I always admired what an upbeat, decent, intelligent man he was. Fox has the story all day, I'm sure, but he was deeply devoted to his family, his faith, and his country. RIP, Tony
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/12/2008 09:04 ||
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#2
There are now a bunch of different kinds of "wireless pill endoscopes" in common use, and they are trying very hard to radically expand their use. You wear a special belt for a day, then swallow the big pill, and you don't even try to recover it, it is expendable.
You return the belt to them, and they download the images.
I knew a woman who had this procedure done just a few months ago. Two 10 minute outpatient visits, mostly administrative. Swallow a pill, put on a belt, do a functions check, then have a nice day. One day later, return the belt.
Heck of a lot better, faster and safer than general anesthesia and a typical endoscope that only sees a third as much intestine.
#7
I hope the MSM eulogy lasts as long as the one for the equally likable and talented Russert.
Oh, I doubt it. The inimitable AP spin...
Critics suggested that Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.
Although a star in conservative politics, as a commentator he had not always been on the president's side. He once called Bush "something of an embarrassment" in conservative circles and criticized what he called Bush's "lackluster" domestic policy.
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- China and Russia vetoed targeted UN sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe over his disputed re-election, prompting an angry reaction from the United States which cast doubt on Moscow's reliability as a G8 partner. The Chinese and Russian envoys joined their colleagues from South Africa, Libya and Vietnam in opposing a US draft resolution in the Security Council Friday which would have imposed an assets freeze and a travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his cronies, as well as an arms embargo. Indonesia abstained.
It was the first double veto by Russia and China since January 2007 when they vetoed a draft resolution in the 15-member council that would have urged Myanmar to ease repression and release political prisoners.
I sense a pattern ...
Voting in favor in Friday's vote were the United States, Britain, France, Burkina Faso, Belgium, Costa Rica, Italy, Panama and Croatia.
#4
Zimbabwe has welcomed the failure of a Western-backed UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions over its violent presidential elections, calling it a victory over racism and meddling in its affairs.
#5
Russia and China don't see anything wrong with what Bob's doing in Zimbob, since he's following THEIR template. Bob needs to wake up to a huge slab of concrete in his front yard, with the words "Mene, Mene, Tikel Uparsin" carved in it. Maybe he can get China to decipher it for him.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/12/2008 18:19 Comments ||
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#6
Bob needs to wake up DEAD, OP.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/12/2008 18:40 Comments ||
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Zimbabwe is saying that international sanctions against the ruling government could lead to civil war.
Automatic weapons trumps negotiations every time.
The U.N. Security Council will meet again Friday to consider a draft resolution that includes financial and travel restrictions against President Robert Mugabe and 13 others for violence leading up to last month's presidential vote. Zimbabwe said in a letter to the United Nations that the sanctions could lead to the removal of the effective government of the country and bring a civil war.
President Mugabe says he won another term as president last month, in a one-candidate run-off election after opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew. The opposition said state-sponsored violence had killed more than 100 people before the election.
Members of Zimbabwe's ruling and opposition parties Friday completed a second day of negotiations in Pretoria, South Africa. A team from Mr. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change met with members of the ruling party to lay down conditions for talks. More talks are expected, although no dates have been announced. Tsvangirai is demanding an end to violence against his political supporters, the release of political prisoners, and a mediator to be appointed alongside South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How would civil war hurt the UN? I don't get it.
(Xinhua) -- The parliament of the northern Belgian region of Flanders approved the Lisbon Treaty on Thursday, making Belgium the 22nd European Union (EU) member state to complete the ratification process of the EU treaty.
The Flemish parliament is the last of Belgium's seven assemblies which need to clear the treaty. It was uncertain for a time whether the treaty would be approved before the summer recess, as some of the parliamentary parties were demanding amendments.
But an agreement was reached and the treaty was approved. Belgian King Albert II now need to sign it before it is fully ratified by Belgium.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso congratulated Belgium on its decision. "This is a strong signal of how important it is that all member states are heard during the ratification process," he said in a statement.
The Lisbon Treaty replaces the EU constitution treaty, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The treaty can not enter into force unless all EU member states approve it.
The Lisbon Treaty was rejected by Irish voters several weeks ago, but EU leaders have been calling for a continuation of the ratification process in other EU countries.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- The French government will not have new employees to succeed over 30,000 civil servants who are due to retire next year, Eric Woerth, minister for the Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service, said Thursday.
Some 30,000 to 32,000 positions will not be filled after old employees leave next year, which means the same number of civil servants will be slashed, Woerth told the local newspaper Les Echos. It will be an unprecedented effort made by the French government and is quite close to the staff cut goal which will hire only one person after two retirees.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Of course, then they'll have to pay 30,000 pensions. But at least they won't have to deal with the paperwork the retirees would have generated, no doubt a major savings on France's carbon footprint.
Oooooooh, lets hope so...
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's presidential campaign has requested information from Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd as part of its search for a possible vice presidential candidate. The former White House hopeful and Connecticut lawmaker indicated Wednesday that he has been approached by the campaign. "There's been some inquiries, yeah," Dodd said. "They ask for a lot of stuff. I'll leave it there." So will they unless they are incredibly stupid.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton and Dodd's Senate office declined comment Thursday. Harrumph harrumph harrumph...
