Monday, February 17, 2014

Catching Up On The News -- Two Stories: In-Depth Article On CBR Derailments; Oil Near $101

The AP has a four-page internet story over at Rigzone on CBR derailments, spills, explosions, and fires. It begins:
BILLINGS, Montana (AP) — At least 10 times since 2008, freight trains hauling oil across North America have derailed and spilled significant quantities of crude, with most of the accidents touching off fires or catastrophic explosions.
The derailments released almost 3 million gallons of oil, nearly twice as much as the largest pipeline spill in the U.S. since at least 1986. And the deadliest wreck killed 47 people in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec.
Those findings, from an Associated Press review of U.S. and Canadian accident records, underscore a lesser-known danger of America's oil boom, which is changing the global energy balance and raising urgent safety questions closer to home.
Experts say recent efforts to improve the safety of oil shipments belie an unsettling fact: With increasing volumes of crude now moving by rail, it's become impossible to send oil-hauling trains to refineries without passing major population centers, where more lives and property are at risk.
Adding to the danger is the high volatility of the light, sweet crude from the fast-growing Bakken oil patch in Montana and North Dakota, where many of the trains originate. Because it contains more natural gas than heavier crude, Bakken oil can have a lower ignition point. Of the six oil trains that derailed and caught fire since 2008, four came from the Bakken and each caused at least one explosion. That includes the accident at Lac-Megantic, which spilled an estimated 1.6 million gallons and set off a blast that levelled a large section of the town. After recent fiery derailments in Quebec, Alabama, North Dakota and New Brunswick, companies and regulators in the U.S. and Canada are pursuing an array of potential changes such as slowing or rerouting trains, upgrading rupture-prone tank cars and bolstering fire departments.
Company executives were expected to offer a set of voluntary safety measures in the coming days at the request of U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
The second story, also over at Rigzone: oil nears $101 --
The price of oil extended gains above $100 a barrel Monday as the cold weather in the United States increased demand for heating fuels and solid Chinese credit numbers eased concerns over the world's second-biggest economy. By midday, benchmark U.S. crude for March delivery was up 62 cents to $100.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the Nymex contract fell 5 cents to close at $100.30.
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La Japonaise, Barcelona, The Opera, Freddie Mercury, Montserrat Caballe

Active Drilling Rigs In North Dakota On George Washington's Birthday

Oil was up today; approaching $101.

Active rigs in North Dakota:


2/17/201402/17/201302/17/201202/17/201102/17/2010
Active Rigs18518119717293

Wells coming off the confidential list for the long weekend, to be reported Tuesday:

Tuesday, February 18, 2014:
  • 24524, drl, SM Energy, Koeser 4X-26H, Siverston, no production data,
  • 25259, drl, XTO, Bully Federal 44X-20E, Bear Den, no production data,
  • 25312, drl, Hess, EN-Weyrauch A 154-93-1720H-8, Robinson Lake, no production data,
  • 25699, drl, Hess, AN-Evenson 152-95-0310H-4, Antelope, no production data,
  • 25827, drl, CLR, Akron 5-34H-1, Banks,  no production data,
  • 26026, 2,049, Newfield, Moberg Federal 149-95-29-32-4H, Bear Den, t11/13; cum 21K 12/13;
Monday, February 17, 2014:
  • 24903, 1,319, KOG, Smokey 3-17-20-14H3, Pembroke, t12/13; cum -- 
  • 25260, drl, XTO, Bully Federal 44X-20A, Bear Den, no production data,
  • 25417, drl, XTO, Rolfsrud State 14X-36F, Sand Creek, no production data,
  • 25953, drl, Fram Operating, Alexander 10-1, West Greene, no production data, 
  • 26008, 427, Whiting, McDanold 33-11, Wildcat, 11-142-105, producing, a vertical well based on name, t10/13; cum 17K 12/13;
Sunday, February 16, 2014:
  • 22344, 239, CLR, Metz 1-33H, Ukraina, t10/13; cum 5K 12/13;
  • 24447, drl, SM Energy, Lucille 1X-27H, Siverston, no production data, 
  • 24904, 2,002, KOG, Smokey 3-17-20-14HA, Pembroke, t1/14; cum --
  • 25151, 1,038, Whiting, Tescher State 11-25PH, Bicentennial, t8/13; cum 30K 12/13;
  • 25157, drl, CLR, Tallahassee 3-16H, Baker, no production data,
  • 25311, 970, Hess, EN-Weyrauch A 154-93-1720H-9, Robinson Lake, t1/14; cum --
  • 25700, drl, Hess, AN-Evenson 152-95-0310H-3, Antelope, no production data,
  • 25992, 524, HRC, Pasternak Federal 2-2-11H, Strandahl, t10/13; cum 12K 12/13;
  • 26027, 434, Newfield, Moberg Federal 149-95-29-32-11H, Bear Den, t12/13; cum 4K 12/13;
Saturday, February 15, 2014:
  • 20643, 1,816, EOG, Van Hook 104-1218H, Parshall, t11/13; cum 51K 12/13;
  • 25056, 1,815, EOG, Van Hook 33-1218H, Parshall, t11/13; cum 54K 12/13;
  • 25093, 745, EOG, Wayzetta 150-1509H, t8/13; Parshall, cum 158K 12/13;
  • 25261, drl, XTO, Bully Federal 44X-20F, Bear Den,
  • 25401, 1,523, Whiting, Fajewski 14-12-2H, Lonesome, t8/13; cum 42K 12/13;
  • 25402, 1,908, Whiting, Fajewski 14-12H, Lonesome, t8/13; cum 45K 12/13;
  • 25416, drl, XTO, Rolfsrud State 14X-36E, Sand Creek,
  • 25666, 305, Hunt, Alexandria 161-100-18-19H-1, Alexandria, t11/13; cum 4K 12/13;
Comment:
The Whiting wildcat, the McDanold (#26008), 11-142-105, looks interesting. It is three miles north of:
  • 25466, 148, Whiting, Williams 24-25, a wildcat, a Deadwood well, only 13,000 feet, a vertical well, t9/13; cum 10K 12/13; producing, 2,500 bbls/month
It is about three miles northwest of another Whiting well:
  • 24910, 45, Whiting, Meyers 31-19, Bonnie View field, a Red River well, only 12,000 feet, a directional well, t5/13; cum 5K12/13; 
and about two miles WNW of another well,
  • 8324, 109, Encore, Barkland 1-18-2A, Bonnie View field, a Red river well, only 12,000 feet, a vertical well; t8/82; cum 250K 12/13;

For The Warmists: This Is A Most Interesting Graph

From Real Science, look at that very interesting graph. The link:
http://stevengoddard.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/screenhunter_70-feb-16-12-51.gif
This is the third coldest winter on record for the US so far.

Look at that graph. A few things jump out at me.

First, the three coldest winters, including this one, are not even "kinda cold" compared to previous winters. The three coldest winters are practically off the scale.

Second, if one eliminates the first two decades (1890 - 1910), one would not even notice anything that looks anything like "warming." Only because of those first two decades, would a least-squares straight line slant "upward" (warming). And we have no idea what the temperatures were prior to 1890 based on this graph.

Also, look at that temperature scale, the "y" axis: the warmest winters did not even exceed 3 degrees Celsius off the baseline. The vast majority of "figures" were within two degrees Celsius, either warmer or colder than the baseline.

And the warmists are concerned about a one-degree rise over a century, conveniently forgetting that the earth has had no warming for 18 years, going on 19. The warmists also conveniently forget the #1 greenhouse gas is water vapor which accounts for about 97% of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. CO2 accounts for less than 3% and manmade CO2 accounts for a fraction of that. And no one is telling us to limit our water vapor emissions.

