BP Lobbied for release of the Lockerbie Bomber

I understand BP is in the business of finding, Drilling for, then selling oil. I do recognize that there are some inherent dangers surrounding the Oil and Gas industries. I wish I could say that we were at a point where we no longer depended on the use of fossil fuels- the sad truth is the World is still addicted to oil.Stick a solar panel on your SUV and see if your able to drive your children to school. More and more it is becoming clear that the "Easy-to-get-to-oil" has been accounted for, resulting in the need to pull fossil fuels out of ever more challenging locations. So with that in mind I will cut British Petroleum a bit of slack at having the occasional accident.

The question is, with the well know dangers and hazards associated with Deep-Water- drilling did BP take "Reasonable Precautions" and have a workable plan to deal with the after-math of the inevitable spill? The simple answer is NO.

Not only did BP not have a plausible plan of action, they demonstrated that their upper-management was filled with Tone-Def, Yacht owners. With Millions of gallons of oil washing into some of our country's most delicate wet-lands; you would think it would be gars to do anything to further damage your company's reputation- WELL THINK AGAIN........

BP confirmed today that it had lobbied the British government in late 2007 for release of the Lockerbie Bomber. For those handful of people that have forgotten; The terrorist attack on Pan Am's Flight 103 took place on Wednesday 21 December 1988. The plane was on flying from London to New York when it was destroyed by an on-board bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew members plus 11 more people on the ground in Lockerbie, Scotland, in total 270 innocent lives were lost.
I understand that at times it can be difficult for large corporations to take political stands on various issues; but being on the "OPPOSIT-SIDE of a mass-murdering-Terrorist should be a rather easy public relations move.

The British Petroleum said it had "Voiced concerns that the slow pace of negotiations risked impeding an offshore drilling deal with Moammar Gadhafi's Libya. Just when I thought BP corporate image could not get any worse; I find that they have dug a Public Relations hole deeper than any off-shore well. And by the way- no "Relief - Well" is going to help cap this disaster.

Lebanon gives Hezbollah Veto Power

If Hezbollah has veto power over the Lebanese government, then aren't they the true power in the country?

So we have a Terrorist group in control of another country in the Mid-East.
From the inception of Hezbollah the elimination of the State of Israel has been one of Hezbollah's primary goals.
"If they go from Shebaa, we won't stop fighting them. ... Our goal is to liberate the 1948 borders of Palestine, ... The Jews who survive this war of liberation can go back to Germany or wherever they came from.
Hezbollah is a force behind the Palestinians suicide bomber's and scud missiles landing in Israel. The once beautiful Lebanon has been torn apart by years of war.

Afghanistan has seen its stability fall from increased Taliban power.

We have been unable to capture Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaeda. Over the past 5 years, their power has once again grown.

Iran's Ahmadinejad, who has stated his desire to wipe Israel off the map, is now warning it's enemies, that "Our finger will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch.“
With The price of gas in 2008 toping over $4.75 / gallon, and the world teetering on the sharp edge of a world recession, we are unable to challenge Ahmadinejad, and his threat to close the Strait of Hormuz

For some reason I'm not feeling all that "Safe" yet

Exxon's profits are not big enough

File this under ironic.

At he very time we are all struggling trying out how to pay for gas, The Supreme court just cut Exxon's damages from the Valdez spill one tenth of what the jury decided.

Justice David Souter wrote for the court that punitive damages may not exceed what the company already paid to compensate victims for economic losses, about $500 million compensation. The Exxon Valdez case involves reckless action that was "profitless" for the company and that has already resulted in substantial recovery for substantial injury, Souter wrote. A penalty should be "reasonably predictable" in its severity, he added.
Exxon asked the high court to reject the punitive damages judgment, saying it already has spent $3.4 billion in response to the accident that fouled 1,200 miles of Alaska coastline. A jury decided Exxon should pay $5 billion in punitive damages.
A federal appeals court cut that verdict in half in 1994. This come at the same time Exxon has generated the largest profits of any company in history. The punitive damage award is extremely large, but in fairness, it is less than half of the last quarters profit.

First-quarter profits at Exxon Mobil Corp. were $10.9 billion. The company's 2007 profit was $40.6 billion.

I'm glad to see our government is still handing out favors for big oil.

The price of gas in 2008

Let's do the Math!

The five largest U.S. oil companies earned $36 billion during the first three months of this year. This is after last year's figures set an all-time record.
Even if we assume that the next months will see the big 5 earning somewhat lower profits, they should still break $120 Billion dollars profit in 2008.

"Americans are furious about what's going on," declared Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., and want Congress to do something about oil company profits and "an orgy of speculation" on oil markets.

The cost of energy not only impacts consumers when they fill their tanks, but is a driving force in the price of everything we buy. Congress is getting the message that Americans are "Mad as Hell" and expect their government to do something.In response to the growing rage and falling economy, the Democrats on the hill have pushed legislation to tax the "Windfall profits of the oil industry." The law would boost taxes paid by the large oil companies, or allow them to instead invest the money in new clean energy development.

Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has acknowledged that Americans are hurting from the high energy costs but strongly opposes the Democrats' response and has ridiculed those who "think we can tax our way out of this problem.""Republicans by and large believe that the solution to this problem, in part, is to increase domestic production," McConnell said.
A GOP energy plan, rejected by the Senate last month, calls for opening a coastal strip of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil development and to allow states to opt out of the national moratorium that has been in effect for a quarter century against oil and gas drilling in more than 80 percent of the country's coastal waters.

