So what can be done, if we can't immediately start drilling off our shores or despoiling our pristene wildernesses?
Well, (No Pun Intended) we could force the US motor industry to apply their European enforced standards on their US built products, for instance;
I went to the Top Gear site on the BBC and looked at the MPG specifications for a Ford Focus, this is published data and qualified by the AA (Britains Automobile Association), I then went to the Ford Motor Company's official US site and compared the Ford Focus in the UK with it's US counterpart. I used the 4 door sedan as my model.
British Ford Focus - City MPG - 33, Highway MPG - 51, Combined MPG - 42.
US Ford Focus - City MPG - 24, Highway MPG - 35, Combined MPG - 29.5
Compared to drilling in ANWR or off-shore in Florida, how long would it take to employ already existing technology in all our US auto plants?
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Gushin' Roulette
Now, about that drilling off the coast of Florida, California etc. Just how long does it take to get one of these off-shore oil rigs operational? Any ideas? I mean it's not like just digging a big hole or something and perhaps you might need a few more of the effing ships to make it even possible.
Much like the 'Gas Tax' Holiday espoused by McCain, once you look into these gimmicks proposed by oil men and their crony Republican enablers you find out that it's a complete crock of crap and benefits absolutely no one but the corporate hacks who've been pushing for it and that the mechanisms to make it actually happen don't even exist.
"Mr. Bush called on Congress Wednesday to end a longstanding federal ban on offshore drilling and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration, arguing that the steps were needed to lower gasoline prices and bolster national security. But even as oil trades at more than $135 a barrel — up from $68 a year ago — the world’s existing drill-ships are booked solid for the next five years. Some oil companies have been forced to postpone exploration while waiting for a drilling rig, executives and analysts said."
We are ruled by morons and another McMoron wishes to perpetuate that fact...
Much like the 'Gas Tax' Holiday espoused by McCain, once you look into these gimmicks proposed by oil men and their crony Republican enablers you find out that it's a complete crock of crap and benefits absolutely no one but the corporate hacks who've been pushing for it and that the mechanisms to make it actually happen don't even exist.
"Mr. Bush called on Congress Wednesday to end a longstanding federal ban on offshore drilling and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration, arguing that the steps were needed to lower gasoline prices and bolster national security. But even as oil trades at more than $135 a barrel — up from $68 a year ago — the world’s existing drill-ships are booked solid for the next five years. Some oil companies have been forced to postpone exploration while waiting for a drilling rig, executives and analysts said."
We are ruled by morons and another McMoron wishes to perpetuate that fact...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Doh!
File this under... appeasers and the appeasing appeasers who appease them!
So, a couple of weeks back, Bubbleboy goes to Israel and stands up in front of the Knessett and tells old war stories about weak, lilly-livered appeasers and how their namby pamby approach got us into all that trouble back in '39 and just how strong and macho his new and improved - don't talk to anyone approach - and his - round 'em up, put 'em in a field and bomb the bastards - plan is working out jus' fine thank you very much, and practically begs his Israeli friends to stick with him and listen to the band as his ship keeps sinking. All good TV by the way, the MSM lapped it up, the right wing drooled, the Israeli's...?
They went straight to it and appeased first, Hamas and now Hezbollah.
Fucking brilliant Mr. Bush, even the Israelis think you're an idiot. They'll clap politely, even slap you on the back but then do the complete reverse of what your catagorically failed mid-east policies demand.
Time to restrategeriarize neocons, if you lose Likud who is left?
So, a couple of weeks back, Bubbleboy goes to Israel and stands up in front of the Knessett and tells old war stories about weak, lilly-livered appeasers and how their namby pamby approach got us into all that trouble back in '39 and just how strong and macho his new and improved - don't talk to anyone approach - and his - round 'em up, put 'em in a field and bomb the bastards - plan is working out jus' fine thank you very much, and practically begs his Israeli friends to stick with him and listen to the band as his ship keeps sinking. All good TV by the way, the MSM lapped it up, the right wing drooled, the Israeli's...?
They went straight to it and appeased first, Hamas and now Hezbollah.
Fucking brilliant Mr. Bush, even the Israelis think you're an idiot. They'll clap politely, even slap you on the back but then do the complete reverse of what your catagorically failed mid-east policies demand.
Time to restrategeriarize neocons, if you lose Likud who is left?
Friday, June 13, 2008
Didn't See This One Coming...
Tim Russert dead at 58. One of Buffalo's beloved sons dies of an apparent heart attack whilst at work in the NBC Washington Bureau.
Condolences to his friends and family...
Condolences to his friends and family...
The Great Conceit
As is their want, many Republicans point to the fact that 'everyone thought Saddam had WMD' to justify the pointless bloodletting that has and continues to occur in Iraq and to cover up for an administration teetering on the edge of despotism.
I was not listening to the administration spin, lies, deceits back in the day and many of the quotes or examples gathered here by Eric Alterman are very familiar to me. Especially the Knight Ridder articles and both speaches by Kennedy and Byrd.
It was becoming very apparent by 2003 that something was up with the intelligence coming out of both the US and the UK and that large swathes of the information gathered by IAEA and UNSCOM were being either ignored or reinterpreted to match the narrative these governments desired.
That France, Germany and Russia refuted the allegations made by the US and UK was underreported here in the US but I remember watching Putin, on the BBC, flat out accuse a 'very tense' Tony Blair of being a scurrilous liar, of course in much more diplomatic terms than I state here.
The whole world did not think that Saddam had WMD and if you take away that premis then there was no reason d'etre for the unprovoked attack, after all if Cheney and Bush had been honest for once in their lives and actually stated their reason for going into Iraq, to control at least a portion of the oil rich region, the Congress and the American people would have impeached them both right there and then.
I was not listening to the administration spin, lies, deceits back in the day and many of the quotes or examples gathered here by Eric Alterman are very familiar to me. Especially the Knight Ridder articles and both speaches by Kennedy and Byrd.
It was becoming very apparent by 2003 that something was up with the intelligence coming out of both the US and the UK and that large swathes of the information gathered by IAEA and UNSCOM were being either ignored or reinterpreted to match the narrative these governments desired.
That France, Germany and Russia refuted the allegations made by the US and UK was underreported here in the US but I remember watching Putin, on the BBC, flat out accuse a 'very tense' Tony Blair of being a scurrilous liar, of course in much more diplomatic terms than I state here.
The whole world did not think that Saddam had WMD and if you take away that premis then there was no reason d'etre for the unprovoked attack, after all if Cheney and Bush had been honest for once in their lives and actually stated their reason for going into Iraq, to control at least a portion of the oil rich region, the Congress and the American people would have impeached them both right there and then.
Hooray... Habeas
Sanity, or at least a modicum of it, returned to this country yesterday as the SCOTUS overturned Article 7 the heinous MCA of 2006. Habeas is restored and once again we are a somewhat civilized nation governed by the Rule of Law as the Framers designed.
McCain and Graham were the chief architects of the Military Commissions Act abomination and along with Bush, should be in the Hague and no where near Pennsylvania Avenue.
Glenn Greenwald, who has been a tireless advocate for the repudiation of this 'Act' sums it up succinctly:
"The Court's ruling was grounded in its recognition that the guarantee of habeas corpus was so central to the Founding that it was one of the few individual rights included in the Constitution even before the Bill of Rights was enacted. As the Court put it: "the Framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom." The Court noted that freedom from arbitrary or baseless imprisonment was one of the core rights established by the 13th Century Magna Carta, and it is the writ of habeas corpus which is the means for enforcing that right. Once habeas corpus is abolished -- as the Military Commissions Act sought to do -- then we return to the pre-Magna Carta days where the Government is free to imprison people with no recourse."
This was a good day for America...
McCain and Graham were the chief architects of the Military Commissions Act abomination and along with Bush, should be in the Hague and no where near Pennsylvania Avenue.
Glenn Greenwald, who has been a tireless advocate for the repudiation of this 'Act' sums it up succinctly:
"The Court's ruling was grounded in its recognition that the guarantee of habeas corpus was so central to the Founding that it was one of the few individual rights included in the Constitution even before the Bill of Rights was enacted. As the Court put it: "the Framers viewed freedom from unlawful restraint as a fundamental precept of liberty, and they understood the writ of habeas corpus as a vital instrument to secure that freedom." The Court noted that freedom from arbitrary or baseless imprisonment was one of the core rights established by the 13th Century Magna Carta, and it is the writ of habeas corpus which is the means for enforcing that right. Once habeas corpus is abolished -- as the Military Commissions Act sought to do -- then we return to the pre-Magna Carta days where the Government is free to imprison people with no recourse."
This was a good day for America...
Monday, June 09, 2008
The Big Chill
Bush arrives in Ol' Yurp today and the reception, even from the likes of Merkel, Sarkozy, Burlusconi and Brown, is unlikely to be overwhelming.
Far from the victory tour he no-doubt could have imagined back in the day, Bush will be greeted by skepticism, bewilderment, frustration and, in some cases, utter contempt.
As the Guardian UK outlines:
"While the leaders will be generous and polite towards a US president who has plumbed unprecedented depths of unpopularity in Europe as well as in America, there is no doubt that the overall mood will be one of good riddance."
Even though the article mentions the rising anticipation of an Obama presidency (and how much Europe longs for such) the skeptisism arcs the political divide, an Obama administration may be seen as a breath of fresh air but Americas lurch toward imperialist ambitions may be irreversible:
"An optical illusion may be influencing our opinions: the comforting idea that the real problem is George Bush and not America," a German commentator on America, Josef Joffe, wrote last week. "Why is this a mental delusion? First, because anti-Americanism is older than the younger Bush. Second because Obama (probably) comes, but the superpower stays. America, this steam hammer of a nation, is fundamentally a destroyer."
Blimey...!!!!
Far from the victory tour he no-doubt could have imagined back in the day, Bush will be greeted by skepticism, bewilderment, frustration and, in some cases, utter contempt.
As the Guardian UK outlines:
"While the leaders will be generous and polite towards a US president who has plumbed unprecedented depths of unpopularity in Europe as well as in America, there is no doubt that the overall mood will be one of good riddance."
Even though the article mentions the rising anticipation of an Obama presidency (and how much Europe longs for such) the skeptisism arcs the political divide, an Obama administration may be seen as a breath of fresh air but Americas lurch toward imperialist ambitions may be irreversible:
"An optical illusion may be influencing our opinions: the comforting idea that the real problem is George Bush and not America," a German commentator on America, Josef Joffe, wrote last week. "Why is this a mental delusion? First, because anti-Americanism is older than the younger Bush. Second because Obama (probably) comes, but the superpower stays. America, this steam hammer of a nation, is fundamentally a destroyer."
Blimey...!!!!
Friday, June 06, 2008
Your Country For Sale
John McSame is now willing to sell your privacy... after being against illegal spying on American citizens he's now for it.
That his campaign is littered with past, present and future telco lobbyists, it is no surprise to me that he's flipped on FISA. The man is a craven hypocrite and Charlie Savage knows it.
The ACLU and EFF are not suing the telco's for damages, they are suing for discovery, very different from what we are being told by their enablers in the McCain camp and the White House.
That his campaign is littered with past, present and future telco lobbyists, it is no surprise to me that he's flipped on FISA. The man is a craven hypocrite and Charlie Savage knows it.
The ACLU and EFF are not suing the telco's for damages, they are suing for discovery, very different from what we are being told by their enablers in the McCain camp and the White House.
The Stupidest F***ing Administration On The Planet
If this were a little league baseball game between Iran and our august administration, the mercy rule would certainly have been applied somewhere back in 2002.
That the 'usual suspects' from Iran/Contra were involved is no surprise, likewise Feith's shop set up at the behest of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
Along with the other revelations stemming from the Phase II report, the whole Iraq debacle's genesis is emerging into plain sight.
We were played but it only cost us over 4,000 Americans dead, 25,000 severely wounded, an estimated $2Trillion and apparently our entire economic well being, a small price to pay for our national security and the pride of a fool.
That the 'usual suspects' from Iran/Contra were involved is no surprise, likewise Feith's shop set up at the behest of Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.
Along with the other revelations stemming from the Phase II report, the whole Iraq debacle's genesis is emerging into plain sight.
We were played but it only cost us over 4,000 Americans dead, 25,000 severely wounded, an estimated $2Trillion and apparently our entire economic well being, a small price to pay for our national security and the pride of a fool.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Hmmmm...!
Following on from the Rezko post... just a random thought.
The rightwing noise machine is usually all over this kinda stuff, I mean Drudge could definitely get this story moving if he wanted to, put his full force behind the whole 'guilt by association' thing, rev-up the base and the MSM into a frenzy of speculative innuendo until full blown smear status was achieved.
But really, it's been very quiet on the Rezko front, besides the usual koolaid kids who froth at the mouth at the least provocation, which suggests, either there was nothing ever there with regards to Obama, and believe me someone went dumpster diving, or the real filth was always on the Repug side and as we know, no one does 'cover up' quite like the Repugs.
So, was the squeeze in to suppress this story as long as possible? Did the Repugs realize early that the Rezko path lead to the GOP and its dark Lord Rove? Was the whole Obama thing just a head fake to keep prying eyes away from the real prize?
Me thinks so!
The rightwing noise machine is usually all over this kinda stuff, I mean Drudge could definitely get this story moving if he wanted to, put his full force behind the whole 'guilt by association' thing, rev-up the base and the MSM into a frenzy of speculative innuendo until full blown smear status was achieved.
But really, it's been very quiet on the Rezko front, besides the usual koolaid kids who froth at the mouth at the least provocation, which suggests, either there was nothing ever there with regards to Obama, and believe me someone went dumpster diving, or the real filth was always on the Repug side and as we know, no one does 'cover up' quite like the Repugs.
So, was the squeeze in to suppress this story as long as possible? Did the Repugs realize early that the Rezko path lead to the GOP and its dark Lord Rove? Was the whole Obama thing just a head fake to keep prying eyes away from the real prize?
Me thinks so!
Oh... The Irony
The bloviating from the right, implying Obama's credibility is sullied by his 'association' with Rezko, may just be, so much obfuscation.
It appears Rezko's association with the Illinois GOP, Rove and to some extent the WH itself is the much juicier nut...
You just can't keep the Repug's out of a good scandal.
(h/t) Emptywheel
It appears Rezko's association with the Illinois GOP, Rove and to some extent the WH itself is the much juicier nut...
You just can't keep the Repug's out of a good scandal.
(h/t) Emptywheel
Yes... They Lied!
The Senate Intelligence Committee's Phase II report on pre-war intelligence was released today. As was widely rumored, it aint pretty and contains damning evidence that leadership in the White House frequently and sytematically lied this nation into an unneccessary, costly - in both human and financial - war.
TPM provides some highlights:
Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
--Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
--Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
--Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
--The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
--The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.
TPM also provides the link to the pdf of the actual report, I for one intend to browse through the entire thing...
TPM provides some highlights:
Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
--Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
--Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
--Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
--The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
--The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.
TPM also provides the link to the pdf of the actual report, I for one intend to browse through the entire thing...
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