Don't forget to VOTE!

I know that it has been quiet lately on the blog, but a lot has been going on and I haven't had much time to write, but I wanted to take a moment to remind everyone to take the time to cast your ballot and VOTE!

I know that some of the lines will be really long, but in the end, it will be worth it. This particular election will go down in history and you can be a part of it by going to your local polling location and selecting the candidate of your choice, but before you do so, take a moment and really, REALLY think about who is going to make the biggest difference, who is going to reunite our country and help pull us out from the deepest, darkest times of this decade. Really, really ponder this decision before you go to bed tonight and especially just before you cast your vote, think about who has your best interests at heart. Who can make the change that we need to assist in providing jobs, health care, and the overall quality of life that has been missing from this country for quite awhile? Who has the best VP that will be there to give the president an educated and well thought out opinion on what really is right for this country? Really and truly think about your decision, because the next four years could be really great or continue down the path of our leaders forgetting about its own people. We live here too and pay our taxes, but if things don't change for the better, we're doing this all for nothing and what difference will it make. Just vote, but make an educated VOTE!

You Favorite PickensPlan Video Contest Finalists

My picks for the top 2 in the contest would be:

1) "We The People" by YodelingGoatMedia.

This video seemed to have the most impact and was directed as if I were saying it myself to the leaders of our country. Well Said!

2) "We Can Do This" by HurricaneJXXN.

Take a moment to navigate over to T. Boone's site and VOTE for your favorite!

Obama in St. Louis on 10/18

For those of you interested, Barack Obama with be at the Change We Need Rally in downtown St. Louis, under the Gateway Arch at the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Memorial Dr. & Market St.) on Saturday, October 18th. Gates open at 10:15AM and the Program starts at Noon. The event is free and open to the public, with no tickets required. You can RSVP, if you would like at "http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/mobostlouis".

I'm almost certain it's going to be crowded, as it is estimated that there will be around 50,000 people there. I'm planning on being there and expect to have a really good time. I think it is going to be a once in a lifetime event.

For those of you in the St. Louis area, regardless of your views and opinions, come and see history taking place. I've personally never been to a rally and probably won't get many chances to, but I can definitely make this one.

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Roast with McCain and Obama

I was recently referred to the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Roast and found that both candidates did a fabulous job. They were downright hilarious and definitely worth a watch. Click on the links below to both of their comedic styles from MSNBC.com

John McCain's Standup
Barack Obama's Standup

My Reply to Russ Carnahan

Hi Russ,

I'm so very glad to receive your message and I am extremely excited that you're backing The Picken's Plan. I think, at this point, this is our best avenue for success in getting the economy back on track and bringing jobs back home and also in creating new jobs and sources of revenue. In my previous email that I had sent to you, I had mentioned of recycling and reducing our landfills by cleaning them up and pulling out the recyclable materials, which can create a commodities revenue, create more jobs and fund alternative/renewable energy research, development, and installations.

Please give this a thought, as this process can be started NOW, without R&D and financial deployment. I feel that there should also be a push and incentive to all of the "waste management" companies to provide a "recycling" service within all of our counties.

I was recently informed by a friend who lives in Arnold, MO that his waste service is now providing large recycling containers and will take ALL of the recyclable materials. Unfortunately, my local waste company does not provide this service, thus I utilize my local recycling center located in Byrnes Mill, MO, once per week. I have reduced my actual output of "trash" from 2-3 trash cans down to one that is only half full and recycle two trash cans full of materials per week. I think if we can get more consumers to begin recycling, we can lessen our impact on the environment, as well as creating, as I had mentioned, a commodities revenue to assist with the alternative/renewable energy projects that would benefit our great state of Missouri.

Thanks for all of your hard work!

--Ken Stulce
kstulce@gmail.com
http://altenergypolitics.blogspot.com

A recent message from Russ Carnahan

Today, I received this email from the Missouri Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan and it's looking like he's totally backing the Picken's Plan. Way to go Russ!

Dear MR Stulce:

Thank you for contacting me in regard to America's energy needs. I appreciate hearing from you and I welcome the chance to respond to you.

In order to address this energy crisis, we need to fundamentally change the way America powers itself. While the United States has almost 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, we use 24 percent of the world's oil. We have more oil wells than any other country on Earth. And no matter how many more we drill, we will never again pump as much as we did during the1970s. Even self-described oilman, T. Boone Pickens said, "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of." I agree with this statement, and believe that we must address the root of the problem - America's addiction to oil.

As you are aware, Pickens has developed a plan calling for the replacement of 20% of our energy requirements, currently supplied by foreign oil, with wind energy. Using wind energy also frees up our vast stores of natural gas which can then be used to power our cars with significantly lower carbon dioxide emissions and allows us more time to develop new cleaner energy sources. His plan is consistent with the plans supported by the Democratic Congress - break the grip of foreign oil while developing our own vast natural renewable and clean energy resources. Developing our own energy resources keeps our money and our jobs here and makes America more secure.

Please be assured that since coming to Congress, I have been working hard for all of my constituents to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, bring down record gas prices, and launch a cleaner, smarter energy future for America that lowers energy costs while creating hundreds of thousands of good paying green jobs and securing America's future.

Please know that I will continue to support and encourage legislation that will achieve these goals. Once again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future on this or any other issue of concern.

