HERE COMES RITA

Palm Beach Post tracks Rita Will we run out of storm names? Expect more hurricanes than usual the next 10-20 years Oil prices jump Gallery: Houston prepares for Rita Thousands flee Hurricane ruined Galveston in 1900 Track the flood risk from Rita

A BIG STORY THIS WINTER

Let me give you a little preview into one of the big stories this winter.  Natural gas prices.  It's another one of those pesky little supply-and-demand problems brought on in part by a few devastating hurricanes in the Gulf.  In just a few months from now you're going to hear some griping about natural gas prices such as you've never heard before.

In the meantime ... just where do you think some of our biggest untapped reserves of natural gas might be?  You got it!  Right there in the gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.  If you look at a map showing the locations of gas and oil rigs in the gulf, you'll see them off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. But when you get to the Florida coastline .. it stops.  Florida, you see, is special.  Florida is politically sensitive.  Florida has a big tourist industry that depends on beaches.  They don't want any oil or gas rigs offshore because, as we all now, they really do foul up the beaches.  Why, there's not a day that goes by that we don't hear about rescue personnel having to scrub oil off of beachgoers in from Texas all the way to Alabama. 

Don't you folks in Florida think it's about time to grow up and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem?  We're all in this energy boat together.  Not everyone can escape the cold weather in the North to move to balmy Florida in the winter.  Some people still actually have to heat their homes, many with natural gas.  Hey .. I have a home on the Florida gulf coast too, with a wonderful view of an unspoiled beach.  The sight of a few rigs many miles offshore isn't going to spoil my enjoyment of my Florida home.  We need to join the rest of the gulf coast in addressing this country's energy needs.

OH ... and let's get those drilling rigs operating in ANWR while we're at it.

RITA AND GLOBAL WARMING

Just as with Hurricane Katrina a few weeks ago, the Euro-weenies are weighing in on Hurricane Rita.  We're being told by our brethren on the other side of the pond that global warming is to blame for the pending catastrophe.  An interesting position, isn't it?  Today's comments come to us courtesy of (get ready for a long title here:) Sir John Lawton, chairman of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution in the UK.

He is peddling the nonsense that hurricanes are caused by global warming.  Why, it's the increased warming of the ocean!  Says the good Sir: "The increased intensity of these kinds of extreme storms is very likely to be due to global warming." He calls hurricanes like Katrina and Rita the "smoking gun" of global warming.

But if you read a little further into the article in the British "newspaper" (and I use that term loosely) about his comments, the real agenda is revealed.  Just like his counterparts in the environmental movement in the United States, this has nothing to do with the environment.  What it all comes down to is his hatred of capitalism and his hatred of George W. Bush.  Again, Sir Lawton: "If this makes the climate loonies in the States realize we've got a problem, some good will come out of a truly awful situation."

Some good come out of a hurricane?  Really...just how many enviro-wackos are secretly cheering on Hurricane Rita because it is bearing down on Houston, which is the center of the United States oil industry?  But here's the real question: would there still have been a Hurricane Katrina and a Hurricane Rita had we signed onto the Kyoto protocol?

Yup.  The reason why is simple: global warming, if it even exists, doesn't cause hurricanes.  The reason why is so simple it's almost impossible for the left to grasp:  we've been having hurricanes since the beginning of time.

GAS CRISIS II

Here it comes all over again....another looming gas crisis, potentially due to Hurricane Rita.  Florida Governor Jeb Bush is warning that panic buying over the hurricane is going to restrict supply and cause a shortage.  He's right, but unfortunately, ignorance about supply and demand and demagoguery about price gouging will be the order of the day.

There are more refineries and refining capacity potentially in the path of Rita than was with Katrina.  If those refineries are hit, the supply of gasoline in the United States will be reduced.  On top of that, people will start buying more gas than they otherwise would, further tightening supplies.  Because of a lack of supply, the price will go up.  But the price won't go up enough.  Because they're worried about being prosecuted by opportunistic politicians eager to cash in people's ignorance about capitalism, gas stations will hold the price artificially low.

The result: there will be a shortage. Think about the following: say gas is currently $2.73 a gallon in your neighborhood for the cheap stuff.  You see a news story on TV about Hurricane Rita and you run out and fill up all 3 of your cars, your RV and even the lawnmower.  Everyone does the same, causing the station to run out of gas.  People who desperately need gas to get to work get the shaft.

But would you have hoarded all of that gasoline had it been $3.73 a gallon?  Nope.  Proving once again that supply and demand works every time it's tried. Just don't bother telling that to politicians.

LOSING IN IRAQ

There is proof this morning that the leftist media propaganda campaign over the war in Iraq is working. According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, fewer than half of Americans surveyed believe the United States will win the Iraq war and 55 percent say we should speed withdrawal plans. This proves two things:

1.) Having been indoctrinated in government schools, most people are ignorant about world events.  If they would ignore the partisan media long enough, they would realize that we have already won the war in Iraq.  Yes, we are still fighting Islamic terrorists who hate democracy and the rule of law, but the war has been won.  By every measure of history and modern warfare, the war in Iraq has been won many times over.  Take your pick of the following successes: a new Constitution, elections, Saddam Hussein in jail, much lower casualties than predicted (although still too many at just under 2,000.)

2.) If people think we should speed the withdrawal, then they don't care who wins the war.  If the Coalition (yes, there still is one) were to pull out now, Iraq would fall to Zarqawi and his band of Islamic killers.  If you're worried about losing the war, then why speed the withdrawal? The answer is that you don't.  It would be a disastrous failure and would threaten the security of the United States.

The media's blatant ignoring of good news from Iraq along with their propaganda campaign to try and sink George Bush seems to be having an effect.  Oh well.

POLL

It looks like we may have learned some things from the Katrina disaster. We're already getting the equipment in place to take care of Rita's aftermath. This morning Neal wondered how long it would take before Jesse Jackson or some other race warlord would say the response was better because the victims were whiter. What do you think?

Tour Gallery | target="_blank">amazon.com reviews | NEW TOUR DATES!

REDNECK SCRAP BOOK

Who needs fancy equipment to launch skeet? What will they think of next? More in the Redneck Scrap Book.

Behind the scenes: Neal recording the audio version of The FairTax Book.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Jimmy Carter is going around saying that Al Gore beat George Bush in the 2000 election.  Those must be some sour grapes...to have lasted 5 years and all.

Here's the quote of the day from someone waiting for government to evacuate them out of Houston: "I done called for a shelter, I done called for help. There ain't none. No one answers."  Perhaps they done left too.

The Greyhound Bus company has the Hispanic race pimps in an uproar:  they intend to refuse to sell bus tickets to illegal aliens.  What's causing the uproar?  Advocacy groups are crying "racial profiling."  Too bad.

George W. Bush has shot back at Bill Clinton over his critical remarks about Iraq....by reminding people of the Clinton administration's poor record on terrorism.  Good one.

The governor of Louisiana is finally paying for her complete and total incompetence in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina: her poll numbers are way down.  Down further than the president's.

Larry Elder reports that the media is lapping up Louie-the-Lip's assertion that a hole was blown in the New Orleans levee just to flood the black part of town on purpose.

With Bush's poll numbers in a free-fall, is the Republican party going with him?  James Pinkerton doesn't think so, and furthermore says that the GOP still reigns.

Emmett Tyrrell says people shouldn't give up on the president...Bush isn't entirely done for.  After all, he still has 3 more years in office.  Besides, you can always count on the incompetence of Democrats.

David Limbaugh seizes on one of General Russel Honore's classic lines to reporters to "don't get stuck on stupid."  He says that could apply to the entire media, Democrats included.

Republicans who once stood for limited government and controls on spending are passing huge budgets loaded with pork and are now blanketing the Gulf region with billions in taxpayer funds. Mona Charen asks the question: just who are these supposed "Republicans?"

Morning Sickness: Mom guilty of rape for arranging sex date for her 13-year-old daughter.

This is George Bush and Georgia Senator Johnny Isackson on Air Force One. Look closely at the desk. There's a book lying there. Care to guess which book?

WHAT THE HECK ARE THOSE POINTY HAND THINGS?

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