tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8888806200562120122024-03-04T20:35:37.945-08:00FourFiftyGas.comMy blog on the effects of high fuel prices on people I know and myself.
Email me at greg***@***presslord.com (remove stars)Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.comBlogger218125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-70588373863147008792012-02-13T04:33:00.000-08:002012-02-13T04:34:32.522-08:00Poll: Minnesota voters support right to work referendum … 55/24<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>REDRANT: When he was a freshman US Senator Mark "duck and cover" Dayton heard a standard Homeland Security briefing. It was classified but it likely included mention of two unaccounted for Russian "backpack nukes". </b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>US News had a story on this around 1990. There was probably talk of increased "chatter" and a raised threat level during the Christmas holidays. Then Senator Dayton altered the media, holding a press conference announcing that because he cared about his DC staff he was closing his DC office over the holidays.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>Other more experienced Senators heard the same briefing, some in the same session with Dayton. They could give details but described it a "standard". </b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>Many commentators noted that Dayton could just as easily put a notice on his office website and a note on the door saying that the office was closed so staff could enjoy the holidays with their family with forwarding info and a note that activity was low in DC during the holidays.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>Dayton pretty much faded during the rest of his single senate term. He admitted that he went back to abusive drinking after the "duck and cover" incident. </b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: x-small;"><b>Recently, as Governor of Minnesota Dayton has had an "erratic" pattern of personal attacks on Republican legislators and their action. There is almost a "office pool" in Minnesota of when Dayton will have another mental breakdown. Is this the "slippery slope? Greg Lang</b></span><br />
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<a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/11/poll-minnesota-voters-support-right-to-work-referendum-5524/">http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/11/poll-minnesota-voters-support-right-to-work-referendum-5524/</a>
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<a href="http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=e8bdfd5d-1ea0-47fa-b1f4-536070f107f3">http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=e8bdfd5d-1ea0-47fa-b1f4-536070f107f3</a>
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<br />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-78862037808615537392012-02-07T05:49:00.001-08:002012-02-07T05:49:36.080-08:00ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS GAVE ME AN EXPLANATION OF OUR NATIONAL DEBT IN SIMPLE ENGLISH.<br />
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<a href="http://www.looktruenorth.com/340-limited-governement/spending/18735-from-our-local-ag-supplier.html">http://www.looktruenorth.com/340-limited-governement/spending/18735-from-our-local-ag-supplier.html</a>
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From Our Local Ag Supplier:</div>
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<strong style="color: #323338;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS GAVE ME AN EXPLANATION OF OUR NATIONAL </span></strong><strong style="color: #323338;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">DEBT IN SIMPLE ENGLISH.</span></strong></div>
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<li>United States Tax Revenue ----------------------------------------- $ 2,170,000,000,000 </li>
<li>Federal Budget ------------------------------------------------------- 3,820,000,000,000 </li>
<li>New Debt Added This Year- ------------------------------------------ 1,650,000,000,000 </li>
<li>National Debt -------------------------------------------------------- 16,271,000,000,000 </li>
<li>Recent Budget Cut ------------------------------------------------------ 38,500,000,000 </li>
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<strong style="color: #323338;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">NOW REMOVE THE 8 ZEROS AND LET'S PRETEND IT'S A HOUSEHOLD BUDGET</span></strong></div>
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<li>Annual Family Income ---------------------------------------------------------- $ 21,700</li>
<li>Money the Family Spends Per Year ---------------------------------------------- 38,200</li>
<li>Annual Debt Added to Credit Cards ---------------------------------------------- 16,500</li>
<li>Old Credit Card Debt ------------------------------------------------------------- 162,710</li>
<li>Family Budget Cut ------------------------------------------------------------------- 385</li>
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<strong style="color: #323338;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">OUR POLITICIANS ARE PROUD OF THE RECENT BUDGET CUT, BUT AS YOU </span></strong><strong style="color: #323338;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">CAN SEE, IT DOES NOT AMOUNT TO "SQUAT."</span></strong></div>
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<strong style="color: #323338;">You have to admit, this guy knows his fertilizer.</strong></div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-62912665174567735952012-02-07T04:18:00.000-08:002012-02-07T04:18:11.680-08:00Quick Comparison of Liquid Natural Gas and Propane -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA<a href="http://milliondollarway.blogspot.com/2012/02/quick-comparison-of-liquid-natural-gas.html#comment-form">http://milliondollarway.blogspot.com/2012/02/quick-comparison-of-liquid-natural-gas.html#comment-form</a>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: red;">REDRANT: This is BENCHMARK WHOLESALE but natural gas is going for around $2.50 per CCF (one-million BTU) and heating oil is $3.17 per gallon, again BENCHMARK WHOLESALE. It takes eight gallons of fuel oil to get one-million BTU. Thus $25.36 for the fuel oil to get the one-million BTU.</span></b></span><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">At the BENCHMARK WHOLESALE level natural gas is one tenth the cost of heating oil. This is "napkin math" and as they say "your mileage may vary" but there is a remarkable 10X decoupling in the BENCHMARK WHOLESALE cost of natural gas and fuel oil.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Stranded natural gas can be had at a far lower price, especially if skid mounted processing systems can remove "wet gases" like propane and butane.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">I haven't done the math but figure that the BENCHMARK WHOLESALE propoane cost is six to eight times the cost of BENCHMARK WHOLESALE natural gas.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">Most of rural and small town USA are not on the natural gas pipeline systems so getting natural gas to them can save a lot of energy costs.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;">On Craislist, old propane powered Minneapolis Moline Tractors occasionally pop up. You could easily built a dual fuel natural gas (probably compressed) and gasoline engine tractor. Greg Lang</span></span></b>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-17092189517547197792012-02-06T05:34:00.000-08:002012-02-06T05:34:15.400-08:00Red-light cameras boost coffers, rile drivers<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/MNGJ1N2VRO.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/05/MNGJ1N2VRO.DTL</a>
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Red-light cameras boost coffers, rile drivers</h1>
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<a class="email fn" href="mailto:kfagan@sfchronicle.com" style="color: #015660; text-decoration: none;">Kevin Fagan</a></div>
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Sunday, February 5, 2012</div>
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<span id="articlebody" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.44em;">California has the most expensive red-light camera tickets in the world - the fine is so steep that one camera in Oakland generates more than $3 million a year - and a Fremont man is launching a protest group to do something about that.<br />
If Roger Jones has his way, that freezing dread that knifes through a driver the moment he sees the overhead flash of a traffic camera will become a thing of the past.<br />
But he's facing quite an uphill fight against officials hungry for the cash the cameras sweep in and police who are convinced they make the roads safer.<br />
Anyone in California snapped violating a red light pays a fine of $480, and according to the traffic-watch site TheNewspaper.com, no other jurisdiction anywhere has a tab that high. The second-highest fine in the United States is $250, and it is usually more like $100.<br />
The Legislature passed two bills in the past two years that would have reduced the fine or limited the cameras' use, but both were vetoed. When he killed the most recent measure, Gov. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/jerry-brown/" style="color: #015660; text-decoration: none;">Jerry Brown</a> said the matter should be left to local jurisdictions.<br />
The state Department of Finance has estimated that red-light cameras bring in more than $80 million annually to the state and $50 million to cities and counties - and that, Jones and his supporters say, is the real reason they continue to snap away at motorists.<br />
Not all $480 from each ticket goes to the cities or counties that authorize the cameras - more than half goes to the state or to the companies that run the devices. And not all tickets result in convictions.<br />
But the haul is still out of proportion to the overall set of offenses, critics say. And so even though the fine for running a red light is the same whether a camera or a live police officer generates it, the cameras draw the fire because they can issue far more tickets than a single cop sitting at an intersection.<br />
<h3 class="subhead" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.98em; text-transform: lowercase;">
'Gotcha'</h3>
"Is there a limit to how much 'gotcha government' we have to put up with?" asked Jones, 62, a retired distribution manager who began crusading against red-light cameras after he got a ticket from one in 2009. "Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should."<br />
His newly formed organization, the Red Light Camera Protest Group, picketed at Mowry Avenue and Fremont Boulevard in Fremont on Saturday, waving signs to approving honks from several motorists. It was their first protest, and the two dozen who participated plan more in the coming months - all calling for the elimination of red-light cameras and a reduction in the fine.<br />
"I think we'd all be better off without them," Jones said. "There are better ways to address the problem."<br />
<h3 class="subhead" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.98em; text-transform: lowercase;">
Longer yellows</h3>
His foremost suggestion is to increase yellow-light durations, giving people more time to stop safely - and to avoid tickets.<br />
After he pushed the city of Fremont in 2010 to tack 0.7 of a second onto the yellow light at Mission Boulevard and Mojave Drive, pushing it to five seconds, the city noted a 62 percent drop in red-light camera tickets there.<br />
Jones and other camera foes also insist that rolling a red light on a right turn, also known as making a "Hollywood stop," is not as dangerous as other violations - even though the vast majority of tickets given by most red-light cameras are for that violation.<br />
One recent study in South San Francisco, cited in the Legislature during a 2010 debate over the issue, found that 98 percent of its tickets at one red-light camera were for rolling right turns.<br />
Few oppose the usefulness of any device, including cameras, for reducing the number of people who blow straight through red lights. But that's not the main issue, camera foes say.<br />
