Three Fund Raisers And A Wedding -- Sounds Like A Movie -- August 28, 2014

East of Williston. I don't really think this video is worth posting -- besides which, it really bounces along. But someone may be interested. This is east of Williston, about five miles east of Williston, I suppose, and one mile north of 1804. Turn the volume OFF.

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Did he really say that? We have no strategy "in" Syria. -- President Obama, press conference, August 28, 2014. Then off for three fund raisers, one wedding, and at least one round of golf, this long Labor Day weekend, according to White House spokesperson. But "no strategy in Syria"? The good news: that only supports the price of oil. WTI back of $94 today.

Also during the press conference, the President noted that his administration had been aware of ISIL, the Islamic State, for at least four years. And still "no strategy in Syria." Okay. Sort of explains the dithering on the Keystone XL. If one has four years to explore options and fail to come up with a strategy for Syria over that length of time ....

When I heard that the President had no Syrian strategy, I realized that he isn't even phoning it in any more. It's all about his fund raisers and his golf games. Wow.

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Hmmm.. speaking of "birthers" -- which we weren't .. now it turns out that the honorable senator from Louisiana may not even have a home in Louisiana, raising questions on her residency. The Washington Post is reporting:

In Washington, Sen. Mary Landrieu lives in a stately, $2.5 million brick manse she and her husband built on Capitol Hill.

Here in Louisiana, however, the Democrat does not have a home of her own. She is registered to vote at a large bungalow in New Orleans that her parents have lived in for many decades, according to a Washington Post review of Landrieu’s federal financial disclosures and local property and voting records.

That may be true, but if I had a dog in this fight, I would prefer Mary Landrieu to Al Sharpton any day, and it appears both have the same claim to residency in Louisiana. Not much. Whatever happened to Mayor Nagin? Oh, that's right.

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Oh, this is cool. I've driven through/past Three Rivers, Texas, more times than I can count -- back when we lived in San Antonio, Texas. The New York Times is reporting:

THREE RIVERS, Tex. — Whenever overseas turmoil has pushed energy prices higher in the past, John and Beth Hughes have curbed their driving by eating at home more and shopping locally. But the current crises in Ukraine and Iraq did not stop them from making the two-hour drive to San Antonio to visit the Alamo, have a chicken fried steak lunch, and buy fish for their tank before driving home to Corpus Christi.

“We were able to take a day-cation because of the lower gas prices,” said Ms. Hughes.

The reason for the improved economics of road travel can be found 10,000 feet below the ground here, where the South Texas Eagle Ford shale is providing more than a million new barrels of oil supplies to the world market every day. United States refinery production in recent weeks reached record highs and left supply depots flush, cushioning the impact of all the instability surrounding traditional global oil fields.

So oil prices — and those at the pump — are easing.With the Labor Day weekend approaching, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.43 on Thursday, according to the AAA motor club, nearly a dime lower than a month ago. Energy and travel analysts project the lowest gasoline prices this holiday weekend of any Labor Day since 2010, and the highest level of motor travel since 2008.

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Speaking of gasoline prices, gasoline in the heart of the Bakken, Farmers Union/Cenex, Williston, North Dakota: $4.05. Los Angeles, ARCO, $3.49. The 10% ethanol in the Farmers Union/Cenex is helping keep the price of gasoline down up here in the Bakken.

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Reuters is reporting:

U.S. coal-burning power utilities are being forced to turn to barges and more expensive trucks to move coal, desperate to shore up stockpiles left dangerously low by the widespread bottlenecks on rail networks.

The shift in how coal is being delivered to some power plants from mining regions such as Illinois Basin and comes amid persistent railroad delays that began during last year's severe North American winter.

The delays have been perpetuated also by a surge in rail deliveries of crude oil and grain, leaving power producers such as FirstEnergy Corp scrambling for transport alternatives before winter sets in, potentially adding to costs.

About 40 percent of U.S. power is generated from coal-burning plants, and 75 percent of U.S. coal relies on freight railroads to get to power plants, according to Wood Mackenzie, an energy consultancy.

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Back to that press conference: President Obama admits there's nothing he can do about Russia and the Ukraine (sanctions don't work). The president says he will visit Estonia to let that country know we stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" to this non-NATO country. He says Russia is violating Ukraine's sovereignty, but in the same breath, POTUS says he won't recognize state sovereignty when it comes to protecting Americans. Geese, gander, whatever.

He also says the will sign a politically-binding global warming treaty which everyone else agrees is clearly illegal. This is getting quite fun to watch. We may be watching, in prime time, a president becoming unglued. He certainly is becoming annoying. And I think if one appreciates that he has become simply that (annoying), it will be easier to ignore him. Was his hair a bit disheveled at the press conference?

Annoying is one step below "irrelevant" when it comes to politics. I think the mainstream media, for example, considered John McCain (when he was running for president), irrelevant, and Sarah Palin (before, during, and after her VP run), annoying.