Fossil River

Conditions are ripe in this country for a potential energy crisis in the future.  The environmental movement has made it increasingly difficult to drill for oil. The Environmental Protection Agency has put policies in place that make it difficult for coal fired power plants to be built or to even remain open. For all of its potential, alternative forms of green energy has not proven to be a fruitful enterprise.  Any hint of unrest in the Middle East can send oil prices rising.

Fossil River by Jock Miller takes place in the relatively near future of the United States.  The country is faced with an energy crisis.  OPEC has reached a deal with China to send an increased percentage of their production their way.  Unrest in the rest of the Middle East has further reduced the supply of oil.  On top of that, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico has reduced dramatically US domestic production of oil.

With the strategic oil reserves set to be bone dry in a matter of weeks, the President of the United States launches an all out search for domestic supplies of oil.  As luck would have it, they find a huge oil field in a very remote area if the Noatak National Preserve in Alaska.  An all out effort is made to verify the find and to find a way to tap into that oil field to prevent the country from falling into a depression to rival the Great Depression.

The first team of scientists enter the area to try to confirm the find.  They are flown into the area by Scott Chandler, a decorated helicopter pilot of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, of the Fish & Wildlife Service.  None of the team, with the exception of Chandler, makes it out alive as they are attacked by an unknown predator.  During the attack the predator left behind feathers and a talon with blood on it.

Chandler called on the knowledge of his ex-girlfriend Kimberly Fulton who is the Curator of Paleontology at the New York Museum of Natural History.  He sends the talon and feathers to her.  She runs a series of tests on the relics and comes to the conclusion that the predator is a living fossil; a dinosaur.  She flies out to reunite Chandler to somehow find a way to access the oil field without everyone getting killed by the dinosaur and without destroying the pristine ecosystem.

I won't reveal any more about the plot of the book.  Most of this is found in the book description on Amazon.  I found it to be an exciting book.  The action was non-stop and the characters sympathetic.  There were a few things I did not like.  Some of the plot twists were easily predictable.  I also felt some of the characters, particularly the military characters, were a bit too much of a caricature.  All in all though, it was an enjoyable respite from reality.

September 11th

Image via WikipediaI was not sure whether or not I was going to post anything today in commemoration of the horrific events that took place 10 years ago today in New York, Pennsylvania, and just down the road at the Pentagon.  There will be so many others that will post regarding what happened that day.  I did not know what more that I could add.

Ten years ago, I was sitting in my office working on some reports when my wife called to tell me that an airplane had crashed into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York.  Shortly thereafter, a second plane crashed into the other tower.  A third plane crashed into the Pentagon.  A fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, PA thanks to passengers storming the cockpit and overcoming the hijackers.

I remember sitting in my office stunned.  I had a boombox in my office that I used to listen to CDs, but on this day, I turned on the radio to try to follow the events of the day.  I was really in a state of shock, and unable to concentrate enough to do any work.  My son and nephew were both attending a school in Baltimore a couple blocks from Baltimore's World Trade Center building.  Concerned that another attack could occur there, my brother in law went to pick up both boys from school 

One of the public affairs managers came down to see if we had enough water in the warehouse to provide a truckload of water for those rescuers and workers at the Pentagon crash site.  That was the good of my company.  Most of our upper management was in California for a meeting.  Later in the day, one of our VPs sent a voice mail encouraging us to capitalize on the event by making sure we had enough of emergency items like bottle water in the stores because there might be a run on those things.  I thought it a rather callous and inhumane thing to do.

A lot of things have changed in the 10 years since the attacks.  I remember being able to have my wife and son sit with me at the gate while waiting for my flight to take off, or being able to greet me at the gate when I returned.  Now, you can't get through without a ticket.  Security is such that we have to take off shoes, belts, and coats to get through.  We are subjected to pat downs usually reserved for criminals and we are subjected to various scanner devices.

After the events, the country stood resolute and united in wanting to track down those responsible for the attacks.  There was near unanimous support from both sides of the political spectrum for the war that would soon follow.  Ten years later, we still have our military forces in the Middle East fighting the war on terror.  Our political leaders are severely divided on nearly every issue that comes before them. 

It saddens me that as a country we can now stand so bitterly divided when a relatively short time ago, we stood united and strong.  Now, both sides are looking for every political advantage that they can garner to maintain and achieve more power.  It is no longer about what is best for the country.  I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln, who quoted Jesus, when he said "a house divided against itself can not stand." 

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Pain at the Pump

Image via WikipediaThis morning I got into my car and headed off to work.  Earlier this month, it was reported that gasoline prices had hit their highest retail price for early February ever, even higher than the record prices we saw a couple years ago.  There is one gasoline station that I pass on my way to get a gauge of what gas is selling for.  At the time the report was released, gas at that station was running around $2.99 per gallon.  Over the weekend it sat at $3.05 per gallon.  Today, it was up to $3.15 per gallon, up 3% in the past week.

The unrest in the Middle East over the last couple weeks has led to some of the recent increase to be sure.  However that is only part of the problem.  The Heritage Foundation has a great post on their Foundry blog that details 10 things you need to know about high gas prices and Obama's oil policy.  It makes for some very interesting reading.  Now, I am not going to lay all the blame for the current price of gasoline strictly at the feet of the Obama administration, but they sure as hell aren't doing anything to help the situation.

Every President since Carter has talked about our need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.  There are huge oil reserves off our coastlines and in Alaska.  Unfortunately, since Carter, we have been hamstrung from developing our domestic sources of oil by giving in to the environmentalists.  Every time we do get a President to be willing to start the process of developing those domestic resources, we have to face the roadblocks of the environmentalists.  It takes so much time to get approval to drill, that by the time they can get started, a new administration comes in and shuts things down again.

There is a rather simple law of economics that takes place with oil and gasoline.  Prices go up when either demand increases or supply decreases.  Likewise, prices will go down when supply increases or demand decreases.  With the unrest throughout the Middle East, there are real concerns about the supply of oil being interrupted which will send prices up even higher.  Couple that with increased demand from other countries like China and Russia which is exerting even more upward pressure on oil prices.  Developing our domestic sources of oil would increase supply and ease pressure on prices.

I can hear all the environmentalists squawking about how we can't drill.  The reality of it is that for the most part, drilling has been fairly safe with very few environmental disasters, the BP Gulf spill notwithstanding.  And I don't want to hear about the poor polar bear.  Their populations have been growing, and they sure as hell don't care about what happens to us.  In fact, they would just as soon tear your head off as look at you.  If the polar bear wants to get in the way of drilling, I say drill through their ass.

Now don't get me wrong.  I am all for developing cleaner energy sources.  I am also in favor of more fuel efficient automobiles.  The reality is that oil helps drive the economic engine as well as our combustion engines.  Higher oil prices will impact all aspects of our economy which is struggling with high unemployment and slow growth.  With the government spending at a deficit rate in the trillions, we need revenue.  Ironically, as pointed out in the Heritage post, due to the administration's oil policy, the government is losing billions in revenue from royalties for oil production.

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Iranian Missiles Could Reach USA by 2015

Image via Wikipedia

The Defense Department released an unclassified report yesterday regarding the Iranian military capabilities.  Their report stated that Iran could be capable of producing a long range missile that could reach the United States by 2015.  It is also estimated that Iran could be capable of developing a nuclear weapon in the next 3-5 years.  If that is not a sobering thought, then I don't know what is.

Now, I am not enamored with the idea of us ever having to use a nuclear weapon again.  However, having lived through the Cold War, I do like the idea of having the deterrent available to us.  When past presidents had to deal with the Soviet Union and the nuclear arms race, each side knew the other was capable of wiping the other off the map.  Despite our philosophies being polar opposites, neither side wanted a holocaust. 

I don't think we can say the same thing about the Iranian government.  With the Iranian regime, we are dealing with an ideology that believes that they will receive their reward in heaven by fighting the infidels of the west and Israel.  Their mindset is not like any other we have dealt with in the past.

The idea of reducing nuclear weapon stockpiles in and of itself is not necessarily a bad idea.  Reagan and others negotiated with the Soviets to reduce arms.  Our dealings with the Iranians, and the North Koreans for that matter, have shown time and time again that negotiations are futile.  Obama himself said that the threat of a nuclear attack has gone up.  Based on that alone, now is not the time to cut funding on missile defense or our nuclear deterrent.

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