Oh well, maybe the Rapture requires lots and lots of people.

More food for thought,,,or maybe just food for God,,,

GAry 7

“foreign wackjobs as Canada, the UK and Mexico”,,,

Too bad I happen to LIKE those Nutters,,,and yes, we do pay a LOT less for transportation fuels,(than just about anybody except the oil producers citizens) mainly because the transport industry tries to encourage the growth of sales of their product lines, ie, cars, trucks and planes, which are much more attractive to purchase when fuel costs are low. See: profit margins directly proportional to the size of the vehicle.

Current best estimates of the impact of $4.00/gal (in the USA) gas has been a reduction of oil usage equivalent to driving about a billion fewer miles a year. THAT’S progress,,,
JAck up the price another one dollar/gal and we’ll see more people demanding efficient mass transit as well.

Los Angeles, CA, probably has the WORST mass transit in the world and all that started back in the 1950s, when Los Angeles opted to eliminate the electric trollycar system(which, at the time could take one anywhere in LA in an hour for a dime) that ran all over L.A., in favor of freeways and personal transport (read,: millions of cars, billions of dollars to General Motors, Ford, etc.).

What a long term disaster THAT was/is.

Ah well, at least GM made boodles of money,,,

GAry 7

From my reading it appears you guys in the US only get about 12-15% of your oil from the Middle East. You get much of your oil from such foreign wackjobs as Canada, the UK and Mexico. Part of your problem is you don’t pay enough for your petrol (gas). At worst you’re paying almost half the price of anywhere else and as much as 4 or 5 times less than some of the Eurotrash. Up the taxes on petrol you can say goodbye to your deficit and probably limit the kilometres driven thereby saving gas.

Slightly OT but it is being reported in Oz today that the press are having trouble getting an interview with Palin. Republican analysts are saying that it wouldn’t be fair because she won’t get a fair go. Others are saying that she’d be a disaster away from the teleprompter. Tsk tsk tsk.

Sheesh! How far off the original topic can we get?

BA, did you see the ‘interesting cloud formations and sky sights. BABloggee Kevin Baird has some shots up on Flickr with what look to show some of the effects.’
Now, where were we?

My aunts were all evil: My uncles would have approved!

And that also certainly applies to racking up huge federal debts while making one’s cronies rich with no-bid contracts, “privatizing” government functions, and all the other goodies we have endured since the late 1960s.

And there are an equal number of gullibles on the right, especilly the Neo-Cons who have managed to alienate us real conservatives. Some people _still_ think cutting taxes and increasing spending works. Reagan tried it. GHW Bush called it voodo economics, then he adopted it. Congress tried it. Now the war that was going to pay for itself with Iraqi oil is costing much more than the US government will take in, _especially_ if someone tries cutting taxes again.

Here is a proposal: Restrict government spending on anything not _directly_ related to the function of government as outlined in the Constitution until such time as the budget is balanced and the national debt is paid off. Then after that: Cash payments only.

Holy crap, I just noticed i can resize the text entry box. Yay!
So?? how do you do it?

Quite D:
Trusting politicians is not something most people favor. Even woo-woos have to draw the line somewhere. Which is one reason I prefer the Tag “Independent Progressive”.

Now for something important:

How do you resize the entry box???

GAry 7

BTW, I prefer the US tax on gas, as it is supposed to pay for highways and transportation infrastructure.

“Supposed to” being the key words there. You cannot trust politicians with more money until we start writing controls into the law. I try to explain this to my friends on the left, who seem to have a bottomless well of trust (read: gullibility) on that front, but without much success. Ideology is a WMD of the mind.

Holy crap, I just noticed i can resize the text entry box. Yay!

What with the patently absurd comment by BA that the volcanic eruptions were caused by Sara Palin looking for oil being taken seriously, I thought why not shake things up some.

Trade deficit: Yes oil is a major issue, and so is American industry’s moving almost all our production overseas. Go to your local Wally World and try to buy nothing but American Made stuff. Your shopping cart will be almost empty.

I know AIP is a load of loonies, but down in here in the 48 hearing Hockey Mom/Guv spoke to them calling their contributions to Alaska
politics “important” it is cause to wonder.

Oil company profits of 10 cents a gallon appear obscene to us working stiffs who are seeing the total profit announced.

BTW, I prefer the US tax on gas, as it is supposed to pay for highways and transportation infrastructure. My state charges almost 20 cents taxes, partially because some idiots decided auto registration taxes based on value were too high for the working poor, so now all car tabs cost the same: VW beater? $30.00; ’67 Valiant? $30.00; new Rolls Royce? $30.00.

Oh, and to all the rugged individualist free market capitalist Alaskans: enjoy your rather socialist $3269.00 welfare-state payment.
http://www.pfd.state.ak.us/

Oops! There I go again, kicking another ant hill!

Yes – two of many reasons to vote for Barack Obama and against the continuation of the McSame old 8 years of economic downturns, OPEC paying, corporate run, war mongering, Republican NeoCon government.

TomInAK to Speaker2a: “Do not mock THE ONE!”
Don’t worry. Nixon has been gone for years.

