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![]() The Old Man, the Mountain and the Sea
Naturalist Has Big Plan for Sailboat
By Blaine Harden ©2004
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 28, 2004; Page A01
ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. -- At 85, App Applegate keeps pushing the limits of living
off the grid.
Out here in Puget Sound, on the upper west side of the American dream, he lives
n a shack without running water, listens to National Public Radio on a hand-crank
radio and avoids outhouses as ecologically incorrect. He prefers a shovel and an
open field.
Barely 5 feet tall, Applegate is a Hobbit-size pioneer among the counterculture cadre
that has long sought soggy exile in the far corners of the Pacific Northwest. But Orcas
Island, which Seattle millionaires are busily refurbishing as the Martha's Vineyard of
the West, is not nearly far out enough for Applegate. So, for the past 15 years, he has
been building an escape module.
It's a whopper: An 80-foot, 50-ton, three-masted sailboat. Local sailors say the wooden
barkentine is nearly finished, solid and seaworthy, if a bit rough around the gunnels.
Applegate built it by hand -- outdoors, often in miserably dank weather -- and he paid
for the whole thing with Social Security checks. He plans to sail east around the world
to dock in Cienfuegos Bay, Cuba. He's a fervent admirer of Fidel Castro.
There is a logistical kink. The boat sits where it was built: on the side of a mountain
beneath towering Douglas firs, 400 feet above sea level, six miles from a suitable
boat launch. A narrow dirt road -- steep, potholed and snaggled with switchbacks --
lies between Applegate's boat and its departure for his beloved "Coo-bah."
"We will set sail in April," he said. "I am not yet sure which April."
Before explaining how Applegate -- a retired physics professor and self-described
atheist, socialist and radical -- intends to get himself and his boat off the mountain,
it makes sense to examine why he went up there in the first place.
"I came to Orcas to sit down and read, to enjoy the ferns and moss and to escape
the contemptibility of our politicians," he said.
In this respect, Applegate is not all that far off the demographic grid, as it exists in
the Pacific Northwest.
The region is more liberal, more literate and much less religious than the country as
a whole. Washington and Oregon lead the states in the percentage of adults who
report no religious identification -- 25 percent here, compared with 14 percent
nationally.
There is a secular orthodoxy here, and it believes in wild salmon, clean rivers and
urban growth management. Twenty-eight percent of the population voted for
George W. Bush in 2000, compared with 45 percent nationally. Politicians in Portland
and Seattle have welcomed gay marriage. Heterosexual marriage, meanwhile, takes
its lumps. The Northwest has a higher divorce rate than any other region of the country.
Politically correct Northwest residents drink Wild Salmon Organic Pale Ale and build
houses out of wood that is certified by a third party to have been cut from sustainable
forests. When Washington state residents die, they are 12 times as likely as
Alabamans to be cremated rather than buried. Eco-aware residents, apparently,
don't want to contribute to cemetery sprawl.
The name of Applegate's boat is the Aproximada. It's Spanish for "approximate,"
and the word captures Applegate's design and construction philosophy. It also
describes his departure schedule and his technique for recruiting sailors who might
want to go with him to Cuba.
The Aproximada has eight berths and will need a crew of at least five. So far, there
is only one sure bet.
She is Rivkah Sweedler, 58, a woodcarver and longtime exile from what she calls
"the dominant culture." She and Applegate joined forces in 1997, shortly after her
husband died. He helped her move on after her loss; she eased his loneliness and
turned him into a phenomenally healthful eater. She typically serves him a breakfast
that includes triticale flakes, buckwheat groats and pumpkin seeds.
Applegate and Sweedler see eye to eye on religious, environmental and political
matters: Her late husband, Walter, was also an atheist. App and Rivkah are outspoken
advocates of open-field defecation. They deeply dislike President Bush.
Sweedler will be the ship's cook and has already filled the Aproximada's larder with
bulk organic foods. While she is not nearly as excited about living in Cuba as
Applegate is, she's trying to keep an open mind.
The position of onboard engineer could also be filled. It might be Barbara Roddy,
54, who has a degree in combustion engineering from the University of California
at Davis. She has helped Applegate do much of the mechanical and electrical work
on his boat. Roddy makes her living on Orcas as a fix-it person, hot-tub sales agent
and specialty-cruise guide. She runs Captain Barb's Mechanical Wizardry and leads
Captain Barb's Lesbian Cruises and Adventures.
When Applegate retired to five acres of forest on Orcas Island's Mount Pickett in
1977, he had no intention of ever living anywhere else.
"I had had it," he said. "I was just going to vegetate."
Born and raised in the Northwest, he was retired from a number of professions that
had taken him from Honolulu to Yaounde, Cameroon, but had never made him much
money.
With a master's degree in physics, he had been a college professor, a guide for
cruises around the Hawaiian Islands and the self-taught builder of a 100-foot steel
sailboat that he captained along the Eastern Seaboard. (He sold it for next to
nothing, and it later sank.) His last job was in 1976, as a Peace Corps worker in
Cameroon.
Settling in on Orcas, Applegate promised himself that he would stay away from boats.
"Too much work," he said. "I didn't want to build any damn vessel."
Yet one thing led to another. He had time on his hands. The Social Security checks
kept coming in. He became curious about the Douglas firs on the island. Could
they be made into a substantial sailing vessel?
Applegate is not without social skills. It did not take long for word to get out among
the 3,500 year-round residents of Orcas Island that the little white-bearded socialist
on Mount Pickett was witty, self-deprecating and a good listener. He also has a
gift for persuading islanders to volunteer their time and power tools for his boat.
