Thank God for Big Oil

Fordson Super Major tractor (Photo credit: markpeate)

I love Big Oil. Jobs, taxes, a reliable supply of an efficiently produced product that fuels my lifestyle -- and yours. Thank God for oil in the ground and Big Oil to get it out.

Here's an excerpt from the article cited above:

Single-handedly, oil and gas companies finance over 10 percent of non-defense discretionary spending within the U.S. budget. According to the Wall Street Journal, ExxonMobil, the world’s largest energy firm, paid out $59 billion in total U.S. taxes over the five years prior to 2010 while earning only $40.5 billion in domestic profits.

I'll be riding on the benefits of big oil when we motor east from Phoenix to Toronto -- leaving tomorrow. Right now, I'm scarfing down all the In 'N' Out burgers I can. But, that's another post for another time. Have a good week-end.

Evil plastic vs. eco-friendly Save-the-Planet bags: which is better?

"London: Scientists looking at different types of bags and their impact on the environment have found that cotton bags offered by many supermarkets may be less "green" than plastic carriers."

That's usually the case with pushy environmental initiatives. At least the eco-friendly bags invariably come with a message you can parade around with, like "I'm saving the planet". One woman in our complex has a car with a bumper sticker on it that says, "The owner of this car has purchased carbon offsets". Who is she kidding?! But they really, really want others to know, don't they?

Do the crime, do the time...

Do the crime, do the time...

At unionized Air Canada, that would be a 72 hour suspension, with pay.

Supreme Court: Judges Must Consider Person's Ethnic Background When Sentencing

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/judges-must-consider-history-when-sentencing-aboriginals-supreme-court-rules/article2379145/Judges must consider history when sentencing aboriginals, Supreme Court rules...

Because aboriginals are just not up to the task of being treated equally as other Canadians.

Releasing rulings in a pair of much-anticipated cases that go to the heart of separate [but unequal]* treatment for aboriginal offenders, the court said that considering factors such as cultural oppression and a history of abuse in the residential school system must be central to the sentencing process.

If we are mandated by the highest court in our land to "expect less" from aboriginals when it comes to law, are we not also justified in expecting less when it comes to, e.g., employment?

I'm glad I have a high view of equality and am not a liberal.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

(*) my amendment

Who is Sandra Fluke, really?

Image via Wikipedia

"Sandra Fluke is being sold by the left as something she's not. Namely a random co-ed from Georgetown law who found herself mixed up in the latest front of the culture war who was simply looking to make sure needy women had access to birth control. That, of course, is not the case."

And this.

Sandra Fluke claimed that people in school were paying $3,000 over the course of three years for birth control and many people could no longer fit it into their budgets.
“Without insurance coverage, contraception can cost a woman over $3,000 during law school," Fluke said. "For a lot of students who, like me, are on public interest scholarships, that’s practically an entire summer’s salary. Forty percent of female students at Georgetown Law report struggling financially as a result of this policy."

The last time I checked sex was a discretionary activity. And, outside of marriage, it is still immoral in my books.

But what I really don't get is this. If someone is spending $1,000(*) annually and they want to get insurance to cover it, how can they expect the insurance to cost less than $1,000(*)? And why should they expect someone else to chip in? Do they think insurance is some form of magic where expenditures can be made without expenses being incurred? Or is this just a form of "I want to be behave irresponsibly and have someone else pick up the tab"? Or, "I want my freedom and someone else a slave to the costs involved"?

It's hard to get inside the left/liberal mind. But at some level it seems to me they are a war with reality.

And that's the way the befuddled Ball bounces.

(*) fixed per Anon1152. Anon -- your cheque is in the mail.

The universe: It's a beautiful thing

Image via Wikipedia

O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed;
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,

How great thou art, how great thou art!

The universe: it's a beautiful thing.

Someone to thank -- another reason I'm glad I'm a believer.

Enjoy.

h/t Apologetics315

Killing babies no different from abortion, experts say

"Killing babies no different from abortion".

If experts say it, it must be so.

Actually, the Ball Bounces agrees with them.

We just differ in its implications.

And that's the way the Ball bounces.

PS. I thank God that I was born of a Catholic mother who did not abort me. Thank God for faithful Roman Catholic witness against abortion and infanticide.

I'm on the Lord's side -- whose side are you on?