The Wrong Palin

With all of this ecstatic debating and political upheaval spreading throughout the lands, I just have to take a moment and put out a message:

The Republicans settled for the WRONG PALIN!

Here's who they should have picked: "http://www.michaelpalinforpresident.com/".

Sorry, Tension Break....It had to be done!

Call To Action - Join the Pickens Plan

The more and more I read information about The Pickens Plan, the more I think it is a really good idea. At this point, T. Boone Pickens is one of a very few, highly publicized individuals who are actually actively promoting ways to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil. He takes a completely neutral stand on politics, as far as I can tell, in his approach to promoting his plan.

If you think about it, at this point are there any better alternatives? Not really. In the current state of economics in America, his plan would benefit immensely.

Please, take a moment of your time and navigate over to http://www.pickensplan.com, click on the heading "ThePledge" and then click on the link "Click here to email Congress now". The form will auto-populate, based on your registration information, your Congressional representatives contact information and will generate a letter to them. All you have to do is take a minute of your time. After you've completed ThePledge, please forward it to as many people as you can. The more registered pledgers that he has, the louder we speak and the easier it will be for Congress to "hear" our cry!

Thanks for your consideration and effort.

--Ken

The FairTax Act

In researching everyone's take on the horribly miscalculated tax rebate plan for the $85 billion to bailout AIG, I ran across something that I think really needs to be considered.....The FairTax Act. This plan actually makes LOTS of sense and could possibly end a fair percentage of the corruptness which revolves around Federal taxation. Keep your entire paycheck and only pay taxes for the items that you purchase. A plan like this would allow the penny pinchers to invest the money that they would normally spend in income taxes. Not everyone has the willpower to due this, but those that do could definitely come out ahead and it could possibly increase small business development.

Of course, I definitely need to research this more, but wanted to mention it to those of you interested in alternatives to our current situation.

McCain cancels interview with David Letterman

Did you hear that John McCain canceled his interview with David Letterman? Check out the video of David Letterman's disappointment and reaction. Something smells a little fishy with the cancellation. I can't wait to see what McCain's reaction and response will be.

2008 Presidential Debate - 09/26/08 - Thoughts

In reviewing the debate, some things just didn't sit right with me. I don't think either candidate answered the question fully about the current economic issue. I think they both discussed future plans, though at this point, I feel that Obama has the better of the plans and actually describes them. I can say that I somewhat understand why they wouldn't give more details, though they would have been better off.

McCain definitely voiced his "past" involvement and experience and was quick to point out that he's "been" to this country or that country. I'm going to throw this out, but does that mean he's spending tax payers dollars to travel the world, basically for free? Of these various travels, what did he actually accomplish? Obama may not be a world traveler, but that doesn't mean he doesn't know what is going on.

During the debate, McCain consistently focused on the military. I'm definitely with him in regards to supporting the troops and taking care of the veterans if they are injured and after their service is complete, though I don't think he necessarily described it in that exact fashion. Why doesn't McCain want to have a foreseeable deadline for the war in Iraq? What is wrong with having a goal for completion? I was definitely with Obama in regards to finishing up what we should have done in the first place, hunt down Bin Laden and direct some of our focus on Pakistan and bringing down Al Qaeda. For some reason, Bush and McCain do NOT want to focus on Bin Laden. They may talk about him from time to time, but they certainly don't want to focus any efforts on catching him. Why is that? Also, what was McCain's holdup on the "surge" in Iraq? He kept commenting on Obama's "surprise" that it succeeded. We've basically been in Iraq for five plus long years, and only during the last two plus years we have made significant progress. I can see why Obama would have been surprised and its outcome was "beyond his wildest expectations". If we're doing so good in Iraq, why can't we NOW focus and redirecting our troops on capturing Bin Laden and putting a stop to Al Qaeda? Also, why can't Iraq be self-sustaining with their billions of dollars in oil surplus? Why are we still funding them? They have an army with plenty of trained troops, it's time that they start taking over the defense of their country.

Another thing that completely turned me off toward McCain is that he DIDN'T, not even once, look directly at Obama during the debate. He would only look at Jim Lehrer and kept turning his back on Obama. You would think as a military man that he would know that you NEVER turn your back on your opponent, not even once! I was very happy to see that Obama was trying to make this into a group debate and directly spoke to both McCain and Lehrer. I thought part of debating was to actually look and interact directly with your opponent. In body language, this shows fear and an unwillingness to acknowledge. Is this someone that should be running the country? I think that McCain does have experience, but as an advisor, Yes, as a leader, maybe not. I think McCain was trying to "relate" to the public, though I don't think it came across the way he was hoping that it would, in my opinion.

Another point that was brought up was Nuclear Energy. I don't think this would be good at all. First off, Nuclear Energy produces biohazardous waste materials. What would we do with them? It takes hundreds of years to dispose of, which isn't really a good time table at all. I think off-shore drilling should be considered, but not nearly as much as the alternative/renewable resources, which I feel that Obama seemed to focus on more. I noticed that neither one of them specifically mentioned T. Boone Picken's plan by name, though they did discuss some of his ideas. I think T. Boone needs to have a few more discussions with both of them!

All in all, I think we need to see more debates, but I feel that Obama definitely came out ahead in this one.

What is your opinion?

Palin's Interview with Katie Couric

Everyone needs to have a look at this interview. This is definitely not a good likeness for Sarah Palin. I'm very much concerned with someone of her caliber being so close to the helm of our country's leadership. Please review this video and give it some thought.

"Sarah Palin's Witch Doctor"

I couldn't resist writing about the news and video that I was recently told about in regards to Sarah Palin's "Witch Doctor". Obama got reamed because of his ties to the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago with Jeremiah Wright at its forefront, but it's OK for Palin to be associated with a "Witch Doctor" or "Witch Hunter", as I believe the video suggests.

I'm not trying to spread propaganda with this link, but I feel that everyone should be informed of Palin's affiliations and associates.

My suggestion to T. Boone Pickens

After watching tonight's presidential debates, I decided to head over to The Picken's Plan to see what everyone was discussing in his post-debate discussion. After reading through the various discussion points, I decided to email T. Boone with a suggestion.

Hi T. Boone,

I think your ideas are great and are definitely the direction that our country needs to go. In regards to wind energy, I see that your plans seem to suggest wind farms, which require vast amount of land. With that in mind, I have seen information about plans where small wind turbines can be installed on the undersides of overpasses within the urban populations. Think about it, as many vehicles that pass under overpasses, at usually a high rate of speed, this would collect huge amounts of kinetic wind energy. If all major cities installed these forms of renewable energy devices, they could be almost self sustaining, or at least largely self-supported, in regards to an energy surplus. I discuss some of these ideas on my blog at "http://altenergypolitics.blogspot.com".

Also, a plan to gather the recyclable materials from our country's ever growing landfills could hypothetically produce, from all 50 states, a commodities surplus of $14 trillion. Please see the study that I posted on my blog from Missouri landfills alone, which could reap $280 million in just one year. Multiply that figure by all 50 states and we could easily support the alternative/renewable energy development plans.

Thanks in advance for your time in considering my suggestions.

--Ken

Psychology - What makes people vote Republican or Democrat?

In my pursuit to figure out what makes people vote Republican, I came across this article by JONATHAN HAIDT, an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. It's kind of long winded, but it does give somewhat of a reason as to people's thinking. I've asked many people why they vote the way they do, but haven't gotten a lot of good reasons. So, my pursuit to the answer has taken me to researching it on the Internet.

On the same site as this essay, I also found a responsive article by various other sources with their opinions on the essay, which I found very interesting.

Here's another opinion of the essay from the blog labeled "Confessions of a Cooperator".

I also found an article titled "The Conservative Case for Voting Democratic" by Doug Bandow from the CATO Institute.

The biggest problem that I have found within the media is it is hard to find a completely neutral source. The idea of Republican or Democrat, based on past definitions, though, has completely changed. Both sides of the spectrum have changed, at least maybe somewhat, from their past ideologies.

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From Answers.com, the definition of a Democrat is:

1. 1. An advocate of democracy.
   2. One who believes in social equality or discounts distinctions in rank.
      

Philosophy Dictionary: democracy (Greek, rule by the people) In Greek thought, rule by the citizens in general (nevertheless excluding women and of course slaves) in contrast to government by the rich and aristocratic. In modern society the sovereignty of the people in general, expressed not directly by a vote on individual questions, but through representatives. Questions arise whether various mechanisms ensure that decision-making authentically answers to the people, or serves their interest (see also general will). The problem of delimiting a democratic constitution encounters these and other difficulties; critics suggest that political democracy is hollow unless accompanied by power in other spheres, and especially the area of economics.

From Answers.com, the definition of a Republican is:

1. a. One who favors a republic as the best form of government.
   

Philosophy Dictionary: republicanism An ideal of government that emphasizes the role of the active, participating citizen in government, often looking back to the role of the citizen in ancient Rome or Athens. Institutionally it aims at checks and balances to prevent the emergence of faction and majority tyranny, but also to the town-hall politics whereby decision-making has a bottom-up rather than a top-down structure.

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With the definitions in mind, the current U.S. government has a lot of corruption and greed and the people's representatives (most politicians) have completely forgotten about the people. The best chance we have is to find the lesser of two evils. Even back in the ancient Roman times, corruption was a very big problem. It is easy to understand how the corruption happens, but why is it allowed? Our government was built upon checks and balances, but most of the checks and balances don't necessarily seem to be worked. I won't say all of them aren't working, otherwise we would have complete anarchy.

I pray, regardless of how I personally vote, that whomever takes office will pleasantly surprise me and do the right thing by remembering about the people they're serving, restoring the checks and balances, pursuing equality and justice for all, fixing our economy and helping to provide jobs for everyone, fighting for health care for all of the citizens, performing peaceful diplomatic relations with other countries, promoting and pursuing alternative and renewable forms of energy and breaking our dependence on foreign oil and fossil fuels in general, and pushing for the people to work as a United States of America!

My email to Jay Nixon

I decided to take a moment and spread the word to the Democratic nominee for Missouri Governor, Jay Nixon. Please do the same and email your government officials. If you have an idea, spread the word. This is the only way we can make a difference. Use your voice and your mind. Make educated decisions through research. Look for "neutral" and unbiased sources of information.

Please follow my lead.
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Hi Jay,

I'm really glad to hear that you're running for Governor. I think that you did a fantastic job as Attorney General and really hope that you take the win for the Governor's seat. With that said, I wanted to take this opportunity to write to you and offer some suggestions, which I have posted on my blog at "http://altenergypolitics.blogspot.com/".

