Good Thursday Morning to all of you. We have a stiffish breeze today with some weak sunshine. We have had brief sightings of the sun between overcast and snow. Thankfully not much of the latter. However we are back in the deep freeze. Temps in the low 20s for highs with wind chill in the negative numbers.

I didn't catch more than the last 20 minutes of President Obama's State of The Union speech last night. What I did see (hear) really did not impress me: the military brass sitting stone faced at the mention of overturning Don't Ask/Don't Tell, the Republicans sitting on their hands at the mention of the idiocy of requiring a super-majority to get anything done, the Supreme Court sitting righteously silent at the mention of their decision to jettison the caps on corporate campaign contributions. Bottom line--I see a reasonable man confronted with a stone wall of unreasonable opposition. Nor did I see the Republican response. What was on the news this morning was what I expected--opposition to the cost of any but security and military appropriations or bail outs for big business. Frankly, the political situation makes me nauseous.

Charles Hughes Smith at oftwominds makes some good points and--yes, I have done the math and have come up with similar results. The first time I did that math was when the mainstream media touted the oil reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Area during the last Presidential campaign cycle. The estimated reserves would only last the U.S. (maybe) three months at the level of consumption of that time if we could get every last drop out. Smith's point on the reliability of reserve estimates is also very well taken. I don't trust either governments or companies when it comes to data they provide. Too much incentive to put the rosiest spin possible on it.