Mike has got a great message today. The future President Obama is seeking to revitalize the auto industry. Nice.

..."Not only is it impossible to turn back the tide of globalization, but efforts to do so can make us worse off," the Illinois senator told a crowd of more than 1,000 at Kettering University in Flint that cheered loudly when he talked of his plans for universal health insurance, grants for students to attend college and more support for research and development....

Obama: Auto industry must look to fuel-efficient vehicles (click here)
May 7, 2007
BY COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press
DETROIT -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Monday that U.S. energy policy must change in order to help domestic automakers answer the rising global demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.
''For years, while foreign competitors were investing in more fuel-efficient technology for their vehicles, American automakers were spending their time investing in bigger, faster cars,'' the Illinois senator told Detroit business and political leaders.
Obama said his plan encourages domestic automakers to make fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles by giving them health care assistance for retirees. Federal financial assistance would cover 10 percent -- up to $7 billion -- of automakers' annual legacy health care costs through 2017, under Obama's plan, which would require automakers to invest at least half of their health care savings into technology to produce fuel-efficient cars.
As a second choice, Obama's plan would provide $3 billion to automakers over 10 years to help retool plants to make fuel-efficient cars and trucks....

...and the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer...Was McCain a member of Cheney's Energy Committee? Just curious.

McCain: Lift the ban on offshore oil drilling (click here)

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Sen. John McCain said Monday the federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling should be lifted, and individual states given the right to pursue energy exploration in waters near their own coasts.
With gasoline prices rising and the United States chronically dependent on foreign oil, the Republican presidential contender said his proposal would "be very helpful in the short term resolving our energy crisis."
McCain also suggested giving the states incentives, including a greater share of royalties paid by companies that drill for oil, as an incentive to permit exploration.
Asked how far offshore states should be given control of drilling rights, he said that was a matter for negotiation....

"Alaskans want to drill for oil..."

But.

McCain, the "Federalist" opposes drilling in the Arctic. However, McCain will say States have the right to determine whether they drill or not.

How does a Federalist that oppose drilling in the Arctic CONTROL 'one state' that is Alaska from drilling in the Arctic?

It isn't possible. If all bans are removed from drilling offshore, there is no discriminating between states. McCain does not have good policies so much as good politics.

The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Cyrstal Wind Chime) is warmer and warmer by the day:

Bush and British PM focus on Iraq (click here for video). Let's hope they continue to focus on issues of The Middle East and promoting PEACE rather than inflammatory international conditions that 'aid terrorists' while destabilizing international infrastructure.

BP's Russian partnership turns sour (click here)
BP's reputation in Russia came under withering attack yesterday when the billionaire oligarch at the centre of a row over the company's troubled Russian joint venture accused BP of "arrogance" and Nazi-style behaviour.
Mikhail Fridman said the oil venture TNK-BP had performed "dismally" since BP took a 50% stake in the company in 2003. Fridman owns half of the venture with three other oligarchs.
He also implicitly compared BP's chairman Peter Sutherland to Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief. Sutherland last week suggested that Fridman and the other Russian shareholders were trying to grab control of TNK-BP, in a 1990s style corporate raid. Asked whether he planned to usurp BP, Fridman told the business daily Vedomosti: "That's in the best tradition of Goebbels propaganda." Fridman insisted he was not a "typical cash-grabbing oligarch"....

ANOTHER OIL WAR IN THE MAKING !!!

BP accuses Russian tycoons of corporate raid attempt on TNK-BP (click here)
MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) - British oil major BP said on Thursday that the Russian tycoons owning half of oil venture TNK-BP are attempting a corporate raid on the company, and that the Kremlin is failing to stop them.
Earlier in the day the Russian shareholders in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, said they would start legal proceedings against BP, reportedly over management and strategy issues.
BP Chairman Peter Sutherland told reporters in Stockholm: "It is unfortunately a much simpler dispute over control, and perhaps ultimately ownership of the company."
"This is just a return to the corporate raiding activities that were prevalent in Russia in the 1990s." ...


Dark Green - Ratified
Light Green - Signed, but not yet ratified
Grat - Did not sign

Ratifying the "Law of the Sea" by the USA would eliminate any confrontation. It is a treaty. The USA plays with being responsible by signing the treaty, no different than Kyoto, but simply doesn't have the 'backbone' to ratify treaties, just 'in case' the Neocons can instigate still another crony war. That's Republicans for you.


The Trouble Makers of the USA are arrogant (click title to entry) and 'enforce' the idea that 'any conflict will do.' Those are the Neocons for you.

...Last month at the Arctic Ocean Conference (AOC) in Ilulissat, Greenland, high-level diplomats from the United States and the other four nations that border the Arctic region--Canada, Denmark, Norway, and Russia--met to discuss territorial claims regarding the Arctic Circle. At the conclusion of the meeting, the five countries issued a joint statement declaring that, "[b]y virtue of their sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction in large areas of the Arctic Ocean," each nation was in a unique position to address the exploitation of natural resources in the Arctic....

Russian Strategic Bombers Fly Routine Patrol Over The Arctic (click here)

..."Two Tu-95 bombers have started a regular patrol flight over remote areas of the Arctic," Lt. Col. Vladimir Drik said. "The aircraft will perform a variety of tasks, including midair refueling from two Il-78 aerial tankers based at the Dyagilevo airbase [also in central Russia]."...

An F-15C Eagle from the 12th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base flies next to a Russian Tu-95 Bear Bomber during a Russian exercise Sept. 28, which brought the Bear near the west coast of Alaska. The Eagle took off as part of North American Aerospace Defense Command’s reaction to this training opportunity provided by the Russian 137th Air Army.



Elevation :: 33 ft / 10 m

Local Time: 12:56 PM AKDT

Lat/Lon: 58.8° N 137.0° W

Temperature :: 57 °F / 14 °C

Conditions :: Overcast

Humidity :: 67%

Dew Point: :: 46 °F / 8 °C

Wind :: 4 mph / 6 km/h / 1.5 m/s from the NW

Pressure :: 30.06 in / 1018 hPa (Rising)

Visibility :: 10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers

UV :: 3 out of 16

Clouds:
Mostly Cloudy 3000 ft / 914 m
Mostly Cloudy 3500 ft / 1066 m
Overcast 5000 ft / 1524 m
(Above Ground Level)