maybe we can fuel our cars with redbull...

heres the biggest reason why i like Obama and one reason why i dont like McCain: Obama seems to react to issues more realistically that McCain. it seems the Arizona Senator goes what sounds good and what will immediately draw support. some call it pandering. the Senator from Illinois seems to look at the issue and make a more realistic and thought out decision that can turn out to be less popular.

lets take a look at energy policy. Bush has repealed the executive moratorium on coastal drilling for oil. McCain fully supports offshore development as "very helpful in the short term for resolving our energy crisis." but industry experts agree that any oil production from the coastal US would not affect and oil market for years or even decades to come. first the government must issue leases. then oil companies need to explore the possible reserves to find out what is there. then rigs must be built and installed before any additional oil hits the market. if you factor in that US refining capacity is about maxed out and to have any significant price effect new refineries would need to be built as well. its not to say that all this cant and wont happen, but its effects will not help anything in the short term. it may help when im nearing retirement age, but i have serious doubts that McCain, or any other senior, will ever see the benefits of this. Obama has stated that. he doesnt support offshore drilling because of the environmental effects and because the benefits are too far distant to know what they will be. in 20 or 30 years when offshore oil would hit markets, theres no sure way to know what the market would be.

McCain also supports nuclear energy while Obama thinks we need to invest in renewable sources of electricity. i have to agree with Obama, but the reality is that our power grid cannot be based on these sources. the only uninterrupted renewable source is hydro, which is probably the most expensive to bring online with costs to build dams and plants, not to mention the environmental effects of flooding vast tracts of land. solar and wind tend to be cheaper and quicker to bring online, but are less reliable. the wind doesnt always blow and the sun doesnt always shine. but the alternatives of coal and nuclear have their downsides. coal will always pollute, gasified or not. and there will always be nuclear waste that must be dealt with. so what then? push green sources like wind, solar, and small scale hydro. theres no reason that these energy sources cant account for 25% of our power needs in 20 or 30 years. at that point you keep improving nuclear and coal technology to keep power up with demand. nuclear seems to me to be the better option when compared to coal, seeing that the waste is concentrated and you can hide it inside a mountain when the greenhouse gasses from coal plants end up in the atmosphere contributing to the warming.

our energy needs require more than one solution. there is no great panacea. offshore drilling isnt going to solve our problems any more than some windmills or a new nuclear plant. electric cars wont do any good if theyre charged up on coal power that just move the pollution from the roads to the plants. Obama hasnt claimed to have a cure all, he has noted the complexity of the problem and has proposed good solutions. McCain has proposed band-aids and quick fixes that arent even quick. dont get me wrong, i dont think Obama has our energy problems solved, but hes got a much better idea on how to start than McCain does. but neither have yet proposed bringing in cheap and efficiently made ethanol from Brazil. granted, its still outsourcing energy, but its coming from a country we all pretty much like, rather than a oil regime. but that probably wont become and option until next year when we have a new president, because neither candidate can afford to piss off all the corn growers who love the high cost of food thats starving people in the third world.

as you can see, nothing exists in a vacuum. you cant do anything without affecting something else. Obama seems to have a better grip on that reality than does McCain. Obama also seems to be better able to formulate a realistic nuanced approach, while McCain seems more inclined to act now and worry about the details later. ive had enough of that approach.

NPR Story

NPR's site to help you decipher what the candidates say and mean.

CNN's elections site. needs some updates...

im going to keep looking for more sources of info... there seems to be a shortage of easily accesable info out there...