ThinkFast: August 7, 2008
ThinkFast: August 7, 2008
House Republicans plan to continue their political stunts on oil drilling “for at least the next two weeks — right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver” on Aug. 25. The memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
Officials asserted yesterday said they had evidence that “would have convicted” former government scientist Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, stating that he was the “sole custodian” of the unique anthrax strain. Glenn Greenwald has more.
Across the country, “utility shut-offs for customers behind on their energy bills are increasing…reaching 50% or more in some hard-hit areas.” The increase is the result of an “economic double whammy of high gasoline prices and rising utility bills” in a “sagging economy.”
The budget deficit for fiscal year 2008 will be “around $400 billion,” according to a new Congressional Budget Office estimate. CBO’s prediction is “slightly higher than the White House’s deficit estimate of $389 billion,” both of which “approach the record-breaking deficit suffered in fiscal 2004 of $412.7 billion.” Last month, the White House predicted the deficit could reach nearly $490 billion in fiscal year 2009.
On the trail today: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) plans to return to Ohio with a town hall meeting in the city of Lima. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) campaigns in Minneapolis before traveling to Chicago.
McCain’s “shifting rhetoric” on whether or not he’d raise payroll taxes to fund Social Security “has entangled even some surrogates.” But Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he “didn’t go nuts the way some other conservatives did” over McCain’s confusion because “he’s been reassured by the senator’s aides.”
As Kenya and Tanzania marked the 10th anniversary today of deadly bombings at the countries’ U.S. embassies, “police conducted a manhunt for the al-Qaida suspect believed to have masterminded the attacks.”
Professor Bob Watson, one of the British government’s top scientific advisers, has said “the UK should take active steps to prepare for dangerous climate change of perhaps 4C.” While the “EU is committed to limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do not rise more than 2C,” a “4C temperature rise would have a catastrophic impact.”
The National Center for Atmospheric Research has shut down a program to help poor countries deal with the calamitous effects of climate change, such as droughts and floods. The shut down “resulted from the shrinking of federal science budgets,” though the program’s annual budget totaled only $500,000.
According to new federal statistics released yesterday, “the average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade.” Dr. Stephen Pitts, lead author of the CDC report, said “there are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs.”
And finally: In a new interview with Glamour magazine, Meghan McCain opens up about her difficulties dating: “I go on dates and guys are like, ‘Oh, you really look like John,’ and I’m like, ‘As I get older, I’ll look more like him. [Laughs.] You could actually be dating John McCain.’”
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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strong>A Preview of Tomorrow’s Primary in Memphis
Tennessee holds its primary tomorrow and all eyes are on Memphis, where progressive freshman Steve Cohen, who is white and Jewish, is being challenged by a vicious anti-Semitic, racist pawn of ex-Congressman Harold Ford. It’s been a very ugly race– and the ugliness is all on one side, Nikki Tinker’s. Steve Cohen was first elected in 2006 with the help of Blue America and we have enthusiastically endorsed him again. Cohen has been a real leader for working families and he is the only progressive congressman from Tennessee. Tinker is a complete corporate shill and far more conservative across a wide array of issues. One of the most corrupt members of the Democratic Party, Gregory Meeks (NY) has been supporting Tinker, as has Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio). More progressive and respectable members of the Congressional Black Caucus like John Conyers and Jesse Jackson, Jr. have been campaigning for Cohen.
http://firedoglake.com/2008/08/06/yesterdays-primaries-and-a-preview-for-tomorrows-primary-in-memphis/
Nikki Tinker’s democratic campaign is so racist that she was on Keith’s Worst Person in the World last night. Here is what Keith had to say about her nasty campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrw7ZBo256g
What made her campaign so ugly is Nikki ran ads with: “Rep. Steve Cohen, a white congressman from a mostly black district, is linked to images of the Ku Klux Klan in a TV ad for his top African-American opponent in Thursday’s Democratic primary.” The ad for Nikki Tinker juxtaposes pictures of Cohen, a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and a hooded Klansman while asking, “Who is the real Steve Cohen?” Cohen is Jewish and last time I check the KKK hates all Jewish people. Cohen has a long record of being a civil rights supporter. Here is one of the campaign ads Nikki Tinker ran against Cohen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYkhodGIEg8
Also, her advertisements upset Emily’s List that helped support her. The following statement was issued by Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY’s List, in response to recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign:
“We were shocked to see the recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign. We believe the ads are offensive and divisive. EMILY’s List does not condone or support these types of attacks.”
For anyone that has never heard of Emily’s List here is their mission. EMILY’s List members are dedicated to building a progressive America by electing pro-choice Democratic women to office. We believe in the power of women as candidates, as contributors, as campaign professionals, and as voters to bring about great change in our country. Our immediate focus is to win elections to turn back the Bush Republicans and their right-wing agenda. At the same time, we are making a long-term investment in women to develop their political skills and cultivate resources so that we can bring more women into politics and elected office. (Obviously they need a better vetting process.)
August 7th, 2008 at 9:01 amstrong>Who Here Thinks We Have the Right to Vote?
Think Again. Jesse Jackson, Jr. Continues His Fight for a Constitutional Amendment…
For some reason our wild and crazy wig-wearing Founding Fathers didn’t see the need to build the right to vote into the Constitution. Instead, they decided to leave it up to the individual States to determine who, where, when, and how we vote. Oh sure, some voting rights have been amended into the Constitution in the form of anti-discrimination prohibitions (15th, 19th, and 26th), but the fundamental and very human right of the franchise is nowhere to be found.
Turns out that while election integrity activists have been busy fighting against systemic disenfranchisement, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., has been introducing House Joint Resolution 28 (H.J. Res. 28) — legislation calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution granting everyone the affirmative right to vote — in every Congress since 2001, noting that “It’s time to scrap the states’ rights-based system we have now, and place the right to vote alongside the constitutionally-protected right to free speech.”
Today, Rep. Jackson furthered his cause by releasing a statement to the press citing a new report by the Advancement Project (which “details a dizzying array of Election Day meltdowns), as well as the documentary Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections (which offers “evidence of how voting machines themselves can create problems”). Both the report and the film, he says…
…offer warnings about the fragile state of our electoral system. They support what I’ve been saying for years: Going to the polls — which they’re doing today in states like Michigan and Tennessee — does NOT mean you have the right to vote.”
The most important part of the report, besides identifying concrete strategies for ultimately achieving the right to vote, is the very accurate observation that our current system contracts, rather than expands, the franchise. Disenfranchisement is not anathema to the system – it’s part of it.
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6249#more-6249
This would definitely help fix some of the problems we have had. That is especially true of the major election fraud that was perpetrated in Ohio and Florida; which caused the theft of the last two Presidential Elections.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:02 amPakistan coalition to pursue Musharraf impeachment
(CNN) — In a move hailed as “good news for democracy,” the head of Pakistan’s ruling coalition announced Thursday that the coalition will pursue impeachment against President Pervez Musharraf.
LINK
August 7th, 2008 at 9:03 amThe budget deficit for fiscal year 2008 will be “around $400 billion,” according to a new Congressional Budget Office estimate. CBO’s prediction is “slightly higher than the White House’s deficit estimate of $389 billion,” both of which “approach the record-breaking deficit suffered in fiscal 2004 of $412.7 billion.” Last month, the White House predicted the deficit could reach nearly $490 billion in fiscal year 2009.
Plus how much “emergency supplemental” spending?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:07 amfrom: OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough Liberal News and Opinion
Justice . . . R.I.P.
Diary Entry by George Washington
In a dramatic confluence of events today, two kangaroo courts announced their pre-determined guilty verdicts.
