I see a lot of faculty in the audience, but I‟m going to address my remarks today primarily to you students of this fine school. Thirty-three years ago I was where you are today, about to graduate
(with a degree in electrical engineering), trying to decide what to do with my career. I chose to go to work for an energy company – Chevron – on what turned out to be a false premise: I believed that by the time I reached the age I am today that America and the world would no longer be running on fossil fuels. Chevron was pouring money into alternatives – and they had lots of money and the incentive to find alternatives – and I wanted to be part of the transition.
Fast forward 33 years. Today, you students are being told that before you reach my age America and the world must stop using fossil fuels. I‟m going to try to do something that seems impossible these days – and that‟s have an honest conversation about energy policy, global warming and what proposed „cap and trade‟ regulation means for you, the generation that will have to live with the consequences of the policy choices we make. My goal is to inform you with easily verifiable facts – not hype and propaganda – and to appeal to your common sense.

Read the rest: Energy Myths and Realities – a speech by Keith O. Rattie Chairman, President and CEO, Questar Corporation at Utah Valley University on April 2, 2009. (pdf)
It’s a good one to pass on to friends and youngsters in your family.

Support your local Flagrant Islamophobe! In the mail this week,

“The perfect gift for the Canadian Islamic Congress member or “human rights” commissar in your family! Lights Out rounds up all the offensive Steyn columns Mohamed Elmasry attempted to criminalize, republishes them in one convenient volume – and then adds new commentary on the battle for free speech, the delusions of multiculturalism, and the dimming of liberty in a fainthearted west.”

You can order a copy here.

Via Siemens Says

Heh. (Thanks, Lorrie)

“Going Walter Mondale.”

Fjordman;

“Non-Muslims in Europe who want to fight against Islamization are up against the cultural, political and media elites in their own countries, as well as the European Union, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which is the largest voting block at the United Nations, and finally the entire Islamic world backed up by Saudi petrodollars. If you seriously believe that a few scattered and generally disliked groups of neo-Nazis represent a greater threat to freedom than the Alliance of Evil I just described then your understanding is fundamentally out of tune with reality….”

h/t Bernie and EBD

Canadian Taxpayers Federation;

Two years after former Industry Minister Bernier announced the new Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI), there have been seven announcements. On the last day of the fiscal year and hours before April Fools Day, Minister Clement announced a $250-million ‘repayable loan’ for Montreal’s CAE to build flight simulators.
It is taking some time for Industry Canada to wind-down its flagship program, Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC). The department hasn’t updated its Repayment Status Report since July 10, 2008, and several companies still don’t want taxpayers to know how much, if anything, they’ve repaid. However, taxpayers should know that CAE had repaid only about $32-million of the $300-million received from TPC. As well, total repayments for the program at $381.7-million amount to just 10.8 percent of the $3.5-billion approved between April 1, 1996 and March 31, 2006.
According to the Repayment Status Report, in fiscal year 2006-2007 – incidentally the eleventh year of a ten-year program – repayments to TPC totaled only $65.7-million. Yet, during the same year, the department paid out another $300-million. Now with the new Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative (SADI) expected to spend nearly $900-million over the next five years, the prospect of repayment is about as likely as the Maple Leafs winning the cup next year.

“I think what he did is, in order to gain the adoration of the crowd, he denigrated his country in a way that I think is disgraceful.”

A hearts-and-minds approach is predicated on the proposition that we foreign, Western, culturally Christian, invaders can persuade a sizeable proportion of the Pashtun population to cut themselves off from their cultural roots; subject themselves to an equally foreign and incomprehensible form of government resting largely on the customs of the tribes of pre-Roman Germany; and abandon their cultural birthright of unrivalled hegemony over “Pashtunistan”. To do this we offer some new buildings, some cash and more reliable electricity—none of which have been important to them so far in their history.[8] Attendant on these “inducements” of course is the removal of their ability to generate cash by farming poppies and the destruction of cultural mores—the subjection of women and the application of traditional law for example—that define them as a cultural group.
[…]
The twin propositions that “there is no military solution” to insurgencies and that “hearts and minds” approaches are the only the way forward are based mostly on wishful thinking

How to win in Afghanistan – Highly recommended.
h/t Paul D.

Via email – Jeff Grogan, on why we won’t miss them*;

You would have loved to hear the radio program on CBC (Winnipeg) last night on “IDEAS”, by Barbara Nichol (01 Apr 2009, 2000hrs). They held a panel discussion of ‘experts’ (I love the use of that word lately) wherein they shredded nursery rhyme characters and others.
The show was advertised as a “historical analysis of nursery rhymes”. Since I had mentioned to my young daughter a number of times that many nursery rhymes were based on historical fact and were written as allegories of the events to prevent prosecution (I used different words with the child of course). Anyways, what was presented instead, was a panel of ‘experts’ that decided to do an analysis of all the failings and idiosyncrasies of the CHARACTERS themselves, such as;
– drug use
– ADD
-retardation
– homosexuality
– homophobia
– sadism
– pedophilia
and others.
Humorous, if advertised as such and played at a later hour than 8 p.m. To an audience of sociological leftist misfits that find a reason to hate all things.
Not so funny when your daughter is waiting to hear where nursery rhymes came from.
I turned the program off when they called Santa Claus an ASSHOLE. My daughter is still crying.
To state MUCH later (after the program) that it was all fun and games for “April Fools” is too little too late, damage done.
I go to sleep tonight praying with all my heart that the Canadian Government removes ALL funding from this leech on Canadian society.

*
(Language advisory)

“Does anybody know whether Barack Obama knows how to change a tire? “
Similar thoughts from Krauthammer;

Obama owns GM, and I don’t know about you, Bret, but I’m deeply reassured that the largest company in America is owned by a guy with the vast private sector experience of Barack Obama.
His speech today, as always, was eloquent, and it appeared clear, but it really is not. It’s not exactly clear what he is aiming at.
As I understand it, I think, though, the plan here is to send GM into Chapter 11, either a real Chapter 11 or a disguised one in 60 days, and to send Chrysler over to Fiat or the wolves, whichever will take it.
With GM, the reason that I suspect it is going to end up in Chapter 11 is because he would not have offered the guarantee on warranties otherwise. The reason people are worried about a Chapter 11 is, that the argument is if that happens, people will not have confidence in the company, and the sales will dissolve.
But you have got to ask yourself as a constitutional aside where in Articles II of the constitution is the president allowed to unilaterally guarantee auto warranties? I mean, tomorrow it will end up — we started with bank deposits, money markets, auto warranties, and tomorrow it’s toasters.
But if you have Democrats in power, nobody asks about the constitutional questions.

The End Of America? (link is shaky due to a Drudge-alanche)
Out of idle curiosity – has anyone seen this …

… show up on any of those “progressive” blogs?

“Why is a Manitoba Farmer, and others like him, asking the leader of the Liberal Party, which imposed the CWB’s monopoly as a wartime measure, to liberalize the wheat and barley markets?”

h/t Alan
And that was on January 29th..

Nicely put;

David Frum thinks the Republican Party needs to cut loose Rush, a man whose millions of listeners account for a significant proportion of the GOP base. It’s not clear who, if anyone, David brings to the table in return.”

*

Charles Adler

Folks, I want to ask you a question. In the so-called trial held in a Canadian court room, a trial to determine whether the defendant was guilty or not guilty of murdering Tim McLean, do you know how many witnesses were called? Two. Both of them psychiatrists, who both agreed that the defendant was not criminally responsible because he was ill. None of the testimony was challenged by the Prosecution because the Prosecution agreed with the Defense on everything of substance and there was no point in challenging testimony they agreed with. So who was representing the victim’s family and the family known as the Canadian people? Were there eyewitnesses to the crime? Dozens of them. The passengers and the bus driver. Why weren’t any of them called? The so-called witnesses who were called, weren’t witnesses of anything. They were two doctors who talked to the accused, who under medication told a story of God and voices. We have no evidence that he is telling the truth, but we are told that he is a sick man, obviously a sick man. Jefferey Dahmer was a sick man. Charles Manson was a sick man. Paul Bernardo was a sick man. Because the man who killed Tim McLean and presumably ate his victim’s eyeballs – because he was sick and is sick – the rest of us are forced to be sickened by the notion that he is saved from a permanent incarceration by his sickness, which the witnesses say can be medicated away.

More: The Only Voice I Hear Is Tim’s

Where people might get a chance to see him.

I dare say some of the great photo spread in the Geographic article came from a helicopter or plane: the photographer didn’t wish himself into the clouds with his high tech cameras: nor did this issue of National Geographic flood North America and the world on the wings of songbirds whistling the Ode to Joy…

Transcript

Starting March 2nd in Bill O’Reilly’s old spot. I’ll try to find an online listening link.
Update – a little birdie tells me you can listen live here.