1. Barack Obama’s Energy Policy: Unicorn Farts as the Fuel of Tomorrow

2. Flashback to 2009: Administration Policies Sought to Discourage ‘Overproduction’ of Oil

3. ‘Intellectual Bankruptcy’, Dr. Krugman?

1. Barack Obama’s Energy Policy: Unicorn Farts as the Fuel of Tomorrow

On Friday, the President of the United States accused his Republican opponents of being members of the Flat Earth Society because of their demands that the nation increase drilling.In no small bit of irony, the President who bitterly lamented the rise of ATM’s and internet travel options accused the GOP of wanting to bitterly cling to the past.But what of Barack Obama’s energy policy? He likes to tout wind and solar technologies and batteries, but it seems while he accuses the GOP of being flat earthers, the reality is that the President is himself anti-science when it comes to the reality of domestic energy needs.His solution to fueling our cars amounts to using unicorn farts as gas — which has just as much a chance of happening as the mythic battery powered cross country run.The facts are pretty simple. As a matter of both science and reality, battery technology is neither good enough nor cheap enough to supply American needs relating to transportation. Even were there batteries available for vehicles, the cost of conversion for the tens of millions of cars on the road right now would be cost prohibitive and increasing fuel standards, resulting in smaller and smaller cars, penalize families. Try piling a family of four in a Prius for a trip to grand mom’s house for Spring Break. The luggage and leg room will make for an exciting time.Even beyond the family car, a battery will not put an 18 wheeler on the road, a 747 in the air, or a locomotive on its rails. Americans depend on crude oil right now and in the future. To cling to the hope of a battery that can meet American automotive needs is anti-science and as realistic as fueling our future with unicorn farts. Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Flashback to 2009: Administration Policies Sought to Discourage ‘Overproduction’ of Oil

In May 2009, four months into the Obama presidency, retail gasoline prices averaged $2.32 per gallon. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) wrote Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to express concern about the impact that the Administration’s budgeted changes in tax policy would have on the oil and gas industry. Secretary Geithner clearly laid out the Administration position in his letter of response (pdf link).That was then, this is now.In just three years’ time, retail gasoline prices are up 68%. $4.00+ gasoline prices loom as a key reelection vulnerability for the President; in response, the Administration’s rhetoric has shifted to “energy friendly”, but its original energy-hostile policies have not changed a whit.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. ‘Intellectual Bankruptcy’, Dr. Krugman?

Paul Krugman’s op-ed, “Natural Born Drillers” (New York Times, March 15), purports to show with a hard look at the numbers why no thinking, perceptive person could possibly believe that “Drill, Baby, Drill” is a solution to the nation’s energy and economic woes:”[G]iving the oil companies carte blanche isn’t a serious jobs program. Put it this way: Employment in oil and gas extraction has risen more than 50 percent since the middle of the last decade, but that amounts to only 70,000 jobs, around one-twentieth of 1 percent of total U.S. employment. So the idea that drill, baby, drill can cure our jobs deficit is basically a joke.”Hmmm. Shall I take the strawman, or the phony statistics first?{Coin flip}: It’s heads. Strawman!Please click here for the rest of the post.