Oil Change

Following the maintenance schedule recommended by Hyundai, we took the car into the dealership for the first two oil changes, where we were given a discount for doing so. With the third oil change, the price would go back to Hyundai's regular price.

When the time had arrived for the 3rd oil change, I went to the dealership to find out the price before hand. I was planning on returning the next day until I heard the price. It would be over 4000 pesos, I was told. That's roughly $80 in U.S. dollars. Needless to say, I did not return as planned but began looking for somewhere else for the oil change.

After looking into a few places, I decided on the Shell oil service station located near the Dumaguete airport. The cost for the oil and filter (no cost for labor) came to 1045 pesos - or roughly $20.

Unlike in the U.S., I was able to stand in the work area and watch the man up close. I took advantage of that difference to take a few photos.

The man changing the oil was having an extremely difficult time removing the old oil filter. As can be seen it the photos, he had to practically destroy it to remove it. I can't say for certain, but I believe the difficulty may have come about because Hyundai had not changed the filter during the previous oil changes. I can't prove that it wasn't changed, but the thought that they'd pull such a stunt ticks me off.

Disgraceful Video Attacks Papal Encyclical.

I almost missed this video; the link to it arrived in an email that was automatically sent to spam.

It's come to the point now that both sides of the climate change issue are making use of scare tactics, relying less on the science and more on whatever it might take to frighten folks.

It this video, the Energy and Environment Legal Institute (ELII) has begun to criticize the Pope's encyclical and the Pope's advisers before the actual release of Laudato si, claiming the encyclical will lead to "European style" energy restrictions which will actually harm the most vulnerable among us. The encyclical is being called "unjust" and  "disgraceful".

The creators of the video steer away from criticizing Pope Francis directly, rather they attack his advisers. Not having read the encyclical - which is due for release later today - I can't comment on the actual substance of the encyclical. I can say, however, that the video is, itself disgraceful and insulting.

Protesters Block Access to Shell Oil Rig at Seattle Port.

An estimated 200 protesters gathered at the Port of Seattle on Monday to block oil workers’ access to a Shell drilling rig temporarily docked there on its way to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast.

Shell has been given approval to begin exploratory drilling in the area by
His Royal Highness President Barack Obama.

"I think it is important to also recognize that this is going to be a transition process,” he said. “In the meantime, we are going to continue to use fossil fuels, and when it can be done safely, and appropriately, U.S. production of oil and natural gas is important."

Are the "Progressives" who voted for Obama -twice- feeling buyers remorse yet?

I'm waiting to hear Hillary Clinton's plan on Arctic drilling. I'm sure she'll remain quiet as long as she can. Rocking the kayak might cost her too many votes.

Of course,the Progressives' not-so-wunderkind, Elizabeth Warren would most definitely support the protesters, if for no other reason than by doing so, she will have an opportunity to dress up like a Native American.

Three and one half Time Outs Tuesday - the Beatles edition.

LarryD may have forgotten that today is 3 1/2 Time Outs Tuesday but I haven't.

1)
According to this story at The Smoking Gun, a 47 year old woman in Florida was arrested for prostitution for agreeing to have sex with an undercover cop in exchange for 2 double cheese burgers off the dollar menu at McDonald’s.

The arrest occurred on a Friday.......yet another reason to avoid eating meat on Fridays. Perhaps she might have been OK had the cops been out on Meat Free Mondays.

2)
Speaking of Paul McCartney (you did click on the link above, right?)
Sons of 3 of the Beatles are up for forming a band. Haven't sighed up either of Ringo's kids yet.

They should know their effort isn't necessary. After all the 2 dead Beatles have already reincarnated and will be, huh, stiff competition.

3)
It's being reported that Obama's accusing Romney of having ties to Big Oil. And as we all know, Big Oil Offed John Lennon. Doesn't this all tie in so well?

1/2
The European Court of Justice has ordered a Dutch wheelchair manufacturer to stop calling one of their electric models the 'Beatle'. The court said that many baby boomers might now be in the market for a wheelchair and might therefore be susceptible to such [false] advertising.

One Legged Man ..........

Obama is looking to kick ass over the BP oil leak.

Being the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter, Obama really is like a one legged man in an ass-kicking contest.

Here's a photo of the president after his last competition where he came in first place. He only fell on his face 36 times.


Oh, yeah; thanks Larry for putting this idea in my head :)

Elections have Consequences.

