June 19, 2013: Chelsea Clinton laments that her maternal grandmother did not have access to birth control, Plan B, or even late term abortions. Do these people even think before they speak. I can't make this stuff up.
June 14, 2013: looking for something else, I came across
this gem. "With regard to the Bakken, this is not light, sweet crude, it is shale oil." Yes, in fact, Bakken shale oil is light, sweet oil -- some of the lightest, sweetest oil in the world. I cannot make this stuff up. I understand why Rush calls this group the low-information crowd.
December 21, 2012: what are the Germans thinking? Now they are
building wind towers out of wood, clear-cutting US forests, a natural CO2 sink. "They" say the forests in Germany are growing fast enough to be able to build 1,000 wind towers every two days. Does anyone really believe that?
December 3, 2012: until he was executed, there was no way to put a serial killer's DNA into a national data base; once executed, he is now
declared a homicide, and that means his DNA can be placed into the national data base.
November 24, 2012: greenhouse gasses level strip club in Springfield, Massachusetts.
November 21, 2012: Alaska home town to airport with no airplanes, harbor with no road. US Army Corps of Engineers built the harbor with $30 million in stimulus money; agrees it was unusual considering there are no roads connecting the town to the harbor.
October 10, 2012: Actor inside "Big Bird" makes > $300,000 year. No wonder PBS wants the president to drop the attack ad on over "Big Bird." And quarterly, donors are asked to send in more cash to PBS -- you would think in the spirit of transparency, PBS would share the salaries of their actors. Asking donors on fixed salaries to support actors earning $300,000. I can't make this stuff up. It would be interesting to see how much of his salary he donates to PBS.
October 10, 2012: one of the most successful TV properties of all times -- Sesame's Street "Big Bird franchise" had total operating revenue of more than $134 million in 2011 and it receives $8 million/year in direct government grants and more indirectly via PBS subsidies. At the end of fiscal 2011, Sesame Workshop and its subsidiaries had total assets of $289 million. Of that $121 million was held in "investments," including hedge funds and private-equity funds. --
WSJ, October 10, p. A18. Government subsidies are so small they don't deserve discussion; but the President took Romney's bait. By the way, "Big Bird" has asked the Obama Team to pull its attack ad over "Big Bird." No doubt the workshop doesn't want donors to know how really, really rich this bird is. I can't make this stuff up.
October 9, 2012: a Minnesota urbanite is worried that the Bakken will lead to a duck bust. The drilling occurs in a very small portion of North Dakota. Farming in Minnesota has taken out much more wetlands than the oil patch ever has. The sprawl of Minneapolis/St Paul consumes more. No mention of slicers and dicers required by the Minnesota state legislature. But a duck bust in North Dakota due to fracking. I can't make this stuff up.
October 3, 2012: a Georgia "firm" has not visited Williston, has no permit, has no zoning, has no land, and is proposing a
a pyramid near Williston that would be the state’s tallest building and house 500 apartments, a mall, an entertainment center and more.
New Cimarron City, proposed by an investment group led by Camp and Associates, would be 371 feet tall with apartments built into four sides and the interior filled with retail stores, a movie theater, bowling alley, restaurants and indoor parking for 1,200 vehicles. [The reason? Because they read about the housing shortage in Williston. Okay.]
September 23, 2012: will they be placed on the 'no-fly' list?
June 7, 2012: Holder: "
Fast and Furious" does not refer to "Fast and Furious."
May 15, 2012: New York court rules viewing child pornography on the internet is not illegal. The analogy is that distribution of illicit drugs should not be illegal either; the distributor is not making the illicit drugs. This analogy works if the legality of viewing child pornography includes sending links to "friends."
April 5, 2012: Obama's Department of Justice needs
three pages to tell American citizens that the Supreme Court can overturn laws deemed to be unconstitutional. Wow.
The Department of Justice is also expected to submit a three-page explanation later in day clarifying whether it believes the court can overturn laws passed by Congress, responding to the order of a federal judge in Texas who said Mr. Obama's comments cast his beliefs on that in doubt.