In the first, 6 “military jurors” hand-picked by the Pentagon for their loyalty to the U.S. government and its views, convicted Bin Laden’s alleged driver, Salim Hamdan, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to try Gitmo detainees before a military tribunal, the former chief Gitmo prosecutor said the trials were unfair and rigged, and even though Hamdan was unlawfully tortured.
The entire case for the “war on terror” has fallen apart, with a top advisor to the U.S. military confirming that the war on terror is a hoax because there is no battlefield solution to terrorism” and the case for the Iraq war being laid bare as a forgery and a sham (and the government’s whitewash of 9/11 being understood by many Americans). The government needed a conviction against someone in Arab clothing so that it could pretend that the multi-trillion dollar, economy-busting, war crime-based war in the Middle East was justified.
In the second, Dr. Bruce Ivins has been convicted by the FBI as being the anthrax killer without any persuasive evidence. After falsely accusing 2 other scientists as being the anthrax killer, and only weeks after being forced to pay $6 million dollars to one of the scientists for such false accusations, the FBI decided that it had to pin it on somebody.
So they launched a campaign of intimidation against Ivins and his family, offering Ivins’ son $2.5 million plus the sports car of his choice if he would turn over evidence implicating his father, and confronted Ivins’ daughter with photos of anthrax victims and told her, “This is what your father did”. Ivins then either killed himself because of the harassment (or was murdered), and since dead men can’t defend themselves, the FBI had their perfect fall guy.
The FBI’s leaked allegations against Dr. Ivins were superficially implausible the FBI was forced to apologize for “improper disclosures of partial information mixed with inaccurate information and then drawn into unfounded conclusions”.
But later today, the FBI will publicly announce its “evidence” against Ivins, including – undoubtedly – a bunch of new, absurd allegations (see this for a preview).
Kangaroo courts, show trials, and pre-determined verdicts are the order of the day . . . justice is dead in America.
As important as the Hamdan and Ivins’ verdicts is the failure of Bush, Cheney and the other criminals in the White House and elsewhere to be held accountable for their crimes. As Congressman Waxman and others have impotently whined, “they got away with it”. The high and mighty are simply not held accountable for their crimes anymore, even though the Constiution demands that they be impeached, removed and prosecuted.
Note: I don’t know if Hamdan or Ivins are guilty of the crimes for which they were charged.
What I do know is that the Constitution and the rule of the law were wholly ignored in reaching guilty verdicts . . . the process was not followed.
Arguably, the most important phrase in the Constitution is “liberty and justice for all”. The current rulers have ripped up this guarantee enshrined in our founding document, and turned America into a banana republic.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:07 amThe memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
The memo failed to note Boner was e-mailing from the golf course.
‘Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the Right; here I am…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:07 amAccording to new federal statistics released yesterday, “the average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade.” Dr. Stephen Pitts, lead author of the CDC report, said “there are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs.”
That statistic is on the low side, I beg to differ the wait is much longer than that especially in poor communities across the country.
HOW HOSPITALS ARE KILLING E.R. PATIENTS
Last month, Esmin Green, a 49-year-old mother of six, tumbled off her chair and onto the floor of the Kings County psychiatric E.R. waiting room in New York City. Members of the hospital staff saw her lying there but did nothing for about an hour. When Green was finally brought into the E.R., she was dead. An autopsy revealed that she died from a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot forms in the leg, breaks off, and travels to one or both lungs. The blood sits stagnant in their legs for so long that it clots. She’d waited for a psychiatric-unit bed to open up for more than 24 hours.
The surveillance video of Green collapsing and lying untended, as hospital staff at Kings County fail to respond to her collapse, is inexcusable by any stretch. But what’s largely missing from this story is the likely cause of Green’s pulmonary embolism. The answer lies in a far more systematic and widespread danger in hospital care: E.R. waits.
http://www.slate.com/id/2195851/pagenum/2/
More and more hospitals are boarding patients in the ER, especially if they are underinsured or have no insurance at all. They maximize their profit that way. Which is causing longer wait times because there are fewer beds available because of this practice of boarding patients.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:10 amUpdate:
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has written a memo to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) asking her to leave the lights off, when Congress begins it’s next session, as the Republicans much prefer working in the dark.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:11 amMarching Off Into Tyranny
by Paul Craig Roberts
In last weekend’s edition of CounterPunch, Alexander Cockburn updates the ongoing persecution of Sami Al-Arian by federal prosecutors. Al-Arian was a Florida university professor of computer science who was ensnared by the Bush Regime’s need to produce “terrorists” in order to keep Americans fearful and, thereby, amenable to the Bush Regime’s assault on US civil liberties.
The charges against Al-Arian were rejected by a jury, but the Bush Regime could not accept the obvious defeat. If Al-Arian was not a terrorist, then other of the Bush Regime’s fabricated cases might fall apart, too.
In open view, the US Department of Justice (sic) proceeded to trash every known ethical rule of prosecution. I don’t need to repeat the facts, as they are covered by Cockburn’s articles and in The Tyranny of Good Intentions.
Instead, I want to point out another meaning of the Al-Arian case. The Justice (sic) Department itself knows that it is persecuting a totally innocent person for reasons of a political agenda–the need to convince gullible Americans of an ongoing terrorist threat. The existence of this threat is used to justify the Bush Regime’s adoption of police state measures, such as spying on Americans without warrants, arresting them without charges, and refusing to let go of them when they are cleared by juries.
Sami Al-Arian is a fabricated terrorist created by federal prosecutors and judges in behalf of an undeclared agenda. The Al-Arian case proves that terrorists are in short supply and that the Bush Regime has had to create them out of total innocents. The “war on terror” is a hoax used to justify war crimes and the overthrow of America’s civil liberties.
The anthrax scare is one more example of the Bush Regime’s use of disinformation to advance an undeclared political agenda. As Glenn Greenwald reminded us last week in Salon, the Bush Regime used Brian Ross at ABC News to spread the lie far and wide that US government tests proved that the anthrax mailed to various Americans, including prominent US Senators, was made in Iraq by Saddam Hussein. This lie was essential for scaring Congress into passing the Bush Regime’s Gestapo laws, such as the PATRIOT Act, and for overcoming opposition to invading Iraq.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/01/anthrax/print.html
When it leaked out that the anthrax actually came from a US government lab, the Bush Regime tried to frame a US scientist, Steven J. Hatfill, but failed. On June 28th, the Los Angeles Times reported that Hatfill, “The former Army scientist who was the prime suspect in the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings agreed Friday to take $5.82 million from the government to settle his claim that the Justice Department and the FBI invaded his privacy and ruined his career.” Indeed, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton allowed Hatfill’s attorneys two years to review all news reports and FBI evidence. Judge Walton stated: “there is not a scintilla of evidence that would indicate that Dr. Hatfill had anything to do with this.” http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-anthrax28-2008jun28,0,5742061.story
The anthrax matter was again news last week when another US government scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, “committed suicide.” Instantly, the deceased Ivins was fingered as the culprit. Overnight a man, liked and respected by his colleagues, who had worked on American biological warfare weapons for years, became a deranged homicidal maniac who decided to murder Americans at random in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 by sending them letters containing anthrax.
I don’t believe a word of it. But assume that it is true. Blaming the anthrax letters on Ivins does not resolve the issue of why the Bush Regime lied to Brian Ross and used ABC to put the blame on Saddam Hussein in order to invade an innocent country.
Wouldn’t a government that would lie about something this serious lie about other serious matters?
The Bush Regime stands against against the truth. That is why it pretends to have the power to prevent executive branch officials wanted for questioning by Congress from appearing before the people’s representatives. Nothing could make clearer the contempt that the Bush Regime has for the American people and their elected representatives than its arrogant claim that it is unanswerable to them.
