From mhagerman at worldnet.att.net Tue Dec 15 22:09:15 2009 From: mhagerman at worldnet.att.net (Mark Hagerman) Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:09:15 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Given the following passage, excerpted from below: > Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all > efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! > Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives > and our economy.....WHY? ... I thought it prudent to post this to GogLog, rather than GT. Was I wrong? Begin forwarded message: > From: Bob Ahern > Date: 2009-December-13 00:33:20 (CST) > To: Mark Hagerman > Subject: Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. > > Dear Mark: > > Has this made it to the GT list? If not should it be posted? > > Please let me know. > > Thanks, > > Bob > > > > OIL - you better sit down. > : > Here's an interesting read, important and verifiable information: > > About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil > and one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest. The host said to Forbes, > "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct > answer; how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did > not miss a beat, he said, "more than all the Middle East put > together." Please read below.. > > The U. S. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that > only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big. It > was a revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much > oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota , western > South Dakota , and extreme eastern Montana ...... check THIS out: > > The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska 's > Prudhoe Bay , and has the potential to eliminate all American > dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration > (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the > oil is recoverable... at $107 a barrel, we're looking at a resource > base worth more than $5..3 trillion. > > "When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically > see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea.." says Terry > Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst. > > "This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field > found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. > It's information known as the Williston Basin , but is more > commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.' It stretches from Northern > Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada . For years, U. S. > oil exploration has been considered a dead end. Even the 'Big Oil' > companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. > However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the > Bakken's massive reserves.... and we now have access of up to 500 > billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those > billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL! > > That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 > years straight. And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then > this next one should - because it's from 2006! > > U. S. Oil Discovery- Largest Reserve in the World > > Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006 > > Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies > the largest untapped oil reserve in the world. It is more than 2 > TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its > extraction. In three and a half years of high oil prices none has > been extracted. With this motherload of oil why are we still > fighting over off-shore drilling? > > They reported this stunning news: We have more oil inside our > borders, than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the > official estimates: > > - 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia > > - 18-times as much oil as Iraq > > - 21-times as much oil as Kuwait > > - 22-times as much oil as Iran > > - 500-times as much oil as Yemen > > - and it's all right here in the Western United States . > > HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the > environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help > America become independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a > small group of people dictate our lives and our economy.....WHY? > > James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we've got more > oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East -more > than 2 TRILLION barrels untapped. That's more than all the proven > oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post. > > Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price - even with this find? Think > again! It's all about the competitive marketplace, - it has to. > Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists? > > Why do the Democrats keep blocking attempts to extract this oil? > > Got your attention yet? Now, while you're thinking about it, do this: > > Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then > you should stifle yourself the next time you complain about gas > prices - by doing NOTHING, you forfeit your right to complain. > > -------- > > Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of > you sent this to every one in your address book. > > By the way....this is all true. Check it out at the link below! > > GOOGLE it, or follow this link. It will blow your mind. > > http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911 > Mark Hagerman -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.zarquon.net/pipermail/goglog/attachments/20091215/47b661cb/attachment.htm From jazz at qnet.com Tue Dec 15 22:32:45 2009 From: jazz at qnet.com (Bill Taylor) Date: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:32:45 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> At 22:09 12/15/2009 -0600, Mark Hagerman wrote: >Given the following passage, excerpted from below: > > > Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all > > efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil! > > Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives > > and our economy.....WHY? > >... I thought it prudent to post this to GogLog, rather than GT. Was I wrong? My first thought is what is the cost of recovery? Just because it might be available doesn't