It would be a mistake to misunderestimate the damaging effects of the Bush team's hardball politics on the minds of men. But you are running out of alibis.

So, are you guys ready to cop a plea?

So...

Restructure the auto industry, eh? And it so happens that the workers will be competing with labor in which states?

What a coincidence.

Meanwhile the Japanese auto manufacturers in those states have fewer benefits than non-union workers in Japan?

Well, if that don't beat all.

But selling American workers to the lowest bidder isn't what We give Kongress a Cerebral Kotex Award for today. It's for their idea of hip technology. It's for their idea of "solutions to business problems". It's for their notion of "general welfare" (see Preamble, US Const.) And it's for their utter unworthiness to represent a paper map, much less a real nation.

Find the best match for "border".
a) Outer limit of a nation.
b) Inner limits of a nation.

See what I mean?

Now about this brilliant plan to bail out the auto industry. You make them do WHAT???!!!

1. Electric cars?

Don't those need copper and/or aluminum to produce? Compare feasibility to iron and zinc that's now used -- forget the 100 years of attempts to make one perfect car, just the problem of available materials will be a future bottleneck.

Don't those need nuclear or even fossil fuels to produce the electricity? No wonder Kongress' corporate contributors are in love with it. (Adam Smith Wealth Of Nations - or just find "as ignorant of the world as of the subject")

Is that technology going to have a seemless overlap with existing technology?

Duh. If Kongress never penned a law themselves, what makes us think they ever wrote a program for a computer? Even in BASIC. So how would they understand "reusability" if they don't understand libraries or subprograms?

By all appearances, they don't even understand the importance READABLE CODE!

2. Hybrids?

WHAT ABOUT FLEX, you nincompoops?

Why the suddens change of tack?

Right. Burn the bridge down, we will never have to go back, is that what you're thinking? WHAT A BUNCH OF MORE-ONS!

Remember that joke about the big and little morons? You guys are the big ones.

On that second point, I think I can guess why flex is on the chopping block, as evidenced by it's conspicous absense from the discussion. (Sorry if the news I got was inaccurate, but I'd rather premptively attack you assholes in error than take a chance that whatever you have is contagious.)

Because when it becomes apparent that hemp farms or even switchgrass fields could produce methanol for automobile fuel (by pyrolysis in something as simple as a moonshine still -- with only 5% of the output needed to fuel the still), well it becomes economically unfeasible somehow.

Can't build build the bridge to the 21st Century because we ran out of inches. Let's build one to Mars instead. We do have plenty of "red tape".

When it becomes obvious that even electricity could be produced for a fraction of the money it would take to do the same with solar cells AND can be done practcially anywhere, AND which is carbon neutral AND which would create jobs outside the cities AND which would decentralize energy production AND is green-green-green... well, that's not what I really wanted to talk about either. (Well, it's only part of it, anyway.)

What I really want to talk about is how embarrassingly incompetent our "leaders" are.

So now that big business has taken our government hostage, we'd better do what they say or they'll go away??

Halelujah!! Maybe THEN this would be the land of opportunity instead of just the land of opportunism. 'Course this would take a bit of "protectionism", aka "general welfare" to give the gold fish a fighting chance in the piranha tank, but that's perfectly Constitutional. (Art1, Sec 8 you BLIND FOOLS!)

And Bush has taken the entire military (and the militias/National Guard) hostage in Iraq?

STAY THE COURSE YOU NITWITS! You hung the wrong guy, but then what the heck. Close counts in handgrenades if not in Abu Grenaibs, eh? Want me to post the rape photos, Ms. Boxer? Then YOU do it! Max, turn off your family filter and search images for "Iraq rape torture". They are now only on the porn sites, apparently. Be respectful of the victims.. I claim sura 2:62, you muslims. And there are others.

If we need to tell our leaders what to do, who the hell needs 'em? Is anarchy better than mismanagement of this Republic?

THAT'S WHAT I GUESS I WANT TO TALK ABOUT!!

Get with the program, you jerks!
http://usconstitution.net/const.html

The founding fathers signed it.

We endorsed it.