Over the years, they have painted the Aproximada, hoisted its heavy beams and
helped rig its sails.
"Here is a man who started this project when he was 70, an age when most men
sit back, watch television and give up," said Joe Goodrich, 58, who owns a roof
and deck cleaning business on Orcas and often helps Applegate with heavy
lifting up on the mountain. "App is a powerful example of what you can do if you
don't quit."
In the 15 years that Applegate has been building his boat, Orcas Island, which
is an hour by ferry from the mainland, has become the preferred summer
destination for Seattle's high-tech millionaires.
As property values have soared, farmers and commercial fishermen have all but
disappeared. Most year-round island residents have found jobs in the service
industry -- taking care of rich people's houses, boats, cars, lawns and children.
The Vineyardification of Orcas has increased the value of Applegate's five
scruffy acres more than tenfold -- but otherwise it has left him alone, at least so far.
"The folks who show up in designer cars and designer suits soon figure out the
best way to get along on this island is to try to fit in," said John B. Evans, a
Republican county commissioner and a close neighbor of Applegate's. Evans
lent him a grinder to smooth the hull of the Aproximada.
County authorities are well aware that Applegate's shack and sanitary facilities are
not up to county codes, Evans said.
"All the rules aren't followed all the time," he said. "We have million-dollar houses
next door to yurts. The culture supports that. And people like App. He is so far
out there, it makes for interesting conversation."
Applegate, though, wants out. If push came to shove, he said, he could probably
get the boat off the mountain in a week or two.
His plan involves two large bulldozers, signed waivers from downhill neighbors
and a bond to pay for damages -- if the boat runs amok and squashes a house
or two. Several people who know details of the plan say there is a good chance
it will work.
Applegate, though, has to wait for more Social Security checks to bankroll the
plan. He also needs more crew to sail the boat. He doesn't appear especially
panicked about the lack of either.
Thanks to Sweedler, he has constant companionship and eats well. His health
is excellent. Nearly every day, friends drive up the mountain to check on him,
work on the boat and review the countless ways in which the United States is
succumbing to moral and environmental rot. Some of these friends wonder
privately if the Aproximada will ever get out of the woods.
Applegate, himself, acknowledges only one time-related reason to get the boat
off the mountain and sail away: Castro could drop dead.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As the beetle burrows in, the tree begins its defense. Resin oozes
from the bark to surround the beetle. If the tree is healthy the resin
washes the beetle out. But if the tree is weak the beetle will penetrate
the bark in several hours. There it sends out pheromones, chemical
signals that let other beetles know that here is a tree that can be
invaded.
![]() GOAT DAIRY
White City, Oregon
![]() ![]() For the real West Nile Virus story see: http://Baltech.org/lederman/spray/
For the street artist issue see: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Feel Free to Forward http://www.baltech.org/lederman/
![]()
![]() For mainstream references to the CIA-media connection see: John M. Crewdson and Joseph B. Treaster, "The CIA's
3-Decade Effort to Mold the World's Views," New York Times, 25 December 1977, pp. 1, 12; Terrence Smith, "CIA
Contacts With Reporters," New York Times, p. 13; Crewdson and Treaster, "Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the
CIA," New York Times, 26 December 1977, pp. 1, 37; Crewdson and Treaster, "CIA Established Many Links to Journalists
in U.S. and Abroad," New York Times, 27 December 1977, pp. 1, 40-41.
Also see: Networks of Power, by Dennis Mazzocco.
The CIA and the Media published by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978.
Robert Lederman, President of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artistsâ?T Response To Illegal State Tactics)
ARTISTpres@aol.com (718) 743-3722
Robert Lederman is an artist, a regular columnist for the Greenwich Village Gazette
[See: http://www.gvny.com/ for an extensive
archive of Lederman columns] The Shadow, The African Sun Times, The Vigo-Examiner
[see: http://www.vigo-examiner.com/archive.htm] and Street News, and is the author of
hundreds of published essays concerning Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Lederman has been falsely arrested 41 Times to date for his anti-Giuliani activities and has never been convicted of
any of the charges. He is best known for creating hundreds of paintings of Mayor Giuliani as a Hitler like dictator.
Robert Lederman,
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics)
a must read http://veritas.20m.com/
![]() It apears that a malfuncrion has destroyed much of the origonal Ledereman links so I have linked to a Wayback URL that does the trick for now.
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
![]()
![]()
![]() ![]() living off the grid state-run weapons laboratories (GS) Mohamed Ali Speak YOUR mind, don't back down To that proxided Linux Neo Arian Blond Bo (GS)
![]() ![]() From: E
![]() To: undisclosed-recipients:;
![]() A nation afflicted with...national selective memory syndrome.
![]() L.
![]() Fmr. Top Republican Strategist Examines the History of the Bush Family
![]() * Kevin Phillips, former top Republican strategist and author speaking at
![]() Berkeley Community Theatre on January 18, 2004.
![]() TRANSCRIPT
![]() Kevin Phillips: What I'm going to try to talk about today will be --it's only
![]() humorous in a kind of odd vein. It's the notion of having the Bushes as
![]() America's first real dynasty, and what that signifies, and what it means, and how
![]() it developed, and, more to the point, where it's going. I'll try to look at
![]() this -- and I think it's an effective way to illustrate what they are, and some
![]() of what's been carrying through in the Middle East.