The biggest idea that I REALLY think would clean up Missouri, would be to clean up our landfills and create commodities revenues through recycling materials during the cleanup process. According to a study, as quoted on my blog, there is the potential, in Missouri alone, to gather 1.9 million tons of recyclable materials over a year and have a possible value of $208 million. 45% of waste in our landfills is recyclable materials.

Various resources could be utilized to begin the cleanup process, such as Community Service programs (including welfare-to-work), Prison work programs, Volunteers, etc. I also feel that we need to have more recycling centers throughout the state and offer tax breaks to trash services who offer recycling pickup as part of their route, including providing recycle bins to their customers.

I feel that the money earned from this development could provide many benefits, including alternative/renewable energy research and development/deployment, K-12 & college education grants, and other needed programs.

Also, please consider the Pickens Plan.

Thanks for your time and good luck with the campaign. You will be getting my vote!

--Ken

Homemade Wind Power by Layne Erickson

I found this fantastic set of YouTube videos on how to build your own wind turbine out of easily attainable and fairly inexpensive materials. Basically, it is made out of PVC, a used GM car alternator with new innards, and a few nuts and bolts. The video is broken down into three parts. Below are direct links to the three different videos:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3


The person who built the wind generator is Layne Erickson. I think he did a fantastic job and put together a very, simple enough, but effective, turbine. I'm hoping to see more from him and also to find out how many of these that he has in action, especially with him powering all of the tools in his workshop.

As I find more of these types of presentations, I will post them as I come across them.

Enjoy!

Taxes - McCain vs. Obama

I've been in the middle of debating various people on this subject, as I'm being told that Obama is going to raise taxes for everyone. I find it very hard to believe and decided to research these claims. A site that I look to for various information is Snopes.com. I decided to review the information that they had on this subject and here is an article they had whether or not this was true. I'm not going to quote everything that they mentioned, but based on their research, Obama isn't going to raise taxes for everyone, just those that make more than $227,000 a year.

The other big topic that everyone has been discussing is the Capital Gains Tax. According to the article, both McCain and Obama are stating that they're leaving intact the capital gains exemption for the first $500,000 per household of profit from the sale of a primary residence. Those with a higher profit would most likely see a higher tax under an Obama presidency.

I advise reading the article, as it explains a lot and explains the truths and fallacies.

Better Place

I found this VERY interesting article from Wired magazine and I just had to share it with everyone.

http://www.wired.com/cars/futuretransport/magazine/16-09/ff_agassi?currentPage=all

The article is titled: "Driven: Shai Agassi's Audacious Plan to Put Electric Cars on the Road".

The article basically discusses the vision of the ex-SAP executive to change the way we utilize our vehicles. Everything will be electric and the business plan will be laid out just like mobile phone packages. There will be charging hotspots everywhere, as well as a battery changing system, similar to a drive up gas station, where you can get a battery swap. They're stating that the swaps will take less time than that which is needed for gas "fillups".

I feel this plan has a LOT of potential and is definitely worth a read. Visit the homepage for Better Place.

A request to Barack Obama

I have recently sent a message to Barack Obama with a plan and a request:

Hello Mr. Obama & Mr. Biden,

I cannot tell you enough how excited I am about your campaign. This year has been a very interesting turn of events. Originally, I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, mainly because of her previous experience with President Clinton and the ideals she gained during his presidency, who I believe made a change in America, though, after his eight years in office and the following eight years of complete turmoil, I feel that both you and Mr. Biden have what it takes to get America back on track. I feel you know that America is "Of the people, by the people, and for the people", otherwise there wouldn't be an America and you wouldn't be running for office.

With that said, I wanted to bring up a few points that I am discussing in my blog, "http://altenergypolitics.blogspot.com/".

First, I would like to discuss Recycling and our landfills. Just in Missouri alone, there is 1.9 million tons of recyclable materials per year thrown away into our landfills, which according to a 2006-2007 study performed by Midwest Assistance Program Inc., equates to $208 million in potential economic commodities, though multiply that by 50 states, and you could see a massive surplus of potential. Can you imagine if these materials were recycled and what we could do with the money? I have a plan that if we were to use free or nearly free labor sources to harvest these materials in all of the U.S., this money could go toward many of our goals: Alternative Energy research and development, college grants, local education funding....the list could go on and on. The labor sources could be community service programs, prison work programs, welfare-to-work programs, etc. Please give this a thought!

Second, I want to discuss Alternative Energy. We really need to take a hard look at the Picken's Plan, as I feel Mr. Pickens has some really good ideas. I've written to my Congresspersons and have presented both Mr. Picken's ideas, as well as my own, and wanted to pass these same thoughts to you for consideration. We need to eliminate our need for foreign oil by developing our own means of energy, which can all be acquired freely after the initial investment: Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geo-Thermal, etc. With as many farmers as we have across America, there has to be a way to borrow small pieces of their land, in an energy sharing agreement, where Wind & Solar farms can co-exist with crop farms to produce both our vegetables and our energy. If I financial had a way to do this, believe me, I would. I'm working on a plan to personally do this, but until I come up with one, I would like to request your assistance with the Picken's Plan. Also, please look into legislation to force a stop to the monopolizing energy companies throughout the U.S., specifically in Missouri. I believe if an individual, regardless of trying to make a profit or not, wants to generate renewable energy in excess, the energy companies, such as AmerenUE, should be required by law to purchase the excess energy at the going rate and not take it because its available and attached to the grid! At the present, negotiations at their discretion must be performed. Please give consideration to these plans.

