THE BAD NEWS
Chesapeake Energy, the big player in the Haynesville Shale, is in trouble. The Wall Street Journal reported today that
"Chesapeake Energy Corp. is scrambling to sell assets and cut costs as falling energy prices and tightening credit threaten to derail the company's dramatic growth.
The Oklahoma City company has spent aggressively and borrowed heavily to fuel its climb this year to become the largest U.S. natural-gas producer. Its efforts were supported by natural-gas prices that leaped to a high of $13.577 per million British thermal units in July before fears of a supply glut sent prices plunging. Natural gas settled at $6.825 Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange."
Chesapeake issued a news release today announcing that Aubrey McClendon had to sell virtually all of this Chesapeake stock. The stock has fallen from almost $70 this summer to close at just under $17 today.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) today disclosed that its Chief Executive Officer, Aubrey K. McClendon, involuntarily sold substantially all of his shares of Chesapeake common stock over the past three days in order to meet margin loan calls.
Mr. McClendon commented, "I am very disappointed to have been required to sell substantially all of my shares of Chesapeake. These involuntary and unexpected sales were precipitated by the extraordinary circumstances of the worldwide financial crisis. In no way do these sales reflect my view of the company's financial position or my view of Chesapeake's future performance potential. I have been the company's largest individual shareholder for the past three years and frequently purchased additional shares of stock on margin as an expression of my complete confidence in the value of the company's strategy and assets. My confidence in Chesapeake remains undiminished, and I look forward to rebuilding my ownership position in the company in the months and years ahead."
Borrowing money to buy stock on margin loans can significantly increase your profit - and your losses. McClendon bought high and sold low, and in the process kissed hundreds of millions of dollars goodbye.
THE GOOD NEWS
Although leasing is coming to a screeching halt in Northwest Louisiana this week, the good news is that the thing that created all of this excitement is still intact. The gas is still below us and the demand for it can only increase.
Not as much drilling will take place in the near future as expected, and leasing will be non-existent for a while. A guess would be that by next summer both will pick up again. Will we ever see the large sign-on bonuses we saw this year?
Only time will tell.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 9, 2008
The Louisiana Senate Race: Tweedle-de-de or Tweedle-de-dum
I am so unexcited by the Louisiana Senate race that I haven't posted anything about it yet. Mary Landrieu has 2 terms under her (ample) belt and has built up some deep support throughout the state.
John Kennedy. How can you trust anything he says? He was all for Kerry in 2004 when he was running against David Vitter and was actually considered more liberal than Landrieu. Now, he says he is a mavericky Republican like John McCain. I can think of better adjectives than 'maverick', but I won't use them here.
Check their websites and make up your mind, none of my sage advice in this one.
The Fourth District Congressional race is in full swing. Runoffs will be held on general election day, November 4th, for the Republicans and Democrats. The election itself will be held in December. On the Republican side, Chris Gorman has just released an ad decrying the $700,000,000,000 bailout plan in this video:
This seems to be in contradiction to the wonderful words he had for Jim McCrery:
"Louisiana’s Fourth District has been honorably served by Congressman Jim McCrery for many years. At the same time we honor him for his service, we look to the future and the opportunities that await us. I am a conservative Republican and I plan to bring our shared Louisiana values to the United States Congress."
I hate to tell Mr. Gorman, but McCrery voted for the bailout. The man he is praising is one of those big spenders he talks about in the video.
The race between Gorman and Dr. John Fleming promises to get very nasty.
Democrats also face a runoff between Paul Carmouche and Willie Banks, but this one will be milquetoast compared to the Republican race.
There are also two independents on the ballot in December, Gerard Bowen, Jr. and Chester Kelley. My choice is Gerard Bowen, Jr., who says "If we keep sending the same kind of people to congress, we will keep getting the same results".
Think about it.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
"Done Deal" is undone: No Cyber Command at Barksdale
The Air Force has announced their intention to modify plans to stand up a separate Cyber Command, instead concentrating cyber units under a new numbered air force.
The cyber command mission will be taken over by Air Force Space Command which is located at Peterson AFB in Colorado.
You will recall that last fall Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker said that Air Force Cyber Command at Barksdale was a 'done deal'.
The done deal has been undone.
Despite warnings from Washington defense analyst John Pike, founder of GlobalSecurity.Org, that 'not all military information warfare initiatives have blossomed on the civilian side,' local officials pushed hard and raised $100,000,000 from the state, parish and city to build the Cyber Innovation Center and to establish the Cyber Research Center on Hwy 80.
Construction has already begun on the CIC.
Senator Mary Landrieu, who is engaged in a heated battle to retain her senate seat, still says that 'Barksdale remains the best positioned facility to ultimately play host to the Air Force cyber operation'.
Take that with a grain of salt. She is running for re-election, what is she going to say - forget it?
A more realistic view came from Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Peyton Cole, former 2nd Bomb Wing commander, who said 'This thing is about as firm as trying to nail Jello to the wall'.
It is time for local officials, particulary Mayor Walker and Parish Administrator Bill Altimus, to wake up and smell the coffee. Take a long hard look at the CIC and come up with some reasonable alternatives to keep it from becoming a total boondoggle.
Complete story on the command shift in The Times.
The cyber command mission will be taken over by Air Force Space Command which is located at Peterson AFB in Colorado.
You will recall that last fall Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker said that Air Force Cyber Command at Barksdale was a 'done deal'.
The done deal has been undone.
Despite warnings from Washington defense analyst John Pike, founder of GlobalSecurity.Org, that 'not all military information warfare initiatives have blossomed on the civilian side,' local officials pushed hard and raised $100,000,000 from the state, parish and city to build the Cyber Innovation Center and to establish the Cyber Research Center on Hwy 80.
Construction has already begun on the CIC.
Senator Mary Landrieu, who is engaged in a heated battle to retain her senate seat, still says that 'Barksdale remains the best positioned facility to ultimately play host to the Air Force cyber operation'.
Take that with a grain of salt. She is running for re-election, what is she going to say - forget it?
A more realistic view came from Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Peyton Cole, former 2nd Bomb Wing commander, who said 'This thing is about as firm as trying to nail Jello to the wall'.
It is time for local officials, particulary Mayor Walker and Parish Administrator Bill Altimus, to wake up and smell the coffee. Take a long hard look at the CIC and come up with some reasonable alternatives to keep it from becoming a total boondoggle.
Complete story on the command shift in The Times.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
812 Democrats, 1 Prohibitionist, 10 Socialists and 4 Republicans
What do you have when you put together 812 Democrats, 1 Prohibitionist, 10 Socialists and 4 Republicans?
The Voter Registration of Bossier Parish in 1910. *
So what happened? The Prohibitionist probably died of loneliness and the Republicans and Democrats took over the platform of the Socialists, making them obsolete.
A lot has happened in the last 100 years. For the first half of the 20th Century the ‘solid south’ referred to the hold that the Democratic Party had on the region.
In 1948 a group of Southern Democrats walked out of the National Convention and formed the States Rights Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats.
Their grievances were fired when Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey gave a speech proposing an anti-segregationist plank be put into the platform. When President Truman supported the idea, delegates from Mississippi and Alabama walked out of the convention.
In the election, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina refused to put Truman on the ballot, replacing him with South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond. Thurmond carried all four states.
By 1960, Louisiana was back in the fold, voting to elect John F. Kennedy president.
Then came the events of November 1963, Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights bill of 1964.
Although the civil rights act had been proposed by Republicans for years, Johnson was the first southern Democrat to give it support. This infuriated most Southerners, and in 1964 Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama gave their support to Barry Goldwater.
In 1968, the same states supported George Wallace.
Along came Richard Nixon with his ‘southern strategy’. Nixon realized that southerners were still unhappy over the civil rights act and he began to lure them to the Republican Party, just as Johnson had lured blacks from the Republican Party.
You could say that it was a trade-off: southern whites for blacks across the country. In the coming years, more and more southerners aligned with the once-hated Republicans. The boll-weevil Democrats held sway in the congress for several years, led by Bossier’s own Joe D. Waggonner. When the last of the boll-weevils left congress, the south began voting Republican and Nixon’s strategy was complete.
The southern Democrats ran away from home for a ‘conservative’ utopia that turns out not to be conservative at all. We ran away from home and the old house burned down. What we are left with is a choice between John McCain, hardly conservative by any standard, and Barack Obama, a liberal, so in other words, two liberals. Witness the $700,000,000,000 + bailout bill that was just passed with support from both parties and both candidates. The last Republican congress spent more than any congress in history, saddling us with enormous debt.
But these are our choices. What can we do? For one thing, cut the head off the snake – only congress can appropriate money.
If we keep sending the same type of people to congress, we will keep getting the same results.
Stay tuned for solutions.
The Voter Registration of Bossier Parish in 1910. *
So what happened? The Prohibitionist probably died of loneliness and the Republicans and Democrats took over the platform of the Socialists, making them obsolete.
A lot has happened in the last 100 years. For the first half of the 20th Century the ‘solid south’ referred to the hold that the Democratic Party had on the region.
In 1948 a group of Southern Democrats walked out of the National Convention and formed the States Rights Party, commonly known as the Dixiecrats.
Their grievances were fired when Minneapolis Mayor Hubert Humphrey gave a speech proposing an anti-segregationist plank be put into the platform. When President Truman supported the idea, delegates from Mississippi and Alabama walked out of the convention.
In the election, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina refused to put Truman on the ballot, replacing him with South Carolina governor Strom Thurmond. Thurmond carried all four states.
By 1960, Louisiana was back in the fold, voting to elect John F. Kennedy president.
Then came the events of November 1963, Lyndon Johnson and the Civil Rights bill of 1964.
Although the civil rights act had been proposed by Republicans for years, Johnson was the first southern Democrat to give it support. This infuriated most Southerners, and in 1964 Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama gave their support to Barry Goldwater.
In 1968, the same states supported George Wallace.
Along came Richard Nixon with his ‘southern strategy’. Nixon realized that southerners were still unhappy over the civil rights act and he began to lure them to the Republican Party, just as Johnson had lured blacks from the Republican Party.
You could say that it was a trade-off: southern whites for blacks across the country. In the coming years, more and more southerners aligned with the once-hated Republicans. The boll-weevil Democrats held sway in the congress for several years, led by Bossier’s own Joe D. Waggonner. When the last of the boll-weevils left congress, the south began voting Republican and Nixon’s strategy was complete.
The southern Democrats ran away from home for a ‘conservative’ utopia that turns out not to be conservative at all. We ran away from home and the old house burned down. What we are left with is a choice between John McCain, hardly conservative by any standard, and Barack Obama, a liberal, so in other words, two liberals. Witness the $700,000,000,000 + bailout bill that was just passed with support from both parties and both candidates. The last Republican congress spent more than any congress in history, saddling us with enormous debt.
But these are our choices. What can we do? For one thing, cut the head off the snake – only congress can appropriate money.
If we keep sending the same type of people to congress, we will keep getting the same results.
Stay tuned for solutions.
*The History of Bossier Parish by Cliff Cardin
Monday, October 6, 2008
Judge Burchett's Fish Fry
The Times published photos of Mike Craig's celebration party, so I thought My Bossier would publish pictures of Judge Burchett's Fish Fry, celebrating 20 years of service to the people of Bossier/Webster. I arrived and left early before the crowd got there so I could live blog the election results.
Bossier Clerk says reporting problems are solved
I'm sure that anyone who was keeping up with election results Saturday night was aware that the totals from Bossier Parish were the last to be posted. Just when Caddo and Webster Parishes had reported all precincts, the first Bossier result went up on the Secretary of State's website.I met this morning with Bossier Clerk of Court Cindy Johnston and asked her about the problem. She reported that they had a computer problem in transmitting results to Baton Rouge and had been aware of it all day. In fact, a representative of the Secretary of State was at the Bossier Courthouse most of the day attempting to fix the problem.
Finally, two hours after the polls closed, they got it ironed out and were able to get the numbers posted.
Cindy assured me that everything went very well with the voting and with getting the totals from each precinct, and that she expects the November 4th election to come off without a hitch.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Fourth District Congressional Race: The runoffs
Everyone has had an eye on the battle between Dr. John Fleming and Chris Gorman in the 4th District's Republican Primary. It has been very nasty so far, but you ain't seen nothing yet. As the two face off for the November 4th runoff battle, it is likely to get a lot worse.
Not suprisingly, it was a close race. Dr. Fleming received 14,500 votes to Gorman's 14,070. Jeff Thompson wasn't too far behind with 12,693. I believe that Thompson started too late and that Jim McCrery's endorsement on the day of his announcement probably drove away more supporters than it attracted. Look for Thompson to throw his support to Dr. Fleming.
On the Democratic side Paul Carmouche received 36,930 votes to runner-up Willie Banks' 17,620. This will be a clean runoff, with none of the acrimony that the Republicans are displaying.
I have pointed out before that the 4th district is a conservative Democratic district. These numbers prove the point. Paul Carmouche received more votes in the Democratic primary than both of the Republicans combined. Col. Banks received more votes than either.
Some of those Republican votes will go to Paul Carmouche in the general election.
There he goes again
Republican blogger Associate Professor Jeffrey Sadow, ever fearful of anyone who claims to be a conservative Democrat, is already warning the Republican candidates to go the extra mile to prove they are conservative:
"Therefore, the GOP nominee must be a solid conservative who won’t give ammunition to a negative campaign about themselves that will throw them off the message tying Carmouche to his liberal Washington masters."
Ah, those liberal Washington Masters. I think Associate Professor Sadow must have nightmares about them, his fear is so palpable. He wasn't, however, able to provide a photo of Carmouche hugging Barack Obama at a secret conclave at Bohemian Grove while the two were plotting to overthrow the government and the American Way of Life. I'm sure it wasn't from lack of trying.
My Bossier, however, has managed to get a photo of Nancy Pelosi waiting to show Paul Carmouche just who is in charge.
Not suprisingly, it was a close race. Dr. Fleming received 14,500 votes to Gorman's 14,070. Jeff Thompson wasn't too far behind with 12,693. I believe that Thompson started too late and that Jim McCrery's endorsement on the day of his announcement probably drove away more supporters than it attracted. Look for Thompson to throw his support to Dr. Fleming.
On the Democratic side Paul Carmouche received 36,930 votes to runner-up Willie Banks' 17,620. This will be a clean runoff, with none of the acrimony that the Republicans are displaying.
I have pointed out before that the 4th district is a conservative Democratic district. These numbers prove the point. Paul Carmouche received more votes in the Democratic primary than both of the Republicans combined. Col. Banks received more votes than either.
Some of those Republican votes will go to Paul Carmouche in the general election.
There he goes again
Republican blogger Associate Professor Jeffrey Sadow, ever fearful of anyone who claims to be a conservative Democrat, is already warning the Republican candidates to go the extra mile to prove they are conservative:
"Therefore, the GOP nominee must be a solid conservative who won’t give ammunition to a negative campaign about themselves that will throw them off the message tying Carmouche to his liberal Washington masters."
Ah, those liberal Washington Masters. I think Associate Professor Sadow must have nightmares about them, his fear is so palpable. He wasn't, however, able to provide a photo of Carmouche hugging Barack Obama at a secret conclave at Bohemian Grove while the two were plotting to overthrow the government and the American Way of Life. I'm sure it wasn't from lack of trying.
My Bossier, however, has managed to get a photo of Nancy Pelosi waiting to show Paul Carmouche just who is in charge.
DISCLAIMER: I support none the of the above named candidates. My support goes to independent Gerard Bowen, Jr, about whom we will be sharing more in coming days.
One last post on the Judge's Race
The race for 26th JDC District Judge is over, and the people have chosen Mike Craig to serve.
Dewey Burchett has served the people well for 20 years, and I regret that it ended in this way. Craig's tactic of portraying Judge Burchett as easy on sex offenders apparently worked. I found it interesting that the people of Webster Parish, where this case was tried, did not buy the hype; they voted for Judge Burchett.
Everyone involved knew that DA Schuyler Marvin was behind Craig's run. I also find it interesting that his home parish of Webster did not support him in this.
There is an old saying that goes something like "All change is not good, and all progress is not forward." We will see if that applies in this case.
Mike Craig won; I do not like the way that he did it.