![]() I'll try to go through five episodes of Bushes and scandals in the Middle
![]() East. It's not hard to do at all. That's the amazing thing, and we talk about the
![]() economics and other aspects, things that have been omitted from the dialogue
![]() in the last five or six years.
![]() This is certainly one of them.
![]() But let me start by talking about the question of "lying Presidents." Because
![]() obviously, it didn't start with the Bushes. We can all remember Lyndon
![]() Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton. These were major league prevaricators.
![]() That's a fact. But they were all first-generation fibbers.
![]() What we're looking at with the Bushes is a multigenerational family of
![]() fibbers. And they share aspects of this, and rationales and antecedents for the
![]() pattern. They have a distinct logic. From the beginnings of the Bush Dynasty, in
![]() the period around World War I, with two of the current President's
![]() great-grandfathers, what we have had is a family that has emerged over the
![]() years in close contact with whatEisenhower later referred to as the "military
![]() industrial complex," and very close relations with the intelligence community,
![]() and in a wholeseries of episodes that drew on the relations with armaments,
![]() arms dealers, intelligence, rogue banks, all kinds of things like that.
![]() And there's enough of a pattern that you would think that when the dynasty
![]() was about to become fulfilled, if that's the word, by the advent of George W.,
![]() that this would have been worth some comment.
![]() Now, it's hard for me to make something funny out of this. It's kind of
![]() tragic. As I go
![]() through these five episodes quickly, you will notice that some of the people
![]() that I refer to, who were involved in blowing the whistle on them, were
![]() Republicans.
![]() Part of what I think is at stake here tonight is understanding that there's
![]() much more involved here than ordinary ideology. You're not in some respects
![]() talking as much about left and right as you might think. This is a development in
![]() American history that's rife with negative meaning, for democracy with a
![]() small d and for republicanism with a small r, for American traditions going way
![]() back.
![]() So let me start by looking at the first of the Bush scandals, and I use the
![]() term advisedly, going back to 1979 and 1980. Now, these all involve the Middle
![]() East, which provides a framework for looking at exactly what has happened
![]() here, and how this dynasty has absolutely unprecedented connections with
![]() one part of the world to the enormous detriment of American policy, and I think
![]() frankly, to the embarrassment of the United States, perhaps in 9-11, and certainly
![]() in Iraq.
![]() Let me start back in 1979. George Herbert Walker Bush decided, announced,
![]() that he was running for President that year. Three years earlier, he had been the
![]() director for about 13 or 14 months of the CIA. In that role, he was
![]() principally involved with the concern that was growing about oil in the Middle
![]() East because of the oil price increase.
![]() He was involved in opening up and strengthening U.S. relations with the
![]() intelligence services of Saudi Arabia and Iran, in particular. After this role, he
![]() gets out, he takes
![]() up a role as chairman of the executive committee of a major Texas bank,
![]() spends a fair amount of time in London making contacts with Middle Eastern
![]() financial institutions. In the meantime, Jimmy Carter, having taken over the
![]() Presidency, fires a whole lot of people who have been in the clandestine covert
![]() operations side of the CIA.
![]() They leave office, and they're looking for a place to gather, politically,
![]() governmentally,
![]() what have you. In 1979, George Bush announces that he's running for
![]() President. A lot of people in the Republican Party said "President of what?
![]() President of a company or something?" It wasn't too easy to believe. Here was
![]() a guy that had his clock cleaned running for senator from Texas twice, but he was
![]() a certain type of a fungus. You can't get rid of him. He had real contacts, if you
![]() know what I mean. He was a made man, in a certain sense.
![]() Well, when he made his announcement, one of his consultants, who currently is
![]() the president of the American Conservative Union, David Keene, said, and I
![]() pretty much quote here, "Half of the people in the audience were wearing trench
![]() coats." Now, this is significant because he left the CIA and became a
![]() Presidential candidate with the unique set of relationships with the CIA.
![]()
![]() Now, I remember not paying too much attention to this. It became an issue in
![]() 1991 and 1992, belatedly, way after the event, because a group of scandals
![]() were gathering around Bush, and this was one of them. A book came out in 1991
![]() that was sort of dismissed by the media. It wasn't thought to have had all of the
![]() necessary details and back-stopping.
![]() But George Bush was defeated in 1992. He got 37.7% of the vote, the worst
![]() showing for an incumbent president since William Howard Taft in 1912. He was
![]() shellacked. So they just folded up the investigations of these different scandals.
![]() But in December of 1992 and January of 1993, the congressional informal
![]() investigation had received material from the French and from the Russians that
![]() related to the fact that they had observed and noticed that these negotiations
![]() were in fact held. A book was later published by Pierre Salinger, who was with
![]() ABC news in France at the time, that made mention of these negotiations, and
![]() the French intelligence people had helped Bill Casey arrange them.
![]() So, there was confirmation from the French. It did not say that George H.W.
![]() Bush was involved. The Russians sent back a communication that their intelligence
![]() services had in fact observed, and been reported to, that the Republicans talked
![]() to the Iranians in Paris, and that both George Bush and Bill Casey were there.
![]() An Israeli agent named Ari Ben-Menashe said the same thing in a book, but he
![]() was essentially repudiated by the Israeli government. He said he wasn't
![]() anybody, he didn't know much, and that sort of dragged along. Nobody credited
![]() him, but in 1998 an examination came out, the history of the Israeli Mossad, by
![]() an English writer, that said basically, he was subject to a disinformation campaign.
![]() This did in fact happen. So, there you are. There's recent material from the French,
![]() from the Russians, and from the Israelis, that the odds are much higher that this
![]() did in fact take place.
