CPRA T-P articles

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The Demise of the Mississippi Delta

The Mississippi Delta is slowly disappearing. The Delta was formed during the melting of the great ice sheets of the last ice age which began around 8000 years ago. Since then the Delta has been slowly sinking. It is true that sediments from the Mississippi River have continued to build land in the Delta, however they no longer can keep up with the land loss.
Geologically, this picture is the normal progression of deltas during the latter stage of an inter-glacial period. The sediments of the delta were deposited during the time that the great glaciers were melting and huge volumes of water were rushing down the rivers. Great to volumes of sediments were eroded from the mountains as the glaciers melted and carried down and became our deltas. Now the melting is complete and the amount of water and therefore the amount of sediment is greatly reduced. The result is that the deltas are sinking as their organic material is degraded and compressed along with the sediments themselves. There is nothing we can do to stop this process. Deltas are a dynamic feature. We would like them to be static and fixed forever for ourselves and our children but it just is not going to happen. We can throw billions of dollars at the problem and nothing we do will have any permanence to it. The work on Elmer's Island will last until the first major hurricane impacts it and then it will be gone. We need to learn to live with nature as it is not the way we would like it to be.

Meanwhile, our clueless politicians continue to throw huge amounts of money into the wrong places trying to stem the tide of land loss. Freshwater diversion projects are expensive and essentially only help the oyster fisherman keep their leases producing good oysters. The oyster men provide no direct support for this expenditure. We have to ask ourselves is it better to spend money moving populations out of the lands that will soon be submerged or at very least devastated by even the smallest tropical storm. We in America love to live by the water but there are dangers and living close to water and risks. I think governments that allow development in areas that have significant geological risk should be penalized and further I think that insurance companies that allow people who insist on building and risk prone areas should also be penalized. I myself would be one of those penalized.

IMMIGRATION POLICY

IMMIGRATION

Now that the balance of government has shifted it is time to tackle the immigration problem. This is a critical problem that needs to be solved. Our immigration laws are in a turbo mass and enforcement is in a worse match. Families are being torn apart people are being allowed in the United States that are either criminals or are totally unknown to us. People are being deported who would be valuable citizens if allowed to stay. We must address this problem.

One. The immigration law is horrible mess that does great injustices and needs to be changed.

Two. The immigration law needs to provide a path for citizenship that is reasonable but not exceptionally easy.

Three. Children should never be separated from their families because of the immigration law.

Four. Social welfare programs should only be available to immigrants that are legally and gainfully employed and registered with the United States government

Five. Fences, immigration employees, and border patrols need to be beefed up so that no one comes into this country without our knowledge and permission. In other words we need to know exactly who enters our country and what their history is. True refugees need to be handled expeditiously and with compassion.

Six. People who come to this country with work visas or student visas need to be checked on often and without fail and when they disappear from the grid they need to be hunted down and deported. Countries who students frequently disappear should be removed from the list of acceptable sources of foreign students.

Seven. Foreign aid should be totally focused on the social problems of of those countries especially the gauze immigrants to come as refugees our borders. We have wasted billions of dollars sure enough the military parts of foreign countries and nothing has been done for the poor. Diplomatic pressure should be part put on all dictators who maintain governments that have no concern for their own poor. This includes all Central and South American countries whose populace are continually trying to escape the oppression of dictators to the south of our borders. We need to put a stop to this by diplomatic and economic pressure.

Eight. The current immigration laws need to be enforced rigorously. Work visas need to be required of all employees and employers to hire illegals who do not have valid work visas should be arrested and punished within the confines of the law. We have turned our backs on the enforcement of immigration law and this must stop now.

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE NEW PRINCIPLE BISHOP OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH IN AMERICA

My congratulations and best wishes go to Elizabeth Eaton on her election. I truly hope that you're the moderate that you are characterized as being in the press. I especially hope that this quote from your press conference is accurate: "we really have to free ourselves of the siren song of a popular culture that doesn’t understand where true joy and freedom can be found." I fully agree with that statement. The "I don't want to offend anyone" attitude of the modern "Progressive" society would mute the teachings of the Church.

My conviction is that we must learn to Hate Sin while Loving the Sinner, a most daunting but necessary task.Your charge  is to find a way to Preach the Word, including God's commandments, without needlessly offending anyone, and yet inspire them to follow Christ. Granted, this is a nearly impossible task. You will have to develop a thin skin and become even more resolute in executing your authority as the voice of the ELCA in the world.