It's the ONLY enforcible agreement between all people in this country, especially our alleged Representatives who took an OATH to uphold it.

It's what you have guys over in Iraq preserving, protecting and defending (without a formal declaration of war???)

AND IT'S NOW AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH !

People, Article 6 is the official endless loop, and Kongress is nowhere to be found in it, around it, or even in the same galaxy with it.

Look. If the management in our government does a bad job what do we do? We get rid of them. Not by "planting" them, no, that's ignorant AND it's unnecessary. A mere flick of the finger (or just let Diebold to it's thing) in the voting booth and it will FUMIGATE those in The People's House who do not deserve to be there.

And I do hope the Greens are ready to catch the pass.

So if replacing bad managers is how to have a just government derived from the CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED, then why not do the same to the CEO's who have demolished their industry -- and have thus threatened our national security, our common defense, if not our general welfare?

Congress: Replace those guys who come to you for handouts. Then give them the new guys the handout. duh?

So... How shall I put this politely?

Here's Congress' Daily
CEREBRAL KOTEX AWARD

For Today, April 1, 0000 BC

Dare to Make Sense

Has there ever been a more unenlightened people on earth? Consider the stakes.

Now you may answer.

If there's anyone who has not drunk the murky water in DC, I ask you to please send the CEOs back yet again. Tell 'em you're not buying their plan until they offer a sane solution.

Thanks.

[Or is it too late... What a hack job of a Congress and Senate.]

Keystone Kongress -- Attention Deficit?

It's great that you're helping progressives get elected with fouled up paperless Diebold machines and in an environment where human machines are just as flakey, but why are you perpetually off topic?

Shouldn't the topic be FIXING (scratch that, I mean) CORRECTING the problems in the electoral process?

So I have to wonder.

Whose side are you on?

Do you think that waiting in line, photographing elections, pressuring our alleged representatives to assure that the BAD machines they already bought are somehow made bullet proof is going to be an event we can count on every two years?

A Congress that competes with Night of the Living Dead for speed and intelligence, and good leadership might be overestimating their popularity.

Better than the Republicans? Wow.

But that didn't take much effort.

Take the quizz at http://politicalcompass.org
See why Kongress keeps grabbing the Cerebral Kotex Award every day.

Tired Of Congress Losing The Game Of Chicken?

Seems like they back down to everyone. Not just Bush.

Congress: Replace those guys who come to you for handouts. Then give them the new guys the handout. duh?

What's holding up the show?

I'm pretty sure we all know the answer. (Note the date on the article.)

By Otis Port
Business week
08/09/94

Rudolf W. Gunnerman has a tiger by the tail--the Exxon tiger. If the technology that the 66-year-old inventor has spent $6 million and the past seven years developing lives up to his claims, cars and trucks could one day be running on a fraction of the gasoline and diesel fuel they now use. Ditto for buses, planes, trains, and anything else powered by an internal-combustion engine--from lawn mowers to huge electrical generators.

Gunnerman claims to have a technology that enables engines to burn a mixture of half fuel, half water. Yes, water. What's more, he says, the mixture gets 40% better mileage from the gasoline it contains and emits significantly l ess pollution because engines run cooler. In particular, tailpipes emit virtually no nitrogen oxides--the principal source of smog.

Sound crazy? Maybe, but Caterpillar Inc. is so intrigued that in early July it formed a joint venture with A-55 LP, Gunnerman's tiny, nine- person company in Reno, Nev. A-55 is short for aqueous 55%, the amount of water by weight in the patented fuels. But the key ingredient is 0.5% of a secret emulsifier that enables fuel and water to mix--and stay mixed. Gunnerman financed his work with royalties from other patents, especially th ose covering the making of pellets for woodstoves.

NICKEL CATALYST. Caterpillar won't discuss the terms of the deal, except to say it will contribute staff and resources to the new venture, called Advanced Fuels LLC. ``It's certainly very exciting technology, '' says James E. Si bley, Cat's technical manager and acting general manager of the joint venture. ``But a lot of work still needs to be done, and a lot of surprises can always crop up as you go to product development.''

Why does the fuel result in better mileage? Gunnerman believes the water gets broken down into hydrogen and oxygen, and the hydrogen contributes energy to the combustion process. That's because there is one additional trick in h is patented process: A small piece of nickel must be attached to the crown of each piston or the top of the cylinder heads. The nickel seems to act as a catalyst in ``dissociating' ' the water, says Gunnerman.

Hogwash, says David B. Kittelson, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Minnesota. Researchers have been burning 50%- water fuels since the 1940s, and ``there's this myth that you're burning the water.'' Actually, he says, the water j ust allows the engine to run hotter and not melt. World War II bombers wouldn't have been able to get off the runway without their water-injection turbochargers.

Still, Gunnerman's invention has done well in recent tests. Reno used it to power a city bus for five months. The Air Force put six vehicles through a 14-week obstacle course at its Elmendorf base in Alaska. And the Minnesota Tr ansportation Dept. hosted an event last December featuring five vehicles that journeyed 2,000 miles from Reno.

MILES TO GO. In Reno, city bus No.405 began making its daily runs with Gunnerman's blend on Oct. 5, 1993. It racked up 11,292 miles by Feb. 22, when the engine was removed and shipped to Caterpillar for s tudy. Bruce Anderson, maintenance superintendent of Reno's Regional Transportation Commission, kept tabs on performance and found a 29% increase in mileage per gallon of diesel fuel--with no unusual problems.

In Minnesota, Gregory Felt, chief operations engineer for the state' s Transportation Dept., admits he was ``the biggest skeptic around.' ' So he asked Gunnerman's team for a live demo: Mix up a fresh batch with local tap water and diesel fuel. When the blend was used to fire up a model 453 engine from Detroit Diesel Inc., ``it had the cleanest exhaust I've ever seen coming out of a diesel,'' says Felt. ``If it really does what it seems, this is big.''

How big? ``If this proves out, it could reduce the U.S. trade deficit by almost half, by eliminating the need to import oil,'' says John D. Peters, who tracks emerging transportation technology for Minnesota.

Converting an existing gasoline engine to run A-55 fuel would cost less than $500, Gunnerman predicts--including a new fuel-injection control chip that could be programmed to detect the presence or absence of water and adjust op erations accordingly. That way, drivers could fill up with regular gasoline if they couldn't find A-55.

Gunnerman's next project: a fuel that would eliminate gasoline altogether. He calls it ``X fuel.'' It's a mix of naphtha and water. Naphtha comes out of the process of refining oil earlier than gasoline, so it costs 50% less. It 's enough to send the Exxon tiger into a tizzy.

Copyright 1994 McGraw-Hill, Inc. All rights reserved._

Otis Port in New York, ENGINES THAT RUN ON WATER?., 08-08-1994.

[JC did it. Fair use -rs]

HEY!

Hey hey hey!!

Down here!

Are you guys ready to cop a plea yet?

Half gas, half water: does it work?

By Ken Miller
Gannett news service

RENO, Nev. -- It seems too good to be true, but rigorous tests under way in Nevada, California and Illinois show a breakthrough fuel that is more than half tap water could power the nation's vehicles, train s and gas-powered aircraft by century's end.

The milky fuel was developed by Reno inventor Rudolf Gunnerman and is being pushed through the federal fuels-testing labyrinth by Gunnerman and diesel giant Caterpillar Inc. It has passed every test thrown at it.

In virtually all categories, it tops conventional gasoline and diesel as a clean, cheap and safe fuel that can be used in almost any combustion engine. If it works -- and disinterested outsiders who have tested it say it may -- drivers could see the price of gasoline cut more than half.

``Everybody said it cannot work, that I'm a fraud,'' the German-born inventor said, beginning an interview with the obligatory denial that he's a crackpot.

No one's laughing now: Nevada last November certified the water-based fuel as a ``clean alternative fuel,'' meaning it can be used to meet federal mandates requiring clean fuels in fleets and other vehic les.

The Energy Department is awaiting test data from trials run by Caterpillar before passing judgment. If DOE reaches the same conclusion as Nevada, Gunnerman's concoction could be used as a clean fuel in a ll states.

