Let them know how you really feel......

I received an email from "The Freedom Project" making available a petition/protest to Congress regarding the current energy debacle. I wrote as follows:

Respectfully...

"Please forget the Fed gas tax "holiday." It's merely political pandering and will in the long run produce more bad than good. The only reason for it is for politicians to be able to say, "I did something."

Do something real, pass legislation to expand exploration to areas now restricted. This is a National Security issue. We MUST be able to have control of our energy supply, otherwise we are at the whim of every third world dictator and despot.

For me, while the cost at the pump hurts, what hurts more is the loss of security for my family and my grandkids. We must regain control of our energy supply, otherwise their future WILL be owned by every country who sells us energy.

Do something real, open exploration in areas now restricted. Do something real, support expansion of research in Shale Oil production, i.e. Raytheon's new technology.

Do something now, stop diverting corn to ethanol and incentivize a change to switchgrass. Do something now and provide substantial support to research and implementation of new energy sources like Concentrated Solar Power.

Don't talk about it, study it, demonize oil companies or any number of non-productive "political" responses. The problem is not the oil companies nor is it even the foreign oil suppliers.

Look in the mirror. Had Congress addressed this problem decades ago instead of "studying" it, we would not be here. Instead Congress gets in bed with those whose agenda runs counter to the good of the nation and her people.

Then, testing the political winds a concentrated effort is made to do...nothing.

Do something now, pass "real" legislation to address the problems, or get out of the way to allow some who will the opportunity to do so.

Thank you."

If you want to add your "two cents worth," Visit The Freedom Project.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Optimizing petroleium

One of the more promising new energy sources being researched and even now coming into production is Oilage or growing algae and using it to produce a high-grade crude oil. PetroSun is now producing in Texas and though researchers don’t think they can produce enough to replace crude oil, the resulting product can be blended with low grade crude to where it can be processed without retooling refineries and extend our supply exponentially

The recent rush to ethanol has proved the error of moving too rapidly to embrace a supposed alternative without exploring all its consequences, intended and unintended. The demand corn ethanol has put on this food crop, taking 20-25% of last years production, has fueled the rise in all grain prices raising fears of food shortages and bread lines around the world. This in a year of record crop yields. What will happen during a low yield year.

Now the multi-million dollar commitment investors and industry has made to this failed plan has politicians wringing their hands and instead of doing the right thing, backtracking this policy, they blunder ahead.

A better source of biomass would be switchgrass, but that wasn’t immediately available and would have required a season to plant and grow the source. That small delay would have staved off the drain on the food supply and the rampant run up in grain prices. But in the rush to deal with this problem in a short-term political way, another long-term problem has resulted.

And don’t forget the powerful agricultural lobby. Their strangle hold on Congress continues to funnel tax dollars in the form of crop subsidies, loans and more to these large corporate farm operations.

We must, in addition to finding new economical, reliable energy sources, continue to discover new ways to conserve energy in socially and economically friendly ways. One of the big problems with the environmental lobby is the constant call for actions that will harm the economy of industrialized nations and in the process bring hardship to the citizens of those nations.

Truly at its core, the underlying philosophy of environmentalism is to return industrialized nations to agrarian societies like the third world. Technology, industry and development must go to make way for the forests, the snail darter and spotted owl, and the grassy plains. To their way of thinking there is blight on the face of the earth and Humanity is its name.

Next post, new and old technologies visited.

If you haven't done so, visit American Solutions and sign the petition to let Congress know you want action on allowing exploration and production of our domestic resources. It's a national security as well as an econonmic issue.


"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson

Remembering their awful gift

Reflecting on Memorial Day, quick thought. How many of us truly understand what this day is about? Too often we get consumed with picnics, watersports, auto racing, et al, forgetting this day is set aside to remember the sacrifice of those who have died to protect our freedom we take so lightly.

Originally Decoration Day came out of a day set aside by Southern communities to honor those Confederate Soldiers who died in the American Civil War. In 1868 a proclamation was issued to observe this day nationwide, and in 1967 Congress officially renamed it Memorial Day and moved the observance to where it is today.

More importantly than the history of the day though, are the people whose sacrifice we remember. Those who died of battle fields foreign and domestic, so that we can have the freedom to eat burned food outdoors, get wet, watch cars run in circles and act foolish and noble.

The freedom to do as we please, to think as we please, to speak as we please.

It was their sacrifice that makes this possible, surely we can take a few moments on one day out of 365 to remember their gift to us, the living, the free. Surely for just a few moments we can not take their sacrifice for granted.

Mendy Belz of World Magazine wrote a thoughtful piece, Blood That Speaks, in the May 17th issue. It ends as follows:

"Their blood cries to us from the ground like the blood of Abel: Tell us your story, we ask, so we won't forget. It leaves us weak and ready for the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word."

Let us, on this day, tell their story and not forget their awful and precious gift to us.

"We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea and
we owe each other a terrible loyalty." - G. K. Chesterson