Tag: oil

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Politics

Each Senator Received $250,000 for Voting “Yes” on Keystone Pipeline

Now you already knew that Republicans have pushed for the construction of the Keystone pipeline that would bring dirty oil-sands from Canada to refineries here in America, despite the environmental challenges and the minimum amount of jobs the project might create.

But here is the real issue of the Keystone pipeline, it pays each ‘yes’ vote in Congress $250,000. That’s $250,000 to every Congress member who voted to approve the pipeline.

The oil and gas industry gave nearly $250,000 to each of the 62 senators who voted in favor of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project late last month, according to MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks the influence of money in politics. The revelations come as the House of Representatives is set to vote on and expected to pass the Senate legislation Wednesday that would approve the pipeline and start transferring oil in western Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the project on a number of grounds, including environmental concerns.

The oil and gas industry, which stands to benefit from the Keystone XL pipeline, gave $236,544 on average to the senators who voted yes on Keystone, or about 10 times more than the senators who voted no. The 36 senators against the pipeline received about $22,882 apiece in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. There was no data on contributions to House members.

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Energy energy independence Politics

President’s Weekly Address – Taking Control of America’s Energy Future

In his weekly address, President Obama spoke about the progress America has made in energy production since he took office. The President also highlights the fact that we are producing more energy now, while consuming less.

One area where we’ve made great progress is American energy.  After years of talk about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, we are actually poised to control our own energy future.

Shortly after I took office, we invested in new American technologies to reverse our dependence on foreign oil and double our wind and solar power.  And today, we generate more renewable energy than ever – with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it.  We produce more natural gas than anyone – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it.  And just this week, we learned that for the first time in nearly two decades, the United States of America now produces more of our own oil here at home than we buy from other countries.

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Beauty Health

Make Your Own Homemade Exfoliator

I have acne-prone skin. I have that terrible hormonal adult acne which means whenever that female monthly time comes around, I have breakouts mostly around my chin.

Well, the past few months have been very stressful which resulted in my skin and body reacting in some very extreme ways. One of the most annoying body reactions was excessive breakouts all over my chin and cheek area which led to dark marks, uneven tone, and dull looking skin.

My skin had started to peel and no amount of added moisture (my favorite oils, vaseline, face lotion, etc) seemed to do anything with my skin to give it the moisture it needed.

And then I had a light-bulb moment and realized I may just needed to do some exfoliating. I don’t know why, but for some reason I oftentimes forget this step in facial skin care. However, now I am a true believer!!!

Since it was late and I was at home, I decided to make my own natural homemade exfoliator.

I simply used salt, Kosher salt, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, and a smidgen of castor oil.

I combined all 4 components into a paste-like texture that looked liked this:

I went into the shower and used my homemade exfoliator by making gentle circles all over my face. I made sure to not scrub hard as the Kosher salt is pretty thick and coarse.

Any leftover exfoliator, I applied to other needed body areas such as my feet and elbows. And since I don’t like the feeling of excess oil being left on my face, I washed away most of the oil using my Tom’s Sensistive Skin facial bar(I’ll have to write a review about this amazing soap later).

After I’m done, my skin is glowing, soft, and moisturized; and as an added bonus, my dark marks seem to have lightened by at least 50%!

I’ve been doing this routine once a week and so far it has helped me get rid of those small red bumps that would appear on my cheeks and chin, significantly lighten my dark spots, smooth out my skin and even the tone, and leave a nice glow to my face.

My face is loving it!!

  • You can try to make your own scrubs with: salt, Kosher salt, baking soda, sugar, brown sugar, or oatmeal.
  • And mix it with any of the following: plain water, your favorite oil (olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, etc), lemon juice, or honey.

Keep in mind that exfoliating, especially over-exfoliation, can lead to dryness and skin damage, which is why I make my scrub with oil so that prevents any drying effects. And be as gentle as possible in order to prevent skin damage.

The best part about making your own exfoliator is that it cost me nothing since I already had what I needed in my pantry cabinets.

Next time, I’m going to try some other combinations like salt with raw honey.

