Dr. Dobson of Focus on the Family has criticized Barack Obama for distorting the Bible’s teaching for his own political gain. Take a look at the article here:
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080624/ap_on_el_pr/rel_dobson_obama
It looks like Peru must have missed the memo that that we are experiencing a Global Warming phenomenon because they have just declared a state of emergency for record COLD.
Peru President Alan Garcia enacted a legislative decree to declare a 60-day state of emergency in 11 of Peru’s 24 departments Thursday as temperatures in the Andes region continue to drop dramatically and claim the lives of residents.
As Peru remains in the grip of intense cold — meteorologists have registered temperatures dipping to -22°C, or 7.60 F — the cold weather death toll continues to rise. Sixty-one children have died since April 13.
And, according to Peru’s Health Ministry, more than 50,000 suffer from acute respiratory tract infections and 4,851 from pneumonia.
“Those who are most at risk live in the high Andean regions (3.000 metres or more above sea level) where, since April 15, we have registered the pneumonia-related deaths of 61 children,” Cergio Espejo, a Health Ministry staff responsible for the monitoring of respiratory diseases, told daily Peru21.
Hat Tip Gateway Pundit
Take a look at this and tell me this isn’t the US Government helping subsidize Europe’s self imposed high oil prices.
The scam — as Shadegg and others call it — is known as “splash and dash.” It stems from an existing $1 subsidy for every gallon of biodiesel fuel blended with regular diesel in the United States.
Here’s how it works:
Biodiesel is produced abroad using South American sugar cane or Asian palm oil and shipped to the United States, where it’s blended with just a “splash” of regular diesel.
A typical tanker-load of about 9 million gallons of biodiesel requires just 9,000 gallons of American diesel to make it qualify for the subsidy. But every gallon in the shipment garners a buck. The ship then makes a “dash” for Europe, where its fuel is sold below market rates.
That means each tanker-load that makes the dash nets importers about $9 million dollars in tax credits from the IRS. Lawmakers have estimated its cost to Americans at tens — or even hundreds — of millions each year.
And while Congress and the National Biodiesel Board say they know the loophole is being exploited — as America is exporting much more biofuel than it’s producing — they’ve been unable to identify the guilty companies.
“Ultimately when you dig down it gets to the point that you would have to have access to IRS information,” said Manning Feraci, vice president of federal affairs at the National Biodiesel Board. “Taxpayer information is confidential, so we can’t have access to it.”
Luckily, Europe is mad about this too because it is hurting European biofuel producers and they demanding that the US stop this subsidy. Rep. John Shadeg, R-AZ is leading the charge to close this loophole. Hopefully he succeeds because the thought of us subsidizing another countries energy when our prices are outrageously high is completely asinine.
Once again, the weekend is here and to got with it, a peaceful picture. This one was taken at Blarney Castle in Ireland. Beautiful country with some awesome people.
Blarney Castle, Ireland
Three airlines are partnering up with the Algal Biomass Organization to help develop algae based fuels.
In related news, the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) said Thursday that three airlines have joined the industry group.
The airlines–Air New Zealand, Continental, and Virgin Atlantic Airways–join biofuel technology developer UOP and existing member Boeing, which co-chairs the ABO.
There are a growing number of algae-to-energy ventures and projects. The advantage that algae has over other feedstocks is that farms won’t compete for existing crop land and yields can be higher.
Shell is looking into a new process of getting biofuel from marine algae. Take a look at some of the benefits we could expect from this process (my emphasis).
“We have good confidence that it’s very viable,” said Ed Shonsey, chief executive officer of HR Biopetroleum, a company that is partnering with Shell on the project. That includes believing the processes can eventually produce oil for $30 to $50 a barrel.
“It’s looking extremely good.”
The marine algae gets a much better yield than many plants. Where the highest producing oil palm farmers get 600 gallons an acre per year, algae can produce 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per acre annually, Shonsey said.
Moreover, algae proponents note it has the attractive environmental side effect of being able to absorb carbon dioxide waste from industrial facilities such as power plants. Thus it’s hoped the production of biodiesel and other fuels from algae could reduce global-warming emissions if paired with a nearby power plant.
“That’s the exciting thing about algae and why everyone is so interested,” Shonsey said. “It’s ideal for Hawai’i because no fresh water is required, no ag land is required and it cleans up the environment.”
$30 to $50 a barrel? None of our scarce freshwater required? Doesn’t use up any agricultural land? Sounds like a pretty good idea.
However, if the US was ever to switch over totally to this type fuel to replace oil, it would need a whole lot of space. If you put our yearly consumption of oil at 7.6 billion barrels/year, we would need roughly 40,000,000 acres of algae to produce this amount. Just to give you an idea, that’s a little bit smaller than the state of Missouri.
Now there are many ways that you could fix this problem of land. One way would be to just build up rather than out. Make algae farm skyscrapers that are next to power plants and then just pump the CO2 into the building. Save land and energy companies can make a profit on their “waste.”
Another thing you have to take into account is that those 40 million acres would be enough to provide us with ALL of our oil needs. If we just used smaller amounts, than we wouldn’t need that much land.
It’s about time that McCain gave me something to look forward if he wins the presidency.
Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds “to make clean coal a reality,” measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
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“Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years,” he said. “And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone.”
Even so, he said he would set the country on a course to build 45 new ones by 2030, with a longer-term goal of adding another 55 in the future.
“We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field,” he conceded.
It seems that Obama really doesn’t know what he wants to do about the whole Iraq situation. To the American public, he is sending the signal that he will get us out of Iraq. However, while he is telling us that, he is telling the Iraqi’s that he will stay there until the mission is completed. Mixed signals? I think so.
You can read more here:
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/12141
If you remember, it came out about a year ago that Gore’s house in fact used 20x more energy than the average household. This fact cannot be debated because even the all knowing snopes.com found that this claim was true. Now this fact in itself is worthy enough to be brought up every year in order to celebrate the hypocrisy it represents. However, this is not the reason I bring up this year old fact; the reason is that this saga gets so much better.
During this past year, Gore has worked to try to make his home more energy efficient in order to lesson some of the outright hypocrisy in his life. Did he succeed in his mission, you ask? Nope. He failed miserably. The end results of his efforts was a house that consumed 10% more energy on average than previously.
In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.
“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”
In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.
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After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.
Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Stories like this make me laugh and laughing is good, right? They say it adds years to your life, years that Gore said aren’t going to be there due to global warming. Know what I say to that? Utter BS. Judging by the way he is living, he doesn’t seem too worried. I think I am going to follow Gore’s example (not his message).
Hat Tip Right Wing News
Here is McCain’s latest global warming ad.
Sometimes I wonder if Gore endorsed the wrong person.
Hat tip New York Times.
