It's far from "anti American"... and as a prior military soldier who went over seas, I was happy to see the debate reintroduced. If asking questions and demanding evidence that supported the war be shown, so be it. If my boys are dying, I want to know why. If it's oil, just say it. I know it, but I want to hear you say it. It was a lot of reasons, don't be naive was a good line, but it's real. We sometimes don't want to be painted as "anti American" so we won't ask the questions so that we aren't labeled. I served, I can't be labeled, I watched people die. I want the answers as bad as the movie demanded it. A very good movie - highly suggested it. If you believe Bush never did drugs or never went AWOL, then you will hate it. You will hate the truth. A good film to think about...  View

i don't believe in gays serving openly in the military, but that man is disgusting and misrespresents all religious conservatives in a horrifying, offensive way. he needs to be stopped. now.  View

If they're tried in a military tribunal to ensure a higher rate of conviction, then this could be good news. If this is purely a political move, it seems petty and unsurprising.  View

The main reason why these terrorists should be tried in a military tribunal is: THEY ARE NOT CITIZENS! They don't deserve rights given to citizens. Why is this hard to understand? There is no "jury of their peers" because they don't have any! Honestly, the things we debate nowadays was not worth a moment's consideration by our forefathers. Lincoln would have put them to death, end of story.  View

Bloom is way ahead on the use of PR, but on technology and economics The Fuel Cell Energy Co. of Danbury, CT Molten Carbonate fuel cell and Versa Power Systems of Littleton, CO Solid Oxide fuel cell appear to be far ahead of Bloom. Bloom's fuel cell is also a Solid Oxide fuel cell. Global Thermoelectric, a Canadian Company, commenced in business in 1975, making and selling thermoelectric generators for use by oil and gas pipelines and other industries for cathodic protection against corrosion that needed a highly reliable albeit very low efficiency generator for use in very remote locations. These worked on the principle that if you heat two joined dissimilar metals, a current flow would commence between them. Starting in 1997, Global Thermoelectric actively engaged in integrated solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC ) manufacturing technology research and development in which the basics were obtained from a research center in Germany. Global%u2019s cell manufacturing process had three major operation units for fabrication of its anode supported planar cells. As of 2004 Global was able, at a pilot plant in Calgary, Alberta, Canada to produce cells at a volume equivalent to 5 MW/year with greater than 90% yield. Furthermore, the production pipeline reduced the time of manufacture from 30 days to 4 days, and cell cost per kW (direct labour and materials) had been significantly reduced by 65%. Three major problems that must be overcome by all fuel cell companies are 1. Reducing the cost of the cell stack and the balance of plant, including the cost of the electrical inverter that inverts the DC output to AC, 2. Increasing the fuel efficiency of the cell stack in operation, and 3. Maintaining the high fuel efficiency for long periods without cell degradation. Bloom was founded in 2001 in Sunnyvale, California. It has about 10 years of experience. It has not participated in DOE's SECA cost reduction program. It has yet to show it can overcome these barriers. In 2004 Global was sold to Fuel Cell Energy of Danbury, Ct that manufactured Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells. FCE promptly transferred Gobal to Versa Power Systems. VPS was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between the Gas Technology Institute, Electric Power Research Institute, Materials and Systems Research, Inc., and University of Utah. In return for the transfer of the tangible assets of Global Thermoelectric, Fuel Cell Energy received shares of Versa Power Systems sufficient to increase its holdings to 42%. Taking the learning of Global Thermoelectric into account, VPS has had about 13 years of experience in solid oxide fuel cells. Fuel Cell Energy has had some 30 years of experience in the research, development and commercialization of PEM and Molten Carbonate fuel cells. FCE targets loads from 300 kW to 3,000 kW such as supermarkets, colleges, hotels, hospitals. FCE has already cut its costs so that its largest model can now be manufactured to sell with a positive margin. The production cost of these fuel cells declines sharply with volume production. FCE currently has 60 installations around the world. FCE owns 42% of Versa Power Systems. Versa Power does not yet market a commercial product but has already gotten the cost of its smaller fuel cell down to an estimated cost of $700 per kW (when manufactured in high volume) through its participation in the billion dollar US DOE SECA cost reduction program. According to DOE's NETL (National Electric Technology Lab) the cost estimates have been certified by the US Office of Management and Budget. By continuing to participate in that cost reduction program it expects its fuel cells to cost only $400 per kW by 2012, a competitive cost. Bloom's cost estimates seem to be predicted on estimates that its fuel cells will be reduced to about $300 per kW in about 10 years when manufactured in volume and will then be commercial. Neither FCE nor Versa use platinum catalysts and neither need to be fueled with hydrogen. These are advantages that Bloom has implied are exclusive to its product. In fact the FCE fuel cell reforms more hydrogen from natural gas than it needs to generate electricity -- the surplus could be used to fuel cars with PEM fuel cells that require hydrogen for fuel. The FCE fuel cell, in addition to using natural gas as a fuel, can also use coal gas ("syn gas"), propane, mine mouth methane, bio-gas, diesel oil, and byproduct gases from industrial processes such as