Free Republic

"that VAT tax is like a consumption tax not sure if i like that being 19% but the 19% tax rate is really quite nice"

How about NO income tax and a 23% sales tax with monthly rebates that pay for the 23% up to the poverty level?

www.fairtax.org

And the income tax is NOT based on your ability to pay?

The Fair Tax is based on your CHOICE to SPEND, not on your ABILITY to PAY!!!

Geee wiz!

Usage Note: Fulsome is often used to mean “offensively flattering or insincere.” But the word is also used, particularly in the expression fulsome praise, to mean simply “abundant,” without any implication of excess or insincerity. This usage is etymologically justified but may invite misunderstandings in contexts in which a deprecatory interpretation could be made. The sentence I offer you my most fulsome apologies may raise an eyebrow, where the use of an adjective like full or abundant would leave no room for doubt as to the sincerity of the speaker's intentions.

Well, this only stops my activities as a "challenger". My duties as a "witness" seem unaffected by this ruling. I have two certificates issued by the Hamilton County (Cincinnati area) Board of Elections, one as a witness and another as a challenger.

Our pre-election-day training stressed that our merely being present at the polls was going to stop the vast majority of election fraud -- especially the kind toward which four Democrat poll workers might otherwise turn a blind eye.

I don't think this ruling amounts to a complete stifling of our efforts. I plan to have my eyes wide open.

Well, I'm a certified poll observer from Cincinnati, and I thoght it was REALLY funny.

I love how a 6 or 7 point lead for the President in Ohio is "barely Bush." Paint Ohio RED.

These polls only talk to people who are currently alive.

They don't take into account the Dem's "get out the vote" drives in cemetaries.

The stated GOP strategy is to whip up enough enthusiasm from Southwest Ohio Bush voters to counter the "tsunami of dead Dems" from Northeast Ohio.

Ohio remains close at only +6 to +7% advantage with live voters.

I was there, too. It was way cool.

The radio was saying 48,000 tickets sold and 7,000 kids who didn't need tickets, for a total of 55,000.

I concur that there were a ton of kids. Lots of them ended up on their father's shoulders that blocked the view of the podium from the "green ticket" out-lands from time to time. I believe the methodology of the estimates of 55K, but have no way of knowing the real numbers.

I'm 6'4", and I had a pretty good view of the podium from 50 yards away until everybody felt it was their civic duty to wave all their campaign signs, with their arms extended high in the air. But those episodes didn't last too long, and I could see plenty well enough, on average.

The sound guys did a good job with the music played over the PA system. As "W" left on his ride out on Marine One (with 4 escort helos), they play various selections from the Top Gun sound track that meshed really well with the goings on. It was a great total experience.

The security was awesome to behold. There were three special operators on the top of the VOA building tower that appeared to have .50 caliber Barrets and some big (gyro stabilized?) binoculars taking in the view.

I was along the fence line when the President made his way to Marine One. Just before he walked across the grass to the chopper, a black Chevy Astro van pulled up about 15 feet away from us with some blacked-out passengers and driver. When they disembarked, they turned out to be Secret Service guys in black BDUs with some amazing equipment. The driver was a very fit African-American who looked like an NFL linebacker with interesting left elbow and right knee padding and a select fire weapon with a paralax-free sight. Their web gear had yellow "Police" insignia with "Secret Service" in smaller letters underneath on the back. Their toys were VERY impressive.

All in all a great experience and super way to spend half a day in September.

For the most part, Bush supporters just don't put bumper stickers on their cars. They don't want their tires slashed, their paint job keyed or their windows busted out.


Amen, Sister. I also live in Cincinnati.

My wife won't agree to put up any "W" signs in our yard. She doesn't want to encourage any spiteful retaliation.

We hand out around 1,000 pieces of candy every Halloween and a majority of the kids come from households that would be expected to vote overwhelmingly for Kerry.

She hasn't told me, but I suspect that vandalism enters into her private calculations. She supports the President in other ways. We had dinner with Laura Bush instead of putting up yard signs.

A few weeks is still in time for the election.

What happens if Thornburg is out maneuvered and the panel concludes the "documents" are genuine -- just a few days before the election?

Seems the CIA is the enemy, too!