Recent moves by Obama have stoked speculation about the search for the No. 2 on the Democratic ticket. On Wednesday, Obama made an unscheduled stop at the building housing the law firm of one of his search committee members, Eric Holder. Obama also traveled to New York with another member of the search team, Caroline Kennedy. Meanwhile, at Castle Breck...the brooding continues.
Dodd, 64, is a five-term senator with a lengthy foreign policy resume. A fluent speaker of Spanish, Dodd served in the Peace Corps and has had a strong interest in Latin American affairs throughout his career. A longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he's been able to wield a heavy influence on U.S. involvement in the region. Sure he has. Just ask him.
Recently, Dodd, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, has struggled with allegations that he got cut-rate mortgages from a leading offender in the subprime mortgage meltdown. Save thousands on your mortgage! Ask me how!!
#1
The bought & paid for little squirrel Durbin. Just contemptible. God what a list. Durbin, Obama, Kennedy, Kerry, Clinton, Schumer, Harkin, Boxer, Feinstein, ad naseum. Jeesuus, makes you want to puke.
(Xinhua) -- U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is likely to be the primary sponsor on a car of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing in a race due in early next month, according to a news report on Friday.
The report by the CNN affiliated Sports Illustrated said that Obama''s campaign was in talks with BAM Racing to sponsor its No. 49 Sprint Cup car for the Pocono race in Pennsylvania on Aug. 3 but details could only be made public several days later.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/12/2008 12:10 Comments ||
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#8
what better match than the "Halo'd One" and the Illuminati?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/12/2008 12:13 Comments ||
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#9
The driver will be Lug Nuggy Nut.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/12/2008 12:31 Comments ||
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The Saturday Chicago Sun-Times says he is not going to support a car. As the official house organ of the Obama/Daley/Rezko organizations they may even be right.
(Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican Jackie Speier, in her first bill as a member of Congress, is proposing a national speed limit to save gas, it was reported on Friday. Speier sets the limit of 60 mph for freeways in urban areas and65 mph in less populated areas as a way to address rising gas prices, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
With the average price of gas at 4.10 U.S. dollars per gallon nationwide and 4.60 dollars in San Francisco, reducing driving speeds could save families hundreds of dollars a year, Speier said. "There is no need to wait for OPEC or the oil companies to help us out," Speier said. "Every driver can effect change simply by easing up on their right foot."
The bill is already stirring objections from some motorist groups, which fear it would slow traffic and increase speeding tickets and insurance premiums, the paper said.
Opponents said the law isn't necessary because drivers already have the choice of reducing their speed to save gas. "If they want to get in the right-hand lane and drive 55 mph on the highway, there is no restriction on that," said Jim Baxter, president of the National Motorists Association, a group formed in1982 to repeal national speed limits. "They are welcome to do that."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Oh yeah. This will for sure do away with the need to drill. Why don't I think of these things sooner?
#2
Chicoms got one thing wrong. Speier is a Bay Area Babe Donk of the Pelosi genus. Also I doubt she would set the speed limit at 60 in urban areas as it is generally 55 now, iirc, though honored only in the breach.
JOLIET, Ill. - NASCAR's BAM Racing team is in discussions with Barack Obama's presidential campaign about a potential sponsorship deal in the Sprint Cup series later this year. I hope they leave out the feaux-presidential seal. Is Emeril involved? Doesn't he have the copywrite on BAM!?
Team spokesman Rhett Vandiver told The Associated Press on Friday that the team has made a sponsorship proposal to the Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign, and has made similar proposals to the campaign of Republican John McCain and at least one third-party candidate. They'd have to use a Model T for McCain.
Sports Illustrated first reported the proposal on its Web site, saying Obama's campaign is in talks with BAM, a part-time operation that hasn't raced in recent weeks, to sponsor its No. 49 car in the Aug. 3 race at Pocono. Jeebus! Redneck Yankees!"
I don't know how far along the discussions are," Vandiver told AP.
Asked about the talks, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Penski Psaki said, "We get a lot of good ideas every day, but there are no such agreements in place at this time." I'm not so sure this qualifies as a "good idea".
Should the deal come together, it is believed to be the first time a presidential campaign has sponsored a car in NASCAR's top series - and a fairly bold move within a sport whose competitors spend all year turning left on the track but tend to lean to the right politically. Left on the track and Right politically! HAHAHA this guy's a riot!
But the campaign's choice of drivers and car brands might turn out to be a little bit sticky politically.
The car, a Cadillac Toyota, would be driven by veteran Lug Nuggey Nut Ken Schrader.
According to the Federal Election Commission's Web site, Schrader gave $1,000 to the campaign of North Carolina Republican congressman Robin Hayes in June 2004, and a total of $2,500 in 2003 and 2004 to the failed Virginia congressional campaign of Republican Kevin Triplett, a former NASCAR official. It's gonna be hard to find a driver whose a Democrat.
Also according to the FEC, Mrs. Ann Schrader of Concord, N.C. and Ken Schrader Racing donated a total of $2,000 to President Bush's campaign in May 2004 and $900 to the North Carolina Republican Executive Committee in August 2004. What the hell's that got to do with Racin'?