I wish both you and Mr. Biden all the best of health, strength, and luck in the upcoming elections. I will be speaking to everyone I can that a vote for you is the only choice they have if they wish America to once again to return to the prosperity we once had eight years ago.

Good Luck and God Bless!

--Ken Stulce

MO Clean Energy Initiative

The Missouri Clean Energy Initiative is definitely a policy that needs to be put into place. I'm baffled as to why for the last 8 years this bill has been introduced, but has failed to pass. This Initiative will require Missouri investor-owned electric utilities (Ameren, Empire, Aquila, and KCP&L) to get 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. At the present 86% of Missouri's energy comes from coal, though thousands of cases of asthma and lung cancer cases are a direct effect from the air pollution created by the coal plants.

Think about it and visit the official website: "http://missouricleanenergy.org".

Here's a special note to pass along to everyone in Missouri:

Hi,
On November 4, Missouri voters will have the chance to bring clean, renewable energy to Missouri by Voting Yes for the Clean Energy Initiative. This Initiative will require electric utilities to get 15% of their electricity from clean, renewable sources by 2021. The Clean energy Initiative moves Missouri toward energy independence , utilizing the wind and sun to meet our energy needs instead od relying on fossil fuels imported from out of state. This policy invigorates Missouri's economy, creates new jobs, saves consumers money, and lessens air pollution.

Help bring Clean Energy to Missouri. Learn more about the Initiative and find ways to get involved by visiting www.MissouriCleanEnergy.org.

Response from Congressman Russ Carnahan

Here's the response I received from Congressman Russ Carnahan:

Dear MR Stulce:

Thank you for contacting me in regard to America's energy needs. I appreciate hearing from you and I welcome the chance to respond.

When talking with people here in Missouri, I repeatedly hear about the pain at the pump. I, like you, grimace every time I fill up my gas tank.

In order to address this energy crisis, we need to fundamentally change the way America powers itself. While the United States has almost 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, we use 24 percent of the world's oil. We have more oil wells than any other country on Earth. And no matter how many more we drill, we will never again pump as much as we did during the1970s. In fact, our oil production peaked around 1970. Since 2000, the number of wells drilled on land has climbed about 66 percent - from 3,000 to nearly 5,000 - while the price of gasoline has more than doubled since 2001. Even self-described oilman, T. Boone Pickens said, "This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of." I agree with this statement, and believe that we must address the root of the problem - America's addiction to oil. With high gas prices crippling the American economy, this country needs a long-term energy plan to lower gas prices, make American more secure, create green jobs, and combat climate change.

While I am not against domestic drilling, I am against giving oil and gas companies more drilling rights, whether in ANWR, on the Outer Continental Shelf, or elsewhere on U.S. soil, when they are not drilling on the land currently available to them. I voted in favor of a bill to require the oil companies to drill on the 68,000,000 acres federal land that is already leased to them for drilling. Moreover, the areas with the vast majority of oil and gas are already open to drilling. According to federal government surveys, 82 percent of the area which contains natural gas in the outer continental shelf and 79 percent of the outer continental shelf with oil is available for leasing. Significantly, this was before Congress opened more space for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006.

While Americans are spending record amounts at the pump, oil companies are raking in record profits. This past quarter, the top 5 oil companies posted a combined profit of $44 billion in second quarter profits - up 42 percent more than last year. And this year, profits for the top five oil companies are projected to top $160 billion - far exceeding last year's record of $123 billion. Since 2001, the major oil companies have amassed close to $600 billion in profits. These record profits are not being used to invest in alternative and renewable energy, nor are they being used in such a way as to offset the price of gas for consumers. For example, in 2007, ExxonMobil spent only $10 million on renewable energy.

I believe we need to seek out short-term solutions to bring prices down while developing a long-term strategy to power our future with less oil. We have not sufficiently harnessed our renewable natural resources. Since coming to Congress, I have been working hard for all of my constituents to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, bring down record gas prices, and launch a cleaner, smarter energy future for America that lowers costs and creates hundreds of thousands of good paying green jobs.

In the short term, I, and other members of Congress, have been calling on President George Bush to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is almost filled to capacity. This has a proven track record of reducing the price of oil within weeks. When President Bush released a small portion from the Reserve in 2005, the price of oil dropped 9.1 percent.

While continuing to advocate for immediate relief at the pump, I have advocated for increased utilization of our enormous natural gas reserves, as we transition into a low carbon economy. In order to make this transition, we need more investment renewable energy such as solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and biomass waste, while upgrading our transmission power grid, so that more energy gets from its source to its destination without losing it. We can fund these bold renewable energy investments by repealing billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies for oil companies that are raking in record profits. Lastly, we must curb excessive oil speculation that is causing major market disturbances which prevent the market from accurately reflecting the forces of supply and demand in the energy commodity market.

In the coming weeks, Congress will continue to debate energy solutions to bring real relief to American families. Please know that I will continue to support and encourage legislation that will lower energy costs, decrease our dependence on foreign oil and protect our environment. Once again, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future on this or any other issue of concern.

