ThinkFast: May 9, 2008
ThinkFast: May 9, 2008
As gas and crude oil costs jumped to record highs yesterday, USA Today has released a survey showing that these increasing costs are pushing “Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits.” Seventy-one percent say gas prices are a “financial hardship,” up from 47 percent in March 2004.
The American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”
The Senate Democrats unveiled the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008, a bill to address the root causes of high gas prices. Major oil companies “are getting away with murder” and “gouging” consumers as the price of oil continues to soar, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said.
Two months after “the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan,” the military “has quietly canceled the assignment. General Hood, a 33-year Army veteran, “was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”
“Hezbollah fighters seized control of rival pro-government strongholds in Beirut on Friday as gunbattles rocked the Lebanese capital for a third day, propelling the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.” Hezbollah has also forced the shutdown of all media forced the shutdown of all media belonging to the family of parliamentary leader Saad Hariri.
The number of soldiers forced to remain in the Army involuntarily “has risen sharply since the Pentagon extended combat tours last year,” Army officials said yesterday. The program, known as “stop-loss,” is meant to prevent soldiers from leaving the Army “immediately before a combat tour or in the middle of a deployment,” but it is considered by many to be “a backdoor draft.”
“Credit card delinquency rates in the United States are growing as expenses have risen and options for borrowing have narrowed,” according to Moody’s Investors Service. Delinquencies “hit 4.53 percent in February, a four-year high.”
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, is coming under scrutiny for his “ties to the mortgage industry and the Alabama real estate market, and the generous campaign donations he receives from financial services companies.” Critics say that these interests have “distorted his perspective and led him to delay critical legislative remedies.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) pushed a land deal that benefited a longtime supporter “who has raised more than $100,000 for the presumptive Republican nominee.” McCain embraced the land swap in 2003 after a rancher hired lobbyists that included at least three former McCain staffers and “an Arizona insider who was a major McCain donor and is now bundling campaign checks.”
And finally: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is 62 years old, and rumors of him coloring his hair “have abounded for years.” The Politico’s Anne Schroeder now has the proof. (More proof here.)
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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From the Department of Justice to Guantánamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules
Testimony before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties of the House Judiciary Committee May 6, 2008
What does torture have in common with genocide, slavery, and wars of aggression? They are all jus cogens. That’s Latin for “higher law” or “compelling law.” This means that no country can ever pass a law that allows torture. There can be no immunity from criminal liability for violation of a jus cogens prohibition.
The United States has always prohibited torture in our Constitution, laws, executive statements, judicial decisions, and treaties. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, says, “No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for torture.”
The Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws and the President the duty to enforce them. Yet Bush, relying on memos by lawyers including John Yoo, announced the Geneva Conventions did not apply to alleged Taliban and Al Qaeda members. But torture and inhumane treatment are never allowed under our laws.
Yoo twisted the law and redefined torture much more narrowly than the Torture Convention and the Torture Statute. Under Yoo’s definition, you have to nearly kill the person to constitute torture. Yoo wrote that self-defense or necessity could be defenses to war crimes prosecutions, notwithstanding the Torture Convention’s absolute prohibition against torture in all circumstances.
Yoo and other DOJ lawyers were part of a common plan to violate U.S. and international laws outlawing torture. It was reasonably foreseeable their advice would result in great physical or mental harm or death to many detainees. Indeed, more than 100 have died, many from torture. Yoo admitted recently he knew interrogators would take action based on what he advised.
Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, George Tenet, and John Ashcroft met in the White House and micromanaged the torture by approving specific torture techniques such as waterboarding. They are all liable under the War Crimes Act and the Torture Statute, even Bush, he approved it.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/08/8801/
Get the Articles of Impeachment back on the table. The Office of Independent Counsel should appoint a Special Prosecutor to investigate all of the officials and all the lawyers involved. Show the American People our Constitution still means something.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:02 amThe US War on Journalists
Sami al-Haj is a free man today, after having been imprisoned by the U.S. military for more than six years. His crime: journalism.
Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs. The principal target these past seven years has been Al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network based in Doha, Qatar.
In November 2001, despite the fact that Al-Jazeera had given the U.S. military the coordinates of its office in Kabul, U.S. warplanes bombed Al-Jazeera’s bureau there, destroying it. An Al-Jazeera reporter covering the George Bush-Vladimir Putin summit in Crawford, Texas, in the same month was detained by the FBI because his credit card was “linked to Afghanistan.” In spring 2003, the U.S. dropped four bombs on the Sheraton hotel in Basra, Iraq, where Al-Jazeera correspondents-the only journalists reporting from that city-were the lone guests. Another Al-Jazeera staffer showed his ID to a U.S. Marine at a Baghdad checkpoint, only to have his car fired upon by the Marines. He was unhurt. “The United States said they were doing this to rout out terrorism. Who is engaged in terrorism now?”
