text:
The US could become the world's largest exporter of Liquid Natural Gas … "if"
Could. That's the operative word. "If" is the keyword. We certainly have the assets and infrastructure.
By 2017 the U.S. could be the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world, surpassing leading LNG exporters Qatar and Australia. There is one big "if," however. America can produce more gas, export a surplus, improve the trade deficit, create jobs, generate taxable profits and reduce its dependence on foreign energy if the marketplace is allowed to work and politics doesn't get in the way.
However, there are few things like this in which politics doesn't get in the way. And don't forget the crony capitalists:
But exporters must overcome growing opposition to LNG exports by environmentalists and industrial users of natural gas. Exporters must also get multiple permits from environmentally conscious federal officials. And Rep. Ed Markey (D.-Mass.) has proposed legislation to bar federal approval of any LNG export terminals until 2025. Those who most fear global warming don't want anyone anywhere to use more fossil fuel, even "cleaner" natural gas.
Of course the most beneficial thing to do would be to let the market for LNG work. But there are vested interests which will lobby against that:
Exporting energy, however, rubs a lot of people the wrong way. [T. Boone] Pickens wants cheap natural gas for his 18-wheelers and opposes LNG exports. Industrial gas users argue that a vibrant LNG industry would propel domestic gas prices higher. A study by Deloitte said that exporting six 6 BCF [billion cubic feet] per day of LNG would raise wellhead gas prices by 12 cents per million BTU (about 1% on a retail basis). Advocates of "energy independence" argue that exporting LNG would tie U.S. natural gas prices to global markets.
The Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy is considering whether exporting LNG is in the public interest. In the meantime — shades of Keystone XL — the department has effectively put a moratorium on new LNG export licenses.
Energy's decision-making process balances the extent to which exporting LNG drives up prices with the economic benefits of increased production and energy exports. The price assessment comes at a time when U.S. gas fetches the same price in constant dollars as it did in 1975. Producers are now shutting down production and lowering exploration budgets. The shale-gas "job machine" is now in reverse.
So what would be the ideal?
Ideally, the Energy Department should move quickly and recognize free-market principles. And the administration could send a clear policy signal that natural gas is integral to the country's energy future and that exporting LNG is good economics and consistent with its 2010 State of the Union address to double U.S. exports over five years and create two million new jobs. But Energy is moving slowly, and administration signals on natural gas are mostly lip service. The economic-benefits study should have been done by the end of March. But last week, Energy delayed its release until late summer, and said there is no timeline to review results and develop policy recommendations. Translation: after the election.
We've seen this scenario before (*cough* Keystone *cough*).
Here we are in the middle of a recession and we're seeing the same sort of nonsense being played out as we have with other energy projects. The delays are literally playing with people's lives and livelihoods:
Estimates of the job benefits from U.S. LNG projects depend on a variety of assumptions. Roughly 25,000 direct construction jobs would be created if all the projects are built. Increasing the U.S. natural-gas production base by another 13 billion cubic feet might translate to 450,000 direct and indirect jobs and $16 billion in annual tax revenue for federal and state coffers.
It's easier to forecast improved trade balances. Exporting 13 BCF per day of LNG could generate about $45 billion annually. Reaching Pickens' goals could offset another $70 billion annually of oil imports.
But, instead, the Energy Department is delaying.
And people wonder why coming out of this recession we aren't adding jobs to the economy as we have in past recessions?
Politics and policy, my friends, politics and policy.
Twitter: @McQandO
Canada: Dad arrested for 4 year old daughter's drawing of a gun
While this happened in Canada, it is something that I've come to believe could happen here in the near future given the rise of the nanny state's intrusion. This incident occurred in Kitchener, Ontario:
Jessie Sansone told the Record newspaper that he was in shock when he was arrested Wednesday and taken to a police station for questioning over the drawing. He was also strip-searched.
"This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a piece of paper at school," he said.
Officials told the newspaper the move was necessary to ensure there were no guns accessible by children in the family's home. They also said comments by Sansone's daughter, Neaveh, that the man holding the gun in the picture was her dad and "he uses it to shoot bad guys and monsters," was concerning.
A four year old. Yeah, they have no imagination whatsoever, do they? They never make things up.
Do Canadians not enjoy the right of not being subjected too unnecessary search and seizure? Note the official response – it was "necessary" to ensure there were no "guns accessible by children in the family's home"?
Really? Was it? It couldn't have been a 4 year old's flight of fancy, could it? That never happens, does it?
And beside that, while I hold it is none of the state's freakin' business to begin with, a simple knock on the door wouldn't have been able to determine access to firearms? "Hi, sir. Your 4 year old daughter drew this and we're concerned about her or other children in the household having access to firearms. Do you own any firearms? "
Yeah, way to easy. What in the hell has happened to common sense?
And it even gets worse:
Police also searched Sansone's home while he was in custody. His wife and three children were taken to the police station, and the children were interviewed by Family and Children's Services.
Sansone's wife, Stephanie Squires, told the newspaper no one told them why her husband had been arrested.
"He had absolutely no idea what this was even about. I just kept telling them, 'You're making a mistake.'"
Several hours later, Sansone was released without charges.
Searched the home without permission (no word on whether there was a warrant), didn't inform the father of the charges against him, strip searched him and then released him without charges hours later?
That's police state treatment.
Hopefully Mr. Sansone retains a good lawyer and sues the pants off these goons.
If the state will let him.
Twitter: @McQandO
Polling independents
One of the things I do quite often is throw poll numbers up here. But they're usually numbers from selected polls. You're unlikely to see me put up numbers about what percentage of likely voters some candidate holds in an election, especially a year out. They're essentially worthless.
But three I do find interesting and telling are polls that measure the satisfaction of voters, like the "direction of the country" polls, polls that look at voter enthusiasm for each side and finally, polls that attempt to determine the size of the independent vote pool.
Those three types of polls are usually trending polls, i.e. they measure these things at regular intervals. It is those trends that I find valuable and make it easier for me, personally, to get a handle on the mood of the voting public.
For instance, in the 2010 midterms we saw a decided shift of independents from the Democratic side to the Republican side as well as much more enthusiasm on the right than the left in those elections. The result was a resounding Republican win with them picking up around 60 seats in the House.
Today we have one of those polls from Gallup. It measures where independent voters are trending. So let's take a look.
The first thing that strikes you is the fact that the pool of independent voters has increased:
The percentage of Americans identifying as political independents increased in 2011, as is common in a non-election year, although the 40% who did so is the highest Gallup has measured, by one percentage point. More Americans continue to identify as Democrats than as Republicans, 31% to 27%.
Did you catch that last sentence? There is a 4% difference in favor of Democrats with party identification. That's actually an decrease for the GOP as we'll see later on. Look at this chart from Gallup:
The key year is 2010. Note that Republicans, as mentioned did very well that year in the mid-terms but still trailed Democrats in percentage of party identification. Also note that increased identification as an independent began almost immediately after 2008, when Democrats controlled both the legislative and executive branches.
But since 2010 Democrat identification has flattened out. In fact, if you look back toward 1988 the current percentage of identification with Democrats is at what one could consider a low. But the same can be said for Republicans.
So what do the trends tell us? Well, to me they indicate a very deep dissatisfaction with both parties. And, in fact, in terms of self-identification, each party is "bottomed out" with those identifying with them being what one would consider their hard-core base. For whatever reason they unswervingly identify with one of the two parties and, if I had to guess, go to the polls and pretty much vote a straight ticket.
Looking at the numbers, however, you realize that they're obviously not enough, within these bases, for either party to win an election. Democrats have a 4% lead in what they have to make up, but that's not necessarily as much of an advantage as it might seem. Because it all depends on how many independents they have leaning their way as to whether they can get the required majority of voters.
How dissatisfied is the voting public with the two parties? Well, this little tidbit should give you an idea:
Gallup records from 1951-1988 — based on face-to-face interviewing — indicate that the percentage of independents was generally in the low 30% range during those years, suggesting that the proportion of independents in 2011 was the largest in at least 60 years.
So now the question is, even with that level of dissatisfaction, assuming no third party run, who do (or will) independents side with? First keep in mind that while Democrats enjoy a 4 point lead in party identification, that's down from the 7 point lead they enjoyed in 2008.
Secondly, in 2008, Democrats enjoyed a 12 point advantage among independents, with 52% leaning Democratic compared to 40% leaning Republican. Now?
Now a virtual tie. The huge advantage that Democrats enjoyed in the last presidential race among independents has dissipated.
Of course everyone knows, or at least those who follow politics know, that the fight for the presidency will be determined by the "big middle" – those who identify as independents.
Given this chart, and despite the fact that their party identification has dropped a couple of points, it would appear that the GOP has made huge gains among independents. This is a trend I've been remarking on for quite some time. The 12% advantage is gone.
So now, what if anything does this tell us?
