June 30, 2010
Today, 60 years later, a satellite photograph of the Korean Peninsula tells a profound story of freedom vs. totalitarianism. The electric power behind the economies is a compelling part of the object lesson. Only 20 percent of North Koreans have access to electricity while nearly 100 percent of South Koreans have access to electricity. Largely without electricity, North Koreans do not have access to the Internet. Yet nearly 100 percent of South Koreans are able to communicate and conduct transactions across the Internet. North Koreans have very little refrigeration for their food, few lights, non-existent air conditioning, no automobiles and practically no computers, radios or television. There is very little electricity to develop a manufacturing base, much less provide basics of living for people.
After over fifty years of two systems, the result is a stark difference in the quality of life between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). First, the life expectancy in South Korea is longer, 78.72 years in comparison to North Koreans’ 61.23 years. The most telling human statistic is that at just four years of age, the toll on living children is pronounced: South Korean preschool children are approximately 3 inches taller than their North Korean peers. Women of childbearing age in North Korea are up to 19 pounds lighter than South Korean women and have a significantly higher maternal mortality rate. The Infant Mortality Rate is 12 times higher in North Korea.
Communist Party doctrine continues to control every aspect of life in North Korea. Although North Korea instituted Kim Il-Sung’s ‘juche’ or doctrine of self-reliance as the state ideology, the country remains heavily dependent upon government subsidies for housing, food and other needs. Land use is heavily regulated by the state, with little or no private property rights. North Korea ranks last, at 179, in the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal’s world rankings for economic freedom.
Starting a small business in North Korea is virtually impossible as central planning rules the economy. By comparison, an entrepreneur in South Korea could start a business within an average of 17 days.
In the past several years, the “Tiger” economy of South Korea has catapulted to between the world’s 10th and 13th largest economy. With unlimited access to electric power, mostly generated from coal and nuclear, the country has vibrant, sophisticated electronics and electrical products, telecommunications, motor vehicles, mining and manufacturing, petrochemical, industrial machine, steel and shipbuilding industries.
According to the U.S. State Department, South Korea’s economic growth has been “spectacular” over the past several decades. “Per capita [GDP], only $100 in 1963, is close to $20,000. South Korea is now the United States’ seventh-largest trading partner…”
In contrast, North Korea has a per capita GDP of $1800. In 2005, North Korea returned to centralized food rationing. Due to lack of electricity, fuel and industrial parts, the critical infrastructure is outdated and the energy sector has collapsed. Through 2008, the United States has tried to assist North Korea by providing electricity to hospitals through non- governmental organizations.
The object lesson learned after 57 years of economic development and energy deployment between two vastly different governments over the Korean people is clear. Oppression and heavy governmental regulation starve resources and diminish people on their own land. A free society with abundant energy enhances and improves the health and quality of lives. That is the power of unleashed freedom, enabling prosperity through electricity, energy and education. As the satellite image shows; it is the difference been darkness and light.
May 19, 2010
By George Allen and Marlo Lewis
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is carrying out one of the biggest power grabs in American history. The agency has positioned itself to regulate fuel economy, set climate policy for the nation and amend the Clean Air Act–powers never delegated to it by Congress. It has done this by declaring greenhouse gas emissions a danger to public health and welfare, in a proceeding known as the “endangerment finding.”
On Tuesday the U.S. Senate will debate and vote on Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s resolution of disapproval to overturn the endangerment finding. The resolution is absolutely necessary to restore democratic accountability in climate policymaking.
If allowed to stand, the EPA’s endangerment finding will trigger a regulatory cascade through multiple provisions of the Act. America could be burdened with a regulatory regime more costly than any climate bill Congress has rejected or declined to pass, yet without the people’s representatives ever voting on it.
Consider how the endangerment finding will expand the EPA’s power beyond any plausible congressional mandate.
To begin with, the finding compels the EPA to establish greenhouse gas emission standards for new motor vehicles. About 95% of all vehicular greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from motor fuel combustion. Because there is no commercially proven technology to capture CO2 tailpipe emissions, the principal way to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted per mile is to reduce the amount of fuel consumed per mile. In other words, greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles are basically fuel economy standards by another name. By empowering the EPA to set greenhouse gas emission standards, the endangerment finding also empowers the EPA to determine the stringency of fuel economy standards, even though the Clean Air Act gives the EPA no such authority.
Once the greenhouse gas emission standards go into effect, CO2 becomes a “regulated air pollutant” and, thus, automatically subject to additional regulation under the Act’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) pre-construction permitting program and Title V operating permits program. Under the Act, a firm must obtain a PSD permit before it can build or modify a “major stationary source” of regulated air pollutants, and obtain a Title V permit before it can operate such a source. The problem is that an immense number and variety of previously non-regulated entities–big box stores, office buildings, apartment complexes, small manufacturers, even commercial kitchens–emit enough CO2 to qualify as “major” sources.
By the EPA’s own admission, applying PSD and Title V to CO2 leads to “absurd results.” The EPA and its state counterparts will have to process approximately 41,000 PSD permit applications per year (instead of 280), and 6.1 million Title V permit applications per year (instead of 14,700). Agencies’ administrative resources will be overwhelmed, producing ever-growing backlogs that slam the brakes on new construction and force millions of firms to operate in legal limbo. A more potent anti-stimulus package would be hard to imagine.
To avert a red ink nightmare, the EPA proposes to “tailor” the permitting programs so that they exempt for six years all sources emitting less than 50,000 tons per year (TPY) of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases. But the Act plainly states that a source is subject to PSD if it has the potential to emit 250 TPY of a regulated air pollutant and Title V if it has a potential to emit 100 TPY. In reality, the EPA proposes to amend the statute. This breach of the separation of powers only compounds the constitutional crisis inherent in the EPA’s bid to hijack fuel economy regulation and climate policymaking.
Even if courts uphold EPA’s tailoring rule, it’s anybody’s guess how many smaller sources EPA will try to regulate after 2016. Government burdens have a habit of ratcheting up over time.
The tailoring rule also provides no protection from the endangerment finding’s most absurd result–rulemakings to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), set below current atmospheric concentrations, for greenhouse gases. Environmental litigation groups are only acting on the obvious implication of the EPA’s assertion that the root cause of endangerment is the “elevated concentration” of greenhouse gases when they demand that the EPA initiate such rulemakings.
The economic consequences would be devastating. Even a global depression lasting several decades would not be enough to lower CO2 concentrations from today’s level–roughly 390 parts per million–to 350 ppm, the new politically correct “stabilization” target advocated by former Vice President Al Gore, the Center for Biological Diversity and numerous other environmental groups. Yet under the Clean Air Act, states are obligated to attain NAAQS within five years or, at most, 10 years. The endangerment finding thus sets the stage for environmental activists to transform the Act into a deindustrialization mandate via litigation. The Murkowski resolution would nip all this mischief in the bud.
A strong case can be made that the EPA’s endangerment finding is scientifically flawed. However, the Murkowski resolution is a referendum not about climate science but about the constitutional propriety of the EPA exercising powers not delegated by Congress. The resolution would overturn the “legal force and effect” of the EPA’s endangerment finding, not the EPA’s scientific reasoning or conclusions.
Who should make climate policy–the people’s representatives or politically unaccountable bureaucrats, trial lawyers and unelected activist judges appointed for life? That is the sole question raised by the Murkowski resolution. The U.S. Constitution permits only one answer.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., warns that if the public has to wait for Congress to pass legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions, “that might not happen, in a year or two, or five or six or eight or 10.” Yes, but that is representative democracy. And the democratic process is more valuable than any result that the EPA might obtain by doing an end run around it. Of all people, U.S. senators should understand this basic precept of our constitutional system.
George Allen is a former U.S. senator and governor from Virginia. He is also chairman of the American Energy Freedom Center. Marlo Lewis is a senior fellow in environmental policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Cross-posted here.
A Summer of Rightful DiscontentSeptember 14, 2009
By George Allen
Op-ed
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
September 13, 2009
America is at its best when it is a land of equal opportunity for all. The United States of America should be a level playing field for everyone to achieve to the best of his or her talent, hard work, and creativity, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, or gender — a meritocracy.
