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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (342945)	7/12/2007 8:36:51 AM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 1575191

What the MSM liberal ??? When Peaceniks Attack, Journalists Snooze By Michelle Malkin, 7/11/07 A young Air Force airman is fighting for his life in Camden, N.J. He was shot on Independence Day by a crazed gunman who reportedly had a beef with the military and the U.S. government and "wanted to make a statement" on the Fourth of July. Have you heard about the plight of 22-year-old McGuire Air Force Base loadmaster Jonathan Schrieken? Probably not. The shooting got no mention in The New York Times -- not even a squib in a back section (though the paper did see fit to put the shooting of a 7-year-old girl in Trenton on the front page). Local media outlets have gathered a few news tidbits about the shooter, Matthew Marren, who killed himself after attacking Schrieken outside his Willingboro home. Schrieken roomed with a few other servicemen in the rented house. Schrieken did not know Marren. PhillyBurbs.com reported that a relative said Marren was "angry at the government and wanted to make a statement" on Independence Day. Authorities found two suicide notes that "were indicative of an individual suffering from mental-health problems." A random act of insanity? Not so fast. There's more to the story. A reader whose son is the best friend of Senior Airman Schrieken wrote to Charles Johnson of the Little Green Footballs (www.littlegreenfootballs.com) blog with background details: "My son's best friend, Jon, who's in the Air Force stationed in New Jersey at Fort Dix/McGuire Air Force Base, was shot by a crazed anti-military white guy on Independence Day and he remains in critical condition. He had been on leave here in Ohio and got back to his home off base and was unpacking stuff from his car when this 22-year-old guy walked up to him and asked him if he lived in the house. When Jon said yes, the guy said 'not any more' and shot him point-blank in the chest. He tried to shoot him again, but his gun jammed. Jonathan made it into the house. The guy then shot himself. "Turns out the guy left a couple of suicide notes stating how much he hated the military and he wanted to go out making a statement, so he chose to make his statement on Independence Day trying to kill a soldier. We are very worried about our Airman . . . he's like a son to me. He's been to Iraq and Afghanistan on our behalf and then gets shot in his own driveway here in the U.S. by an anti-war, anti-American lunatic. This is gut wrenching." Now, imagine the scenario flipped: What if a soldier had attempted to murder a peace activist over the holidays in order to "make a statement"? The Times would be holding front-page vigil, and Katie Couric's brow would be furrowed for a week. The yakkity yaks on "The View" would be clucking their tongues about the culture of violence bred by the military -- and who knows what Rosie O'Donnell would be dressing her poor child in to exploit the story on her website. Funny how the Root Causes crowd becomes so incurious about the root causes of crime when the suspects are anti-military nutballs and anti-war protesters. To the extent leftists pay any attention at all to this attempted murder, you can expect it to be downplayed as an isolated incident. Never mind the pro-fragging comments made by troop-bashing academic fraudsters like Ward Churchill; the iconic banners that proclaim "We support our troops when they shoot their own officers" and "Don't impeach Bush . . . execute him"; the countless acts of vandalism against military recruitment offices nationwide since 9/11; and the burning of soldiers in effigy by hate-filled peaceniks. Oh, and this week, the trial of Michael Curtis Reynolds began. He's a Pennsylvania man and al Qaeda sympathizer accused of plotting to blow up U.S. energy installations in order to drive up gas prices and precipitate a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. In e-mail exchanges with Internet sleuth Shannen Rossmiller, who unmasked the bombing plot, Reynolds called the United States an "accursed country" and said "it isn't the land of the free, but the home of the new dictators." Harmless rantings? No. Ideas, like the bullet in Jon Schrieken's chest, have consequences. *** Readers can send get-well wishes to Schrieken at www.cooperhealth.org/content/PatientGuide_egreetings.htm.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (342945)	7/13/2007 2:28:08 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575191

