The Maryland Public Service Commission is notorious for its fundamental inability to effectively regulate the energy business in Maryland.  And O'Guvnah O'Malley's inability to move beyond Progressive/Fascist mandates -- like compulsory subsidies for the sales of compact fluorescent bulbs -- is legion.

Government is lousy at picking winners and losers.  And the insistence that we all throw our incandescent bulbs in favor of mercury-laden CFLs is just another perfect example.  Why?  Because private industry is working hard to create another alternative:  LED-based light bulbs.

After watching the Pickens plan a few times, and reading this excellent post by Mark Newgent over at Red Maryland, and giving it some serious thought, I am pretty much coming out against the chattering class' clamor for alternative energy sources.

Why?

That is the result from this analysis of EPA studies by the Heartland Institute.

It's interesting how the government changed the rules of statistical analysis to result in an outcome that was more preferable to the result they wanted. 

Do they call that science?

The concept of leverage is interesting.  In physics, we use levers and fulcrums to increase lifting power.  In relationships, we use (unfortunately) leverage to get what we want.  In politics, we use leverage to manipulate the levers of power.

An article in today's Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter sheds some serious light on the trend toward the "straight vegetable oil" fuel options.  It turns out that using vegetable oil in your diesel engine is illegal on both the State and Federal levels.

By now, everyone knows that 4 Boy Scouts died at Camp Little Sioux this week when the camp was hit by a horrifying tornado.

But what you might not know is that some organizations on the extreme socialist left in this country are trying to score points off those deaths by hawking the tornado as the result of global warming.

Apparently, our SUVs, air conditioners, and power plants aren't just a problem here on Earth.  Our brothers and sisters on Jupiter are now contributing to that planet's own "climate change crisis", as two more "Red Spots" have formed on the surface of Jupiter-- because of global warming.

Mighty George W. Bush keeps striking out on energy.  For someone who was once the owner of a Major League Baseball Team and an oilman and has an MBA, he keeps striking out on the cross between energy, the economy, and fiscal policy.

The International Herald Tribune has an article featuring a new product in development that would allow any citizen to make their own ethanol at home.  I don't know about all of you, but I call that a "still".  Quick, someone call Uncle Jesse!

Well, at least when it comes to nuclear power.  France generates 80% of their electricity through nuclear power.  We generate less than 20%.  Yet, we have the most nuclearized Navy in the world. The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the latest Nimitz-class Supercarrier to join the fleet, boasts 2 Westinghouse nuclear reactors.  That is the same number currently in service at Calvert Cliffs.