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Obama's green energy plans kill jobs, hurt consumers, and cost taxpayers
Commentary by Marita Noon
Proponents of green energy like to point out how the costs have come down – and they have. Though renewable energy, such as wind and solar, are not expected to equal fossil fuel costs anytime in the near future and recent growth has been propped up by mandates and tax incentives. But there are other, more subtle aspects of the Obama Administration's efforts that have had negative impacts that are not felt for years after the policies are implemented. By then, it will be too late to do much about them.
We know that the push toward renewables has hurt the coal industry. As Hillary Clinton gleefully exclaimed: "we're going to put a whole lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." We are already seeing this happen all over the country. Dozens of coal mining companies have gone bankrupt since President Obama took office and those that are still functioning are doing so with far fewer workers.
One such mine is in the Four Corners region of New Mexico – the San Juan Mine – which is one of the largest underground coal mines in the world. It has been a "top employer" in the region. Westmoreland Coal Company purchased the mine from BHP Billiton, with the sale completed on February 1, 2016. At the time, the mine employed more than 400 people. Shortly thereafter, 11 salaried staff lost their jobs and on June 16, another 85 workers – both salaried and hourly – were laid off. Which, according to the Albuquerque Journal, were "necessary because the San Juan Generating Station, which uses all the mine's coal, plans to retire two of its four units as part of a negotiated agreement among plant operator Public Service Company of New Mexico [PNM], the Environmental Protection Agency, the Navajo Nation, and the state of New Mexico."
The "agreement" to shut down half the power plant – thereby cutting the immediate need for coal – is the result of the EPA's 2011 Regional Haze Program that, according to a report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "seeks to remedy visibility impairment at federal National Parks and Wilderness Areas." This, the report states, "is an aesthetic regulation, and not a public health standard" – though the results will be undetectable to the human eye. For this, nearly a quarter of the mine's workforce has been terminated.
The Albuquerque Journal cites Westmoreland's executive vice president, Joe Micheletti, as being unwilling to "comment on whether he expected to see more layoffs in the coming months." It also states that PNM has promised "not to lay off any employees at the stations as a result of the unit closures" – though through attrition employment is down 20 percent from two years ago.
The reality is, anti-fossil fuel groups like the Sierra Club, wanted the entire plant shut down. In 2018, PNM will have to plead their case before the Public Regulatory Commission to keep the San Juan Generating Station functioning past 2022. PNM is currently considering a plan for meeting its needs for electricity without it. If the plant closes, all jobs, approximately 800, at both the mine and the generating station will be gone – greatly impacting the local economy.
Obama's far-reaching green energy policies are insidious – hurting consumers in ways we don't even think of. On June 10, Stephen Yurek, president and CEO of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), gave testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and Power. He addressed the nearly 40-year old Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) – which, he said, "has not been updated to reflect new technologies and economic realities" and "has been misapplied by the Department of Energy [DOE]." The Obama Administration has run amuck in its application of EPCA – issuing regulation after regulation. Yurek backs this up by pointing out the difference in the Clinton and Obama administrations: "While the Clinton Administration's DOE issued just six major efficiency rules during his eight years in office, the Obama Administration's DOE issued eight major efficiency rules in 2014 alone – a record according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. And DOE's Unified Agenda indicate that between 2015 and the end of the administration, 11 additional major efficiency rules can be expected to be issued."
These rules, Yurek explained, "use unrealistic assumptions" to create "higher efficiency levels than are economically justified for consumers." He encourages Congress to force the DOE to "consider the real-world cumulative impact of product efficiency standards among agencies, businesses, and consumers" and suggests that "as DOE promulgates rules according to an accelerated regulatory schedule, necessary constructive dialogue falls by the wayside."
Yurek summarizes: "An endless cycle of efficiency rulemakings continues to have an adverse impact on our global competitiveness and the American jobs we create." This practice hurts consumers as "When new products and equipment cost more than consumers can afford, they find alternatives, some of which compromise their comfort and safety, while saving less energy or none at all or in some cases using more energy."
In the name of energy efficiency, on December 6, 2013, Obama issued a memorandum ordering federal buildings to triple renewable energy use. He declared: "Today I am establishing new goals for renewable energy as well as new energy-management practices." Now, nearly three years later, we get a taste of what his federal building initiative is costing taxpayers.
On June 16, 2016, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Office of Inspector General released a report - precipitated by an anonymous hotline complaint - on the 53 percent cost escalation at Fannie Mae's extravagant new downtown DC building. As a result of the financial crisis, mortgage giant Fannie Mae received a bailout of $116.1 billion in taxpayer funds and FHFA now serves as the conservator over Fannie Mae. The Inspector General found that no one in the FHFA Division of Conservatorship "was aware of the 53% increase in the estimated build-out costs for Fannie Mae's new office space."
"Because Fannie Mae is an entity in the conservatorship of the U.S. government," the report states: "FHFA, as conservator, will need to assess the anticipated efficiencies of specific proposed features against estimated costs of those features and determine whether the efficiencies warrant the costs." The watchdog report found the ballooning costs created "significant financial and reputational risks."
Addressing the excessive cost, Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), chairman of the House subcommittee with oversight over Fannie Mae, said: "Like a child with a credit card in a toy store, the bureaucrats at Fannie Mae just couldn't help themselves. After being forced to bail out the GSE's [Government-Sponsored Enterprises] to the tune of nearly $200 billion [which includes Freddie Mac], American taxpayers now get the news that they are underwriting lavish spending at Fannie Mae's new downtown Washington, D.C. headquarters. So while Americans around the country are living paycheck to paycheck, Washington insiders are blowing through budgets by designing glass enclosed bridges and rooftop decks."
In response to the call for "immediate, sustained comprehensive oversight from FHFA," Melvin L. Watt, FHFA director, defended himself. In the face of the Inspector General's caustic criticism, he claimed that many of the upfront investments would save money over time. Watt's memorandum only offers two such examples and one is more efficient lighting. He claims: "upfitting space with more expensive LED lighting instead of less expensive fluorescent lighting would result in significantly cheaper operating costs." The other example he provided was window shades.
These are just three recent examples of Obama Administration policies that were put in place years before the resulting job losses and costs to consumers and taxpayers are felt. Gratefully, for now, the Supreme Court put a stay on one of his most intrusive and expensive programs – the Clean Power Plan. But there are plenty of little rulemakings, programs, and memorandums that will still be impacting jobs and increasing costs long after he is out of office.
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc., and the companion educational organization, the Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America's Voice for Energy - which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.
Harris weighs in on transgender issue
In a letter to local school superintendents within his district, Congressman Andy Harris urged those officials to maintain the stance of respecting the privacy of those who use gender-specific facilities:
I realize the tenuous position the Departments of Education (DOE) and Justice have put you in through the "guidance" provided in their letter, dated 13th of May, to school districts. I urge you to continue to respect a student's right to privacy – including girls that do not wish to undress in the presence of biological males or whose parents feel likewise. Please know the Obama Administration will not have the last word on this issue.
(T)he Obama Administration sent the May 13th letter to school districts across the country containing "guidance" that would require all public schools to accommodate students using restrooms of their choice regardless of their biological gender. Violation of this "guidance" is, of course, under the implicit threat of withholding of federal funds and/or legal action by the DOJ. On this issue, I believe the Administration is misinterpreting federal civil rights law, and violating state's rights. There is no statutory authority for this "guidance." (Emphasis in original.)
Although he's not a lawyer, Harris goes on to cite a pair of court cases that are already underway to reinforce his belief that school systems have nothing to worry about insofar as federal funding goes. And he may be correct on this point, as it will likely be months (if not years) until this winds its way through federal courts – in the meantime it's a safe bet that most school districts will cave on this and further blur the lines between genders, all to cater to perhaps one or two students in a 1,000 student school who are truly suffering from gender dysphoria as opposed to the couple dozen who may be doing so as a rebellion against authority or to get their jollies. I thought we were supposed to celebrate differences, so what is wrong with the one or two in question having respect for their peers and using a unisex restroom as available? I suspect most kids in a school would know the situation of the student in question.
The next question, though, is when this will come down to the state level and, more importantly, when it will be impressed on Christian schools (such as the one Kim's daughter attends) that these accommodations need to be made? It's already becoming fair game for just anyone to use her restroom, such as at Target.
Of course, I have heard the argument that a truly transgendered person would be indistinguishable from their opposite sex in mannerisms and it's likely they are already using the restroom of the gender they identify with. Fortunately, modern restroom design would either provide that a guy who identifies as a woman uses a stall (because a women's room is all stalls) or that a girl that identifies as a guy uses the stalls available in the men's room because they can't use a standard urinal.
I think the issue is more in the realm of locker and changing rooms where it can become obvious that the biological equipment is different, and it presents an uncomfortable experience for both sides. So what is wrong with the right to privacy, particularly since the Left thinks it applies to a woman's body in other situations?