Common sense — and indeed history — shows that people and countries prosper with the promotion of initiative, personal empowerment, and individual and family responsibility, rather than sapping dependence on a nanny government. Clearly, the best social program is a job.
America must be the world capital of innovation: the best place to live, learn, invest, work, and raise a family. We thrive and progress with a free marketplace of ideas and goods where the people decide who has the best service or products — rather than redistribution and fearful protectionism or bailouts for irresponsible enterprises.
My modern political hero, Ronald Reagan, once observed that “government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few, short phrases. If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.” Now, government has an expanded view of the economy: If it’s big and failing, invest in it. If it’s a government program, expand it.
No one likes to see a financial institution, auto manufacturer, or any business fail. It is heartbreaking to see people lose good-paying jobs in Virginia, Michigan, Missouri, or South Carolina.
However, if the people don’t want to buy certain makes of automobiles and if no one wants to buy stock in failing companies or take the high risk of lending them money, then why should the taxes of hardworking Americans — wondering at their kitchen table how to pay their bills — be given or loaned to businesses that are failing due to their own decisions? Our government was not created to be the lender or stock-purchaser of last resort. Read More »
America can’t overlook energy issuesSeptember 11, 2009
By: George Allen
September 11, 2009
The Politico
With all the consternation about government takeover of our health care decisions dominating the news, Americans must not overlook the issue with even more potential to negatively impact our lives: cap and trade.
I founded the American Energy Freedom Center because American energy policy is at a crossroads. We face a series of choices that will determine whether we promote affordable, abundant and reliable energy sources or those that are expensive, are imported and come with more costly government regulation. Unfortunately, the recently passed House cap-and-trade legislation sets us on the wrong course, one that will hurt families, jobs and the long-term competitiveness of American businesses.
The House approach starts from the faulty premise that we can act unilaterally with regard to the so-called global warming issue. American firms compete in international markets with companies in developing countries, and energy costs can determine success or failure. With lower wages, less environmental regulation and lower litigation liability costs in China, India and Brazil, we cannot afford to tie both our hands behind our back as we strive to retain good-paying manufacturing jobs.
A recent analysis by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that the House legislation would impose 347 new regulations and 1,060 new mandates on American companies. While our country is struggling to regain its economic footing, now is not the time to increase the regulatory cost burden on companies that we hope will hire more workers in the coming months. Read More »
China Knows Climate Deals Are RuinousJuly 17, 2009
By GEORGE ALLEN
Investor’s Business Daily
What in the world is happening? Almost one year to the day after the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace predicted “China’s economy will surpass that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by midcentury,” three ominous events may have been largely missed by the American people after the Independence Day holiday.
At a July 7 Senate hearing on the effect cap-and-trade would have on global carbon output without cooperation from China and India, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson declared, “U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels.”
On July 9, the Sierra Club issued a statement celebrating that 100 planned American coal power plants have been “defeated or abandoned.”
And then, on July 8, Fortune magazine released its annual ranking of the world’s 500 largest companies. The number of American companies on that list dropped to its lowest level since Fortune began its review.
The U.S. had 153 companies in 2008, but just 140 this year.
Let us know your thoughts on American energy. Comment below.
I’m sick and tired of dealing with the Arabs and making them rich. We need to disempower the oil cartels and put the environmentalists in their rightful place – away from the US and out of our business. If the environmentalists want to live somewhere that’s primitive and barely touched by humans, they can all move to some third world country. We have all the oil we need right here, so we need to quit sitting on our own resources and use them now.
what is the payback on wind turbines- without government participation?
Great interview with former Governor / Senator George Allen. Wish we still had his leadership in the U.S. Senate. This web site will be very useful as I track what the real and true cost of energy will be in the Commonwealth and to my family living in other states. If Cap and Tax becomes law, it will increase the cost of EVERYTHING for anything grown, produced, transported, sold and bought by the consumer. It will lead to the closure of more businesses and give us more unemployment. Virginians (and people from the other states) need to go back to the root of their beginnings and re-read the documents that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson wrote. Three simple words… “WE THE PEOPLE”. The ruling political class will hear from the people this November and next November if they continue spending and taxing us to death! If countries like China, India and other developing nations refuse to do anything to stop “so-called harmful” emmissions into the atmosphere, why should we? All this will do is transfer more and more jobs to these countries and further hurt the blue collar American worker. As an un-empoyed person stretching every dollar I have to provide for my family, I do not need another mis-guided policy passed by Washington which will further hamper my attempts to find a job and take care of my family.
why don”t we use cane sugar alcohol like brazil? We could adapt the average american auto for 200 dollars to accept this flex-fuel without driving up the price of corn – based products as well as meat related products. How about heat cingues (Concrete Islands) also known as cities. Return plundered land and property to it’s tree-laden and pristine appearence. At any -given minute of every hour , of every day, we have over 3000 airliners in the sky- carbon seeding at its best? The ten largest poluters in the world are not located in the U.S.A. – and yet WE must agree to cap and trade (taxes). We must educate the citizens to the true benefit of conservation without taxing them to oblivion.
Dear Governor Allen,
We have a technology that will certainly help with America’s energy future while combating climate change at the same time. Our patented liquid sorption technology captures 95% of the toxic pollutants from coal fired power plants, refineries, etc. Our technology now allows for the production of liquid fuels from COAL as presently the biggest drawback to this process is the incresed CO2 emissions which we can now capture. Our captured CO2 can also be used for the increased production of algae (Exxon) as an alternative fuel. Please visit our web page for additional details:
http://www.qdsciences.com Please feel free to contact me at any time to discuss our technology and how use of it will make “Cap and Trade” a mute point therby saving the American public alot of their hard earned money. Sincerely, Ray Corbett
Hi Former Governor Allen:
I was a Virginia citizen and voted for you.
As a geologist and environmentalist I have studied past environments and mechanisms concerning climate. As you know (I wish Al Gore, Pelosi, Obama, and the other liberals were also in the loop) the earth’s environment is cyclic (warming and cooling events). Based on the past and current information CO2 has almost nothing to do with Global temperatures. The models do not take into account, the Pacific Decadal Occilation (PDO), ADO, suns energy output, solar wind variations, cosmic ray interactions with low level cloud formation, negative feedback, and of course the greatest green house gas “Water Vapor.” So all of the models are completely wrong. We have been in a cooling phase since 2001. I can asure you that for the next 30 years we will be in a cooling phase. We may even approach a Dalton Minimum. We can expect crop failures, dryer west, wetter east, and colder temperatures for the next 30 years. I am with you for developing all of our energy sources. If CAP and Trade passes the Senate, the US will have major major problems (depression, collapse of the dollar, etc.).
Scott Bullock
George,
Scientists involved have indicated that the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), New Mexico, has operated for over 10 years with no toxic releases to the environment or personnel, while being a disposal site for some nuclear wastes. They also indicate that it has the potential capacity to store all of the nuclear waste humans could create in the next 10,000 years. Being located in a salt formation, the WIPP does not have the problems associated with the fissures at Yucca Mountain. If these claims are valid, the WIPP should have a prominent place in our expansion of Nuclear Energy generation plants.
I have contacted several Government Offices with either a reply that they are not chartered to consider the WIPP, or no onswer at all.
What say you?
Walt – Charlottesville
I believe we must seek energy independance if for no other reason than to denie the funds we currently send to our known enimies. While I understand this will require intrim plans but ultimately I believe we need to turn to technology like the Chevy Volt with triple digit gas milage. If we do not solve the gasoline consumption issue we will never be fuel independant.
Thank God somebody is finally trying to open some eyes.
Think for a moment, warming, whether a house or the world is caused by heat. Carbon and carbon dioxide do not PRODUCE heat. The producer of heat is the energy that the creator supplies to create and sustain what has been created and heat once here cannot escape because the earth, including its atmosphere, exist in a near perfect vacuum that prevents the transmission of heat except and unless in the form of photons.
