Goldman Sachs raises 2008 crude price forecasts
Reuters
Wednesday December 12 2007
LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs, the most active investment bank in energy markets, raised its price forecasts for crude oil for next year, the bank said in its outlook for 2008.
Goldman now expects U.S. crude (CLc1 to average $95 a barrel in 2008, up $10 from the previous projection, and said a cyclically stronger market in the second half of next year could push the price to $105 by the end of 2008. (Reporting by Alex Lawler)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/feedarticle?id=7146121
Ball to Buy Back $100 Million in Shares
By Associated Press December 13, 2007
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Packaging company Ball Corp. said Wednesday it will buy back approximately $100 million of its shares in a privately negotiated deal with Goldman Sachs & Co.
It will repurchase the shares using cash and loans.
The company expects to reduce its number of outstanding shares by 2 million and the transactions are expected to begin in January.
Ball said it also entered into a $30 million forward purchase agreement, which it expects to settle in January.
Ball Corp. makes metal and plastic packaging for beverage, food and household products. It also supplies aerospace and other technology to the U.S. government.
http://www.fool.com/news/associated-press/2007/12/13/ball-to-buy-back-100-million-in-shares.aspx
Romney and Huckabee hit each other
By Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor December 13, 2007 10:14 AM
Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney might have shaken hands after Wednesday's debate and made up over a Huckabee quote in an upcoming magazine article that seemed to disparage Romney's Mormon faith.
But that doesn't mean they're completely playing nice -- not when they're wrestling for the all-important first Republican nomination victory in the Iowa caucuses.
On Fox News Network this morning, Romney said that Huckabee "opened the door" to questions about his life as a Baptist preacher before he went into elected office by running TV ads in Iowa calling himself a Christian leader.
On MSNBC, Huckabee took a swipe at Romney, noting that he is airing the first contrast TV ad in Iowa, hitting Huckabee on illegal immigration, and has sent out critical direct mail as well.
Huckabee said that, in contrast, he's running a positive campaign.
"I think that's why we're doing so well," he said. "People appreciate that I'm talking about what America needs to do to get ahead, not how I can take a ball-peen hammer and knock somebody in the kneecaps."
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2007/12/romney_and_huck.html
Huckabee, Romney, Jesus and Lucifer
As John Cole puts it:
Grab the popcorn and soda, because the GOP is providing the nuts.
Here is a section from the official LDS site, explaining Mormon theology on the question:
On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some—especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers. Jesus Christ was with the Father from the beginning. Lucifer, too, was an angel “who was in authority in the presence of God,” a “son of the morning.” (See Isa. 14:12; D&C 76:25–27.) Both Jesus and Lucifer were strong leaders with great knowledge and influence. But as the Firstborn of the Father, Jesus was Lucifer’s older brother. (See Col. 1:15; D&C 93:21.)
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/12/huckabee-romney.html
Justice Clarence Thomas: A new book and some tough questions
He opposes use of TV cameras in the highest court
...Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito on Monday dissented from a majority opinion that gave judges more discretion in giving shorter sentences to people convicted of crack cocaine crimes. The decision had a strong racial dimension because the vast majority of crack offenders are black.
The suit-and-tie crowd at Wednesday's lunch warmly applauded Thomas, but some posed pointed questions, too. One asked Thomas whether, given his opposition to affirmative-action policies, he received an "unfair advantage" in his collegiate career at College of the Holy Cross and Yale Law School.
"I'm tired of answering that," Thomas shot back. "One question I've never been asked is ... How was it coming from where you came from [in rural southern Georgia], how were you consistently an honor student?"
Thomas defended his low-key approach to oral arguments. He's famously silent from the bench, as the other eight justices often pepper attorneys with questions during 30-minute oral argument allotments.
"This sort of chattering is all new," he said. "For 200 years, we were able to do it without all these questions ...Why the sudden change? I don't think all those questions are necessary. It's not Perry Mason."
