OklahomaSenator Tom Coburn is personally holding 100 bills up in procedural gamesmanship. That’s despite the fact that the bills have no serious opposition and even broad support. That’s despite the fact that Sen. Coburn has been in the Senate as long as Sen. Barack Obama. Do we hear about Sen. Coburn’s inexperience as a reason he shouldn’t be where he is? Of course not. Sen. Coburn is just acting like an ass. He’s playing the Republican playbook of “government can’t work” to an extreme. He and his extremist ideologues want to show the American people just how little work the Congress can do.
In a brilliant and likely unprecedented move, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid is gathering the bills into what’s called an omnibus and will bring that to the floor. Instead of taking up time with 100 individual bills, the Senate will consider only one.
Sen. Coburn is up for reelection in 2010. I’ll support his opponent enthusiastically.
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Isn’t it interesting how the price of oil is “plummeting” as Congress looks to pass legislation that would crackdown on unregulated speculation of commodities? Throw this on top of the giant list of examples that demonstrate the market isn’t free, as conservatives have been crowing about for too long. Remember, the price of oil kept going up despite a significant decrease in demand earlier this year.
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Barack Obama’s campaign is launching Solutions for Colorado, which is a good thing. The first two events, however, are being hosted by the most right-leaning Democrats Colorado has to offer: the Salazar brothers.
Our first event is in Pueblo, where we’ll share our ideas on the economy and be joined by Rep. John Salazar. At our second event in Windsor, we’ll be joined by Sen. Ken Salazar to discuss our energy solutions for Colorado.
What about Reps. DeGette or Udall, both of whom have been in office longer and both of whom are more progressive than the Salazars? This is an interesting way to begin these meetings and points toward a likely mode of behavior if Obama is elected President: tacking right in search of the mythical center.
One rich person’s plan to address our nation’s energy policy has garnered huge media attention recently. I’m not talking about Al Gore either. I’m talking about T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire who made his money in the oil sector. He outlined his plan to reduce oil imports by at least a third in 10 years. Which sounds like a laudable goal, right? The goal sounds good. How he plans to get there is insane. He’s only tackling part of the energy problem we face. What is totally ignored has the potential to completely dwarf our energy problem: climate change. I’ll say this as many times as is necessary until people really get it: a 20-foot rise in sea levels will displace billions of people worldwide. If we think our current set of geopolitical issues are large, wait until governments have to deal with those kinds of numbers.
Here’s the part of Pickens’ plan that I like: build enough wind farms to supply 20% of the nation’s electricity by 2020. That’s a solid goal that is completely achievable, but only if we as a country decide that it is. There are big challenges along the way, certainly, but that should motivate us to act instead of intimidating us into submission.
Here’s the part of Pickens’ plan that is ludicrous: replace oil with natural gas as an energy generating source. Why would we trade a bad carbon source with a slightly less bad carbon source? Why not move directly and immediately to a near-zero carbon source? Part of the problem: replacing oil infrastructure with natural gas infrastructure. As I mention above, this could have the benefit of emitting less carbon overall into the climate system, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. How long do we then use natural gas as an energy source? Until all the natural gas is similarly used up? Then we face the dilemma of being forced to adopt renewable energy sources.
Or we could skip the middle step and move directly to renewable energy infrastructure. We face enough obstacles in enacting renewable energy as our predominant and eventual sole source of energy. Let’s tackle that problem now while we have some crumbs of time left before we irrevocably tip the climate system to a state we can’t recognize.
It honestly worries me that a billionaire oilman is pushing a plan that is getting so much corporate media attention. It makes me wonder what other monied interests are silently getting behind the plan, while more viable plans are cast aside. These kinds of business plans (really, that’s all it is) neglect critical science issues. I think that’s a bad idea.
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Also in the news: a group of Republican Representatives will visit the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO this Friday the 18th of July. Which is very interesting because those same Representatives voted to cut NREL’s budget when they controlled Congress. NREL came very close to losing enough funding to prevent it from doing its work: researching alternative energy and efficiency projects. Only when a sizable number of scientists were about to be laid off due to funding issues and was pushed hard in local media did Republicans restore funding they had taken away from the lab.