automatically make it economic to do so. The flip side of that being that recovery of too much too quickly might be disruptive to already existing supplies. You ruin the market you are trying to sell to. Second, where is it really? There are environmental laws in place, like them or not, and they do matter. You can't just suck oil out of the ground anywhere and anytime you please. Eventually the permits can be had, but it isn't like cutting your lawn. Beyond that, who owns it and has rights to it, and can exploit it in some kind of legal fashion? Oil in the ground presumably has rights attached to it. Is it under Federal land, State lands, private holding, some mix of the three? Mineral rights may or may not have been sold with the surface rights of the land, so that makes life interesting for someone trying to consolidate an extraction plan. Federal policy on oil extraction is all over the map. Some agencies encourage maximum use of the land, while others would say the oil should be held in reserve against emergencies. States would probably just want the money. Bill Taylor From techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com Wed Dec 16 09:41:38 2009 From: techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com (Janet Plato) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:41:38 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> Message-ID: <773542.62952.qm@web33705.mail.mud.yahoo.com> As I understand it, this has been known about for decades and there is no conspiracy here. The oil is locked in rocks 5 miles under the rockies, good luck getting it out. Alberta has similiar oil shale and oil sand formations on the surface and the break even point there is $65 a barrel. Who knows how high the break even point is for something under 5 miles of rock that cannot be pumped. The cycle has been, folks wanting to make a fast back drum up interest, others buy into it, and try to bring it online, the Saudis cut prices for oil and the investors go broke, you wait 20 years, wash, lather, rinse, repeat. This is not news. Shell has done some experiments recently trying to find a way to extract it, but it's just not an explotable resource in today's environment unless you are a real estate agent or a land speculator. Janet --- On Tue, 12/15/09, Bill Taylor wrote: > From: Bill Taylor > At 22:09 12/15/2009 -0600, Mark Hagerman wrote: > > > Given the following passage, excerpted from below: > > > > > Because the environmentalists and others have > > > blocked all efforts to help America become independent of > > > foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people > > > dictate our lives > > > and our economy.....WHY? > > > >... I thought it prudent to post this to GogLog, rather > > than GT. Was I wrong? > > My first thought is what is the cost of recovery?? From ignatz at dminet.com Wed Dec 16 09:43:11 2009 From: ignatz at dminet.com (Dave Ihnat) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:43:11 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> Message-ID: <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 08:32:45PM -0800, Bill Taylor wrote: > My first thought is what is the cost of recovery? Just because it > might be available doesn't automatically make it economic to do > so. Hmm...the entire thing does look valid, esp. coming from USGS. For that amount of oil, they *will* develop any needed technology to recover it. This wouldn't be the first time that an advance in tech allowed access to known, but previously unavailable, reserves. > The flip side of that being that recovery of too much too > quickly might be disruptive to already existing supplies. You ruin > the market you are trying to sell to. Who cares? If the problem is that we're dependent on foreign oil, and bleeding billions to hostile countries, this takes on an aspect far beyond simple oil economics. > Second, where is it really? There are environmental laws in place, > like them or not, and they do matter. You can't just suck oil out of > the ground anywhere and anytime you please. Eventually the permits > can be had, but it isn't like cutting your lawn. No, but this is in a totally different realm than anything before. If the reserve is truly as large as believed, this not only massively impacts our foreign oil dependence, but also our balance of trade, credit reserves...we just became a major oil reserve country. Think of what that did with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran...a host of third-world countries. Couple that with a first-world country and its economy... NOBODY should be able to successfully stand in the way of this. > Beyond that, who owns it and has rights to it, and can exploit it in > some kind of legal fashion? Oil in the ground presumably has rights > attached to it. That cannot be a constraining issue with a reserve of this size. This is so far beyond the "oil in reserves" kind of reserve that none of our former policies make any sense--at least, not until and unless this can alleviate our current stupidly deep credit crisis, national debt, etc. Cheers, -- Dave Ihnat ignatz at dminet.com From ignatz at dminet.com Wed Dec 16 10:04:49 2009 From: ignatz at dminet.com (Dave Ihnat) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:04:49 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <773542.62952.qm@web33705.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> <773542.62952.qm@web33705.