A study last year by Safer Streets L.A., a community group opposed to traffic cameras, found that of the 56,000 annual accidents in Los Angeles, fewer than 100 are caused by rolling right turns.<br />
<h3 class="subhead" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.98em; text-transform: lowercase;">
Cops disagree</h3>
Law enforcement officers have a sharply different view of the topic.<br />
City of Newark studies found that collisions at the intersections overseen by its five cameras since 2006 dropped by half - from 46 in the four years before the installations to 23 in the four years afterward.<br />
And in Fremont, where Jones lives, police studies concluded that the city's 10 cameras contributed significantly to a 40 percent drop in intersection accidents between 1995 and 2009. The cameras were installed in 2000.<br />
"This is not a big moneymaker for us," said Fremont police Sgt. Mark Riggs, who helps oversee the red-light camera program. The annual take for the city is about $250,000, after all the other parties get their cut, he said.<br />
"It's about safety," Riggs said. "The big thing for us is aiming for a reduction in accidents.<br />
"As far as the price is concerned," he added, "we have nothing to do with that. We are simply about safety."<br />
As for "Hollywood stops" - he insisted they are vehicular dynamite.<br />
"The right turn on a red is a very dangerous move, especially when the driver is looking to the left and the pedestrian is on the right," Riggs said. "We investigate a lot of accidents like that, and they are bad."<br />
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Lots of bucks</h3>
Despite the safety question, the price of the ticket, and the money it drags in, sticks most in the craw of those who hate red-light cameras.<br />
Opponents consider it a form of regressive tax. The $480 tab consists of a base fine of $100, with extra fees tacked on by the Legislature to help pay for maintaining courthouses, jails, courts and emergency services.<br />
Unlike most taxes and fees, it takes only a majority vote of the Legislature to add such charges. Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, authored a bill that would have cut the ticket in half for rolling a red light, but then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it, saying reducing the fine would send the wrong message to drivers about traffic safety.<br />
State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, took a cut at the issue last year, writing a bill to prohibit use of the camera tickets merely to raise revenue, and to make it easier to fight them in court. That's the bill Brown vetoed in October.<br />
"There are accuracy issues, privacy issues and due process issues with these tickets," Simitian said. "The trouble is that more and more cities depend on this for revenue."<br />
He stops short of saying red-light cameras should be eliminated, saying they do have a safety value. "I just don't think the current system gives the public a fair shake," he said.<br />
Brown's press secretary, Gil Duran, said the veto was not about money.<br />
"Running a red light can cost lives," he said in an e-mail. "The fine is cheap by comparison."<br />
<h3 class="subhead" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.98em; text-transform: lowercase;">
Pricey corner</h3>
The sums hauled in by some of the red-light cameras in the 14 Bay Area cities that use them are anything but paltry.<br />
The highest, apparently, is in Oakland at the on-ramp to Interstate 980 at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue.<br />
In 2010, the most recent year for which city figures were available, 9,273 tickets were issued there through violation pictures - worth a gross of $4.2 million, based on the 2010 red-light ticket fine of $450. Figures available for much of 2011 put the gross worth at more than $3 million.<br />
Ken Germann, a 65-year-old teacher who lives in Oakland, knew he was in trouble, and probably out a few bucks, the second he saw the dreaded red-light camera light flash at that intersection one day in December. But then he pulled over, watched two other <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/autos/" style="color: #015660; text-decoration: none;">cars</a> get flashed right after him - and he got mad.<br />
He got even madder when he found out how much the ticket fine is.<br />
"I stopped full, and so did the others, and the camera snapped me anyway," he said last week as he stood in line at the Alameda County courthouse to book a trial date, traffic ticket in hand. "These things must just be there to make money."<br />
<h3 class="subhead" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.98em; text-transform: lowercase;">
Ticketing the family</h3>
Halfway down the block on 27th from the light, Phuong Nguyen works at MP Flowers and sees the camera light flicker all day. She shook her fist in its direction.<br />
"Three members of my family got tickets at that light in the past month while driving to work," she said. "Lot of money for the government, not such a good idea for the rest of us."<br />
Jessica Lubnieski, 27, lives a few blocks north of the light, though, and says she is grateful for it.<br />
"I walk my dog this route all the time, and people go flying through that light when they turn," she said as she strolled by the intersection with Cooper, her mutt. "They so often don't even see us.<br />
"I just have to think that camera makes people more careful."<br />
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<div class="infobox">
<strong>$480 </strong>Current fine for violating a red light in California.<br />
<strong>$80 million</strong> Paid annually to state.<br />
<strong>$50 million</strong> Fines paid annually to cities and counties.<br />
<strong>$4.2 million </strong>Amount generated in 2010 by one camera near the on-ramp to Interstate 980 at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue in Oakland.</div>
<div class="dtlcomment">
Kevin Fagan is a Chronicle staff writer. <a href="mailto:kfagan@sfchronicle.com" style="color: #015660; text-decoration: none;">kfagan@sfchronicle.com</a>.</div>
</span>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-1755910100537098092012-02-06T03:38:00.001-08:002012-02-06T03:40:38.413-08:00Pay extra for “green” electricity? Very few do<a href="http://junkscience.com/2012/02/05/pay-extra-for-green-electricity-very-few-do/">http://junkscience.com/2012/02/05/pay-extra-for-green-electricity-very-few-do/</a>
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
Pay extra for “green” electricity? Very few do</h1>
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<span class="meta-prep meta-prep-author" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted on</span> <a href="http://junkscience.com/2012/02/05/pay-extra-for-green-electricity-very-few-do/" rel="bookmark" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; 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Very few do">Leave a comment</a></span></div>
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As Tom Nelson puts it: “<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Massachusetts residents believe so deeply in the global warming hoax that only 199 of every 200 failed to enroll in heavily-promoted “green energy” program</em>”<span id="more-11483" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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They are trying to pitch paying unnecessarily high prices for equivalent product as a “social good”, which of course it most definitely is not. Elitists might pay extra for the warm and fuzzy feeling of superiority it gives them but such spending does not provide gainful employment, taxes or royalties for society – it isn’t a “social good”, just eco-snobbery. Worse, it’s a form of snobbery that deprives the community of the opportunity to put those taxes to good use and increases the general cost of services for all.</div>
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<a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20120205/NEWS/102059792/-1/NEWS07" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">GreenUp faces uphill battle</a><br />Clean energy program has higher costs per kwh<br />By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF</div>
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How much more would you pay for electricity that comes from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydropower and reduces the amount of greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere?</div>
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For almost a decade, Massachusetts electric utilities have offered programs like National Grid’s GreenUp, which let customers choose clean energy sources for their power supply, for a premium. But even after including inserts in bills, sending online newsletters, hosting booths at events and posting on Facebook to promote the options, there are few takers.</div>
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Only about 6,000 of National Grid’s 1.2 million Massachusetts customers, or less than half of one percent, have enrolled in GreenUp, according to spokeswoman Deborah Drew.</div>
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GreenUp offers supplier options that purchase energy from wind farms, solar generators, hydroelectric and biomass sources. The extra cost for getting all your electricity from renewable sources range from 2.4 cents to 3.8 cents per kilowatt hour, or roughly $12 to $19 a month for an average household that uses 500 kilowatt hours. Customers can also select a portion of their energy to be renewable.</div>
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This price difference, with currently cheaper fossil fuel, is a large hurdle to overcome.</div>
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The benefits of using renewable energy sources instead of burning fossil fuels like coal include cleaner air and water, and producing fewer heat-trapping gases that contribute to climate change. The premium customers pay for renewable electricity sources are actually renewable energy credits that support the development of clean energy so that it will eventually be more available and less expensive for everyone.</div>
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The problem, according to clean energy advocates like Joel J. Fontane Jr., Worcester’s director of planning and regulatory services, who chairs the Worcester Energy Task Force and heads up sustainability initiatives for the city, is it’s hard to sell a more expensive version of a product — electricity — that looks the same from the user’s perspective. The lights work or they don’t, no matter where the electricity comes from.</div>
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</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-4716028440999818682012-02-06T03:27:00.000-08:002012-02-06T03:27:34.851-08:00Fracker gave Sierra Club $26 million to attack coal<a href="http://junkscience.com/2012/02/02/fracker-gave-sierra-club-26-million-to-attack-coal/">http://junkscience.com/2012/02/02/fracker-gave-sierra-club-26-million-to-attack-coal/</a>
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
Fracker gave Sierra Club $26 million to attack coal</h1>
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border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://junkscience.com/author/greenhellblog/" rel="author" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Steve Milloy">Steve Milloy</a></span> </span><span class="comments-link" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; 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Chesapeake Energy and its employees has given the Sierra Club $26 million since 2007 to attack coal, the Sierra Club has admitted.<span id="more-11324" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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Below is the admission in the form of a <a href="http://sierraclub.typepad.com/michaelbrune/2012/02/the-sierra-club-and-natural-gas.html" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">blog posting</a> from Sierra CLub executive director Michael Brune.</div>