Well, it tells us that the presidential election isn't a slam dunk on either side, but neither, at least at this point in time, is it a run-away for either side. It will be exceedingly close, no matter who ends up as the nominee for the GOP.
But I'd also say this – so far most of the blood-letting, politically speaking, has been on the Republican side with these interminable debates going on. The numbers you see above reflect one party with its nominee already decided and the other still in the midst of deciding.
So given that point, I'd have to say that being tied among independents at this point is not particularly good news for the incumbent party. Independent voters have trended away from Democrats and, for the most part, stayed away. What one has to wonder is if the tie will be broken when the GOP finally settles on a nominee and which way it will go. If I had to guess, once that is done, we'll see another fairly significant change in "leaning" independents for one side or the other as they decide whether or not they can indeed support the nominee the GOP has named.
And that's what is going to be interesting. Instead of talking about who can beat Obama, the GOP needs to be concerned with who can and will attract independent voters.
That will not appeal to the staunch conservatives, especially the social conservatives, because, those independents still to be influenced most likely are moderate or, as some activists like to characterize them, from the "mushy middle". They are that 10% that don't show up in the 45-45 tie. They are the prize.
Unfortunately, that means appealing to a group that may be just as likely to vote Democratic as Republican and less likely to be attracted to either side pushing what they consider extremist ideas.
Just a point to consider.
Meanwhile, on the right, another choice is going to have to be made. They are going to have to decide if they're going to hold out for the perfect candidate or do what is necessary to get Barack Obama out of office. And that means some probable nose-holding and lever pulling (that's where the enthusiasm gap comes in).
Yes, friends, 2012 promises to be a political junkie's dream in terms of watching the politics of the day develop. Unfortunately, it promises the same sort of election we've had for decades – making another choice among a field of poor choices and then somehow expecting that poor (but best relatively speaking) choice to work miracles.
What was Einstein's definition of insanity?
Twitter: @McQandO
Obama: Smartest guy in the room?
Last night on our podcast we discussed some of the economic arguments and statements President Obama has been making lately. Among us we can't quite figure out if they are the sum of an abysmal understanding of basic economic theory or a result of ideology or a little bit of both (one feeding the other). But I continue to see such statements filter out from various speeches, statements and interviews. For example, this from Steve Kroft's 60 minute interview:
KROFT: [Republicans] say it's your insistence on raising the taxes to the wealthiest Americans, that you're fixated on that. And that there are other ways to raise revenue.
OBAMA: Steve, the math is the math. You can't lower rates and raise revenue, unless you're getting revenue from someplace else. Now, either it's coming from middle-class families or poor families or it's coming from folks like you and me that can afford to pay a little more. I mean, I think the average American understands that.
Well, Americans certainly understand that the "revenue has to come from someplace else" if the tax base has shrunk, but my guess is they also understand that you can lower taxes and increase revenue in what situation?
Oh, yeah … in a period of economic growth. So perhaps the answer is to work on a long-term solution, you know, like stimulating economic growth, instead of a temporary, short-term half-assed solution like raising taxes on the "rich"? Perhaps?
Not to the smartest man in the room. Not even a mention of economic growth or stimulating it. Instead it's all about raising taxes on the class he's attempted to demonize for months.
And he's invented a new "bargain" for his campaign to do so:
People in the audience at his speech, Obama said, want to know, "What's happened to the bargain? What's happened to the American deal that says, you know, we are focused on building a strong middle class?" Americans are "concerned about inequality" and he's trying to remedy it by placing new rules on Wall Street, by intensifying consumer protections by getting his Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fully up and running, and by asking the rich to pay more in taxes to fund government spending on investments in the future like education and health care.
"To fund government spending on investments in the future like education and health care"? When did we make that a part of any sort of a "bargain"? What "American bargain" is he talking about? I know about the "American dream", but that has nothing to do with a "bargain". When did we enter into this so-called bargain that apparently guaranteed a middle class life even if it has to be funded on the back of others? How is that an "American bargain"?
Of course this cobbled up premise takes our man to these sorts of simplistic (but politically expedient) conclusions:
OBAMA: If I can't get Republicans to move, partly because they've made a political, strategic decision that says, "Anything Obama's for, we're against, because that's our best chance of winning an election," I don't think the American people would see that as a failure on my part. My preference is that they'd have a different attitude. You know, I've been joking with my staff lately that I think in my next speech, I am gonna say, "I am adamantly opposed to investing in education and putting teachers in the classroom. I'm adamantly opposed to rebuilding America and putting construction workers back to work." And I'm thinking maybe suddenly Republicans might be for it. But, you know, keep in mind, I'm talking about Republican members of Congress. I'm not talking about Republicans around the country.
Mr. Black and White. It is either "I'm totally behind Obama's plan or I'm totally against it". Stark but utter nonsense. An attempt at political framing which ignores the reality of the day – we can't afford most of the things Obama wants and the fact that he continues to want them doesn't change that. So instead of bowing to reality (like he has most foreign leaders), Obama chooses to pretend that's not the problem and Republicans oppose him simply because they want to win an election. And throwing lines like this out there about essentially opposing things that might help teachers and construction workers is another among many attempts to demonize the opposition with baseless claims.
In the meantime he's punted a decision that would indeed employ thousands of construction workers and, oh by the way, raise tax revenues, by delaying the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline.
Did anyone call him on that? Of course not.
Did Steve Kroft remind him he had a majority Democratic Congress for two years and did nothing to address the economic situation or this "American bargain" he's made up?
Of course not.
The middle class wasn't important then. And frankly it's not that important to him now. It's a political device he hopes to use to distract and demonize. He has to distract the voting populace away from his dismal record (which finds 54% saying in a recent poll that he doesn't deserve reelection) and he feels he has to demonize his opposition to do that – all the while waving the false flag of concern over the middle class.
For such a smart guy, this is an exceedingly transparent and obvious attempt to change the subject – yet somehow the media seems to have missed it completely (at least to this point). There is no "American bargain". Never has been. There is no guaranteed level living. There is no short-term fixed to the problem of government insolvency, especially taxing the "rich". And the opposing party isn't at all adamantly opposed to the things Obama would like you to believe they are opposed too. What they're opposed to is the huge debt Mr. Obama's administration has piled up, the class warfare he wants to conduct rather than work on real solutions and his insistence that the cause of most of the problems we face is also the solution to them.
Twitter: @McQandO
Observations: The QandO Podcast for 13 Oct 11
In this podcast, Bruce Michael, and Dale discuss Obama's "Americans are lazy" comment, the failing EU. and the presidential race.
The direct link to the podcast can be found here.
As a reminder, if you are an iTunes user, don't forget to subscribe to the QandO podcast, Observations, through iTunes. For those of you who don't have iTunes, you can subscribe at Podcast Alley. And, of course, for you newsreader subscriber types, our podcast RSS Feed is here. For podcasts from 2005 to 2010, they can be accessed through the RSS Archive Feed.
Herman Cain's "bimbo eruption"
I think we can officially call it that, although I'm not necessarily calling the women involved bimbos. It's a term, a phrase used to describe these sorts of situations that politicians seem to find/get themselves in. Thus the scare quotes. Perhaps it's unfair to the women. Maybe Cain's the bimbo.
Anyway, the point of talking about it at all is to point out how poorly the Cain campaign has handled this. No one is talking about Herman Cain's politics or ideas. Everyone is continuing to talk about this situation. And to make it worse, you have his campaign manager on national TV least night accusing one of the women of having a son who works for POLITICO – the media organization which broke the story on Cain.
Mark Block, on Sean Hannity's Fox News show:
Her son works at POLITICO," Block said of Karen Kraushaar, whose name POLITICO printed earlier today after other media outlets made her identity public.
"I've been hearing that all day – you've confirmed that now?" Hannity asked.
"We've confirmed that he does indeed work at POLITICO and that's his mother, yes," said Block.
Uh, no. They confirmed nothing. While Josh Kraushaar did work for POLITICO a while back (he left in 2010 for the National Journal) and happens to have the same last name as one of the Cain accusers, he's not related at all.
This has been confirmed by none other than Josh Kraushaar. My guess is that's something Mark Block might have wanted to ask Kraushaar who had been on Twitter tweeting his disbelief at the accusation. But then you have to have been monitoring the social media to have picked that up (or even ask the man yourself).
This is beginning to smell of amateur hour. You have a campaign who had 10 days notice this was coming and did nothing to get in front of it, choosing instead to ignore it. The problem, as you might have noticed, didn't go away. In fact it got worse. 3 more women have come forward to say they too were sexually harassed by Cain.
These are the sorts of situations where everyone comes out looking worse in my opinion. Cain is being killed in the media (partly I think because when he finally did choose to respond, his response was to lash out at the media) and of course the campaign and its supporters are trying to do everything they can to discredit the women who've come forward.
Nasty stuff. Toxic stuff. Stuff that can kill a campaign.