Then there is the story of Sami al-Haj. A cameraman for Al-Jazeera, he was reporting on the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. On Dec. 15, 2001, while in a Pakistani town near the Afghanistan border, Haj was arrested, then imprisoned in Afghanistan. Six months later, shackled and gagged, he was flown to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Haj was held there for close to six years, repeatedly interrogated and never charged with any crime, never tried in a court.
Sami al-Haj said “Conditions in Guantanamo are very, very bad, and they get worse by the day. Our human condition, our human dignity was violated, and the American administration went beyond all human values, all moral values, all religious values. In Guantanamo, you have animals that are called iguanas, rats that are treated with more humanity.”
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 10 journalists have been held for extended periods by the U.S. military and then released without charge. Just weeks ago in Iraq, the U.S. military released Pulitzer Prize-winning Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein after holding him without charge for two years. The military had once accused Hussein of being a “terrorist media operative who infiltrated the AP.”
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/08/8817/
177 journalists and media workers have been killed in Iraq since 2003. Under the Bush Administration if you are reporting the truth; you may be shot or tortured for trying.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:05 amNeocons Admit that “War On Terror” Is a Hoax
Key war on terror architect Douglas Feith has now confirmed Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Wesley Clark in admitting that the so-called War on Terror is a hoax.
In fact, starting right after 9/11 — at the latest — the goal has always been to create “regime change” and instability in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Lebanon so as to protect Israel. And the goal was never really to destroy Al Qaeda.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:08 am
Oil Trades Near Record on Insufficient Gasoline Output Concern
U.S. refineries operated at 85 percent last week, down from 89 percent a year earlier, the Energy Department said yesterday. Worker productivity in the world’s biggest energy consumer climbed at a higher rate in the first quarter than the previous three months, the Labor Department said yesterday. Oil jumped to a record $123.93 a barrel yesterday.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a2rhGw9Zaxmk
There biggest fear is that we are going to have a shortage this summer during peak demand period.
Clinton’s Open Letter To Obama On MI and FL
The typo-ridden dashed-off letter seems at least in part a response to Obama’s touring Capitol Hill today in the wake of what may turn out to be Tuesday’s decisive Democratic primary contests in North Carolina and Indiana. The enthusiastic response he garnered from House Democrats, who CNN reported “surrounded” the senator when he arrived, suggested that many of the Congressional superdelegates believe a turning point has arrived and that at last a sure party nominee for president was moving among them.
Of course not all Clinton supporters agree with the campaign’s logic. Mame Reiley, a pro-Clinton superdelegate and a member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, for example, says she is inclined to seat the Florida delegation as is, due to the full slate of candidates there, but, she says, “it’s a whole different ballgame with Michigan,” where Hillary’s main rivals followed the rules and withdrew their names from the ballot. “My decision there,” Reiley said, “might make Hillary not happy with me.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/m.s.-bellows/clintons-open-letter-to-o_b_100861.html
I wish the superdelegates would just stop sitting on the sidelines and endorse a candidate. Put an end to all this Hillary madness already, she is ruining her credibility on a daily basis.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:13 amInsane fiscal policy both drives the dollar lower and fuels inflation which in turn provides disincentives to national household savings which means it makes sense for Americans to borrow and repay with cheaper dollars which means that when corporations or government wants money they get it from abroad. IOW, BushCo’s policies have made necessary the selling of America piecemeal to overseas savers. Heckuva job!
May 9th, 2008 at 9:14 amI think it’s wonderful that Americans are cutting back on their driving — this yields the benefit of less fossil fuels being used, less greenhouse gases emitted, and less pollution.
However, the high gas prices are still a hardship for many — those who live in suburbia because they can’t afford to live in the city, and depend on the automobile to get around. Furthermore, because people are scattered around, carpooling is difficult (although people are certainly trying).
