Reply #213: OK, here ya go (no flame)...

[Kip Humphrey]

QUESTIONS/ISSUES:

Right now, I -and I'm sure a few others- want to talk about

1. the economic stimulus package Obama's working on,
   I want to talk about
   
2. how much of that stimulus will be used to create American-made cars that out-pace the Prius for MPG.
   I want to talk about
   
3. what kind of investments will be made in wind and solar,
   
4. what kind of tax breaks will people get for buying green products or using green sources of energy and
   
5. whether CA will get Federal funding for a high speed electric train between Sacramento and LA.
   
6. How are we going to reform immigration?
   
7. What are we going to do about these Mormon offshoot cults that are setting up child molestation factories in the rocky mt. states?
   
8. What are we going to do about the millions of people being kicked out of their home?
   
9. When are we going to rebuild New Orleans?
   
10. What are we going to do to combat urban sprawl which causes wasteful use of gasoline and destroys valuable farmland?
    
11. Can we start talking about scrapping the Federal Reserve and having the Government print money directly as opposed through a private entity that charges interest and inflates the national debt?
    
12. Constitution amendments to limit the rights of Corporations when their actions negatively effect their communities.
    
13. What about health care? Getting the cost of prescription drugs down for seniors,
    
14. funding the VA,
    
15. what are the details so far for the withdrawal from Iraq?
    
16. What are we doing to calm down tensions between India and Pakistan?
    
17. Should we back off of our current alliance with Pakistan?
    
18. What are we doing in Afghanistan? are we just going to fight?
    
19. -or modernize their mining industry to undercut the poppy trade?
    
20. convincing the AG to investigate war crimes anyone?
    
21. The Republican's just got caught red handed murdering a whistle-blower with a plane crash

COMMENTS/OPINIONS:
1. Trickle up stimulus can circulate 6 or more times in the economy multiplying its reach and impact.
2. We desperately need a revolution in energy in order to save our planet. Changing our transportation infrastructure to a sustainable, renewable model REQUIRES a massive government investment and R&D effort along the line of the Race to the Moon.
3. Government investment in green energy will require the building of a new electric infrastructure that emphasizes local power generation and sharing with high efficiency transport for non-local generation (super-conducting electric backbones).
4. The tax structure MUST be remade, eliminating all tax breaks and requiring ALL corporations to pay their fair share. Self generation of power and water will proceed by mandating that excess power be sold over the grid at commercial rates (everyone can become a power company). Cost reduction can be achieved through government investment in R&D and scaling up mass production technologies for delivering renewable energy components and systems.
5. A single high speed rail line linking Sacramento & LA is woefully inadequate. What's needed is an interlinked affordable transportation system across California major towns and cities combining high speed electric rail with readily available and convenient local transport that works with California's sprawl. Low cost, rental fleets of GPS & WiFi connected electric personal transports that can be easily picked up and dropped off may do the trick (think of luggage carts at airports).
6. The solution to extra-legal immigration resides south of our border and within corporate boardrooms. Solve the Central American poverty problem and you solve our immigration problem without building walls. Eliminate illegal hires (i.e., jobs for extra-legal immigrants) and provide carefully thought out foreign stimulus with necessary reforms to Central American governments and economies.
7. ??? Religion is an antiquated artifact of ignorance and fear. It needs to be de-emphasized to the point it can be "drowned in a bathtub".
8. First, make null & void & illegal all predatory contract provisions. Then, provide 30 year 5% fixed rate mortgage refinance through Fannie/Freddie.
9. Set up and fund a New Orleans Redevelopment Authority to review & fund green rebuilding projects submitted by homeowners (30 year 2% fixed loans to 100% of delivered costs). Rebuild the dikes to cat 6 strength).
10. Develop a new green energy transportation system using the auto manufacturing bailout as a push-off point. Initiate a carbon tax and change real estate taxes to a housing square footage tax, exempting organic live-on farms of 600 acres or less.
11. Good luck. Congress is too inefficient to manage the economy in a timely manner. A congressional agency might suffice but is probably unconstitutional. Until solutions can be devised and fully vetted, transparency and accountability can be mandated and implemented.
12. Use legislation to rewrite corporate law to require perpetual majority corporate ownership by employees.
13. Universal single-payer health care as a right. Negotiate prices on a national scale.
14. Roll Medicare, Medicaid, and VA medicine into a single-payer universal health care system & fund the VA to specialize in traumatic war injuries.
15. Convene an international conference to identify Iraq's needs in order to achieve a peaceful withdrawal and Iraqi success. Then, fund the solutions in a coordinated manner. Move our troops from the cities, giving the cities over to Iraqis and relocating American troops to patrol the borders. Phase the withdrawal over 9-18 months, turning over border security to Iraqis in the process.
16. Get Pakistan and India's leadership talking and negotiating to resolve their problems (Camp Davidesque). Bring the Taliban in to negotiate and resolve peacefully their regional and local issues. Provide economic bilateral support. (See #7)
17. Pakistan has new democratically elected government that is fragile still and needs help addressing its problems. We need to be engaged to help solve their problems.
18. Negotiate; work to replace poppies with productive crops and commerce; seek a political solution that addresses the unique characteristics of Afghan society and rule. Help the people and they will help themselves and, ultimately us.
19. Modernize their mining provided the mines remain in Afghani hands; rebuild their infrastructure and finance Afghani business start ups.
20. The war crimes of the last 8 years (plus the last 30 years) requires public hearings and trials to ensure this shit never happens again.
21. There's no question the Connell death must be fully investigated with prosecutions to follow wherever they land. Further, our election systems MUST return to paper ballets, hand-counted at the precinct level to ensure our elections can never (again) be stolen through electronic means.

Have at it...