I've heard people say "well it didn't kill politicians like Bill Clinton". True. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard, "well that has nothing to do with his ability to govern".
However, I think Cain's problems and sinking poll numbers (and campaign) have more to do with is base than anything. When Bill Clinton was having these sorts of problems, his base simply didn't regard them as serious enough to write him off. I assume you can ascribe any numbers of reasons for that – not wanting to give up the presidency, not feeling (as often stated) that personal behavior effected his governing, or just feeling it wasn't as important an issue as the opposition wanted to make it.
Regardless it is about the standards of conduct that are important to the base. On the left, the crowd that talks about women's rights are pretty flexible about that when it is their ox being gored. But they have no problem denouncing someone on the right if political advantageous. And that's because on the right there is a higher standard applied. That standard has gotten many a righty politician in trouble when things like this came out. I've noticed Newt Gingrich talking about how he's creeping up in the polls. Newt just hasn't plateaued yet. He will – soon. He's going nowhere because he has similar baggage.
Get used to it Republicans. Your candidate, barring the entrance of a dark horse who can and would capture the right's vote, is Mitt Romney. Perry, by his performances in the debates, has all but eliminated himself. Cain was a contender, but this mess and how it is being handled is just killing him. Gingrich is in fantasy land.
The only one left standing, when all the political smoke clears, is going to be Mr. Flexible – Mitt Romney.
Makes you fell all warm and fuzzy doesn't it?
Meanwhile, I'll continue to monitor the train wreck Herman Cain finds himself in and, if appropriate, have more to say. But it seems like the Cain campaign is trying its best, at the moment, to develop this into a worst case scenario. And so far they're doing a bang up job.
Twitter: @McQandO
China ignores sanctions to trade with Iran
For years I've heard people say that China isn't an expansionist military threat on the par of, say, the old Soviet Union. And for the most part, I believe that. I do believe they're a regional expansionist military threat and I also believe they're building their military with unprecedented spending to fulfill that role. That's fairly obvious in their dealings with other Asian countries within the China sea area.
But are they an international threat to peace?
In some ways, absolutely. For instance, their relationship with Iran threatens to make the unstable Middle East even more unstable. And they're blatantly disregarding UN sanction and breaking promises to the US about weaponry they are exporting:
China is continuing to provide advanced missiles and other conventional arms to Iran and may be doing so in violation of U.N. sanctions against the Tehran regime, according to a draft report by the congressional U.S.-China Commission.
"China continues to provide Iran with what could be considered advanced conventional weapons," the report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission says.
According to the report, which will be made public Nov. 16, China sold $312 million worth of arms to Iran, second only to Russia, after Congress passed the Iran Freedom Support Act in 2006 that allows the U.S. government to sanction foreign companies that provide advanced arms to Iran.
So, essentially China is calling the US bluff and ignoring the UN. And it is actively trading with a self- declared enemy of the US (and a country which has killed Americans in both Iraq and Afghanistan).
Speaking of the US, China has even gone further:
Most of the weapons transfers involved sales of Chinese anti-ship cruise missiles, including C-802 missiles that China promised the United States in 1997 would not be exported to Iran.
China also built an entire missile plant in Iran last year to produce the Nasr-1 anti-ship cruise missile.
While the article goes on to say that technically the sale isn't a violation of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act of 2006 because the payload and range are below the specified minimums, what it doesn't say is the value of the advanced technology such a sale brings a country like Iran. Obviously what they learn from the C-802 will be incorporated in their own types of missiles.
The report in which these findings were contained makes a valid conclusion based on them:
The report concludes: "Despite Beijing's stated claim to be acting as a responsible major power, China continues to place its national interests ahead of regional stability by providing economic and diplomatic support to countries that undermine international security."
Of course China waves it all away. I mean, what are we going to do about it?
Chinese Embassy spokesman Wang Baodong denied China violated U.N. sanctions.
"When it comes to the issue of nonproliferation, China has been strictly adhering to the relevant U.N. resolutions and faithfully carries out its international obligations while strictly implementing its relevant domestic policies and regulations in the field."
He said the commission "should cast off its Cold War mentality, respect the facts and stop making unwarranted allegations against China."
Of course what sales like the ones China has been making to Iran do indeed undermine international security, or, at least Middle East regional security. Iran now brags about missiles it has that can hit its avowed enemy, Israel, and most of the world believes they're pursuing nuclear weapons. These sorts of sales only aggravate that situation.
Israel has to take them seriously and has:
Israel's test launch of a ballistic missile at Palmachim Air Force Base on Wednesday, in an apparent show of military strength, has ensured the threat of Iran's nuclear capabilities remains firmly on the public agenda.
International sources quoted in the Israeli media said the test appeared to have been conducted with a "surface-to-surface" missile known as the Jericho 3, which has a range of between 3000 and 7000 kilometres and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
Of course Israel has never publically admitted it has nuclear weapons (but most believe they do) and until this launch never publicly admitted it had a missile with this range. It was indeed a show of force to make it clear to the Iranians that they had best mind their p's and q's. But it certainly indicates in increase in tensions and a decrease in stability in a region already dangerously unstable.
So we have China ignoring or circumventing international sanctions to trade critical weaponry with a rogue nation with military and regional aspirations and essentially telling the rest of the world to bug off.
The question is "why?"
Is it because it perceives weakness in the US? Europe? The UN? All three? China has weathered the recession in relatively good shape. It's economy is still doing well. It has been the recipient of a wealth transfer through trade that has enabled it to spend much more freely on its military and it seems to be recognizing a growing vacuum in the world power balance as the US is perceived to be withdrawing some from its position of dominance.
Is China just interested in a regional role, or does Iran signal that China hopes to expand into much more of an international power player? China watchers who've been claiming that it is only regional power which interests the country may have to recalibrate their thinking. It seems, at least to me, that China sees a much broader role for itself (and its self-interest) in the world and may be beginning to make moves internationally to fulfill that role.
Of course time will tell, but Iran (and some of its activities in Africa and the China sea) seems to be a good indicator of a larger desired international role for China than that which was previously assumed for the country.
Twitter: @McQandO
Anyone–who is the number 3 oil producer in the world?
This may surprise you, but it is the US. In fact, it probably does surprise you, given all the whining about our dependence on foreign oil. You'd think that we were a poor nation when it comes to petroleum resources and the amount we import.
Quite the contrary. And you'd think that it would be in the best interests of the US to exploit its resources to a) give us a larger percentage of secure oil and b) employ oodles and bunches of Americans in an industry that has some pretty good and high paying jobs.
You'd think.
First the news:
The study released Thursday by the National Petroleum Council, a collection of industry, academic, government and other officials convened by the secretary of energy, touted how advanced technology has unlocked vast formations of natural gas previously deemed uneconomic to tap.
But the report also said the same drilling and production techniques that opened up shale gas – combined with success in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico, the Canadian oil sands and even surges in conventional oil onshore – are improving the nation's potential to be more self-reliant for oil, according to the report.
"Contrary to conventional wisdom the North American oil resource base also could provide substantial supply for decades ahead," the report said.
FYI, this isn't just some industry group turning out reports that favor drilling.
The National Petroleum Council, a collection of industry, academic, government and other officials, convenes several times a year to gather information, give advice and issue reports on topics for the secretary of energy. The most recent report was a 2007 study on global energy supply and demand.
In 2009 Energy Secretary Steven Chu asked the group to look at U.S. natural gas and oil resources based on four concepts: economic prosperity, environmental sustainability, energy security and prudent development.
Optimistically, the Council believes that the US and Canada combined could produce 22.5 million barrels a day when the new resources are added in. Secure oil.
And, if we'd just get to work and try to tap these assets, Goldman Sachs believes we'll surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the largest oil producer in the world by 2017:
And earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said in a note to investors it expects the U.S. – now the No. 3 oil producer behind Saudi Arabia and Russia – to take the top spot by 2017.
This, given the current economic (and political) conditions, should be a no-brainer, shouldn't it?
Well shouldn't it?
Twitter: @McQandO
Economic Statistics for 13 Sep 11
Today's little economic snapshots:
A sharp drop in oil prices reduced import prices by –0.4%. Export prices, conversely, rose by 0.5%. On a year-over-year basis, import prices have risen by 13%, while export prices have gone up by 9.6%.
For the sixth straight month, business confidence has fallen as the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell 1.8 points in August to 88.1.
The Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index fell 1.4% in August, with the index reading at 94.62, as nationwide trucking activity dropped slightly.
In weekly retail sales, ICSC-Goldman Store Sales rose 1.3% on a post-Hurricane Irene burst of sales last week, with year-over-year sales up 3.3%. Redbook, meanwhile, reports year-over year sales were up 4.5%.