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20091216160448.GB7566@dminet.com> On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 07:41:38AM -0800, Janet Plato wrote: > Replies are directed to the list. > If you wish to respond only to the sender, please edit the To: line! > ____________________________________________________________ > As I understand it, this has been known about for decades and > there is no conspiracy here. The oil is locked in rocks 5 miles > under the rockies, good luck getting it out. Well, the USGS site says "a limited number of wells have produced oil from three of the assessments units in Central Basin-Poplar Dome, Eastern Expulsion Threshold". It sounds like they have had good luck. Also, remember that similar issues applied to oil recovery in the early days of exploration; development of self-starting motors and deep drilling tech enabled access. When there's THIS much oil there, they *will* develop tech for it. > Alberta has similiar oil shale and oil sand formations on the surface and the break even point there is $65 a barrel. Oil shale and sand are a world of difference from sweet, light crude. Breakeven is severely impacted by the cost of oil reclamation and its severe ecological side effects. Think low-grade vs. high-grade ore. > Who knows how high the break even point is for something under 5 > miles of rock that cannot be pumped. But the USGS says they *have* pumped oil from these deposits. Wasting billable time poking at the USGS fact sheets, GIS Data, etc., I don't see them discussing depth or other tech problems that may be encountered. But if--IF--there really are reserves of this size, they *will* come up with recovery technology. Cheers, -- Dave Ihnat ignatz at dminet.com From jazz at qnet.com Wed Dec 16 10:26:44 2009 From: jazz at qnet.com (Bill Taylor) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:26:44 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> Message-ID: <200912161628.nBGGSo8b019043@mail.zarquon.net> At 09:43 12/16/2009 -0600, Dave Ihnat wrote: >Replies are directed to the list. >If you wish to respond only to the sender, please edit the To: line! >____________________________________________________________ >On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 08:32:45PM -0800, Bill Taylor wrote: > > My first thought is what is the cost of recovery? Just because it > > might be available doesn't automatically make it economic to do > > so. > >Hmm...the entire thing does look valid, esp. coming from USGS. For that >amount of oil, they *will* develop any needed technology to recover it. >This wouldn't be the first time that an advance in tech allowed access >to known, but previously unavailable, reserves. Sure, there will be a speculative push to develop the needed technology, and eventually the price comes down to make it economic. If it can be scaled up, it gets cheaper yet and the industry is off and running. But it takes time, and likely there is no magic technology out there. I can't rule out a breakthrough of course, but oil guys are pretty thrifty. If they thought they could make money doing it, they probably would be. > > The flip side of that being that recovery of too much too > > quickly might be disruptive to already existing supplies. You ruin > > the market you are trying to sell to. > >Who cares? If the problem is that we're dependent on foreign oil, and >bleeding billions to hostile countries, this takes on an aspect far >beyond simple oil economics. No one is going to thank anyone for driving oil costs up. Even with a compelling argument about saving the lives of American soldiers in foreign lands. Because higher oil prices just means someone else dies shivering in the dark. Energy independence in that way has a price too. $4/gal gas showed people what can happen, and they won't go back there willingly anytime soon. > > Second, where is it really? There are environmental laws in place, > > like them or not, and they do matter. You can't just suck oil out of > > the ground anywhere and anytime you please. Eventually the permits > > can be had, but it isn't like cutting your lawn. > >No, but this is in a totally different realm than anything before. If >the reserve is truly as large as believed, this not only massively >impacts our foreign oil dependence, but also our balance of trade, >credit reserves...we just became a major oil reserve country. Think of >what that did with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran...a host of third-world >countries. Couple that with a first-world country and its economy... >NOBODY should be able to successfully stand in the way of this. Which would probably make the environmentalists, and the enviro-nuts, dig in all the harder. Anything that smacks of a gold rush mentality is going to set off panic. "They" (the political action wing nuts) clearly aren't thrilled with the idea of developing anything that looks like more oil burning. The idea of trying to set aside or scrap existing controls so we can extract more oil faster is going to be like declaring war. > > Beyond that, who owns it and has rights to it, and can exploit it in > > some kind of legal fashion? Oil in the ground presumably has rights > > attached to it. > >That cannot be a constraining issue with a reserve of this size. This >is so far beyond the "oil in reserves" kind of reserve that none of our >former policies make any sense--at least, not until and unless this can >alleviate our current stupidly deep credit crisis, national debt, etc. Nothing short of new federal law is going to set aside some of those concerns. And even then the Fifth Amendment is going to jump up at some point. Can't just take something without proper compensation. If the people in place (residents, owners, various rights holders, oil companies, cities, states, etc.) decide they had a right to all the controls (rights and due process) that are now in place, and you just rip it away, they'll send it to the Supreme Court. They have been highly deferential to the executive branch in many ways lately. But it would be tough to ignore the black and white words of the amendment. If extraction suddenly become radically cheaper, they might be tempted by the expedience, but I don't see it. They went along with something similar a few years ago, where a city took some private land then sold it to a developer in return for higher tax revenue. The fallout was huge. Something like this would be even bigger. Bill Taylor From ignatz at dminet.com Wed Dec 16 10:45:22 2009 From: ignatz at dminet.com (Dave Ihnat) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:45:22 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <200912161628.nBGGSo8b019043@mail.zarquon.net> References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> <200912161628.nBGGSo8b019043@mail.zarquon.net> Message-ID: <20091216164521.GA10211@dminet.com> On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 08:26:44AM -0800, Bill Taylor wrote: > Sure, there will be a speculative push to develop the needed > technology, and eventually the price comes down to make it economic. > If it can be scaled up, it gets cheaper yet and the industry is off > and running. But it takes time, and likely there is no magic technology > out there. It all hinges on whether we believe this reserve is as huge as these reports say it is. IF it is, and IF it's believed, everything changes. This wouldn't just be a normal tech development cycle. (One thing that concerns me is that it hasn't been trumpeted in the time since it was announced. That's a bad sign.) > I can't rule out a breakthrough of course, but oil guys are pretty > thrifty. If they thought they could make money doing it, they probably > would be. Ah...I doubt we're going to get any support from the oil guys. Actually developing and utilizing this reserve leave them with a lot of infrastructure that's suddenly unneeded--and on the balance sheets. Tanker fleets, oil extraction and distribution installations in the Middle East, etc. I'll admit I haven't yet figured out how such a huge reserve--if developed--would affect everything. > No one is going to thank anyone for driving oil costs up. Even with > a compelling argument about saving the lives of American soldiers in > foreign lands. Because higher oil prices just means someone else > dies shivering in the dark. Energy independence in that way has a > price too. $4/gal gas showed people what can happen, and they won't > go back there willingly anytime soon. Why do you think oil costs would go *up*? Compared to the reserve volume, almost any amount of development costs would be eaten in the profits. The real fear would be the price of oil *collapsing*. > Which would probably make the environmentalists, and the enviro-nuts, > dig in all the harder. Anything that smacks of a gold rush mentality > is going to set off panic. And against them are all the people who are going to see this as the solution to both dependence on foreign energy reserves *and* the way--the only way, at this point in time--to dig out of the unbelievable, unpayable debt load the US has incurred. > "They" (the political action wing nuts) clearly aren't thrilled with > the idea of developing anything that looks like more oil burning. And the answer from the other side will be "So what? They'd have us living in the neolithic if they had their way." > The idea of trying to set aside or scrap existing controls so we > can extract more oil faster is going to be like declaring war. And this--if true--will almost certainly be seen as a valid reason by those who oppose them to declare war on them. > Nothing short of new federal law is going to set aside some of those > concerns. And if it's true, you don't think there won't be new federal laws? > And even then the Fifth Amendment is going to jump up at > some point. Can't just take something without proper > compensation. Actually, they can. I certainly wouldn't want to see it, but we already have the example of Eminent Domain--the government will take property if it's even for something as trivial as highway access. You think they'd quail at something that has the possibility of overturning the existing energy equations and changing the political map of the world? As a practical matter, I think they'd offer involved parties very generous terms, or even ongoing interest in the reserves. But make no bones about it--if this is real, and is really accessible and of the size reported, the government can do anything it needs to do to get it in development. > They went along with something similar a few years ago, where a > city took some private land then sold it to a developer in return for > higher tax revenue. The fallout was huge. Something like this would > be even bigger. I think you're not thinking big enough. IF the reserve is as big as they say, this isn't something like private land. This would be world-changing--a totally different level of considerations apply. (You'll note how often I qualified everything with "if this is real". That, I believe, is what's kept this from exploding before now. If it's NOT that big, then nobody's going to commit the political resources to pushing it.) Cheers, -- Dave Ihnat ignatz at dminet.com From bentley at crenelle.com Wed Dec 16 11:59:08 2009 From: bentley at crenelle.com (Michael Brian Bentley) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:59:08 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <20091216164521.GA10211@dminet.com> References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> <200912161628.nBGGSo8b019043@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216164521.GA10211@dminet.com> Message-ID: Here's the snopes article on Bakken: http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp The field appears to contain an estimated 4 billion bbl. -m From ben at bl.com Wed Dec 16 12:15:16 2009 From: ben at bl.com (Ben Liberman) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 12:15:16 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: References: <9bdc9ef60912122233i479b1cseb6c7b615cc01bc6@mail.gmail.com> <200912160433.nBG4XAI2032606@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216154311.GA7566@dminet.com> <200912161628.nBGGSo8b019043@mail.zarquon.net> <20091216164521.GA10211@dminet.com> Message-ID: At 9:59 AM -0800 12/16/09, Michael Brian Bentley wrote: >Here's the snopes article on Bakken: > >http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/bakken.asp > >The field appears to contain an estimated 4 billion bbl. The snopes synopsis, at the bottom half of the page, covers the true magnitude and details nicely, thanks. (at most the oil there equals about 1 years domestic consumption at present rates) -- ------------------------------ ben at BL.COM Ben Liberman ------------------------------ From techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com Wed Dec 16 13:04:49 2009 From: techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com (Janet Plato) Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:04:49 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <20091216160448.GB7566@dminet.com> Message-ID: <735191.65768.qm@web33702.mail.mud.yahoo.com> I have to apologize, it appears I did not look closely enough. I thought this was another pump and dump scam for western land sales in the rockies. It appears to be a pump and dump for western land sales in the Dakotas. I was unaware of the Bakken formation, and my comments are likely misinformed. If I get a chance, I will try and google up