Because of high gas prices, I have started monitoring my weekly mileage in an attempt to keep it as low as possible. My round-trip daily commute is 16.4 miles, which I have to drive 5 times a week, or 82 miles. My goal is to keep my mileage as close to 82 miles per week as I can. Therefore, I keep as many errands as I can on my commute route — grocery store, drug store, Blockbuster, dry cleaner, gas station, etc. Last week, my mileage was 104, or 22 miles extra. I’m hopeful that this week will be even lower.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:16 amNo recession = massive foreclosures; dependency on credit cards for daily living expenses; spreading defaults; businesses scrambling for, well, business; students finding it tougher to get loans.
We’re in a comfy period of slow growth, people. And the housing market now has a wonderful inventory, great selections to choose from — at the expense of the Joneses kicked out on on the street.
Why do neocons hate the American family?
Why do neocons have a crooked definition of a healthy economy?
Why do neocons hate America?
May 9th, 2008 at 9:16 amThe New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies
Author Eric Schlosser editorializes about “the growing threat to civil liberties posed by corporate spying,” citing Burger King Corporation’s spying on the Student/Farmworker Alliance and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, through Cara Schaffer and her private security firm, Diplomatic Tactical Services. “The Bill of Rights was adopted to protect Americans from the abusive power of their government. I’ve come to believe that we now need a similar set of restrictions to defend against irresponsible corporate power. Today companies like Wal-Mart and ExxonMobil have annual revenues larger than the entire budgets of some states, and they employ former agents from the F.B.I., the C.I.A. and the Secret Service to do security work,” Schlosser writes. “John Chidsey, the chief executive of Burger King, knew about the use of Diplomatic Tactical Services. Mr. Chidsey should get a chance to raise his right hand and tell members of Congress why he thinks this sort of behavior is acceptable.” Meanwhile, Burger King says it is “investigating online postings made by one of its vice presidents vilifying the Coalition of Immokalee Workers,” reports the Fort Myers News-Press.
Even Burger King isn’t safe anymore… What next!!
10 High-Tech Health Breakthroughs Coming Soon to Your Body
Health care has come a long way since whole-body bloodletting. But medicine of the future will make even today’s broad-based therapies obsolete. Breakthroughs such as cancer-hunting nanoparticles, virus-busting lasers and featherweight heart monitors have begun to usher in a new era of targeted treatment—one in which drugs go directly where they’re needed, leaving healthy body tissues intact, and the slightest sign of illness is detected in real time.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health_medicine/4262611.html
The one breakthrough is called the “Superbug Zapper”. Currently we are using antivirals and antibiotics against superbugs like HIV and staph, with serious side effects. They are using a laser on the protein coat of the bacteria or virus thus weakening the outer shell. Preliminary experiments show that they can destroy the HIV virus. Without damaging your pancreas and liver with antivirals; which are currently being used. These experiments are being conducted at Arizona State.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:17 amHow is that not race-baiting?
This is why Clinton needs to drop out now. When the Democratic candidate starts race baiting, the Democrats have a real problem. It’s going to be bad enough with taking this $hit from the Republicans, we don’t need to take it from someone in our own party. And, she is poisoning the well with this kind of talk. When she is finally dragged from the room kicking and screaming, her supporters are going to go with her.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:20 amThe American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”
_______________________________________________
The industry should understand that it would do far more for their public relations if they would take their multi-million dollars and decrease their profit margin so we can afford their product. We aren’t going to be amused with their spending obscene amounts of money to point the finger of blame at somebody else.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:23 amfreedom…thanks for your comment posts.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:24 amFreedom Rebel Says:
Clinton’s Open Letter To Obama On MI and FL
What a piece of work this woman is. She wants it all, even if she has to cheat to get it. A negotiated settlement on MI was proposed giving HillaryRove 55% and Obama 45%. SHE TURNED IT DOWN! She thinks she should get all the delegates and popular vote for MI and Obama should get none. How any HillaryRove supporters can support that kind of logic is beyond me.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:24 amObama plans to declare victory May 20
Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
LINK
May 9th, 2008 at 9:24 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
——————————————————————————–
Clinton: But whites like me!
**Just when a lot of us decided to go ahead and leave on her own terms, with a little grace. HA! She will pull out every dirty trick in the book to steal this election.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:27 amMiss Molly,
That’s a good strategic plan you have there.