Obviously, neither the President nor the Vice President respect their oaths of office. If they will betray such a serious oath, won’t they lie about everything, even 9/11 itself?
According to the discredited 9/11 Commission Report, a few Muslims hatched a multi-year plot that went undetected by the vast security agencies of the United States and its allies, and within one hour on one morning at four different locations defeated airport security, NORAD, the US Air Force, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, the Pentagon’s defenses and crashed three hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center towers and the heart of the US military. Muslims were able to achieve this fantastic feat operating out of caves in Afghanistan.
We now know for a fact that the “terrorist anthrax attack” had nothing whatsoever to do with Muslim terrorists. Even the US Government now blames white American citizens, employees of the federal government, for the anthrax letters that, at the time, were blamed on the “Osama bin Laden al Qaeda plot against America.”
We now know for a fact that this was intentional disinformation planted by the Bush Regime on a gullible and incompetent ABC News reporter, who is a disgrace to journalism. No one denies this.
We also know for a fact that ABC News will not say who planted on ABC the lies that committed the United States to the dishonor of an illegal invasion, war crimes, and executive branch attack on the US Constitution. How can anyone anywhere in the world rely on ABC News when it serves as a disinformation agency for a criminal regime?
One logical conclusion is that the anthrax attack was part of the same false flag operation that pulled off 9/11. The anthrax letters made the “terrorist attack” seem wider and more general. This increased the sense of peril and Americans’ fear and anger, thereby opening wider the door for the Bush Regime’s attack on Iraq and US civil liberty.
Now that the dead Ivins can be conveniently blamed for the anthrax mailings, the Bush Regime can declare the case closed, thus protecting the false flag operation from further risk of exposure.
Many Americans lack the mental and emotional strength to confront the facts. The facts are too unsettling and many are relieved when the “mainstream media” spins the facts away. Many Americans find it too appalling that any part of “their” government, even a rogue operation, could possibly have been involved in any way in the 9/11 or anthrax attacks. No evidence–not even full confessions–could convince them otherwise. Many Americans have welcomed their brainwashing by the neoconservatives: America is pure; her shining virtue causes evil men to attack her; they hate us because we are good and they are evil.
For the sake of argument, let’s accept this make-believe. It does not explain why, in order to protect us from evil men, the US Constitution needs to be dismantled and civil liberties set aside. Our Founding Fathers said that dismantling the Constitution and setting aside civil liberties are precisely what would make us unsafe in the extreme. The Bush Regime has never explained how the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution interfere with any legitimate response to terrorism.
The fact still remains that the Bush Regime responded to 9/11 and anthrax letters with a comprehensive assault on US civil liberty. The Bush Regime’s assault on America has been much more successful than its assault on “terrorism.” Who remembers the promise of a “six weeks war”? Americans have been mired for 6 years in two wars without end which the neoconned Bush Regime, in alliance with Israeli zionists, seeks to expand to Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Lebanon. The Republican candidate for president has given his commitment to a 100-year “war against terrorism.” Many Americans will vote for this candidate who wants to fight against a hoax for 100 years.
In The Twilight of Democracy: The Bush Plan for America, Jennifer Van Bergen explains the constitutional and legal principles on which American liberty is based and the Bush Regime’s intense assault on these principles. Part I of her book sets out the Constitutional principles that are under attack. Part II details the systematic attack on the US Constitution that is the heart and soul of the Republican neoconservative Bush Regime–and a Regime it is as it asserts that it is above the law and unanswerable to law, Congress, the federal courts, and the Constitution that it is sworn to uphold
Jennifer Van Bergan likens Bush and his brownshirt supporters to Julius Caesar in motives, though not in courage. She cites the poet Lucan who in his work Pharsalia described Caesar as he flouted the law of the Roman Republic and crossed the Rubicon with his army: “When Caesar crossed and trod beneath his feet the soil of Italy’s forbidden fields, ‘here,’ spake he, ‘peace, here broken laws be left; Farewell to treaties. Fortune, lead me on; War is our judge.’”
Anyone who believes that the Bush Regime’s “war on terror” is about terrorism, oil, getting even with those who attacked us, bringing freedom and democracy to Muslims–whatever rationale makes the gratuitous war crimes committed by the Bush Regime acceptable to gullible Americans–needs to read Jennifer Van Bergan’s Bush Plan for America. Nothing less than American liberty is at stake.
The hour is late. Gullible Americans are being marched off into tyranny as the promised land of safety.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:12 amGood one, shoeless!
Republicans are like mushrooms, fed shit daily & kept in the dark.
Nancy, keep the lights off, but find that bag of feces…these clowns are working hard, & must be fed!
August 7th, 2008 at 9:13 amYeah, stupidest gaggle of geese in history.
BTW, that memo was sent from the bunker on the 13th hole at the Wetherington Golf & Country Club in Ohio where Boehner was busy lying about his score.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:14 am“I go on dates and guys are like, ‘Oh, you really look like John,’ and I’m like, ‘As I get older, I’ll look more like him. [Laughs.] You could actually be dating John McCain.’”
And then guys are like, “Urp. Lunch… coming… up.”
August 7th, 2008 at 9:14 amCoincidence, I don’t think so..
All hail the greatest health care system in the world.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:15 amAccording to new federal statistics released yesterday, “the average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade.” Dr. Stephen Pitts, lead author of the CDC report, said “there are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs.”
_____________________________________________________________
Expect this trend to continue as more and more people get priced out of the health insurance market. And this will affect EVERYONE who will ever require emergency care — including all the smug “I got mine” people with blinders on.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:16 amHorrendous immigration story.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=255313
August 7th, 2008 at 9:16 amIn a new interview with Glamour magazine, Meghan McCain opens up about her difficulties dating: “I go on dates and guys are like, ‘Oh, you really look like John’…
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What a horrible thing to say to one’s date! What ever happened to “you look especially beautiful this evening”? Or don’t guys compliment the ladies they’re with anymore?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:18 amGoodie. From now on we can dispense with the whole trial thingie and just ask some nameless officials to decide guilt and innocence.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:19 amHouse Republicans plan to continue their political stunts on oil drilling “for at least the next two weeks — right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver” on Aug. 25. The memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
Who says all history is boring? Sometimes it gives you a much-needed laugh.
Officials asserted yesterday said they had evidence that “would have convicted” former government scientist Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, stating that he was the “sole custodian” of the unique anthrax strain. Glenn Greenwald has more.
That’s easy to say when you’re no longer faced with the task laborious of prosecuting the case. The guy, usually named ‘defendant’, can’t respond because he’s DEAD, driven to suicide. 100 of his colleagues said they had access to the same anthrax spores…yet they single out the guy who looks easy to pick on. Offering his son $2.5 million and “the sports car of his choice” to give daddy up, it sounds typical of the non-existent “Justice Department.”
You couldn’t even fess-up entirely about using Dr. Hatfill as guinea pig #1. You just wanted to get the case out of the way to move onto guinea pig #2.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:19 amThere must be some mistake. St. John of the Perpetually Shifting Cross has revealed that Americans are better off under George WTF Bush than ever before in all of history.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:21 am“In a new interview with Glamour magazine, Meghan McCain opens up about her difficulties dating: “I go on dates and guys are like, ‘Oh, you really look like John’”
I can imagine you don’t get a whole lot of dates to begin with if you’re a chick who looks like john mclame. just sayin…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:21 amOil rises to near $120, halting slide
VIENNA, Austria – Concerns that tension over Iran’s nuclear program could lead to conflict propelled oil prices upward Thursday to near $120 a barrel, halting a four-week slide.
LINK
Anyone still think the price of oil is determined by simple market factors like supply and demand?
This is a more realistic price related to the weakened dollar. Now that the speculators are expressing “fear”, prices will edge back up.
