
Cute, it was very cute. Definitely a fell good movie.
Where Lies Go To Die
Senator Orrin Hatch; "I want to get into that. In other words, we're talking about Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. It's fair to say that they're not considered part of America's $22 billion of proven reserves". Hofmeister; Not at all. Hatch; "No, but experts agree that there's between 800 billion to almost 2 trillion barrels of oil that could be recoverable there, and that's good oil, isn't it?" Hofmeister; "That's correct." Hatch; "It could be recovered at somewhere between $30 and $40 a barrel?" Hofmeister; "I think those costs are probably a bit dated now, based upon what we've seen in the inflation…" Hatch; "Well, somewhere in that area." Hofmeister; "I don't know what the exact cost would be, but you know, if there is more supply, I think inflation in the oil industry would be cracked. And we are facing severe inflation because of the limited amount of supply against the demand." Hatch; "I guess what I'm saying though, is that if we started to develop the oil shale in those three states we could do it within this framework of over $100 a barrel and make a profit." Hofmeister; "I believe we could." Hatch; "And we could help our country alleviate its oil pressures?" Hofmeister; "Yes." Hatch; "But they're stopping us from doing that right here, as we sit here. We just had hearing last week where Democrats had stopped the ability to do that, in at least Colorado." Hofmeister; "Well, as I said in my opening statement, I think the public policy constraints on the supply side in this country are a disservice to the American consumer."
On May 21, 2008 the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee called the top executives from the petroleum industry for an inquisition to get the oil companies to confess price gouging. The executives called were Robert Malone, Chairman and President of BP America Inc.; John Hofmeister, President, Shell Oil Company; Peter Robinson, Vice Chairman of the Board, Chevron Corporation; John Lowe, Executive Vice President, Conoco Philips Company; and Stephen Simon, Senior Vice President, Exxon Mobil Corporation. The entire proceeding was done in the hopes of publicly shaming the oil companies, and improving the image of a rather unpopular Democratic congress, whose approval rating is more dismal than The U.S. Presidents'. The Judiciary Committee however was not prepared for the facts and figures given to them by the summoned executives. At one point during the proceedings, John Lowe described the small part that American oil companies play in the global petroleum market. John Lowe; "I cannot overemphasize the access issue. Access to resources is severely restricted in the United States and abroad, and the American oil industry must compete with national oil companies who are often much larger and have the support of their governments. We can only compete directly for 7 percent of the world's available reserves while about 75 percent is completely controlled by national oil companies and is not accessible." Stephen Simon also expounded on the minute role American oil companies play on the world market. Stephen Simon; "Exxon Mobil is the largest U.S. oil and gas company, but we account for only 2 percent of global energy production, only 3 percent of global oil production, only 6 percent of global refining capacity, and only one percent of global petroleum reserves. With respect to petroleum reserves, we rank 14th. Government-owned national oil companies dominate the top spots. For an American company to succeed in this competitive landscape and go head to head with huge government-backed national oil companies, it needs financial strength and scale to execute massive complex energy projects requiring enormous long-term investments. To simply maintain our current operations and make needed capital investments, Exxon Mobil spends nearly $1 billion each day. When the inevitable questioning began about price gouging at the pump, the senate committee members were a little less than enthused when the oil executives cited that on average 15% of the cost consumers pay at the pump goes to taxes, while only 4% goes to the oil companies as profit. These figures were repeated many times during the course of the hearing. Oddly not one Democratic senator offered to lower the taxes on gas to help consumers. Another point that was repeatedly brought up was Congress's responsibility for restricting oil exploration within the United States. John Hofmeister;
"While all oil-importing nations buy oil at global prices, some, notably India and China, subsidize the cost of oil products to their nation's consumers, feeding the demand for more oil despite record prices. They do this to speed economic growth and to ensure a competitive advantage relative to other nations. Meanwhile, in the United States, access to our own oil and gas resources has been limited for the last 30 years, prohibiting companies such as Shell from exploring and developing resources for the benefit of the American people."
