Food & Water Watch

I was reading an article on RedState.com and followed a link to www.foodandwaterwatch.org.  It's a typical loonie liberal web site, but it discusses some matters that I know at least a little about.  As usual, it's full of crap.  I found the "Contact Us" link and left them this little missive:

"I somehow found myself on your web site, Food & Water Watch, and what I found is truly frightening.  It is apparently attempting to fight against pretty much every human technological advance, whether safe or not, in some lunatic neo-Luddite fashion.  Apparently, no one on your staff knows anything about fracking, or they learned everything they know from the movie Gasland, which was full of falsehoods and misrepresentations.  For instance, there are many places in this country (and others) where methane is found in the water table, so lighting a faucet has been around long before fracking.  Fracking takes place at depths far below the water table.  You seem to have no one on staff with a basic knowledge of physics either, hence F&WW's stance against irradiated food.  Fortunately, most people will appreciate the benefits of inexpensive, safe natural gas and the electricity it generates, and prefer uncontaminated food over FW&W's hysterical braying while people die from E.Coli.

F&WW, like so many other liberal organizations and their members, has as its true agenda reducing humans to living in grass huts, eating rabbit food, hunched over burning buffalo dung for warmth.  Sorry, but I, my children, and their descendants say NO!"

What's sad is that there are actually some people who believe what these idiots say, and walk around with protest signs, protesting against their own well-being!  Fight fracking, because we don't need clean energy here!  Fight irradiation of food, because it's better to have mass E. Coli outbreaks to rid the earth of those human vermin!

I wonder if liberals are allowed to choose WHICH half of their brain gets removed when they take up that philosophy?

Senate Dems Lose Vote on Repeal of Tax Breaks for Oil Companies Amid Pain at Pump

Why do democrats keep calling these tax breaks subsidies? Why do they keep neglecting to mention that many other industries in this Country get the same tax breaks? Why do they fail to inform us that they are picking on FIVE oil companies? They aren't demanding that these tax breaks be taken away from ALL oil companies, just the five that they don't like. Why don't they admit that if these tax breaks are taken away the price of gasoline will rise in accordance?

These big five oil companies pay about 40% in taxes, even with the tax breaks they get, billions of dollars. But all the democrats see is the dollar figures, never mind that there are lots of companies that make a bigger profit percentage, just not the dollar amount. The democrats also refuse to mention that out of those profits the oil companies pay for research and development and exploration. It's not like they drill a hole in the ground and oil pops out. They spend huge amounts of money figuring out exactly where the oil is.

And lets also keep in mind that the oil industry employs thousands and thousands of people. Every time obama and his gang of thugs make it harder for oil companies to drill, Americans lose their jobs. The oil industry sufffers every day along the Gulf Coast because obama refuses to allow them to drill.

obama recently said he is going to increase drilling in the Gulf, off of Alaska, and off of California. It's bullshit. It is an election stunt. He has no intention of EVER allowing our Country to become energy independent. Don't fall for it people...

From FoxNews

As expected, Senate Democrats lost a key test vote Tuesday on a bill that would have repealed $20 billion worth of tax subsidies for the nation's five largest oil companies, falling 8 votes short of a win.

The 52-48 vote came as a majority of Americans say in a new Gallup poll that high gas prices are hurting their finances.

Nearly seven in 10 Americans said high gas prices are causing financial hardship for their families. More than half said to compensate, they have made major changes, ranging from shorter trips to cutting back on vacation travel. More than a 1,000 people responded to the poll that has a 4 percent margin of error.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gas is $3.94, according to AAA, and Democrats were looking to exploit that high price with Tuesday's vote.

Last week, Democrats grilled oil executives on the tax breaks that they say are not needed and President Obama announced Saturday he was directing his administration to ramp up U.S. oil production by extending leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska's coast.

Democrats have been touting a new report by the Joint Economic Committee found that eliminating the tax breaks would reduce the deficit by $21 billion over 10 years and encourage alternative energy and energy efficiency.

"This new JEC report makes clear that there are ways to bring down the deficit without harming our economic recovery," said Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., chairman of the committee. "By repealing unnecessary tax breaks to the major integrated oil companies, we can reduce the deficit by more than $20 billion and speed the move to a clean energy economy without impacting prices at the pump."

But Republicans opposed the bill, saying it won't relieve pain at the pump, a conclusion also reached by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said on the Senate floor Tuesday that "it won't affect gas prices at all."

Reid then went on to say the opposite.

"We have to do something about the exorbitant gas prices, and the best way to start with that is to do something about the five big oil companies getting subsidies they don't need," he said.

Read the rest at the link above...