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O Karen O
Highway 61 Revisited, Karen O and the Million Dollar Bashers



The Immigrant Song, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Karen O and Trent Reznor

Chinese Buy Into More US Oil And Gas Assets

Bloomberg is reporting:
Goldleaf Jewelry Co., a Chinese jewelry retailer with gold mining investments, plans to buy U.S. oil and gas operator ERG Resources LLC for at least $665 million.
The Beijing-based company will pay for the acquisition with a private share placement, raising as much as $940 million from no more than 10 investors, Goldleaf said.
Buying closely held ERG would give Goldleaf a foothold in oil assets along the Gulf Coast and California, adding to $16 billion of oil and gas deals announced by Chinese companies in the past year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. ERG sold 13 oilfields to Australia’s Linc Energy Ltd. in 2011 for $236 million.
The number of producing acres was not provided in the press release, at least that I could see. 

I-98, Episode Three: The Chase

I-98


a syndicated television series spanning one decade, 2040 - 2049
Chronicles from The Bakken
Starring Samuel "Oilman" Goshwin & Liam Nikolai Gjorkstad
with occasional appearances by Archie McCool
initial funding from Apple Prairie Broadcasting  
and 
matching grant money from The Legacy Fund
and 
continuing support from viewers like you.


Season One, Episode Three: The Chase


They called themselves Thelma and Louise. Thelma was 15. Louise was old enough to remember the 1991 movie in re-runs. In all the commotion, no one saw them jump into the yellow Lamborghini. Of course it had not been planned, but it wasn't the first time Louise had taken off in someone else's car or pick-up. It was easy to do in the North Dakota winters where folks left their vehicles running during short outings in the middle of winter. Louise was momentarily confused by the Lamborgini's dashboard and "operating system" as she called it. But after a moment, it seemed intuitive and off they went, around the barricades and past the Good Humor truck.

With all the Bakken milllionaires and the fancy sports cars on I-98, two young women in a yellow Lamborghini did not seem out of place. The only vehicles that still got folks to turn their heads were the vintage Volvos coming out of Minnesota. The Volvos were common  during the "great migration" but not seen so much any more. When Volvos were seen on I-98, North Dakotans were known to turn their heads, and murmur, "how sad." But that was often followed with typical Scandinavian optimism, "It could be worse; they could be coming from Wisconsin."

It was only when Sam and Liam finally got back to the six-lane divided highway, when they noticed their car was missing. They might have noted their missing car earlier but the young, shapely, tall, blonde paramedics tending to their needs had momentarily distracted them. The authorities were alerted via a text message. It took a moment for the older Rugby policewomen who had set up the barricades to decode the text: CR STLN. W-B-Y-L. 

"W-B-Y-L" -- world's best yogurt, but what did the "L" stand for? And the "CR STLN" -- what the heck was that?

Once they bought a few vowels, it all made sense: Car stolen. West-bound-yellow-Lamborghini. Vanna White, the Rugby dispatcher, always loved playing that game, but it often slowed things down in the fast-paced world of crime prevention in Rugby.

The sky overhead was filled with media drones filming the derailment; the flare from the overturned tank car was getting bigger but seemed to be relatively non-threatening. The safety retro-fits to the tank cars were apparently doing their job: releasing the legendary flammable cargo at a measured, OSHA-prescribed rate. The firemen later said they decided to let the fire burn itself out. The girls scouts had arrived; North Dakota girl scouts never passed up an opportunity for s'mores. The Good Humor truck had the marshmallows; the girls scouts had their cookies; and, the chocolate? A Widman's truck was on its way to the Bakken.

The MSNBCAl Jazeera drone was the only drone following the yellow Lamborghini. By now, television viewers across North Dakota were tuned into watching the Rugby Story, as it was now being called. Surfing across the various networks, the "chase" was quickly becoming the "reality show of the season." Some were already making comparisons to the SUV-freeway chases so common in Los Angeles at the turn of century.

