Web Profits Blog

Posts Tagged ‘politics’

Unconventional gas production, such as that from the Barnett Shale in Texas, could account for more than fifty percent of America’s gas supply twenty years from now. These exciting new energies have emerged as a direct result from technological developments in the drilling industry.

New and prosperous energies are cropping up as scientists constantly search for ways to improve existing methods of drilling for oil. New resources like gases, minerals, and by-products of oil are discovered beneath the earth’s surface frequently. To harness these resources and improve methods of drilling for oil is as financially sound as it is practical.

For more than a century, oil and petroleum products have powered the world. Motor fuel demand has only grown during this time, and continues to increase as time goes on. Many analysts believe that in the upcoming decades this demand is set to double. To accommodate this, the world needs oil and gas.

Oil is a key ingredient in many everyday products that people use, yet are keenly unaware of. Products like Vaseline include petroleum. Don’t use Vaseline? Chances are you have a moisturizer in your bathroom that has it as a listed ingredient. Refineries turn crude oil into mixes that are used for everything from detergents to keep our clothes soft to drugs that fight off life threatening illnesses.

Top 3 Types of Petroleum Products:

Naphtha is one example of a petroleum based product, it is a form of feedstock most people are not familiar with. Then there are non-fuel related products such as lubricating oils or solvents. Last but not least are the fuel, like diesel and gasoline.

Oil is used in an extremely versatile way and whether we like it or not our economies and societies have become dependent on it. For example look at transportation. Although electric cars are being introduced albeit slowly and costly, the majority of motor vehicles use petroleum based fuels. Air transportation is one of the biggest consumers of oil and has yet to find a workable alternative. The second biggest petroleum consumption sector is the industrial market. Home and commercial use including the electric utility sectors account for the remaining petroleum consumption.

Over one trillion barrels of oil has been extracted and/or produced by humans to date. Since our demand is set to double in the coming decades, we are set to effectively double our oil exploration and extraction – in less than one quarter of the time. Needless to say, gas discoveries and unconventional oil are vital to our future. The most likely resources are both yet to be discovered conventional oil reserves and unconventional gas resources. Scientists and the industry as a whole are in a race against time to perfect the most efficient ways and methods of finding, extracting, and producing oil and its by-products to meet our heavy demands. Now more than ever, exploration and resource management is key.

Strike Energy is a global leader in the exploration oil industry. To find out more visit StrikeEnergy.com.

The Federal ban on sports betting has been blasted by anyone who knows anything about the subject for a number of different reasons. Though the US professional leagues suggest that sports betting threatens the integrity of their games, the opposite is the case. This is important because there would still be no shortage of outlets for college sport wagering, be it offshore or with your local illegal bookmaker. The professional bookmaking industry is usually where any type of compromised or fixed game is discovered. Ultimately, the true injustice of banning sports betting lies in its contempt for the Constitution.

Unfortunately, the Congress of the United States has shown very little respect for the Constitution in recent years. Were it to abide strictly by the role outlined for it by the founding fathers, the Legislative Branch of our government would have to relinquish any number of its powers in a variety of areas. The primary problem with our Congress is that it has increasingly become a collection of career politicians rather than a body representative of its constituency. As a result, the overriding concern of the average Senator or Congressman is increasing the power that he is able to wield, and as a result the power that his body is able to bring to bear.

The Federal prohibition of sports wagering which was enacted a few years back is of very dubious Constitutionality. Were it not for the grandfather clause, which allowed it to remain legal in jurisdictions in which it already existed, it would have certainly been struck down as unconstitutional on a number of different fronts.

Unfortunately, the mere fact that a proposed law or initiative is unconstitutional offers little protection for the citizenry. In fact one of the most important concepts in the Constitution”that of the right to sovereignty and self-determination of the individual states”is one of the most frequently abused. For those of you not up on the Constitution (and if youre not, you certainly should be), lets consider the 10th Amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The overriding concern of the writers and framers of the Constitution was that the personal liberty of the individual not be violated by a too-powerful central government. In other words, unless the power in question has been expressly given to the Federal government by the Constitution, and/or unless it has expressly been prohibited to the states (as in the case of treaty making) it is the right of each individual state to govern themselves as they see fit. If an individual state chooses not to regulate a certain activity, it is the right of each individual citizen to make their own decision.

So, you should be asking yourself at this point, where exactly does the Constitution delegate to the Federal government the right to make policy on sports gambling? The answer is that it doesnt, and it is very questionable that they have the Constitutional authority to do so. The sanctimonious blowhards who oppose sports betting would like to think they know best, but fortunately for all freedom loving Americans the founding fathers would beg to differ.

Sports gambling may seem a minimally important issue to some, but the erosion of liberty is an incremental danger. The danger to broader concepts of personal liberty may seem a million miles away, but with each additional law intended to protect us from this or that the Federal government becomes larger and more powerful and the rights of the sovereign states”and the individuals that comprise them”are shrinking and being weakened.

Ross Everett is a widely published freelance writer who covers travel, casino gambling and sports handicapping. He is a staff handicapper for Anatta Sports where he is responsible for providing daily free sports picks. In his spare time he enjoys fine dining, fencing and scuba diving. He lives in Southern Nevada with four dogs and a pet coyote.

South America will host the Summer Olympic Games for the first time in 2016, as Rio De Janeiro, Brazil was awarded the honor on Friday. Rio beat out the US choice of Chicago, Illinois along with Tokyo, Japan and Madrid, Spain to earn the right to host the games. Despite a high pressure effort from the American power elite–ncluding President Barak Obama and TV gabfest queen Oprah Winfrey–Chicago was the first city eliminated from contention. Tokyo was the next to go, before Rio got the nod over Madrid in the final round of balloting.

Bookmakers offered odds on the host city choice, with Rio listed as second favorite at +200. Chicago had been the wagering favorite at most books, particularly after President Obama got involved personally in the US bid effort. Chicago was bet as high as a -300 favorite, while Madrid and Tokyo were priced in the +250 range. Some suggest that Tokyo didnt deserve to have such short odds, but was the beneficiary of regional pride from the notoriously enthusiastic betting population of Japan. Despite some media attention to the betting odds, bookmakers reported that they didn’t receive a lot of action on the event.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, got the better of his US counterpart with a passionate speech that stood in marked contrast to Obamas typically baleful collection of talking points;

“It is a time to address this imbalance. It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country.”

The Olympic committee was apparently swayed by this presentation and paid no mind to Rios many downsides. It is without a doubt the most dangerous of the finalist cities, where drug cartels and armed bands of thugs roam without impunity. Well do to Rio citizens are used to removing watches and jewelry before they drive anywhere lest they be targeted by carjacking brigands. Rios murder rate is also one of the highest in the world. Brazilian bid officials have stressed that security will be a priority at the games and it better be lest the Olympics turn into a bloodbath.

Some IOC members suggested that the summary dismissal of Chicagos bid was more of a rebuke of the notoriously corrupt USOC. The last two Olympics held in the US were tainted by crime and corruption. The’96 Atlanta Olympics were disrupted by a terrorist bombing, while the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games were marred by a well known bribery and corruption scandal. Some suggested that US President Obama’s quick and perfunctory visit was taken as more of an insult by the delegates than anything else.

Ross Everett is a freelance sports writer and respected authority on sports betting odds comparison. He writing has appeared on a variety of sports sites including sports news and betting odds portal sites. He lives in Las Vegas with three Jack Russell Terriers and a kangaroo. He is currently working on an autobiography of former energy secretary Donald Hodell.

Compromise is the process of finding a middle ground between two positions or solutions. The middle ground is not capable of generating sustainable solutions to today’s problems. Because of this our society may at last be on the brink of evolving beyond our traditional over-reliance on compromise as a first-choice problem-solving strategy.

Why is compromise an ineffective negotiation strategy in the twenty-first century? Today’s world is far more interconnected than it has ever been. Today’s challenges are far more complex than they have ever been. The best obtainable outcome compromise can create is an agreement in which all parties walk away from the negotiating table feeling equally ripped off. This is why compromise is an inadequate strategy for creating sustainable solutions.

The only other problem-solving strategy most people know is coercion: forcing our will onto others. But, coercion is even worse than compromise.

If remedies for our challenges cannot be created by compromise or coercion, then what problem-solving strategy can do this? Fortunately, there is a third negotiation style. It is called synergy. Synergy integrates everyone’s perspectives in order to form a complete picture. Integrated pictures in turn reveal more complete solutions than any single perspective can see on its own. This is how synergy takes people far beyond compromises unsatisfying ritual of meeting in the gray middle.

Humility is the gateway into synergy. Recognizing that no single party can accurately grasp the big picture is the kind of humility that synergy requires. There are two ingredients beyond humility that synergy requires:

1. Core Intention Discovery: Looking behind the positions people have taken and the solutions they have proposed to identify the fundamental values and purposes beneath them. This means becoming understanding the outcome people are seeking from the solutions they are suggesting.