![]() ![]() We had in 2000 an election said to be stolen, by some, by the Republicans.
![]() You would think that some of this question about 1980 would have come up. It
![]() never did. Frankly, I cannot say that I remembered it at the time. It was only
![]() when I got into researching these continuities of scandals that it came up.
![]() Let me turn to the second scandal. This one, you will remember. Everybody
![]() remembers it: Iran-Contra. Iran-Contra was a sort of October Surprise II, in a
![]() sense, because what you had was the provision, by the Reagan-Bush
![]() administration, of arms to Iran in order to get help from the Iranian government, in
![]() negotiating the release, by Islamic radicals in Lebanon, of a new set of American
![]() hostages taken there.
![]() This became known in late 1986, and a special prosecutor was appointed, and
![]() he was not exactly a major Pinko or Liberal. He was Eisenhower's former deputy
![]() Attorney General, Larry Walsh. He wound up indicting Casper Weinberger, the
![]() Defense Secretary, and right before the election in '92, he made a re-indictment
![]() of Weinberger, in which he discussed how George H.W. Bush had been in the
![]() loop. He was part of this. There were two or three laws violated. It was serious
![]() stuff.
![]() Bush denied that he was in the loop. It was so close to the election. This
![]() petered out after Bush was defeated, but in December of '92, Bush pardoned
![]() Weinberger, so there could not be a trial, in which Weinberger would have
![]() implicated Bush and some other people. So, that's the second of the scandals
![]() in the Middle East.
![]() The third scandal is something called "Iraqgate." Now most of you have
![]() probably forgotten about Iraqgate. These things got pushed aside, when
![]() George Bush was defeated in '92.
![]() The upshot of Iraqgate was that George Bush, as Vice President, got involved
![]() in a program of providing arms to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. Not just arms,
![]() other supplies, dual use technology, biological cultures, nuclear know-how. All of
![]() the sort of things that were described as existing in the form of weapons of
![]() mass destruction in 2003.
![]() You know, funny thing, the family had an acquaintance with this somewhat
![]() earlier. Most of you won't remember this. That's the amazing thing. The media
![]() people mostly do remember it. They may not remember it very sharply, but you
![]() would think it was relevant.
![]() Let me read you a quote from Ted Koppel. This was the introduction to ABC
![]() news' "Newsnight" on June 9, 1992. "It is becoming increasingly clear that
![]() George Bush, operating largely behind the scenes, through the 1980's, initiated
![]() and supported much of the financing and intelligence and military help that built
![]() Saddam's Iraq into the aggressive power that the United States ultimately had
![]() to destroy."
![]() It's quite an extraordinary circumstance. First time in American history that
![]() a father, who was President, built up an enemy he had to fight, and then
![]() passed on the animosity to his son, who had the second war. If you want a
![]() dynastic element of history, you can look at that one. There was much more
![]() to what happened in Iraq than just the simple building up and the war.
![]() One of the points that I make in the book, and it's not hard to find the
![]() material. Saddam invaded Kuwait in the beginning of August, 1990.
![]() During June and July of 1990, the State Department people had been flashing
![]() a green light to him to go ahead and take a small slice of the northern
![]() remallia oil fields in Iraq. That's what he wanted. So, there are all of these quotes
![]() from Margaret Tutwyler, who was Jimmy Baker's spokeswoman, and the assistant
![]() Secretary of the near east, that we had no obligation to defend Kuwait. The
![]() United States was not concerned about the oildisputes. It was repeated time after
![]() time. We did not have a responsibility to defend Kuwait.
![]() So, on August 2, after hearing all of this stuff, and after the CIA had
![]() briefed President Bush Sr. on the fact that they were just expected to take a
![]() little slice at the top of Kuwait, Saddam said, you know, why go for the bronze
![]() when you can go for the gold? They went right in and they took Kuwait.
![]() Now, this was, obviously, embarrassing to the administration potentially,
![]() after all of the green lights and after all of the buildup. So, they had to take
![]() Saddam, who, up to this point, was just your ordinary garden variety
![]() authoritarian bum, and he had to become the second Hitler. That wasn't too
![]() hard because you had a lot to work with. But essentially, they had to throw in a
![]() little more for good luck.
![]() There was a hearing conducted in Congress in 1990, in the fall, and there was
![]() testimony by a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl named Nahiryah, that 300-odd
![]() premature babies had been ripped out of incubators by the Iraqis when they
![]() invaded Kuwait.
![]() Well, it turns out nobody -- no babies were ripped out of incubators. This
![]() was pretty much made up, pumped up by a major U.S Public relations firm.
![]() It was cited a number of times by president Bush, 312 babies ripped out of
![]() incubators, but they weren't. This girl was the daughter of the Kuwaiti
![]() ambassador to the United States. She was part of the ruling family.
![]() So, what you have in here was just an enormous patchwork of lies and
![]() fake-outs and deceits, and, as this became known better by people in 1991
![]() and '92, it became an enormous problem for Bush. I would say that the
![]() average American didn't know all about it, but enough people knew, and Bill
![]() Safire, that notorious left-wing columnist for The New York Times, he was so
![]() disgusted with Bush, he wrote a column saying how he couldn't endorse him
![]() and couldn't vote for him in 1992 because of this.
![]() There you have a succession of three scandals involving the first Bush
![]() president in the Middle East.
![]() Now we jump to a dual scandal that sort of picks up the continuity of
![]() generations. This is the Bushes, BCCI and the bin Ladens. Now, they go back.
