Yeah..... It's been a while.

So it has been some time since I posted anything on here. I have been a little busy. Wife, kids, going back to college, advancing in a career, just the little stuff. However, as I watch my country be thrust into a "fundamental transformation of America", as our president calls it, I felt I could no linger sit back and be a spectator. I feel like I should put something out there, however insignificant it may seem, to show people where I stand, and maybe try to parley a little truth to you as well.

I say we need to get through all of our Democrat Vs. Republican garbage and say the obvious truth, They are both so corrupt, they may be beyond salvage at this point. Our country is a great place, and I don't believe we need a fundamental transformation, I think we need a rebirth. We need to return to the things that made us so great to begin with. Our country was founded with the belief that God must be a fundamental part of our governance, or it would surely fail. Guess what.... we have removed all semblance of God from our governing, and guess what, our country is on it's way to failing. We MUST return to those values which made us great, or we are doomed to become another chapter in our great great grandchildren's textbooks, "The America that Was: A story of the country that burned bright, then burned out".

Come back soon for more info, updates, and other assorted info.

Palin - McCain '08

I am so excited about this VP choice. Sarah Palin, in my opinion, is more qualified than Obama or Biden to run this country. Unlike them, she has actually ran a government. She has been the Govenor of Alaska for longer then Obama has been campaigning, which means that while he has been receiving a paycheck from the taxpayers to be a Senator, he has actually been out running for office instead, while Palin, on the other hand, has had to deal with running the largest state in the union, and a state that has numerous strange caveats to running it. She is an amazing woman, mothering 5 children including a special needs child, which to me means, she can handle more stress than most humans can imagine. She is a conservative, pro drilling, NRA member, maverick Govenor, who has first hand knowledge of lots of stuff noboday knows about. Things like what ANWR actually is (mostly frozen tundra). I think with McCains foreign policy and military experience, plus Palins Governing experience, coupled with her real life experience, makes this a formidable ticket. I am super excited about it.

I will be posting again soon in regards to the outcomes of the two conventions, my take on both, which ticket I think got the biggest bump, as well as a bit about Gustav, as it unfortunatley looks like New Orleans is going to be devastated again. Although, perhaps we will realize this time, that building a city in a 25 foot deep bowl is a bad idea. Lets take all of the money that is raised for them and just cut them all a check and tell them to move. That's just my idea though. Until next time, God Bless the USA.

Im not dead

Don't worry everyone. I will be posting again this week. I have been in a management training program and pretty busy with that lately. I will be doing some commentary on current developments in the election and a few other assorted items, including some srticles from a few books I am currently reading that are pretty great.

A change of Direction

I have decided to do the next article on the presidential election this year. I know that it is early but I want to put together a comparison on them that you will be able to refer to in regards to their positions on important topics. Look forward to this in the next day or two.

The postings after that will be on the Declaration Of Independence, then The Constitution, and then a series of articles on some of the founding fathers of our country as well as some of our greatest Presidents.

An inspirational image of Abraham Lincoln I made.....enjoy!

What we will talk about next

The next article we will be doing will be on the war on terror, instability in the middle east, and US foreign policy. Its going to be a great series of articles, and very deep and detailed. Look forward to lots of spirited debate in the comment sections.

Annuit Coeptis - A 4th of July Message for all

This has always been something about the dollar bill that I think has eluded many. The saying on the back of the note, directly above the unfinished pyramid and the all seeing eye says "Annuit Coeptis", this translated from Latin to English means; "He Favors Our Undertaking" or some interpret it as; " He Prospers Our Endeavours" . The symbolism of the UNFINISHED pyramid is powerful to me, it meant that the framers and fathers of our nation knew that they wouldn't get it perfect the first try, that this amazing undertaking of founding The United Stated of America was something that they knew would need to grow and change to fit its day. Of course, both translations of this phrase reference a He, which of course is God (represented by the all seeing eye in the image). This means that they also knew that Gods blessing on this country would be necessary in its growing and changing. Never lose sight of how absolutely amazing this country is, and how privileged we are to live here. May God bless us and the United States of America. Happy 4th of July!!

