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

To: combjelly who wrote (398335)	7/13/2008 9:40:58 AM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 1574888

Again, this is a bumper sticker issue. And a lot of it can be done grassroots. That has an enormous appeal. I agree. One problem to the overall energy solution is that it is so multifaceted... solar some places, wind some places, geothermal some places, efficiency in some applications, conservation n some applications... it's not American to look to so much different 'stuff'. We want one perfect 'cure' and immediate gratification. "all electric is probably less than 5 years away." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not to any extent. For that to happen, we would need the battery technology in hand right now. We don't have it. There are some things that might work, but they might not. People have to get used to trade offs. Yes you will sacrifice range for some time but you will also have less than 1/4 the cost per mile and lower maintenance cost. With the resources tat are being thrown at this I do think we will have all electric in five years... and incrementally better plug in hybids in the meantime. This is the sort of thing that potentially could change the game. The solution isn't ideal, not by a long shot, but it has a lot of potential. I agree. And in an "emergency situation" which could be upon us at any moment it is something we could move to fairly quickly. At the same time pursuing longer term solutions.

To: combjelly who wrote (398335)	7/13/2008 11:50:38 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1574888

Who Says Less Troops? By Michael Hirsh \| NEWSWEEK Jul 21, 2008 Issue Barack Obama is taking heat for hinting that he might refine his 16-month timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. But a forthcoming Pentagon-sponsored report will recommend an even steeper drawdown in less time, NEWSWEEK has learned. If adopted, the 300-page report by a defense analysis group at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., could transform the debate about Iraq in the presidential election. Expected to be completed in about a month, it will recommend that U.S. forces be reduced to as few as 50,000 by the spring of 2009, down from about 150,000 now. The strategy is based on a major handoff to the increasingly successful Iraqi Army, with platoon-size U.S. detachments backing the Iraqis from small outposts, with air support. The large U.S. forward operating bases that house the bulk of U.S. troops would be mostly abandoned, and the role of Special Forces would increase. The report's conclusions have been discussed inside Secretary Robert Gates's Defense Policy Board, a body of outside experts. And they've found favor with some former members of the Iraq Study Group, such as former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. "That's basically the approach we thought made sense--embedding some of our forces at smaller outposts, transferring major combat to the Iraqis," says Panetta. Like the Study Group, this report also calls for a regional diplomatic effort complementing negotiations with the Iraqi tribes, which echoes the previous recommendations of such analysts as John Arquilla, a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. "Even with a small leavening of American troops the Iraqis perform quite well," he says. The biggest problem: Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, who oversaw the surge, is said to oppose the recommendations, according to a Defense contractor who is privy to the discussions. Asked about the report, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told NEWSWEEK that Gates "feels the most important military advice he gets is from his commanders on the ground." As the next head of Central Command, Petraeus will soon have responsibility for Afghanistan and Pakistan too, which could change his views on troop deployments and the new report. Spokesman Col. Steve Boylan says Petraeus "is focused on Iraq at this point and will continue to be." newsweek.com