NASCAR has been playing an increasing role in politics, as so-called "NASCAR dads" were considered a key constituency in recent elections. NASCAR hasn't. The people who like NASCAR have consistantly voted Conservative. Back when NASCAR first started the Conservatives were Democrats.
A Cup series car carried a George W. Bush logo in 2004 but wasn't officially associated with the campaign. And Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham sponsored a truck in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2003.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Only guy that could help O is the King and he's stone cold Republican. Maybe if Leroy Yarlborough was still kicking, but he died in the bughouse if I recalls correctly.
#2
IIRC, the 49 was the "Little Debbies'" car before. Now it can be the "Little Barry's". Go ahead, tool, waste your money. The NASCAR set is the gun-clinging and bible-clinging rabble that you already put down. They're on to you and your h8tr wife
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/12/2008 8:57 Comments ||
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nope, from ESPN:
"BAM team spokesman Rhett Vandiver told The Associated Press on Friday that the team made a sponsorship proposal to the Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign, and has made similar proposals to the campaign of Republican John McCain and at least one third-party candidate.
Late Friday, the Obama campaign said there would be no sponsorship."
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/12/2008 9:52 Comments ||
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#4
NASCAR has been playing an increasing role in politics, as so-called "NASCAR dads" were considered a key constituency in recent elections.
Another "racist" term which is totally incompatible with disadvantaged, matriarchal societies.
Having read this book, I wondered about this -- (have read all of his books) He writes in a way, you wonder where fiction ends and truth begins. The death threats are indeed, real.
The author of the best-selling new thriller, "The Last Patriot," says his life already has been threatened for contending the Muslim holy book contains errors and is not based on the last revelations of Muhammad.
"I've already had multiple death threats come in, and that's something that we're taking very seriously with the tour coming up," said Brad Thor, whose "Patriot" already has climbed to No. 1 on the Amazon fiction list after its release last week. Thor says he's adding security precautions as he goes forward with a national book tour.
In the book, which is being called the "Islamic Da Vinci Code," Thor posits that Islamic scholars have engaged in a conspiracy to cover up missing parts of the Quran that allegedly reveal their prophet had a final moderate revelation that abrogates the violent passages of the Quran.
Oh that's going to tighten a few turbans ...
Thor, who has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security's Analytic Red Cell Program, says his research confirmed that parchments and fragments of parchments of the Quran were uncovered at the Great Mosque in Sana'a, Yemen, in 1974. "What they found when they started studying them was, uh-oh, there's stuff in here that doesn't look like the Quran today," he explained, "and we've gone around telling everybody that the Quran is perfect and now here are these discrepancies."
More than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide believe their holy book is the perfect, inviolate word of God -- an exact word-for-word, perfect copy of the original book as it exists in Paradise and just as it was transmitted, without a single error, by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel.
But Thor's main character in "Patriot" uncovers aberrations that differ from Islamic dogma, meaning the case could finally be made that the Quran needed to be re-examined in a historical framework.
"He had always believed that the Quran had been written by man, not God," Thor writes about his moderate Muslim protagonist in the opening chapter of his novel. "If such a thing could be proven, Muslims around the world would be able to re-examine their faith with a modern, 21st century perspective, rather than the outdated, unenlightened perspective of seventh-century Arabia."
Thor then spins a tale of murder and intrigue. "The one thing I've learned from doing my research is Islam has some very dark, very scary skeletons in its closet that it does not want out there, that it absolutely cannot defend," he said.
Friends have warned Thor that his book will be viewed as blasphemous by Muslim fundamentalists. "You're going to have a fatwah on you" like Salman Rushdie, said CNN's Glenn Beck, a family friend. "This is the kind of stuff that's going to get you killed."
Rushdie has lived under sentence of death since writing his novel, "The Satanic Verses." Muslim clerics condemned the book as blasphemous against Muhammad and the Quran.
But Thor says "Islam is getting a free pass," and he has the right to write anything he wants to write and Muslims have the "right not to read it."
He adds that he's tired of the chattering class in Washington glossing over the violent nature of Islam, sugarcoating it as a "religion of peace" that doesn't need to be reformed. "I hear all the time about Islam being a religion of peace and I thought, wow, that's weird, there's so much violence in there," he explained in a recent interview with Beck. "And the more I study the Quran, the more I realize that it's unlike the Bible."
Thor notes that since 9/11, more than 11,000 deadly attacks have been committed by Muslims "in the name of Islam." "We see these horrible things happen in Islam every day," he said, "and we don't even see mainstream Muslims standing up" to protest them.
Next week, the gutsy author even plans to stop for a book-signing appearance at the Borders in Baileys Crossroads, Va., which boasts one of the highest concentrations of Arab and Muslim immigrants in the nation.
#2
The note about Bailey's Crossroads is interesting. I've often wondered why I see ten times as many Muslims around here as I did on my recent travels in Europe, eg Brussels, Amsterdam, etc.
SRINAGAR - Jammu and Kashmir was placed under governor's rule from Thursday night, days after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned without facing a floor test as directed by Governor Narendra Nath Vohra.