The simple truth is no matter what surgery you subject yourself to or how many hormones you take, 99.99% of us are either male or female. (There is a very tiny group that is intersex or has a degree of those characteristics, perhaps 1 in every 2,000 births.) You simply can't change the fact you are XX or XY at birth and it doesn't matter whether you feel more feminine on some days – guys, stay out of the girls' locker room. The policy in place for many, many years worked for a reason – because it was logical and respected obvious differences.
Hopefully Harris is correct about the federal government's impotency, but that doesn't mean school administrators will do the right thing as illustrated above.
The conservative's conundrum (revised and extended)
In the wake of my original remarks I had quite a bit of reaction on social media, and the balance of support vs. "throw the bum out if he doesn't resign" seems to be about 50/50. The latter category, however, seems to be almost exclusively Trump supporters who didn't seem to hear the part at the state convention (or read my reporting) about being tolerant to those who don't support The Donald.
I do have one issue with a completely different segment of the Trump opposition that is physically attacking Trump supporters such as those in California. Since many of these young punks have no concept of history, let me throw something out at you that was actually before my time, too.
Back in 1968, the Democratic Party had its convention in Chicago. As it turned out, then-President Johnson declared himself out of the running after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary, opening up the field to a group of candidates that was cut down by one with the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy that June after the California primary. Coupled with an escalating Vietnam war and race riots in response to the murder of the Rev. Martin Luther King two months beforehand, all creating a population already on pins and needles, the violent Democratic convention shocked a population as it was punctuated by scenes of daily protests and violence captured nightly on the evening news. (Remember, there was no internet back then so the sources of national news information were the nightly TV news and daily newspaper. National conventions also received wall-to-wall coverage on the networks in that era.) Across America's heartland, it was easy for the law-and-order campaign of Republican Richard Nixon to be successful as voters were sickened by the strife associated with the 1968 Democrats.
So when you are out protesting Donald Trump by waving Mexican flags and shouting anti-American slogans, it's a surefire way to rally support to his side. Quite honestly, I'm surprised some conspiracy theorist hasn't put out the idea that the Trump protestors are an inside job by his own side to galvanize support. This is an election that has a lot of the hallmarks of the 1968 campaign, and Donald Trump isn't a half-bad impersonation of Richard Nixon.
But back to my story regarding Trump supporters, who remind me that "You do not and are not willing to represent the nominee that the voters who you represent prefer." This particular one pointed out that there were 7.200 county voters who supported Trump. (7,214, but who's counting?)
So let's make the leap in assuming they are against the status quo in Washington, which seems to be Trump's selling point. Well, I also represent the 8,775 Wicomico County voters who were happy to support Andy Harris and I have no problem working for his re-election because I find him conservative enough. I'm not quite so down with the 2,839 Kathy Szeliga supporters but she will still get my vote. Both of them have been loyal and conservative Republicans for years, unlike Trump. Commitment to limited government (not to mention tact, trustworthiness, and a command of the English language) is something I find sorely lacking from Trump.
And then we have this diatribe from that same person:
Your role as a Central Committee member is to advance the party, and that means whomever the nominee is after the primary, you work to beat the Democrat! If you cannot do that in good conscious (sic) you should resign.
Well, this is interesting because I did a quick bit of investigation and found out this person was a diehard Ron Paul supporter in 2012 and basically has had the desire to stick it to the Republican Party since then. In fact, it's intriguing to me that a number of folks I know as Paul supporters and who are supposedly pro-liberty are supporting perhaps the most anti-liberty Republican in the race simply because they perceive him as anti-establishment. Seems to me that in this person's opinion the GOP wasn't worth advancing:
I've been saying this for a long time…This man is not, and never has been a Republican…he is an Obama operative….a couple stupid neocons jumped all over me for calling that shot but now, who's eating crow?…..You stupid neocons are soooooo scared about Ron Paul running as a third party….you defended this schmuck and now it looks as though he's the spoiler!!
Everyone is entitled to change their mind and I respect that. But perhaps you might want to pardon me for thinking – like you did once upon a time – that Donald Trump is the spoiler.
Honestly, if I really didn't think the Republican Party as a conservative vehicle was about to throw two decades' worth of my sweat and toil away by nominating a particular candidate, would I speak out? Would I really give a rat's rear end?
Oh, and by the way – our county does have a provision where we can withhold support from a nominee as a group. So at this point it's still possible we won't back Trump thanks to what's known as the David Duke rule. And while Duke hasn't officially endorsed Trump, he did state that voting for anyone but Trump is "voting against your heritage."
Consider that as you continue to react.
The third party alternative
For decades, millions of Americans have complained that their Presidential choices consist of someone more evil against someone slightly less evil. Since we don't have compulsory voting, those people have taken the option to skip voting altogether, with Presidential election turnout in 2012 estimated at 57.5%. Put another way, "none of the above" trounced both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama as they each only picked up around 29% of the registered voters.
But the fact that neither Democrats nor Republicans seem to be completely pleased with their presumptive nominees has brought out those who believe the Libertarian Party is best poised to make a little bit of inroads among the voting population. This seems to happen every cycle, but by the time the votes are cast the Libertarians are usually stuck with between 1/2 and 1 percent of the vote, By comparison, independent efforts from Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 garnered a vastly larger percentage of the vote, and those of us who are a certain age recall liberal Republican John Anderson and his 1980 Presidential bid, which got 6.6% of the vote against incumbent Jimmy Carter and eventual winner Ronald Reagan. (Perot received 18.9% in 1992 and 8.4% in 1996, both times denying Bill Clinton a majority of the vote.)
Of course, with the unpopularity of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, who both have significant shares of voters on the principled edges of their respective parties declaring their intentions to not vote for the nominee, there is the luster of an independent run by a conservative like Ted Cruz or a socialist like Bernie Sanders. The idea falls apart, though, thanks to early ballot access deadlines in several states and "sore loser" laws preventing defeated Democrats or Republicans from going back on the ballot a second time in a particular cycle for the same office.
So here in Maryland there are only four party lines: Republican, Democrat, Green Party, or Libertarian. Each has a place on the ballot, and since I'm nowhere near caring who runs for the Green Party my focus for this is on the Libertarian ticket, where their nominating convention will be held in Orlando this weekend. Their field of 18 recognized candidates actually exceeds the original GOP field, but for all intents and purposes the balloting is going to come down to three: Gary Johnson, John McAfee, or Austin Petersen.
Johnson has the highest profile, but I suspect the purists of the LP are a little leery of him because he ran and governed as a member of the Republican Party. He originally sought the GOP nomination in 2012, but left early on to pursue and secure the Libertarian nod, getting the LP past the million-vote barrier in a Presidential election for the first time. He's already selected former Massachusetts Governor William Weld as his running mate, making it a ticket of two former governors.
John McAfee is the guy whose name is synonymous with computer software, and in some respects is the Trump of the Libertarian field. He seems quite brash to me and of the three I would give him the least chance of winning. But it's a convention and anything can happen.
There are a number of conservatives openly rooting for Petersen to win (Erick Erickson is the latest) for various reasons, not the least of which is a platform which is rather tolerable to those Republicans disgruntled with Trump. (One example: "Encourage a culture of life, and adoption, and educate Americans about the 'consistent pro-life ethic,' which also means abolishing the death penalty.") I could get behind the pro-life portion, although I differ with Petersen on the death penalty believing there are circumstances where one forfeits his right to life by committing heinous deeds. Another more in a mainstream libertarian vein (that I can agree with): "Allow young people to opt out of Social Security." I give Petersen the outside chance of winning, but I suspect there's just enough support for Johnson/Weld to give them the nod.
Regardless of who wins, though, the pattern will probably work this way: over the summer the LP will poll in the high single-digits and may crack 10% nationally in some polls. But sometime around October these campaigns reach a point where voters decide they really want to back the winner, not some guy polling 10 percent. They'll forswear their allegiance to the LP for the chance to say, yes, I backed Trump or Clinton in the election. Or in a lot of cases they'll just say, "screw it, I'm staying home because my guy has zero chance." Given that the support for the LP seems to be coming more from the Republican side right now, that attitude could lose the Senate for the GOP.
So on Tuesday we will know just who the LP nominee is, and the #NeverTrump group will have to decide if he (or, the slight possibility of she) is worth losing party privilege over.
Is the green's "Daddy Warbucks" helping the planet or himself?
Commentary by Marita Noon
Any comprehensive review of green energy and its politics and policies has to include the name of wealthy liberal Tom Steyer – who has been called the environmental movement's new "Daddy Warbucks." Having made his billions from his tenure atop Farallon Capital Management – much of it from coal projects around the world – Steyer apparently had an environmental epiphany and now wants to atone for his past sins by trying to save the planet from manmade climate change.
He is using his wallet to try to elect candidates who will promote policies and energy plans that agree with him. And that plan is "green." As I've previously reported, he spent nearly $75 million in the 2014 midterms and intends to top that for the 2016 election cycle. Steyer - a long-time donor to Democratic causes - was a 2008 Hillary Clinton supporter. After her campaign failed, he emerged as a bundler for Obama in 2008 and again in 2012. Additionally, Steyer is a Clinton Foundation donor, and last year, at his San Francisco home, he held an expensive fundraiser for Clinton's 2016 presidential run.
Along with researcher Christine Lakatos, whose Green Corruption File was recently praised on the Michael Savage Show, I've repeatedly addressed Steyer's involvement through our work on President Obama's Green-Energy Crony-Corruption Scandal. Anytime there is a pot of government money available for green energy, as Lakatos found, Steyer's name seems to be attached to it. Some of the most noteworthy include: Sungevity, ElectraTherm, and Project Frog – all funded by Greener Capital (now EFW Capital), which is a venture firm that invests in renewable energy, with Steyer as a known financial backer.
Steyer claims to have "no self-interest" in his political activism. The Los Angeles Times quotes him as saying: "We're doing something we think is good for everyone." Yet, as Forbes columnist Loren Steffy points out, he is spending his fortune lobbying for "short term political gains" rather than into research and development "aimed at making renewables economically viable."
While he may say what he is doing is good for everyone, the policies he's pushing are good for him – not for "everyone." The Washington Post called him: "The man who has Obama's ear when it comes to energy and climate change." In California, where he has been a generous supporter of green energy policies, he helped pass Senate Bill 350 that calls for 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. California's current mandate is 33 percent by 2020 – which California's three investor-owned utilities are, reportedly, "already well on their way to meeting." It is no surprise that California already has some of the highest electricity rates in the country. Analysis released last week found that states with policies supporting green energy have much higher power prices. In October, Steyer spent six figures for an ad campaign calling for the next president to adopt a national energy policy similar to California's: "50 percent clean energy mix in the U.S. by 2030″ – which will raise everyone's rates.
With Steyer's various green-energy investments, these rate-increasing plans are good for him but bad for everyone else – especially those who can least afford it. And, it is the less affluent, I recently learned, he's targeting with predatory loans for solar panels through Kilowatt Financial, LLC, (KWF) – a company that listed him as "manager" on corporate documents. KWF recently merged with Clean Power Finance and became "Spruce." The financing structure used, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), allows "homeowners to get solar systems at no upfront cost and then to pay monthly for the use of the power generated. Homeowners end up saving on their total electricity use, while financing companies get steady revenue over 20 years." WSJ, points out, the KWF financing can be offered to "people who wouldn't be approved otherwise."
In the KWF model, contracted payments come from homeowners and "create a steady and reliable income stream, part of which is owned by its venture investors, including Kleiner Perkins." About the arrangement, KWF chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Pillmer said: "Kleiner Perkins will make a lot of money." Apparently, the money to be made is from selling the loans that are then securitized on Wall Street – much like the "sub-prime" mortgage crisis that offered loans to people who couldn't qualify with "traditional lenders." KWF's website brags: "We support financing terms for almost every customer and provide ways for dealers to participate in the pricing process to generate even more approvals and create even lower consumer rates." KWF offers "Instant Approvals, even for customers with lower credit scores" and "Same-as-Cash and Deferred Payment Offers." In these types of payment plans, a low rate is usually offered in the beginning and increases retroactively if all the terms of the loan are not met.
In this model, the homeowners don't actually own the solar systems – which means KWF receives the benefit of the federal tax incentives, such as the 30 percent federal "Investment Tax Credit," designed to benefit the owner of the solar system.
It is practices like this that have drawn the ire of Congress. Several congressional Democrats sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that warned about the similarities between the solar industry and what led to the subprime mortgage crisis: "easy initial financial terms, increased demand and a rapidly expanding industry." These factors create a high risk potential that could, ultimately, be harmful to consumers. Similarly, Republicans sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission that noted pressure from Wall Street is reportedly leading companies who use "potentially deceptive sales tactics" – which doesn't sound like it is something that is "good for everyone."
Yet, it is these very types of finance products, promoted by Steyer's Kilowatt Financial that Greentech Media reports are "doing well."
While Steyer claims to want to give everyone a "fair shake," his pet policies increase costs for everyone, and offer a hand-shake for Wall Street. Steyer and his billionaire buddies win, "everyone" else loses. This is how the green-energy crony-corruption scandal works: the political pals profit while the taxpayers get fleeced.
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc., and the companion educational organization, the Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America's Voice for Energy - which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.
Building mosques to establish dominion
By Cathy Keim
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Obama used to be best friends, but this week when Erdogan invited President Obama to join him in Lanham, Maryland, for the opening of the $100 million mosque that Turkey paid for, he was rebuffed.
In fact, this very week all Anerican military and diplomatic dependents were pulled out of Turkey in a mandatory evacuation.
The Pentagon is ordering nearly 700 military family members to leave Incirlik Air Base and two smaller military installations in Turkey because of concerns over the deteriorating security environment there.
The dramatic move to get families out of Turkey comes several weeks after Americans at Incirlik were put on base lockdown, when the force-protection level was raised to the military's highest threat condition.
The situation in Turkey has been tense for months, but our State Department didn't want bring attention to it by pulling out the dependents so they just locked them down on base since last fall. Finally, after not allowing the children to attend the DOD school for two weeks because of concerns with having almost 300 children in one convenient location for an attack, the State Department did the right thing and pulled out all dependents.
This is the same Department of State that is responsible for Benghazi. While the dependents are now out of Turkey, our military personnel are still there. Flights take off from Incirlik Air Base, a Turkish base that has American, British, and Saudi forces stationed there, to attack different groups in Syria. The Americans attack certain factions and the Turks attack others. The only agreed-upon goal is to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The multiple jihadist groups that are fighting are difficult to follow and the end game for who gains control of Syria is uncertain.
While President al-Assad is undoubtedly a horrible person, responsible for much death and destruction, under his secular regime many minority groups such as Christians and Druze were able to live safely. Much like the other secular monsters that the USA has brought down including Saddam Hussein and Moammar Qadhafi, the so called Arab Spring that President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported has resulted in the toppling of secular regimes only to be replaced by jihadist terror groups, mass slaughter, and anarchy.
President Obama's biggest foreign policy "success" has been in destabilizing the Middle East through his support of the Arab Spring. The realignment that is occurring in the Middle East may be beyond the ability of the United States to have much influence at this point.
The current shifting of alliances between Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt will not change the hijra or mass exodus of Muslims from the Middle East, North Africa, and the Far East. In fact, immigration is a method of spreading Islam which dates back to Mohammad's flight to Medina.
Saudi Arabia has been funding the building of mosques and schools for decades to ensure the dominance of their brand of Islam around the world. Turkey has entered the mosque building project worldwide to enhance their claim as the leader of Islam.
Why would Turkey pour $100 million into building a huge mosque and Turkish Cultural center close to DC? As Daniel Greenfield wrote at FrontPage Mag, it's part of a nationwide trend:
Erdogan had made his agenda clear when he recited the Islamist poem proclaiming, "The minarets are our bayonets, the mosques are our barracks, the believers are our soldiers."
The secular West is being swiftly Islamized. Vacant churches become mosques. The barracks of Islam fill with believers who batten on the hate and go out one day to behead a soldier or shoot up a recruiting office. Minarets hatefully thrust their bayonets at the sky warning of a larger war to come.
Our "leaders" have lost their confidence in our culture. President Obama denies at every opportunity that the United States is unique among nations for subscribing to founding beliefs that are based on inalienable rights from our Creator. Furthermore, "Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent… Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as 'one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.'"
Mr. Obama may find the sound pretty, but having been in Turkey and hearing the prayers blasted out from mosques on loudspeakers, I find it to be the sound of an alien culture that demands to be heard. The use of loudspeakers to force the sound as far as possible is a way of claiming dominance over the area where the call to prayer is broadcast. The building of the mosque itself is a claiming of the land for Islam. It is like an embassy whose soil belongs to a foreign power, not to the country where it is located.
For centuries, Islam has converted churches to mosques or built mosques wherever they have conquered territory. Look at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem built on the Temple Mount or the Hagia Sophia, built by Justinian I, that was converted to a mosque after Constantinople was conquered.
As Greenfield pointed out, all over America and Europe churches are being converted to mosques as immigrants are pouring in and displacing the locals. Sadly, many of these churches became vacant because the westerners have lost their faith in God, leaving them ready to be colonized by a new people who are not plagued by cultural doubt.
We as a nation need to realize that we are being colonized.
Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director International Christian Zionist Center, gives a brief history to explain how Muslims see the world.
Islam has conveniently divided the whole world into two spheres: 'Dar al-Harb' and 'Dar al-Islam.' Dar al-Islam being the house or region of peace that means all lands and peoples already conquered by Islamic forces; and Dar al-Harb being those lands and people in the world that still need to be conquered by Islam which is therefore the whole remaining world.
In The Dhimmi Bat Ye'or writes (page 45):
The jihad is a global conception that divides the peoples of the world into two irreconcilable camps: that of the dar al-Harb, the "Territory of War," which covers those regions controlled by the infidels; and the dar al-Islam, "the Territory of Islam," the Muslim homeland where Islamic law reigns. The jihad is the normal and permanent state of war between the Muslims and the dar al-Harb, a war that can only end with the final domination over unbelievers and the absolute supremacy of Islam throughout the world.
Once the forces of Islam conquer a land or territory, it is to remain under Islamic dominion forever ('for generations'), and it is a mortal affront to the supremacy of Islam when such territories would ever be lost to the dominion of Islam and revert to previous – infidel – ownership as was the case in Palestine.
Our muddled Middle East policy has helped cause the immigration tsunami that is overwhelming the West. Whether Muslims arrive by refugee status or other visas, we must face the fact that we are being colonized. The president of Turkey came to Maryland to celebrate the opening of a mosque that his country funded. He would not have paid out such an enormous amount of money unless he was getting something for it. That something is that he is claiming dominion over the land that the mosque is built on is as a beachhead for Islam.
We need for our "leaders" to wake up and stop these immigration policies. Unfortunately, unless we can find some leaders that understand the problem and are willing to say that our culture is superior to Islam, then we will only get more of the same pusillanimous pandering that we have seen for decades.
No fooling
I'm not much for April Fool jokes, so don't expect one here. But it was funny to me how many of my friends on social media pledged their allegiance to Donald Trump today. So why do you think that is?
Among a certain political subgroup, Donald Trump is the Rodney Dangerfield of politics – he never gets no respect. So what if he can't help being a gaffe machine – maybe not quite to the level of Joe Biden, but Biden has had about 30 to 40 years in politics to hone his "craft" while Trump is learning on the fly. The latest is about punishing the woman for getting an abortion, which would be a interesting turn of events, wouldn't it? But Trump was only following his President, who as you may recall didn't want his daughters punished with a baby.
And then we have the lightbulb meme, of which this is a version that reflects well on how Trump speaks.
If you have ever taken the time to hear him speak off the cuff, you wonder how he ever made it on television. We have picked on Barack Obama for years about his overreliance on teleprompters, but it seems that they were invented for Donald Trump.
It's rather unfortunate that there was no primary election or caucus tonight because I think the results would have been that Donald Trump won for both parties. How else do you explain a guy running as a Republican who has donated a lot of money to and adopted a number of positions borrowed from the Democratic Party? If you thought the game of Twister was intriguing, just wait until you see the knots the GOP will have to tie itself into to back up what Trump says if nominated.
Considering that less than half the Republican Party has backed him in any particular state, Donald Trump is the most curious case for a frontrunner ever. Somehow it seems appropriate I discuss him at a little length on a day known for jokes.
Trying to make winners out of losers
Commentary by Marita Noon
By now, most people probably know about one of Secretary Hillary Clinton's biggest campaign gaffes to date: "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business." As soon as I heard it, I tweeted: "Imagine a presidential candidate running for office based on putting people out of work?"
I wasn't the only one shocked by the uncharacteristic clarity of her statement. Lacking the usual political-speak, her comments were all the more surprising in that they were not made at a fundraiser in billionaire environmental donor Tom Steyer's posh San Francisco living room. They were made in Ohio – coal country, where coal production in 2015 was down 22 percent – at a nationally televised CNN town hall and just hours before the important state's primary election.
In response, Christian Palich, President of the Ohio Coal Association sent this: "Hillary Clinton's callous statements about coal miners, struggling under the weight of a hostile administration, are reprehensible and will not be forgotten. The way Secretary Clinton spoke so nonchalantly about destroying the way of life for America's coal families was chilling. Come tomorrow, or next November, Ohioans in coal country will vote to keep their jobs and not for the unemployment line."
US News reports that Democrats in the coal states of Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio have tried to "distance themselves from Clinton's comments." Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Clinton ally who handily won his party's primary election for Senator, called her slip, "unartful." Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), who, last April, endorsed Clinton, took issue with her comments and contacted her campaign.
Facing the backlash, and in damage-control mode, Clinton sent a letter to Manchin: "Simply put, I was mistaken."
But was she? I don't think so.
Though her comments may have been "unartful" and, arguably, poorly timed, I believe they reflect private conversations and campaign strategy. It may be no coincidence that rumors of President Obama's tepid support for Clinton – though the White House denies endorsing her – surfaced after her killing coal comments.
First, it is clear that Clinton needs President Obama's endorsement. She needs him to generate excitement for her lackluster campaign – something Democrat voters are not feeling for her as they did for him. She needs his campaign machine to get out the votes.
But, he needs her just as much – his legacy hangs on her election. Because so much of what he's done has been by executive action, his legacy can just as easily be undone – as every remaining Republican candidate would likely do. Obama is, reportedly, committed to "a hard campaign of legacy preservation." He is ready to "raise money to fill Democratic coffers and target the key communities that would make up a winning coalition for the party, including blacks, Latinos, educated single women and young voters, to encourage them to go to the polls."
Following the voluntary climate agreement in Paris, Politico stated: "Barack Obama wants to be remembered as the president who saved the world from climate change." For this legacy to stick, all of his anti-fossil fuel policies must stay intact. To get his endorsement, a Democrat presidential candidate must embrace what he started and promise to "build upon President Obama's legacy of environmental protections and climate action," as Clinton has.
While Obama frequently claims to support an "all of the above" energy policy, actions speak louder than words. From his 2009 stimulus bill throwing billions at speculative green energy projects, his killing coal efforts, his stand that we can't drill our way to low gas prices, his rejection of the Keystone pipeline, and his threat to veto a bill to lift the oil export ban – just to name a few – he obviously meant "none of the below."
The White House denies a "war on coal." In December, after the Paris climate agreement was signed, former Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, Heather Zichal, defended Obama's green platform: "Nobody's screaming that their energy bills are on fire; jobs have not been lost."
Bill Bissett, President of the Kentucky Coal Association called Zichal's comments: "insulting and inaccurate." He told me: "The Obama Administration and its allies have an intentional blind spot to the economic and social damage that their anti-coal policies are causing in the United States and especially in coal country. The top coal producing states in our nation not only benefit from the extraction of coal, but all of us benefit greatly from having low kilowatt-per-hour rates. But that economic advantage is eroding as Obama does everything in his power, and against the will of Congress, to move the United States away from coal production and use." He added: "More than 8,000 Kentucky coal miners have lost their jobs since Obama took office and countless other Kentuckians have lost their livelihoods through indirect and induced job loss due to his anti-coal agenda. And, yes, our electricity rates are increasing in Kentucky as our country moves away from coal."
"Ms. Zichal and the administration can spin it any way they like but no one outside of their fringe enviro friends is clamoring for their energy policies," said Mike Duncan, President of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
While much of the electricity price increases associated with the Obama Administration will only be seen later, the fact is, according to an Energy Information Agency data set, the increase in retail electricity prices since 2008 is 12.8 percent.
Clinton's anti-coal comments got all the press. But she didn't stop there. Almost under her breath, a few sentences later, she added: "We've got to move away from coal and all of the other fossil fuels" – more pandering for Obama's much needed (and, so far, withheld) endorsement.
But how realistic is the Democrat's goal of moving away from coal and all the other fossil fuels?
"Unlikely," according to new research from the University of Chicago. The authors wanted a different answer. Like Clinton, and Obama, they believe fossil fuel use is driving "disruptive climate change" that will lead to "dramatic threats to human well-being" and a "dystopian future." Reading the 22 pages of the report on their findings, one can almost feel their dismay.
Yet, after discussing "supply theory" – which posits the world will run out of inexpensive fossil fuels – they state: "If the past 35 years is (sic) any guide, not only should we not expect to run out of fossil fuels anytime soon, we should not expect to have less fossil fuels in the future than we do now. In short, the world is likely to be awash in fossil fuels for decades and perhaps even centuries to come." Complicating matters, the authors acknowledge: "a substantial penetration of electric vehicles would reduce demand for oil. Provided that the supply curve for oil is upward sloping (as it is in almost all markets), this drop in demand would translate to lower oil prices, making gasoline vehicles more attractive."
Then, on "demand theory" – the economy will stop demanding fossil fuels as alternatives become more cost competitive – they lament: "In the medium-run of the next few decades, none of these alternatives seem to have the potential based on their production costs (that is without the government policies to raise the costs of carbon emissions) to reduce the use of fossil fuels below these projections." Additionally, they conclude: "Alternative sources of clean energy like solar and wind power, which can be used to both generate electricity and to fuel electric vehicles, have seen substantial progress in reducing costs, but at least in the short- and middle-term, they are unlikely to play a major role in base-load electrical capacity or in replacing petroleum-fueled internal combustion engines."
