War & Peace in Georgia, Wall St Drunk: Bush, Paulson agrees, Fox Supports Obama? (sort of)
Stafford Williamson
August 12, 2008
" Wall Street got drunk," says President George W. Bush. For a refreshing change let's not say that President Bush is incapable of understanding the subtleties or complexities of financial derivatives. "The question is, how long is it going to take them to sober up?" President Bush concluded. On Meet The Press on NBC this morning, Tom Brokaw interviewed Secretary of Finance, Henry ("Hank") Paulson from the plaza outside the main stadium (aka "the birds' nest") at the Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Although Secretary Paulson presided over Goldman Sachs as their president during the era that gave rise to the complex financial instruments known as derivatives, since taking his post at the Department of Finance if he has been critical of them, complaining that they are, "... so complicated that they confuse even the people who buy and sell them." And in a previous interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, "He cautioned the president that 'there was more leverage embedded in the system than regulators realized,' creating potentially dangerous levels of debt."
He was also instrumental in obtaining the Federal backing for the J.P. Morgan takeover of supposedly "troubled" Bear Stearns, and more recently browbeating Congress into emergency Federal guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What seems almost more remarkable however, is that he also agreed to greater Federal oversight and regulation of capital markets, and most un-Republican thing to do.
Speaking of un-Republican, on a recent episode of Charlie Rose on PBS his guest was the COO of News Corporation (the parent company of 20th Century Fox, Fox Television Networks, and more newspapers that you could count) Peter Chernin, himself a well-known Democratic Party supporter. That, in itself, is more than a little surprising considering the arch-conservative, strongly-right-leaning, Republican-loving editorial slant at Fox News Network. I met Peter decades back when I was trying to sell him a sitcom called "Caesar, Brutus and Trotsky" in the days before he became the head of the Fox television network. It turned out his wife's Masters Thesis was about the radical reformers of ancient Rome named the Gracchus brothers who also formed the basis for a wacky set of characters I had patterned after the Marx Brothers in my sitcom, so we had a nice long chat, even though he didn't buy my sitcom. But on Charlie Rose's recent show Peter had some very surprising, even shocking news to reveal. His boss, News Corporation CEO, Rupert Murdoch, "has said himself that he is 'enamored' with Obama."
You've gotta give old Rupert credit. He recognizes talent when he sees it.
Foster Wheeler has announced a recent contract award to build a biomass gasification plant in Belgium. It's not their first one. In fact, Foster Wheeler claims credit for over 50 operating gasification systems. Gasification of biomass is treated as the adopted cousin of the step-sister to the uncle-by-marriage of the Renewable Fuels industry. That's my way of saying that it tends to get less respect that Rodney Dangerfield on a bad day. Biomass gasification and the subsequent combustion of the resulting gases may just seem too easy. To others, and I wrote about this over a year ago, it is "just incineration" [which of course, it is not].
I am not saying that it is not more exciting to think in terms of gasification being the "front-end" of a Fisher-Tropsch process that results in liquid fuels. The urgent need for replacement liquid fuels, especially those which don't require a complete re-tooling of the entire delivery and consumption infrastructure, is so obvious. But gasification is itself a good, clean way to generate electricity without creating additional carbon load on the atmosphere. Like with any "biofuel" the carbon comes from plants already actively involved in life-cycle organic carbon processes that supports the biological life of the planet, so even though it may emit carbon dioxide biomass gasification is still "green" in net carbon.
Speaking of biofuels that don't require a complete retooling of infrastructure to integrate into our transportation fuels consumption, another "gets no respect" cousin is butanol, or, of course, more specifically biobutanol. I had occasion to contact David Ramey recently, but although the response was both polite and friendly, he said his company is in a 'period of exclusivity' and that he is 'not allowed' to respond to inquiries. I wondered what that meant, but since Dave can't talk, I didn't even try to ask. So I am still left wondering... what exactly does that mean. The guy has been working on biobutanol since 1986, and after his 10,000 mile trip in his 1992 Buick Park Avenue to publicize his work he now can't talk about it? (BTW, I read a new account [well, new to me] of his trip and found out that he didn't just load a couple of barrels of the fuel in the trunk and back seat of the Buick. He had an associate following him in a van carrying 500 gallons of the stuff.)
