Opinion

Just two days after President Trump proclaimed the end of the federal government’s war on energy produced in the U.S., the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration announced domestic crude oil production has reached record levels.

He also boasted about his aggressive deregulation agenda during his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday.

“We have ended the war on American energy, and we have ended the war on beautiful, clean coal,” Trump proclaimed.

Folks in East Texas like to say they live behind the “Pine Curtain.”

The Pine Curtain is not like the old Iron Curtain during the Cold War days. No one tries to shoot you if you desire to flee the eastern third of the Lone Star State, but in the pines you might indeed get shot if you get caught trespassing. (Well, that’s not really legal unless a land owner were in fear of his life, but a good lawyer from San Augustine could argue that a landowner with a shotgun became frightened when he found someone poaching deer on his place.)

I’m not sure what it’s like to live at the North Pole, but it can’t be very different than it is here in Texas these last few weeks. I’m not new to the area. I grew up just south of the Red River … where the wind comes whistling down from Canada, unhampered by large mountains, tall trees or skyscrapers. Nothing stops the cold wind from skimming over the Red River and shrieking into North Texas when it is cold outside. We have summer from early May to late September. We have spring in April and fall in October.

Officials charged with safekeeping and maintaining order at Times Square in New York City on New Year’s Eve must have been sweating, even if the weather outside was frightful.

The mass of humanity—estimated to number in excess of one million people—surely could have been forgiven had they chosen to celebrate indoors. But, when the role was called up yonder in the “Big Apple,” they were “there.” Critics contend, however, that all were NOT accounted for, nor did they wish to be.

Crude oil and natural gas prices continue to gain strength on news of increased demand.

Oil futures on NYMEX for February delivery closed Wednesday at $63.57 per barrel its highest mark since Dec. 9, 2014.  Natural gas for distribution at Henry Hub in Louisiana closed at $2.906 Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that oil inventories declined again last week making it the eighth consecutive week it has reported a drop in inventories.

So far as is known, Hell has not frozen over, but Galveston Bay has. Several times, in fact.

First a little science. As we learned in eighth grade science or earlier, water freezes at 32 degrees. But that’s the temperature at which fresh water starts turning to ice. Salt water, because of its salt content, does not start to freeze until the temperature drops to 28.4 degrees. In other words, for Galveston Bay to freeze, it has to be extremely cold over a sustained period of time.

After reading a recent report which stated that four out of 10 people look inside medicine cabinets when visiting someone’s home, I decided to take a look at what was inside my own cabinets. After all, I’d hate to think that someone got sick from something they stole. 

Although I have two bathrooms; I have a tendency to use both of them. I decided it was time to do a little cleaning. Years ago, when I painted the bathroom, I thought I cleaned the medicine cabinet, but from the looks of it, maybe not.

Crude oil prices stabilized in 2017 reversing a decrease in activity that began in November 2014.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, better known as OPEC, and some other oil producing countries, such as Russia, agreed to cut oil exports by 1.8 million barrels per day (b/d). The decline in exports and a rise in demand worldwide were key factors in reducing crude oil stockpiles, which was a significant factor in prices in the $50 to $60 range.

Roy Holt lived in Texas all his life, served in World War One and possessed a solid education. But in his late 60s, a time of life when many men are content to let things be, he decided to write a booklet spotlighting folks who had said unfavorable things about the Lone Star State.

The result was “So — You Don’t Like Texas,” published by the author (1897-1985) in Copperas Cove in 1965. At this late date, there’s no way to know how well the book did, but at least 14 Texas libraries still hold copies.

They said it in Latin, but the wiser of the ancients realized all glory is fleeting. And often fame never comes.  

The storied trail driving era, when Texas cowboys in the 1870s pushed hundreds of thousands of longhorns to wild and wooly railroad towns in Missouri and later, Kansas, is one of the best known periods in American history. Turkey herding? That early day method of poultry transportation saw way more gobble than glory.

Consider the classic cattle trail song, “Get Along Little Doggies.” Now think how it would sound this way: