From what I heard, the CIA gave him 3 options, kind of like a multiple choice test, with one less option. On regular tests, there are two answers that usually look right, but since the CIA took away an option...

"[T]he primary problem facing clean alternative energy is the ‘price gap’—they are still more expensive than fossil fuels. As I’ve outlined in these pages previously (see “The Big Green Buy”), economies of scale, along with subsidies and planning, will help close this price gap. Only when clean technologies—like wind, solar, hydropower and electric vehicles—are cheaper than other options will global capitalism make the switch away from fossil fuels."

Is it any coincidence that Obama's policies and actions seem to have been with this very thing in mind? Cap and Tax, drilling moritoriums, EPA/CO2 regulation, refusal to provide support to uphold stability in the middle east, subsidizing oil exploration and production in other countries... He's going to artifically make fossil fuels too expensive so that the "green option" is the cheaper option. The president's politicized agenda in practice. I can't wait until 2012. I need to find a widget that has a countdown somewhere...

Still don't recall seein' that whopping $100 million he pledged to cut when he got into office....

At the risk of getting hit with lots of nasty comments, I kind of agree with Tony (cringing in my chair as the "thumbs down" start arriving.) There are lots of ways to ask questions and get point of view across without getting in a guy's face and yelling.

I feel that we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard when dealing with these kinds of things. We need to understand that anybody who won't be pursuaded with a normal decibel of voice will likely be less pursuaded when you start yelling at them (I know, it was loud out there).

I feel as though this is Obama's solution to the cries of inaction. Congress is trying to pretend that these hearings mean something, when what they do is pull people away from where they're needed and keep them from doing their jobs. What is actually going to come from these hearings, serriously? It's only a chance for the Congress to show their indignence on camara, and get some air time before elections. The administration is spinning their wheels, and I feel as though Obama doesn't actually know how to DO anything. It's one thing to plan and meet. But you must actually carry out these plans. This is nothing but a dog and pony.

This is a great idea! I'm an engineer that's still paying for my education; and my professors were just about as bad as you can have. I had a professor that told me it was my problem that his handwriting was illegible. I would have given more money to actually learn something more practical than how to derive energy equations (which were figured out years ago, and that serves no actual purpose in most professional engineering jobs because it's already been figured out. You look it up and move on with your life). Engineers are paid to solve problems, not reinvent the wheel. If I'd been able to afford tuition at an out-of-state school, maybe my experience would have been different.

Tests are given on a 100 pt scale, and the average grade is a 27 on every test. And students wind up with an A?? This has happened to me. To me, this says that either the teacher didn't teach it well enough or they don't know their material good enough to convey what's on the test (and apparently I'm not the only one; average grade of 27, people!!!). To the teacher, it shows that they're an awesome teacher or that their knowledge is superior to those they teach. As absurd as it sounds, I've been there! Oh, to have had this choice!

The EPA is trying to steal a page out of the tea party's book (who originally stole it from...hippie war protesters?). They are trying (like Barbara Boxer) to energize the public to support their cause, most likely in an attempt to justify the massive regulation/tax hike they are going to impose on us. In other words, they're trying to make us like it with...peer pressure? Come on, kids! Give us more money! All your friends are doing it!

At least Harry Reid is (slightly) more intelligent; he knows that no matter what they put in that bill, we are going to hate it, so he's trying to get a little peace and quiet by drafting this behind closed doors before the masses start screaming. I'm sure those closed doors muffle the screaming somewhat...

Dear anon,
To be quite frank, some of your ideas confuse me. Ok, so if Obama cuts "all of these taxes" he's claiming to cut, who's going to pay for it? Your answer is that upper crust. However, we can tax all of the upper crust we want, and still not be able to afford all of Obama's social programs (remember, there is technically only so much "wealth" in the world and we can't take ALL these guys' money, can we?). Who's going to have to pick up the slack? Us.
Additionally, taxing the crap out of these upper crust people will have the unintended effect of forcing them to leave the country (come on, it's not like they can't afford to). And how did these people get wealthy in the first place? They are the business owners. If they leave the country, what will happen to their businesses? What about their employees? Don't you think that the Chinese work cheaper than unionized American labor? Hasn't this already happened? How much of the contents of your home were actually made in the US? If you own a business, and you make $10, are you, as a business owner, going to pay $9.50 for a necessary service that you could get elsewhere for $5? Most people would say no (otherwise, there would be no need for store-brand products, or is everything in your house name brand?)
We are supposed to help the poor. However, what is so wrong with helping the poor to help themselves (teach a man to fish, so to speak)? What is so wrong with finding/making employment? I might support Obama if he were to put these people to work instead of just handing them $$ because they're "disadvantaged." There are already free education programs; there are programs for these disadvantaged people to go to college for free, there are programs that feed these individuals for free while they're in school, there are programs to feed their children while they are in school, so why are we just handing them money?

I agree with Romeo 13. Seriously, people, at some point we will have to let kids grow up. As it is now, these kids hardly have any responsibility. And this is perfectly ok in society. This goes hand-in-hand with the dumbing down of our schools. We are raising a generation of helpless people. And in dealing with today's young people both in my work place and in personal business, I can honestly tell you that this is the sad truth.

We have employee's parents coming in trying to deal with their children's affairs (like if their kid's performance review was less than par). I have a tennant in a rental property who is completely helpless. She has been fired from her last three jobs because she was "sick" all the time. She has called me to ask me if I thought she was too sick to go to work because she was incapable of making that decision on her own. On that phone call, she told me that her mother wouldn't answer and she needed to know what to do so she called me. This is from a 24 year old woman!!!! She also gave my phone number to her mother; this I could possibly overlook because it was under the guise of emergencies. However, I didn't find out that she had given her mother my number until her mom called because Fed-ex couldn't find the house, and apparently I was supposed to sit on my front porch all day (forget my full-time job) and flag Fed-ex down to tell them where the house was. Never mind that the girl could have just picked the package up from the main branch in town. And truly, is Fed-ex an EMERGENCY?' And in my experience, this kind of behavior is the norm, not the exception.

When will our government decide that 26 is waaaay too young for people to be out on their own and dealing with their own affairs and we have to make the age 30, or 40? Who IS the government to make that decision? I think it should be a parent's decision.