Think for a moment, carbon is not some dirty evil thing. Carbon is the most heat stable of all atoms. Consider the diamond. Carbon does not make or absorb heat and is fundamental to creation and life. It is the “backbone” of most things including the transformation of energy for life’s processes. It is because carbon is so heat stable that it is residue of processes that involve combustion and oxidation. Actually, Oxygen is the active ingredient in those processes that release heat, not carbon.
Think for a moment. Carbon dioxide does not PRODUCE heat, it absorbs heat when its surroundings are hotter and it releases heat when its surroundings are cooler. Carbon dioxide is the creator’s temperature regulator. When it absorbs heat it causes cooling and when the temperature of the atmosphere (and carbon dioxide) is sufficiently cooled, the carbon dioxide is absorbed by and eventually sinks to the bottom of the oceans where it is converted back into a hydrocarbon compound. Consider this. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is dictated by the amount of heat (coming from the oxygen) it has absorbed from its surroundings (I. E.: the amount of cooling) so an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means that the creator’s process of global temperature regulation is working.
What has gone wrong with our ability to reason? We’ve become like dumb animals where a master decides everything even when and how to bred. Are we willing to allow a communal government of bureaucrats to spend billions on global temperature control, which our creator handled perfectly well for billions of years? The “cap and trade” legislation in the Senate must be defeated before the U. S. economy is wrecked.
A winning Energy Game Plan is excellent, so true.
Check out the “R&D Blog by Joe the Miner” on the WV Coal Association’s web site. There are many pages, accessible via links at the bottom of the first, fully documenting the science and technology that does exist, that has been and is being practiced, to both convert coal into liquid fuel AND to reclaim/recycle Carbon Dioxide, and convert it into liquid fuels, as well.
this was sent to me help me get the message out to Americans…
THIS IS QUITE THOUGHT-PROVOKING!
0A
About 6 months ago I was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest. This is out of context, but this is the actual question as asked. The host said to Forbes, “I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer, how much oil does theU.S. have in the ground.” Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, “more than all the Middle Eastput together.” Please read below.
The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April (‘08) that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It was a revised report (hadn’t been updated since ‘95) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota ; western South Dakota ; and extreme eastern Montana ….. check THIS out:
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska ’s Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of t he oil is recoverable… at $107 a barrel, we’re looking at a resource base worth more tha n $5.3 trillion.
‘When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea..’ says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature’s financial analyst.
‘This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years’ reports, The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It’s a formation known as theWilliston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the ‘Bakken.’ And it stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada . For years, U. S.oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the ‘Big Oil’ companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken’s massive reserves…. and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!
That’s enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight.
=0 A
2. And if THAT didn’t throw you on the floor, then this next one should – because it’s from TWO YEARS AGO!
U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World!
Stansberry Report Online – 4/20/2006
Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?
They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth… Here are the official estimates:
0A
- 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
- 18-times as much oil as Iraq
- 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
- 22-times as much oil as Iran
-20500-times as much oil as Yemen
- and it’s all right here in the Western United States .
HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy…..WHY?
&nbs p;
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we’ve got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That’s more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post..
Don’t think ‘OPEC’ will drop its price – even with this find? Think again! It’s all about the competitive marketplace, – it has to. Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?
Got your attention/ire up yet? Hope so! Now, while you’re thinking about it …. and hopefully P.O’d, do this:
3. Pass this along. If you don’t take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you want to complain about gas prices— because by doing NOTHING, you’ve forfeited your right to complain
——–
Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book..
By the way…this is all true. Check it out at the link below!!!
GOOGLE it or follow this link. It will blow your mind……..>GREG
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
I support Nuclear power, off shore drilling,
use of natural gas.
I support Coal, Nuclear power, off shore drilling and drilling in Anwar
Drill here, now,oil and gas. Stop making ethanol,a net loss in fuel to build w no pipelines,fuel to move it to blend site,import phosphates,poor heat value,upset world grain markets during famines.Solar,wind,tides,sure,but years away.Research clean coal burning and make our #1 energy self-sufficiency,not unproven pipedreams on carbon footprints while ruining our economy, LOSING jobs instead of creating them thru research and new production.
Our energy choices need to be “All of the above.” Let’s free the marketplace to give us the cleanest, most efficient source to meet our economic needs.
