Blog 4 History

It took place 100 years ago and was much bigger than the current BP spill [though it still needs to be totally played out.] It is known as the “The Lakeview Gusher” and began in 1910 when an oil line in California failed and exploded releasing a geyser of 90-100,000 barrels of oil a day and lasted for a year. Drilling at the depth of over 2,225 feet an explosion occurred and the well erupted.

For more information here is a great news report from CNN:

Leave the lights on between 8:30pm and 9:30pm and watch this video with your friends and family!

I have been extremely busy with teaching, graduate school, family obligations, ect, and apologize for the lack of posts as I know there are countless people who visit in eager anticipation for what I might say…

Anyway, post election thoughts. What a historic event and it was something to see, our first black President elect. Obama is articulate and seems to be a good man and I hope he is a good President. I thought McCain was unelectable and the polls displayed that. No big surprise. But do not stick a fork in the Republican party just yet, Clinton and the Democrats also had a landslide victory and after four years we know what happened in Congress.

One thing I have mentioned before is the need to keep politics out of the classroom, and that itself is debatable; I understand that. Obviously, with such a historic election it deserved discussion in the classroom. I was at times very impressed with my students.

I was asked by my students, “Mr. Wehner who are you voting for?” I was pleased that they did not know, or at least were not sure. I refused to tell them, but instead pointed out the things I admired about both men, McCain the war veteran and Obama the first black President nominee from a major party.

What my students did not know and could not know until now, and since I am fairly sure none of them visit this blog, most will never know is I did not vote for either McCain or Obama. I did not feel either was my choice. I voted for Bob Barr the Libertarian Party candidate. I am a registered Independent and have in the past voted for both Democrat (Clinton) and Republican (Bush) candidates. What I saw from both sides this past election season, frankly, appalled me. From right to left wing the vitriol was disgusting. I do not know if I will anytime soon be able to vote for a Republican or Democrat candidate. I saw two parties so viciously slug it out that I could not have waited any longer for the election to be over. Good riddance. No where in the constitution does it say that political parties were to be a part of the election process, so I say the hell with them.

I have expressed a lot of concern  over the issues of energy and our economy and I felt neither candidate truly had a plan or a clue. Both were willing to take us one step closer to socialism; and if that’s what you want  so be it. The Republicans took control of Congress and what did they do? They spent money like there was plenty of it. The Democrats have had control  of the House of Representative and what have they done in the last 24 months? Spent money like there was no tomorrow. The $700 billion bail out has turned into over $2 trillion, did you know that?  If you really think a government owned mortgage industry and soon to be auto industry is really in our best interest, than I am frankly shocked.  Name me ONE government run entity that operates efficiently or even well? Let them go, if mortgage and auto companies fail, so be it. Spending trillions on top of trillions is frankly frightening. The cycle of business and open markets will adjust. Either way, jobs are at stake as is the economy. There is no end in sight.

Yet we had two Presidential candidates that had promised tax cuts and even more spending on things like nationalized health care. Yippee another government owned sector of our economy! (BTW, the reason why the Health Care industry is a mess is because of the Federal Government.)

Blame Bush for our economic situation, fine, the S.O.B. deserves SOME of it but do not be Ignorant. Do you know how Congress works? Our politicians, both Democrat and Republican are screwing us beyond belief. The Fannie and Freddie debacle started in Congress and with  deregulation (with Senators taking money for their votes) as a result of corrupt government ,out of control spenders and power seekers.

Give me a Libertarian or Give Me Death… well, you know what I mean.

The current mortgage crisis and congressional buyout schemes point to the larger issue of fiscal irresponsibility on the part of big banking. I think the result is probably our own “Panic of 2008?”