Your interview with TIME MAGAZINE was very interesting. I realize that you were trying to be honest but your response on the question of spiritualism was disquieting to me. I agree that spiritual people are not necessarily religious people, but that struck me as an unnecessary statement to make.  In my opinion, this is where the impartial religious scholar and the true seekers for God part company. You come from an academic background and a milieu of agnostic and atheistic scholars and I believe that showed up in your response and apparently you regard  this as a weak point in you religious self as well. I would suggest that you make this a very public struggle so that all of us in your fold can benefit from your insights and progress.

Your predecessor presided over a nasty schism in our ELCA synod. Although I personally supported the resolution on Sexuality, I know that many did not. I hope that we have all learned a lesson from this. Communication is sooooo important, and apparently not enough convincing communication was done. The issue is still rancorous  in the wider Lutheran Community and the ELCA should lead on this issue rather than sit back and lick its wounds. In my opinion, the ELCA leaders and theologians need to be more aggressive in their teaching of the wider flock. They need to address what they think is Scriptural (God's Word for us) and what is Secular ( the common Societal Mores and Norms of the Biblical times) in the Bible. In my opinion, this is where the problem lies. Is every word of the Bible to be taken as literal truth? My Bethel Bible series experience has convinced me of the answer to this question but many of my fellow parishioners are more conservative (Greek thinkers) in their interpretation of scriptures. We need strong leadership on this subject IMHO.

Again Congratulations and Best Wishes

Philip W. Johnson
Augustana class of 1960

GEODOODLES SMT-Kingdom Interpretation for Neo Geos: How to use Faust to do Time-to-Depth Conversion

GEODOODLES SMT-Kingdom Interpretation for Neo Geos: How to use Faust to do Time-to-Depth Conversion

How The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) will affect peoples lives

Our Nation is divided into many ethnic/economic/geographic groups. ACA will affect all of us but was specifically designed to address some groups but not all. The long term welfare poor were the main focus of ACA with undocumented workers as a second strong focus. Medium term employed moderate income workers were targeted to pay for ACA either willingly or through expensive fines for non compliance. Long term high income employed workers were singled out for "income redistribution" by taxing their employer health plans (Cadillac health plans),

Here is how I predict these various groups will actually experience ACA:

The long term welfare poor will not readily sign up for a plan and welfare workers will have to go out and work them through the process. They will soon stop paying their monthly health care payments leaving the plans in the red. They will not go to their primary care physicians for preventive medicine and will continue their current practice of going to the emergency room when they are sick or injured.

Undocumented workers and their families will have to be tracked down by social workers to get them enrolled because they are afraid of ICE and deportation. They too will continue their current practice of using the emergency room and will not continue to make payments on their ACA health insurance

The medium term moderate income employed will grudgingly sign up and pay for a while but will eventually drop payments on their ACA health insurance. They will not got to their primary care professional for preventive medicine and will use the emergency room when medical care is needed,

Long term employed high income folk will pay most of the costs of ACA through vastly increased costs of their health plans and through additional taxes. They will also see increased denial of services and increased cost sharing with medicare.

It doesn't look good economically nor medically and, as usual, retired people on fixed income are the big losers.

How does a Religious Radical become Dangerously Extreme?

Both Christianity and Islam have dangerous radical elements. Buddhism, though not technically a religion, has a few radicals as well (remember the self immolation by Monks during the Vietnam War and the war with China over Tibet). It seems to me that religious people are all supposed to be peaceful. Sure, the Bible and the Koran have violent passages and even urge their reader to enact violence on the "infidels or non believer or wrong believers". Catholics have fought wars with Protestants (I mean real wars with armies lead by Kings and Emporers). The people of Islam have fought wars between different factions such as Shiite vs Suni. Yes, the war between Iraq and Iran that preceded the first Gulf War was sectarian and the final battle was the largest tank battle since WWII. The majority of the casualties in the second Iraq war were due to sectarian violence in the form of car and truck bombs rather than American guns.  The killing by American Christian radicals has been by bombs for the most part. The deliberate assault near Waco, TX that ended up burning men women and children in a Christian separatist sect in their compound was a terrible thing and a black mark on the reputation of Federal agents who "cowboyed" the operation when it could have easily been peacefully ended with the capture of the leader on one of his many trips to town for supplies. Oklahoma city was a revenge killing intended to kill as many federal workers as possible.