Most rational people are all for the untapped and seemingly abundant energy this country can produce on its own. Oil reserves (costly to tap into but enormous), nuclear (clean and efficient), natural gas (we have lots of it). The downside in a global economy is the fall back position of the middle east producers if the world no longer wants their black ‘puddles’. On the other hand, they may perhaps do something constructive instead of wasting time warring.
It would take more than a comment considering what a mess the US is in with regard to energy initiatives and current policy emanating from the Obama administration. First Cap and Trade would be disastrous for the coal and gas states; I am pro nuclear energy, water and wind, hydroelectricity, generating huge amounts of electricty, off shore drilling can be started however the ability to actually use the oil and convert into usable energy is a huge question, where to store it safely on the East coast, subject to weather like the N.O. Coast. What happened to the Alaskan pipeline ,, I could go on.. the last thing we need is an energy Czar from the Obama administration, perhaps we can just hold out until a new “competent” administratin is put into place, all for now ..
The United States is blessed with abundant
resources if permitted to access them To fail
to do so is the height of irresponsibility.
And, if pollution free energy production is truly
desired, the barriers against Nuclear energy
must be removed. Failure to do so defeats the
very stated objectives.
We must develop ALL our energy resources in the continental US immediately to stop the hemorraging of our money into the middle east increasing our deficet and enriching the economies of muslim states who wish us great harm. Our business and economy are suffering just as the average working citizen is suffering from the high cost of energy. We can not afford ever higher taxes on fuel and energy to heat our homes or fuel for transport for work. The Bakken oil discovry must be developed now as well as solar, wind, coal, natural gas, and nuclear power. This must be done immediately to provide jobs and resusitate our economy.
I would submit that it long past time for us to increase domestic oil production. Drill ANWR now, and let’s start working toward getting it in the pipeline. There’s no logical reason not to do so. We can easily be energy independant in five to ten years, if the right incentives are given to our energy producers.
As for so called green energy, the best thing the government can do is get out of the way. As fossil fuels become scarce the energy companies will then begin to concentrate their efforts toward these alternative sources. Supply and demand, it’s worked for hundreds of years in this country, and it will continue to do so. The feds need to simply to do what they do best; NOTHING.
I am sure there is enough arm twisting on all sides to go around. However, I undertand that countries such as Russia is taking advantage of their energy sources in their Artic regions. Understanding how Russia uses natural resources such as natural gas to manipulate former satellites, i.e. Ukraine and even Estonia, I believe the United States Government is now threatening their own people with high prices to control them with cap and trade.
We have the resources and the technology to save ourselves from slavery to the countries who hate us. Keep up the good work.
Dianne Altizer, President
Tazewell Subchapter
10th Amendment Foundation
I think we should tap into our own resorces and at the same time develope new ones. The current government wants to do one without the other which is not very practical and will put this country into financial peril.
We should do everything we can to produce energy in the U.S. This includes more nuclear plants (France proved this works well) and more drilling for oil and gas.
The cap and trade legislation proposed is based on faulty science -this will cause massive unemployment for U.S. citizens. Other countries will cheat, just as they have on trade treaties.
Whatever America needs to be strong and independent of foreign powers America Must do –Drill, Explore, Experiment with New Sources of Energy — all of them– we must go after with all haste. Along the way, we must be careful not to take for granted our resources or our environment.
The Cap & Trade bill is just a portion of a much larger agenda. It allegedly aims at saving the planet and it’s inhabitants from destruction. However, it’s reason for existing is based on deliberately constructed lies. It is one segment of a series of proposals by the Socialist elite to save us from ourselves via a bloodless coup.
It’s very easy to get caught up in the words we hear called the content and to miss the reason they are spoken, which is the context they are generated from. For example, we can be involved in an emotional subject like abortion and not see the massive takeover capacity of the healthcare bill to control so many important aspects of our lives and one-sixth or more of our financial futures.
To paraphrase Stephen Covey, “We have complete control over what choices we make and we have no conrol over the consequences they carry within them.”
