It's all about cars in this country, if you dare to be bold and adventurous peruse the Source Watch site titled New Mexico and Coal

Is there a moral to my story, is there a summation to my song?

"The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest"

Well, Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
They were the best of friends
So when Frankie Lee needed more money one day
Judas quickly pulled out a roll of tens
And placed them on a footstool
Just above the plotted plain
Sayin', "Take your pick, Frankie Boy
My loss will be your gain".

Well, Frankie Lee, he sat right down
And put his fingers to his chin
But with the cold eyes of Judas on him
His head began to spin
"Would ya please not stare at me like that", he said
"It's just my foolish pride
But sometimes a man must be alone
And this is no place to hide".

Well, Judas he just winked and said
"All right, I'll leave you here
But you'd better hurry up and choose
Which of those bills you want
Before they all disappear"
"I'm gonna start my pickin' right now
Just tell me where you''ll be".

Judas pointed down the road
And said, "Eternity"
"Eternity ?" said Frankie Lee
With a voice as cold as ice
"That's right", said Judas Priest, "Eternity
Though you might call it Paradise"
"I don't call it anything"
Said Frankie Lee with a smile
"All right", said Judas Priest
"I'll see you after a while".

Well, Frankie Lee, he sat back down
Feelin' low and mean
When just then a passing stranger
Burst upon the scene
Saying, "Are you Frankie Lee, the gambler
Whose father is deceased ?
Well, if you are
There's a fellow callin' you down the road
And they say his name is Priest".
"Oh yes, he is my friend"
Said Frankie Lee in fright
"I do recall him very well
In fact, he just left my sight"
Yes, that's the one", said the stranger
As quit as a mouse.
"Well, my message is, he's down the road
Stranded in a house".

Well, Frankie Lee he panicked
He dropped ev'rythimg and ran
Until he came up to the spot
Where Judas Priest did stand
"What kind of a house is this", he said
"Where I have come to roam ?"
"It's not a house", said Judas Priest
"It's not a house, it's a home".

Well, Frankie Lee he trembled
He soon lost all control
Over ev'rything which he had made
While the mission bells did toll
He just stood there starring
At that big house as bright as any sun
With four and twenty windows
And a woman's face in ev'ry one.

Well, up the stairs ran Frankie Lee
With a soulful bounding leap
And foaming at the mouth
He began to make his midnight creep
For sixteen nights and days he raved
But on the seventeenth he burst
Into the arms of Judas Priest
Which is where he died of thirst.

No one tried to say a thing
When they carried him out in jest
Except of course, the little neighbor boy
Who carried him to rest
And he just walked along alone
Whit his guilt so well concealed
And muttered underneath his breath
"Nothing is revealed".
Well, the moral of the story
The moral of the song
Is simply that one should never be
Where ones does not belong
So when you see your neighbor carryin' somethin'
Help him with his load
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road.
–

Brian Rodgers

Comments online at: http://outfitnm.com/

 

Coal dominance 'overshadowing' renewables growth

Almost half of new electricity demand in the past ten years was met through coal overshadowing huge strides in the renewables sector, according to a new report.

The report, released last night (April 6), by the International Energy Agency (IEA) was presented in Abu Dhabi at the second Clean Energy ministerial meeting.

Dependence on fossil fuels is, according to the report, posing short-term risks to political stability and economic activity as well as threatening environmental sustainability.

And, if investment is not shifted away from coal to renewables the world government's face the prospect of missing COP16 agreements and limiting global warming to two degrees celsius.

It was the first Clean Energy Progress Report assessing global deployment of clean energy technologies and recommendations to countries on future action and spending.

According to the report coal has met 47% of the global new electricity demand over the past decade, which has cast a shadow over the 'rapid growth' in the use of renewable energy sources.

IEA deputy executive director, ambassador Richard Jones, said: "Despite countries' best efforts, the world is coming ever closer to missing targets that we believe are essential for meeting the goal agreed in Cancun to limit the growth in global average temperatures to less than two degrees celsius.