How do the architects of such heinous crimes justify their actions to themselves? I believe that it begins with a typical young "believer" who is following in parents foot steps and not really sure what he believes but goes through the motions to be socially acceptable. As time progresses and learning begins, either wisdom or zealotry  begin to take over. The wise believer holds fast to his common sense and humanity while the zealot begins to focus on specific passages that demand action and obedience. The zealot may have too much humanity to go over the edge into radicalism, but if he does not then we have the makings of a pro-active radical extremist. In times past, contact with others of a similar ilk was less likely than it is today with the internet and social media. Once radicalized, a zealot also has a vast library of stimulating oratory to urge him on and  many technical manual to teach him how to act out his fury in a violent way. 

True Believers who are Humanly Wise must rise up to oppose these dangerous men. Neither Islam nor Christianity want their bitter wine. We must speak out against violence and bigotry while we still can.

The Face of the Islamic Jihadist

Those in the media and the past several administrations have been kidding themselves about what sort of person might be a dangerous Jihadist/suicide bomber. We seem to want them to be wild eyed and obviously crazy from a poor country and a poor family with a poor upbringing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Look at the two Boston bombers. They were both highly educated and came from highly educated and fairly well todoo families. The 911 Jihadists were similarly well educated and from educated families of the middle class. It seems to me that the driving force among these people is radical religious beliefs taught to them in mosques both real and  virtual (online). They willingly gave their lives to destroy as many infidels as possible. What is worst is that they were essentially all educated in America under our very noses. I have noted that our colleges and universities have welcomed students from Islamic countries mainly because their countries are paying a premium to get their young men educated here and the colleges and universities are raking in the dough. I especially noted this when I lived in Tulsa in the middle 1970's and the Iranian's were being taught to fly by the dozens at a local flying school which I thought was not a good idea politically. My wife was getting an advanced degree at OSU and when the Iyatolla Khomeni overthrew the Shah and began the terrible Islamic dictatorship in Iran, the Iranian students were all swooning with joy. It is obvious that these students were a threat to America all those years ago. It is time to take off the rose colored glasses.

WHY COLLEGES COST TOO MUCH

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Vaden Burns Hargis was named President of Oklahoma State University in Dec 2007 taking office March 10, 2008. His compensation was set at $350,000 annually plus a $20,000 annual car allowance  and rumored memberships in two exclusive country clubs with golf courses.

In Sept 2008 Hargis was named to the Board of Chesapeake Energy Co. His compensation in 2011 was $565,465 and he owned 56,441 shares of Chesapeake stock.

In their 2012 Stockholders meeting, Hargis received only 26% of the votes in favor of his retention on the board. This was the lowest total vote ever received by a sitting Board Member of a Fortune 500 Company. What makes this so egregious is that Mr. Hargis is trained as an accountant and a Lawyer and a major part of his duties as a board member was oversight the financial operations of the executive leadership.  The very things that Aubrey McClendon is being investigated for are clearly in Mr. Hargis arena of expertise. The stockholders smelled a rat.

QUESTION:

Since Vaden Burns Hargis was a full time employee of the State of Oklahoma, by whose authority did he accept a part time job on Chesapeake’s Board? When I worked for a major oil company I was considered to be a professional and therefore not hourly. This meant that I was not available to work in my “off” hours for another company and indeed was forbidden to do so. How does President Hargis pull this off.

ANALYSIS:

This is a great example of “good-ole-boy” politics at work. I doubt that Oklahoma State benefited much from Mr. Hargis’ expertise. He was a figure head and an expensive one. The tuition increases under him have been painful and I doubt he spent any sleepless nights trying to avoid them.  This is a “TIP OF THE ICEBERG” story and is only one of the many reasons that college tuition has become ridiculously expensive

The Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives

 The Differences Between Liberals and Conservatives

These comments are based on my own readings and observations of people over the length of my 74 years. Contrary to most Political discussions of this subject, I divide the spectrum into 4 quadrants: Liberals, Liberal Libertarians, Conservatives, and Conservative Libertarians. I would add to this the “Independents” who are a hodgepodge of disinterested non voters and voters, and people who have a bone to pick with both parties.

Liberal Libertarians

This group of people contain many sub groups but are predominantly people who don't believe that laws pertain to them. This is very common among youth who advocate media piracy and drug freedom. Some Unions fall in this category as well as they advocate freedoms and rights for their members that are not available to the general public, This is best demonstrated by public employee Unions Cadillac health and retirement plans that are much richer than those available to the working man. Our Congress and Executive and Judicial branches are the worst example of rich rewards at tax payer expense. We are all created equal but some are more equal than others. The rights of the masses (common good) trump the rights of the individual. Liberal Libertarians are spiritually similar to the bomb throwing anarchists of Europe and the revolutionaries who took over right after the French revolution. Remember Sarajevo?  Remember the Haymarket bomb thrown at a labor rally in Chicago May 4, 1886 that killed 7 policemen? Remember the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)? Remeber that the Maoist SLA assassinated the Superintendent of Schools in Oakland, shot and wounded several people, kidnapped Patty Hearst, and ended in a huge shoot out in LA in which several were killed by gunfire and fire.