methane from beer brewing and bread baking, and even paint fumes from the painting facility of an auto manufacturer and sewage effluent from an anaerobic digester. Most American single family houses have a 100 amp connection with the grid, a service drop that will accommodate a peak load of 10 kW at 110 volts or up to 20 kW if loads are served at 220 V. The Versa Power Solid Oxide fuel cell is suitable for that use to satisfy the electrical and/or heating and air conditioning needs of a single family residence but can also be scaled up to 100,000 kW plants using syn gas with an efficiency of 50%. FCE and Versa Power are currently developing such a large plant for DOE. Bloom's 100 kW fuel cell weighed 100 tons or 200,000 lbs according to its initial spec sheet. That sounded excessive to me. I am glad to learn the weight is now posted at 10 tons or 200 lbs per kW. The Versa Power fuel cell also weighs only 200 lbs per kW, Versa Power has been cooperating with the US Airforce on developing power supply for military drones and with the US Navy on developing power supply for mobile underwater platforms. At 2,000 lbs per kW, Bloom fuel cells are likely far too heavy for this purpose but at 200 lbs per kW they will be able to compete for the Vulture II project. FCE's stationary fuel cell has an efficiency of 47% after its DC output (efficiency, 54%) undergoes losses due to its inversion to AC so as to be compatible with the grid. It could be used as DC if operated in isolation. Its efficiency in relatively small sizes permits it to be located near its loads so it does not have to provide for losses over transmission and distribution lines. Conventional coal fired steam turbine generation must get up to sizes of some 500,000 to 600,000 kW to reach an optimal efficiency of 38% (or 43% for rare supercritical units). Per kW hardware costs are also lower also in these larger units. Power from these giant units when adjusted for transmission line and distribution line losses to the customer's meter, may only have a fuel efficiency of 29%. The invention of the aeroderivative internal combustion gas turbine-generator in the early 70s permitted gas to be used as a base load fuel when it was somewhat higher in cost than coal per mmbtu but not a multiple of that cost. That was because of its greater efficiency and lower capacity cost as no expensive boiler was required. The increase in gas cost to multiples of coal cost after the year 2000, greatly reduced their desirability. These gas turbines can be used as the front end of a combined cycle unit. When fully loaded and at optimal temperature and pressure combined cycles can reach a 50% efficiency at sizes of 50,000 kW, and at a size of 400,000 kW, reach an efficiency of 60%. FCE can also be used as a combined cycle or hybrid "FC/GT". When its exhaust is fed into a turbine-generator its electrical fuel efficiency increases to 56%. It can be used with backpressure turbines at high pressure gas transmission line pressure step down stations where it can develop a fuel efficiency of 60% (its model DFC-ERG). It claims that with much larger units of 40,000 kW it can achieve an electrical fuel efficiency of 78% It can also cogenerate because the units is on site, the heat will only have to travel a few yards. Heat energy can't travel for long distances. When there is a need for domestic hot water, process steam, space heating or air conditioning at the site of the electrical load, its combined heat and power (CHP) fuel efficiencly can grow as high as 90% as it has at one hospital installation in Germany. FCE has partnered with POSCO Steel Co. of South Korea. It is one of its best customers. POSCO has built a factory to manufacture the mechanical and electrical portions of FCE's fuel cell leaving the stack elements almost entirely to FCE. FCE is currently manufacturing at a rate of 30,000 kW per year and will be raising its capacity to 50,000 kW per year. The FCE and Versa Fuel Cells can eliminate transmission and distribution lines and also 99% of the toxic pollution emitted by coal generation that provides for more than half of all kilowatt hours generated in the US. Elimination of the transmission and distribution line losses and construction and operation and maintenance costs, can eliminate 5¢ per kilowatt hour of cost of electricity at the customer's meter. Bloom appears to have been comparing his fuel cell with the Plugpower fuel cell early on sponsored by GE, that was also targeted at single family residences of about 10 kW. It uses a PEM fuel cell. It is a low temperature fuel cell with a plastic electrolite that would melt at high temperatures. Only low temperature fuel cells require platinum or noble metal catalysts. As these are expensive and also easily poisoned by carbon monoxide in the hydrocarbon reformate, high temperature fuel cells such as those made by FCE, Versa, and Bloom are more desirable. The high temperature fuel cells are also more efficient than the low temperature ones because they do not require a separate reformer -- the hydrocarbon is reformed in the stack. The Plugpower complete units, initially sponsored by GE, have never become commercial, likely because of catalyst poisoning problems -- i.e. poisoning by small amounts of carbon monoxide in the gas reformate.. But its stack is being used with bottled hydrogen to provide backup power supply at telephone central stations and at some electrical substations for backup to operate relays and circuit breakers. High temperature fuel cells, not requiring platinum or noble metals as a catalyst, are not poisoned by carbon monoxide -- they consume it and generate additional electricity from it. SYSTEM ISSUES The initial need for transmission and distribution lines is that generators are much larger than the individual loads they serve. The reason they are larger is that there are great economies of scale in generation. From the small Pearl Street Station in 1882 that had a fuel efficiency estimated at 8%, with Nikola Tesla's invention of polyphase alternating current, generators grew to serve entire municipalities. With direct current systems they could only serve in an area of about one mile, a half mile radius from a central generating station. This changed with the advent of single phase and then polyphase alternating current technology. Larger generators could serve entire communities and then entire regions -- even an entire state. Investors bought up electric power utilities and merged them to take advantage of economies of scale that were so great they more than offset the additional costs of transmission and distribution -- just to take advantage of the better fuel efficiency and lower hardware cost per kw. From 1882 to 1970 generator scale of coal fired boilers supplying steam turbines increased to optimal sizes of 500,000 kW or 600,000 kW and to even large sizes that proved sub optimal. And with the increases in scale, their fuel efficiency increased to about 38% and if one were to accept the risks of operating supercritical generating units with extremely high temperatures and pressures, to as much as 43%. The integration of loads in an area with transmission and distribution also led to additional economies from load diversity and generator forced outage diversity. For loads that had a low load factor -- where most generation was needed just a few hours of the day, the larger the area served, the greater the probability that everyone's peak usage would not occur at the same time. So for example, with single family residences that use at most 10 kW, but on average only 1 to 1.5 kW, on average these could be served with only 2 kW of generation per customer, saving 80% of generation capacity costs. Also, for firm power, the systems needed generator reserves. The reserves for forced outage might be needed only a few hours per year. With integration, because of forced outage diversities, one generator could meet the reserve power needs of several electric utility systems. However transmission and distribution is rapidly increasing in cost. As of 2000, the average cost per kW of transmission and distribution (T&D), including substations, was $500 per kW, but the average cost of recently installed T&D was almost $1,500 per kW. When the cost of fuel cell generating capacity falls below the cost of integrating transmission and distribution, it may no longer be economical to use them. The most stationary power supply may then change from integrated systems to distributed fuel cell generation. Prior to that time, owners of fuel cells may integrate them into "micro-grids" by distribution or sub-transmission (low voltage transmission) to obtain load and generation outage diversities. Micro-grids are being explored even now in Connecticut. Because of its greater efficiency, the fuel cell will reduce so called greenhouse gases significantly, but greenhouse gases are undesirable only if you believe in global warming; many are commencing to believe that is just a scam. However the fuel cell will almost completely eliminate the really dangerous emissions of toxic pollution such as NOX, SO2 and particulate matter (99% of those emissions as compared with coal generation) because it generates electrochemically rather than by combustion at much lower temperatures than the temperature of combustion. Over the last 150 years there have been but four inventions that have made a great impact in the electric energy supply market. These are 1. the change from small on-site generators to central stations to obtain electric power service without the need to operate an maintain a generator, 2. the change to polyphase alternating current with its invention by Nikola Tesla and its ability to integrate loads and generation to secure fuel efficiency, lower hardware costs per kW, and optimal use of generating capacity, 3. the invention of the aeroderivative internal combustion gas turbine that increased the efficiency of gas turbines from 28% to 43% and permitted combined cycle operation at efficiencies up to 60%, and 4. the development of the fuel cell that is efficient at small sizes, can eliminate transmission and distribution lines, and can almost eliminate toxic pollution. The last development has one further important effect, its effect on competition. To install a conventional optimal coal fired steam turbine, one has to raise a half billion dollars. Even at $3,000 per kW, a 300 kW generating unit can be installed for a million dollars. With the costs of base load generators so reduced, one would expect to see a lot more competition in the electric power supply market. Great increases in volume and the learning curve could continue to drive cost down even below $400 per kW. If cost can be driven down as low as $50 per kW the Solid Oxide fuel cell can be competitive against the internal combustion engine in the automobile market.  View

Because sexual assault is sickeningly high within the military, the it has special accommodations. It's unfortunate, but it's a serious issue for women.  View

disputed election, power driven leader with direct control over the military, widespread suppression of human rights, and rapid militarization. Hmm that in no way sounds like a dictatorship to me...  View

After having collectively lived through an event like 911 Americans will always be cautious about terrorism. Cheney is not being cautious he is being hawkish. He is doing interviews to further a communications strategy not a military one.  View

I would not be surprised at all if this military tactic is a crafty trick the U.S. plans to pull off. Like the video said, last time the U.S. announced an attack ahead of time, it did not work as planned. Having this lesson from history in mind, as well as the knowledge that the Taliban are booby trapping the region and have a large amount of insurgents gathered in the area, the Americans may be pulling a brilliant fake-out.  View

I'm happy DADT is finally coming under review. For years I have heard people voice their frustration with the policy and what means for gay men and women in the military. Hopefully changes will be made as soon as possible.  View