Gas Bills Bloat Congress

What kind of an idiot would even begin to think taking tax breaks away from oil companies and giving them to "green energy" companies would lower gas prices? That's right, a democrat idiot. If you are looking for a sure fire way to raise the cost of a gallon of gas, take away any tax breaks to the oil companies. What they will pay in taxes will just be tacked on to the price we pay at the pump.

Increasing production is the answer to lower gas prices. And these clowns need to do something fast. Most of us can't afford what we are paying now, and any further hikes will be close to catastrophic for many.

It's sounds like instead of anybody doing anything, congress will just sit around blaming each other and hope for political points out of the deal.

I've had it with the whole bunch of them...

By Chris Stirewalt - FoxNews

GOP and Dems Trade Shots Over Gas Bills, But Which Plan Would Lower Costs? 

“What is more likely to lower gas prices: Raising taxes on oil companies or increasing oil production?”

-- Senate Republican aide talking to Power Play about competing energy legislation in Congress this week

With debt and budget negations stalled for the time being, members of Congress will instead turn to the business of assigning political blame over high gas prices.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected this week to push forward a Democratic plan that would transfer tax breaks for American oil companies to approved green-energy firms.

House Speaker John Boehner, meanwhile, will bring up a series of votes on a suite of Republican legislation aimed at breaking President Obama’s clampdown on offshore drilling permits.

Even as recession fears force commodity prices downward, gas prices are expected to continue to rise above $4-per-gallon. Uncertainty abroad, rising global demand, a shattered U.S. dollar and decreased domestic production all mean prices will continue to increase for hard-pressed American consumers.

When it comes to high gas prices, the House Republican plan would do little to bring down short-term prices. Even if Senate Democrats and President Obama were to go along with the drilling, baby, drilling, it would take months for the new crude to hit refineries and increase domestic supplies. Any short-term reduction would come from speculators jumping out on the bet of increased future production.

The Democratic proposal, however, would almost certainly raise gasoline prices as companies compensated for $4 billion in increased federal taxes. The plan proposed by President Obama and subsequently championed by Reid and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is part of a multi-year effort to encourage green energy (in part by keeping energy prices high).

Last year, America’s largest oil company, Exxon, paid about $10 billion in federal taxes and made a profit of about $30 billion. If the tax bill had been $11 billion, it is unlikely that Exxon shareholders would have wanted the money to come out of profits. The money instead would have come from consumers.

While Democrats are betting that consumers would feel good about seeing politicians sticking it to big oil in the form of tax increases, American drivers (and voters) would likely understand the basic economics of taxation. Plus, gas prices are helping to stunt the already puny recovery. For middle-class consumers, high gas prices mean disposable income vanishes.

But the House would never let the Democratic plan through, either.

The real issue in Washington is about the budget deals that continue behind closed doors. The Gang of Six is shrouded in doubt as Gang member and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad is threatening to start pushing his own debt-reduction proposal.

Democrats are stalled on how to proceed on obtaining an increase in the federal government’s $14.3 trillion debt limit, and Republicans are mostly waiting to see how that plays out before getting too jiggy about a 2012 budget proposal.

Until the dam breaks, trying to score points on gas prices will have to suffice.

House Bucks Obama: Bill Jump-Starts Gulf Oil Production

The cost of going to work every day has doubled for my family. I'm sure you all have the same experience. If gas prices continue to rise, it almost won't be worth going to work. democrats don't understand that out here in the real world, these things have consequences. When the government refuse to allow our oil comapnies to do their job, we all pay for it. We pay for it at the pump and we pay for it in national security concerns. It just doesn't seem like a great idea to me to buy oil from countries that hate us. How exactly, is that good business?

"Drill baby Drill" does make a good bumper sticker. And American companies drilling oil in our own Country is good, sound, energy policy. Buying oil from hugo chavez is poor policy...

by Audrey Hudson - Human Events

Republicans are banking on a measure approved by the House on Thursday to lower gasoline prices by accelerating offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The situation we find ourselves in today is detrimental to everyone who goes to the pump to fill their cars,” said Rep. Rob Bishop (R.-Utah). “The cost of gas increases, and continues to increase because of the inaction of this administration.”

The de facto moratorium on offshore drilling imposed by President Obama after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy last year has forced the importation of an additional 130,000 barrels of oil a day to make up for the lost production, Republicans say.

Democrats argued that the bill would lead to future environmental tragedies and insisted that more oil is being safely produced under President Obama than in President Bush’s administration.

Republicans countered that Americans are expected to spend an additional $700 on gasoline this year.

“The administration’s strategy is to cut the standard of living … and beg Saudi Arabia to be nice to us,” Bishop said.

