JQP- SUPER MARIO...is back tomorrow night! Pinch youself as it is real. Energy policy-wise, we need all parties to sheath their swords, get humble, roll up their sleeves- and prepare to work.
The environmentalists need to compromise on opening the 5% of ANWR which constitutes the coastal plain. We absolutely need more coal-fired and nuclear-fired generating facilities.
Energy conservation must also be encouraged, and alternative energy source deployement accelerated (Note- wind power projects are going in at rapid pace in west Texas- how about elsewhere north up the backbone of America?).
The Government needs to poke the major integrated oil companies to redeploy assets into North America and quit chasing chimeras in the Middle East and Asia (tax rates in these two areas are too high anyway) Let's encourage new refineries and LNG terminals too....
And this does not mean that the environmentalists have to "roll over and die". They should expect and call for enlarged wilderness areas in the lower 48 states perhaps acre for acre in return for opening ANWR's coastal plain. The US' projected population keeps getting revised upward and is projected to reach 575 million people in the Year 2075. Expand those wilderness areas now while we still can.
Next these aging antiquated pre-1970 Clean Air Act coal-fired facilities have to go. They emit way to much air pollution. Perhaps give tax credits in return for their closure and replacement by new coal-fired technology....
We need also to encourage employees to stay in the energy industry...Too much talent lost to of all places Wal Mart and Home Depot in small town America. Top-notch veteran drillers, roustabouts, and monkey boarders working as greeters at Wal Mart?
Anyway President Carter was correct to call addressing the energy crisis "the moral equivalent of war"....As Achilles said in the Iliad, "Let's gird our loins for war"...
Finally (OT) an update on SUPER MARIO:
Many of Lemieux's current and former foes will be watching Wednesday's game carefully to see how he measures up. AP
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The comeback the NHL never dared to dream for begins Wednesday night, and not even the man making it knows exactly what to expect.
Mario Lemieux returns to the ice after a 3 1/2-year retirement, restoring some star power to what has been a largely faceless NHL since he and Wayne Gretzky quit -- and, he hopes, some offense to the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins.
Lemieux's return would be dramatic and virtually unprecedented even if there wasn't the added element of the sport's first Hall of Fame player-turned-owner transforming himself back into a player.
But, despite the Jordanlike buzz Lemieux's return has created in hockey, and the huge number of tickets it has sold in Pittsburgh, it is difficult to predict how successful it will be.
Guy Lafleur and Gordie Howe renounced their retirements after a short time to return to the NHL, and Ted Williams and other baseball stars spent years fighting World War II and the Korean War before returning to the majors. Michael Jordan played minor league baseball for a year before leading the Chicago Bulls to three more NBA titles.
But Lemieux has been away nearly full four seasons -- a virtual career for some less-skilled players -- and is now 35, certainly not old but still not young in a sport where speed and leg strength are everything.
Lemieux's quick hands and strong stride returned quickly during seven weeks of workouts, but he still must deal with years of inactivity, a back that was balky even when he was much younger and bigger, stronger defensemen who don't care who he once was.
He also must deal with a sport that, despite his own remarks to the contrary, still has far too much clutching and grabbing and mucking and grinding to please fans more interested in offense, offense, offense.
"I have a lot of confidence to come back and play at a high level," said Lemieux, the only NHL player with 500 or more goals to average more than two points per game. "I'm going to have to be patient, but I intend to get back to the top of my game."
But just how high a level can he achieve? Can a player away from the game so long, even one as skilled as Lemieux, dare hope to dominate like he once did? Apparently, many want to know.
The Penguins expect to sell out all four games of a homestand that conveniently begins Wednesday, and they have more media credential requests for the comeback game -- about 200 -- than they usually do for an early-round playoff game.
Lemieux's comeback game will get saturation TV coverage in North America on ESPN, Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh, the CBC and Canada's French-speaking RDS. |
