Archive for June, 2008
Blarney Green – June 30, 2008
NOTE: The “Gore” portion of this pie chart is purely fictional for satirical purposes.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through the ideas of liberty. Visit TCPR online at: www.tennesseepolicy.org.
The Tennessee Center for Policy Research obtained information about Gore’s home energy use through a public records request to the Nashville Electric Service. They found that Gore’s home, after being fitted with solar panels and a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient ones and overhauling the windows and ductwork, consumes more electricity than before.
“Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.”
http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=764 June 23, 2008
They say the Gore Score is 10% higher than before the green house effect was applied. While you drive your Prius and skip the kids’ summer trip to see Grandma and Grandpa, Gore used enough energy to power 232 U.S. homes for one month. And he has two other homes to add to the power grab. This should bring up a question in your mind. Do CFR light bulbs, solar panels, geothermal systems and all the other renovations really make a significant difference? Are they worth their expense in savings? Or – what is Gore doing in there to run up the electricity usage so much? Is he watching An Inconvenient Truth around the clock? Perhaps he keeps spotlights burning day and night to show off his Oscar, Emmy and Nobel on display.
“In the wake of becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.
‘Actions speak louder than words, and Gore’s actions prove that he views climate change not as a serious problem, but as a money-making opportunity,” Johnson said. “Gore is exploiting the public’s concern about the environment to line his pockets and enhance his profile.’” http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/main/article.php?article_id=764 June 23, 2008
Al Gore quickly responded to the charges just like he did when he was first exposed for using much more electricity than his global warming blarney might suggest. The first exposure led him to re-fit his house with all the “green” house products his friends hope to sell to you someday soon. Now that he’s been exposed again for an even higher power usage, his spokesperson was quick to offer the following:
“Kreider pointed out that the renovations weren’t complete until November, so it’s a bit early to be attempting before-and-after comparisons. In addition, the Gores participate in the Nashville Electric Service’s Green Power Switch Program, which allows them to buy their electricity from renewable sources like wind power, solar power or methane gas from landfills (the house’s 33 solar panels only supply 4 percent of its power needs, per Kreider.) So any energy they burn won’t be burning them a bigger carbon footprint.”
Notice exactly what she said. Renovations were completed by or in November. This is June. It isn’t too early to compare this June’s usage to last June’s usage. She said Gore participates in the Nashville Electric Service’s Green Power Switch Program, supposedly providing them with energy from renewable sources like wind, solar or methane gas.
But according to the Knoxville Utilities Board, a Green Power Switch Utility Company like NES, all the energy produced by Tennessee Valley Authority’s renewable resources flows onto the power grid to be used by its consumers. Physical laws determine where electricity is ultimately used, so power from these cleaner sources will go into TVA’s electric system as part of the Valley’s total power mix, rather than to individual homes or businesses. When the green power resources aren’t operating–for instance, when wind speeds are too low to generate energy–TVA’s other resources will continue to supply reliable electricity. http://www.kub.org/wps/portal/ut/p/c0/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gPC1OnYE8…
Renewable energy isn’t being directed to Gore’s Belle Meade mansion. It’s going onto the grid with that produced by coal-fired plants which comprises about 60% of the total. TVA’s fossil system also includes 83 generators powered by combustion turbines producing 6,003 megawatts to handle peak demand periods. About 30% of TVA’s power supply comes from its three nuclear power plants. That leaves only 10% to come from TVA’s hydroelectric, wind, solar and methane gas from landfills. http://www.tva.com/power/fossil.htm
Conclusion: 90% of Al Gore’s Mega Watts use comes from TVA’s Fossil-Fuel generation plants, and that’s increased 10% since his green installations.
Gore’s spokesperson responded quickly to these revelations:
“I am happy to provide more information about this from the Gores’ perspective. First, this release yesterday are a mere re-release of old bills. If any of you have ever worked with contractors, you know that renovations take years. The Gores renovated a 80 year old house from stem to stern. T
his took about 3 years to go through all the ducwork, to install a geothermal system, to replace all the windows, to put in solar panels (which used to be illegal in Bellemeade and took 6 months to reverse).So, to be clear, the Gores’ achieved Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in November 2007. The reduction in the electricity and natural gas bills–you need to look at both in order to truly evaluate their carbon footprint, really kicked in in 2008. At that point, evaluating both, there is about a 40 percent reduction.
Their natural gas bill has seen the biggest reduction as a result of the geothermal system. For electricity, they purchase green power through their utility, which is called “Green Power Switch.” It isn’t an offset, any customer can purchase green power (solar, wind, methane gas) and its a wonderful program.”
Gore’s usage comes from NES who buys from TVA. NES has no windmills of its own. The renewable energy sources belong to TVA. According to TVA , there is only one windmill farm, Buffalo Mountain Wind Park (now they’re calling it a “park”?). Residents of the area who often drive past the Park say the windmills are still a great deal of the time. Also, according to TVA’s own web site, the hydroelectric plant produces little energy in years of drought or less than adequate rainfall. The contribution of renewable energy to Gore’s home can not be significant.
Krieder directs the attention away from Gore’s electricity use to his natural gas use. However, there is no shortage of natural gas, which is a clean form of energy already. Reducing Gore’s use of clean-burning abundant natural gas doesn’t negate the rise in electricity use from TVA’s 90% fossil-fuel energy. Green Power Switch, as far as Belle Meade mansion’s carbon footprint relates, is a smoke screen.
Bottom line: Don’t be fooled.
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Enron Loop Hole Part 3 – June 26, 2008
DONATIONS AND ACCESS
Former Enron Chairman Ken Lay And His Company Contributed Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars To Assist President Clinton And Vice President Al Gore. “[Ken] Lay contributed $11,000 to former President Bill Clinton during his two campaigns; Vice President Al Gore got $13,750 from Enron in the 2000 election. During Clinton’s eight years in office, the company and Lay contributed about $900,000 to the Democratic Party.”
(Stephen J. Hedges, et al., “Enron ‘Players’ Worked D.C. Ties,” Chicago Tribune, January 13, 2002)
Enron Donated To The DNC Shortly Before Company Executives Met With Gore. Over a 17-month period between May 1997 and October 1998, Enron donated $55,000 to the Democratic National Committee. “The cash came as Enron reportedly scored meetings with high-level Democrats – including then-President Bill Clinton and then-Vice President Al Gore.”
(David R. Guarino, “‘Outsider’ Grossman Got Enron Cash For DNC,” The Boston Herald, February 20, 2002)
Enron’s Large Donations To Democrats Preceded Its Intensive Lobbying Efforts With Gore. “Enron Corp. donated $420,000 to Democrats over a three-year period while heavily lobbying the Clinton administration to expedite passage of a 1997 global warming treaty that would have dramatically increased the firm’s sales of natural gas. Federal and confidential corporate records show that after donating thousands of dollars in soft money and PAC donations beginning in 1995, Enron received easy access to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.”
