Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox, he of the burning water tap, loves to scare people with the provocative word “fracking” and misleading images and claims of its potential to damage the environment, specifically groundwater.

To wit, this screenshot of a cute little animated .gif at Fox’s website gaslandthemovie.com.

It clearly depicts fractures from a horizontal gas well invading a freshwater aquifer. Scary! Now, consider the detail of that portion of the cartoon which depicts the fractures extending vertically up into the shallow water-bearing zone:

“Research is underway”, indeed. How about we look at some of that research?

Read More →

Because we’re getting quite a list going of Democrats who are too frightened of being associated with the President to want to go to an Obama-dominated convention (or, as Michelle Malkin rather elegantly put it, the upcoming “Tarheel trainwreck“). So far…

• West Virginia: Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, Senator Joe Manchin, Rep. Nick Rahall;
• New York: Rep. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Bill Owens
• Pennsylvania: Rep. Mark Critz
• Utah: Rep. Jim Matheson

Read More →

Texas takes on Google as the state comes after the corporation on antitrust grounds. I’m not sure this is a good idea, any more than it was a good idea for the Clinton administration to go after Microsoft, but it’s probably even dumber for Google to obstruct the investigation.

Read More →

PA-13 is, of course, the district of Allyson Schwartz.  It’s been considered safe in the past, largely because the district hasn’t changed hands since 1988 – despite being only about D+7.  Speaking frankly: I like districts like that.  They’re more fun to take away from the Other Side.  Particularly when we’re talking about a cipher like Schwartz.  And doubly particularly when Pennsylvania is going to be fought over to a degree not seen since… about 1988 or so.

The current candidate for PA-13 is former pilot and military veteran Joe Rooney, and he’s looking to upset this particular applecart.  We talked for a bit about the race:

Joe’s site is here.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Drama ensued last Tuesday when Dr. Molly Sherlock enjoyed the career-enhancing experience of getting to testify before the House of Representatives on the 1603 grant program administered by the Department of Energy. This program was set up to fund the creation of so-called Green Jobs. Unfortunately for Dr. Sherlock, Congressman Cory Gardner (R, Colo) was the one wearing the green eyeshades. The relevant questioning follows below.

Read More →

Over the past few months, there has been a daily trickle of establishment Republicans coming out before the media in hostage style confession statements to declare that they would accept tax increases as part of a “grand bargain” to cut the deficit.  The latest member was Lindsey Graham, who stated his newfound opposition to the taxpayer pledge of Americans for Tax Reform, which he considered to be too ideologically intransigent.  Tom Coburn continues to work with the “Gang of 6” in an effort to “raise revenue.”

The media has extrapolated on Graham’s narrative, suggesting that Republicans are too unyielding to compromise and that they would even chase Reagan out of the party if he’d be president today.  Buttressed by Jeb Bush’s comments concerning Reagan’s place in today’s Republican Party, the media is chastising us for being so stridently opposed to tax increases – even in the event of a “grand bargain” of $10 of spending cuts per $1 of tax increases.

The problem with this narrative of the grand bargain is that no such agreement exists.  Nor will it ever materialize.

I’ll be the first person to agree to such a deal.  There, I said it.  If Democrats would really agree to a deal that would wind down the welfare and entitlement programs and eliminate full departments of the executive branch, I would reluctantly go along with some form of revenue increases.  Raising taxes is unfair and counterintuitive, but if that is what it would take to get Democrats to come onboard with our efforts to shrink government, then it would be a deal worth making.

Then again, if unicorns could fly, we wouldn’t need airplanes either.

Read More →

Download audio here

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss buying islands, a call for the ECB to be given powers of the Fed, and the continuation of Operation Twist.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at bjackson[at]coffeeandmarkets.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Oracle founder Larry Ellison buying Hawaiian island of Lanai
Euro’s big four seek way out of crisis in Rome
Ratings Cut for Giant Banks
Europe Needs a Federal Reserve

Follow Brad on Twitter
Follow Ben on Twitter
Follow Francis on Twitter

Subscribe to The Transom

The hosts and guests of Coffee and Markets speak only for ourselves, not any clients or employers.

