Blatant Reality

Over the summer, Exxon Mobil announced plans to invest $600 million in research and development of algae based biofuels, partially through a partnership with Synthetic Genomics. This past week, Exxon announced that the research had already begun and it was progressing at ‘full speed’.

Just six months after ExxonMobil agreed to invest US$600 million (Dh2.2 billion) in a six-year project to develop biofuel from microscopic plants, teams of researchers are performing their first experiments.

The project represents a radical departure for the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, which until last year had resisted calls from shareholders to embrace low-carbon energy.

But now the assembled biologists and chemists at ExxonMobil and its partner, Synthetic Genomics, are off to a raring start.

“We’re at full speed right now,” Dr Emil Jacobs, the vice president for research and development at ExxonMobil, said this week while attending the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. “The good news is we’re no longer writing agreements. We’re doing real work.

“I think we need a very aggressive programme and to advance this as fast as we can,” he said.

This is great news because it sends a positive signal to the algae biofuel industry that at least one major energy provider is willing to front major dollars towards research.

However, there is one thing that I found amusing in the article which dealt with where Exxon was looking to place the production fields. One region was the Gulf Coast area but the other wasn’t exactly home turf.

The principal environmental requirements are a warm, sunny location where the temperature fluctuates minimally. A source of carbon dioxide to enrich the algal growth medium is also needed, providing the option to site algal ponds or bio-reactors next to power plants or other large industrial installations equipped with carbon-capture technology. The US Gulf Coast is a prime candidate for algal biofuel projects. Locations along the Arabian Gulf coast are also appealing.

“The Middle East would be an option that would certainly be on our shortlist,” Dr Jacobs said.

Yep, they are also looking to place production in the Middle East. Given, the climate would be suitable but one of the great things about algae is that it could offer the United States the option to produce a lot of our fuel within our own borders, helping to increase our energy security.

How ironic would it be if we ended our reliance on petroleum from the Middle East only to start importing algae biofuel produced in the very same region? The energy security issues would theoretically be the same with instability in the region potentially sending prices soaring. Just change OPEC to OAEC and we could have the very same problems in the future as we have today.

The good news is that Exxon first has to research and develop a successful way to commercially produce algae biofuels before we will have to worry where our algae biofuel originates. By the time that happens, this issue could be moot.

Seems like Obama doesn’t want to take a position on the bombing of an al Qaeda agent in Syria. Going off his previous statements of supporting taking out targets in Pakistan, it should seem like he would support this recent action. Of course, with a week before the election, we aren’t going to see him take a potentially controversial stand.
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The Weekly Standard has more on this here.

Barack Obama seems to be pissing off everyone in the world that he has pledged to meet with without “preconditions.” This morning, the Palestinians voiced their anger over Barack’s stance on Jerusalem being strictly an Israeli capital and now Iran believes that Obama’s ‘elimination’ threat is ‘unacceptable.’ (My emphasis)

Iran’s foreign ministry on Thursday slammed US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s pledge to work to “eliminate” the threat posed by Tehran as “unacceptable” and biased.

 

“It is undeniable that the nature of the Iranian nuclear programme is peaceful,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

 

“These comments are certainly one-sided and unreal, and are completely contrary to the nature of the Iranian peaceful nuclear programme and thus unacceptable,” he added.

 

Obama vowed on Wednesday that he would work to “eliminate” the threat posed by Iran to world security.

 

“The danger from Iran is grave and real and my goal will be to eliminate this threat,” he told the influential pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Council (AIPAC).

Man, I sure hope Barack wasn’t expecting the election to get any easier now that he is the presumptive nominee.

Now the Palestinians are outraged at Barack Obama’s promise that Jerusalem must remain solely in Israeli hands. (My emphasis)

President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the U.S. presidential candidate’s pledge to American Jewish leaders and he repeated his demand for a Palestinian state with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital.

 

“This statement is totally rejected,” Abbas told reporters in the West Bank administrative centre of Ramallah.

 

“The whole world knows that East Jerusalem, holy Jerusalem, was occupied in 1967 and we will not accept a Palestinian state without having Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.”

 

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said Palestinian negotiators engaged in U.S.-sponsored peace talks would continue to insist on securing East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital. He said of Obama: “He has closed all doors to peace.”

Wow, “all doors of peace.” And people think Bush hasn’t done enough to end the violence between Israel and Palestine. At least he didn’t close “all doors to peace” before he was even elected president.

As Gateway Pundit point out, Amnesty International seems to take some unnecessarily hard punches at the United States while completely avoiding seemingly more pressing issues.

However, that isn’t the only thing they seem to get wrong. Take a look at their profiles for Israel, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority. See anything missing? Yep, it seems that Amnesty International fails to leave out anything having to do with terrorism.

Groups such as Hamas, Fatah, or Hezbullah are just considered “armed groups,” not terrorist groups. And these groups don’t commit murder, they just commit “unlawful killings.” I hate all this PC talk.

Also, in the Israel profile, they list off supposed human rights abuse after abuse without ever discussing why Israel has had to take those security measures. I’m not saying that everything they have done is right but Israel is in a very special situation where it is surrounded by enemies who have almost all vowed to push it into the sea. Combine that with the fact that you have a domestic populace (Palestine) that also wants to see this happen and you have a pretty “dire” situation.

Then again, when you think about it, Amnesty International is a pretty worthless group. All the countries that have the worse human rights violations are not even going to listen to what Amnesty’s report says. Therefore, the only thing Amnesty can do is be critical of countries like the United States or Great Britain whose populaces will listen and make something get done for these mostly minor (in comparison) issues.

Obama really needs to keep a pocket dictionary so when he drops words like “preconditions” he knows what they mean. Now, Obama is backpedaling about his whole meeting countries like Iran “without preconditions.” It seems that President Ahmadinejad doesn’t meet the “conditions” to get a meeting.

Democrat Barack Obama underscored his willingness to talk to leaders of countries like Iran that are considered U.S. adversaries but said on Monday that does not necessarily mean an audience with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

Obama, the Democratic Party front-runner vying to face Republican Sen. John McCain in the November race for the White House, has said he was willing to meet with leaders of countries such as Iran, Syria, Cuba and Venezuela without preconditions.

 

McCain has criticized that view, saying that sitting down with someone like Ahmadinejad would give the Iranian president a spotlight and send the wrong signal to U.S. allies such as Israel.

 

Iran does not recognize Israel’s existence and Ahmadinejad has called the country a “stinking corpse.”

Oh Obama, you really make it too easy for us.

Words do not describe how shocked and angry I am at Jimmy Carter. Honestly, why in the world would he decide to tell the world that Israel has 150 nuclear devices?

Israel has 150 nuclear weapons in its arsenal, former President Jimmy Carter said yesterday, while arguing that the US should talk directly to Iran to persuade it to drop its nuclear ambitions.

 

His remark, made at the Hay-on-Wye festival which promotes current affairs books and literature, is startling because Israel has never admitted having nuclear weapons, let alone how many, although the world assumes their existence. Nor do US officials deviate in public from that Israeli line. Carter, who has immersed himself since his presidency in Israeli-Palestinian relations, was highly critical of Israeli settlers on the West Bank, and of Israel’s refusal to talk to elected officials of the Islamic party Hamas, although he said that Israel’s security was his prime concern.

If I was Israel right now I would be very angry at Carter. I mean, the world basically knew that they had nukes with every one of those “Nuclear Capable Countries” maps listing Israel but to claim the exact amount they have is crazy.

Also, if that information was gained when he was president, isn’t it illegal for him to share it with anyone? Wouldn’t it be considered treason to share state secrets with the world? Even if it isn’t treason since its not exactly our secret, shouldn’t there be some consequences?

Carter has been living in a world where he thinks that being a former president makes him immune from the consequences. From openly meeting with terrorists to making this announcement, it’s time for something to be done.

What do you folks think?

Hat Tip Gateway Pundit

According to Ali Eteraz, It seems that Sharia Law has basically been established in Pakistan’s North Western Frontier Province. And guess what? The new PPP majority government is supporting this.

And people thought Musharraf was bad. At least he didn’t appease the terrorists.

Hat Tip Gateway Pundit

Zombietime has some photos taken from this past weekend of a Pro-Palestinian Festival that “celebrated” Israel’s 60 year anniversary. Interesting photos with interesting commentary. Check it out.

The world really doesn’t give Iran’s president, Ahmadinejad, enough credit. I mean, what other president has come up with a revolutionary new economic principle that should help alleviate the rising world commodity prices. This new economic principle, which I have termed “martyrnomics,” involves the act of one sacrificing himself for a religious purpose. Less people means less demand which means lower prices! Brilliant!

Read about the story here at Gateway Pundit.