You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January 2006.
Note: I wrote the below before I heard that the President may speak on this topic tonight in his State of the Union Address. I can only hope that he does, and our elected representatives take heed.
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We all know that there is an energy crisis. All we have to do is look at our natural gas, electricity, and gasoline bills to know that we are not going to get any relief any time soon. More importantly, the United States must reduce its dependence on foreign energy sources, specifically petroleum, for our economic and social health.
One of the recommendations included in the May 2001 Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group is to increase the domestic energy supply by exploring & developing petroleum resources in protected areas. While the environmentalist groups will scream, this can be done with minimal impact given today’s improved technology and procedures. It is also necessary.
The oil producing region of the Middle East is under an uneasy peace at best. Suicide bombers and the conflict in Iraq are the most visible and most reported violent incidents from the area. Alliances change without warning as Iran did during the late 70’s. The Palestinians have elected a known terrorist group, Hamas, as their leaders. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among those listed in Parade Magazine as being some of the most ruthless dictatorships known with multitudes of human right violations. Of course, there is Iran making noises about wanting to join the nuclear club even though the president of Iran is clearly advocating using any and all means to wage war on Israel to wipe it off the map. Lastly, Islamic terrorists such as al-Qaeda are constantly stirring up trouble for everyone in the region.
Whether we like it or not, the United States has a vested interest in the Middle East for national security reasons. Again, according to the May 2001 Report of the National Energy Policy Development Group, the United States relies on foreign oil for 52% of its needs. Should the flow of oil be interrupted, then the United States would have a severe impact dealt to its economy as all sectors (transportation, manufacturing, & energy generation) would be affected. Those groups that have accused the United States government with trading blood for oil are partially right as the Government has the duty to protect the economic welfare of the country. However, these same groups do not take the time to understand the reasons for the foreign policy sometimes enacted in the Middle East. For example: The first Gulf War was waged for a singular purpose, and that was to secure valuable oil resources in both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein’s control. If those resources were under the control of Hussein, then he would have been able to economically cripple the United States and the rest of the world. Those groups decried the loss of life in this conflict. One wonders what they would do or say if Hussein had control of the oil fields and turned off the oil, thus depriving them of the ability to drive to the supermarket only to find empty shelves since the food couldn’t be delivered…
There are billions of dollars being spent for the research into alternative energy sources. A renewed interest in nuclear power is underway, renewable energy sources such as ethanol & bio-diesel currently have limited use, hybrid & fuel cell vehicles are being tested, and wind power is starting to make an appearance. But all of these new technologies are years from being perfected and cost effective. Until these technologies are developed for widespread use, the consumption of petroleum in this country must be addressed. Thus, a domestic agenda for finding and developing petroleum resources within the borders of the United States must be enacted. So what is the hold up? To put it succinctly – Politics and Special Interest Groups.
The most powerful of these groups are the Environmentalists. Their stance is no drilling or exploration in protected areas. However, the proper use of the technology and procedures learned from various disasters and developments should reduce the risk to the environment. But there is the risk, and the Environmentalists do not trust the oil companies, and probably for good reason. With the Exxon Valdez disaster as well as other disasters in mind, they do have a powerful argument. While I’m in favor of a clean environment, some risk must be taken in order to secure these resources. Having the caribou running free is of little comfort if you are standing out in the cold because there is no heat in the house.
The other major factor in this equation are the politicians and the games they play. The mindset of politicians is usually short term, as in the next election. If their constituents do not directly benefit from a long-range policy or it is a political hot potato, they will vote against it or abstain. If the various special interest groups target key legislators with promises of campaign contributions, then the representatives will usually vote which ever way will contribute more to their campaign war chest while not getting them in trouble with their constituents. While I realize that this is a very cynical view of how our elected representatives behave, I would be extremely naive if I believed otherwise in light of numerous embarrassing political idiocies played out recently on national TV.
What is most disturbing is that while the political games are being played, our national economic security is at risk of a few nations. Worse, some of these nations may either covertly or inadvertently fund the terrorist activities which threaten our country. Think of it as the ultimate irony: We are funding our own destruction. Bin Laden’s family got rich by various oil construction projects, and he has tapped into that money to fund al-Qaeda terrorist activities against the United States & other countries. So the sooner we reduce or eliminate our dependence on the Middle East and other sources of foreign energy, the better.