The Republicans are characterizing their trip as reflective of their “all of the above approach” they push for in Congress. Which is a bald-faced lie and should have been reported as such. No such luck from our corporate media, of course. Democrats are not standing in the way of responsible energy policies. They recognize that this country cannot drill its way out of the energy problem that demagogued activists have been warning would come along for decades.
Republicans are going to continue to act like they’re moving toward renewable energy solutions to avoid inspection of their failed energy policies of the last generation. These are the people that gleefully brought us $140 oil, never forget that.
Here is one example of demand actually affecting a market. But there isn’t a large corporation with a vested interest in gaming the market, so we can see things develop closer to a theoretical market. The market? Plastics recycling.
Recycle America, a subsidiary of Wast Management, is beginning to accept Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. They have been recycling Nos. 1 and 2 for years. They want to slowly get the word out that they’re accepting different types now due to the complexities involved in operations and marketing. Overseas markets such as China are interested in utilizing recycled plastics in goods they can sell their consumers.
Perhaps if we decrease the number of plastics we throw away, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can be reduced in size or even eliminated.
Check out the article (1st link) to see the list of items that could be accepted.
Colorado’s in the middle of a natural gas boom right now. Big international energy companies are flocking here to drill literally thousands of new wells. And the problem is that because our current law gives so much discretion to the Big Oil companies, they’re cutting corners and failing to clean up after themselves.
So the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission is considering new protections to make sure the Big Oil companies do things the right way — like cleaning up their toxic waste pits, protecting our wildlife, and moving rigs away from people’s homes.
Seems reasonable, right? Not according to the Big Oil companies. If you saw their ads yesterday, you’d think they’re all about to go broke. Amazing that they’re trying to sell that line of baloney when we all know that they’re making RECORD PROFITS right now.
Here’s where we come in:
The Commission is conducting public hearings to collect feedback about these proposed new protections. Not surprisingly, the Big Oil companies are packing the hearings with paid corporate pawns. So we need your help to make sure that the citizens of this state are being heard. Click on the following link to submit your comments for the Oil and Gas Commission online, and we’ll deliver them to the hearing in Denver next Monday, June 23:
If you can make it to the hearing on Monday, your presence would be enormously helpful. The Big Oil companies are seriously trying to drown us out, sowe need as many Coloradans as possible to show up at the public hearing on Monday, June 23rd, at the Paramount Theater at 1631 Glenarm in downtown Denver from 8 a.m. until noon.
By this point, President Bush’s announcement that he wants the oil shale development moratorium repealed, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and off-shore drilling opened up for oil and gas drilling should be well known. But is it well known for the correct reasons? Is the media focused on the true aspects of this issue or are they caught up once again in ridiculous tiff reporting?
Allow me to provide a short answer to the second question: the media has reported on the “he-said, she-said” side of the issue more than the details of it. No one should be surprised. After all, the AP seems to be more worried about how much quoting of one of their articles by blogs constitutes fair-use, even though it’s not in their purview to decide such things. Perhaps if they spent more time on actually reporting, bloggers wouldn’t have to quote the one or two salient facts they actually managed to write down and then do the hard work of providing the context the corporate media decided wasn’t sexy enough to include in the first place.
A longer answer to the questions raised above can be found below the fold.
Colorado Senators Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard gave differing solutions regarding our energy problems, as reported by a Denver Post article yesterday. As expected, Sen. Allard wants to drill more wells domestically. This is not a solution and there are many reasons why. Estimates of oil and gas deposits under lands the U.S. controls make up a very small percentage of world-wide deposits. If all the places Republicans wanted to drill were to somehow magically have fully functional systems, the price of oil and gas would hardly be affected.
Leases for drilling have been issued at an exponentially increasing rate in the past seven years, since the start of the Bush administration. Guess how many are operating today. If you guessed “Not all of them”, you’re absolutely correct. Lastly, if the U.S. were to increase their production of oil and gas, how do you think foreign countries and corporations would respond? They would decrease their production. Why? Increasing the supply would drive down the price. What incentive do current operators have to make less money? It sort of violates the whole premise of capitalism.