"If I understand the principle behind the hybrid it is that the gasoline engines wastes gas by running when the car is standing and going downhill."

Here's a better understanding: http://www.ott.doe.gov/hev/what.html

While I certainly don't trust everything the federal government says, they actually do a decent job on this explanation.

"now let's say that you can get a 100HP burst out of this battery by itself to get you from 0-50MPH in about 12 secs ..."

Why do you insist on changing the subject from hybrids to ELECTRIC CARS???

I don't see for the life of me how you can get a 13 hp electric motor to supply 100 hp. The 13 hp permanent-magnet motor has maximum torque at zero rpm. At zero rpm, the gas engine can't make any torque. The electric motor is an ASSIST to the gas engine, not the primary motive power source.

OK?

"I was basing the time on 100HP or 74.6KW, so I got the amps wrong, sue me. How much does this Radio Shack battery weigh?"

163 grams per cell -- for 150% of the energy density of the cells in the hybrid's pack. 120 x 163 g = 19.6 kg = 43.1 pounds = not very heavy!

Here's a spec sheet on the above 9 Ampere Hour NiMH D-cell that sells for 51.95 per 4-pack -- RETAIL:

http://www.batterieswholesale.com/products_batteries/nimh/nickel-metal-hydride-d-9000-hj.htm

$51.95/4 x 120 = $1558.50 -> in blister paks off the shelf. Surely an OEM pack would be less expensive.

These cells have 50% more capacity than the 6 Ampere Hour stack used in the Honda. Perhaps the weight per cell is similar in each case.

Another reason battery packs for hybrids are no big deal:

120 Volts @ 6 Ampere Hours (Honda Civic Hybrid NiMH) = 720 Watt Hours

12 Volts @ 60 Ampere Hours (common lead-acid car battery) = 720 Watt Hours

The only extra cost to pay for is the superior charge/discharge efficiency of NiMH over lead-acid chemistries at their current state of manufacturing cost. After 10 more years of commercial developement, the Honda Hybrid battery pack might cost as little as a common car battery.

"With a per/cell voltage of 1.2 volts and an amp/hour rating of .0095/hr a full-power burst of 500amps would drain the battery in about 5 seconds."

Ahhh, ... Professor. You must have been graduated from a different engineering school than I.

The NiMH stack in the Honda Civic Hybrid is rated at 144 Volts and 6 Ampere Hours (360 Ampere Minutes or 21,600 Ampere Seconds). Your 500 Ampere burst could last as long as 43 seconds, or so.

The permanent-magnet electric motor is rated at 10 kW mechanical output. If we assume 85% percent electro-mechanical efficiency, that means an electrical consumption of 11.8 kW. At 144 volts, 11.8 kW constitutes 82 amperes of current.

The above power consumption of 82 amperes would deplete the battery pack in a little over 4 1/2 minutes. Not 5 seconds.

The pack is composed of 120 D-cell sized Nickel Metal Hydride cells. Even at Radio-Shack prices, it wouldn't be over $1000 now days.

Remember, these are not ELECTRIC CARS. They are battery-boosted gasoline powered cars. The battery is only big enough to help boost the total power of the vehicle for short bursts. The battery is charged by slowing down (regenerative braking) or using a small amount of engine power if totally discharged.

It's no big deal to replace the battery pack on a hybrid. It's no worse than a brake job on a luxury car. People need to get educated before coming unglued over battery costs.

My Honda dealer says they have yet to replace a battery pack on any hybrid they have ever sold. There hasn't been enough time to generate any really long-term reliability data, but so far, it looks really good.

"It supposedly costs $5000 - $10000 to replace the battery pack. Although the prices might come down as technology improves. But if it does not I wonder how the hybrid owners will react when their cars have zero resale value."

You're off by an order of magnitude, dude. The battery pack was $1200 and is now down to $500 for the Honda Civic Hybrid. BFD.

Read Jayna Davis's book "The Third Terrorist".

She makes a good case that John Doe #2 is Hussain al-Husaini (spelling?) who lived in OKC.

I guess the search function needs some major improving. I searched diligently and found NOTHING. Sanctimony will not make the search function actually work.

Cheers!

Or being run over by a tug on the way to a beer blast?