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Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks

2012-01-28T04:52:00.000-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/27/sad-eyed-greens-bemoan-obama-energy-remarks/

Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks

POSTED AT 11:00 AM ON JANUARY 27, 2012 BY JAZZ SHAW

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.

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 the apparent death of the green energy movement.

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…
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 [sic] 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.

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.)

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.

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.

TAISUN, biggest crane in the world assembles D90, biggest drilling rig in the world

2012-01-26T04:37:00.000-08:00

REDRANT: SCARAEO 9 IS THE RIG THAT IS IS IN CUBA TO START DRILLING BETWEEN HAVANA AND KEY WEST. GREG LANG

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".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4GOPvYuGUo

Newt Gingrich in 2008: Update on 'Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.'

2012-01-23T13:56:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIjyT5_2N_I

Al Gore to set sail for Antarctica

2012-01-21T04:50:00.000-08:00

Redrant: "In theory treaties, if enforced, should prohibit (alleged) “crazed sex poodle” Al Gore from stepping foot on Antarctica. International treaties ban dogs from Antarctica."

http://junkscience.com/2012/01/20/gore-to-set-sail-for-antarctica/comment-page-1/#comment-22775

Scientists, celebrities to cruise with Gore to Antarctica
Lauren Morello, E&E reporter
E&ENews PM: Friday, January 20, 2012
Updated at 6:07 p.m. EST.

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.

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.

Other attendees include Bangladesh’s minister of environment and forests, Hasan Mahmud, and British billionaire Richard Branson, who blogged about the trip last month.

“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.”

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.

“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.”

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.

Occupy '"FLEABAGGERS".

2012-01-18T05:12:00.001-08:00

Occupy Wall Street Backlash: The 53 Percent

2012-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/occupy-wall-street-backlash-53-percent-211700653.html

The Occupy Wall Street 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 the 53 percent, the group claims to speak for the 53 percent of Americans who pay federal income taxes.

'53 Percent' Origins

Mike Wilson, maker of "Michael Moore Hates America," started the 53 percent movement after seeing a photo of conservative blogger and CNN contributor Erick Erickson, 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.

53 Percent's Perspective

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.

Erickson suggests that protesting K Street and Congress is okay, 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.

53 Percent: Fact or Fantasy?

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 only about 10 percent of American households pay no net federal taxes.

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.

Microsoft Patents ‘Avoid Ghetto’ Feature For GPS Devices

2012-01-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2012/01/06/microsoft-patents-avoid-ghetto-feature-for-gps-devices/

Stock Image of recently released Microsoft mobile phones. (Photo Credit: TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA / AFP / Getty Images)

Filed Under

Consumer, News,Syndicated Local

REDMOND, Wash. (CBS Seattle) – Microsoft has been granted a patent for its “avoid ghetto” feature for GPS devices.

A GPS device is used to find shortcuts and avoid traffic, but Microsoft’s patent 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.”

Created for mobile phones, the technology uses the latest crime statistics and weather data and includes them when calculating a route.

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.

One section of the patent mentioned that advertisers can use the technology to navigate a user through a newly set up ad campaign.

Microsoft declined to comment to CBS Seattle.

51% See Occupy Wall Street Protesters As Public Nuisance

2012-01-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/january_2012/51_see_occupy_wall_street_protesters_as_public_nuisance

Thursday, January 05, 2012

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.

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, click here.)

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 November and marks a noticeable change from early October when 33% viewed them favorably and 27% unfavorably with the rest undecided.

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.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012

2012-01-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

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
http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/01/02/analysts-say-we-could-see-5-a-gallon-for-gas-in-2012/

$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012

January 2, 2012 11:59 PM

ReportingMonique Griego

Filed Under

Consumer News, Local,News, Syndicated Local

Related Tags

$5 A Gallon?, Gas prices,Gas Prices Increasing,Iran, Iran Gas Prices,Pumpwatch

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Five dollars a gallon for gas? Analysts say it could happen this year.

Monique Griego has more on why gas prices could soon explode.

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.

Prices at the pump already have drivers in pain.

“I can barely afford it now,” said one driver.

“Three dollars a gallon…I mean, five dollars gets you what, a gallon and a half?” said another.

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.

“If it gets to $5, that would be hurting the pockets very bad,” said Paul Rozanski, Severna Park.

Threats of five dollars a gallon has Rozanski reconsidering his ride.

“I just like the SUV because of the wintertime, but definitely in the summertime, get another car. Get a Prius or something,” he said.

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.

According to AAA, the average for a gallon of regular is $3.25, compared to $3.07 this time last year.

“Iran’s saber-rattling. I think that could have an impact,” said Pete Horrigan.

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.

“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.”

Many drivers are now hoping that good fortune holds out.

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.

The European Union is also considering new oil sanctions against Iran.

Welcome to 2012, the year of the frack (or the Myan end of time)

2012-01-01T03:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996
I DID SOME MATH BASED ON T HE MADISON (WISCONSIN) GAS EXPECTED USEAGE THIS YEAR.
I just noticed the final line: "The average MGE residential gas customer uses about 840 therms per year."

THE MATH:
Fuel oil: $2.58 X 840 = $2167.20
LP gas (leased tank): $2.23 x 840 = $1873.20
LP gas (owned tank): $2.19 x 840 = $1839.60
Natural gas (MGE rates and charges): $0.86 x 840 = $722.40

FULL COMMENT AND SOURCE STORY AT LINK. GREG LANG

http://www.minnpost.com/donshelby/2011/12/25/33971/what_minnesota_can_learn_from_vermonts_renewable-energy_plans#comment_87996

Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns

2011-12-29T02:52:00.001-08:00

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/12/kim-jong-il-kim-jong-un-north-korea-lincoln-town-car-limousines/1

Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns

Comments

By Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY

Updated 11h 50m ago

CAPTION

By AP

Updated 5:58 p.m. ET, to reflect the car appears to be a 1976 model. 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.

CAPTION

By AP

The body of Dear Leader was strapped to the top of an mid 1970s Lincoln limousine. Jalopnikidentifies 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.