Please voice your opinion and contact your congressperson today!

Response from Senator Claire McCaskill

In response to my letter to Senator McCaskill, I received the following reply:

Dear Mr. Stulce:

Thank your for contacting me about renewable energy. I appreciate having your comments and welcome the opportunity to respond.

My colleagues and I are looking for ways we can successfully use energy sources that are both sustainable and clean. Renewable energy like wind, solar, hydropower and biomass are all great alternatives to fossil fuels. Integrating them into the national energy plan would reduce the effects of global climate change and ensure a sustainable energy source for generations.

Just this past December, I supported an amendment to a comprehensive energy bill that would have encouraged utility companies to generate 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by the year 2020. Utilities could also earn credit towards that objective through efficiency measures that would reduce electricity consumption. Additionally, I supported a tax benefits package that would have encouraged utilities and homeowners to invest in new energy technologies. Though these measures were not included in the finalized energy bill that was signed into law, I am hopeful my colleagues and I will address them again later this year.

Once more, thank you for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to let me know of any other issue that is important to you.

All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill

Please contact your congressperson today and voice your opinion!

Free energy gathered from our major highways

I just got off of the phone with my buddy Shannon and another idea cropped up...powering stop and street lights through alternative means. This power could come from a couple of sources, both solar and wind. Here's the idea:

• On overpasses or specially designed housings that are contructed on major, high-speed thoroughfares, have wind accumulating turbines, along with solar panels, that gather the kinetic wind energy produced by the passing vehicles. See the article for "German Patent DE 4232186" which describes the invention. If these types of devices were installed onto our cities major overpasses and along our major highways, they would gather a large amount of free energy, including both wind and solar. With this type of installation, it would gather more than enough energy to provide free "plug-ins" to power the near future release of both hybrid and electric-only "plug-in" vehicles at most major parking lots, including your place of employment. The abundance of energy could also be used to compensate for the power, paid by the municipalities, used for stop and street lights.
  

• I found an website for a company that has a hydraulic "carpet" system that gathers wasted kinetic energy from decelerating vehicles, though, it also assists in slowing the vehicle down. This system would be great near highly traveled "epicenters", such a highway exits and the like.

• Solar power plants: If Germany can do it, why can't we? I'm sure there are plenty of areas that we can utilize as Solar Parks. What about lining the roadways, medians, etc., with solar panels. Some people complain about the panels being unsightly, but if they're arranged in a tactful way, I bet they wouldn't even be noticed.
  
  The biggest problem is that there should definitely be a law passed to encompass all 50 states of America and its territories that requires power companies to purchase electricity generated by companies or individuals who utilized alternative energy methods to produce the electricity at the standard market rate. Can your imagine if this would happen the type of growth there would be in the alternative energy? Companies would form just to produce alternative energy. (This is one avenue that the government needs to step into and pass laws. There's definitely too much "him-hawing" around at Capitol Hill. This is the problem where we have too many lawyers in the government and not enough scientists or people willing to act! Talk is great, but make some decisions already! There definitely needs to be some limits to lobbying and filibustering, in my opinion.)

Here's a couple of other ideas, which are not necessarily a part of the highways, but other sources to gather alternative energy:

• Wind farms: This is an idea that I would like to do, if I just had the capital and time.....create a wind farm. Buy some cheap land out in the middle of nowhere, or near somewhere, and start putting up wind turbines, both large and small. The downfall is part of point #3, requirements to make the power companies buy back the energy! If a law would be put into place under point #3, also have benefits for the traditional farms to add wind turbines, cheaply, onto their property. It would be a win-win for them! They get free electricity to power their homes, and possibly machinery (this would be reason to have farming equipment that was solely ran off of batteries/electricity, or at least hybrid,) and could still grow their crops. Maybe investors could provide the equipment to the farms, we'll call this "eco-generation sharing", and by doing so, provide the farmers with electricity for the shared usage of their land to generate electricity.

• Hydro farms: Cities/towns that have an abundance of rivers with semi-swift currents could utilize the kinetic energy from these rivers to produce electricity. This could be done without having to dam up the river, utilizing inlet pipes and turbines. There is also tidal power and wave power. See the hydro-power page on Wikipedia for a complete list.

Our country definitely needs to look into these method, regardless of how large our small, government funded, privately funded, etc. We really need to open our eyes to these to these sources!

Landfills and recycling

I wanted to emphasize and reiterate on the previous posting from my good friend Shannon, aka "Tom O'Bedlam", which had mentioned of the county landfills and how they could be cleaned up. There are still many people in this country that don't recycle and haven't even given it one thought. Some of this thinking, on their parts, could be changed if they became aware of the benefits to recycling, though, I'm sure not everyone will jump on-board the train, at least not immediately.

I'm going to list a few ideas that I've been debating over that I feel could reduce the "mountains" of trash, create jobs, help alternative energy programs, offer community service alternatives, and provide a means for cheap, prison labor. If a revamping of our policies and a plan, which I'm going to outline, could be put into effect, I guarantee that a LOT of issues could be solved.

Ok, so picture this...within 15 miles from my home is a landfill. Every morning and afternoon, I pass by it while driving to and from work. It stinks! I can't help but notice and think about it every day. It's been there most of my life, maybe even longer, and has grown in size....it's massive.