I can't make this stuff up.
April 3, 2012: the Dufus rant. Anyone who defends this blog at the Bakken Shale Discussion Group risks being banned. Just a word to the wise.
March 9, 2012: The $100,000 Fisker won't start, but it sure "
looks gorgeous sitting there."
February 26, 2012: PETA kills 95% of the animals it receives for adoption;
PETA does not deny, saying that the animals they get are "unadoptable."
January 10, 2012: I had quit posting on this page because there was nothing out there that could "beat" the previous postings ... until today. Oil companies are being fined for using a product --- only problem:
the product that does not exist.
June 29, 2011: President Obama scolds Congress for taking August recess during debt ceiling "crisis";
Obama planning Martha Vineyard vacation in August. I can't make this stuff up. Thank goodness for the internet.
June 29, 2011: Back in 2009, President Obama said
stimulus package needed to include incentives for jet sales; in 2011, with regard to the debt ceiling,
it's corporate jets vs children. I can't make this stuff up. Thank goodness for the internet.
June 17, 2011: Global warming scientists caught padding the data. Literally.
May 1, 2011: Form 8-K filing by MDU -- man in gravel truck forgot his hard hat for a minute.
April 25, 2011: EPA shuts down Shell's plans to drill in the Arctic. How much oil are we talking about? Two and a half times all the oil that has flowed down the Trans Alaska Pipeline in the pipeline's 30-year history. That's incredible. And the EPA has shut it down.
April 17, 2011: Grids overloaded due to too much renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest.
April 17, 2011: "We" can't get
light rail/subway into LAX because it would interfer with flight operations.
March 18, 2011: Obama says no ground troops will be sent to Libya. The
United States will deploy additional amphibious ships to the Mediterranean, the military said on Friday, as part of the Obama administration's plans for responding to ongoing violence in Libya. I cannot make this stuff up.
March 16, 2011: Fidelity Investments will be closing offices in Massachusetts and relocating those employees to offices in New Hampshire and Rhode Island
to better serve clients across different time zones.
March 16, 2011: With tongue-in-cheek, the folks on CNBC Squawk Box noted today that Congress has outlawed hydrocarbons in the US (no drilling in the Arctic, no drilling in the Gulf, EPA's desire to end fracking, delay on-shore BLM permits). On the heels of the Japanese nuclear disaster, the administration continues to emphasize nuclear energy.
March 15, 2011: It surprises me that no pundit or "talking head" has brought up the subject of the Kyoto Protocol with regard to the recent earthquake centered northeast of Tokyo.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of five per cent against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
It appears the international community was concerned about the wrong emissions.
Someday someone is going to ask: what in the world were they thinking, putting all those reactors in one of the most seismically-active areas in the world?
March 11, 2011: "
Drill, Drill, Drill" -- Obama
March 8, 2011:
Spain acquires oil-rich acreage off the north slope of Alaska.
February 26, 2011:
High speed rail in the US means 60 mph.
February 17, 2011
US policy makers see unemployment dropping 0.1 percent in fourth quarter 2012. Pretty good forecasting.
February 17, 2011
After promising to close Guantanamo Bay within one year following his election, the administration now says they will continue to move terrorists to that military facility. Not only does it appear that all plans to move the prisoners and close the prison, it will actually be expanded if necessary. So many inconvenient truths.
February 16, 2011
FexEd CEO, and I quote: "People are rushing to buy the first all-electric Nissan Leafs and plug-in hybrid Chevy Volts." That was in an op-ed piece. These are the facts.
Oil must get to at least $174/bbl before these cars are cost-effective. Some won't be cost-effective until oil gets to $250/bbl. Despite huge government credits. The F-150 pick-up truck is now the #1 selling vehicle in the United States.
December 25, 2010
Federal government balks on providing refinancing for one of the most successful, largest, and, important transportation links in the country. This is not a bailout. This is re-financing through an agency whose responsibility is to provide financial support for rail. I can't make this stuff up.