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?

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.

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.

Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol

2011-12-29T02:40:00.000-08:00

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.

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
http://junkscience.com/2011/12/28/failure-cellulosic-ethanol/#more-8410

Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Steve Milloy | 1 Comment

The taxpayer-supported cellulosic ethanol industry has fallen 98% short of its congressionally-mandated goal. Congratulations Vinod Khosla.

From the Des Moines Register:

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.
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.
In a statement, the EPA said that of that 15.2 billion gallon total, 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.

Below is a partial history of the cellulosic ethanol taxpayer boondoggle from the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

###

Wall Street Journal
REVIEW & OUTLOOK FEBRUARY 10, 2011
The Range Fuels Fiasco
A case study in the folly of politically directed investment

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

Apathy? How many other products get the Presidential seal of approval, taxpayer subsidies, forced-purchase mandates and glowing media attention?

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.

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.

Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”

2011-12-27T06:18:00.000-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/26/mark-steyn-war-on-christmas-indicative-of-the-western-world-at-twilight/

Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”

POSTED AT 4:10 PM ON DECEMBER 26, 2011 BY TINA KORBE

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?

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. The Daily Caller reports:

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.
“There’s something very odd by the way, as I said about this stilted artificial avoidance of Christmas,” he said.
“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.”

Then, too, precision of language prevents the obfuscation of truth. December 25 isChristmas, 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?

The flea party: MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER

2011-12-23T04:51:00.000-08:00

REDRANT: COMMENT I POSTED: "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.".
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/most-pitiful-occupation-ever.php

MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER

I am pretty sure this is not a parody, but rather a straight news story about an effort to Occupy Darien, Connecticut: First Day of Occupy Darien Draws Small Crowd:

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.
Cole Stangler of New Canaan was the first to arrive, carrying a sign that said, “End the Wars, Tax the Rich. This is one of the great photos and photo captions of all time:

Posted comment on guy holding the cardboard sign: "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.

Trudi Goldberg delivers a speech to Cole Stangler, Richard Duffee and Bennett Weiss at Occupy Darien.

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.

Missing $4,155? It Went Into Your Gas Tank This Year

2011-12-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242

It's been 30 years since gasoline took such a big bite out of the family budget.

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.

Gas averaged more than $3.50 a gallon this year, another unfortunate record. And next year isn't likely to bring relief.

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.

REST OF STORY AT LINK: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45727242

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up

2011-12-19T08:03:00.001-08:00

http://junkscience.com/2011/12/16/time-to-tell-the-alternative-energy-industry-to-grow-up/#more-7851

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Editor | Leave a comment

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.

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up
by JACKIE MOREAU

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)

Ahmm! My congressman! Congressman on hunger strike to show solidarity with occupy fleabaggers.

2011-12-17T05:20:00.001-08:00

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/capital-land/2011/12/congressman-embarks-hunger-strike-solidarity-occupy-vote-dc/2008241

Ford Ranger Twin Cites assembly plant closed today.

2011-12-16T04:21:00.000-08:00

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.

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
http://www.startribune.com/local/stpaul/135705873.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

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

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform

2011-12-16T03:56:00.000-08:00

http://thecollegeconservative.com/2011/12/13/my-time-at-walmart-why-we-need-serious-welfare-reform/

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform

December 13, 2011 By crousselle 2,124 Comments

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.

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.

Other things witnessed while working as a cashier included:

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.)

b) People using TANF (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.

c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.

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.

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!”

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.

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.

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.

Maine has a problem with welfare spending. 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.

Christine Rousselle // Providence College // @Crousselle

The U.S. has become a net exporter of oil products for the first time since 1949

2011-12-14T08:20:00.000-08:00

REDRANT: TO USE ROUND NUMBERS THE USA IMPORTS AROUND HALF IT'S CRUDE OIL CONSUMED. THE TOTAL USA CONSUMPTION IS AROUND 20 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY. WITH CRUDE AND BYPRODUCTS LIKE PROPANE THE USA PRODUCES ROUGHLY TEN MILLION BARRELS A DAY OF "WET PETROLEUM". THIS IS CRUDE AND RELATIVELY EASY TO TRANSPORT PRODUCTS LIKE PROPANE. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE NATURAL GAS WHICH IS RELATIVELY DIFFICULT TO TRANSPORT EXCEPT BY PIPELINE OR THE STILL COSTLY LIQUID NATURAL GAS SHIPS.

THE USA EXPORTS BETWEEN 2 AND 2.2 MILLION BARRELS OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS, MOSTLY REFINED LIQUID FUELS. THIS WOULD GET THE USA DOWN TO 40% NET CRUDE IMPORTS IF WE FIGURE THE CRUDE USED FOR EXPORTED PRODUCTS. WITH THAT, HALF THE CRUDE IMPORTED INTO THE USA COMES FROM THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE. WE MAY NOT THINK OF VENEZUELA AS AN ALLY BUT WE CAN REFINE THAT SOUR, HEAVY SLUDGE THEY PRODUCE. OUR LARGEST OPEC SOURCE IS SAUDI ARABIA. WE GET A LOT FROM AFRICA. POLITICALLY UNSTABLE BUT NOT ANTI-USA. HERE IS A GOOD OVERVIEW. http://www.eia.gov/energy_in_brief/foreign_oil_dependence.cfm

THE OLD SCENARIO IS A MIDEAST WAR CUTTING OFF OIL. OIL IS FUNGIBLE TO A HIGH DEGREE. THAT SAID, THE WORST CASE SCENARIO WOULD NOT LEAVE THE USA "HIGH AND DRY" BUT IT WOULD HURT, ESPECIALLY AT THE PUMP.

