Yearly Archives: 2009

Control Valve Feedback Operation

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Excuse me honourable gentle man,

would you like to explain me control valve operation ? i mean when dcs give 12ma for 50% open in direct action so in far field it follows to open 50% but how could dcs operator or panel operator confirm it open 50%...? plz explain in deatail my dear all if a

1994 Saturn SL2 – Automatic Transmission

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Hi there,

We have a 1994 Saturn SL2 with an automatic transmission. It got 124K miles on the odomoter. Everything (transmission wise) seems to work well in Park, Reverse & Drive. When in drive, it smoothly shifts through all the gears without a problem. But, when I drop it down to 2

Thermal Insulation of Piping

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In the specification of thermal insulation for piping, the design criteria is mentioned for wind speed is 0.5m/s for inside and 0.25 for ouside the plant build. is the wind speed is more inside the pland build?

Please also clarify the general design criteria for wind speed consideration for the

Fall-out for Ben Nelson

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Just released poll from Rasmussen finds the Senator's popularity has plummeted since his "yea" vote on ObamaCare.

Rasmussen Nebraska 2012 Senatorial Survey

•Dave Heineman (R) 61%
•Ben Nelson (D) 30%
•Some other candidate 5%
•Not sure 4%

Rasmussen comments:

Nelson's health care vote is clearly dragging his numbers down. Just 17% of Nebraska voters approve of the deal their senator made on Medicaid in exchange for his vote in support of the plan.

Jesse Kelly for Congress – Arizona: Cato Connection

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One of the hottest Congressional races in the country will be District 8 AZ. An embattled and vulnerable Democrat is a top GOP target for 2010.

As Ilya Shapiro at Cato.org explains:

The Arizona 8th, which covers part of Tucson and the extreme southeast of the state, is currently represented by Democrat Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords won in this traditionally Republican district in 2006 when the GOP fielded a candidate too socially conservative for this libertarian area. Though she was reelected in 2008, John McCain carried the district 52-46. Giffords is considered to be vulnerable; while apparently a member of the “Blue Dog” caucus, she voted for TARP, the stimulus, Obamacare, and cap-and-trade, and has a D+ rating from the NRA. And so the 2010 election should be an opportunity for a libertarian Republican

That libertarian Republican is Jesse Kelly.

He is a United States Marine Corps combat veteran. He led a squad of Marines while deployed during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Since his discharge in 2004, he's been a Construction site Manager.

Kelly has garnered an impressive list of supporters on the Right: Reps. Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn, Trent Franks, Mike Pence, and two legends in Arizona Barry Goldwater, Jr. and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

A Tea Party Patriot, his views are solidly libertarian.

Continues Shapiro:

I actually met Kelly once and was impressed with how forthrightly he spoke not only about “limited government” generally — any politician can mouth that — but about constitutional protections for liberty, such as Article I’s enumerated powers and the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Adam tells me that Kelly’s been known to reference Locke, Jefferson, Hayek, and Friedman at house parties and fundraisers alike.

On Defense, from his website:

We live in a time when our enemies test nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles capable of reaching American interests. Terrorists continue to plot attacks against America and her interests. We must fully fund our nation's military and ensure the men and women in uniform have the tools, training, and care they need and deserve.

Our government has a constitutional obligation to protect its citizens. Border security needs to be a top National Defense priority. I am committed to fully funding vital military systems such as missile defense and upgrading our fighter and bomber fleets.

And Kelly has a solid "movement libertarian" link. One of his campaign staffers comes from the Cato Institute.

Adam Kwasman is a former economics and law student at George Mason Univ. He's also a former Cato intern. Kwasman serves as Policy Director for the Kelly Campaign.

Libertarian Republican for President sighting in New Hampshire

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On the edge of 2010, with only two years to go before the first Presidential primaries and caucuses in the US. A Libertarian Republican appears to be the very first to make an explicit move towards a candidacy.

From the Nashua Telegraph, Dec. 29:

Republican Gary Johnson, who served as New Mexico’s governor from 1995 to 2003, will speak at a forum Jan. 23 organized by the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire.

The group’s chairman, Jim Forsythe, told the New Hampshire Union Leader that speculation that Johnson may run for president in 2012 was one of the reasons he was invited. Johnson has not said whether he is considering a run, but he is building a following among ladvocates for smaller government, and there are several Web sites dedicated to drafting him to run.

Johnson also recently set up a political action committee to promote libertarian views.

Meanwhile Johnson has been gaining attention on another front. He's been carving out a "third way" approach on foreign policy, simultaneously opposing the War in Iraq and calling for the Troops to come home from Afghanistan, while also carefully distancing himself from isolationism, and stressing his support for a strong Military and Defense against all threats to the US.

From a recent press release:

Governor Johnson has also been a strong advocate of the war on terrorism but has been critical of the war in Afghanistan. “Our efforts should be directed towards protecting U.S. citizens and our allies from terrorism. We are at war with Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. I am very concerned about the direction and focus of our continued involvement in Afghanistan,” Johnson said.

Johnson's PAC OurAmericaInitiative.com

Methane Threat and National Redlines

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A final assessment of Copenhagen analyzes the process and breaks the conference into two phases.  It’s worth analyzing whether a world-wide conference run by the UN and political leaders trying to reach a political and economic agreement is the best way to approach this problem.  It’s certainly not the only way to approach a global warming solution.  Immediate action is called for, at this point.

The first phase they analyzed was the first week — chaotic.  Nothing was getting done. The second phase was more political and an accord was arrived at, but that was not the best outcome either.

The outcome of the second phase, when a small group – around 30 – heads of State took the lead, is a minimalist agreement, disappointing in substance, and hectic in process. It proves that the pileup of countries redlines did not leave room for an ambitious agreement: the agreement found is somehow the lowest common denominator. This is not the deal we hoped, but given the context, and especially given the perception that States had of their own national interests, this was probably the best possible deal.

You can download the entire analysis here. (PDF)   It was done by the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI).

Sonar image of methane plumes rising from the Arctic Ocean floor (Image: National Oceanography Centre, Southampton)

The agreements so far are great, but they are static, and non-action based.  The world needs real action on global warming.  That means real leadership, on a country-by-country basis.  Real leaders need to tell citizens what can be done, and how they can be involved, for starters.

The reason we can’t wait for the next COP or the plodding pace of the UN meetings anymore is that we are running out of time.   The methane that is escaping from the Arctic sea, as it warms up,  especially means we don’t have time to wait for the countries to get together again to start cutting emissions.   In the U.S., we need to support the EPA’s immediate regulation of greenhouse gas emissions and other actions like re-forestation (and ending deforestation) to undo the damage of coal plants and all the damage of burning fossil fuels.   This will cost money but we can’t let that be a barrier to action.   Every country has to act now, and stop waiting for a global agreement which may never come, and if it does come, is likely to be too weak.  Individually, countries may arrive at their own conclusions out of necessity like an obvious situation of dwindling resources, or flooding damage, and take stronger action.  The many demands within these conferences have gotten the world only to a stalemate.

Methane is being released from the sea floor due to global warming and no one is sure how much is down there, but scientists know it’s “megatons“.  Depending on how fast this methane is released, this could very quickly accelerate climate change.  See below for new information on the latest methane threat.

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