Environment
Gas at $4 a Gallon? Here’s Why
When gas prices edged up fifty cents a gallon during the George Bush years, the mainstream media cried bloody murder trying to smear the Administration.
Yet under the Obama administration, gas prices have DOUBLED–with hardly a peep from those same news outlets.
Why?
Because it was never about prices. It was about bringing down a conservative president then, and propping up a liberal (socialist) one now.
The leftist media actually want gas prices to rise because they desire to take Americans out of their cars and into centrally-planned light rail systems the people don’t want to use. They want to promote wind, solar, and other renewable resources to “save the planet.”
It’s a huge “con” which is about nothing but control.
Controlling people. Limiting freedom.
America has plenty of energy resources to power everything we use–at far lower prices:
- We have vast oil reserves, including ANWAR, which if it had been developed ten years ago, would be making a significant contribution to lower fuel prices now.
- We have immense shale oil deposits that could be harvested.
- We possess the world’s greatest largest reserves of natural gas.
But there’s been a conspiracy in the past twenty years in this nation to place so-called environmental concerns over the future of powering America. Most of those”concerns” are just plain bunk.
It’s time we called the charade and demanded that American energy companies be allowed to do what’s necessary to bring down gasoline prices and provide complete energy independence from a chaotic Middle East.
The following article by the Heritage Foundation is right on the beam. Read it and let your voice by heard. RB.
“Obama’s Anti-Drilling Agenda Costs Jobs Across America”
President Obama’s hometown of Chicago is nearly 1,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. But like many other communities across the country, it is suffering the consequences of his Administration’s anti-drilling agenda.
Illinois accounted for $376.2 million in shallow-water drilling expenditures over the past three years, according to an analysis by 14 oil and gas companies that spend money on vendors and subcontractors. The bulk of that money—$242.2 million—was spent in the Chicago district represented by Representative Danny Davis (D–IL).
It’s fresh evidence that Obama’s anti-drilling agenda is having a ripple effect across America since last year’s oil spill, claiming jobs not just in Louisiana and Texas but also in communities far removed from the shipyards in the Gulf of Mexico.
The study from the Shallow Water Energy Security Coalition paints a picture of the nationwide economic ramifications. Obama can’t even be blamed for playing politics. Five of the states that benefit most from shallow-water drilling backed him as a candidate in 2008. And Democrats represent many of the congressional districts that stand to lose millions.
The cost in jobs is startling. A new analysis by Louisiana State University professor Joseph Mason projects national job losses at 19,000 from the drilling moratorium, with wage losses at $1.1 billion. About one-third of those jobs are located outside the Gulf region.
Nearly a year after imposing his anti-drilling agenda, it’s quite clear that Obama is carrying out misguided policies causing widespread harm.
And job losses aren’t the only consequence. The Obama Administration’s deliberate delay in issuing permits for both deepwater and shallow-water drilling has led to a sharp decline in oil production for the Gulf of Mexico this year. The U.S. Energy Information Administration puts the figure at 240,000 fewer barrels every day.
With gas prices hovering around $3.56 per gallon nationwide, now is not the time to lower production. The only way to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil is to produce more of it here at home.
The recent approval of new drilling permits for the Gulf of Mexico is a welcome and long overdue move by the Administration, but it’s nothing to celebrate. The pace of permitting is far below the historical average, and there’s no indication that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) has any desire to return production to a pre-spill level.
Until that happens, expect more grim news like the unfortunate circumstances facing Seahawk Drilling, which was forced to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a direct result of the bureaucratic delays at BOEMRE. Seahawk’s president and chief executive Randy Stilley, writing in The Washington Post, painted a dire picture:
The government’s drastic slowdown in the issuance of permits for shallow-water drilling operations—in which companies work in familiar geological formations, typically in less than 500 feet of water, mostly seeking to produce natural gas—has all but crippled the industry. The survivors (for now) like Hercules are staying afloat largely thanks to revenue from operations outside U.S. waters. Put another way, a once-proud industry born in the gulf during the Truman administration can no longer survive on operations in its own back yard.
Unless things change soon, Seahawk Drilling won’t be alone. Businesses located in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, and New York—top recipients of shallow-water drilling spending—will all face economic consequences as well.
