No Blood for Coal.

Biden!

I'll take it. Would have preferred Bloomberg or Webb - but Biden is a close third. If Michael Bloomberg can get a seat at the table, its a tough ticket to beat, especially with McCain floundering around like a bull in a china shop.

More on Bloomberg:

“If you want to look at a model for how to handle this economy, look at New York City. They saved, saved — that’s S-A-V-E-D, a word not used much in the English language these days — $6.2 billion, which is delaying the financial crisis from hitting them,” Mr. Paterson said. “I can’t think of another geographic location that has responded to the economic situation, which people could feel coming for two or three years, better than New York City.”

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/paterson-on-bloombergs-third-term-a-great-idea/

Let's go Redeem Team!

Boo-yaa-shaa-kaa!

Seems there is one company that is ready to compete against the Chinese.

Free market capitalist democracy at work in the paint.

Energy News.

Lot's via instapundit yesterday, but here's a quick note:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/business/08ethanol.html?ex=1375848000&en=079db13d4623630b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Considering Obama's in big Ethanol's pocket (thanks Illinois!) and McCain seems to be fumbling around looks like commodity prices - and Jim Rogers - will continue to rise unabated, and of course, marginal countries around the globe get squeezed on food costs (thanks Al Gore!).

I'm not sure what our collective brain freeze is on nuclear power but as this poll indicates:

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/issues2/articles/81_say_finding_new_energy_sources_is_urgent_national_need

Seems like a government mandate to build 10 new plants a decade wouldn't be a terrible idea. Pt those construction workers back to work!

Here's a link to Jim Rogers's book:
http://www.amazon.com/Adventure-Capitalist-Ultimate-Road-Trip/dp/0375509127

That's why it's called "Black Gold."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/05/iraq.oil/index.html

How dumb is Carl Levin anyway? Of course we're going to get paid back for Iraq.

Movie Recommendation.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472062/

A terribly marketed movie by the forces that be in Hollywood. If it's not a fifth remake of "The Hulk" seemingly they don't like to get the word out about their product. Nice biography of a hard-edged cold warrior - a dying mindset in today's disposable economy.

Imperial History of the Middle East.

In motion.

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html

Joint Terrorism Task Force.

A unit developed as a collaboration between NYPD and the FBI remains on the front-line vs. terrorist organizations. A sad casualty today:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/08/02/2008-08-02_decorated_finest_on_antiterror_mission_p.html

Such an international system is not sustainable.

http://www.iags.org/futureofoil.html

Well put. This has nice links back and forth. Fairly terrifying:

Our dependency on oil from countries that are either politically unstable or at odds with the U.S. subjects the American economy to occasional supply disruptions, price hikes, and loss of wealth, which, according to a study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy, have cost us more than $7 trillion present value dollars over the last 30 years. That is more than the cumulative cost of all of the wars fought by the U.S. since the Revolutionary War. The transfer of wealth to oil-producing countries -  $1.16 trillion over the past thirty years - significantly increased our trade deficit. The Department of Energy estimates that each $1 billion of trade deficit costs America 27,000 jobs. Oil imports account for almost one-third of the total U.S. deficit and, hence, are a major contributor to unemployment.

Off-shore Drilling.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/state/epaper/2008/08/01/0801obama1.html

"The Republicans and the oil companies have been really beating the drums on drilling," Obama said in the interview. "And so we don't want gridlock. We want to get something done."

Not sure how I feel about off-shore drilling and drill down in the ANWAR - although reports have the Arctic Circle with one-third of the world's remaining oil resources underneath it. People constantly want to paint the oil companies as these evil cabals of Texas oilmen bent on destroying the world's natural resources for high profit. On the other hand, you could see it as an application of incredibly sophisticated technology and American know-how, great capital risk and investment in some of the world's most dangerous places. The truth is probably somewhere in between.

Current Mortality in Iraq

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_TGlif9AftI&refer=home

Encouraging.