Senator Sessions; "I agree, it is not a free market." Currently in the United States 62% of all on-shore federal lands are restricted from oil and gas development, with another 92% of those restrictions applying to all federal lands. There also exist an outer shelf moratorium on the Atlantic Ocean, an outer continental shelf moratorium for the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, a congressional ban for specific areas of the Rock Mountains, and Alaska for on-shore oil and gas development, there even exists a congressional ban on an analysis of the resource potential for the Pacific, Atlantic, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico, according to the Department of the Interior. In 2004 a report done by the Argonne National Laboratory identified some 40 specific federal policies meant to limit, delay, halt or restrict natural gas projects. At the time these policies were set in motion oil was selling in the single digits, and not the triple digits that oil is currently selling at. These policies were intended to force U.S. companies to look over seas for new deposits; as a result U.S. oil production has fallen to the point that nearly 60% of daily consumption comes from foreign countries. In essence Congress holds the power to reverse some, if not all these policies, and allow oil companies to explore for new oil deposits and lower prices at the pump.
"Science has always progressed on the basis of observations, experiments, and thoughts published by individual scientist and sometimes pairs or small groups of scientific co-workers," remarked Professor Robinson on his thoughts about the scientific process. "A few of these published articles are especially valuable; a greater number, while not remarkable, provide relative mundane studies that add to the infrastructure of science; many are not useful at all; and some are completely wrong. As individual scientist read these articles, they use their own wisdom, knowledge, and judgment to separate new information that they find valuable from information that they find of no use," continues Prof. Robinson, "Always, scientific progress is a result of a large number of individual decisions that trend in a specific direction." Please note, nowhere in the previous statement did you hear panic, hysteria, or any prophecies of ecological doom. To me, this is how science should work, approaching the problem with calm, rationale thought, and observation, not borderline pandemonium. Unfortunately the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a department of the United Nations doesn't follow this process. This branch of the U.N. which is composed of about 600 scientists also has citied that many of its goals are; to eliminate HIV/AIDS, achieve universal primary education, reduce child deaths, eradicate hunger and poverty, and promote equal rights among genders. Of the 600 scientist a select few meet in committee, going over data pertaining to weather patterns, and future weather predictions, taking what's useful and discarding what doesn't fit their agenda, then presenting it to the rest of the IPCC as "settled science". "In the present case in which United Nations apparatchicks have proclaimed that human activity is catastrophically warming the planet, the human cost of error is so great than many other scientists have become motivated to individually examine the evidence. Now, a total of more than 9,000 Americans with Ph.Ds in science and therefore professional educational credentials that, on average, equal or surpass the United Nations 600-and a total of more than 31,000 Americans with at least B.S. degrees in science have signed a petition to the U.S. government specifically rejecting the United Nations claim that human use of hydrocarbon energy is injuring the climate," stated Prof. Robinson. And of Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth", Prof. Robinson comments that "Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's movie contains many very serious incorrect claims which no informed, honest scientist could endorse." Even the late Professor Frederick Seitz the last president of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and who also won the National Medal of Science had this to so about Global Warming "Research data on climate change do not show that human use of hydrocarbons is harmful. To the contrary, there is good evidence that increased atmospheric carbon dioxide is environmentally helpful." So until these climate change scientist can prove to the rest of the world, with hard irrefutable evidence linking human activity to Global Warming, I will continue to view this as I always have, a very clever scam by the U.N. to appropriate more money, and exert more control over world governments. I'm sure there are some bleeding-heart types who will read this and ask, "What's wrong with giving more money to the IPCC? The U.N. is trying to help third world nations to catch up with the rest of the developed world. What's wrong with having a heart?" Let me just say that there is nothing wrong with helping people who don't have a little more, and there's nothing wrong with having a heart. However, it's those people who have a heart and give, and give, with no accountability expected from those countries whose people they are trying to help that I have a problem with. To me that kind of attitude represents naive thinking at its worst. These are the same people who's Hands Across America and songs like We Are the World raised millions upon millions of dollars….and accomplished absolutely nothing. Except perhaps to make those people who have a heart feel a little better about themselves. As for the food those millions of dollars purchased? Very little actually went to those who needed it most, but instead went the militias and military units of those feminine stricken countries. What little food did reach those poor people was just barely enough to keep them alive for a short while. All that effort and all that was accomplished was a meager stay of execution. My point is that, so long as you have third world countries governed by despot rulers, military juntas, or influenced by drug cartels, then all the money in the world will not make a difference. And yet the United Nations is pushing for a Global Warming tax to help fund the IPCC's efforts to modernize underdeveloped nations. Apparently the money the U.N. gets through its membership dues is not enough to fund the IPCC's endeavors. So instead of asking its' members for more money, they create an artificial crisis, with Al Gore as an able bodied spokesperson.
