Now that the celebrations are over since we “took back” the House of Representatives a stark new reality is taking place in Congress. Rather than cede the “Lame Duck” session the progressives (both Republicans and Democrats) have decided to try to run the table and pass all sorts of legislation. Unfortunately extending the “Bush” tax cuts seems to be pretty low on the legislative agenda.
Those living in Western Pennsylvania have been the object of a blitzkrieg of advertising about gas. More specifically a very deep natural gas pocket found in the Marcellus Shale Formation. Some estimates put the volume of gas in the formation at 500 TRILLION cubic feet which has fostered a great deal of interest in drilling this formation which is concentrated in the West Virginia-Pennsylvania-New York areas. West Virginia and Pennsylvania seem to have the greatest potential. Capture of this gas found in very deep geologic formations is not without significant costs and risks to both the drillers and the environment. I would rather focus on the financial part, but did not want to overlook this issue.
Synonyms: doubt, mistrust, suspicion
What does W think?
“If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch.”
George W. Bush
Can you give an example?
Blowback on windmills was the headline that caught my eye in the “letters” section of Pittsburgh’s Tribune Review. The letter was from Sarah Howell, the vice president, public affairs, for the American Wind Energy Association. Ms. Howell’s response to the original article titled The Windmill Sham was understandable given her position advocating windmills.
The original editorial piece was critical of the number of jobs created by government subsidies of the alternative energy industry. The author made the mistake of siting actual data from the Spanish government showing that the actual cost of each new job was around $333,333.00. Of course the response from the wind folks touted how many jobs were created because of government support/subsidy of the industry.
Sorry this is not a baseball post. Those of us living in Pittsburgh with the hapless Pirates; holders of the longest losing streak of all professional sports (17 years and counting) don’t talk about much about professional baseball. Our president gave his first pitch at a State of the Union speech and apparently did not hit the strike zone. I confess to not watching as I could not bear to see Ms. Pelosi popping up every 30 seconds, Obama’s use of the words “I” or “me” a gazillion times or his unusual speech pattern whistling his S’s. The fact that he is on television every 17 hours giving a speech did not weigh in his favor either. I played tennis on our Wii (I achieved “Pro” status during his speech).
About a year ago I was asked to participate on a committee (I know yikes a committee) from our local school district. The idea was to pull together the community to work with district personnel to better prepare students for college and working life. Our district has an outstanding track record in academics and that is one of the main reasons that we moved here long before we had children of school age. At one of the first meetings we brainstormed about topics where more emphasis was needed to better prepare our children.
As a follow up to my Earth Day posting I would like to address some of the environmental issues that are frequently in the news. A common thread of the news seems to be that the solutions are simple “if we spent enough money to promote” whatever solution is being purported.
Take wind power as an example. I participate in some school presentations as part of my job and I talk about energy. Invariably solar, wind, or hydropower comes up as part of the discussions. Most students are taught or at least exposed to the benefits of these renewable sources of energy. We need to build more windmills.
