Tag: fuel

What is Happening to the Soul of Our Nation?

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, PoliticsLeave a comment

WashingtonPrayingI am fed up with “Social Liberals”, whether they consider themselves “Fiscal Conservatives”, “l”ibertarians or full-blown Liberals, telling me that their irresponsibility is actually nobility. And, that their amorality is actually “True Conservatism”.

It is not just their callousness as to the responsibility that they have to those around them that bothers me. It is their obvious oblivious nature, and lack of regret, as to the consequences of their actions.

And, I am very afraid that this irresponsible callousness, with the help of those who would benefit from it, is spreading across our nation at a rapid rate.

While reading The Drudge Report yesterday afternoon, I almost cried and threw up, all the same time.

I was reading the following two reports, which are perfect examples of what I was just relating to you.

The first report is from lifesitenews.com:

The British Columbia Health Ministry has admitted that the remains of babies destroyed by abortion in B.C. facilities are ending up in a waste-to-power facility in the United States, providing electricity for residents of Oregon.

The province’s Health Ministry said in an email to the B.C. Catholic that “biomedical waste” shipped to the U.S. to be incinerated includes “human tissue, such as surgically removed cancerous tissue, amputated limbs, and fetal tissue.”

“The ministry understands that some is transferred to Oregon. There it is incinerated in a waste-to-energy plant,” the email stated.

The ministry said that contractors handling the province’s “biomedical waste” follow “health and safety protocols, as well as federal, provincial, and local regulations.”

Kristan Mitchell, executive director of the Oregon Refuse and Recycling Association, told the B.C. Catholic that the “biomedical waste” likely ends up at the Covanta Marion waste-to-energy facility in Oregon since it is the only facility that uses waste to power the grid. The facility confirmed that it still receives and incinerates B.C. medical waste.

The power facility, located in Brookes just off the I-5, burns waste in two massive boilers at a temperature of about 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat transfers into water tubes, which creates steam to drive turbines. The turbines generate electricity.

A 2007 article about the Marion waste-to-energy facility that appeared in the Willamette Live — ironically titled “Burn, Baby, Burn” — stated that at the time the incinerator burned about 800 tons (1,764,000 pounds) of medical waste per year.

“Medical waste is brought to the facility in sealed boxes and is carried to the furnace on a conveyor belt which layers it with the rest of the solid waste being processed,” the article states.

Locals at the time protested the “importation and burning of medical waste,” expressing concern about breathing “toxic emissions.”

The news comes one month after the remains of more than 15,000 aborted babies were found to have been incinerated, along with other “medical waste,” to heat and generate power for British hospitals.

The second report comes from abcnews.go.com:

Two Colorado fourth graders were busted for selling marijuana at their elementary school, prompting officials today to urge adults to keep their weed locked away from kids.

School officials said a 10-year-old fourth grade boy brought a small quantity of leafy marijuana to Monfort Elementary School in Greeley, Colorado, on Monday.

“He sold it to three other fourth graders on the school playground, which resulted in a profit to the young man of $11,” John Gates, director of safety and security for the Greeley-Evans School District, told ABC News.

The next day, Gates said one of the three young buyers brought a marijuana edible to school and gave it to the boy who sold the pot on Monday. That boy took a bite, but did not suffer any ill effects, Gates said.

Both boys apparently got the weed from relatives, according to Gates.

“Both of these kids took the marijuana without the consent of their grandparents,” said Gates.

Gates said the four students involved will be suspended for a “significant” number of days, but declined to say exactly how long the punishment would be. Initially police were called, but officials have determined the incident will not he handled as a criminal matter, he said.

“We hope to send a good message here without ruining anybody’s lives. The message we really want to get out here to the adults is, ‘for crying out loud, secure it,’” Gates said.

Adults 21 and older have been able to buy recreational marijuana legally in Colorado since Jan. 1.

In a letter sent home to parents, Monfort Elementary School Principal Jennifer Sheldon said no student was injured.

“We know that many adults have greater access to marijuana since the change in the drug’s legal status in Colorado,” Sheldon wrote. “We urge all parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for children to treat marijuana as you would prescription drugs, alcohol or even firearms. This drug is potentially lethal to children, and should always be kept under lock and key, away from young people.”

The side effects of edible marijuana – which can be far more potent than smoking a joint – have been raising new concerns after two recent deaths in Colorado. In one, a 19-year old college student died when he jumped off a hotel balcony after eating a marijuana-laced cookie. In the second, Richard Kirk, 47, was charged with shooting and killing his wife while she called 9-1-1, telling police her husband had consumed pot-infused candy.

What is happening to the soul of our nation?

Are the Liberal Pundits we see appearing on the Main Stream Media and the “push” polls they are presenting, correct?

Have the majority of Americans become so insensitive and so self- centered, that social issues like these, which are tearing at the very fabric of our society, really do not matter to them?

“Issues” like using the bodies of dead babies for heating fuel?

Has our nation become as uncaring as those “good” Germans, who watched as families of European Jews were loaded on the boxcars bound for the Concentration Camps?

Has Americans’ quest for personal gratification, i.e., the so-called “right” to smoke “harmless” marijuana, made them impervious to the fact that these were 4th graders, selling their parents’ dope to their classmates?

Forbid it, Almighty God.

This nation was founded by Christian men who came here to be able to practice their faith as they chose.

However, they knew that with their new freedom came responsibility.

A responsibility to each other.

That is why they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their Sacred Honor to one another and the Cause of Liberty.

Our American Freedom, which we now enjoy, was given to us by the Grace of God and by acts of courage by selfless men.

Our nation has never been a selfish one. Our people have never been self-centered.

And, those who believe that selfishness and irresponsibility are what America is all about, haven’t got a clue.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Obama Issuing EO to Change Fuel Standards of Trucking Industry to Combat “Climate Change”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

trucking21814President Barack Hussein Obama is using his #2 pencil and Big Chief Tablet to write another Executive Order, and this time he may just erase an entire American Industry with it.

The New York Times reported that

President Obama on Tuesday ordered the development of tough new fuel standards for the nation’s fleet of heavy-duty trucks as part of what aides say will be an increasingly muscular and unilateral campaign to tackle climate change through the use of the president’s executive power.

The new regulations, to be drafted by the administration by March 2015 and completed a year later so they are in place before Mr. Obama leaves office, are the latest in a series of actions intended to cut back on greenhouse gases without the sort of comprehensive legislation the president failed to push through Congress in his first term.

The new regulation would primarily affect the country’s 600 coal-fired power plants, like this one in Texas, and could ultimately shutter hundreds of them.E.P.A. Staff Struggling to Create Pollution RuleFEB. 4, 2014

The limits on truck tailpipe pollution would combine with previous rules requiring passenger cars and light trucks to burn fuel more efficiently and pending rules to limit the carbon emissions of power plants. Cumulatively, experts said the à la carte approach should enable Mr. Obama to meet his target of cutting carbon pollution in the United States by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020. But they said he would still be far short of his goal of an 80 percent reduction by 2050.

“Improving gas mileage for these trucks is going to drive down our oil imports even further,” Mr. Obama said at a Safeway grocery distribution center here, flanked by a Peterbilt truck and Safeway and Coca-Cola cabs. “That reduces carbon pollution even more, cuts down on businesses’ fuel costs, which should pay off in lower prices for consumers. So it’s not just a win-win, it’s a win-win-win. We got three wins.”

Not everyone sees it that way. United States car and truck manufacturers have lobbied heavily against aggressive increases in federal fuel economy standards, saying that they could increase vehicle prices and diminish safety. More broadly, Republicans have said that the president should not single-handedly impose what they consider onerous requirements on vast swaths of the energy economy when Congress has opted against its own intervention.

The announcement was part of the president’s vow in his State of the Union address last month to advance his agenda “with or without Congress.” But while most of the actions taken since then have been relatively modest, like ordering a study of job training programs, one area where Mr. Obama both has the power to take more sweeping action and seems intent on using it is the environment.

…A coalition of shippers that stand to benefit from lower fuel costs, including FedEx, Wabash National Corporation and Waste Management Inc., welcomed the president’s action and released its own suggestions to shape the administration’s new regulations.

“This collaborative approach will result in realistic, achievable goals and an effective regulatory framework to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Douglas W. Stotlar, president of Con-way Inc., the nation’s third-largest freight company and a member of the coalition.

The American Trucking Association took a more cautious view, saying that it had worked with the administration on previous rules. “As we begin this new round of standards, A.T.A. hopes the administration will set forth a path that is both based on the best science and research available and economically achievable,” said Bill Graves, the association’s chief executive.

Mr. Obama pointed to what he called an emerging consensus. “If rivals like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola or U.P.S. and FedEx or AT&T and Verizon, if they can join together on this, then maybe Democrats and Republicans can do the same,” he said.

The fact that the Trucking Industry plays a crucial part in our nation’s economy is no surprise to anyone who works in it.

But, did you know how big a role the Trucking Industry plays?

According to the Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, trucks moved 73.7 percent of the country’s freight in 2012, carrying $10 trillion worth of the country’s $13.6 trillion in freight.

These fact come straight from the DOT’s recently released Commodity Flow Survey, a survey which is  done roughly every five years.

Trucks also carried 70 percent of the tonnage moved in 2012, hauling 8 billion of the 11.7 billion tons shipped last year.

Per the CFS, the for-hire trucking industry carried $6.6 trillion in freight, or 48.5 percent of the total, while private trucks hauled 25.2 percent, or $3.4 trillion.

In the Trucking Industry, like every other industry, the name of the game is revenue.

When this battle in Obama’s Quixotic tilt against his evil nemesis, the fictional Climate Change, comes to fruition, it will damage the Trucking Industry, by cutting into their profitability.

This decrease in revenue will be compensated for by raising their price per mile to their clients, who include the Food Industry, the Construction Industry, the Retail Industry, the Pharmaceutical Industry, and, to bring it around full-circle, the Oil Industry itself, among others.

Obama, in his zeal to “appear to be doing something” about a Liberal and Celebrity Cause Du Jour, will harm our nation’s economy, placing American workers even further behind the eight ball than we are now, regarding of what his sycophants in the industry and he himself will tell you.

Obama’s over-reaching economic ignorance will leave our nation in a hole we will never be able to climb out of, if he is not stood up to…immediately.

Until He Comes,

KJ