Important StuffPolitics

How not to be convincing

Here’s another neglected post – this one from June. Did you know I could stop writing for months and still have fresh material (sans editing) ready to go? Here’s my formula (re: the post’s title): 1. I get a little angry. 2. I make it personal. 3. I act like a jerk. I don’t know why it irritates me when people complain about the price of gasoline. It’s a…
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Important Stuff

Like father, like son

My earliest memories date back to sometime in the mid 1970s. No, I’m not pointing it out to taunt you, or complain my days of possibly being drafted by the Celtics are over. I assure you it’s just a little context, nothing more. I was sitting in my dad’s old VW Bug. It was cold winter day in New England. We were at a gas station and my father was jotting some figures down in a…
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Important StuffPolitics

Offshore oil drilling

Some polls indicate more americans favor lifting Federal restrictions on offshore oil drilling.* A site I visit frequently explains why you shouldn’t drink the Kool-aid: you’re being fed a load of crap. Climate Progress: The oil companies already have access to some 34 billion barrels of offshore oil they haven’t even developed yet, but ending the federal moratorium on offshore…
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Important Stuff

Light it up

From Treehugger: When Lighting Your Water on Fire Isn’t a Magic Trick Jessica Ernst lives in the village of Rosebud, Alberta, East of Calgary. EnCana, a big oil & gas company, is operating close to her house. The photo above speaks for itself. So the big question: is the water from her well just naturally flammable (I suspect it’s not), or has the process of drilling/extracting…
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Important Stuff

Priorities

Climate Progress: Independence Day may be the best day to ask ourselves — what is the greatest, preventable threat to Americans’ life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness (LLPH)… Between Homeland Security and the Pentagon, we spend billions of dollars every month to try to prevent terrorism… But unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions are by far the greatest preventable threat to…
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Important StuffPoliticsThe Sunshine State

Tuna waffle

I wonder if Charlie is feeling a little heat… The gov’s words, via St Pete Times: “Only when we are able to do so far enough from Florida’s coast, safe enough for our people, and clean enough for our beaches, should we even consider increasing our oil supply by drilling off Florida’s shore. Let me repeat: far enough, safe enough and clean enough.” But allow me…
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Important StuffPoliticsThe Sunshine State

Oil on my mind - or - A well oiled rant

Sorry for the swearing… For the moment, let’s set aside the merits of offshore drilling. It seems to me like some “conservatives” (note the strategic use of my buddy, the quotation mark) bat around the words “offshore drilling” like it’s an act of patriotism; a shared sacrifice for a greater good. I think it’s code for building a bunch of oil…
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Important StuffPoliticsThe Sunshine State

Light tuna in oil

McClatchy: Describing his position as evolving, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he now supports exploratory drilling for oil and gas off Florida’s coast because “Floridians are suffering…” The National Petroleum Council estimates the eastern Gulf might hold 36.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 5.2 billion barrels of oil. Others doubt those numbers but say there is…
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