As you can tell from my earlier posts I'm not what you'd call a true believer on the subject of Global Warming. It's not that I don't believe we can be doing things better or cleaner, we can and we have. Nor do I consider myself close-minded on the subject. I'm just having a difficult time subscribing to a hypothesis that smacks of a scare tactic. I would be willing to except that Human activity is a direct result of Global Warming if these climate scientist could provide hard data, but yet all I've ever heard are some rather weak theories, or how certain they are in percentages. Despite what the media has told us, Global Warming caused by Human activity IS NOT a universally accepted fact. Right now a petition is being signed by scientists around the world in protest to what they believe to be political interference in science to push a political agenda. This petition, which was started by Professor Art Robinson, a chemistry researcher and co-founder of the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine reads as follows; "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth." As of this writing over 31,000 scientists have signed this petition, with more signing everyday.
More nuclear reactors, so this is the battle cry of Sen. John McCain's energy policy? On Wednesday Sen. McCain explained how he would like to see 45 new nuclear reactors built by 2030 in an effort to become more energy independent. Sen. McCain cited that the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating in America only produce 20% of that nation's electrical need, and that if elected would spend 2 billion dollars a year in federal funds "to make clean coal a reality." McCain also talked about offshore drilling to obtain more oil. I'm all for building more reactors, but that's not an immediate solution. If Americans are angered at seeing 4$ at the pump, can you imagine what prices will be like by 2030. Also I can't help but feel a little skepticism when Politian's talk about severing Americas dependence on foreign oil. American Politian's have been talking about doing this since the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970's. So before you go to the voting booth this November and vote lock-step with the same political party your parents and grandparents did, please bear in mind that Politian's will do or say anything to get elected.
On Monday European scientist announced the discovery of three Super Earth type planets. Located some 42-lightyears from Earth, in the constellations Doradus and Pictor, these worlds orbit a sun that is less massive than our own. "Does every single star harbor planets and, if yes, how many," commented Michel Mayor from Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know the answer but we are making huge progress towards it," Mayor stated. Each of the three planets, one larger in scale than the next is estimated to be 4.2 times larger than Earth, the other two are 6.7, and 9.4 times as massive. Each planet also orbits its star at different speeds. One planet takes only four days to complete one orbit as opposed to Earth taking 365 days! The second planet takes only three days, and the third twenty days. Mayor and his fellow scientist use what's called a High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS for short to locate planets. This telescope is located at the La Silla observatory in Chile. The HARPS telescope uses spectrographic measurements, in other words as a planet or planets orbit a star the mass of those worlds causes the star to wobble, and this movement is what the HARPS telescope measures. So far more than 270 worlds have been discovered using this method. The majority of these worlds are estimated to be the size of Jupiter or Saturn.
We are going to take part in the Olympics games hosted by a communist nation. I see some sparse protest but the media will try to cover it up. It is bad enough that we trade with China. Nevertheless, to allow this open travesty of human rights to continue shows exactly where this country is heading, this is what happens when you put your faith into a democratic system. Whoever controls the masses controls you. Let us break the control here at home by boycotting the Olympics, any sponsors and news coverage. If this show of communist power is ignored maybe, the silence will say what the many victims of this dictatorship cannot say.