Liberals

Liberals are feeling people who make decisions with their heart. Most are agnostic or downright atheists but have co-opted the Judeo-Christian ethic as their world view. This is ironic since almost all of them are Darwinians who frown on unbelievers without understanding that the Darwinian Theory of Evolution is founded on the idea of Survival of the Fittest (most well adapted to the current environment}. Darwinians make a huge effort to cover this up but it is to no avail, we all know that the strong eat the weak. Therefore, Liberals, are in a constant war with Natural Selection and expend huge amounts other peoples money to try to save the poor from their plight. This usually means food and medicine aid which leads to rapid multiplication of the poor and an even worse problem. General George Marshall was a Liberal and he spent what would now be several trillion dollars of our money rehabilitating the European economy after WWII (even the Communist countries). His goal was to create a group of friendly neighbors who would forever be beholden to us. We all know how that turned out. To fund their grandiose Social Programs, Liberals have subscribed to Keynsian Economic Theory which advocates printing money backed by Treasury Bonds. This scurrilous technique forces the economy to grow by deflating the dollar thus wiping out the retirement of the elderly on fixed income. Liberal are spiritually similar to Eastern Europeans in their world view.

                                                   Independents

Independents are interesting because there is no "Independent" Party and therefore they don't get any say in who will be either parties candidate. This means that most of the election is settled without their input. Independents are often split ticket voters and single issue voters. They also tend to have grudges against both parties for things that happened long ago. The two houses of our Government rarely have members who were elected as independents and even they caucus with one party or  the other. Many Independent voters feel that they are somehow "balancing" the scales between the Liberals and Conservatives. In truth, they are just shrinking from the political fight.

Conservatives

The core of the conservative group are the owners of small businesses who are constantly at war with Government over taxes, fees, and regulations. The next largest group are the religious conservatives who see the Government as an opponent and a hinderance. Conservatives feel that they are the ones who have to pay for the grand schemes of the Liberals and they resent it. Conservatives believe that Social Progrrams must have a SUSTAINABLE financial basis and that Governments should live within their means rather than borrowing printed money. These people are spiritually similar to our founding fathers and pioneer fore fathers.

Conservative Libertarians

Conservative Libertarians are a varied group. They include neo-Nazi's and White Supremecists but there are also business men and bankers and stock brokers who chafe at Government interference in their lives. Spiritually they are similar to some of our cherished heroes, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, and the Mountain Men of yesteryear who lived lives of exploration and discovery. They were not fit to live in a modern metropolis. Whereas Liberals do not generally believe in private ownership of property, these Conservative Libertarians are grasping for it. Their view of Government is that it should be as small as possible and cost little. Private rights trump the rights of the masses.

What is wrong with the Federal Regulation of Oil and Gas

In the wake of the BP oil spill, Michael Bromwich was appointed to head up the agency that oversees leasing and permitting of federal waters. Under his leadership very little leasing and permitting has occurred, in spite of pronouncements to the contrary. Additional, costly rules and regulations have also been implemented. The net result is increased imports of Oil and increased cost of gasoline and other petroleum products. Not a very optimistic start. A little research into the credentials of Mr. Bromwich leads me to believe the HE is the problem. Bromwich is a lawyer  with experience in forensic investigation of large Governmental organizations. His record on this score is good. He has not, however, been a CEO or President of a company and therefore is inexperienced at leadership and business in general. He has no training or experience in the Oil and Gas industry and is thus totally out of his element. In other words, he is a typical political appointee, well connected and clueless. The sad story of Obama miss management of the O&G Industry is documented on:
facebook pages forLeading-Edge-Geotechnology-Consultants-Inc