Since I am actually a couple of days late in filing this column, I can't neglect the situation in Georgia, especially since it touches on world energy supply. In case you didn't know about Georgia, they became the "BFF" ("best friend forever" in IM TXT) of the west when someone found a sympathetic ear to building a pipeline through their country to the Black Sea to allow the shipment of oil from the new rich discoveries in the Caspian Sea basin. As it turned out, the pipeline was actually built through Georgia, but turned South through Turkey to a tanker loading port, but through Georgia was a crucial decision and one which the Bush Government supported wholeheartedly, especially when the strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan went so badly.
As you have no doubt heard, a local independence movement in the region called South Ossetia (and another lesser known rebellion that wasn't originally part of the armed conflict) allowed Georgian troops to harass Russian peacekeepers in the province to which Moscow took harsh exception. At that point Russian bomber and artillery made short work of Georgia's miniscule military, and the war was over. President Medvedev of Russia declared a cease fire, while President Bush chatted cordially with former President Putin at the Olympic Games opening ceremonies, but railed about the injustice in public. Candidate McCain also was rattling his sabre and calling for the ouster of Russia from the G8 again as well as other sanctions, barely short of "military advisors" (which at least one McCain supporter advocated on Countdown with Keith Olbermann today.
Meanwhile, back in the world where folks use their heads before they use their fists, the French negotiated a ceasefire, just as Senator Obama had called for in his reaction statements.
For anyone who can't get enough of Rob Lowe, there's now a British version. Actor James Murray plays Steven Hart on the recently imported series Primeval on BBC in America. And that means that if you've "confessed" a "guilty pleasure" in following the excessively beautiful American heart-throb-Rob, you are in the clear to admit to a fondness for Dinosaurs, time-travel and some sci-fi suspense, which is what Primeval delivers with a bang. Doug Hensell and Juliet Aubrey star as the star-cross husband and wife science team, separated, unfortunately, by her death. Or so they thought, for now it seems she was only time-traveling in an age of Dinosaurs. Just as luminous, okay, in my opinion, more so, than James Murray's glowing good looks, is Hannah Spearitt, pale and pixie-like blonde reptile expert who joins in the adventures. Of course, her character is attracted to James Murray's character, as the BBC website says, "She's very attracted to Stephen - well, just look at him, who wouldn't be?" If the genre has appeal for you, catch it. You'll like it.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
Have you got an itch to make biodiesel? Watch for an announcement in the next month or two of a compact algae-to-biodiesel processing system for under $500,000.
Got an itch for home-made biodiesel? Check out the ads at the bottom of the pages at http://energy.psyrk.us/
He was also instrumental in obtaining the Federal backing for the J.P. Morgan takeover of supposedly "troubled" Bear Stearns, and more recently browbeating Congress into emergency Federal guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. What seems almost more remarkable however, is that he also agreed to greater Federal oversight and regulation of capital markets, and most un-Republican thing to do.
Speaking of un-Republican, on a recent episode of Charlie Rose on PBS his guest was the COO of News Corporation (the parent company of 20th Century Fox, Fox Television Networks, and more newspapers that you could count) Peter Chernin, himself a well-known Democratic Party supporter. That, in itself, is more than a little surprising considering the arch-conservative, strongly-right-leaning, Republican-loving editorial slant at Fox News Network. I met Peter decades back when I was trying to sell him a sitcom called "Caesar, Brutus and Trotsky" in the days before he became the head of the Fox television network. It turned out his wife's Masters Thesis was about the radical reformers of ancient Rome named the Gracchus brothers who also formed the basis for a wacky set of characters I had patterned after the Marx Brothers in my sitcom, so we had a nice long chat, even though he didn't buy my sitcom. But on Charlie Rose's recent show Peter had some very surprising, even shocking news to reveal. His boss, News Corporation CEO, Rupert Murdoch, "has said himself that he is 'enamored' with Obama."
You've gotta give old Rupert credit. He recognizes talent when he sees it.
Foster Wheeler has announced a recent contract award to build a biomass gasification plant in Belgium. It's not their first one. In fact, Foster Wheeler claims credit for over 50 operating gasification systems. Gasification of biomass is treated as the adopted cousin of the step-sister to the uncle-by-marriage of the Renewable Fuels industry. That's my way of saying that it tends to get less respect that Rodney Dangerfield on a bad day. Biomass gasification and the subsequent combustion of the resulting gases may just seem too easy. To others, and I wrote about this over a year ago, it is "just incineration" [which of course, it is not].