FOR THE FUTURE, THE USA HAS LOTS OF NATURAL GAS AND THERE WILL BE INCREASED UTILIZATION OF IT. I JUST GOT MY NOVEMBER NATURAL GAS BILL FOR MY HTTP://SEARSHOUSE.COM AROUND $30 JUST FOR JUST THE FUEL PART OF IT. I WOULD BE SURPRISED IF MY HIGHEST BILL FOR THE FUEL PART WILL BE MORE THAT $100 A MONTH THIS WINTER. IT IS A TIGHT LITTLE SHIP BUT FRIENDS HEATING WITH PROPANE OR FUEL OIL ARE REPORTING COSTS THREE TO FIVE TIMES AS GREAT FOR COMPARABLE FUEL BTU'S (I CALCULATE THESE THINGS!).

THE CONVERSION TO NATURAL GAS IS ONGOING IN THE USA. THIS WILL DISPLACE A LOT OF PROPANE AND FUEL OIL. WE HAVE THE SOLUTION TO USA ENERGY DEPENDENCY AVAILABLE. ALL IT TAKES IS HAVING THE GOVERNMENT GET OUT THE WAY AND LETTING THE MARKET WORK..

MILLION DOLLAR WAY HAS A TRAVEL DAY SO, WITH BRUCE AWAY I GET TO "PLAY" VIA THIS REDRANT. GREG LANG

ORIGINAL STORY LINK BELOW
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-05/record-u-s-exports-led-by-caterpillar-in-developing-markets-seen-for-2012.html

I saw CP Rail USA Holiday train Sunday PM

2011-12-12T03:42:00.001-08:00

Enjoyable evening. On the way up there I saw another fast black tank car train on the main line above the freeway north. This is a Canadian Pacific main line. I have some friends who have a band and rent a house right next to these tracks. One fast train every ten minutes 24/7.

The event was enjoyable, some friends brought their kids. If you get the picture of the train the four passenger cars are at the end then a steam car with the two cones on top. Next is a boxcar with the big dark spot. That is a drawbridge stage that opens up. They had a pretty good live band playing. Temperatures in mid 20's. The wind died down right after dark.

Anyway, I did a bit of research on Canadian Pacific Railway. You might recall from your youth the red and white Soo Line railroad equipment. Soo line technically still exists but it is subsidiary of CP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line_Railroad The Soo Line color equipment is extremely rare. Some old rail maintenance boxcars. Note the old Soo Line (red) track below: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Soo_Line.png/250px-Soo_Line.png

A bit of history here. Just north of downtown Minneapolis is an island right in the middle of the Mississippi. http://www.nicolletisland.org/ If you open the link you will see a pair of SHORT railway bridges. East of this there is a flat terrain route to the Mississippi River on the East side of downtown St. Paul, the most northern practical Mississippi River port. To the west the tracks run north of the Minnesota river and South of the Mississippi River. All flat land with no large bridges. It crosses to North Dakota at Browns Valley, the continental divide land bridge (or originally did). It stays North of the Missouri. Basically no significant grades or rivers to cross.

That is the old red Soo Line. Not quite Williston but close. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway

Note CP map. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/Canadian_Pacific_System_Railmap.PNG/300px-Canadian_Pacific_System_Railmap.PNG

Perfect for hauling Minnesota fracking sand to the Bakken! It should give Warren Buffet some competition! (and explain the tanker trains I have been seeing here in the Twin Cities.

BE SURE TO SCROLL ALL THE WAY DOWN TO SEE THE HOLIDAY TRAIN.

Subject: File photo of entire train

CLICK ON LINK TO SEE FULL PICTURE.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=382387&nseq=12

Ted Nugent interviewed by animal right sympathizer

2011-12-10T02:32:00.001-08:00

http://www.anti-strib.com/blog/terrible-ted.html

Terrible Ted

Posted by: Barthélemy Barbancourt on Nov 28, 2011

Tagged in: Untagged

Ted Nugent, rock star and avid bow hunter from Michigan , was being interviewed by a liberal journalist, an animal rights activist. The discussion came around to deer hunting. The journalist asked, 'What do you think is the last thought in the head of a deer before you shoot him? Is it, 'Are you my friend?' or is it 'Are you the one who killed my brother?

Nugent replied, 'Deer aren't capable of that kind of thinking. All they care about is, what am I going to eat next, who am I going to screw next, and can I run fast enough to get away. They are very much like the Democrats in Congress.'

How Panic Doomed Air France Flight 447

2011-12-09T04:49:00.001-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-wise/how-panic-doomed-an-airli_b_1135004.html?ref=travel&ncid=webmail4

Altas Shrugged, Part One now out on DVD

2011-12-09T04:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.insideredbox.com/movies/?i=4323

Good review, same material on regular and rental DVD: http://www.flix66.com/2011/12/09/movie-review-atlas-shrugged-part-one-blu-ray/

Redrant: Strongly political/ideological. You will love it or hate it depending on your leanings. I lean towards conservative
so I tended to like the story and basic plot. I haven't read the Ayn Rand books but am familiar with them and her philosophy.
The basic plot is a bit contrived. The new Reardon steel is used for "super rails". Actually, rail is a "brute force"type of thing. If there was a "super steel" it would have far more elasticity without metal fatigue. This would increase the axle weights on locomotives and rail cars not make for higher speeds of relatively light trains.
The "vultures" go really heavy on the Marxist type of dogma and language. That seems unnatural and improbable. The acting is a bit stiff and clunky at times.It isn't the acting, it is an attempt to weave the philosophical and political principles into the movie.
That said a if you have any sympathy for Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, or if you political leaning are conservative you should enjoy the movie.
Wow! A Redbox rental that actually contains a directors commentary that I not a teaser! It also has a "making of" feature and a montage of people stating "I am John Galt!".
This is part one or three parts of the novel. John Galt isn't a main character until part three. I cheated and checked online. Basically, John Galt organizes a 'talent strike" where the best and brightest "drop out".
We do have that paradox, that I know well, were at least some of the "talent" have "chips to cash in" and get tired of the BS. Individually, it isn't noticed much. The term "genius" is way overused. Where we are likely to see it is in areas like medical care, specifically doctors if we get "Obama-care" style socialized medicine.
Starting in the 1970's there was a big push to get more women into medicine. Today, nearly two thirds of medical school students are women. Overall this is a good thing. Women make the majority of visits to doctors, either for themselves, children or as part of elder-care.
Women doctors tend to marry male doctors. When these marriages work, (and they often do) the doctor couple can build up a substantial "nest egg".
If the hassles get to be too large one or both can afford to retire. The baby-boomer doctor vanguard of this pushing age 60 or older. There are a lot of them.
If they quit they likely won't quit medicine completely but will instead go into some sort of extra cost "boutique" practice. This will hurt the poor the most. Greg

