Energy to Burn

Bob Murray, CEO of Murray Energy Corp. in Ohio is one of the few voices crying “foul” over the global-warming Tsunami that’s sweeping Washington. Sure, Murray Energy has a vested interest in the issue: They sell coal to electricity providers. Turning down demand for coal is not in Murray Energy's best interests...but, Murray says, neither is the global warming mantra that's emanating from Washington.

The truth is not being told about this climatological witch-hunt, and Murray’s prediction that small businesses, like yours, will be hurt as a result of any government intervention are right on.

The truly interesting thing about this whole global warming issue is the fact that the facts being used to prove its existence are founded upon suspect science. I continue to believe that no one knows what “the norm” for global temperature is—the term is impossible to define.

If the theory that more CO2 in the atmosphere would exponentially increase temperatures was true, we’d already be roasting; quite the opposite has been the case. And in fact, the more particulates in the atmosphere, which block or reflect sunlight, the cooler it gets.

The second issue is that of defining what greenhouse gasses are—and if you look at that honestly, you’ll recognize the predominant component in any greenhouse environment is water—water vapor--not CO2.

Call me cynical, but the hot air hoopla on Capitol Hill is not about saving the planet. As MIT Meteorology Professor Andrew Lindzen noted recently, “Carbon caps are likely to lead to increased prices, as well as corruption associated with permit trading.”

Remember that crooked-E company, Enron? It was the biggest duck in the puddle in the push for the US to sign-on the Kyoto Accord.

Why?

Because it wanted to reap the profits it foresaw from emission credits trading.

In America, if you want to know what’s driving something, follow the money trail.

Making Statements

The petty economies of the rich are just as amazing as the silly extravagances of the poor.
--William Feather

There’s no place like home for the 15 British sailors returned as an “Easter Gift” from Iran. Isn’t that like the Easter Bunny stealing your Snickers bars to give you back chocolate Easter eggs?

Nothing like a homecoming of hostages to relieve the tension in the oil markets, and boost Wall Street, too. There could be another, fashionable, dividend from the whole affair.

Prediction: Just in time for Summer, the Iranian sartorial look: He’s in a two piece suit with open collar shirt; She looks like a bag lady lost in a Where’s Waldo? cartoon.

Cars, Cranks, Kooks and Clues

The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would hire them away.
--Ronald Reagan
That’s a clue behind the move to remove “The Global War on Terror” from official government language. Democrat policy wonks are circulating a memo to replace the euphemistic phrase with more precise language, like “The War in Iraq” or “The War in The Horn of Africa…”

Wonder if they will next ban a similar phrase that’s making the rounds—Global Warming—and replace it with “Too Many Hydrocarbons,” “Too Many Particulates per-Million that Trap Heat in the Atmosphere,” or “Too Many Lights on in Al’s House,” and “Too much Hot Air Emanating from Washington?”

By the way, I am convinced a major contributor to alleged man-made warming of the atmosphere--at least over The District of Columbia--is the obscene settings of thermostats in government buildings. In my visit to DC last month, ALL government buildings were absolutely sweltering inside.

The 94th annual meeting of the New York Coal Trade Association was held last week, and one of the guest speakers was the founder and CEO of Murray Energy Corporation, Bob Murray. He's got cojones and enough starch in his shorts to challenge the militancy of the climate control movement that he believes is threatening our economic future.

Murray regards Global Warm-monger Al Gore as "the shaman of global doom and gloom," saying the ecologically hyperactive former veep is "more dangerous than his global warming." Murray believes he is speaking for hundreds of other small business owners he characterizes as "the little guy that nobody cares about."

Despite odds stacked against him, Bob Murray is forging on, and says, "Some wealthy elitists in our country, who cannot tell fact from fiction, can afford an Olympian detachment from the impacts of draconian climate change policy."

Quoting Murray from an article published in the NY Sun: "For them, the jobs and dreams destroyed as a result will be nothing more than statistics and the cares of other people. These consequences are abstractions to them, but they are not to me, as I can name many of the thousands of the American citizens whose lives will be destroyed by these elitists' ill-conceived ‘global goofiness' campaigns."

Preach on, brother.

Storm Forecaster Bill Gray and his warren of weather researchers say there’s a 74% chance of a major hurricane hitting the US coast this season, and expects 17 named-storms—5 of them severe this year. Gray says the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season should be "very active.”

Isn't that what they said last year?

First there was the million-dollar pizza in New York…now a restaurant in China has forked over $75,000 for a yellow-gold Tiger Fish, which is about three-times the going rate. The entrée will be sold for over $15,000 per kilogram--at a loss of $10,000 per kg.

The fish is known in Chinese as “Golden Cash Tiger Fish.” Sorry, Charlie.

Toyota's sales figures for March were up 11.7%... Honda ahead 7.3%...DaimlerChrysler's sales, on the other hand, were down 4%, and Ford's March sales were down 9%.

Anybody got a better idea?