“It reminds me of a saying from the Reagan era: if it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it; and if it stops moving, subsidize it,” Allard said on the Senate floor.
Once again, I really wish Sen. Allard were running for reelection. I would love to see him try to defend his fealty to St. Ronnie and unregulated:
Karen Crummy has a rural voter poll article. It’s mostly ambiguous fluff. Something she spent some time on: a majority polled said McCain shares their values. Really: values? Rural voters support unauthorized torture as a value? Rural voters don’t support health care or education benefits for our troops? That’s a value worth holding? This value argument was torn apart after the 2004 election. It’s sad that the corporate media and ideologically driven pollsters still focus so much on it. A majority of adults in the U.S. support progressive policy positions. Due in no small part to the media’s narrative, those that vote don’t know they hold the same values as progressives across the board.
There is an important note about this poll: 682 people responded. Thousands of scientists’ work worldwide don’t add up to enough proof that humans are forcing the climate system. But 44% of respondents said McCain shares their values (versus 35% for Obama) and it’s written in stone that Obama can’t win the rural vote. That’s ridiculous.
Interestingly, that’s about the only subject that McCain does better than Obama. The economy, taxes, “being on your side” (WTF?!), and bringing change. McCain edged out Obama on the Iraq war also. And somehow, everybody comes to the conclusion that Obama is the one who needs to do better with rural voters. 4-2-1 (O-M-tied) and Obama is identified as needing to do something. Riiiight. Not only does McCain have work to do with rural voters, you’ll notice the poll didn’t do urban voters. McCain is going to get killed in the cities and the corporate stenographers keep trying to distract us with “maverick” talk. The “maverick” is going to be buried under a landslide in November.
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I just knew the headline from Chuck Plunkett would include a division within Democratic ranks (I would have bet on it, but nobody would put money down on a different headline). Sure enough, “Record crowd shows signs of rift”. No actual data was provided to support that headline, it was just something Chuck obviously “felt” at a gut level or something. No mention that they ran out of Obama ballots though. Isn’t that interesting.
I’m sure we’ll see similar headlines after the Republican Convention, right? I want Chuck and the Post to tell us what magic line is enough for Democrats and enough for Republicans. What kind of a lead would a Democratic nominee have to garner so that “rift” doesn’t show up in the headline? Similarly, what kind of a lead would a Republican nominee have to achieve? What measure is indicative of a rift, exactly?
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Terence Hunt is no better. There’s no alternative viewpoint in his article that should have read, “Saudis tell Bush who’s really in charge“. At the end, we get to read about Bush throwing a tantrum. Not at the Saudis that refuse to refine more oil (they’re not operating at full capacity, for the record), but at Democrats who want to withhold a $1.4 billion arms sale to a regime that supports terrorists while they put the squeeze on our economy. Somehow, it’s Democrats’ responsibility to force energy corporations to expand refineries. That’s funny, I thought Republicans were supposed to be against government involvement in areas that corporations can handle so much more efficiently. Another Republican lie laid bare.
Oil hit $122 per barrel in trading today. That’s double what it was one year ago. That’s more pressure exerted on families’ budgets.
Buyout billionaire Henry Kravis saved $96 million through tax loopholes in 2006 alone. That’s just one buyout billionaire, in one year, making use of one loophole (tax evasion scheme)! Just think how much these private equity crooks are costing taxpayers who are already battling financial hardships and home foreclosures. BraveNewFilms has a video about this and a request for the presidential candidates to close the buyout industry’s tax evasion scheme.
The Bush “administration” has lost 400 employee laptops that conduct delicate, often secret, diplomatic relations with foreign countries, an internal audit has found.
Ironically, the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program is administered by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS), which is responsible for the security of the department’s computer networks and sensitive equipment, including laptops, among other duties.