How many economic “panics” have been a direct result of bad practices by big banking? Let’s see: the Panic of 1873 and the Panic of 1907 come to mind (have to admit not sure if the reasons were “bad practices”), and others come to mind (1857) but were they a direct result of big banking? In 1857 banks put a lot of speculation into businesses that started to fail, but were these practices irresponsible? Most likely they were ill-advised and the product of greed.
Looking through Wiki, I see that in 1873 things got so bad that fires sprang up in cities without the means to deal with them, and so they burnt uncontrollably. Coal could not be delivered to Trains, and transportation networks failed in some parts of the country. The U.S. Army was fighting the Apaches on foot (horses were breaking down and without replacements). Wagons hand to be pulled by hand, cargo filled trains and ships sat unloaded, and deliveries of basic things like food came virtually to a halt. There are those who might argue that if we do not do something about our energy supply, maybe, we see similar things in 5 years, maybe sooner?

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Don’t look now, but there is a possibility of a new Cuban Missile Crisis with Russian apparently planning to fly long-range bombers to Cuba on a regular basis. “If they did I think we should stand strong and indicate that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America,” said General Norton Schwartz, nominated to be the air force’s chief of staff.

Finally, the New York Times is in serious trouble as it was recently reported that their second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from the year-ago, dropping its net income to $21.1 million.

There’s been lots of finger pointing going on in Congress of late. They blame big oil, then speculators, and now the President. The President in turn blames Congress. All of this could have been avoided, but our elected officials made sure it would not be, and here we are.

Let me take you way back, I mean way-way back to 1975. There was somebody who recognized our growing dependence on foreign oil and who spoke out about it. Do you know who it was? The picture to the right is him… OK, I’ll tell you, President Gerald Ford. Here’s a President that some ridiculed at the time and declared him to be somewhat, stupid.

In Ford’s State of the Union Address, he announced: “We, the United States, are not blameless. Our growing dependence upon foreign sources has been adding to our vulnerability for years and years, and we did nothing to prepare ourselves for such an event as the embargo of 1973.”

He didn’t look to others for solutions or blame, he offered a solution. A program that would have included: “200 major nuclear power plants, 250 major new coal mines, 150 major coal-fired power plants, 30 major new refineries, 20 major new synthetic fuel plants, the drilling of many thousands of new wells, the insulation of 18 million homes and the manufacturing and sale of millions of new automobiles, trucks and buses that use much less fuel.”

You might be asking yourself, What the Heck Happened?

If you want to learn more, click here to read the Op-ed from the N.Y. Times (yes hard to believe).

Anyway, while we face $5 per gallon at the pump, and who knows by 2009, Congress continues not to offer solutions, but rhetoric and hyperbole, no wonder their approval rating is in a dive:

Bush lifts the ban on U.S. Offshore Oil Drilling, thank God, but unfortunately there is still a ways to go.

Congressional opposition will argue this is just a short term and minimal answer. So be it. We need all the short term and minimal answers we can get until we develop more long term (and non-fossil fuel) answers. It will take time to develop wind and nuclear, and yes, natural gas and coal liquidification solutions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, in a statement, called the Bush plan “a hoax” that will “neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence.” Which has some asking, “What The Hell Is Nancy Pelosi Talking About?”

Meanwhile, Pelosi and the rest of Congress have done little to help the average American with the rising energy costs. Remember, this is the same Pelosi who stated that Bush’s ”policies have produced $4 a gallon gasoline.”

Surprisingly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last week told reporters that expanded offshore drilling is not off the table, and that Democrats will take a look at whether states should be able to choose to drill off their coasts. “I’m not knee-jerk-opposed to anything,” Reid said.

Lets hope Republicans and Democrats can stop arguing, and get together and come up with both short and long term plans.

In an Reuters report today: “This cover-up is being directed from the White House and the office of the vice president,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, accusing the Bush Administration of stopping the Environmental Protection Agency from tackling greenhouse emissions. Once again, greenhouse emissions and global warming is not a fact, it is not proven. “The real truth is that we don’t know enough to relieve global warming, and — barring major technological breakthroughs — we can’t do much about it.” The latest warming cycle started in the 1800s, well before we had the power to start such a development, even if we have the power at all to initiate such a change!

