Diagramming President Obama's Oil Lies

And I call them lies because more diplomatic terms like "misstatements", "fibs" or "fabrications" simply don't apply to agitprop.

When he was running for the Oval Office four years ago amid $4-a-gallon gasoline prices, then-Sen. Barack Obama dismissed the idea of expanded oil production as a way to relieve the pain at the pump.

"Even if you opened up every square inch of our land and our coasts to drilling," he said. "America still has only 3% of the world's oil reserves." Which meant, he said, that the U.S. couldn't affect global oil prices... It's the same rhetoric President Obama is using now, as gas prices hit $4 again, except now he puts the figure at 2%...

But the figure Obama uses — proved oil reserves — vastly undercounts how much oil the U.S. actually contains. In fact, far from being oil-poor, the country is awash in vast quantities — enough to meet all the country's oil needs for hundreds of years...

• ...At least 86 billion barrels of oil in the Outer Continental Shelf yet to be discovered, according to the government's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

• ...About 24 billion barrels in shale deposits in the lower 48 states, according to EIA.

• ...Up to 2 billion barrels of oil in shale deposits in Alaska's North Slope, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

• ...Up to 12 billion barrels in ANWR, according to the USGS.

• ...As much as 19 billion barrels in the Utah tar sands, according to the Bureau of Land Management.

• ...Then, there's the massive Green River Formation in Wyoming, which according to the USGS contains a stunning 1.4 trillion barrels of oil shale — a type of oil released from sedimentary rock after it's heated.

• ...A separate Rand Corp. study found that about 800 billion barrels of oil shale in Wyoming and neighboring states is "technically recoverable," which means it could be extracted using existing technology. That's more than triple the known reserves in Saudi Arabia.

All told, the U.S. has access to 400 billion barrels of crude that could be recovered using existing drilling technologies, according to a 2006 Energy Department report... When you include oil shale, the U.S. has 1.4 trillion barrels of technically recoverable oil, according to the Institute for Energy Research, enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for about the next 200 years, without any imports.

And even this number could be low, since such estimates tend to go up over time...

Recent polls show Americans overwhelmingly support expanding offshore drilling and tapping the tiny spit of land in ANWR.

But this sort of obstructionism is just one more example of the Democrats' senseless hatred of the people's will -- as they continually operate without the consent of the governed -- be it energy, health care, forced unionization, national security, and every other issue of national import, etc.

But take heart. November is coming.

Al Gore Hardest Hit: Most Polar Ice Ever Recorded

Didn't the pudgy grifter named Al Gore claim that the polar ice caps would melt completely "in just a few years?"

Turns out that Climategate was only the beginning. The United Nations' global warming scam (which is the term they prefer, I hear) is unraveling faster than a pair of Michael Moore's spandex bike shorts.

Exhibit 4,035? March 6, 2012 represented the "Most polar ice ever recorded":

So much for an ice-free Arctic. Henry Hudson’s long-ago dream of a Northwest Passage that would link England to the Orient by sea will have to wait another century as Mother Earth gives him the cold shoulder. Again.

From Real Science: “1979 was the peak year for Arctic ice, yet 2012 has more ice around Greenland and Alaska than 1979 did.”

Same date satellite data seems to show that Iceland and everywhere else is iced over this year when they were feeling a little green 33 years ago.

Of course, our moral and intellectual superiors elsewhere in the press keep banging the drums of Man Caused Global Warming.

Don Surber has the rest.


Related: "This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow..."

Epic fail juxtaposition o' the day

James Pethokoukis calls this item "The entire Obama presidency, in one anecdote."

One of my favorite moments from the new book The Escape Artists: How Obama’s Team Fumbled the Recovery:

Energy was a particular obsession of the president-elect’s, and therefore a particular source of frustration. Week after week, [White House economic adviser Christina] Romer would march in with an estimate of the jobs all the investments in clean energy would produce; week after week, Obama would send her back to check the numbers. “I don’t get it,” he’d say. “We make these large-scale investments in infrastructure. What do you mean, there are no jobs?” But the numbers rarely budged.