![]() That's the thing. You wouldn't think that they do, but they do.
![]() In the 1970's, when George Sr. was the C.I.A director, part of what he did,
![]() to watch for developments in the Middle East and the oil industry, involved
![]() enlisting as a C.I.A. asset a fellow named James Bath. This is reported in a book
![]() by two Time magazine correspondents. Enlisted James Bath, who was the North
![]() American representative of two Saudi families --the family of Khalid bin Mafus,
![]() and the bin Laden family. But this was
![]() Salem bin Laden. Nobody knew about Osama at that timme.
![]() Then after his father was in the C.I.A., he leaves. He does his banking and
![]() has his Middle East connections, but George W., at this point, is establishing
![]() his famous first oil firm. This is Arbusto. Arbusto isSpanish for shrub. I
![]() don't think he knew at the time shrub was going to be a nickname. It was Bush,
![]() obviously.
![]() So, it turns out as they're raising money for the firm, he gets $50,000 from
![]() James Bath, the North American representative of the bin Ladens and the bin
![]() Mafuses. According to the book by the two people from Time, they're sure that
![]() Bath didn't use his own money, he used the money of his two client families in
![]() Saudi Arabia. So, that's the first connection that brings the bin Ladens into
![]() the Bush orbit.
![]() Then we jump ahead to the 1990's. George senior gets out of office, gets out
![]() of the Presidency, and he gets involved in the Carlyle group.
![]() The Carlyle group is a merchant bank that I'm sure a number of you know. It
![]() consisted of a number of senior people in the Bush and Reagan administrations,
![]() Defense Secretary Carlucci, from the first Bush administration, Secretary of
![]() State, Jimmy Baker. George Bush Sr., himself becomes a member of the advisory
![]() board of the Carlyle group, gives speeches for them, raises money for them.
![]() They wind up getting money from 12 Saudi families. And the Saudis are
![]() encouraged to give, according to a story in the Washington Post, sort of out of
![]() respect for former President Bush. Now, as most of you will probably guess,
![]() what is the name of one of the 12 Saudi families, the bin Ladens. So, there they
![]() are.
![]() They're in the inner recesses of the Carlysle group and were up until 2001.
![]() Nobody exactly knows what they all talked about at these various meetings, but
![]() the media have identified that a planeload of bin
![]() Ladens were sent back after 9-11, that a number of conferences included from
![]() the Carlyle group the former President and some of the bin Ladens, but no real
![]() details.
![]() I should say that no family in the American presidency has ever been involved
![]() in an overseas region like the Bushes have been involved in the Middle East.
![]() George Bush Sr. had his first oil venture dealing with the Persian Gulf in
![]() 1961.
![]() By 1980's, the family had basically come to see the region as a spigot. By
![]() the 1990's, not only did you have George W. connected to BCCI and the
![]() gulf oil people and the bin Laden family and et cetera, but you had his brothers.
![]() His brother, who is now the Governor of Florida, has been reported to have
![]() been very friendly during the early 1980's with the chief Washington and national representative of BCCI, the bank of credit and commerce international that funded
![]() a lot of these arms operations. Also known in common parlance as the bank
![]() of crooks and criminals internationally.
![]() Jeb was friendly with a fellow who ran it who was based in Miami. Neil, of
![]() course, this is the Silverado kid. America's moral exemplar from the oval
![]() office. He has been involved with several different dimensions of this.
![]() His business partner down in Houston was described as a Syrian-American
![]() businessman in a big Financial Times article that appeared September 12.
![]() He was also described, and I don't think I believe this, as one of the founders
![]() of the Ba'ath party in Syria and Iraq. Kind of amazing.
![]() Marvin Bush -- this is the youngest brother. Marvin Bush went to Kuwait after
![]() the war, and made some good business connections. He became a shareholder
![]() and director of Kuwait-American corporation and something called Secure-Acom,
![]() partly owned by the Kuwatis. For several years, it was one of the contractors for
![]() security at the World Trade Center before 2001. You know, that's kind of amazing,
![]() I would think.
![]() So, you have got Bushes and 9-11. What's the connection? Now, I don't think
![]() that some of the groups that organize with a whole set of Halloween scary stuff
![]() are making a great contribution, but I think there is a relationship.
![]() Nobody knows quite what it is. Did the Saudi ties interfere with the
![]() investigation of 9-11, or taking it seriously before it happened? Did the Saudi ties
![]() provoke? Was this part of a reason why the animosity for the United States was
![]() so strong? Was it connected to the family? Well, essentially, we don't know.
![]() But there's some people concerned. You may have seen a former governor, Tom
![]() Kean of New Jersey, running the 9-11 commission, very unhappy about not getting
![]() the material
![]() from the White House and suggesting that they might have to take measures.
![]() He's a former Republican Governor of New Jersey. Well, then, by the time you
![]() start adding up some of the Republicans in this, you may get the sense that this
![]() is not that much, purely, a matter of ideology and I think that's right.
![]() Now, let me turn to the question of Iraq, the inherited war. Now, this, to
![]() me, is amazing that you could have had all of these developments in Iraqgate
![]() that involve Bush Sr., and the media did not pick up on this, when we had George
![]() W. taking office, virtually from the start, obviously looking for a war with
![]() Iraq, and maneuvering towards it, and there was just no real linkage of his
![]() role and his attitude with his father's circumstances. The lies about the weapons
![]() of mass destruction go right back, and it reminds me of the whole business
![]() about the 312 babies in the incubators that never existed and so forth. There's
![]() seemingly no great compunction about making a lot of this stuff up.