Quarter-Billion Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Penis Pumps

2011-12-07T11:26:00.001-08:00

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2011/12/06/quarter-billion-taxpayer-dollars-spent-penis-pumps
One area of concern for CMS is the rise in fraud in relation to the pump devices. Earlier this year an Illinois man pled guilty to collecting more than $2 million from Medicare in a fraudulent operation where he repackaged $26 items from adult websites and sold them to seniors as medical devices, charging Medicare $284 apiece.

38% Are Concerned About Safety of Electric Cars

2011-12-07T11:12:00.001-08:00

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/auto_industry/december_2011/38_are_concerned_about_safety_of_electric_cars

REDRANT: MOST NOTABLE IS HOW FAST THE NEWS OF THIS SPREAD.
THESE USE LITHIUM BATTERIES, SAME AS USED IN CELL PHONES AND LAPTOPS.
DEEP-CYCLE LEAD ACID BATTERIES LIKE THOSE USED IN THE FORD RANGER CONVERSION HAVE BEEN USED FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY. GREG LANG

3400 page views

2011-12-07T04:57:00.001-08:00

Thank you loyal readers/ Rent DVD "Atlas Shrugged".
http://www.redbox.com/movies/atlas-shrugged-part-one

Movie "Atlas Shrugged" now on DVD

2011-12-07T04:07:00.001-08:00

http://www.redbox.com/movies/atlas-shrugged-part-one

REDRANT: IT IS 2016. GASOLINE IS $37.50 PER GALLON. INTERNAL USA OIL TRANSPORT IS BY RAIL. THERE IS A HUGE NEW NEW UNCONVENTIONAL PETROLEUM DISCOVERY IN THE USA. ALL THE FUN STUFF WE CURRENTLY HAVE IN THE BAKKEN RANGE IN NORTH DAKOTA. IF YOU FOLLOW THE BAKKEN AND MILLION DOLLAR WAY YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE.

IF YOU OWE ME ONE PLEASE RENT THIS MOVIE. REDBOX IS $1.20 FIRST DAY AT MOST KIOSKS. (RESERVE ONLINE IT IS $1.00 FIRST DAY. THE DVD OR RENTAL IS AVAILABLE FROM OTHER SOURCES SO PLEASE RENT IT.

I RENTED FOR A DOLLAR, WATCHED THE MOVIE AND THE DIRECTORS COMMENTARY AND AM NOW RE-WATCHING THE MOVIE, I WILL BUY A COPY OF THE DVD, PROBABLY AT WAL-MART NEXT TIME I AM THERE.

THE "WHO IS JOHN GALT" PART HITS HOME SINCE I CAN AFFORD TO RETIRE. IN A WAY "I AM JOHN GALT" BECAUSE I CAN AFFORD TO TOTALLY RETIRE FROM WORK AND CREATIVE ACTIVITY. (TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN) I AM NOT MAKING ANY MONEY OF THIS OR FROM FOLLOWING THE BAKKEN.

I SINCERELY BELIEVE THAT THE BAKKEN IS THE START OF A NEW USA RENASCENCE
GREG LANG

Video: Energy independence could be as easy as 1-2-3

2011-12-07T03:35:00.001-08:00

Video: Energy independence could be as easy as 1-2-3

POSTED AT 2:05 PM ON DECEMBER 6, 2011 BY TINA KORBE

Bet you’ll never guess which country is the world’s largest holder of natural gas, oil and coal resources combined. That’s right. This country. According to a reportreleased today by the Institute for Energy Research, the United States has 1.4 trillion barrels of recoverable reserves of oil — or more than the entire world has used in 150 years. That’s enough to fuel the United States for the next 250 years. Add natural gas and coal resources to that and we’re good to go for all the foreseeable future.

But, thanks to backward energy policies, we’re still dependent on foreign sources of oil. What is perhaps even worse — at least at a time of 8.6 percent unemployment — is that those backward energy policies that restrict access to our own resources also force us to forgo badly needed jobs. Research shows that reduced job creation — not increased layoffs — explains the high unemployment we have now. Here is a readymade way to create jobs, which, again, the president says is his top priority. In fact, the IER report shows we could create 1 million jobs just by (1) unlocking more federal lands, (2) developing shale resources and (3) eliminating excessive regulation.

Why, why, why is this controversial again? I understand that fossil fuels are nonrenewable and that people are properly concerned about the potential for their total depletion. But what good does it do to conserve them just to never use them? Or, better, why is it so hard to grasp that depletion is hundreds and hundreds of years away? Why not use the energy resources we do have, trusting the impending exigency of depletion to spur innovation and the probable development of an economically viable renewable energy source? Time and time again, technological innovation has enabled us to use oil and gasoline more efficiently and to access new reserves. Similarly, a creative and affordable fulfillment of the need for a renewable resource will emerge. In the meantime, we could be enjoying energy independence and an expanded job market.