It’s time for lawmakers to take notice. Representative John Sullivan (R–OK), who represents a district with $87.2 million in shallow-water expenditures over the past three years, recognizes the impact. He told us: “Continuing to keep American sources of energy under lock and key by failing to issue drilling permits only serves to place American jobs at risk, drives up costs at the pump and deepens our dependence on foreign oil.”
Things don’t have to be this way. The House of Representatives must continue to conduct rigorous oversight of the Obama Administration, challenging the Administration’s excuses and applying pressure when necessary. America’s energy future depends on it.
A Sad Day for Freedom From Sin
December 18, 2010 was a sad day for the cause of liberty. The United States Senate voted 65-31 to rescind the seventeen-year “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy in the American forces. On the heels of a 250-175 vote in the House of Representatives, largely along party lines, homosexuality is now “free” to openly flourish in the barracks or foxhole.
By this infamous vote, The United States government now openly condones and encourages homosexual behavior among our fighting men and women. The last bastion of discipline and moral order in the United States has been breached, not by an invading army, but by a destructive Lame Duck Congress.
Maybe the pen is mightier than the sword.
With the stroke of President Obama signing this grievous bill, the military, as we have known it for two hundred and thirty-four years, will be crippled.
This is a sad day for real liberty–which is freedom from sin.
We’ll get to the true definition of freedom in a moment, but first the disturbing facts about the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) rescission.
Liberal Democrats, many of whom lost in the Nov 2 election, were the greatest culprits in this homosexualization of the armed forces. Both of my Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, voted for the repeal. But eight Republicans also joined them in the tragic vote: Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, George Voinovich of Ohio, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, John Ensign of Nevada, and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine.
As Family Research Research Council points out, our fighters were treated like pawns by those meant to support and defend them. (Read their excellent article here.) Here’s how Gary Randall of the Faith & Freedom Network described the tragedy:
“Congress has said ‘yes’ to open homosexuality in the military. Over the loud and passionate pleas from Senator John McCain, and concerns expressed by military leaders who serve in combat, the Senate caved to homosexual activists, joined President Obama in his attempt to appease the activists and retain their vote, and said yes to a social experiment that will have both ‘intended’ and ‘unintended’ consequences.”
“The homosexual victory was aided by a number of Republicans. McCain was not one of them. He said of our fighting men and women, ‘They will do what is ask of them, but don’t think there won’t be consequences.'”
“You have witnessed another step down a slippery moral decline. And there will be consequences.
The Alliance Defense Fund issued a statement following the vote saying, ‘The Senate’s cave-in to pressure from activists to impose homosexual behavior on our military will place troops’ religious liberties in unprecedented jeopardy.’ They say the first casualty will likely be the religious freedom of chaplains.”
This is the “great freedom” that Congress gave us on December 18.
Incredible.
Abraham Lincoln, a founder and champion of the modern-day Republican Party, would also be appalled. One of his most famous quotes, which has been a clarion principle of our Christian-based republic for the past 150 years is this:
“No man has a right to do wrong.”
Let that truth sink into you deeply. It will change your view of how to define “civil” rights.
Of course, the liberal media doesn’t share Lincoln’s view. Led by secular cheerleaders such as the New York Times and the Associated Press, numerous papers, blogs, and e-letters hailed the the news of the defeat of DADT as a great triumph for civil rights. Quoting Senator Joe Liebermann, a staunch supporter of doing away with the ban on homosexual behavior,” the gleeful networks proclaimed:
“We righted a wrong. Today we’ve done justice.”
The New York Times openly stated their end-game purpose, that “integrating openly gay troops within the military will lead to greater acceptance in the civilian world.”
The progressives want a secular, not a godly America.
Barack Obama went even further when he said, “It’s time to close this chapter in our history. It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed.”
Sounds good–but it’s nonsense. You don’t choose race or gender, and religion and creeds should be protected areas of conscience.
Not homosexuality. For all of history, and in all religions, homosexual behavior has been viewed as a perversion of the normal sexual relationship with graphic and destructive consequences. It’s just as hurtful as incest, fornication, adultery, pedophilia, and bestiality.