In a move that some in Italy's government considers controversial, military units are being used in Italian cities to help police in troubled areas. "There is a strong call from citizens for better control of the streets, for improved safety," commented Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa. "My hope is that particularly in the evening, in the cities, these troops can ensure greater safety," La Russa continues to remark. If I didn't know better, I would've thought they were describing East L. A. instead of Italy. The plan consists of a six month trial period to be renewed afterwards if necessary. Opposition to this plan comes from the Democratic wing of the government. Mr. La Russa defended his decision by saying "Very often just seeing a [soldier's] uniform can be sufficient as prevention. I don't see what the problem is." Far be it for me to burst Mr. La Russas' bubble, but that kind of thinking just doesn't work, in fact I don't think it ever has. It didn't work for America in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and now Iraq. Frankly I'm rather surprised that violence exist in Italy to such a degree that it requires the intervention of military units to protect the populace from itself.
Awesome, absolutely awesome! Good story line, believable acting, and spectacular fight scenes. Edward Nortens' portrayal of Bruce Banner was right on the money. Tim Roths' character made for a perfect nemesis, and Liv Tyler, what can I say, she's beautiful. William Hurts' character was well done, and I especially like how they've tied in Ironman to this film with the cameo appearance of Robert Downey Jrs' character Tony Stark. I've got a feeling that a live action Marvel 2-in-1 might be in the works. But the best thing I like about this movie is that they didn't try to make it look like it came out of a comic book, like that forgettable Hulk film that director Ang Lee made a few years ago. I have to say this film is on an even par with Ironman, definitely worth the price of admission!
Recently in Canada an evangelical pastor by the name of Stephen Boisson was taken to court and ordered to for all intents and purposes to renounce his faith, and to never again take a moral stand against homosexuality. On top of this incredible court order pastor Boisson was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution for " damages for pain and suffering" caused by stating his beliefs. In 2002 Boisson had wrote a letter to the editor of a local news paper describing his views on homosexuality as "wicked". "Children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights," the letter reads. It's funny isn't? For years gays and lesbians have struggled to have their voices heard, and when they finally achieve it, they censor anyone else trying to make their views heard, simply because their point of view happens to run contrary to theirs. It's just another example of hypocrisy. To me the whole gay- lesbian concept is a humorous study in hypocrisy. How does a man look at another man's hairy, smelly buttocks and fall in love? Follow me on this. A man inserts his fully erect penis into another man's rectum, for what? To do what? There are no pleasure spots in the rectum, at least none that I've read about. So what could the recipient of this loving attention be getting from this. I won't insult you by going into great detail that men do not have ovaries, unless of course we're talking about an individual who has undergone a sex change, or was born an hermaphrodite. I don't know, when you talk about inserting a penis in an orifice that the body uses to eject fecal matter, and then you expect me to consider this to be normal human behavior? I don't know, maybe I'm just old-fashioned, or I could just be an insecure heterosexual male. It seems clear to me that homosexuals don't miss the vigina that much, otherwise why go through with the whole pointless exercise of anal sex? Granted reproduction is not the only purpose in life, but it definitely falls in the top five. Lesbian sex, although not as quite as disturbing as gay sex it's still puzzling to me. Outside of oral sex and a few well executed finger movements, Lesbians also use sex toys to achieve climax. Curiously most these devices are shaped like a man's penis when erect. And when one or both women decide to have children, they have to go to a clinic and be artificially inseminated. Bearing these facts in mind, clearly Lesbians do not miss men, else why would they need to go to a sperm bank to be impregnated, or why shape the sexual devices they use to resemble a man's penis? And yet as with homosexuals I'm supposed to accept this type of behavior as normal? These are just observations I've made whenever I see gays & lesbians have their colorful festivals in San Francisco, or during marches for legitimacy of same sex marriage. They seem to want people to accept their lifestyle, and yet their lifestyle is anything but normal. Please don't misunderstand me, if these people wish to behave in this fashion then so be it, just don't force the rest of us to accept it. And for the love of God don't try to indoctrinate young children into believing that this kind of activity is normal, let them decide that on their own. I personally believe that no one is born gay or lesbian, that just like pedophilia it is something that is learned.