Saving the American Economy and our Future

In 2009 I posted a list of suggestions for a sensible and progressive energy policy. The Obama administration has not made any progress in this area and energy is an even bigger drain on our economy. Fossil fuels could be a major stimulus to our economy if the Government and its minions would get their foot off the necks of the Energy companies and work with them to solve problems in a cooperative and amicable way. That just doesn't seem to be the way that the current DC bunch works. They get a thrill out of thrashing the opposition and that seems to be all that matters to them. Now, in the aftermath of the oil spill in the Gulf, we are importing even more oil from Countries that are not friendly, thereby enriching them immensely. There is no alternate energy source that can step in to take the place of fossil fuels, in spite of all the hype. My suggestions in the 2009 post would go a long way toward helping us to immediate economic recovery and intermediate term independence from imports.
Now let's talk about the National Debt crisis. We as a nation own immense tracts of land and huge expanses of public roads. The sale of some of our public lands has become an ABSOLUTE NECESSITY.  We can still have control of the development of the lands that we sell bu we must not let environmentalists keep us from selling the land. It is our future that is at stake. Secondly, it is time to sell some of the interstate highway system. The result would be that the roads would become toll roads. Toll roads are a pain but so are taxes. Many of the roads are not being maintained well and making them private toll roads would solve that problem as well. Wild Life Refuges have grown to be a major portion of the Governments Land Holdings. Many of these should be sold to environmental defense groups to whom these are important projects. These groups are the ones who lobbied for the purchase of the lands to begin with so now they need to step up and repay the treasury for the cost of the land. It's not like this in not being done right now by groups like Ducks Unlimited. We just can't afford to satisfy every small group's desires for assistance anymore.
Now to Taxes. I like use taxes like sales tax and toll roads. It is time to change our tax system. For one thing, it is built on the model of the young employee who receives a regular pay check. That young employee has no ability to duck taxes. Self employed persons, however, duck a lot of taxes. If they are paid in cash or barter, they usually can skim a large amount cash without paying taxes. There are a lot of loopholes that strong lobbys have gotten for their emplo yers. All of this could be made fair again by switching to a use/sales tax. It is time for a Tea Party Revolution on Taxes Some Liberals feel strongly that "Rich" people should pay most of the taxes in America. This is exactly what a national sales tax will accomplish. People with money spend the most money and thus would pay the most taxes. The retiree.living on a meager pension, should not have to worry that regressive property taxes will drive him from his home. A national sales tax can replace all of the regressive and complicated taxes in the current system and be fair, progressive, and effective in paying down the national debt.

THE ELECTRIC CAR

The electric car is here. Zero pollution - right? Now let me see ..... electricity comes from burning Coal, or Natural Gas ..... that means the pollution is in someone else's back yard. Also, electric   cars require large batteries that contain toxic stuff like Lead, Lithium, Zinc..... what happens when these batteries are tossed into the junk pile. Don't tell me about recycling; it's a myth that Americans bother about recycling. We just discard and buy new. What about the ability of the electric grid to deliver enough energy for the additional needs of electric cars. A car will use as much electricity as 4 houses each month. Thus a two car family wil add 8 houses worth of demand to the grid. Things had better go slow because the flexibility is just not there. I wonder if the electric rates go up, and they will.  Will hybrid users then use the gasoline engine to recharge the batteries? If that happens, then electric hybrids will just be inefficient  gasoline powered cars that drag a heavy battery around with them.

The BP Oil Spill

We have learned a great deal from the oil spill.
Fact 0: Natural Oil emissions from the sea floor keep the Oceans continually Oily. This has been the case for eons. The natural response of Nature was to develop an array of Oil eating organizms that clean the place up. When the BP spill came along those organisms had a population explosion resulting in a rapid natural clean up.
Fact 1: The environmentalists and their scientist friends have greatly exaggerated the short and long term effects of oil spills. They do this to get rich on their own energy schemes (alternatives). They are so obvious that I don't need to belabor the point.
Fact 2: The Exxon Valdez oil spill was entirely different than the BP spill and no comparisons can be made. Fishing was little affected in spite of the claims of the fishermen. They have simply fished out some species like herring.
Fact 3: Oil after a few days on the water is no longer toxic. The marshes are alive in spite of contamination and the fish are still there. On top of this, the fish do not absorb oil either directly or by eating oil soiled food. The hysteria about this has been criminal
Fact 4: Many Academics have behaved like ambulance chasing lawyers in this tragedy. They make hysterical claims to the press so that they can make research grant proposals to the naive federal Government and get rich off the tax payer while providing no useful product.
Fact 5: The public has absolutely no chance to learn the facts unless they know to go to certain blogs and bulliten boards where Oil professional have been discussion the spill in great detail. Do you know that BP is only legally liable for $75 million and yet has taken full responsibility? Do you know that the American company Anadarko is reponsible for 25% and the a Japanese company for 10% and that they are currently refusing to pay a single dollar?
Do you know that BP is made up of at least three large American companies which they merged with in the past: SOHIO (The Std Oil of Ohio), AMOCO (The Std Oil Company of Indiana), and ARKO (Atlantic Richfield). The first two were members of the original 7 sisters of Oil.

