Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Wall Street Journal: Being able to make life uncomfortable Andrew Sullivan: "A new euphemism for tying someone to a board, and dunking their head in water repreatedly so that they feel like drowning; and for keeping someone shackled in a room cooled to 50 degrees, pouring cold water over him repeatedly until he gets hypothermia, keeping him awake for 48 out of 55 days, or several of the methods used by the Soviets in the Gulag." "2008 pres" 6:42:08 PM

Obama, Romney, Bayh or Pataki for president? According to the Des Moines Register: U.S. Senator Barack Obama, U.S. Senator Evan Bayh, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and New York Governor George Pataki are planning visits to the corn belt. From the article, "Four political leaders mentioned as potential presidential candidates plan to make their way to Iowa over the next several days, as the early run-up to the 2008 race continues in the lead-off caucus state." Thanks to The Caucus Cooler for the link. "2008 pres" 6:03:39 PM

Rural vote up for grabs? The Center for Rural Strategies: "The rural vote is up for grabs, according to a poll of rural voters in contested congressional and Senate races released today by the Center for Rural Strategies. And how well the parties do in rural America is likely to determine who controls Congress. The poll of rural voters in 41 contested congressional districts with significant rural populations found Democratic and Republican candidates running a dead heat, with each party receiving 45 percent of the possible votes. In six contested Senate races in states with significant rural populations, rural voters favored Republican candidates 47 to 43 percent, but the gap falls within the poll's margin of error of 4.3 percentage points, making a statistical tie." Thanks to the Daily Kos for the link. "2008 pres" 6:29:45 AM

Solar plant for the San Luis valley Electricity from solar panels is being woven into the fabric of sustainability out here on the rooftop of America. Here's an article, about a new proposed solar farm in the San Luis valley from the Pueblo Chieftain. They write, "Xcel announced Monday that it has selected an affiliate of SunEdison, LLC, North America's leading solar energy service provider, to build, own and operate the 8-megawatt central solar power plant about 2 miles northwest of this small unincorporated community lying along Colorado 17, about 13 miles north of Alamosa... "The plant will be capable of powering more than 2,600 homes along the Front Range and other parts of Colorado... "The power plant will house two solar technologies: concentrating photovoltaic and advanced flat-plate solar panel units. Both the flat-plate solar panel segment of the plant and the concentrating solar segment will be the largest of their type in the United States. About 1.2 megawatts will come from concentrating photovoltaic units. The remaining estimated 6.8 megawatts of generation will be advanced flat-plate solar panel units. The plant is expected to be on line by the end of 2007. Henley said construction is expected to begin within 90 days. Public Service Co. of Colorado will purchase the power and the Renewable Energy Credits associated with the plant... "Concentrating photovoltaic units squeeze sunlight into a beam of light 500 times greater than normal light. That beam is then focused on a photovoltaic cell that converts the highly concentrated light into electricity more efficiently than non-concentrated cells. The solar electricity is converted from direct current to alternating current then sent to a power substation and fed into the power grid... "Generating electricity from solar power will allow Xcel Energy to provide energy in an environmentally friendly way. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, by using just 2 kilowatts of photovoltaic capacity, a person can reduce carbon dioxide emissions equal to driving 6,200 miles in a car." "2008 pres" 5:44:21 AM

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