[Ed: gee, what a surprise!]

Now let’s fast forward to this past September:

A $38.6 billion loan guarantee program that the Obama administration promised would create or save 65,000 jobs has created just a few thousand jobs two years after it began, government records show. The program — designed to jump-start the nation’s clean technology industry by giving energy companies access to low-cost, government-backed loans — has directly created 3,545 new, permanent jobs after giving out almost half the allocated amount, according to Energy Department tallies.

So where are the new jobs coming from, at least the good-paying ones? From the industry Obama wants to replace as much as possible with “clean” energy: oil and gas.

Fast forward this week to President Obama's spastic, poll-driven reaction considered policy positions on, eh, energy.

To purportedly tame the progressive rise in gas prices, President Obama visited a North Carolina truck manufacturer on Wednesday to unveil a new $1 billion plan to advocate electric and alternative vehicles through consumer incentives and federal grants for states.

The "green" initiative, tagged the "National Community Deployment Challenge," provides a $10,000 tax credit — up from the current $7,500 incentive — to consumers purchasing "advanced cars and trucks." The grant program includes a "Race to the Top" contest that would award money to states with "model communities" that agree to fund infrastructure such as charging stations or natural gas corridors "where alternative fuel trucks can transport goods without using a drop of oil," according to the White House Press Fact Sheet.

Yes, that's right. He wants to funnel more money to his campaign contributors, bundlers, and other fat-cats and claim it's for "green jobs".

What's the definition of insanity again?

Obama's 9-9-9 plan

Hat tip: The Looking Spoon.

Climate clowns curiously silent: Air Force pulls nine (9) cargo planes from military ops to support Obama campaign events

But I thought it was a "Climate Emergency"!?!

Eh, I guess not.

The U.S. Air Force is pulling nine cargo aircraft from military operations to support President Barack Obama’s stepped-up visits to campaign events.

The five medium-capacity C-130s and four heavyweight C-17s will be used to ferry security vehicles, armored limousines and communications gear into cities ahead of Obama’s campaign appearances.

In the months before November, the president is expected to fly into multiple cities per week, and speak at multiple sites per day. On Mar. 8, for example, the president will fly to Richmond, and then drive over to a Rolls-Royce aircraft-parts factory. That evening, he’ll fly down to Houston, Texas.

His wife, Vice President Joe Biden and many of his cabinet secretaries are using the Air Force’s fleet of VIP aircraft to visit more states as the election season speeds up.

The nine cargo aircraft will begin operations in April, said Maj. Michelle Lai, communications officer for the Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing. “They’ll stand down in November 2012,” she said.

Of course they will.

Does any liberal out there want to venture a guess how many years I'd have to drive my sports car to equal the carbon footprint of a single Obama campaign trip?

I've got $15 burning a hole in my PayPal account, just waiting to be awarded to the first drone fine progressive to get within an order of magnitude.


Hat tip: Paco Enterprises.

Truck Dealers Association: EPA 'Grossly Underestimated' The Enormous Costs of Their Byzantine Regulations

Gee, this news comes as quite a surprise. And who needs freight hauled around by trucks, anyhow?

A report released yesterday by The National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers questions the Environmental Protection Agency's cost analysis of 2004-2010 emissions control mandates. Data collected by ATD shows EPA's cost estimates were off by a factor of between two and five.

As a result, ATD says, last decade's emissions mandates resulted in substantially higher prices for commercial vehicles, which depressed vehicle sales and created massive disruptions in normal business cycles, as well as delaying the environmental benefits that the EPA originally sought.

"While EPA can mandate what truck and engine makers have to build, they can't dictate what customers will buy," said Dave Westcott, vice-chair of NADA... the study sounds a stern warning about EPA's cost projections on the upcoming fuel economy standards for heavy and light vehicles -- which extend out to the 2017 to 2025 timeframe...