TOTAL BULLSHIT.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:22 amDU diarist arrested while trying to vote
Out of Jail, and ready to answer all questions
I will try to be as brief as possible with the description of my day as I can manage. But, since there are some sticky points, I will also try to be clear and complete. If anyone finds questions still hanging after reading this entry, and the comments already made above in response to Proud2Blib’s post, I will gladly answer.
I, Galloglas, went to vote today and encountered difficuly. And, it is important to point out that this was not the first time I’ve run onto problems this year.
When I voted in Missouri’s Presidential primary in February, 2008, I took the proper identification to my precinct and attempted to cast my ballot. The identification requirements are spelled out graphically on our Secretary of State’s Web Site which can be found at http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/voterid /.
And, as I am of the belief that the “Voter Fraud” question is exclusively a creature of the GOP’s making (a grudging tip of my hat to the GOP’s odious “Thor” Hearne for fathering, with Karl Rove, this abominable scheme), and that the entire “Voter Fraud” issue is nothing more than a smokescreen to encourage the various state’s to pass Photo Voter ID Laws, I always choose to use whatever acceptable identification is furthest from that which the GOP would mandate if Missouri did have Photo Voter ID laws.
Read this entire stunning diary entry:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3735725&mesg_id=3737989
**If you think the upcoming election will be a piece of cake for Dems, better think again. I just signed up to be a poll worker and encourage as many of you as are able to do the same. We have got to monitor as many polls as possible to prevent this from happening!
August 7th, 2008 at 9:23 amIs you better off now than you were 8 years ago?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:23 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
What ever happened to “you look especially beautiful this evening”?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:18 am
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Well, she already said she looks like John McCain, so…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:24 amBoehner missed a word when he typed that email on his Crackberry from the golf course. He meant to type that their “protest is making them history.”
August 7th, 2008 at 9:25 amFact: the profligacy of the Cheney admin is the greatest in history.
The next time some wanker says “as a percentage of GDP it’s not so bad,” remind him that GDP doesn’t have to repay this deficit (which is added to an already onerous debt). The American people have been left this crushing legacy.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 amThe memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
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Did Boehner give any details in his memo as to HOW the protest is making history? Aside from breaking all records for stupidity, I just don’t see it.
I wouldn’t think that participating in the most historically stupid stunt would be a real draw for Republicans, even. But you never know.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 amdon’t guys compliment the ladies they’re with anymore?
Guys certainly do compliment the ladies they’re with.
Remember, though, that we aren’t talking about a lady here. We’re talking about McNumbNuts’ daughter.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 amOfficials asserted yesterday said they had evidence that “would have convicted” former government scientist Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, stating that he was the “sole custodian” of the unique anthrax strain. Glenn Greenwald has more.
Another great source of information has been Meryl Nass, MD. She has a great comprehensive list, and she has done many testimonials and publications. If you have time check out the link:
August 7th, 2008 at 9:28 amhttp://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/2008/08/beyond-reasonable-doubt.html
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he “didn’t go nuts the way some other conservatives did” over McCain’s confusion because “he’s been reassured by the senator’s aides.”
Mr. Norquist is quite persistent in his bid to become a societal freeloader, in the whiniest form. He’ll wake up in the morning in a home, structurally up to code…thanks to big guvmint. The first drink of water he takes, assured to be free of contaminants…thanks to big guvmint. The road he burns up with his SUV or ten speed car…thanks to big guvmint. His old elementary-middle-high school he passes by…thanks to big guvmint.
Speaking of the water, though, was there something in the water growing up that made him narcissitically self-serving? That question spans to a number of old-timers.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:28 amThemis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
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OK, I give. What, exactly, do you expect them to do to provide immediate relief?
And no — voting to grant offshore and ANWR drilling leases to oil companies won’t provide immediate relief.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:30 amDragging down the poll numbers even more for congress. Watch these number go up as republicans are sent home.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:30 amDid anyone ask Meghan McCain how she felt about her Dad encouraging her Mother to compete in a topless Biker contest?
C’mon, Meghan, get up on stage, too.
Unless that would make you look more like your Dad…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:30 amBut Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he “didn’t go nuts the way some other conservatives did” over McCain’s confusion because “he’s been reassured by the senator’s aides.”
___________________________________________________________
McCain’s aides must be kept very busy going around reassuring all the special interests that they shouldn’t pay attention to anything McCain says because it’s all just for show, and promising that McCain will have his lips planted firmly on their asses once he’s elected.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:32 amThemis Says:
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
______
Why do you care? Are you expecting Big Government to solve all your problems? I thought you conservatives didn’t like that sort of thing…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:33 amThemis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
“Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?”
I’ll bite. I thought republicans such as yourself were for less government restrictions on businesses. Wouldn’t government interference on this issue go against your core principles of non-interference on the free market?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:33 amProfessor Bob Watson, one of the British government’s top scientific advisers, has said “the UK should take active steps to prepare for dangerous climate change of perhaps 4C.” While the “EU is committed to limiting emissions globally so that temperatures do not rise more than 2C,” a “4C temperature rise would have a catastrophic impact.”
Europe is wise to plan ahead, for no matter what they do to reduce emmissions, the US Oil and Coal industry will continue to add to the global warming effect created by pumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And, according to some, we have already reached a tipping point where it is impossible to stop more and more permafrost from being thawed and releasing more and more methane into the atmosphere, creating a perpetual cycle (at least until all the stored methane in the Arctic regions has been released).
Within 50 years, this planet will no longer produce the resources to provide for about 1/3 of the human population.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:33 amIs the troll suggesting that Congress interfere in the free market?
It must be difficult to troll when circumstances force you to choose between defending your conservative principles and making snide comments about Democrats.
No surprise which one this troll chooses.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:33 amWant to talk about this themis, are you sure. What can congress do to counter bush’s energy policy which is why we are in this pickle.
A better question might be: Why is bush going to the olympics or why is he still in office.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:34 amThemis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
“Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?”
Why is Bush fiddling in Beijing while Rome is burning?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:35 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
Themis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
hussein toasterhead Says:
Themis Says:
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Bozo The Neoclown Says:
Themis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
“Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?”
And why do so many people feed this troll?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:36 amDieNowForPeace Says:
Oil rises to near $120, halting slide
I don’t get it. Didn’t the Republicans hold another faux session of Congress yesterday?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:36 amadd 3 more while I prepared the previous post…
sigh.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:36 amThe memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
Yes, the history of the stupidest stunt Congress has pulled. They are legends in their own minds.
What I find astonishing is that they can find enough Republicons who are willing to give up their vacation to pull this stupid stunt.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:37 amYou could actually be dating John McCain
How does that work? Pay for dinner and get called a c…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 ammisshusseinmolly
I must tell you how surprised I was, when opening the car door for my date, to hear her say, “You don’t have to open the door for me because I’m a woman”!
I replied, “I’m not opening the door for you because you’re a woman, I’m opening the door for you because I’m a gentleman”.
Thus began a very intense relationship, but as the bartender in Irma La Douch says, That’s another story. :)
BTW, you look very nice today.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 amIolair Says:
It’s a fact of life here. Better to counter their bs than to let them “re-write history”
August 7th, 2008 at 9:39 amLast month, the White House predicted the deficit could reach nearly $490 billion in fiscal year 2009.
Nice legacy they are leaving for the next President. I don’t care who is elected President, they are going to have to raise taxes in order to keep us from going bankrupt.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:39 amTake it easy on poor themis — he has Trollette’s Syndrome which means that he is prone to sudden, unintelligible outbursts.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:39 am“As of now, the government is restricting drilling.”
last time I checked free market principles included not being forced to lease your land if you choose not to. Are they restricted from drilling from the 68 million acres they have already leased and done NOTHING with?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:39 amI see your point. But it’s not like we’re feeding it cracked corn and canned tuna. We’re just feeding it Slug and Snail B-Gone.
That’s gotta count for something.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:40 amYou could actually be dating John McCain
How does that work? Pay for dinner and get called a c…
More likely — pay for dinner and get a surge.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:40 amBut Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he “didn’t go nuts the way some other conservatives did” over McCain’s confusion because “he’s been reassured by the senator’s aides.”
How embarrassing. We have a presidential candidate whose word means less than the word of his aides.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:41 amThemis Says:
Please explain to us why congress has to clean up after bush. His energy policies are what caused this. The republicans are responsible for it for supporting everything he wanted and now you want congress to fix it for him?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:41 amP enis Says:
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Where are the state legislatures to provide more scrutiny, or capitulate less often when power companies make their cases to the state to raise rates?
Though I’m reluctant to defend, the power companies are experiencing losses because of the massive price increases for various resources used to power the grids. The state of Virginia just approved an 18% increase for Dominion Power. To cushion the chances of approval for the increase, they agreed to donate $5,000,000 to their EnergyShare program, which aids those who have trouble paying their electric bills. They also offer devices that allow people to track their usage and offer tips to conserve. I don’t give the power companies full credit, but I hold them in higher regard because they’re under more stringent regulation and recieve incentives by the state for the development for alternatives.
Makes the perfect case for nationalizing the oil industry. It’s not a wacky idea; it’s taking our natural resources into the control of the people.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:41 amThemis Says:
As of now, the government is restricting drilling.
No it isn’t. The oil companies can drill as much as they want on their unused 68 million acres of leases, half of which are off shore.
Apparently your parents were very lenient, but mine always made me clean my plate before I got dessert.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:41 amtom Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Remember, though, that we aren’t talking about a lady here. We’re talking about McNumbNuts’ daughter.
___________________________________________________________
Now, now — don’t get mean. Meghan McCain can’t help who her father is, and aside from her supporting her father (understandable), we shouldn’t assume she’s anything less than a perfectly nice young woman until she proves otherwise.
Blasting people just because of who they happen to be related to is something the trolls do. We’re better than that.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:43 amThemis Says:
——————————————————————————–
Bozo The Neoclown Says:
——————————————————————————–
Themis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:27 am
“Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?”
I’ll bite. I thought republicans such as yourself were for less government restrictions on businesses. Wouldn’t government interference on this issue go against your core principles of non-interference on the free market?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:33 am
_____________________________________________
As of now, the government is restricting drilling. We are looking for less government interference in this regard which is very consistent with the principles you describe above.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:37 am
You believe big business , especially the oil companies/industry , should be left to their own devices to police/control themselves ?
Why not smear honey on your own stupid ass and stand in the woods around several bears and believe they will not go after you , too…………….
Why do you insist on posting the most impossibly stupid nonsense here ?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:44 amLet the free market fix health care…offer insurance policies to young n’ sassy people.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:45 amDr. Stephen Pitts, lead author of the CDC report, said “there are more people arriving at the ERs. And there are fewer ERs.”
This is a consequence of our dismal health care situation. More and more people have no insurance and don’t go see a doctor until it has become an emergency and an emergency room is the only place where they can get care. I would like to see someone do a study of how much money our uninsured are costing every year. One reason why a single payer system would cost less money is because it would include preventative medicine and people would get treated before they were extremely ill.
My sister lives in England and she says that the National Health Service is like a pit bull when it comes to preventative medicine testing. She says a nurse actually came to her door once after she kept putting off her annual mammogram. They recognize that early detection saves lives and money.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:46 amMea culpa, missmolly. I knew I was guilty when I wrote that post but I just couldn’t help myself. It just felt so good…and every once in awhile I have this uncontrollable urge to throw some troll-bait into the water. I love to watch them churn.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:46 amBoner’s sacrifice to the Iraqi invasion is golfing in the dark.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:46 amWhy does our government have such disdain for it’s own people, it’s Constitution and the Bill of Rights?
Why is there always an “ism” to fight? (communism, socialism, “terrorism”)
Why isn’t there more outrage over our civil liberties being destroyed on a daily basis?
What is going to take?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:47 amHouse Republicans plan to continue their political stunts on oil drilling “for at least the next two weeks — right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver” on Aug. 25. The memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
Yeah
It’s proving that evolution doesn’t encompass every being in a species group………..
August 7th, 2008 at 9:47 amThemis Says:
——————————————————————————–
Fred Says:
——————————————————————————–
Themis Says:
Please explain to us why congress has to clean up after bush. His energy policies are what caused this. The republicans are responsible for it for supporting everything he wanted and now you want congress to fix it for him?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am
_______________________________
Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:47 am
You are 100% correct
Big oil’s has………………..
August 7th, 2008 at 9:48 amthemis says: Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.
GDumbya doesn’t have any energy policies, cupcake.
All he has is oil policies.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:49 am“Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.”
of course they have, for the past eight years operation “rape and pillage the consumer” has been an enormous success.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:50 amIolair Says:
Plus how much “emergency supplemental” spending?
It is pretty amazing that after 5 years, the spending for the occupation of Iraq is still “emergency” spending. The only reason why they do that is to keep it off the books. If the cost of the occupation of Iraq was factored into our budget and cuts were made in the budget to make up for what we spend, we would have been out of Iraq by the end of the second year. Somehow, magically, since it is “emergency supplemental” spending it doesn’t count.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:50 amThemis Says:
As of now, the government is restricting drilling. We are looking for less government interference in this regard which is very consistent with the principles you describe above.
The moratorium on offshore drilling was Bush’s idea to begin with, to help his brother Jeb keep his job as Gov of Florida. Now its the Democrats fault?
Silly troll.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:52 amP enis — As of now, the government is restricting drilling. We are looking for less government interference in this regard which is very consistent with the principles you describe above.
Define “We”
The termites presently left to chew on the wood of the empty House are not human beings.
I’ve been hearing a lot of anti-American vitriol the past few days, the volume cranking to disturbing levels with the announcement of big oil’s profits and the wood chewing going on in the dim-lighted congress (complements the dim-wits).
Explain yourself: Why would the oil companies lease land they don’t plan to drill? Is it because they want to put it off-limits to other oil companies and monopolize their profits?
??? ???
August 7th, 2008 at 9:52 amMeghan McCain opens up about her difficulties dating: “I go on dates and guys are like, ‘Oh, you really look like John,’ and I’m like, ‘As I get older, I’ll look more like him. [Laughs.] You could actually be dating John McCain.’”
They left off the rest of the dates’ quote-
August 7th, 2008 at 9:53 am“But hey, if your dad get elected Prez don’t worry, baby, I’ll hurry back & be all over you like a blanket. See ya after 11/08. Maybe.”
Kay, I suspect that most Americans are so busy just trying to survive that they really have little time to pay attention to what is going on. Sad but probably at least part of the problem.
The republicans since raygun have made sure that it takes all of the energy of both parents just to survive in America. Some family values, huh?
They keep them distracted with mindless sports and tv shows.
This time around could be different though. When middle class and upper middle class citizens start to really feel it in their pocketbook, things start to swing. Obviously we are there, again. Just like we are every time a republican has been in power for very long.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:53 amSaint Augustine Says
August 7th, 2008 at 9:38 am
BTW, you look very nice today.
_______________________________________________________
Thank you very much — and so do you.
I am probably about as rabid a feminist as you’re likely to find, but I have no problem giving or receiving compliments, and I think that anybody who does something nice for somebody else (such as opening a door for them) doesn’t deserve to be slammed for it.
