| Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty August 20, 2013 Egypt Burns, the NSA Is Out of Control, the Economy Stinks… Hey, Look, a Puppy! The Obamas have a new puppy. This changes everything. 
Michele Catalano: "The Obamas got a new distraction today." "You know things have gotten dicey when the White House literally uses the "Look, a puppy!" deflection," scoffs . . . er . . . Liliana Segura, editor at The Nation. Hey, look, we were scoffing skeptically at the soft-focus pop-cultural coverage of the Obamas long before it was cool. Guy Benson: "So re-upping the #ObamaEatsDogs hashtag is sort of a layup, right?" Those Four State Department Employees, Punished for Benghazi, Go Back to Work Soon CNN updates us on those severe, severe consequences for the decision-making at the State Department before the Benghazi attacks: Four State Department employees who were put on administrative leave after last year's attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, will be reassigned inside the department, a senior State Department official told CNN on Tuesday. The four were placed on leave last December by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the September 11 attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The official said none of the people will return to the positions they held before the attack. Here's some of the background: In a letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry Thursday, and first noticed by the blog Diplopundit, 15 members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee asked why officials supposedly ousted from office after an Accountability Review Board report on the attack said they displayed "leadership and management deficiencies" relating to security in Benghazi were instead placed on administrative leave and might possibly return to work. The letter also chides Kerry for the lack of answers a month after he testified before the committee, and five months after the ARB report. According to the Washington Post's Factchecker blog, none of the four officials at State are still in the jobs they held during the attacks, but instead "appear to be in some Kafkaesque bureaucratic limbo" during which they have department badges but no desk to speak of. These employees include Eric J. Boswell, a diplomatic security assistant secretary, Scott P. Bultrowicz, a director of diplomatic security, Charlene R. Lamb, a deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security and Raymond Maxwell, a deputy assistant secretary with responsibility for North Africa . . . Doesn't this punishment sound suspiciously like a paid vacation? The Democrats' Coming Civil War Over Fracking You knew that at some point, the Democrats with constituents who would benefit from the jobs that can be created through fracking -- i.e., blue-collar voters and their representatives -- and the Democrats who see fracking as a chainsaw massacre of Gaia's baby seals would conflict. Democrats have largely papered over these differences, but you can only kick the can down the road so many times. Now that simmering dispute is boiling over . . . in Pennsylvania. Battle lines were drawn in June when the state committee passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on fracking until health and environmental concerns in the state are more clearly addressed. Though the resolution was little more than a position statement, debate over it was intense and emotional. But the 115-81 vote didn't put an end to the debate, and emotions continued to run high among commonwealth Democrats. Two of the seven declared Democratic gubernatorial candidates -- U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz and former Environmental Protection Secretary Katie McGinty -- criticized the moratorium. Even former Gov. Ed Rendell, one of the nation's preeminent Democrats, condemned the resolution as "very ill-advised." Inter-party dissension over the controversial vote continued last month with 19 state House Democrats -- many of whom from the fracking region -- signing a letter to state party Chairman Jim Burn that called the resolution "short sighted." And earlier this month eight Senate Democrats weighed in with their own letter to Burn saying they were "dumfounded" by the resolution and urged him to "re-examine" the issue. Fracking is already a big deal in Pennsylvania, as the neat map at the link demonstrates: 65 operators, 5,982 active wells, as of June 30, 2012. Almost the entire state sits atop the Marcellus Shale formation, which is where all the good stuff is: 
It will probably not surprise you that Marcellus Shale development is creating jobs, and the question of precisely how many jobs is hotly disputed, with development advocates counting the ones created by industry-supply businesses, etc., and the environmental groups defining the job creation as narrowly as possible. One estimate of direct jobs is in the neighborhood of 30,000; "indirect" jobs could be as high as 245,054. "The Marcellus is an important new industry, and there's certainly no question that is has, over the last several years, created employment in Pennsylvania," said Mark Price, labor economist for the Keystone Research Center. "But it remains the fact that employment overall in that sector -- you're talking about something that is less than 0.5 percent of the workforce . . . a tiny portion of all the jobs." Yet industry groups such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition continue to tout the industry's job creation, citing numbers in the millions for new jobs created by shale. "Employment in the entire upstream unconventional oil and gas sector on a direct, indirect and induced basis will support nearly 1.8 million jobs in 2012, 2.5 million jobs in 2015, 3 million jobs in 2020, and nearly 3.5 million jobs in 2035," said Marcellus Shale Coalition spokesman Travis Windle. Of course, there are some vocal environmentalists who want to make sure fracking gets stopped in its tracks: Pennsylvania residents petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to reopen an investigation into water quality in Dimock, after publication of an internal agency analysis that linked gas drilling to methane leaks. Ray Kemble, who lives in the town, and Craig Stevens, who lives nearby, today delivered a petition they said was signed by 60,000 people to EPA employees in Washington. They carried a gallon of brown water they said came from a well used by Kemble. The green site Grist.org reports, "As anti-fracking activism heats up around the country, pro-fracking Dems might find themselves increasingly at odds with their base. As we near 2016, any Democrat who wants to replace Obama might have to start singing a different tune." I, for one, will be rooting for injuries, lasting recriminations, and alliances torn asunder. Cuccinelli and McAuliffe to Square Off on the Topic of Energy Policy Next Thursday I saw this announcement, and got excited about attending . . . and then realized I'm scheduled to appear at the Heritage Foundation's panel on Privacy and Liberty one hour after the event ends. From the debate over offshore drilling, to the future of coal and the opportunities presented by renewable energy, Virginia's next Governor will have a lot of important decisions to make when it comes to energy policy. Before Virginia voters choose their Commonwealth's next leader, it's important that they understand the two candidates' plans for ensuring access to affordable, reliable energy -- the lifeblood of economic growth and opportunity. Join CEA at our upcoming Virginia Energy & Opportunity Forum, and hear directly from both of Virginia's Gubernatorial candidates -- Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Terry McAuliffe) (D) -- as they lay out their respective visions for Virginia's energy future.
George Mason School of Law
Auditorium
3301 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA
So think of this as something to do next Thursday, but only if you're unable to make it to my event! 
Based on past experience, look for Cuccinelli to try to ask McAuliffe some difficult questions . . . ADDENDUM: Courtesy the famous director's Twitter feed, I learn that the David Lynch Signature Cup Coffee is now available in select Southern California Whole Foods. 
NRO Digest — August 20, 2013 Today on National Review Online . . . To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com
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