The study notes that when the EPA implemented its 2004-2010 rules for heavy trucks, it failed to predict and account for what truck and engine manufacturers had to accomplish to comply with those rules, and how the market would react...

Everything this enormous federal leviathan touches turns to crap.

The EPA can't even figure out ahead of time how much damage their insane regulations will cause the private sector. So they continue anyhow, issuing reams of new rules in their unceasing efforts to de-industrialize America. To centrally manage the economy. To create a Utopian society that can't be and never was.

I can't wait until these geniuses run the entire health care system. It'll be kinda like the medical version of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, only without the great customer service.

Hypocrisy Meter Shatters: Obama Says Oil a 'Fuel of the Past' As He Jets From Fundraiser to Golf to Fundraiser

Does it get any more ridiculous than this?

As rising gas prices become a key issue on the campaign trail, the president argued that using less oil is an important part of the solution... "...We need to invest in the technology that will help us use less oil in our cars and our trucks, in our buildings, in our factories. That’s the only solution to the challenge, because as we start using less, that lowers the demand, prices come down,” the president told workers at the Daimler Trucks manufacturing plant in Mount Holly, N.C.

Yet in the same speech he call[ed] oil “the fuel of the past”.

...Oil is not a “fuel of the past”. Obama’s agenda actually demands we abandon it. And he would in a New York minute if there wouldn’t be electoral consequences. His administration’s track record concerning oil and gas exploitation as well as new regulatory regime the EPA is implementing and actions of Secretaries Chu and Salazar give lie to the claims made.

Oil and gas are, in fact, the critical fuels of the future. It is and will remain the lifeblood of our economy for decades. An administration that doesn’t realize that and works to curtail it deserves to be shown the door at the earliest possible opportunity. If you think gas prices are high now, remember that without the increase in oil production on state and private land, it would be higher than it is now.

Unicorns and moon-ponies (or pond scum) won’t fuel the economy. Oil will. And an “all of the above” strategy should obviously include massive increases in oil production on federal lands. Don’t let this guy get away with his false claims and destructive energy policy. Help show him the door, November.

For a "fuel of the past", Obama and his wife certainly burn it with reckless abandon.

When President Obama completes his second of four New York fundraisers today, he will pass the total number of fundraisers former President George W. Bush conducted through his whole 18-month reelection campaign.

To put the 100 milestone in perspective, he hasn't played golf that many times, hitting 90 while he was in Hawaii last December for the first family's Christmas vacation, one of 16 the Obama's have taken while in office.

...Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer told Washington Secrets, "The president has spent the equivalent of five work weeks raising money to save his own job rather than focus on the millions of Americans who are struggling to find work. In pursuit of a billion dollar warchest, he has shattered the amount of time and number of events any president has ever spent to focus on saving their own job."

If these Democrats weren't in power, their idiotic, hilariously hypocritical statements would be useful only in a reality show. Kind of like Jersey Shore, only without the clever repartee.


Image Credit: Sad Hill News.

Photo: Gas Pump Sticky Note Campaign Makes a Comeback

Wanda:

If you're having trouble reading the note, here's what it says:

Hey there voter!

Do you remember that on Inauguration Day (Jan. 20th) 2009, the national average for a gallon of gasoline was about $1.78? How's that "Hope & Change" working out for you?

Anyone but Obama
Nov. 2012

I would have added: "Can you imagine what another four years of Obama will mean for gas prices?"


Related: Gas Pump Sticky Note Campaign Makes Its Way to Grocery Stores

Funniest article I've seen in years: a mystified Washington Post wonders 'What's ailing the Chevy Volt?'

No, I'm serious.

What’s ailing the Chevy Volt?

On Friday, GM announced it was halting production of the Chevrolet Volt until April, so as to maintain “proper inventory levels.” Sales of the electric vehicle have been disappointing, with the company missing its target of 10,000 Volts sold last year. Why hasn’t the car caught on?

Might I venture a few answers?

