Rick Raw: Campaign Overkill–Candidates Devalued by Overexposure

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net http://www.rickatnight.com/

As the presidential campaigns sprint to the finish of the race, they have already stated their platforms ad nauseam and given umpteen speeches about what a great president they will make. Media scrutiny has maxed out. Frankly, I’m sick and tired of hearing the candidates voices and vicious attacks on one another. At this point, enough already. Shut up and take a break until election day. In fact, I voted early, November 20th.

The problem is: The campaigns are run by the candidates’ handlers–campaign managers, speech writers, political strategists, pollsters, and other soothsayers–all telling the candidates that they should say this or that to boost their poll numbers. Over the dragged-out stomp, the candidates become puppets to these advisors who claim to understand the complex mathematics of presidential politics. In the end, it’s a crap shoot.

When John Q. Voter goes into the voting booth they vote with their heart on the issues that they feel are important. By now, the so called undecided should have some idea as to their candidate’s leanings. If JFK was reincarnated and was running as a Republican, I wouldn’t vote for him. I loathe Republicans. They are the uptight conservatives, preachers, evangelicals, and all the people I believe are charlatans, grifters, liars, blowhard radio talk show hosts, and false prophets.

Yeah, I’m taking a chance on Obama. He can’t be any worse than W. Thanks to the instantly reactive, twenty-four hour news media, I’ve heard everything he has to say. I know his biography. Now, we are "discovering" Sarah Palin in such depth, we’ll know what kind of underwear she wears and what brand of toothpaste she uses. But come on, Palin is a pretty distraction with a strident voice. Now, McCain insiders are saying Palin has gone rogue and acts like a diva.

Knowledge is power, but too much information boggles the mind. We live under the magnifying glass of instant, continuous news coverage. The media goes for the jugular. If it bleeds it leads. One wonders how an ordinary person like Sarah Palin can stand the media scrutiny. I couldn’t pass muster. They would dredge up my life in the sixties and seventies. Mercifully, I don’t remember most of it or I’ve repressed the memories. The media would have me for breakfast.

On the eve of election day, the news media has saturated the airwaves with election minutia, devaluating both presidential candidates. The networks present endless talking heads analyzing and speculating about every aspect of the candidates’ lives and platforms. More significantly, the candidates’ soothsayers have reduced their candidates to parodies of themselves. The whole sorry business goes on far too long and voters tune out the noise. I hit the mute button frequently.

American elections have always been messy, undignified affairs of pomposity and overkill. Now, with the science of polling and satellite media speculation, the public is inundated with an overabundance of data about the candidates. But in the end, it’s one person inside a voting booth making their decision. All that other stuff is so much microwave transmission through the air.

Rick Raw: Drive-in Theaters–A Time Warp Back to The Fifties

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

My 1950's memories are made of fragmented nostalgic experiences that promanently include drive-in theaters, where as a young man, I was hoping to get lucky for the first time. I took my dates to the drive-in theater in my tank-like 1952 Packard, with a large couch-like back seat. The huge heavy hunk of steel and chrome had been a luxury car in its day. Ah, but for me, it was a motel on wheels that drove like a Cadillac. This battle-wagon could cruise at 80 mph like it was going 50 mph.

In 1958, I was a junior in high school and, when I recently read that drive-in theaters were enjoying a resurgence, a flood of memories came back–visions of the many happy nights I spent not viewing the featured film, but trying to get beyond second base. One night, as Giant rolled on the outdoor screen, I had my first sexual experience. It rocked me to the core and made me realize I was way outside my teenage comfort zone.

After this mind-blowing experience, I played it cool. I was scared I’d get some girl pregnant which wasn’t in my future plans. But soon, driven by surging hormones, I threw caution to the wind and was back at the drive-in, emboldened by my previous experience. There in my living room on wheels Packard, I was again steaming up the windows, and hoping I would get lucky–again!