Thelma and Louise were flying. Thelma, all of 15, had no clue. All she knew was this: flying down I-98 in a yellow Lamborghini was more exciting than taking North Dakota state history where she would be had she not skipped school today. She never understood the reason she had to memorize the 56 North Dakota state counties. And that was just for starters. Of course North Dakota state history was easier for her parents when there were only 53 counties in the Peace Garden State.

The omniscient narrator wasn't going to digress and talk about North Dakota history, but driving down a six-lane divided highway across North Dakota is about as boring as it can possibly get. One might as well take this opportunity to tell a story. Bill Bryson thought crossing Nebraska was boring; he had obviously never traveled across North Dakota on "old" US Highway 2 (now I-98, built to accommodate all the Minnesotans fleeing their state due to high taxes among other things. The Target security breach was "among the other things," best forgotten). 

So, while Thelma and Louise make their way across "old US Highway 2" it's as good a time as any to explain the 56 counties. (Spoiler alert: they won't get as far as they would like.)

Like so much of North Dakota history, this story begins during the Bakken boom. In fact, to digress again, the old timers remember when they took North Dakota state history during one year of middle school, and even that seemed too much. But after the boom, the state required three years of North Dakota state history to graduate: pre-boom, during the boom, and post-boom state history. Students were allowed to substitute one year of state history with a year-long course in engineering, preferably petroleum engineering, but MDU was able to lobby the legislature into allowing electrical engineering as an alternative to petroleum engineering. The Legacy Fund paid the salaries of the engineering professors, most of whom came from BP.

During the boom, QEP made history when it petitioned to "unitize" one of its fields, which was known as the "Grail." The attempt by QEP to unitize the "Helis Grail" started innocently enough but one thing led to another and before the governor knew what happened, the other two members of the NDIC agreed to let the oil companies unitize the five western North Dakota counties: Sheridan, Roosevelt, Richland, Williams, and McKenzie. Except for the three-hundred-forty-five (345) "extraordinary sites" the entire five-county area was unitized.

Sheridan, Roosevelt, and Richland counties had been annexed by North Dakota some years earlier. When the issue came up, it only seemed to make sense. These three Montana counties were part of the Bakken. Most of the legislators in Helena didn't even know where the three counties were located. If anyone had asked, and no one had, North Dakotans had long been upset that Montana would name one of their counties after TR who had had his ranch in North Dakota, and, for "pete's sake," they would say, not in Montana.

Harold Hamm, Jr, one day, simply said, it's time to annex eastern Montana; let's just do it. In fact that was the headline in the Informed newspaper:

"It's Time To Annex Eastern Montana, Let's Just Do It -- Harold Hamm, Jr."

The NDIC agreed. The NDIC, of course, had no authority to annex eastern Montana, even if it was just three Bakken-oil-producing counties, but that had not stopped the NDIC before. The commission had made a lot of decisions over the years that seemed to be beyond their bailiwick. Moving the North Dakota state capital to Williston seemed to be beyond their bailiwick, too, but no one noticed that either. A lot of Bismarck legislators were heard to have said at the time, in typical Scandinavian optimism, "it could be worse. They could have moved the capital to Fargo."

So, eastern Montana, or at least the three Bakken-oil-producing counties of Sheridan, Roosevelt, and Richland were annexed and became part of North Dakota. That is where the counties should have been all along if Lewis and Clark had known about the Bakken in the first place.

That's why I-98 runs from Grand Forks to Bainville, North Dakota. The state was willing to fund the interstate within the borders of North Dakota, but no farther east or west. 

Thelma did not know this history. She probably would not have cared. Louise, on the other hand, knew the story very, very well. But that story will have to wait. 

Next week's episode: will Thelma and Louise reach Montana? (Spoiler alert: no.)

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Radio Ga Ga

Radio Ga Ga, Queen

New Completion Techniques In The Bakken; Off The Net For Awhile -- Probably Later This Evening

I'm heading out for the day; will post again later this evening.