Dale Franks
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Gloomy Goldman-Sachs
James Pethokoukis writes, "Goldman Sachs drops this H-bomb on the Obama campaign:
We have lowered our forecast for US real GDP growth further and now expect real GDP to grow just 2%-2½% through the end of 2012. Our forecast for annual average GDP growth has fallen to 1.7% in 2011 (from 1.8%) and to 2.1% in 2012 (from 3.0%). Since this pace is slightly below the US economy's potential, we now expect the unemployment rate to be at 9¼% by the end of 2012, slightly above the current level.
Even our new forecast is subject to meaningful downside risk.
So, we got that goin' for us.
Dale Franks
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... a weekend so the traffic was not too bad. Seabrook is a really nice seaside town. For dinner we found an independent restaurant called Seabrook Classic Cafe. Sam had crab cakes and I had chicken schnitzel, and we shared a homemade key lime pie for dessert. The food was really yummy and there were lots of locals both eating in and taking out so it was a good ...
New Orleans!
... by the river and made our way to bourbon street. I had a "Big Ass beer" and took in some serious people watching! The area seems like it is on the edge of complete chaos! After our fill of craziness, we headed over to Harrahs to play some slot machines. We didn't hit in big, so we returned to the hotel and called it a ...
Relaxing and rain
Today was our scheduled relaxing day and we've done it right! Lounged around in bed, reading and talking, until 10:45. Yes, we missed our free breakfast, but we had planned ahead. When we finally got up we shared a bagel with peanut butter, some watermelon, grapes and yogurt. It rained all day...seriously rained to the point that I got a NWS alert on my phone warning of flooding. Jeff went out to purchase ...
Day at Sea
... nautical miles. It has started raining and is cloudy. Hopefully no bad weather to come. Rough seas this morning. Doing scavenger hunt this afternoon. Going to show tonight and Love and Marriage game if we can stay up that long. Have gotten a lot of rest but obviously not enough. Still sick but going to get my voice back any ...

subset: commoncrawl


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Recover Money for the Diminished Value of Your Vehicle
If your vehicle has been damaged in an accident, you may be able to recover money for the diminished value of your car. DeGrado Halkovich, LLC, are pioneers in the area of diminished value litigation. Diminution of value is a measure of monetary value lost by a car which was repaired after an accident. In many instances, even after a vehicle has been repaired, the market value can be substantially affected by virtue of the fact that the car has been damaged in an accident. In most states, the law allows for recovery against a third-party (person or entity who caused the accident) for the diminished value of your car even after the completion of repairs. In New Jersey, the statute of limitations to file a lawsuit for the diminished value caused to your vehicle is six (6) years from the date of accident. Our law firm will:
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What is a 'diminished value' in the context of a car damaged in an accident? It is a monetary value that your car loses when being repaired after a collision. It is obvious that when your vehicle undergoes even the best repair service, its market value is not the same as the value of "not crashed" car. The law permits you to claim for compensation against the person who caused the accident. The only requirement you have to remember about is the amount of time that has passed since the crash happened – and thereby the time you have to find an accident lawyer. In NJ it is a period of 6 years. What is important, you can be entitled to receive the money owed to you by the third-party even after your car has already been repaired.
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Location :Bur Dubai
P.O Box 26888, Khalid Bin Waleed Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
This Hotel is very well situated to explore the interesting parts of Dubai. We have stayed here five times now and always enjoy it. The Rooms are clean and a reasonable size and the bathroom also clean and well appointed for this class of hotel. Staff are always friendly and helpful. It is only a short walk to a big Carrefour Supermarket and the Bus Station, Metro Station and Creek are close by to that. A free shuttle to and from the airport is also very good.
4/5 Standard of room
4/5 Facilities
0/5 Quality of food
4/5 Service
4/5 Location
4/5 Value for Money
Its very good
5/5 Standard of room
5/5 Facilities
0/5 Quality of food
4/5 Service
5/5 Location
5/5 Value for Money


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Christina, Aguilera, Chelsea HandlerCredit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images, E!
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery — but "flattery" wasn't Chelsea Handler's intention when she donned a black bustier bodysuit, a la Christina Aguilera, to chat with Aguilera's fellow Voice mentor Blake Shelton on Thursday, Nov. 29.
PHOTOS: Best-dressed TV show hosts
Handler, 37, wore the skimpy getup as part of a gag to make the country star feel more at home on her late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately. Her sidekick Chuy appeared in costume, too — as Voice mentor Cee Lo Green, complete with a bald cap and a bright-red feathered coat.
"I wanted to dress like Christina to make you more comfortable," the host told a surprised Shelton of her fishnets and leather leotard. "I wanted you to feel like you were at your own job."
PHOTOS: Funniest female stars in Hollywood
The "Honey Bee" singer — who makes a cameo on Aguilera's new album, Lotus, in the song "Just a Fool" — was stunned but more than a little amused by the joke.
"Happy Christmas to me!" Miranda Lambert's husband said, laughing. Later, he told the host, "I love you. I love you so much."
PHOTOS: Chelsea Handler's A-list BFFs
"I love you, too," Handler replied. "You're my favorite guest. I love having you on. You and Will Ferrell — out of guys, I love you and Will Ferrell the most."


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Holiday Gift Guide for the Gamers
Posted by Alex Lifschitz Categories: Accessories, Hardware, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
"... Or how I blew your college fund on sparkly trinkets."
Thanksgiving is now over, and so the spirit of crass materialism rides in on a chilly breeze. The holidays are almost here, meaning that you're likely going to need to drop some hard earned ducats on the people who make it a point to hound you year-round. That being said, if you're not a hopeless misanthrope like myself, you might already be thinking about what to buy for others. Or for yourself. I'm not going to make any judgment calls, you selfish bastard. I don't have time for jolliness. I'm like Dorian Gray, all ash and suffering on the inside.
So here's a list of some fun things your can buy for the gamer in your life this year. Some of it is older, some of it is more obscure, but nothing is obnoxiously expensive, per se. Have fun, you wacky kids.
Hit the jump for the list. If you have any suggestions of your own, please leave them in the comments. Oh, and if you want more, non-game-related gift ideas, check out our full Holiday Gift Guide!
Gears of War 2 prize package giveaway: We've got a winner!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games
Remember that Gears of War 2 Zune and Game giveaway we started last week, that ran through Christmas eve? Well, we've got ourselves a winner. The winning entry can be found in this comment, left by our winner SmileyXX. We've confirmed his name and shipping address, and he will
soon be enjoying his Gears of War 2 Zune 120, Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Xbox 360 game, the Aspho Fields Gears of War prequel novel, and a couple other Gears collectables.
Didn't win? Don't fret. Despite giving away a bunch of stuff over the last couple of months (the HP Magic giveaway, our HP Mini 1000 giveaway, and this Gears of War swag,) we've still got more coming at you over the next few weeks. Keep it locked on Gear Live so you don't miss it - especially if you've been eyeing a new HDTV but just haven't had the funds to pick one up. Yeah, we might be able to help you out with that dilemma.
Last day to enter our Gears of War 2 prize package!
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Editorial, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games
Hey, if you haven't already entered our Gears of War 2 Zune and Game giveaway, what are you waiting for? Today is the last day that we are accepting entries into that particular contest, so if you want in, you'd better head on over to the entry page for the rules. Seriously, entering is quick and easy, and you can walk away with a few hundred dollars worth of Gears of War 2 memorabilia (including a Limited Edition Gears of War 2 Zune!). Nothing to lose, everything to gain kind of thing.
Read More | Gears of War 2 giveaway contest
Bleeding Edge TV 298: Gears of War 2 Zune and game giveaway
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: High Score, Short Bytes, Announcements, Features, Home Entertainment, Podcasts, Portable Audio / Video, Video Games, Videocasts, Videos
After our last two successful giveaways (the HP Magic Giveaway and our HP Mini 1000 contest,) we just felt that we couldn't stop. After all, it's the holiday season, right? That's why we are bringing you the latest contest, where you can win:
- Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Zune
- Gears of War 2 Limited Edition for Xbox 360
- Gears of War 2 Art book
- Gears of War prequel novel, Aspho Fields
We're going to use the same entrance criteria that we used last time, since that seemed to work so well. Here's how to enter to win:
- If you don't have one already, sign up for a Gear Live account
- If you don't have one already, sign up for a Twitter account
- Add the Gear Live Twitter account to your follow list
- On Twitter, post a tweet about our contest and link to this page. In the tweet, include the phrase "#gearlive".
- Once that is done, leave a comment here in this post with a direct link back to your Tweet. Be sure you are signed in to your Gear Live account before you leave the comment.
Here's an example of an appropriate Twitter entry:
"Entering to win a Gears of War 2 prize package! http://wg9.qlnk.net/ #gearlive"
BONUS ENTRIES: Want more chances to win? Share the link to our contests on the following sites, and leave us a comment linking to those as well:
- Facebook: Shared Link
- Del.icio.us bookmark
- FriendFeed: Use Post a Link
- Your blog: Have a site? Link to our contest on it!
