Energy Quagmire?

.
Gas prices have topped $4 a gallon, and prices are soaring across all sectors of the economy because of the impact of fuel prices on businesses.. [snip]

THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS The shale rock of these
mountains holds an estimated 7 trillion barrels of oil.

But the mother lode is in shale rock. It's estimated that the Saudis have about 260 billion barrels under their sand. By comparison, with current technology, we can safely recover more than 800 billion barrels of the estimated 7 trillion barrels of oil in the shale rock from the Rocky Mountains. That means that current technology could give us more than three times the entire national resources of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.

Extracting oil from shale rock only recently has become economically feasible. It costs about $70 per barrel to extract and make the oil usable. When oil was $18 a barrel that would have been crazy. But at $138 a barrel, it's a bargain. And American companies can make money by supplying our nation's need, and lowering costs for all of us in the process...

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Off-Shore Drilling Environmentally Sound, Panel Says

Expanding oil drilling will not severely harm the environment or put alternative fuel investments at risk, some energy industry experts say. The Institute for Energy Research (IER) responded to questions from various news reporters by way of a conference call on Tuesday. (Snip)

Offshore rigs proved themselves in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Katrina. ''We actually moved oil wells rigs out of the Gulf; they were blown out of the Gulf, and yet (there were) no oil spills at all because of the new techniques that have been used ever since the Santa Barbara oil spill...

[the risk of oil spills from modern drilling rigs is orders of magnitude less than that of ships {think: Katrina} - i.e., the closer to home the rigs, the less chance of spills]

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Dems Oppose GOP Call for Increased Domestic Drilling

Democratic senators are skeptical about new efforts by Republicans and the Bush administration to increase offshore drilling, despite a government report by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management showing that there are 139 billion barrels of oil in the United States (onshore and offshore combined).

The estimated oil deposits, which amount to more than the known oil reserves in Iran, Iraq, Russia, Nigeria, and Venezuela, should be largely ignored, according to Democrats, ....

[we'll be voting for more than just a President this November...]

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Big Brother turns wowser

FROM which circle of hell did all these finger-waggers spring? Never have I seen so many preachers so keen to bully others for their own "good".

Last week it was Health Minister Nicola Roxon (again) in her Sass and Bide hairshirt, this time warning smokers they may soon need a permit to puff. A licence for cigarettes, Roxon says, is "one of the types of things" her health taskforce may tell her to impose. Have these people gone mad?

For the first time I feel the temptation to light up a cancer-stick. Indeed, I couldn't think of many nobler causes for which to lay down my wheezing life.

A new breed of puritans is upon us and growing far too puffed up themselves. Consider what plans they've already unveiled to cramp your life and set it to their stern order.

> Sprinklers on your garden? Banned now for years - to "save" country rivers from the new dams that these concrete greens find hideous, or would if they ever drove out to see one.

> Plastic bags to lug home your shopping? To be fined with a 25 cent levy - to "save" the planet from a plastic that smug green baggers find capitalistically crass.

> Pre-mixed drinks? Hit with a new alcopop tax - to "save" teenagers from a drink that these pinot preachers find sick-makingly sweet.

> Petrol? To be made dearer by an emissions trading scheme - to "save" the planet from a warming that these car-haters and salvation-seekers won't admit halted a decade ago.

Cramp, crimp, crush, ban. Designer sackcloth for everyone. Good heavens, so drunk on bans are these people - drunker than any alcopopper - that a forum of St Kilda residents last week even suggested locals be made to wear ankle bracelets so that visitors could be detected after dark and thrown out.

Yes, true, I'm afraid. What next: microchip owners of airconditioners? [no, just the airconditioners so the State can control them]

Judge the censorious mood from this homely planet-saving advice in last month' edition of the Rural Women's Network Newsletter:

"At Easter, we avoid foil-wrapped chocolate eggs by having our kids paint hard-boiled eggs and stones . . . For my daughter's sixth birthday last year we took a tribe of children on a nearby bushwalk and had a rubbish-collecting competitions."

Stones for Easter eggs? Rubbish collecting for a little girl's party? This isn't meant to save a planet but to impose someone's joy-killing morality.

