Where The Hell Does All That Oil Come From Anyway?

Written in August 2010.

John Bonanno

“The last century has been one of those periods of extraordinary change, the most amazing in human history. If, then, you ask me to put into one sentence the cause of that recent rapid and enormous change, I should reply, it is found in the discovery and utilization of the means by which heat energy can be made to do man's work for him.” – Robert A. Millikan, speech, “Science and the World Tomorrow” delivered at the opening of the New York World’s Fair, April 12, 1939

“Competition is a sin.” – John D. Rockefeller

The Mystery of Oil

Petroleum can be refined into an easily portable, deliverable, and potent fuel. It arguably is the defining ingredient of our civilization, such as it is. Yet, the origin of oil is mysterious. Although we are constantly inculcated with the term “fossil fuels” there is no unanimous agreement that petroleum (literally “rock oil”) was formed from dead animal and plant life, primarily in sediments at the bottom of the ocean. Some scientists believe that oil was produced from the common elements carbon and hydrogen under heat and pressure within the planet at the time of the formation of Earth; some understand that petroleum existed in the solar system in the primordial stuff that would be used to form the planets before the Earth was made. (The atmospheres of the gas giant planets contain large amounts of the basic hydrocarbon, methane.)

The idea that oil was formed without stacked dead plants transforming for eons in sediments is known as the abiotic or abiogenic theory of the origin of petroleum. Abiogenic theory has been around for hundreds of years in various guises. In 1877 Dmitri Mendeleev, who designed the first practical periodic table of the elements, was an early proponent of an abiotic origin of oil. Today the Russians, primarily, continue to seek oil without the assumption of fossil origin and are drilling deep wells and finding oil far below the levels that fossil fuel theory proposes that oil is formed or can be found.

The Deepwater Horizon well is just such a deep hole drilled by a huge multinational corporation. It has gushed at high pressures vast quantities of petroleum that, I believe, fossil theory has difficulty explaining. Some argue that the absence of oil plumes in areas of the Earth associated with access to the deep interior of the planet argues against abiotic oil. But it can be retorted that those usually volcanic areas long ago spewed out and burned any associated oil and that remaining deep Earth oil is safely trapped by relatively stable sections of the crust of the Earth. We must also remember that the most easily accessible oil deposits are found in areas of major tectonic activity and fault zones. Abiotic theory does not necessarily propose ubiquitous oil evenly spread within the interior of the planet or close to the surface.

Accepted Doctrine

Let us look a little closer at the theory that oil was formed from the remains of dead organic materials. The Encylopedia Brittanica, owned by Rockefeller interests, and edited by persons at the University of Chicago, may have a vested interest in promulgating the fossil fuel idea. In the 1961 edition this, and only this, is said about the origin of oil in the article “Petroleum”:

“Most scientists believe oil was formed from the bodies of tiny plants that lived in the sea hundreds of millions of years ago when the sea covered large areas of what are now land masses. These animals and plants lived and died by the billions then sank to the bottom and mixed with mud and sand in layers called marine sediment.”

“Later these sedimentary layers were covered by more mud and sand, which finally turned into rock. As ages passed, the sea withdrew, the earth’s crust heaved and buckled and the heat and pressure caused by the overlaying rocks, together with decomposition of the organic life, is thought to have formed oil from the animals and plants in the deep buried layers. Because of their mutual derivation from organic material, petroleum, natural gas, and coal are known as fossil fuels.”

The Brittanica gives us a longish 12 1/4 pages of text on “Petroleum” with only the quarter page quoted above explaining the origins of the stuff. We note two hedges in the argument (I have put them in italics), which is not exactly a ringing or detailed explanation of the biological origins of oil. This passage leads to an important question: Where did the carbon that life uses to form its structure come from? Other theories of life postulate that a soup of organic chemicals in water spontaneously gathered together to make life. Where did those chemicals come from? Where did the vast amounts of carbon needed to make those vast deposits of dead creatures that made all the oil originate? One wonders how many “tiny plants” and animals had to die and for how long they collected and then one wonders how long it took to compress these “tiny plants” into petroleum under the assumptions of fossil fuel theory for the Deepwater well to ejaculate such huge amounts of oil under such high pressure for so many months. Then we must consider how all those dead “tiny plants” got to a depth of 30,000 feet under the earth’s crust.

A Theoretical Comparison

The first modern oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. It yielded 35 barrels a day after striking oil at 69.5 feet in bedrock. Oil struck at such shallow levels is assumed to have migrated from much deeper levels under the rules of both fossil fuel theory and abiogenic theory alike, although abiogenic theory proposes much deeper levels of formation or primordial collection than fossil theory. Proponents of fossil theory lean heavily on the presence of fossil content in oil for proof. But abiogenic theory counters with the fact that this migration of oil would have contaminated it after bringing it into contact with both fossils and bacteria, including bacteria that feed on petroleum.

Some cynics note that it would be in the interest of 19^th Century oil men, like John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil monopoly to popularize the notion that oil came from dead plants and animals and therefore was a commodity as scarce and difficult to find as a hen’s tooth. If the world believed that oil deposits were as plentiful as they have proved to be, then the world would have been reluctant to pay through the nose for oil, or to fight wars for it. Today, Big Oil and OPEC nations can be expected to find it in their interests to maintain this belief.

Peak Oil

Geologist Marion Hubbert first predicted that the world would reach “Peak Oil”, that is, a maximum production point from which a steady decline would occur, by the early 1970’s. Yet world oil production has risen, with slight fluctuations in a few years (likely caused by geo-political issues or recession) since the 1960’s to this day. The Deepwater well operated by BP and Transocean was said to have gushed about 60,000 (estimates range from 35,000 to 100,000) barrels of oil a day for about 85 days from a depth of 35,055 feet, more than six miles down.

“The well, located in Keathley Canyon block 102, approximately 250 miles (400 kilometres) south east of Houston, is in 4,132 feet (1,259 metres) of water. The Tiber well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 35,055 feet (10,685 metres) making it one of the deepest wells ever drilled by the oil and gas industry. The well found oil in multiple Lower Tertiary reservoirs. Appraisal will be required to determine the size and commerciality of the discovery.” –BP press release, September, 2009

Transocean bragged in their own press releases at the time of their prowess in extremely deep water drilling and ultra deep drilling in other wells in the Gulf of Mexican and off Qatar. Deep drilling is an expensive process but, as we have seen from the estimated gush rate of BP’s Deepwater well, it is “well” worth it, if done right. I ask again. How did all those dead “tiny plants” get down that far?

The total amount of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico can therefore be conservatively estimated at about 5,000,000 barrels by this one well. Yes, shallow, known oil reserves may have reached a “peak” yet oil appears to be quite plentiful at astounding depths, far below the known depths of fossil residues. This may be the mysterious source that sometimes refills drained oil fields at easily workable depths.

Before I continue, I must admit I will be disappointed if the abiogenic oil theory is correct. I would prefer that circumstances force us to kick the petroleum habit. I am neither a fan of our centralized, globalized petroleum based civilization, nor of the catastrophic environmental and social effects resulting from the collection and massive use of oil. I also believe that many environmentalists are very reluctant to face the possibility that abundant abiogenic oil lies deep below and romantically hope for and expect a near future when the world runs out of petroleum. By the way, Hubbert was known for the idea that thin plates in thrust faults could not move on the surface of the Earth without fracturing unless the plates floated on high pressure fluids. It seems to be reasonable that continental plates may also move across the Earth floating on the same basic lubricating fluid we pour into that old Buick 6.

The Elements of Oil

Let me emphasize that I am no scientist; I am by nature an artist and my undergraduate degree is in Anthropology, a vague and vast topic, notably resistant to experimentation. But humor me as I continue this little Gedankenversuch (thought experiment). Let us look at the most common elements in the universe, or, at least our solar system, in very approximate percentages by mass.

Hydrogen 70.57%, Helium 27.52%, Oxygen 5.9%, Carbon 3%

Now let us examine the percentages of the elements in petroleum by weight.

Carbon 84-87%, Hydrogen 11-14%, Sulfer .1-.8%, Nitrogen .1-1.8%, Oxygen .1-1.8%

In our solar system, carbon, the prime ingredient of petroleum, is the fourth most common element. I suspect much of the hydrogen and most of the helium (inert in most situations) in the solar system is locked up in the Sun. That makes carbon very common indeed, as is hydrogen, the prime ingredients of petroleum. It is reasonable to state that petroleum must be a very common substance if these two basic common elements are placed together under the right conditions in our solar system. What evidence exists to indicate that petroleum exists in the solar system, far from known deposits of dead “tiny plants”?

Carbonaceous Meteorites

There is a rare class of meteorites known as carbonaceous chondrites which include carbon in their composition up to six percent of their mass. Investigations of these interesting meteorites indicate that they have remained at very low temperatures for 3 to 4.5 billion years. They are the pristine primordial stuff of which the solar system and the Earth was formed. Their history proves beyond much doubt that they have remained free of carbon based life; yet much of the carbon on these meteorites are in the form of hydrocarbons, including specific hydrocarbons cited by fossil fuel theorists as evidence of the fossil origin of petroleum.

Biomarkers

Traditional petroleum geologists have claimed a plethora of chemicals as biomarkers in petroleum. These include porphyrins, isoprenoids, pristane, cholestane, terpines, and clarins. All have been found in abiotic meteorite samples. Many of these chemicals are also byproducts of the Fischer-Tropsch process famously used by the Germans during World War II to synthesize gasoline from carbon monoxide and hydrogen (no plants required). This process involves a rapid cooling that is impossible in sediments where dead plants supposedly formed petroleum, but may be possible in space. Porphyrins are especially cited by fossil fuel theorists as a biomarker, yet the porphyrins found in living creatures are linked to chains containing magnesium (in chlorophyll) or iron (in heme). Petroleum porphyrins always are linked to vanadium or nickel, which are not found in biotic species.