Remember: The bonus entries are just that - bonus. In order to be eligible to win, you must complete the core Twitter requirements.
Now, as to the actual contest dates. The contest starts today, December 17th. You have until 11:59 PM PST on December 24th to enter your comments here on this post. We will then announce our winner, chosen randomly out of all valid entrants and bonus points, on December 25th. Good luck to all, and remember, this contest is only open to US residents.
Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Zune unboxing gallery
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Features, Galleries, Microsoft, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Video Games
With Gears of War 2 getting ready to drop tomorrow, bringing Submergence Day to all fans of the franchise, Microsoft is also releasing a Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Zune. You might remember that they did something similar with the original Zune to coincide with the release of Halo 3. With the GOW2 Zune, Microsoft has pre-loaded a bunch of Gears content on the device itself. A bunch of images of art, the entire Gears of War soundtrack, along with quite a few pieces of video content related to both Gears of War and Gears of War 2.
We were able to get our hands on the Gears of War 2 Zune before its release, and have snapped a bunch of photos showing off the fantastic box art, the Zune device itself, and all the bonus content included on the device. Be sure and check it all out in our Gears of War 2 Zune unboxing gallery.
Read More | Gears of War 2 Zune gallery
Gallery: Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Zune unboxing gallery
Bleeding Edge TV 265: A look at our HP HDX Dragon giveaway
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, Announcements, Features, HDTV, Home Entertainment, Hot Deals, Movies, PC / Laptop, Podcasts, Software, Videocasts
You should all know by now that we are going to be giving away a sleek, slick, awesome HP HDX Dragon computer prize package as part of the 31 Days of the Dragon contest. It amounts to just about $5,200 worth of prizes if you were to go out and buy everything on your own. Pretty sick, right?
Well, we wanted to give you a look at exactly what you would be walking away with if you won. In this episode, we show off everything. The HDX Dragon computer, all the software, all the games, and all the Blu-ray movies. We run down the computer specs as well, and we clue you in on what we will be doing to pick a winner.
We will be posting more about the contest and our method for choosing a winner in a bit more detail tomorrow. It's late, and I've been moving all day…but at the very least, we had to get this video up for you guys at midnight, because we know that some of you are hardcores. We couldn't leave you hanging.
A big thank you goes out to HP for sponsoring this contest, and this episode.
Heads up, we are giving away an HP HDX Dragon notebook - 31 Days of the Dragon
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Announcements, Features, Movies, PC / Laptop, Software, Video Games
Hey, remember that HP HDX Dragon PC that we unboxed a few months ago? Well, HP has gone and upgraded the specs on that puppy, and they want us to give one of them to you guys. Not just the computer, but a few Blu-ray movies, a few PC games, and a bunch of software too. All in all, if you were to purchase everything we are giving away on your own, you'd end up spending somewhere around $5,196.00. Yeah, I said it. Go ahead and read that again.
No, here is the real kicker. Now only are we here at Gear Live giving away one of these 1080p beasts, but thirty other sites are also going to be giving away the exact same package, including our friends over at ArsTechnica, Lockergnome, JKOnTheRun, and Jake Ludington's MediaBlab. That means you have 31 chances to win. Seriously. That's why we are calling it 31 Days of the Dragon.
Now, each site is going to set their own criteria for how they are going to run things, and we will be announcing what we will be doing soon. Our giveaway date for the HDX Dragon is June 7, 2008. You'd better keep it locked here, peeps. Oh, and anyone in the world is eligible to win.
Hit the break for the full scoop on everything we are giving away, which other sites are also giving these away, and an unboxing video of the HDX Dragon.
Click to continue reading Heads up, we are giving away an HP HDX Dragon notebook - 31 Days of the Dragon
Read More | 31 Days of the Dragon
Gears of War 2 drops in November 2008, check out the trailer
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Action, Corporate News, Survival Horror, Trailers, Xbox 360
It was just announced this morning by Microsoft during their GDC keynote - Gears of War 2 will be hitting Xbox 360 consoles this November. That's right kids - November 2008. You ready for this? Here is the word from Microsoft:
Providing a dramatic close to Microsoft's GDC keynote address, Epic Games Inc.'s lead designer Cliff Bleszinski announced that the epic saga of Marcus Fenix and Delta Squad continues exclusively on the Xbox 360 this fall with "Gears of War 2." This highly anticipated sequel to the 4.5 million-selling blockbuster "Gears of War" delves deeper into humanity's struggle for survival against the nightmarish Locust Horde, and promises to take high-definition visuals to a whole new level.
Check out the trailer, at the top of this post.
Read More | Gears of War product page
Gears of War For-Pay Map Pack Available Free Today
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Downloadable Content, Third Person Shooters, Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace
The Hidden Fronts map pack for the popular Xbox Live title Gears of War, originally offered for 800 Microsoft Points several months back over some protestations from gamers and Epic themselves, is now available for free as promised.
Hidden Fronts includes four new multiplayer maps, Bullet Marsh, Garden, Process and Subway. For those looking to stretch a bit more life out of their Xbox Live multiplayer experience until Halo 3 hits, this may be the way to do it.
Dyack Still Firm on 2008 Release For Too Human
Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Microsoft, Release Dates, Xbox 360
"It is always darkest before the dawn."
Those were Denis Dyack's melodramatic words in a forum post as a reply to someone expressing frustration and disappointment over the outspoken Silicon Knights founder's latest project, Too Human. After a disappointing show at the 2006 E3, Too Human fell from view and was conspicuously absent from this year's E3 aside from a logo displayed during Microsoft's press conference.
Then, shortly after E3, Silicon Knights filed suit against Epic over their Unreal 3 Engine, licensed by SK, claiming among other things that Epic had withheld valuable resources in favor of working on their own projects like Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War. Epic countersued claiming that Silicon Knights was misrepresenting the original contract and lots of public trash-talking and childishness ensued.
Read More | Too Human.net via Joystiq
© Gear Live Inc. – User-posted content, unless source is quoted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License. Gear Live graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, videos, articles, blogs, forums, scripts and other service names are the trademarks of Gear Live Inc.


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Men's Rag and Bone Charcoal Standard Issue Short
Men's Rag and Bone Charcoal Standard Issue Short
The Standard Issue Charcoal Short from Rag and Bone is a 4 pocket, 10 oz. Japanese brushed twill with button fly closure. 100% Cotton Machine wash cold Model wears size 30
Shipping and returns (when eligible) are FREE for purchases from US and Canadian boutiques when shipped to customers located in the US or Canada. We offer a flat shipping fee of $20 for all international transactions.
Shipping Details
Returns are accepted on full-priced items except when item is marked as Final Sale. All sale items, including Make an Offer items, are FINAL SALE.
Returns Policy
Marcus Wainwright and David Neville first channeled their British heritage into contemporary sportswear in 2002. The New York-based designers found a following for their suiting, denim and downtown separates made with English tailoring and craftsmanship combined with old-school Americana. The result is a contemporary line of women's and men's wear that redefines urban style with a bit of Savile Row at the heart of it all.


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You'll find expertise on many subjects among our faculty and professional staff. They're happy to help with media inquiries, local group presentations, and more.
The experts guide is currently being updated. Watch this space for the new guide in August, 2016.
To find an expert
For help finding an IPFW expert, please contact John Kaufeld, chief communications officer, at 260-481-4174 or email@example.com.


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Cell division is one of the most fundamental and challenging processes in the life of bacteria. The divisome is a complex composed primarily of membrane proteins that assembles at mid-cell and is necessary for bacterial cell division to occur. The structural architecture of the divisome, and the organization of its transmembrane region in particular, are still mysterious. Unraveling this organization is a crucial goal for a ful understanding of the mechanisms that are involved in bacterial division and its regulation. This goal of this proposal is a structural and functional analysis of six single-span transmembrane proteins (ZipA, FtsL, FtsB, FtsQ, FtsI and FtsN) that are central to the assembly of the divisome. The proposed approach is multi-disciplinary, with a biophysical characterization of the interactions in vitro, mutagenesis, computational modeling and X-ray crystallography to study their extra-membranous domains. Our main objectives are to determine the ability of the transmembrane region of the six divisomal proteins to interact;measure the energetics of their association;and determine their structural organization. This project addresses a critical barrier to progress in understanding bacterial cell division, namely the lack of information on the structural organization of the membrane region of the divisiome. By beginning to unravel the structural and mechanistic details of the complex, this project will establish important groundwork needed for the development of new strategies for understanding and controlling bacterial growth.
