March 4, 2025

Nuclear weapons: dangerous threat or just a menace?

Nuclear weapons hold about the same position in modern military armament as bayonets. Both can kill you but, as working tools, neither has much present-day use in the tactical application of military power. That has not always been the case since ...

February 9, 2025

America Must, Can, And Should Renew Its Nuclear Energy Dominance

The loudly announced policy of the new Trump Administration is for the US to regain global “energy dominance.” Most of us would first think, “drill Baby, drill,” so that we can increase our exports of liquified natural gas (LN...

December 6, 2023

My day at COP28

Say what you will about the summer climate of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) (“the heat of Phoenix with the humidity of New Orleans”). The weather on the first public day, December 4th, of COP28 was nearly perfect—light clouds, m...

September 14, 2022

How the Fed will Strangle New Nukes

Look up as you walk through the front doors of the Smithsonian Museum, and you’ll see William Shakespeare’s words chiseled into the stone above—“Past is Prologue.” High interest rates in the late 1970s and early 1980s me...

January 5, 2020

Don't expect a magic fix for Iranian conflicts

Various commenters opine this or that, saying we will someday, somehow resolve our conflicts with the Iranians.  Sanctions will make then a "normal nation," or killing so-and-so will pacify them, or sinking their navy will defang ...

October 30, 2019

The notorious RBG in song

In case you missed it last year, you can still buy 55 minutes of operatic sopranos singing the life story and legal opinions of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — "The Notorious RBG." Produced, written, and largely su...

September 12, 2019

The Philippines -- The Poland of the Pacific?

Given China’s position as a classic Asian land power and America’s role as an oceanic hegemon,  a military challenge has emerged in the near seas close to China through which the essentials of modern industrial power flow ...

October 25, 2017

Do Private Uranium Investors Have a $3B Claim against Obama Administration Officials?

As the Uranium One scandal unfolds and North Korea nukes up, Americans rightly worry about the integrity of our regulatory and approval mechanisms related to fissionable material.  It appears that members of the Obama Administration may have use...

October 12, 2017

Progressivism and the Seven Deadly Sins

It’s a brave new world, progressives proclaim, and the old rules no longer apply. From the Russian Communists’ New Man to the mantra of “That’s not who we are” from Obama, it’s always different this time. But is...

February 15, 2017

Governor Moonbeam shakes the begging cup

California's Governor Jerry Brown (aka Governor Moonbeam) has got a lot of nerve.  A case in point is his request of the federal government for $162 million to cover the recent damage from a series of intense winter storms. And ...

August 2, 2013

Nuclear Power's New Friends?

When the issue of global warming first starting gaining public mindshare, around 2000, I was, I'm ashamed to say, a bit gleeful.  As a devotee of nuclear power, this looked to be an added impetus to get the construction of new nuclear power plan...

October 13, 2012

Obama's War on Nuclear Power

The Obama administration has shown, through words and deeds, a well-publicized antipathy toward domestic energy production from coal, oil, and natural gas.  What has received lesser public awareness is the administration's concurrent war on nucl...

January 6, 2011

Saving California Almost Half a Billion a Year -- Easy

Congratulations to Jerry Brown on his latest electoral victory.  We all wish him the best of luck in straightening out California's budget mess.  We're in the hole big time, and he don't seem to have a coalition willing and able to create a...

June 11, 2010

Secession? No, Ejection!

The issue of whether or not a state can secede from the Union seemed well-settled following the Civil War. The answer was not "no," but "hell no!"  But the issue has arisen again, what with the rise of an expansionist, domine...

December 15, 2009

Uranium Enrichment: U.S. Government Cheese for the French

I will yield to no man in my support for nuclear power in this country, but recent news makes me think that we've gone a bit too far in government involvement in the nuclear business. Call it my "what the heck?" moment. Further reflection r...

October 6, 2009

How Taxes Pervert our Energy Choices

"The power to tax is the power to destroy." -  Chief Justice John MarshallThe US tax code is a marvelous and impressive intellectual structure.   As an engineer I took a business class in taxation for corporations while ...

March 19, 2009

Megaphone Envy and the Fairness Doctrine

"Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one."  A. J. LieblingThe way the leftists and liberals go on about conservative talk radio, what they call our "megaphones," one would suspect that they had a bad case of mega...

January 23, 2009

Productive stimulus: Fast-track nuclear power

So unemployment is rising in the US and the pace of economic growth has turned negative.  Congress and Mr. Obama's first thoughts turn to Keynesian economics which prescribe an increase in governmental spending to "prime the pump."...

September 21, 2008

One small step

American Thinker justly can claim credit for legislation to protect Californians against at least one petty tyranny.  SB 1491 in on the Governor's desk awaiting signature.  It would allow citizens to refuse a remote controlled thermostat in...

August 28, 2008

Sticking it to Gazprom

There should be no doubt that Gazprom is a creature of the Russian government and an instrument of national power projection for the Russian state.  It is a corporation, majority owned by the Russian government, that extracts, processes, and tra...

August 18, 2008

Gang of 10 on Nuclear Energy

With the increasing public debate this election year over energy policy, proposals to remove offshore and ANWR drilling restrictions have rightly caught the public's attention.  While this is a critical policy focus requiring re-examination and ...

January 14, 2008

How Did They Become 'Smart' Thermostats?

As the debate builds about state-controlled thermostats in your homes, you may notice that programmable communicating thermostats (PCTs) are now being referred to as "Smart" thermostats.  This conflates PCTs with programmable, or ...

January 4, 2008

Who Will Control Your Thermostat?

"There is nothing wrong with your thermostat. Do not attempt to adjust the temperature. We are controlling your power consumption. If we wish to make it hotter, we will turn off your air conditioner. If we wish to make it cooler, we will turn of...

July 19, 2007

New Nukes for California?

As a Californian, I know well the opinion the rest of the country holds of our political sensibilities.  But when it comes to actual political decisions, we're not always so dumb or misguided.  There seems to be a big quality differential b...