I don’t see courtesy, politeness, and thoughtfulness to be gender issues. Guys open doors for each other, women offer their seats to other women, and people offer to help carry other people’s loads when their hands are full. It usually has nothing to do with sexism.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:55 amGood gawd… is Themis actually trying to claim that after 6 years of a lock-step GOOPer majority in Congress, poor George couldn’t get his… ***cough*** “energy policies” in play?
Sniff… sniff… I feel so sorry fer Georgie… and Themis…
August 7th, 2008 at 9:55 am3 Southern California hospitals accused of fraud
Facilities in Los Angeles and Tustin allegedly churned thousands of indigents through their sites and billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for costly and unjustified medical procedures.
On a Sunday afternoon two years ago, five homeless people being dropped off on Los Angeles’ skid row by an ambulance caught the attention of police officers.
The officers videotaped what they thought was a case of hospitals dumping patients in a section of the city where few would notice or care.
But as investigators began to unravel the incident, they say they found something far different: a massive scheme to defraud taxpayer-funded healthcare programs of millions of dollars by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services.
The elaborate enterprise churned thousands of indigents through hospitals over the last four years and billed Medicare and Medi-Cal for costly and unjustified medical procedures, federal, state and local investigators said Wednesday.
Read the entire story:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-skidrow7-2008aug07,0,6790436.story
**Unreal. Do they do this during “slow times” or what. This just really pi$$e$ me off.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:56 amVIENNA, Austria – Concerns that tension over Iran’s nuclear program could lead to conflict propelled oil prices upward Thursday to near $120 a barrel, halting a four-week slide.
Ok, why are these concerns that have been there for months now affecting the price of oil today. Sometimes the excuses they give for gouging us are just plain stupid.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:57 amKay Says:
——————————————————————————–
from: OpEdNews.Com Progressive, Tough Liberal News and Opinion
Justice . . . R.I.P.
Diary Entry by George Washington
In a dramatic confluence of events today, two kangaroo courts announced their pre-determined guilty verdicts.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:59 am**Thanks for the post, Kay. George Washington’s diary entries are some of the best I read. He always seems to get to the heart of the matter.
Themis Says:
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
Ok, let’s assume Congress is still in session and they vote to tax the windfall profits of the oil industry to help the people with their home heating oil costs to prevent them from having to live in unheated homes. Exactly what does this idiot troll think the Republicons and Bush would do?
You just can’t cure stupid.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 amThe blushing over big oil’s profits is astounding. These people really do hope to be right-wing sychophants to the most extreme before they die. The constant defending of the institution over the people, grounded in patriospeak “It’s what makes America great.”
You know, it’s reasonably within the government’s reach to take back THEIR currency if the whole they represent are bilked by a few parts.
This is not supply-and-demand, and the reich-nuts have not proven it to be. Windfall profits tax and the return of the government-made currency to the people represented…NOW!
August 7th, 2008 at 10:01 amCome on themis, you can’t just throw out a statement like that and expect it to fly. If bush’s energy policy has not been enacted then who is setting energy policy for the US?
Are you going to try to tell us that it is the democratic congress that is responsible.
Energy policy is set by the president, period. Please explain or you run the risk of losing your credibility in our discussions.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:02 amThemis Says:
——————————————————————————–
tom Says:
——————————————————————————–
themis says: Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.
GDumbya doesn’t have any energy policies, cupcake.
All he has is oil policies.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:49 am
__________________________________
Perhaps you need to actually read the President’s energy policies.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Like I need to hear him say “We do not torture” ?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:03 amThemis Says:
that is false. All spending counts in the year end calculation of the deficit.
Oh really. Prove it.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:03 amFred Says:
Themis Says:
Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.
Please explain or you run the risk of losing your credibility in our discussions.
Fred, by what you wrote you are implying that this idiot troll has some credibility to lose. It does not. It comes here, throws feces on the wall and when it is asked to prove what it says, it slinks away.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:05 amFred Says
August 7th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Energy policy is set by the president, period. Please explain or you run the risk of losing your credibility in our discussions.
____________________________________________________________
You’re being way to generous in your assumption that Themis still HAS any credibility. If he ever did, he lost it when he refused to answer my question about what he honestly expects Congress to do to provide immediate relief to high gas prices and utility bills, and why he condemns them for going on vacation (but it’s OK for Bush to go to the Olympics).
August 7th, 2008 at 10:08 amoops — “way to generous” should be “way too generous”.
Need more caffeine…
August 7th, 2008 at 10:09 amThemis Says:
Bush’s energy policies have not been enacted.
Sure they have. Bush began enacting his energy policy on March 22, 2003.
Link
August 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am#81 And the beat goes on Says:
3 Southern California hospitals accused of fraud
**Unreal. Do they do this during “slow times” or what. This just really pi$$e$ me off.
Good Morning:) what is funny is I almost posted that article. I had the same reaction you did. Instead of maybe helping the homeless with mental disorders, they put them in peril. OMG what kind of inhumane monster thinks this stuff up.
But the Democratic race in Tennessee today equally ticked me off. I hope Steve Cohen wins that race today. He is a good progressive guy that didn’t deserve such an ugly smear campaign.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:10 amThemis Says:
——————————————————————————–
I already gave you a link to the President’s energy policies. Read them and you will have your anwswer.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:09 am
And what in the last 7+years makes you think that I should believe any of the insipid propogandist piss that this garbage administration tries to fob off on us ?
Your own gullibility and partisan political beliefs ?
Good luck with that………
August 7th, 2008 at 10:12 amI went to the link and found no official energy policy, just a propaganda sheet that is the polar opposite of his actions over the last 8 years.
Try again and please try to be factual, it would really help your case right now as you are beginning to look like someone who will make up facts to support your case.
Ok, you have really stepped in it now. You really either are totally ignorant or you will say anything to justify your mis-statements of fact.
Please provide us with facts to back up this ludicrious claim.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:12 amThis is a more realistic price related to the weakened dollar. Now that the speculators are expressing “fear”, prices will edge back up.
Precisely it, DNFP. This is a monetary policy issue. We can cleanly reduce the price of gasoline by raising interest rates — they are too low.
Case in point — in February 2007, when the rates were rallying upward, gasoline in my area briefly hovered at a low of $1.99 a gallon. Oil companies were beginning to worry about the sustainment of their profits.
Restoring the economy is no longer an interest rate issue; they were too low for too long anyway. It was the lending corruption (the FEDs new rules don’t go into effect until 2009, how stupid is that?) made easier by the money that was too plentiful. There are underlying factors to be addressed that a FED board meeting is unable to touch on.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:13 amThemis Says:
——————————————————————————–
Will building windmills provide “immediate” relief?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Ummm , yeah
Because our future will be secure , as we will be out from under the thumb of big oil………………
August 7th, 2008 at 10:13 amThemis Says:
Painfully obvious that when the lord was making you and asked if you wanted any brains, you thought he said pains, and you said “no thanks”.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:14 amWhy is your only focus on “immediate” relief and “immediate” gratification. Don’t you care about our future?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am
The “future” has been about you for the past eight years. Politically, you want to die and we want to take you out.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:15 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
misshusseinmolly Says:
I know. I am letting the fool dig his own hole which he seems more than willing to do. I’m trying to follow dbadass’s lead, it seems to work quite well.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:18 am#81 And the beat goes on Says:
hey themis, please read beat’s post to see how the free market works when applied to health care.
Feel free to comment.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:22 amThemis Says
August 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Why is your only focus on “immediate” relief and “immediate” gratification. Don’t you care about our future?
_____________________________________________________
I mentioned immediate relief because your original point (remember that?) was “Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?”
The only way your criticism of a Congressional recess could have ANY validity would be if they should be doing something with potential immediate impact.