The question is, how big are the profits compared to the increased costs we are all paying.

Here is how the basic math works......

Let's say that the combined profits for the big 5 are $120 Billion.

There are 126 Million households in the United States
$120,000,000,000 : 126,000,000 = $952 Dollars/ household in 2008 will go to profit for the Big 5 Oil Companies.

Average Annual Miles per Household = 11,100
The Average Fuel Economy = 22 miles per gallon
11,100 miles : 22 = 504 gallons of get used/ household

Now, let's take 504 gallons and divide that by the $952 Dollars profit/ household in 2008
and we see that about $1.88 of the cost/ gallon we pay at the pump goes straight into the pockets of 5 Oil Companies.

Take a cost of $4.00 at the pump, subtract the windfall profits, and gas is $2.12/ gal.

How do you like that math?


Larry Lubell
www.urbanInsuranceAgency.com

http://www.defra.gov.uk/
U.S. Department of Energy’s Transportation Energy Data Handbookhttp://www-cta.ornl.gov/
U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Residential Energy Consumption Surveyhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/recs/contents.html
Your Car Travel
AssumptionsEmissions per Gallon of Gasoline = 0.0089 tons of CO2Average Annual Miles per Household = 11,100Per Capita Miles Driven in 2004 = 9,941Average Vehicle Trip = 10 milesAverage Fuel Economy = 22 miles per gallon

Gas prices to hit $5.00?

The $100 fill-up has arrived in the United States.

No more than a few years ago if someone would have told you that a fill-up could run upwards of $100; you would have laughed loudly to their face. No ones laughing now.
(But the execs at "Big Oil" Companies are wearing a grin). Crude Oil which had been trading at the $20 range, and had never hit $50, has now broken through $120 a barrel.
The national average for regular unleaded is $3.53 and rising daily. Last year at this time, people were complaining that it was $2.86 per gallon. According to AAA, 24 states and the District of Columbia are averaging at or above $3.50 a gallon for regular unleaded. Premium, which is required for many cars and SUVs can run 40 to 60 cents higher.
Once again, California is home to the nation's highest average gas prices.
•San Francisco $3.97 per gallon; last year $3.47
• Los Angeles $3.85; last year $3.32
• San Jose $3.89; last year $3.36
• Sacramento $3.86; last year $3.30
• San Diego $3.88; last year $3.35

As scary as these prices seem now, many are warning that Americans should expect the price to increase another 25 cents over the next month and continue to climb over the summer months.
"A national average approaching $4 a gallon for self serve regular is likely, with cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York seeing prices for Premium at over $4.75 per gallon. Those type of prices will be devastating to America's already weak economy. As you read this blog, millions of families are struggling to make their mortgage payments, many of which are adjusting dramatically upward. In fact America finds it's self in a recession while simultaneously suffering inflation. We also find that the government as well as individuals and business are deep in debt; as a result, our options are limited.
Now is an auful time to be trying to sell Motor Homes, but a great time to be selling mopeds and scooters. I have had customers of ours tell me they are "Putting away" their car and buying a 125 cc bike.The allure of 60 or 70 miles per gallon is too hard to pass up.

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Read 10 Ways to Save Money on Motorcycle Insurance.

Owning and maintaining a car has never been cheap. And, gas is one of the biggest, of those expenses. With gas prices at all time highs, this has never been truer. But you can save gas and save money if you follow the following tips.

In Iraq, Follow the oil money

When planning the family Christmas vacation, Iraq was not on the short list of likely destinations. I can not remember turning over any product and seeing a stamp stating “Made in Iraq”. It is clear the Iraq has one and only one commodity to sell, and that’s oil.

When President Bush announced that "America will hold the Iraqi government to the benchmarks." One that was top of the list was the pledge "to give every Iraqi citizen a stake in the country's economy”. In Iraq that means “Iraq will pass legislation to share oil revenues among all Iraqis."

It has long been understood that Without a system for sharing oil revenues, there will never be an Iraq. The Palestinians would sooner give up Jerusalem then would the Sunni’s or Shiite give up their share of Iraq’s oil resources. So it was very upsetting to hear that the negotiations failed and even more so when it became clear that a factor in the collapse of the deal was a deal Hunt Oil of Dallas made with the Kurdish provincial government.

This deal does two things, one it confirms that those with “Inside information” believe that the surge has failed, and that any attempt to get any negotiation back on track, has just been made much harder.

For years, many people here in the States as well as in Iraq, have suspected that the Bush/Chaney team have, as a part of their plan, a desire to profit from control of Iraq’s oil. I for one, laughed this off as “Left-Winged” propaganda. To take a line from the Yippies at the 68 convention in Chicago, “The whole world is watching”. I questioned some of the wisdom behind the move into Iraq, but not the motive. But let’s look at a few things we know:

1. Ray L. Hunt is the chief executive and president of Hunt Oil.
2. Hunt is a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
3. Ray Hunt, the current chair of the company, is also on the board of Halliburton
4. Ray Hunt has contributed $35,000,000.00 to form the Bush Library at MSU
5. Mr. Hunt is on the board of SMU. Southern Methodist University.
6. Mr hunt is on the Board of Trustess for the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.
7. Haliburton Corp received $16.5 Billion in no bid contracts from Iraq war?
America has placed spent an amazing amount of “Blood and Treasure” in Iraq, I desperately want to believe that that sacrifices made were not in vane. I would love to see the Iraqi Government hit each of the benchmarks; but it seems as if the “inside money is betting the other way.

Larry Lubell
Larry@urbaninsuranceagency.com