So now it is up to us, the Citizens of the United States, to vote our conscience & let our duly elected representatives know that a long term solution is necessary to solve the coming crisis. We have an election coming up this year. Find out where your representatives stand on this issue and vote accordingly.
Saints in Armor is a piece by Ben Stein that really hits home, and show us that not everyone living in Hollywood or on the Left Coast is a flaming Liberal.
Thanks to Betsy’s Page for the heads up.
In approximately 7 days and 15 minutes, Superbowl XL will begin. So the blog has temporarily been hijacked with the official Superbowl graphics. Who is your pick for this year?
Personally, I would like to see a game that is evenly matched and close, not one of these blowouts. That way, we have some entertainment besides the commercials.
Comment now, comment early on this topic.
News Bytes is a short, brief look at the events over the past week or so since I have been so busy.
Hamas Wins Election
Hamas was voted overwhelmingly by the Palestinian people as the leaders of their government. Since Isreal and the US recognise Hamas as a terrorist organization, it will be interesting to see how the two respective governments deal with this new government. It will be difficult at best, but all bets will be off if the Hamas-led government continues its policy of terrorism against Isreal.
Iran Nuclear Program
Iran has stated that they will continue on developing a nuclear program. With Iran’s radical leadership spewing out hatred and threats toward Israel, I’m predicting that Israel will do the same thing as they did to Iraq’s nuclear program in 1983. For those of you who do not remember, they raided Iraq’s nuclear facility & blew it up.
Oprah Duped!
The queen of daytime has been hoodwinked by an author telling a falsified tale of self-redemption. While honesty is supposedly the best policy, the author has made millions on the book, Oprah has shown that she is human too (endearing her further with her fans), and there is some proof that the book has inspired some people to clean up themselves. Isn’t there something wrong with this picture?
Judge Overruled
The judge who ruled that a man who sexually abused a girl for 4 years has had his 60-day sentence overruled. The sentence was extended up to 10 years. The movement to remove Judge Cashman is continuing, to which I say, the sooner, the better. We can only hope that the victim of this crime receives all the help she needs to live a happy life.
Filibuster
Senator John Kerry is promising to filibuster Judge Alito’s confirmation vote on Monday, even though there are enough votes to overrule Kerry’s promised tirade Politics as usual, the Dems continue to implode, and does nothing constructive for the country.
Canada had their elections yesterday. After 13 years of leading Canada down the path of Liberalism, the citizens of Canada voted the Liberal Party (LP) out of power. They lost 30 some seats in their parliament, according to my Canadian co-workers.
One of the reasons my friends gave me for this change was that they could not trust the LP because they constantly broke campaign promises and were generally arrogant in their attitudes. Does this sound familiar?
Liberals in this country have often looked to the socialistic agenda that the LP foisted on their country as a guide for what they should introduce in the United States. With the voters speaking with the ballot box, the Democratic Liberals should be very, very nervous.
Ok, ok, I can hear it now – he changed the blog again!!! Yes, I did, and hope everyone likes it.
Dusted off the HTML code book & editors, & wanted to see what could be done to make the “look” a little more manageable.
Hey, programming is still a hobby as well as a job! At least I like my job, unlike a lot of other people.
If anyone has a problem viewing the blog, please let me know your browser and display settings, and I’ll work on it.
Thanks again.
Saw these articles on AOL, & thought all 6 1/2 readers of this blog would like to read and/or comment on them.
First, Judge Souter’s participation in the eminent domain decision may come back to bite him in this article. Should be interesting to see how this one works out…
Second, is your American-made car really American made? This article makes you think otherwise, and just makes globlization that much more of a problem than what you would expect.
Last, if there is anything in the news or the articles that you would like to see me comment on or rant about, please email me or comment below.
Thanks!
Another season of American Idol kicked off this week with the tryouts to make it to the next round in Hollywood. People that showed up to audition were like the title to a Clint Eastwood movie – “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.” Like a box of chocolates, you never really knew what to expect.
Of course, there were a lot of bad performances. Invariably, the majority of the people shown that didn’t make it to the next round were pissed off that they didn’t get picked. They usually went down the path that the judges didn’t know talent when they saw it, they should have been picked, it was nothing they did, yadda yadda yadda… It wasn’t until the boy who literally looked & sounded like a girl, got rejected, & started mouthing off that it hit me – this show discriminates!!