I’ll be filling in for Neal Boortz today and at 10:00 a.m. ET I will break a news story about Eric Holder and the Justice Department. The Talkmaster’s show runs live from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. You can listen to it live by going right here. Additionally, the call in number is 1-877-310-2100.

Tune in by 10:00 a.m. ET to hear a new Eric Holder travesty that has not yet been reported.

RedState Morning Briefing
June 22, 2012

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

Read More →

In the seedy world of the Chicago unions and the political pawns they control, there is a family dynasty whose name is at the top of heap in terms of power and political muscle. That is the Coli family. Without the blessings of the Coli family and the union they control, Teamsters Local 727 and Joint Council 25 (the governing body of 20 Teamster locals in Illinois and Indiana), Chicago might not have Rahm Emanuel as its mayor and America might not have Barack Obama as its president. Now, however, the Coli union dynasty may be in jeopardy due to a RICO suit filed against several members of the Coli family, including John Coli, Sr., and Teamsters Local 727.

SCI Illinois Services, Inc. is a company that provides funeral services in Chicago and vicinity. Being in the Chicago area, the company’s employees (which consist of funeral directors, embalmers, embalmer trainees, and auto livery drivers) are represented by Teamsters Local 727.

According to the RICO suit, SCI is required under its union contract with the Coli-controlled Teamsters, to pay money into the union’s health, pension, and education funds for its Teamster-represented employees. The health, pension and educations funds are where out of the four fund trustees, according to the suit, the Coli family has installed three of its family members.

Read More →

Today is June 21st. • On this date in 1787, the U.S. Constitution was ratified. Today, our constitution is the oldest written constitution to remain the governing document of any nation in the world. Plus it has a wicked cool beat and you can dance to it. • On this date in 1905, French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre was born. He was a leading figure in 20th century Marxism. Sartre once famously wrote “Hell is other people.” Yeah, he wasn’t a big hit at parties. • Also on this date, in 1913, Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick became the first woman to skydive, jumping from a plane over Los Angeles. Tiny was said to weigh only 85 pounds, and was between 4 and 5 feet tall, thus the nickname. Hey I’m six feet tall, weigh 210ish pounds, and have jumped 5 times. Where’s my nickname? (And don’t suggest “fatty”, Ben Howe already has that one nailed.) • And finally, speaking of Ben Howe, Twitter was down for several hours today. Ben’s reaction video is available here. • Consider this an Open Thread.

Media Gave Obama Free Pass In 2008, Says Obama Surrogate Ed Rendell | Free Beacon
“Rendell believes the media gave Obama a free pass in 2008, creating an environment in which the newly elected president received the Nobel Peace Prize nine months into his tenure—’a little ridiculous,’ according to Rendell. ‘Reporters violated the rule of neutrality,’ he writes in the book.

Brian Williams and the Fast and Furious Shame Brigade | The Sundries Shack
“NBC News, Brian Williams’ employer, has mentioned Fast and Furious exactly once before today’s events and Politico can’t be bothered to get the basic facts of the story correct.”

Today’s Daily Deal: See President Obama for 50% Off | Peach Pundit
“The Georgia Democratic Party sent out a reminder (again) today, noting that ‘space is limited’. It’s not so limited that a new category couldn’t be created, now dropping the price of admission from a minimum of $500 to $250.”

Obama’s ‘They’-Did-It Campaign | Victor Davis Hanson
“… rarely has Mr. Obama faced much criticism, much less any accountability that would involve judging his rhetoric by actual achievement.”

McCaskill Votes for Expensive New Coal Regulations But Denies It on Her Website | Gateway Pundit
“This morning, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) voted with her party to implement the EPA’s MACT rule, one of the costliest regulations in U.S. history—and one that will prove especially devastating to coal-dependent states such as Missouri.”

Anti-Bullying Advocate Refers to Gay Conservatives as “House F**gots” | Mental Recession
“Savage’s hatred seems to come from the decision by GOProud – an organization of gay conservatives and their straight allies – as they announced today their endorsement of Mitt Romney for President.”

Hostile Takeover from Loren Heal

enchiridion (en-kahy-RID-ee-uhn): A handbook; manual.

This is going to be a very visual post, and, as usual, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney provides little if any actual semantic content, so I will simply summarize each video. First off, we have the standard obfuscation:

Read More →