Biden proposes 'Apollo Project' for energy

Clive, Ia. — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, in Iowa today, proposed a five-year, $50 billion "Apollo Project" to address energy security and climate change.

"The project, which will emphasize research into discovering new sources for alternative energy and developing new technologies, is comparable to America's race to the moon", Biden said.

For the entire article:
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/NEWS/71120032

BIDEN the right choice for America
***********************************

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtGCaqOdIJ4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUC8LeZ1hM4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HcXkLbRIWw

show the senator as a complete package. No-one doubts his foreign policy credentials above all other candidates....do they? Do you?
And he continues to add important domestic policies...his Education plan is still better than anyone else running.

And by "complete package" I mean total tool.

I just channeled Uncle Bobo, and he agrees with me on this.



Don't get me wrong; I concur with Biden on the need to solve our energy issues for good, although knowing him it probably took him a half hour to say what most of us could communicate in five minutes.

But Biden doesn't get a free pass on some of the idiotic, draconian legislation he's sponsored in the past.

he made some not-so-good legislation in his 35 freaking years in the Senate!
Let-alone the really really good legislation like the Violence AGianst Women Act and the CRIME bill. He is comfortable with where he stood on his proposals and why he did it. What exactly is your problem with the now all-but defunct RAVE act?

The guy wants to eliminate public funding for abortions and has voted to ban partial birth abortions. He still consistently holds to that line.

He has never edmitted he was wrong on any of this stuff. His common defense is, "duh, I didn't know".

His defense of the patriot act I also find despicable.

Why don't you ask him.

because some people lost their right to do illegal drugs, at concerts, bars and the like?

Yeah, that sucks, but time. :sarcasm:

It's such a stupid thing to mention. Really, it is.

"Lost" their rights? Rights they never had? No, this piece of shit legislation made promoters and property owners responsible for what people might do on their property, or during the event they sponsored. It's not even about the users, but people who dare to host events... It had the (most likely) intended affect of dampening a specific pro-cannabis legalization event scheduled for right around the time of the bill's passing.

It wasn't only draconian in nature, but deliberately tyrannical and designed to suppress dissent about the drug war.

I like it even more.

Well, I guess everyone has their faults.

Whatever. I lost my "drug crutch" about 20 years ago, and I did them all. But alas, I grew up, and realized that I didn't need drugs to make me happy.

By the way, I think the "drug war" is an exercise in futility, and a HUGE waste of tax payer dollars. It's not a "winnable war".

but it's destructive to civil liberties. I truly believe it was the recon mission to see how people would take to the War On Terror and its attacks on Constitutional protections. To test how far they could go.

I think this particular piece of legislation was disgusting in that regard.

I guess you've never, ever been to a concert where someone in the audience was smoking a joint?

No, of course not.

So obviously you have no problem with a law that says a promoter who puts on a concert where someone in the audience smokes a joint (pretty much every single rock and roll show in history) ... a law that says that promoter is guilty of a felony and should be stuck in prison for 10, 20 years.. for putting on a show where someone in the audience smokes a joint..

Yeah, obviously the prisons aren't full of non-violent drug offenders as it is :sarcasm:

Yeah, obviously spending $40 Billion a year to keep consenting adults, Willie Nelson and cancer grannies from smoking a relatively benign plant is a great idea :sarcasm:

Yeah, what we need is MORE draconian anti drug idiocy, because we're not letting enough rapists and murderers out to make prison space for pot smokers as it is :sarcasm:

Oh, yeah, and I'm the stupid one for thinking that what consenting adults do with their own bodies should be their own fucking business :sarcasm:

Go ahead, justify the $40 Billion a year drug war that is aimed primarily at pot smoking. Justify filling our prisons with non-violent drug offenders. Explain how the drug war is working, by turning 80 million otherwise law-abiding pot smokers into criminals for no fucking decent reason at all.

And by all means, continue to finger-wag at me about what is, and isn't, "Stupid".

...:sarcasm:

Stop with the chicken little sky is falling mentality. First of all, the bill had nothing to do with pot. It was specifically for promoters of RAVE events, who sold "Club Drugs" to kids. Rohypnol, GHB, and ketamine are among the drugs at Raves. They specifically targeted KIDS. Pot isn't a club drug. Coke is, but there wasn't even a mention of that, nor meth, etc. And, yes, I've been to many concerts, and as I said, I've done every drug there is.

I have yet to find ONE single mention of pot, in anything I have read. Joe Biden has NEVER said anything about pot. Other than the fact that he approves of medicinal marijuana use.


Here's Joe's floor statement. Read it and learn. Then, go smoke another bowl.



June 18, 2002
Press Release

Biden Bills Targets Rave Promoters Who Seek to Profit by Putting Teens at Risk

WASHINGTON -- Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs and the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, today called on Congress to take specific steps to quell the rising use of the drug Ecstasy by American teenagers. Biden introduced the Reducing Americans' Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act to crack down on rave promoters who allow their events to be used as havens for illicit drug activity.