On judicial pay, Thomas said his $195,000 salary is OK for his family, but that salaries for judges and justices that don't compare with private practice are "going to kill off our judiciary." He said judges often make one-tenth what they could earn at law firms.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Josh Hafenbrack can be reached at jhafenbrack@sun-sentinel.com or 561-228-5508.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flpthomas1213pndec13,0,7166715.story
Obama, Clinton On Crack
A recap: The U.S. Sentencing Commission recently decided to (slightly) reduce the over-inflated prison sentences for crack-cocaine crimes, which are punished far more harshly than equivalent powder-cocaine crimes—a nonsensical disparity that's accomplished little save for prison bloat. Then, yesterday, the commission voted unanimously to apply those guidelines retroactively, affecting some 20,000 current inmates. It's a modest chink in the incarceration state, but hey, it's something.
Now, Barack Obama had favored making the reduced sentences retroactive—after all, if crack penalties were absurdly high, then they were absurdly high for people already convicted. But Hillary Clinton, quaking at the thought of Rudy Giuliani saying mean things about her, opposed retroactivity. And now her campaign is attacking Obama on his stance, although Marc Ambinder serves up some sweet, sweet caveats:
Campaign aides have said that Obama's support for retroactivity in drug sentences would kill him with tough-on-crime white independents. But the Supreme Court, in a 7 to 2 decision yesterday that included Antonin Scalia, endorsed the view that judges could ignore sentencing guidelines when handing down prison terms for distributing crack versus powder cocaine, and a Bush administration panel today voted seven to nothing to impose retroactivity.
Sounds like an inspiring campaign theme: Hillary Clinton—to the right of Antonin Scalia on a drug war that's cost $500 billion with little to show for it.
--Bradford Plumer
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2007/12/12/obama-clinton-on-crack.aspx
One Campaign Buys $1.8 Million In Ads
By Josephine Hearn
Dec 12, 2007
(The Politico) The anti-poverty ONE campaign is buying $1.8 million in ads in the presidential battlegrounds of Iowa and New Hampshire. The ads will highlight the presidential candidates' records and proposals to alleviate poverty and improve global health.
ONE also plans a get-out-the-vote effort in early primary states to mobilize voters.
The ad buy is part of ONE Vote ’08: Saving Lives, Securing Our Future, an ongoing effort to influence the election. Earlier, ONE posted videos from the candidates describing their positions on health and poverty issues.
Two former Senate Majority Leaders, Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), will unveil the ads this afternoon.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/12/politics/politico/thecrypt/main3609676.shtml
LETTER- Bad business at Beta House
by Aaron Wunschpublished December 13, 2007
...If he'd wanted to work this building into VMDO's design, he could easily have done so. Instead, he's given your readers an unpleasant display of partisanship bordering on hackery. If this house is a patient on life support, Bob Moje is as qualified to pronounce on its condition as Bill Frist was to pronounce on Terri Schiavo's.
Aaron Wunsch
Charlottesville
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2007/12/13/LETTER-wunchonbetahouse-0650.rtf.aspx
McCain's New NH Ad Touts Endorsement
By The Associated Press – 1 day ago
TITLE: "Trust."
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: New Hampshire.
SCRIPT: Announcer: "One man has a plan to cut taxes for 25 million middle-class families. Bold solutions to our toughest problems. A conservative plan to cut your taxes. Fight wasteful government spending. The economic conservative endorsed by the Union Leader. They said John McCain is, quote, 'The man to lead America.' A fiscal conservative who will restore your trust. The man to keep our taxes low and our economy moving."
McCain: "I'm John McCain and I approve this message."
KEY IMAGES: Quick cuts of McCain in town hall-style meetings, billowing American flags and a front-page endorsement in The New Hampshire Union Leader.
ANALYSIS: McCain is making a final push in New Hampshire, where polls show him about even with Rudy Giuliani for second place behind Mitt Romney and where economic issues trump most others. By pledging to cut taxes for 25 million families, McCain is appealing to voters in a state that does not have a state sales or income tax. McCain doesn't specify it, but his plan for taxes would be to repeal the federal Alternative Minimum Tax.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYpS6G-fl1u-yS2zifc0FsveuPGwD8TG4K480
Clinton, Giuliani Out Front in NJ
By The Associated Press – 21 hours ago
THE RACE: Presidential race for Democrats, Republicans in New Jersey.