The optical activity of petroleum in polarized light has been cited as a proof of biotic origin, yet this same optical activity has been observed in fluids obtained from carbonaceous meteorites. Optical activity in petroleum specific to organic life can be explained as contamination. Fossilized spores and pollen found in petroleum are often cited as biomarkers, and they are biomarkers of the sediments passed by and leached into the petroleum on its way from deep interior sources reflecting many ages.

Final Thoughts

This essay is intended to stimulate thought and open minds. I was taught in school that oil came from dead plants and animals and that was it. There was no alternative. I remember some kind of a picture of dead dinosaurs falling into tar pits as an example of how oil was made. Well, those tar pits were already there before the dinosaurs. As I studied this issue I came to wonder more and more if the carbon of life didn’t come from pools of petrochemicals breaking down on the surface of the earth to make soils or breaking down under the oceans to form the carbon in solution used by early plants. I saw the fossil fuel theory turned on its head. Dead plants and animals did not form petroleum. Rotted and oxidized deposits of petroleum may have provided the raw materials of plants and animals.

Bibliography

Abiogenic Origin of Hydrocarbons: An Historical Overview

Geoffrey P. Glasby

The Non-Organic Theory of the Genesis of Petroleum

Samar Abbas

The evolution of multicomponent systems at high

pressures: VI. The thermodynamic stability of

the hydrogen–carbon system: The genesis of

hydrocarbons and the origin of petroleum

J. F. Kenney, Vladimir A. Kutcherov, Nikolai A. Bendeliani, and Vladimir A. Alekseev

Abiogenic Or Biogenic Petroleum

S.S. Penner

Dismissal of the Claims of a Biological Connection

for Natural Petroleum.

J. F. KENNEY

Joint Institute of The Physics of the Earth - Russian Academy of Sciences

Gas Resources Corporation, 11811 North Freeway, Houston, TX 77060, U.S.A.

Ac. Ye. F. SHNYUKOV

National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Vladimirskaya Street 56, 252.601 Kiev, UKRAINE

V. A. KRAYUSHKIN

Institute of Geological Sciences

O. Gonchara Street 55-B, 01054 Kiev, UKRAINE

I. K. KARPOV

Institute of Geochemistry - Russian Academy of Sciences

Favorskii Street 1a, 664.033 Irkutsk, RUSSIA

V. G. KUTCHEROV

Russian State University of Oil and Gas

Leninskii Prospect 65, 117.917 Moscow, RUSSIA

I. N. PLOTNIKOVA

National Petroleum Company of Tatarstan (TatNeft S.A.)

Butlerov Street 45-54, 423.020 Kazan, Tatarstan, RUSSIA

Petroleum Formation and Occurrence, B.P. Tissot, D.H. Welte

Thomas Gold, Professional Papers

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1527 - 1593) "Flora Meretrix"

We Are All Whores...But Of What Kind?

Technically marriage in Western culture has been a legal agreement to limit one's self (whether man or woman or something in between) to one prostitute, er, spouse, at a time.  Marriage in in trouble now since that system neither applies to our real lives nor works very well unless one or both spouses have the disposable money a man known as a "sugar daddy," rara avis, indeed, might have. Now, married couples are prostituted to their jobs since in most cases they both must work for the Man or Woman (and often at more than one workplace) to earn enough money to conduct life and raise a family in the manner to which they have been trained to expect. In most cases, however, sex with the boss is not an implicit condition of work. But it still happens. Selling your body is selling your body, no matter what for.  

The etymology of the word prostitute sheds some light on what I am poorly trying to 'get across.'   Prostitute - mid 16th century (as a verb): from Latin prostitutus- ‘exposed publicly, offered for sale’, from the past participle of the verb prostituere, from pro- ‘before’ + statuere ‘set up, place’. Romans had countless words for whores, but prostituta was not one of them, or at least not commonly used. Prostibilis also meant whore in Latin and is etymologically related with the prost (display for sale) prefix. The prostibulum, later prostibilis usually referred to the streetwalker who displayed herself in public. 

For example, "That influencer on Instagram is prostituting (id est "exhibiting for sale") her ass at the beach again. Maybe she will attract a sugar daddy who will pay her well for a few licks at that thing."

The most common word for whore in Latin was meretrix (etymology: From mereō ("merit, deserve") + -trīx. Literally "she who earns".} This is a more realistic, respectful and active word  than 'prostitute' a passive concept; "Exposing a thing for sale" which didn't get its present meaning of whore until the 16th century, is vulgar.  I would rather spend time with a skilled and enthusiastic meretrix than a prostitute.

When it comes to relationships perhaps we should all try to be more like the meretrix and earn love, rather than be like the prostitute who just accepts love and all that comes with it, merely for being available sexually. 

A Three Headed Dog Walks Into A Bar And Demands Three Drinks. The Bartender Refuses. Cerberus Eats Him.

Back in the 1983 Sainsbury's, a Brit corporation, bought a New England supermarket chain headquartered in Portland, Maine, Shaw's. They immediately built new stores to increase business and in doing so, put the outside entrance doors on the left and exit doors on the right and inside exit doors on the left and entrance doors on the right, in keeping with UK ways. I never got used to it and I suppose I never wanted to. It just gave me a reason to avoid stinking expensive Shaw's. 

They sold the chain to Albertson's back in 2004 but the doors are still screwed up to this day and many (including myself) still try to enter via the exit door. Did Albertson's agree to leave the doors that way? Or, are they secretly still a Brit company? They have not fixed this. This is not the freaking UK. 

Aha! Albertson's is no more. They were bought and merged with Safeway in 2014 to form a new company, AB Acquisition LLC. The deal took over a year to complete. This whole shebang is actually owned by the very spooky Cerberus Capital Management. Cerberus was the many headed hound of Hades. CCM has a lot of investors and employees who were/are (if there is a difference) in deep intelligence agencies. This is very helpful when doing business these days.  Cerberus spends a lot of money on politicians and lobbying. I suspect Cerberus bought supermarkets more to learn about us than to actually make money selling food. 

     

Cerberus' Managing Director Louis Bremer

Louis has been "tapped" by President Trump as assistant secretary of defense for special operations. Louis is as deep state as it gets. So much for "draining the swamp."

And now President Trump has hired Louis Bremer as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Combat. (Ask anyone who has been in combat if there is such a thing.) This means he is in charge of clandestine operations to do with sabotage, assassination, kidnappings and the like. This is the deepest of swampy deep state stuff. Good luck Louis! And good luck to you Mr. President! 

DOMINIQUE 'NIQUE 'NIQUE

Fellini's Dominique

Fellini's Dominique. 

In 1982 this techno version of Dominique by the original singing nun was released. The song was a big hit by the Soeur Sourire back in the 1963. This video was brilliantly re-purposed from Fellini's 1972 film, Roma. The song is about the Dominican order which was established by the pope to wipe out the threat to the church of the gnostic Cathars in southern France. The Crusades, begun in 1099 and continuing for almost 200 years, had proved so popular in the Vatican that they were extended against heretics, pagans, and the popes enemies of all kinds beyond the traditional Muslims and Jews of the Holy Land.  The Crusades also had provided a way to keep trouble-making landless younger scions of kings out of the way, far from home. 

This Crusade against what they called The Albigensian Heresy wiped out millions. It is famous for the quote "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius." or, "Kill them all; God will know his own." by the Roman Catholic commander Arnaud Amaury, an abbot, prior to the massacre at Béziers on 22 July 1209. He had been asked, how they could tell the heretics from the many faithful in the town.

Here are the lyrics, first in English then in French, of Soeur Sourire's happy song celebrating the work of the Dominicans.


Refrain
Dominique, nique, nique, over the land he plods along
And sings a little song
Never asking for reward
He just talks about the Lord
He just talks about the Lord

At a time when Johnny Lackland
Over England was the King
Dominique was in the back land
Fighting sin like anything

Now a heretic, one day
Among the thorns forced him to crawl
Dominique with just one prayer
Made him hear the good Lord's call

Without horse or fancy wagon
He crossed Europe up and down
Poverty was his companion
As he walked from town to town

To bring back the straying liars
And the lost sheep to the fold
He brought forth the Preaching Friars
Heaven's soldier's, brave and bold

One day, in the budding Order
There was nothing left to eat
Suddenly two angels walked in
With a loaf of bread and meat

Dominique once, in his slumber
Saw the Virgin's coat unfurled
Over Friars without number
Preaching all around the world

Grant us now, oh Dominique
The grace of love and simple mirth
That we all may help to quicken
Godly life and truth on earth

Soeur Sourire The Singing Nun VIDEO Dominique 1963

en français

Dominique, nique, nique s'en allait tout simplement
Routier pauvre et chantant
En tous chemins, en tous lieux, il ne parle que du bon Dieu

Il ne parle que du bon Dieu

A l'epoque ou Jean-sans-Terre de' Angleterre etait Roi
Dominique, notre Pere, combattit les Albigeois
Repeat first 4 lines: Chorus

Ni chameau, ni diligence il parcout l'Europe a pied
Scandinavie ou Provence dans la sainte pauvrete
Refrain

Enflamma de toute ecole filles et garcons pleins d'ardeur
Et pour semer la Parole inventa les Freres-Precheurs
Refrain

Chez Dominique et ses freres le pain s'en vint a manquer
Et deux anges se presenterent portant de grands pains dores
Refrain

Dominique vit en reve les precheurs du monde entier
Sous le manteau de la Vierge en grand nombre rassembles
Refrain

Dominique, mon bon Pere, garde-nous simples et gais
Pour annoncer a nos freres la Vie et la Verite
Refrain

'Dominique' by the orginal composer and singer Soeur Sourire. This 7Inch single was produced in 1982 by Marc Moulin and Dan Lacksman of the Belgian electro b...

THE LEPRECHAUN CAPER

It looks like he knows exactly what he has.

Today you may see or hear about a funny story involving a man who stole a pot of gold off the back of an armored truck. There is video of a nondescript man walking up to a pot filled with about 1.4 million dollars of gold flakes weighing 84 pounds. He seems to easily pick it up and walk away.

I immediately suspected an inside job. I bet this guy peeled off his face and drove away with a confederate in a waiting car. . By the way, this caper happened on September 30. I am certain Loomis begged their customer to keep it on the down low and that they would nab this guy quickly. Obviously they did not catch him quickly. They did not catch him at all..

Watch Loomis (Loomis AB (LOOM-B.ST) stock today. I suspect it tanks and I also suspect some insiders have already sold before the word got out.

If you check out Loomis' stock chart you may notice that it was rising a bit until November 1. Then there was a spike in volume and the stock began to fall. That's when the insiders began to sell. I wonder if the SEC will investigate? Hah Hah Hah!!!

Old Painting by John Bonanno

Paladino

All will be hidden before all is lost,
No metal machine can compute the cost.
But golden buds upon the snow,
Shall light that whitened night aglow.

A desk in a drawer shall the demons be,
In negative twist for eternity.
Considering discipline, doctrine, law...
Based on their premise which precludes any flaw.

But I must escape on the stony path,
'Though this will raise the demons' wrath.
And quicken the molten center of the earth,
As a chick in an egg before its birth.

A man who sleeps in fits am I,
Who shall awaken when I die.
What comfort therefore can I give,
To one who merely wants to live?

J. Bonanno

The List from Beers Without Fluoride 

(Updated June 30, 2015)

So far, Beers Without Fluoride has officially awarded these brews the "A" (Acceptable) rating for being brewed with water that has not been treated with fluoride. This list is a growing and living thing and may not be totally up to date. BWF solicits any and all corrections of this list. This list is far from complete. I welcome your input. Remember you can use your own ingenium to discern whether a beer is unfluoridated or not by using the tools supplied at Beers Without Fluoride's Facebook page. I will soon be publishing a list of brewers rated "F" by BWF.
I am also posting this list on my (mostly inactive these days) blog with a prominent link to it so it will be more available than when it disappears into Facebook oblivion.
I have tried to pin the thing to the top of the Facebook page but somehow it always drifts down among the rest of the posts.

International Beers

All beers from the following countries are rated "A" due to the fact that water is not fluoridated.
Note: These are not the only countries in the world that do not fluoridate. However they do export beer and BWF recognizes them with the A rating.

Belgium
Mexico (There are some high natural fluoride sources such as in Mexico City.)
China
Israel
Austria
Czech Republic (Yes, drink that Pilsner Urquell to your heart's content. Rated A.)
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland (Some areas have a high natural fluoride water content.)
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Latvia
Netherlands (Enjoy your Heineken.)

Any beer brewed in Germany is fluoride free.
Beware of Beck's sold in the United States. It is brewed in fluoridated St. Louis by Budweiser. Not only that, but Beck's brewed in the USA does not taste very good.
Those who wish to drink a true organic beer brewed with clean water may want to try the great Pinkus Brewery offerings from unfluoridated Germany.

Heineken brewed in fluoride free Netherlands.

All the fine brews of fluoride free Belgium are rated A.
The most commonly seen in the United States are Stella Artois (brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev headquartered in Belgium), Duvel, Bières de Chimay Trappist products, Hoegaarden (a hefeweizen also brewed by Anheuser-Busch InBev which I have seen available lately in my local Cornish, Maine market) and the Lindemans Lambic style brews.

Any beer brewed in Mexico has been brewed with water untainted by added fluoride mostly by two huge brewers.
Grupo Modelo (50% owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev)  sells a lot of Corona and Modelo and Pacifico  beer in the United States. Note: Corona and Modelo from Mexico City both have a high natural fluoride content in the water used for brewing. Let the drinker decided.
FEMSA (Cervecería Cuauhtémoc-Moctezuma))  exports Tecate, Sol, Dos Equis, Carta Blanca, and the wonderful Bohemia, among others to the United States.
There are few microbrews coming out of Mexico and all are rated "A" by Beers Without Fluoride.

All beers, such as Tuborg, brewed in never-fluoridated Denmark are rated "A" by BWF.

A Rated Beers from the United States

---------------------------------------------------
Sierra Nevada beers whether brewed in Chico,California or Asheville, North Carolina.
Red Stripe Beer for the American market is now brewed in unfluoridated Latrobe, Pa., though the brew does not taste much like the Jamaica brewed version.
Rolling Rock Beer is now brewed in Newark, New Jersey which is unfluoridated but I cannot vouch for any other chemicals found in this water.
Ten Barrel Brewing Company from Bend, Oregon, now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev and therefore a bit more available due to better distribution.
Any brew from Fort Bragg Brewing Company in Fort Bragg, California.
If you are ever in Albuquerque, New Mexico you can safely drink in any brewpub confident in the knowledge that they are rated A in this unfluoridated city.
Spencer Trappist Ale brewed in Spencer, Massachusetts with well water is rated A if you can find it and afford it. It is very good.

Beers from Full Sail Brewing in Fort Hood, Oregon. The Session Lager is a fine summer beer.
All the fine brews from Spoetzl Brewing in Shiner, Texas. I have tasted the Shiner Bock brewed from the brewery's own artesian well and it is quite good and I have found it in Maine.
All of the brews from Lagunitas Brewing Company brewed in unfluoridated Petaluma, California.
Please note that Lagunitas has a brewery in fluoridated Chicago, Illinois. Beers brewed in Chicago are rated F. Illinois has mandatory fluoridation. Unless a brewery uses spring or well water or purifies the public water with reverse osmosis we must rate that beer F.
All products from the Leinenkugel Brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI.
Bear Creek Brews from North Carolina.
Indian Wells Brewing Company in California.
Abita beers brewed in Abita Springs, Louisiana.
Dogfish Head ales brewed in from well water in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
All the fine brews from Butte Creek Brewing in Ukiah, California.
Hangar 24 Craft Brewery of Redlands, California.

--------------------------------

New Hampshire A Rated Beers

Anheuser-Busch - Merrimack (Bud from St. Louis is rated "F")
Agner & Wolf - Nashua
Blue Lobster Brewing Company - Hampton
Border Brewery - Salem
Canterbury Ale Works - Canterbury
Henniker Brewing Company
The Prodigal Brewery - Effingham
Squam Brewing - Holderness
Tuckerman Brewing Company - Conway
Smuttynose Brewery, Hampton, NH.
All the tasty beers from Moat Mountain Brewing in North Conway, New Hampshire.
--------------------

Maine Beers. 

If you are in Maine you might find products on tap from Gneiss (pronounced Nice) Brewing Company. Drink Gneiss in good conscience, it is rated A and uses well water to brew its fine offerings.
---------------------------------------

Vermont Beers

Hill's Farmstead from Vermont is rated A.
Heady Topper from the Alchemist Brewery in Vermont is rated A if you can find it.
All of the Long Trail brews from Bridgewater, Vermont.

Organic Beer Addendum

There are several brewers out there who label their beers as "Organic." That may be true as far as the ingredients they use to brew, but the biggest ingredient in any beer is the water. Many so-called organic brewers use fluoridated water. Here are some of them:
Eel River Brewing in Scotia, California
Wolaver's from Middlebury, Vermont
Peak Organic brewed at the Shipyard Brewery in Portland, Maine
All are rated F by BWF


That's the update. Please let me know if there are any errors so they may be corrected.

The updated list will always be found at this address:

http://johnnyb93.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-list-from-beers-without-fluoride.html

Beers  Without Fluoride on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/fluoridefreebeer

Happy Halloween!

 HALLOWEEN MURDER AND MAYHEM 2014

Murder and mayhem abounded during the hi-jinx of our favorite horror holiday this year.
Let's check it out.

A student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie who tried to act as a good samaritan by breaking up a Halloween fight was killed. LINK. 

In Ontario, Oregon burglar Jayme Wintersteen was confronted at his home by an associate, Douglas West,  about a dispute over stolen goods. Evidently tempers flared up between the two and West was shot by Wintersteen as he attempted to flee. LINK

The demons were cheering with glee during Orange County's "bloodiest Halloween ever." Why? Six people died in three incidents.
One: Three 13 year old girls trick or treating in costume were killed by a hit and run driver. 
Two: In the same vein, a 65 year old man and his four year old son were struck by a car. The man died and his son is in critical condition. 
Three: An over enthusiastic prankster shot his ex-wife and then turned to gun on himself before his 13 and 7 year old children during a Halloween child custody exchange. LINK

What? No treat? Here's your trick then.  A woman in Oklahoma City was shot in the back of her head for her cache of prescription pills.  LINK

A man who couldn't wait three more days for Halloween decapitated his mother and dragged her body into the street in Farmingdale, New York on Long Island. Neighbors thought it was a Halloween prank. LINK

Road Rage Trick?  A man was shot and killed while driving in Moses Lake, Washington on Halloween. LINK

In Austin, Texas a man killed his girlfriend via inflicting unspecified traumatic injuries early on Halloween. He was arrested later in the day suffering from self inflicted wounds. LINK

A Long Beach, California man was stabbed to death on Halloween. LINK

An Indiana high school student frightened a group of trick or treaters  by brandishing a knife at them on Halloween. The next day he evidently used the knife to murder a 73 year old man. LINK

What would Halloween be like without a homophobic attack?  In South London, two thugs, ironically dressed as fairies in pink tutus, terrorized by knocking down and kicking in the head two young men they characterized as homosexuals. LINK

In another ironic attack, two "Stop the Violence" activists in Washington, Pennsylvania were arrested the day before Halloween after beating a colleague silly to the point where he vomited blood and ended up hospitalized in critical condition. LINK

Meanwhile in Brevard County Florida, marauding wild hogs threatened the celebration of Halloween. LINK

In Australia, a 16 year old youth reprimanded a passing motorist for driving dangerously close to him and his friends on Halloween.  The car stopped, a man got out and punched the lad in the face. He remains hospitalized in an induced coma. LINK

Common Core Is Not A New Exercise Program

A Couple of Things 

Small Untitled Piece by John Bonanno

 

Common Core

 Isn't it funny that when the federal government implemented common standards under George Bush the right had no problem. "No child left behind" was a joke that taught tests not children. The Obama administration implements standards called "common core" to attempt to prepare children for college or the workplace and it is considered evil by the usual suspects. I think Common Core is a little better than the ridiculous "No child left behind" which really amounted to "No child gets ahead." What a country!

Personally, I think we need smarter and better teachers who really know their subjects. That would require raising pay (and changing the criteria used to hire teachers so that we have educators that have been trained more in subjects and less in the metatheories of education) and we all know Republicans will never go for that. So politicians just bump along trying to find some magic formula to overcome the crappy American education system. I doubt it will happen.

By the way, Jeb Bush is the politician who has been the biggest promoter of "common core" in the country.

Why Bowe Bergdahl Will Not Be Charged With Desertion and Why It Is Plain Wrong to Call Him "Deserter" 

    Bowe Bergdahl can't be charged with desertion since he was taken prisoner immediately by the Taliban. It doesn't become desertion until  AWOL (absent without leave)  continues for 30 days. Being taken prisoner obviously prevented Bergdahl from returning to base and abrogates any desertion charge. I would say that the majority of people in the military are AWOL at some point in their military careers, usually after getting drunk or hooking up with a woman. Bergdahl has never been charged by the military with any crime. The only crime under the UCMJ he can be charged with, in my opinion based on current evidence, is AWOL, for a day and, perhaps, failure to follow orders (I assume a standing "don't leave the base" order existed, but who knows?), not such a serious thing as desertion. But I can't blame all those rabid right wingers who never wore a uniform for their ignorance of the UCMJ, can I? 

Many stories were circulating about the 7 or 8 soldiers who were killed in the search for Bergdahl but it looks like that was all right wing hysteria. None of these so-called victims have actually been linked to trying to rescue this man when they were killed as far as I can tell.

'Hiram Fire Department, Late Winter 2014' 11" x 14"oil painting by John Bonanno

The Hiram Historical Society presents "Hiram in Art." Works to be displayed at Great Ossipee Museum of the Hiram Historical Society for a week beginning Saturday August 9, 2014 with silent auction ending Sunday August 17, 2014, a weekend filled with many Bicentennial events. Works to be displayed include my painting "Hiram Fire Department, Late Winter 2014."  The minimum bid on this painting will be $300, indeed a bargain.

Chutney, taken November 29, 2013

Good Bye Dear Friend  

He loved to sing.

Now he is catching up on news with his old greyhound friend Daphne.

He was very fond of
 his pool on a hot day.

He vigilantly and fiercely looked out for his humans.

Sweet puppy.

This is a full page photograph of Chutney's Daddy, Junior World Champion Heythrop Trailblazer Of Snow Wind. Photo by T.M. Strom from the The Ultimate Jack Russell Terrier by Mary Strom. Chutney would get very upset and bark at this picture whenever I held it up to him and asked, "Who's your Daddy?" 

 He left this plane on January 10, 2014. 

Here is the transcript of our final New Years message and song.

Good Morning and Happy New Year 2014.

We are sitting here on the threshold of a brand new year and of course we hope for the best. We know that this year will hold some sadness and disappointment even in our victories. But we find comfort in the fact that our defeats and tragedies will contain the seeds of rebirth and joy as well.

Some of you may know Chutney, my good friend and companion. He is a Jack Russell terrier who was born in September of 1999. He is fourteen and he will not see his fifteenth birthday. Chutney has ALS which is also know as Lou Gehrig disease. He can hardly stand up now. He must drag himself around but it is getting more and more difficult. The first signs of ALS showed up about a year and a half ago when we noticed that he was having a little trouble jumping up on the bench by the back door. We had trained him to jump up there when it was time for a walk so it would be easier for his aging humans to leash him. Now he needs to be carried outside and upstairs. He eats lying down. He has lost control of his bowel movements and when I take him out I squeeze his abdomen to help him.

Chutney will be leaving us on Friday, January the tenth at about 9:30 AM.

He whimpers, cries and shakes and he has let us know in his own way that he is ready to move on.

I have prepared his grave in the back yard near a witch hazel bush. He will be buried in my old Navy blanket, which he loved, and with a new stuffed bear (scores of Goodwill stuffed animals met their ends at his paws) which will be with him forever.

Long ago we made a deal that we would always be friends and that in whatever guises the future may hold for each of us that we would recognize each other and be friends again.

A few years ago we sang together on the new year and that video is posted on my Youtube channel. Chutney loves to sing and he sounds as sweet as an angel to me. His voice is a bit shaky now but we shall sing for you again this year in Chutney's last public performance.

Chutney was interred January 16 with myself, Beth, and his friend Cushing in attendance. 

Chutney with Cushing, taken October 28, 2014

Chutney's Prayer

Our dearest Chutney has passed to the West with a renewed body of light.

May Anubis lead him to the Happyland where he may lay down his burdens and rest for a time.

He has been ever vigilant in the way of all Jack Russell Terriers, but now he may rest for a time.

He no longer must bear the responsibility for his humans and now he may rest for a time.

May he be rewarded greatly for his efforts in this life.

His body remains here to lie in the ground. 

Wrapped in my Navy blanket he holds a  stuffed bear on a bed of straw.

We shall erect a cairn on this spot.

We pledge to honor his memory and plant lovely flowers on his grave.

I know we shall meet again and we shall remember one another. 

Amen. 

Goddammit! That's why I drink whiskey.  I just don't know if those damn Commie brewers are poisoning my precious bodily fluids with fluoride!

BEERS WITHOUT FLUORIDE!

General Ripper is right. Fluoride is removed from water by the distillation process. But it remains in beer after the brewing process. (Though we must remember that raw whiskey is cut with water after the distillation process.) 

One reason I moved to rural Maine was to avoid fluoridated drinking water. I've been drinking from a deep pure well for 28 years. I try to buy my beer from brewers who use non-fluoridated water when I'm not consuming my own.

Most brewers don't say much about their water sources. I have emailed a few brewers to determine the source of their water and if it is fluoridated. Many will answer. You can also look up the locations of breweries and then look up the city and there are easy to find lists of fluoridated towns and cities on line. I suspect some brewers in fluoridated towns may have private wells but that is conjecture. I am very fond of local Maine beers but some of the best are brewed in Portland which has been fluoridating the Sebago Lake water that goes to the city water supply since 1997. I limit my consumption of those beers. The fact is, three quarters of the population of the United States is being subjected to fluoridation in the water sent to their homes. The percentage of fluoridated beer is probably at least that high.

 A list of towns and cities in the United States and their fluoride status can be found at the Anti-Fluoridation Data Base.  Look at your bottle of beer and check where it was brewed.  It that city fluoridated? It is likely your beer is too. Perhaps your brewer has a private water supply. Some do. To be fair I would  send the brewer an email or contact them on their web site and simply ask about their water source. If they do not answer your question it is likely they use public water, and therefore their beer contains fluoride if they are located in a fluoridated town or city.  

Beers brewed with fluoridated water henceforth will be graded F on the Beers Without Fluoride Facebook page which has just been created by myself. 

 It is understood that most water supplies have a small amount of naturally occurring fluoride. Some have more. Adding extra fluoride to public water supplies is a concern to many. This dangerous poison in turn enters food and beer offered to the public. The purpose of my humble Facebook  page is not so much to discuss the dangers or benefits of fluoride. This page is for the people who have made up their minds about it and have elected to avoid it and therefore want this information in order to make an informed decision about their beer consumption. 

If you are careful to drink only bottled water yet you chug down a couple (or more) Bud Lights each and every night brewed in St. Louis  at .6 PPM fluoride what have you achieved? Not only are you drinking a beer brewed with GMO corn (Ugh and Ugh), you are also consuming beer made with fluoridated water.

Some water supplies are high in natural fluoride and most have some. Some people think that natural fluoride in water may not be as harmful as the chemicals added to public water. This may be so and their arguments make some sense but that is a question for another time. 

Vermont has a relatively low fluoride rate of about 57% of the population and there are good brewers there 'though most aren't available out of the region. Magic Hat produces excellent beers and it is usually available in Maine but they brew in one of Vermont's few fluoridated towns, South Burlington. Their Magic Hat Winter Seasonal has logged in at an atrocious .9 PPM fluoride.

This site seems to be tracking Fluoride Content of Various Beers. You will find an extensive (yet incomplete) list of beers and the status of the water they use to brew. 

How can they call beer made with fluoridated water "organic" in good conscience?

Peak Organic Brown Ale (a tasty beer indeed) is brewed by Shipyard in Portland, Maine under contract and it comes in at a rather high level of fluoride (.6 ppm). I have toured the brewery and they are a great beer making firm, yet they use fluoridated water in this supposedly organic brew. Some of the brewers in Portland, Maine  were already in operation in 1997 when the city began fluoridation. I never heard any of them opposing fluoridation at the time.

Similarly, Wolaver's in Vermont produces a  delicious array of so-called organic brews in fluoridated Middlebury.  Their Oatmeal Stout has been measured at a whopping .9 PPM fluoride at ffbeers.com. I contacted Wolaver's on their Facebook page and they admitted they were somewhat at the mercy of  the public water supply. I suggested that they might want to drill their own wells and they replied that they had looked into doing that and would study it again. I hope they do and then they could truly call their beer "organic." With both Wolaver's and Magic Hat with .9 PPM fluoride, it seems that when a Vermont town fluoridates, they really mean business at the water department. Is someone getting a kickback from the fluoride salesman?

You can bet that back in 1776 Sam's tankard did not contain beer made with fluoridated water.

The excellent Sam Adams products are also high in fluoride (.6 ppm) and are brewed in Boston which has a great protected water source in the Quabbin reservoir which is  then ruined with fluoride and excess chlorine (to my nose at least). Sam's gets an "F" as a result.  If I owned a brewery I would only use privately sourced well or spring water.  

Portland, Oregon did vote NO!

This article from the May 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine indicates that people responded in the negative when a local brewer supported fluoridation, claiming it wouldn't affect the taste of the beer. The referendum to fluoridate the excellent water supply of the city was defeated by the people last May.