(Jerry Seper, “Enron Gave Cash To Democrats, Sought Pact Help,” The Washington Times, January 16, 2002
The Ties Between The Democrat Party And Enron Are Deep And Friendly. “Relations with the Clinton White House included Enron chairman Kenneth Lay’s golf outings with the president and Lay’s face-to-face lobbying session with Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. . . . Former Clinton officials working for Enron, [included] a former chief of staff and a former White House counsel.”
(Robert Schlesinger, “Enron Ties May Also Tar Democrats,” The Boston Globe, January 24, 2002)
In April 1995, Ken Lay And His Wife Linda Attended A Clinton White House State Dinner In Honor Of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President Of Brazil.
(Roxanne Roberts, “Dark Night At The White House,” The Washington Post, April 21, 1995)
President Clinton Selected Enron’s Ken Lay As A “Corporate Citizen” Who Is “Doing Well By Doing Good.” “President Clinton, seeking to ease fears over job security, hosted a conference Thursday to highlight ‘corporate citizens’ who are doing well by doing good. . . . ‘I think it’s good to have an open dialogue,’ said Kenneth Lay, chairman and CEO of Houston-based Enron Corp., a $13 billion natural-gas production and distribution firm. ‘I appreciate the tone that the president has set, trying to address things in a nonemotional way.'”
(George Rodrigue, “President Salutes Firms That Do Right By Workers,” The Dallas Morning News, May 17, 1996)
The Clinton-Gore Administration Considered Appointing Enron’s Terrence Thorn To Be Deputy Secretary Of Energy. “Bill White, the campaign chairman for Texas Sen. Bob Krueger’s election campaign, and Terence Thorn, president of Houston-based Transwestern Pipeline Co., are under consideration at the White House for deputy secretary at DOE, several sources said last week. . . . Thorn, described by the source as Enron Corp.’s ‘token Democrat,’ has been president of the corporation’s Transwestern Pipeline subsidiary since 1985. Thorn began his involvement with the
gas industry in 1975 as a lobbyist for the American Gas Assn., where he was director of congressional relations from 1977-79. He joined Enron’s predecessor, Houston Natural Gas Corp., as the firm’s Washington representative in 1981.”
(“Texans Among Candidates For Deputy,” Inside Energy, March 29, 1993)
ENRON’S PLAN FOR THE GORE 2000 CAMPAIGN:
CULTIVATE CLOSE TIES, DONATE, AND HIRE GORE AIDES
During The 2000 Presidential Campaign, Enron Tried To Cultivate Close Ties To Gore. “The Enron Corporation quietly drew up a plan to cultivate close political ties to Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 presidential race and tried to build relationships with his inner circle . . . . In May 2000, shortly after Mr. Gore was assured of the Democratic nomination, Enron hired Sally A. Painter, a public relations executive, who drafted a ‘six-month action plan for Enron’ for ‘Democratic political outreach in the 2000 presidential election,’ the documents show.”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
The Recommended Enron Strategy: Get Involved In The DNC Convention, Help Gore In Swing States And With Inaugural Planning. “Ms. Painter identified influential advisers at the Gore headquarters in Nashville and in Washington whom she said Enron officials should get to know. Her plan called for writing briefs for Mr. Gore’s staff on issues important to Enron and for Enron to play an ‘active and visible role’ at the Democratic National Convention. She also suggested that Enron ‘actively participate in campaign activities on the ground in a key swing state.’ If Mr. Gore was elected, she said, Enron should ‘participate in senior team for inaugural planning.'”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Hired A Close Gore Adviser As A Lobbyist During The 2000 Presidential Campaign. “In the summer of 2000, Enron hired one of Mr. Gore’s old friends and a longtime financial supporter, Charles W. Bone. Mr. Bone, with contacts in Washington and at the Tennessee Valley Authority, helped Enron settle a bitter contractual dispute with the T.V.A. The suit was settled in January 2001 for more than $200 million. The authority, not Enron, disclosed the settlement.”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Donated To The Democrats In An Attempt To Curry Favor With Gore. “Former Enron officials said an important part of their strategy to win favor with the Gore campaign was a significant increase in the company’s donations to Democrats.” In 1999 and 2000, the company gave $362,000 in soft-money donations to Democrats.
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Sponsored A Private Meeting With Senior Gore Aides During The 2000 Campaign. “In what one Enron official recalled as a desire to ‘have Enron’s message become part of the energy and telecom policy of the Gore campaign,’ Enron organized a dinner in the private Nest Lounge of the Willard Hotel, two blocks from the White House, that included top Gore and Enron officials as well as executives in the high-tech industry.”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Scripted The Meeting With Gore Aides. “Enron painstakingly prepared for the dinner. Ms. Painter wrote a document of ‘potential questions to consider for the dinner discussion’ for the Gore officials, including ‘How can the vice president and the Democratic Party strengthen its business message?’ and ‘What has been your reaction to the vice president’s leadership strategies?’ People at the dinner said the discussion roughly followed the questions outlined.”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Drafted Policy Briefing Papers For Gore. “Christopher M. Long, who was a lobbyist for Enron, suggested in an internal memorandum that the company draft issue briefs for Mr. Gore on ‘four policy areas on which Enron has unique experience: electricity deregulation, e-commerce (trading), energy services and broadband.'”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron Worked To Hire Gore Aides. “As Ms. Painter was planning more public interaction between Enron and Gore officials, Enron officials said, Mr. Shapiro worked behind the scenes to hire people close to Mr. Gore. In the summer of 2000, they said, Mr. Shapiro wanted to hire Johnny Hayes, one of Mr. Gore’s closest friends and top fund-raisers in Nashville. But Mr. Shapiro could not hire Mr. Hayes because he was already on the Gore campaign’s payroll. After the campaign, Enron hired Mr. Hayes as a lobbyist.”
(Richard L. Berke, “Enron Pursued Plan To Forge Close Ties To Gore Campaign,” The New York Times, February 18, 2002)
Enron “Paid Large Sums” To Gore Friends And Aides. “Records show Enron paid large sums to enlist the lobbying aid of former Tennessee Valley Authority Director Johnny Hayes and another Tennessee friend of former Vice President Al Gore. Enron paid $200,000 to Sideview Partners Inc., a company headed by Mr. Hayes, for lobby work involving TVA earlier this year, according to Mr. Hayes’ midyear 2001 lobby activities report.” Enron also paid $500,000 to the Nashville law firm of Charles Bone, another longtime Gore friend and fund-raiser. “Also registered to lobby on behalf of Enron this year was former Vice President Gore’s former chief of staff, Jack Quinn. Disclosure reports for the first half of 2001 indicate Mr. Quinn’s lobbying firm, Quinn, Gillespie $10,000.”
(Andy Sher, “Ex-TVA Director, Gore Friend Got Large Sums To Aid Enron,” Chattanooga Times/Chattanooga Free Press, December 7, 2001)
Several Senior Enron Officials “Spent Election Night At Vice President Gore’s Headquarters In Nashville.” “Several senior Enron officials spent election night at Vice President Gore’s headquarters in Nashville.”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
Enron was very resourceful at dreaming up new ways to make money. Clinton and Gore noticed and recognized that they could cash in, too. They reached out to Enron and Enron reciprocated. But in the end, the top Enron officials were convicted of fraud and running phony businesses.
