Savage Republican

I am an amatuer historian. Have been for a long time. WWII is my specific area of high interest, but, when a historic moment occurs, I like to take note of it. And GWB has a place in history. Seems he is only the second U.S. President to go through an entire term without ever using a veto. The first? President John Quincy Adams. Been a long, long time.
Read here in the WSJ some of the bills that escaped the now dusty veto pen. Wonder even if the ink is good anymore ?

The hailstorm of lefty (and RINO’s) rhetoric on gas prices continues showing why we desperatly need people who understand real world (versus Marxian or Keynesian) economics. There are reasons for gas and oil prices spiking:

1. ANWR- Here’s a shocker-anyone know why and how ANWR came into existence? Oil. Not as a dating service for caribou. In 1923 ANWR was designated as a strategic oil reservation. It was originally called the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4. When oil was found on the North Slope (Prudhoe Bay) attempts were made to develop the oil reserves in Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 4. All that changed in 1980 because of the watermelons (green on the outside, red on the inside) with the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act . And you know nothing good is coming from an act with a name like that. There is absolutely NO good reason that the field in ANWR is not online right now. ANWR has been debated for decades. And again, no good reason. Radical enviromentalism and laws and regulations (passed and enforced by government) has stopped oil production there and elsewhere. Reason 1-government interference.
2. Lack of refinery capacity versus demand. One of my clients has an oil well service company. I asked him over a year ago when was the last oil refinery built in America. He said over 30 years ago. I asked him why? Way too many enviromental regulations, way too much ongoing compliance and lawsuits. And he mentioned there have been many refineries that have closed because of the onerous compliance hurdles. There is a view that it’s more profitable to import gas and diesel. Could be because it costs too much to build and run a refienry here because of regulations and compliance, all that add to costs and cut profit. So you have a Reason 2-government interference.
3. Katrina and Rita. Taking #2 above with the 2005 hurricane season, we have this comment from a year before Katrina and Rita :Despite this (minimal) expansion (at existing refineries), however, domestic refining capacity is still stretched to the limit, as utilization at U.S. refineries is now averaging nearly 90% — leaving no cushion room if something unforeseen happens.” And now we’ve been hit. and with no cushion to begin with, supply is behind demand. Reason 3-natural forces coupled with government interference.
   
4. Regional blends. The gas here in Minnesota is different than the gas in California that is different than New York that is different than Louisiana. Mostly due to environmental “concerns”. And all the laws demanding different blends. Reason 4- government interference.
   
5. Ethanol. With the new ethanol blending regulations the refineries are trying to keep up…and can’t. Just a little something that those “smarter than EVERYONE else” politicos overlooked when they passed ethanol blend laws. Oh, and the fact that ethanol doesn’t work, pollutes more, gives less mileage, costs more and drives up the cost of the food you eat…well, the politicos don’t care. They’re busy “doing something”. Reason 5-government interference.
6. Onerous taxes and Windfall profits taxes versus profits. Remember a low hanging fruit maxim of economics- if you want less of something, tax it. If you want more of something, subsidize it. Now, combine that with the term “the profit incentive” and see that the average oil company gross profit margin is 9%, which is normal American corporate profit. The Feds and states get between 300%-600% more than that in taxes. And that tax is paid by you. And you heard once, even once anyone in government even remotely suggesting that taxes be lowered ? That government take even a penny a gallon less? I haven’t. And all they spew is that executives are paid too much. And with the threat of Windfall Taxes the incentive to go out and find more oil is gone. Why work more when your efforts result in less? Reason 6-government interference.
7. Summer driving. Summer is car trip season. The refineries need to switch over to summer blends (see above). And they can’t do that in a week. Higher driving demand, higher imported crude costs versus a seasonal changeover = higher cost.Reason 7- real world economics.
   
