Follow the money

If Miles O'Brien and CNN want to do a real service for America they should examine whether or not organizations like the National Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, and Greenpeace receive money from oil-producing nations. They should examine whether or not countries that own their oil resources like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia, support the many US-based environmental organizations that continue to prevent oil exploration and development in the United States. It is to the advantage of such nations to prevent exploration in our country so they can continue to rack in the money from high oil prices. As the saying goes; follow the money. If America wants to be independent of foreign oil it must drill and refine more of its own oil, develop alternatives for the second half this century, and use coal and atomic energy for our electric power plants.

Broken Journalism

CNN reporter Miles O'Brien continued his Broken Government series tonight with a stunning analysis of the Bush Administration's opposition to the mainstream view of global warming and his network's complete acceptance of the warming theory despite the strength of the opposing arguments. It is clear from O'Brien's perspective that any opposition to global warming is fanned by the oil and gas companies and anyone who disagrees is part of the problem rather than part of the solution. In this episode he clearly places the blame for America's reluctance to embrace the theory on President Bush and Vice President Cheney and their "friends" in the oil industry. He trumpets Nasa's Jim Hansen's 20-yeaar old declaration that the ice pack is melting, but fails to note that currently it is thickening. He accepts the idea that the Earth's temperature is increasing, but ignores that currently it is dropping. He lauds Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, despite the fact that an English Judge has ruled that any showing of the film must be accompanied by a correction of the errors in the film presented as truth when they are merely conjecture and factually incorrect. He accuses the Bush Administration of trying to silence government scientists who believe global warming theory as if not believing in warming was itself an unforgivable offense. O'Brien is no better than those he criticizes. His mind is totally closed to any idea opposing global warming. It would not surprise me if he used Al Gore's "green" light bulbs. You know the ones that have mercury in them. It also wouldn't surprise me if he buys "carbon credits." If Bush and Cheney are tools of the oil industry, then certainly O'Brien and CNN are tools of the environmental movement. A movement whose goal is to make all the people of the world equally poor, and to prevent the forward movement of the human race. Wake up America or you'll be limited to reading in daylight.

On Doing it Over

There is such clamor for a do-over in the Florida and Michigan primaries because the Democratic race is closer and more vitriolic than anyone anticipated, and it is advantageous for the Republicans to encourage Democratic cannibalism. However, so much of this is inside baseball and for most voters it is hard to care as much as the candidates and the political machinery. In a previous post I proposed that in the spirit of bi-partisanship John McCain should also engage in do-over primary vote in Florida and Michigan so that disenfranchised Republicans could have another opportunity to be heard. I doubt that Florida Governor Charlie Crist would be as supportive if McCain would also be required to participate. The point is: Do-Overs are for the losers. I know this because the loser always wants a do-over. Give it up Florida. Give it up Michigan. Give it up Hilary. Florida and Michigan are history and rules of the game have been set. There is no crying in baseball and there are no do-overs in politics.

Let's Have A Do-over

Hey I'm all for that. And in the spirit of bi-partisanship; reaching across the aisle; and extending the hand of cooperation and friendship, I think John McCain should join hands with his Democratic brethren and take part in the do over of Florida and Michigan. Instead of splitting the vote in the Solomonian way, Republican voters in those states should get to vote again, just like their Democratic counterparts. I've heard from many Republicans that wish they had a chance to vote again. Spitting the delegate count is meaningless in a one-man race, so McCain should give Republicans a chance to have their voices heard, again. Obama is reluctant, Hilary is truculently in support, and the Democratic Party is just ducking for cover. Despite all the talk about Obama's big lead, which is about 80 delegates, there are still seven times as many to be claimed by the last primary. A do-over would create great excitement, especially if John McCain would join in and let the voices of disenfranchised Republicans be heard. He would truly live up to his reputation as a Maverick who is not afraid to step out and endure the criticism of his political allies. It may also convince both party's that the American voter would like a primary season that is shorter in duration and closer to the upcoming election. If we're going to have a primary season let it be that. Don't let is be like a buying Christmas gifts in July.

