That last sentence was supposed to be a hint to the fact that you don't know what you are talking about when you speak for "the liberals".

What you hear on Fox and talk radio is not what "the liberals" actually believe or want. It's a caricature that they can more easily attack.

No, you can thank increased tax receipts due to the dot-com boom. Government had damn near nothing to do with it.

No, he calls himself a democratic socialist. That isn't socialist. It's more-or-less the mainstream "left" party in most countries in Western Europe. And he'd fit well in those parties.

Nader got fewer votes from registered Democrats in Florida than Bush did. By an order of magnitude.

So no, Nader wasn't the cause of Bush's victory. Gore's terrible campaign was. According to Al Gore himself.

No, he calls himself a democratic socialist. Democratic socialists are not socialists.

H1B visas are not immigration visas. They are temporary.

But nice try speaking for "the liberals".

You think that because you think they actually are interested in you.

They aren't. They're interested in justifying an H1B visa. So they send out emails to people they know are not interested, and place conditions that they know will cause the "candidate" to reject them (ie. It's not where you live and they refuse to pay for travel to a required, on-site interview).

Do that to 100 people, and you can go claim you need an H1B because you could not find someone already in the US to take the job.

And that's why I finished my post with the following: "It's probably not a practical solution currently. But as efficiencies increase, it's at least feasible it may be at some point in the future."

Nope. There is a fixed amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the airplane. Well, more-or-less fixed - the sun's output varies slightly.

There is not enough energy in that sunlight to power a passenger/cargo airplane. Even with 100% efficient panels.

When you're talking about trains or earthmovers, there is no battery. It's generated as-needed.

When you're talking about all-electric cars, the battery hurts range. Whether or not that's a problem depends on your driving patterns. If you're a typical commute-to-work-and-a-few-errands urban/suburban driver, the range is likely well beyond what you would consume in a day. If you are not that kind of driver then the range may be a factor.

Nope. You forgot about the transmission. The diesel is most efficient in a narrow RPM range. When it's connected to a generator, it can remain in that RPM range. When it's attached to a transmission that is attached to the wheels, it can't. The worst is low-speed acceleration, where electric motors do quite well.

Since you're so new to the subject, you could start here: http://science.howstuffworks.c...

Electric traction motors are far more efficient than ICEs. That's why diesel locomotives don't actually connect the diesel engine to the wheels. The diesel engine generates electricity, which turns electric traction motors.

Same with the really big earthmoving equipment - those gigantic dump trucks down at the strip mine are using electric traction motors powered by diesel generators.

Why don't we do this in cars? Space and complexity.

So what's the point of all electric cars? It separates the energy generation from the energy consumption, allowing flexibility in the energy generation. That coal plant you decry is a lot more efficient than an ICE. And other electricity generation sources have other benefits. The problem has been getting the power from the power plant to the car so that you can use electric traction motors.

Coal plants can't idle. They're either running at or near capacity, or shut down. And they do not shut down overnight, because it takes about 3 days for them to get up to operating temperature. This is why coal power plants will sell electricity at a loss overnight.

That's also why most coal power plants in the US are getting replaced with natural gas power plants. A natural gas power plant is basically a helicopter engine connected to a generator. You can throttle it up and down somewhat, and you can start it up in minutes instead of days. And thanks to the "wonders" of fracking, we have a lot of very cheap natural gas.

No, there isn't enough surface area to power a passenger/cargo aircraft via solar panels. That's why the plane currently attempting a 100% solar-powered flight around the world is a custom, ultralight airplane with zero passengers and basically zero cargo.

You forgot that the "porno princess" now claims her child is not autistic.

Just to toss another bit on the "greed argument" pile, the drugs to treat a disease cost 10 to 10,000,000 times more than the vaccines to prevent the disease. So if it was about greed, they wouldn't be giving vaccines. It's MUCH more profitable to treat a polio victim for the rest of their life than to vaccinate against it.

"But Chicken Pox doesn't have a treatment drug!!". It has lots and lots of drugs in the rare cases when it causes serious complications and sends the victim to the ICU.