Al Gore has yet to be fully exposed for creating a sham and setting up business to capitalize on it. The global warming hoax is world-wide, leaving room for all of Big Al’s friends to cash in as well. The network of the “green machine” is set up to funnel billions into their own coffers. But little by little, word is getting out. Luckily, Al Gore invented the internet, which just may turn out to be his demise.
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Enron Loop Hole Part 2 – June 26, 2008
Like a broken record, Democrats used to accuse the Bush Administration of doing exactly what Bill Clinton and Al Gore actually DID.
More facts regarding the Clinton/Gore Adminstration’s relationship with Enron: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/737753/posts
THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION HELPED ENRON WITH NUMEROUS BUSINESS DEALS
President Clinton Took A Personal Interest In An Enron Energy Deal. “On Nov. 22, 1995 . . . Clinton scrawled an FYI note to [Chief of Staff Mack] McLarty, enclosing a newspaper article on Enron Corp. and the vicissitudes of its $3 billion power-plant project in India. McLarty then reached out to Enron’s chairman, Ken Lay, and over the next nine months closely monitored the project with the U.S. ambassador to New Delhi, keeping Lay informed of the Administration’s efforts, according to White House documents reviewed by Time. In June 1996, four days before India granted final approval to Enron’s project, Lay’s company gave $100,000 to the President’s party.”
(Michael Weisskopf, “The White House: That Invisible Mack Sure Can Leave His Mark,” Time, September 1, 1997)
The Clinton-Gore National Security Council And Vice President Gore Interceded On Enron’s Behalf. “Gas giant Enron Corp.’s plan to develop Mozambique’s Pande natural gas field appears to have been saved from cancellation last month by a blunt threat from the U.S. National Security Council to cut off future U.S. aid to the country. . . . U.S. sources said [Mozambican Energy Ministry John] Kachamila then entered into negotiations on [an] alternative proposal . . . [and] began to portray the Enron deal as bad financially . . . . Given the hurdles, Enron is pinning its hopes on a visit to South Africa on Dec. 6 by Vice President Al Gore, who will take in talks with President Nelson Mandela.”
(Jonathan Bearman, “White House Rescued Enron’s Deal To Develop Mozambique’s Pande Field,” The Oil Daily, December 1, 1995)
Enron Received Over $4 Billion In Federal Assistance During The Clinton-Gore Administration. “‘All told, Enron received over $4 billion from the federal Overseas Private Investment Corp. and the Export-Import Bank for projects in Turkey, Bolivia, China, the Philippines, and elsewhere’ during the Clinton administration.”
(Greg Pierce, “Inside Politics,” The Washington Times, January 14, 2002)
The Clinton-Gore Commerce Department Had An “Economic War Room” To Aid Enron And Other Corporations. “From . . . [the] Washington war room, the negotiators for the Enron Corporation, the lead bidder in the American consortium, have been shadowed and assisted by a startling array of Government agencies. In a carefully-planned assault, the State and Energy Departments pressed the firms’ case.”
(David E. Sanger, “How Washington Inc. Makes A Sale,” The New York Times, February 19, 1995)
Clinton-Gore Administration Officials Were “Unabashed Cheerleaders” For The Enron Power Contract In India. “Many Clinton Administration officials had been unabashed cheerleaders for the deal, with Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary warning in June that canceling the Dabhol contract would endanger other private power projects being financed from outside India.”
(John-Thor Dahlburg, “India Orders Plug Pulled On U.S.-Run Power Project,” Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1995)
The Clinton-Gore Energy Department Awarded A Contract To Enron For The Construction Of The Largest On-Grid Photovoltaic System In The United States. “Amoco/Enron Solar will develop the country’s largest on-grid photovoltaic farm–a 10 MW facility on Department of Energy land at the Nevada Test Site— under a power purchase agreement with the Corporation for Solar Technology and Renewable Resources, a DOE-funded nonprofit organization. Although the 10 MW purchase commitment from the Nevada Test Site is a mere 10 percent of the hoped-for 100 MW solar goal, CSTRR president Rose McKinney-James said she was ‘pleased and encouraged’ by CSTRR’s accomplishments to date.”
(Libby Brydolf, “Largest PV Farm Set For Nevada Test Site,” The Electricity Daily, November 6, 1996)
The Clinton-Gore Administration Helped Enron Salvage An Energy Contract In The Philippines. “President Clinton today salvaged a U.S. proposal to ease trade barriers on computer technology by the year 2000 as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum wrapped up its work. . . . Key investors in Subic Bay include Houston-based Enron Corp., which has a subsidiary developing the area’s power source, and Coastal Corp., which has taken over the huge tanker storage area. Enron and Coastal were among the first 94 investors in Subic Bay, which now serves as the Asia hub for Federal Express. Those firms, along with Dallas-based EDS, serve on the APEC Business Advisory Council that met with Clinton Sunday night.”
(Nancy Mathis, “Clinton Salvages Motion On Computer Technology,” The Houston Chronicle, November 25, 1996)
The Clinton-Gore Administration Helped Enron Secure Over $400 Million In Loans For A Joint Venture. “The U.S. will provide up to $400-mil in government-backed loans to support a possible joint venture between Enron and Uzbekistan to develop gas reserves, the U.S.’ Overseas Private Investment Corp (OPIC) said June 24. OPIC’s announcement coincided with a state visit by Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov, who meets with President Clinton June 25.”
(“Support For Possible Enron-Uzbek Link,” Platt’s Oilgram News, June 25, 1996)
The Clinton-Gore Administration And The OPIC Helped Enron Finance A Gas Pipeline Through Eastern Bolivia And Brazil. “Environmentalists say U.S. government financing is being misused to finance a gas pipeline through a rare forest ecosystem in violation of the Clinton administration’s own policies. American energy giants Enron and Shell, along with the Bolivian consortium Transredes, are hurrying to complete the 243-mile pipeline, which will extend from an existing gas pipeline near the city of Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia to Cuiaba, Brazil. . . . The $570 million Cuiaba Integrated Energy Project is set to be completed by March, financed in part with a $200 million loan delivered to the companies on June 15 from the Overseas Private Investment [Corporation].”
(James Langman, “Clinton Regime Ripped For Supporting Pipeline,” The Washington Times, January 11, 2000)
The Clinton-Gore OPIC Issued A $200-Million Loan That Helped Enron Construct A South American Gas Pipeline. “The Overseas Private Investment Corporation approved a $200 million loan Tuesday for a gas pipeline in Bolivia, a project opposed by environmental groups and some U.S. lawmakers. . . . In addition, Enron and Shell committed themselves to spending more than $20 million to develop and implement a regional conservation plan for eastern Bolivia over the next five years.”
(Harry Dunphy, “OPIC Approves $200 Million Loan For Bolivia Pipeline,” The As
sociated Press, June 15, 1999)
ENRON OFFICIALS HAD REGULAR SEATS ON CLINTON OVERSEAS TRADE MISSIONS
Enron Executives Traveled So Often On Trade Missions That The Company Was “Compelled” To Let The World Know That No Employees Were On Ron Brown’s Plane When It Crashed. “Enron officials were so often part of Clinton’s international trade missions that the company felt compelled to issue a news release saying no one from Enron was involved when a plane crashed in Croatia in 1996, killing all aboard, including [then] Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.”
(Jack Douglas Jr. and Jennifer Autrey, “Enron Spread Its Political Donations,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, January 27, 2002)
A Sample Of Clinton-Era Trade Missions That Included Enron Executives:
Russia In March And April 1994. “Rodney L. Gray, chairman and chief executive officer of Enron International accompanied Brown on [a] . . . trade mission to Russia in March and April of 1994. In Russia, Enron signed a deal to develop a market for Russia[n] gas in Europe.”
(Center For Public Integrity Website, http://www.publicintegrity.org, accessed August 20, 2002
India In January 1995. “Kenneth Lay, chairman and chief executive officer of the Enron Corporation, accompanied Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown on the trade mission to India in January, 1995. In India, Enron signed a contract for a 2,000 megawatt power plant in Dahbol worth an estimated $400 million. Enron also won a contract to build a $920 million power plant on the West coast of India and a $1.1 billion contract for offshore gas and oil production.”
(Center For Public Integrity Website, http://www.publicintegrity.org, accessed August 20, 2002)
Bosnia And Croatia In July 1996. “The Enron Development Corp. had good reason to be thankful when its president accompanied Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor on a trade mission to Bosnia and Croatia last July. With Kantor’s help in Croatia, Enron signed a memorandum of understanding to construct a 150-megawatt power plant that will cost $100 million or more to build.”
(Walter V. Robinson, “Donations Are Linked To Kantor Trade Missions,” The Boston Globe, February 12, 1997)
South Africa In December 1998. “[F]or every South African and American who cares about jobs, and about making our economies work for all people, this is a very important trade mission. . . . These companies see a new Africa. They want to trade and invest more with countries that are moving from the margins to the mainstream of the global economy. . . . Another company is Enron [represented by Terrence Thorn]. They want to develop a $2,500 million gas pipeline and iron and steel facility in Mozambique that will mean thousands of jobs.”
(Then-Commerce Secretary Daley As Quoted In “United States And Africa,” Africa News, December 2, 1998)
China In April 1999. “U.S. Commerce Secretary William Daley’s infrastructure trade delegation to China this week produced several business deals. Some were part of the trade mission and others were timed to coincide with it. . . . Enron International China Pipeline, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Enron Corp. of Houston Texas, signed a memorandum of understanding with China National Petroleum Corporation on Wednesday to jointly develop a natural gas pipeline. The 765 kilometer pipeline, the first onshore pipeline to be built in cooperation with a foreign company, will transport natural gas from Sichuan Province to markets in Hubei Province.”
(“Daley’s China Visit Nets Trade Deals For U.S. Companies,” ChinaOnline, April 2, 1999)
Egypt In October 1999. “A group of U.S. corporate executives headed by Commerce Secretary William Daley arrived here Wednesday hoping to exploit fresh trade opportunities with Egypt after a change of government. The delegation is looking forward ‘to exploring commercial opportunities resulting from Egypt’s economic reforms and ongoing privati[z]ation reforms,’ Daley said on his arrival here at the head of a delegation of 12 business leaders. Among the U.S. companies represented were Nortel Networks, Enron Corporation [represented by Richard Bergsieker, Senior Vice President], ProNetLink.com and New York Life International.”
(“US Trade Mission To Explore New Privati[z]ation Opportunities In Egypt,” Agence France Presse, October 13, 1999)
Latin America In February 2000. “Commerce Secretary William Daley left Friday evening for Latin America with 19 U.S. corporate executives on a U.S. business-development mission focusing on information and communications technology, environment, and energy. Among the 19 executives are . . . Terrence Thorn, executive vice president of Enron. The mission will travel for eight days to the Southern Cone countries of Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. The key issue in that region is the privatization of power companies, not just at the federal level, as in the past, but now at the state and local levels, according to a Commerce Department official. In addition, the mission will look at ongoing and new opportunities in cross-border oil and gas pipelines.”
(“Daley Visits Latin America,” The Oil Daily, February 14, 2000)
Like Infamous DNC Fundraiser Johnny Chung, Enron Also Donated To A Charity For Clinton Energy Secretary O’Leary. Chung said that a Department of Energy official offered to arrange a meeting with Secretary O’Leary for a Chinese businessman “in exchange for a $25,000 donation to Africare, a charity support by O’Leary.” Similarly, after O’Leary included Enron officials on her trips, “Enron showed its gratitude. At Christmas 1995, documents show, it donated an unknown sum of cash in O’Leary’s name to a charity called ‘I Have a Dream.'”
(“O’Leary To Testify Before House Panel On Contribution To Charity,” Inside Energy/With Federal Lands, December 8, 1997; Michael Weisskopf, “Enron’s Democrat Pals,” Time, August 17, 2002)
Enron “Seemed To Purchase” Seats On A Clinton-Era Overseas Trade Mission. “In 1995, a $100,000 check from Enron to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seemed to purchase some highly coveted seats for Enron executives on an overseas trade mission led by then-Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor. Earlier, Enron Chairman Ken Lay accompanied the previous commerce secretary, Ron Brown, to India. Mr. Clinton instructed his chief of staff, Mack McLarty, to help Enron obtain a contract to build a power plant in India, for which the firm received $398 million in U.S. taxpayer assistance. In 1996, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rulings favorable to Enron coincided with another $100,000 contribution from Enron to the DNC.”
(Editorial, “Enron And The Clinton Administration,” The Washington Times, January 18, 2002
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Obama Wants to Close the Enron Loophole – June 25, 2008
Obama has said that as president, he would reduce CO2 emissions 80% by 2050 and institute carbon emissions trading immediately. So it’s no surprise that Al Gore has endorsed him. It’s also no surprise that a young politician with only eight years in the Illinois Senate and only three years in the U.S. Senate, spending the last year and a half of that campaigning for president, suddenly popped up out of the blue and has catapulted almost to the doorstep of the White House. No one can figure it out. Where did he come from? How has he risen so quickly to such a high office? Few had ever heard of him before. Where did he get all the money to run his campaign? Who is behind this?
No one has answered that question yet, but some things are beginning to surface. This man is from Chicago where Richard Sanders has set up a carbon emissions credit trading company. How convenient would it be for Sanders to have Obama in the Oval Office? Al Gore has a company that depends on global warming legislation, CO2 caps and carbon offset trading. Having expressed his intention to institute cap and trade and push for global warming legislation, Obama is the perfect Oval Office Occupant for Al Gore. The two will most likely be pretty cozy in the future.
Recently, Obama stated that he wants to “close the Enron loop-hole.” Now that opens up a whole new discussion about Al Gore, the Global Warming Hoax and big corporations “going green” (money green). If Obama truly wants to close the Enron loop-hole, he is talking to the right man – the one who created it.
Facts that shed light on the GW scheme: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/737753/posts
ENRON AND THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION: A SHARED VISION ON GLOBAL WARMING
The Clinton-Gore Administration’s Global Warming Agreement Would Have Helped Enron. “The Clinton administration’s interest in an international agreement to combat global warming also dovetailed with Enron’s business plans. Enron officials envisioned the company at the center of a new trading system, in which industries worldwide could buy and sell credits to emit carbon dioxide as part of a strategy to reduce greenhouse gases. Such a system would curtail the use of inefficient coal-fired power plants that emitted large amounts of carbon dioxide, while encouraging new investments in gas-fired plants and pipelines — precisely Enron’s line of business.”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
Enron Shaped The Clinton-Gore Global Warming Policy. At a July 1997 meeting, Enron was part of a select group that shaped the administration’s case for policy action on the theory of man-made climate change.
(Christopher C. Horner, “Controlling Hypocritical Authority,” National Review, April 23, 2002)
Ken Lay Urged Clinton And Vice President Gore “To Back A ‘Market-Based’ Approach To The Problem Of Global Warming,” Which Would Be “Good For Enron Stock.” In a White House meeting in August 1997, “Lay urged President Clinton and Vice President Gore to back a ‘market-based’ approach to the problem of global warming — a strategy that a later Enron memo makes clear would be ‘good for Enron stock.'”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
Ken Lay Said The Kyoto Global Warming Accord Would Dramatically Help Enron. Following the White House meeting, Ken Lay said there was broad consensus in favor of an emissions-trading system. An internal Enron memo noted that “the Kyoto agreement, if implemented, would ‘do more to promote Enron’s business than almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States.'”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
Ken Lay Bragged That Gore Had “Solicited” His Views On Global Warming. “In an August 1997 memo by Mr. Lay to all Enron employees, the chairman said Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore had ‘solicited’ his view on how to address the issue of global warning ‘in advance of a climate treaty to be negotiated at an international conference.’ That memo said Mr. Clinton agreed a market-based solution, such as emissions trading, was the answer to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.”
(Jerry Seper, “Enron Gave Cash To Democrats, Sought Pact Help,” The Washington Times, January 16, 2002)
Enron Officials Pressured The Clinton-Gore Administration To Restructure Legislation Relating To Global Climate Change. “Despite the Senate decision, Enron continued to push the Clinton administration well into 1998 for what the company called a ‘restructuring’ of legislation that would have been a ‘first step to solving the problems of global climate change.‘ The firm, according to the records, sought laws that would have favored Enron’s natural gas inventory and reduced competition from coal.”
(Jerry Seper, “Enron Gave Cash To Democrats, Sought Pact Help,” The Washington Times, January 16, 2002)
The Clinton-Gore Energy Department “Rework[ed]” Its Proposal So That It Was To Enron’s Liking. “Drafting a 1995 plan to help facilitate cash flow and credit for energy producers, it asked for Enron’s input-and listened. The staff was directed to ‘rework the proposal to take into account the specific comments and suggestions you made,’ Clinton Deputy Energy Secretary Bill White wrote an Enron official.”
(Michael Weisskopf, “Enron’s Democrat Pals,” Time, August 17, 2002)
Enron Said The Final Gore Global Warming Treaty Was “Another Victory For Us.” An internal Enron memo about the Kyoto Protocol said, ‘“[i]f implemented, this agreement will do more to promote Enron’s business than will almost any other regulatory initiative outside of restructuring the energy and natural gas industries in Europe and the United States. . . This agreement will be good for Enron stock!!’ Drafted by Enron’s Kyoto emissary immediately upon his return from Japan, it praises individual Kyoto features with ‘we won,’ ‘another victory for us,’ and ‘exactly what I have been lobbying for.'”
(Christopher Horner, “Outside View: Caught En Flagrente Kyoto,” United Press International, January 31, 2002)
THE CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION WAS A KEY SUPPORTER OF ENRON’S ELECTRIC DEREGULATION PLAN
Ken Lay Was A Clinton Golfing Partner And Energy Advisor. Lay played golf with President Clinton and “[advised] the Democratic administration on energy.”
(David Ivanovich, “Power Play,” The Houston Chronicle, November 10
, 2001)
The Clinton-Gore Administration Supported Enron’s Agenda To Deregulate Electricity. “Closer to home, deregulation of the electric-power industry tops the company’s domestic political agenda. To date, electricity deregulation has progressed piecemeal, state by state. Bills in Congress [to] deregulate the industry nationwide have gone nowhere. Enron officials were able to enlist the support of the Clinton administration, but the legislation failed to move on Capitol Hill, largely because of personalities and turf issues.”
(David Ivanovich, “The New Power,” The Houston Chronicle, April 15, 2001)
A Regulatory Change By The Clinton-Gore Administration Transformed Enron. “Key orders by FERC in 1996 also supported Enron’s transformation into a freewheeling trader of gas, electricity and more exotic products, such as telecommunications services and sulfur-dioxide emissions credits. The new rules ensured that Enron and other merchant companies could buy electricity from independent power plants and sell it to distant customers, using transmission lines borrowed from utility companies.”
(Dan Morgan and Juliet Eilperin, “Campaign Gifts, Lobbying Built Enron’s Power In Washington,” The Washington Post, December 25, 2001)
Enron Lobbied Clinton To Act On FERC Order 888 And “Allow Wholesale Open Access To The Nation’s Electricity Transmission Grid.” “Gas companies, trade groups and utilities are barraging the White House with support for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Order 888, telling President Clinton that the administration should not delay implementation because of unfounded environmental concerns. . . . Order 888 will allow wholesale open access to the nation’s electricity transmission grid. Also writing to Clinton was a group of 26 trade groups and energy companies that urged that EPA not turn the rule over to the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for review. The group includes . . . Enron Corp. . . .”
(Paul Connolly, “Gas Firms Ask White House To Move On FERC’s Electric Rule,” The Oil Daily, May 14, 1996)
Clinton-Gore Energy Secretary Federico Pena Urged The White House To Take Action On Energy Legislation Favored By Enron. “Lay met with Energy Secretary Federico Pena to urge White House action on electricity legislation favored by Enron. Pena ‘suggested that President Clinton might be motivated [to act] by some key contacts from important constituents,’ according to another Enron memo. Taking the cue, Lay, one of 25 business executives on Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, wrote to the president the same day.”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
In 1992, Clinton Signed A Major Energy Bill (H.R. 776) That “Set The Stage For A New Wholesale Electricity Marketplace” And The Growth Of Enron. The law “set the stage for a new wholesale electricity marketplace. Trading companies such as Enron could use the transmission lines of regulated utility companies to sell [blocks] of electricity to private customers.”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
Energy Secretary Pena Solicited Comments From Enron On The Clinton-Gore “Comprehensive National Energy Strategy.” “Pena asked Enron officials to keep Energy Department staffers posted on developments in Congress, and solicited comments on the administration’s draft of its Comprehensive National Energy Strategy, an Enron document said. Lay felt the draft was ‘headed in the right direction’ except for a few points, the document said.”
(Dan Morgan, “Enron Also Courted Democrats,” The Washington Post, January 13, 2002)
An Enron Spokesman Said That The Company Was Encouraged By The Final Clinton-Gore Plan. “Houston-based Enron Corp., a gas and electricity utility that has been aggressively pushing into newly deregulated state markets and is increasingly competing with Southern Co., said it was encouraged by the plan. ‘We like that there’s an absolute deadline for competition,’ said Enron Senior Vice President Steven Kean.”
(Matthew C. Quinn, “Plan For Deregulating Nation’s Electric Utilities Finally Sent To Congress,” The Atlanta Journal And Constitution, March 26, 1998)
Provisions In The Clinton-Gore Energy Plan Were “Much To The Liking” Of Enron. “Under the Clinton plan, states would not be compelled to open up their markets to competition. States could retain the status quo if they decided their consumers would be better off with a regulated, monopoly system, although they would be forced to hold public hearings to explain why competition would not work. That provision is much to the liking of officials at Houston-based Enron Corp., the natural gas and power giant that has led the electricity deregulation push.”
(David Ivanovich, “Clinton Power Deregulation Plan Detailed,” The Houston Chronicle, March 26, 1998)
Enron’s gone, but we still have General Electric, Gore and Blood’s Generation Management Fund, Sanders’ Chicago Climate Exchange, and a host of other people and companies prepared to rake in the millions and billions of dollars when they finally get a president that will sign their businesses into law.
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )CBS “Swings” Low Note – June 24, 2008
You can also email a complaint to your local CBS affiliate station, asking them not to air this program. If they get enough complaints, they may decide it’s bad business and drop the show.
DON’T FEED THE BEAST!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )CBS “Swings” Low – June 23, 2008
Before you click on the link below, be warned. If you’re a morally decent person, you will be offended by the latest attack on America’s heritage of decency. CBS is no stranger to primetime onslaughts of smut, i.e., early seasons of CSI: Miami, as well as some more recent episodes. Their new show “Swingtown” is a blatant attempt to normalize the swinger life-style, characterizing the morally good neighbors of the show’s stars as “squares”. The “squares” roles are written to portray them as buffoons. If there’s any dispute about this, one only has to watch the program to see the obvious truth. Before attempting to watch this television disaster, I strongly urge you to send the kids far, far away, pull down the shades, and prepare to feel slutty afterwards.
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/swingtown/video/video.php?cid=717764563&pid=kN1C…
You might expect a show like this to air on the Howard Stern channel or at least after midnight, but you’d be wrong. This filth airs at 9:00 p.m. central time on Thursday nights and its debut was June 5, 2008 – the first week that school was out for the summer. That’s right. Great timing. The kids, out of school, will stay up later, and certainly be up at 9:00 p.m. Parents who have blocked certain channels probably haven’t blocked CBS, not realizing the unthinkable would occur. Perhaps they should.
Before dismissing this as “no big deal”, read the following real-life story, which can be found at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,370147,00.html: “KIDS FED ‘SILLY PILLS’, FORCED TO PERFORM SEX SHOWS IN SHOCKING ABUSE CASE”, Monday, June 23, 2008. Folks, this is recent, very recent. It involves “swingers” that “infiltrated” the town of Mineola, Texas, about 80 miles east of Dallas. Mineola supports more than 30 churches with a close-knit conservative population. The “swingers” are not welcome and have severely and shockingly violated the moral standards of the good citizens of Mineola, who are anxious to put these smut-meisters in jail and this horrible episode behind them.
There’s a giant “sex industry” beast in America, and it’s not harmless. It glamourizes indecent and immoral behavior, screams “First Amendment Rights” to silence its opposition, and tries, pretty successfully, to mainstream such behavior, all for the goal of collecting more and more paying customers for their sleazy products. They absolutely DO NOT CARE IF THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH BEHAVIOR DESTROYS THE LIVES AND HEALTH OF THEIR CUSTOMERS. They want $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!
Before the show aired the first time, I saw the advertisement for it and was horrified. After viewing the trailer on the CBS web site, I wrote an email and filed a complaint with the FCC. I had hopes that the FCC would not allow the first episode to make it to our TV screens. IT DID. I thought perhaps the FCC couldn’t act until a violation of FCC rules had occurred, an idea which I thought ridiculous, but I was wrong again. They’ve continued on the air. FCC rules of indecency and obscenity on television are clearly explained on the FCC’s website, and there’s no question that CBS’s “Swingtown” has violated them.
What is the purpose of FCC Decency Rules, if they won’t enforce them? If they don’t want to do their job, I say, fire them and get someone who will. People who think the entertainment industry’s nasty turn in the last 40 years hasn’t had an adverse effect on society, just need to look around to see the damage done. Besides the shocking story from Mineola, Texas, there are these recent events:
Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High School – 17 girls get pregnant, may have been a pact – some “blame hit movies like “Juno” and “Knocked Up” for glamourizing young unwed mothers.” http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html It was reported that others thought the school’s accommodations for unwed students, such as a day care center for their babies, might contribute to the problem. Girls who took pregnancy tests at the school’s clinic seemed disappointed that their results were negative. (Why in the world should schools for minors give pregnancy tests and have nurseries? There is definitely a problem in America, when people think that should be part of school for kids.)
You don’t need a specific web site for the ongoing dramas of the real life stories of Lindsey Lohan, Brittany Spears, little sister, Jamie Lynn Spears – newest unwed mother glamourized by the media, Nicole Richie, the Queen of sleaze Madonna seen onstage French-kissing a young Brittany Spears (who has never been the same sense) and now, appallingly writes children’s books (save us), and let’s not even go into the horror of hip-hop and rap.
You can’t safely watch TV with children, not even if you block the “forbidden” channels because the commercials aren’t listed on the TV Guide and before you can grab the remote, Levitra, Viagra and Cialis commercials have drawn the kids attention to “ED”, about ten times a night every night on all channels. Added to that are the commercials for feminine conditions and hygiene, and STD treatments. No parent can keep their children from the constant sexual drumbeat of the med
ia.
There’s also the promotions of movies you don’t want your kids to watch, not even the trailers, like “Knocked Up”. The music industry has done it’s part with music lyrics that are shameful and have the same effect as brainwashing. The kids listen to the same songs hundreds of times, often piped straight into their brains with earphones. If only they would do that with history facts, geography facts, math and science.
Decidedly, the greatest harm the sex industry beast is directly responsible for are all the rapes and deaths of young girls, women and some cases of infants, toddlers and the very elderly. Even boys have been the victims of rape. Many of these victims were also beaten, stabbed, strangled, brutalized and murdered. In two recent cases, the victims were imprisoned, one buried alive for days, until she died alone in the ground – little nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154109,00.html and Joseph Fritzl who kept his own daughter locked in a dungeon for twenty-four years as a sex slave, having seven children with her http://www.news.com.au/feature/0,,5017077,00.html.
Americans must stop feeding the beast. If you buy any of their products, you are feeding the beast and contributing to the suffering of its victims. You are helping mainstream the smut and sleazy lifestyles of the sickos. Our children are being sacrificed to the god of “entertainment” whose god is money.
You can’t go to the mall, the theater, a gas station or grocery store without hearing the “F” word, which once was definitely not acceptable in “polite” society. The video of beach-goers attacking paparazi who wanted to photograph Matthew McConaughey, this weekend, couldn’t be watched by decent people without turning off the audio. The most prominent feature of the video is the astounding number of times the “F” word is used, even by a woman who “barely” has any clothes on at all. If she sneezes, she will have no secrets from anyone in the vicinity. Public nudity, pants, dresses and blouses cut so low that men can’t concentrate on anything else, and potty mouth, has invaded every aspect of life, including the pulpits of some churches in Chicago.
Too many Americans became anesthetized by “R” rated dress and language in the movies. They now accept it in real life. Even professional women anchoring news programs have succombed to the “free peek” dress code. Very young girls dress like hookers and are nearly nude in their string swim suits. I’ve witnessed mothers shopping with their daughters and purchasing swimsuits for them that could hardly be worth the $30 plus they paid for two strings and two tiny triangles. It’s amazing that these mothers don’t worry about what could happen to their daughters if they catch the attention of the wrong guy, when parading around in front of them indecently dressed, or should I say “undressed”, in public. You only have to watch the late night news to learn what happens to young women. Almost every week, there’s another young woman missing and is eventually found dead. Wake up, parents!
The imbalance of the actions of the sex industry versus the actions or inactions of decent people have resulted in a lop-sided society, weighted heavily on the sleazy side. The success of evil men is guaranteed when good men do nothing.
If you’re sick of this giant sex beast destroying our young, there’s a lot you can do to reverse the dismal situation. You can send an email to the FCC expressing your disgust at http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm every time you see indecency on television. You can email your elected officials at http://thomas.loc.gov/links/ and demand that they force the FCC to do their job or fire them, and express your desire to see decency laws enforced and not weakened. VERY IMPORTANTLY: DON’T FEED THE BEAST! Boycott products that are indecent, obscene or glorify and try to mainstream indecent behavior or present these bahaviors favorably without showing the real life consequences.
Remember, DON’T FEED THE BEAST, EMAIL THE FCC AND EMAIL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS.
THERE IS NO MORE TIME TO DO NOTHING.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Declare a Day of Common Sense – June 21, 2008
The Blue Donkies latest bumper sticker slogan is, “You can’t drill your way out of this.” Who came up with that brilliant two-second sound byte? Of course you can. When the oil price was $10 a barrel, everyone was drilling and there was a glut of the commodity. Since the Blue Donkies have hog-tied America, oil prices have shot up. The world’s population has grown and foreign economies have improved, allowing more people to buy goods that are based on oil, such as vehicles, plastics, better homes, and the wealth to travel more. This increased demand has put pressure on the world’s oil supply, but the greatest nation on Earth is prohibited from adding to their supply. Now we use the supply of other nations without adding any to the pool.
Congress believes the oil belongs to them and are keeping it locked away from us. Some in Congress even believe that they “allow” Big Oil to operate and can take them over any time they wish. These elected officials need to quickly be reduced to NON-elected UNofficials. Americans need to give Congress a reality check and send them home. They’re getting too big for their “britches”, as we say in Texas. Everyone favors being good stewards of our planet. But taking it to a ridiculous and harmful extreme has to stop.
Vast wealth has been transferred from America to oil-producing nations around the world. The Saudis, Kuwaiti’s and others don’t have national deficits because they drilled and sold. Blue Donkies and Green Donkies have forced America to run the race with both feet tied together, forfeiting our wealth to nations who, in many cases, are hostile to us. This is lunacy. As America sits on her hands and watches the world discover more and more oil, sell it to us, their coffers burgeoning with cash, and our deficits balooning, the economy balances delicately on the edge of destruction.
What will happen if fuel prices become more than airlines can handle? They’ve been close to bankruptcy for years and fuel prices may just push them off the cliff. Eventually, they will have to raise fares so high that only the rich, such as Al Gore, Maurice Strong, Ted Turner, Barack Obama, Richard Sanders and the whole GW gang, will be the only people who can afford to travel. And travel they will! Brainwashing the world to continue the GW myth that is killing our economy.
What happens when school systems can no longer afford to run buses? Will children become truants in many cases? Or will that force more people to drive their kids to school, clogging the streets with more traffic, burning more fuel, and emitting more vehicle exhaust? Where does all this GW really get us? It gets a ton of cash into certain pcckets and out of ours. Another great transfer of wealth from us to the GW crowd.
What will happen to food and medicine prices when the fuel to deliver those goods to stores and drugstores becomes too high? Or when the salaries of nurses and doctors goes up because they spend so much on fuel to get to hospitals and clinics?
Crippling America is never a brainy idea. I don’t care what degrees these people obtained. What America needs now is plain common sense, which seems to be very much lacking in Congress. Perhaps we need to declare a “Day of Common Sense”, on which all elected officials use some, and vote to release their hostages.
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )WARNING! BLUE DONKEY AGENDA – June 19, 2008
Americans are waking up to the fact that gasoline prices, diesel prices, utility bills, and as a trickle down effect, the cost of all goods and services are soaring because Democrats are hell-bent on outlawing any type of oil-drilling or nuclear power plant construction to adequately supply the needs of this country. It’s as if they hate us. They can’t help seeing how the public is clamoring for lower prices and demanding that our government do something beneficial toward that end, but the stubborn blue donkeys won’t budge.
Why?!, you scream at the television, after every video clip of another blue donkey calmly, as if programmed into some kind of brain-dead trance, posits the notion that drilling will take years and it will only reduce the cost of gasoline by about one cent per gallon. “Hogwash!”, you yell. Start drilling today and at the very least, we can look forward to the day when we will get some relief. Experts in the oil industry, which does not include Democrat politicians, know that once new oil wells come online, the price will drop significantly. Competition always has that effect.
Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and other nations we buy from have us “over a barrel” – an oil barrel – and they know it. There’s no incentive for them to reduce their price. Have you seen how rich they’ve gotten? Why would anyone in their right mind give that up if they didn’t have to? But as soon as they see that we aren’t buying it anymore, they have to drop their price to stay in the game.
The definition of “insanity” is to continue doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get a different result. It’s hard not to suspect that the blue donkeys have a different agenda than the citizens suffering under the strain on their pocketbooks. I wonder what it could be.
Although, Maxine’s fellow Congresspersons were laughing behind her back, there are plenty others with the same mindset.
Vladimir Putin in Russia and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela took over the privately owned oil companies and nationalized them, kicking out the people whose blood, sweat and tears built those companies from scratch, and did not compensate them fairly for their property (which was stolen from them by their own government). So the crazies on the left don’t give a hoot about freedom for citizens or a free market. What’s yours is theirs if they want it.
