Dude Uses Liposuction Fat For Fuel

Uh...I'm kinda speechless. It's got a weird Soylent Greenish aspect to it. It's also friggin' gross.

On the flip side, there are some seriously fat-ass folks out there and we could probably fuel the entire Greyhound fleet with their excess fat...just saying.

Via: Who else.

Update: This doc ain't thniking outside the box at all. He could've powered Wrigley Field for all of next April with this score.

Example #458,098,565 Free Markets Work

Democrats have been telling us that drilling off the coasts or in ANWR would do nothing and not produce any price reductions for a decade. Here's proof that more supply equals lower prices on another needed commodity, natural gas, which we've been tapping into domestically with fervor of late. Here's the supply news:

Natural-gas prices, which were 50 percent higher in May than they were a year earlier, have dropped so much that early fears of a winter of high prices and short supply are melting away.

A milder summer, strong production of the fuel, a slow economy, and forecasts for a mild early winter have pushed down prices and spurred talk by some analysts of a natural-gas glut.

"You have a combination of two things: some milder-than-normal summer weather and also we're anticipating an 8 percent increase in natural-gas production over last year," said Neil Durbin, a spokesman for Dominion East Gas Co. in Cleveland. "It has had the effect of moderating prices."

Emphasis mine. Now how fast does that take to translate to lower prices? Try less than a day:

Peco Energy Co. said Thursday it will lower its natural gas rate on Sept. 1 because of a projected decrease in gas supply costs in the wholesale market.

The Philadelphia-based electric and gas utility said its gas rate will decrease by 9 cents per hundred cubic feet to $1.59 per hundred cubic feet from $1.68 per hundred cubic feet, which will lower the bills of a typical residential customer by 5.1 percent or $7 per month.

But drilling for oil domestically would have no effect given what we've heard from Speaker Pelosi and other Democrats. It shows they still don't understand free markets.

Good Gas Price Drops and Bad

From today's Inqy we have this rather sunny portrait of falling gas prices:

Prices at the gasoline pump came down again yesterday in the Philadelphia area, and another big drop in crude-oil futures means motorists could see the price break continue.

The average price for regular-grade gas fell a penny from Monday - to $3.92 a gallon in Philadelphia and the four suburban counties in Pennsylvania and to $3.72 in the three South Jersey suburban counties, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

The cumulative drop over the last month amounts to a significant savings for drivers - 23 cents a gallon in the five Pennsylvania counties, and 24 cents in the three South Jersey counties.

But wait, didn't the Inqy scold John McCain for calling for a "tax holiday" on the $0.184 the government makes on every gallon? Why yes, yes they did. If 24 cents is good, wouldn't 42.4 cents be even better? Not according to the Inqy's analysis I suppose.

Perhaps the Inquirer is shedding readers at an alarming rate because they just don't understand that dropping gas by 18.4 cents by reducing taxes is just as good as dropping it by market forces. In the eyes of the Inqy Editorial Board, no taxes should ever be repealed, even it were to benefit every single subscriber they have.

Changing Our Tune on Domestic Drilling

I've often heard it asked, "at what price would we change our driving habits?" It appears we know that the amount would be $4.00 per gallon plus change.

I guess the real questions should have been; at what gasoline price would we stop being idiots and start extracting our own oil? That question also seems to have been answered:

A poll released last week by the Pew Research Center revealed that 47 percent of respondents considered energy exploration, drilling and the building of new power plants to be the country's top priority.

Five months ago, 35 percent held that view, according to the survey.

Respondents were more accepting of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and 60 percent felt increasing energy supplies was more important than protecting the environment. Fifty-four percent felt that way in February.

Another poll conducted June 24 by InsiderAdvantage/Poll Position on behalf of Associated Industries of Florida found that 61 percent of Florida's registered voters favored increased exploration and production of oil and natural gas off Florida's coast.

We're well passed the point where this should even be up for discussion. We have the technology to remove the oil in an environmentally safe manner while putting pumps and wells online in a few years as opposed to decades.

I've heard the garbage spewed by environmentalists and Democrats about it taking 7-10years before it would have any effect but that just goes to show how flawed their thinking is. The day we made it clear to the world that we were making it a national mission to become energy independent, the market would free fall. The world knows that we can do anything we put our collective minds too--think Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

If we had a sane energy program where we began drilling immediately in conjunction with tax inducements on oil and auto companies to develop a cheap and efficient energy source that has little of no emissions, the world would have to stop and take notice and American business would see a boom we sorely need.

