I am taking the night off.

It is a federal holiday. I am setting sail to find the Santa Maria. Okay, maybe just Santa.

But, if the banks call this a holiday; than I am all about it.

Until tomorrow...

Gasoline in Saudi Arabia is treated as a public utility.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (click here) 

In other words, the people of the country receive their own refined oil at the pump for what it costs to produce it and transport from the refinery.

It isn't as though they even are dependent on petroleum for energy. The Princes and Sheiks also use solar and wind to power their buildings and the like. 

Why? 

Because they know they live on a warming planet and they have a conscience.

POTENTIAL OF WIND ENERGY IN SAUDI ARABIA (click here)

Earth Hour, the one time a year when cities and citizens turn off the lights to conserve a maximum of energy for the sake of the planet we live on. The countries in the Mideast are major participants in these initiative. The countries like Saudi Arabia are becoming more and more Earth Friendly. 

On this blog is an editorial that appeared in the Arab News. The Arab News is the official newsprint of the kingdom.

The editorial spoke about the future of Saudi Arabia as the fossil fuels ran out and there was less and less demand for it. The worried about the future of the country and the fact their citizens didn't worry much about energy sources.

People of conscience know it is time to be prudent about natural resources. The countries of South America do all they can to protect rainforests. Indonesia is a huge participant in saving rainforests. Indonesia is also an OPEC nation.

The United States of America is completely out of step with the global community in regard to the top of carbon dioxide and fossil fuels.

If anyone in the USA actually believes punching more holes in the ground is going to bring down the prices of oil, it is a diluted reality. The prices are not coming down. And all the oil in the world when refined in the USA for use is never going to change. It is time citizens in this country come to realize they are a victim of speculators because it is tolerated in this society and they always be until they change their paradigm in regard to their natural resources and the future of their children.

Riyadh is a modern day city with people who believe in their scientists and seek to find solutions to the problems presented by them. Riyadh is not a war, it is not at war, it has laws to control and root out any terrorist no different than in the USA where the FBI finds those seeking to hurt Americans.

In another article on this blog there is a clear discussion how terrorists within Saudi Arabia are listed as Most Wanted, brought to justice and rehabilitated. There are on average 21 individuals a year that fall into this category. We have known of instances on American compounds from time to time where the criminals were not captured before they were able to pull off their plots, no different than someone like McVeigh.

There is no blanket permission to kill anyone. The city and the country have laws. But, they also have morals. They love their children and want a future of happiness for them. They are concerned about the Climate Crisis. They are people with the will to fight off the Climate Crisis by conservation and seeking alternative energies, why doesn't the USA?

16 cents per liter is the cost of gasoline at the pump in Saudi Arabia.

The Pump (click here) price for gasoline (US dollar per liter) in Saudi Arabia was last reported at 0.16 in 2010, according to a World Bank report published in 2012.

The conversion of one gallon of gasoline to liters is:

1 Gallon US = 3.7854118 Liters

That means the folks in Saudi Arabia driving today are paying $.605 or 61 cents per gallon if sold in US volume.

Does anyone in the USA actually believe if every drop of petroleum in the ground under US soil were exploited we would be paying 61 cents per gallon? I mean really now. 61 cents per gallon when all the oil derricks are in place and pumping. 

I don't think so.

This is the biggest joke going.

Gas Prices Rise Again Overnight in California (click here)

Speculators want to get every dime before everyone buys electric cars.

Why does the USA Federal Government make capital investments in the country?

We GREW this understanding when infrastructure became a focus with the states and their 'shovel ready jobs.'

Right?

Those projects are government projects. They do not produce any income, the costs are very large and there aren't really companies interested in building such capital investments, yet they are important.

Infrastructure connects things. Stuff like bridges provide a 'vehicle' for movement, hence commerce between people, cities, companies. Where would the USA Post Office be without bridges, roads (even country dirt roads)? 

Where would the Tulip Festival in Hollard, Michigan be without access for tourism at least once a year?

The people of the USA don't CHARGE themselves for the use of that infrastructure. There is an understanding it is important, will bring jobs and it is basically a good thing. So, infrastructure projects are more or less a bonus to the people of a region. Right? Safe travel. Happy times. Togetherness. All good for commerce.

Where does capital investment in energy by the USA have a place in all this?

The consumer pays for energy. They get a bill in the mail. They pay at the pump, so how does this capital investment pay off for the people of the USA when it comes to alternative energy?

Fair question. Absolutely.

Let's begin with research.

The cost of research and development is an invisible cost to the consumer of any product. We always hear how the pharmaceutical companies complain about the cost of R&D. Recently, President Obama signed a bill extending patents so the original patent holder could make up their investment and even have more money to embark on new investment. For a longer period of time Big Pharma, or any researcher/inventor can now receive profits for their work and investment. 