The American Energy Crisis and You (cont)

Sorry for the delay in completing this final segment in the series on energy dependance. This section of the report with focus on other forms of energy creation and capture technology. Below I will list options I think have good promise, and I believe that all of these should be aggressivly pursued in addition to the other ones I have mentioned... whatever it takes to be energy and oil independant in America.

Hydro Electric Energy-

A commonly unknown fact is that currently about 20% of energy consumptioon on earth is obtained through hydroelectric power, second only to fossil fuels. However only 10% of US consumption of energy can be attributed to hydro. However, due to the environmental lobby, this is a type of energy that is nearly as handcuffed as our oil industry. In the United States of America there are currently just north of 80,000 dams that block or divert our waterways, but of those 80,000 such structures only 2,378 of them have hydroelectric power capture abilities. That is less than 3% of dams that currently exist that have hydroelectric capabilities. Just by upgrading the 2378 of them that already exist we could get about 4,500 additional megawatts of power per year or enough to power about 3,000,000 homes for the year. I arrived at this number based on a national average of about 700 homes powered per megawatt of power produced (US department of energy estimate). There are also huge untapped amounts of energy possibilities from this that are possible to be obtained both from the 77,000 other dams that could be converted, tidal hydroelectric plants, and other methods of harnessing this type of power. I don't think enough attention is paid to this method and I think it deserves more attention from the government so that they will deregulate it some and let capitalist American get after it.

Geo Thermal Power-

This is another one that I think gets very little coverage. There is tons of options for using heat to generate electricity where naturally occuring on earth. Hawaii and Alaska particularly have great opportunitys for this development. There are some who believe that both places could derive 100% of their energy needs from hydroelectric and geothermal power capture alone.

Nuclear -

Bottom line on this one is if France can do it why can't we. They derive over 80% of their national energy requirements from Nuclear power with no massive accidents. There are so many safeguards and non-bypasseable security features, that meltdowns just don't happen anymore. In fact, in the case of Chernobyl, the trump card for all anti nuclear groups, human intervention and not computer or mechanical failure was to blame for that terrible event that transpired. If humans hadn't intentionally bypassed the safety systems, the plant would not have melted down.

This is a simple cost effective way of producing energy that should have been being utilized for years. We should do this as soon as possible and on as grand a scal as possible.

Solar Power -

In the course of a day in the US over 10,000 times the amount of power we need to meet all of our energy requirements hits the ground in the form of solar energy, we just don't capture much of it to actually use. Solar on its own is not a good option, but why would we not utilize every possible means of harnessing energy. With a new generation of solar panels on the way that are more efficient and much tougher in the elements, we will soon see the day, I believe, when homes will be built with part of the roof covered in solar panels, and you will not have to use city power except on cloudy days. I also think that homes of the more affluent will possibly be equipped with battery systems, so that they can be totally energy autonomus. This will happen soon I have virtually no doubt.

Wind -

Yet another system under utilized in our country. Here are a few links to give you extra info here:

This site contains wind speed maps of the United states as well as coastal areas showing areas that are ripe for wind power plant capabilities. There is an incredible amoutn of opportunity here. An important thing to remember when looking at this map is that they have already removed areas that can't be developed due to it not being possible or due to land use restrictions, that means that all of the areas suitable for usage you see on this map are really useable. Makes you wonder why we are not doing this huh?

http://www.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/windpoweringamerica/wind_maps.asp

Here is a site with some pretty technical info on wind power generators, a little technical but an interesting read:

http://www.windpower.org/en/tour/wtrb/electric.htm

Here is one that is slightly easier to understand, and it has a nice animation:

http://www1.eere.energy.gov/windandhydro/wind_how.html

If nothing else, I hope that all that I have said in these last few articles has at least somewhat inspired you to look into what other options are out there for energy production. Energy independance is no longer a luxury in this country; it is quickly becoming a neccesity for financial survival. There are so many viable options, but I believe that without a great combination of all of these things, we will never acheive the energy independance that we desperately need. If the US government will just get out of the way and allow the capitalist american spirit that has triumphed for hundreds of years in our great country to thrive again, we will be a great and independant nation again. We must no longer allow these useless special interest groups to control our country. We can be great again, if we would only get out of our own way.

