A USAToday story on the expiration of federal government support of domestic corn ethanol demonstrates the media’s ability to shape a story while appearing to be objective. The reporter technically includes both sides of the story, but trumpets one side so that the average reader would be outraged at the policy change. In reality, federal government support for ethanol is an inefficient attempt at central planning of markets that spawned some terrible consequences. What’s In a...
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WASHINGTON D.C. -- The American Energy Alliance launched today a 30-second advertisement  on Pandora Radio, a development of the Music Genome Project with more than 125 million registered users throughout the United States. The ad, entitled "Obama Promises," will air in nine states -- New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia and North Carolina. AEA purchased 45 million spots for both audio and visual advertisements on Pandora Radio in what constitutes one of...
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The Onion Couldn't Have Written a Better Headline ABC News (4/10/12) reports: Former General Services Administration administrator Martha Johnson missed a lavish Las Vegas conference for government employees because she was already committed to meetings in California at  Solyndra, according to testimony in an official government investigation…Solyndra is the now-bankrupt green energy company that the Obama administration had provided with a $535 million loan through the stimulus…The...
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First Energy would argue that they are not intentionally causing a shortage in the capacity markets in order to make a bunch of money from unsuspecting ratepayers.  I like to argue that I am taller and better looking than people think I am Platts Energy (4/8/12) reports: West Virginia regulators ordered FirstEnergy not to begin retiring three coal-fired plants in the state totaling 660 MW until regulators have a chance to review the company's justification for the closings…The Public...
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It’s hypocritical for the same politicians calling for sanctions on China for placing quotas on a its rare earth exports to simultaneously try to block the export of our own natural gas resources MarketWatch  (4/2/12) reports: The Chinese are wrong in the case of rare earth elements and should reverse their practices. President Obama shouldn’t follow in their footsteps with U.S. natural gas, a move which not only runs counter to our own obligations, but which threatens our own economic...
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Solyndra.  Beacon.  First Light.  Q-Cells.  They will be thrown into the exterior darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen GWPF The German firm says it has abandoned an attempt to refinance its debts and will file for insolvency on Tuesday…Like other solar panel makers, Q-Cells has been hit by falling prices and last year the firm lost 846m euros ($1.1bn; £702m)…The company started in 2001 with 19 staff and now employs...
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WASHINGTON D.C. -- The Obama campaign, the Democratic National Committee and a pro-Obama Super PAC are frantically deploying television propaganda to distract the American public from the president's energy record. In an ongoing multi-million dollar educational advertisement  sponsored by the...
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If some is good, more is better Yahoo (3/29/12) reports: An outside group with ties to conservative causes on Thursday launched a $3.6 million ad buy lashing out at President Barack Obama's energy record, blaming him for rising gas prices and his decision to delay the Keystone XL pipeline project…The ads aired in eight states by the American Energy Alliance seek to undercut Obama's message that he has increased oil drilling and pushed to develop renewable energy sources, and came as the...
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WASHINGTON D.C. -- The American Energy Alliance launched today a multi-million dollar nationwide initiative to educate the public about energy policies that are causing gas prices and other energy costs to skyrocket. The first phase of the initiative includes a 30-second television ad that begins airing this week in eight states across the country. "The failed policies of the Obama administration are laid bare by the rising cost of energy in America, despite the fact that we have 200 years...
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The answer is, of course, who cares?  The only reason anyone buys a Prius is so they can demonstrate how much holier they are than everyone else.  And to expose the fact that they don’t what the word “fungible” means Good Magazine (3/27?12) reports: In his book, The Conundrum, New Yorker staff writer David Owen ruffles the feathers of energy-efficiency advocates with his argument that living sustainably often means living, in his words, “pretty much the way I live right now, though...
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