From the Washington Post:

"Obama told CNN's Larry King on Thursday that he is 'furious at this entire situation. . . . Somebody didn't think through the consequences of their actions.'"

Is he referring to the dunderheads that voted for him?
They sure as hell didn't "think through the consequences of their actions".

Obama is a half step away from being declared as incompetent as Jimmy Carter.

I suppose I should look on the bright side. At least he's too incompetent to get most of his agenda passed. That would really damage the country.

They're Crawling out of the Woodwork.

Checking the Google Analytics, I learned that my post, Boycotting BP had received an unusually high number of hits Saturday, particularly from Facebook. As a matter a fact, it received significantly more than the number of friends I have on Facebook, so I surmised that a link to my post must have been placed on the Boycott BP Facebook page. I attempted to verify that assumption by checking out the page....but there are so many people posting so many links that it was impossible for me to go through the whole site.

At any rate, going through the Boycott BP Facebook page, I see now the number of fans is approaching a quarter of a million.
Jeez, Louise.
As any of the fans can leave links and comments, I came across a link from a Facebook group calling for the replacement of crude oil with hemp oil. A typical comment on that page reads,

We need to harness the backlash against oil, and the best way to do it, is to push people in favor of legalized hemp farming across the United States and abroad. Remember: 6 times cheaper at the pump with no oil wars, no oil spills and a reverse of the greenhouse effect. There's no downside to hemp enthanol [sic] , unless you're an oil company.

Never mind that we've tried this before using corn to produce ethanol - with disastrous effects on world food prices. If farmers can make more money growing hemp than they can growing food grains the price of wheat, corn, and other cereal grains will go up.

A fan of the Facebook hemp oil page put up a Youtube video which I am posting here. They are really coming out of the woodwork. Watch this video to the end as this space cadet tells of how they are using this oil spill disaster to relocate everyone on the Gulf ...... and put RFID tags on everybody.

I understand now how we ended up with Obama as President.

Boycotting BP.

From New York to Florida and points between, folks angry over the 19,000 barrels of crude oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico daily, have begun a number of boycotts of BP.

A CNN article reports that an online movement to boycott BP is growing at a rate of better than 25,000 names a day. There are two "Boycott BP" Facebook pages .... a larger one with more than 191,000 fans (as of this writing) and a much smaller one with just over 7,000 fans.

Clearly, many people are frustrated over the oil spill, but I question the effectiveness of a boycott. While the CNN article reports that there has been a 30% decline in the amount of gasoline delivered to BP stations in parts of Florida within the past few days, I suspect it is the independent station owners who are most hit by the boycott and not BP. BP does not own any gas stations in the US.

While those boycotting the gasoline produced by the oil giant may feel some sort of "moral victory" with their attempt to punish BP, it's very possible that the aluminum can, that holds their beer or soft drink, was made with aluminum manufactured by BP subsidiary Arco Aluminum. Like most international companies, BP has it's finger in many pies, so to speak, and probably won't be harmed by the boycotts.

Sure, people are frustrated and angry, but the oil spill was not intentional; it was an accident. This situation is a PR nightmare for the company and I have no doubt that they are doing all that is humanly possible to fix the problem as quickly as they can. The idea that this boycott will force BP to clean up the mess any faster is naive.
Recently, President Obama told us of his daughter coming to him and asking the question, "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?'” The question is cute, coming from a 12 year old child. However, the overgrown children boycotting BP should realize that this problem can't be fixed over night.

How Big Oil Offed John Lennon.

I'm not able to listen to Rush Limbaugh's radio program as often as I'd like......usually only on the way to take J.P. to the baby sitter and then on to work.
Sometimes, like yesterday, I get lucky and can hear something really out of the ordinary during that brief time period.
Just before 2:00 o'clock yesterday, I listened as a self described liberal caller told of Big Oil's role in the assassination of Beatle John Lennon. The caller explained how Big Oil.....through it's agents, Reagan and Nixon....used Stephen King to kill Lennon because they (Big Oil) realized that had Lennon lived to 2003 he would have been able to prevent the current Iraq war, which Big Oil desperately needs to help keep gasoline prices high.
Here is the transcript of that call:

RUSH: Here is Ken in Brooklyn. Ken, welcome to the EIB Network, sir. You're next.

CALLER: Nice to be on your show, Rush, thanks.

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: You know, for once I agree with something you said.

RUSH: What's that?

CALLER: I'm a typical, you know, quote, unquote, liberal. That we should open up more refineries and produce more, not drill more, not go into ANWR, not do a lot of things, but produce more, yeah.

RUSH: Well, how are we going to produce more? How are we gonna refine more if we don't have more to refine?

CALLER: Well, it goes back to the merger I think a year ago with the two biggest oil companies merging, made the biggest corporate merger in history. We have to realize that the man behind the curtain in our government is Big Oil. They own presidents; they rig elections; they are in complete control; they are aligned with the military. In fact, every time a war breaks out, gas spikes 50 cents a gallon.

RUSH: Hm-hm.

CALLER: And we have to deregulate. I mean, we have to unmonopolize the oil business. We have to not be under their thumb and not, you know, be the people ignoring the shoes and the cuffs behind the curtains, we have to stand up to Big Oil.

RUSH: Hm-hm.

CALLER: Now, that doesn't mean not producing more petroleum refineries.

RUSH: Uh-huh.

CALLER: But I think we're being strong-armed by Big Oil with high gas prices --

RUSH: Hm-hm.

CALLER: -- to make us say uncle for ANWR.

RUSH: Hm-hm. What do you mean, uncle for ANWR? What do you mean?

CALLER: I think they're raising the prices to make us cry "ouch."

RUSH: So that they can grab more oil to monopolize us with?

CALLER: So that they'll ply us away from resisting ANWR.

RUSH: I see, the lights are going off now. So this is all a ruse to get us to drill for more oil so we'll have even more monopolistic control over us?

CALLER: Pretty much, yeah.

RUSH: Okay. So you think Big Oil is pretty much unregulated, they get to do whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it?

CALLER: Well, did anyone see a trial for John Lennon's murder? They own the media.

RUSH: I see your point.

CALLER: And, by the way, did you know Bill Clinton met with Stephen King in the mid-nineties in the White House?

RUSH: Stephen King or Stevie Wonder?

CALLER: Author Stephen King --

RUSH: Stephen King.

CALLER: -- and Bill Clinton met.

RUSH: That's right, I forgot, damn it, you're right.

CALLER: And Nixon and Reagan used him to kill John Lennon.

RUSH: Well, you can't leave Stephen King out of this.
CALLER: No, he's the evil ogre that haunts us in the middle of our dreams.

RUSH: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Nixon and Reagan used Stephen King to wipe out Lennon --

CALLER: (plug)

RUSH: -- and Monday Night Football so that Cosell would be able to announce the assassination.

(crosstalk)

CALLER: Like the Roman arena. And we never did see a trial.

RUSH: No, but I mean the lunatic that shot Lennon got sent up.

CALLER: A year-and-a-half after the murder he pled guilty behind closed doors. There was no trial.

RUSH: Yeah.

CALLER: Yoko didn't complain. She used Nixon as the ace-in-the-hole.

RUSH: And Big Oil was behind this?

CALLER: Well, Big Oil wants that oil, and they knew John Lennon was the one thing that would have stood up to this war and united the public against it.

RUSH: John Lennon would stand up to which war?

CALLER: This war we're in right now. They had to plan 20 years ahead --

RUSH: You mean Big Oil working with Nixon and Reagan and Stephen King wiped out John Lennon back in, what was it, the seventies?

CALLER: 1980, December --

RUSH: 1980.

CALLER: On Jim Morrison's birthday, 1980.

RUSH: That's right. No coincidence there, either, is there?

CALLER: No.

RUSH: So you have 24 years ago Nixon and Reagan conspiring with Stephen King to convince some idiot to go out and waste Lennon because they --

CALLER: No, no, no, no, no. Stephen King --

RUSH: Well, because they knew 24 years later we'd be in Iraq, and only John Lennon could stop it?

CALLER: That's right.

RUSH: Okay!

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Okay, that last caller, what was that last caller's name? Ken from Brooklyn. He was right about two things. He was right when he said that we haven't built a refinery in too many years, and he was really right when he said he was a typical liberal. I, ladies and gentlemen, had planned on offering -- because he was talking about oil and pollution -- I was going to give him a Rush PAC. I was going to give him a Rush PAC from Allen Brothers, great steaks and hamburgers and hotdogs, I was going to give him one of those just to be nice, but I gave up the plan halfway through the call because I figured all the guy would do is take it out and lay it at the grave of John Lennon and who knows what would happen to it then, so I decided against it.
END TRANSCRIPT