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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Ironclad
Published Letters: 68 Editor's Choice: 19
It is amazing to read such a refreshing piece of unvarnished reporting - giving us a glimmer of the situation on the ground in Gaza - and a real glimpse of culture that has infected the area.
1) You have the legacy of Arafat in the current condition of Fatah - divided into many small militias so that none could be too powerful – now unsuccessfully fighting against a larger organized group - Hamas.
2) You have the corruption of groups fighting over the spoils of government - which there translates into who controls the cash "donated" from the outside world.
3) You have militias - the "arm" of the political party - or more likely a family - each with it's own agenda (at this point - just to get paid)
4) You have tribalism - in the sense that no one seems to care about cooperation - just how I can maximize my pile of money and power.
5) You have the raw emotionalism that seems to rule out common sense and calculated behavior to build instead of to shoot off a gun at every occasion.
Anywhere else in the world you would call this for what it is – Warlords in action. For a people so dedicated to having their own state, their ability to wreck their dreams is breathtaking. It is said that the Palestinians "never miss a chance to miss a chance." They were given Gaza lock stock and barrel with the potential to show the world what they could accomplish by themselves. They are - and it is not pretty.
If the most educated peoples in the Middle East can't govern themselves without a strong man - what hope is there for the rest of the area?
Just love it - all of the "clean" technologies touted in this article are all "not quite ready". But coal and corn are - can I guess why they are being chosen? Anyone here understand economics? Who in their right mind would build a plant to produce ethanol using natural gas - whose price is going up and supply is going down.
19% better is still pretty good for a first step. Why whine about only "some" improvement when you can at least take a step forward - and lessen dependence on foreign oil at the same time. Work on the other technologies and pony up the money for a demo plant to show they work. Good enough may not be perfect - but it is certainly better than nothing.
As cited in previous letters - this is a high temperature thermal depolymerization reaction of which a similar process was documented in a Discovery Magazine article earlier this year. The main point is that the cost of processing the waste was almost $70 a barrel! The company in Missouri was looking to set up a facility in the EU because they could get almost $100 bbl in subsidies to get rid of the waste.
It is a great idea to reuse waste - and maybe the idea of converting lots of organic wastes (from animal processing plants which generate enermous volumes of the stuff) into fuel is better than just burying it or converting it into feed. But one has also to be hard headed in asking the question - am I willing to pay the additional disposal premium for converting? - because if you are not in terms of taxes, you will end up paying on the other end - in the cost of items you purchase.
You do not get something for nothing - the laws of economics and thermodynamics place limits on the percentage of gain you get in reuse of an item. There is no question that there is a lot of potential energy in trash - through incineration, through gas production or perhaps through this conversion process. But none of them work really well alone - I would love to see someone (in the Department of Energy?) look at combining the waste heat from a power plant (especially a nuclear one) with the heat requirements of a process like this to try to actually accomplish some environmental gains. But please do not think that this will ever be an economic success as a stand alone enterprise without massive subsidies.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