Of course this show discriminates! Exactly what do you think it should do? Give everyone a pass on bad notes, bad attitude, bad looks, & bad performances? Considering that some of the performances were so bad that my wife muted the TV just goes to show that not everyone who gets their 15 minutes of fame deserves it.
To those of the contestants that were rejected, I would like to ask: Did you or did you not sing into a tape recorder and listen to yourself? Really listen? How many of you actually came prepared, practiced your song, and had that critical eye on yourself? From what was shown, not many.
Talent aside, this show did not boost the majority of the loser’s self-esteem. Sorry, life is harsh & does not give warm fuzzies to those who don’t measure up. This is a lesson that seems to have been lost on lots of people. For example, my son’s high school has a mission statement that goes:
“The mission of XXXXXX High School is to teach for understanding so that all students learn for a lifetime. In this task, a positive learning environment will be continually promoted, evaluated, and adjusted in order to provide opportunity for achievement and self-esteem.”
Awwwww – doesn’t that just give you a warm feeling? They care about your child’s self-esteem, will not bruise his or her ego, and make sure that the environment that they will (hopefully) learn in will be encouraging. What about being held to an educational standard? Oops, can’t do that – it’s not in the mission statement! But I digress…
The point is that a lot of these people have gone through life getting their ego stroked, never really were held to a standard, and when they don’t measure up, take the classic “it’s not my fault” mentality, and blame someone else for them not succeeding. Sound familiar?
Finally, comments to the aforementioned boy-dress/sounds-like-a-girl contestant: The judges were not racist, not accepting of you or anything else that you spouted off about after the audition. In fact, they were damn courteous compared to some of the other people that auditioned. You were OK in your performance, but you didn’t measure up to their standards, and you definitely confused the hell out of them with your appearance. Think of this as a prelude to a job interview – if you confuse the interviewer and have a mediocre interview, don’t expect to get hired. Last, if you truly believe that Americans are racist, don’t accept you for who/what you are, or any of the other drivel that you sobbed about, I would suggest that you find another country that would accept you as you are and emigrate. Hate to break it to you; other countries are not as accepting as the US. I know – I’ve been to several.
OK, ranting is over (for now).
My cats are smart.
They listen to the news, and followed with some interest on the latest Supreme Court’s decision on assisted suicide using perscription drugs. They had a toy mouse that needed to be put out of its misery, but they didn’t want to go to the vet to get a perscription. They decided to do something else.
They dropped it in a water dish…
There has been so much stuff happening with the Democrats since the Alito hearings, I just wonder if they are undergoing a nuclear meltdown. For instance:
Ray (there was a hurricane coming?) Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans, made a speech in which he stated thatNew Orleans should be rebuilt as an African-American city. Let’s forget about the parsing of the “chocolate” reference – that is exactly what he said in this speech. How many “vanilla” and other foods & flavors did he offend? Of course, he backtracked like crazy. Doesn’t exactly inspire me to visit New Orleans even after it’s rebuilt…
Hillary Rodham Clinton (ugh – need to wipe the keyboard down after typing that name!) stated in her recent speech that the House is run like a plantation, denying full discussion of bills, procedural errors, and the like. First of all, her Party did the same things when they had control of the House AND the Senate. Second, to raise up the specter of slavery in front of a predominately Black crowd is playing the race card once again. Personally, I’m sick of it being played because all this causes is division and tension, not unity and tolerance that the Liberal Democrats keep saying that they champion. Again, HRC (better…) explained, backtracked, etc… away the inflammatory reference.
Al (I’m a tree-hugger and inventor of the Internet) Gore flamed the Bush administration for domestic spying, even though the Clinton-Gore administration did the exact same thing! Excuse me, but exactly what planet is he from again?
The bad behavior from the miscreants listed above can be explained by the following:
- We Hate Bush.
- We made fools of ourselves and our Party in the Alito hearings.
- We really Hate Bush.
- We are politicians, and it’s our job to behave like idiots to get more votes for ourselves.
- We Hate Bush so much we can’t see straight and keep our lies in check.
One final news flash on bad Democrat behavior – Ted Kennedy has a love-child.
Excuse me, but I need to get some Pepto…