While I don’t expect gas prices to be back down to where they were in 2000 or 2002 or 2003, I believe they should hover around a price where it doesn’t break the pocket book, especially of farmers, electricity providers, truckers, you name it, but encourages more people to go green — keeping the SUV sales lower, unplugging the many gadgets around the home, turning off the lights, and keeping a strategic plan to save gasoline during normal routes. I think too many people hoard energy simply because they can afford it, without regard to the environment, until they simply cannot. That needs to change.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:28 amRe Bilbo at #9
Or, she’ll start to drive away her supporters, at least the ones who aren’t voting for her becuase she’s pasty white while Barak is a soft mocha.
ps number 9 number 9 number 9
May 9th, 2008 at 9:29 amJust when you think things can’t get any worse, they do. This will drive the already bad numbers on right direction/wrong direction even deeper into wrong direction territory. Lebanon is falling apart, Sadr City is under a military seige and Pakistan is unraveling. Way to go cowboy George.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:30 am#7 McWars Says:
Why do neocons have a crooked definition of a healthy economy?
Why do neocons hate America?
It boils down to greed. Unfortunately they put money over people. How much is a human life worth? They contaminate our water supply and cause cancer in whole communities. It is easier to not care and make more money than to be responsible and contribute back to society.
They have all lined their pockets with more money than they can spend in one lifetime. The Government and Big Corporations have proven we are expendable in their minds. It is easier to pay a lawsuit or a fine.
Our founding fathers if alive today, would hang their heads in shame for what has become of our once great country. Our salvation is in the many people and activists how will never stop fighting til our country is back on the right track.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:34 amSaudi Arabia is No. 1 (with total oil production of 10.66 million barrels a day).
Russia is No. 2 (with 9.67 million barrels).
The United States is No. 3 (with 8.49 million barrels).
Ironically, many people who minimize American domestic oil production exaggerate the global influence of Big Oil – especially of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, the big U.S. companies. Exxon, the largest, is the world’s biggest non-government company in the energy industry – yet it produces only 3 per cent of the world’s oil.
TV newscasts, radio talk shows and the populist press. The Virginia-based Business and Media Institute notes that, in the past year, the NBC, CBS and ABC networks broadcast 43 reports on Big Oil profits and just four on OPEC profits – although Big Oil earns profits in the tens of billions and OPEC in the hundreds of billions.
The big myth about Big Oil
May 9th, 2008 at 9:37 amHere in Virginia, my power company is proposing an 18% rate increase to the state regulatory commission for approval. Citing soaring fuel prices, they want to bring rates more in line with the national average for an electricity bill ($113), to about $107. The cost per 1000 kwh would increase, if the plan is approved, to just over $90.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:37 am#11 5th Estate Says:
freedom…thanks for your comment posts.
Good Morning!! Your welcome!!
May 9th, 2008 at 9:38 amAmen to that, Freedom Rebel, x10.
May 9th, 2008 at 9:41 amBut I see handout at #19 is apparently developing a new strawman argument–well done!
May 9th, 2008 at 9:57 amDon’t they all color their hair? Far be it from me to defend Matthews, but I have noticed that bow to vanity in many.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:02 amABC is reporting that Obama has surpassed Clinton in superdelgates.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:04 amwhat did we miss?
you HAVE GOT to SEE THIS video
Teen Questions McCain at Town Hall meeting. http://www.myfoxdetroit.com
McCain held a town hall meeting at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan yesterday. the teen is in my activist group. http://www.bluenovember.org
May 9th, 2008 at 10:05 amyesterday, surfing aroung the tubes, i was having major troubles at C&L…
also at TP, but not as bad… considering C&L is heavy with videos, it’s expected…
but it was much worse that usual and many others were commenting also…
this is the comment i posted, along with the reply:
loading and refreshing is quite a challenge today…
keep getting “ERROR” pages… besides the snail’s pace…
C&L – check out the voter registration of your tech people!
just sayin’…
[We’ve been getting hacked- or at least someone’s trying to hack us- pretty hard of late. It’s been a giant pain in the butt for a while now. Hope you can be patient and ride it out with us! Site Monitor]
it’s only just begun…
May 9th, 2008 at 10:08 am‘Green’ politicians should quit griping about gas prices
In B.C., that province’s new carbon tax covers all fossil fuels, and will indeed mean higher gas prices. As of July 1, B.C.’s carbon tax will add 2.41 cents to a litre of gasoline, rising to 7.24 cents in 2012.
So clearly the federal Liberals plan to put us on a path toward higher costs for fossil fuels, specifically gasoline
Paul Begala: “We can’t win with “eggheads and African-Americans”
US oil companies have very little impact on current oil prices and their influence is waning by energy militant countries that own the reserves.
It may surprise almost all to realize that, having to buy oil from militant nations with little control over them, US Big Oil and the consumers are in much closer predicament than taxing and regulating government or elitist, touchy feely politicians and environmentalists.
Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama have bought the man-made origin and have adopted the slogan of 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (the main greenhouse gas produced from burning fossil fuels) by 2050. John McCain is not far behind. If they succeed they will bring a growing United States to the level of the lowest 5 percentile of the world’s poorest countries
Oil at $120: Here’s Why
May 9th, 2008 at 10:08 amObama Now Takes The Lead in Superdelegates Too
ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: For the first time this campaign season, Barack Obama has surpassed Hillary Clinton’s support among superdelegates, according to the ABC News delegate estimate.
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., picked up two superdelegates this morning giving him a new metric to tout in addition to his current commanding leads in pledged delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised.
Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., switched his endorsement from Clinton to Obama and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., endorsed Obama. DeFazio was previously uncommitted.
Clinton’s advantage among superdelegates was once massive and has been dwindling steadily since Super Tuesday, when she was ahead by over 60 superdelegates.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/obama-now-takes.html
Hot off the presses… This is going to be a great day!!
May 9th, 2008 at 10:10 amSen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, is coming under scrutiny for his “ties to the mortgage industry and the Alabama real estate market, and the generous campaign donations he receives from financial services companies.” Critics say that these interests have “distorted his perspective and led him to delay critical legislative remedies.”
Every illegal thing done and every last thing that has gone wrong in the last 8 years has the stinky finger of a corrupt republican lawmaker in it. The rest of America needs to wake up before it’s too late.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:11 amAnd finally: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is 62 years old, and rumors of him coloring his hair “have abounded for years.” The Politico’s Anne Schroeder now has the proof.
TP: Are you fu(king kidding me? This is newsworthy? What’s the matter, no panty-less movie stars getting kidnapped by aliens this week?
May 9th, 2008 at 10:14 amThe Washington Independent has a good article on why the price for gas is so high … it’s the value of the dollar, stupid.
With so many greenbacks floating in overseas markets, banks and pockets, they’re a dime a dozen. And when someone holding them has to make a purchase, they need a lot of them to exchange for the currency needed… that’s called inflation.
As one OPEC minister said, for every 1% the dollar declines, you can add $4 to a barrel of oil. Since the value of the dollar has dropped 16% during the B$h administration, that means there’s an extra $64 tacked on to that $125 price; hence it really only costs $60 for the barrel … the $64 difference is inflation due to a weak dollar.
The only way to shore up the dollar would be to buy back all those greenbacks overseas, thus creating a shortage, thereby strengthening it. Unfortunately, that will take money which the US is in short supply of … the $3 billion surplus is now a $3 billion deficit now. So the only way to create the cash necessary to repurchase greenbacks would be to increase taxes. But with so many people out of work, or barely making ends meet, or working in a position at reduced wages/hours, that’s not going to happen.
So be happy sitting between that rock and hard place Bu$h and the republicans have put the American public in … we getting what we deserve.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:14 amBig Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”
They do a great job of avoiding the real issue. Who cares if it is their “fault?” It is not whether big oil is responsible for the high prices. It is their obscene profits from high prices while working people suffer from them.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:16 amUntil this great country realizes that 9/11 was the cover-up of the century:
our reckless foreign policy will continue, our men and women will continue to die in 2 illegal wars, our economy will continue to tank, our infrastructure will continue to crumble, our tax dollars will continue to pay for the private contractors in Iraq, gas prices will keep soaring, our resources here in America will not be available for another hurricane, earthquake because:
WE ARE FIGHTING A PHONY WAR ON TERROR.
The real terrorists hijacked this country 8 years ago.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:16 ammatthew’s hair job is funny…
here i’m going blonder to graduate and acclimate to the white i am becoming…
at least he didn’t go brunette!
May 9th, 2008 at 10:18 amfreedon rebel says:
[...] Michigan,” where Hillary’s main rivals followed the rules and withdrew their names from the ballot. [...]
yesterday, on ed schultz?, i heard, oh! who? (clinton surrogate), say that there was NO RULE that any candidate had to remove their name from the ballot…
this was news to me, and i was surprised he (?) didn’t follow-up on that…
anyone know of this?
May 9th, 2008 at 10:23 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
Because of high gas prices, I have started monitoring my weekly mileage in an attempt to keep it as low as possible. My round-trip daily commute is 16.4 miles, which I have to drive 5 times a week, or 82 miles. My goal is to keep my mileage as close to 82 miles per week as I can. Therefore, I keep as many errands as I can on my commute route — grocery store, drug store, Blockbuster, dry cleaner, gas station, etc. Last week, my mileage was 104, or 22 miles extra. I’m hopeful that this week will be even lower.