8. Increased world demand. With decreased national exploration and an increase world demand (particularly in China and India) America competes for oil in a global market. Oil is a commodity. Reason 8- real world economics.
9. “Alternative energy re
   sources”. This delusion has been around, and heavily subsidized, now into four decades. And with billions and billions of dollars spent and wasted, what do we have? Same thing we did at then outbreak of the first oil crisis in 1973. So, your money has been spent, again, on what “the smartest people in the world”, politicians and regulators, know is best. Reason 9-government waste…and interference.

And with all the abundantly evident government interference and threats, so many of you still believe that the government can deliver low gas prices.
As Gerald Ford once said “Government couldn’t brew beer for less than $50 a six pack.”
Oh, and to date, I don’t hear anyone, anyplace, anytime screaming for Congressional investigations into the bottled water industry where we spend $5-$10 a gallon…for water-that from the tap costs a quarter of a penny per gallon.

Christopher Hitchens has been a one man wrecking crew when it comes to destroying Ambassador Joe Wilson’s credibility on the whole Iraq/Niger uranium story. He has had two articles in as many weeks that take about Ambassador Wilson’s report, point by point.

Now in addition to this, the revelations from the “Saddam tapes” have been flowing out fast and furious. All of which leads a thinking person to ask “why has the media insisted on maintaining the claim that Saddam had no a)WMDs and b) connections to al Qaeda?”. I don’t know if we will ever know the answer to that for sure, but some believe that it is simply that the press loathes to admit that maybe, just maybe the “cowboy” knew more about what was going on than they did. Maybe it’s because the press can not admit that they were wrong!

Sharia law????? It is a possibility if you believe some people. The Australian government has already told its Muslim population that Sharia law would not be a possibility there (link not available anymore).

“SYDNEY (AFP) – Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law should get out of Australia, a senior government minister has said, hinting that some radical clerics might be asked to leave. Australia was a secular state and its laws were made by parliament, Treasurer Peter Costello told national television late Tuesday. “If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you,” said Costello, who is seen as heir-apparent to Prime Minister John Howard. “I’d be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia, one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that that is false. “

That led to this Front Page Magazine symposium. Why the concern about Sharia law, you may ask. Well this story tells the tale.

“Lawyer Osman Karahan said Bigley’s death sentence was based on Islamic law.
“According to Shariah, according to Islamic law, they sentenced him to death,” Karahan said.
“He was guilty of helping non-believers in invading Muslim lands and providing all kinds of support, technical logistical support. Isn’t that true?” he said”

So according to this, anyone over there helping the Iraqi people are guilty of a crime – just for being there! Lovely…

But then again what crime did these teachers commit to deserve beheading?

“Separate groups of gunmen entered two primary schools in Baghdad and beheaded two teachers in front of their students, the Ministry of State for National Security said.
“Two terrorist groups beheaded two teachers in front of their students in the Amna and Shaheed Hamdi primary schools in Shaab district in Baghdad,” a ministry statement said.
A ministry official said he believed the attacks were aimed at: “intimidating pupils and disrupting learning”.

That would definatly disrupt learning…What about this poor child? What did he do to deserve death?

That can’t happen here you say. Don’t be so sure.

“The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs.”

It is way past time for the so-called “moderate Muslims” to speak out against the hate that is being taught in the “name of Allah”. Until such time as they do, the outrage against Islam will continue to grow. Don’t wait too long, or it will be too late for us all.

Just a quick follow up to my post here about the tolerance that is shown to Christians in this country. Read this article and weep – a man is being made to choose between his job and his desire to evangelize (via a Christian radio program)! We are not talking about a situation where the radio job would interfere with his primary job. What is this country becomming?

Here is the million dollar line in the story?

“Kelly McBride, who teaches journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., said Turner’s behavior, on and off the air, casts doubts on his journalistic objectivity… “There is this standard in the industry that you forgo much of your personal First Amendment rights so that the (news) corporation can exercise its First Amendment rights,” she said…” (emphasis mine)

Katie Couric….Meridith Viera…please call you agents….your contract could be in jeopardy!