To borrow the words of Forrest Gump, that is all that I have to say about that.
Dewey Burchett has served the people well for 20 years, and I regret that it ended in this way. Craig's tactic of portraying Judge Burchett as easy on sex offenders apparently worked. I found it interesting that the people of Webster Parish, where this case was tried, did not buy the hype; they voted for Judge Burchett.
Everyone involved knew that DA Schuyler Marvin was behind Craig's run. I also find it interesting that his home parish of Webster did not support him in this.
There is an old saying that goes something like "All change is not good, and all progress is not forward." We will see if that applies in this case.
Mike Craig won; I do not like the way that he did it.
To borrow the words of Forrest Gump, that is all that I have to say about that.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Election Results
ALL PRECINCTS IN: CRAIG DEFEATS BURCHETT
11,683
48.96%
Dewey E. Burchett, Jr., D
12,181
51.04%
Michael "Mike" Craig, R
CARMOUCHE, BANKS IN DEM RUNOFF
FLEMING, GORMAN FOR REPS
Juvenile Court - Shonda Stone wins
Shreveport City Judge - Pam Lattier wins
City Marshal - Charlie Caldwell wins
DA - Charles Scott
ALL CADDO PARISH RESULTS HERE
ALL BOSSIER PARISH RESULTS HERE
11,683
48.96%
Dewey E. Burchett, Jr., D
12,181
51.04%
Michael "Mike" Craig, R
CARMOUCHE, BANKS IN DEM RUNOFF
FLEMING, GORMAN FOR REPS
Juvenile Court - Shonda Stone wins
Shreveport City Judge - Pam Lattier wins
City Marshal - Charlie Caldwell wins
DA - Charles Scott
ALL CADDO PARISH RESULTS HERE
ALL BOSSIER PARISH RESULTS HERE
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Channel 3, The Times report on Craig tax lien
Channel 3 just reported on the 6 o'clock news about the latest tax lien against Mike Craig. Yesterday, The Times ran a story on it.
The IRS filed the lien for $35,384.93 on September 16th. The state filed a lien in July, just after Craig qualified for the judge's race. He has since paid it off.
Perhaps the $59,000 loan should have been used to pay off his taxes rather than purchasing ads labeling Dewey Burchett a 'Liberal Judge' and using sensationalism and spin to call a couple of his rulings to question.
The Judge apparently has his priorities in good order. He pays his taxes in a timely manner as directed by the law. After all, a judge's job is to interpret and apply the law.
KTBS
The Internal Revenue Service has a filed a tax lien against Mike Craig, a Bossier City attorney who is a candidate for Bossier-Webster district judge. The IRS says Craig owes them $35,384.93.
The lien was filed late last week in Bossier District Court, seeking payment for unpaid taxes for 2006.
The Times
A Bossier-Webster district judge candidate has been issued his second tax lien this year, this time by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS filed the lien Sept. 16 against Michael Craig for $35,384.93 in federal taxes owed for 2006. Craig recently paid off two other liens for state income taxes — one filed in July for $17,228.40, the other filed in July 2002 for $6,530.12.
The IRS filed the lien for $35,384.93 on September 16th. The state filed a lien in July, just after Craig qualified for the judge's race. He has since paid it off.
Perhaps the $59,000 loan should have been used to pay off his taxes rather than purchasing ads labeling Dewey Burchett a 'Liberal Judge' and using sensationalism and spin to call a couple of his rulings to question.
The Judge apparently has his priorities in good order. He pays his taxes in a timely manner as directed by the law. After all, a judge's job is to interpret and apply the law.
KTBS
The Internal Revenue Service has a filed a tax lien against Mike Craig, a Bossier City attorney who is a candidate for Bossier-Webster district judge. The IRS says Craig owes them $35,384.93.
The lien was filed late last week in Bossier District Court, seeking payment for unpaid taxes for 2006.
The Times
A Bossier-Webster district judge candidate has been issued his second tax lien this year, this time by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS filed the lien Sept. 16 against Michael Craig for $35,384.93 in federal taxes owed for 2006. Craig recently paid off two other liens for state income taxes — one filed in July for $17,228.40, the other filed in July 2002 for $6,530.12.
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