Drive-in theaters provided privacy for teenagers and ordinary people who could be comfortable in their cars to watch movies. Drive-ins were also popular because parents didn’t have to hire a babysitter. At that time, there were thousands of drive-ins countrywide–5,000 plus. Today there are 500 drive-ins scattered around the country, many of which are in Florida. Now instead of those crummy speakers on the door, you tune into a special frequency on your car radio to hear the soundtrack.

In my home town, Jacksonville, Florida we have one drive-in, The Playtime Triple Family Drive-in, that now screens first run movies. The Playtime doubles as a flea market during weekdays. In a past incarnation, the Playtime ran X-rated movies to fill up the parking spaces.

Today, when you drive through the gate of a drive-in, you travel back in time. Drive-ins have become a popular family entertainment. Paradoxically, it comes at a time when there are many choices of venues and multimedia to watch movies, including giant megaplexes, Ipods, cell phones, computer screens, DVDs, and dedicated DVD players. The drive-in has the nostalgic appeal of a simpler time when our culture was less complicated and stressed. Yeah, cliche or not, it was the good old days. Ah, time moves relentlessly on and progress is an unstoppable runaway train.

Now parents are taking their kids to the drive-in to expose them to a truly American pop icon, and a chance for the whole family to enjoy a night out together. In contrast, a night out at a megaplex can be expensive. But, at a drive-in, folks can take their own snacks or buy them at the snack bar at reasonable prices. Of course, today’s drive-ins are still passion pits, attracting married people having extramarital affairs. Oh yes, the lure of a tryst at a drive-in has a very strong appeal for some unhappy married people.

Proprietors of drive-ins tell a popular joke about extramarital affairs at drive-ins. "A man goes to the manager and complains that he is sure that his wife is there with another man. He wants the manager to stop the film so he can catch his wife with her lover. After a long argument, the manager briefly stops the film and makes an announcement through the speakers. ‘A man is here looking for his wife who is here with another man.’" Twenty-five cars immediately left the drive-in.

Rick Raw: Hydrogen Cars Soon To Be A Reality–Space Technology Saves Environment

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Three years ago, I wrote a Rick Raw piece about the early development of hydrogen fueled vehicles. At the time, BMW had a prototype in the testing phase. Today, GM has loaned out some fuel cell powered Chevrolet Equinoxes to various ordinary drivers in the Washington, D.C. region to see how they work in everyday driving situations. Of course, to do this there had to be at least a few hydrogen stations for the test subjects to refuel their cars. Indeed, the nation’s capital is a great place to test these cars in front of the Hill, so our lawmakers can lobby the industry to get these cars into production pronto. Well, when their not having affairs or making deals.

These vehicles are powered by electric motors, charged by fuel cells using hydrogen and oxygen as the reactants. I know about this technology because I helped develop it for Project Apollo, our moon landing initiative. At the time, I knew that eventually fuel cells would be running substation-size power plants, but I never dreamed that we would be testing fuel cell cars. Hallelujah, the 1960s beat-the-Russians into space race has produced a practical spin-off other than Tang and toothpaste food.

For the technically challenged, the difference between a battery and a fuel cell is: A battery has a limited source of reactants being used up in the acid bath to produce current. A fuel cell carries its own reactants in a closed loop under pressure. The "cell" looks like two dinner plates placed together with a thin wafer-like centered (impregnated with tiny capillaries) electrode in HCI (acid) separating the explosive reactants. As the reactants pass over the electrode, a flow of DC current is created in the capillaries, and drinkable water is produced as a byproduct of the reaction. As you stack up the cells, the number of cells is directly proportional to the desired rise in output.

The manufacturing of H2O is important for space vehicles because the astronauts could drink the water. They just couldn’t take a ton of water into space. So a constant supply of water was being produced as well as the electricity powering the space craft. In future space vehicles, in addition to fuel cells, urine will be recycled into potable water. Aye, pee me a cup, Captain!