on this, and make some better informed statements. In the interim, let me wish everyone a great day! Cheers, Janet --- On Wed, 12/16/09, Dave Ihnat wrote: > From: Dave Ihnat > Subject: Re: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. > To: "The Demagogue Dialogue Mailing List" > Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009, 11:04 AM > Replies are directed to the list. > If you wish to respond only to the sender, please edit the > To: line! > ____________________________________________________________ > On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 07:41:38AM -0800, Janet Plato > wrote: > > Replies are directed to the list. > > If you wish to respond only to the sender, please edit > the To: line! > > > ____________________________________________________________ > > As I understand it, this has been known about for > decades and > > there is no conspiracy here.? The oil is locked > in rocks 5 miles > > under the rockies, good luck getting it out. > > Well, the USGS site says "a limited number of wells have > produced oil > from three of the assessments units in Central Basin-Poplar > Dome, > Eastern Expulsion Threshold".? It sounds like they > have had good luck. > > Also, remember that similar issues applied to oil recovery > in the early > days of exploration; development of self-starting motors > and deep > drilling tech enabled access.? When there's THIS much > oil there, they > *will* develop tech for it. > > > Alberta has similiar oil shale and oil sand formations > on the surface > and the break even point there is $65 a barrel. > > Oil shale and sand are a world of difference from sweet, > light crude. > Breakeven is severely impacted by the cost of oil > reclamation and its > severe ecological side effects.? Think low-grade vs. > high-grade ore. > > > Who knows how high the break even point is for > something under 5 > > miles of rock that cannot be pumped. > > But the USGS says they *have* pumped oil from these > deposits. > > Wasting billable time poking at the USGS fact sheets, GIS > Data, etc., I > don't see them discussing depth or other tech problems that > may be > encountered.? But if--IF--there really are reserves of > this size, they > *will* come up with recovery technology. > > Cheers, > -- > ??? Dave Ihnat > ??? ignatz at dminet.com > _______________________________________________ > Goglog mailing list > Goglog at mail.zarquon.net > http://mail.zarquon.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/goglog > From techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com Tue Dec 22 01:06:45 2009 From: techgrrl2003 at yahoo.com (Janet Plato) Date: Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:06:45 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. In-Reply-To: <9bdc9ef60912211558o28b541b3y362f813c0f41a3f0@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <432041.9285.qm@web33708.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Bob, I already did a mea culpa last week on the list, I had this confused with a different formation located further west. Point noted, so long, thanks for playing, Janet --- On Mon, 12/21/09, Bob Ahern wrote: > From: Bob Ahern > Subject: Re: [Goglog] Fwd: OIL - you better sit down. > To: "Janet Plato" > Cc: "The Demagogue Dialogue Mailing List" > Date: Monday, December 21, 2009, 6:58 PM > > > On Wed, Dec 16, 2009 at 9:41 AM, > Janet Plato > wrote: > > As I understand it, this has been known about for decades > and > > there is no conspiracy here. ?The oil is locked in rocks 5 > miles > > under the rockies, good luck getting it out. > > even point is for something under 5 miles of rock that > cannot be > > pumped......but it's just not an explotable resource > > > > > > Janet > > > > According to the U.S. government: > > "Reston, VA - North Dakota and Montana have an > estimated 3.0 to 4.3 > billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable > oil in an area > known as the Bakken Formation.??? .............. > > Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible > using > currently available technology and industry practices. USGS > is the only > provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered > technically recoverable oil and gas resources.... > > About 105 million barrels of oil were produced from the > Bakken Formation by the end of 2007." > > > > This doesn't sound like an unrecoverable resource to > me, since they are currently recovering a small part of it. > Five miles is done by offshore rigs (see Jack 2) so doing it > on land would have to be much easier. However, I doubt it is > a conspiracy, just a lot of people with the same incorrect > understanding of situation. > > > Bob Ahern > > > > From bentley at crenelle.com Wed Dec 23 17:17:40 2009 From: bentley at crenelle.com (Michael Brian Bentley) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:17:40 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] The top 25 "censored" news stories for 2009 Message-ID: I have only read the Spitzer story at #25 with interest, so far. I wonder how things have gone since? Are they real? Were they actually censored? Was it hard to tell if they were real, and therefore did not go mainstream? http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009/ -Mike From rrostrom.21stcentury at rcn.com Wed Dec 23 19:46:49 2009 From: rrostrom.21stcentury at rcn.com (Rich Rostrom) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:46:49 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] The top 25 "censored" news stories for 2009 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Michael Brian Bentley wrote: >I have only read the Spitzer story at #25 with interest, so far. I >wonder how things have gone since? > >Are they real? Sort of. For instance, #24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror should read Trutherist Japanese Senator* Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror. Member of the House of Councillors, the upper House of Japan's national legislature. The HoC has 242 members, so each represents about 0.5M people - less than a U.S. Representative (yes, a number of seats are filled by a national proportional vote). The man referenced appears to be a genuine Trutherist yahoo. He takes Dennis Kucinich seriously, has doubts about the crash at the Pentagon (never