Free Republic

Sometimes you wonder how supposedly smart people can do such dumb things. So it is with the executives at El Paso Corporation. You see El Paso wants to build its 680-mile Ruby Pipeline to carry natural gas from Wyoming where the gas is to Oregon where it is needed. I’m a big fan of natural gas as it is truly the fuel that will help transition us to newer forms of energy in the coming years. The American West has it in abundance and El Paso has worked hard to get this pipeline approved by all the alphabet government agencies...

Perhaps when the history of our times is written, ours will be called The Era of Narcissistic Catechisms. To understand why this is the case it is enough to consider the fortunes of two green movements. On the main stage of global affairs this week we have the much touted UN climate change conference in Copenhagen. Standing with 15,000 delegates representing green activism groups and politically correct scientists the world over are international celebrity leaders like Nobel Peace Prize laureates Barack Obama, Al Gore and Desmond Tutu and their fellow celebrities and Oscar and Grammy winners Al Gore, Leonardo Dicaprio,...

Preachers used to warn of divine judgment if sinners did not repent and turn to God. Now, increasingly, preachers of the Left are instead warning of cataclysmic climate change if polluters (especially of the American variety) do not abandon economic growth and yield to the most apocalyptic scenarios of the environmental movement. President Bush, of course, is the main King Ahab against whom these prophets of doom now prophesy. The most recent prophecy, in March, came from the Church of England's Archbishop of Canterbury. Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of nearly 80 million Anglicans worldwide, warned that politicians, i.e. Bush, might...

The ability of a nation to peaceably govern itself is entirely dependent on its willingness to abide by previously stipulated agreements wherein limits of governmental action are established. Most importantly, such rules must define the method by which authority transitions from one leader to another. The alternative to this approach can only be violent revolution. For more than two centuries, the United States has, with the notable exception of the Civil War, operated in an orderly manner in which the rights of citizens have been generally regarded as paramount. However, in the past decade or so, an emerging pattern of...