"Unfortunately, most raves are havens for illicit drug use," said Biden. "Enacting the RAVE Act will help prosecute the promoters who seek to profit from exploiting and endangering young lives. The bill also lays out a plan to educate youth, parents and other interested adults about the dangers of Ecstasy and other club drugs associated with raves."

Recent statistics from the Partnership for a Drug Free America show that teen use of Ecstasy has increased 71 percent since 1999. Across the country, thousands of teenagers are treated for overdoses and Ecstasy-related heath problems in emergency rooms each year. Much of the abuse of Ecstasy and other club drugs happens at all-night dance parties known as "raves," where unscrupulous rave promoters do everything they can to profit from the illegal drug use at their events.

Biden, who recently chaired a hearing in the Caucus on International Narcotics Control to examine the phenomenon of raves, noted that it is common for rave organizers to go to great lengths to portray their events as safe so that parents will let their kids attend by advertising them as "alcohol-free parties." "But even as these promoters work to make parents think that their events are safe, they send a different message to kids. Their promotional flyers make clear that drugs are an integral part of the party by prominently featuring terms associated with drug use, such as the letters "E" or "X." And by doing so, the promoters get rich as they exploit and endanger kids," said Biden.

State and local governments have begun to take important steps to crack down on rave promoters by making it a criminal offense to knowingly maintain a place -- such as a rave -- where controlled substances are used or distributed. The so called "crack house statue" holds accountable not only the promoter, but also the building owner and building manager.

Building on the success and effectiveness of the "crack house statue," Senator Biden's legislation seeks to tailor this federal law more precisely to address the problem posed by rave promoters who exploit and endanger America's teenagers. Specifically, the RAVE Act will:

· Tailor the crack house statute to address rave promoters' actions more specifically so that federal prosecutors will be able to use it to prosecute individuals who allow rampant drug use at their events and seek to profit from putting kids at risk.

· Address the low penalties for trafficking gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) by directing the U.S. Sentencing Commission to examine the current penalties and consider increasing them to reflect the seriousness of offenses involving GHB.

· Provide funding to mount a major education campaign about the dangers of Ecstasy use across schools and campuses nationwide, and authorizes nearly $6 million for the DEA to hire a Demand Reduction Coordinator in each state who can work with communities following the arrest of a significant local trafficker to reduce the demand for drugs through prevention and treatment programs.

"The answer to the problem of drug use at raves is not simply to prosecute irresponsible rave promoters and those who distribute drugs. There is also a responsibility to raise awareness among parents, teachers, students, coaches, religious leaders, etc. about the dangers of the drugs used and sold at raves. The RAVE Act will help spread the message so that today's kids and their parents will know the risks of taking Ecstasy, and what it can do to their bodies, their brains, their futures," said Biden.



I am so done with this "drug" topic.

Yup. I haven't smoked pot in a VERY long time, and I'm more convinced than ever that it should be legal, regulated, and taxed.

I don't drink alcohol, either- and somehow I still understand why alcohol prohibition was an idiotic waste, doomed to failure.

Don't smoke cigarettes, but I don't think they should be illegal.

And so on.

Yeah. Go figure.

Rather than retort to your little level of personal insults, I will say that selling drugs to people is a separate crime and already illegal- so if that was what Biden was after, why go after people who put on shows where people might do drugs? I went to a lot of Grateful Dead shows back in the day that could just have easily been called "havens" for drug use as much as any rave. 'Course, the Dead are Biden's generation, so they might have slipped past the radar- so much easier to target the music and culture of today's youth, instead of one's own.

And that's what this stupid law was about; not targeting drug sales or even drug use, which are already illegal- but rather trying to shut down music and shut down a scene. That's fucked up, if you ask me- I'm not so old, prune-faced and uptight that I can't see that.

THEREFORE HIS GOOD IDEAS ARE INVALID

AND OMG PEOPLE STILL SMOKE POT OMG OMG OMG THEY HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO STOP IT ANY MORE THAN THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO STOP PEOPLE FROM SCREWING BEFORE MARRIAGE OR BEING GAY OMG OMG OMG I'M SERIES

OMG JOE BIDEN DOESN'T GET A FREE PASS ON A SHITTY LAW THAT SAID ANYONE WHO PUTS ON A CONCERT WHERE ANYONE IN THE AUDIENCE MIGHT BE SMOKING A JOINT -PRETTY MUCH EVERY ROCK AND ROLL SHOW SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME OMG- SHOULD BE TREATED AS A FELON OMG OMG

BECAUSE GOD KNOWS THE ONE THING WE NEED MORE OF IS PRISONS CRAMMED WITH NONVIOLENT FALLOUT FROM THE STUPID FUCKING DRUG WAR OMG OMG OMG

I assume you get your information from pro-drug blogs, and not from THOMAS (or any other site where one might read the actual wording of the bill).