The structural architecture of the divisome - a complex of protein that is required for bacterial cell division - remains mysterious. We propose to study six divisomal membrane proteins (ZipA, FtsL, FtsB, FtsQ, FtsI, FtsN) in order to understand how they interact within the region of the cellular membrane. This project will begin to unravel the structural organization of the transmembrane region of the divisome and establish important groundwork needed for the development of new strategies for understanding and controlling bacterial growth.
|Gromek, Katarzyna A; Suchy, Fabian P; Meddaugh, Hannah R et al. (2014) The oligomeric states of the purified sigma-1 receptor are stabilized by ligands. J Biol Chem 289:20333-44
|Khadria, Ambalika S; Mueller, Benjamin K; Stefely, Jonathan A et al. (2014) A Gly-zipper motif mediates homodimerization of the transmembrane domain of the mitochondrial kinase ADCK3. J Am Chem Soc 136:14068-77
|Subramaniam, Sabareesh; Senes, Alessandro (2014) Backbone dependency further improves side chain prediction efficiency in the Energy-based Conformer Library (bEBL). Proteins 82:3177-87


text: This is a great find. I love using this Seattle car service for so many reasons. Red Star Seattle TownCar has some of the best drivers in the industry. They are all professional and very attentive. They arrive as promised, always promptly parked in front of my door. I use this town car service to get into the town, dinners with friends and for those big nights to get back home. Apart from convenient, also the safest way to go. I highly recommend.


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Newegg.com - A great place to buy computers, computer parts, electronics, software, accessories, and DVDs online. With great prices, fast shipping, and top-rated customer service - once you know, you Newegg.
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Showing Results: Most Recent
This review is from: Paragon Migrate OS to SSD 4.0 - Download (Attach Only)
Pros: While this program has no bells or whistles, it does exactly what it should and it does it well.
Cons: There are no cons.READ FULL REVIEW
This review is from: Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5 GHz LGA 1150 88W BX80646I54690K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600
Pros: It overclocks well. I'm using a Cooler Master Seidon 120m and I am able to easily run it at 4.5Ghz. I'm not sure it will get much faster than that, but I haven't really tried.
Cons: The stock fan. Not only does it do an inadequate job of heating, but the push design is terrible. But if you're planning on overclocking, you probably will want a different fan anyway.READ FULL REVIEW
This review is from: MSI MSI Gaming Z97 GAMING 5 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Pros: Aside from QC, I don't think it's a bad board at all. The onboard sound is very good.
Cons: First board I got was DOA. I was able to return it to Newegg. The second board works except for it doesn't recognize the LAN. Since I didn't want to go through the return process again, I just tossed in a LAN card and it works fine.
I dislike the sideways USB 3 and SATA ports. Since my case is not that large, it is difficult to access them.


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Posts from May 2016
Birding for much desired targets with Keith Betton, Andrew Herbert (UK) and Rainer Kopa (Germany).
Another memorable 21-day birding trip (April 17 – May 7, 2016) along the Eastern Andes, Central Andes & Santa Marta Mountains! It all started with a list of 47 country endemics, birds highly wanted to be seen by Keith, Andrew & Rainer. Nine species were located in sites that were extremely difficult to visit and the other 38 species were widely spread all over the country. After carefully reviewing all reachable sites where those 38 species could be seen, Daniel designed an itinerary that maximized the number of targets to be seen in a 3-week tour.
The itinerary favored the Eastern & Central Andes, and the Santa Marta Mountains, and it took us through amazing birding sites in Colombia, starting near Bogota with Monterredondo, Paramo de Guasca, Laguna de Fuquene, Rogitama, Soata dry forests (Chicamocha canyon), Paramo La Rusia & Onzaga oak forests, La Florida wetland, Enchanted Gardens & Tabacal Lagoon, all in the Eastern Andes. We then traveled briefly through the mid-Magdalena Valley & Ibague area, climbed the Central Andes dropping into the Cauca Valley, visiting Finlandia, Otun-Quimbaya Wildlife Sanctuary, Santa Rosa de Cabal, Montezuma (mountainous Choco), Los Nevados National Park, Rio Blanco & Hotel Tinamu near Manizales. The final leg of the tour included a domestic flight to Santa Marta, birding the iconic Santa Marta Mountains and Isla de Salamanca Park.
In summary, we saw and enjoyed 59 target species, including the following Colombian endemics (30): Cauca Guan, Chestnut-winged Chachalaca, Tolima Dove, Santa Marta Parakeet, Brown-breasted Parakeet, Rufous-fronted Parakeet, Fuerte´s Parrot, Santa Marta Screech-Owl, Chestnut-bellied & Sapphire-bellied Hummingbird, Black Inca, Cundinamarca Antpitta, Brown-banded Antpitta, Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Apical Flycatcher, Niceforo´s Wren, Turquoise Dacnis, Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, White-tailed Starfrontlet, Santa Marta & Tolima Blossomcrown, Santa Marta & Bang´s Wood-Wren, Indigo-capped Hummingbird, Buffy Helmetcrest, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa Marta Antbird, Munchique Wood-Wren, Yellow-headed Brush-Finch and Velvet-fronted Euphonia.
From left to right: Keith Betton, Andrew Herbert, Daniel Uribe and Rainer Kopa, at the San Lorenzo ridge (Santa Marta Mountains), just after seeing the endemic Brown-rumped Tapaculo.
We also saw nine (9) much desired near-endemics, including the Hooded Antpitta, Colombian Screech-Owl, Black-fronted Wood-Quail, Black-thighed, Golden-breasted & Coppery-bellied Puffleg, Coppery Emerald, Moustached Antpitta & Moustached Brush-Finch.
And we saw twenty (20) additional species that were lifers for either Keith, Andrew or Rainer: Band-tailed Guan, Streak-backed Canastero, Subtropical Doradito, Purple-backed Thornbill, Grey-headed Dove, Lined Quail-Dove, Chestnut-breasted Wren, Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Lazuline Sabrewing, White-browed & Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Yellow-vented Woodpecker, Flammulated Treehunter, Pale-bellied Hermit, Russet-throated Puffbird, Slate-crowned Antpitta, Long-tailed Tapaculo, Coopman´s Tyrannulet, Yellow-breasted Brush-Finch & Slate-coloured Seedeater.
Unfortunately, we missed 8 targets. The Apolinar´s Wren did not show up, probably because the reeds at the edge of the lagoons were badly affected by an unusually strong drought as a consequence of El Niño. We were rained-out the morning that we visited Bellavista forest, missing Beautiful Woodpecker & Sooty Ant-Tanager. The Black-backed Thornbill was not coming to the feeders at El Dorado Lodge, the Bicolored Antpitta did not show up for worms at Rio Blanco and the Santa Marta Antpitta refused good looks. Also, we looked hard but missed the Mountain Grackle & Green-bearded Helmetcrest.
Overall, a very good trip where we saw nearly 90% of the desired targets!
Posts from April 2016
Birding the Western & Central Andes with Richard & Jennifer Kershaw from UK (March 10-31, 2016).
First time in Colombia for Richard & Jennifer Kershaw from UK, birding the Western and Central Andes, with the Cauca Valley in between. Tour started in Cali and finished 22 days later in Medellin (March 10-31, 2016), visiting the following main birding localities:
- Cloud forests at Km 18, Finca Alejandría (hummingbird & tanager feeders, gardens), Restaurant "Aquí me quedo" (feeders) & San Antonio Forest above Cali;
- El Vinculo dry forest near Buga;
- Sonso marsh;
- Cerro Montezuma (mountain humid forest to top of the mountain, lodge feeders & gardens);
- Pre-montane humid forest at Otún-Quimbaya Wildlife Sanctuary;
- Cameguadua marsh;
- Los Nevados National Park (paramo ecosystems & elfin forest on tree line, and the hummingbird feeders at Hotel Nevado del Ruiz);
- Rio Blanco (three antpitta feeding stations, cloud forests along the ridge, hummingbird & tanager feeders on lodge, gardens);
- Bolombolo dry forests at Quebrada Sinifana;
- Cock-of-the-Rock lek & cloud forest along the road to Ventana´s Pass, forests at ProAves´s Yellow-eared Parrot reserve & hummingbird feeders at Doña Lucía´s house, above Jardin;
- Shaded coffee plantations & forest fragments at Morro Amarillo;
- Las Tangaras at Carmen de Atrato;
- Mountain forests at "La M" on the road to Urrao;
- La Romera ecopark;
- Chestnut-capped Piha Reserve in the northern tip of the Central Andes.
Richard & Jen Kershaw having lunch at Restaurante Aquí me Quedo, above Cali in Km 18.
We enjoyed bird after bird, sighting 23 country endemics, 17 near-endemics and more than 40 specialties. In total, 89 lifers for Richard & Jen, including three highly desired species that had been denied in previous trips to Ecuador and other South American countries: Sword-billed Hummingbird, White-capped Tanager and Ocellated Tapaculo.
Country endemics seen (23): Cauca Guan, Colombian Chachalaca, Chestnut Wood-Quail, Yellow-eared Parrot, Rufous-fronted Parakeet, Buffy Helmetcrest, White-mantled Barbet, Greyish Piculet, Parker´s Antbird, Brown-banded Antpitta, Stiles´s & Alto de Pisones Tapaculo, Chestnut-capped Piha, Apical Flycatcher, Antioquia Wren, Munchique Wood-Wren, Black-and-Gold & Gold-ringed Tanager, Multicoloured Tanager, Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, Sooty & Crested Ant-Tanager, and Red-bellied Grackle.
