Been feeling under the weather this week, so not a lot of words this time. Just a nice photo of old vs. new. I will point out that neither of these windmills will reliably power Byron Dorgan's electric cars. At least the old one in the foreground isn't subsidized by our tax dollars...
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( 3.6 / 45 )
If you paid attention during the 2008 presidential campaign, you likely heard candidate Barack Obama foretell that he would bankrupt the coal industry, and that under his energy policies "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."
For decades now, North Dakotans have been duped into thinking that we need to continue to send Byron "Skybox" Dorgan, Kent "Countrywide" Conrad, and Earl "The Pearl" Pomeroy to Washington on our behalf, because they've accumulated so much seniority and clout. They've grown very bold and comfortable in this role, scaring North Dakotans into repeatedly sending them back to office and doling out federal dollars when they return. They warn that any replacement would have to start from square one, wielding no effective influence on behalf of North Dakota and the interests of our state. So...what have we gotten for that? Zero. Well, unless you count the government health care takeover...
Now on his way out the door, and employing a "scorched earth" policy toward his country and the North Dakotans who enabled him, Senator Dorgan has these foreboding words for our nation's energy industry:
North Dakota's economy has remained robust during the national recession for a few different reasons, one of which is the solid energy industry. The policies of these liberal Democrats will decimate that. We don't have the next election to use as an incentive to bring Byron Dorgan back to earth...what about his cohorts? I don't think they're any more interested in North Dakota's economic future than he is. Once their re-election chances are sealed one way or the other, can we expect such candor from Conrad and Pomeroy?
UPDATE: This story from KFYR TV news shows that Byron Dorgan and his hairpiece are completely detached from reality. He's pushing legislation to push people toward electric cars, while simultaneously trying to strangle the industry which generates much of the electricity that would be used to charge them. He also ignores the load that charging a bunch of these magic vehicles would put on an already strained electric grid.
That's why I've always considered liberal/progressive/Democrat policies as suicidal. He's attacking us from both sides: making energy production more expensive and difficult, while forcing us into a corner with his pie-in-the-sky electric vehicles (which ought to be FANTASTIC in a North Dakota winter). Senator Dorgan is long overdue for replacement, as are his like-minded comrades in Washington.
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( 3.9 / 91 )
I spotted this sign on the way back from Sibley Park last night. Obvious punctuation issues aside, it raises an important point about ethanol blended fuels that nobody wants to address: they are inferior and smart consumers don't want them. Naturally, the entrepreneurial spirit kicks in and some businesses start catering to the desires of the consumer. Amazing how the system works.
I have friends who own FlexFuel vehicles. They'll tell you that by the time they fill their tanks with E85 fuel, deal with the loss of acceleration and passing power, and figure out the horrible mileage the fuel delivers, they break about even. That is NOT counting the tax subsidy that you and I pay on each gallon of E85, whether we use it or not, in order to keep its price competitive at the pump. That also does not include the higher food costs we pay because so much corn is going into the production of said "renewable fuel."
A long time ago I made this graphic to illustrate one more point, and a real deal-breaker: Even if you have an engine that could extract every bit of energy available in a gallon of E85 fuel, it still is WAY down on gasoline. E85 simply does not have the BTUs (measured units of energy) locked within its chemistry to compete with traditional motor fuel when it's burned and the energy stored in those hydrocarbons' chemical bonds is released. (Yes, I majored in chemistry in college at one point.) Simply put: E85 is a thermodynamic loser. Even worse, we're forced to subsidize it.
Personally I have to burn high octane fuel in my motorcycles and our trucks recommend it. I burn regular in the lawn mower and stuff like that. Even so, I will not buy ANY fuel that has an ethanol component to it. Thankfully I can now jet down to Unistop along University Drive if I want some ethanol-free regular gasoline.
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( 3.5 / 80 )
I suppose it's appropriate to have a whopper like this near the offices of professionals like Earl Pomeroy, Byron Dorgan, and Kent Conrad. This billboard is part of an orchestrated campaign to fool people into supporting "The American Power Act" - by not letting you know that it's a repackaging of the Kerry-Lieberman "Cap & Trade" act, designed to decimate our nation's energy industry. Energy...say, isn't energy a very significant part of North Dakota's economy?
Not only is this bill a total disaster for North Dakota and the nation at large, but it has another few interesting flaws:
The "Renewable Energy World" website, which is vested in the sorts of "green energy technology" bandied about by liberals bent on killing the energy industry, has an article titled "American Power Act Contains Little Direct Support for Renewables."
The "World Climate Report" website, which purports to be "the Web's longest-running climate change blog", has an article posted which calls the American Power Act "climatologically meaningless." For instance, even if this bill worked like clockwork (which never happens), they might lower temperatures by a couple hundredths of a degree over the next hundred years!
The folks at American Thinker have an article posted which points out that the Act is merely "a sugar coated version of Cap and Trade."
Hey, guess what? It gets better! If you actually visit "PassTheAmericanPowerAct.com" you'll get the site above. Looks pretty conservative and jingoistic, doesn't it? The only thing it seems to be missing is a flattering photo of George W. Bush. There's only one problem: It's a sham.
That web address actually bounces you to the servers of DemocracyInAction.org, a liberal activist group that apparently hosts all kinds of different websites for "progressive" causes. Here's how they describe themselves:
"DemocracyInAction, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization itself, believes technology can be a decisive force for social change. We exist to empower those who share our values of ecological and social justice to advance the progressive agenda."
Operated by a company called Salsa Labs, and oriented around the same sort of "community organizing" as our hapless President. Here's a list of their clients, which includes a bunch of liberal nonprofits like Code Pink and a bunch of liberal Democrat political campaigns.
If I had the money, I'd simply rent the billboard next to it and put up something like this. It wouldn't take much, and it would help put some truth right next to the Big Lie that is trying to kill jobs and take control of more Americans' lives in the name of the Global
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( 3.9 / 47 )Wielding all that "clout and seniority," Conrad and Dorgan vote the Democrat party line against North Dakota interests (AGAIN)
Those wacky North Dakota Democrats...they've gone and done it again. They postured themselves in the media as being for the Murkowski Amendment (PDF here), which would restrict the EPA from heavy-handedly going after any industry they felt generated too much carbon dioxide. In other words, North Dakota's burgeoning energy industry.
This is "health care reform" all over again. They make sure they're on TV, radio, and newspaper pages indicating that they'll vote against something North Dakotans don't want. Then they whisk themselves back to Washington, remove the plaid shirts, and vote whichever way the national Democrat Party wants them to.
Once again, you can view the Murkowski Amendment here (PDF). For the vote tally, click here.
How much do you want to bet you won't see accurate mention of this on KFYR, KXMB, WDAY...or in any of the Forum newspapers or the Bismarck Tribune?
Rob Port over at Say Anything tipped me to this article which describes Dorgan as "liberated by his pending retirement..." which was my biggest fear after hearing of his decision not to run again. He basically has a license to do what he's always done (vote as a liberal Democrat) with no repercussions. It looks like he's going to end his too-long political career by going out with a liberal bang.
How's that Hope™ and Change™ working out for everybody? When North Dakota's energy industry gets flattened by government regulation and we join the long list of states in economic woe, thank everyone who voted Democrat.
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( 3.5 / 45 )
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