That is fantastic Molly. I work from home and I put in more miles per week than you do.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:27 amMy wife is a social worker for a non-profit and uses her vehicle all day long, 5 days per week. The agency still pays the same mileage rate now as it did when gas was 2 bucks per gallon. Today it’s selling for $3.79/gal in Cincinnati. Her gas bill is now $400+/month. It won’t be long she’ll be ahead of the game if she quits.
Americans are driving less.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:27 amUh oh! That is going to eat into the oil company profits.
We better hurry up and subsidize them.
Welcome to
SAUDI AMERICA
Our president, with a deep oil relationship with the Saudis, is no less than ecstatic about skyrocketing oil prices. His administration is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about it, while Bush and his friends vacuum money out of our pockets. Bush is bleeding our country dry and doesn’t care. Those who still approve of our Dear Leader should try to see how he compares to your own values. Irresponsible, Incompetent, Corrupt, Greedy, Deceptive, Divisive, Criminal. His allegiance to a foreign country also makes him Unpatriotic.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:29 amFreedom Rebel Says:
The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies
Even Burger King isn’t safe anymore… What next!!
Add Burger Barf to the boycott list.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:29 amanyone know of this?
Yea, I heard that. She was braying that NOBODY from the DNC told them to remove their names, yet they all knew the elections were NOT GOING TO COUNT, so they withdrew – except Hillary.
Hillary and her supporters are as desperate as crack whores looking for their next fi – and just as disgusting.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:34 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
Clinton: But whites like me!
How is that not race-baiting?
When the African-Americans were voting Clinton, and Bill was the first “black president” they were singing a different tune. Now that, quite logically, blacks are supporting the man who will soon be the real first black president, the Clintons are showing the whole thing was merely political expediency. Suddenly, they are sounding like bitter bigots.
May 9th, 2008 at 10:34 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
Clinton: But whites like me!
“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
Wow! She morphs more and more into a Republican every day, don’t she???
(side note)
May 9th, 2008 at 10:45 amSorry if I’m a little apprehensive today. My normal weekday routine includes working out at the gym at 5:00am, and afterwards, in the steam room, have spiritual reflection, prayer, and confession as my body rids itself of toxins.
Well, this morning, because of the extra hours I’ve worked, I decided to sleep in, and skip the routine, but consequently, because of my non confession, I’m afraid a category 5 hurricane may just hit Southwest Michigan.
My bad!
#41 Exit Stage Left Says:
Freedom Rebel Says:
The New Whopper: Burger with a Side of Spies
Even Burger King isn’t safe anymore… What next!!
Add Burger Barf to the boycott list.
Have you seen their new commercials? They have a next gen computer Burger King–gave me the creeps!! (no warm and fuzzy feelings there)
Yes, I did add them to my boycott list. They have gone way too far on this one..
May 9th, 2008 at 11:16 amThe Designation of Maj Gen Hood to Pakistan, in light of his previous Guantanamo prison assignment, once again clearly demonstrates this administration’s total lack of any diplomatic sensitivity–there must be a genetic deficiency!
May 9th, 2008 at 11:22 amIt’s time to end stop-loss and bring back the draft (no deferments–no draft boards comprised of the wealthy or the politicians) with all males and females of draft age eligible.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:24 amDoc Rock Says:
The Designation of Maj Gen Hood to Pakistan, in light of his previous Guantanamo prison assignment, once again clearly demonstrates this administration’s total lack of any diplomatic sensitivity–there must be a genetic deficiency!
He may be the perfect candidate if reigning in the masses with the fear of torture is the goal.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:25 amLooks like Lebanon is going to go the way of Gaza. This is what Sadr would like to see happen in Iraq, too.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:27 amMeh… She kind of unintentionally makes a point. Our country is hanging over the precipice and the blue team is taking a tremendous gamble with these ‘historic’ novelty candidates.
While Clinton is DEAD WRONG, I’m sure there will be some backwards mouth breathers that will come out to vote for the first time if Obama gets the Nom out of nothing more than gut racism. It’s an easier wedge than flag burning or gay marriage.
We had a HUGE field of qualified candidates. Why did we get stuck with the two most conservative vanilla options?
