I must act ...

. . . less my support for this become an urban legend. And you should know I'm risking scorn from my better half by typing on our site at this very moment, with all the "honey do's" needing my attention around here.

In brief I feel that a federal energy plan as Jambo described it would be a disaster, and just because I was sympathetic to the federally backed multi peril insurance does not, in my opinion, lend itself to a slippery slope, and here is why:

The multi peril has 3 aspects: 1.) its need was created by nature. A natural disaster so vast that private business no longer wants any part in protecting the citizens that dwell there. As I stated on the phone, there is just no private market there whatsoever. 2.) in this respect the federal government happens to have a decent federal track record in terms of the flood insurance program. In other words a workable model currently exists. 3.) In this day and age the federal dollar will be on the hook of "bailing out" the next Katrina style victims, no matter what. It was my belief that at least it is more equitable for the tax payer (especially those not dwelling in the paths of hurricanes) to collect a premium in the years intervening.

Now, the energy plan as Jambo presents it has the complete opposite scenario. The energy problem (read: lack of domestic supply) for the US is man made. To be more precise it is government made - the red tape; the stifling environmental requirements to get a nuke plants, gas, clean coal, new refineries, etc online; locking up both land off shore reserves, and on and on - I mean we could go on for days with how government discourages domestic energy recovery of all forms. Hell, some environmental groups objected to the power lines hooked to wind mills because the actual cord disrupted the local ecology, and the governments track record (especially this government trends towards bowing at these extremists altar). A perfect example of this is the 5 billion dollar Nevada Power clean coal fired plant that was about to be constructed. I say "about" because 48 hours ago the CEO of NV Power announced the plant had been scratched, and for an astounding reason. Harry Reid (our senior senator and a flaming lib) contacted them and explained that they might as well not bother, because the global warming legislation soon to be introduced by this new congress would render the plant not profitable anyway. The exec simply stated that he couldn't trust congress to allow them to operate, period (how many jobs did that kill by the way?).

The point being that when the government attempts to fix a "crisis" that it caused it almost ALWAYS makes it worse (see bail outs via Freddie and Fannie, which got this recession rolling). I have zero faith in our federal governments ability to initiate such an ambitious plan, make it work, and make it profitable. In addition, unlike the multi peril insurance there IS a robust energy market in the private sector, ready, willing and able. And if absolute fools like Harry Reid would just get out of the way, they could put America on the road to energy independence. We scoffed at the idea of Pelosi or Obama, or even candidate MCain as a defacto "landlord" for all these toxic mortgages they wanted the feds to buy up. I am even more frightened at the prospect of some bureaucratic energy Czar sending me my power bill, and being responsible for the light in my home running smoothly.

All do respect Jambo, this is apples and Cadillacs. The insurance is a very narrow, very specific, federal responsability, and very limited in population and region. That does NOT describe the energy scenario you laid out, and I'm just not willing to oblige the feds to take on any more projects that fall outside of that description - narrow, specific and limited.

What the government could do is be a "working jr partner" with the private energy sector, and in a way McCain advocated (sort of), work to reduce red tape, requirements, and the multi tiered government obstacles that lay between me and my own nation's domestic energy potential.