Non-Bakken News Of Interest To Me; For Investors Only

The best news to come out of the Crimean situation: President Obama has taken "global warming" off the table as the #1 security issue for America. The #1 security issue is not Russia. It is not China. It is not the Tea Party. It is not Snowden. It is not Michelle. The #1 security issue is not even "extreme weather." The #1 security issue for Mr Obama is a nuclear bomb going off in NYC. Does he know something the rest of us do not know? Perhaps that's not the best news to come out of the Crimean situation. Perhaps it's the scariest news. At least for New Yorkers. I don't have a dog in that fight. Though it would screw up the stock market for a few days. Jimmy Fallon may want to take the Tonight Show back to Los Angeles.

By the way, speaking of the Crimean situation, former SecDef, and one of the brightest men to have held that position, let the secret out on the Crimean in an op-ed in today's WSJ. It was this paragraph that completely undermined his argument (or supported his argument, depending on one's interpretation):

Ukraine is central to Mr. Putin's vision of a pro-Russian bloc, partly because of its size and importantly because of Kiev's role as the birthplace of the Russian Empire more than a thousand years ago. He will not be satisfied or rest until a pro-Russian government is restored in Kiev.  

If I read that correctly, it was Kiev, not Moscow, that was the center, the birthplace, of the Russian Empire (it's hard to read it any other way). This would be similar to Philadelphia being the birthplace of the US Empire, and the capitol/capital moving to Washington, DC, later, out of political necessities. Now, imagine DC's response if the Dutch (or the English) were to reclaim Philadelphia. It puts Mr Putin's sensibilities into perspective. For a thousand years, Kiev was part of the Russian/Soviet Empire. The United States celebrated its 200th birthday anniversary in 1976. I won't live to see the country's 300th birthday unless there's a huge breakthrough in cryogenics. As Mr Gates opines, Mr Putin has the long view. Right now, Mr Putin also holds the high ground. Mr Putin may even hold the moral high ground. The EU and the US, frankly, sound a bit self-righteous.

Speaking of self-righteous, we haven't heard much out of SecState John Kerry, lately.

US seniors turning to Republican Party -- Gallup.

Coldest October-to-March in 102 in the United States -- RealScience.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you may have read here. 

Yahoo!Finance has the January, 2015, oil futures -- $93. The April, 2014, futures are up 66 cents to $99.85. Thank goodness for the blog.

Morgan to invest ~$1 bln to expand vast CO2 network: Co announced it will build and operate a new, 213-mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline to transport carbon dioxide (CO2) from the co's St. Johns source field in Apache County, Ariz., to the Kinder Morgan-operated Cortez Pipeline in Torrance County, N.M. The new Lobos Pipeline will have an initial capacity of 300 million standard cubic feet per day and will support current and future enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects owned by Kinder Morgan and other operators in the Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico.

Wow, AAPL has really surged in the past few weeks. Trending toward $500 not too long ago, AAPL is now close to touching $550. I have never invested in AAPL, never have, never will.

Most of the Bakken operators are down today, some a little, some a little more. Oasis continues to struggle.