THE NUMBERS - DEMOCRATS
Hillary Rodham Clinton, 51 percent
Barack Obama, 17 percent
John Edwards, 7 percent
___
THE NUMBERS - REPUBLICANS
Rudy Giuliani, 38 percent
John McCain, 12 percent
Mike Huckabee, 8 percent
Mitt Romney, 7 percent
___
OF INTEREST:
Giuliani's lead over McCain slipped by 10 points from an October poll. Mike Huckabee registered 8 percent in the most recent poll, compared with just 1 percent in October. Clinton saw a net gain of 8 percent over her nearest rival, Obama, from the October poll — she picked up support from an additional 5 percent of voters polled, while Obama lost 3 percent of his prior support.
___
The telephone poll of 1,085 New Jersey voters by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute taken Dec. 5-9 has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The survey includes 387 Democrats with a margin of error or plus or minus 5 percentage points, and 320 Republicans with a sampling error margin of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.
COMPLETE RESULTS: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x271.xml
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jbjyg8ssnT-l6XVLRuJSXjWbrq5gD8TGJHDG1
The Quiet Rise of Jon Kyl
Fred Barnes Wed Dec 12, 10:02 AM ET
...The contrast between Kyl and his Arizona colleague, John McCain, is instructive. McCain is a public senator. His influence comes from taking on issues with maximum media attention and building public support for his position. Kyl is a private senator. He maneuvers skillfully out of public view to build Senate support for his positions. As Time said, he succeeds by "subterfuge."
"You can do so much by following that practice," Kyl told me. "I have never had the need to get a lot of publicity. I've found I can be a lot more effective if I'm not in the limelight." His style fits with the whip's job, McCain's with running for president.
Kyl's father, John Kyl, was a Republican congressman from Iowa who was squeezed out of office in 1972 when the state lost a House seat in a reapportionment. The younger Kyl never pursued a political career in Iowa. After high school, he became ill with pneumonia and moved to Arizona for the climate. He stayed for college and law school.
Oddly enough, his model in Congress is not his father. But his father, Kyl says, gave him one great piece of advice. When getting ready to vote, pick out a Republican you trust who's voting the other way and ask him why. "It didn't take me long to pick Dick Cheney." Vice President Cheney was then the House Republican whip.
Cheney was a "thoughtful, responsible, moderate sort of person" who worked behind the scenes and rarely with great fanfare, Kyl says. Today, he and Cheney, more conservative now, are close friends and political allies, agreeing particularly on national security.
What Kyl calls "my greatest legislative achievement" was the result of his no-press-conferences style. It was the defeat in 1999 of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). When President Clinton submitted the treaty to the Senate in 1997, Kyl says he "could see the handwriting on the wall." The treaty was going to be ratified....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/weeklystandard/20071212/cm_weeklystandard/thequietriseofjonkyl
PETA: Cruelty at Smithfield Hog Supplier
By Associated Press December 11, 2007
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An animal-rights group said Tuesday its undercover investigation has documented animal cruelty at a pig-breeding farm that supplies Smithfield Foods Inc., the nation's largest hog producer and pork processor.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked local authorities to file charges against Murphy Family Ventures LLC, which owns the Garland, N.C., farm.
PETA also planned to send a letter Wednesday to Smithfield Foods Chairman and CEO C. Larry Pope asking the Smithfield-based company to demand that Murphy Family Ventures fire workers found abusing animals. The letter also would urge Smithfield Foods to conduct its own investigations of its supplier farms and slaughterhouses.
"Smithfield is responsible for the abuses of its suppliers," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said in an interview. He also said "anybody who eats meat is supporting this abuse that we believe is felony-level cruelty in North Carolina."
http://www.fool.com/news/associated-press/2007/12/11/peta-cruelty-at-smithfield-hog-supplier.aspx
China To Allow Six U.S. Pork Processing Plants To Resume Exports
Six U.S. pork-processing facilities have received clearance to resume exports to China as part of a broad food and product safety agreement, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
USTR made the announcement in a fact sheet describing the details of a broad agreement ahead of the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade meeting in Beijing this week. It did not list the plants involved.