Rooftops key to Florida green energy goal 24 minutes ago For additional analysis on carbon markets and climate change policy please join the online Reuters carbon community at reutersinteractive.com. By Jim Loney MIAMI (Reuters) - Despite its nickname, the Sunshine State, Florida's heavy rains and pricey real estate mean it has never been considered a good place to set up big solar energy plants. So a new initiative by the fourth most-populous U.S. state to get its utilities to generate 20 percent of their power from sun, wind and other renewable resources will mean wiring rooftops rather than building huge solar or wind farms. Utilities say large solar power plants would simply not be cost effective. "The cloud cover in Florida limits the amount of power that can be produced," said Mayco Villafana, a spokesman for Florida Power & Light, the state's largest electricity company. But Florida has plenty of sunshine to power rooftop solar panels and renewable energy advocates are urging the state to help residents create thousands of mini power plants in their homes. Gov. Charlie Crist announced this week that he wants utilities to generate one-fifth of their electricity from renewables to combat global warming -- joining several other U.S. states that have adopted measures to reduce greenhouse gases in the absence of action by the federal government. Crist's executive orders, which he was due to sign at a climate change summit in Miami on Friday, did not contain a target date for the 20 percent goal. State officials could not provide figures on the current share of renewable energy. But Mike Sole, secretary of the state's Department of Environmental Protection, said on the sidelines of the conference that the target date is 13 years from now. "We are proposing and have recommended to the governor that it be 2020," he said. "Now we have to work with the Public Service Commission (regulators) to get that implemented." Crist's initiative calls on the state to permit people who generate power at their homes and businesses to lower utility bills by feeding excess electricity back into the grid. SUNSHINE STATE The American West's vast open spaces provide all the ingredients for alternative energy plants -- vast tracts of cheap desert land, steady winds and year-round sunshine. Florida's expensive real estate, unreliable wind and severe rainy season limit its prospects, according to experts. FPL Group, the parent of Florida Power & Light, the state's largest utility, is the top U.S. wind power generator with 47 wind farms in 15 states. Yet it does not have one in Florida. It has a major solar plant in California's Mojave Desert, but none in the Sunshine State, even though Florida has as much sunshine -- 5 to 6 kilowatt hours per meter squared per day -- as parts of California. "We're not look at Arizona-style or Nevada-style solar fields as a primary target," said Sole. "We're looking at rooftops." Photovoltaic systems that collect the sun's rays and turn them into energy can cost $30,000 or more for an average U.S. home, so solar advocates are pushing Florida to expand incentives to help residents with initial costs. James Fenton, director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, said a monthly charge of $1.50 on a utility bill could raise more than $200 million a year to invest in a panel installation program. California, which has a "Million Solar roofs" program under way, puts more than $300 million yearly into installation of solar panels on rooftops. "The utilities have to find a way to own the PV power plant on my roof so they can profit from it," Fenton said. He said Florida has twice the sunshine of Germany, a global leader in solar power, and believes local utilities are ready to hop on the bandwagon. "They like big power plants," he said. "So it's about switching over this mindset from a big power plant to a small one. But I think they are coming around." Villafana said FPL generally supports Crist's initiative but is taking a wait-and-see attitude until state regulators explain how the plan would work. Asked if FPL is interested in owning photovoltaic rooftop installations on private homes, he said: "We haven't even discussed that."

To: RetiredNow who wrote (342945)	7/15/2007 1:08:04 PM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 1575191

The Green Road Less Traveled By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Whoever knew — I.B.M. is managing traffic congestion in Stockholm. Well it is, and therein lies a story. Probably the biggest green initiative coming down the road these days, literally, is congestion pricing — charging people for the right to drive into a downtown area. It is already proving to be the most effective short-term way to clean up polluted city air, promote energy efficiency and create more livable urban centers, while also providing mayors with unexpected new revenue. Imagine a day when you will go online and buy a pass to drive into any major urban area and the price of your pass will be set by whether you are driving a hybrid or a Hummer, the time of day you want to drive, the road you want to use and how much carbon your car trip will emit. And if there is an accident on the route you normally take, an alert will be sent to a device in your car warning you to go a different way. Well, that day is pretty much here for London, Stockholm and Singapore — and New York City could be next. In a few years, the notion that you will be able to get into your car in the suburbs and drive downtown for free will be as old-fashioned as horses and buggies. But what does this have to do with I.B.M.? To make congestion pricing work, you need technology — cameras, software and algorithms that can read auto license plates as they flash by and automatically charge the driver or check whether he or she has paid the fee to enter the city center. (The data is regularly destroyed to protect privacy.) That is what I.B.M. is providing for the city of Stockholm, which, after a successful seven-month trial in which traffic dropped more than 20 percent, will move to full congestion pricing in August. “In Stockholm, we built a system where we have a ring of cameras around the city — 18 entry points with multiple lanes,” explained Jamie Houghton, I.B.M.’s global leader for road charging, based in London. “I.B.M. Stockholm runs the whole system.” O.K., Friedman, so I.B.M. is now in the traffic biz. Who cares? I care, because it underscores a fundamental truth about green technology: you can’t make a product greener, whether it’s a car, a refrigerator or a traffic system, without making it smarter — smarter materials, smarter software or smarter design. What can many U.S. companies still manufacture? They can manufacture things that are smart — that have a lot of knowledge content in them, like a congestion pricing network for a whole city. What do many Chinese companies manufacturer? They manufacture things that can be made with a lot of cheap labor, like the rubber tires on your car. Which jobs are most easily outsourced? The ones vulnerable to cheap labor. Which jobs are hardest to outsource? Those that require a lot of knowledge. So what does all this mean? It means that to the extent that we make “green” standards part of everything we design and manufacture, we create “green collar” jobs that are much more difficult to outsource. I.B.M. and other tech companies are discovering a mother lode of potential new business for their high-wage engineers and programmers thanks to the fact that mayors all over the world are thinking about going green through congestion pricing systems. “Congestion pricing of traffic is emerging as a completely new services market for I.B.M.,” said Mr. Houghton. “I.B.M. is in discussion with major cities worldwide, including some in China.” Hopefully, if the New York State Legislature acts, New York City will get access to a $500 million Department of Transportation grant for a pilot congestion pricing system. The more U.S. cities adopt congestion pricing, the more U.S. companies will quickly develop the expertise in this field, which is going to be a huge growth industry on a planet where more and more people will be living in cities. Congestion pricing is the only way to make them livable without trillions of dollars of new infrastructure. As New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who’s trying to bring this system to his city, put it to me: “The percentage of your working day spent in a commute will go down and the time you spend being productive and being paid, or simply relaxing, will go up. Also, more people will do business in the city, because they can get to stores, offices or the theater more easily.” So if you hear a politician say that we can’t afford to impose green standards because it will cost us jobs, tell them: “Hogwash.” The more we elevate, expand and globalize green, clean-power standards the more we play to the strengths of the American economy, American jobs and American-based companies.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (342945)	7/19/2007 11:30:04 AM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575191

