their software was in charge of my electronic steering, brakes, or throttle, then I might be much more concerned.

Hyundai and Kia's latest pitch to US drivers - Windows | The Register:
"Microsoft has signed deals with Hyundai and Kia to supply voice recognition kit for cars sold in the USA, just as soon as its exclusive deal with Ford runs out in November.

The system is called Sync, and uses an ARM-based system running Windows Mobile for Automotive with voice recognition provided by Nuance. It allows drivers to talk to various forms of media player and/or mobile phone, and support for new devices can be uploaded as and when the customer wants to use them.

The system has its own website, which reports that two new features, Vehicle Health Reports and 911 Assist, are to be launched at around the same time.

Right now the system is only available in the US on Ford motors, sometimes bundled but available as an option on the Focus and Fusion. That option is taken up by around 50 per cent of buyers, despite costing around $400.

Outside the USA, Sync is used in cars from Fiat, thanks to a previous exclusive deal, and is used for its Blue&Me product which also incorporates GPS functionality."