In August, China delisted a number of U.S. pork plants after finding traces of the feed additive ractopamine in some shipments. (See China's list of suspended U.S. meat plants growing on Meatingplace.com, Aug. 17, 2007.)
Smithfield CEO Larry Pope told investors recently that a team of Chinese officials was inspecting five Smithfield plants to determine whether their export certificates would be reinstated. (See Smithfield 2Q profit sinks on lower hog production earnings on Meatingplace.com, Nov. 29, 2007.) Smithfield agreed in August to ship 60 million pounds of ractopamine-free pork to China by the end of December.
The broad U.S.-China agreement announced Tuesday puts stricter rules on Chinese food exports to the United States for such products as canned vegetables, pet food and pet food ingredients of plant or animal origin and farm-raised fish.
http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=182559
Mother Pigs and Piglets Tortured in a North Carolina Factory Farm
An undercover investigation by PETA at a supplier of Smithfield Foods, the largest pig-flesh company in the world, reveals shocking abuse of mother pigs and piglets.
http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/video.asp?video=smithfield_investigation_web_12_2007&Player=wm
Boss Hog
America's top pork producer churns out a sea of waste that has destroyed rivers, killed millions of fish and generated one of the largest fines in EPA history. Welcome to the dark side of the other white meat.
JEFF TIETZ
Posted Dec 14, 2006 8:53 AM
Smithfield Foods, the largest and most profitable pork processor in the world, killed 27 million hogs last year. That's a number worth considering. A slaughter-weight hog is fifty percent heavier than a person. The logistical challenge of processing that many pigs each year is roughly equivalent to butchering and boxing the entire human populations of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Columbus, Austin, Memphis, Baltimore, Fort Worth, Charlotte, El Paso, Milwaukee, Seattle, Boston, Denver, Louisville, Washington, D.C., Nashville, Las Vegas, Portland, Oklahoma City and Tucson.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/12840743/porks_dirty_secret_the_nations_top_hog_producer_is_also_one_of_americas_worst_polluters
Hillary and Big Meat
HRC taps a CAFO champion as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary
Posted by Tom Philpott at 3:31 PM on 11 Dec 2007
Why did Hillary Clinton turn to the CAFO industry to help run her campaign in the farm belt?
On Monday, Clinton named Joy Philippi, the former president of a the National Pork Producers Council, the main trade group representing CAFO operators, as co-chair of Rural Americans for Hillary.
The campaign press release was vague on details. It quotes the candidate thusly: "I am honored to have Joy's support, and delighted that she'll play a leading role in my campaign in Nebraska and nationally." And that's all the explanation offered.
While the national media press her for more information on this issue -- as I hope they will -- I'll do a little digging below the fold about HRC's rural adviser and her dealings with the industrial-meat industry.
A few months ago, Joy Philippi ended a two-year run as president of the National Pork Producers Council. "Pork producers" might sound like family farmers, but as Grist readers will know by now, the industry has changed dramatically over the past decades.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/12/11/151353/24
Mission
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) conducts public policy outreach on behalf of its 43 affiliated state association members - enhancing opportunities for the success of U.S. pork producers and other industry stakeholders by establishing the U.S. pork industry as a consistent and responsible supplier of high quality pork to the domestic and world market.
As the pork industry changes in scope and complexity, the challenge to pork producers is to adapt and continue to be profitable. NPPC is meeting those challenges through a series of strategic programs designed to address issues affecting pork from production to consumer demand. Through these efforts, NPPC intends to strive for the passage and implementation of laws and regulations that are conducive to the production and sale of pork in both domestic and international markets.
http://www.nppc.org/about/mission.html
The Scoop on Hog Poop
Background
North Carolina is the number two producer of hogs in the United States. These hogs produce a mind-boggling amount of feces that are stored in huge open air lagoons and then sprayed onto fields. This practice pollutes the water and air and endangers public health for residents in eastern NC.