Otherwise, your point is “Why is Congress in recess when they should be focusing on long-term plans for our future?” — and the answer to that is that they always take a summer recess. This is not unusual, and your argument has no merit.
And yes, I do care about the future of this country and the future of this planet. Very much so. Why are you only concerned about the future of big business and the Republican Party?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:26 amMCMetal Says:
Ummm , yeah
Because our future will be secure , as we will be out from under the thumb of big oil………………
August 7th, 2008 at 10:13 am
_____
Well, that’s not entirely true. There are very few oil-fired power plants in operation in the US, so the electricity generated by windmills will not offset the price of gas at the pump. But distributing the generation side of the power grid through wind power will have an immediate impact on the cost of electricity.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:31 amEasiest way to trump these GOP “Stunts” is for the DNC to issue “Alerts” that make a game of being “on the lookout” for the next “stunt”. Then, when they do it, everyone just laughs.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:31 amFred Says:
Energy policy is set by the president, period. Please explain or you run the risk of losing your credibility in our discussions.
Themis/Mr.Pee has credibility? Since when?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:35 amHey, did “Themis” ever get around to explaining what Bush’s “anti-terrorism” methods were? He was going to do that yesterday, after claiming they were uber-effective, but then he ran off without doing so.
“Themis”? Can you please finish up on that before dangling all your shiny lures?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:42 amPakistan coalition moves to impeach Musharraf
International Herald Tribune – 58 minutes ago
By Jane Perlez ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s usually fractious coalition government moved decisively for the first time on Thursday to impeach President Pervez Musharraf, who has been an important American ally in the campaign against terror but who has …
no wonder he split for the olympics…
August 7th, 2008 at 10:43 amGrover Norquist reassured by McCain’s aides on Social Security payroll taxes.
In other words, PAY NO ATTENTION TO THAT MAN IN FRONT OF THE CURTAIN.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:47 amThemis Says:
Without links to references, you’re pissin in the wind, and it’s all over your face.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:53 amAh, just realized the Governer of VA is a Dem.
No wonder Daryll and Pee have their collective panties in such a wad.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:54 amYo, Themis!
There you are, you little dickens. Now you can explain your assertion from yesterday about Bush’s “anti-terrorism methods.” I missed it previously, apparently.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:54 amHealth care is not operating in the free market. It’s economics are heavily regulated on both the federal and state level.
Yes, those poor insurance companies would love nothing more than to stop price gouging and really start to take care of the people but their hands are tied by all those regulations!
August 7th, 2008 at 10:55 amWhen will we learn!
Somebody think of the children!
Here you go, just in case you forgot:
Themis Says:
If only they had the anti-terrorism tools in place then that we have now instead of treating it like a law enforcement investigation. Thank goodness we now have the proper tools in place that the Bush Administration has used to keep us safe from such attacks since 9/11/2001.
You were going to explain what the “tools” were. Remember?
August 7th, 2008 at 10:57 amRegulations do not a socialist program make. Big oil has regulations…..yet you put it forward as the free market at work. Please explain your disjointed logic.
Health care is not provided free of cost to American citizens as free public education is which is a socialist program.
You can’t just re-define a program to meet your political agenda, it makes you look, well, foolish.
August 7th, 2008 at 10:59 amThemis Says:
I hope that someone will be kind enough one of these days to explain who “Mr. P” is/was. All that I can tell you (which some of you naturally will not believe), is that I am not him/her. I’ve never even seen a “Mr. P” actually post here. It just looks like an automatice knee jerk reaction that whenever anybody posts anything other than lock step agreement with TP’s views, he/he is labeled as “Mr. P” — as if there is just one conservative blogger in the entire country. When was the last time that “Mr. P” actually posted under that name?
I’ll explain all that just as soon as you explain your comment from yesterday about those “tools.”
August 7th, 2008 at 11:02 amthis is funny:
John McCain, est. 1840: Ill-advised timeline points up candidate’s age
August 7, 2008 10:01 AM
One of John McCain’s campaign weak spots is his age, so cruelly mocked by Paris Hilton earlier this week. With that in mind, was it really a good idea for his website to include this timeline?
mccainBLOG.jpg
You could understand it if it compared the Arizona senator’s lifetime of service to the United States as a soldier and politician with the more slight life experience of Barack Obama, who is 25 years his junior.
But it doesn’t. Instead the timeline is matched to US history, and stretches back to 1840, leading the casual reader to assume McCain is a sprightly 168 years old.
As such, it includes the American civil war, the Spanish-Amercian war and the 1871 Chicago fire, as well as the birth of “Slew” McCain, the Republican candidate’s grandfather, in 1884. Even ignoring the events that took place before McCain’s birth, the timeline can’t help but draw attention to the fact that the young McCain lived through not just the second world war but also the Great Depression.
To make matters worse, the whole thing is navigated using a “time shuttle”, which makes it sound like the reader is travelling back to the stone age. If this is their idea of presenting their candidate in a good light, it’s probably best all round that the McCain campaign is mainly concentrating on attacking his opponent.
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/usa/2008/08/one_of_john_mccains_campaign.html
‘cept, when you go to that timeline, IT’S BEEN CHANGED!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:03 amit now starts at 1964…
ah hahahaha!
I believe it, pee could put forth a cognitive argument, something you seem at a loss to accomplish.
So you think bush’s anti-terror policies are working huh? Why are we still at war then?
Hard to explain how a man in bush’s position with 90% of the worlds might has taken 5 long years to defeat a country with .05% of the worlds military might isn’t it?
August 7th, 2008 at 11:04 amThemis Says:
gummich: We can play 20 questions all day, but you are not here at my pleasure to answer my questions, and I am not here to answer yours. You make the points that you wish to make without demand, and I’ll do the same.
You didn’t make a point, you made a claim. It doesn’t become a “point” until you can back it up. What you’ve just written here simply establishes that your comment yesterday about the “tools” was silly and devoid of substance.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:04 amOfficials asserted yesterday said they had evidence that “would have convicted” former government scientist Bruce Ivins in the 2001 anthrax mailings that killed five people, stating that he was the “sole custodian” of the unique anthrax strain. Glenn Greenwald has more.
Willyloman has lots of coverage on the Ivins story over at the American Everyman. Check it out.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:08 amthemis, I’m with gummitch on this. You have failed to make a point so far in this thread for sure. You actually seem to avoid responding to honest requests for you to qualify your blanket statements in lieu of more blanket statements with nothing to back them up either. Please, please try a little harder. I for one am really interested in why you think you are right about these issues.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:09 amFred Says:
——————————————————————————–
According to new federal statistics released yesterday, “the average time that hospital emergency rooms patients wait to see a doctor has grown from about 38 minutes to almost an hour over the past decade.”
Coincidence, I don’t think so..
All hail the greatest health care system in the world.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:15 am Recommend (3) | Report Abuse
August 7th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Themis/Mr Pee LOVES his “golden showers’ doesn’t he?
Go away you pissant troll, leave the adults free to discuss the topics.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:11 amThemis Says:
You have made yourself irrelivant here. Much like a child asking if we are there yet. Is your name bart?
August 7th, 2008 at 11:14 amSorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt the piss-fest.
As you were…
August 7th, 2008 at 11:15 amThemis Says:
A perfect example of the typical “progressive” argument from Uncle Ho, McWars, et al. Now I suppose I am supposed to reply to this in detail with links to prove my point, right?