I am not saying that it is not more exciting to think in terms of gasification being the "front-end" of a Fisher-Tropsch process that results in liquid fuels. The urgent need for replacement liquid fuels, especially those which don't require a complete re-tooling of the entire delivery and consumption infrastructure, is so obvious. But gasification is itself a good, clean way to generate electricity without creating additional carbon load on the atmosphere. Like with any "biofuel" the carbon comes from plants already actively involved in life-cycle organic carbon processes that supports the biological life of the planet, so even though it may emit carbon dioxide biomass gasification is still "green" in net carbon.
Speaking of biofuels that don't require a complete retooling of infrastructure to integrate into our transportation fuels consumption, another "gets no respect" cousin is butanol, or, of course, more specifically biobutanol. I had occasion to contact David Ramey recently, but although the response was both polite and friendly, he said his company is in a 'period of exclusivity' and that he is 'not allowed' to respond to inquiries. I wondered what that meant, but since Dave can't talk, I didn't even try to ask. So I am still left wondering... what exactly does that mean. The guy has been working on biobutanol since 1986, and after his 10,000 mile trip in his 1992 Buick Park Avenue to publicize his work he now can't talk about it? (BTW, I read a new account [well, new to me] of his trip and found out that he didn't just load a couple of barrels of the fuel in the trunk and back seat of the Buick. He had an associate following him in a van carrying 500 gallons of the stuff.)
Since I am actually a couple of days late in filing this column, I can't neglect the situation in Georgia, especially since it touches on world energy supply. In case you didn't know about Georgia, they became the "BFF" ("best friend forever" in IM TXT) of the west when someone found a sympathetic ear to building a pipeline through their country to the Black Sea to allow the shipment of oil from the new rich discoveries in the Caspian Sea basin. As it turned out, the pipeline was actually built through Georgia, but turned South through Turkey to a tanker loading port, but through Georgia was a crucial decision and one which the Bush Government supported wholeheartedly, especially when the strategies for Iraq and Afghanistan went so badly.
As you have no doubt heard, a local independence movement in the region called South Ossetia (and another lesser known rebellion that wasn't originally part of the armed conflict) allowed Georgian troops to harass Russian peacekeepers in the province to which Moscow took harsh exception. At that point Russian bomber and artillery made short work of Georgia's miniscule military, and the war was over. President Medvedev of Russia declared a cease fire, while President Bush chatted cordially with former President Putin at the Olympic Games opening ceremonies, but railed about the injustice in public. Candidate McCain also was rattling his sabre and calling for the ouster of Russia from the G8 again as well as other sanctions, barely short of "military advisors" (which at least one McCain supporter advocated on Countdown with Keith Olbermann today.
Meanwhile, back in the world where folks use their heads before they use their fists, the French negotiated a ceasefire, just as Senator Obama had called for in his reaction statements.
For anyone who can't get enough of Rob Lowe, there's now a British version. Actor James Murray plays Steven Hart on the recently imported series Primeval on BBC in America. And that means that if you've "confessed" a "guilty pleasure" in following the excessively beautiful American heart-throb-Rob, you are in the clear to admit to a fondness for Dinosaurs, time-travel and some sci-fi suspense, which is what Primeval delivers with a bang. Doug Hensell and Juliet Aubrey star as the star-cross husband and wife science team, separated, unfortunately, by her death. Or so they thought, for now it seems she was only time-traveling in an age of Dinosaurs. Just as luminous, okay, in my opinion, more so, than James Murray's glowing good looks, is Hannah Spearitt, pale and pixie-like blonde reptile expert who joins in the adventures. Of course, her character is attracted to James Murray's character, as the BBC website says, "She's very attracted to Stephen - well, just look at him, who wouldn't be?" If the genre has appeal for you, catch it. You'll like it.
Love and warm wishes,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
Have you got an itch to make biodiesel? Watch for an announcement in the next month or two of a compact algae-to-biodiesel processing system for under $500,000.
Got an itch for home-made biodiesel? Check out the ads at the bottom of the pages at http://energy.psyrk.us/
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