But folks should really read Mike Filloon's recent article very, very closely. There are some interesting things he says in that article about completion techniques and strategies in the Bakken. Read the article from the standpoint of geology and well completion in the Bakken, not from an investing point of view.

I will come back later and talk about it from a layman's point of view, and be completely wrong and humiliated. LOL.

Oil And Gas Impact On North Dakota Compared To Texas

On occasion I talk about the impact the oil industry has had on North Dakota. Texas may produce more oil than North Dakota, but the impact will be much, much greater on my home state. A reader recently noted the same thing and sent me the following:
While having coffee and getting my morning fix of news I wondered what the numbers would be so I did a little quick research to put ND oil production in perspective.
I don't recall ever seeing these numbers  and this is my math so it's subject to error but what I found is astounding.
Texas with a population of about 28 million and oil production of about 2.8 million barrels per day produces about 1/10th of a barrel per resident per day.
North Dakota with a population of about 700,000 and oil production of about 1 million barrels per day produces about 1.4 barrels  per resident per day.
This means ND produces about 14 times as much oil per resident as Texas. Wow, talk about story lines. If I had a little more time I'd do the population ratio for taxes collected but my two oldest grand kids have a break from school (girl, 5 and boy, 6) and I sense two more engineers in the family so we are going to be very busy in Fargo for the next week.
(I purposely left a bit of identifying data of the reader off the note.)

In fact, the spread (1/10 vs 1.4 bbls) could widen. It might be an interesting metric to track.

I agree completely with the writer. I post a lot of stories about how others (New Yorkers, for example) perceive "us" but the bigger story is the impact the oil and gas industry has on a very, very small state. In addition, it isn't really "North Dakota" but rather four, or five, or six counties in western North Dakota, and perhaps one or two counties in eastern Montana. But even that's a stretch: one could argue that right now it's all about Williams County, McKenzie County, one-half of Mountrail County, and one-half of Dunn County. Of course, over time, the southwestern counties in North Dakota will also play a bigger role, but the vast majority of oil is being produced in 2 + 1/2 + 1/2 counties.

Just from the drilling alone, almost $2 billion/month is being spent in western North Dakota (200 wells x $10 million/well). Yes, the actual number is slightly less than 200, and the operators say they are bringing the cost of wells down to $7 million, but ...

In addition, the state is pouring money into highways (new highways, widening, and maintenance) in a very small area. Texas, on the other hand, the highway money is spread across a much bigger state, and might even be concentrated in the DFW area, relatively far away from the oil fields.

On the other hand, of course, the ports along the Texas coast and the refineries are a whole different story. 

Flashback: Nothing About The Bakken; This Was Posted Over Three Years Ago; Not Much Has Changed

I posted the following back on October 30, 2009 (I assume most of the links are now broken; I did not check any of them):

No Photo?
Is it just me or did others wonder why there is no photo of this community organizer who has had five prior run-ins with the police, with the charges including, assault, and weapons possession? No photo. 
The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.
A detective discovered a plastic container with seven grams of a white chemical powder called HMTD, which is so powerful, cops evacuated several nearby buildings.
Police also found a flare launcher, which is a commercial replica of a grenade launcher; a modified 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun; ammo; and nine high-capacity rifle magazines, the sources said.
Cops also allegedly uncovered papers about creating homemade booby traps, improvised submachine guns, and various handwritten notebooks containing chemical formulas.
Also, this is the city that the mayor says has the strictest gun laws in the nation. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
Wrong Number?
Is it just me or do others wonder how one mistakenly knows a "telephone sex" phone number? According to NBC 6, South Florida: Florida Gov. Rick Scott mistakenly gave out the number for an adult phone line when he tried to provide the number for the toll-free meningitis hotline at a news conference Tuesday. [The best comment: I thought meningitis made your neck stiff.]
Google Satellite View
Is it just me or do the Google satellite views look better: more detail, sharper images?
Stimulus Money Has Run Out
Was it just me or did everyone else know that the stimulus money to prop up state and local governments would just postpone the inevitable?
Mortgage Defaults
Was is just me or did others predict that home loan modifications would make little difference? The news is in: the majority of home loan modifications end up in default ... again.