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<a href="http://junkscience.com/2011/11/10/lung-association-funded-by-natural-gas-industry-too/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last November we broke the news that Chesapeake had also paid the American Lung Association to attack coal.</a></div>
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The blog of Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune</div>
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February 2, 2012</div>
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The Sierra Club and Natural Gas</div>
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Have you ever had to turn away millions of dollars? It sounds crazy, but here’s why the Sierra Club chose to do exactly that.</div>
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In 2010, soon after I became the organization’s executive director, I learned that beginning in 2007 the Sierra Club had received more than $26 million from individuals or subsidiaries of Chesapeake Energy, one of the country’s largest natural gas companies. At the same time I learned about the donation, we at the Club were also hearing from scientists and from local Club chapters about the risks that natural gas drilling posed to our air, water, climate, and people in their communities. We cannot accept money from an industry we need to change. Very quickly, the board of directors, with my strong encouragement, cut off these donations and rewrote our gift acceptance policy. Let me tell you how it came about.</div>
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In the fall of 2005, Sierra Club staff and volunteer leaders agreed to make the enormous challenge of climate disruption the Club’s highest priority. By that time, we had already begun to have great success with our Beyond Coal campaign, which had started in 2002, and which had already stopped the construction of several dozen new coal-fired power plants.</div>
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This Beyond Coal initiative has continued to have unparalleled success working with literally hundreds of other organizations, small and large, and using grassroots power to stop more than 160 new coal plants and prevent 500 million tons of carbon from entering the atmosphere. Sierra Club activists are now fighting Big Coal pollution in all 50 states and on college campuses nationwide. Today, the Sierra Club is not just focusing on stopping new plants from being built but is also accelerating efforts to retire old and dirty coal plants nationwide.</div>
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As this campaign was gearing up, the Sierra Club board of directors, working with the best science at the time and with extensive input from staff and volunteers, determined that natural gas, while far from ideal as a fuel source, might play a necessary role in helping us reach the clean energy future our children deserve. It was also during this time, in 2007, that the first contributions to the Sierra Club were made from entities or individuals associated with Chesapeake Energy. The idea was that we shared at least one common purpose — to move our country away from dirty coal.</div>
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The big challenge, however, is what follows coal. How do we keep the lights on as we move quickly to an economy powered by clean, renewable energy? During the period that the Sierra Club first started receiving donations, several of our local chapters were becoming increasingly alarmed by dangerous and disruptive natural gas industry practices in their communities — particularly horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” a technique where millions of gallons of water, laced with other ingredients (including, often, toxic chemicals) are pumped into rock to release gas deposits. Gradually, more and more legitimate questions were raised about the risks that fracking poses to our air, water, communities, and indeed our climate.</div>
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By the time I assumed leadership of the Club in March 2010, our view of natural gas had changed — so I made sure our policy did, too. We created a strong natural gas campaign comprised of staff and volunteer leaders. Some chapters sought to establish tough safeguards at the state and federal level to protect their air and water; others sought to suspend fracking completely until those standards were in place. By mid-August 2010, with gas industry practices and our policies increasingly in conflict, I recommended to the Board, and it agreed, to end the funding relationship between the Club and the gas industry, and all fossil fuel companies or executives.</div>
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Our position today could not be more clear: We still need to move America beyond coal, as quickly as we can while taking care of the workers in the mines and at coal-burning utilities. And as we retire these coal plants, we’ll need to replace them with as much clean energy as we possibly can. In the process, we’ll use as little gas as possible and work to ensure that the gas that is used is produced as responsibly as possible.</div>
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It’s time to stop thinking of natural gas as a “kinder, gentler” energy source. What’s more, we do not have an effective regulatory system in this country to address the risks that gas drilling poses on our health and communities. The scope of the problems from under-regulated drilling, as well as a clearer understanding of the total carbon pollution that results from both drilling and burning gas, have made it plain that, as we phase out coal, we need to leapfrog over gas whenever possible in favor of truly clean energy. Instead of rushing to see how quickly we can extract natural gas, we should be focusing on how to be sure we are using less — and safeguarding our health and environment in the meantime.</div>
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The Sierra Club opposes any natural gas development that poses unacceptable toxic risks to our land, water, and air. We insist that the volume and content of all fracking fluids and flowback should be disclosed, and that all toxics should be eliminated. There should be proper treatment, management, and disposal of both fracking fluids and toxic flowback. Fracking should not be permitted unless it can be demonstrated that drinking water is protected and that all cumulative impacts can be mitigated. And, of course, many beautiful areas and important watersheds across this country should be off-limits to drilling.</div>
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Exempting the natural gas industry from environmental protections was a terrible idea. It looks even dumber today, when the real risks that natural gas drilling poses to water supplies and critical watersheds are that much more apparent.</div>
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Ultimately, the only safe, smart, and responsible way to address our nation’s energy needs is to look beyond coal, oil, and gas, and focus on clean, efficient energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal. It’s clear to countries around the world that the most successful 21st-century economies will be based on using energy that is safe, secure, and sustainable. Let’s get to work building that economy right here at home.</div>
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Michael Brune is the Sierra Club’s executive director.</div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-37447592194508158172012-01-28T04:52:00.000-08:002012-01-28T05:26:37.840-08:00Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks<a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/27/sad-eyed-greens-bemoan-obama-energy-remarks/">http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/27/sad-eyed-greens-bemoan-obama-energy-remarks/</a>
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Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks</h1>
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POSTED AT 11:00 AM ON JANUARY 27, 2012 BY JAZZ SHAW</h4>
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The Green Warriors turned out to have a fairly short lived celebration after Barack Obama kicked the Keystone XL can down the road yet again. What looked like a victory for the environmental lobby was quickly thrown into a tailspin when the President gave his State of the Union address. In it, he spoke some fairly heartening words about an, “all of the above” energy policy – something we’ve been pushing for here since the beginning of his administration. Of course, whether words translate into action this year remains to be seen.</div>
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Still, those few phrases on Tuesday night were apparently enough to set off a wave of despair in some quarters. At WNYC in New York, Justin Krebs takes to his keyboard to mourn <span style="color: #20124d;"><b><a href="http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/its-free-blog/2012/jan/26/opinion-obamas-got-no-good-options-energy/" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">the apparent death of the green energy movement</a>.</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;">President Obama’s decision last week to halt the Canadian tar-sands pipeline project was the right choice for the environment, a win for environmentalists – who had staged incredible acts of civil disobedience protesting the project — and a talking point of attack for GOP candidates through the debates and South Carolina speeches that followed…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #f9cb9c;">However, the Keystone Pipeline was just one very extreme front in this fight, and as environmentalists realized just a few days later, it’s not a fight that they are winning. In his State of the Union, the president showed his support for more domestic energy exploration — which many understand to include controversial franking [<em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">sic</em>] techniques and ever-deeper and riskier oil drilling. We may have stopped one pipeline, but we haven’t changed a system that demands us to pipe more oil and natural gas further distances to power our everyday lives.</span></div>
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The pouting continues for some time, going on to blame the GOP for “hyperventilating” and “pounding the administration” over the failures at Solyndra. (Apparently things at the solar panel plant would have been just fine had it not been for you meddling conservative kids, Shaggy.) He then goes on to re-run the mantra that solar, wind and geothermal are ripe and ready to solve all of our problems if only Obama would act “forcefully and decisively” enough. (I assume some amount of clapping until Tinkerbell comes back to life will also be involved, but the author doesn’t specify.)</div>
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But even the “victory” portion of this diatribe may wind up being off the mark. President Obama didn’t really deliver some bold, green energy stand in nixing Keystone. He attempted a blatantly obvious political ploy, trying to have it both ways by allowing for a fresh request of the Keystone project at a later date, hoping against hope that he can somehow keep this off the front pages until after the election. If he had truly been supporting the green lobby, he would have proclaimed the pipeline to be “a bad thing” and said it wasn’t going to happen. That’s not what he did, and all the wishing in the world isn’t going to make it so.</div>