One vital component is completely missing in all these Socialistic proposals and that is integrity. Without it all efforts no matter how grandly conceived or majestically presented will ultimately fail as history so aptly reveals again and again. So when people of low or missing integrity speak, “it’s never about what it’s about.
Almost everyone knows the quote ending in “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” If power tends toward currupting people, what can we expect from a group of politicians coming into powerful positions who were already corrupted?
The Founders studied the governments that preceded them. They struggled to create a government that would avoid the majority of the many pitfalls that exist. They started this extraordinary experiment by declaring, “We the People” instead of “We the Politicians.” They knew what they were doing by insisting that the power be vested in the people and the purpose of the government was to serve the people with integrity.
Eckhart Tolle described the Universe’s fundamental nature by saying, “Everything is crumbling. The mountains are crumbling, you and I are crumbling, our systems are crumbling.” Ideas like freedom, honesty, responsibility and truth do not have a life of their own. Someone must speak of them out loud and take a personal stand for them or they simply dissapear.
We have energy sources to utilize in this country — let’s do it! On another note, George Allen is STILL a true patriot. Virginia needs you — perhaps you will run again in a few years after our current president sets us back like Jimmy Carter did years ago. Thanks for your service!
Dear Governor Allen,
I am appalled by the audacity of the EPA officials declaring the very air we breathe as toxic to life. It is as if truth does not matter in any realm of government today–only the implementation of an agenda to take control of all aspects of life in the US and around the world. Much of what they propose will in fact be detrimental to life on earth in real ways that “too much” carbon dioxide will not. Their use of preemptory acts such as this in order to have leverage to pass legislation they know is opposed by the population and even most in Congress should be considered a criminal act. We cannot and must not accept lies as truth just because a bureaucrat declares it is so.
Donna Lauderdale
The GlobaL Warming hype is just another contrived “crisis” to be used to take control of our country by socialists/communists who desire to control the entire world. A hacker released evidence of falsified data and conspiracy by “scientists” desperate to perpetrate this fraud. Both China and India have stated they will not sign this treaty. Why? They don’t want their economies harmed! Why should the US economy be ruined further? Al Gore preaches about the “inconvenient truth” of global warming. However, the inconvenient truth is that Al Gore has invested with an investment firm that has invested almost a billion in “Green industries” and will profit heavily from this if signed. Al Gore had about $2 million when he left office in 2001 but now reportedly has about $100 million in assets. Talk about going green!
American energy needs a significant alternative for betterment of our future generation. To be able to revamp our economy we should come up with such a solution that is going to be a safe for our children and we keep our soberness around the globe. The existing system may not be able to keep us in #1 status therefore we need to do enough due diligence and come up with alternative American energy that can be sold to the rest of the world instead of import to balance our budget under your leadership.
Thank you.
I sent this to Michael Steele and wanted to let you have a copy….Rindy and I look forward to helping you as needed in the coming months…Best Wishes !
GOOD MORNING MICHAEL !
As you know, the tide is turning our way more every day with the strong-arm actions of the Dems. HOWEVER, the talk here in my part of Virginia…and I suspect nationwide….is still strong dissatisfaction with the current positions of the RNC….still too much of a big government…good ole’ boy network….and I agree.
LISTEN TO THE CONSERVATIVE TEA PARTY ACTIVISTS…Those who have spent their own time and moneys to come to rallys both in DC and around the nation! ….WE WANT A RETURN TO THE REAGAN CONSTITUTIONAL APPROACH TO GOVERNMENT !!! and right now only a few are understanding this….like Sen. Jim DeMint. That is why you all are seeing more 3rd party “independent” candidates coming to the forefront …because the RNC won’t bring itself to change its big government ways. There is HUGE FRUSTRATION in my area against the RNC from Republicans and I don’t think you all are getting…AND LISTENING…to the message….Please get out of DC and understand the true mood of the country….WE CAN SWEEP VIRTUALLY EVERY RACE IN 2010 !! IF YOU ALL CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE ….WE’LL ATTRACT HUGE NUMBERS OF SO-CALLED “INDEPENDENT” VOTERS WHO ARE REALLY SEARCHING FOR A HOME…IF WE MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SECURE THEM INTO OUR FOLD….IT WILL BE A MAJOR MISTAKE.