The legislation is the first of several measures Republicans will act on in the next week, and imposes strict time lines on the Obama administration to sell leases in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore from Virginia.

President Obama has since lifted the moratorium, but few permits are actually being approved, Republicans said.

“Unfortunately, the administration turned the tragedy into a catastrophe … one that destroys jobs,” Bishop said.

HR 1230, the Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act, passed the House by a vote of 266 to 149, with 233 Republicans and 33 Democrats supporting the measure.

The Office of Management and Budget said in a statement that it opposes the legislation because it would undermine environmental protections and workplace safety.

The key measures are sponsored by Rep. Richard “Doc” Hastings (R.-Wash.), chairman of the House Energy Committee. The House on Tuesday will vote on HR 1229, which ends the moratorium and establishes new safety reviews.

“Continued tensions in the Middle East serve as a reminder that increased American energy production is as much of a national security issue as it is about jobs and lowering gasoline prices,” Hastings said.

“The United States has the most energy resources in the world and the American people are demanding that we utilize them to lower energy prices, create jobs, and make American less dependent on unstable foreign energy,” Hastings said.

Democrats said the measure reinforces the “myth” that America can drill itself out of foreign dependency.

“ 'Drill baby drill’ may look good on a bumper sticker, but it is not a sound energy policy,” said Jared Polis (D.-Colo.).

“This does not make filling up at the pump any more affordable to Americans at all,” Polis said.

Read the rest at the link above...

Why won't our economy recover?

A big part of our economy revolves around disposable income. People use the money they have left over after the bills are paid, disposable income, to eat at McDonald's, go to the movies, buy flat screen TVs at Walmart, take a vacation, stay at hotels, etc.

Every one of these activities stimulates our economy. These activities enable places like McDonald's and Walmart to hire more help, which also helps our economy grow, and results in more tax paying citizens. Those additional tax paying citizens spend their disposable income, further growing the economy.

When gas prices go through the roof, like they are now, take a guess at where people spend the income they would otherwise use to eat out or buy other goods and services. You got it, at the gas pump. In an economy that is already in the toilet, the effects are even worse.

So while obama sits around with his thumb in his ass, gas prices continue to rise and our economy continues to decline. Until the oil companies in this Country are allowed to do what they do best, drill for oil, it will be impossible for a recovery to take place.

As far as the profits of the evil oil companies are concerned, keep this in mind, the government makes more on a gallon of gasoline than the oil companies. Also, unlike obama's pet company, GE, the oil companies actually pay taxes, a lot of taxes. Some oil companies pay more in taxes than they make in profit. And don't forget that oil companies pour much of their profits back into the company in the form of exploration, research and development.

For a further look at oil company profits, see the post by Joe Texan below.

U.S. Gov't Agency Plans $2.84 Billion Loan for Oil Refinery—In Colombia

We can't drill here to become energy independent, but we can finance drilling operations in foreign countries? We haven't built an oil refinery in this Country since the '70s and we can finance a new one in Columbia? What in the hell are these people thinking? Every day it becomes more apparent that our government has no clue what it is doing.

Stock up on ammo people, you may need it sooner than you think...

By Terence P. Jeffrey - CNSNews

The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent agency of the federal government, is now planning a $2.84-billion loan for a massive project to expand and upgrade an oil refinery--in Cartagena, Colombia.

The money would go to Reficar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecopetrol, the Colombian national oil company.

“This is part of a $5.18 billion refinery and upgrade project in Cartagena, Colombia supplying petroleum products to the domestic and export markets,” the Export-Import Bank said in a statement.

The U.S. government-controlled bank says the $2.84-billion in financing it plans to undertake will be the second largest project it has ever done. The largest was $3 billion in financing for a liquid natural gas project in Papua New Guinea.

The statement released by the bank said that on April 7 the bank’s presidentially-appointed board of directors had “voted to grant preliminary approval for a $2.84 billion direct loan/loan guarantee” for the Colombian refinery project.

Export-Import Bank Spokesman Phil Cogan told CNSNews.com that the bank could not say at this time how much of the $2.84 billion would be directly loaned to the Colombian refinery company and how much would be in loans guaranteed by the bank--although he expected it to be a combination.

“It is conceivable it could be all a direct loan,” said Cogan. “Right now it is set up so that the board could do either a complete direct loan or a combination of direct loan and guarantee. That hasn’t been determined yet.”

Since December, the bank has also approved almost $880 million in other loans and loan guarantees to Reficar’s parent company, Ecopetrol. So, in total, if the new $2.84 billion in loans is finalized, the Columbian national oil company and its wholly owned subsidiaries will have received $3.72 billion in financing backed by a U.S.-government-controlled entity within a span of five months.

Read the rest at the link above...