Most of the "offense" came from the findings section, which does not actually create any sort of law. The RAVE act punishes people who put on concerts who willfully and knowingly provide/promote drug use. There is absolutely nothing punishing people who put on concerts where people do drugs of their own accord.

Like it or not, drugs are illegal in America. Don't blame Biden for that.

between people who "knowingly promote drug use" and people who put on concerts where people do drugs of their own accord.

Can you explain what, precisely, "promoting" illegal drug use would entail? Telling people "do drugs"?

"providing" illegal drugs to people is considered a separate crime, called "drug dealing"... and is already illegal, so I'm not sure why Joe Biden needed to write a whole new law.

Beyond all that - "Like it or not", the drug war is an idiotic failure to the tune of $40 Billion a year aimed primarily at pot smoking by consenting adults. It's a fucking joke and Joe Biden owes us an apology for being one of its boosters and enablers.

No, I don't like it- I don't like my tax dollars going towards hyper-authoritarian wet dreams like the drug war, with its misguided ideas about telling consenting adults what they can or cannot do with their OWN BODIES. Prohibition was a giant fucking waste of time, too.

expand the section of the Controlled Substances Act regarding "establishment of manufacturing operations," which covers maintaining, managing or owning any place used specifically to manufacture, distribute or use drugs. Biden's awful expansion? He expanded it to include those who rent or lease for those purposes, and upped the civil penalty for those people. Any business about poor concert promoters being thrown in the clink is just hysteric propaganda.

I'd challenge you to show me the wording of the act that you find to be poorly written. Given your complaints, it's pretty obvious you haven't read it.

I understand you don't like the Drug War. And if legalizing MDMA would be your only voting issue, then Joe Biden is not your guy.

Biden's not my guy.

:hi:

if not a necessary one.

:shrug:

"This is a fantastic idea. It may even be a necessary one."

:hi:

people around solutions rather than hate.
Great for all of us.

http://www.apolloalliance.org/

"Why Do We Call It The Apollo Alliance?"

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

--President John F. Kennedy

"....Like JFK's Apollo Project, which put a man on the moon in under a decade, an Apollo project for energy freedom must be big, bold and fast. Here’s the speech President Kennedy gave when he announced his Apollo project at Rice University in Houston, September 12, 1962...."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Apollo Alliance came together at least three years ago. I remember Kerry jumping on board with it during his campaign in 2004.

offers to reuse this plan? A real good plan?

I would think a bigger problem would be the candidates ignoring it.

(insert plagiarism joke.)

It is his idea in this election. Most proposals that the candidates are offering have been suggested before. I know what you're trying to do here, and it's BS.

Here's the guy that has the most to offer our country and you're making things up about him to pull him down. It's a great idea and someone needs to run with it. Biden is doing it. Just like he's doing more than any other candidate, including Dennis Kucinich, who offers pie-in-the-sky because he knows he won't have to follow through on it.

Now, I like Dennis Kucinich, but quit attacking candidates just to be attacking them. Save it for well deserved criticism. There's plenty to go around. You really should keep in mind that if we're not careful, we're all going to be screwed in this country. Don't take things for granted. We need to attend to our fundamentals or we're in serious trouble.

and Kerry are friends....

Unfortunately, for this country - our corporate newsmedia decided that was one of the parts of Kerry's speeches that was better left on the editing room floor. Better for.....them.

EFFORT, where the whole country is behind it and excited about it, and focus on it was INTENSE. I wasn't aware of the Apollo Alliance you refer to in your post.

And as somebody else said, who cares WHO named it, started it, whatever, just get the job done! We're running out of time, here.

:rofl:

coal companies.

Perfect. ONCE AGAIN, JOE IS RIGHT! That's exactly the way we need to approach our energy policy. Congratulations, Sen. Biden. Once again you're right on the money. Man, the choice for our nominee is so damn obvious. If the Democrats pass up this opportunity, it means the Party is simply to dumb to exist, and I will cut my losses and go independent. Why are we wasting time with someone who has too much baggage to win the general election and someone who doesn't have enough experience? Do Democrats like to lose?

spot on!

This thread is about Apollo Project for energy, but like with so many threads, people hijack it to bring up another topic. If that topic is so important, then they should start a thread about it and lets us discuss this one.

And it is why I am so proud to be a Bidenite,aside from being proud of our candidate, I am proud of the the "Biden Group". I am proud because, I don't think you can find any instances of where a "Bidenite" tries to hijack a thread to turn the mood of the thread from a positive one to a negative one.

and attack any of the candidates, and I certainly wouldn't change the subject to express my dislike for any of them. It is getting really old, really fast. :eyes:

Try $20 trillion over 20 years. Biden should google Robert Hirsch.

$50 billion isn't nearly enough, but I like the sense of urgency implied here; none of the frontrunners seem to share it at the moment.

Every one of our candidates has some good ideas, even the ones I don't support.

This is the kind of talk that most all Americans respond to. Good for Joe.