novatownhall blog

It appears that Governor Palin is a nightmare for Democrats.  She has a very strong on fighting corruption, and not letting the good ol’ boy network get sweat heart deals.  For instance from the Wall Street Journal:

After handily winning, her popularity in Alaska soared as she went on to sack political appointees with close ties to industry lobbyists and shelved pork projects.

She killed the bridge to nowhere.  She reduced the budget ! She lowered taxes, Alaska’s economy is doing better than the rest of the country.  Are you listening liberal whackos?

continue reading…

Recently I read an article on oil imports and domestic ethanol production that piqued my curiosity. The article appearing in Popular Mechanics, discussed the impact on U.S. oil imports by the increases in domestic ethanol production. What I found was that ethanol may not be providing sufficient energy dependence relief to justify what it is costing us.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, 2007 ethanol production was 6.5 billion gallons, up from 4.8 in 2006. A barrel of crude oil, according to our DOE, yields 20 gallons of motor fuel. Looking at oil imports over this same period, 2007 U.S. oil imports were 4.9 billion barrels, down from 5.003 billion the previous year. Eureka ! Ethanol is working !

But is it ? The American Coalition for Ethanol puts it this way,”Ethanol comprises about 3.5% of total annual U.S. gasoline consumption “. The cost of this 3.5% savings is 23% of our national corn crop, and 13% of our soybean harvest. The GAO estimates that by 2012, 30% of our domestic corn crop will be used for ethanol production. What does this mean to us ? Higher food prices, we are all feeling this, and will continue to feel this for the foreseeable future. Yes, high fuel prices are an impact, but for me, I fill up my tank every 10-12 days. I have to fill up my family of four three times a day. Forget this ethanol experiment, roll these corn and soybean crops back into the food supply, rollback food prices, I will come out ahead, and very likely so will you.

Biofuels have been touted as the answer to climate change owing to the decreased CO2 emissions. This is true on the consumer end, but again, we are not being told the complete story. Ethanol proponents fail to factor in the environmental impact of production, and most importantly, clearing the land for corn production. Some studies have shown that clearing grassland can release 93 times the amount of greenhouse grasses saved by the fuel produced from the crops grown on that land.

A recent report published by P.J. Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, and colleagues concluded that environmental impact studies have underestimated the amount of nitrogen oxide, a greenhouse gas, released by the use of nitrogen fertilizers. If this study is correct, ethanol made from nitrogen fertilized corn will produce more greenhouse gas than the equivalent amount of gasoline.

“People are getting smarter. People are beginning to see that the damage ensuing from producing agrofuels by far outweighs any possible benefits,” says Tad W. Patzek, a professor of geoengineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a prominent biofuels sceptic.

Yes, we need to be smarter, we need to declare this Iowa Experiment as a complete failure. We need to undo the methanol mandates of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and we need to do it now.

“Rushing to turn food crops… into fuel for cars, without first examining the impact on global hunger, is a recipe for disaster,” the UN rapporteur on food said in his report to the UN General Assembly. “Agrofuel production is unacceptable if it brings greater hunger and water scarcity to the poor in developing countries,” the report says. The report concluded with calling for a five-year moratorium on biofuel production while new biofuel technology is under development.

This is one of those very rare occasions where I happen to agree with the U.N. .

Put Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket and she’ll dwarf Barack Obama and Joe Biden, I say, and she has more executive experience than Obama, Biden, and John McCain combined. Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was unapologetically touted as a Democrat VP candidate and Kaine has precisely the same experience as Palin does. So listen to all the mainstream media’s choreographed agonizing over Sarah Palin’s supposed lack of experience with a huge grain of salt – you would not have heard a word of that about Tim Kaine.

But comparisons are not the point.

Bill Clinton had plenty of “experience” and we know how that turned out. George W. Bush had plenty of “experience” and we know how that turned out.

For good reason, Americans are willing to consider a president whose official credentials don’t necessarily reflect White House Prep School material. Americans want to see someone with demonstrated moral authority and common sense leading the country.

I expect we are going to see voluminous discussion of Sarah Palin’s biography in the coming weeks, especially with regard to challenging the political status quo and cutting pork, but for me the sale has already been made. Her unborn child was diagnosed with Down syndrome last year, and she and her husband elected to have the child. If you want to talk about commitment, judgment and decision-making, in the decisions she has made, Sarah Palin has established her record.

Barack Obama has zero accomplishments or decisions to point to as evidence of his capability to lead, and despite having already written two autobiographies on his really thin list of personal accomplishments, has not actually accomplished anything beyond giving some speeches.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, has the intelligence and moral authority to lead the country.

UPDATE: It came up in the comments and is important enough to link here – the full story behind so-called “Troopergate.” (found via Ace)

UPDATE II: Finally, the complete Palin vs Obama Tale of the Tape. End of discussion.

Laser-like focus, to paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard, is what life is all about, so it brings me special edification to learn that the most single-minded blogger I know, Ed of MonkeyWatch, has a new project.

A wine blog: Blog Ordinary. How perfect is that?

You can’t comment there unless you are Blogger-certified, which is going to drastically limit discussion, but it is well worth reading. Ed knows his wine. Make it one of your regular stops.

Never thought I would be saying this, but what do you know, sometimes life throws you a curveball:

Please send money to John McCain for President. Even if only 20 bucks, go make a contribution. And note the “Contribute” page is WAAAY slow to load, which I suspect means it is getting hammered with contributions right about now – a good sign.

Don’t think about it, don’t mix yourself a bloody mary, just go over, right now, and shoot him some cash. A good deed deserves another.

The McCain campaign is keeping mum, but from Fox, Sarah Palin.
- Governor of Alaska
- Married
- age 44
- Mother of Five
- Strongly pro life
- Believes in Global Warming
- Still thinks drilling off shore and ANWR

Palin says ‘Drill now!’

This is an interesting pick.

She is about as far from DC as one can get!!

UPDATE 1 !!

ITS OFFICIAL! from Fox News

from wiki (Hat Tip: Lovisa)

Highlights of Governor Palin’s tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.^[13][17] “Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on ‘federal dollars,’ as the state does today.”^[6]

She has challenged the state’s Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young^[18] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.^[13] Palin supports holding occasional legislative sessions outside the state capital, and municipal revenue sharing to help local governments

!!! UPDATE 2 !!!
ROTFLMAO!!!
Obama Campaign Reaction:

“Today John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heart beat away from the presidency. Governor Palin shares John McCain’s commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of big and continuing George Bush’s failed economic policies — that’s not the change we need, it’s just more of the same.”
– Bill Burton

Hey Bill! She is a Governor, she is in charge of the National Guard in her state you rube. Each of our states conducts its own foreign policy, you hack!

The more negative the response from the Obama campaign the better. Attack the woman! That will bring all the Hillary voters home to vote for you. The lady will be made of teflon.

Which in my view indicates a higher level of discipline than the Democrats exhibited when they leaked the Biden “bombshell” the night before.

Says something about leadership.