The Truth About Gas Prices, cont...

March 5th, 2012

As the "conservative" media continues to push last month's RNC talking points, rational actors keep pushing back by stating what are commonly known as facts. I harped on this HERE recently.

Today, the NY Times editors state it plainly:

"There are lots of reasons for the rise in gas prices, but the lack of American production is not one of them. Domestic crude oil production is actually up from 5.4 million barrels a day in 2004 to 5.59 million now; imports have dropped by more than 10 percent in the same period. Despite a temporary slowdown in exploration in the Gulf of Mexico after the BP oil disaster, the number of rigs in American oil fields has quadrupled over three years. There have been new discoveries and the administration has promised to open up more offshore reserves. To say that Mr. Obama has denied industry access is nonsense.

Equally nonsensical is the Republican claim that Mr. Obama’s proposed repeal of $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the oil and gas industry — whose five biggest players posted $137 billion in profits last year — would drive prices upward. As is Newt Gingrich’s claim that a proposal now taking shape in the Environmental Protection Agency, and fiercely opposed by refiners, to lower the sulfur content in gasoline would add 25 cents to the cost of a gallon. Agency experts say it would add about a penny.

The truth is that oil prices are set on world markets by forces largely beyond America’s control."

Sen Sanders is leading the fight against unbridled speculation HERE.

The GOP War On Just About Everybody

Oct 14th, 2011

It took less than a day for the GOP to truly distinguish itself as one of most reactionary and dangerous forces ever to confront our country. Facts don't matter. Science doesn't matter. The health and welfare of most other Americans doesn't matter.

Photo by Declan McCullagh 

First, they passed the "let women die" bill yesterday. This unprecedented (until this year) assault on women's rights, health and actual safety, gives any hospital the privilege of denying an abortive procedure on moral grounds in all instances. Even if the pregnancy is nonviable and not performing one will kill the pregnant woman, the house GOP unanimously endorsed allowing refusal of care.

Worth 1,000 Words

Aug 24th, 2011

Freedom means means having food tasters... or something. via

It Costs Us MORE To Pollute

Jun 10th, 2011

Imagine being able to prevent 300,000 American sick days annually. That is nearly 2 1/2 million hours of American labor. Think how much this costs in terms of productivity, strength and stability for everyone from the standalone shops to the large corporations. Now, imagine fighting not to do so.

As Republicans continue their campaign to gut the major EPA accomplishments and proposals of the Obama Administration, Isaac Shapiro has published a detailed cost-benefit analysis of these regulations. It is increasingly clear that the conservative position is not merely anti-science or even anti-health... it's bad for business.

From Shapiro's Economic Policy Institute paper:
"Two broad conclusions emerge from this analysis. First, the dollar value of the benefits of the major rules finalized or proposed by the EPA so far during the Obama administration exceeds the rules’ costs by an exceptionally wide margin. Health benefits in terms of lives saved and illnesses avoided will be enormous. Expressed in 2010 dollars:

The combined annual benefits from all final rules exceed their costs by $32 billion to $142 billion a year. The benefit/cost ratio ranges from 4-to-1 to 22-to-1.

The combined annual benefits from four proposed rules examined here exceed their costs by $160 billion to $440 billion a year. The benefit/cost ratio ranges from 12-to-1 to 32-to-1."

One dramatic section deals explicitly with the regulations proposed but not yet in place.

Click Image To Enlarge

In light of Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK) bringing the "TRAIN Act" to the floor of the house, the EPI numbers deserve some attention. 

The Great Climate Change Distraction, part 3

Feb 17th, 2011

First, I stipulated that the debate over climate change was actually a tool that benefits polluters. The next day, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) lent vulgar credence to my thesis. Today, I argue with humor.

Copyright © Joel Pett 2011 

The Great Climate Change Distraction, cont...

Feb 10th, 2011

by F. Grey Parker

Yesterday, I published a piece arguing that the climate change "debate" has effectively neutered the environmental movement. 

We aren't talking about childhood leukemia and it's links to air pollution anymore. We aren't discussing industrial toxins and their direct correlation to neurodevelopmental disease. Instead, we are listening to Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) calling global warming a "hoax" and not only arguing against EPA regulations on that basis but hyping his new book on the subject before a house subcommittee.

From Tulsa World:

"I won’t tell you what it’s about, but the name of the book is 'The Hoax,'?" he said during testimony before a House subcommittee. 

"I did finish it last week." 

Just five days ago, the findings of yet another study proving a correlation between airborne toxins and childhood respiratory illnesses was published. 

From Environmental Technology:

"Childhood exposure to air pollution, particularly during pregnancy and in the first year of life, has been positively linked to the development of asthma by scientists in Canada."

The GOP doesn't care. More importantly, they have ensured that we don't publicly review the findings because the "climate" arguments take all of our time.

More from Tulsa World:

"Inhofe and House Republicans on the subcommittee focused on what they consider the enormous costs of EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse emissions, the jobs that could be lost and the questions that, in their view, continue to surround climate change science. 

Science is mixed, Inhofe said, but the economic impact is not."

As we all have now been trained like obedient little poodles to obey them when they start down this path, we followed the Republicans again into the trap of not discussing any other possible reasons for slowing the steady and intentional poisoning of ourselves.

The Great Climate Change Distraction

Feb 9th, 2011

by F. Grey Parker

The GOP continues to make good on it's promise to gut the Environmental Protection Agency and hopefully cripple and defund The Clean Air Act. There is every reason to believe they will succeed and it's because of semantics, not science.

Quote Of The Day

Feb 2nd, 2011

"In America today you can murder land for private profit.  You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the cops." -- Paul Brooks