Saturday, February 12, 2011

Unplugged at Any Speed


In 1965, a then 31 year old Ralph Nader took on General Motors with the publication of his book titled “Unsafe at any speed”. General Motors was at it zenith and it was quite amazing that a young audacious lawyer had the guts to take on this company that in its essence then represented America. A popular saying of the time was “what is good for General Motors is good for America”. This saying was coined in 1955 by Charlie Wilson the Chairman and CEO of General Motors. In the end Charlie is forgotten and Ralph is remembered. Ralph had truth on his side. It is time for a new American with guts and brains to arise and put our house in order. We had hoped this American was Barak Obama but alas he is just another Charlie Wilson.

The next folk hero who takes on the establishment should write a book titled “Unplugged at any speed”. I have opined that plug in hybrids and full electric plug in vehicles are unplugged at any speed. The problem is not just with lithium ion batteries, the entire system is unplugged! The US EPA distorts gas mileage data to convince us that plug in hybrids achieve 100 miles per gallon. Wall Street and the VCs lie about green companies that are in fact gangrene and ready to shed their limbs. University professors are at the pig trough of funding for junk science and play along with the government agencies and companies so that their worthless research can be funded for a few more years. The press is asleep and helps hype the junk science. The old forms of the press are on their last legs as advertising revenue is hard to come.

The events in Egypt and the Arab world have me thinking that perhaps in these super corrupt places the younger folks understand that the system is unplugged for them. The young Egyptians have seen how China, India, and South Korea have risen as industrial and commercial powers based on unleashing free enterprise. The also know that the US and the UK are relics of past centuries and that soon Asia will eclipse the West in economic power. For most of human history Asia eclipsed the West. In 1820 prior to the industrial revolution, Asia accounted for 80% of global GDP. For just 200 years the West has led the world through mechanical, chemical, civil, and electrical engineering marvels. We do not educate our best and our brightest to become engineers. Our smart kids study law or become MBAs. They have learned that parasites prosper in a decaying body.

The body of American life is unplugged from its life support and citizens are deprived of proper representation. My Congresswoman deprived me of my ability to voice my opinion to her committee on science and technology. Her scientific IQ is three below that of plankton yet she blocked my efforts to point out that the energy policy she so ardently supports violates all the laws of physics. Of course she voted over 90% of the time with her party. Yes she knows that the world can only be correct according to one political ideology. That she is an energy idiot is the understatement of the century. That 71% of folks who live in my congressional district vote for her election after election is testimony to how unplugged America has become.

My nephew sent me a link about a recent show that PBS TV Nova did on “Making Stuff Cleaner” February 2, 2011 The program touted the Bloom Box that old Al Gore and his VCs have hyped. I then realized that the program on PBS is produced in cooperation with the Materials Research Society (MRS). Cooperation usually means funding. PBS discloses that “MRS is an international organization of nearly 16,000 materials researchers from academia, industry, and government, and a recognized leader in promoting the advancement of interdisciplinary materials research to improve the quality of life.” Well of course these researchers need DOE and other sources of funding and of course they will show how great the Bloom Box is in order to continue the funding. I doubt that in 2011 that if a scientific genius like Isaac Newton is among us, he or she could get an audience with the House Committee on Science and Technology. Their docket is full of the researchers who are lying through their teeth to get their junk research funded.

It is time to plug into the electrical socket of reality. Egypt and the Arab States have a food crisis as well as a political crisis. The price of wheat, sugar, meat, and energy will drain countries like Egypt and Jordan. China and India will lead Asia forward while Obama and Chu fund junk and dream of Sputnik moments. The VCs will make money out of IPOs that stand for I’m Ponzying Out. The so called academics are collectively on the gravy train to thermodynamic nowhere. Sarah Palin is not that person who will write “Unplugged at Any Speed” she is plain unplugged. Right now I don’t see any young Ralph Nader who has the brains and the courage to take on the establishment but I know some young person in their early thirties is needed to wake us up from this mess.

Facebook is great and Zuckerberg is our new Gates but we need a Nader that will expose rather than exploit. Advertising revenues for Google and Facebook are high. There is tons of connectivity through the new social media but in truth the message that matters has not yet been posted. The message that needs posting is the message to the world that we are unplugged. Old Tim Leary said back in the sixties that we should “turn on, tune in, drop out”. I say “get on, plug in, and speak out”. My hero from the sixties is Alfred E Newman who said “what me worry?” I wish I could do the same. Incidentally the image for Alfred E and the saying predates Mad by some 50 years. In the early 20th century a Dentist named Romine in Topeka Kansas advertised with post cards using a kid with a missing tooth. The Dentist advertised himself as “The Painless Romine” and used a slogan “It didn’t hurt a bit, of course not because I went to the Painless Romine”. Well now Romine is burning, we can no longer fiddle around, and boy it is going to hurt to fix this mess.

2 comments: