Oil is evil, but soup is good food

Whenever the MSM (Main Stream Media) and the politicians want to vilify someone or something they put the word "big" in front of the name and then will tell you how you are getting fleeced by them and that they are bad, evil people who must be stopped by, of course, more regulation and interference in the free market.

I want to examine two reports that came out recently and one that didn't, but should have. Several weeks ago I wrote about Shell Oil's profits and how, when compared to their revenue, did not exhibit any signs of gouging. There is now similar moaning and gnashing of teeth about Exxon Mobil's earnings report. This is all making big news because it hurts more than ever to fill up the tank. I feel it too, I hate it and I want it to end. It is really putting me and my family in a bad financial spot.

In the 2006 fiscal year Shell oil posted net-profits of $26.311 Billion U.S. In fiscal '07 they upped it to $31.331 Billion. Exxon Mobil's dollars grew from $39.5 billion in '06 to $40.6 billion in '07, or did they? When evaluating profits it is not only critical, but the sole accurate method, to view profits in a net (after costs are removed) form and as compared to total sales, and all in the same time frame. Shell Oil grew from 8.25% profit in '06 to a whopping 8.8% profit in '07, not bad, but not really living off of the backs of the consumers either. Exxon Mobil, on the other hand, shrunk from 10.45% in '06 to a measly 10.03% in '07! Again, while larger than Shell, not exactly gauging. These are important numbers, because it is the only method used by investors when deciding where to invest their money.

Let us now turn our attention to a behemoth of a company that made more (as a percentage of gross revenue) off of the backs of the people than both of the oil companies. While me and my family are forced to go to Big Lots and Aldi just to scrape by these evil capitalists made profits of over 10% last year! Much more than Big Oil. I want Congress to act to regulate BIG SOUP!!! Campbell's Soup made 10.855% profit off of the backs of the American consumers and I want something done about it!!

Religion is right for The Left, but wrong for The Right.

Kathleen Parker is always spot on, and this article is no exception. The only way that Communists can win is by using the religious fervor of a revival.

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Does Balkanization Beckon Anew?

When the Great War comes, said old Bismarck, it will come out of "some damn fool thing in the Balkans." On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip shot the archduke and heir to the Austrian throne Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, setting in motion the train

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In reply to "Socialism accusation old fashioned" (The Cincinnati Enquirer Feb 15): You can call it whatever you want, but when you use the force and power of government to take the property (in this case income)of one group of citizens and redistribute that property to those whom you have deemed worthy of your "kindness," the only proper term for it is socialism. Progressive is just flashy marketing.

Rules, rules, rules

It is very curious, politicians who are all for the rules when they might lead to a desired outcome, but seem to conveniently forget the rules when they get in their way.

Compare Pelosi's current penchant for the letter of the law to her attitude towards it when it comes to judges and The U.S.Constitution!

Pelosi's way

Do you Know What you are doing?

I find time and again that people will say that they think one way, but they will behave in a completely opposite manner. They will say that they do not want to impose their views onto someone else, when by the very act of, "not getting involved," their self-removal from the hard decisions of life will have effectively slaughtered millions of innocent lives and destroyed countless otherwise strong families.


It happens time and time again, and demonstrably I am sure, more often than even I am aware (and I try to stay pretty aware!)


I am what you might call a "self-proclaimed debater." I mean that I do not shy away from the topics commonly avoided at your dinner table. If you invited me to dinner, or I you, I will not only eagerly engage in conversations about politics, abortion and religion, but I will do everything in my power to mold the conversation to that direction. I do this, not because I have some morbid proclivity towards dissention, conflict or the destruction of otherwise happy relationships, but rather, I have a passionate regard for truth. I care more for exposing the truth than if you like me or not; I would prefer that you like me, but not at Truth's expense. I do not mean to suggest that this is "my truth" either. The truth does not have the luxury of relativism, it either is, or it is not. Two plus two will always equal four; this is truth.


Some would say that I might gain more ground if I were not so aggressive in my pursuit of that very elusive lady; they may have a point. Most people simply accept what they hear the most or for the longest time, rather than face the hard decisions that may come from the acknowledgement of a truth newly discovered. It takes more time than most are willing to spend and their current position on a "touchy subject," while unbeknownst to them is false, is comfortable. It also makes them feel like a nice person.


I am not generally opposed to ones desire to be nice, or for their search for peace (inner or outer), but Justice has always ridden on a horse named War. This could be a war of words at the dinner table, a litigious battle before a judge or one like WWII or the current one on Terror. I personally prefer the first option. More lives have been saved by the pursuit of truth than the comfortable pleasure of a lie. It is critical for our survival as a "somewhat civilized" society that we not shy away from the pursuit of truth no matter how uneasy it makes us feel, who may not like us, or if our poll numbers should drop as a consequence.


The true definition of peace, after all, is not the absence of conflict, but the result of a defeated enemy, be that enemy an idea or a person.

The Shell truth and nothing but the truth

So I looked up the particulars of Shell oil's profits last night, took me all of 5min, the link is below. If you look at the balance sheet you can determine not only their profit for the whole of last year ($31,331,000,000.00US), but also all of the other financials of the company. Several things here; first when determining the value of any particular fact it is always important to ask yourself, "compared to what?" In other words realize the truth that things do not happen in a vacuum, but rather in a contextual relationship with their surroundings. In the case of profits, they are always, by any business person worth their salt, compared to the revenue created by the company's actions. In Shell Oil's case, they had total revenues in 2007 of ($355,782,000,000US). This means that their total profit margin for fiscal 2007 was 8.8%, by no means or any standard does this illustrate gauging.

Never forget, a politician does not want to help you ... they want your vote.

Shell by the #'s

Choice

Why is the term “choice” always only applied to the operation that is so debated these days?

Do you choose to say hello to another?

How about choosing to relinquish you personal information with an attractive person?

Is there someone forcing you to communicate with another against your own better “choice”?

Are you obligated, coerced, prodded or forced to meet with someone over coffee, a drink or a meal?

Are you not familiar with where this is going?

Do you not have the responsibility to consider the path upon which you trod?

Are you choosing to spend more time than you would like with someone?

Do the lights of the bedroom turn off against your will?

Are there armed guards forcing your cloths to fly off of you in that passionate embrace?

Would you please circle the events and the thoughts that took place above where you did not exercise a right to choose?

We all make a multitude of decisions in our life, some are stupid, some are intelligent and still some pass by our cerebral cortex with out even stopping to say hello, never to be seen again. It is, I believe, only human to wish that a choice made were re-presented to be chosen differently, but time travel is still only science fiction.

The facts remain, in this life, that words mean things and actions have consequences. You may not enjoy the meaning or the consequence, but your displeasure with a reality does not alter the fact of its existence. Sex has life changing implications, as do many of the choices with which we are presented.

If you discover, one day, that you are pregnant, with very rare exception, you have already made many choices to bring you to this place. Your choices and rights, from this point, can only rightfully be made while considering that the life, now growing within you, is banking on you to help him or her with their Right to Choose.

Polar Bears

I came home from work the other day and my wife asked if I had heard that polar bears are now endangered. It struck me as odd because I remembered glossing over some bit of news earlier that day about the bears and, at the time, thought nothing of it. With all of the cajoling in the political world for this and that sweet little animal’s peaceful livelihood being destroyed by the evil humans, I take most of it with a grain of salt. The truth usually turns out to be just one more attempt by Environmentalist Whackos (the new communist party) to subvert America’s economic engine and fleece her people of a chunk of their hard earned cash. Make no mistake, you, my intrepid reader may genuinely care about the life and comfort of every last molecule on this fine planet, but those purporting to lead you to the promise land only want the power you will give them. They care nothing for the cute little bunnies, or the dangerous bears.

After hearing this bit of “news” and thinking back to some comments made by several unnamed family members of the plight of the polar bear and the shrinking of the Arctic ice I decided that it was high time a member of the unwashed masses investigated some facts. Here is what I found.