Within the last couple of years, I've realized the types of things I've thrown away and what I've seen others throw away, which eventually ends up in this same landfill. I'm trying to change my habits, as, luckily enough for me, and most other people in the same area, I have a local recycling center. Some nearby cities are very lucky to have recycling as part of their trash service, which I'm sure they automatically pay extra for, and I feel that those people should utilize to its fullest, especially if they're paying for, but if they think about it, the "ease of use" and not having to pay for the transportation to "go" to their local recycling center easily pays for this convenience! This is my first point, most people have a way to recycle on a daily basis. The "places" are there, you just have to find them!

By recycling, this will reduce the amount of trash sent to the landfills by 45%, according to a 2006-2007 study by the Midwest Assistance Program Inc. Can you imagine, 45% of materials in the landfills are metals, paper, plastics and glass? In this same article, they hypothesize that the 1.9 million tons of recyclable materials over a year, just in Missouri alone, have the potential economic commodities value of approximately $208 million dollars! If you take that same number and multiply it by all 50 states, that total calculates to 95 billion tons of recyclables times $208 million equals, well,... A LOT OF MONEY!!! Do you understand the scale that I'm trying to convey, and that's just in one year? This money could create millions of jobs and fix a huge problem that the U.S. currently has and for some reason, what that could be, can't fix!

Now for my next point....Yes, this could generate a LOT of money and create a LOT of jobs, but a lot of the workers could be retrieved from the following resources: Community Service Programs, Prison Labor Programs, Welfare-to-work Programs, and the list goes on. This proposed recycling program could fix a huge, national problem, but at the same time generate LOTS of money. I can think of a MILLION places that this money could go, and I'm not talking about lining someone's pockets......Alternative energy research, Schools, Healthcare.....the list could go on and on!

My whole point is that we can fix a lot of our problems internally through the wise re-use of our own "trash"!


Just take a moment to think about it! After you think about it, do something about it....start recycling your own trash!

Coming Soon: A Post-American World?

This morning, my wife and I were watching CBS News Sunday Morning and they had a really interesting story that discussed how America is falling behind.....whereas other countries like China, Japan, India, Brazil, and South Africa are growing at an enormous rate, economically. "It's happening because the rest are rising, and it's happening because the natives have gotten good at capitalism.", said Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International and the best selling author of "The Post-American World".

I feel that the best part of the whole story was the very last sentence, "But Zakaria worries that one day historians will write about how the United States globalized the world, but forgot to globalize itself. " This says a whole lot of things that I believe is totally true, the U.S. government and some of its "well-off" citizens have forgotten about our own country. I feel that these same people have their noses too far in the business of other countries, that they've forgotten about our own problems. How can we, as a country, help out others, if we can't even help ourselves?

These other countries who are now striving, we, at one time or another, have helped. I say we let "them" pick up some of the slack and redirect our focus onto ourselves. It's just good business practices!

Please take a moment to read over the story and think about it!

Contact your Congressman about alternative energy plans

Hi everyone,

Due to the massive influx of news about Alternative Energy, I have decided to take a stand and email my local Congressmen. Here's the message that I have sent:

Hi {Claire, Kit, Russ},

A friend of mine, Shannon Barbaglia, and I were discussing the other night the presidential race and both candidate's plans for their energy policy, including the push for alternative forms of energy. This conversation, as you can imagine, sparked quite a bit of fire and lots of ideas in both of us. We decided to put together a blog, "http://altenergypolitics.blogspot.com/" and have began posting various ideas of ways that the common person, those with higher contacts and lots of money, and those with major political influence can move forward with a plan to pull our country out of its current dilemma: dependence on foreign oil. Within our discussions and research, we have found someone who has one heck of a plan that I feel will work and I wanted to take a moment of your time to mention his name and contact information. The person that I'm referring to is T. Boone Pickens and the Pickens Plan. His website is "http://push.pickensplan.com/" and I feel that it would be well worth your time to take a look at his website, as I feel that it has a lot to offer. With your current contacts and influence within the Senate\House, I believe that once you hear his message and plans, I think that you will immediately decide to join his campaign and push his ideas all the way up the ladder and have them instated as policy.

I feel that with as many brilliant people that we have in our country, those highly skilled in the arts of science and technology, we should no longer be a slave to foreign needs. All the money that our country is giving away needs to be redirected inwards and invested in ourselves. I sometimes feel that the government has forgotten about the people it serves and that it needs to remember that without the people, it wouldn't exist. Our tax money needs to be spent wisely and with a little forethought. All of the free solar and wind energy needs to be harnessed, especially here in the Midwest, the heartland of America. Every farmer should have at least one wind turbine in their fields and all of the skyscraper-like buildings in the larger cities should have a roof lined with solar panels.

Look at what Germany has done with Solar power. If we did the same thing, the huge expense would quickly be recouped. If we harness all of the sun's power in our desert regions, there would be a huge surplus of energy to power our homes, businesses, and vehicles!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my message and please consider the resources that I have send and pass the message for Alternative Energy to every one you can.

Best Regards,

--Ken Stulce

Please take the time to do the same. The more you voice your thoughts, the more others will listen!

Pickens Plan

If you all haven't been to his site yet, you all need to definitely check out T. Boone Picken's Plan, as he has some scary statistics and wonderful ideas for getting our country back in shape with alternative energy. His site is "http://push.pickensplan.com/".