Why would an inventor go beyond reaping back the original investment and some profit? So, extending the patent allows growth in their own resources and incentive to continue the research and even improve on it. Right? Of course.

Then there is the investment in distribution. Once the discovery/research has met its goal the product has to be distributed. In the case of alternative energy sources, it is the GRID. Yes? It is the trucks that deliver the biodiesel, the algal plants that produce the energy source and so on and so forth. One might call that marketing, transportation and employment. Expenses.

Now, there is the COST TO CONSUMER. How many could afford to pay for the cost of a prescription without insurance? There are people that do, but, in all practicality, the goal in the USA is to have insurance to assist with the cost of prescriptions. I don't recall any energy insurance. I don't believe the consumer markets OR employers pay for energy insurance so the cost of gas at the pumps are covered to keep the cost affordable. Now, I might be missing something here, but, I don't think so.

The USA Federal Government makes capital investments in alternative sources of energy to compete with other sources. If I remember correctly any Republican, even Scott Brown, will state competition is the answer to everything. So, to carry out all that research, development of a distribution system, training for employees and infrastructure to support that distribution there is NO FLYIN' way the product would ever be developed by the private sector or be affordable to the consumer.

So. In order to move the country forward into the future, a happy future, a livable future, one we can be proud of to pass on to our children and their children and their children we have to make these investments.

I am deeply appreciative to President Obama for signing the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I am deeply appreciative to the Congress that passed it. I will receive no direct income from that bill, BUT, my children, my grandchildren and their futures will be better for it.

That reality is why we make such capital investments as a country. It isn't for us, it is for the future and the generations to follow us.

Alternative Energy Sources and consumerism has 100 years to catch up on.

THAT REQUIRES INVESTMENT.

INVESTMENT AT TODAY'S PRICES, NOT THE PRICES OF 100 YEARS AGO !

When gas prices go up one cent at the pump the petroleum industry reaps $200 million per month.

...The Congressional Research Service states the fledgling oil industry in the United States first received government assistance in 1916. That was when intangible drilling costs were able to be fully deducted from a company's expenses for tax purposes. In 1926, a write-off for cost depletion was introduced. That provision allowed oil companies to deduct costs based upon overall gross receipts and not just the actual value of the oil.

Both of those subsidies still exist. The Obama administration claims the average subsidy for huge oil companies is $4 billion per year. The bill in the Senate would have saved $24 billion in 10 years. The White House claims when gas goes up one cent per gallon, oil companies make $200 million more per month....

Stop and think about that.

The land where the petroleum industry pumps this oil is OUR LAND. They are leased the privilege of MINERAL RIGHTS on our land. In turn for their lease payment they are allowed to profit from it. The petroleum industry is removing our minerals to sell, hopefully to us and not export it, so they can make a profit. No one said they had the right to exploit any dependency of the USA consumer on that mineral. 

The subsidies for oil production started nearly a CENTURY ago. There was a reason for the subsidies and it was to engage the use of petroleum as a source of energy. 

Today, the USA has to remove it's majority of oil dependency in its consumer markets to alternatives. We are suffering a huge drought currently involving a full two thirds of the nation of which 39% is severe to profound drought. The USA doesn't have a choice, the CO2 emissions from fossil fuels is destroying our crop land AND driving up the price of food, too. Probably medicines and plastics used in things like injection syringes, too.

The alternative energy sources, even after decades of research, were never invested in by the federal government in the way the petroleum industry was a century ago. Alternative sources of energy is not about hugging trees, it is about survival on Earth. Now, either the USA wants its sovereignty or it doesn't. If the people cannot find healthy food and clean water; corruption will take over this country and people will live outside the system and start their own personal sovereignty and communities will be the ONLY paradigm that exists worth having. We are on our way.

The Recovery Act provided INVESTMENT in alternative energy sources because there was no other way to secure the future of this country. Now, if I were the 1%, sure it wouldn't matter if there was investment in anything but what was most profitable. The 1% can afford anything. They can afford to abandon the planet if they wanted to, so to believe they care about the rest of humanity, yet alone the citizens of the USA, all one has to do is examine their priorities.

The wars of the USA are fought by the impoverished men and women primarily.

List the issues / problems facing the Middle Class and Poor in the USA and the priorities of the 1% become very obvious.

I spoke with a friendly stranger yesterday. An acquaintance. She stated she could not believe how warm it was in North Carolina in October. I told her North Carolina was the new Florida because of the Climate Crisis. 