How does the first couple months of depression two feel? Have you sold any family heirlooms to pay a bill? Have you lost your dead end job? God forbid you had to cancel this year's pilgrimage to Disneyland to teach little Billy and Susie to be good consumers. Just wait to your belly rubs your backbone and those phony Federal Reserve corporation notes are good for only wiping you backside. In short, have you had enough? The time to speak up is now call elected representatives and let them know that you are sick of dropping half your paycheck in the gas tank to get to your dead-end job. It is time to be angry to start confronting these representatives in their homes late at night. I am not condoning violence but we must get their attention. Nevertheless, let your presence be known. Passive resistance comes to mind. Ask very uncomfortable questions in public. Most importantly remember that trust in a privately owned banking system is what got us into this mess. Never let the bankers forget that.
A new executive order was passed down from President Bush that requires all contractors who do work for the U.S. government to verify their legal status. The order was signed last Friday, and would require the use of an electronic system to aid in verification of the contractor's employees. "It is the policy of the executive branch to enforce fully the immigration laws of the United States, including the detection and removal of illegal aliens and the imposition of legal sanctions against employers that hire illegal aliens," part of the executive order reads. As profound as this executive order must sound to those Americans who've been begging their elected officials to do something about the illegal alien issue, I for one can't help but be cynical about it. First of all, why after almost eight years in office did President Bush choose now to issue this order? Secondly the order only applies to those contractors hired by the U.S. government, but why doesn't it cover the private sector as well? So what if contactors employees are legal while working for the government, if the majority of illegal aliens are continuing to underbid legal U.S. residents in the private sector, then what is the executive order really good for? I can't help but see this as just another political ploy by a Republican president to convince American voters that their government is doing something, and at the same time improve the Republican Party's image during an election year.
The CDC along with the FDA is urging American consumers not to eat raw tomatoes. This concern stems from a salmonella outbreak in several US states. The cause is still under investigation, but of course, I have a theory. Due to the ever-darker workforce from our friends south of the boarder and their unsanitary third world technology pointed out by LT Dan in the earlier story. You do not need to go far to figure out why we are having so many Americas getting sick from produce. Is this really saving us money to have these deceased infested little brown monsters performing manual labor around our food? I think not. Remember do not drink the water.
Here's another new food additive courtesy of you friendly neighbors south of the border. A rare type of tuberculosis called Mycobactrium bovis strain. This strain, which had been practically eliminated in America over a century ago, has started to make itself known again amongst Hispanic immigrants in Southern California. This strain seems to be appearing in illegal, unpasteurized dairy products smuggled past the Mexican border, or Hispanic families living in the U.S. making what's called "bathtub cheese", because they manufacture it in their bathtubs, or backyard troughs. Cases of this type of TB have been rising in San Diego County, mainly among children who consume dairy foods made from cattle infected with the strain, this from the journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases. The department of Agriculture has been cracking down on those people who make and street vendors who sell bathtub cheese. Besides TB bovis, this type of illegally made cheese in the past has been found to harbor Salmonella, Listeria, and E. Coli. U.S. health officials are monitoring the situation closely, should this strain start to spread beyond the Hispanic communities in San Diego. Well all I can really say is, Welcome to the third world!
You might have noticed a sharp decline in your 401K if you are lucky enough to still have a job. A rollercoaster ride with your livelihood, and what a ride it is. The Dow Jones industrial will eventually crash. Are you ready? No tax refund check or interest rate cut will help the damage is done. Within the world market, the Federal Reserve cooperation note has lost its buying power. The fractional reserve banking shell game has been found out. Their money has no value just debt and a lot of it. We have spent so much that your great-grandchildren will be paying the bill. Fuel and food prices reflect this fact and it will get worst. I have predicted food and gas vouchers in the future to keep what is left of this country afloat. This will keep the population working and depending on the authorities for the basics of life. The good news is this will all eventually wake up some individuals to take action. It would seem that the tree of liberty needs a little watering.