And again, July 20, 2010: more than 40 percent leave Obama's mortgage-aid program. November 2, 2010: And now President Obama changes course on mortgages; does he have any economic compass?
DKRW and North American Natural Gas Shortage
Is it just me or do others find this opening statement by DKRW confusing, or a blatant non-truth:
"The most conservative estimates of North American natural gas supply demonstrate a serious shortfall in production for the foreseeable future. With short supply driving prices higher, we are now seeing some of the highest natural gas prices in the world here in the Southwestern United States ..."
Everything I read suggests just the opposite, specifically: North America is swimming in natural gas; and, the price of natural gas continues to deteriorate.
It should be noted that DKRW is a "clean energy" play and has a huge interest in GE-delivered wind turbines for their wind energy projects.
Global  Warming
Is it just me or have others noted there has been no mainstream media coverage of the fact that Lake Erie is nearly completely frozen over, the first time in fourteen (14) years? Had it not been for Fox News and the Drudge Report I would have missed it. I guess global warming is everywhere but the United States, and the United States is to blame for it.
Obama's Secret War in Pakistan
Is it just me or do others remember the secret war that Richard Nixon was accused of promulgating during the Vietnam War when he launched raids on "safe areas" just across the border in neighboring countries? The US mainstream media is not reporting that our current president is doing the same thing in Afghanistan as he triples the Predator strikes in Pakistan. But our friends in England are getting the story out.  I don't recall that Nixon was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; Barack Obama was.
President Obama's Budget
Is it just me or do others recall the language used when President Bush sent his budget to a Democratically-controlled congress:  DOA?  For President Obama, same result, but paragraphs to explain it in mainstream media. 
Arms Sale to Taiwan
Is it just me or do others find it strange that 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? And in the very same weekend that deal is announced, the administration raises the stakes by sending a missile shield (thanks to previous administrations that we even have the shield) to the Mideast, further antagonizing Iran. The "peace president" is also increasing nuclear weapons budget to research smaller nuclear weapons. 
Angry Young Man
Is it just me or is the president coming across as an angry young man? His public display of dissing the Supreme Court, who sat directly in front of him, encouraging the packed room to stand up as one body and clap, with the judges remaining sitting -- how embarrassing -- was probably the most impolite moment of any State of the Union address I can remember. I wonder what his mother would have thought? Or even his wife? He just seems to immature and angry. How does one "reach across the aisle" with that kind of grandstanding? The swing vote was a moderate (liberal by some definitions); I can hardly imagine the Court being all that friendly when the administration argues its next case.

From my perspective, this is his short list of enemies: the coal industry ("the industry will go bankrupt"); the Olympic committee; the environmentalists (no White House action in his first year); the military ("don't ask, don't tell" policy); the bankers; Wall Street ("fat cats"); the police (for acting "stupidly"); New York City (bringing the terrorist trial to Manhattan); the oil industry; the Supreme Court; China; Fox Television; talk radio; France; and, Queen Elizabeth.

Except for the unions working at General Motors who were bailed out, I think the president has managed to insult everyone in his first year in office. It just may be me, but positive comments might be a whole lot more helpful.
[Update: his meeting with the Republicans three days later confirms his "anger-based" ideology. The AP reports that he went to the Republican strategy off-site to look at ways for all parties to work together, but after a few conciliatory remarks, the president once again showed his anger and frustration.]
 Who's Smarter Than a Sixth Grader?
Is it just me or am I missing something?

President Obama needs a teleprompter when talking to 6th graders.

In addition, a Secret Service operative stood ready to protect the president against any 12-y/o throwing a shoe.

But again, I must be missing something.
On Dithering
Is it just me or am I missing something with regard to Obama's most recent push to concentrate on banking reform?
Was this the conversation in the oval office on his one-year anniversary in the White House: "Now that we've spent a year getting nowhere with health care reform, let's spend the next year on bank reform. Even my staunchest supporters, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd tell me even if supported, it won't pass for four or five years."
Meanwhile, according to CNBC, on January 22, 2010, the day President Obama declares war on the banking industry, unemployment rose in 43 states with New York and New Jersey setting new multi-year highs. And then we have statistics like these: "Michigan shed 15,700 jobs, but 31,000 people left the labor force. That caused the state's jobless rate to fall slightly, to 14.6 percent from 14.7 percent. Michigan has the nation's highest unemployment rate." That's right: Michigan's unemployment rate, the highest in the nation, drops 0.1 percent because 31,000 people left the labor force. The only way to explain this: President Obama wants New York and New Jersey to feel Michigan's pain. By regulating the banks, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City says jobs will be lost in his city and his state. By the way, North Dakota had the lowest unemployment rate of 4.4 percent.
On Smoking Guns
Is it just me or is there something I'm missing when the administration says there was no smoking gun with regard to the 23-year-old Nigerian who almost blew up a Delta/NWA airliner -- a 23 y/o Nigerian who a) the CIA had identified as a threat; b) who trained in Yemen; c) whose father alerted authorities; d) who bought a one-way ticket to the US with cash; e) who had an expired visa and denied a British visa; f) who traveled halfway around the world with no luggage; g) who needed help boarding a plane because his papers were not in order?  I suppose the administration was correct; there was no one smoking gun; there were not less than eight. Oh, well. Yemen. Delta/NWA. Dec 2009.
On Clemency
Is is just me or is there something wrong with our system when a governor can grant clemency for a man sentenced to a 95-year prison term who (the perp, not the governor) then goes out and kills four cops in cold blood? Folks are not sentenced for 95 years for jay walking. Governor Huckabee; cop killer, Washington state, Nov 2009.
On Terrorism
Homeland Security/TSA personnel treat 90-y/o grandmothers like potential terrorists before boarding a plane, and yet the FBI dropped their inquiry into the US Army Muslim psychiatrist at Fort Hood after he exchanged e-mails with a radical cleric in Yemen. Is it just me, or is Homeland Security/FBI bureaucratic bumblers? Fort Hood. Yemen. Dec 2009.
On Terrorism
Is it just me, or do others have the same question: why is it called terrorism when an Islamist cries "Allāhu Akbar" ("God is Great") and then flies an airplane into a building, but "we're asked not to jump to conclusions when that same Islamist cries "Allāhu Akbar" ("God is Great") and then shoots and kills/wounds 43 innocent Americans?
By the way, as long as we're asking questions, would this qualify as a "hate crime"? -- November 7, 2009.
For those who say he did not have ties with al-Qaeda, not so fast. There is now evidence of attempts to contact al-Qaeda electronically. Fort Hood. Yemen. -- November 9, 2009.
On Unemployment
Is it just me, or does it seem the only thing the government is currently working on is health care reform (now 1,990 pages thick)?

I hear very little about any plan for Afghanistan despite mounting losses. I hear very little about Iraq despite huge blasts near the "green zone," the safe part of Baghdad. I hear very little about the $1.4 trillion deficit, except that we will add to it with health care "reform," now estimated to cost $1.055 trillion. Yes, trillion. I hear very little about the incredible lack of H1N1 flu vaccine (promised 150 million doses; we have about 20 million).

But, come drought or high water, and despite 65% of Americans against a 1,990-page health care reform, "they" are determined to force it down our throats.

Oh, that other pesky little problem: 10.2% unemployment, including 15% unemployment in Michigan, 13% in California.

Update: President Obama has not put off indefinitely any decision on Afghanistan. This suggests a president who is in over his head; unable to make a decision. Posted November 3, 2009. Updated November 24, 2009.