While the authors support "activist and aggressive policy choices…to drive reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions," they reluctantly admit the proposed solutions are not apt to be the answer they seek. "Even if countries were to enact policies that raised the cost of fossil fuels, like a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, history suggests that technology will work in the opposite direction by reducing costs of extracting fossil fuels and shifting their supply curves out."
Perhaps, before Clinton – who accuses anyone who doesn't agree with her climate alarmist view as ignoring the science – makes mistakes, like declaring that she'll put coal miners and coal companies out of business, she should check the science behind her claims to "move away from coal and all the other fossil fuels."
Making her March 13 comments seem even more foolish, the following days cast a shadow over the specter of funding more speculative solar power, as she's proposed to do. Three stimulus-funded solar failures made big headlines.
On Wednesday, March 16, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced that the massive $2.2 billion ($1.5 billion in federal loans according to WSJ, but other research shows more) Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System may be forced to shut down because it has failed to produce the expected power. What it has produced: "fetched about $200 a mega-watt hour on average during summer months," while "power from natural-gas plants went for $35 a mega-watt hour on average in California's wholesale market."
On the same day, SunEdison's troubles worsened. After the company acquired stimulus-funded First Wind last year, it became "the leading renewable energy developer in the world." Now, its "mounting financial woes" resulted in another delay to the filing of its annual reports. The company's stock, according to WSJ, has "lost 67% over the past three months and 91% over the past year." It "slid another 16% to $1.73 in premarket trading."
The next day, March 17, the New York Times declared that Abengoa, the Spanish company hailed as "the world leader in a technology known as solar thermal, with operations from Algeria to Latin America" has gone from "industry darling to financial invalid." I've written repeatedly on Abenoga – which is on the verge of becoming "the largest bankruptcy in Spanish corporate history." Note: Abengoa was the second largest recipient of U.S. taxpayer dollars – more than $3 billion - from the green energy portion of Obama's 2009 stimulus package.
It appears Clinton's energy policies are aimed at trying to make winners out of losers. How can she help it? That is what the Democrat Party is trying to do with her.
Hopefully, voters know better. But then, as the University of Chicago's study's closing words remind us: "hope is too infrequently a successful strategy."
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc., and the companion educational organization, the Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America's Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.
A reversal of our possible fortune
Flip-flopping like a fish on a hook, Barack Obama once again turned the spigot off on the prospect of oil and natural gas exploration offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. It proves once again that the claims he's made advocating an "all-of-the-above" energy policy are just more lies and that he's not interested in helping our nation prosper by tapping into its vast energy resources.
It also proves that those who use the scare tactics of making people believe that oil spills are a daily occurrence, rendering the Gulf of Mexico a permanently fouled body of water, have managed to grab the attention of the powers that be. Consider the opposition that was drummed up to offshore seismic testing over the last few years as oil exploration was considered – but not a peep when it was done to locate sites for wind turbines. Either marine life is important or it isn't.
It's been my contention that the defense of "well, there really isn't that much oil out there to bother with" is conveniently based on information that's 30 to 40 years old, and as technology has improved the amount of oil believed to be recoverable invariably goes up. We could have far more available to us than we have been led to believe, and I think that is what scares the environmentalists more than the (very remote) prospect of an oil spill. The larger the oil supply, the more reasonable the price and the less incentive to turn our energy future over to unreliable solar and wind power.
So why does this tick me off so much? As I see it, America is in a position where we can be energy-independent to the extent that we need not import from overseas. Our continent has plenty of resources if we just get the desire to use them to both power our capitalist system and create thousands of good-paying jobs. It's all about creating value, and a resource that is useless to us if kept in the ground becomes the fuel for our economic engine once extracted. A barrel of oil could be used in so many ways – as fuel, a lubricant, raw material for plastics, and so forth. Our usage of it assigns its value, and we use that resource to create still more value, whether through transport, extending the life of components, molded into consumer products, or traded as an export. We also use natural gas to create electricity, particularly as a backup fuel for those frequent times when wind or solar power is unavailable. For all its uses, electricity is not as easily transported as oil or natural gas is – normally there's a loss of a few percentage points for long-distance electricity transport.
Taken to a local level, anything that can diversify the economy from chicken, government jobs, and tourism should be encouraged. We have been sold the pie-in-the-sky promise of being a leader in building wind turbines, but there's no real market for that without a hefty subsidy. So we're not building them. I don't think we will have the saturation level of energy jobs that are present along the Gulf Coast, but even if it's in the hundreds that would be an economic shot in the arm for the region. Thus, the news this week of yet another delay in Atlantic drilling means a longer economic drift for the region. It also gives the environmentalist wackos – most of whom are from out of the area and don't care about anything but our financial support – more of a platform to try and drive other businesses away, such as the poultry industry. Their ultimate goal is Delmarva as a "wildlands corridor," because as you know people are a burden to this earth.
Here's hoping the new administration points things back in the right direction and allows the energy companies to get a foothold offshore. Let's see what's really out there.
Ehrlich brings book tour to Salisbury
It was an event which was supposed to occur on a Monday night back in January in a completely different venue, but as has been the case before with Bob Ehrlich we all had to wait until the weather thawed before Wicomico County Republicans could hear from him.
As part of what he billed as a 16-state tour for his third and newest book, Turning Point: Picking Up the Pieces After Eight Years of Failed Progressive Policies, the former governor made brief remarks then commenced to signing copies for a crowd of close to fifty people.
Calling the book an "eight-count indictment of the Obama administration," Bob remarked that some of his favorite stories, which come from a volume that's a compilation of his writings over the last several years from a number of sources (with a couple of original, previously unpublished portions added in) were the open letter he wrote to his son about marijuana laws and his interactions with some of the offenders. Two common elements he found among those who had been caught and imprisoned for drugs were the lack of a father figure at home and that they got their start with marijuana. However, Bob was careful to note that not everyone who used marijuana was a criminal.
A second favorite was the chapter on political correctness that he wrote to be humorous, but are instead being reflected in today's headlines. He implored the college students in attendance not to placate those who get overly worked up about "safe spaces" on campus.
As you may expect, Bob showed a passion and zeal about the subject matter which should make these chapters great reading. (My plan is to eventually review the book once I get a chance to sit and digest it all.)
There were a lot of books being signed and plenty of people had their chance to pose for a photo with Bob. I'm going to borrow Dave Snyder's picture here, which I got from social media – the snapshot I got of Bob signing came out too blurry.
Those in attendance also got to meet one of the Republican candidates running for Senate, a man who once worked for Bob Ehrlich. Chrys Kefalas was in the area today on what he described as a "listening tour" of local manufacturers, although he was also at Fratelli's for lunch. (I was invited to that event but couldn't attend.)
My chat with Kefalas was rather brief, as he was obviously concentrating on circulating around, but in conversations I had with his campaign staff I gained a little perspective on his ideas and shared some of my own. To me, Chrys's job if he wins is to concentrate on making conditions better for the country as a whole: more beneficial trade pacts, a decrease in taxation and regulation on a federal level, and working to leave government as the least of our worries. It would then be incumbent upon the Hogan administration to make Maryland more competitive against its neighbors and other states because the federal government would simply create the best possible conditions for any American company to succeed.
Once Ehrlich left, the party began to break up. But if I may make one observation regarding a summerlike evening in the midst of an early spring: walking out of Roadie Joe's they had a musician outside. I turned the corner and could faintly hear something down at Brew River only to arrive at the parking lot where I had parked and hear some very good band over at Headquarters Live. I was standing at my car literally listening to three different venues, all opened up.
Downtown Salisbury's not just alive on 3rd Friday anymore, folks. And speaking of music, it gives me a good segue into letting you know monoblogue music will be back tomorrow after its winter hiatus. It's someone you've heard from before with something new.
Both parties are fractured, but on energy, each is unified
Commentary by Marita Noon
There is no shortage of news stories touting the splits within each party.
The Democrat divide is, as NBC News sees it, between dreamers and doers—with the International Business Times (IBT) calling it: "a civil war over the party's ideological future." The Boston Globe declares that the "party fissures" represent "a national party torn between Clinton's promised steady hand and Sanders' more progressive goals."
The Republican reality is, according to IBT, a battle between moderates and conservatives. The party is being "shattered" by the fighting between the establishment and the outsiders. The New Yorker said the days following the Detroit debate have "been the week of open civil war within the Republican Party." Former standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, laid the foundation for a floor fight at the party's Cleveland convention. Peggy Noonan, in the Wall Street Journal, states: "The top of the party and the bottom have split." She describes the party's front runner this way: "He is a divider of the Republican Party and yet an enlarger of the tent."