![]() The second thing is, you may remember, that right after 9-11, George W talked
![]() about a crusade. Very unfortunate language, because there was nothing more
![]() calculated to arouse the Muslims in the Middle East, but it wasn't just George
![]() W., it was this personal circus of religious right leaders that he has dancing
![]() around. Falwell referred to Mohammad as a terrorist. The great prophet of
![]() Islam is a wild-eyed fanatic. Franklin Graham, Billie's son, "Islam is evil."
![]() And Jerry Vines, head of the Southern Baptist convention, who referred to
![]() Mohammad as a demon-possessed pedophile.
![]() These people are unbelievable. We're trying to convince the Muslims that this
![]() is not a holy war, and you have got all of these flaky fundamentalists running
![]() loose with every sort of drivel that you can imagine.
![]() And then a lot of people missed the personal aspect of all of this. When
![]() George W. was down giving a speech to a Republican audience in Texas in
![]() 2002, he said that Iraq was a special preoccupation of the United States,
![]() and he was referring to talk about an assassination attempt on his father.
![]() He said, Iraq was a special U.S. preoccupation because they tried to kill my
![]() dad. I mean, you don't start a war because of a rumored assassination attempt
![]() on your father after he was out of office. You carry that as a grudge, but that's --
![]() you know, that's something else.
![]() Then you get here the incredible military incompetence of George W. Bush. I
![]() don't see why this hasn't been an issue from word one. I'm not a total fan of
![]() General Clark, but he seems to be making that an issue, and there's one thing
![]() the Republicans cannot say about a man who has four stars on his uniform, and
![]() that's that he is not a patriot. He's serving a very useful purpose there. But
![]() you all remember the George W. and the great top gun moment in May, went out
![]() to the carrier and land and announced that the fighting was over. You know, and
![]() he wouldn't know fighting was over any more than a chocolate bar would know
![]() what was happening in August sun
![]() And worse than that -- and this is the sort of thing that ought to be raised
![]() outside of every military base in the Sunbelt. I don't agree with whaat
![]() Michael Moore said that George W. was a deserter from the Texas Air
![]() National Guard. I think that's excessive.
![]() You certainly cannot prove it. But what seems almost beyond a doubt was that
![]() he was Absent Without Leave, and I think he should be renamed for the duration
![]() of this fighting in the Middle East, Commander AWOL.
![]() Let me stop here, and what I'll suggest, I'm going to make one suggestion to
![]() Liberals, Progressives and Democrats -- these are the sort of issues, I think,
![]() that if used correctly can do something that will have an enormous effect on
![]() the 20004 election. They'll take back the American flag.
![]() Thank you.
![]() ![]() Floating Solar Powered Ligh
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![]() Dia x 85mmH.
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![]() Floating Solar Powered Globe
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![]() ![]() ![]() The United States currently relies heavily on coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. Fossil fuels
![]() are nonrenewable, that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too
![]() expensive or too environmentally damaging to retrieve. In contrast, renewable energy
![]() resources-such as wind and solar energy-are constantly replenished and will never run out.
![]() Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Sunlight, or solar energy,
![]() can be used directly for heating and lighting homes and other buildings, for generating electricity,
![]() and for hot water heating, solar cooling, and a variety of commercial and industrial uses.
![]() The sun's heat also drives the winds, whose energy is captured with wind turbines. Then, the
![]() winds and the sun's heat cause water to evaporate. When this water vapor turns into rain or snow
![]() and flows downhill into rivers or streams, its energy can be captured using hydroelectric power.
![]() Along with the rain and snow, sunlight causes plants to grow. The organic matter that makes up
![]() those plants is known as biomass. Biomass can be used to produce electricity, transportation
![]() fuels, or chemicals. The use of biomass for any of these purposes is called biomass energy.
![]() Hydrogen also can be found in many organic compounds, as well as water. It's the most
![]() abundant element on the Earth. But it doesn't occur naturally as a gas. It's always combined with
![]() other elements, such as with oxygen to make water. Once separated from another element,
![]() hydrogen can be burned as a fuel or converted into electricity.
![]() Not all renewable energy resources come from the sun. Geothermal energy taps the Earth's
![]() internal heat for a variety of uses, including electric power production, and the heating and cooling
![]() of buildings. And the energy of the ocean's tides comes from the gravitational pull of the moon
![]() and the sun upon the Earth.
![]() In fact, ocean energy comes from a number of sources. In addition to tidal energy, there's the
![]() energy of the ocean's waves, which are driven by both the tides and the winds. The sun also
![]() warms the surface of the ocean more than the ocean depths, creating a temperature difference
![]() that can be used as an energy source. All these forms of ocean energy can be used to produce
![]() electricity.
![]() re layers of different materials with different band gaps. The higher band gap material is on the
![]() surface, absorbing high-energy photons while allowing lower-energy photons to be absorbed by
![]() the lower band gap material beneath. This technique can result in much higher efficiencies. Such
![]() cells, called multi-junction cells, can have more than one electric field.
![]() Why is renewable energy important?
![]() Renewable energy is important because of the benefits it provides. The key benefits are:
![]() Environmental benefits -
![]() Renewable energy technologies are clean sources of energy that have a much lower
![]() environmental impact than conventional energy technologies.
![]() Energy for our children's children's children -
![]() Renewable energy will not run out. Ever. Other sources of energy are finite and will some day be
![]() depleted.
