This From the Salt Lake Tribune
McCain's surge claim
Public Forum Letter

Am I the only one who finds the spectacle of John McCain in perpetual attack mode unpleasant? Having hobbled himself by admitting he knows nothing about economics, the current major concern of most Americans, he focuses on Iraq, specifically the "surge," a topic 18 months out of date. As he parrots "the surge has worked!" I am struck by how interviewers never follow up with these salient points about the "successful" surge: 1. Violence has dropped in such areas as Anbar province because sectarian cleansing has been achieved and there is no one left to kill. 2. The United States is currently paying the Sunni sheiks not to side with al-Qaida in Iraq. When we stop paying them, what will be the effect? 3. The trained-in-Iraq al-Qaida fighters, courtesy of Bush's convenient gratuitous war, are now leaving Iraq and heading to Afghanistan, where the violence is climbing. As McCain babbles on unchallenged about the "success" of the surge, voters cannot be blamed for accepting a view too simple for our safety. His argument belongs to the past - and so does he.
Michele Margetts Salt Lake City

I hate how the success in Iraq is discounted just because one may not like the war, nor Pres Bush. The questions are, is there less violence in Iraq? Are less military personnel needed in Iraq to maintain security? Did this transformation to less violence occur during the "surge"? If yes, then we should recognize that the strategy was in fact successful despite whether or not Anbar was "cleansed", or Sunni sheiks are being paid. The most important objective is less violence.
I read an article yesterday that said for the first time in years families can be seen at local parks in Iraq. And today Bush announces the end of the surge. (All extra troops will be home this month). It's just a shame that people wont acknowledge something good, just because they are opposed to those that are doing it.

Have you seen the commercials for Wind Power, by T. Boone Pickens? He's an "oil man" changed "wind man". His grand idea to alleviate our dependence on foreign oil is Wind power.
Coyote Blog illustrates a good comparison of wind and oil.

• To get electricity from wind, one goes to a windy area, and puts up a big pole. I presume that there are costs either in the land acquisition or in royalty payments to the land holder. Either way, one then puts a generator on top of the pole, puts a big propeller on the generator, add some electrical widgets to get the right voltage and such, and hook it into the grid.
  
• To get electricity from petroleum is a bit more complex. First, it's not immediately obvious where the oil is. It's hidden under the ground, and sometimes under a lot of ocean as well. It takes a lot of technology and investment just to find likely spots where it might exist. One must then negotiate expensive deals with often insanely unpredictable foreign governments for the right to produce the oil, and deal day to day with annoyances up to and including rebel attacks on one's facilities and outright nationalization once the investments have been made. Then one must drill, often miles into the ground. Offshore, huge, staggeringly expensive platforms must be erected -- many of which today can be taller than the worlds largest skyscrapers. Further, these oil fields, once found, do not pump forever, and wells must be constantly worked over and in some cases have additional recovery modes (such as water flood) added. The oil, once separated from gas and water, is piped and/or shipped hundreds or even thousands of miles to a refinery. Refineries are enormously complex facilities, each representing billions of dollars of investment. The oil must be heated up to nearly 1000 degrees and separated into its fractions (e.g. propane, kerosene, etc.). Each fraction is then desulpherized, and is often further processed (including cracking and reforming to make better gasoline). These finished products are in turn shipped hundreds or thousands of miles by pipeline, barge, and truck to various customers and retail outlets.To make electricity from the oil, one then needs to build a large power plant, again an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. The oil is burned in huge furnaces that boil water, with the steam driving huge turbines that produce electricity. This electricity must then go through some electrical widgets to get to the right voltage, and then is sent into the grid.

Even through all this to get gas, wind can only be a success with major government subsides. Not to mention what to do when there is no wind. Although Wyoming my have an overabundance of wind most of the country enjoys relative calm weather.

I think T. Boone is playing this Global Warming (turned Climate Change) scare to reap the $$ from all those renewable-energy-or-bust crowd.