The American Energy Crisis and You (cont)

Shale and Coal to Oil Facilities

I personally believe that this is where we need to be focusing the bulk of our energy in regards to our future energy independence. Don't misunderstand what I am saying though. I think we need a scatter gun approach to our energy future. I believe that we must aggresively pursue other forms of energy production immediately if we are to break our addicitonto foreign oil. I believe that we must utilize nuclear, wind, solar, geo-thermal, mice in wheels, or the energizer bunny.... whatever it takes. Okay, maybe the last two should be last resorts but I think that you get my drift. These alternative forms of production will be covered in the final segment of this article.

Coal to oil synthetic fuel facilities were perfected by a group of people that didn't contribute much to the world that is positive other than these facilities. The Nazi war machine and Hitler's scientists. When the world decided they didn't like that he was trying to take over, they found a way to turn coal to oil so that they could power their war machines. The last time people looked at them as an energy source, oil cost around $15 - $20 a barrell, and it cost around $33 to make a barrell of oil in this way, which made it not fiscally feasable at the time as an alternative source for oil. Of course, now, with oil tickling $140 a barrell, $35 sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Some opponents of this type say that it is harmful to use shale to oil or coal to oil processes for power because of the environmental impacts. However in a wonderful scientific breakthrough, they have in recent years found a way to capture nearly all of the CO2 output of the process and pump it into the ground and into unmineable geological formations with little to no chance of escape, ever. This eliminates this as a reason not to aggresively pursue this type of energy production.

US coal holdings are virtually limitless, the currently known formations would allow the United States to be Energy independant for 150 to 250 years if it were used for coal to oil production. Imagine what it would do to the Saudi's, Iranians, Iraqi's, and all of the other members of OPEC if we suddenly stopped buying. We would single handedly make oil an affordable commodity for the whole world. Heck, we could undercut OPEC and sell our coal to oil synthetic oil to the world and put them out of business. By the way, our synthetic oil would be a higher grade of light sweet crude than would be coming out of the ground over there, with significantly lower sulfer content; .2 percent versus nearly 8 percent from OPEC hoildings.

Ultimately these factors are why I view this to be the best opportunity for severe limiting of our overseas oil dependancy. Huge coal and shale reserves, cheap production, extremely quick to market (could be contributing significant oil to US market in less than 5 years as opposed to 15 with new drilling), little environmental impact, and would create lots of US jobs as well.

Now to discuss the most popular; and HORRIBLY flawed idea that people keep bringing up:

Ethanol - I don't even know where to start on this. Easily the worst option available. First, the sheer amount of corn that would be needed to be grown to keep up with the presidents request for 35 billion gallons of ethanol a year, which would replace just 15 percent of our yearly consumption of oil, is virtually impossible to imagine, much less accomplish. The following states would have to be COMPLETELY covered in corn fields, not accounting for roads processing facilities or anything else, just wall to wall corn fields, to produce that much ethanol: Washington DC, Rhode Island, Deleware, Conneticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Maryland, and West Virginia, or ALL OF TEXAS!!! To fully replace US use of oil with Ethanol (Which would be impossible. By trying to eliminate the use of gasoline by switching to ethanol, you would increase our consumption of it, not reduce it. I will explain how I got there in just a minute.) you would have to cover 97% of US soil in corn fields, which would be impossible for so many different reasons I can't even begin to list them but the top one would be how are you going to get corn to grow in Alaska? Has nobody stopped to think of how this will affect food prices? Corn is used in animal feed for virtually all animals, which if animal feed gets more expensive, everything gets more expensive. Eggs, Milk, meats, and every other food that these are ingredients are in. Then the fact that farmers are growning corn instead of these other foods makes them more scarce and therefore more expensive. Even with all of these things considered, the worst fact about Ethanol is its cost; it takes 1.29 gallons of gasoline to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. Let me repeat that, it takes 1.29 gallons of gasoline to make 1 gallon of ethanol. That is like buying 1 dollar bills for $1.29 to try and get rich. Only in Washington could this be a viable alternative. My head hurts just thinking about it...........