I rarely disagree with Captain Ed, but we depart on point.
In a recent post he referred to the disaster in New Orleans. No, I don’t mean Katrina. I mean the man made disaster called “government help“. Near the end of his post, he says “Bureaucracies don’t work for emergency response efforts, and FEMA isn’t unique among government agencies either. Solving the problem requires a different model, one that puts more of the decision-making power into local hands while assisting them financially.” I would add the word “local” or “state” before financially. There is no such a thing as “small” or “minute” or in government. Nothing shrinks. FEMA started as a very small independent agency. Little Jimmy “I Want a Nobel Prize So Badly, I’ll Sell Myself Out” Carter decided that bigger is more efficient (which seems to be a virus that seems to infect all people whose principal office is either oval or under a marble dome).
FEMA was once non-existent. San Francisco came back from a $300,000,000,000 disaster a century ago without FEMA. Same for Chicago in 1871. Same for Gavelston, TX in 1900.
So, Ed, never ever think anything in government will stay small.
Ever heard of Medicare?

DNC Chairman Howard Dean, the conservative bloggers best friend, was back in the news this week. Chairman Dean announced this week that border control was a “top priority” for the DNC in this election. Unfortunately, he is still calling for a version of anmesty for the illegals that are here.

” Mr. Dean said he wants “immigrants who obey the law and pay taxes to be able to apply for citizenship. We support earned legalization vigorously. And, much to my surprise, so do the American people.”

However, this new found interest in immigration reform puts him at odds with thise members of his party in the House and Senate.

” Not true, said Mr. (Steve) King (R-IA), who represents a district along the Missouri River in western Iowa. He said 200 Democrats voted against a bill passed by the House in December that mandates stronger border security. “

Meanwhile, Conservatives in the House and Senate are taking notice of Chairman Dean’s newfound interest in the issue.

“Mr. Dean’s advocacy of “tough border control” this week — at an event at which the DNC chief outlined his party’s November election strategy — shows clearly that Mr. Dean has seen polls showing that Americans are fed up with the federal government’s failure to secure the nation’s borders, said Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican. “It’s another indication of just how stupid the Republican Party is when they say we better not go after immigration as an issue, we better not go after border security as an issue,” said Mr. Tancredo, a longtime advocate of immigration reform.”

Meanwhile the Las Vegas Sun points out the one thing that, if the RNC is smart they will take advantage of in a hurry!

“Ask Democratic leaders to identify their party’s election-year message and you get everything but consensus.
Ahead in polls, Democrats are divided over whether they already have – or even need – a national theme that tells voters exactly where the party stands.
“One message? Hmmm. I don’t know. Let me think about it,” Alvaro Cifuentes said after a long pause. Several minutes later, the head of the Democratic National Committee’s Hispanic Caucus said, “You can’t try to simplify your politics with a slogan. You can’t.”

As long as the Democrats continue to drift with no cohesive message, the Republicans should have no problems gaining seats in November. Of course that depends on whether the Republicans remember what it means to be a Republican and they legislate that way. If they continue to legislate as Democrats, then the base will stay home on Election Day and they (the Republican leadership in the House and Senate) will be the ones responsible for handing over to the Dems, the keys to the Capital.

So says Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue in signing a sweeping immigration reform law. Let’s just leave that statement sit there for a minute. While I understand what the Governor is implying here, does this mean that there are no inmates in Georgia prisons?

Now I have pretty much stayed out of the immigration debate because, like many in this country my family immigrated here. Also, like many of those protesting the immigration reform bills, my family immigrated to America from Mexico legally. I personally do not think that it is too much to ask that people here in this country abide by American laws, however I do understand what drove many to immigrate here legally and illegally. I have worked with Mexican immigrants whose immigration status has been questionable and they were largely like you and I – your average Joe just trying to make a living.

However, what is happening now is a danger to our country. The horror stories abound….hospitals closing emergency rooms in California, uninsured drivers causing fatal traffic accidents – there are probably as many horror stories as there are illegal immigrants in the country. Stories are one thing, statistics are another and the statistics here are truly frightening.