But that doesn’t stop Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid from proclaiming, “The health of my grandchildren, my children and me are affected by this head-in-the-sand that global warming doesn’t exist,” Reid told reporters.

Do you think Nancy Pelosi, Boxer, and Reid realize that: Congressional Approval Falls to Single Digits for First Time Ever! Sadly, they are making Bush look good.

As for CO2, interestingly enough, today a report by German Scientists actually claims that higher levels of it may be good for plants!

Anyway, the reason for this post. It’s no wonder that from the L.A. Times to the New York Times they are slashing their editorial staffs and cutting back their budgets as circulation plummets. Is it because people are getting tired of such reports? Maybe, maybe not.

So the story above, as ridiculous as it is, the Press of course must add a proper visual to let us know just how bad things are. So what kind of photo does the AP use with this report? Two large nuclear cooling towers billowing what looks like immense amounts of what has to be pollutants into the air. My god, look at what we’re doing!

Not so fast, those towers are sending nothing more than water vapors into the air. And on top of that, this gas is not always visible! (They couldn’t just show two towers with nothing visible coming out, that wouldn’t be dramatic enough, nor honest.) The vapor is only seen in certain ambient conditions, when “plumes of water vapor (fog) can be seen rising out of the discharge from a cooling tower, and can be mistaken as smoke from a fire.” (click photo for larger image.)

But it gets better, just read the caption for this photo: “In this file photo a U.S. flag flutters in front of cooling towers at the Limerick Generating Station in Pottstown, Pennsylvania May 24, 2006. A leading U.S. Senate Democrat accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of a “cover-up” aimed at stopping the Environmental Protection Agency from tackling greenhouse emissions.”

Ah yes, Ole Glory fluttering in the wind as pollution, err, water vapor billows into the foggy, err, clear blue sky…

U.S. Senate Majority Leader for the 110th Congress has proclaimed that “Coal makes us sick, oil makes us sick…” I’m speechless…

UPDATE 6/26/08: Not sure if I buy it, but I can guarantee Congress will DO NOTHING: The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Ever wonder what happens to that $4 a gallon you spend at the pump, or better yet, what about the $600 billion or so we as a nation spend each year?

Yes, we need to curb our consumption. My ranting about energy is not that oil is the ultimate answer. It is a current one, however. Wind, electric, solar, bugs (seriously), and/or whatever else are all a part of the final solution. We need to start to turn away from Middle Eastern oil.

This in turn might reduce problems for us in so many other ways!

As impossible as it might have seemed a month ago, Americans are able to reduce fuel consumption. Good. It’s a start.

So was the Iraq War really about Oil? Now that Iraq is finally awarding contracts for its Worlds Third Largest reservoir of black gold, it makes you wonder. American companies are of course involved, though not the only ones.

In case you missed it, the Gulf War (the first one) is paying off: Kuwait is pumping billions into our economy.

So when you pay $4 per gallon you might assume that, what, at least a dollar of that goes right into the pocket’s of the evil oil executives, right!?

First the government, which does nothing, takes about 60 cents right off the top in taxes. Then there are other taxes that the oil companies pay just to be able to be, well, oil companies. Yes, if our government really wanted to give us instant relief, they would lower or remove SOME aspects of taxation on energy.

But don’t worry, at least a part of the $600 billion or so per year goes to the Middle East where it is helping out in big ways. For one, look at what they are building in Dubai, an 80-Story Tower With Revolving Floors Powered By Wind Turbines. At least our money is being put to good use. So take pride in pumping that SUV full of gas, just look at what it is accomplishing (—>).

Anyway, as I said, curb consumption and develop our own sources of energy so that in my lifetime we can be nearly, if not totally, free of foreign sources.

These include but are not limited to: coal liquidification, natural gas, and nuclear, along with conservation and alternative sources already mentioned. I hope energy is an issue you will consider this November.

But more importantly, by eventually getting away from sending $600 billion to the Middle East, South American Dictators, and the like, this might also reduce our global involvement in the Middle East and elsewhere. Yeah, wishful thinking.

C