Near-endemics seen (17): Colombian Screech-Owl, Black-thighed Puffleg, Golden-breasted Puffleg, Bar-crested Antshrike, Bicoloured Antpitta, Yellow-breasted Antpitta, Hooded Antpitta, Nariño Tapaculo, Yellow-headed Manakin, Sooty-headed Wren, Yellow-collared Chlorophonia, Purplish-mantled Tanager, Scrub Tanager, Indigo Flowerpiercer, Black-headed Brush-Finch, Velvet-purple Coronet and Uniform Treehunter.
Equally valuable, we saw magnificent specialties, including the following: Highland Tinamou, Semi-collared Hawk, Spectacled Parrotlet, White-tipped Sicklebill, Blue-headed Sapphire, White-tailed Hillstar, Crested Quetzal, Black-billed Mountain-Tanager, Yellow-vented Woodpecker, Powerful Woodpecker, White-browed Spinetail, Fulvous-dotted Treerunner, Western Woodhaunter, Streak-capped Treehunter, Andean Leaftosser, Tyranine Woodcreeper, Brown-billed Scythebill, Rufous-rumped & Yellow-breasted Antwren, Blue-lored & Zeledon´s Antbird, Plain-backed Antpitta, White-crowned Tapaculo, Chestnut-crested Cotinga, Scaled Fruiteater, Olivaceous Piha, Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Plumbeous-crowned & Ashy-headed Tyrannulet, Rufous-browed Tyrannulet, White-headed & Chestnut-breasted Wren, Rufous-naped Greenlet, Flame-rumped Tanager, Olive Finch, Slate-coloured Seedeater and Red-hooded Tanager.
We had an incredible encounter with a Semi-collared Hawk at Las Tangaras forest while the bird was in a hunt. Photo taken by Jen Kershaw.
Posts from February 2016
Second birding trip for Steve Huggins & Glenn Giacinto from Chicago (USA).
After touring the Central Andes in 2014, Steve Huggins and Glenn Giacinto came back to Colombia for a second time, this time focusing on birds largely restricted to the Eastern Andes.
From January 23 to February 2 (2016) we visited a nice array of birding localities, including the Observatorio de Colibríes at La Calera, Pedro Palo Lagoon & Chicaque Park, Chingaza National Park & Siecha gravel pits, Paramo de Guasca & Pantano de Martos, Fúquene Lagoon, Rogitama, Paramo de Onzaga, Soata scrubland & oak forests, Paramo de Sumapaz, Tabacal Lagoon and the Enchanted Gardens of San Francisco. All in just 11 days!
A nice list of hummingbird lifers gradually build up for Steve & Glenn, including the Green-bearded Helmetcrest (E&VU), Chestnut-bellied Hummingbird (E&EN), Black Inca (E&VU), Indigo-capped Hummingbird (E), Bronze-tailed Thornbill (NE), Coppery-bellied Puffleg (NE&NT), Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (NE), Blue-throated Starfrontlet (NE), Gorgeted Woodstar, Red-billed Emerald (NE), Short-tailed Emerald (NE), Lazuline Sabrewing, Ruby-topaz Hummingbird and Green-tailed Trainbearer.
Gladly, the skulking and cryptic also went into the bag, including great birds such as Blue-lored Antbird, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Pale-bellied Tapaculo (NE), Streak-backed Canastero, Silvery-throated Spinetail (E), Stripe-breasted Spinetail, Rosy-thrush Tanager, Black-headed Brush-Finch (NE) and Moustached Brush-Finch (NE).
From left to right: Alejandro Rico (our local guide for Sumapaz), Daniel Uribe, Steve Huggins & Glenn Giacinto, after seeing the Green-bearded Helmetcrest, Apolinar´s Wren and Noble Snipe at Paramo de Sumapaz.
The marshes we visited yielded many more lifers, with great views of the endemic & endangered Apolinar´s Wren (seen at Sumapaz), Bogota Rail (E&EN), Noble Snipe, Andean Teal, Subtropical Doradito and Yellow-hooded Blackbird.
The precious Colombian Mountain Grackle (E&EN) showed up at Soata´s oak forests, as well as the critically endangered Niceforo´s Wren (E) and the scarce Black-banded Woodcreeper. Visiting the Pantano de Martos near Guasca was most rewarding, with an unforgettable encounter of the beautiful & rare Black-chested Mountain-Tanager and close views of the Andean Pygmy-Owl.
Other lifers included the endemics Velvet-fronted Euphonia & Turquoise Dacnis, near-endemics Gray-throated Warbler, Rufous-browed Conebill and Black-headed Hemispingus, and the Striped Manakin, Cinereous Becard and Bluish Flowerpiercer. In summary, 42 lifers total!
Posts from November 2015
Birding along the Western & Central Andes of Colombia with Bob & Katie Self from the UK.
A memorable 18-day birding trip along the Western & Central Andes of Colombia, starting in Cali and finishing in Medellin. From November 9 to 26 (2015) and from south to north, we birded the San Antonio cloud forest, Finca Alejandria, the road to Dapa, the forest at Santa Eulalia Lodge, Sonso Marsh, El Vinculo reserve, Mountain Choco at Cerro Montezuma, Otun-Quimbaya Wildlife Sanctuary, Cameguadua marsh, timberline forests and paramo ecosystems at Los Nevados National Park, montane Rio Blanco, the Bolombolo dry forests, Ventanas´s Pass above Jardin, Las Tangaras reserve and La Romera Ecopark.
Moving from one great birding site to the other, we saw 441 species, of which 118 species were lifers for Bob & Katie. We had many close encounters with magnificent birds, including 44 species of hummingbirds, 55 species of flycatchers, 76 species of tanagers & allies, 12 species of woodpeckers, 19 endemics & 30 near-endemics. Bob & Katie wanted to improve their listings on hard-to-see species, and as an end result we managed to see well 9 species of antpittas, 7 tapaculos, 12 wrens, 21 warblers and 9 species of cotingas, among many others.
Photo: Bob & Katie at Cerro Montezuma, where we enjoyed tons of birds, including close views of Black Solitaire (NE), Yellow-breasted Antpitta (NE&VU) & Tanager Finch (NE&VU) following an ant swarm, and great views of Munchique Wood-Wren (E&CR), Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer (E&EN), Indigo Flower-Piercer (NE), Gold-ringed Tanager (E&EN), Black-and-Gold Tanager (E&VU), Glistening-green Tanager (NE), Ochre-breasted Antpitta, Beautiful Jay (NE&NT), Golden-collared Honeycreeper (NE), Yellow-collared (NE) & Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonias, Alto de Pisones Tapaculo (E), Zeledon´s Antbird and many others.
Posts from October 2015
Birding in Colombia from the Western Andes to the Santa Marta Mountains & Guajira peninsula, with a recapitulation in the mid-Magdalena Valley & Eastern Andes: two subsequent birding trips for David & Nancy Massie (UK), and Bruce Webb & Peter Gent (USA).
This was the second birding trip to Colombia for David & Nancy Massie, with a challenging list of target endemics, near-endemics & specialties from the Western Andes, Cauca Valley, northern Central Andes, Santa Marta Mountains & Guajira peninsula. From October 1-14, we birded Kilometer 18 above Cali, Sonso Marsh, Cerro Montezuma, Las Tangaras Reserve, "La M" above Carmen de Atrato and Chestnut-capped Piha Reserve in the northern tip of the Central Andes. Followed with an extension of 5 nights/6 days to the Santa Marta Mountains & Guajira peninsula, from October 15-20.
Overall, David & Nancy were able to add 61 new species to their life list! At Kilometro 18 the top species included Multicolored Tanager (E&VU), Blue-headed Sapphire, Nariño Tapaculo (NE) and Metallic-green Tanager. Sonso Marsh provided close views of the Cocoa Woodcreeper, and visiting Cerro Montezuma allowed the addition of key lifers such as Fulvous-dotted Treerunner (NT), Olivaceous Piha, Munchique Wood-Wren (E&CR), Black Solitaire (NE), Gold-ringed Tanager (E&EN), Yellow-collared Chlorophonia (NE), Chestnut-breasted Chlorophonia, Olive Finch, Alto Pisones Tapaculo (E) and Chestnut-bellied Flower-Piercer (E&EN). At Las Tangaras reserve we had great views of the Cloud-forest Pygmy-Owl (VU), Rufous-rumped Antwren, Handsome Flycatcher, Sooty-headed Wren (NE), Black-and-gold Tanager (E&VU) and Indigo Flower-Piercer (NE). Visiting the Chestnut-capped Piha reserve allowed more lifers such as Chestnut-crowned Gnateater (with a great photo taken by Nancy), Northern White-crowned Tapaculo, Chestnut-capped Piha (E&EN), Scarlet-and-white Tanager (NE), Crested Ant-Tanager (E), Black-headed Brush-Finch (NE) and Large-billed Seed-Finch.