• The Volt has an annoying habit of sometimes blowing up

• It's incredibly expensive

• It's a coal-powered car

• It's the result of central planning, as opposed to actual market demands

The whole focus on electric cars is, in my opinion, borderline insane. Battery technologies are decades away from real suitability in automobiles. And, even more concerning, the Obama administration is waging a war on America's electric generation, thanks to an out-of-control EPA:

• GenOn Energy just announced it will be shuttering eight power plants over the next couple of years, taking about 15% of its total generating capacity offline

• Two Chicago-area power plants are slated to close

• Three midwest power plants owned by FirstEnergy will be forced to close

And the list goes on and on and on. Obama's war to de-industrialize America continues apace.

Exclusive: Full Schematic of Chevy Volt

Hat tip: Whited Speulchre.

Coinkadink: Obama rips small oil companies for their $4B in tax relief, which is roughly the same amount he blew on the Chevy Volt

Just yesterday, President Obama called on Congress to end $4 billion in tax breaks for small oil and gas companies. How this is supposed to reduce skyrocketing gas prices is best left as an exercise for the demented.

Speaking before a crowd of 1,000 at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire, Obama defended his energy policies for the second time in as many weeks, saying there were “no quick fixes” to escalating prices at the pump.

But the president insisted that lawmakers should vote in the next few weeks to repeal oil industry’s $4 billion federal subsidies, a demand he has made several times over the past three years. Ending the “industry giveaway,” Obama argued, would spur the development of alternative energy sources that could offer long-term relief from rising gas prices.

Alternative energy sources like Solyndra?

Well, those several billions of dollars were blown by Obama in pursuit of a coal-powered car, which has turned out to be L'Failure Epique, as they say in France.

After Obama Blew $3 Billion on the Chevy Volt – GM Suspends Production & Lays Off 1,300 Workers

Barack Obama blew more money on the Chevy Volt than the entire annual GDP of Belize...


General Motors announced today that the company was suspending production of the Chevy Volt and 1,300 workers would be laid off... The Chevrolet Volt, an extended-range electric car, is both a political lightning rod and a symbol of the company’s technological capability... Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in the U.S. in February and has sold 1,626 so far this year.

Of course, GM actually owes taxpayers in excess of $25 billion, so the Volt subsidy is just a down payment.

Report: Obama kept Air Force One aloft an extra half hour to watch Knicks-Heat game

Do as I say, not as I do: but peons like you and I are supposed to live a more spartan life to ensure we don't emit any extra carbon dioxide.

President Obama flew to Florida this past week to explain high gas prices. According to the Washington Post, on his way to Florida this past Thursday, reporters were "perplexed" at the President's 41 minute flight from Washington, DC to Orlando, Florida taking 1 hour and 15 minutes. The flight was in the air an extra 30 minutes, burning precious fossil fuels.

It does not seem a coincidence that the President landed right at half time of an NBA basketball game between the star studded Miami Heat and New York Knicks. Some theorized that the President delayed his flight in the air to watch more of the basketball game.

I could drive my convertible for 100 years straight and not emit as much CO2 into the atmosphere as President Obama did watching the Lebron/Lin-sanity matchup.

To his credit, the president did have a constructive couple of weeks.

• As part of the 'In Performance at the White House' PBS series, Obama hosted B.B. King, Mick Jagger and a host of other music luminaries for another of his posh, weekly soirees.

• He also held an 'NBA fundraiser', which raised $2.1 million by charging $30,000 a head.

This follows a luxury ski vacation in Aspen, just a few weeks after a 17-day Hawaiian vacation that reportedly cost $4 million (up from $2.5 million in 2010).

So you peons keep doing what you're doing. We have a president and a demanding first lady to support.


Hat tip: BadBlue News.

Breaking: Democrats urge more dependence on foreign oil. Seriously.

Is there a more malevolent Statist hack in Congress than Chuck "Schmucky" Schumer (which is the nickname he prefers, I hear)?

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged Saudi Arabia to pump more oil yesterday. This comes after his party has repeatedly stifled energy production here at home...