Categories
Politics

Scott Brown – “Oil Companies Don’t Get Subsidies…I’m Positive”

Freshman Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), notorious for his close ties to the Koch brothers, doesn’t believe that oil companies get subsidies. Walking in an Independence Day parade in Plymouth, MA, the senator declared his allegiance to the oil industry, which receives $7 billion in subsidies a year:

 BROWN: Oil companies don’t get subsidies. . . . I’m positive. They’re able to take deduction like every other business. If we’re going to reform the tax code, we should do that.

Refresher: Here are CEO’s of Oil Companies, admitting to Congress that they do get oil subsidies from the American government. Although they claim they don’t need these subsidies.

Categories
George Bush Politics

Fox News Admits – Presidents Cannot Influence Gas Prices

What happened? There was a time when the situation was the same but the message was very different, when gas prices edged above $4.00 a gallon and Americans felt like they were being robbed at the pump. A “news” network called Fox News came to the rescue, armed with facts and a burning desire to tell us all that the president had no control over gas prices. That was 2007/2008.

Today, if you only listen to Fox News, you will be under the impression that the increases in the price of oil are nothing more than the handy work of President Obama and you may actually think that the profits deposited into Obama’s personal bank account.

But a quick travel back in time to 2007/2008 reveals these same Fox News pundits, as they go out of their way to make sure Americans know the president cannot bring down the price of gas.

So what changed? The president, that’s what. In 2007 a Republican president by the name of George Bush was in power and now, a Democrat name Barack Obama is in the White House.

So to conclude, Republican presidents have absolutely zero control over gas prices, but Democratic presidents does. Words of wisdom, according to Fox News.

Categories
Energy Politics weekly address

President Obama’s Weekly Address – An All-Of-The-Above Strategy to Energy Independence

President Obama used his weekly address to talk about energy. He mentioned his recent speech at the United Auto Workers meeting, and reminded us that if nothing was done about the auto industry, “Detroit would have gone bankrupt. “I refused to let that happen, the President said, “these jobs are worth more than just a paycheck – they’re a source of pride and a ticket to the middle class.”

Mr. Obama also mentioned that over the last two and a half years, over 200,000 more jobs were created in the auto industry.

Today, GM is the number one automaker in the world.  Chrysler is growing faster in America than any other car company.  Ford is investing billions in American plants and factories, and plans to bring thousands of jobs back home.  All told, the entire industry has added more than 200,000 new jobs over the past two and a half years.

He also spoke of new fuel efficiency standards put in place by his administration, that would require automobile producers to build vehicles capable of 55 miles per gallon. This, the President says, would save the typical consumer over $8000 over time.

And although the new fuel efficiency standards are a step in the right direction , the President spoke about an “all the above strategy” where fossil fuel wouldn’t be our main source of energy.

 While we consume 20 percent of the world’s oil, we only have 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves.  We’ve got to develop new technology that will help us use new forms of energy.  That’s been a priority of mine as President.  And because of the investments we’ve made, our use of clean, renewable energy has nearly doubled – and thousands of Americans have jobs because of it.

 

Categories
Politics

Fact: More Oil Drilling Under Obama Than Under Bush

NO! That can’t be right! Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are pushing the drill baby drill fallacy as our only Savior and Rick Santorum is walking around with an oily rock in his pocket, blaming the steep price if oil on President Obama.

The drill baby drill crowd don’t want you to know this. And they are making empty promises that if elected, they will drill more oil and bring down the price at the pump to $2.00 a gallon.

But the facts are here for all to see.

Under President Obama, there have been more Oil drilling permits issued and more Oil drilling than was done over the last decade.

According to a report on Energy, ” President Obama has opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration and we now have more working oil and gas rigs than the rest of the world—combined.”

And this domestic oil production has led to a less dependency on foreign oil imports. In the three years since this president took office, dependence on foreign oil has steadily decreased, lower now than the eight years Bush held office.

So its obvious to everyone with a brain that drill baby drill is not an effective policy position for any sensible party to have, yet, Republicans continue harping the phrase, ignorantly disregarding the facts.

Our reality is simple. We live in a world where the price of oil is determined by market speculators, by oil producing countries, by the supply chain and the ease at which the product get to the market and by the growing demand for oil by nations like India, Brazil and China, where demand tripled over the last five years.

The President has been right all along, we cannot drill our way out of this problem. It involves a more inclusive and and modern strategy. Yes, drilling should be a part of that strategy and it is. But we must concentrate on other resources like clean energy that will further reduce our appetite for fossil fuel.

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