Our party of three met with Bruce Webb & Peter Gent at El Dorado airport in Bogota as we all flew into Santa Marta on October 15th, birding the high altitudinal gradient from Minca to El Dorado Lodge & Cuchilla de San Lorenzo in the Santa Marta Mountains. Here, we were challenged by a sudden and unexpected onset of rainy days for the region, with long and frequent showers in the afternoons, but clear skies in the mornings that lasted until noon. We had great birding in the mountains, seeing well the endemics - Santa Marta Parakeet, Santa Marta Antpitta, Santa Marta Blossomcrown, White-tailed Starfrontlet (male & female), Santa Marta Woodstar (male & female), Santa Marta Antbird, Santa Marta Tapaculo, Brown-rumped Tapaculo, Santa Marta Foliage-Gleaner, Rusty-headed Spinetail, Santa Marta Bush-Tyrant, Santa Marta Wood-Wren, Bang´s Wood-Wren, Santa Marta Mountain-Tanager, Colombian Brush-Finch, Santa Marta Brush-Finch, Santa Marta Warbler, White-lored Warbler and Yellow-crowned Whitestart, plus the near-endemics Black-fronted Wood-Quail, Coppery Emerald, White-tipped Quetzal, Streak-capped Spinetail and Golden-winged Sparrow. Besides, we saw well specialties such as the Rosy Thrush-Tanager, Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Golden-breasted Fruiteater, Band-tailed & Sickle-winged Guans, Lined Quail-Dove, Scaly-naped Parrot, Long-billed Hermit, Lazuline Sabrewing, Moustached Puffbird, Santa Marta (Emerald) Toucanet, Venezuelan Tyrannulet, Rufous-breasted Wren, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, Veery, Black-hooded Thrush, Plushcap and Golden-bellied Grosbeak, among many others.
From left to right: Daniel Uribe, Peter Gent, David & Nancy Massie, Juan Uriana (local guide) & Bruce Webb.
Our visit to Camarones & Perico in the Guajira Peninsula was ruled by extreme sun & heat, and nice birds such as the Chestnut Piculet (NE), White-whiskered Spinetail (NE), Orinoco Saltator (NE), Vermilion Cardinal (NE), Slender-billed Inezia (NE), Buffy Hummingbird, Double-striped Thick-Knee, Scaled Dove, Bare-eyed Pigeon, Green-rumped Parrotlet, Ferruginous Pymy-Owl, Russet-throated Puffbird, Black-crested Antshrike, White-fringed Antwren, Pale-legged (Caribbean) Hornero, Northern Scrub-Flycatcher, Pearly-vented Tody-Tyrant, Fork-tailed Flycatcher, Glaucous Tanager and Pileated Finch, among many others.
On the last day for David & Nancy, we enjoyed seeing the Chestnut-winged Chachalaca (E), Shinning-green Hummingbird and Lineated Woodpecker at El Vale near Santa Marta, and the Bicolored Conebill, Golden-green Woodpecker and Panama Flycatcher at Isla de Salamanca.
The second half of the trip for Bruce & Peter had a wonderful start at the Llanogrande gravel pits near Rionegro, where we enjoyed seeing at close distance and for a long time a male of Masked Duck with two females, a curious Blackish Rail, two Soras and an adult & juvenile Purple Gallinule.
Rio Claro in the mid-Magdalena Valley was very hot & humid (as always), presenting to us scope views of the endemic Beautiful Woodpecker and really close views of a party of Silvery-brown Bare-Face Tamarins, including a mom carrying a baby on her back. We enjoyed a diverse set of birds while birding along the inner road of the reserve and the Mulata trail, including the Magdalena Antbird (E), Fasciated Tiger-Heron, Chestnut-backed Antbird, Stripe-throated & Rufous-breasted Hermits, Blue-chested Hummingbird (building a nest), Broad-billed Motmot, Barred Puffbird, White-whiskered Puffbird, Chestnut-mandibled & Channel-billed (Citron-throated) Toucans, Olivaceous Piculet, Black-crowned (Western Slaty) Antshrike, Pacific & SlatyAntwrens, Long-tailed, Wedge-billed & Plain-brown Woodcreepers, Olivaceous Flatbill, Long-tailed Tyrant, One-colored Becard and the Black-bellied, Bay & Band-backed Wrens, among many other birds.
A quick visit to the initial sections of the road to Puerto Pinzon also yielded a very nice set of birds, including Northern Screamer (NE&NT), Scrub Greenlet, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Laughing Falcon, White-winged Swallow, Spectacled Parrotlet, Striped Cuckoo, Pied Puffbird and Black-headed Tody-Flycatcher.
Bellavista Forest in Victoria presented us with splendid views of White-mantled Barbet (E&VU), Sooty Ant-Tanager (E&NT), Velvet-fronted Euphonia (E), Scarlet-fronted Parakeet, Pale-bellied Hermit, Sooty-headed Wren (NE), White-breasted Wood-Wren, Purple-crowned Fairy, Red-rumped Woodpecker, Golden-headed Manakin, Black-chested Jay, Golden-hooded Tanager and Orange-billed Sparrow, among others.
At Laguna de Tabacal we saw the Blue-lored Antbird (E), Gray-throated Warbler (NE&NT), White-bellied Antbird, Velvet-fronted Euphonia (E), Rusty-breasted Antpitta, Ruddy Quail-Dove, Plain Antvireo, Checker-throated Antwren, Long-billed Gnatwren, Scrub Tanager (NE) and Slate-colored Seedeater.
Our visit to the Enchanted Gardens of San Francisco was also very productive, with great views of the dominant Indigo-capped Hummingbird (E), Ruby-Topaz Hummingbird, Gorgeted Woodstar, Red-billed Emerald (NE) and Shinning-green Hummingbird, among others.
Laguna de Pedro Palo & Chicaque Ecopark provided great birding, with very nice mix flocks. We saw the Black Inca (E&VU), Moustached Brush-Finch (NE), Golden-bellied Starfrontlet (NE), Ash-browed & Stripe-breasted Spinetails, Thick-billed & Chestnut-bellied Seed-Finches, Mountain Velvetbreast, Cerulean Warbler, Fawn-breasted, Beryl-spangled & Metallic-green Tanagers, and many more.
Birding along the road to Chingaza National Park surprised us with close views of the Silvery-throated Spinetail (E), Bronze-tailed Thornbill (NE), Pale-bellied (Matorral) Tapaculo (NE), Golden-fronted Whitestart (NE), Crimson-mantled Woodpecker, White-chinned Thistletail, Crowned Chat-Tyrant, Black-backed Grosbeak and Andean Siskin. One of the highlights for the day was the unexpected view of a splendid male Purple-backed Thornbill!
Birding the Siecha gravel pits was also very productive, with the presence of Bogota Rail (E&EN), Noble Snipe, Spot-flanked Gallinule, Andean Teal, Ruddy Duck and Grassland Yellow-Finch.
Visiting Paramo de Guasca was most rewarding, with nice views of the endemic & vulnerable Brown-breasted Parakeet, Coppery-bellied Puffleg (NE&NT), Speckle-faced Parrot, Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Amethyst-throated (Longuemare´s) Sunangel, Black-billed Mountain-Toucan, Powerful Woodpecker, Pearled Treerunner, Smoky Bush-Tyrant, Rufous-breasted Chat-Tyrant, Black-capped, Superciliaried & Black-headed Hemispingus, Scarlet-bellied & Buff-breasted Mountain-Tanagers, Rufous-browed Conebill (NE) and Ochre-breasted Brush-Finch.
Our tour ended with a visit to the "Observatorio de colibríes" at La Calera, where we enjoyed the Black-tailed Trainbearer, Glowing Puffleg, Tyrian Metaltail, Sparkling & Green Violetears, quick views of Coppery-bellied Puffleg (NE&NT) and second views of female Blue-throated Starfrontlet (NE).
In total, we saw 436 species (plus 17 species heard only) and most importantly, had great fun while birding!


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Press Release
Release Date: December 16, 2015
For release at 2:00 p.m. EST
The attached table and charts released on Wednesday summarize the economic projections and the target federal funds rate projections made by Federal Open Market Committee participants for the December 15-16 meeting.
The table will be incorporated into a summary of economic projections released with the minutes of the December 15-16 meeting. Summaries of economic projections are released quarterly.
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Explore these ideas and much more!
Radically Beautiful! Aelred said seek a rich glassy dark tone that mezmerized the eyes, that had struck his heart in his teens; he encouraged me to find it to understand his awe of jamaican black woman's beauty.......although this woman is most likely in the fields of the regions of Africa I see through his eyes and I have found the glassy sea he described so amazingly.