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Will we see concrete action on a new, more viable domestic energy policy this year, to the great dismay of Mr. Krebs and his friends? Anything is possible, I suppose, and if it happens I will be the first one to step up here and congratulate President Obama on his wise decision. But I wouldn’t bet the ranch on it.</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-30076643995106383952012-01-26T04:37:00.000-08:002012-01-26T04:40:15.337-08:00TAISUN, biggest crane in the world assembles D90, biggest drilling rig in the world<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="color: red; line-height: 18px;"><b>REDRANT: SCARAEO 9 IS THE RIG THAT IS IS IN CUBA TO START DRILLING BETWEEN HAVANA AND KEY WEST. GREG LANG</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #ebebeb; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">TAISUN, the biggest, strongest crane in the world sets a crane heavy lift world record by lifting the 17,100 metric ton topsides of the Saipem-owned "Frigstad D90" semi-submersible "Scarabeo 9". </span>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GOPvYuGUo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GOPvYuGUo</a>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p4GOPvYuGUo" width="420"></iframe>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-55126181464265676332012-01-23T13:56:00.000-08:002012-01-23T13:56:20.125-08:00Newt Gingrich in 2008: Update on 'Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.'<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjyT5_2N_I">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjyT5_2N_I</a>
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<br />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-40425606542668260832012-01-21T04:50:00.000-08:002012-01-21T04:50:54.325-08:00Al Gore to set sail for Antarctica<span style="color: red;"><b>Redrant: "<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">In theory treaties, if enforced, should prohibit (alleged) “crazed sex poodle” Al Gore from stepping foot on Antarctica. International treaties ban dogs from Antarctica."</span></span></span></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://junkscience.com/2012/01/20/gore-to-set-sail-for-antarctica/comment-page-1/#comment-22775">http://junkscience.com/2012/01/20/gore-to-set-sail-for-antarctica/comment-page-1/#comment-22775</a>
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Scientists, celebrities to cruise with Gore to Antarctica<br />
Lauren Morello, E&E reporter<br />
E&ENews PM: Friday, January 20, 2012<br />
Updated at 6:07 p.m. EST.<br />
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Former Vice President Al Gore is taking his fight against climate change to Antarctica next week as part of a cruise organized by his Climate Reality Project.<br />
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Gore and more than 100 fellow travelers will depart from Argentina late next week. Scientists, including climatologists James Hansen of NASA and Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, will give talks during the journey.<br />
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Other attendees include Bangladesh’s minister of environment and forests, Hasan Mahmud, and British billionaire Richard Branson, who blogged about the trip last month.<br />
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“Today is the 100th anniversary of Roald Amundsen and his team’s successful trip to the South Pole. Next month I’m going to Antarctica with [my family] to celebrate that trip and also Capt Robert Scott (who was a relative of ours) incredible voyage there,” Branson wrote on Dec. 14. “Sadly as you know he perished on the way home. We’re going on a boat organised by Al Gore to learn as much as we can from scientists and experts about where we are in the worrying cycle of Global Warming.”<br />
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The Antarctic voyage is part of a larger campaign to focus attention on the threat climate change poses to the world’s ice sheets and glaciers — a subject Gore highlighted in his 2007 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth,” and at a 2009 conference he convened with Norway’s foreign minister, Jonas Gahr Støre.<br />
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“This winter we will be talking about Antarctica as part of our ‘Living on Thin Ice’ campaign which will focus on how people around the globe are being impacted by the melting of the world’s ice,” Climate Reality Project spokesman Eric Young said. “As part of that effort, we are journeying to Antarctica with our chairman, Vice President Gore, and leading scientists and thinkers to see firsthand how the climate crisis is unfolding.”<br />
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Antarctica is not the only stop for Gore’s campaign, Young said, which has convened events in Ecuador, the Sierra Nevada and Brooklyn and is planning trips to Nepal and the Alps.<br />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-33131037191202046072012-01-18T05:12:00.001-08:002012-01-18T05:12:25.187-08:00Occupy '"FLEABAGGERS".<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://thepeoplescube.com/images/Urinating_Marines_Obama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="http://thepeoplescube.com/images/Urinating_Marines_Obama.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-55407598406723666752012-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:002012-01-16T07:43:53.650-08:00Occupy Wall Street Backlash: The 53 Percent<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-street-backlash-53-percent-211700653.html">http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-street-backlash-53-percent-211700653.html</a>
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<div id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352230" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
The Occupy <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1319663888_3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Wall Street</span> movement considers itself the voice of the 99 percent, the people not among the richest one percent of the population. But a new group has sprung up to oppose Occupy Wall Street. Calling itself <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=ApdJ7I7.i4iOaoAeBN_QPpc1y8F_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqMDgxZXM0BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2cW9odTNuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMThlZGU5YzMtYTJiNy0zMWE2LTg2MWQtYzcxOTFjMDgzOTBjBHBzdGNhdAN1c3x5Y24EcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=0/SIG=12tnrgovq/EXP=1327937761/**http%3A//money.cnn.com/2011/10/26/news/economy/occupy_wall_street_backlash/" id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352492" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">the 53 percent</a>, the group claims to speak for the 53 percent of Americans who pay <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1319663888_4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">federal income taxes</span>.</div>
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<strong id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352495" style="font-weight: bold;">'53 Percent' Origins</strong></div>
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<span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1319663888_1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Mike Wilson</span>, maker of "<span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1319663888_0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Michael Moore Hates America</span>," <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AugKjilql6_3d2k3wwIhFPo1y8F_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaWd2Ymg3BG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzIEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2cW9odTNuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMThlZGU5YzMtYTJiNy0zMWE2LTg2MWQtYzcxOTFjMDgzOTBjBHBzdGNhdAN1c3x5Y24EcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=0/SIG=13afavchl/EXP=1327937761/**http%3A//www.freedomdogs.com/139-news-archive/powers-of-the-people/4820-i-am-the-53.html" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">started the 53 percent movement</a> after seeing a photo of conservative blogger and CNN contributor <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1319663888_2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(54, 99, 136); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 2px; color: #366388; cursor: pointer;">Erick Erickson</span>, editor of RedState online, holding up a note. The note describes Erickson as working 3 jobs, owning a home he can't sell, and facing outrageous insurance costs. Yet he says he doesn't blame Wall Street and is subsidizing those who are hanging out there complaining. Wilson started a Twitter hashtag #iamthe53.</div>
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<strong id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352470" style="font-weight: bold;">53 Percent's Perspective</strong></div>
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The perspective of the 53 percent of Americans shouldering the country's tax burden is presumably no more unified than that of Occupy Wall Street. But Wilson's group appeals to those who like him want to distance themselves from Occupy. He suggests they're a bunch of slackers looking for a handout. And he says the Occupy protests are really opposing the 53 percent not the 1 percent at the top of economic spectrum.</div>
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Erickson suggests that <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AsFMEnF38NHTlHQqZQoXIxk1y8F_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqaTNjbzlmBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzMEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2cW9odTNuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMThlZGU5YzMtYTJiNy0zMWE2LTg2MWQtYzcxOTFjMDgzOTBjBHBzdGNhdAN1c3x5Y24EcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=0/SIG=15o9evmr3/EXP=1327937761/**http%3A//am.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/12/we-are-the-53-percent-movement-emerges-as-counterweight-to-occupy-wall-street-protests/%3Futm_source=dlvr.it%26utm_medium=twitter" id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352490" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">protesting K Street and Congress is okay</a>, but not protesting Wall Street. What seems to really get his goat is Occupy members bashing those who have it better than them instead of directing frustrations at government policymakers.</div>
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<strong id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352479" style="font-weight: bold;">53 Percent: Fact or Fantasy?</strong></div>
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The New York Times pointed out last year the misleading nature of saying that 53 percent of Americans foot the bill for federal taxes. While the statistic is accurate with respect to federal income taxes, the Times said when you take into account payroll taxes for Medicare and Social Security and other federal obligations like investment, gas and excise taxes, that number jumps. Taking the bigger picture into account, the Times says that <a href="http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AtlRBdLV.Cs14vnRvOk1mvY1y8F_;_ylu=X3oDMTFqc2Fobm1zBG1pdANBcnRpY2xlIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhQXJ0aWNsZUJvZHlBc3NlbWJseQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTJ2cW9odTNuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMThlZGU5YzMtYTJiNy0zMWE2LTg2MWQtYzcxOTFjMDgzOTBjBHBzdGNhdAN1c3x5Y24EcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdlBHRlc3QD;_ylv=0/SIG=12nufu43c/EXP=1327937761/**http%3A//www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/economy/14leonhardt.html" id="yui_3_3_0_21_1326728162352461" rel="nofollow" style="color: #5d4370; text-decoration: none;">only about 10 percent of American households pay no net federal taxes</a>.</div>
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The 53 percent apparently isn't carrying the weight for quite so many Americans -- regardless of whether they're workers desperate for a job or slackers -- as the reliance on federal income tax data alone suggests.</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-88554380679560606632012-01-09T18:28:00.000-08:002012-01-09T18:28:34.063-08:00Microsoft Patents ‘Avoid Ghetto’ Feature For GPS Devices<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/microsoft-patents-avoid-ghetto-feature-for-gps-devices/">http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/microsoft-patents-avoid-ghetto-feature-for-gps-devices/</a>
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Stock Image of recently released Microsoft mobile phones. (Photo Credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP / Getty Images)</div>