She smiled and laughed and said she was delighted. I told her while it might be nice to think about NC as a tourist haven that doesn't mean it is a good thing or a safe trend.

She stated, "I hope it does stabilize because I am paying a fortune for natural gas and if we have a mild winter I'll have a better Christmas for my family."

I stated, "I thought natural gas was suppose to be the savior of our energy future?"

She stated, "Savior? At these prices! I dearly hope not!"

So, to return to the presidential elections, for Willard Mitt "The Junk Yard Dog" Romney (which might explain why Seamus rode on the roof instead of with the family that was supposed to have loved the dog) to make analogies of petroleum industry subsidies versus alternative energy sources is not only illogical, it is criminal and a lie.

Stop being on the defensive.

Willard Mitt "Junk Yard Dog" Romney uses the style at the debating podium he does to achieve exactly what is going on in some corners of the media and opposition to his candidacy.

He is an attack dog pure and simple for the purpose of putting people in the defense.

Okay?

Now, Romney is attacking without remorse soft targets in the USA like illegal aliens (whom can become the focus of violence) and alternative energies (which will deliver us from drought). 

Stop being the defense over the issues Romney attacks viciously.

Illegal aliens have served a purpose in the USA and that is why they are here. They have come here because they were able to find work and scrape out a life for themselves and their children. They are human beings and not simply illegal aliens. Their children may or may not be eligible for being a Dreamer and that is very important. They are ours. They were born here and we have invested in them and they are achieving. They are a part of our brain trust. 

Alternatives fuels are vital to our country's future. I don't care if $90 billion was APPROPRIATED in the Recovery Act; that is still not a reason to subsidize the petroleum industry. Hello? The petroleum industry is rolling in MONEY and don't need subsidies, the alternative energy sources have been cash starved for DECADES. There is no logical analogy! 

The future of this country depends on the right of our Dreamers to stay in the USA forever and developing at a rapid rate alternative sources of energy. This is nothing by vicious politics no one should be paying attention to. 

Romney, the junk yard dog, has empty arguments within his viciousness, but, it is the fear of the dog everyone reacts to, not the fact he has no grounds for his attacks. A dog's bark is worse than his bite, especially if he has no teeth.

Seeking Anna's murderers is the right thing to do.

It is correct to bring this to light on the anniversary of their deaths. It is correct to ask the Russian authorities to step up investigations. I do not believe it was the government in any way involved with these murders.

MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti)

...Politkovskaya, (click here) a Novaya Gazeta reporter known for her scathing criticism of both the Kremlin and the North Caucasus authorities over rights abuses, was shot dead in the lobby of her apartment building in downtown Moscow in 2006. The investigators suspect that she was killed for her expose publications.

“We will continue to shine the spotlight on this case, and others, such as American Paul Klebnikov who was gunned down in Moscow eight years ago. Journalists across the globe who speak out against abuses and work to secure fundamental freedoms for their fellow citizens must be protected,” Nuland said.

Under the leadership of President Medvedev, Russia pulled out of Chechnya in 2009. I am sure Anna's writing and life contributed to that decision. That, however, did not stop the violence. The region reminds me somewhat of what Libya is not experiencing. There is a power vacuum and the militias are filling it. It is up to the regional authorities them and establish police.

Almost a hundred weapons caches, as well as 38 militant bases was found four months of this year with the participation of employees of main directorates of the Interior Ministry in the North-Caucasian Federal District

19 мая 2012 | 19:33

Almost a hundred weapons caches, (click here for the Russian article) as well as 38 militant bases were found in four months of this year with the participation of employees of the Main Department of the Interior Ministry in the North Caucasus Federal District, told a daily briefing on Saturday in Pyatigorsk Acting Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev. "With the direct participation of employees of central board for four months of the year in the North Caucasus was offset by 139 members of the armed gangs and 16 gang leaders," - said Acting Minister. Also, was arrested 161 members of illegal armed groups, eliminated 38 militant bases and 99 caches of weapons and ammunition.

The Jamestown Foundation receives reports from around the world. This was their latest reporting about the Northern Caucasus. There are still rebels seeking justice for their past dead through violence.

Doku Umarov's Shura, April 29 (Source: Kavkaz Center)

...Meanwhile, (click here) the militants have conducted their own propaganda event. A video recording and photographs of the Chechen rebels taking part in a meeting chaired by the leader of the North Caucasus armed resistance, Doku Umarov, on April 29 were posted on rebel websites. In Chechnya, the local authorities have been repeating the mantra about there being “40-50 surviving” rebels for the past seven years. Yet the video and photographs from the recent meeting depicted dozens of militants in attendance. Information from various sources in the North Caucasus armed resistance allows us to assess the approximate number of militants in each area of the republic....