Emission trials in Nevada show the fuel not only surpasses Environmental Protection Agency tailpipe standards, but also the next two rounds of tough California Air Resources Board standards reaching deep into the next century.

Tests show a 60 percent drop in EPA-monitored emissions of such pollutants as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide or NOX, a component of smog.

Furthermore, it is made out of a plentiful clear liquid, naphtha, produced in early stages of petroleum refining, skipping the later processes that produce various grades of diesel and gasoline.

The fuel can be interchanged with today's conventional fuels, meaning converted vehicles can run on either fuel with no change in performance but improved mileage and substantial exhaust reductions.

Other benefits that have surfaced in development and field trials of the ``A-21'' (aqueous fuel for the 21st century) fuel:

-- At the refinery, naphtha, used today as a hardener in road tars, is siphoned off and trucked or piped to a blending facility to be mixed with water to produce the fuel. That eliminates up to 90 percen t of refinery pollutants.

-- Naphtha is easier to extract from sources such as oil shale and sand tars, meaning those hard-to-work sources could be exploited. As the amount of petroleum in gasoline falls, so do oil imports.

-- Once mixed with the water and a tiny amount of an agent to keep the naphtha and water from separating, the fuel has a ``vapor pressure'' of about one-fifth that of gasoline. That means vapor-recovery systems won't be needed at the pump. Because gasoline vapor is what catches fire, this fuel is virtually immune to explosions and fire.

-- The fuel can be used in any diesel or spark-ignited engine. That includes train locomotives, which currently use a billion gallons of fuel a year; certain aircraft; recreational vehicles; and diesel g enerators, which must be limited today due to their high emissions.

Gunnerman, who spent eight years finding a way to keep water and fuel blended, admits the new A-21 fuel might still be dismissed as a fraud if not for the considerable clout of Caterpillar, which is bank ing on the fuel to help it win back diesel business lost to Detroit through the years.

He said his giant partner ``has been very helpful in legitimizing me. . . . It's easier if 52,000 people are out there fighting the battle with you.''

His company, A-55 Limited Partnership, joined Caterpillar's Engine Division in 1994 to form Advanced Fuels, a venture to test and market the new fuel.

Tests on a city bus in Reno, on a free-standing power generator that for four months has been feeding electricity to Reno's electric grid, on generators at Cat's Illinois plants, and now in public and pr ivate vehicle fleets in Sacramento show A-21 works as claimed.

``The Advanced Fuels joint venture is one we entered into because we believe this fuel is one of the most promising alternative fuels that's out there today,'' said Caterpillar spokeswoman Marsha Hausser . She said Caterpillar is testing other fuels, but ``we've been pleased with the test results we have seen so far. We do have more tests to conduct, and we want to verify in our minds in the long term that this is a viable alternative.

``Any time you have an alternative that is cleaner burning, less flammable, and allows you to operate an engine more efficiently, that's a significant advance,'' Hausser said. Test results remain confide ntial, she said.

Alan Stout of EPA's National Fuel and Emissions Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., said his lab has been watching the A-21 story develop. While he questioned whether this new fuel could replace conventional fuels in the short term, he said EPA continues to monitor tests on fleets.

The most frequently heard concern is that, with so much water, A-21 might be prone to freezing or cold-start problems. After testing earlier formulas, enough antifreeze was added that test vehicles have not had problems in the cold. Industry analysts also say it may require a small amount of ethanol in the blend for storage in tanks to winterize it for temperatures of at least 40 below zero.

Examining a prototype ``automated blending facility'' that is about to start mixing 40,000 gallons of fuel daily, Gunnerman said the major hurdle before the fuel will start showing up at gas stations is Energy Department certification that it qualifies as a clean alternative fuel.

``How fast we'll do it will not depend alone on Cat and us,'' Gunnerman said. ``It will also depend on DOE and EPA and how fast we can push it.''

© Copyright 1996, The Salt Lake Tribune

All material found on Utah OnLine is copyrighted The Salt Lake Tribune and associated news services. No material may be reproduced or reused without explicit permission from The Salt Lake Tribune.

[JC did it. Fair use. -rs]

NOW are you guys ready to cop a plea?