These are the same idiots who want to convince Americans they can responsibly handle access to information about the lives of Americans while demanding no Congressional oversight. HAHAHAHAHA! I don’t know what’s worse though: the above or the fact that Rep. Steny Hoyer and others are still willing to grant retroactive immunity to proven lawbreaking telecommunications corporations.
Analysts are reportedly torn over what an energy windfall profits tax would do. A few things here: corporations were given tax breaks by President Bush and Congress. Now that Democrats want the breaks to expire, what are Republicans and corporations calling the action? That’s correct: a tax increase. They’re spinning it like the tax was never before applied and woe to the poor corporations that are earning profits in the billions every quarter.
Re-applying fair taxes on the oil corporations could provide long-overdue dollars to renewable energy research and development. There needs to be a much larger focus on the development side of things. Technologies exist to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions – we need to help drive them into the marketplace more efficiently.
If oil corporations raise gas prices to regenerate their ridiculous profits, a majority of consumers will not blame the government. It would be clear at that point which entity was really responsible for excessive prices.
Pro-corporate analysts in the article bring up the fact that Google has a profit margin of 25% while oil corporations have profit margins closer to 10% and nobody is recommending a windfall profits tax on Google. Can you point to an example of how you or your family is paying more for goods because of Google? Oil corporations are directing more of their profits to buying back their stock, enriching stock holders. They should be directing that money to developing refining capacity. They’ve ignored refineries for decades and we’re paying the price for that short-sightedness at the pump.
Of course, the ultimate ideological argument has to be presented: government shouldn’t force movement of monies to R&D, the “free-market” should. The Heritage Foundation gets a nod in the article, with David Kreutzer asking if the government could take this capital and do a better job investing it than shareholders can. David and others aren’t willing to recognize that shareholders haven’t been able to make the correct decisions in the past generation. They’re only interested in further enriching themselves and the rest of us get to suffer for it: high gas prices, geopolitical instability and occupying the Middle East are only a few examples.
I, for one, have no more patience for these greedy vampires. The “free-market” has been unable to act in the interests of our society’s citizens. Taxes need to be reapplied to oil corporations and the richest Americans. They need to invest their fair share into our nation’s infrastructure and long-term interests.
A report by the Genographic Project details how a natural, localized, long-term drought 70,000 years ago might have nearly wiped out our species. For the curious, global CO2 concentration levels jumped between 280 and 300ppm in these dry years. Today’s concentration: 380ppm and increasing. Long-term droughts of yesteryear that were localized could become global unless we stop forcing the climate system with our greenhouse gas emissions.
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John McCain showed what an imbecile and hypocrite he is yesterday with the following:
John McCain tured still hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base.
He offered a pledge Thursday to New Orleans residents that their situation will not be forgotten and that such a botched disaster response will never happen again.
I’m not sure what having John McCain at a nearby Air Force base would have done for hurricane survivors. In any event, it doesn’t matter. Anybody that was actually paying attention the day Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast will remember that McCain and Bush were celebrating McCain’s birthday in Arizona. Neither Bush nor McCain cared one iota what misery Gulf Coast residents were going through. That’s because they’re elitist snobs. Bottom line: McCain is in no way fit to lead this nation to anything but more disaster.
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With oil flirting with $120 per barrel and gas threatening $4.00 per gallon, what kind of vehicles were sold last month? Smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles, that’s what. Truck and SUV sales suffered.
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Democrats are trying to tamp down public expectations for health care reform starting next year, even if they retake the White House this year. I have news for them: the health care crisis this country is facing is not going to go away. Too many people are being screwed by an immoral, profit-or-nothing system that only benefits executives. Too many people are not getting care. Senior Democrats are under the mistaken impression that they’re leading on this issue, when the reality couldn’t be more different. Senior Democrats love their cushy, guaranteed jobs (where they receive stellar health care paid for by taxpayers) first and foremost. What the people want gets considered well after their own petty wishes are granted. Exacerbating the problem is the perception that the Democratic nominees are guaranteeing major overhaul of the system. If that doesn’t occur quickly, I expect huge blowback. Something has got to give in this tug-of-war and I know the American people are tired of being shafted.
