ivoteamerica

By Alan Caruba.

What kind of government deliberately denies its citizens access to the energy they need to live, to conduct business, to transport goods, to travel, and to just turn on the lights? Answer: The United States of America.

In a letter to members of the G-20, the finance ministers and central bankers of leading industrial nations, President Obama said, “We should make sustained effort to carry through with our groundbreaking Pittsburgh commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.”

The result of such action would give international energy companies in other nations a large competitive advantage while penalizing U.S. oil and natural gas companies.

As Dr. Richard Swier noted recently, “In the U.S., support for the oil and gas industry is largely about investment depreciation rules which are available to many industries.” Energy companies routinely put huge amounts of money at risk to explore, discover, and extract the so-called fossil fuels. Take away the subsidies and the cost of all energy use in the U.S. goes up.

Meanwhile, CNN Money reported on November 12 that “President Obama lifted his moratorium on deepwater oil drilling nearly a month ago, but the government still hasn’t issued any new permits in the Gulf of Mexico. And most analysts say permits will be slow in coming through 2011.” (emphasis added)

Some Good News and Some Bad News

This is great news for Saudi Arabia and bad news for Americans who think we should be accessing our own vast oil reserves. This failure to revive the oil drilling industry in the Gulf comes at a time when the price of a barrel of oil is rising while leaving thousands of oil industry workers in the Gulf States out of work.
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Every time you see some product being sold as “Green”, allegedly safer or beneficial for the environment, you can be sure that it is more expensive than a comparable product that does the same thing without making this claim.

Everything you eat, drink, wear or use begins as a “natural” product. It is absurd to think that calling it “Green” improves it in any fashion. Countless inspections before anything reaches the marketplace ensure product safety. To put it another way, a carrot is a carrot is a carrot.

Recently I received a news release from a public relations firm touting clients selling Green products such as “Parsley Plus All-Purpose Cleaner”, along with “stylish organic bed linens, “natural and organic clothing”, a “99.6% natural line” of shampoos, and, “100% Bamboo towels.”
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New York Times columnist and author Thomas L. Friedman’s latest work will turn heads as much as his former work, The World is Flat, perhaps more.

“Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America,” addresses what Friedman calls a “perfect storm” consisting of global warming (Hot), the rise of the consuming middle class in third world countries that will compete with the United States for energy (Flat) and world population growth to 12 billion people (Crowded) that will set up five factors that will determine America’s future.

Friedman is fair in his analysis, spelling out how America can benefit from what her calls the convergence of hot, flat and crowded. Friedman is actually optimistic and practical, setting forth suggestions with respect to renewable energy as a economic boost to our economy.

Liberal, conservative or middle, iVoteAmerica believes there’s something here for everyone.

Watch the three videos below (Friedman himself).

Buy and read the book.

Post your amazing comments! Is Friedman engaging in hyper politics and fear or is his analysis credible?

Watch Part Two.
Watch Part Three.

John McCain could be about ready to once again demonstrate his “unconventional” and “maverick” style. Early reports indicate that he will tap Sarah Palin, first term Governor of Alaska as his Vice Presidential candidate and running mate.

Mitt Romney…out. Mike Huckabee…out. Tim Pawlenty…out. Tom Ridge…out. Joe Lieberman…out. Meg Whitman…out.

Sarah Palin the popular conservative Governor of Alaska will, if selected, be one of the biggest surprises of the campaign to date. Palin pledged to clean up the polluted world of politics in Alaska if elected Governor. She is pro-life and the mother of five children.

Sarah and husband Todd have five children: Track, 19, Trig, 4 months and daughters Bristol, 17, Willow, 13, and Piper, 7. Track Palin joined the Army and reportedly will be sent to Iraq on or about September 11.

But does she have the timber to be Vice President or much more, President of the United States?

She is pro business and signed a bill on August 27, 2008 (two days ago!) authorizing the state of Alaska to approve TransCanada Corporation’s license request to build a $27 billion pipeline to carry natural gas 1,715- miles from the Arctic to U.S. markets.

iVoteAmerica believes that if Palin is the VP Nominee, her energy positions will be hailed by Republicans and scrutinized by Democrats. We also believe that this move, if proven true this morning will be a coup for the McCain campaign and a brilliant selection because it accomplishes many things by nominating a conservative, a woman, a Governor, a pro-life person and a pro-energy innovator.

More coming from Dayton, Ohio as John McCain prepares to name his VP Candidate today, Friday, August 29, 2008 at 12 noon ET.