“Meet the Press” on Sunday had a panel on global warming, featuring Energy Secretary Sam Bodman, American Petroleum Institute President Red Caveny, Dan Yergin, Jim Cramer and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). All panelists except Sen. Durbin pretty much drove home the point that this is a game of supply and demand. At one point there was this exchange between host Tim Russert and Sen. Durbin:

MR. RUSSERT: Senator, in order to continue this drive you’re concerned about global warming, you’re concerned about oil and carbon gases and things, would you be willing to expand nuclear power in the U.S.?

SEN. DURBIN: I have trouble with that because I–we still have not resolved what we’re going to do with the waste from these nuclear power plants. I just went to Braidwood Nuclear Facility outside of Chicago. Still serious problems with environmental issues that threaten the village of Godley, Illinois, directly in the, in the shadow of this plant.

MR. RUSSERT: So you would take oil and coal over nuclear?

SEN. DURBIN: Well, at this point, I think that we have to see other alternatives. There are sustainable and renewable sources as well. You know, I drive a hybrid car at home. My wife and I, we bought a Ford Escape hybrid. I think it’s a move in the right direction. We need to promote more hybrid vehicles, more electrical-powered vehicles. We need to move away from this carbon consumption that could endanger this planet we live on. I think it’s sustainable and renewable fuels. Also looking for more efficient ways to use the vehicles we have today.

So in other words, he’s not in favor of nuclear, not in favor of oil and coal. But no matter — he’s been leading the charge against high oil prices. Sen. Durbin, of course, is a trial lawyer by training. One reason why we need more business people in the Congress. At least they understand the law of supply and demand.

Here’s a link to the full transcript and here’s a link to the video.

Now comes Newsweek, devoting a few pages to a Q&A with erstwhile Presidential candidate Al Gore, hyping his new movie. It’s a series of softball questions teed up by the reliably partisan Eleanor Clift. It’s funny — Gore says in there his interest first piqued as an undergraduate (way before he invented the Internet). What’s amusing about this is that a little while after he was an undergraduate, both Time and Newsweek were ringing the alarm about global cooling. He likely was on that bandwagon, too.

In any event, here’s a link to all our stuff on the theory of global warming, a more balanced view than you’ll get from Al’s movie.

If Pete Seeger had steamed down the Mississippi in his sloop Clearwater all the way to New Orleans, picked up a zydeco musician or two and headed to Preservation Hall, he might have birthed “The Seeger Sessions“, Bruce Springsteen’s latest CD, released this past Tuesday. It is an homage of sorts to Seeger, although as the WaPo pointed out in Joe Heim’s review this week, not a single one of the 13 tracks were written by Seeger. They were, however, popularized (or at least performed) by him.

The liner notes say, “This is a LIVE recording (emphasis theirs), everything cut in three one-day sessions….with no rehearsals.” Indeed it has the sound, the feel of one big jam session. In fact,

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In case you missed it, there was a great editorial (great because it made some of the same points we’ve been making) in Friday’s Wall Street Journal entitled, “Congress Gone Wild“, critiquing congressional reaction to spiraling gas prices. It contained this excerpt, which pretty much captures the problem:

“And one reason for today’s high prices is that Congress has systematically ruled out huge parcels of American land, on- and off-shore, for energy exploration. However, now that prices are high, Congress is reacting to the problem it helped cause by temporarily rescinding whatever paltry incentives it offered companies to explore for oil in the fewer places where they are allowed to drill.”

Exactly. Time to stop worrying about rescinding tax incentives and thinking instead about opening up enormous US reserves of energy. If not at $3/gallon, then when?

Here’s another video from our friends at South Carolina Educational TV. What better video to watch on Saturday morning than one of Krispy Kreme donuts being made? They start with a batch of mix shipped from the home office in Winston-Salem, NC, toss it together with water and yeast, shoot it through the extruder and voilà! They are making jelly donuts here so you see them get injected with jelly (our stomachs are growling just watching this thing…..). However, the video begs the question of where all the donut holes go. Maybe they can send us an update on that. In all, they make 4,000 – 5,000 dozen donuts a day in this one location. Unbelievable. There’s a small factory just down Route 1 in Alexandria, Virginia, just south of Washington DC. The blogger-in-chief is a regular there. Says the blogteen, eating the fresh donuts off the line is like a slice of heaven. Truth is, it might even be better. Bet you can’t eat just one dozen.

So to every police officer and to that great statesman and donut aficionado, Homer Simpson, we salute you and urge you to run and get a dozen Krispy Kremes, grab a hot cup of coffee, sit back and feel the manufacturing vibe.

Click here to watch this week’s seven and a half minute video of Krispy Kremes being made.

Don’t miss ABC World News Tonight because they are reportedly airing a segment about a highly innovative and growing manufacturer in Torrance, CA. ACE Clearwater Enterprises is a third generation business that makes components for the aerospace industry. I’ve been through one of their plants in southern CA and this small manufacturer does incredible things. It’s nice to see that ABC News has caught on to this success story. Be sure to check it out and then let us know here what you thought of the segment.

Front page WaPo story about oil company profits, but — typically — more telling articles buried deeper within. Charles Krauthammer nails it –as usual– in his piece entitled, “Say it With Me: Supply and Demand“. (Has he been reading the blog….?) And finally in the front section, an article about how the Brits are paying $7/gallon for gas. We talked about that this week, too.

In the end, Krauthammer’s right. It’s supply and demand.

Click here to ask your elected representative what they’re doing to increase domestic supply.

It is with great sadness that we note the passing of former NAM President Sandy Trowbridge. He died yesterday at his home in Washington. He was 76.

Sandy Trowbridge reigned at the NAM for 10 years, from 1979 to 1989 as President, having served in the Lyndon Johnson Administration as the youngest Commerce Secretary ever. He was only 38 when confirmed to that enormous job, one that he filled quite ably. He then came to us, where he led through times both good and lean, always with a steady hand. A former Marine, he was known for his decisiveness and leadership on behalf of manufacturing. And, he was just a great and decent guy, one who rose to great heights but who never lost the common touch.

He was a great ally of the entire manufacturing community. The manufacturing family — starting with the NAM — mourns the passing of this great man. We invite any of you who knew Sandy and who have thoughts or memories of him to just click on the “Comments” tag below and share them with us.

We know how busy y’all are out there making all the cool stuff we love to use.

And we know that in some circles reading blogs might be considered unproductive…well, how about a compromise?

Today we’ve launched a mobile phone/blackberry version of blog through a company called WINK.

Look for the WINK logo on the left hand side of our blog, just above the red energy ad. And, if you are interested in receiving or viewing our content your mobile phone/blackerry, just click on that button, sign up for a free account (its easy—and did we mention its free?) and you’ll never miss a moment of the blogger-in-chief’s wisdom.

Cheers.

We thought it was bad enough that Fidel Castro can drill for oil 45 miles off our shores when we can’t, but now comes Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), to call attention to the fact that fierce US competitor China is partnering with Cuba to explore these same oil fields.

Lou Dobbs reported on this yesterday, too — as did Fox News — but Lou’s reporter Kitty Pilgrim got it a bit wrong saying, “But U.S. companies, because of the U.S. embargo of Cuba and hostile relations with Fidel Castro, are locked out of the game” (transcript).

She is right that there is an embargo in effect with Cuba. But the big problem isn’t that US companies can’t tap Cuba’s oil. The big problem is that we are not allowed — by our own government – to tap US oil! Eighty-five percent of this treasure trove of oil and gas (80 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas) are subject to a federal embargo.

We have no one to blame but ourselves, the only country that limits access to its own natural resources.

Drop your elected representatives a note and ask them to ‘splain why they won’t open US resources to US companies.