Dateline: UTA...

ARLINGTON - How would you like to buy gasoline made from $30 domestic oil versus $75 imported oil?

Researchers at UT Arlington say they've found a practical way to make synthetic crude from cheap coal that's common in Texas.

They say they are just weeks away from signing a contract for commercial production.

People have been turning coal into oil for 100 years or more.

But researchers at UTA say they've invented a better way to do it. So much better, they expect to sign a deal with an oil company within weeks.

"This is east Texas lignite coal. We go from that to this really nice liquid," said Professor Brian Dennis of a light synthetic crude, easily refined into gasoline.

Professor Dennis and a team of scientists have been working on it for about a year and a half.

"I had the idea for this while I was walking to my car. And I ran back to the lab and I started drawing it out in my notebook," he said.

They only showed Channel 8 an early model reactor which doesn't look like much, but it's the only one they can show us.

The current reactor is secret, extremely efficient and they say emits no pollution.

"We're improving the cost every day. We started off sometime ago at an uneconomical $17,000 a barrel. Today, we're at a cost of $28.84 a barrel," said engineering dean Rick Billo.

That's $28 a barrel versus $75 we pay now for imported crude.

Texas lignite coal is dirt cheap - less than $18 a ton. A ton of coal will produce up to 1.5 barrels of oil.

UTA researchers expect micro-refineries to be built within a year, turning coal into cheap oil and producing new jobs.

It's still fossil fuel, but scientists say it could bridge the gap until greener technologies catch up.

I love to say 'I told you so'...

Without so much as a press release, Embryonic Stem Cell research is being slowly defunded by the State of California. Remember Proposition 71, the California initiative that pledged $3 billion dollars of public funds to this dubious research? Back in 2004 voters in that state bet that embryonic stem cells held the key to untold cures and therapies.

Six years later, after destroying innumerable embryos and devaluing human life, they have nothing to show for their investment. Only adult stem cell research has shown any promise. By reprogramming adult stem cells, researchers have produced astounding results; curing everything from type 1 diabetes to spinal cord injuries.

In a move to save face, the Investor’s Business Daily reports that the state via its California Institute of Regenerative Medicine has shifted most of its grant monies towards ADULT stem cell research.

After demonizing this research for years California has seen the light. Perhaps President Obama will now reconsider his federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and acknowledge what science and the state of California learned the hard way: morally objectionable embryonic stem cell research is a waste of taxpayer money.

When he lifted the Bush federal ban on funding embryonic stem cell research last year, President Obama vowed that his decisions would be made “by facts, not ideology.” The facts are now clear. Let’s see what becomes of the ideology.

Please be honest...UPDATED...

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The link.

UPDATE:

Mike had the right answer. At least as far as I'm concerned. I can't for the life of me understand why a parent would count on the school system to feed his or her child. It is unfathomable to me.

Some may say what if they have fallen on hard times? What if both parents lost their jobs?

GO WORK AT MCDONALDS!

I can tell you right now, unequivocally and without hesitation, my children will never go hungry. Ever.

Unless of course they are naughty in which case they may got to bed without supper.

New 9-11 photos...

Never forget!

Happy Birthday, President Reagan!

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July, but the democrats believe every day is April 15.

The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.

Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

Best. President. Ever.

Ever wonder...

why the Toyota pedal issue us getting so much air-play?

When was the last time the federal government owned a competing car company?