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2007/11/their-money-system-and-what-it-takes.html
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2007/12/oil-or-food.html
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2007/12/inevitable-death-of-dollar.html
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2008/03/rescission-or-depression.html
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2008/04/bust-of-housing-bubble.html
http://thefirezoneradio.blogspot.com/2008/04/depression-2.html
Tuesday a car driven by 28 year old Juan Campos drove headlong into a Bicycle race. In the ensuing wreck Alejandro Alverez 37 was killed, and 10 other cyclist were injured. Jose Alfredo Rodriguez the police investigator in charge, believes that Mr. Campos was drunk at the time, and had fallen asleep at the wheel. Now here's where it gets complicated, Mr. Campos claims American citizenship. Supposedly Mr. Campos is a resident of Brownsville, Texas; Todd Huizinga the U.S consulate spokesperson says his department is investigating that. If in fact Mr. Campos is a U.S. citizen well Mexico continue to prosecute him for his crime, or will they follow the American governments' example when dealing with illegal aliens and deport them without paying the consequences for their crimes? Considering the number of U.S. citizens that are killed each year by illegal aliens drunk behind the wheel, I for one am curious to see how this one plays itself out.
It sickens me greatly to go inside the modern day cooperate hospital. To look upon the sick and injured treated like cattle. Any trip to the emergency room starts by presenting your insurance card with a promise to pay any remaining balance due. What happened to compassion first? To look at our fellow man as a patent not a paycheck. I remember the days of community hospitals that were run by doctors who based their decisions on the quality of care. Not by money, hungry lawyers looking to bleed you dry when you are in need of help. Lining their pockets while promising the most advanced technology, and this supposed to give the highest level of care. I want a professional doctor to make my important medical decisions. Not some cooperate executive who does not have a working knowledge of medicine, not just the bottom line. Let us get back to what works medicine not money.
Just where do we get these whacked out preachers from? That's the burning question. And why do they make the most outlandish statements, yet back away from them when the media attention gets to hot? A week ago Reverend Michael Pfleger made such a statement. Addressing the congregation at the Trinity United Church of Christ Rev. Pfleger decided to do a little political bashing from the pulpit. "She just always thought that, This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white," Rev. Pfleger was alluding to what Senator Hillary Clinton might have been thinking before the first primary. Rev. Pfleger continued his rant "Hey, I'm Barack Obama." Pfleger continues to insinuate what Sen. Clinton was thinking by saying "And she said, Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show." Sen. Obama naturally denounced Pfleger's remarks calling them "backward-looking rhetoric" which I couldn't agree with more. Rev. Pfleger apologized soon after saying "These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them." So he's deeply sorry he offended Sen. Clinton. Just what kind of feelings did he think his remarks would engender? They were hardly complimentary. Also I find it curious that he should apologize so soon after making those comments, Rev. Wright I don't believe ever really apologized for his inflammatory remarks. The damage is done, being remorseful won't help. I can't help but see this for what it is, an activist who used race to damage the image of a rival political opponent, anyone with an I.Q. higher than 20 can see that. Rev. Pfleger is the minister of Saint Sabina Roman Catholic Church, which resides on the southwest side of Chicago, and whose membership is exclusively black.
Okay all you true believers here's another one for you. On Wednesday Hanoi's state media reported a mid-air explosion over one of its southern islands. This came one day after the Cambodian Airforce withdrew a similar report of an unknown plane crash. The wreckage which was found on Phu Quoc Island consisted mainly small pieces of grey metal with the exception of one piece that was 1.5 meters or (1.5 yards long). Military units were sent to retrieve any wreckage, and locate any survivors. Officials contacted airlines flying to or from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. None reported missing any of their aircraft. "The explosion happened at about 8 km (5 miles) above the ground, and perhaps it was a plane, but authorities could not identify whether it was a civil or military aircraft," Vietnam News Agency reported. Have no fear though; I'm sure agents Moulder and Sculley are right on top of the situation. Remember, the truth is out there!
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