Friday Morning Links And News

Active rigs: 187 (steady)

Wells coming off the confidential list today have been posted. 

RBN Energy: natural gas storage and pricing, last of 5 in a series.

George Will on President O'Bama, in the Washington Post:

The question of whether Barack Obama’s second term will be a failure was answered in the affirmative before his Berlin debacle, which has recast the question, which now is: Will this term be silly, even scary in its detachment from reality?

Before Berlin, Obama set his steep downward trajectory by squandering the most precious post-election months on gun-control futilities and by a subsequent storm of scandals that have made his unvarying project — ever bigger, more expansive, more intrusive and more coercive government — more repulsive. Then came Wednesday’s pratfall in Berlin.

Synonyms for President O'Bama: Irish; surreal; detached; scary. But the most descriptive: irrelevant. 

WSJ Links

One place one does not want to see the word "surprising": in a story about a farm bill. The WSJ headline: farm legislation suffers surprising defeat in House. I thought everybody like it. By definition farm bills are filled with pork and this bill was no different. President O'Bama threatened to veto it. Failure to pass the bill is said to be an "embarrassing" defeat for Speaker John Boehner. I doubt anything embarrasses these guys any more.

I seldom read Section M (Mansion) and today will be no different. Moving on to Section D (Arena). Wow, the "Me Generation" has taken crowdfunding to a new absurd level; I am so happy I only read about it; would never get asked, and if asked, would never contribute. Scrooge. Bah, humbug.

I knew it was all over for the Spurs when Miami forced a game 7.

Section C (Money & Investing): the Supreme Court threw out a class-action suit against American Express; the suit alleged that AmEx used its muscle in the corporate-card market to force merchants to accept the company's less desirable payment cards. The litigants signed agreements with AmEx to use arbitration to settle disputes; the court said the litigants need to stick to their contracts, and go to arbitration.

The other day the head of the IMF begged the US to end the sequester; she said the sequester was hurting the EU. Apparently Ben didn't get the memo. Spanish and Italian government bonds slumped yesterday after markets interpreted Bernanke's comments as signalling the start of the beginning of the likelihood that sometime in the very distant future the Fed might begin "tapering." Maybe.

Section B (Marketplace): how much trouble is Nokia in? Even Microsoft doesn't want the struggling mobile-phone business. Elsewhere the new SandRidge CEO says he will focus on fiscal discipline and drill only where they might strike oil. In Paris, the Russians continue to wow the west with their fighter aircraft: the Sukhoi (pronounced "suck air") Su-35 performed maneuvers that few Western aircraft can achieve, and if they could, would not be allowed to do so by the FAA. At least not while passengers were using their iPads in economy seating.

Speaking of which, in Section A we learn that the FAA will relax rules for gadget in flight:

The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to relax the ban on using some types of personal-electronic devices at low altitudes, allowing passengers leeway during taxiing and even takeoffs and landings, according to industry officials and draft recommendations prepared by a high-level advisory panel to the agency.

For fliers, the new rules would likely mean an end to familiar admonitions to turn off and stow all electronic devices. Cellphone calls are expected to remain off limits, however. The draft doesn't make any recommendations regarding phone use because the FAA didn't authorize the panel to delve into that particularly controversial area.

Details are still being debated by the group and inside the FAA and could change. Still, the draft report reflects a consensus that the existing rules, essentially unchanged since the 1960s, have been overtaken by dramatic changes in technology and passenger expectations.

Since the 1960s. Nice to see that the FAA is on top of things. It is my understanding that the FAA will move to strike "stewardesses" from their internal memos, replacing the term with something more gender neutral. In-flight concierges? From wiki: "... who serves guests with duties similar to those of a butler." Now, if only the airlines saw passengers as guests, not customers.

I see the FAA commissioned another study: Americans worked less, watched more TV in 2012. The fact is Americans are watching "monitors, not TV" more. But on a different note, the study found Americans had more time to watch monitors because they had more leisure time (if one considers unemployed and looking/not looking for a job "leisure"). 

On another weird note, I learned something today. I always thought they were "impatients" -- as in a hurry to bloom (or die). No, they are "impatiens." The good news: I wasn't too far wrong. From wiki:
The genus Latin name Impatiens means impatient or intolerant and refers to the behavior of the fruits containing the seeds, that explode at the minimum touch (hence the common name Balfour's touch-me-not. So, touch-me-not, a phrase not unfamiliar among husbands and wives.

We already posted this story earlier but it's nice to see it really was in today's WSJ: the EPA closes the book on probing fracking in Wyoming. It will give them more time to probe deep, dark holes elsewhere. 

Speaking of which, Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole, also in Wyoming. Again, from wiki:

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has hosted an annual economic policy symposium at Jackson Lake Lodge since 1982. They chose Jackson Hole in 1982 because of its trout fishing, as they were trying to attract Paul Volcker, who was Chairman of the Federal Reserve and a keen fly-fisherman.

It appears that Ben is so miffed about being thrown under the bus, along with Catholic educators, that he has announced he won't be attending the annual economic policy symposium in JHW. Okay, so yesterday, and the day before, reporters asked repeatedly, and opined endlessly, whether Ben had been fired. When he, or his handlers, announced that he would not be attending next year's JHWAEPS, that should have been as big a hint as folks needed. 

Wow, the Supreme Court ruled that grant recipients do NOT have to adopt policy views as a funding requirement. Wow. So much for all those biased EPA studies about global warming. We should expect to see a lot of published papers retracted.

And the immigration bill moves along, now that they've ditched the "smart fence" and replaced it with (no, I won't go there) 20,000 more border agents. Some pundit suggested that 40,000 agents would allow one agent every 250 feet along the South Mexico-North Mexico border. If only. They will need 20,000 border agents just in El Paso and south of Tucson to make any difference. The ultimate goal is to have equal number of border agents and TSA agents, who will trade places every three months. This will give the TSA some needed exercise and fresh air, and the border agents access to Dunkin' Donuts.

I guess the Mexicans have already heard the news: the WSJ is reporting that fewer Mexicans are even coming to the US. The study was no doubt commissioned by the FAA.

There are many, many other articles of interest; I just don't have enough time to link any more right now. Sorry.