Since Jammu and Kashmir has its own Constitution, the governor, late on Thursday night issued a proclamation exercising powers vested in him. He assumed, with immediate effect, all functions of the government in the state and all powers “exercisable by anybody or authority in the state other than the powers in or exercisable by the high court’’. He also dissolved the state legislative assembly.
A Raj Bhavan spokesperson said, “After the acceptance of resignations of the Chief Minister Azad and his Council of Ministers, the governor initiated a consultative process and met leaders of various political parties and groups in the assembly.’’
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Israeli prosecutors announced an expansion of their corruption investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday, saying they suspected he fraudulently billed multiple state agencies for the same flights when he was mayor and trade minister and used the extra money for personal trips and vacations.
In a statement issued after questioning Mr. Olmert for two hours, the police and the Justice Ministry said that the travel agency he used colluded in the alleged scheme by sending copies of the same bill to numerous public bodies and booking Olmert family vacations with the profits.
A Justice Ministry spokesman added that the state agencies involved in the double billing included those focused on helping soldiers, mentally disabled children, the disabled and the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. He said Mr. Olmert would speak on their behalf during his trips and then ask them to pay for the fare.
Next week, Mr. Olmert's lawyers will cross-examine a Long Island businessman who told prosecutors in public testimony in May that he had delivered about $150,000 in cash to Mr. Olmert in envelopes over a number of years before Mr. Olmert became prime minister.
The businessman, Morris Talansky, said he never asked anything of Mr. Olmert in exchange, but the police have several letters of introduction from Mr. Olmert for Mr. Talansky to businessmen and officials of other governments that they believe amounted to a quid pro quo.
Judicial authorities said that between Mr. Talansky's envelopes and the travel agency's multiple billings, Mr. Olmert had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in about 15 years. He served as mayor for a decade until 2003, and then as a government minister until succeeding Ariel Sharon in early 2006.
After Friday's questioning, Mr. Olmert's office issued a statement that "the earth did not shake and the sky did not fall," meaning that despite predictions leaked to the press in advance of the questioning suggesting that it would be the end of his political career, little of substance has changed. The statement said the questioning was standard and referred to business Mr. Olmert had conducted abroad while mayor and trade minister.
"Prime Minister Olmert is convinced he is innocent of any wrongdoing and firmly believes that as this investigation continues, that innocence will become apparent to all," his spokesman Mark Regev said. Mr. Olmert has promised to step down if indicted.
There have been increasingly harsh leaks from the police to the Israeli media with growing predictions that the prime minister will be forced out at any moment. For example, in a front-page analysis in Haaretz newspaper on Friday, the journalist Amir Oren predicted that after the police questioning, Mr. Olmert "will cease serving as prime minister." He added, "Olmert will not be able to recover from this interrogation."
And while Mr. Olmert is a veteran political survivor, there are signs that he may not be able to hold on as leader of the government much longer. Leaders of his Kadima Party say they have reached a deal to hold a primary in September and that the winner will immediately begin putting together a new government. Mr. Olmert would not step down until a majority coalition had been formed.
If the agreement holds, it means that Mr. Olmert has lost his internal battle to prevent the formation of a new government while he is prime minister. It is not yet clear whether Mr. Olmert will run again to lead the party in the primaries. Some of his colleagues have asserted that he has promised not to.
But the investigations and party battles have clearly taken a toll on his public standing, and even if he chooses to run he seems unlikely to prevail. A poll in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper published on Friday shows 79 percent of Kadima members wanting him to quit.
In addition, Mr. Olmert's top two lieutenants, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, have publicly urged him to step down. Ms. Livni leads in polls among Kadima members to take over Mr. Olmert's leadership of the party. Mr. Barak leads the Labor Party, which is in a coalition with Kadima.
Mr. Olmert faces this possible political demise at a time of extraordinary geopolitical challenge for Israel. The government is simultaneously negotiating with two Palestinian factions, as well as Syria. It is also grappling with what to do about Iran's nuclear ambitions, given Iran's stated wish for Israel to be forced out of existence.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Once again, Evin Prison in Tehran, Iran, has drawn the attention of human rights activists; this time the notorious jail—infamous for housing political and social figures—is holding 10 women on hunger strike.
Almost one month has passed since the doors of ward 209 were shut on women's rights activist Mahboubeh Karami and nine other women; and the Iranian judiciary still has not presented the legal basis or accusations on which the detainees are being held.
"It has been weeks since I have officially accepted to defend the case of Ms. Karami, but I have not succeeded to visit my defendant yet. Nor am I aware of the charges against her," said Hooshang Poor Babaee, Karami's advocate lawyer.
On the fourth week of their detention, the 10 female inmates, exhausted by the grave conditions, began a hunger strike to protest the "illegal approach" of the judicial and prison officials.
In an interview with the United States-funded Persian-language Radio Farda, Sadigheh Masaebi, Mahboubeh's mother talked about the last conversation she had with her daughter: "'They are killing us here,' she [Karami] told me on phone. She said that her body is full of bruises, and the ten of them are crawling into each other in a tiny cell. She said that she and the nine other inmates are going on hunger strike from Sunday [July 6]."
Karami is 39. The ages of the other inmates range from 17 to 70, according to what Karami has told her mother.
The women were arrested during a protest against "economical corruption" in Tehran. But Karami has denied any involvement in the protest, and said her presence in the tumultuous area had been entirely coincidental. She said that she was passing through the area on a bus when the police and plainclothes officers stopped the vehicle and arrested them.
"'The police stopped the bus in front of the Mellat Park. Then they began hitting the windows with their batons and forced the driver to open the doors. They attacked a man in the bus. I could not keep silent and when I protested, they took me in too,'" Mahboubeh's mother quoted her daughter as saying.
Those demonstrating in Mellat Park were protesting the June 11 arrest of Abbas Palizdar, who had accused several senior Iranian officials of financial corruption in speeches he made at universities in Hamedan and Shiraz in May. He had been involved in a parliamentary Judicial Inquiry and Review Committee that had conducted an investigation into affairs of the judiciary. The protest had been organized by foreign-based opposition television channels that the Islamic Republic considers illegal and decadent.
Addressing High Gas Prices
Skyrocketing gas and energy prices are hurting NevadaÂ’s working families. ThatÂ’s why I am pushing Congress to pass legislation to address the root causes of the problem and reduce the burden on consumers and the economy. Excessive speculation on Wall Street and around the world has helped drive dramatic increases in oil and energy prices. The bill I introduced would curb speculation, go after OPEC for collusion, and convince the oil companies to start investing their huge profits in clean, affordable alternatives like wind, solar and geothermal energy to power our economy. I've forced votes at least five times this year on legislation to help restrain energy prices and help the consumers. For those who say we should drill more at home, I believe the oil companies should start using the 68 million acres of onshore and off-shore leases they already own, before asking for more land. But let me be clear, we can't simply drill our way to lower prices or to real energy independence because America has less than 3% of the world's oil supplies and uses more than 25% of its production. That is why we must increase our investment in renewable energy sources like the ones that are so abundant in Nevada.
For more information on my energy plans, click here.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/12/2008 14:21 ||
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#3
ATM we still produce domestically about 40% of our oil.
Which, if I take Dingy Harry's figures, means we're producing .25*.4= 10% of the world's oil production with 3% of its resources, even as much as retards like him have limited it.
#4
Not Scrappleface. I signed up for Harry's newletter a while back, so I cound get fun little nuggets like this one, which I share with my friends at the 'Burg. Enjoy.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/12/2008 17:24 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, he's right - a lot of the price of oil is speculation. Speculators are betting on increased future demand and tightening supplies of petroleum. Nothing wrong with wind, solar, or geothermal power - except they're not exactly going to provide energy to power our cars anytime soon. I also notice no mention of nuclear power - which is proven and does not require R&D.
Drilling in Alaska, off both coasts, and off of Florida WOULD drop prices, as the markets would factor in a large increase in future supply.
The smart move would be to drill now, build nuclear plants, AND invest in alternative energy R&D. But now one would EVER accuse Harry Reid of being smart.
#6
Well, if he was serious, he could call for Vegas to dim their lights for a few hours to help conserve energy.
;)
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields ||
07/12/2008 18:31 Comments ||
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#7
Sorry, but drilling anywhere is not going to do anything to gas prices for a long time. Potential demand is far higher than actual supply. I suppose if you nationalized it, it could help, otherwise it would still be sold to the highest bidder (which would be China). It's simple economics people, not rocket science. And you would still have to build up a lot more refining capacity. No, a better solution is to start devoting some of the billions we are spending in Iraq to increasing hydrogen infrastructure. We've all but got Iraq won, as we start drawing down we could dump billions into that. We have to get off of oil. That's the only solution. And no I am not some greenie, I am a realist. I don't believe in AGW, hell I don't even believe we know for sure if the climate is warming. Regardless, get us off oil, make the oil ticks irrelevant, let China deal with them.
#8
Sorry, but drilling anywhere is not going to do anything to gas prices for a long time.
Actually it will if the speculators believe that we're serious about ramping up production. Throw open *all* federal lands to *all* types of mineral production and you halve oil prices in a matter of months. Actual available supply isn't necessary to turn long speculators into short sellers.
#9
Azcat is correct. A "We're gonna drill" announcement would have an immediate impact on the speculators (nobody wants to be holding the short end of an expensive stick), and an effect at the pump shortly after
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/12/2008 19:09 Comments ||
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#10
Do you folks realize that by saying the price of oil is rising due to speculators you are agreeing with Idiot Reid? There are no speculators except the people who have oil but choose not to pump it. And who does that definition fit? The Democrats!
#11
Call 'em whatever you want NS but the folks driving up the value of oil futures contracts are partly to blame here. Trading futures is speculation until and unless someone produces a working crystal ball.
Of course the speculators aren't entirely to blame but they're the most quickly and easily dealt with component of the problem.
#12
Increased drilling has been happening, tied to the rise in oil prices over the past few years. It just takes a while to get to the point where the oil comes out of the ground, as apparently it takes longer than the six weeks needed to build a normal house.
#13
They are absolutely not to blame and to say so exposes your naivete. Buying and selling oil is as much speculating as futures.
Dealing with speculators who drive up the price for extended periods is easy because they don't exist. The people who are driving up the price are the people with oil in the ground who won't drill for it. They are speculating the price will go up and they are Democrats.
Posted by: Large Whinegum6365 ||
07/12/2008 19:29 Comments ||
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NS - speculators exist and they are significantly impacting the markets. Consider, for example, this bit from Consumer Affairs.
Here's a very relevant anecdote:
In 2007, speculators owned just 37 percent of the contracts to buy West Texas Intermediate Crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The remaining 63 percent was controlled by oil refiners, wholesalers, trucking companies and other end users of petroleum products.
By April of this year, the proportion had almost reversed itself. Speculators controlled 71 percent of the contracts while oil users held only 29 percent.
With more and more money from speculators chasing a finite number of oil futures contracts, the supply and demand principle takes hold. When demand for something outpaces the supply, the price rises.
Take the speculative money out of the market, for example, and watch what happens. With another 71 percent of oil contracts up for grabs, and no speculative money to compete for it, oil users are the only ones left bidding for contracts. They don't have to bid as much, now that there is less demand.
#16
NS is right, speculators don't drive up the price of oil over any period longer than a few days. That requires physical hoarding of oil and as a practical matter that can only occur by not pumping oil, which OPEC has done for many years. Were a business to do this, there is nothing wrong with it. Holding product back from the market in the hope of higher prices later is a legitimate business practice. The problem with OPEC is that it is a cartel.
#17
Nimble: My cousin has 28,000 acres of coal and oil bearing wheat/cattle land in Montana. She has 2 refineries withing 20 miles.
NEITHER ONE WILL PAY HER MORE THAN $20 BBL.
So she shut her pumps off!
#18
AzCat, in a market there are always an exactly equal number of buyers and sellers.
The article you quote is poorly written and it's not clear if long positions held by speculators are now 71%. If they are then there must have been an exactly equal increase in short sellers. Who are they? Other speculators? Oil companies? OPEC? Without knowing this, we are just speculating. A plausible scenario is OPEC is gaming the speculators.
Otherwise, you have a point and futures markets feed a bubble mentality that spills over into the physical market, because prices people pay are determined by the spot physical market and not the futures market.
#19
One point not made so far: by refusing to drill here at home, we send $147 a barrel to people like the Saoodis, Nigerians, etc. It makes sense to me to keep as much of the money here at home as we reasonably can. This also means that the jobs required in drilling stay home. And whatever we produce here can be taxed here by the states and the Federal gummints. Therefore drilling at home makes more sense than buying oil abroad.
Second point: oil companies drilling in America have to be careful and responsible to the environment. That's the law and the Feds generally do a good job enforcing it. The 'law' in Nigeria isn't nearly so strict, so there is a lot more pollution there. By saying that we won't drill at home, we encourage the pollution of the world elsewhere. Try that one on a liberal friend and see how they respond.
Third point: drilling at home would send a message to the world that we're serious. Combine that with better efficiency (NOT conservation, since few like to be lectured about conserving but everyone likes to be more efficient), a move to flex-fuel plug-in hybrid cars, producing ethanol from switchgrass, buying ethanol from Brazil (*), and a serious push to nuclear power, and you have a plan that dampens speculation substantially.
(*) Would you rather buy ethanol from Brazil or oil from Iran? Discuss.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/12/2008 20:46 Comments ||
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#20
DIpshit Harry is missing one thing: the speculation woudl nto be possible were it not for severely constrained supplies and loose trading rules.
Tighten margin requirements (or eliminate them completely) will force speculators to put up sufficient capital instead of miniscule amounts.
That kills the bubble from the demand side.
Drill here, drill now - that fixes it form the supply side. Knowing that the US is going to be exploring and bringing on 10's of millions of barrels in the next 5-6 years domestically is more than enough to take the edge off the supply squeeze and reduce upward pressure. That will cause the futures to steady, which will driuve the specualtors out as well.
Stable markets are not exploitable to the degree we have seen with the speculation bubble, especially if you take into account a higher opportunity cost (raising margin requirements).
This is only to buy breathing space while we build nukes for primary baseload power, wind and solar for peak, and push for petroleum replacement for vehicle fuel.
And don't forget natural gas - we are the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas.
#21
One other thing dumbass Harry missed - the current leases are NOT as good a land as are the off limits area. The reason they havent been exploited is those areas show little promise to be productive enough even at today's rates. They are the "leftovers", the likely non-producing areas.
Basically what this dipshit is saying, were this to farmers, is that he wants us to farm the rocky slopes, before he lets us farm the fertile plains.
Moron - its political BS and obfuscation of the worst kind.
#22
I agree that margin requirements are too low, but that doesn't lead to futures traders being able to drive up market prices for this long. It's real, not speculators.
ps, 3dc your cousin's a speculator and I hope she makes money on the gamble.
#23
And yes speculators can be the cause of this bubble by themselves.
Remember, unlike a buying customer, who will put ALL of the capital into a contract and take delivery, speculators can borrow most of the money, putting little of theirs in.
That means the only cost of the trade to them, for the most part, is the interest cost. ANd as long as they can say that the price will go up faster than the interest rate, they will buy the contract, sell it for a profit - probably to another speculator.
Many contracts trade as much as 20 to 60 times before a delivery (final) contract is taken.
That means speculators, on margin, are driving the bubble up on their own by trading between themselves, creating high velocity of money and momentum trading.
Put it this way:
Given oil at 140 a barrel, and say Oil looks to be going to 150 due to less supply and sustained demand for the indefinite future. Its fluctuating wildy and will swing $5 in a week, possiby in a day.
Not unreasonable.
OK, say we have a corporate fleet that makes bulk discounts, and uses 10,000 barrels equivalent a quarter. To buy the equivalent of 10,000 barrels of oil, a consumer, who takes delivery, pays out $1.4 million to fix the price in place.
Now lets look at a speculator at a hedge fund or brokerage with access to large credit lines, instead, has a 5% margin and 8% interest.
So he enters the market - grabbing the same lot of 10,000 barrles at $140. He pays 5% out of pocket for the margin = 70K. He gets a loan for the $1.33M, and takes on $2046 a week in interest costs (106.4K annual interest).
He now holds for a swing in price.
As previously stated, oil looks to be going to 150, so a week later he finds another speculator that will buy from him for 145 (betting on 150), putting $1.45M in his pocket.
He pays back the $1.33M in loan and $2046 in interest for the week.
So: he put up $70,000 of his own, and got back $1.45M - 1.35046M = $99540 Thats a gain of $29540 in a week. A 42 percent return on investment.
As long as the momentum keeps up (cheap money, constricted supply), its behooves the trader to keep trading and pushing the price. His risk is minmal, compared ot the returns.
So the specualtor only puts $70K of his own, whereas the consumer has to put up $1.4 million.
HUGE difference. Increse the margins makes the yield go down. Increase production reduces upward pressure which increases the risk for the speculator.
#24
addendum: jumping margins requirement to 100% or requiring the fuutures buyer to take delivery kills the rise to $145- the buyer buys at 140 and it stays there until supply/demand moves it. And increasing supply reduces upward pressure on the product, as do demand reduction. Plus supply/demand curse will decrease demand once the prodcut becomes too expensive.
the problem is speculators do not have the same supply demand as the commodity they trade - they creade demand and supply themselves with their trading activity.
So thats why whacking speculators by either eliminating them by restricting trade to actualy suppliers and consumers (true supply/demand) or taking away margin will cause corrective action and allow for a true supply-demand marketplace, thus bubble deflation.
In that environemnt, supply side actions like increasing drilling, will have an effect on price quite quickly, as anticipation of price increases will soften, allowing price to drop or at least steady in the face of increased supply.
(Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush called for Congress on Friday to approve oil drilling in offshore waters and in the Alaskan wildlife refuge to push American through "tough economic times."
Bush said at a meeting at the Energy Department that one option to deal with skyrocketing oil price is to tap the vast potential crude oil reserves on offshore waters and in Alaska as well as in the western part of the country. He noted that technological development has made it possible to recover the oil while protecting the environment.
The president urged the Democrats-dominant Congress to address the issue before they begin a recession in August. "They have a responsibility to explain to their constituents why we should not be drilling for more oil here in America to take the pressure off of gasoline prices," he said.
The U.S. economy suffers from gasoline prices hike that has reached over 4 U.S. dollars a gallon (3.785 liter), and U.S. Congress and the White House are stressing different ways to ease the oil crisis. "Crude oil prices are up and one reason crude oil prices are up is because demand is outstripping supply," the president said.
On the other hand, Democrats in the House of Representatives are trying to pass an energy package as early as next week aiming at increasing domestic oil production, also as a way to counter Republicans' charges that they are anti-drilling. Let's be clear: Democrats support increasing the domestic production of petroleum and other energy resources," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters on Wednesday.
Not Nancy Pelosi ...
He said the legislation would speed up development of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, and reimpose a ban on foreign export of Alaskan oil.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi renewed her request to President Bush for more government-held oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be released onto the market to check prices, which has been always resisted by the president. "Right now the president has 700 million barrels of oil. He can release a small percent of it, less than 10 percent of it; have immediate impact on the price at the pump now, within 10 days, not within 10 years," Pelosi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
OK George, show some cojones and make the first move: Remove the EXECUTIVE ORDER that bans it. Put the blame squarely in the Democrat's hands.
Why haven't you done it already George? All it takes a a signature.
#2
"Right now the president has 700 million barrels of oil. He can release a small percent of it, less than 10 percent of it; have immediate impact on the price at the pump now, within 10 days, not within 10 years," Pelosi said.
I had no idea that this was somehow gating Dems voting for drilling offshore and in Anwar.
#8
"Right now the president has 700 million barrels of oil. He can release a small percent of it, less than 10 percent of it; have immediate impact on the price at the pump now, within 10 days, not within 10 years," Pelosi said.