GM clarifies Volt 'buyback'

2011-12-06T18:36:00.001-08:00

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/cars/clarifies+Volt+buyback/5813959/story.html

Bob Woodward says sitting next to Al Gore is 'taxing, unpleasant’

2011-12-06T18:10:00.001-08:00

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/197355-bob-woodward-sitting-next-to-gore-is-unpleasant-

Former SEIU president just gaga over China’s economic model

2011-12-04T06:41:00.001-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/01/former-seiu-president-just-gaga-over-chinas-economic-model/

APNewsBreak: GM willing to buy back Volts

2011-12-02T04:32:00.001-08:00

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_VOLT_BATTERY_FIRE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-01-14-56-43

Redrant: I one week or so the platform for the most popular unsubsidized electric vehicle will cease.
This is an aftermarket conversion of the Ford Ranger, built a couple of miles from my house. The
St. Paul Ford Ranger plant will close. The vehicle is a gasoline engine compact pickup but their are
companies that do conversions to electric. They use deep-cycle lead acid batteries and have range from
40 to 200 miles depending on how many batteries you use. If I were buying an electric one I would install a workplace gasoline or diesel generator in the front of the box. A bit "outlaw" but it would extend the range of the batteries by using the generator to "recharge" the batteries. Greg Lang

APNewsBreak: GM willing to buy back Volts

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Business Video

Buy AP Photo Reprints

NEW YORK (AP) -- General Motors will buy Chevrolet Volts back from any owner who is afraid the electric cars will catch fire, the company's CEO said Thursday.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, CEO Dan Akerson insisted that the cars are safe, but said the company will purchase the Volts because it wants to keep customers happy. Three fires have broken out in Volts after side-impact crash tests done by the federal government.

Akerson said that if necessary, GM will recall the more than 6,000 Volts now on the road in the U.S. and repair them once the company and federal safety regulators figure out what caused the fires.

"If we find that is the solution, we will retrofit every one of them," Akerson said. "We'll make it right."

The fires happened seven days to three weeks after tests performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And GM has said there's no threat of fires immediately after crashes. GM also has said that no Volts involved in real-world crashes have caught fire.

Still, NHTSA has opened an investigation into the fires and has asked other companies that make electric cars for battery testing data. NHTSA said the safety testing hasn't raised concerns about electric vehicles other than the Volt.

"The fire broke out seven days later. Not seven minutes. Not seven seconds," Akerson said, adding that the company wants to fix the problem so people continue to have faith in Volts and other advanced technology cars. The company is notified of any Volt crash through its OnStar safety system and dispatches a team with 48 hours to drain the battery, preventing fires, he said.

"I think in the interest of General Motors, the industry, the electrification of the car, it's best to get it right now than when you have - instead of 6,000 - 60,000 or 600,000 cars on the road," he said.

The NHTSA testing, Akerson said, intruded into the Volt's battery pack by four to five inches, beyond the normal testing standard of about two inches. Then the cars were rotated 360 degrees to simulate a rollover crash. He said anytime there's a new technology introduced like the Volt, problems will arise. GM is dedicated to fixing them.

He conceded that the fires may cause some potential buyers to shy away from the Volt. But he added that GM is trying to get the message out that they happened only after extreme tests. Akerson also stressed that standard gas engine cars also have problems with fires after crashes.

The Volt can go about 35 miles on battery power before a small gasoline generator kicks in to keep the car running. The car can be recharged with a standard home electrical outlet.

The Nissan Leaf, a fully electric car and the Volt's main competitor, has not had any similar fires after crash tests or real-world crashes, Nissan said.

The Leaf battery is cooled by air rather than a liquid used to cool the Volt battery.

Akerson said investigators are looking at spilled coolant as one possible cause of the fires, although he said the coolant itself did not catch fire. Investigators are looking at everything from circuit boards to the way the battery cells are packaged into the Volt's larger T-shaped battery pack, he said.

Investigators have some promising leads but no conclusions yet, Akerson said.

GM doesn't expect many Volt owners to return their cars, given feedback from customers thus far, said spokesman Rob Peterson.

Earlier this week GM offered loaner cars to all Volt owners until the cause of the fires is found and fixed. So far, Akerson said 16 Volt owners have inquired and only two have taken the loaners.

What we’ve been waiting for: Miley Cyrus’ musical tribute to Occupy Wall Street

2011-11-30T06:40:00.001-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/11/29/what-weve-been-waiting-for-miley-cyrus-musical-tribute-to-occupy-wall-street/

Redrant: The fleabaggers get a has been musics star. I had never heard of Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana until we had a ticket scalping thing here half a decade ago. Her local fan base was apparently the pre-teen daughters from relatively affluent families. Basically, Ticketmaster insiders bought up the best half of the tickets and scapled them. There was bipartisan anger at Tickemaster which turned out to be effective at least locally. Basically the well very middle class parents of these pre-teens went to the the defense of their daughters calling politicians about the evil of Ticketmaster. This was a very potent bipartisan effort. Minnesota passed a law on preferred customer pre-sales of tickets. Not big on the grand scale of things but it was a way to teach their children how the political system can be legitimately used.

After Miley Cyrus turned 18 and got out of the Disney contract she did a (gotta say it) "way too gay!" image change campaign. "Way too gay" doesn't mean lesbian but way overdone, doubling down or "jumping the shark". It seemed there was a Miley Cyrus "shocker of the day" where it became obviously that it was an overdone, planned campaign. Then came the fake pot thing.

I get the sense that Miley Cyrus's star appeal has fallen like a rock. The song is a techno-mix. If you have a little money for production almost anyone can sound good. She has good singing skills so the song sounds good. That said, have you heard anything in the media about Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana in the last year?
Greg Lang

What we’ve been waiting for: Miley Cyrus’ musical tribute to Occupy Wall Street

POSTED AT 3:45 PM ON NOVEMBER 29, 2011 BY TINA KORBE

Oh, the irony. Thanks to capitalism, she’s filthy rich (estimated earnings of $48 million in 2010!) — as much a part of the 1 percent as Michael Moore and just as ignorant of her membership in it. But never mind all that: The oh-so-desperate-to-be-an-adult Miley Cyrus proves her invincible immaturity with a remixed-song-and-video-tribute to Occupy Wall Street, unaptly named “Liberty Walk.” Doesn’t she realize it’s the Tea Party that proudly and rebelliously says, “Don’t tread on me”? No, of course she doesn’t, any more than Mila Kunis understands Middle America.