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<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/category/news/consumer/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Consumer">Consumer</a>, <a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/category/news/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in News">News</a>,<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/category/syndicated-local/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Syndicated Local">Syndicated Local</a></div>
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Related Tags</h5>
<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/avoid-ghetto/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">avoid ghetto</a>, <a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/gps/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">GPS</a>, <a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/microsoft/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">microsoft</a>,<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/mobile/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">mobile</a>, <a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/redmond/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Redmond</a>,<a href="http://seattle.cbslocal.com/tag/technology/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Technology</a></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">REDMOND, Wash. (CBS Seattle) – </strong>Microsoft has been granted a patent for its “avoid ghetto” feature for GPS devices.</div>
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A GPS device is used to find shortcuts and avoid traffic, but <a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,090,532.PN.&OS=PN/8,090,532&RS=PN/8,090,532" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Microsoft’s patent</a> states that a route can be plotted for pedestrians to avoid an “unsafe neighborhood or being in an open area that is subject to harsh temperatures.”</div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" height="410" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://web.adblade.com/impsc.php?cid=1043-3437407809&output=html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" vspace="0" width="260"></iframe></div>
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Created for mobile phones, the technology uses the latest crime statistics and weather data and includes them when calculating a route.</div>
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The patent, written in a combination of tech-speak and legalese, was awarded to Microsoft earlier this week. It also described other uses for the new GPS technology.</div>
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One section of the patent mentioned that advertisers can use the technology to navigate a user through a newly set up ad campaign.</div>
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Microsoft declined to comment to CBS Seattle.</div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-61190879906665033272012-01-06T04:32:00.000-08:002012-01-06T04:32:11.399-08:0051% See Occupy Wall Street Protesters As Public Nuisance<a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2012/51_see_occupy_wall_street_protesters_as_public_nuisance">http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2012/51_see_occupy_wall_street_protesters_as_public_nuisance</a>
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Thursday, January 05, 2012</div>
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Enough is enough as far as most voters are concerned when it comes to the Occupy Wall Street protesters. In fact, 51% of Likely U.S. Voters now view the protesters as a public nuisance. Only 39% see them as a valid protest movement representing the frustrations of most Americans.</div>
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The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey also finds that just 24% think the Occupy Wall Street protesters who first began their protests in early October have gotten their message across to the American people. Fifty-three percent (53%) say they have not gotten their message across, and another 24% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/questions/pt_survey_questions/january_2012/questions_occupy_wall_street_january_3_4_2012" style="color: #46709a;" target="_blank">click here</a>.)</div>
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Thirty-six percent (36%) of voters still share at least a somewhat favorable opinion of the protesters while 58% regard the protesters unfavorably. Those figures include just 14% with a Very Favorable view and 34% who have a Very Unfavorable opinion of the movement. This represents a slightly more negative view of the protesters compared to <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/november_2011/gingrich_tells_protesters_to_take_a_bath_get_a_job_43_agree" style="color: #46709a;" target="_self">November</a> and marks a noticeable change from <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/federal_bailout/october_2011/public_divided_on_occupy_wall_street_protesters" style="color: #46709a;" target="_self">early October</a> when 33% viewed them favorably and 27% unfavorably with the rest undecided.</div>
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Democrats continue to view the national protest movement more favorably than do Republicans and voters not affiliated with either of the parties, but even most voters in President Obama’s party don’t think the Occupy protesters have gotten their message across. Sixty percent (60%) of Democrats view the protesters as a valid protest movement, while 76% of GOP voters regard them as a public nuisance. Unaffiliated voters lean toward the view that they’re a public nuisance but by a much narrower 45% to 41% margin.</div>
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(Want a <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/daily_updates" style="color: #46709a;" target="_blank">free daily e-mail update</a>? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on <a href="http://twitter.com/RasmussenPoll" style="color: #46709a;" target="_blank">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Asbury-Park-NJ/Rasmussen-Reports/86959124863?ref=nf" style="color: #46709a;" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-8966133374736222602012-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:002012-01-03T14:58:07.254-08:00$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012<b><span style="color: red;">REDRANT: IT MIGHT BE $4.50 HERE IN THE TWIN CITIES, MN BECAUSE WE GET VIRTUALLY ALL OF OUR GAS FROM THE DAKOTAS OR CANADA. GREG LANG</span></b><br />
<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/analysts-say-we-could-see-5-a-gallon-for-gas-in-2012/">http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/analysts-say-we-could-see-5-a-gallon-for-gas-in-2012/</a>
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<div class="post-146559 post type-post status-publish format-standard hentry category-consumer-news category-local category-news category-syndicated-local tag-5-a-gallon tag-gas-prices tag-gas-prices-increasing tag-iran tag-iran-gas-prices tag-pumpwatch entry-column" id="post-146559" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #646161; font-size: 10px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 620px;">
<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 3em; line-height: 36px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012</strong></h1>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="_lmonique" class="attachment-single-post-sub-column-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="130" src="http://cbsbaltimore.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/lmonique.jpg?w=140&h=130&crop=1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="_lmonique" width="140" /><div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 18px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Reporting<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/personality/monique-griego/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Monique Griego</a></div>
</strong></div>
<div class="entry-category entry-left-column" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<h5 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Filed Under</strong></h5>
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/category/news/consumer-news/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Consumer News">Consumer News</a>, <a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/category/news/local/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Local">Local</a>,<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/category/news/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in News">News</a>, <a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/category/syndicated-local/" rel="category tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts in Syndicated Local">Syndicated Local</a></strong></div>
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<h5 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: black; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 5px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: capitalize; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Related Tags</strong></h5>
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/5-a-gallon/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">$5 A Gallon?</a>, <a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/gas-prices/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gas prices</a>,<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/gas-prices-increasing/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Gas Prices Increasing</a>,<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/iran/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Iran</a>, <a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/iran-gas-prices/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Iran Gas Prices</a>,<a href="http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/tag/pumpwatch/" rel="tag" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #266ec4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Pumpwatch</a></strong></div>
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<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Five dollars a gallon for gas? Analysts say it could happen this year.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Monique Griego</strong> has more on why gas prices could soon explode.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Just this weekend, the president signed new sanctions against the country of Iran. Now, Iran is firing back with a threat that could send gas prices higher than ever.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Prices at the pump already have drivers in pain.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“I can barely afford it now,” said one driver.</strong></div>
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<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><object data="http://video.baltimore.cbslocal.com/global/video/flash/widgets/WNVideoCanvas2.swf?ver=2011-12-03-0453" height="288" id="WNVideoCanvasDEFAULTwnVideo_6601810" name="WNVideoCanvasDEFAULTwnVideo_6601810" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="385"></object></strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“Three dollars a gallon…I mean, five dollars gets you what, a gallon and a half?” said another.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">But if Iran follows through on a threat to shut down one of the world’s most important oil routes, analysts say prices here could skyrocket by summer.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“If it gets to $5, that would be hurting the pockets very bad,” said Paul Rozanski, Severna Park.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Threats of five dollars a gallon has Rozanski reconsidering his ride.</strong></div>
<div class="entry-injected-ad narrow" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: right; float: right; height: 410px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 10px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 260px;">
