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.

You may not have seen it lately, but Boone Pickens -- one of the most famous and most successful oilmen in the history of the United States of America (if not the world) -- has a real energy plan with real numbers.  What I like about his approach is that he doesn't get caught down in the weeds of the environmentalist whacko movement and the AlGorista fascism, but he makes a clear argument that we can not afford to continue importing foreign oil at a $700 billion clip per year.

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?

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.

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.

Maybe not.  Apparently there has been a growing movement of scientists questioning whether the "dinosaurs" and "early plant life" could have created the volume of petroleum currently available. 

This article from 2004 is instructive... and the debate goes on.

There has been a lot of foot stomping in Conservative America about John McCain's endorsement of cap-and-trade as a so-called market-based solution to restricting so-called "greenhouse gas" emissions.  But no one has really asked "Why does he back this method"?

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.

I am not a chemist, nor a chemical engineer.  I did okay, but not great, in high school chemistry-- despite the best efforts of Mr. Fred Dinges to help me do better.

But, I do know this:  Diesel Fuel is really nothing more than Number 2 Heating Oil, with some additive to handle cold weather better and to distinguish it from Number 2 Heating Oil (for tax purposes, of course!).  And both of these fuels are not nearly as well refined as standard gasoline (either Regular, Mid-Grade, or Premium).

So why is it that the wholesale price for Diesel or Number 2 is SOOO much higher than regular gasoline?  The cost of off road diesel (used for farm equipment, mainly) was recently quote at $3.46/gallon for a 500 gallon purchase AND based on a 10 year record with the local fuel company.  Note:  off-road diesel has no taxes included.

If you have a good answer for this, please write to me at blog@gunpowderchronicle.com and give me the details.  I will respect any and all requests for anonymity.

Over at Red Maryland, Brian Griffiths points to news coming out of Annapolis today that the State Insurance Commissioner has come to the perfectly logical conclusion that the law allows insurance companies to stop writing policies for homeowner's insurance when the calculated risk exceeds the cost of insurance.

What is that?  Insanity in homeowner's insurance making a comeback in Maryland?  Say it ain't so!