Back in 1997, the NC General Assembly passed a moratorium on building any new hog waste lagoons to give NC State University time to conduct an extensive study on alternative ways to manage hog waste. NC State found that there are several technologies that are environmentally superior and could effectively manage hog waste and protect the environment and communities.
The moratorium has been extended several times already and is set to expire later in 2007. Another temporary extension of the moratorium on new lagoons will do nothing to solve the problem that communities are facing now with existing lagoons.
http://ncconservationnetwork1.org/campaign/clean_up_hog_waste/explanation
A natural approach to the holiday feast
By Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star
BERRYVILLE — "We did turkey for Thanksgiving," said Ruth Pritchard of Smithfield Farm Bed and Breakfast and Special Events.
For Christmas, "It’s time to do something else."
The something else will probably be a leg of lamb — from an animal raised just yards from her door.
This 350-acre, seventh-generation family farm north of Berryville prides itself on selling and serving meats raised by Forrest Pritchard in a "healthy, gentle, and holistic environment."
The Pritchards and Assistant Innkeeper Linda McCarty discussed natural meats as they sat down to lunch on some of their products recently in the dining room at Smithfield. The 1824 Federal-style brick manor house is listed on Virginia’s Register of Historic Places.
It’s not just for philosophical, or even the environment reasons, that grass-fed beef and free-range chicken are preferred in the Pritchard household.
It’s the texture and the taste, said Nancy Pritchard, who runs the family’s hand-made, herb-flavored pasta business.
http://www.winchesterstar.com/article_details.php?ArticleID=3203
A greener way to recover methane
Oil reservoirs could have an environmental make-over with the help of bacteria.
A report in Nature has shown how crude oil in deposits around the world are naturally broken down by microbes to methane.
Scientists say that increasing microbe activity would produce a more energy-efficient method of methane recovery.
It is likely field tests will start by 2009.
The ability to recover methane directly from deeply buried oil reserves means energy-intensive and thermal polluting processes are removed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7140983.stm
Gas flows from India's first coalbed methane block
Thursday, 13 December , 2007, 15:00
Last Updated: Thursday, 13 December , 2007, 15:09
New Delhi: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Murli Deora said 4.7 million standard cubic metres (MMSCM) of coalbed methane (CBM) gas has been produced till Oct 31 since production started in the country on July 14.
He was replying to a question raised here Thursday in a meeting of the parliamentary consultative committee held on the eve of the scheduled launch of the seventh round of bidding under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) for auctioning hydrocarbon blocks.
Commercial production and sale of CBM a form of natural extracted from coal beds has commenced on July 14 this year from the Raniganj South block in West Bengal operated by Great Eastern Energy Corp Ltd, he said while chairing the meeting.
"By 2015, the entire area of Indian sedimentary basins is likely to be under exploration, of which 80 per cent is targeted to be covered during the 11th plan period (2007-12)," the minister informed the committee.
After conclusion of auctioning under the sixth round of NELP, 44 per cent of the Indian sedimentary basin area are being explored, Deora said
The area under exploration increased
http://sify.com/finance/fullstory.php?id=14575314
Oil, Gas and Coalbed Methane
Tens of thousands of new oil, gas and coalbed methane wells have been sited in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Wyoming and other parts of the West, and more are planned.
Millions of acres of land across the West are being disturbed by pipelines, roads, compressor stations, transmission lines, wastewater containment ponds and well pads – turning agricultural land into industrial sites. Irresponsible development of these resources brings substantial risks to the region’s agricultural economy and environment.
Energy development can and must be done right, without polluting our water or leaving landowners and taxpayers with the costs of cleanup.
Bill Reforms Oil and Gas Program
The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 3221, the New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection. The bill would restore balance to the oil and gas industry. The bill includes provisions protecting surface owners, water, and taxpayers from the Western Waters and Farm Lands Protection Act, H.R. 1180.
http://www.worc.org/issues/Oil-Gas/Oil-Gas-CBM.html
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