Frankly, I come away from this with a feeling of disgust for many of my fellow scientists and absolute dismay at the incompetence of much of the Press. CNN made a big deal recently of the fact that there are tiny amounts of Oil in the beach sands that can only be seen in the labratory. The lab tech measured it at around 2 ppm. CNN was elated that they had proved that the Mississippi beaches were toxic and dangerous. It didn't seem to matter that the lab tech in the back ground was saying that he didn't thing that there was any danger because the amounts were so small. It was clear that the reporters had no concept of the size of the contamination =0.0002%.

Obama's Political Revenge on the Gulf Coast

What follows is directly from Wikipedia. Ask youselves "why would the president not accept help from a country that has the ability to save our coast?"

Three days after the oil spill began, the Netherlands offered ships equipped to handle a spill much larger than Deepwater—at no charge. "Our system can handle 400 cubic meters per hour," Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Each Dutch ship offered more capacity than the total for all ships that the U.S. was then employing.^[205]
The Dutch also offered to prepare a contingency plan to protect Louisiana marshlands with sand barriers and a Dutch research institute developed a strategy to begin building 60-mile-long (100 km) dikes within three weeks. The Netherlands government owns ships and high-tech skimmers and gives an oil company only 12 hours to demonstrate it has a spill under control. Otherwise, the government dispatches its ships at the company's expense.^[205]
According to a Dutch official, the U.S. government responded to the Dutch offer with "Thanks but no thanks," despite BP's desire to bring in the Dutch equipment.^[206] After the U.S. refusal, the Dutch kept their vessels on standby. By May 5, the U.S. had also turned down offers from 12 other governments that maintain spill response fleets. Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The Dutch vessels, for example, continuously extract most of the oil and return vast quantities of nearly oil-free water to the sea. However, "nearly" doesn't comply with the U.S. standard of 15 parts per million and so the technology was rejected.^[205]
In U.S. waters ships must store oil-contaminated water. Admiral Allen explained on June 11, "We have skimmed, to date, about 18 million gallons of oily water--the oil has to be decanted from that [and] our yield is usually somewhere around 10% or 15% on that." In other words, U.S. ships have been removing material that is 85-90% water from the Gulf, requiring them to make up to 10 times as many trips to storage facilities to off-load, an approach Koops calls "crazy."^[205]
The Americans later relented and took the Dutch up on part of their offer. The U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And the U.S. further postponed the clean-up operation to train U.S. crews to operate the equipment.^[205]
To avoid using Dutch ships and workers, the U.S. government asked them to train American workers to build the sand berms. Apparently using Dutch trainers was acceptable. According to Floris Van Hovell, a Dutch spokesman, Dutch dredging ships could complete the Louisiana berms twice as fast as the U.S. companies.^[205]
This is not the first time the U.S. spurned Dutch help in an oil spill. When the Exxon Valdez leaked oil in 1989, a Dutch team with clean-up equipment flew unasked to Anchorage airport to offer help. They, too, were told to take their equipment and go home.^[205]
The U.S. Jones Act prohibits the use of foreign ships and foreign crews in port-to-port shipping. However, U.S. officials have offered conflicting statements about its applicability to the cleanup task. Adding to the confusion, on June 19, the Coast Guard actively requested skimming boats and equipment from the Netherlands, Norway, France, and Spain.^[206]

As of June 25, The U.S. State Department listed 70 assistance offers from 23 countries, and indicated that 8 had been accepted, counting the Dutch skimming equipment (but not ships) as such an acceptance

Revenge? Power Lust? you decide

Oil Spills a NECESSARY RISK

As an oil explorer of 45 years experience, I look at the BP and Exxon oil spills as unavoidable  to an industrialized society. Oil,and Coal are absolutely essential to our economy and our personal well being.The problem is with the hysteria and naive solutions being recommend. Rachel Carson embarked on a similar path with her book “silent Spring” which succeeded in eliminating DDT from our environment. The unintended consequence was the death by starvation of perhaps millions of children in the third world as insects devoured their crops. Every major change in the world has unintended consequences. The fall- out from the BP oil spill will undoubtedly lead to less drilling and production of oil and gas in the US. The unintended consequence will be vastly greater importation of Arab oil. This will keep our balance of trade negative and we will all suffer at the gas pump and the general economy will suffer severely. Don’t think that alternative energy can quickly step in and save the day because if it could have made a difference it would have done so long ago. Most of the alternative energy either requires oil and gas for it’s manufacture (hydrogen, bio-fuels, etc.), has no infrastructure to distribute the energy to the cities (solar, wind, geothermal) or has serious environmental problems of it’s own (nuclear). In short, we are trapped by urban sprawl which requires oil to transport us to work, we don’t have a rail system thanks to President Kennedy’s political debt paying to the teamster union which spelled the end of significant rail and made us dependent upon the car and truck. In a nutshell, we have to move forward with our techno-industrial society. We need to learn and improve after a disaster but massive punitive response will always lead to serious unintended consequences

