August 14th, 2004 ~ In many prior articles, I've tried to describe the benefits we would derive from a network of domestic fusion powerplants.  Sometimes, too many words can get in the way of real communication, so here is a simple chart to let the facts speak for themselves.

Comparison of Fusion to Other Energy Sources
First, the negatives...
 
Question 		Fusion
Power 		Hydro
electric 		Wind &
Solar 		Geo
thermal 		Domestic
Oil/Coal 		Foreign
Oil 		Nuclear
Fission
Creates air pollution as a direct byproduct of power generation? NO NO NO NO YES YES NO
Produces radioactive waste, remaining deadly until at least 9500 A.D.? NO NO NO NO NO NO YES
Profits used to financially support terrorism? NO NO NO NO NO YES NO
Ever present risk of nuclear meltdown or radioactive accident? NO NO NO NO NO NO YES
Operations or byproducts exploitable as weapons? NO   YES 1 NO NO YES YES YES
Fuel supply and cost dependent on foreign governments? NO NO NO NO NO YES NO
Power generation dependent on weather conditions or geography? NO YES YES YES NO NO   YES 2
Fuel extraction or shipment intrinsically destructive to environment? NO NO NO NO YES YES YES
Provides excuse for abrogating our Constitutional rights & conducting pre-emtive wars? NO NO NO NO NO YES NO

Now, the positives...
Effectively limitless source of energy? YES NO YES NO NO NO NO
Tremendous direct & indirect potential for new domestic employment?   YES 3 NO YES NO NO NO NO

1  While hydroelectric plants are not intrinsically dangerous, they are usually associated with a dam which, if breached, could cause widespread devastation.
2  Due to the intrinsic danger of fission reactors, great care must be taken to build such powerplants on a geologically stable site.
3  Building and operating fusion powerplants will give rise to whole new industries and once deployed on a large scale, the cost of energy will drop to a fraction of its current levels, further stimulating our domestic economy.

      August 5th, 2004 ~ Crude oil prices soared today to a near record high of $44.40 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, in response to uncertainty regarding Russian oil producer Yukos' continued legal problems.  Yukos accounts for roughly two percent of the global oil market.  Meanwhile, more American peacekeepers died today as a fragile ceasefire ended in the Shiite stronghold of Najaf and the militia of Islamic "holy man", Muqtada al-Sadr went on a rampage of murder across Iraq.
      Throughout all this, our President and his rubber-stamp Congress have shut down all domestic fusion power programs to put what few eggs we have left (after paying for the Iraq War) into the ITER basket; knowing full well that this multinational program is doomed to the eternal limbo of internecine political infighting.  The obscenely rich get richer and the rest of us get an Orange Alert, $2.50 per gallon at the pumps, and a pink slip as our jobs are shipped off to Bangalore and Nanjing.
      It's time for a Fusion Coalition to reenergize our economy, secure our nation against the unholy, defend our environment against the short-sighted, and rekindle the flame of Liberty.  It's time for fusion power advocates to unite with veterans of foreign wars, environmentalists, labor unions, civil rights defenders, ALL TRUE AMERICANS, to call OUR government to task on the issue of energy.
      Foreign oil is America's Achilles Heel.  Foreign oil weakens our national defense.  Foreign oil costs us our jobs, our lives, and our way of life.  Foreign oil is our enemy.
      I STRONGLY urge you to write your Senators and Representatives today, to demand an energy strategy we can live with.  We cannot live with our petro-dollars supporting those who wish to murder us quickly with bombs in the name of Allah.  We cannot live with our tax dollars supporting those who wish to murder us slowly with poisons and radiatation in the service of Mammon.  We CAN live with environmentally friendly, intrinsically safe, domestically secure, American fusion power.