December 3, 2010
California to build railroad track to nowhere; not only will it go nowhere, it won't start anywhere, and it will have neither trains nor maintenance facilities; but California needs the jobs and the Federal government has money to throw away.
November 19, 2010
Companies with less than one employee: more than you might think.
The 8-ton "Beast."
November 3, 2010
Natural gas is not a fossil fuel.
September 29, 2010
Caterpillar said the company would hire more workers if the stimulus bill passed. It did, and they did. They hired more workers for their new factory in China. Don't blame Caterpillar; they are free to do what they want. It was a poorly thought-out stimulus bill unless the plan was to push $800 billion to unions (mostly state govt employees).
September 22, 2010
This has been known for quite some time, that mammograms don't make all that much difference. Another study, this time making front page news in the LA Times, again shows that mammograms are almost worthless. How many millions (billions?) of dollars are spent every year on mammograms. How many "Races" for the cure advocate more and more mammograms. Bottom line: "the benefit of mammography may have been as little as 2%." I can't make this stuff up. On a previous blog, I ranted about the ineffectiveness of mammograms on more than one occasion -- and that was several years ago. But mammograms aren't going to go away.
September 21, 2010:
Thank goodness for the internet. From a recent Obama speech:
"Long before America was even an idea, this land of plenty was home to many peoples. The British and French, the Dutch and Spanish, to Mexicans, to countless Indian tribes. We all shared the same land."
Mexico declared its independence on September 16, 1810. It was recognized on September 27, 1821.
The United States of America declared its independence in 1776.
To demean the "American idea" is a travesty, much less re-writing history. This is a very, very sad commentary. One really has to wonder where Obama's allegiances lie. Certainly not with "America." Truly a sad day for "America."
September 20, 2010:
Montana state's Drought Advisory Committee is required to meet, but the committee canceled its September meeting due to rain.
"Lieutenant Governor John Bohlinger, the committee's chairman, said Monday that the state's water resources have finally recovered after a decade of drought and near-drought conditions.
Bohlinger says the committee will hold its mandatory October meeting to summarize the year's good news and look ahead to the fall and winter."
I can't make this stuff up.
September 20, 2010:
President Obama and family went to church this morning. First time in his presidency. Seven weeks before mid-term elections; his polls and the Democratic polls are lowest ever. I can't make this stuff up.
September 9, 2010:
Before we go too far down this road about a private citizen (in this case, a private church) burning one Koran, let's remember that the US government (in this case, the US Army) burned many Bibles to prevent their distribution in Afghanistan. I'm not taking sides; just pointing out what the mainstream media fails to discuss.
September 7, 2010:
"Becky" on CNBC has repeated over and over this morning about the "better-than-expected" jobs report last week. Just to remind everyone, the jobs report said 67,000 private sector jobs were created the previous month, 20,000 more than expected. Get a grip. Eight (8) million jobs have been lost in the last few years, unemployment is at 9.6% (increase over the previous month) and there's no way one can put a positive spin on the job report. 20,000. Geesh. A jobs report better than expected. I can't make this stuff up.
August 20, 2010:
AP headline -- jobless rates fell in 18 states. In Michigan, for example, the rate fell from 13.2 percent in June, to 13.1 percent in July. I can't make this stuff up.
August 10, 2010
One of the coolest summers on record in southern California.
I can't make this stuff up.
August 6, 2010
Average hourly earnings rise four (4) cents.
August 3, 2010
These are the top 100 stimulus projects as compiled by a biased compiler. I particularly liked the sidewalks that lead to a ditch.
No, this has nothing to do with the Bakken (as far as I can tell. I didn't go through all 100 projects, but I doubt the Bakken is in there). But somehow, I think it's important enough to post and it will go under my "I Can't Make This Stuff Up" file.
Enjoy.
Enjoy?
Read it and weep.
August 3, 2010
$1 million for iPods for high school students in Utah.
July 28, 2010:
The Coast Guard is out of its depth in fighting oil rig fires.