The Presidential Charade

I wish that supporters that fill the halls when a candidate speaks would shut up. All the signs, the phony yelling, and the trumped up applause generated by the prompts and cue cards of handlers in the audience is an attempt to convince the TV audience that the candidate is popular and an orator of grand style, when in fact these speeches are filled with crafted and clichéd aphorisms that would not generate such adoration, applause and cheering without the cues and prompts. McCain does it, Obama does it and Clinton does it. It only fools the especially inattentive. It is meant to convey an impression to fool the people watching. When you watch these candidates make these speeches remember: They are talking to a friendly audience of hand-picked supporters who are all coached to make lots of noise, applaud often and wave signs in a show of support that is nothing but stagecraft designed to fool you. These techniques, which include audience motivators, electronic cue signs and other devices, are used throughout the television industry for live and recorded shows to create the impression the producers want to achieve. In the case of candidates the desired effect is to convince you to vote for them. When you finally get into that voting booth don't vote on the loudest applause, the most beautiful signs, or the crafted words of professional writers, or they will have fooled you again.

Global Warming Under Fire

Whether your one who wishes to conserve energy and live green, an energy consumer of the kind the world has never seen, or like most of us, somewhere in the middle, you need to know that this has been the coldest winter in a long time, the ice sheets are thickening at both poles and the world-wide temp average is falling. Global Warming or Cooling, if you prefer, is a natural change (evolution) in weather patterns overtime. The very same people who want to preserve the environment in its current form, are the same people who say it is impossible to not believe in evolution. In a recent interview in the University of New York's Stony Brook Alumni Magazine, Professor Richard Leakey, Son of the famous Dr. Richard Leaky said he laments the change (evolution) in the environment of Africa, but believes that people who doubt the Theory of (change) Evolution are Antediluvian relics. So let me get this: The evolution of man from a microbe to Homo Sapien Sapien is okay, but the changing of the environment from evolving weather patterns must be prevented. Evolution is undeniable, but global warming must be stopped. During the past few weeks the warming theory has been under considerable attack from a wide variety of angles. One is the evolving carbon credit market, which is designed to penalize you for exhaling, and put what amounts to a tariff, fee or tax on carbon dioxide. An extremely useful gas, without which there could be no life on earth. This odorless, colorless gas, which comprises a mere 3.9-percent of our atmosphere, is an essential by-product of breathing, vital to respiration in animals and plants and, a vital component in the process of photosynthesis where it is absorbed from the atmosphere by green plants and converted to oxygen. It is the perfect tool in the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals. Aside from the living and breathing process of plants and animals, volcanoes are the biggest producers of carbon dioxide. Just by coincidence the part of the world where the carbon dioxide concentration is measured in the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in the vicinity of one of the most active volcano areas on the planet. In addition to its usefulness as an atmospheric gas it also has a variety of industrial uses that are too numerous to mention. For a more complete picture of carbon dioxide's uses please check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide. If we permit the carbon credit hustlers or the government to tax carbon dioxide things that we now take for granted will become much more expensive and the quality of life as we know it will be changed forever.

The Economy and Hilary Clinton

Despite the headline this discussion is really two separate, but related topics. One is the economy and the other is the Hilary write-off crowd predicting her doom on Tuesday. By my modest counting skills Clinton and Obama are separated by a mere 100 delegates depending on who's doing the counting. There are just under 2,000 additional delegates to garner, and with the Democrat's proportional voting rules the delegate count is not likely to swing big in one direction or the other unless the margins of victory are huge on Super Tuesday II. That makes a showdown at the convention unavoidable unless Clinton or Obama bow out. I have predicted, of course, that if that takes place Obama will take the hit. On the economy. We have not had a negative growth rate for the entire seven years of the Bush Presidency and there are no indicators that our economy will meet the definition of recession by the time he leaves office. So what then is this talk of recession? Yea, we're mad about the rising gas and food prices, but we've been so busy spending like hell, we didn't notice the change until it was too late. Well, consider this: We refuse to exploit and use our own supplies of oil. We take the most useful vegetable we grow and convert it into an ersatz replacement for fuel, and then complain the food and fuel prices are raising. We take our two most important survival items and make both more expensive at their own expense. We let some junk science and good public relations send us down the primrose path, while our greatest source of energy is orphaned for a second-rate, more expensive alternative, which results in driving up the prices of many types of the food and fuel required for a modern society, and is perhaps more harmful to the atmosphere than oil. Without getting into a long-winded discussion of why corn will not replace oil for at least another 50 years, our willingness to convert corn into fuel while people are starving doesn't seem like the policy of an enlightened people. It will be a lot easier for people to pick a President in November than it will be to solve our food and fuel inflation problem.