PLEASE LISTEN TO US !!….I AM ALMOST 70 YEARS OLD AND HAVE BEEN INVOLVED BEHIND THE SCENES IN REPUBLICAN ISSUES FOR MY WHOLE LIFE….OUR PARTY MUST HAVE THE COURAGE…AND CONVICTION TO CHANGE BACK TO OUR CORE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPALS….I AM SURE IF WE DO….WE WILL SEND THE DEMS A MESSAGE BY OUR UNBELIEVEABLE VICTORYS IN 2010 THAT WILL SCARE THE HELL OUT OF THEM FOR 2012….I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF THEY DON’T DUMP OBAMA AFTER HIS 4 DISASTROUS LIBERAL YEARS ! IT CAN BE DONE…BUT WE MUST LISTEN TO THE TEA PARTY PEOPLE…THEY SPEAK FOR MILLIONS OF US !
I believe our country could be in a major recovery and moving forward a flank speed if we would focus on all resources for energy independence. We must back the EPA off and get the American people educated about the incredible progress we have made on safety in those areas of extraction, movement and usage. Television is our worst enemy and our greatest tool. We must try to educate the young people via this medium.
I believe that our loving creator would not have given us all the oil, gas and coal if it would suddenly be gone because we were using what he has given us. I also believe that these sources of energy do renew themselves, because there is no way the only oil was from animals dying and rotting.
Keep up the work.
Push for the French model of recycling spent nuclear rods, a potential key to more nuclear power
There needs to be L.P. tanks at every gas station so we have an alternative to run our vehicles on natural gas. Conversion in the vehicles is fast and cheap. Why no progress on this front? We have the resources. JUST DO IT! and stop supporting terroism against us. Let the Arabs drink their oil.
Drill Here Drill Now. We have lots of oil and natural gas here in this country. This will create jobs and stimulate our economy and energy independence which everyone wants. While we are using our own resources we can be looking for renewable energy.
All this gore talk and poetry about our sick planet is so absurd and lacks credibility.
Weather and climate will always change from year to year, century to century. The world won’t end until everyone hears the Gospel and has a chance to respond to that. When that happens and then we will know the end is near it won’t be green house gas that brings an end to this planet, but man’s rejection of Jesus Christ and not conforming to the plans and purposes of God for our lives.
GOD BLESS AMERICA, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, AND IN GOD WE TRUST! Global climate gate you bet! We are good stewards of what God hs bestowed upon us and we will continue to improve. A legal attempt to fleece the american people and others. THANK YOU LORD FOR WHAT YOU HAVE BESTOWED UPON US. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Global Warming is another scam for government to raises taxes and for wall street to make money selling air. Total scam
Global Warming is a scam to penalize the ordinary citizen
Ronnie
Please run again!
-I along with the majority 0f West Virginians and US citizens are outraged with the Cap &Trade bill that is being considered-It need to be defeated-It can only destroy america as we know it-Economically it will destoy our way of life in this country as we know it-We hope that voters take note and vote out of office any member of congress who votes for this terrible bill.Thank you
I think Al Gore needs to invest in some really speedy running shoes! I keep wondering if he can be prosecuted for perpetrating a fraud upon the American people. He’s a liar. I’m sick about the damage he has done to how Americans are viewed in the world.
I favor former Governor Palin’s energy ideas. Clean coal, natural gas and start drilling for oil of our own. And certainly the United States of America owes NO ONE money for the agreements drawn up in Copenhagen. I did not agree to this use of tax dollars. Who did Obama think he was up there promising away our dollars for unsubstantiated carbon footprints. Here’s a footprint up your behind sir.
Drill Baby Drill.
Grief – we are being scared over every little
thing from Tsunami, schools lock down, climate, ’severe’ weather every time it rains
This is manipulation city. Yet we hear little
about the real problems- like why health costs go up and up but nobody explains what the causes are. Or why the Credit Default Swap market increased by 500 times in 10 years.
Also, for intermittent energy – it might make
more sense to bring the work to where the
windmills are than trying to connect them to
the grid, and ditto for solar.