You’re being treated with contempt by the precisely because you refuse to reply in detail and back up your silly talking points. If people confuse you with another “conservative” it’s because you’ve done nothing to distinguish yourself from the typical troll who makes silly claims about Bush et al and then refuses to defend them with facts.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:17 amMcCain on jobs, Obama off trail
Boston Globe – 40 minutes ago
John McCain is in Ohio today to talk jobs and the economy, but there’s a not necessarily welcome twist. After a town hall in Lima, the presumptive Republican nominee is to meet with officials about the closure of a DHL shipping site in nearby …
rachel reported that mcPR!CK played a big role in getting DHL and the rest of the mess… can’t find the specifics…
at a recent townhall, he was asked by a tearful woman about those DHL jobs being lost… he said he’d check on it…
uh huh…
August 7th, 2008 at 11:17 amwith links to prove my point, right?
Gee, finally catching on.
Typical Repuke, a day late, and a dollar short.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:20 amYou haven’t responded in detail and with links to anything so far so why are you surpised when people lose patience with your childishness?
August 7th, 2008 at 11:21 amSometimes I think of Carl Bernstein’s book, “The Final Days” — about the final months of the Nixon White House.
I would love to be a fly on the wall in the White House in these final days. I would love to see all these desperate cockroaches running around trying their damndest to get us involved with Iran. BushCO these last hazy, hot days in D.C. are running around getting their legal team/agenda in order, so they can save their collective asses from Hague.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:22 amMr Pee; links to prove it
PUT UP OR SHUT UP YOU SMELLY TROLL!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:24 amBTW Mr Pee, please stand down-wind, you reek!
August 7th, 2008 at 11:28 amzooey – we barely made a dent…
August 7th, 2008 at 11:35 amGeez, gum, I’m still waiting for the troll to explain how it reconciles its call for Congressional action on fuel prices with its obvious “free market” conservatism.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:54 amDieNowForPeace Says:
Ah, just realized the Governer of VA is a Dem.
No wonder Daryll and Pee have their collective panties in such a wad.
—————
Pretty soon both our senators will be Democrats, too. One day very, very soon, Virginia will cease to be a red state altogether. THAT will call for a celebration, methinks.
August 7th, 2008 at 11:59 amGood Morning poster’s…A lot off topic this morning, sorry….The hot weather and job losses have brought out lot’s of people looking for a place to live…Yesterday for the fifth time in two day’s a beat up old truck pulling an old Zenith trailer came driving into our tiny resort….
Poor people are scrambling to find some place to land..The rig was held together with bailing wire and duct tape, not one inch of the old ford was straight and it belched smoke and banged to a stop as these poor dirty traveler’s stopped me to ask if we had any space’s….Don’t know where they came from or where they had to go but there were no licence plate’s on the truck or beat up trailer…Very odd indeed.
I was reminded of the old movie “Grape’s of wrath” I think…The old truck and trailer looked like it had been parked out in the wood’s for 40 year;s and the people that were driving it looked like worn out old hippie’s (no offence) that haden’t bathed or eaten in week’s….The only happy clean rider was a shiny well fed pit bull dog sticking face out to greet me from the bed of the truck…He had a bright red, new bandana tied around his neck….Visualize in black and white with the exception of the happy dog and red bandana..The old trailer had moss all over the roof, mud and weed’s hanging from the bumper, no curtin’s on the dirty little window’s and appeared no one had lived in it for a very long time…
This sight left me very unsettled as did other’s earlier a couple of day’s before when a couple of people had showed up living in their truck’s and very old suv’s. Looking for some place to land and call their place in our society…
Forclosure’s have caused many people to move into their camping rig’s and move into RV and mobile home park’s in our county….All space’s that use to be for fun or temporary are now full and perminent…I found this little tid bit out a few month’s ago when a friend asked me to help find some place for relative’s to stay the summer…I spent two day’s calling over 25 local park’s in our area and found they were full and had been for over 6 month’s..Unheard of in the past…
I wonder where are these people going to go, what are they going to do.? With no job’s or hope of one how can they pay rent…..We may again become a rolling band of homeless, starving poor with no place to call home….Please forgive the length…..As you go about your day think of and send Blessings to these poor traveler’s, tomorrow it could be any and all of us…P. B & J……
August 7th, 2008 at 12:06 pmWho do they think they’re kidding? Staying in DC has nothing to do with “protest making history” and everything to do with not daring to face their constituents back home.
August 7th, 2008 at 12:08 pmHouse Republicans plan to continue their political stunts on oil drilling “for at least the next two weeks — right up to the start of the Democratic Convention in Denver” on Aug. 25. The memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
Only in their own fevered imaginations.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
August 7th, 2008 at 12:36 pmKay – “Liberty and justice for all” is not in the Constitution; it’s in the Pledge of Allegiance. (Not to be picky; because the INTENT is certainly in there.)
But the Constitution has been so distorted and abused by our government, over the past forty-some years (in the name of “protecting us” – from Communists, from drugs, from terrorists, and even from each other) that it no longer has any relavance in our lives. Georgejr didn’t START the trend; he just took it to the extreme, with bi-partisan help from Congress and the Courts.
Somehow the respective duties of the various elements of our government have become distorted – it is Congress, the President & the Courts that are supposed to protect our freedom (”protect & defend the Constitution”). But they’ve chosen to make laws restricting our rights, claiming it’s necessary, to keep us “safe”. On the other hand, it’s claimed that our troops are protecting our freedom when it’s more their job to keep us safe (physically) – our troops can’t keep us free when their bosses are systematically destroying that freedom.
Saint Augustine – “Irma la Douch? do you mean Irma La Duce?
August 7th, 2008 at 12:57 pm(also posted at C&L)
Clinton to supporters: ‘Yell and scream,’ then back Obama
CNN – 1 hour ago
(CNN) — With the Democratic National Convention less than three weeks away, Sen. Hillary Clinton is making it clear that she wants the voices of her supporters heard.
Clinton Leaves Option Open for Convention Floor Vote FOXNews
Clinton wants her delegates heard at the convention Los Angeles Times
Obama has kin in Clinton Country
USA Today – 34 minutes ago
LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Democrat Barack Obama has never campaigned in Arkansas, where voters have correctly picked every president since favoring Richard Nixon in 1972.
What role will Clinton play at Democratic Convention NECN
The Note: Obama vs. Clinton: The Battle Continues ABC News
from the googlenews page… and so much more…
and the latest soundbites of bill… and hillary… (listening to edschultz now)
these people are gonna screw it all up… welcome to the mcCRAPPY years…
ThinkProgress et al. had better do all they can to help tamp down the subversion that is the clintonistas…
cause it’s obvious the clintons themselves are only glad to fan the flames and keep themselves in the story… and the future?…
gad, i feel so sick about all the affection, admiration and support i’ve invested in the clintons over the years…
it’s like i, we, got snookered…
oh, and lanny davis, on schultz, says not to worry… she’s behind barack…
oh. ok.
that’s not what it sounds like.
you all know about the PUMAs, right?
Party Unity My Azz…
aka clintonistas…
August 7th, 2008 at 12:58 pmAnd house Democrat Pelosi continues to block the democratic process simply because she’s afraid of the outcome. Nevermind that 76% of Americans support new drilling now. This is clearly the worst congress ever.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pmThe memo from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to GOP members said that their “protest is making history.”
The Boehner that is too busy playing golf to actually take part in the “protest”?!?!? That Boehner?
As for “making history”, that’s something the Rethuglicans are good at:
Cheers,
August 7th, 2008 at 2:33 pmThere’s something I just can’t get over: If Ivins is the “sole custodian” of the unique anthrax strain—–then why in the heck did it take seven years to conclude that he did it?????
August 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pmBingo, Keith.
I guess they just didn’t need to find the “real killer” until just now.
August 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pmIt will get better when the majority of the republicans that are there now are sent home, don’t worry.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:06 pmThemis Says:
Why is Congress in recess while this is going on?
Because its AUGUST when they always take their vacation? You really arent very bright are you?
August 8th, 2008 at 5:51 am