Can anyone doubt that the environmental damage of both the Santa Barbara and Exxon Valdez were monstrously over stated by hysterical environmentalists? There were no mass fish or bird kill and the numbers of cleaned up birds was tiny compared to what exists in the wild. The estimates are wildly inflated in most articles to inflame public opinion. Our legal system functioned as it should have and damages were paid for claims of loss. This will happen again. Lawyers are streaming into New Orleans in hopes of finding work on claims against BP. We do not need hysterical claims of environmental disaster until it has happened. I predict that the final effect will be 10% of what is being said now. After all, this is not the first wild well in the Gulf and natural oil seeps have always been spewing oil and gas into the water. It is time to sit back and watch unless you are one of those on the front lines. Bobby Jindal and Billy Nungesser strike me as quite competent in their efforts and the dredged sand island may become a reality thanks to their efforts.

A major impediment to domestic production is just around the corner. Oddly, this will increase chances of the next big oil spill. Imported oil comes to us by way of Supertanker. The likelihood of an accident will increase as our imports incrfease. Terrorism is also a threat to the tankers.

Fall-out from the BP oil spill

There is not much question that the radical anti-carbon groups will seize upon the tragedy to promote their alternate energy schemes and conservation ideology.. This is inevitable and probably beneficial from a global perspective. Environmentalists will seize upon this tragedy as an opportunity to further turn public sentiment against the " Big Oil" companies.What should our response be as members of the fraternuty of oil worker and investors?

Over my career, I have  continually been amazed at the lack of understanding the general public has about the oil business. We need to arm ourselves with facts about oil employment, economic share and etc.and begin to makes appearances on liberal and environmental blogs and web sites. I suggest that we take a firm but unemotional stand on the value and importance of oil and gas to our economy. I further suggest that we compare the cost of the current BP spill to the cost of drunk driving accidents annually. If rig explosions are a "fixable" wrong then so is drunk driving.

Another thing to drive home to the public is the % profit of oil versus groceries, movies, cars, and etc. Our detractors have made much of gross profits without mention of % return on investment. The radical liberal promotes the idea that companies exist to serve the public and that profits should not be a goal or requirement. We must promote the idea of free markets. The profit motive has always been the driving force behind our successful economy and the radicals would take that away from us. It is important that we not allow that to happen.

Here are some facts that I've found on the net .In 2004 there were 316,000 workers in the Oil and Gas Industry. Their pay scale was from $12 to $50 per hour. The link: Oil Company Earnings has excellent information on Oil Company earnings as compared to other industries. Oil Companies actially are less profitable than many other industries. The charge of obscene profits is definitely a Red Herring.Earnings for a large company are always huge sounding to the lay person. Percent return on investment is a much fairer statistic for comparing companies and industries. One figure that stood out for me was the spending on Carbon Mitigation. The Fed has spent next to nothing on it compared to Industry..
Another link: Oil & Gas Investment  gives fact about the investments that O & G makes in the U.S. Economy. In 2006 new investments amounted to $174 Billion. This is a very significant part of the Total U.S. economy. The current administration is constantly trying to demonize the industry and especially its profits..Armed with the facts we need to fight back, not just for our own sake but for the poor innocent citizens who do not understand the economics of energy and have been swayed by the most heinous missrepresentations of "Big Oil".
Here is the best set of figures yet: Oil Jobs and GDP share . Nine million jobs and 7.3% og GDP depend on the O&G industry. Lets all arm ourselves with the facts and go out and fight for our industry.

Obama, Jindal and the Oil Slick

These men face the trial of a life time. This is what they were elected for. It is time for the rest of us to back off and give them a chance to do their jobs. There is no way that we can be kept informed of the progress so stop clamoring for updates. When they can, the people in charge involved will update us. Also, let's forget the politics for now. Rush was out of order with his rash statements. Those of us who can, should volunteer to help physically with the effort to protect the marshes. If the oil does go onto the beaches of Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, then the impact on fishing and birds will be somewhat less and cleanup will be much easier and very much faster than if it comes ashore in the Louisiana marshlands. I don't wish this on anyone, but contaminated sand can picked up and disposed of but contaminated marsh is a decades long process of cleanup and much more devastating to wild life and the fishing industry.

