I have a plan

People's big misconceptions about the stimulus bill seem to include that is was in any way shape or form like the new deal. It was 2 trillion dollars of busy work for the transportation and energy industry, and a whole lot of no strings attached loans and grants to "green companies" that happened to have liberal ties. There were no great WPA projects like the hoover dam or Eisenhower highway systems in the 50's. It was the modern government theory of if you throw enough money at something it'll work. They threw all this money into R&D and start up firms, and surprise surprise, many failed. If Mr. Hopey Changey really wanted to solve our dependence on foreign oil and have greener energy sources there's a much better and far easier way to do it. Here's how:

We have existing solar panel and wind turbine technology, check.

Have a plan, the government didn't, but i do.

It's a design, bid, build project on a large scale, they are currently doing this kind of thing in Dubai with all of our oil money. They actually built a lagoon with islands that come together to make the shape of the globe, all those really tall buildings too.

1. Appoint the Army Corps of Engineers as the federal project manager, find your top general, they know how to get things done. Two pronged attack Solar, Wind. divide and conquer.

2. You get the department of interior to find the largest contiguous areas of land in the southwest states (flat, sunny, sparsely, populated) they can for our solar panel field, with the least amount of right-of-way/condemnation issues. Same with coastal areas, which many are already owned by the US for wildlife/dune issues. Give them a strict timeline like 6 months.

3. Now that we have the land we need, you accept design proposals for the separate wind and solar facilities. Large firms like Urban, ganney flemming, etc. would be able to handle this, they would also get sub contractors on their teams to do the solar work. Select the most qualified, not the biggest donator.

4. Get the electrical transmission owners in those areas together and have them come up with a plan to update the grid.

5.Once you've picked the winning firm, give them a tight design time frame, 2 years is reasonable.

6. "streamline" the federal permitting process, tell the EPA, you aren't taking 3 years to review this, actually you aren't reviewing it at all, sign here. Any lawsuits get struck down by the federal courts. This should speed the project up by at least 5 years.

7. Once the design has been finalized, you let it out for bid, the lowest bidder wins, not the most connected. Remove the unnecessary crap that is the DBE component, and the paying union wages on a non-union project, saves both time and money.

8. Start building the grid, solar, wind farms simultaneously.

9. The project from conception to finish should take less than 8 years when not bogged down by bureaucracy, and cost far less than the 787 billion waste that was the stimulus package. It would create a boom in the in green industries by having to expand production to meet the timeless, provide skilled and unskilled jobs in the transportation, industrial, and structural areas, booms to the local economy just to feed and clothe the man camps necessary for this scope of project. It might not make the US 100% green, but probably over 50%.

Yes, its doesn't all happen in an election cycle, and doesn't have the instant gratification of a tax cut, but it would work. But it didn't happen, you can't build a decent project with the 2 year time frame the stimulus gave, it was mainly busy work.

This what a real leader would have done, it's what FDR did. Obama channeled FDR's entitlements(not all of which were meant to be permanent btw), instead of his grand public works projects. Hence we got lots of debt and little to show for it. it was an Obamanation. and yes, i know i spelled it incorrectly, but really it works that way.

science vs guessing

We've got kids getting whooping cough and people getting sick from drinking raw milk.... Really? Not sure why people think pasteurization and vaccines are a bad thing. Both are proven to be good things. The rest is hearsay, a completely false British paper, and people's fear of growth hormones. Please vaccinate your kids, the last thing we need to have them in iron longs and crippled from polio because parent's don't understand science vs guessing. And no, butter is not good on burns. Use aloe stupid.