Senate Republicans are bashing Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) call for increased Saudi Arabian oil production to help ease prices, alleging it shows that Democrats are weak when it comes to boosting North American energy supplies and jobs.

Schumer on Sunday urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to press Saudi officials to expand production, noting that the kingdom is producing well below its capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day.

Republicans are hopeful that the letter provides a political opening to undercut Democratic and White House energy policies.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) office on Monday circulated a press release headlined “Top Democrat Senator Demands Increased Energy Production, Jobs In Saudi Arabia Rather Than Increasing American Energy And American Jobs.” ... Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also doesn’t want Schumer’s letter to go unnoticed.

“Rather than approve the Keystone pipeline, the Democrats’ energy plan now calls for the most powerful nation in the free world to politely ask other countries for more oil and cross our fingers,” he said in a statement.

Not only did President Obama block the monstrous Keystone XL pipeline -- which would have helped reduce America's dependence on foreign oil -- but Schumer himself has helped block drilling throughout the United States.

Consider this blast from the past. Mr. Peabody, set the Wayback Machine to April of 2008:

Now, yesterday ... [President Bush] made a presentation on energy and said much of the same thing you just said here; and Senator Schumer from New York went out and responded to it and said, "If we started drilling in ANWR today we wouldn't have a drop of oil for ten years." Well, of course, Bill Clinton vetoed the first time this came up in 1994. We could have been at this four years according to his ten-year plan. He also said something that mathematically doesn't make sense. He said that this million barrels a day that ANWR would produce would reduce the price of gasoline or oil -- I forget which one he specified -- by a penny. Well, that's absurd, because when the price of oil... When we lose a million barrels in the supply, does the price only go up a penny? They're using scare tactics, here. We need resources. We need our oil, and you got Schumer out there saying, "No, it wouldn't matter," and they're misleading people thinking that there's a substitute for it right around the corner when there's not.

They've been saying that drilling doesn't matter for over 20 years now. They're lying. They've been saying it would take 10 years to develop a new oil field. They're lying.

Democrats are provably wounding America's economy -- and its national security posture -- through their defective, Utopian schemes.

Congratulations, President Obama and the No-Drill Democrats: Gas Prices Top $5 In L.A.!

Take a guess who the leftists and their idiot cousins in media will blame for skyrocketing gas prices: (a) "speculators", (b) "greedy oil companies", (c) "the rich", or (d) Bush. Not President Obama. Not his EPA. Not his Department of Interior. Not the brutal amount of taxes on each gallon of gas (about a dollar a gallon in total taxes versus two cents a gallon in profit for the "greedy oil companies").

Prices rise above $5 for a gallon of premium gas at a Shell station at Olympic Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, California...

Let's take a look at the price of gas and crude oil since Barack Obama took office in 2009.

Looks to me like Obama's done exactly what he said he'd do.

He's shut down drilling on public lands, slow-rolled permit approvals, continued his de facto (and illegal) drilling moratorium in the gulf, and wasted billions on crony "green energy programs".

I guess it's "for the children", though, so it's okay, right?


Hat tip: Drudge.

Mark Levin Nukes Obama's Energy Lies [Transcript]

The living national treasure known as Mark Levin shredded President Obama's fundraising energy policy speech in Miami yesterday, delivering an epic smackdown.

This man has never given a speech, never given a presidential statement without lacing it with politics and his own ego...

"[Obama:] Only in politics do people root for bad news... you can bet that, since it's an election year, they're already dusting off their three-point plan for two dollar gas. And I'll save you the suspense. Step one is to drill and step two is to drill. And then step three is to keep drilling. We heard the same line in 2007 when I was running for president. We hear the same thing every year. We've heard the same thing for 30 years. Well, the American people aren't stupid. They know that's not a plan. "

Mr. President, you may not know this. You may not understand this, because you've never actually taken the time to understand how this works.

But, yes, you have to drill to get oil, to get natural gas. You have to drill. You see, Mr. President, when that fleet of cars drives up to the local gas stations... and they fuel those cars, at our expense of course, the fuel isn't actually in those pumps to begin with, Mr. President.

You have to drill to get that stuff.

That's right! You have to get drill to get gasoline for your car! So a policy that says 'drill', number one, 'drill' number two, and 'drill' number three, is actually the only way to get gasoline, isn't it? Is there some other way to get gasoline, other than drilling?

Is there some other way to get home heating oil, other than drilling?

...So the president, on the one side of his considerable mouth mocks the Republicans for trying to drill, and on the other side of his mouth, mocks drilling! So, ladies and gentlemen, if we don't drill, we don't get oil!

If we don't drill, we don't get gas! Somebody's got to drill!

And there was Hillary Rotten Clinton, her Thighness, yesterday all excited about a deal with the Mexican government to drill in the Gulf in areas that are said to be shared... I could've sworn I heard Hillary Clinton talk about drilling! And we give millions, if not billions, to the Brazilians to do what? To drill!

And what are they doing in the Middle East? These massive ships that the oil companies have to have, that bring fuel back. Where do they get that? Oh, they drill? Yes, they drill!

So he mocks drilling and doesn't realize he sounds like idiot!

No, here's where we're going to get it: from the sun! Really? Solar. And wind! Now he's been president for three years, had complete control of the government for two years, and what did we get from this wind and solar? We got crony capitalism; campaign bundlers who made a fortune and then broke the companies; companies that can't work and don't work because a top-down, government mastermind like Obama can't -- just because he has the law and our money behind him -- do whatever he wants to do, against the laws of nature and physics, until we are able to develop it over the course of time. Until it's profitable, until it makes sense.

We call that whole process, "capitalism."

Related: Deconstructing Barack Obama's Blatant Energy Lies

Deconstructing Barack Obama's Blatant Energy Lies

Gas prices are poised to spike again this weekend, this time by as much as 20 cents a gallon.

And I didn't get to hear President Obama's fundraising energy speech in Miami today, but I do know this much. He deflected blame. He passed the buck. He blamed Bush. He lied. And he demonized Republicans for begging Democrats to unleash America's vast treasure trove of energy.

Obama's main message to struggling motorists was: It's not my fault, so stop whining. The speech only got worse from there, recycling excuses and myths that Obama's peddled for years. But there were some standout whoppers that deserve debunking...:

"We're focused on production."

Fact: While production is up under Obama, this has nothing to do with his policies, but is the result of permits and private industry efforts that began long before Obama occupied the White House... Obama has chosen almost always to limit production. He canceled leases on federal lands in Utah, suspended them in Montana, delayed them in Colorado and Utah, and canceled lease sales off the Virginia coast.

His administration also has been slow-walking permits in the Gulf of Mexico, approving far fewer while stretching out review times, according to the Greater New Orleans Gulf Permit Index. The Energy Dept. says Gulf oil output will be down 17% by the end of 2013, compared with the start of 2011. Swift Energy President Bruce Vincent is right to say Obama has "done nothing but restrict access and delay permitting."

"The U.S. consumes more than a fifth of the world's oil. But we only have 2% of the world's oil reserves."

Fact: Obama constantly refers to this statistic to buttress his claim that "we can't drill our way to lower gas prices." The argument goes that since the U.S. supply is limited, it won't ever make a difference to world prices... It's bogus. New exploration and drilling technologies have uncovered vast amounts of recoverable oil.

In fact, the U.S. has a mind-boggling 1.4 trillion barrels of oil, enough to "fuel the present needs in the U.S. for around 250 years,"...

"There are no short-term silver bullets when it comes to gas prices."

Fact: Obama could drive down oil prices right now simply by announcing a more aggressive effort to boost domestic supplies. When President Bush lifted a moratorium in 2008, oil prices immediately fell $9 a barrel.

As Doc Hastings, Chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, observed today, the "Obama administration spins U.S. oil product numbers, tak[ing] credit for predecessors' pro-energy policies."

The Obama Administration’s actions have caused domestic energy production to decrease... the White House does not explain that the vast majority of increased production is occurring on private lands, not public.

The slight increase in onshore production from federal lands is due to lease sales approved by previous Administrations—not the Obama Administration... ...The total onshore acreage leased under the Obama Administration in 2009 and 2010 are the lowest in over two decades, stretching back to at least 1984.

...the Obama Administration is attempting to take credit for actions they had nothing to do with. The strong production in the Gulf was due to leases issued in 1996-2000 under the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act – long before President Obama took office... The Obama Administration’s actions, such as imposing a de facto moratorium, are causing energy production to decline in the Gulf of Mexico. EIA shows a 300,000 barrel per day decline in current Gulf production and a projected Gulf decline of over 150 million barrels of oil in 2012.

Obama went on to tout his "green energy" programs, which have turned out to be a massive criminal operation redistribution of wealth from the private sector to Democrat campaign contributors:

In his speech, Obama proclaimed that Americans aren't stupid.

That much is for certain, which explains why they're so pissed off at his blatant energy lies.


Hat tip: Mark Levin

Stunning report: Obama used administrative earmarks to buy Congressional support for his wildly unpopular agenda

Wondering how President Obama convinced politicians to vote for Cap-and-Trade, Obamacare and other unpopular bills that Democrats knew would put their seats at risk? Well, wonder no more, compadre:

An examination of “administrative earmarks” around the time of congressional votes on key pieces of President Obama’s agenda suggests the White House used its power to fund local projects as a means to “buy” votes for major legislative efforts...

...an analysis of grants from agencies during the early years of the Obama administration shows that the districts of moderate Democrats, whose support was so crucial for Obama during the 111th Congress, received large sums right around the passage of three key pieces of legislation: Obamacare, Dodd-Frank financial regulations, and the cap-and-trade bill... During the run-up to votes in the House of Representatives for each of those pieces of legislation, the rate of administrative earmarking spiked.

...The number of grants given by those agencies spiked precisely when the House was considering each of the three pieces of legislation.

Even more troubling: during the same time periods, significant grant money went to the districts of numerous Democratic representatives who looked to face tough battles for re-election. The legislation Obama was attempting to get through Congress was generally unpopular, and vulnerable members needed other ways to appeal to constituents. Federal grants made for a perfect opportunity.

Then-Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA), for instance, kept his support for Dodd-Frank quiet. His website never posted a press release announcing his “yes” vote on the bill. It did, however, tout two federal grants totaling $3.6 million for businesses in his district two days before the Dodd-Frank vote.

Then-Rep. Zach Space (D-OH) hailed from a district reliant on the coal industry, which would have been hit particularly hard by cap and trade. He voted for the measure, but neglected to publicize the vote on his website. He did, however, announce eight federal grants totaling roughly $1.8 million all made during the month before the House passed cap and trade.

At least 32 vulnerable House Democrats received significant federal grant money in the periods leading up to or directly after their votes on at least one of these three pieces of legislation, raising concerns that those grants may have been used either to encourage or reward votes in favor of the administration’s position...

When the complete story of this administration's misuse of taxpayer dollars is written, it will -- in my estimation -- make Tammany Hall look like a ragtag group of pickpockets. Literally trillions of dollars will have been stolen redistributed from the private sector to Obama's pals. Oh, and the next generation will have to repay those bills -- with interest.

It's a crony capitalism trifecta! GE 'forcing' employees into Chevy Volts

At the confluence of General Electric (which paid no taxes on billions in income), General Motors (which still owes taxpayers $25 billion), and the Obama administration lies a nexus called "We Got Screwed":

General Motors and General Electric are two companies that have been in the political crosshairs lately. GM stands accused of “crony capitalism,” while GE is under fire for paying no Federal income taxes in 2010. The two companies share more than that though, with GE placing an order for 12,000 Chevy Volts and other hybrid vehicles.