<iframe frameborder="0" height="410" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://web.adblade.com/impsc.php?cid=1037-2152476360&output=html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" vspace="0" width="260"></iframe></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“I just like the SUV because of the wintertime, but definitely in the summertime, get another car. Get a Prius or something,” he said.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">In just the past week, gas prices have gone up nearly seven cents and there is no sign of them coming down any time soon.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">According to AAA, the average for a gallon of regular is $3.25, compared to $3.07 this time last year.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“Iran’s saber-rattling. I think that could have an impact,” said Pete Horrigan.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Horrigan, who’s with the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Distributors’ Association, says he won’t go as far as five dollars a gallon, but does expect prices to go up.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">“We certainly have enough issues going on in the world and in this country that it could certainly be higher,” he said. “We’ve been fortunate in this country because in European countries, they’ve been paying a lot more than that for a long time.”</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">Many drivers are now hoping that good fortune holds out.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The U.S. penalties against Iran don’t take effect for six months and even then, the president can waive them for national security reasons.</strong></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">The European Union is also considering new oil sanctions against Iran.</strong></div>
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</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-73895615928894013852012-01-01T03:54:00.000-08:002012-01-01T03:54:44.833-08:00Welcome to 2012, the year of the frack (or the Myan end of time)<a href="http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996">http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996</a>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">I DID SOME MATH BASED ON T HE MADISON (WISCONSIN) GAS EXPECTED USEAGE THIS YEAR.</span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">I just noticed the final line: "The average MGE residential gas customer uses about 840 therms per year."</span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">THE MATH: </span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Fuel oil: $2.58 X 840 = $2167.20</span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">LP gas (leased tank): $2.23 x 840 = $1873.20 </span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">LP gas (owned tank): $2.19 x 840 = $1839.60</span><br style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Natural gas (MGE rates and charges): </span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">$0.86 x 840 = $722.40</span></span></b>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></b><br />
<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">FULL COMMENT AND SOURCE STORY AT LINK. GREG LANG</span></span></b><br />
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<a href="http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996">http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996</a>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></b>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-74954934219582018122011-12-29T02:52:00.001-08:002011-12-29T02:52:58.382-08:00Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns<a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/12/kim-jong-il-kim-jong-un-north-korea-lincoln-town-car-limousines/1">http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/12/kim-jong-il-kim-jong-un-north-korea-lincoln-town-car-limousines/1</a>
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Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns</h2>
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By <a class="linkedBylineName" href="http://content.usatoday.com/topics/reporter/Chris+Woodyard" style="color: #00529b; text-decoration: none;">Chris Woodyard</a>, USA TODAY</div>
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Updated 11h 50m ago</div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">By AP</strong></div>
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<strong style="font-weight: bold;">Updated 5:58 p.m. ET, to reflect the car appears to be a 1976 model</strong>. As we were watching coverage of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, we couldn't help but notice what the elite consider the epitome of luxury one of the world's most isolated countries: Detroit-made 1970s-era Lincolns.<br />
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By AP</div>
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The body of Dear Leader was strapped to the top of an mid 1970s Lincoln limousine. <a href="http://www.jalopnik.com/" style="color: #00529b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Jalopnik</a>identifies it as a 1976, and who are we to disagree. (Apparently, food isn't the only commodity in short supply in the desperate Asian nation: It's hard to find a decent working hearse as well.) Another almost identical car was being used for the Kim Jong Il billboard, lest anyone forget that dictators can indeed smile. We suspect one strong breeze or the rush of air from driving a little too fast could have toppled the sign.<br />
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As with most public ceremonies in the isolated nation, it was quite the show. It's interesting to see Kim Jong's successor, son Kim Jong Un, saluting at the the side of the Lincoln bearing his father's casket. Like, when is the last time you saw a car with hideaway headlights?</div>
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Seeing wealthy North Korean leaders riding around in 40-year-old, but apparently still serviceable, cars reminded us of that other Communist outpost led by its own despot, Cuba. At least the best cars in North Korea are about 10 years newer than the average car in the island nation 90 miles from Florida.</div>
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If you want to see America's presidential limousines that look approximately like the ones they are using today in North Korea, you have to go back six presidents (Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter) to Gerald Ford.</div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-26077178848004585022011-12-29T02:40:00.000-08:002011-12-29T02:40:13.993-08:00Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol<span style="color: red;"><b>REDRANT: THE GOAL OF CELLULOSIC ETHANOL IS TO GET A "YEAST" THAT DIGESTS WOOD TYPE FIBERS TO MAKE A ALCOHOL WITH IS DISTILLED TO BE USED AS MOTOR FUEL. CELLULOSE AKA "PLANT AND WOOD FIBER' IS AN EXTREMELY LONG CHAIN "CARBOHYDRATE" AND VERY HARD TO DIGEST. A TERMITE HAS SOMETHING LIKE 25 DIFFERENT BACTERIA.</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b>WOOD CAN BE USED DIRECTLY AS A FUEL OR AS A GAS OR "WOOD ALCOHOL". CHEAP NATURAL GAS GREATLY REDUCES THE NON-LIQUID FUEL VALUE. WOOD CAN BE HEATED IN A RETORT TO CREATE SOMETHING LIKE THE OLD "TOWN GAS" AND THEN A CLEAN BURNING CHARCOAL. THIS IS USEFUL FOR AREAS AWAY FROM THE NATURAL GAS PIPELINE. GREG LANG</b></span><br />
<a href="http://junkscience.com/2011/12/28/failure-cellulosic-ethanol/#more-8410">http://junkscience.com/2011/12/28/failure-cellulosic-ethanol/#more-8410</a>
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Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol</h1>
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border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a class="url fn n" href="http://junkscience.com/author/greenhellblog/" rel="author" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #888888; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="View all posts by Steve Milloy">Steve Milloy</a></span> </span><span class="comments-link" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; 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The taxpayer-supported cellulosic ethanol industry has fallen 98% short of its congressionally-mandated goal. Congratulations Vinod Khosla.<span id="more-8410" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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From the <a href="http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/12/28/non-ethanol-biofuels-standards-fall-short-of-targets/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Des Moines Register</a>:</div>
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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday released its 2012 targets for renewable biofuels, stating that it expects ethanol production to reach 15.2 billion gallons, up about 1.25 billion gallons from this year.</div>
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But non-corn ethanol made from crop residue, grasses or wood chips would fall short of the goals set in in the 2007 federal law mandating biofuel use.</div>
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In a statement, the EPA said that of that 15.2 billion gallon total, <strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">cellulosic ethanol would make up 8.65 million gallons, or 0.006 percent. That is considerably short of the 500 million gallon target for 2012 set by congress in 2007 when it wrote the law mandating that 36 billion gallons of non-petroleum biofuels be used in the nation’s transportation fuel mix by 2022.</strong></div>
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Below is a partial history of the cellulosic ethanol taxpayer boondoggle from the <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wall Street Journal</em> editorial page.</div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Wall Street Journal<br />REVIEW & OUTLOOK FEBRUARY 10, 2011<br />The Range Fuels Fiasco<br />A case study in the folly of politically directed investment</strong></div>
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President Obama’s budget next week is expected to include even more subsidies for renewable energy. Before Congress bellies up to that bar one more time, it ought to dissect the fate of Range Fuels and the wood chips fad.</div>
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As taxpayer tragedies go, Broomfield, Colorado-based Range Fuels has all the plot elements—splashy headlines, subsidies and opportunistic venture capitalists. Range got its start in 2006 when George W. Bush used a State of the Union address to extol wood chips as a source for cellulosic ethanol that would break America’s “addiction to oil.” Mr. Bush pledged that with government funding cellulosic ethanol would be “practical and competitive within six years.”</div>
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Vinod Khosla stepped in with his hand out. The political venture capitalist founded Range Fuels and in March 2007 it received a $76 million grant from the Department of Energy—one of six cellulosic projects the Bush Administration selected for $385 million in grants. Range said it would build the nation’s first commercial cellulosic plant, near Soperton, Georgia, using wood chips to produce 20 million gallons a year in 2008, with a goal of 100 million gallons. Estimated cost: $150 million.</div>
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The media and political class swooned. Bush Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman attended the plant’s groundbreaking in November 2007, hailing Range as a private-sector “pioneer” that would “reduce our dependence on foreign oil.” Range was celebrated in the New York Times and Forbes.</div>
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In 2007, Congress doubled down by mandating that the U.S. use 100 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol yearly by 2010, and 250 million gallons by 2011—though not a single commercial facility existed at the time. The Environmental Protection Agency explained in a subsequent report that the bulk of that initial 100 million gallons would come from Range Fuels and another Khosla-funded venture, Cello Energy.</div>
