No way to prove you're not privileged, thus your example about your old man gets ignored. The real strategy is one that came up after your comment. Ask the presenter to prove he's not privileged, as a male, as a govt. contractor, surely he's had an education not available to everyone in the world, esp. the poor. If your experience is invalid because of privilege, his presentation must also be invalid because of HIS. Ooops.

To THE DUTCHMAN:

Good reply to MechDvtEngr. This is more like it. You both make passionate statements backed up with believable examples.

I do see a Political bias against Cheney and Rumsfeld in MechDvtEngr's posts. I also see a bias against the current president in the use of "Obozo."

It would be good to look at some useful statistics about veterans benefits instead of just passionate anecdotes from personal experience which we do not have any way of testing.

Anyone?

MechDvtEngr:

Well written response. I wish I could argue, but what you've written sounds valid. I'll check on the Obama shifts in VA policy that you mentioned, but they sound possible.

Former enlisted marine with a short tour in the late 70's.

Since then I've seen both conservative and liberals in the white house, and have not been satisfied with either. The liberals seem to see the US military as a personal social work labor force, and the conservatives seem to see them as a personal enforcer for now multinational industries. Neither one seems to have any respect for the military man or woman walking point in some hellhole.

Sad, Worried.

I was hoping someone would cite some examples on this thread.

OH, well.

Good point, Dave.

Currently the ONLY way to "make" serious money in renewables is by collecting government grants. Solyndra did a great job of it. That money they were given is simply gone into the pockets of those who ran the project.

People should understand that winning a government grant is not "making" money, it's "taking" money. There's a big difference.

But I suppose the greenbacks spend the same either way, right? And who cares who's hurt?

Not Dave, but thought I'd weigh in. As the cost of recovering fossil fuel increases due to increasing inaccessibility coupled with decreasing supply, other forms of energy will become more cost effective. If you're paying $500 dollars a barrel for oil, competitors who can produce the same energy using other cheapers sources will step in. That's how the "invisible hand" of the market works and creates market efficiencies. Unless you artificially inflate the cost of a product by taxing it, saddling producers with onerous regulations, etc., and "support" other less efficient energy sources with misappropriated taxpayer funding, thus creating an artificial imbalance in the marketplace.

It is very interesting that the dollar sign is actually the combination of an elongated letter "U," superimposed on the letter "S" (with the bottom connector of the "U" removed. )

It appears the dollar sign is as llinked to American history and image as any other symbol of the United States.

ROFL! Unless you run your own backyard solar collectors and wind generators, guess who'll be supplying your electricity when the evil "big oil" has been defeated? Yup, you got it. Evil "Big Wind" and "Big Solar" will be charging you horrific rates for electricity, and you'll be wailing the same mournful tune about them.

Or the government will nationalize power generation and you'll get your electricity for a rate determined by politicians, sociologists, and urban planners, (with just a little for them for the service, of course). And even if the electricity is "free," guess where the money to generate it will come from? heh, heh.

Lots of evidence suggests that increasing atmospheric CO2 is beneficial to agriculture.

Sounds like an interesting study. One wonders about the methodology and the initial assumptions, as well as whether the outcome was pre-determined.

If you read the article I linked, it noted that German solar panels are made in China with slave labor, that's why they're "cheap." German electricity costs are five times the American rate per kilowatt/hour. Yes, they don't have much in the way of solar energy falling on that northern nation. There are lots of things not said in this dialogue, however. Sun only shines 12 hours a day. This means energy must be stored for when the sun isn't shining, using chemically toxic batteries. Wind turbines are contributing to the destruction of many migratory birds, who are unable to avoid the fast-moving blade tips. Further, the wind also doesn't "blow" uniformly, requiring battery backup. Lots of problems, lots of reasons why fossil fuels and nuclear are superior.

Germany has the greatest percentage of wind and solar contribution to their electric grid in the EU, which many greens proudly tout. What is not well-known, and what is downplayed is that German electricity rates are FIVE TIMES what Americans pay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/08/germany-has-five-times-as-much-solar-power-as-the-u-s-despite-alaska-levels-of-sun/

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/germanys-solar-failure-is-a-big-lesson-for-hawaii/123

Sorry, CrazyHorse, I don't understand your use of Quid Pro Quo. I believe a "quid pro quo" is "I give you this, and in exchange, you give me that," or "I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine." Is that how you're using it?

I believe the same metrics indicate an increase in income of households in the bottom quintile.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/12319/6-myths-about-income-inequality-in-america

Since 1970, incomes between households in the top and bottom quintiles appear to be different in nominal and real terms, in which real income is the amount of goods and services each dollar of income can purchase in 2010 dollars (Figure 1). The argument that the lowest quintile is worse off than in the past is a myth; this group's average real income rose by 10.5% over this period.

strange that the graph in question terminates just before the 2008 housing bubble and subsequent market crash and loss of about 40% of value. Why would they do that, do you think?