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Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 25, 2008 / 22 Sivan 5768

We need a new Manhattan Project

By Ed Koch


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The availability of the hydrogen-powered car, the Honda FCS Clarity, just leased to several hundred people in southern California, reinforces for me the need for an urgent government research program devoted solely to ending the energy crisis.


Last year, $327 billion flowed from the United States to oil producing countries, hugely contributing to our current economic crisis. This year the dollars spent on importing foreign oil are undoubtedly far greater: oil in 2007 ranged from $60 to $92 a barrel and last week reached $139. America's estimated annual oil bill for 2008 will be $400 billion.


According to The New York Times of June 20th, "Honda's president said that the Clarity costs several hundred thousand dollars to make," so it isn't really anything more than a gimmick today. However, with government-backed research, it is likely that we could make the hydrogen engine and battery readily available at an affordable price. The Manhattan Project — building the atomic bomb — cost $2 billion, $21 billion in today's dollars. A similar program dedicated to dealing with the country's energy crisis could help develop new nuclear power plants and refineries, and expand drilling offshore and in Alaska, including ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). Energy is to industry what oxygen is to humans and other animals. Without it we would die, and in the case of energy, our standard of living would be vastly reduced.


A Manhattan Project would enlist, as it did in World War II, the best minds available who could determine what is practical and environmentally safe. It would deal with short-term and long-term measures, including conservation, and its scientific breakthroughs would be available to all of America's industry.


Naysayers are quick to claim that none of these measures alone will end our dependence on foreign oil and often point out that 79 percent of existing offshore oil leases are not being developed. If offshore oil leases are not being exploited, we should ascertain why that is the case, and take immediate measures to penalize offending oil companies.


Congress, for its part, is also shirking its duties. It has failed to come up with an effective energy plan. All we see is partisan wrangling, while all Americans suffer. It is both ridiculous and catastrophic that the current presidential election may be decided by the price of gas in late October which some experts have suggested may reach $5 per gallon.


Let me offer a proposal to both candidates - Senators Obama and McCain. Why not, in order to lessen the huge impact on the discretionary dollars available to Americans today because of the cost of filling up the gas tank, make the cost of transportation that is employment related, including expenditures for gas, train and subway, a tax credit for amounts spent, available on income taxes to be filed this year.


In case you're wondering, a tax credit gives the taxpayer the benefit of dollar for dollar spent. There has been talk by economists and the candidates of the need for a second stimulus. Why not address a huge problem - cost of transportation - and provide a stimulus at the same time?

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Edward I. Koch, the former mayor of New York, can be heard on Bloomberg Radio (WBBR 1130 AM) every Sunday from 9-10 am . Comment by clicking here.

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© 2008, Ed Koch

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