Candidates from both sides of the aisle claim to be unifiers. But when it comes to energy issues, each party is already unified—though each is totally different.
Generally speaking, the Democrats want more government involvement—more government-led investment and federal regulation. In contrast, Republicans want the free market—consumer choice—not government to determine the winners and losers.
The next president will have a significant impact on how America produces, uses, and distributes energy.
In response to frequent questions from talk show hosts regarding the candidates' energy plans, now that the field has winnowed, I set out to write a review. However, my research revealed that a candidate-by-candidate analysis would be repetitive. Instead, I'll lay out the distinctive direction each party would drive energy policy and highlight the minor differences within the candidates.
First, one must look at climate change, as, despite repeated failed predictions, it has been the driver of energy policy for the past decade.
The Democrat candidates believe that climate change is a crisis caused by the use of fossil fuels. Therefore, both Senator Bernie Sanders and Secretary Hillary Clinton opposed the Keystone pipeline and lifting the oil export ban. Each supports restricting drilling on federal lands and federal hydraulic fracturing regulations to supersede the states' policies. At Sunday's CNN Debate, both opposed fracking—though Sanders was more direct about it. Sanders and Clinton favor increased Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) efforts to encourage the use of renewable energy sources.
They would continue the policies, such as the Clean Power Plan, advocated by President Obama—with Sanders being more progressive than Clinton. He wants to institute a tax on carbon emissions, ban all drilling on federal lands, and has sponsored the "keep it in the ground" bill. She would "phase out" hydraulic fracturing on public lands, end tax credits for fossil fuels and increase government fees and royalties. Both support tax credits for renewable energy.
In the transition away from fossil fuel use, Clinton would utilize nuclear power, while Sanders would put a moratorium on nuclear plant license renewals. She supports hydropower.
Over all, the Democrats approach can be summed up as anti-conventional fuels—resulting in higher costs for consumers.
USNews states: "Clinton and Sanders also have expressed frustration with their political colleagues who deny the link between fossil fuel combustion and climate change."
The four remaining Republican candidates have slightly differing views on climate change—though, unlike their "political colleagues," none bases his energy policies exclusively on it.
Donald Trump is the biggest opponent of climate change having called the man-made crisis view a "hoax" and tweeting that the Chinese started the global warming ruse "in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive." In his book, Crippled America, Trump opens his chapter on energy with a tirade on climate change in which, talking about historic "violent climate changes" and "ice ages," he acknowledges that the climate does change, but concludes: "I just don't happen to believe they are man-made."
Senator Ted Cruz is next. He's stated: "If you're a big-government politician, if you want more power, climate change is the perfect pseudo-scientific theory … because it can never, ever, ever be disproven." He, too, supports the view that global warming is a natural phenomenon rather than man-made.
Senator Marco Rubio believes the climate is changing. He's said: "The climate's always changing—that's not the fundamental question. The fundamental question is whether man-made activity is what's contributing most to it. I know people said there's a significant scientific consensus on that issue, but I've actually seen reasonable debate on that principle." He's added: "And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it. Except it will destroy our economy."
Governor John Kasich's views cut "against the grain in the Republican Party" in that he believes climate change is a problem—though he doesn't support curbing the use of fossil fuels. His state, Ohio, is rich with coal, oil, and natural gas and he believes low-cost reliable energy is "the backbone of America's economy." The Hill quotes him as saying: "I believe there is something to [climate change], but to be unilaterally doing everything here while China and India are belching and putting us in a noncompetitive position isn't good."
Regardless of their specific views, none of the Republican candidates sees climate change as an "existential crisis," as Clinton called it on Kimmel Live—and their energy policies reflect that.
All four agree the Keystone pipeline should be built, are critical of the EPA's aggressive regulations (instead, they support the regulation of energy production at the state and local level), and want to spur economic growth by increasing American energy production and reducing our reliance on foreign sources.
Though Kasich signed legislation freezing Ohio's law requiring increasing use of renewables, Kasich is the most supportive of them saying: "I believe in wind and solar, there are big subsidies on it but that's okay." He also acknowledged that mandating 20-25 percent renewables by a set date is "impossible" and will "throw people out of work." Cruz and Rubio have voted against production tax credits for wind and solar and against setting a national renewable energy standard. In Iowa, Cruz stood up to the ethanol lobby (he's repeatedly called for an end to the ethanol mandate), while Trump pandered to it. Rubio and Kasich would allow the ethanol mandate to sunset. In his book, Trump states that the big push to develop "so-called green energy" is "another big mistake" that is "being driven by the wrong motivation." He calls renewables: "an expensive way of making the tree huggers feel good about themselves." In contrast, he's promised to "revive Kentucky's coal industry."
Overall, the Republicans views can be summed up as embracing the positive potential of America's energy abundance—resulting in lower energy costs.
If you believe that effective, efficient, economic energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, you know how to vote in November. The contrast is obvious.
The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc., and the companion educational organization, the Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America's Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column. Follow her @EnergyRabbit.
WCRC meeting – February 2016
This time we meant it. After having a last-minute meeting called last month, a little planning made this month's meeting go a long way. It got off to an unusual beginning as the Jaycees meeting in the next room joined us for the Pledge of Allegiance before we went solo on the Lord's Prayer. (Usually we do this in reverse – as a former WCRC president once said, God before country. I think that it was the late George Ossman who introduced that tradition.)
The meeting was jam-packed with information because we had two speakers. It was suggested to us that we have Anthony Gutierrez from the Board of Elections in to go over the new paper-ballot voting machines we will be using, so he led off the evening with a pair of short videos explaining how they will work. For early voting there will be one ADA unit (which is slightly enhanced for those who are physically impaired but can be used by anyone) and two optical scanner units. Filling out a paper ballot is like filling out the standardized tests you had in school except you fill the circle in with an ink pen.
There were a few other election notes he passed along, including the fact that over 10,000 Wicomico voters will not be participating in April's primary because they are unaffiliated. (This is out of about 58,000 total.) Gutierrez noted as well that the last Presidential primary with no incumbent (2008) had 48.9% for a February primary, but he predicted April's turnout would be more like 35-40%. There will be five separate races on the ballot, he added: President, U.S. Senate, Congressional representative, and delegates/alternate delegates to the national convention. Voters will be sent their specimen ballots the Monday before early voting begins.
Mark McIver of the Central Committee asked whether more election judges were needed, and Gutierrez said they were fine for the primary. But he encouraged those interested to apply anyway for November and to be backups in case they have a need in April. Compensation for the day is $250.
Another question about same-day registration came up, and Anthony replied that it would be effective only for early voting. Some voters who had MVA information in the system would be "precleared," he added.
I asked if the new machines would result in delays, but Gutierrez noted from the experience he had with observing these machines in other elections that the process was actually faster. They would use the primary to make adjustments for the larger turnout in November, he added.
Once Gutierrez wrapped up, our other featured speaker began. Having served as the co-chair of the Redistricting Reform Commission (RRC), Walter Olson came to speak about Maryland's gerrymandering and the commission set up to suggest improved voting districts. Legislation to create a non-partisan redistricting body was introduced earlier this session, with hearings next week in both the House and Senate.
"I think we've got to end the practice of drawing our congressional districts so that politicians can pick their voters and not the other way around." Those weren't the words of Walter Olson; it's a quote from the most recent State of the Union speech Barack Obama delivered. He also made the point in Illinois during a recent appearance there, said Olson. Moreover, 70 percent of Maryland residents would prefer an independent commission, which is fitting: since North Carolina's gerrymandering (considered the worst in the country) was struck down in court, the new number one worst was the great state of Maryland.
With the recalcitrant Democrats being placed in an uncomfortable position of being against both their president and the voting public – as Olson pointed out, "they're not happy with what we're doing" - their only response was to complain that five hearings around the state weren't enough. And "did we ever get an earful" at the hearings, said Walter. Districts were created not to fairly represent, but "to reward and punish" legislators. Olson handed out a chart that clearly showed how the system was exploited: all but 6 Republicans represent districts with larger-than-average population, while Democrats represent all but one of the smallest 25 districts. (The one Republican who represents a small district won election in 2014 over an incumbent Democrat.) Needless to say, Mike Miller and Michael Busch are "not enthusiastic" about this proposed change, even though it's been debated off and on over the last half-century.
The RRC was an 11-member commission, with seven selected by Governor Hogan (3 from each party, plus one unaffiliated) and two from both the House and Senate, one from each party. Their report of suggestions were based mainly on those adopted by California, with some tweaking to fit our Constitution. The report was adopted by a 9-2 vote, and you can imagine which party had the two and where they came from to serve on the RRC. The legislation introduced on Hogan's behalf has "most of" the recommendations, Olson added.
What the RRC asked for was stronger criteria for population, with just a 1% variation. Districts had to comply with the Voting Rights Act, of course, but also needed to be congruent, contiguous, and compact. No more "blood splatters at a crime scene," as Olson described Maryland's Third Congressional District.