May 9th, 2008 at 11:33 amI’ve been reading the comments. While i have nothing of any real value to add today (nothing unusual about that i suppose!), might i just add that i believe Hilary Rodham Clinton will be John McCain’s running mate in the upcoming election. I think Obama will go with Joe Biden and we’ll have one heck of a Presidential race on our hands.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:35 amOil futures touch an all-time high above $126
MarketWatch – 55 minutes ago
By Myra P. Saefong & Polya Lesova, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Crude-oil futures climbed past $126 a barrel Friday, poised to score a weekly gain of more than 7% with strong demand for diesel fuel and concerns about global crude supplies …
Oil Climbs Above $126 to Record as Dollar Weakens Against Euro Bloomberg
Gas jumps above $3.67, oil passes $126 on Venezuela concerns The Associated Press
Forbes – Washington Post – International Herald Tribune – MarketWatch
all 1,177 news articles »
there’s that venezuelan boogey man again…
and the speculators…
May 9th, 2008 at 12:02 pm#51 robertoroberto Says:
I’ve been reading the comments. While i have nothing of any real value to add today (nothing unusual about that i suppose!), might i just add that i believe Hilary Rodham Clinton will be John McCain’s running mate in the upcoming election. I think Obama will go with Joe Biden and we’ll have one heck of a Presidential race on our hands.
I beg to differ with you. You do add value.
In the case of Obama, I’m hoping he will pick Kucinich or Elizabeth Edwards. I completely agree with you on John McCain that is a perfect match, considering how she has handled everything in the last three months. Neither one has a shred of credibility left.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:07 pmKeltoi Says:
Looks like Lebanon is going to go the way of Gaza. This is what Sadr would like to see happen in Iraq, too.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I’d like to see some proof of that allegation, please.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:15 pmZooey Says:
——————————————————————————–
Keltoi Says:
Looks like Lebanon is going to go the way of Gaza. This is what Sadr would like to see happen in Iraq, too.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I’d like to see some proof of that allegation, please.
The proof is his failed insurrection is Basra a month or more ago. It was a power grab. It would have worked, too, were it not for US and British Airpower backing up the IDF.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pmWhat is happening in Burma is beyond heartbreaking. The monsters in charge of the Junta are using the cyclone and its aftermath to do their work for them.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90I5P2G0&show_article=1
It is situations like this that make me question the meaning of the term “sovereign nation”. They are going to allow a Rwanda style genocide to occur simply by forbidding the outside world from helping their people. Sickening and infuriating.
Thank God I was born in the US.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:41 pmKeltoi Says:
The proof is his failed insurrection is Basra a month or more ago. It was a power grab. It would have worked, too, were it not for US and British Airpower backing up the IDF.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
That’s your opinion, not proof.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pmZooey Says:
That’s your opinion, not proof.
Cripes, Zooey…okay, I’ll bet he sent the Mahdi Army into the streets armed to the teeth with no political objective at all. He certainly has no interest in power. I’ll bet Hezbollah doesn’t either.
Sheesh.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pmKeltoi Says:
What is happening in Burma is beyond heartbreaking. The monsters in charge of the Junta are using the cyclone and its aftermath to do their work for them.
It is situations like this that make me question the meaning of the term “sovereign nation”. They are going to allow a Rwanda style genocide to occur simply by forbidding the outside world from helping their people. Sickening and infuriating.
The stuff of GWB’s Katrina wet dreams. I agree with you on this, it’s heartbreaking and sickening. My youngest is inconsolable over the Burma situation.
Thank God I was born in the US.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Being a non-Christian, you should amend that to “Thank an accident of birth I was born in the US.” ;)
May 9th, 2008 at 12:50 pmKeltoi Says:
Zooey Says:
That’s your opinion, not proof.
Cripes, Zooey…okay, I’ll bet he sent the Mahdi Army into the streets armed to the teeth with no political objective at all. He certainly has no interest in power. I’ll bet Hezbollah doesn’t either.
Sheesh.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Hey, I’m not saying Sadr is a wonderful guy and that he has no political motivations, but really, you are stating an opinion here.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pmZooey Says:
Being a non-Christian, you should amend that to “Thank an accident of birth I was born in the US.” ;)
Praise the Powerful and Beneficient Goddess Fors Fortuna I was born in the US.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:52 pmZooey Says:
Hey, I’m not saying Sadr is a wonderful guy and that he has no political motivations, but really, you are stating an opinion here.
My point is/was, Hezbollah, Hamas, Sadr…they are all after the same thing and are damn good at using force to get it. Yes, that is my opinion, but an inability to empirically prove something to be a fact should not cause paralysis of thought.