mind the thousands of eyewitnesses), and wants to know what proof there is that al-Qaeda was responsible (never mind that al-Qaeda _said_ they did it, repeatedly - bragged on it, even). Incidentally, Fujita's speeches were in January 2008, so why is this listed as a censored story for _2009_? #25 is good too. Spitze went after various Wall Street Big Names with harassment and extortion tactics: forcing the head of AIG to step down, for instance. (BTW, he got a lot of headlines, but somehow didn't prevent any major financial crimes). He abused his authority to suppress an anti-Kerry documentary in 2004... Those didn't matter to the Evil Bush Cabal. But he then wrote a _dangerous_ _op-ed_... Emergency Red Alert! Deploy the Nuclear Death Scandal!!! >Were they actually censored? No. >Was it hard to tell if they were real, and therefore did not go mainstream? > >http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/category/y-2009/ > >-Mike I can think of some much more serious "censored" stories: For instance, ACORN. The ACORN scandals have gotten _some_ attention - after a conservative news source came out with a great big smoking gun. But "major media" is not following up. They aren't looking into the network of hundreds of front groups which comprise the ACORN network, the long history of financial corruption, the almost continual record of voter registration fraud, the exploitation of government grants, the intricate linkage with SEIU, the sub-prime lending advocacy and facilitation - or the long and intimate history that Obama has with ACORN. Serious reporting of all this would generate weeks of headlines. Another one is torture and murder by Islamists, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The "insurgents" in these countries murdered tens of thousands of people with bombs in public places and assassinations. Acid thrown in schoolgirls' faces. Women raped, and then bullied into suicide missions to "atone" for the "disgrace". Grisly torture chambers discovered when terrorist strongholds were captured by Coalition forces. The major media response to all this? Meh. Time for another retrospective on Abu Ghraib or "expose" on Guantanamo. IMHO, if the documented and proven crimes of Islamists got anywhere near the media attention they deserve, there would be a tidal wave of anger against them, and not just in the U.S. You want a third? Hamas/Fatah. There is no reporting to speak of about Hamas/Fatah's numerous murders of Palestinians. They kill each others' supporters, and also murder others who interfere with their grafting or terror activities. Major media is also conspicuously silent about the official positions of Hamas/Fatah toward Israel - that both still call for the total destruction of Israel, and both still fill Palestinian media with incitements to terror. (There have been cases where major media stories quoted Hamas official documents, and deliberately elided the terrorist passages.) A third could be Hugo Chavez. Chavez has suborned all institutions of the Venezuelan government to his control; his cronies have stolen $billions; he has close relations with the Iranian regime, including arms deals, and nuclear development; he funds subversion of democracy in several Latin American countries; and the major media mostly ignore him. Another "censored" story is directly related: the attempt by Honduran ex-President Zelaya to overturn his country's constitution (with funding and support from Chavez) before he was turned out of office by the Honduras Supreme Court. Zelaya's removal got press (but was wrongly described by nearly all major media as a "military coup"); his previous actions got almost none. -- | Rich Rostrom rrostrom.21stcentury at rcn.com | | | | Nous sommes dans un pot de chambre, et nous y serons | | emmerdes. -- General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot at Sedan | From SteveG at swhi.net Wed Dec 23 20:35:23 2009 From: SteveG at swhi.net (Steve Gruenwald) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:35:23 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] The top 25 "censored" news stories for 2009 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Michael Brian Bentley says: > Are they real? > > Were they actually censored? > > Was it hard to tell if they were real, and therefore did not > go mainstream? Well, the first one I read completely (#5) is deceptively worded, the event was never censored but reported openly in mainstream press, and is from 2007, not 2009. The second one (#8) isn't news at all but a discussion of some not-very-difficult points of law, written in 2007 and updated (with nothing particularly new) in 2008. The third (#15) likewise isn't news, was never censored, and there are public appeals (such as on TV) for public service organizations dealing with the issue. #21 and #24 I distinctly remember being reported in mainstream media without even reading the articles. Most of the ones I've glanced at cite public news sources (The Guardian, Reuters, The Progressive, Global Research, The Nation, etc.). This doesn't seem much like a list of stories that were censored and "didn't make the news." And at a glance over a few other items the list I so far have seen none from 2009. It looks like a journalism course home page - not a very good one. - Steve G From SteveG at swhi.net Wed Dec 23 21:41:53 2009 From: SteveG at swhi.net (Steve Gruenwald) Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 21:41:53 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] The top 25 "censored" news stories for 2009 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Rich Rostrom says: > (BTW, he [Eliot Spitzer] got > a lot of headlines, but somehow didn't prevent any major > financial crimes). Huh? In what context would you expect him to *prevent* financial crimes? > >Were they actually censored? > > No. Including the entire set of allegations reported here about Spitzer. They were very publicly reported at the time, although for some reason this one article does not cite mainstream sources. > I can think of some much more serious "censored" stories: > > For instance, ACORN. Give me a break. I have been seeing nonstop news items about them for a couple of months. > Another one is torture and murder by Islamists, > You want a third? Hamas/Fatah. > A third could be Hugo Chavez. > Another "censored" story is directly related: the attempt > by Honduran ex-President Zelaya to overturn his country's > constitution OK, I guess it's now about whatever is bothering Rich, regardless of whether it's actually being widely reported. May I ask, just who is "censoring" any of these stories? Either the 25 on the original list, or any of Rich's choices? Or does the word "censorship" no longer have any meaning? - Steve G From Cougar at CasaDelGato.Com Thu Dec 24 10:03:35 2009 From: Cougar at CasaDelGato.Com (John G. Lussmyer) Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:03:35 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare Message-ID: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> So, could somebody explain to me how this "requires all americans to buy health insurance" is supposed to work? I know a lot of people who have trouble getting enough food. Are they supposed to magically come up with money for a health plan? From jazz at qnet.com Thu Dec 24 10:38:47 2009 From: jazz at qnet.com (Bill Taylor) Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:38:47 -0800 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare In-Reply-To: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> References: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> Message-ID: <200912241640.nBOGe0K1011172@mail.zarquon.net> At 08:03 12/24/2009 -0800, John G. Lussmyer wrote: >_ >So, could somebody explain to me how this "requires all americans to >buy health insurance" is supposed to work? I know a lot of people >who have trouble getting enough food. Are they supposed to >magically come up with money for a health plan? And so the necessity for a public option of some kind raises its head yet again. If coverage costs more than the person can afford, however that is determined, than some way to pay for it anyway has to be devised. Even the Income Tax and Social Security tax people figured that out, many years ago. They take their cut right at the source to the maximum they can, so that later the taxpayer can't claim poverty. One way (public option or Medicaid or subsidies) or another (exemptions) they have to deal with the low end of the disposable income scale. And the option of granting exemptions to insurance coverage leaves the most vulnerable population (working poor) subject to the most devastating expenses. Something will eventually be done about it. Bill Taylor From drsulak at zarquon.net Thu Dec 24 11:05:52 2009 From: drsulak at zarquon.net (drsulak at zarquon.net) Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:05:52 -0600 (CST) Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare Message-ID: <49661.69.216.247.80.1261674352.squirrel@mail.zarquon.net> To keep myself from going crazy, I've avoided looking the actual implementation details until we actually have a bill and a structure to carry it out. So, generally speaking... For certain government benefits, be they tax credits, monthly benefits, etc, they can be converted into capital equipment or services *without* waiting for the monies to be paid out: - SS disability - Energy efficiency tax credits - Homebuyer tax credit - the list goes on Some are fair and efficient, some much less efficient. So, yes, if you do not have the cash, they *can* be ways to purchase the insurance. Precise details TBD. Dale. From mhagerman at worldnet.att.net Thu Dec 24 12:38:09 2009 From: mhagerman at worldnet.att.net (Mark Hagerman) Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:38:09 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare In-Reply-To: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> References: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> Message-ID: <0B0EA47F-5F58-4507-812D-FF8F1CB73E75@worldnet.att.net> On 2009-Dec-24 , at 10:03, John G. Lussmyer wrote: > Are they supposed to magically come up with money for a health plan? That depends. If you're working for a living, the answer is "yes", plus paying more taxes to cover the drones. Otherwise, no (see above). Mark Hagerman From SteveG at swhi.net Fri Dec 25 20:53:10 2009 From: SteveG at swhi.net (Steve Gruenwald) Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 20:53:10 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare In-Reply-To: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> References: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> Message-ID: <69844B5E15154200A51229AA749B4EBD@StevePC> John G. Lussmyer says: > So, could somebody explain to me how this "requires all > americans to buy health insurance" is supposed to work? There's what looks like a pretty decent outline of the main points of the current bills at and another at . Of course there is debate about Congress' authority to do this. - Steve G From SteveG at swhi.net Fri Dec 25 21:04:49 2009 From: SteveG at swhi.net (Steve Gruenwald) Date: Fri, 25 Dec 2009 21:04:49 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare In-Reply-To: <0B0EA47F-5F58-4507-812D-FF8F1CB73E75@worldnet.att.net> References: <4B3390D7.1080303@CasaDelGato.Com> <0B0EA47F-5F58-4507-812D-FF8F1CB73E75@worldnet.att.net> Message-ID: <92FCF06F38F440F4834DA51DC2BEB623@StevePC> Mark Hagerman says: > That depends. If you're working for a living, the answer is "yes", > plus paying more taxes to cover the drones. AFAICT, no, not unless you're working and earning a whole lot more than anyone I know. Not to say it will work as planned - but I have not seen anything credible indicating that most people will pay higher taxes. - Steve G From SteveG at swhi.net Sat Dec 26 07:02:08 2009 From: SteveG at swhi.net (Steve Gruenwald) Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:02:08 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Obamacare In-Reply-To: <49661.69.216.247.80.1261674352.squirrel@mail.zarquon.net> References: <49661.69.216.247.80.1261674352.squirrel@mail.zarquon.net> Message-ID: drsulak at zarquon.net says: > So, generally speaking... > > For certain government benefits, be they tax credits, monthly benefits, > etc, they can be converted into capital equipment or services *without* > waiting for the monies to be paid out: > - SS disability > - Energy efficiency tax credits > - Homebuyer tax credit > - the list goes on I don't understand what this statement means. What do any of these have to do with being "converted into capital equipment or services"? - Steve G From mhagerman at worldnet.att.net Wed Dec 30 20:52:27 2009 From: mhagerman at worldnet.att.net (Mark Hagerman) Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:52:27 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Kiyosaki article Message-ID: <91DC1711-11B7-479E-AC33-ED9F8B8CEA79@worldnet.att.net> Robert "Rich Dad" Kiyosaki has an aperiodic column in the Yahoo Finance section. His most recent article contains a graph, highlighting the fact (assertion?) that there will be a large volume of mortgage resets (I believe he's talking about commercial balloon mortgages and housing ARMs, here) next year. He also asserts that the surge in resets on subprime mortgages was the trigger, or at least _a_ trigger, for the 2007 crash. He states that the upcoming surge in resets is likely to have a similar effect, and that a full recovery is therefore therefore unlikely until 2012 or later. Comments? Opinions? Inquiring minds want to protect their 401(k)s. Mark Hagerman -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.zarquon.net/pipermail/goglog/attachments/20091230/1efa0e84/attachment.htm From ignatz at dminet.com Wed Dec 30 21:01:31 2009 From: ignatz at dminet.com (Dave Ihnat) Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:01:31 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Kiyosaki article In-Reply-To: <91DC1711-11B7-479E-AC33-ED9F8B8CEA79@worldnet.att.net> References: <91DC1711-11B7-479E-AC33-ED9F8B8CEA79@worldnet.att.net> Message-ID: <20091231030131.GA31283@dminet.com> On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 08:52:27PM -0600, Mark Hagerman wrote: > Robert "Rich Dad" Kiyosaki has an aperiodic column in the Yahoo Finance > section. His most recent article contains a graph, highlighting > the fact (assertion?) that there will be a large volume of mortgage > resets (I believe he's talking about commercial balloon mortgages and > housing ARMs, here) next year. > ... > He states that the upcoming surge in resets is likely to have a similar > effect, and that a full recovery is therefore therefore unlikely > until 2012 or later. > ... > Comments? Opinions? Inquiring minds want to protect their 401(k)s. Well, one of my clients *was* a Big Player in the commercial mortgage market. As in, they considered things like the Sears Tower and Woodfield Mall their playground. They would broker mortgages for large commercial properties, and then when they had to refi (apparently such properties have to refi in just 3-5 years), they'd help them find financing. They looked ahead, and closed their doors. As in, fired everyone and closed the office. One principal retired, the other has opened an office in Oakbrook and is cherrypicking his clients. They said there was *no* money from the banks, and they predict the same thing. Since they gave me this warning this summer, I've started seeing reports like the one you've pointed out. I mentioned it to the guy still playing. He said, "When you look down the tunnel and all you see is the headlight of the oncoming train, it's time to pack up shop and move to Oakbrook." So I've been expecting it. G'luck, -- Dave Ihnat ignatz at dminet.com From mhagerman at worldnet.att.net Wed Dec 30 22:31:36 2009 From: mhagerman at worldnet.att.net (Mark Hagerman) Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 22:31:36 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Kiyosaki article In-Reply-To: <20091231030131.GA31283@dminet.com> References: <91DC1711-11B7-479E-AC33-ED9F8B8CEA79@worldnet.att.net> <20091231030131.GA31283@dminet.com> Message-ID: <500C0212-337B-4641-9B16-38F79CFE4BBB@worldnet.att.net> On 2009-Dec-30 , at 21:01, Dave Ihnat wrote: > Woodfield Mall their playground. They would broker mortgages for > large > commercial properties, and then when they had to refi (apparently such > properties have to refi in just 3-5 years), they'd help them find > financing. That's my understanding. A few months ago, I read an article on this topic which stated that commercial mortgages were almost always written for short terms (no more than 5 years), at which time the remaining balance came due. In "normal" times, it was no problem for a property's owner to negotiate a new loan. Now, however, the market values of many properties have dropped below the principal balance, and the income stream from tenants has become uncertain at best. A thought experiment: I borrow $16 million toward the construction of a $20 million shopping mall. I pay 6%, with quarterly payments on a 30- year amortization, with a balloon in 3 years. Principal at 3 years is ... pocketa, pocketa ... $15,370,157.50 (with quarterly payments of $288,296.32). During the three years, the market value of the mall falls 30%, to $14 million, and enough stores close to reduce my revenues available for payments to $200,000 per quarter. To get my balance down to $14M after another three years under these conditions requires the interest rate to drop to 2.327%. At a rate of, say, 5%, my balance in three years will be $15,268,907.47. A bank _might_ be willing to refi on those terms, but a lot of properties are in much worse shape, I suspect. Mark Hagerman From ignatz at dminet.com Thu Dec 31 07:55:14 2009 From: ignatz at dminet.com (Dave Ihnat) Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:55:14 -0600 Subject: [Goglog] Kiyosaki article In-Reply-To: <500C0212-337B-4641-9B16-38F79CFE4BBB@worldnet.att.net> References: <91DC1711-11B7-479E-AC33-ED9F8B8CEA79@worldnet.att.net> <20091231030131.GA31283@dminet.com> <500C0212-337B-4641-9B16-38F79CFE4BBB@worldnet.att.net> Message-ID: <20091231135514.GB15624@dminet.com> On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 10:31:36PM -0600, Mark Hagerman wrote: > A thought experiment: I borrow $16 million toward the construction of a > $20 million shopping mall. Now think bigger. I recall a number of their deals in the $200-300M range; a broker might net $300K when it finally closed. (BTW, before you think, "why, those buggers got oodles of money on their comissions for no work", remember a broker might work on such a deal for 3-4 *years* with no pay. Still not peanuts, though.) I'm afraid it ain't gonna be purty. And I figger we--the taxpayers--are gonna pony up. Again. -- Dave Ihnat ignatz at dminet.com