A memo leaked to Green Car Reports lays out GE’s plans for their new fleet of Volts, and as expected, it has some people crying foul.

The memo, sent to employees of GE Healthcare Americas team explains that all sedan, crossover, and minivan purchases in 2012 will be replaced by the Chevy Volt. Only field engineers are excepted from having to drive a company Volt.

GE will offer estimates for installation Level 2 Charging Stations, though all-gas use will be allowed when there is no electric option. Any employees who opt out of the Volt program will not be compensated for their expenses. Those who do choose to drive the Volt will be reimbursed for public charging and home charging costs, in addition to gas uses.

...GE is positioning itself as a big player in the EV charging market. Getting employees into Volts also means getting charging stations into homes. ... It’s a bold move to be sure, and it will hopefully prove to be a boon to the Volt’s flagging sales numbers. GM had hopped to sell as many as 60,000 Volts in 2012, before dropping that number to 45,000. Will they even make that number though? Hard to tell, though GE’s business will go a long way towards giving the Volt some sales momentum.

It's getting to the point where General Electric and General Motors are indistinguishable from the federal government.

Who needs the Keystone XL pipeline? Gas prices hit record for this time of year, poised to hit $4.25+ in April

But remember: he's historic:

Gasoline prices have never been higher this time of the year. At $3.53 a gallon, prices are already up 25 cents since Jan. 1. And experts say they could reach a record $4.25 a gallon by late April.

"You're going to see a lot more staycations this year," says Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "When the price gets anywhere near $4, you really see people react."

Already, W. Howard Coudle, a retired machinist from Crestwood, Mo., has seen his monthly gasoline bill rise to $80 from about $60 in December. The closest service station is selling regular for $3.39 per gallon, the highest he's ever seen.

No, it's not an April Fool's joke.

Meanwhile, the citizens of the People's Republik of Kalifornia are paying the price for legislators' energy idiocy:

Just in time for Presidents Day: get ready for the long holiday weekend's highest prices ever in Southern California as $4 gasoline is expected to arrive in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and probably Orange County, too.

That's what energy analysts are predicting as the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area reached $3.996 a gallon overnight, up nearly 2 cents since Thursday. That was also a jump of 15.9 cents a gallon since last week.

Which is why even The Washington Post called Obama's decision to shutter the massive Keystone XL pipeline "an act of insanity."

Epic fail for the electric car crowd: researchers find that electric vehicles are far worse for public health than real cars

Even assuming electric cars worked effectively (which they don't), the eco-tards' whiny shrieks for plug-in vehicles make, oh, about as much sense as the rest of their agenda.

Report Finds Electric Cars in China Worse for Public Health

Electric cars are often assumed to be better for the environment and therefore better for public health.

A study by the University of Tennessee of electric vehicles in China, however, found that when you factor in where and how the energy for those vehicles is produced, the result is actually worse for public health when compared to gas-powered cars...

...According to new research from the University of Tennessee, electric cars in China have had an overall worse impact on the public health with regard to releasing particulate matter compared to those guzzling gas. The research conducted by Chris Cherry, assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering, and graduate student Shuguang Ji, evaluated 34 major Chinese cities where electric vehicles, including bikes, outnumber conventional vehicles 2:1. Their research states that the number of electric cars have grown to more than 100 million in the country in the last decade...

...Cherry says his study clearly shows that electric vehicles aren’t the zero-emission savior many expect them to be... “I think electric vehicles have a lot of promise, but I’m not an evangelist,” he says. “There are these electric cars out there touting themselves as being emission free, but you and I both know that’s not true.”

Oh, and don't assume the researchers are just talking about China. While they didn't study the U.S. directly, a huge portion of our electricity is produced by coal. Therefore, it's safe to say that we have many of the same challenges.

Consider this Exhibit 18,036 for my new book entitled The Inevitable Result of Central Planning: Epic failure, Democrat-style.

When the free market's ready for electric cars, the free market will produce electric cars. Not a minute before nor a minute after.

Schmucks.


Hat tip: BadBlue.com.