The redistricting body itself was intriguing to me. Applicants would be screened to make sure they weren't connected to the process as members of the legislature, their families, etc. After that, they would be placed into groups representing each of the two principal parties and unaffiliated/minor party voters, those who hadn't switched registration recently. Out of 10 applicants in each pool (Republican, Democrat, unaffiliated) selected based on these criteria, three of them would be randomly chosen to serve on the body, with the chair chosen out of the three unaffiliated members.
But the cool part was that anyone could submit a map. Olson said that Pennsylvania's map, which replaced a gerrymandered original done by the legislature, was done by a piano tuner who submitted a map which best complied with the requirements.
In the question-and-answer period, Olson stressed that the redistricting body would do both Congressional and state legislative districts. But it likely wouldn't be pressed into service until after the next census because it was unlikely the system in place now would be overturned unless it was found to be a Voting Rights Act violation. A suit by Judicial Watch regarding Maryland's gerrymandering was "somewhat of a long shot" to succeed, assessed Olson.
Walter also was careful to add that, while he works at the Cato Institute, the Institute is not involved with this. He was doing this as a private citizen.
Finally, we got to club business. The treasurer's report was given by Muir Boda, who has stepped in to become treasurer since the previous officeholder had to resign to take a job across the Bay. We are working out kinks in the accounts since they were based on her e-mail.
Mark McIver reported for the Central Committee. After a moment of silence for Blan Harcum, we learned his funeral will be Saturday, March 5 at Holloway Funeral Home, with visitation the evening before. He also related that he testified for the elected school board bill, which has now passed the full Senate (with a clean sweep 47-0 vote, by the way.)
Julie Brewington, speaking on behalf of the Ted Cruz presidential campaign as its Lower Shore coordinator, announced she had county chairs in each of her counties and was seeking sign locations along U.S. 50.
I made a motion to clean up some business so we could have our officer elections, and all five officers were nominated and elected by acclamation. I'm going to use Julie Brewington's photo here. (She posted it on social media last night, so she gets the credit.)
From left to right, it's Treasurer Muir Boda, First Vice-President Dave Snyder, President Shawn Jester, Second Vice-President Shawn Bradley, and Secretary Michael Swartz. (Me on the far right – whooda thunk it?)
We found out from Jackie Wellfonder that the Ehrlich book-signing was rescheduled for Friday, March 11 and relocated to the lobby of the City Center building, adjacent to Roadie Joe's. She was hoping to coordinate with the College Republican event that has to be similarly rescheduled, but the date didn't work with SU.
Woody Willing reminded us the WCRC Scholarship was still available, but the deadline was fast approaching (March 1.) Graduating seniors from any Wicomico County school (public, private, or homeschooled) are eligible provided they complete the application process. I asked if the application could be put online.
Willing also asked if we could make our annual YMCA donation, which was met with the club's approval.
Julie Brewington returned to announce the Republican Women of Wicomico would next meet March 2, with Mitzi Perdue as the speaker.
Joe Ollinger and John Palmer gave us some news about the Wicomico Board of Education, which was getting deeper into its superintendent search. They should be close to selecting the next time we meet, said Ollinger. Various focus groups comprised of about 75 people total were considering the applicants, added Palmer. John also said we were "on track" to getting Board of Education meetings on PAC14.
Nate Sansom updated us on the Teenage Republicans, which would have their first meeting March 4 at the Centre of Salisbury library branch. This led to Patty Miller being asked to fill us in on the SU College Republicans, which are having a fundraiser at the Greene Turtle March 21 and are "working on some big things."
Matt Maciarello updated us briefly on legislation he was interested in, adding the Eastern Shore delegation is "working so hard" on these items. Included in his assessment was the bomb threat prosecution bill sponsored by Mary Beth Carozza as well as a bill dealing with sex offenders.
As you can tell, it was a meeting full of information that we somehow crammed into about 90 minutes. Our next gathering will be March 28, with U.S. Senate candidate Dave Wallace the first statewide candidate to stop by one of our meetings since 2013.


text:
Blood, bullets and Hot Cheetos... Just another day in Necropolis.
The creation of Jay Donaldson, Kegel gets into all sorts of trouble!
Fallen Angel
The world as we know it comes to an end.
this game is funny i like it but not the best
wasnt good
The AI was pretty cheap and there isnt alot of moves u can use so maybe u wanna fix that. Srry but gotta give u a 1/10
WOW! its like mortal combat but with stick figures and blood too! lol.
not that cool
this game wasnt that great
Well, the combos were impossible to pull off, the controls were really awkward. This really isn't based on street fighter. All there is is two punches, one kick, and a bad combo. There isn't really much, and you almost always lose to the AI. I've won several times, but it takes forever, not to mention there's not knockdowns of any sort. Again, not much of a Street Fighter-inspired game. Bad combos, and the music was very monotonous. So overall, I'm not really impressed.
0/10, 0/5

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Reno Fights to Save the Show that Mocks It
Now that Comedy Central has canceled "Reno: 911!", the Biggest Little City in the World has launched a campaign to save it. Via Facebook, ...
Now that Comedy Central has canceled "Reno: 911!", the Biggest Little City in the World has launched a campaign to save it. Via Facebook, Twitter and SaveReno911.com, Reno tourism officials are waging an effort to bring the show back -- even though it didn't really paint Reno in the most flattering light.
From USA Today :
Never mind that aside from scenes in the opening montage, there's little footage of the city. And if there were, given the skanky locales portrayed, it probably wouldn't make you want to visit.
"Has it been uncomfortable at times for the city? Yes. But there's so much noise going on in the world, it's important to be part of the conversation," says Michael Thomas, marketing director for the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. "Besides, we have a sense of humor here. We don't mind being the brunt of a joke."
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Do you want to make Ohio.com your homepage?
By Alicia Ross with Beverly Mills
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Penne With Gorgonzola Cream and Cranberries, an easy 20 minute recipe is fancy enough for Christmas dinner. (Alicia Ross/Desperation Dinners)
Click here to read or leave a comment(s) on this story.
NEW YORK: The typical American adult is using media for a full hour a day more than just last year, with smartphones accounting for most of the increase.


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Jerry Mosey, ASSOCIATED PRESS
It's not foresight.
I'm just a pack rat.
I hold onto stuff for so long that it sometimes becomes incredibly valuable.
I'm talking here about the cassette tape of my 1980 interview with author Wallace Stegner about Mormons and writing.
I tossed that cassette tape in a box with 50 other tapes.
Last night it surfaced.
I played it.
It's a gem.
In 1980, Stegner was the Grand Master of Western writing — a true sage among the sagebrush. He was raised in Utah and went to school here. He was our favorite son. And since his death, his legacy has grown.
I met him in his room at the old Hotel Utah where he was working on a speech. I stayed too long and said too much. And I peppered him with too many questions about Mormons and writing. But he kept answering them.
Why aren't there more first-rate Mormon novelists? I asked.
"The luck of the draw," he said. "Here in the West we feel inferior and unappreciated. I don't think we should feel inferior, but we should feel unappreciated."
He counseled patience.
"Historically, every regional society in America has gone through a period of consolidation," he said. "That's the way it happened in New England, in the South, in the Midwest. It's just a question of waiting. My feeling is the closed society feel of Utah is diminishing."
And when LDS fiction finally does fully emerge, what would it look like?
"My guess is when Utah fiction arrives at its full stature, it may be less orthodox than some in authority would like," he said. "But I don't expect decadent fiction. This is a very moral state and even in its rebellion it's going to be moral … but fiction, by the kind of truths it has to get at, has to risk a lot. And when you're working from within a faith, you have to be willing to risk a little bit."
And who will be taking those risks?
"A lot of great Catholic literature was written by people who had fallen off the wagon and then found their way back on," he said.
He suspected some excellent Mormon fiction would come from the same type of folks.
As for themes, he said, he didn't expect epic writing to dominate. "It's generally family quarrels and discontents that make fiction," he said.
Then he said something I'd never heard.
He said the South produced great writers because its sin of slavery created a heightened sense of right and wrong, good and evil. He said we Utahns may damage the land beyond repair. Then we'd have a sin that would produce world-class novels.
For me, the Hotel Utah has been the site of many memories, but my interview with Wallace Stegner stands out.
I can still see him sitting in that fancy, delicate chair by the window in his suite, looking down at the street below and smiling.
He loved Utah and Salt Lake City.
And he loved the Mormons.
He just didn't love those big, granite planters that used to line Main Street.
He said they reminded him of monuments to the Soviet Worker.