![]() Jobs and the economy -
![]() Most renewable energy investments are spent on materials and workmanship to build and
![]() maintain the facilities, rather than on costly energy imports. Renewable energy investments are
![]() usually spent within the United States, frequently in the same state, and often in the same town.
![]() This means your energy dollars stay home to create jobs and fuel local economies, rather than
![]() going overseas. Meanwhile, renewable energy technologies developed and built in the United
![]() States are being sold overseas, providing a boost to the U.S. trade deficit.
![]() Energy security -
![]() After the oil supply disruptions of the early 1970s, our nation has increased its dependence on
![]() foreign oil supplies instead of decreasing it. This increased dependence impacts more than just
![]() our national energy policy.
![]() HOW SOLAR ENERGY IS CAPTURED FOR LIGHTING PRODUCTS
![]() You've probably seen calculators that have solar cells -- calculators that never need batteries,
![]() and in some cases don't even have an off button. As long as you have enough light, they seem to
![]() work forever. You have probably also been hearing about the "solar revolution" for the last 20
![]() years -- the idea that one day we will all use free electricity from the sun. This is a seductive
![]() promise: On a bright, sunny day, the sun shines approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square
![]() meter of the planet's surface, and if we could collect all of that energy we could easily power our
![]() homes and offices for free. But, to start with, solar lighting for around your home and garden
![]() makes great sense as it is so fast and easy to install with no wires and no electricity costs. Its safe,
![]() simple and we have many designs to choose from. For those technically minded or you simply
![]() want to know more about solar energy and how it is created then read on...
![]() Converting Photons to Electrons -
![]() The solar cells that you see on calculators and satellites are photovoltaic cells or modules
![]() (modules are simply a group of cells electrically connected and packaged in one frame).
![]() Photovoltaics, as the word implies (photo = light, voltaic = electricity), convert sunlight directly
![]() into electricity. Once used almost exclusively in space, photovoltaics are used more and more in
![]() less exotic ways. They could even power your house. How do these devices work?
![]() Photovoltaic (PV) cells are made of special materials called semiconductors such as silicon,
![]() which is currently the most commonly used. Basically, when light strikes the cell, a certain portion
![]() of it is absorbed within the semiconductor material. This means that the energy of the absorbed
![]() light is transferred to the semiconductor. The energy knocks electrons loose, allowing them to
![]() flow freely. PV cells also all have one or more electric fields that act to force electrons freed by
![]() light absorption to flow in a certain direction. This flow of electrons is a current, and by placing
![]() metal contacts on the top and bottom of the PV cell, we can draw that current off to use
![]() externally. For example, the current can power a calculator. This current, together with the cell's
![]() voltage (which is a result of its built-in electric field or fields), defines the power (or wattage) that
![]() the solar cell can produce.
![]() That's the basic process, but there's really much more to it. Let's take a deeper look into one
![]() example of a PV cell: the single crystal silicon cell.
![]() Silicon in Solar Cells-
![]() Silicon has some special chemical properties, especially in its crystalline form. An atom of silicon
![]() has 14 electrons, arranged in three different shells. The first two shells, those closest to the center,
![]() are completely full. The outer shell, however, is only half full, having only four electrons. A silicon
![]() atom will always look for ways to fill up its last shell (which would like to have eight electrons).
![]() To do this, it will share electrons with four of its neighbor silicon atoms. It's like every atom holds
![]() hands with its neighbors, except that in this case, each atom has four hands joined to four
![]() neighbors. That's what forms the crystalline structure, and that structure turns out to be important
![]() to this type of PV cell.
![]() We've now described pure, crystalline silicon. Pure silicon is a poor conductor of electricity
![]() because none of its electrons are free to move about, as electrons are in good conductors such as
![]() copper. Instead, the electrons are all locked in the crystalline structure. The silicon in a solar cell
![]() is modified slightly so that it will work as a solar cell.
![]() Our cell has silicon with impurities -- other atoms mixed in with the silicon atoms, changing the
![]() way things work a bit. We usually think of impurities as something undesirable, but in our case,
![]() our cell wouldn't work without them. These impurities are actually put there on purpose. Consider
![]() silicon with an atom of phosphorous here and there, maybe one for every million silicon atoms.
![]() Phosphorous has five electrons in its outer shell, not four. It still bonds with its silicon neighbor
![]() atoms, but in a sense, the phosphorous has one electron that doesn't have anyone to hold hands
![]() with. It doesn't form part of a bond, but there is a positive proton in the phosphorous nucleus
![]() holding it in place.
![]() When energy is added to pure silicon, for example in the form of heat, it can cause a few
![]() electrons to break free of their bonds and leave their atoms. A hole is left behind in each case.
![]() These electrons then wander randomly around the crystalline lattice looking for another hole to
![]() fall into. These electrons are called free carriers, and can carry electrical current. There are so
![]() few of them in pure silicon, however, that they aren't very useful. Our impure silicon with
![]() phosphorous atoms mixed in is a different story. It turns out that it takes a lot less energy to
![]() knock loose one of our "extra" phosphorous electrons because they aren't tied up in a bond --
![]() their neighbors aren't holding them back. As a result, most of these electrons do break free, and
![]() we have a lot more free carriers than we would have in pure silicon. The process of adding
![]() impurities on purpose is called doping, and when doped with phosphorous, the resulting silicon is
![]() called N-type ("n" for negative) because of the prevalence of free electrons. N-type doped silicon
![]() is a much better conductor than pure silicon is.