If she annoys me so much, why am I posting this? I ask myself that, too. I could say it’s because I want all capitalists everywhere to vote with their dollars against her and other prone-to-pop-off pop stars. But that wouldn’t be entirely true. The truth is, I kinda like the beat. It’s a very danceable song. Then, too, there is the profundity of the lyrics: “Don’t live a lie. This is your one life. Just walk.” Inspiring.

PR experts: Occupy movement a self-defeating disaster

2011-11-22T03:19:00.001-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/11/18/pr-experts-occupy-movement-a-self-defeating-disaster/
The Occupy Movement succeeded early in seizing a media narrative, a feat that public-relations experts know is hardly easy to achieve. These professionals should be impressed by the ability of the movement to get its message across, right? Well, that’s the real problem, according to PR Daily. They don’t have one — and the media coverage is exposing the ugliness in the vacuum of a message (via Instapundit):
MORE AT LINK: http://hotair.com/archives/2011/11/18/pr-experts-occupy-movement-a-self-defeating-disaster/

Occupy Bagram: “Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work”

2011-11-20T07:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.verumserum.com/?p=33746

Occupy Bagram: “Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work”

John on November 19, 2011 at 8:24 am

Thanks to Urban Infidel for the tip:

I think a lot of Americans feel this way.

The Twin Cities and Bakken from outer space.

2011-11-19T05:40:00.001-08:00

http://www.midwestenergynews.com/2011/11/14/the-bakken-north-dakota-oil-field-from-space/

Redrant: If the vidcap holds note the size of the light in the Bakken range from gas flaring. Currently, only 10% of Bakken gas is flared, this picture may be older. Still, larger light area than the outer beltway of the Twin Cities which is a forty-mile radius. Greg Lang

EPA admitted — then erased — risk of blackouts associated with new utility rule

2011-11-15T02:03:00.001-08:00

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/11/14/epa-admitted-then-erased-risk-of-blackouts-associated-with-new-utility-rule/

WHAT DOES CO2 HAVE TO DO WITH CLIMATE? (Little or nothing)

2011-11-14T02:55:00.001-08:00

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/11/what-does-co2-have-to-do-with-climate.php

Little or nothing, if Tim Ball is correct. This post on his web site packs more iconoclasm (and useful information) into a shorter space than just about anything I have read on the subject:

Recently a Japanese Research Institute published a satellite map of sources of CO2 emissions. It was virtually ignored by the mainstream media, but that has become an inverse measure of its significance to the climate debate. It showed a pattern that most would not expect because of the misleading information presented by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) amplified by most media.

Here it is:

North America is a net consumer of CO2. Dr. Ball explains: “The map is only surprising if you believe that humans are the primary source of CO2.” But he is just getting warmed up:

The oceans are the main control of atmospheric CO2 as one of the atmospheric gases in constant flux between the water and the atmosphere. The ocean’s ability to absorb CO2 is a function of its temperature – cold water absorbs more CO2 than warm water.

This is why whenever the Earth’s climate gets warmer, it is followed by an increase in atmospheric CO2.

REST OF STORY AT LINK. THE CARBONATION EFFECT IS ESTABLISHED SCIENCE. GREG LANG.

Canadian PM eyes China after US Keystone Pipeline delay

2011-11-14T00:42:00.001-08:00

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.93c1b5af9b6cb71a17bf389563809eb2.671&show_article=1

I checked motor vehicle natural gas prices Sunday.

2011-11-13T03:06:00.001-08:00

I was driving in South Minneapolis near the one natural gas filling station in the Twin Cites. It was closed but they had an adjustable sign that said "gasoline equivalent $2.29". Nearby gasoline was $3.29, I filled today and $3.24.

The local price of unleaded regular dropped forty cents in the last couple of months. I would doubt that natural gas with road tax dropped much if at all. Basically, it looks like natural gas as motor fuel is around two third the cost unleaded regular for the same miles driven.

Here is a fun site: http://www.usgasvehicles.com/home.php

also: http://www.anga.us/srdlanding

Redrant: There is a "road tax", at least at the federal level, for natural gas based on BTU equivalent. Figure your fuel cost per mile will drop one-third with a natural gas vehicle. I anticipate abundant natural gas for the decades, which should cover the working life of the vehicle. With my Ford Ranger pickup it would take 60,000 miles at a dollar per gallon savings to cover the basic 3,000 additional cost of a natural gas system. I expect the "decoupling" of the cost of natural gas and gasoline to continue to be wider so there could be greater savings.

In the last few months the price of gasoline has dropped forty cents here in the Twin Cities. If we go by stop nat gas prices the nat gas price has dropped a couple of pennies per gasoline gallon equivalent.

The first, and still only public fueling station in the Twin Cities, MN (population 2,000,000) was established in the mid 1970's and we still only have one. Natural gas in vehicles has a good safety record in crashes. The new providers of "home filling stations" show their product in attached garages, which I am a bit wary about. Perhaps

they have "sniffers" which would shut the system down if there was a leak. I still prefer good ventilation. The historic safety record is good.

If there is a government subsidy I would have it in the form of natural gas filling stations, with an emphasis on those with public access in areas where natural gas filling stations do not currently exist. In a car conversion, the range is

reduced by 50% and tank filling takes longer because gaseous gasses heat when compressed. T Boone Pickens had the right idea using natural gas in garbage trucks. That said, natural gas has lower pollution than diesel on unleaded gas. For more than thirty years nat gas garbage trucks have been used in some parts of the Southern California "pollution belt" so there should be lots of data. Greg Lang

Sir Conrad Black: My Manifesto For the Occupy Movement

2011-11-09T04:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/conrad-black/occupy-wall-street_b_1011446.html

Redrant: Almost a decade ago here in Minneapolis, MN, USA we had an occupation to try to stop the Hiawatha rereoute. It lasted more than a year. I used to bicycle past the encampment all the time. From my house I can make a bicycle ride to the Mississippi and Minnesota river juncture flood plans and return with virtually no traffic. It can be a twenty-five mile ride all on paved shallow grade trails in the middle of the city.

I saw the encampment devolve into mostly gutter-punks and homeless. With the "occupy" fleabaggers" it just seems to be happening sooner.

You should read the article but the "money quote" specific to this blog: "or to climb aboard the global warming bandwagon now that its wheels have left its axles in all four directions." Greg Lang

UNITED STATES IS GETTING COLDER, NOT WARMER

2011-11-08T02:46:00.000-08:00

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/11/united-states-is-getting-colder-not-warmer.php

POSTED ON NOVEMBER 7, 2011 BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN CLIMATE

UNITED STATES IS GETTING COLDER, NOT WARMER

At Watts Up With That, data from the National Climatic Data Center are reviewed. The results are quite startling. Every region of the continental United States has shown a cooling trend during the winter from 2001 to the present, and five of the nine regions have also had a cooling trend during the summer. With respect to annual mean temperature, only one of nine regions–the Northeast–has gotten warmer; the other eight have gotten cooler.

This chart shows the overall trend for the period 2001 to 2010:

American data are significant because the U.S. is a large land mass, and because we probably have the world’s best records. But the absence of warming is a worldwide phenomenon. Pat Michaels:

“The last ten years of the BEST [worldwide] data indeed show no statistically significant warming trend, no matter how you slice and dice them”. He adds: “Both records are in reasonable agreement about the length of time without a significant warming trend. In the CRU record it is 15.0 years. In the University of Alabama MSU it is 13.9, and in the Remote Sensing Systems version of the MSU it is 15.6 years.

Finally, these two charts illustrate why no one who pays attention has any faith in the “data” produced by the alarmists. Both were produced by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which is run by Jim Hansen, one of the chief alarmists. Both purport to show data for the same area–continental U.S.–over the same period of time, 1880 to 1999. GISS produced the top version in 1999. Notice how the warming trend is subtle, and 1934 is significantly warmer than 1998. GISS produced the bottom chart in 2011. Note that the trend is completely different, and 1998 is now significantly warmer than 1934. Obviously, the data didn’t change between 1999 and 2001. Rather, Hansen and his colleagues continually come up with new ways to slice and dice the data to create the illusion of catastrophic warming when in fact there is none:

The good news is that hardly anyone believes these charlatans anymore.

too much electricity for the grid to soak up.

2011-11-05T09:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45174002
REDRANT: THE SUBSIDIZED BIRD KILLING MACHINES HAVE A CONTRACT WHERE THEIR POWER MUST BE PURCHASED AT A PREMIUM WEATHER OR NOT IT IS NEEDED. GREG LANG

REDRANT#2 EVEN WITH DISCOUNTS ELECTRICITY FOR HEATING IS FIVE TO TEN TIMES THE CURRENT COST OF NATURAL GAS. GREG LANG

Taming Unruly Wind Power

Published: Saturday, 5 Nov 2011 | 10:45 AM ET

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By: Matthew L. Wald
The New York Times

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For decades, electric companies have swung into emergency mode when demand soars on blistering hot days, appealing to households to use less power. But with the rise of wind energy, utilities in the Pacific Northwest are sometimes dealing with the opposite: moments when there is too much electricity for the grid to soak up.

Jon Boyes | Photographer's Choice RF | Getty Images

So in a novel pilot project, they have recruited consumers to draw in excess electricity when that happens, storing it in a basement water heater or a space heater outfitted by the utility. The effort is rooted in some brushes with danger.

In June 2010, for example, a violent storm in the Northwest caused a simultaneous surge in wind power and in traditional hydropower, creating an oversupply that threatened to overwhelm the grid and cause a blackout.

As a result, the Bonneville Power Administration, the wholesale supplier to a broad swath of the region, turned this year to a strategy common to regions with hot summers: adjusting volunteers’ home appliances by remote control to balance supply and demand.

When excess supply threatens Bonneville’s grid, an operator in a control room hundreds of miles away will now dial up a volunteer’s water heater, raising the thermostat by 60 more degrees. Ceramic bricks in a nearby electric space heater can be warmed to hundreds of degrees.

The devices then function as thermal batteries, capable of giving back the energy when it is needed. Microchips run both systems, ensuring that tap-water and room temperatures in the home hardly vary.

“It’s a little bit of that Big Brother control, almost,” said Theresa Rothweiler, a teacher’s aide in the Port Angeles, Wash., school system who nonetheless signed up for the program with her husband, Bruce, a teacher.

MORE FROM NYTIMES.COM

For decades, the Bonneville Power Administration rarely had a problem with excess supply. Its backbone is hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River, and while the operators must often run all of the falling water through its power-producing turbines for environmental reasons, the grid could adjust the supply by turning off fossil fuel plants.

That balance began to shift over the last few years as entrepreneurs built hundreds of wind machines nearby in the Columbia River Gorge, an area that utility executives now call a “wind ghetto.” While the wind turbines produce electricity far below their capacity most hours of the year, they get busy when a storm rolls through, which is when river flows are highest, too.

The agency can simply shut down the wind machines, and it did so intermittently this summer when excess power threatened the grid. But that angered the wind operators, who earn money from the electricity they sell and from tax and other credits based on their production.

This June, several wind companies appealed Bonneville’s policy to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, calling it discriminatory, and in August they filed a federal court challenge that is still pending.

For Bonneville, the full dangers of excess supply first hit home during the June 2010 emergency, when a severe storm whipped through the region. The transmission network had so much power that the agency turned off all its fossil fuel generation, gave electricity away to neighboring networks and even told the system’s only nuclear plant to slash its production by 78 percent, a highly unusual step.

The region squeaked through, but the agency was stretching its resources “to their limits,” said Doug Johnson, a spokesman for Bonneville. At one point the system was running almost entirely on renewable energy.

“This is probably about the only place in the country where that could happen,” said Michael Milstein, another spokesman with the agency.

The problem was complicated by environmental rules involving the hydroelectric dams.

The dams were built with spillways, or paths where operators can divert water without passing it through the power-producing turbines. But when the water goes through the spillways, it picks up nitrogen bubbles that can kill juvenile fish, so there are strict limits on their use.