Here are two links to stories on the coal and shale to oil facilities Such a cool technology when paired with CO2 capture:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/09/chattanooga_cor.html
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2007/04/post_4.asp

Part three of this article will be posted tomorrow. Until then...........

The American Energy Crisis and You

Energy in America: Foreign Oil Dependency, Oil Addiction, Energy Independence, and How Environmentalists and Bureaucrats are Responsible For Our Current Energy Crisis


I know that the title sounds a bit ambitious for a first serious post, but I could not determine a better or more relevant place to start with the current state of our Union. With gas prices reaching a new all time high seemingly every day, the cost of oil shooting through the roof like it had a JADO rocket attached to its backside, and a seemingly impotent US government who can't seem to see this crisis for what it is and either act; or get out of the Americans way's so that our capitalist system can right itself.

It is difficult to determine where the first move should be made, but the best thing I can think of is that someone is going to have to grab this bull by the horns, call this crisis exactly what it is and call the American spirit to arms like it has been in the past. We need a JFK type of speech; calling on the American spirit and ingenuity to get us to the moon in 10 years. We will solve this issue if the bureaucrats and tree hugger's can just get out of the way, and let us work it out.

There are so many things that are aggravating in this issue, that it is hard to know where to start, however I think we will start with offshore drilling. The President FINALLY called on congress to get out of the way and stop the ban on coastal drilling in the US, saying that "there was no excuse for delay" and that "Families across the country are looking to Washington for a response,". Democrats in congress stated that oil companies already have under lease 68 million acres on federal lands and waters — outside the ban area — that are not being developed. This may be true but most of the land we are talking about won't have oil. A lot of it is on federal lands, some of which is still being blocked from development by the environmental lobby, and a lot of the land that is currently under lease is not in the water but on land. I would also venture a guess that the democrats in congress could not tell me the area of the ocean floor in square acres, a unit of measure that they used because it makes it seem like a lot more area than it is. 68 million acres is only roughly 106,000 square miles, almost half of which is on land, not in the water. If exactly half was on water versus land it would be an area for exploration worldwide currently on lease the size of Louisiana. On the whole planet, an area for exploration for oil in the water of less than 1\3 of one percent of the area of the ocean. Doesn't seem like all that much area when you see it that way does it?

The main thing to remember with this also is that finding oil down there isn't a sure thing, as a matter of fact it is like trying to find a needle in a HUGE haystack. It is very difficult and I don't think we should be limiting the oil companies to just the areas they already have. I say let them look wherever they need to in the outer continental shelf, an area so far off the coasts that you couldn't see the oil rigs with binoculars, even if you had some powerful enough, because of the curvature of the earth. We let them explore; something done from a boat with virtually no environmental impact; if they don't find anything, they return the lease to the government, if they do, go get the oil and suck it dry immediately. We need to allow the oil companies to build more refineries so that we can start refining and producing more of our own oil. We allow them to drill in ANWR and just about anywhere else they want to, until we develop alternative energy sources that will offset our dependency on oil. The Alaska National Wildlife Reserve is over 2 million square acres. It would require sacrificing only about 2000 acres to build several drilling areas up there that would allow us to go get the oil, with limited environmental impact.

I will continue this article later today, with a section that I think has the most promise; shale to oil conversion. Imagine if the United States became the largest oil producer on earth? It could happen and later today I will tell you how.