July 27, 2010:
No wonder GM needed a government bailout!
July 16, 2010:
Global warming and flooding not fair and balanced.
July 16, 2010:
Yesterday the administration sues Arizona for profiling to enforce its immigration laws. Today, the California bows to the administration's request to send troops to the Mexican border to enforce its immigration laws. I can't make this stuff up.
July 12, 2010:
Miranda rights must be given in accused subject's language of preference, rules New Jersey Supreme Court.
June 12, 2010:
Is Saudi Arabia A Closer Israeli Ally Than the US?
June 11, 2010:
White House seeks to ease UN sanctions; the same sanctions the administration fought so hard for.
June 10, 2010:
British Won't Put More Troops into Afghanistan. Who can blame them?
June 9, 2010:
A Day Without A Mexican
June 7, 2010:
CNBC Able To Find Good News in Dismal Jobs (Unemployment) Report
June 2, 1010:
Data unchanged. Journalist reaches crazy conclusion.
May 30, 2010
How can I pay taxes if all my income is in cash?
May 22, 2010
Notes from New England. Too many stories to repeat here.
May 21, 2010
This is nothing new. But lies are lies. Not mistatements. I can't make this stuff up. On top of this: he's a lawyer, he's an attorney general. Wow.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House is standing behind Democratic Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who has acknowledged that he misspoke about his military service. Blumenthal, the attorney general of his state, found himself on the defensive when The New York Times reported Monday that he had repeatedly claimed that he had served in Vietnam. Blumenthal was in the Marine Reserves during the Vietnam War, but did not serve in Vietnam.
May 20, 2010
Headline: Obama clamors for immigration fix. I don't know why. Immigration seems to work just fine for his family. In a closed hearing on the day Obama signed the "Freedom of the Press" bill), his aunt from Kenya, an illegal alien, was given permission to stay in the United States (on the basis of political asylum; was she a community organizer in Kenya). His aunt will be fast-tracked to become a citizen. Is this a great country or what? I can't make this stuff up.
May 20, 2010
President Obama et al are condemning the citizens of Arizona for requiring folks to prove citizenship if stopped by law enforcement for reasons suggesting law-breaking other than being an illegal alien. President Obama will be shaking the hands of every graduating senior at a high school he's visiting this spring. He will require that every student intending to shake his hand prove their citizenship. None of them are suspected of committing any crime. I can't make this stuff up.
May 17, 2010
Obama doesn't take questions at signing of "Freedom of Press Act." I can't make this stuff up.
April 14, 2010
Under the watch of the "peace president," nuclear proliferation continues unabated. Russia announces that the Iranian nuclear reactor will be up and running by August. The announcement came during the Nuclear Proliferation Summit hosted by President Obama. I can't make this stuff up.
March 21, 2010
Four cities that best weathered the recession (not that it's over or anything).
March 18, 2010
Cartoon network beats CNN and MSNBC in ratings game. FOXNC: #2; MSNBC: #27; CNN: #32; HLN: #37. Why is CNN and HLN on televisions at "all" airports?
Full list here. In Prime Time: 1. USA 2. Fox 3. TBSC 4. TNT 5. HIST 6. NAN 7. ESPN 8. FAM 9. AEN 10. FX 11. HGTV 12. LIF 13. TOON 14. TRU 15. FOOD 16. AMC 17. DISC 18. SYFY 19. TLV 20. SPIKE.
March 18, 2010
After all the hype about global warming bringing the polar bear closer to extinction, the UN defeated a proposal to ban the international trade of polar bear skins, teeth, and claws, saying that such a ban would impact the economies of indigenous people. Enuf said.
March 8, 2010
The Green Party convention in California couldn't even hold the attention of their own most stalwart members. After the second day, the number of attendees dropped in half, to less than 40. Their candidates for governor and lieutenant governor decided to skip the event after the numbers dropped. So m much for passion. It's not that they lost half of their most stalwart members that surprises me, but that this group even gets any ink (coverage): 40 people in attendance in the nation's most populous state. There were probably more media people there (television journalists, television support, print journalists, etc). Possibly even more custodians and security.