Jerry Johnston is a former Deseret News staff writer. "New Harmony" appears every other week in Mormon Times. Email: email@example.com
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ABM Unveils 2014 Neal Award Finalists
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
The association of business information and media companies, American Business Media (ABM), announced its 2014 finalists for the Jesse H. Neal Awards, a top b-to-b industry honor. The 60th annual awards ceremony is set to take place, March 14, 2014 at Pier Sixty in New York City.
A division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), ABM handed out its first Neal Award, named for the company's first managing director, in 1955 in an effort to recognize and reward editorial excellence in b-to-b media.
This year's most prestigious honor, the Grand Neal winner for overall editorial excellence from a media brand, will be unveiled during the presentation ceremony. This year's finalists include Penton's Aviation Week, Crain Communication's Crain's New York Business, Scholastic's Instructor and last year's winner IEEE Spectrum published by IEEE Media.
Of the total 612 entries submitted, down from 640 submissions last year, a full list of the 173 finalists can be found here.
The most major changes this year were in the categories themselves, not the group of media brands nominated.
Last year's award for "Best Theme Issue of a Magazine" was expanded to become the "Best Theme Issue of a Magazine or Newspaper" and the category "Best Recurring Webcast" was changed to "Best Webcast."
The award for "Best Newsletter" will not be presented this year. ABM has not disclosed a reason why the category was removed, only saying no finalists were selected. In 2013, Private Equity Analyst, from publisher Dow Jones Corporate Markets, won the award beating out other finalists Dow Jones Venture Wire, FiereceGovernmentIT and Delaware Business Court Insider.
Other notable nominees include a repeat nomination for 2013 "Best Range of Work by a Single Author" winner Aaron Elstein from Crain's New York Business and Class C "Best Single Article" finalists, three of which are from Crain Communications with Hanley Wood rounding out the group.
Last year's Grand Neal winner, "A Shocking Truth" from IEEE Spectrum also won that Class C award, beating out a Crain Communications submission from its Automotive News title. Two articles from Automotive News are nominated this year.
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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – Public School 44 in the Bronx was evacuated after a fire broke out there Wednesday afternoon.
No injuries were reported, the Fire Department said.
The fire broke out at 3:17 p.m. on the third floor of the five-story Accion Academy on Prospect Avenue near East 176th Street.
The Department of Education said the fire broke out in a classroom and brought under control.
According to the department's website, Accion Academy serves about 180 students in grades 6, 7 and 8.
The site says students usually go home around 2:30 p.m. but some stay on an extended schedule until 3:07 p.m.
The school was dismissed on time, the department said.
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(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)


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A pedestrian bridge spans the Fox River near West Dundee. Brian Hill | Staff
Current Weather
Communities » West Dundee Area News
Elgin college helps juveniles in detention earn college creditKane County is giving juveniles in detention a chance to earn dual high school and college credits this summer.Last Updated Jun 26, 2016 8:01 AM
Dundee Township supervisor responds to charges against highway commissionerUpdated Jun 23, 2016 4:10 PM
Dundee Township officials say they are relying on the court system to determine the future of Larry Braasch's elected position as highway commissioner. He faces charges after witnesses told police he inappropriately touched himself in front of children at a Myrtle Beach campground.
Fox Valley police reportsUpdated Jun 23, 2016 3:50 PM
The Mill Creek subdivision sign at Fabyan Parkway and South Mill Creek Drive near Geneva was found defaced with black spray paint.
Man charged with attacking West Dundee seniorUpdated Jun 23, 2016 3:49 PM
A West Dundee man with a history of domestic abuse is accused of striking a woman older than 60 in the face with a cellphone.
Popular Kane mountain biking trail will expandUpdated Jun 23, 2016 12:02 PM
The relationship between the Kane County Forest Preserve District and local mountain bikers has proven so successful that officials are ready to double the size of the most popular off-road biking course in the county near Carpentersville.
Dundee Township official charged with indecent exposureUpdated Jun 23, 2016 10:47 AM
Dundee Township Highway Commissioner Larry Brassch has been charged with indecent exposure in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Chicago man convicted in Aurora teen sex stingUpdated Jun 22, 2016 9:44 PM
A 34-year-old Chicago man was convicted Wednesday of traveling to Aurora and paying to have sex with who he thought was a 15-year-old girl in early 2015.
Fox Valley police reportsUpdated Jun 22, 2016 7:40 PM
Mark A. Grigalunas, 59, of New York, was charged with felony aggravated battery to a peace officer at 1:54 a.m. Sunday at Delnor Hospital, 300 S. Randall Road, according to a police report.
Residents weigh in on Fox River Valley library projectsUpdated Jun 22, 2016 9:24 AM
Plans for building a new library and renovating an existing one were met with opposition by several Fox River Valley Public Library District residents, who argued the more than $40 million price tag for the proposed projects is too high.
- Proposed Longmeadow Parkway toll drops in latest Kane County budget plan
- Was I-90 traffic stop that resulted in heroin bust illegal?
- Part-time Pingree Grove fire employee charged with sex abuse
- Cougars on losing end of 4-game sweep
- Cougars drop third straight
- Elgin man faces prison, $1M fine after admitting bank fraud
- Cougars fall to LumberKings
West Dundee Calendar
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- Fox Valley Hands of Hope receives grant
- Thirsty Thursdays return to East Dundee June 30
- U of I Extension offers seasonal nutrition and food safety tips
- Advocate Good Shepherd wins prestigious Lantern Award from Emergency Nurses Association
- Sign up for kids' fun races at Intelligentsia Cup cycling event
- 38th annual Greek Fest returns to St. Sophia Church
- ECC David Sam receives Distinguished Service award from Elgin Cosmopolitan Club
- Join 'Pint for a Pint' blood drive July 7 at Advocate Sherman Hospital
Community Photos
- Mrs Schwartz, Wendy Wessel & Erich Schwartz proudly displaying the plaque that the City of Elgin presented to them in honor of 60 years in business. Becky Fitzgerald
- The Kaleidoscope School of Fine Art, 316 W. Main St. in Barrington, is holding a raffle of custom, hand-crafted, European doll furniture and accessories to help raise scholarship money for students. 3 Prize raffle drawings are to be held during the Art Schools Summer Childrens Art Show at 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. The public is invited to view the unique doll-sets and/or buy raffle tickets at Kaleidoscope Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm, Sat., 9am-1pm. For info, call 847-381-4840 or visit www.KaleidoscopeSchoolofFineArt.org Doug Jennings
- Hampshire High School 2013 Graduation boris naham
- Students Pictures after the Ceremony for Hampshire High School graduation boris naham
- Hampsire High school graduation 2013 boris naham
- Full-day kindergarten students at Neubert Elementary School in Algonquin and principal Darlene Warner celebrated Dr. Seuss' birthday. He was born March 2, 1904 and his books continue to inspire and amuse children every day! Patricia Rasmussen
- My friend John Olson decided to build an igloo out of a pile of snow we plowed at his Landscapeing Company in Dundee. I helped him dig it all out and create shelves, chairs, drink holders and a coffee table. It wound up being 22'long,12'wide, and 7.5' tall on the inside. We dug out approx. 65 cubic yards of snow to create it. Kyle Yates
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- Popular Kane mountain biking trail will expand
- More solid pitching gives Cougars win over Clinton
- Cougars split doubleheader with LumberKings
- Kane County Cougars complete epic comeback against LumberKings
- Cougars drop both games of doubleheader to Snappers
- West Dundee Entertainment
- Popular Kane mountain biking trail will expand
- Get a taste of farm life at Kane County dairy breakfast
- Enjoy free Art on the Fox art show in Algonquin
- Schaumburg senior works to save natural area
- St. Charles nonprofit hosts run, walk for PTSD awareness
- West Dundee Opinion
- Distinction between GOP and Democrats?
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Method and arrangement for developing core loading patterns in nuclear reactors
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United States Patent #7231333
In the method, a set of limits applicable to a core may be defined, and a test core loading pattern design, to be used for loading the core, may be determined based on the limits. Reactor operation on at least a subset of the core may be simulated to produce a plurality of simulated results. The simulated results may be compared against the limits, and data from the comparison may indicate whether any of the limits were violated by the core during the simulation. A designer or engineer may use the data to modify the test core loading pattern, creating one or more derivative core loading pattern design(s) for simulation and eventual perfection as an acceptable core loading pattern design for the core.
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The Big Book of Knights and Castlesby Barbara Weisberg, Gino D'Achille
Product Details
- 9780760706688
- Publisher:
- Barnes & Noble
- Publication date:
- 08/04/1997
- Pages:
- 61
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The Big Book of Knights and Castles based on 0 ratings. 2 reviews.
there is 3 kinds there is the nobility the clergy and the peasents the peasents were not slaves but really poor.only boys could become knights at the age of 8 the little boy was sent to some castle colse where he was trained as a page.at the age of 15 a page could become a squire at the age of 20 if they have proven them selves worthy they could become a knight.
I searched through out the whole internet sites on castles and not a single one was even close to being as good as this one.