Yes, by now you’re remembering your high school chemistry classes and thinking that if hydrogen and oxygen meet-- ka-boom. But the acid keeps it separated. I know this because of the hundreds of hours of testing the early fuel cells to make sure that the reactants couldn’t ever come in contact with each other. We did have trouble with the cells flooding acid into one or two of the gas chambers.

As a shocking downside-- carrying a cylinder of pressurized hydrogen in your car would be like carrying a small atomic bomb. If that tank ruptured in an accident, all hydrogen needs is air to instantly explode. The ensuing explosion would be spectacular and instantly vaporize the occupants of the car. Ah, but the eggheads at GM say that they have developed a tank that would defuse the hydrogen into the air in a nonflammable concentration if the tank was punctured or leaked. Okay, but I’ve seen hydrogen explosions and I would need more reassurances.

Of all the eco-friendly alternatives to gasoline, fuel cells promise the best and cheapest choice in the long run–the equivalent of 45 to 50 mpg–with zero emissions and drinkable water coming out of the exhaust. Fuel cells operate at 80% efficiency compared to the internal combustion engine which runs at 40% efficiency. There are new ways of making hydrogen that do not use fossil fuels. Holland has a hydrogen highway with fueling stations that manufacture their own hydrogen using solar energy.

If this "Project Driveway" proves the viability of hydrogen fueled cars, then there is no reason we can’t have production models in dealerships next year. But, the major oil companies will have to cooperate with building hydrogen pumping stations across the land. Imagine having to drive to the Kennedy Space Center to fill up your tank from one of NASA’s giant cylinders.

Remember all those trips to the moon from the late 60s, the utility vehicle’s three fuel cells (wired in parallel) only failed once during Apollo 13. But, they failed because the oxygen tank exploded, robbing the cells of one of their reactants. And that was almost forty years ago and fuel cell technology has advanced exponentially since then. It’s time to switch to hydrogen cars.

Rick Raw: Pirates of The Gulf of Aden Wreak Havoc on Shipping

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Like the infamous pirates of yesteryear, modern-day rag-tag pirates from Somali carrying AK47s and RPGs have been roaming the waters of the Gulf of Aden seizing foreign vessels by force and holding them for ransom. These brazen attacks have outraged the nations involved and resulted in the United States and Russia sending in warships to deal with these bands of sea raiders.

Somalian thugs dressed in pieced together clothes such as women’s blouses, sunglasses, and scarfs roam near the shore. They wear dread-locks and work for warlords who run Somalia. This is a scurvy crew of crazed killers high on methamphetamine and hell bent for blood and money. In a recent attack in the Gulf of Aden, pirates attempted four attacks in 24 hours. Three attacks failed but a contingent of vicious marauders managed to board a cargo ship carrying 33 modern Russian tanks.

This new escalation of piracy got the attention of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Thus, a United States Navy destroyer has surrounded the ship and a Russian cruiser is seaming to the Gulf of Aden. Attacking cargo vessels is one thing, but blitzing a vessel carrying Russian tanks is suicide. The prevailing wisdom of today’s pirates is: Don’t mess with the Russians. They will send elite commandos to storm the ship and wipe-out these warloard scum.

This new breed of Buccaneers has nothing to lose and everything to gain by hopping in fast rubber boats, armed to the teeth. They come in fast and fire on the crews of large ships, throwing ropes onto the deck and boarding by force. Some big cargo container companies have hired armed mercenaries to travel aboard their container ships to battle these seafaring terrorists.

Incredibly, piracy on the high seas has burgeoned in recent years with attacks in the Caribbean, off Africa, Asia, and South America. Well armed bands of rebels, insurgents, and drugged-up gangs living on the fringe of their societies now see piracy as a new way to raise vast amounts of cash for their cause.

These armed miscreants have graduated from kidnaping tourists or aid workers to attacking large commercial ships carrying valuable cargo. Sometimes crew members or the Captains of the seized ships are tortured or murdered to show the companies they mean business. In most cases, the companies pay them off and don’t report the attack which could affect business.