Not only do Democrats want a government take-over of oil companies and refineries, they also want to take over the health care industry, the drug manufacturers and the insurance industry. They already control the largest portion of the education system and your retirment program – Social Security. Their report card is less than stellar. On handling the school system, they get an “F”. On handling Social Security, they get an “F-“, if there is such a thing.
Do we really want the government to take over anything else? I say ABSOLUTELY NOT. How about you?
And whatever happened to the Constitution? Democracy? Freedom? Capitalism? Free Markets?
“…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, November 19, 1863
There is no more time to do nothing.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Just Between Us Texans – June 18, 2008
All work and no play makes all of us dull and discouraged. The political scene can make us throw up our hands in dispair and give up, until something funny comes out of it. Here is a funny and entertaining political ad to give us a lighter moment.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Treaty of Rome – June 17, 2008
The Lisbon Treaty, recently voted down by the Irish, in the face of the European Union, is an amendment to the Treaty of Rome – 1957 (treaty establishing the European Economic Community) and the Treaty of Maastricht in the Netherlands – 1992 (treaty that led to the European Union). There have been other treaties such as the European Atomic Energy Community – 1958, and the European Coal and Steel Community – 2001 known as the Treaty of Paris (expired). The Treaty of Nice rolled all the treaties into one and the Lisbon Treaty was written to amend these and change the governing structure from “pillars” and a “rotating” EU presidency. The newest treaty would create a President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs, among other things.
Other agreements and conventions occurred, passing by votes of heads of states, rather than popular vote of the citizens of each member of the EU. Ireland chose a popular vote and the people rejected it by 7+%.
Earlier, in 2004, the French and Dutch people rejected the European Constitution in national referenda. Unable to reach the required unanimity to amend treaties to the EU, a period of reflection was called. Germany’s PM Merkel recently called an end the “reflection” and the vote was taken.
Instead of the celebration that was already planned, the unexpected defeat has left them looking for ways to get it done, over the will of the Irish, the French and the Dutch. When the French and Dutch rejected the direct EU constitution, it (EU Con.) became law indirectly through the amendment treaties. EU leaders know they will find a solution to the current dilemma, probably by passing other binding documents which achieve the same end indirectly.
What exactly did the Irish reject? http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2773
1. It establishes a legally new European Union in the constitutional form of a supranational European State.
2. It empowers this new European Union to act as a State vis-a-vis other States and its own citizens.
3. It makes us all citizens of this new European Union. (This was authored by a Brussels Journal writer.)
4. To hide the enormity of the change, the same name – European Union – will be kept while the Lisbon Treaty changes fundamentally the legal and constitutional nature of the Union.
5. It creates a Union Parliament for the Union’s new citizens.
6. It creates a Cabinet Government of the new Union.
7. It creates a new Union political President.
8. It creates a civil rights code for the new Union’s citizens.
9. It makes national Parliaments subordinate to the new Union.
10. It gives the new Union self-empowerment powers.
1. The Lisbon Treaty establishes a legally quite new European Union. This is a Union in the constitutional form of a supranational European State:
The Treaty gives this new Union a State Constitution which is identical in its legal effects to the EU Constitution that French and Dutch voters rejected in their 2005 referendums. It does this by amending the two existing basic European Treaties, the “Treaty on European Union” (TEU) and the “Treaty Establishing the European Community” (TEC). (Treaties of Maastricht and Rome) These two amended Treaties become the de facto Constitution of the new Union which they constitute or establish, although they are not called a Constitution. The EU has thus been given a Constitution indirectly rather than in direct form, as had been proposed in the Treaty which the peoples of France and Holland rejected in 2005.
The provision of the Lisbon Treaty that “The Union shall replace and succeed the European Community“ (Art.1.3, amended TEU) makes absolutely clear that the post-Lisbon Union will be quite a new entity, as the European Community of which our countries are all currently members ceases to exist.
2. The Treaty empowers this new European Union to act as a State vis-a-vis other States and its own citizens:
To understand the change introduced by the Lisbon Treaty one needs to understand that what we call the European Union today is not a State. It is not even a legal or corporate entity in its own right, for it does not have legal personality. The name “European Union” at present is a descriptive term for all the relations between its 27 Member States.
This new European Union can sign treaties with other States in all areas of its competence and conduct itself as a State in the international community of States. It can speak at the United Nations on agreed foreign policy positions of its Member States, just as in the days of the Soviet Union the USSR had a UN seat while Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia had UN seats also. (Citizens of the new EU will be legally bound to the treaties signed by the EU.)
The Lisbon Treaty also gives the EU a political President, a Foreign Minister – to be called a High Representative – a diplomatic corps and a Public Prosecutor. The new EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights, as all other European States have already done, including those outside the EU.
The Treaty also sets out the principle of the primacy of the laws of the new Union over the laws of its Member States (Declaration 27). The new EU makes the majority of laws for its Member States each year and under the Lisbon Treaty the new Union, which will replace the European Community, gets further power to make laws or take decisions by qualified majority vote in relation to some 68 new policy areas or matters where Member States currently have a veto.
3. The Treaty makes us all real citizens of this new European Union for the first time, instead of our being notional or honorary European “citizens” as at present:
Citizenship of the European Union at present is stated to “complement” national citizenship. By transforming the legal character of the Union, the Lisbon Treaty transforms the meaning of Union citizenship. Article.17b.1 TEC/TFU replace the word “complement“ in the sentence “Citizenship of the Union shall complement national citizenship“, so that the new sentence reads: “Citizenship of the Union shall be in addition to national citizenship.“
As most St
ates only recognise that one can have a single citizenship, henceforth it is one’s Union citizenship which will be regarded by other countries as primary and superior to one’s national citizenship. The rights and duties attaching to this citizenship of the new Union are to be superior to those attaching to citizenship of one’s own national State in any case of conflict between the two, because of the superiority of EU law over national law and constitutions.
Member States retain their national constitutions, but they are subordinate to the new Union Constitution. As such they will no longer be constitutions of sovereign States, just as the various local states of the USA retain their constitutions although they are subordinate to the Federal US Constitution.
4. To hide the enormity of the change, the same name – European Union – will be kept while the Lisbon Treaty changes fundamentally the legal and constitutional nature of the Union. By this means the importance of the proposed change is kept hidden from the people.
As Americans, we may feel that this is none of our concern, BUT we should learn from the EU how the heads of state override the will of free people and quietly remove the sovereignty of nations, the democracies of self-governed societies and the freedoms of everyone not in the elitist body of world rulers.
This erosion of sovereignty and freedom works like a cancer under the skin, out of public view, but spreading and irreversible without major surgery (war). Everything looks great on the outside, but damage is being done on the inside.
The Global Warming Elitists are successfully getting treaties ratified, laws passed, overriding national sovereignties and overruling free people, while setting themselves up in positions of great power and wealth.
There is no more time to do nothing.
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