“There’s a real dilemma facing operators of coal powered plants,” said John O’Donnell, Ausra’s Executive Vice President. “The price of coal has exploded recently and it continues to rise rapidly. Long-term coal contracts are coming in at 4 times the price of the last iteration of the contract.”

Australia recently ratified the Kyoto Protocol and will begin trading carbon in about a year. Carbon is likely to trade for $30-$60 per ton, according to John O’Donnell. Ausra’s solar thermal retrofits are cost effective around $30 a ton.

“$30 a ton is $.03 a kilowatt hour [for electricity generated from coal],” said John O’Donnell. “For some of the older coal power plants, you are looking at a 30, 40, or 50% increase in the electricity price [due to coal's carbon output] all at once and an ongoing uncertain future.”

To their credit, Bank of America, Chase, and Citigroup are now considering climate change and carbon emissions among the risks in lending to money for electric power plant projects, so borrowing money for such projects may cost more for power generation options that result in a large carbon footprint.  This provides added incentive for local and federal governments to look towards clean and renewable energy sources.

But so far, no major energy bills have been passed. Is it possible all this money has been spent to maintain the status quo?

Meanwhile, the renewable energy folks haven’t seen a big increase in funding.  Looking at the dollars spent lobbying Congress, that may not be surprising. The renewable industry and their allies in the environmental movement have spent a combined $19 million lobbying Congress this year - half what the oil industry has spent.

If cash equals friendship, then John McCain and the oil industry are best friends.  The Arizona Republican has taken $1.4 million from oil industry employees in the 2007-2008 election cycle, more than any other politician, according to CRP.  That’s over three times as much as Barack Obama, who ranks just below Hillary Clinton as the highest Democrat recipient.

The sad part of this discussion is that people know about, and even EXPECT their to be a corrolation between how much a special interest spends on lobbying and/or making campaign contributions.  You can ID this expectation in the rhetoric behind the report from CNN.  If the trend of “whoever has the most money wins”, then our democracy is doomed.  Progress in the interest of the majority will be slowed to a crawl, if it moves at all.  If our elected officials don’t have the moral strength to resist the implied extortion and “bribes” from these large companies (some do and some don’t, but I believe the majority do not), then we need to remove the temptation by making lobbying illegal, and campaign funds should be funded by, drawn from and distributed equally from our tax dollars.  That way, maybe the real voice of the people can be heard over the thundering din and deep pockets of special interests.

Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili announces Friday he signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia.

In Washington, President Bush chided Russia on Friday for Cold War-style behavior, saying, “bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.”

Bush said the United States stands “with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government.” He said the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity “must be respected.”

“We will not cast them aside,” he said.

Bush said Russia’s invasion of Georgia has “damaged its credibility.”

I’m reminded of an old saying, something about “the pot calling the kettle black”.  Excuse me, but if my memory serves me right, didn’t we recently do a preemptive attack on Iraq?  So Russia, in this case, is a “bully”, but we’re not?   Hmmmm.  I think we should at least consider the possibility that Russia was actually emboldened by the fact that we are over there raiding one country or another.  So, Mr. Bush, what gives us the sovereign right to invade a country, but other countries cannot?

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Most corporations, including the vast majority of foreign companies doing business in the United States, pay no income taxes, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Tuesday.

    During the eight-year period covered by the report, 72 percent of foreign-owned corporations went at least one year without owing taxes, and the same was true for 55 percent of domestic corporations.

    Small companies were much more likely to pay no taxes than larger companies. Still, more than 3,500 large domestic corporations - with more than $250 million in assets or $50 million in gross receipts - did not pay taxes in 2005.

    The report said about 80 percent of the companies studied paid no taxes because they didn’t generate any profit after expenses. Money-losing companies can legitimately owe no tax, and others can use provisions of the tax code to lower or eliminate their liability.

    But the lawmakers who sought the data seized on the report as proof of corporate gamesmanship.

    ”It’s shameful that so many corporations make big profits and pay nothing to support our country,” said Byron L. Dorgan , D-N.D., who requested the report along with Carl Levin , D-Mich. “The tax system that allows this wholesale tax avoidance is an embarrassment and unfair to hardworking Americans who pay their fair share of taxes. We need to plug these tax loopholes and put these corporations back on the tax rolls.”

    The report covered the period from 1998 through 2005. During that time, corporate income taxes as a share of gross domestic product dipped, from 2.2 percent in 1998 to 1.2 percent in 2003, the lowest share since 1983. But receipts jumped after that, hitting 2.7 percent in 2006 and 2007, according to the Office of Management and Budget. That was the highest share since the late 1970s.

    The GAO report also found that foreign-owned corporations were somewhat more likely to report no income than domestic corporations. There are several possible reasons for that. Foreign corporations may be younger, and startups are more likely to have no net income after expenses. They may also be in industries with lower profit margins.