“In the past two years, FAIR has issued fiscal cost studies for California, Arizona, Texas and Florida looking at the same cost factors studied by the Urban Institute 10 years earlier, i.e., education3, emergency medical care and incarceration. Our findings of the annual net fiscal costs were:
California $8.8 billion ($1,183 per native household)
Arizona $1.03 billion ($717 per native household)
Texas $3.73 billion ($725 per native household)
Florida $.91 billion ($315 per native household)
These studies were done in 2004 and 2005, and the rapid continuing increase in the illegal immigrant population in each of these states would result in higher estimates of the fiscal cost today. “

Lest you think that this problem is solely confined to the border states, here is what it costs the Minnesota taxpayers now and what we can expect to pay in 2010 and 2020 should things remain unchanged:

“Minnesota $345 million (current) $589 million(2010) $1.023 billion(2020)”

Now many of the protestors say that this is a “civil rights” issue. However, as this Los Angeles Times opinion piece suggests, that might not be the case.

“Activists seem focused on a political agenda that is fiercely anti-capitalist and intent on removing all border constraints.”

As the opinion piece concludes, the immigration process absolutely needs to be an “orderly and lawful” process. Anything less than that does a disservice to any and all who sacrificed everything in order to come here legally. Giving open ended “amnesty” to illegal immigrants from all nations cheapens the citizinship that the majority of all Americans cherish more than life itself.

For those who dislike the word “amnesty” – what would you call it when you suspend current law and give prefferential citizenship standards to one group over all others? Would you call that fair? I sure wouldn’t.

Interesting……we hear all of this talk (out of our friends on the left) about the “Republican” culture of corruption and then we get this.

“The top Democrat on the House ethics committee, Alan Mollohan, will leave the panel — at least temporarily — while he defends his own financial conduct, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Friday. “

Apparently Representative Mollohan has something in common with former Representative Duke Cunningham – a penchant for funneling taxpayer dollars to people that contribute to his campaign.

“The Wall Street Journal reported two weeks ago that Mollohan steered millions of dollars to nonprofit groups in his district — with much of the money going to organizations run by people who contribute to the lawmaker’s campaigns.”

I believe that there is an old saying that is quite apropos here…those who live in glass houses really should not throw stones.

Today is Earth Day and in honor of Earth Day, I would like to highlight 2 informative articles. First is this one out of the Los Angeles Times.

“MEET AL GORE, scaremonger. In 2004, Gore denounced President Bush for “playing on our fears.” Today, he is at the forefront of a “green scare” about global warming intended to terrify Americans into submitting to his environmental policies. “

Ouch – that’s harsh! As I said in my post on the 20th, the jury is still out on global warming. The facts are contradictory at best.

“But Gore & Co. aren’t troubled by such details because the smears are all for a good cause. That’s why Gore saw nothing wrong in bullying dissident climate change scientists when he was a senator or waging a mean-spirited campaign to discredit the work of his old mentor, Harvard oceanographer Roger Revelle, because Revelle thought alarmism was unwarranted.” (emphasis mine)

And this is the man who was a heartbeat away from the Presidency – bullying any and all who dare to disagree with him. I never thought I would say this but I am so thankful that President Clinton was not impeached. A Gore presidency – no matter how brief – would have been disasterous to the world economy.

“Reducing global carbon dioxide emissions to 60% of 1990 levels before 2050, while China, India and (hopefully) Africa modernize, is inconceivable, ill-conceived and also immoral because it would consign generations to poverty. “

Here is something that is true and measureable.

“The air we breathe and the water we drink is substantially cleaner than it was at the time of the first Earth Day in 1970,” said Peyton Knight, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for the National Center, adding, “Of course, good news on the environment, of which there is much, rarely makes the cut for the broadcast evening news.”

Earth Day 1970 had it’s good points and the genesis of Earth Day has done so measurable good. However we should not forget that we have scientific fact that this planet has undergone climatic change in the past. At one time the North American continent was covered with glacial ice and at another time (as a friend recently reminded me) it was covered with tropical rainforests. While we humans can effect the planet for good and for ill, the planet is not as fragile as the extreme environmentalists like Al Gore would have us believe.