March 3, 2010
Tourism dropped off after 9/11. Tourism association groups say the US has seen a drop of 2.4 million tourists which cost us $509 billion. Dividing $509 billion by 2.4 million tourists works out to $212,000 per tourist. Does anyone really believe that the average tourist to the USA spends $212,000 per visit? Obviously these reporters do not fact check any more, or they are products of the American public education system.
February 15, 2010:
Five-year-old with cerebral palsy is forced to remove his leg braces by TSA; his 53-y/o dad is an officer with an emergency crime suppression team. His dad pointed out that a 5 y/o afflicted with cerebral palsy and in braces is not a terrorist. To no avail.
February 13, 2020:
All that hand-wringing over Sarah Palin using notes on her hand while giving a speech? It turns out Diane Feinstein did the same thing in 1990 when the rules of the debate forbid either candidate from reading from notes.
February 10, 2010:
Global warming is making winter blizzards worse. And more.
February 8, 2010:
President Obama has frozen funds for treatment of AIDS in Africa. "George W. Bush is a hero in this country," said the head of Uganda's Joint Clinical Research Centre, a leading AIDS treatment clinic. The gains made since 2003 (when Bush was president) could be lost.
February 5, 2010:
20,000 more jobs were lost in January (more than analysts expected), but .... drum roll ... unemployment drops from 10.1% to 9.7%. More jobs lost; unemployment drops. Go figure. I guess if everyone would just quit looking for a job, the unemployment rate would plummet to 0%.
February 2, 2010:
The Newfoundland (Canada) Premier will have his heart surgery in the United States. Yes, where our health care system is so bad that Congress/President want to change it. Under ObamaCare his surgery would be free here in the US; I guess that is why he waited until now to get the surgery, hoping the bill would be passed. Not to be.
February 1, 2010:
The Nobel peace-prize winning president is increasing research into nuclear weapons. I honestly don't get it. His predecessor would have been pilloried. This won't even be discussed in the mainstream media. Spending will be increased by a significant amount.
January 29, 2010:
Literally, less than 30 minutes after I posted the item below about increasing arms sales by the Nobel Prize winner, we get this little gem: The Nobel Peace Prize winner has announced plans for more than $6 billion in arms sales to Taiwan just when things seemed so quiet in that part of the world.
I am going to have to start stating the time as well as the date when I post!
January 29, 2010:
In case you missed it, the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner will double US exports in the next five (5) years by increasing the sales of US military technology.
I can't make this stuff up.
"Mr. Locke announced that, as part of a plan to reduce export burdens on American companies, the United States (i.e., Mr Obama) might remove restrictions on exports of goods with potential military applications when such technologies were available worldwide."
Obama's First Two Years
Posted: September 25, 2010
If George W. Bush had doubled the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within ten (10) years, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read (the Arizona law on illegal immigrants), what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had joined the country of Mexico in suing the United States to force that state (Arizona) to continue to allow illegal immigration, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media, and would the media question his patriotism and wonder who's side he was on?
If George W. Bush had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry because one company had an accident, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had used a forged document as the basis of that moratorium that would render 87,000 American workers unemployed, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had been the first president to need a TelePrompTer to be able to get through a press conference, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in New York City, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plans's holdings of GM stock by 90% and had then given the unions a majority stake in GM, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics (on national television), what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had given the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given Bush a thoughtful and historically significant gift, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had give the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had stated there were 57 states in the United States, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five-minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo) and continued to flub it when he tried again, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice," what would have been the reaction of mainstream media in light of the way the mainstream media hammered Dan Quayle for a similar goof?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic in view of the 9/11 incident, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and the Senate on much of what is happening in the United States, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation (GM) even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, what would have been the reaction of mainstream media?
What is it about President Barack Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can you think of anything? Not to worry. He has done all this in 20 months: we will have two years and four months to find something that suggests the president is more brilliant and impressive than he appears to be right now. Also, he has big ears.