Could you see us helping out the democratically elected government of Lebanon turn back Hezbollah with airpower?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:56 pmKeltoi Says:
What is happening in Burma is beyond heartbreaking. The monsters in charge of the Junta are using the cyclone and its aftermath to do their work for them.
It is situations like this that make me question the meaning of the term “sovereign nation”. They are going to allow a Rwanda style genocide to occur simply by forbidding the outside world from helping their people. Sickening and infuriating.
Thank God I was born in the US.
This is hilarious. I guess this guy never heard of Katrina or New Oleans, and what the republican junta allowed to happen there.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:06 pmnot to mention the support and aid from other countries
May 9th, 2008 at 1:26 pmthat bushco turned away…
katy Says:
not to mention the support and aid from other countries
that bushco turned away…
Indeed…Sounds more like a page out of Bush’s shock doctrine.
May 9th, 2008 at 1:33 pmExit Stage Left Says:
——————————————————————————–
Keltoi Says:
What is happening in Burma is beyond heartbreaking. The monsters in charge of the Junta are using the cyclone and its aftermath to do their work for them.
It is situations like this that make me question the meaning of the term “sovereign nation”. They are going to allow a Rwanda style genocide to occur simply by forbidding the outside world from helping their people. Sickening and infuriating.
Thank God I was born in the US.
This is hilarious. I guess this guy never heard of Katrina or New Oleans, and what the republican junta allowed to happen there.
katy Says: not to mention the support and aid from other countries
that bushco turned away…
OH GET FREAKIN REAL!!!
This is the MOST Assinine thing I have read on this Blog since someone suggested we can’t know for sure that Al-Qaeda tells lies.
Can you dopes grasp that half a million people are likely to die because the government of Burma is deliberately preventing assistance from reaching the victims? That is twice the entire population of New Orleans and you two dare to compare the two?
Outrageous.
See ya TP, have a good weekend.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:28 pmsing: hey! look us over!
Russia puts tanks and missiles back in Red Square parade
May 9th, 2008 at 2:41 pmThe Associated Press – 1 hour ago
MOSCOW (AP) – Russia showcased its military might and youthful new president to the world Friday, as heavy tanks and missile launchers rumbled across Red Square in a Victory Day parade for the first time since the Soviet era.
Video: Russia parades its military might AlJazeeraEnglish
Russia Holds First Red Square Military Parade Since Soviet Collapse Voice of America
Times Online – Washington Post – Hindu – Monsters and Critics.com
all 630 news articles »
Keltoi Says:
What is happening in Burma is beyond heartbreaking. The monsters in charge of the Junta are using the cyclone and its aftermath to do their work for them.
It is situations like this that make me question the meaning of the term “sovereign nation”. They are going to allow a Rwanda style genocide to occur simply by forbidding the outside world from helping their people. Sickening and infuriating.
Thank God I was born in the US.
Why? So you can bask in American exceptionalism? Except when the cards were down, Bush allowed NO. to drown because it would change the city’s demographic makeup from a democrat stonghold if the folks were forced to vacate. The only difference is in degree, so get off the moral high horse.
May 9th, 2008 at 2:46 pmThe problem that some fail to grasp is not that Juntas or terrorist groups exist. Yes, currently that’s the issue we’re dealing with, but without the policies first put in place by organizations such as the UN, the EU, countries like the US, these people would not be under sanctions that allow such groups to come to power. In Burma for example, had they not been under such stricts sanctions, once could argue that they would have had the equipment neccesary, like Cambodia does, like Vietnam does, like Singapore does, (all through foreign investment) to avert such crises from becoming such a humanitarian nightmare. It is through policies that action groups are formed, these action groups sometimes go on to become terrorists, dictators etc. One could argue the definition of terrorist all day long. Hezb’allah and Hamas have become idols to many young people growing up in Palestine and Lebanon because of the policies put in place by the International community that has alienated and vilified the respective populous of both countries. If you give someone a cause to fight, they will find someone to back them. Change the policies, change the hearts and minds.
May 9th, 2008 at 3:18 pmThe American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”
I suspect they commissioned a poll of how well their PR propaganda was doing, because they called me a couple of days ago, and were asking all kinds of questions about their “talking points”. I suspect they might think their money’s not being spent that well, if they tabulate my responses (maybe I should have lied and told them their message was getting across; lead them down the wrong path, so to speak).
Cheers,
May 9th, 2008 at 3:25 pm