To begin with, while the Main Stream Media will have you all in a tizzy over yet another of natures sublime creatures being crowded out by the mean old Americans, the facts always seem to escape the so-called Progressives. The polar bear is doing just fine, and the weight loss you may have heard of is actually because there are so many of them now that the original food source, which was great at one point, is not enough for all of the mass of the bears. Their numbers increased from 2100 in ’97 to a whopping 2600 in ’04. You might say now that the problem is that we are taking their food, not so fast, they are eating it, and one problem at a time please. As for the report that they are being placed under the ESA, not true. This serves as yet another example of how the MSM is no longer a viable news source, but a propaganda machine seeking to spread lies so as to subvert your freedoms. Is that too wild for you to believe? O.K. then they are lazy and do an abhorrent job at vetting their stories. It took me less than an hour to find the truth.

What is happening is that The Bush administration was being threatened with a lawsuit to have the bears put under the ESA by Green peace and The Natural Resources Defense Council. At this point The Administration has agreed to spend the next year investigating the facts before they make a determination on the matter. The bottom line here is that the MSM lied to you.

But, why would these groups be so insistent to have a bear, not in peril, on this list? Politics, they are not just pure hearted animal lovers. They want this coup so as to further their Global Warming Hysteria. They can’t seem to do it with facts, so they will push it with subterfuge. Not only are the bears not endangered, The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 provides for Eskimos to hunt these bears. The Canadian Press Newswire reports, “in 3 arctic villages polar bears ‘are so abundant there’s a public safety issue.’ The increases in the populations of the bears have the Inuits wanting to kill more bears”! The MSM didn’t mention that in their little story did they? You can’t have it both ways folks.

One other piece of this is the reason they want the polar bears on under the ESA. It will further their even bigger lie that Man-Made GW is causing the Arctic ice to melt. It shocks me that, otherwise intelligent people do not take the time to investigate this for themselves but will just take the dribble of some has-been without considering that he may have an agenda. The facts show that the Arctic ice has a natural degree of variability. I have looked at the data with my own eyes provided by The Canadian Ice Survey. “It was as warm in the late 1930’s as at the end of the 20th century, yet 70% of the build up of atmospheric greenhouse gasses since pre-industrial times occurred after 1940” – Marlo Lewis, CEI.

The bottom line is before you go off fearing the worst because of some story you heard on the news, a website you clicked on, or the latest Oscar winning screamer, check the facts for yourself. One day you may wake up in a world drastically more oppressive than this only to realize that the reasons they gave you for removing your liberties were a fabrication designed to confuse you. But, then it might be too late.

I will leave you with the thoughts of two fine Americans:

“Government is like a fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” – G. Washington

“Think, Michael, Think!” – D.M. Poast

COLORS

A few weeks ago I was watching a show on PBS about the integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was striking to see the difficulty contained in such a seemingly simple act. I do not mean to suggest that I know how it was from either side of the argument, but the white folks certainly felt as though the world was coming to a screeching halt for having been forced to "co-educate" with the black folks. Even more glaring was how calm and adult the black folks were behaving. This is not to suggest that I was surprised, but only for the opposite behavior in the white folks.

In the face of overwhelming hate and illogical bigotry, the black folks were poised, graceful and respectful to white folks whose behavior and verbal venom wouldn't have deserved even a, "how do you do." from me. I was embarrassed for them, the white folks, and not because my pigment is similar to theirs, but because I am also human; though they were wanting for proof in that sad moment in their life.

We have all been in that position in our lives where our whole perfect little world seems to be falling apart all around us and all we can do is behave like a hungry rat backed into a corner. I am in no way justifying their actions, just suggesting a point of understanding, since we can all be that person when the chips fall the right way.

In the same moment, though, the black folks were thrust into the same emotional tornado. To top it off, they had the local government turning their backs on the supreme law of the land, The U.S. Constitution. That beautiful document written so many years before that gave them the same rights as the children having a tantrum all around them; the children had the guns though. It is this that is striking. You could make two lists: one defining differences and one defining similarities and don't you know that the ones throwing the fit in the PBS show were only focused on the short list.

As you go out into this vast and complex world to work, to play, to give or to receive you make similar lists throughout your day. Will yours cause a riot, or will it end one?