Seriously, why did CNBC even bother reporting this, let alone make it a ‘BREAKING’ story? “President Barack Obama will propose a $10 per barrel charge on oil to fund clean transportation projects as part of his final budget request next week, the White House said Thursday.” I’m sure that Obama would like a pony, too. Heck, THAT Congress might give him. Shoot, I’d sign off on giving the President a whole horse show if he’d just play with it until his term is up and left policy to people who understand the basic concept…
Tag: oil
Susan Rice’s Iranian oil connection? …And Canadian oil connection?
…And, well, there’s a lot, really.
Well, well, well. It turns out that UN Ambassador and prospective Secretary of State nominee Susan Rice (she’s a multimillionaire, by the way) has some rather interesting financial ties to numerous foreign energy companies that still do business with that oppressive, misogynistic, homophobic, and downright barking mad insane regime currently controlling Iran. The most interesting one of those is Royal Dutch Shell, which has about a billion dollars’ worth of interest (literally) in getting Iran’s sanctions lifted; Rice has also invested in at least two other companies that are operating in Iran against the wishes of pretty much most of the West.
Hmm. Let’s scroll through some of her other investments:
- Transcanada ($300-600K). Keystone Pipeline company. Wonder whether the Greenies are comfortable about that? Spoiler warning: no.
- Monsanto (10-50K). Agricultural conglomerate that works with genetically engineered food. Wonder if the Greenies are comfortable about that?
- Walmart ($50-100K). …If you haven’t figured out by now that Big Labor is gunning for Walmart, then… Big Labor is gunning for Walmart.
- Ishares Silver Trust ($100-250K), Newmont Mining Corp ($100-250K). Metal mining companies. Hey, guess who has even more of a vested interest than usual in making sure that the government keeps the current capital gains and dividends tax rates? Metal mining companies!
Continue reading Susan Rice’s Iranian oil connection? …And Canadian oil connection?
#rsrh Bill Nelson (D, FL) tries to sell out Barack Obama over gas prices.
(Via Instapundit) Don’t get your hopes up; the goofball Senator goofball thinks that the problem is that the administration isn’t hands-on enough when it comes to regulating away all those obscene gas profits*. Still, Bill Nelson is criticizing an administration that doesn’t like being criticized… which tells you quite a bit on how shaky Florida must be seeming to the Democrats these days.
Also, this bit from the article is entertaining, for possibly obscure reasons:
Continue reading #rsrh Bill Nelson (D, FL) tries to sell out Barack Obama over gas prices.
Obama takes Argentina’s side in Falklands dispute.
Ahem. “It’s all because of the oil.”
Ed Morrissey and Fausta are both not getting why the President is taking the side of Argentina (thus sharing a podium with that noted beacon of freedom, tolerance, and capitalism known as Venezuela) in its perennial attempts to get the United Kingdom to give up the Falkland Islands. It’s not just that we’re signed on to the OAS declaration demanding that the British negotiate on the question of giving up territory that doesn’t want to be given up; we’re even endorsing Argentina’s blustering insistence on calling the islands by the prior name. All in all, this is a fairly significant change: the question is, why?
The answer is in two parts, both of them easy to grasp: first, President Obama doesn’t particularly like the British. It’s largely a racial thing, alas: the President’s grandfather had personal issues with the British colonial government, and the President has never really forgiven them for it*. Second, and probably more importantly (for Obama, at least**): Argentina will probably offer the President a better deal for the Falklands’ resources. And before you say “What, sheep?” …nope. Oil. It’s confirmed now that there’s oil there.
See? Easy to understand: President Obama hates one side, and the other side will be happy to kiss up to to the President in exchange for the opportunity to get a hold of several billion dollars’ worth of oil revenue. If you have the kind of mind that the President does, it’s practically a no-brainer… which I suppose could also describe my reaction to this, if not in the way that the term is usually used… Continue reading Obama takes Argentina’s side in Falklands dispute.
Meet the sand dune lizard.
Cute little guy, isn’t he?
Well, for a lizard. He’s also known as the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard; this endearing little critter is native to the American Southwest. Specifically, eastern New Mexico and West Texas. This is what the lizard’s preferred habitat looks like:
Notice what’s missing? Oil derricks. You see, the favored habitat of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard also happens to be a favored habitat of the Domestic Production Crude Oil Rig: the US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to declare the former to be an endangered species, and you know just how this story ends, right? Continue reading Meet the sand dune lizard.
Barack Obama on US Military: available for “being volunteered by others.”
The technical term for this is ‘mercenary free company.’
I believe that this qualifies as a “Kinsley gaffe:” which is to say, a politician accidentally telling the truth. Background: this was from a press conference where the President was trying to explain why his foreign policy was such an improvement over georgewbushgeorgewbushgeorgewbush’s, despite the fact that it lacks a coherent conceptual framework, an overall philosophy, a clear set of objectives, and any sort of domestic input and/or oversight. But it has the French on-board, so that’s good! We’re much better when we permit other countries to get to move our soldiers around on the geopolitical board.
NO. REALLY. That’s what he said.
…that’s why building this international coalition has been so important because it means that the United States is not bearing all the cost. It means that we have confidence that we are not going in alone, and it is our military that is being volunteered by others to carry out missions that are important not only to us, but are important internationally.
Bolding mine, and screencap here. See Ed Driscoll and Ed Morrissey for more; it is only by their good example that I am restraining myself from lapsing into some fairly vile profanity over this.
Continue reading Barack Obama on US Military: available for “being volunteered by others.”