Peg - I think you credited statements to Richard that were actually mine. My rant was not against people who voted for Nader out of conscience, but rather those who cast a "protest vote" because they either hadn't looked close enough to discern the differences between Bush and Gore, or didn't consider those differences to be significant. There were significant and obvious (IMHO) differences; there is no question in my mind that we wouldn't be having the same concerns about the first 100 days of an Al Gore presidency.

About "cheap energy". Alternative sources (Wind, Hydro, solar, etc.) are the answer, but retrofitting our buildings is not going to be cheap. It's over the long term, as these sources are used, that we will save a lot more than just money by moving away from fossil fuels and fission.

Our current President has about as much incentive to support alternative sources of energy as he has to legalize marijuana. Regardless of the cost/benefit arguments, he has more to gain personally by pushing Big Oil's interests, along with the "nuclear alternative".