It's not just a madness confined to Australia, of course. The Left in every English-speaking land is now indulging its inner totalitarian.

It's increasingly urgent they be resisted.

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Domestic Disturbance

President Bill Clinton’s first major legislative accomplishment - at least from his perspective - was passing the Family and Medical Leave Act. And though presidential hopeful Sen. Obama promises he is a new kind of candidate, ready to make a fresh break with the past, his domestic policy agenda largely begins where President Clinton’s left off. This would include a dramatic expansion of workplace regulations. (Snip) Currently, only businesses with more than 50 employees are affected by FMLA. Obama wants to drag all businesses into the FMLA net...

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CBS Declares Recession - again

On Monday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith talked to economic analyst Mark Zandi who had this to say:

ZANDI: Yeah, it's a self re-enforcing negative cycle. You know, that's what happens during recessions, and that's what we're in the middle of right now.

SMITH: Whoa, is this a recession?

ZANDI: You know that -- that's a debate among economists and policy makers. But in the minds of the average American household I think there's no debate, this is a recession.

Last week, "Early Show" co-host Julie Chen declared a: "perfect storm of economic woes." Meanwhile, ABC’s Good Morning America used the term "recession" eight times in three days last week.

[gee, and where do you think the average Joe gets it into his head that we're in a recession?]

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Assimilation of Immigrants and the Imperative of Pride in America

What worries me is that both the remaining presidential candidates support a general amnesty for illegal immigrants. And this amnesty is without any prior successful closure of the U.S.-Mexican Border that would halt further waves of immigrants. McCain pays lip-service to border security and assimilation on his campaign website. Obama's website is similar, listing border security as his main priority, followed by "bringing people out of the shadows" to become citizens. Clinton uses much more flowery language but essentially posits the same message. [snip]

It should be noted that illegal immigrants do not live in the shadows. They attend American schools, use our hospital emergency rooms as though they were a general practitioner's office and work in specific businesses. If the Federal Government wanted to enforce our current immigration laws, which are sufficient to solve the problem, it could. But there is no willpower to do so...

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Climate concerns halt coal plant

[HT:JB]
The US state of Georgia has blocked construction of a new coal-fired power station because of concerns over its carbon dioxide emissions. Environmentalists welcomed the news, and predict the decision will lead to reconsideration of many coal power plants under development in the US.

The judge cited a decision by the Supreme Court last year which issued a ruling recognising CO2 as a pollutant...

[insane decisions have consequences]

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Cooper's CNN Producer Warns of Racial 'Knife' Fight on Obama

On CNN's AC-360 blog, Anderson Cooper's senior producer Barclay Palmer conflated Karl Rove's critique of Barack Obama and Don Imus's latest racial radio flap into a racial knife fight: "anyone who thinks that Obama’s presumptive victory in the Democratic primary means we’re in a post-racial America might want to think again. Race will play the falling knife in this… race. And you can bet your country club membership, we’re just getting started."

[I now suspect he's right - but pay attention going forward to which side keeps bringing up race...]

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California will pay for yet another late budget

The credit crunch could make this year's missed deadline the costliest ever.

SACRAMENTO -- California starts the new budget year today -- and once again no budget is in place.

Legislators are making little progress closing a $15.2-billion shortfall. Democrats demand new taxes. Republicans say that is out of the question. Meanwhile, their inability to strike a deal threatens millions of Californians who rely on the government for healthcare and other services.

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State workers in Utah shifting to 4-day week

Gov. Jon Huntsman, a first-term Republican, says he's making the change to reduce the state's carbon footprint, increase energy efficiency and provide workers more flexibility. [snip]

It takes some adjusting. "One thing that has to be changed is the level of expectation from taxpayers, because they've always wanted five-day access,"

Byers says. "They have to adjust to offices that are open longer on weekdays, but closed on Fridays." [snip]

Beyond the energy and financial implications, the four-day workweek is a quality-of-life issue for many.

