A Free-Market Energy Blog

Atlas Shrugged: Its Philosophy and Energy Implications (Part I: Overview)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 18, 2011

Atlas Shrugged (Part I) had a strong debut weekend despite the effort of its philosophical critics, including some leading movie reviewers, to pan the effort and to discourage attendance (see the Appendix below where Walter Donway challenges Roger Ebert).

This movie and the classic 1957 book are important for today’s energy debate in a variety of ways, beginning with Enron and continuing with Obama energy policy. And how Rand undressed Richard Nixon with the energy crisis of her day(Part V–see schedule below)!

“Ah, Ha!”: Interpreting Enron/Ken Lay

For me personally, Ayn Rand’s philosophy was the key that unlocked the mystery of Ken Lay and the magical new energy company, Enron. I had once studied Objectivism but lost interest in Ayn Rand, finding it too dogmatic for my taste. (In retrospect, I ‘threw the baby out with the bath water’.)…

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Master Resource Update: 1Q-2011 (a blog for now and the future)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- April 15, 2011

MasterResource is nine quarters old, having started at year-end 2008. Our total views have surpassed 825,000. We have a loyal, sophisticated readership whose comments add substance to many of the posts.

Our “free market energy blog” has attracted talent from across the nation and across disciplines–nearly a hundred bloggers in all. In particular, the growing national movement against industrial wind turbines includes a number of very informed citizens who choose MasterResource to publicize their issues and research.

Our concept is different from most blogs. With one in-depth post per day, we have created an open book of mini-chapters, creating a scholarly resource and a historical record for the energy and energy/environmental debates. We now have more than 300 categories–the index of our ever expanding book.

Most of all, our content will most assuredly meet the test of time as future scholars review MasterResource to understand the intellectual arguments and political discourse.…

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Dust in the Wind? (Eagle Claw Oklahoma project is government-dependent, iffy)

By Mike Riley -- April 14, 2011

[Editor note: Mike Riley, editor of Fabricating & Metalworking magazine (bio at end), took a neutral look at a new major manufacturing project and offers his opinions here.]

The total government subsidy given to industrial windpower rivals the price of natural gas paid by power generators– yet wind still cannot compete without mandates. With our nation being challenged to reduce its debt and shrink the federal budget, realistic business economics is confounding the hype about this once darling of renewable energy.

New Wind Plant for Port of Muskogee?

Muskogee is an economic center in eastern Oklahoma that country singer Merle Haggard commemorated in the old country song “Okie from Muskogee,” a hit back in 1969. Now the city is better known for operating the Port of Muskogee that is located at the edge of North America’s wind corridor.…

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Spanish Wind, Revisited

By Robert Peltier -- April 13, 2011
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"Clean Energy Standard": Time to Revisit Fundamental Assumptions

By Glenn Schleede -- April 12, 2011
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Wind Spin: Responding to the American Wind Energy Association

By -- April 11, 2011
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Ontario Update: Offshore Wind Moratorium Decision Hangs Tough, Onshore BAU Targeted

By Sherri Lange -- April 8, 2011
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Call for Comments: Proposed U.S. National Clean Energy Standard

By -- April 7, 2011
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Government vs. Resourceship (Bureaucrat vs. Entrepreneur in the quest for mineral wealth)

By John Brätland -- April 6, 2011
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Renewable Mandate Challenged in the Centennial State (An economic, legal case for free, fair energy choice in Colorado)

By Tom Tanton -- April 5, 2011
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