That's why not releasing it will have the desired effect in November as you're feeling the hate of obstructing access to the source of the stuff for over 30 years. It's for military emergencies not your political emergency. Since its been all about power for you, and you don't give a crap about the nation's economy or welfare, just votes from the usual suspects, as they say - feel the power. George has no reason to accommodate you. He's not up for reelection. He'd better get an incredible deal from you and yours before he'll do anything after your games for two years. Oh, and if he's learned anything from his father's experience with Donk promises, you'd better deliver first, no IOUs. Enjoy.
#9
Actually the US does need a civilian oil reserve. The oil companies used to keep several weeks supply on hand but not anymore. It lowers their costs and they can also take advantage of much wilder price rises that a large inventory would dampen.
Posted by: ed ||
07/12/2008 12:02 Comments ||
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#10
I'm salivating over the prospect of all the great fishing spots up and down the coast that will result from these platforms.
Cost of gas be damned - I want the improved fishing!
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/12/2008 15:23 Comments ||
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#11
A substantial portion of the current price of oil is speculation. The prospect of large quantities of oil coming on-line in the next few years, would cause current oil prices to drop.
#12
Sorry, drilling will NOT help. Ever. There is no reason we can't move our economy off of oil completely. Sure it will be expensive and painful in the short term, but the long run will be worth it.
#13
There'll be nothing left of the American economy in the long run if we continue on our current anti-oil path for a few more years. The Democrats are on the verge of making people yearn for the good old days of the 1970s.
#14
Drilling WILL help. How does increasing domestic production and increasing supply and keepign the money here instead of in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia and Mexico NOT work?
Care to explain that?
30 years of Democrat obstructianism says your absolutism is simply dumbassery and denial.
#15
"There is no reason we can't move our economy off of oil completely. "
Really? How many things made of plastic or synthetic fibers are you touching right now? How many painted or dyed surfaces can you see from where you are sitting.
69% of our oil consumption is for transportation. We can not convert that to electric because
1. we don't have the generation capacity or the distribution capacity. It would require doubling our power plants and power lines. The grid would melt if everyone plugged in their cars.
2. Have you ever seen an electric airplane that can carry any appreciable amount of passengers and freight?
No, we CANT get our economy off oil. It would require eliminating the aircraft industry for one that and that is only the beginning. That is the kind of crap that "pie in the sky" ninnies say without really thinking it through.
Painful? Yeah, eliminating all airlines, the Air Force, and all US aircraft manufacturers and their supplies would indeed be painful. And insane.
The Bush administration on Friday rejected regulating greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, saying it would damage the U.S. economy and cause too many job losses.
In a 588-page federal notice, the Environmental Protection Agency made no finding on whether global warming poses a threat to people's health, reversing an earlier conclusion at the insistence of the White House and officially kicking any decision on a solution to the next president and Congress.
The White House on Thursday rejected EPA's conclusion three weeks earlier that the 1970 Clean Air Act can be both workable and effective for addressing global climate change. Instead, EPA said Friday that law is "ill-suited" for dealing with climate change. "If our nation is truly about serious regulating greenhouse gases, the Clean Air Act is the wrong tool for the job," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson told reporters. "It is really at the feet of Congress."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
They should propose a tax on puddles. Water vapour has far more atmospheric effect than airborne plantfood does.
#2
#1 They should propose a tax on puddles. Water vapour has far more atmospheric effect than airborne plantfood does. Posted by: Bright Pebbles
Right on, BP. Water vapor and solar activity, PLUS the interaction between the two, account for 90% of all climate, whether it stands still or changes. If I were a betting man, I'd put even money on average global temps taking a 1-2 degree C change over the next five years if the sun remains as quiet as it's been for the last two years. Al Gore would have a hissy-fit I'd pay money to see. Maybe he'll blow a gasket or two, and have to be put out in the pasture - about six feet down. Still, this world is full of gullible people...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/12/2008 23:26 Comments ||
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The U.S. government says it will not take charge of the nation's two largest mortgage finance firms as their stock prices plunge in further signs of trouble for America's housing market.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Zimbabwe is saying that international sanctions against the ruling government could lead to civil war.
(Xinhua) -- The parliament of the northern Belgian region of Flanders approved the Lisbon Treaty on Thursday, making Belgium the 22nd European Union (EU) member state to complete the ratification process of the EU treaty. 
(Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican Jackie Speier, in her first bill as a member of Congress, is proposing a national speed limit to save gas, it was reported on Friday. Speier sets the limit of 60 mph for freeways in urban areas and65 mph in less populated areas as a way to address rising gas prices, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 
Israeli prosecutors announced an expansion of their corruption investigation into Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Friday, saying they suspected he fraudulently billed multiple state agencies for the same flights when he was mayor and trade minister and used the extra money for personal trips and vacations.
After Friday's questioning, Mr. Olmert's office issued a statement that "the earth did not shake and the sky did not fall," meaning that despite predictions leaked to the press in advance of the questioning suggesting that it would be the end of his political career, little of substance has changed. The statement said the questioning was standard and referred to business Mr. Olmert had conducted abroad while mayor and trade minister.
(Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush called for Congress on Friday to approve oil drilling in offshore waters and in the Alaskan wildlife refuge to push American through "tough economic times." 
The Bush administration on Friday rejected regulating greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, saying it would damage the U.S. economy and cause too many job losses.