Applied Materials lays big bet on solar panel business IAN KING Bloomberg News theglobeandmail.com. July 18, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO -- Applied Materials Inc. spent $1-billion (U.S.) and hired 500 engineers to get a foothold in solar panel equipment. Now it must prove to investors that the business isn't just an expensive science project. Chief executive officer Mike Splinter estimates the market for electricity-generating machinery is $1-trillion a year. His goal is to make solar panels cheap enough to produce electricity at a competitive rate. "We're quite confident," Mr. Splinter, who is addressing analysts today in San Francisco, said in an interview. "The issue is how long it will take." Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials hit a 52-week high yesterday, closing at $21.80 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock is up 18 per cent year to date, and 42.7 per cent in the past 12 months on a total return basis. It has a dividend yield of 1.1 per cent. Print Edition - Section Front Section B Front Enlarge Image The Globe and Mail Machines made by Applied Materials have run most of the world's semiconductor plants since the company was created in 1967, helping make more chips at a lower cost. The challenge is to do the same for solar panels, which so far generate less than 0.1 per cent of the world's electricity. "My whole question with the solar industry at this point is that it's a big Al Gore research project," said analyst Mark FitzGerald at Banc of America Securities in San Francisco. "There's no doubt the technology works, but at what cost?" Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore urges a switch to alternative power to cut dependence on fossil fuels. U.S. companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Applied Materials itself plan to use solar panels for at least some of their power needs. Installation of the panels rose about 20 per cent in the United States last year. The price of solar-generated electricity must fall by half before it is competitive with fossil fuel power, said Charlie Gay, who headed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory under former U.S. president Bill Clinton. Mr. Splinter hired Mr. Gay last year to head Applied Material's solar business. "It's doable," Mr. Gay said in an interview. "It's within reach now. It's within the next three to five years." On average, a solar panel installation will generate electricity at between 20 and 40 cents a kilowatt-hour over a 25-year lifespan, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association in Washington. The average retail price of electricity is 10.5 cents, says the U.S. Energy Department. For homeowners, installing solar panels typically costs between $30,000 and $40,000, Mr. Gay said. Mr. Splinter, 56, is seeking to blunt the impact of a slowdown in the chip industry, a $40-billion market whose boom-and-bust cycles make it difficult to predict Applied's sales. The solar business will add $500-million to Applied's sales next year and double in each of the next two years, bringing in as much as $2-billion in annual revenue by 2010, Mr. FitzGerald said. The confidence is partly based on lessons from television makers. Rising demand for big flat-screen TVs sparked a race to make them out of ever-larger pieces of glass. The result was cheaper manufacturing, which benefited Applied. The company supplies TV makers with machines that can process sheets of the electronics-coated glass the size of a double bed, a business that accounted for 8 per cent of its $2.5-billion in sales last quarter. Solar panels may generate 5 per cent of sales in 2008, Mr. FitzGerald estimated. While solar panels typically aren't made with the same thin-film technology as flat-panel screens, that may change. Thin film is cheaper and, if used in larger areas, can be more cost-effective than solar panels made from silicon wafers, said Gus Richard, a San Francisco-based analyst at First Albany Corp. Applied is bringing "a lot of the efficiencies that they learned on the flat-panel business, which gives them a head start over a lot of people," said analyst Mark Bachman at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore. "This is probably one of the more interesting parts of the Applied Materials story," Mr. Bachman said. Mr. FitzGerald, whose own home has solar panels, said he expects Applied's solar business to offer a better return than chip making. In the past five years, Applied shares rose 12 per cent, compared with a 60-per-cent gain by the Nasdaq Stock Market. The world solar energy index, which tracks performance of the 10 largest solar energy stocks, is up 63 per cent this year. Applied's main rival in solar panel equipment is Switzerland's OC Oerlikon Corp. AG, whose stock is up 12 per cent this year. "The equipment industry is wind in their face now," said Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Jesse Pichel in New York. He has a "market perform" rating on Applied stock. Mr. Splinter expects experience in handling the swings of the chip equipment business to help in the solar venture. "We're used to cyclical business. We know how to handle that. It could be very difficult for other companies not so used to the ups and downs as this market develops."