A bold new energy plan

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  January 18th at 07:47 PM  | 

Sarah Palin is receiving praise from some unusual quarters lately. Some environmental groups are saying positive things about the conservative governor’s announcement of her statewide energy plan, which proposes that 50 percent of Alaska’s power be produced from renewable resources by 2025. Pat Lavin of the National Wildlife Federation described the governor’s announcement as “a defining moment in Alaska’s history.” Alaska Conservation Alliance director Kate Troll characterized | Read More »

Make a watermelon explode tonight

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  December 31st at 09:57 PM  | 

One of the few things I miss about television since I gave up my set was watching R. Lee Ermry make watermelons explode on The History Channel. On  his “Mail Call” series and a number of special programs, the Gunnery Sgt.’s favorite pastime is trying out all sorts of firearms from flintlocks to the latest rifles being evaluated as possible replacements for the M16. And | Read More »

Important energy find in Palin’s Alaska

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  November 14th at 12:20 PM  | 

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, it’s gas hydrate, natural gas in a frozen state. And it’s under the North Slope in abundance – 85.4 trillion cubic feet of frozen natural gas crystals. To put the new find in perspective, the total estimated U.S. reserves of conventional (gaseous) natural gas sources is just 30 trillion cubic feet. We’re talking about a domestic energy bonanza here, | Read More »

Chill, Baby, Chill

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  October 28th at 04:04 PM  | 

The familiar refrain of “Drill, baby, drill” has become a rallying cheer at all John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign events. It puts an exclamation mark on the GOP ticket’s all-of-the-above energy policy. That policy calls for tapping all of America’s bountiful energy resources, including renewables and other alternatives. When McCain and Palin make appearances in the coal belt of the eastern states, the mantra | Read More »

The Beauty of Sarah Palin

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  August 17th at 07:28 PM  | 

I’m not talking about the mere physical attractiveness of Alaska’s governor, though she has been blessed with an abundance of that gift. Palin was a competitor in the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant after being named Miss Wasilla earlier that year, where she also won Miss Congeniality honors. No, what I’m dicussing here is beauty in the political sense – as in the beauty of | Read More »

Drill for National Security

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  August 13th at 11:44 AM  | 

The opponents of increased domestic drilling complain that it will take too many years before the oil it produces will get to market, and that it will make very little difference in the price of gasoline at the pump. Both arguments are totally without merit, as I have shown here, here and here. But let’s forget all that for the moment. Though high prices at | Read More »

T. Boone Gore?

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  July 21st at 07:37 AM  | 

What’s gotten into T. Boone Pickens? Apparently, a lot of wind and gas. Anyone who has watched any amount of cable television lately has seen his commercial, which concludes: “I’ve been an oil man my life, but this is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of. I have a plan…” Not only does he have a plan, but Pickens also has a flair | Read More »

Debunking the latest liberal myth

By: Josh Painter (Diary)  |  July 19th at 02:29 PM  | 

Liberal myths often quickly become talking points for the Democrats, and even as conservatives punch holes in them, the Left simply patches them up and floats them again. Such is the case with the latest liberal myth/Democrat talking point – that oil companies aren’t drilling on the lands they currently hold: “Big Oil is more interested in pumping up prices and pumping up their own | Read More »