![]() Actually, only part of our cell is N-type. The other part is doped with boron, which has only three
![]() electrons in its outer shell instead of four, to become P-type silicon. Instead of having free
![]() electrons, P-type silicon ("p" for positive) has free holes. Holes really are just the absence of
![]() electrons, so they carry the opposite (positive) charge. They move around just like electrons do.
![]() So where has all this gotten us? The interesting part starts when you put N-type silicon together
![]() with P-type silicon. Remember that every PV cell has at least one electric field. Without an
![]() electric field, the cell wouldn't work, and this field forms when the N-type and P-type silicon are
![]() in contact. Suddenly, the free electrons in the N side, which have been looking all over for holes
![]() to fall into, see all the free holes on the P side, and there's a mad rush to fill them in.
![]() Before now, our silicon was all electrically neutral. Our extra electrons were balanced out by the
![]() extra protons in the phosphorous. Our missing electrons (holes) were balanced out by the missing
![]() protons in the boron. When the holes and electrons mix at the junction between N-type and
![]() P-type silicon, however, that neutrality is disrupted. Do all the free electrons fill all the free holes?
![]() No. If they did, then the whole arrangement wouldn't be very useful. Right at the junction,
![]() however, they do mix and form a barrier, making it harder and harder for electrons on the N side
![]() to cross to the P side. Eventually, equilibrium is reached, and we have an electric field separating
![]() the two sides.
![]() This electric field acts as a diode, allowing (and even pushing) electrons to flow from the P side to
![]() the N side, but not the other way around. It's like a hill -- electrons can easily go down the hill (to
![]() the N side), but can't climb it (to the P side).
![]() So we've got an electric field acting as a diode in which electrons can only move in one direction.
![]() Let's see what happens when light hits the cell.
![]() When Light Hits the Cell -
![]() When light, in the form of photons, hits our solar cell, its energy frees electron-hole pairs.
![]() Each photon with enough energy will normally free exactly one electron, and result in a free hole
![]() as well. If this happens close enough to the electric field, or if free electron and free hole happen
![]() to wander into its range of influence, the field will send the electron to the N side and the hole to
![]() the P side. This causes further disruption of electrical neutrality, and if we provide an external
![]() current path, electrons will flow through the path to their original side (the P side) to unite with
![]() holes that the electric field sent there, doing work for us along the way. The electron flow
![]() provides the current, and the cell's electric field causes a voltage. With both current and voltage,
![]() we have power, which is the product of the two.
![]() How much sunlight energy does our PV cell absorb? Unfortunately, the most that our simple cell
![]() could absorb is around 25 percent, and more likely is 15 percent or less. Why so little?
![]() Energy Loss -
![]() Why does our solar cell absorb only about 15 percents of the sunlight's energy? Visible light is
![]() only part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic radiation is not monochromatic -- it is
![]() made up of a range of different wavelengths, and therefore energy levels.
![]() Light can be separated into different wavelengths, and we can see them in the form of a rainbow.
![]() Since the light that hits our cell has photons of a wide range of energies, it turns out that some of
![]() them won't have enough energy to form an electron-hole pair. They'll simply pass through the cell
![]() as if it were transparent. Still other photons have too much energy. Only a certain amount of
![]() energy, measured in electron volts (eV) and defined by our cell material (about 1.1 eV for
![]() crystalline silicon), is required to knock an electron loose. We call this the band gap energy of a
![]() material. If a photon has more energy than the required amount, then the extra energy is lost
![]() (unless a photon has twice the required energy, and can create more than one electron-hole pair,
![]() but this effect is not significant). These two effects alone account for the loss of around 70 percent
![]() of the radiation energy incident on our cell.
![]() Why can't we choose a material with a really low band gap, so we can use more of the photons?
![]() Unfortunately, our band gap also determines the strength (voltage) of our electric field, and if it's
![]() too low, then what we make up in extra current (by absorbing more photons), we lose by having
![]() a small voltage. Remember that power is voltage times current. The optimal band gap, balancing
![]() these two effects, is around 1.4 eV for a cell made from a single material.
![]() We have other losses as well. Our electrons have to flow from one side of the cell to the other
![]() through an external circuit. We can cover the bottom with a metal, allowing for good conduction,
![]() but if we completely cover the top, then photons can't get through the opaque conductor and we
![]() lose all of our current (in some cells, transparent conductors are used on the top surface, but not
![]() in all). If we put our contacts only at the sides of our cell, then the electrons have to travel an
![]() extremely long distance (for an electron) to reach the contacts. Remember, silicon is a
![]() semiconductor -- it's not nearly as good as a metal for transporting current. Its internal resistance
![]() (called series resistance) is fairly high, and high resistance means high losses. To minimize these
![]() losses, our cell is covered by a metallic contact grid that shortens the distance that electrons have
![]() to travel while covering only a small part of the cell surface. Even so, some photons are blocked
![]() by the grid, which can't be too small or else its own resistance will be too high.
![]() Finishing the Cell
![]() There are a few more steps left before we can really use our cell. Silicon happens to be a very
![]() shiny material, which means that it is very reflective. Photons that are reflected can't be used by
![]() the cell. For that reason, an antireflective coating is applied to the top of the cell to reduce
![]() reflection losses to less than 5 percent.
![]() The final step is the glass or plastic cover plate that protects the cell from the elements. PV
![]() modules are made by connecting several cells (usually 36) in series and parallel to achieve useful
![]() levels of voltage and current, and putting them in a sturdy frame complete with a glass cover and
![]() positive and negative terminals on the back.
![]()
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