According to his figures, we're shelling out $700 billion annually on foreign oil and our country uses a staggering 25% of the world's oil reserves, when we only have 4% of the world's population! Those are some pretty crazy numbers.

His plans replace natural gas, in the energy sector, with Wind power and replace foreign oil with natural gas, as it's cleaner, cheaper, less polluting, and more efficient.

Please check out his site and join the cause!

Cow Power

I found this really interesting website that had an article about how scientists are looking to convert cow manure into an energy resource versus a green house gas.

{http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080724064840.htm}

Alternative Energy and Politics - The Start

Last night, I had a very lengthy conversation with my good friend Shannon about Alternative Energy and Politics and SO MANY good ideas came from the conversation. We're both very passionate about Alternative Energy, Recycling, Politics and the like and we thought that this area would be a good medium to post some of our ideas. We feel that there has been a lot of discussion in the media about alternative energy by the political candidates, businesses, etc., but there isn't a true plan, just talk.

I believe the U.S. car manufacturers are starting to get on-board with creating vehicles for the population that start to get a decent MPG rating, though, we are far behind other countries in this race for lessening our need for oil. Electric, Wind, Hydro, etc., needs to be the main direction we take in order to get away from paying billions and trillions of dollars to Middle East. This thought is great, but we need to have a plan!

Throughout this blog, both Shannon and I will post some of our ideas and strategies that we feel could be a decent start for both the general public and those with the full money coffers that could drive our country back to where it once was, a great leader of technology and advances for human-kind!

Here are a few ideas to start:

• Recycling - If every household begins a recycling campaign, we can then lessen the enormous excess dumped into our landfills and at the same time have an over-abundance of resources to begin cheaply developing alternative energy methods. Below, I will list some links to sites that list how various recyclable materials are made and the materials that they're composed, and how they can be recycled:
  

1. Recyclable Materials: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recyclable_materials}
   
2. Plastics: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic}.
   
3. Glass: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass}.
4. Aluminum: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum}.
5. Oil: {http://www.recycleoil.org/}.
6. Tires: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_recycling}.
7. Paper: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper}.
8. Batteries: {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_(electricity)}.

• Electricity: The biggest thing that a home-owner can do to save money with our low economy is to conscientiously save on the electricity that they use. Simple things that can be done for this process are:

1. Turn lights off in rooms that are no longer being occupied. Waste Savings!
   
2. Change incandescent light bulbs (ILBs), after they've expired, with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs) {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_fluorescent}, as they last 8-15 times longer (6,000-15,000 hours versus 750-1,000 hours) and consume 50-75% less energy. Since your homes lighting typically accounts for approximately 9% of electricity usage, using CFLs could reduce your bill by 7%. The bulbs may initially cost more, but the savings far outweigh the expense.
3. Caulk, weatherstrip, and insulate your home to save on wasted heating/cooling costs.
4. Replace your thermostat with an newer, programmable model, which changes the temperature to a less ideal setting when you're away from home, during the day time hours, and returns it to the ideal setting just before you get home.
   
5. See the Edison Electric Institute's (EEI) article on "How to save electricity in your home" and EnergyStar.gov for additional tips on saving electricity in your home.
   

• Solar Power: This is a prime resource that needs to be harnessed to decrease the amount of dependency for foreign oil. It can be used to power your home, cars, etc., and it's free, though a cheap and easy way needs to be developed for the average home-owner to harness its potential! Here's is a link to a Wikipedia article of Solar Power which explains its various types and uses. For those inventive types out there, you could buy a cheap marine battery and a small, fairly inexpensive solar panel and begin to harness the sun's energy.

• Politics: This is where it starts! The public can only do so much on a limited budget, so we rely on our politicians to help find ways and resources to overcome our energy crisis. Here's an article that I found on CNN's website detailing both McCain and Obama's energy plans. I will try my best to be very neutral minded, but the way I see it Obama has the best plan to reduce our dependency on foreign oil, whereas McCain's plan seems to increase our dependency. I believe that internal, alternative methods is our best bet. "Invest in our own country" should be our motto. The U.S. has invested SO much money in other countries and in our time of crisis, we need to start helping ourselves, as no one else will!
  

This year, I have taken a politics and oral communications class for my degree, that I am trying to finish up, and my wife and I have also began to start a recycling campaign for our household. We've found that we have a local recycling center close to home, though, our trash service does not offer recycling pickup, but at least we can begin to do the right thing. The great part about the recycling center is that we don't necessarily have to sort everything ourselves, as paper, plastic, and metals can be thrown into the same bin at home and then taken down to the center, which makes it easier on us. Also, I have a metal recycling plant very close to home and I recycle aluminum, copper, brass, etc., which I can get paid for, which is an extra incentive. We recently did some home remodeling, which required the old copper drain pipes to be replaced with PVC, and by recycling the copper, I regained a lot of the money used to purchase the new materials!

We have also begun to purchase fabric bags and take them to the grocery store versus getting paper/plastic bags and recycling those. The bags typically only cost $1.00 each and can be purchased from places like Walmart, Schnucks, Dierbergs, etc. Yes, recycling does take a little bit of effort, but after you start, it becomes second nature. Do your part, you know it's the right thing to do!

More to come, please stay tuned!