All of these sexual perversions distort God’s moral standards and hurt human beings. They should be discouraged by any just and compassionate society that really cares for its people
And no sexual deviancy should be tolerated when you’re fighting for your country.
We’ve got it backwards–and Congress just forced it on the military.
Isaiah is considered Israel’s greatest prophet, and his book is the second longest in the Bible next to the Psalms. In chapter five, Isaiah goes to great lengths to discuss how God blessed and planted the ancient Hebrew nation in good moral and spiritual soil. But over time, they rejected his laws and principles. “What more could I have done?” agonizes the heart of God over a nation that turned away from his standards of right and wrong (Isaiah 5:4).
Nothing, really.
They just didn’t listen.
Here is the end result that Isaiah describes for those who pervert God’s justice: “Destruction is certain for those who say that evil is good and good is evil; that dark is light and light is dark…Destruction is certain for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever…Their roots will rot and their flowers wither, for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty. They have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 5:20-24).
Israel was severely judged when it turned God’s standards of right and wrong or its head. Do you think it will be any different for us?
I don’t think so.
Wrong was made right through Saturday’s vote. Vast injustice was perpetrated on the US military–even against the wishes of those who fight in close quarters on the front lines (58% of Marines are strongly opposed to changing the policy.)
But the politicians don’t care for them or this country. They are committed to the secularization of America via social experimentation i.e. trashing all aspects of Judeo-Christian standards.
One of the things we learn from this vote and the cultural battle in which we are engaged is that there are two different visions of “freedom” that are being fought for in America today. These two contrasting philosophies go back to the two beings behind them–God on the side of righteousness, and Satan on the side of darkness.
Satan’s concept of liberty is pretty simple. He wants people to be “free from God and his standards.” Satan Himself rebelled against God’s created order and has been encouraging other moral beings to reject God’s ways ever since. Through the worldview of secularism, here’s how Satan markets his deceptive brand of “freedom:”
- Begin by questioning the rightness or wrongness of sexual choices. Make it a matter of “personal preferences” or “lifestyle choices.” All sin begins when we follow Satan’s lead in setting ourselves up as “God” in our moral choices.
- Draw people into immorality in all its forms. Start with the warm-ups of pornography and mental fantasy, then encourage them to “experiment” for themselves with sex outside of marriage and in whatever form or with whatever partners “they” desire.
- Convince them through darkening their minds that none of these actions are immoral. They’re just choices that all human beings are allowed to make.
- Once trapped in immorality, the heart of the Satanic strategy manifests itself. Jesus said that Satan’s clear purpose is “to kill and destroy” (John 10:10). All forms of immorality, especially the unnaturalness of homosexuality, destroys human dignity, proper relationships, family, health, relationship with God, and ultimately leads to eternal destruction.
- But that’s not all. Satan’s next step is to ridicule those who are moral and adhering to God’s standards. Make them look like the prudes and the bigots.
- Finally, the goal is to persecute the godly, beginning with “hate speech” and even imprisonment.
Notice Gary Randall’s warning of the consequences of repealing “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” in the US military: “The first casualty will likely be the religious freedom of chaplains.”
Silence Christian chaplains. Then Christians in general. Or even imprison them for speaking out against homosexuality.
Satan’s “freedom from God” destroys those who do it and those who resist it.
Doesn’t sound like liberty to me.
It’s not.
Real freedom, the one that America was founded on, was not freedom from God and his wise standards for living. It’s freedom to live for God.
Freedom is not doing what you want; It’s having the wisdom and power to do what you ought.
In the realm of sexuality it’s being smart and humble enough to do things the way God designed them, for our good, others’ good, and for his honor and glory. It means:
- Staying away from pornography which corrupts the mind.
- Not sleeping with your boy friend, girlfriend or fiance before marrying them.
- Not having sex with a close relative.
- Not having same gender sex with anyone.
- Marrying God’s choice from the opposite sex–a conjugal joining in relationship which is both natural, beautiful, and produces children (to read a great new paper on marriage published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, click here.)
- Being faithful to the one you marry for a lifetime.
- Having children in God’s way and time and raising them in the fear and love of God.
This is true sexual freedom because it is freedom from destructive self autonomy and sin.
Jesus said truly that “Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is a part of the family forever. So is the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:34-36).
True freedom is freedom from sin, not from God.
By rescinding the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy, our Congressional leaders are doing nothing less than encouraging homosexuals to stay in their sin, bringing tension and sexual lust into the intimate quarters of our fighting forces, and promoting the armed forces social destruction.
On December 18 we lost an important battle. But we must continue to fight because we love God and we love people. Let’s pray that this action will be overturned in the 112th Congress because it breaks the bond of trust that must exist between the military and those who oversee the armed forces in the Pentagon and Congress.
Let’s ask the new House in January to defund the repeal of DADT. Then we will work to get fresh voices in the Senate and move to reinstate the law.
A pillar of America’s exceptional past is freedom from sin through Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray during this Christmas season that God’s Son will lead us back to true liberty.
What Can We Learn From the BP Oil Spill?
The one-to-two million gallons of crude oil (and natural gas) that have been leaking steadily into the Gulf of Mexico for the past fifty days are certainly a sobering environmental tragedy. The horrific explosion of British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil platform on April 22 is now estimated to be six times times worse than the Exxon Valdez spill. Much sea-life and shoreline are at stake and thousands of jobs and economic recovery hang in balance.
I have been following the BP Oil Spill from the beginning and trying to make some sense of it. I’ve also joined the many people that have been praying for the peoples of the Gulf–that God would show them what to do to deal with this man-made disaster and its possible long-range effects on their lives.
There are a number of important lessons that are emerging from the catastrophe. I will share ten of them in relative order of importance (with “10” being the least and “1” being the most important lesson that can be learned). All of them are important.
#10 – Mistakes happen in a fallen world.
No company–including British Petroleum-should be held to an impossible standard. There is no such thing as perfection in a fallen world–just improvement. As long as man inhabits a fallen world, there will be times of disaster such as this one. There are few victories in life without risk and potential danger. But they are worth pursuing with an eye on human progress–and our sights should remain high. Let’s just learn from the mistakes and vow to not make them again.
#9 – British Petroleum must held accountable. BP is responsible for the disaster.
Under present regulations, BP could be liable up to $1100 dollars a spilled gallon or 2.8 billion dollars. If criminal intent is found, the fine could be astronomical. Make British Petroleum pay for their mistake, but don’t punish them in such a way that they can’t continue to be profitable to be able to pay their debt back to the Gulf States. The six month moratorium on Gulf drilling is a bad deal–both for the energy industry and for many other dependent jobs in the area.
#8 – Good regulations and contingency plans are vital – follow them!
The Federal Government failed in its regulatory duties by giving dubious awards to the BP rig that exploded and by failing to implement a stenuous emergency plan that had been pre-approved. BP also lacked strong emergency plan measures (and delayed that plan twelve days after the disaster) that could have contained the extent of the oil slick damage. There is a place for good regulations–especially when risky ventures are taking place.
There are also some ingenious and creative clean-up plans run by enterprising Americans and even some foreign governments that both BP and the Federal Government are not allowing to be used in the massive clean-up effort. If there should be a moratorium on anything, it’s bureacratic red tape. Nothing could be worse than the oil being left to defile the beaches and eco-systems of the Gulf region.
#7 – Bad energy policy led to risky drilling. This is the Federal Government’s fault.
The main reason for this gigantic mess is that due to bad energy policies that have prohibited oil companies from drilling in many states, and in shallower waters, British Petroleum and other companies have been forced into deep waters where there is a much higher degree of uncontrollable circumstances. If this had been an oil-shale well in Wyoming, it would have been capped immediately. If it have been an explosion in Prudoe Bay, the fix would have been quick and the environmental damage limited due to its distance from civilization.
BP was drilling at 5000 feet below sea-level because our unwise politicians have not let them drill where it’s safer and better. It’s time to stop the nonsense about energy drilling and exploration in the fifty states and shallow waters off both coasts. Both can be done safely and effectively if we have the political will to do what’s right.
#6 – We should begin drilling in ANWAR immediately. The best defense is a good offense.
There is no logical reason whatsoever that we should not be drilling vast amounts of oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Preserve (ANWAR)–and the remedy should be started immediately. We have a vast reserve of oil and natural gas at our disposal in Alaska in an area that poses little environmental danger. It’s time to stop being politically correct and drill the wells and turn on the spigots in ANWAR as soon as possible.
#5 – Oil is essential to the modern world and should not be phased out.
Bikes and sneakers have petroleum products in them. Deodorant comes from oil and gas. Milkshakes have a chemical based thickener. Oil is everywhere. It’s in carpet, furniture, computers and clothing. It’s in the most personal of products like toothpaste, shaving cream, lipstick and vitamin capsules. Petro-chemicals are the glue of our lives–even in glue, too.
“It’s the material basis of our society essentials” says Michael Wilson, a research scientist at UC Berkeley. “This is the Petro-chemical Age.” 93% of American plastics start with natural gas or oil. Why? Because the element essential for life–carbon–is found there. The carbon atom acts as the spine with other atoms attaching to it in different combinations and positions. This makes it indispensable for modern life and production.
#4 – We must unleash safe energy independence production in all fifty states and in shallow waters.
There has been a growing “conspiracy” in this country for over thirty years to restrain the United States from becoming energy independent. This insanity can be blamed on the radical extremes of the environmental movement and its political allies. The results of this have been disastrous–and the Gulf Oil Spill only makes us more vulnerable to sky-rocketing prices due to shortages and bad policy.
“Renewable sources” cannot save us–at least not in the next fifty years. We can’t power our vehicles or civilization on wind and solar power. That is a pipe-dream that needs to be openly confronted. We need to unleash the best of industry to drill oil and natural gas wells in our states and waters; to build nuclear reactors such as exist in France; to allow new techniques of oil-shale extraction to be implemented; to create new and better batteries; in short, to unleash a “Manhattan Project-style” explosion of all energy source solutions to curtail the forced dependency of America on foreign oil. It’s both crippling and nationally suicidal. Let’s Unleash, Baby Unleash!
#3 – The Federal Government is a lousy savior.
Both Hurricane Katrina and the BP Oil Spill proved the ineptness of the Federal Government to solve large problems. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, even though we had a strong leader in President Bush, the federal response was weak and late. The best work was done by local governments and private organizations and individuals. In the BP Oil Spill, the fact that Barack Obama is a politician and not really a leader added massive paralysis to the expected federal response.
Here’s the lesson: Governments are good at protecting their citizens in war, but they are lousy at most everything else they do. In this case and also in Katrina, the Federal Government should have made resources available immediately and then gotten out of the way of the local leaders and enterprising non-profits and individuals. “The era of Big Government is over.”
#2 – The EPA should be abolished or severely curtailed.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is one of the worst federal entities in America. It serves no useful purpose except to retard business, innovation, and progress in America. It was created by President Nixon in 1970 and has been a curse ever since. Interesting, the first Earth Day during its inaugural year was scheduled on the centennial of Vladimir Lenin’s birthday– April 22, 1970. That little known fact tells you a great deal about the goals of the environmental extremists.
Adding insult to injury on American prosperity, the EPA has recently been instructed by the Obama administration to put draconian carbon emission restraints on American business and consumers–bypassing the difficult-to-pass Cap and Trade legislation that has stalled in Congress. This would be a huge mistake, and must be stopped by our current legislators.
Let’s go a step further and abolish the EPA. Talk about a new “morning in America!”
#1 – We must vote for pro-energy-independence leaders in 2010 and 2012
There is no way to recover from the BP disaster and become an energy independent America without getting rid of the anti-development leaders that now control Congress and the White House. The American Dream and destiny is under siege from those who would reduce us to mediocrity and poverty through unwise energy development and restrictions.
We must free ourselves from the energy slave masters and create a boom of energy invention, development, production, and independence in this nation.
In 2010, vote for congressmen and women and senators that understand that modern society is based on oil and that its potential must be unleashed.
In 2012, vote for a free enterprise-savvy president who understands the respective roles of business and government, and frees both of them to do their very best for the American people.