In 2005, a famous pirate attack happened involving a cruise ship, the Seabourn Spirit, that was sailing near the coast of Samalia. It was attacked by two boatloads of armed pirates. As they neared the vessel, the seaborne punks fired RPGs and AK-47s at the Seabourn Spirit, exploding through the side of the ship. The passengers were terrified. The captain ordered all the passengers to gather in the main ball room away from the windows.

It just so happened that the ship was carrying a security officer Michael Groves who was trained to use a high tech sonic weapon carefully hidden on the deck. Groves activated the sound weapon and aimed it at each of the two boatloads of pirates while receiving fire on his position. The weapon concentrates a blast of sound so loud and piercing, it disables anyone in its path. The weapon did the trick and the pirates cut and ran.

Since then, many cruise lines are carrying security officers with a caches of weapons locked in the ships’ armories. The sonic weapon has also caught on as a deterrent to pirate attacks on the high seas. The last thing a cruise ship Captain wants is a shoot out on board his vessel. The United States Navy is monitoring the incidents of piracy in hot-spots around the globe and is sending warships to shadow commercial vessels. The pirate creed has inspired bold new robbers on the high seas to terrorize the vessel’ crews with brutal force and win a large ransoms.

Rick Raw: Pickens Plan Evangelist–Pledging My Time to Save Us from Foreign Oil

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

We’ve all seen the ads on TV– billionaire oil man, T. Boone Pickens hawking his new plan to wean us off foreign oil. Intrigued, I investigated PickensPlan.com and I was impressed by Pickens grass roots initiative to install more windmill fields and bring Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to the market to replace gasoline as a bridge to hydrogen powered vehicles. Of course, I’ve touted hydrogen/fuel cell vehicles in past and future Rick Raws as being the ideal goal. I know about fuel cells because I helped develop them for Project Apollo–the moon landing initiative.

Normally, I’m not a joiner. Groups bore me. They sit around talking and doing nothing. Ah but, Pickens seems to want action. So I joined the Pickens Plan supporters pledging some of my time to help make Pickens’Plan happen. What can I do? Well, I can raise holy hell with my lame brain representatives in Florida and Washington. Frankly, I’m sick of high gas prices and these politicians need to make this plan happen or be voted out of office. Yeah, I’m just one voice, but with the other committed Pickens Plan activists, we can make a difference. After all, it’s our government. We can make it work for us if we get off our apathetic asses and do something productive.

When I joined the Pickens Plan army, I was inundated with E-mails from other supporters to join the discussion groups. But I wrote back that we should stop talking and act. First get CNG pumps to gas stations across the country ASAP. Second, make conversion kits available to anyone that wants to have their car converted to running on CNG, which is a simple and cheap hardware changeover. Man, I’m ready to do it now. Hell, I’d connect a tube to my ass and run my car on my own natural gas if I could.

CNG makes sense because it burns much cleaner and costs 40% less than gasoline. We have pipeline access to vast CNG supplies. Moreover, critical greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas are 23% lower than diesel and 30% lower that gasoline.. Today, many city bus fleets are powered by CNG and many more truck fleets are making the conversion. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach recently announced that 16, 800 old diesel trucks will be replaced by CNG powered trucks. It’s a radical move to green the busiest ports in America.

The best part of using CNG is, almost 100% used in the United States comes from North America as opposed to 70% of oil coming from foreign nations. We could tell those OPEC towel heads to go pound sand.

So what is the time frame for Pickens Plan to be implemented? Building new wind generation facilities and a natural gas infrastructure can replace one-third of our foreign oil imports in 10 years. Pickens admits it’s contingent on our next President’s commitment to this initiative.

Imagine if we can phase out the war in Iraq and the billions of dollars that we have been spending on that misadventure could be spent on making Pickens Plan a reality. Hell, we could be driving CNG powered cars in five years. But like all of our worthwhile domestic plans, the Pickens Plan could get bogged down in partisan politics. Let’s hope that new ways of doing things will be inspired by a new forward thinking administration.