Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent

Obama Energy Plan: A Step in the Right Direction

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I promised in my analysis of the 2008 presidential election that, “When [President Barack Obama (D)] walks down the wrong paths, I will call him out. When he walks down the right ones, I will support him.” After getting to call him out quite a lot regarding the monstrosity of a health care bill he signed into law last week, today I get to support him—at least a little.

President Obama announced today that his energy plan will open up sections of the Gulf of Mexico and Virginia coasts for offshore oil and natural gas drilling, although it will also impose unnecessary restrictions on drilling in Alaska. ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ is not the panacea that some on the political right have made it out to be, but a speedy increase in domestic oil production is indeed an urgent necessity in the short term while we try to end our dependence on fossil fuels all-together in the long term. Alternative fuels (nuclear power for our electricity; electric and hydrogen fuel-cell for our cars) are the long term solution for both economic and environmental reasons. Ending our reliance on foreign oil, however, is an urgent economic and national security concern that can and should happen well before we can completely abandon fossil fuels.

A proper, logical energy plan starts with a speedy ramp-up in domestic oil production to provide for our short-term energy needs—gasoline, heating oil, etc.—while major private and public investment goes toward building new nuclear power plants, research and development of hydrogen fuel-cell, implementation of a hydrogen refilling infrastructure, and development of new battery technologies. This is, essentially, the ‘Lexington Project’ proposed by Senator John McCain (R-AZ) during his 2008 presidential campaign. I am quite pleased that Obama has chosen to follow a similar path, even if he seems to have done so (based on the curious timing) to stem the political fallout from his unpopular new health care law.

In case you’re wondering, the Constitution does not explicitly authorize federal control of energy policy so, under normal circumstances, this would be an issue for the states. However, a reduction or elimination of our dependence on foreign oil is a national security issue. Much of our oil money is going to unfriendly and enemy nations and, at least indirectly, to Islamic terrorist groups. The Constitution assigns responsibility for national security issues to the federal government so, unlike the health care bill, energy policy is a federal issue . . . at least for now.

7+ Weeks To Send a Letter Across Town

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The United States Postal Service (USPS) is not my friend. I’ve always ended up spending more of my time disappointed in them than satisfied with their performance.

I got a letter from Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA 10th)—nothing interesting, just a boring form letter. Representative Wolf’s office sent the letter on February 4, and USPS apparently processed it the same day. It had been addressed to my old address, so the USPS diligently identified that it needed to be forwarded and slapped a yellow forwarding sticker on it. The sticker had my correct new address, and the date of “2/4/10” up at the top right (the date the sticker was printed and affixed).

Well, I don’t know what happened to it from there. It arrived in my mailbox yesterday—3/26/2010. Yes, that’s more than seven weeks after it was sent . . . locally. It was also pretty crinkled.

Way to go, USPS!

Something Unexpected

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Here’s something you might not have expected to find in my home: a retail copy of Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium.

No, I’m not abandoning Mac OS X (or Ubuntu Linux, for that matter). While Windows has not been my primary operating system for a long time, I have pretty much always had a copy of Windows around either on a secondary computer or in virtualization environments. I need it to do cross-platform web site testing, run some mobile emulators that only work in Windows (primarily BlackBerry OS and Windows Mobile), and a handful of other ‘occasional’ tasks.

I’ve been running Windows 5.1 (XP) for ages as my pet Windows and, like most of you, I skipped version 6 (Vista) entirely. Now that Microsoft has a stable, functioning version of Windows on the market, XP support is finally starting to fade away. Microsoft has already announced that the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 will not run in XP, and the development kit and emulator for Windows Phone 7 will require Vista or higher too. If I intend to support these platforms (and I do), I need to upgrade.

Plus, I’m getting more and more tech support requests from friends on Vista and 7, so it’s about time that I got more familiar with the newer platform.

The Oaths of Office

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Gadsden Flag

In light of the madness that has occurred in the halls of power over the last several years—trillion dollar bailouts, nationalization of the auto and banking industries, a requirement that we buy health insurance whether we want it or not, etc.—I want to remind our officials of the solemn oaths they took upon taking their offices.

How many of our officials (on either side of the aisle) have actually worked to ‘support and defend’ the Constitution lately? You don’t support and defend something by shredding it, and the previous and current administrations seem to have had their Constitutional shredders working a lot of overtime.

The President of the United States, on taking office, promised this:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Members of the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives promised this:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Members of the federal judiciary, including Supreme Court justices, promised this:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm), that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent on me, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution, and laws of the United States. So help me God.

Hold your representatives accountable. Demand that they do what they swore to do. If they refuse, and many of them will, it is incumbent on you and me to vote them out of office as soon as they are up for reelection . . . before elections, too, become part of the Constitution that the government just ignores when it’s inconvenient.

Health Bill Passes House of Representatives

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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a sweeping health care reform bill by a narrow 219-212 majority. This version of the bill was passed by the U.S. Senate in December, and will now proceed to the President’s desk for signature or veto. President Barack Obama (D) is expected to sign the bill.

The House has also passed a reconciliation bill to make changes to the Senate reform plan by a similar 220-211 margin. The reconciliation bill will still need to be considered and approved by the Senate before going to the president for signature or veto.

The health care reform bill is considered to be the largest social program passed by the United States Congress in over forty years, and has been widely criticized by the Republican minority and the general public. Most recent polls indicate that solid majorities of the American public support health care reform, but oppose the specific bills passed by the House tonight.

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.