Yeah bringing down "stagflation" ( inflation averaged 12.5%, compared with 4.4% during Reagan's last year in office, unemployment rate declined from 7.5% to 5.4%) , then starting one of the biggest economic booms, initiating the START treaty (actually eliminating nuclear weapons and reducin warhead counts for the first time ever), and setting up the fall of Communism without the horror of a war or bloody revolution in Europe. Real gross domestic product (GDP) grew during his eight years in office at an annual rate of 3.85% per year; Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman and Robert A. Mundell, argue that Reagan's tax policies invigorated America's economy and contributed to the economic boom of the 1990s. That Reagan was really terrible, yeah? I suggest you learn a bit more of the real history of that era. I was a kid, and I remember Carter and the misery, and how Reagan (and the Dem Congress, truly bipartisan) worked to repair the damage done.

And 4 more years of Obama's failed policies and terrible economics would be anything other? We're hosed either way.

US has massive natural gas reserves and production - it is an exporter of natural gas, over 1.4 trillion cubic feet to Canada and Mexico alone, via pipeline. So obtaining hydrogen from that source will not be a question like crude-oil based diesel or gasoline fuel might be. Thats likely why they chose it, the environmental angle is just a PR bonus

I use BT, chat, email, FG and even play WoW and flash games. So I guess I'm in trouble:

Come see the symptoms inherent in the system, Help Help, I'm being depressed!

I know this is slashdot, but really, Read The Fine Original Post, the one at the very top before all the comments.

The Swiss are also the beneficiaries of very mountainous terrain (notoriously hard to attack) and VERY heavily armed (An assault rifle in most homes). Plus in their history (there's that word again, history), the Swiss were feared mercenaries, and even the subject of treaties regarding use. There have also been civil wars, and repression of the populace. You seem to omit those. Switzerland is unique in its position, and hardly applicable as a realistic example, plus they too, have had blood in their past as I showed. Again, human nature is just to bloody to disarm.

I recommended you learn history - apparently your grasp of history only extends to Wikipedia. Rather poor examples, you must be joking. Pax Romana? Constant small wars and battles all around the edges of the empire - study your history, you can start with Boudica and her routing the IX Hispana Legion in a rebellion. And you overlook the rest of the world - for instance the Han Dynasty's 100+ years Sino-Xiongnu war. Pax Britannica? An even bigger joke - you completely overlook the US Civil war, and lots of smaller wars like the Crimean war (Charge of the light brigade), the Opium wars in China, the Russian-Japanese wars of the early 20th, and the multiple Prussian wars in Europe, and even the Boer war towards the end of the period. Pax Americana? Come on, you should know better. For the US itself, there are a ton: Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia/Serbia/Kosovo, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan (Both the US and the Russians have had a go there). World wide there have been nearly innumerable colonial, then tribal wars that cause massive starvation in Africa, not to mention the Arab-Israeli wars, Indo-Pakistan. and numerous insurgencies all over the place like the Moro-Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines (who really need a different acronym if they want to stop people from snickering). Like I said, you need to learn some history. Come back when you learn the lessons of said history. Thanks for playing, have a nice day.

Sadly, this may have some truth to it - she looks like a cute enough high school girl in the online picture in the article. TSA and Pedobear, BFF

War is not so much a matter of weapons as of money -- Thucydides That was 25 centuries ago. Care to give even one instance of an extended period in civilized history in which war did not occur? That was what the point (which you apparently completely missed). Human nature insures there will always be war, naively wishing war would not happen doesn't make it go away. Santayana was right: Only the dead have seen the end of war. It is not a matter of if you have to spend money on military and war, its how much (and how well spent the "much" is). "A wise man in times of peace prepares for war." -- Horace's ancient advice still rings true down all the centuries. The only real choice is not whether to spend, but how much. War is such a horrid thing that it is incumbent to spend enough money and time to preclude one if possible, and to win one quickly and as bloodlessly as possible if not.

I suggest you take a few history courses. War of some sort or another (for gain or subjugation) has existed as long as any human civilization larger than a family has existed.

Nice sentiments. But far too idealistic and unrealistic. Your problem is, human nature. Those who beat their swords into plowshares will till the soil for those who have not.

Nice fantasy: depending on Obama's budget. I live in reality. Obamas budget was defeated by a unanimous vote (0 voting for, 414 D and R voting against) in case you didn't notice. Try to read what I said instead of being frozen to your preconceived "D Good R Bad" misconception: 2 sides, same coin. Learn. Or else all you will ever be is a convenient dupe for one side or the other.

Will Panetta still be in if the Willard Romney wins? No - that's why he wants to lay the groundwork *now*. He wants to help his industrialist buddies. Very little R vs D here to see - you are rather simpleminded and frozen in your political outlook if you think the D party doesnt covent defense spending nearly as much as the R party. Two sides of the same coin.

A rather unique approach you have to the scientific method, and applying it to public policy, which by nature demands consensus for anything to be done. Either you are an idiot who is doing more harm to his cause than he realizes, or I bow to you for trolling me with that jack-booted comment.