[how nice. The government saves money, 'reduces its carbon foot print' and improves the quality of life - for government employees. Never mind that their customers will just have to adjust their expectations re: the five-day access they've said they want. this is government]

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Broadcast networks falsely suggested that Clark criticized McCain's service

Summary: All three network evening newscasts misrepresented retired Gen. Wesley Clark's comments about Sen. John McCain on Face The Nation, with none noting that Clark praised McCain as a "hero" for his Vietnam war service. ABC's David Wright asserted that McCain's experience as a POW made Clark's comments "especially provocative." CBS' Dean Reynolds falsely suggested that Clark had questioned McCain's patriotism and had "critici[zed]" McCain's "service, including five years as a POW." And NBC's Brian Williams falsely suggested that Clark had impugned McCain's "war record."

[a first for everything: this is from Media Matters, a distortingly liberal site I've made a point of visiting several days a week based on the principle that you should read that which you disagree with, and that any one/thing can change over time. And here we are - they're right on this one: while Clark's remarks were disingenuous they were not the overt 'attack' the MSM is making of them, when taken in full context.

Of course, MM's piece is all opinion with next to no reference links - but let's not expect miracles: it's a 12,000 step process...]

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'Black national anthem' stirs controversy for city

DENVER - Mayor John Hickenlooper's annual State of the City address may get more attention for what wasn't included than what was. (Snip) City Council President Michael Hancock introduced singer Rene Marie to perform the national anthem. Instead, she performed the song "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing," which is also known as the "black national anthem."

["One Nation, under God, Indivisible" - maybe not]

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Tables Turned on Intruder During Home Invasion

SAN ANTONIO -- The tables turned on a burglar when a homeowner took matters into his own hands.

Police say the intruder broke in through the garage and had been drinking prior to the break-in. The pregnant woman inside the home was getting ready to give her 18-month-old child a bath when she heard noises. She saw the man walking around outside and called her husband. He confronted the intruder in the kitchen.

Police say the homeowner shot the intruder in the chest. He is now listed in critical condition at University Hospital. He could face burglary charges this morning.

The homeowner will not face any charges.

[notice to criminals: you break into someone else's home at great risk. don't do it]

{especially in Texas - oh, right; that state's perennially below-average crime rates are just coincidence. }

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BUMPER STICKERS LINKED TO ROAD RAGE DRIVERS

Drivers who sport bumper and window stickers on their vehicles are more prone to road rage, say researchers at Colorado University.

The researchers have released a new study which discovered that motorists with personalized items on a vehicle are more likely to be aggressive drivers.

The specific content of the stickers -- be it "Grumpy old Git or "Baby on Board" -- did not make a difference in how aggressive the driver was.

[those damn Baby-on-Board maniacs]

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There Should Be No Fairness-Doctrine Secret Agenda

ACT

Begun in 1934 during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt when AM radio [often just one station per town - and no TV] was king, the Fairness Doctrine sought to ensure that radio listeners would get both sides of a political story by requiring that stations give equal air time to different opinions.

In 1987 the FCC voted to halt the doctrine's implementation when it had become obvious that the government's monitoring of the media led to censorship. Well before the 1980s Radio ceased having any sort of communication monopoly as it did in the 1930s, and has only expanded {many say because of the doctrine's demise} since. [snip]

"Under the rubric of 'broadcast localism' it is clear the Commission is proposing no less than a sweeping takeover by Washington bureaucrats of broadcast media. The proposals and recommendations for Commission action contained in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking amount to the stealth enactment of the Fairness Doctrine, a policy designated to squelch the free speech and free expression of specifically targeted audiences,"

Boehner notes in his letter that forcing the licensees to recreate the so-called "advisory boards" of a bygone era would encumber broadcast media with onerous bureaucratic burdens not faced by cable, satellite, or the internet. The report's assertion that these boards would 'help' radio stations "determine the needs and interests of their communities" or promote "localism and diversity" borders on fantasy. [snip]

The FCC should make it clear, as soon as possible, that it has no intention of reinstating the Fairness Doctrine in any way, shape or form.

Also, the House Leadership should move H.R. 2905 out of Committee and give it a simple up-or-down vote on the House Floor. If they did, just about everyone might come out a winner.

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Bring the Broadcaster Freedom Act, H.R. 2905 to the floor now.
Pelosi (202) 225-0100 http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
YOUR Congressman > https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml