...shudder...
So George, how long you gonna wait on this? I think the state department is doing you a disservice by telling you we can talk it out. I'm supporting you as long as you're leading so keep leading dammit.
Lets say something big does happen here this summer, do we have enough to cover Iraq, Afganistan, the homeland and deal with Iran? If we have to pull anyone out of their current assignments, it's gonna look like a weakness and they're gonna hammer away at us...best to perform action on them rather than have it performed on us.
Now, where'd I put all that 7.62....
It's utter bullshit. Someone ought to tell Penn & Teller about this one. Seems all the crap in france about it being banned in schools, and all the stories you hear about women refusing to take them off for driver's licenses; and how it's such an affront to Islam...all made up, and not that long ago.
Have a read:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/GuestColumns/Taheri20030819.shtml
Now, although I agree with Gene Simmons, this isn't what this post is about. Read on down to the bottom about Australia's vilification laws. This, my friend, is PC run amok.
To have free speech; yet curtail it if it doesn't fit someone else's world view? Censorship, pure and simple. This only serves to enfoce multiculturalism.
Quoted from: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~natinfo/rvlaws.htm
One political leader has said that people should not make the mistake of confusing "freedom of expression with the freedom to insult".
Which Australian politician said that?
Actually, this quote comes from Iran's Muslim fundamentalist President Khamenei, defending Ayatollah Khomeini's death edict upon Salman Rushdie for writing the book The Satanic Verses (5).
As solicitor David Allen has pointed out, "The extremity of the threat against Salman Rushdie should not obscure the fact that they are based on the same rationale as racial vilification legislation - the supposed need to suppress and punish odious views. It is done in the name of truth and justice" (6).
Kerry, in his ever increasing enlightenment, wants to open the taps on the Strategic Oil Reserve. Article here.
What's the purpose here? To lower the price? That's not why we have the SoR and this is just further evidence that Kerry just doesn't understand.
First, the SoR is strategic, not tactical. You can't go tossing it around here and there and be effective. It's usefulness is it's existence to prevent SUPPLY problems.
Second, the current prices aren't supply related. (see recent article here).
Thirdly, gasoline is a time-sensitive product. You can't make it and sit it on the shelf, so it's not economical to ship long distances. This is why we import sweet (light) crude and refine it locally. In April, refining capacity of the United States was running at 94-97% of capacity. How in the hell is opening up the SoR going to do ANYTHING to gas prices when there's no appreciable refining capacity to take it up?
Fourth, opening up the SoR and getting the product to the refiners (if there was capacity) isn't exactally quick. Considering the timing of Kerry's remarks, by the time the product his the market the prices would be coming down naturally anyway because we'd be through the high-demand summer driving season. That way, Kerry could say it was his idea that saved the day when in fact it had nothing to do with the solution.
You really want to decrease the cost of gasoline? Two things you can do to have fast impact. One, relax EPA forumulation standards allowing the use of fewer forumulations of gasoline in more markets and reap the economies of scale of refining and transportation. Tow, decrease the federal and state taxes on gasoline. Federal excise taxes per gallon is 18.4 cents and Indiana has a 37.7 cent tax. Now I don't see any reason why governments would want to eliminate these taxes, but cut 'em in half and there's a quick 28 cents, putting gas down to $1.72.
Rode for about 4 hours on Sunday; back along the same path around Bloomington-Nashville-Bean Blossom. The roads are quite a bit nicer as there's less sand in the road now, but the traffic has increased a bit. I can't say I know these roads very well yet, but I'm less surprised at what's around each corner now. I should probably ease up on flogging the FJ into corners though; I'm starting to cup the front tire a bit, which is bound to happen on such a heavy bike, but I'm not planning on new tires just yet.
I stopped in Nashville, IN for gas...big mistake...$2.29/gallon.
My XM radio on the bike performed great; although when it got real twisty in the trees, it did cut out a bit. I think I need to build a bigger ground plane for it in the tank bang.
I think I'm going to get a Buel-style windscreen for the CB-1 and take it next time.
It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history.... [It is] the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism- Leninism on the ash heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people.
--Ronald Reagan,
Speech to Britain's Parliament, June 1982
daughter's tits on the internet!
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004223099,00.html
Seems she just wanted to be fashionable at Cannes.
I still say he's just a "rabbit" run out by the democrats to take heat off the party until Hillary jumps in.
Utter bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.
"U.S. athletes told to cool it at Olympics"
I hope the athletes ignore this "suggestion". If I tune in and find an American on a medal podium standing there without showing any joy or pride in winning, that'll be the last second of the olympics I watch.
Two bills and an indian head for a gallon of gas? It's simply not sustainable in a normal market.
But, that's not where we're at. Futures prices for a barrel of oil are hovering over $40 when the sustainable price is probalby about $24-$28. As well, all of the OPEC cartel members are cheating on the quotas in a major way to try and calm the market (and put a little in their pockets). With all of the over-quota production, it appears production is outpacing market to a tune of about 3.5m barrels per day, so it's not a supply-triggered problem. The overages should actually be pushing prices down.
What does a glut of oil on the market and a concurrent increase in price tell you? I know what it says to me...uncertainty. Futures commodity buyers would NEVER pay $40 a barrel for oil UNLESS they thought it might go to $50 or $60. The only thing that would do that is a serious terrorist attack on a major (Saudi Arabia) oil producer.
Anyway, back to my real point here. OPEC is no longer in control of the market forces concerning their product. Just like US monetary policy, we can adjust short-term and long-term interest rates to tweak the money supply and tweak inflation and thusly control prices. OPEC does the same thing by adjusting their output quotas. All of the OPEC members have to meet their floor quotas to help OPEC set the price. Well, guess what, everyone that can is already producing 100% capacity and Venezuela and Indonesia can't meet their floor outputs. This means OPEC just lost control of the only tool it uses to set prices.