    Another possibility could be the use of transfer pricing, which companies use to account for transactions between subsidiaries in different countries. Creative, rule-stretching use of transfer pricing can allow companies to push their profits into lower-taxed jurisdictions. The report does not attempt to examine whether illegal transfer-pricing caused the difference between foreign and domestic companies.

    But companies looking for lower-taxed jurisdictions often take profits out of the United States. The country’s 35 percent top rate on corporate income is among the highest in the industrialized world.

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So, evidently our government, in conjunction with it’s Suger Daddy corporations, has found a perfect way to make us “feel sorry” for corporations, while behind the scenes they are getting away with murder.  They have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, yet the majority of them pay no taxes.   Hmmmmmm.  I guess it’s easy to show little or no profit on your tax returns when  you are making huge “campaign contributions” (read “bribes”) to your local congressional rep. while also paying your top executives astronomical salaries for coming up with innovative tax dodges.

In a recent Techimoto article, written on July 29 of this year, entitled Just Remember Us When You’re in Office (wink, wink), I stated that the majority of congress had to be on the take, and under the influence of Lobbyists. Why? Because issues about to be voted on, issues that are so obvious as to what makes sense and what doesn’t, issues that have, via polls, the support of the majority of Americans, get voted in the opposite direction!

So what can we conclude? That some phenomenal forces are at work behind the scenes, and these forces are what are driving congressional votes, not what makes sense, and is in the best interest of the American people. These forces most likely translate into dollars in one form or another, either in “promises made” to congressional members for their “retirement”, or in promise of current or future campaign funds for that particular elected official (of course some congress members are less subtle, and openly and unabashedly take direct bribes, like tickets to the Super Bowl, junkets to exotic vacation spots, etc.).

So, Paris for President, but my reasons are probably different from most: She’s already so rich that bribes from companies like Big Oil would look like fodder for a day at the Mall. When offered a large “campaign contribution” from Exxon, I can see her rolling her eyes, and saying “get real bitch”. Whatever.

“As the highly competitive fuels marketing business in the U.S. continues to evolve, we believe this transition is the best way for ExxonMobil to compete and grow in the future,” said Ben Soraci, U.S. director of retail sales for ExxonMobil.

Sorry Ben, I don’t buy it. Big Oil has been making record profits, have have more money floating around than they know what to do with. I realize that the retail end is different from the “manufacturing” component, but gas stations as a loosing proposition? I doubt it.

To me, this is good news. I think the big oil boys see something coming they don’t like, and want to get rid of their stations before a “certain something” is mandated by the Feds, or virtually “demanded” by market forces. I hope this “certain something” is something like: compressed air refill stations, hydrogen refill stations, and or biofuel pumps. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?

So this is how Wal-Mart gets most of it’s stuff from China ; 15,000 containers and a 207′ beam, and 13 people for a ship longer than a US aircraft carrier which has a crew of 5,000 men and officers. Check out the cruise speed: 31 knots means the goods arrive 4 days before the typical container ship (18-20 knots) on a China-to-California run. So this behemoth is hugely competitive when carrying perishable goods.
This ship was built in five sections. The sections floated together and then welded. The command bridge is higher than a 10-story building and has 11 cargo crane rigs that can operate simultaneously.

FINAL NOTE: We send nothing back on most of these ships. Hmmmmm.

I will, of course, keep you posted as our mission progresses. Additional details of our daily log will be forthcoming. A runner was sent towards your location several days past, and should be in your hands post haste.  As always, I remain your humble servant and faithful subordinate -

Yours truly,

Captain James Rutherford Wilson

A Swiss pilot strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane today for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps.

Yves Rossy’s performance in front of the world press capped five years of training and many more years of dreaming.

“This flight was absolutely excellent,” the former fighter pilot and extreme sports enthusiast said after touching down on an airfield near the eastern shore of Lake Geneva.

Rossy, 48, had stepped out of the Swiss-built Pilatus Porter aircraft at 7,500 feet and unfolded the rigid eight-foot wings strapped to his back before jumping.

Passing from free fall to a gentle glide, Rossy then triggered four jet turbines and accelerated to 186 miles per hour, about 65 miles per hour faster than the typical falling skydiver. A plane that flew at some distance beside him measured his speed.

The crowd on the mountaintop below gasped and cheered.

Steering with his body, Rossy dived, turned and soared again, performing what appeared to be effortless loops from one side of the Rhone valley to the other. At times he rose 2,600 feet before descending again.

After one last wave to the crowd the rocket man tipped his wings, flipped onto his back and leveled out again, executing a perfect 360-degree roll.

Rossy said after today’s five-minute flight, he is ready now for a bigger challenge: crossing the English Channel this year.

The stunt, which will be shown on live television, will test his flying machine to the limit. Rossy said he plans to practice the 22-mile trip by flying between two hot-air balloons.

Rossy told The Associated Press that one day he also hopes to fly through the Grand Canyon.

[via - LA Times]