In the short-term, developing nations like China and India would still need oil and the Saudis would still make their money but a generation from now, American technology will be used to get the world off the oil crack pipe. The price of oil would plummet 80-90% as it would still be a commodity for plastics, jet fuel, diesel, etc. but the demand would be a fraction of what it is today.

It all starts with us becoming energy independent but ends with the world using American-made non-petroleum fuels.

Global Warming Denial is "a Crime" says NASA Scientist

As an addendum to the previous post, global warming believers aren't taking too well to the prospect that people are actually seeing through their scam. The chief snake oil salesman has gone over the edge against people who question his absolute moral authority on the issue:

James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer.

...In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime."

Speaking ones mind is ever a crime, sir and the fact that you propose putting anyone on trial for their thoughts and views is downright Orwellian. What the hell is a "high crime against...nature" anyway? You also have to admire the chutzpah for using the phrase "actively spreading doubt" as if their can be no disbelief about the issue...ever. Kind of religious, isn't it?

But no, this yahoo isn't done yet:

He wants to see a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, coupled with the creation of a huge grid of low-loss electric power lines buried under ground and spread across America, in order to give wind and solar power a chance of competing. "The new US president would have to take the initiative analogous to Kennedy's decision to go to the moon."

His sharpest words are reserved for the special interests he blames for public confusion about the nature of the global warming threat. "The problem is not political will, it's the alligator shoes - the lobbyists. It's the fact that money talks in Washington, and that democracy is not working the way it's intended to work."

Are not global warming theory (yes, it's still a theory) pushers not adding to the "public confusion?" Perhaps Hansen needs a refresher on democracy. In his world, a democracy is when everyone votes the way he prefers. By the way Mr. Hansen, this is a Republic, Google it.

Even better, why don't we put it on the ballot in all fifty states in November--a question that asks the American public whether or not we should raise taxes on fuel and everything else so that we can reduce a gas that may or may not be contributing to global warming. We can further ask the public whether or not they would be willing to foot the trillion dollar bill for burying all those power lines. I'm game and that's about as democratic as you can get. Are you up for it Mr Hansen?

Truckers Threaten "Strike"

Though technically not a strike since it's owner-operators, the nation's truckers are fed-up with the high cost of fuel and the lack of increase in price paid per mile:

What started as a small, online grassroots effort now appears to have the potential for something bigger.

Dan Little, the owner/operator of a livestock hauling company in Carrollton, Mo., estimated Tuesday that at least 1,000 other truckers from across the United States have committed so far to joining him in a strike on April 1.

Although none of the truckers interviewed Tuesday at the Iowa 80 Truck Stop, Walcott, which is just off Interstate 80 west of Davenport, has heard of the intended strike, some said they would shut down, too.

Weldon Kinnison, a Virginia trucker who was hauling soft drink from Indiana to Denver, heard about the plans for a strike for the first time Tuesday while stopping at Walcott.

“I’m an owner/operator with the American Truckers Association,” he said. “I’d park my truck for a week with the cattle haulers.

Honestly, I don't blame them. Truck drivers pay excessive tolls (in essence, a tax that is greater than the rest of us), have the cops pulling them over constantly, have set hours in whic to drive as many miles as the can, must pay for repairs and maintenance continually and are separated from their families for long periods of time. I know, choose you rate choose your fate but these guys give alot and get little in return.

Anyway, this could be a direct threat to the economy. As trucks go, so go most goods and services. If the independent truckers stop hauling, the big trucking firms would have to pick up the slack and they charge more and there aren't enough of them. Either way, prices will spike for the short-term. A trucking slow down will have an instant impact, a full shut-down would have our economy tanking within a week.

So what are they asking for?

“What I would personally like to see is our federal and state governments, until our economy recovers, suspend federal and state fuel taxes,” the 49-year-old said. “The second thing I’d like to see is an oversight committee for truck insurance, which is part of what’s taking us down.

“The average owner/operator is paying $600 to $800 a month for truck insurance. It’s based on personal credit, which means the monthly cost is going up for a lot of truckers because their credit is going down.

That sounds fair enough. The government and some presidential candidates are calling for a bailout for people who had no business buying homes in the first place. How can they ignore these guys who are busting their asses everyday keeping the goods of this country moving?

Easy, because most of them are considered by the Democrats to be redneck, country music-listening Republicans.