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By spring 2008, Range had also attracted $130 million of private funding, the largest venture investment in the nation in the first quarter of that year. Investors included such prominent VC firms as Blue Mountain and Khosla Ventures and California’s state pension fund, Calpers. The state of Georgia kicked in a $6 million grant, and all told Range raised $158 million in VC funding in 2008.</div>
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The result has not been another Google. By the end of 2008 with no operational plant in sight, Range installed a new CEO, David Aldous. In early 2009, the company said production was not expected until 2010. Undeterred, President Obama’s Department of Agriculture provided an $80 million loan. In May 2009, Range’s former CEO, Mitch Mandich, explained that the problem was that nobody had figured out how to produce cellulosic ethanol in commercial quantities. Whoops.</div>
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In early 2010, the EPA said Range would finally produce some fuel in 2010—but only four million gallons, not 100 million, and of methanol, not cellulosic ethanol. So taxpayers have committed $162 million (along with at least that much in private financing) to produce four million gallons of a biofuel that others have been making in quantity for decades. This politically directed investment might have gone to far more useful purposes.</div>
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As a closely held firm, Range Fuels doesn’t disclose financial details. But Range technical adviser Bud Klepper told Georgia Public Broadcasting last month that the company would create only one batch of cellulosic ethanol of unspecified size—then shut the Georgia plant and lay off all but four employees as it seeks to raise still more money and work through some technical issues. A Range Fuels spokesman didn’t return calls seeking more details.</div>
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As for current Range CEO Mr. Aldous, he’s blaming this failure on—brace yourself—Washington’s failure to impose a tax on carbon via cap and trade. “The critical issue is really that there’s no mechanism to price carbon today,” he told a Colorado newspaper. He also blamed “public apathy toward green fuels.”</div>
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Apathy? How many other products get the Presidential seal of approval, taxpayer subsidies, forced-purchase mandates and glowing media attention?</div>
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As for Mr. Khosla’s other great cellulosic hope, Cello Energy filed for bankruptcy last year. The EPA, which had projected that Cello would create 70 million gallons, has dropped Cello from its list of potential suppliers. More broadly, the EPA last year had no choice but to reduce the government’s 100 million gallon target for 2010 to 6.6 million gallons. It is also fiddling with the definition of what qualifies as a “cellulosic” fuel. Perhaps Newt Gingrich will ask EPA to let corn ethanol make the cut.</div>
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If there’s a silver lining here, it is that the folly of this exercise in corporate welfare has been exposed so quickly. There is no excuse now for throwing more money after bad, or to listen to more self-serving pleas from superrich investors who want taxpayers to finance their politically correct attempts to get even richer.</div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-1904541151335861322011-12-27T06:18:00.000-08:002011-12-27T06:18:33.194-08:00Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”<a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/26/mark-steyn-war-on-christmas-indicative-of-the-western-world-at-twilight/">http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/26/mark-steyn-war-on-christmas-indicative-of-the-western-world-at-twilight/</a>
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Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”</h1>
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POSTED AT 4:10 PM ON DECEMBER 26, 2011 BY TINA KORBE</h4>
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It’s an interesting interpretation of a phenomenon that is often considered exasperating but not necessarily the most important battle to fight. Yes, political correctness anesthetizes the sense of the sacred — but can mere words possibly matter as much or more than unemployment, the high abortion rate, political scandals like Fast and Furious or Solyndra and the regulatory war on capitalism?</div>
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Mark Steyn essentially says yes — or, at the very least, that political correctness is part and parcel of the problems we face as a nation. The words we use reflect the attitudes we have, and those attitudes, in turn, are both the outgrowth and the molder of our reality. According to Steyn, objections to Christmas expressions indicate that the West, in some ways, exists in contradiction to itself. <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The Daily Caller </em><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/25/steyn-mocks-western-worlds-war-on-christmas-institutional-self-loathing/" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">reports</a>:</div>
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Steyn went on to note that there is no crusade to generalize other religious holidays and that the West’s budding hatred of itself and its values was at the “heart” of the matter.</div>
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“There’s something very odd by the way, as I said about this stilted artificial avoidance of Christmas,” he said.</div>
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“We would[n't] have, you know, a day off on December 25 if it wasn’t Christmas. But somehow it has to be a generalized holiday. Nobody does this with Ramadan, for example. I notice when you look at the big Ramadan festivities at the White House that every president conducts now — nobody bothers to pretend that is a kind of general celebration. Nobody says ‘happy holiday’ instead of Ramadan. And I think there’s something sort of slightly — it’s not a small thing in that sense. It gets to the heart of the most disturbing feature of Western world at twilight, which is this kind of institutional self-loathing that’s at the heart of it.”</div>
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Then, too, precision of language prevents the obfuscation of truth. December 25 <em style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">is</em>Christmas, whether it’s acknowledged as such or not. What does it profit any of us to pretend otherwise — whether we join in the celebration or not?</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-14547659525632714762011-12-23T04:51:00.000-08:002011-12-23T04:51:19.044-08:00The flea party: MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER<span style="color: red;">REDRANT: COMMENT I POSTED: "<b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">If someone actually feels the need to parody the Occupy movement they could do a mock "Occupy of the Day". I just checked and OccupyOfTheDay.com is available. Like the "Occupy Black Friday" flop you could have an event of the day that is "occupied". For example, around January sixth you have the solar apogee when the sun is closest to the earth. You get the idea! The "mastermind" behind occupy of the day would be F. Lee Bagger. It could also be a catchall for stories, cartoons and U-Tube videos dissing "occupy". It could have a "redux" section where politicians, media people and celebrities were positive about Occupy in the past. My rules on this is that if you make a public statement and don't renounce as publicly it is still your view."</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">.</span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/most-pitiful-occupation-ever.php">http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/most-pitiful-occupation-ever.php</a>
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MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER</h1>
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I am pretty sure this is not a parody, but rather a straight news story about an effort to Occupy Darien, Connecticut: <a href="http://www.thedailydarien.com/news/first-day-occupy-darien-draws-small-crowd" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #354f98; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">First Day of Occupy Darien Draws Small Crowd</a>:</div>
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The first day of the Occupy Darien demonstration got off to a slow start at a wet Tilley Park in Darien on Wednesday morning with about 10 protesters coming out for the event.</div>
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Cole Stangler of New Canaan was the first to arrive, carrying a sign that said, “End the Wars, Tax the Rich.<span style="font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.6em;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.6em;">This is one of the great photos and photo captions of all time:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif;"> Posted comment on guy holding the cardboard sign: "</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: none; color: #1a1a1a; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;">Cole Stangler is a student at Georgetown Foreign Service School and lives at ___ Weed St. in New Canaaan, CT according to ZABA Search. Zillow says the house he lives in is valued at $1,707,500. It doesn’t identify whether that is in the top 1% or the bottom 99%. I suspect the former.</span><br />
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Trudi Goldberg delivers a speech to Cole Stangler, Richard Duffee and Bennett Weiss at Occupy Darien.</div>
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A demonstration where those who attended can be identified individually, by name–hilarious! The Occupation movement is a gift; let’s hope it keeps on giving.</div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-13722812340550992352011-12-20T07:57:00.000-08:002011-12-20T07:57:21.250-08:00Missing $4,155? It Went Into Your Gas Tank This Year<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242">http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242</a>
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It's been 30 years since gasoline took such a big bite out of the family budget.</div>
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When the gifts from Grandma are unloaded and holiday travel is over, the typical American household will have spent $4,155 filling up this year, a record. That is 8.4 percent of what the median family takes in, the highest share since 1981.<br />
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<span id="byLine"></span>Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn't likely to bring relief.</div>
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<span id="byLine"></span>In the past, high gas prices in the United States have gone hand-in-hand with economic good times, making them less damaging to family finances. Now prices are high despite slow economic growth and weak demand.</div>
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REST OF STORY AT LINK: <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242</a></div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-46064575081010088502011-12-19T08:03:00.001-08:002011-12-19T08:03:58.832-08:00Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up<a href="http://junkscience.com/2011/12/16/time-to-tell-the-alternative-energy-industry-to-grow-up/#more-7851">http://junkscience.com/2011/12/16/time-to-tell-the-alternative-energy-industry-to-grow-up/#more-7851</a>
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<h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, 'Nimbus Sans L', sans-serif; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up</h1>
