In this story, we see the tale of John McCain. He thinks of himself as a firebrand who follows nobody's will but his own. That works out fine in westerns. Heck, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "High Noon" are probably two of my favorite all time movies. But McCain is running for president of a country that is suffering from global over-expectations and a falling dollar. That makes for some pretty darned high oil prices. And while it is nice to think we can magically produce alternative sources, in reality, the world the rest of us live in, those alternatives aren't up to snuff in terms of quantity or quality. They just aren't ready for prime time. So what do we do? Starve ourselves by producing ethanol that uses up as many resources as it saves? Move into tents and migrate with the crops? What, John McCain, do you have in mind? We could use domestic coal for power plants or nuclear power, but those avenues have been shot down by the well meaning idiots of the Global Warming Church. What we could do is drill in ANWR and off the coastal shores. Or are the vacation lives of millionaires in Miami worth more than heating oil and food to the midwest. Just let us know where you put us, John. I won't be holding my breath.
Story here.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
About Eggs
Remember when you were nine or ten and you sent away for the packets of seeds or greeting cards to sell? Remember how reluctant neighbors and relatives were to buy those seeds? But you had already made PLANS. You were going to buy a horse or travel the world or get a new mitt. You mother at some point told you
"Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." meaning that you can't assume that because something is supposed to work out one way, that you can insure it will work out that way.
Now consider ethanol. Our Congress has virtually forced corn based ethanol down our throats. Never mind that it was based on erroneous assumptions that we had endless supplies of corn. Never mind that the model it was based upon used more efficient sugar based ethanol. Never mind the way it slows down the refining system with the way it has to be handled. Never mind that corn is a source of animal feed and as such has forced the prices on all animal based food items to rise precipitously. No let's just go on our merry way and assume that because we are nice people and think good "green" thoughts, everything will be hunky dory.
Well boys and girls, everything is NOT hunky dory. In fact, with the recent rain and flooding, corn crop projections are lower. Do you think the good farmers and farm corporations are going to say no to ethanol subsidies? Do you think Congress will back away from keeping the likes of Al Gore and George Soros happy? Of course not. So read the story below and start finding a way to grow, hoard or otherwise obtain your own food because unless something changes soon (and not in the political acceptable way) food is going to skyrocket.
Story here.
"Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." meaning that you can't assume that because something is supposed to work out one way, that you can insure it will work out that way.
Now consider ethanol. Our Congress has virtually forced corn based ethanol down our throats. Never mind that it was based on erroneous assumptions that we had endless supplies of corn. Never mind that the model it was based upon used more efficient sugar based ethanol. Never mind the way it slows down the refining system with the way it has to be handled. Never mind that corn is a source of animal feed and as such has forced the prices on all animal based food items to rise precipitously. No let's just go on our merry way and assume that because we are nice people and think good "green" thoughts, everything will be hunky dory.
Well boys and girls, everything is NOT hunky dory. In fact, with the recent rain and flooding, corn crop projections are lower. Do you think the good farmers and farm corporations are going to say no to ethanol subsidies? Do you think Congress will back away from keeping the likes of Al Gore and George Soros happy? Of course not. So read the story below and start finding a way to grow, hoard or otherwise obtain your own food because unless something changes soon (and not in the political acceptable way) food is going to skyrocket.
Story here.
Our Congress CARES for us. They make decisions for us because they know better. They are watching out for our welfare at every turn. Yeah, right.
YET CONGRESS RECENTLY VOTED TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DEVELOP U.S. OIL SHALE RESOURCES
With oil prices at an all-time high, Americans are facing escalating gas, diesel, and aircraft fuel increases. Oil prices are projected to increase further.
Congress, however, has made it illegal to develop vast domestic oil resources in large parts of the United States.
The most startling Congressional prohibition on domestic oil production concerns the recently enacted ban on the development of oil shale resources in parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in the Green River Formation. According to a Rand Study estimate, this reserve contains over one trillion barrels of oil, with 800 billion barrels fully recoverable, or three times the current oil reserves as Saudi Arabia:
The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per day. If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, 800 billion barrels of recoverable resources would last for more than 400 years.”
(James T. Bartis, et. al., "Oil Shale Development in the United States: Prospects and Policy Issues" (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2005), p. ix. http://rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG414.pdf)
“U.S. Shale Oil Resources Are Three Times Larger Than the Current Oil Reserves in Saudi Arabia.”
YET CONGRESS RECENTLY VOTED TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DEVELOP U.S. OIL SHALE RESOURCES
With oil prices at an all-time high, Americans are facing escalating gas, diesel, and aircraft fuel increases. Oil prices are projected to increase further.
Congress, however, has made it illegal to develop vast domestic oil resources in large parts of the United States.
The most startling Congressional prohibition on domestic oil production concerns the recently enacted ban on the development of oil shale resources in parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in the Green River Formation. According to a Rand Study estimate, this reserve contains over one trillion barrels of oil, with 800 billion barrels fully recoverable, or three times the current oil reserves as Saudi Arabia:
The largest known oil shale deposits in the world are in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.5 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable. For potentially recoverable oil shale resources, we roughly derive an upper bound of 1.1 trillion barrels of oil and a lower bound of about 500 billion barrels. For policy planning purposes, it is enough to know that any amount in this range is very high. For example, the midpoint in our estimate range, 800 billion barrels, is more than triple the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. Present U.S. demand for petroleum products is about 20 million barrels per day. If oil shale could be used to meet a quarter of that demand, 800 billion barrels of recoverable resources would last for more than 400 years.”
(James T. Bartis, et. al., "Oil Shale Development in the United States: Prospects and Policy Issues" (Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2005), p. ix. http://rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG414.pdf)
Elected Kings Seek Control of Industry
As recently as the past year, Mexico conceded that their nationalization of their oil industry via Pemex, had been a financial fiasco. All around the world, nationalization of industries is viewed as a means of controlling costs, but in reality it is a way of insuring failure. Without any way of giving valid return for exploration and work, the industry fails. Right now, those workers who work on off-shore rigs are highly compensated for the important and dangerous work that they do. An oil industry run by our government will return the profits to government, lower the wages of these workers and will never ever EVER give anything close to the fiscal and economic relief projected by Washington careerists.
Yet, if you will read here, there are people in Washington who are taking their signals from the failed economic engine of the European Union and trying to piece together a means of usurping and absorbing our nations oil companies. So then what is next? Con-Agra certainly makes a nice profit with the soaring prices of food. Nestle does the same. So will that be the next wave? And after that, when government control has brought efficiency and profitability to a halt, and food supplies drop, government can ration food to make sure we dont' get too fat. Come on folks, this is basic stuff. We are not a collectivist nation, but people who claim to represent us are headed in that very direction.
Vote them out. They have been there too long. They have held too much power and been far too well compensated. You want to talk about an industry that takes more than it gives? Just look to Washington-where tax dollars go and where the money goes to serve THEIR best interests, not ours.
Yet, if you will read here, there are people in Washington who are taking their signals from the failed economic engine of the European Union and trying to piece together a means of usurping and absorbing our nations oil companies. So then what is next? Con-Agra certainly makes a nice profit with the soaring prices of food. Nestle does the same. So will that be the next wave? And after that, when government control has brought efficiency and profitability to a halt, and food supplies drop, government can ration food to make sure we dont' get too fat. Come on folks, this is basic stuff. We are not a collectivist nation, but people who claim to represent us are headed in that very direction.
Vote them out. They have been there too long. They have held too much power and been far too well compensated. You want to talk about an industry that takes more than it gives? Just look to Washington-where tax dollars go and where the money goes to serve THEIR best interests, not ours.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Here's One Example
Story here.
As designed by our founders, the Constitution was intended to provide for checks and balances to prevent a royal presidency. What has happened is that all branches of government have begun to lobby and create legislation, even though that is the job of Congress. This is a vivid demonstration of why votes can count to create decisions. Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the president, upon approval of Congress. That in itself sets up some dicey political situations, since in order to win approval, the nominee must either be of the same party or must pander to the ideals of the other party. There's a pretty long list of experienced jurists denied positions based on the petty babbling of Congressional subcommittees. There's also a good deal of evidence that the more affluent a member of the Supreme Court becomes, the more liberal their rulings become. It's a sort of "let them eat cake" attitude since we know that with such power comes the ability to avoid having to be subjected to the results of legislation from the bench.
As designed by our founders, the Constitution was intended to provide for checks and balances to prevent a royal presidency. What has happened is that all branches of government have begun to lobby and create legislation, even though that is the job of Congress. This is a vivid demonstration of why votes can count to create decisions. Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the president, upon approval of Congress. That in itself sets up some dicey political situations, since in order to win approval, the nominee must either be of the same party or must pander to the ideals of the other party. There's a pretty long list of experienced jurists denied positions based on the petty babbling of Congressional subcommittees. There's also a good deal of evidence that the more affluent a member of the Supreme Court becomes, the more liberal their rulings become. It's a sort of "let them eat cake" attitude since we know that with such power comes the ability to avoid having to be subjected to the results of legislation from the bench.
What This Is About
I am tired of an elected government that picks and chooses who and when and how it will implement the will of the people. As voters, we are led to believe that out votes matter. But more and more, it seems that the Congress acts with impunity, allowing people to carve out long and lucrative careers. It's time to let them go.
It is time to remove those Congressional representative that stand for their own padded pockets far more than the welfare of their constituents. It is time to hold them accountable for the actions that they take and the havoc that seems to ensue. They are cocky, they have power and they use it to bolster their own futures, not those of the voters.
For far too long, elected officials have ruled petty fiefdoms surrounded by yes-men and yes-women who insulate them from the real world. Indeed, many of these elected officials have never held jobs in the "real world". While I am not so naive as to think a dock worker has to be elected to represent dock workers, I do think that when one has different health care, different advantages and in turn is only told what they want to hear, they cannot give a true response in terms of votes on bills that have serious impact on the folks back home. It is time that they get a clue.
Case in point-this story
We are in the middle of an energy and economic crisis. Much of this is fueled by the stringent supply and bloated demand created by well meaning, but flawed programs that seem to believe oil is a migratory beast that can be tracked down. Oil has to be drilled where it exists. And right now, India, China and Cuba are drilling this same oil field that the Democrats on the subcommittee denied American oil companies. I get it about saving the beaches and the nastiness of tar,etc., but isn't it time that we get down to brass tacks? Corn based ethanol has been a wash. It's expensive creation and it's use of food products has only resulted in lowered fuel efficiency and higher food prices. Just another in a series of booboo's created by well-meaning idiots at Congressional levels. Instead of using the abundant resources on our own land, we are being held hostage by foreign countries who do not have our best interests at heart. This is just one of a series of expensive and draconian fixes perpetrated upon the American Public by this entrenched careerists. It's time to let them go.
It is time to remove those Congressional representative that stand for their own padded pockets far more than the welfare of their constituents. It is time to hold them accountable for the actions that they take and the havoc that seems to ensue. They are cocky, they have power and they use it to bolster their own futures, not those of the voters.
For far too long, elected officials have ruled petty fiefdoms surrounded by yes-men and yes-women who insulate them from the real world. Indeed, many of these elected officials have never held jobs in the "real world". While I am not so naive as to think a dock worker has to be elected to represent dock workers, I do think that when one has different health care, different advantages and in turn is only told what they want to hear, they cannot give a true response in terms of votes on bills that have serious impact on the folks back home. It is time that they get a clue.
Case in point-this story
We are in the middle of an energy and economic crisis. Much of this is fueled by the stringent supply and bloated demand created by well meaning, but flawed programs that seem to believe oil is a migratory beast that can be tracked down. Oil has to be drilled where it exists. And right now, India, China and Cuba are drilling this same oil field that the Democrats on the subcommittee denied American oil companies. I get it about saving the beaches and the nastiness of tar,etc., but isn't it time that we get down to brass tacks? Corn based ethanol has been a wash. It's expensive creation and it's use of food products has only resulted in lowered fuel efficiency and higher food prices. Just another in a series of booboo's created by well-meaning idiots at Congressional levels. Instead of using the abundant resources on our own land, we are being held hostage by foreign countries who do not have our best interests at heart. This is just one of a series of expensive and draconian fixes perpetrated upon the American Public by this entrenched careerists. It's time to let them go.
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