Operators can usually keep the system in balance without excessive use of spillways, but in the June 2010 case, they were coping with as many as 2,000 megawatts of wind power, roughly double Seattle’s power use or what two nuclear plants can deliver.

Wind installations have grown since then. So Bonneville began advertising for volunteers to accept extra electricity, mainly homeowners with electric heat and with water heaters of recent vintage.

Plumbers install a mixing valve on the water heaters to keep the faucet temperature safe, and new wiring and a small computer keep track of energy flows.

The agency says that some 200 homes will soon have the adapted water heaters, space heaters or both. In hundreds more, it is installing more traditional controls that will allow it to turn water heaters off. Another utility in the region, Portland General Electric, is about to begin a similar program paid for by the federal Energy Department.

For the time being, the storage devices collectively can absorb the output of only a handful of wind turbines.

A 100-gallon home water heater can store about 26 kilowatt-hours, or about a day’s worth of electricity for a typical house, or less if the house relies on electricity for heat.

The ceramic bricks in the space heater can store 40 kilowatt-hours, or more in some larger configurations. The heat can be drawn off by passing air and delivered to living spaces by a fan, with the bricks also functioning as a thermal battery.

Some of this equipment dates from the late 1980s and was originally designed for offering “time of use” rates, so that a homeowner could buy electricity during hours when it was cheaper and store it. But coordination over a broad area by a utility to manage regional flows is new.

One nagging question is who will pay for the installations if they are carried out on a larger scale.

While Bonneville pays for them now, Philip D. Lusk, the power resources manager for the utility department of the city of Port Angeles — the Rothweilers’ retail supplier — said the agency might have to find additional ways of compensating consumers to get the thousands of volunteers it will eventually need to make the system effective.

If the installations are judged to benefit everyone because they improve stability, the cost might be spread among all ratepayers. But if Bonneville decides that they mainly benefit the wind generators because they never have to unplug their turbines, the agency could try to charge that industry.

Either way, said Mr. Johnson, the Bonneville spokesman, the agency will have to come up with a solution to “the cranky nature of wind.”

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence

2011-10-31T18:54:00.001-07:00

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47055

NBC Brian Williams "Rock Center" Monday 9PM has a Bakken story.

2011-10-31T03:43:00.000-07:00

http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/27/8495501-now-hiring-north-dakota-oil-boom-creates-thousands-of-jobs#comments

Read excellent story at link. Here is good comment. Many comments contain good information

----------------------------------

We have the most fossil fuel energy reserves in the entire World - but Obama and the environmentalists refuse to allow them to be tapped. I guess he thinks it's better to 'redistribute our wealth' to foreigners, most of whom hate us.

Here's the link to proven (economically recoverable) reserves for the World;

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34233

FourFiftyGas.com

Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks

Sad eyed greens bemoan Obama energy remarks

POSTED AT 11:00 AM ON JANUARY 27, 2012 BY JAZZ SHAW

TAISUN, biggest crane in the world assembles D90, biggest drilling rig in the world

Newt Gingrich in 2008: Update on 'Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.'

Al Gore to set sail for Antarctica

Occupy '"FLEABAGGERS".

Occupy Wall Street Backlash: The 53 Percent

Microsoft Patents ‘Avoid Ghetto’ Feature For GPS Devices

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$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012

$5 A Gallon For Gas? It Could Happen In 2012

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Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns

Kim Jong Il's death: North Korea uses 1970s Lincolns

Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol

Failure: Cellulosic Ethanol

Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”

Mark Steyn: War on Christmas indicative of the “Western world at twilight”

POSTED AT 4:10 PM ON DECEMBER 26, 2011 BY TINA KORBE

The flea party: MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER

MOST PITIFUL OCCUPATION EVER

Missing $4,155? It Went Into Your Gas Tank This Year

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up

Time to Tell the Alternative Energy Industry to Grow Up

Ahmm! My congressman! Congressman on hunger strike to show solidarity with occupy fleabaggers.

Ford Ranger Twin Cites assembly plant closed today.

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform

The U.S. has become a net exporter of oil products for the first time since 1949

I saw CP Rail USA Holiday train Sunday PM

Ted Nugent interviewed by animal right sympathizer

Terrible Ted

How Panic Doomed Air France Flight 447

Altas Shrugged, Part One now out on DVD

Quarter-Billion Taxpayer Dollars Spent on Penis Pumps

38% Are Concerned About Safety of Electric Cars

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Video: Energy independence could be as easy as 1-2-3

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GM clarifies Volt 'buyback'

Bob Woodward says sitting next to Al Gore is 'taxing, unpleasant’

Former SEIU president just gaga over China’s economic model

APNewsBreak: GM willing to buy back Volts

What we’ve been waiting for: Miley Cyrus’ musical tribute to Occupy Wall Street

What we’ve been waiting for: Miley Cyrus’ musical tribute to Occupy Wall Street

POSTED AT 3:45 PM ON NOVEMBER 29, 2011 BY TINA KORBE

PR experts: Occupy movement a self-defeating disaster

Occupy Bagram: “Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work”

Occupy Bagram: “Quit your bitchin’ and get back to work”

The Twin Cities and Bakken from outer space.

EPA admitted — then erased — risk of blackouts associated with new utility rule

WHAT DOES CO2 HAVE TO DO WITH CLIMATE? (Little or nothing)

Canadian PM eyes China after US Keystone Pipeline delay

I checked motor vehicle natural gas prices Sunday.

Sir Conrad Black: My Manifesto For the Occupy Movement

UNITED STATES IS GETTING COLDER, NOT WARMER

UNITED STATES IS GETTING COLDER, NOT WARMER

too much electricity for the grid to soak up.

Taming Unruly Wind Power

RELATED LINKS

MORE FROM NYTIMES.COM

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence

NBC Brian Williams "Rock Center" Monday 9PM has a Bakken story.

http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/27/8495501-now-hiring-north-dakota-oil-boom-creates-thousands-of-jobs#comments