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The Senate Finance Committee gathered this week to discuss whether the time has finally come to cut the umbilical cord of tax incentives from the mollycoddled alternative energy industry.<span id="more-7851" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.globalwarming.org/2011/12/15/time-to-tell-the-alternative-energy-industry-to-grow-up/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up</a></strong><br />by JACKIE MOREAU</em></div>
<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 1.7em; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Senate Finance Committee gathered this week to discuss whether the time has finally come to cut the umbilical cord of tax incentives from the mollycoddled alternative energy industry. This may sound childish, but many of the witnesses pushing for an extension of expiring tax incentives for renewable energy characterized their allegedly up-and-coming market in such terms. Venture capitalist Will Coleman for Mohr Davidow Ventures maintained that despite alternative energy’s “rapid growth,” such as in wind, “it is still in its infancy.” Paul Soanes, President and CEO of Renewable Biofuels, testified: “The industry is like a child that needs some nurturing.” The question then becomes: will a renewed tax extension fund a future pride-and-joy of profit or a prodigal embarrassment (I.e. Solyndra). (Cooler Heads)</em></div>
</div>Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-16673639941234389382011-12-17T05:20:00.001-08:002011-12-19T08:06:58.275-08:00Ahmm! My congressman! Congressman on hunger strike to show solidarity with occupy fleabaggers.<a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/12/congressman-embarks-hunger-strike-solidarity-occupy-vote-dc/2008241">http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/12/congressman-embarks-hunger-strike-solidarity-occupy-vote-dc/2008241</a>
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<br />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-46003156240336375722011-12-16T04:21:00.000-08:002011-12-17T05:41:12.207-08:00Ford Ranger Twin Cites assembly plant closed today.<b><span style="color: red;">REDRANT: THE FORD RANGER DATES BACK TO 1980 OR POSSIBLY BEFORE AND MANY PARTS ARE STILL INTERCHANGEABLE. THREE DECADES OF PRODUCTION FOR THE BASIC VEHICLE. WE COULD TAKE THIS AS A SIGN OF MANUFACTURING DECAY BUT I BOUGHT MY RANGER NEW IN 2005 BECAUSE THE CLOSING OF THE PLANT WAS IMMINENT. THEY KEPT IT GOING SIX YEARS MORE.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: red;">MY 2005 RANGER HAS A BASE FOUR CYLINDER, TWO WHEEL DRIVE AND A MANUAL TRANSMISSION. THE MAIN ACCESSORY IS AIR-CONDITIONING WITH IS AMPLE. ZERO PROBLEMS AND DEFECTS. IT HAS 35,000 MILES NOW. I FIGURE I CAN GO ANOTHER FIVE YEARS BEFORE NEEDING ANOTHER NEW VEHICLE. FOR MILEAGE IT GETS A SOLID 20 MPG IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER OR THE MIDLE OF SUMMER (ac). LATELY IT HAS BEEN GETTING 22MPG. IF I GO UP NORTH WITH SOMETHING LIKE A LAWN TRACTOR AND OTHER STUFF IT GETS 28 TO 30 MPG. AFTER SIX YEARS I DECIDED NOT TO PRESS MY LUCK AND GOT A REPLACEMENT BATTERY. I HAD TOTALLY DEAD BATTERY IN THE GARAGE THAT I COULD USE AS AN EXCHANGE. THE OLD BATTERY WORKS FINE FOR WORK SHED LIGHTING AND JUMP STARTING. ONLY OTHER NAN-MAINTENANCE PARTS COST WERE AGGRESSIVE WINTER SNOW TIRES. GREAT VEHICLE! GREG LANG</span></b><br />
<a href="http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/135705873.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue">http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/135705873.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue</a>
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<span style="background-color: #666666; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">Dallas Theis has worked at the TCAP for 53 years. He will drive the final Ranger pickup truck off the assembly line when the plant shuts down</span>
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<img src="http://stmedia.startribune.com/images/328*328/25FORD1204.jpg" />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-888880620056212012.post-13198132726489966032011-12-16T03:56:00.000-08:002011-12-16T03:56:22.429-08:00My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform<a href="http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/12/13/my-time-at-walmart-why-we-need-serious-welfare-reform/">http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/12/13/my-time-at-walmart-why-we-need-serious-welfare-reform/</a>
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My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform</h1>
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<span class="date published time" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s1.wp.com/wp-content/themes/premium/modern-news/images/icon-time.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 21px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;" title="2011-12-13T01:02:08-0500">December 13, 2011</span> By <span class="author vcard"><span class="fn"><a href="http://thecollegeconservative.com/author/crousselle/" rel="author" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by crousselle">crousselle</a></span></span> <span class="post-comments" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://s1.wp.com/wp-content/themes/premium/modern-news/images/icon-comments.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px; padding-left: 22px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 2px;"><a href="http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/12/13/my-time-at-walmart-why-we-need-serious-welfare-reform/#comments" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;">2,124 Comments</a></span></div>
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During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.</div>
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I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards. I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.</div>
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Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:</div>
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a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)</div>
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b) People using <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/tanf/about.html" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;">TANF</a> (EBT Cash) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.</div>
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c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.</div>
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d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.</div>
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The thing that disturbed me more than simple cases of fraud/abuse was the entitled nature of many of my customers. One time, a package of bell peppers did not ring up as food in the computer. After the woman swiped her EBT card, it showed a balance that equaled the cost of the peppers. The woman asked what the charge was, and a quick glance at the register screen showed that the peppers did not ring up as food. (Food items had the letter ‘F’ next to their description.) The woman immediately began yelling at me, saying that, “It’s food! You eat it!”</div>
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This wasn’t the only time things like this happened: if a person’s EBT balance was less than they thought it would be, or if their cards were declined, it was somehow my fault. I understand the situation is stressful, but a person should be knowledgeable about how much money is in their account prior to going grocery shopping. EBT totals are printed on receipts, and every cell phone has a calculator function. There’s no excuse, and there’s no reason to yell at the cashier for it.</div>
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The worst thing I ever saw at Wal-Mart Scarborough was two women and their children. These women each had multiple carts full of items, and each began loading them at the same time (this should have been a tip-off to their intelligence levels). The first woman, henceforth known as Welfare Queen #1, paid for about $400 worth of food with food stamps. The majority of her food was void of any nutritional value. She then pulled out an entire month’s worth of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children program) checks. I do not mind people paying with WIC, but the woman had virtually none of the correct items. WIC gives each participating mother a book containing actual images of items for which a person can and cannot redeem the voucher. This woman literally failed at image comprehension.</div>
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After redeeming 10+ WIC checks, Welfare Queen #1 had me adjust the prices of several items she was buying (Wal-Mart’s policy is to just adjust the price of the item without question if it’s within a dollar or two). She then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, and informed me that the cost of the vacuum was $3.48 because, “that’s what it’s labeled as.” The vacuum cleaner was next to a stack of crates that were $3.48. Somehow, every other customer was able to discern that the vacuum cleaner was not $3.48, but Welfare Queen #1 and her friend Welfare Queen #2 were fooled. Welfare Queen #2 informed me that she used to work for Wal-Mart, and that the “laws of Wal-Mart legally said” that I would have to sell her the vacuum for $3.48. After contacting my manager, who went off to find the proper vacuum price, Welfare Queen #1 remarked that it must be tough to stand on a mat all day and be a cashier. I looked at her, smiled, shrugged, and said, “Well, it’s a job.” She was speechless. After they finally admitted defeat, (not before Welfare Queen #2 realizing she didn’t have enough money to buy all of the food she had picked out, resulting in the waste of about $200 worth of products) the two women left about an hour and a half after they arrived at my register. The next man in line said that the two women reminded him of buying steel drums and cement. I said I was reminded why I vote Republican.</div>
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<a href="http://www.fixwelfare.com/the-problem/" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;">Maine has a problem with welfare spending</a>. Maine has some of the highest rates in the nation for food stamp enrollment, Medicaid, and TANF. Nearly 30% of the state is on some form of welfare. Maine is the only state in the nation to rank in the top two for all three categories. This is peculiar, as Maine’s poverty rate isn’t even close to being the highest in the nation. The system in Maine is far easier to get into than in other states, and it encourages dependency. When a person makes over the limit for benefits, they lose all benefits completely. There is no time limit and no motivation to actually get back to work. Furthermore, spending on welfare has increased dramatically, but there has been no reduction of the poverty rate. Something is going terribly wrong, and the things I saw at work were indicators of a much larger problem. Something must change before the state runs out of money funding welfare programs.</div>
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<strong><a href="http://thecollegeconservativedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/christine-rousselle3.png" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="" class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-679" height="150" src="http://thecollegeconservativedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/christine-rousselle3.png?w=123&h=150" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; border-width: initial; display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 570px; padding-bottom: 1px; padding-left: 1px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 1px;" title="Christine Rousselle" width="123" /></a><a href="http://thecollegeconservative.com/christine-rousselle/" style="color: #0094d2; text-decoration: none;" title="Christine Rousselle">Christine Rousselle</a></strong> // Providence College // @Crousselle</div>
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Greg Langhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16305430545907381953noreply@blogger.com0