Gas prices will go back up, forever up.

Oil prices have fallen, from $100 a barrel to $80.  Your price at the pump is coming down too.
Which leads me to point out that much of the American public will always act to ensure future damage to their finances are just a matter of time.
Consumers: As soon as gas prices went down, low mileage SUV's, pickups, and the general mix of poor energy effiecent cars jump in sales.
Oil price history:  Prices always go up.  They come down for a few months, some dips last 16 months, but the trend is up, forever up.
Oil producer strategy: Saudi Arabia and other big producers want to put a halt to fracking and oil sands operations all over the world. Adding to the supply coming from those new sources combined with lower demand due to so many low mileage cars being sold the last 5 years, has brought on lower prices.  In the past Saudi and others would cut production at this point to hold up prices.  This time they want it to fall.  Prices at $80 a barrel cools interest in those hard to recover resources such as oil shale, oil sands, fracking.  The industry says $77 is the point some operations will shut down.  If they can get it lower or hold it for months the drilling rigs will come out of the fields, some drillers will go out of business.  When they cut production prices will go back up but it will take years for drillers to return in great numbers to the field.
Sage advice: Buy the highest mileage vehicle you can, prices will go back up at the first international crisis or when big oil thinks they need the money.  I have an 08 Camry hybrid, get 39mpg, it paid for it's higher price (over the standard model) several years ago, and now that prices are low, wow, I really have low fuel bills.

They know they will lose the fossil fuel fight, but when, at what cost to the climate?

 Thats me helping people write letters on an i-pad to their state representatives to support wind and solar energy.  In a few days at the fair we got about 2,000, more than double last year.  A year ago we had several people come in to fuss about wind and solar, this year only 2 or 3, everyone else wants it and wants the legislature to stop trying to make it harder to build a clean energy future.

Below is what Shell Oil projects for all energy sources in 86 years.  Look at that, oil 10%, coal 3.9%.  I met a man who advises oil execs on global warming, he is not there to pump warm air up their skirts, they hire him to explain the latest actual science. He said the only thing they ever ask is not if it's real, but when will they be made to stop.  What we have to do is make them stop sooner not later, transition to a new economy, slow the disruption coming from heat, storms, reduced food production.  This is a Shell made chart.

Ban flights out of Texas, protect us from Ebola

GOP and some Dems want flights from Africa banned to save us from Ebola.  Only one guy came in so far that was unknown to have it.  But, they are tracking lots of people exposed who came out of Texas.  Fuck Rick Perry, stop flights out of Texas.

I think the reaction is a bit much folks.  So far 1 death in the US from Ebola and oh my gosh it's gonna kill us and it's that black Presidents fault.  Really, your worried about that.  50k to 60k a year die in US hospitals from infections caught in the frigg'n hospital, 30k a year die from getting the wrong meds or the wrong dose of the right meds.  Then the flu kills 10k to 40k a year, heart disease 600k, obesity/diabetes almost that.  Almost all of these could be prevented.  Ebola is nothing.  We should be asking hospitals to clean up, why the hell did my fater-in-law end up with 2 near deadly infections from a short hospital stay?  No wonder people get Ebola, the places are truly dirty.

"Pope Francis the liberal" beaten back by conservatives.

Gays will not be welcomed to the church.  Neither will divorced people or people living together yet unmarried.  The bishops rebelled, last week it looked like they would show some compassion, nope, scorn and bile instead.

Bobby Kennedy's speech, an amazing forward thinker

Speaking of stuff, like the quality of our political debates as Bobby mentioned. Gregg Orman the independent currently leading 73 yr old live long senator (R) Roberts. Orman has spent 3 million of his own money on the race so far, yet is outspent so far by 3 or 4 to 1 by the Republicans. Kansas is only 3 million total and very few vote here. By the time this is over I bet the cost per vote will be around a thousand. Orman is everything the Republicans stand for, rich, really nice guy, owns several businesses, started small, knows powerful people all over, yet they are attacking him for being all of these things. He was a republican at one time, so there you have it, traitor.

Then yesterday the Pentagon said oh it's getting hot, lives and money will be lost.

1880 to 2013

Ladies if you want it then dating the GOP ain't gonna get it.

news unfit for weak stomached republicans

It's been a wild few days of shocks to the system, especially if your system is Republican.

*Socialist Pope's synod has come out with the question for catholics, shouldn't we make nice with gays? They aren't going to do weddings, but it's a step forward in cutting off the hatred, and the step is too far for many on the right.

*Sept. was the hottest September ever globally.   Using the thousands of daily readings around the world.  Yea I know it was cool a few days where you live so your not convinced.

*Tesla's new model D is drag strip ready, 155mph, 0 - 60 3.2 seconds.  691 HP with a motor driving the front and another driving the rear.  Range is further too, 275 miles.  Extra range is due to 2 motors working in harmony adjusted every mili-second takes less power than one motor, even with the extra weight, it goes faster and farther.  I have a state house senator who owns a car dealership, he hates Tesla, this for sure made him puke, again.  Porsche, Viper, Shelby, Mustang, none of them beat this time.  Electric cars were up till now seen as a lady like car, an old persons car, a nerds car, now it is THE muscle car.  OH go on, Puke some more.  In fairness one Porsche 918 Spyder can beat it, but it costs $887,000, for one car, the Tesla is less than 10% of that.

*China announced last week a $6 a ton tax on imported coal.  They are suffering so much pollution they have to make changes.  These higher prices they say will force increased efficiency and cut waste in industry and residential use.  They also re-affirmed last months statement the rapid increase in building coal plants is coming to an end in a couple of years at which time they will accelerate the  closing of old plants, dirtiest first and so on.  So much for the plan to export hugh amounts of coal to China.  Wind and solar are growing fast too in China.

*India has decided instead of building an electric grid infrastructure into un-electrified regions they will get power to 400 million by small wind and solar farms.  Local distributed power near the customers.  This announcement killed several planned coal fired power plants.  Ouch GE, ouch Becktel, no smokestacks or boilers needed.

Republicans succeed when you don't vote.

Did BP drive up cost of seafood?

Well, I doubt it, I think all these fish are just better at hiding than they were before the gulf was covered in oil tar and fire.  Also I thing gulf fishermen are drunks now and don't fish much.  I bet the truth is there are more fish than ever now, yea that's it, those "-" signs were suppose to be "+'s".  Yea that's it, oil helps em hide so drunk fishermen can't find them.

What kind of people hunt dogs?

The EV's are coming, the EV's are coming.

Last year I noticed there was a Chevy Volt in a garage a couple blocks away.  Now another Electric Vehicle,  a Nissan Leaf is near by too.  Twice last month I saw a red Tesla model S gliding quietly through the area and onto the 4 lane arterial to the east.  I don't know the owners, but I met the guy living next to the Volt.  He said the women that has it ask if gas can go bad.  Volt has a gas engine that runs if the 40 mile range batteries are depleted.  She told him in the 6 months she had it she never used the gas engine, the tank  still full from the day she bought it. All her trips around town gets her home on stored power.  He told her she should use the gas engine and refill the tank every few months to be safe.

People don't drive as far as they think, most trips to work, school, shop, church, or bar are  less than 40.  All the builders are working on, and will in a year or so have cars in the 100+, even 200+ range.

You don't need Paul Revere to tell you EV's are coming, the Kochs and others are fighting it, they see it coming, it means less gas sold.  The question is will we let them slow it down in states with laws that inhibit EV sales with higher taxes on EV's and hybrids or keeping Tesla out of some states.  Well, Ford has partnered with KB Homes, the largest house and apartment builder in the nation.  KBH will now wire all their homes to be ready for adding an EV charger, so the buyer if they later buy an EV can just plug in the charger that plugs to the EV, you need not pull any wires or hire an electrician.  Tesla give buyers of the "S" free recharges for life.  Today Honda and Solar City announced $50+ million program for Honda EV customers, lowering their costs if they add solar panels to charge the new EV.  Even if you or I can't get in on these programs now, they solve some of the problems for the buyer, pushing up sales, lowering prices, reducing pollution. Thats good for all of us. We might be able to afford an EV sooner than we thought.

You need to let your state house rep and senator know you oppose adding taxes to these cars, and you oppose the trend of making net metering* less attractive with more taxes, charges, regulations, limits.  The sun that falls on your house is yours, if you invest to turn it into energy, then bugger-off Mr. Utility, bugger-off ALEC, AFP, Chamber, Kochs.  It's your sunshine, protect it or the Koch's will make it so expensive you won't be able to use it.
*Net Metering, the meter than runs both directions, when you generate your own watts, if you have excess it credits you, lowering your utility bill.  Some states are now doing the utilites and Koch's work to the detriment of homeowners and small businesses.