2. Merging Core Intentions: One everyone’s core intentions are clear, they are combined in order to reveal the bigger picture. Once this picture is clear to all, creative solutions can be brainstormed that do a far better job of serving the common good than any one party could have created. This is what makes synergy superior to compromise and coercion.

Our society is at a problem-solving turning point. Will we keep depending on compromise and coercion to generate solutions simply because we are accustomed to them, or will we instead choose to match the strategy we use with the needs we have by turning to synergy instead? Coercion and compromise are out of step with the needs we have. Synergy is the only one of the three problem-solving strategies we can use to negotiate truly sustainable solutions. The time has come to make synergy our first-choice strategy for solving problems and negotiating solutions.

Even though most of us are more familiar with coercion and compromise, synergy is a very learnable negotiation and solution-creation skill. Start mastering the art of synergy today.

The old adage: “You get what you pay for,” is applicable to the cheap health insurance coverage. But, more and more underinsured are bamboozled by marketing jargon and the fine print exclusions. For some 40+ million Americans without health insurance, there is a lack of consumer information about buying a medical insurance policy.

A small business owner of Elgin Illinois, who operated a snowplow business, a heart attack left him financially devastated. Despite his cheap health insurance coverage, unbeknownst to him – the company was a sham. A bogus health insurance company commandeered the premiums, which he paid for more than two-years.

Once upon a time, these health insurance scams affected a small percentage of the population. In the beginning of the millennium, approximately 100,000 policyholders were scammed by fake health insurance companies, accounting for more $85 million dollars of unpaid medical bills.

Counterfeit, cheap health insurance policies are no longer a minor issue. Today, the pervasive issue is a national problem, financially crippling Americans from Illinois and the other 49 states. Whether it’s a faith based health plan (one offered at church), the dreaded disease health plan (a policy which promises to cover life threatening diseases, such as cancer, heart disease), or the discount medical card, the cheap health plan is true to its name and covers very little in the way of health care costs.

The worst scenario is when the policyholder is hospitalized or diagnosed with a chronic illness. Not only are these consumers left with mounting medical bills, but they are no longer eligible for another policy because, they are now labeled with a “pre-existing health condition,” uninsurable by many health insurance providers.

Fortunately, there are two tactics to prevent being the next victim of Illinois health insurance fraud.

1. Meticulously investigate the Illinois health insurance company. Contact the Illinois Department of Insurance to verify if the company is licensed and determine if there are any outstanding complaint files. If the provider claims that they are exempt from regulation or not licensed in your state, find another Illinois health insurance company.

2. Search for a reputable insurance agent. Even though the insurance provider will not guarantee cheap health insurance coverage in Illinois, a legitimate policy will prevent any unforeseen medical expenditures and a health plan with a known insurance provider.

South America will host the Summer Olympic Games for the first time in 2016, as Rio De Janeiro, Brazil was awarded the honor on Friday. Rio beat out the US choice of Chicago, Illinois along with Tokyo, Japan and Madrid, Spain to earn the right to host the games. Despite a high pressure effort from the American power elite–including President Barak Obama and TV gabfest queen Oprah Winfrey–Chicago was the first city eliminated from contention. Tokyo was the next to go, before Rio got the nod over Madrid in the final round of balloting.

Bookmakers offered odds on the host city choice, with Rio listed as second favorite at +200. Chicago had been the wagering favorite at most books, particularly after President Obama got involved personally in the US bid effort. Chicago was bet as high as a -300 favorite, while Madrid and Tokyo were priced in the +250 range. Some suggest that Tokyo didnt deserve to have such short odds, but was the beneficiary of regional pride from the notoriously enthusiastic betting population of Japan.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, got the better of his US counterpart with a passionate speech that stood in marked contrast to Obamas typically baleful collection of talking points;

“It is a time to address this imbalance. It is time to light the Olympic cauldron in a tropical country.”

The Olympic committee was apparently swayed by this presentation and paid no mind to Rios many downsides. It is without a doubt the most dangerous of the finalist cities, where drug cartels and armed bands of thugs roam without impunity. Well do to Rio citizens are used to removing watches and jewelry before they drive anywhere lest they be targeted by carjacking brigands. Rios murder rate is also one of the highest in the world. Brazilian bid officials have stressed that security will be a priority at the games and it better be lest the Olympics turn into a bloodbath. For the time being, however, the mood in Rio was one of celebration with over 50,000 residents dancing and partying in the streets.

Some IOC members suggested that the summary dismissal of Chicagos bid was more of a rebuke of the notoriously corrupt USOC. The last two Olympics held in the US were tainted by crime and corruption. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were disrupted by a terrorist bombing, while the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games were marred by a well known bribery and corruption scandal.