"A number of countries have shown that achieving rapid transition to cleaner technologies is possible, and can be done from the bottom up. We must see more ambitious, effective policies that respond to market signals while providing long-term, predictable support."

States, Amtrak vie for Florida's forfeited rail funds

WASHINGTON – Twenty-four states, the District of Columbia and Amtrak are vying for $2.4 billion in federal aid that became available when Florida's governor canceled a high-speed rail project in his state, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Wednesday.

The deadline for applications for the funds was Monday. The Transportation Department is reviewing 90 applications seeking a total of $10 billion, LaHood said.

"They know that high-speed rail will deliver tens of thousands of jobs, spur economic development across their communities and create additional options for their citizens as the country's population grows," LaHood said in a statement.

Among the requests was one from Amtrak for $1.3 billion to enhance train service in the Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington. The proposal includes a $720 million project to replace the more than 100-year-old movable Portal Bridge over the Hackensack River in New Jersey with a new, high-level fixed bridge.

Amtrak's application also includes $188 million for preliminary engineering and environmental analysis for two new tunnels under the Hudson River into Manhattan and $50 million for similar work for the development of a new Penn Station South facility to accommodate more tracks and platforms in downtown New York.

President Obama has sought to make creation a national network of high-speed trains a signature project of his administration. He has said he wants to make fast trains accessible to 80% of Americans within 25 years.

• FEBRUARY: High-speed train system has a long way to go

However, Obama is receiving strong resistance from Republicans, who say the trains should be rejected unless it can be shown that they will be self-supporting.

Three Republican governors elected in November have canceled high-speed train projects in their states. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker turned down $810 million to build a Madison-to-Milwaukee high-speed line. Ohio Gov. John Kasich rejected $400 million for a project to connect Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus with slower-moving trains. Both the Ohio and Wisconsin projects had been approved by the governors' Democratic predecessors.

In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott canceled a project that would have connected Tampa and Orlando with high-speed trains. The administration had pledged $2.4 billion toward the project.

Scott said he was concerned that the state government would be locked into years of operating subsidies. However, a report by the state's transportation department forecast the rail line would be profitable. The project initially had been approved by Scott's predecessor, Republican-turned-independent Charlie Crist.

Wisconsin's Walker is now among the governors seeking a share of the money Scott turned down. Walker is asking for at least $150 million to add trains for an existing Milwaukee-to-Chicago line.

In Congress, a budget proposal by House Republicans says high-speed rail and other intercity passenger rail projects should be pursued "only if they can be established as self-supporting commercial services."

Besides Wisconsin, the other states that have applied for funds are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Washington.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

—————————–

Wind power plans have been waylaid by wildlife concerns, after Xcel Energy scrapped a planned 150-megawatt wind farm in southeastern North Dakota because of its potential threat to endangered species.

Zacks.com reports that the power company announced it would cancel the $400 million project in a Friday filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also cited uncertainties regarding the time of completion and associated costs to make the project environmentally viable.

In the company's filing with the SEC, it reported that a factor in the decision was "the adverse impact this project could have on endangered or threatened species protected by federal law and uncertainty in the cost and timing in mitigating this impact."

Xcel is a Minnesota-based energy company with operations in eight Western and Midwestern states, reports Zacks.com.

Xcel announced the 100-tower wind project to be built in Dickey and McIntosh counties in 2008. It was originally scheduled to go on line in 2011.

The company enXco would have built the project and transferred ownership to Xcel.

Robert Johns, a spokesman for the American Bird Conservancy, said, "We are glad that they made the decision."

The organization, reports Zacks.com, had expressed its concern about an estimated 440,000 birds killed each year by wind farms.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the whooping crane, the tallest bird in North America, is down to 400 in the wild.

The piping plover (a shorebird) is listed as endangered in the Great Lakes area, with just 63 known nesting pairs in 2008, Zack.com reports.
——————–           

Whooping Cranes and Plovers? Sorry about their bad luck. If humans don't move to non-polluting energy generation soon a lot more species will be extinct