The Anchorage Daily News posted an article this morning correcting at least a couple of the fanciful 'facts' and outright lies in Sarah Palin's speech last night at the Repug's National Convention in St. Paul.
'Some of Palin's remarks stretch the truth' was the headline of the story, which calls into question two of the biggest howlers in her address, the first on the proposed gas pipeline in Alaska, which she implied was a done deal. The paper, however, notes that "...no building has begun and actual construction is years away, if it ever happens."
The Anchorage Daily also says Palin continues to lie about being a Federal earmark's opponent. Quoting from the paper, here is the real story:
"THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million.
In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation, although she has cut, by more than half, the amount the state sought from Washington this year. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."
Read the full story here.
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil. Show all posts
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Watch This!
Watch this video if you want to understand what the issues are in our current our so-called energy debate.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Paris Hilton Makes Her Stand
See more funny videos at Funny or Die
This is Paris Hilton's response to John McCain's ad taking advantage of her celebrity (and Britney's) to take a swipe at how popular Barack Obama is. It's not bad, in fact. Actually, it's pretty clever!
This is my suggestion everyone: Let's all get video cams and put together our own messages on what we'd really like Barack Obama and the Dems to say to McCain et al, but so far they either haven't said it, or feel it's just too unseemly to say outright, and be totally honest.
Cause it's time for a change. We all know it, and we're all just a bit on edge these days. The Republicans want to demoralize everyone. We can't let them.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Parsing The Pickens Plan
photo by vergel tolentino
CNN Money has a good article today that evaluates T. Boone Pickens' plan for moving the country to windpower, solar and natural gas vehicles, and Al Gore's challenge to move to non-carbon fuels over the next 10 years.
Wind power: A Reality Check
Plans are afoot to prod the nation into using much more renewable energy. Can it be done, and what's the cost?
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: July 24, 2008: 11:04 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- High-profile personalities have been telling the nation to ditch that dirty fossil fuel and turn to renewable energy.
T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman, has been hitting the airwaves, pitching a plan to use wind to replace all the natural gas that's used to produce electricity, then using that saved natural gas to fuel cars.
In addition to weaning the nation from foreign oil, Pickens' plan is not entirely altruistic. He's investing hundreds of millions of dollars on a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle, and his hedge fund, BP Capital, is said to own stakes in several companies that equip cars to run on natural gas. If his energy efforts pan out, he could get even richer in the process.
Then there's Al Gore. The former U.S. vice president and Nobel Prize winner said last week that electricity generation should be completely fossil-fuel free in 10 years.
The question is, are these plans realistic or just dreams?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
My Comment to Jack Cafferty's Question Today
CNN's Jack Cafferty posed this question to viewers today:
Is drilling for oil in Alaska and off the coast the answer to high gas prices?
Here was my comment (it was still awaiting moderation when Jack read several viewer comments on the air at 4:55 Mountain Time today).
June 18th, 2008 6:24 pm ET
President Bush’s sudden push to open up potential oil fields in US coastal waters might have more credibility — as one of your reports pointed out this morning — if he had the guts to first reverse his own executive order banning that drilling, instead of trying to push it off onto Congress.
Right now, oil produced in Alaska doesn’t reach the US in any case, since Alaska’s heavy crude can only be refined in one US oil refinery in Washington state. Much of Alaskan oil is exported to Japan and other countries. How does that help gas prices in the U.S.?
If the oil companies don’t feel oil produced from US territory should be sent to U.S. consumers now, what assurance does the American public have that new drilling off U.S. coasts would help U.S. gas prices?
If John McCain and George Bush want to help American consumers, instead of lining the pockets of their oil industry buddies — which is what this is really about — why not propose legislation to require that any oil produced from U.S. states and territories be required to be sold to U.S. consumers, and be prohibited from being sold overseas?
Is drilling for oil in Alaska and off the coast the answer to high gas prices?
Here was my comment (it was still awaiting moderation when Jack read several viewer comments on the air at 4:55 Mountain Time today).
June 18th, 2008 6:24 pm ET
President Bush’s sudden push to open up potential oil fields in US coastal waters might have more credibility — as one of your reports pointed out this morning — if he had the guts to first reverse his own executive order banning that drilling, instead of trying to push it off onto Congress.
Right now, oil produced in Alaska doesn’t reach the US in any case, since Alaska’s heavy crude can only be refined in one US oil refinery in Washington state. Much of Alaskan oil is exported to Japan and other countries. How does that help gas prices in the U.S.?
If the oil companies don’t feel oil produced from US territory should be sent to U.S. consumers now, what assurance does the American public have that new drilling off U.S. coasts would help U.S. gas prices?
If John McCain and George Bush want to help American consumers, instead of lining the pockets of their oil industry buddies — which is what this is really about — why not propose legislation to require that any oil produced from U.S. states and territories be required to be sold to U.S. consumers, and be prohibited from being sold overseas?
Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
Silicon Valley is experimenting with bacteria that have been genetically altered to provide 'renewable petroleum'
by Chris Ayres
The Times of London Online
“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”
He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.
Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.
Read the full story here.
by Chris Ayres
The Times of London Online
“Ten years ago I could never have imagined I’d be doing this,” says Greg Pal, 33, a former software executive, as he squints into the late afternoon Californian sun. “I mean, this is essentially agriculture, right? But the people I talk to – especially the ones coming out of business school – this is the one hot area everyone wants to get into.”
He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.
Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.
Read the full story here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Oil Demand in the US is Falling Significantly; Bush Panders
In light of the hoo-ey today by McCain and Bush about opening up offshore oil reserve areas along U.S. coastlines (an obvious pander to gasoline-price-stressed consumers more egregious by logarithmic factors than McCain's old gas tax holiday canard), I thought two articles that appeared tonight might provide some perspective.
Sorry I've been away. Busy, you know.
* * *
Oil Falls a Fourth Day on Signs of U.S. Gasoline Demand Drop
By Christian Schmollinger
Bloomberg News
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell for a fourth day in New York in the longest losing streak this year on signs that gasoline demand in the U.S., the world's largest consumer, is declining as record prices curb usage.
Consumers purchased an average 9.305 million barrels a day of motor fuels, 3.2 percent less than a year earlier, MasterCard Inc. said in its weekly SpendingPulse report. It was the eighth week of decline. Gasoline demand was down 1.7 percent from last year, the U.S. Department of Energy reported June 11.
Read the rest of the story here.
* * *
Bush To Echo McCain's Plan To Drill In Oceans
H. JOSEF HEBERT | June 17, 2008 09:16 PM EST |
Associated Press | Huffington Post
WASHINGTON — President Bush plans to make a renewed push Wednesday to get Congress to end a long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, echoing a call by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Congressional Democrats have opposed lifting the prohibitions on energy development on nearly all federal Outer Continental Shelf waters for more than a quarter-century, including waters along both the East and West coasts.
With oil prices soaring and motorists paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, political pressures have been growing for more domestic oil and gas production.
"He will explicitly call on Congress to ... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling," Perino said. "He wants to work with states to determine where offshore drilling should occur."
Bush also will reiterate his call for development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Perino said. McCain has opposed drilling in the refuge, maintaining that the pristine areas in northeastern Alaska should be protected from energy development.
On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue.
Bush has made clear in recent weeks that the drilling moratorium in coastal waters should end to allow for more domestic oil production and help "take the pressure off the price of gasoline."
Democrats, as well as some Republican senators from coastal states, have opposed lifting the drilling prohibitions, fearful that energy development could harm tourism and raise the risk of oil spills on beaches.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.
Read the rest of the story here.
Sorry I've been away. Busy, you know.
Oil Falls a Fourth Day on Signs of U.S. Gasoline Demand Drop
By Christian Schmollinger
Bloomberg News
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil fell for a fourth day in New York in the longest losing streak this year on signs that gasoline demand in the U.S., the world's largest consumer, is declining as record prices curb usage.
Consumers purchased an average 9.305 million barrels a day of motor fuels, 3.2 percent less than a year earlier, MasterCard Inc. said in its weekly SpendingPulse report. It was the eighth week of decline. Gasoline demand was down 1.7 percent from last year, the U.S. Department of Energy reported June 11.
Read the rest of the story here.
Bush To Echo McCain's Plan To Drill In Oceans
H. JOSEF HEBERT | June 17, 2008 09:16 PM EST |
Associated Press | Huffington Post
WASHINGTON — President Bush plans to make a renewed push Wednesday to get Congress to end a long-standing ban on offshore oil and gas drilling, echoing a call by GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Congressional Democrats have opposed lifting the prohibitions on energy development on nearly all federal Outer Continental Shelf waters for more than a quarter-century, including waters along both the East and West coasts.
With oil prices soaring and motorists paying $4 a gallon for gasoline, political pressures have been growing for more domestic oil and gas production.
"He will explicitly call on Congress to ... pass legislation lifting the congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil drilling," Perino said. "He wants to work with states to determine where offshore drilling should occur."
Bush also will reiterate his call for development of oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, Perino said. McCain has opposed drilling in the refuge, maintaining that the pristine areas in northeastern Alaska should be protected from energy development.
On Monday, McCain made lifting the federal ban on offshore oil and gas development a key part of his energy plan. The Arizona senator said states should be allowed to pursue energy exploration in waters near their coasts and receive some of the royalty revenue.
Bush has made clear in recent weeks that the drilling moratorium in coastal waters should end to allow for more domestic oil production and help "take the pressure off the price of gasoline."
Democrats, as well as some Republican senators from coastal states, have opposed lifting the drilling prohibitions, fearful that energy development could harm tourism and raise the risk of oil spills on beaches.
Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate for president, opposes lifting the ban on offshore drilling and says that allowing exploration now wouldn't affect gasoline prices for at least five years.
Read the rest of the story here.
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