Obama and Energy

As a professional in the domestic oil & gas industry, I am frustrated at the lack of cooperation by local, state, and federal governments with my industry. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if the government controlled lands were opened up to oil exploration 10's of thousands of high paying jobs would be directly created in a year and after that more than 100,000 indirect jobs would be created. Governments would rake in large amounts of money in lease bonuses and fee and then after production starts they would enjoy a rich revenue stream. To jump start this effort, Obama should put a tarrif on imported oil and gas. This would give our home grown industry an advantage over the foreign national companies such as Shell, BP, ENI, StatOil, CNOC, and etc. The tariff would provide another rich revenue stream. It is time that the government began to look after the interests of business rather than trying to kill the golden goose

Global Warming Debacle

The unmasking of bias and down-right fraud amongst the Climatology Scientific Elite is shocking but not unexpected by other Scientists whose dissent has long been quashed. The absolute rape of Scientific Method is caused bythe Politicization of Science and is the result of the practice of Governments of funding Scientific Research. The process of funding Research involves the need to convince a board of decision makers (usually lay people) of the importance and timeliness of the proposed Research. This is the same process that private Researchers go through to achieve their funding but there is a big difference. Private Research is funded by a foundation or Corporation using THEIR own money. They take the risk to act on the Research results. Bias is assumed and even encourage if it furthers the economic goals of the Company. In the case of Government funded Research, the bias is political and is FUNDED BY THE TAX PAYERS who then are forced to take the risk of acting on the Research's results! On top of this, the Research is advertised as being unbiased basic Research of the most fundamental importance. The results of Governmental Research, in part, are:
1. The development and use of the Nuclear bomb and development of the Thermo-nuclear giant bomb, not to mention, Napalm, Nerve Gas and Biologic Death Agents. What were these giant minds of governmental research thinking? The largest bombs are capable of causing 3rd degree burns for a radius of 50 miles! Now it is only a matter of time before Terrorists get their hands on one or more.
2. NASA which has spent billions to put humans in space for no good scientific reason. Most of the really important discoveries of NASA are from unmanned robotic instruments and yet they continue to waste Research money and kill astronauts for no good Scientific reason. To make matters worse. Bert Rutan built a space plane system for a $10,000,000 contest and it worked as well as the space shuttle. He did it at a tiny fraction of the cost and in a tiny fraction of the time that NASA took to build the space shuttle.
3. The Center for Disease Control who cannot seem to understand the H1N1 epidemic and cannot figure out how to get vaccines and distribute them efficiently. The amount of conflicting information coming from this agency is mind boggling.
4. The Corps of Engineers has a long record ot monkeying with Rivers and Coastlines and failing spectacularly. The Tombigbee River, The failure of Levees in New Orleans and elsewhere, the $300,000,000 a year bill for replacing sand eroded from rich peoples beaches, and on and on.......
5. The numerous "scientific" projects that appear on website of the humorous and onerous uses of taxpayer moneys.
6. The billions in Research to see why fish and game are disappearing. Are we still a hunter-gatherer society? Fishing and Hunting are recreational and therefore should be supported by private funding rather than the taxpayer. Ducks Unlimited is a good model. Professional Fishing needs to stand on its own financially. If they insist on fishing the species to extinction, then it is their problem, not the tax payers.
7. Global Warming Solutions are in the realm of fairy tale. The solutions being offered are so preposterous that they are hardly worthy of response. If the Gores of the World are correct, that CO2 produced by man is the primary cause, then the only solution is to cause a massive reduction in population. Trading CO2 credits on stock exchanges will certainly not produce this result. It is becoming clear to me that, for many Scientists, this is seen as a code word for the actual problem which is overpopulation and an out of control rate of human reproduction , especially among the poor. By destroying the Capitalist economies via Kyoto and Copenhagen, are they actually aiming for mass starvation of the poor?
8. Ethanol as a "green" gasoline. Never mind the fact that both gasoline and natural gas are required to grow the crops and that Ethanol cannot be transported using gasoline infrastructure and that food prices are forced upwards due to the competition with energy for the use of the crops.
9. Florescent bulbs as Energy savior. Never mind the fact that this will make mercury poisoning of the environment rampant
10. Electric cars as the Energy savior. Never mind the cost and pollution of electricity production and never mind the Lead and Lithium poisoning of our environment. By the way, the Chinese now own virtually the Lithium mines in the world.