On the other hand, there are millions of people in the Kingdom who get their news(illegally, but then who’s counting) from satellite dishes. So, the people do know what’s going on in the outside world which is probably why they’re having so many cultural disruptions. It’s all OUR fault,,,

TomInAk: I realize that earning 8% on sales (ExxonMobil) is hardly an “obscene profit”. Oil companies are only doing what they are supposed to do. Find oil, turn it into products we want, make a profit for their investors(most of whom are probably small investors like me). THAT”S just capitalism in action, folks. If we don’t like it, there’s always communilism, (ie, communal ownership) which really only works for small, family size groupings. It’s based upon an ideal vision of humans, which doesn’t hold up in large aggregations. People are just too damn obnoxious for that to work for long. (see, fall of the soviet union).

The founders of the US of A were above all else, pragmatists. They really knew and understood their fellow humans, knew our strengths and weaknesses. THAT’S why we allow the unbridled accumulation of wealth. That’s why we have a representative form of government, to give everyone a chance to have their say. It’s the uninhibited competition between different points of view that makes all this work.

Yeah, competition!

Gary 7

With respect to “obscene profits”, the government’s take on a gallon of gasoline is considerably higher than the the oil companies’ net. Perhaps you should rail against the feds for “obscene profits” rather than the people who have to go out & produce the stuff we use to heat our houses or fuel our cars.

Well, that ain’t half as bad as what we here in Britain have to put up with.
Click on my name for the link to see for yourself.

This is from a link provided by http://www.SUSRIS.org ( the Saudi-US relations Information service)

Saudi Arabia(from the US Dept of State

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2007
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
March 11, 2008

Academic Freedom and Cultural Events

The government continued to restrict academic freedom. The government prohibited the study of evolution, Freud, Marx, Western music, and Western philosophy. Informants reportedly monitored classroom comments and reported to the government and religious authorities.

There were fewer restrictions on the annual Riyadh book fair which took place in February, than in the past. Religious police were required to wear identity badges. The Book Fair also featured more mixed gender, “family” days with nine of the total 10 days for families and a new physical layout that allowed greater participation of women in all cultural activities, including entrances that facilitated women’s access. Also, a woman participated in a panel discussion with men for the first time with her voice piped in from another room. Additionally, the Book Fair featured previously taboo subjects such as mythology and gender studies.

The government censored public artistic expression and prohibited cinemas and public musical or theatrical performances, except those considered folkloric. Media personalities called for vigilance during the annual al-Janadriyyah Cultural Festival in March to ensure that there were no disturbances by conservatives and religious police.

Cultural fora sponsored by private citizens continued to operate, although one forum on youth issues planned for the spring was cancelled by the government because of a rumor the event would be mixed gender.The government instructed fora hosts not to invite foreign participants, and to avoid discussing political matters. In the first part of the year, citizens in the Hofuf community reported the forced closing of all 12 formally organized social forain the Al-Ahsa region, both Sunni and Shi’a.

The government restricts the public showing of films; there are no movie theaters open to the public.

On January 16, the newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported that the religious police prohibited the Eastern Province Literary Club, based in Dammam, from screening the Iranian movie At Five in the Afternoon. The film, directed by Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf, discusses the new opportunities for women in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban regime. Some members of the club believed the religious police objected to the showing of the film on the grounds that it expressed the point of view of a Shi’a woman.

Public performance of plays and music were allowed if traditional and part of a special event. In August, despite limited access, an all-female cast presented a play entitled “The Mother’s House,” which was well received by the female public in Riyadh and Abha.

Ah, religious oligarchies, so much fun and no oversight,,,

By the way – have you checked out the new solar array at Denver International Airport? It’s right at the front door and very cool! I’d say (for the Denver locals) it’s much better looking than that blue monster horse with the electronically lit, LED red eyes that scares the kids, and which some (mainly far left leaning) folks call …ummm… art.

Oil imports are a major component of our trade deficit. Money going to Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, etc increases that deficit. Again, even if the price stays the same, it can’t hurt to keep that money at home.
“You prefer domestic wackjobs like the Alaskan Independence Party?” I’m not sure what you’re getting at. The AIP has always been fringe, has never had any political power and has always been curmudgeonly rather than revolutionary. If you’re equating their ability (or even desire) to disrupt the US economy with that of Hugo Chavez or the Saudi rulers, then I suggest you have a bit of research to do.
With respect to “obscene profits”, the government’s take on a gallon of gasoline is considerably higher than the the oil companies’ net. Perhaps you should rail against the feds for “obscene profits” rather than the people who have to go out & produce the stuff we use to heat our houses or fuel our cars.

And the caribou will be nice and cosy too, jeeez….

I’m not sure if those outside This Sceptered Isle will be able to hear these on the BBC’s iPlayer service, but I thought the web pages alone were of sufficient interest to post. I particularly liked this comment, from the series producer of “Physics Rocks!”, which has been interviewing celebrities (Alan Alda, Dara O’Briain, Eddie Izzard, Ben Miller, John Barrowman – no mention of Chris Morris, oddly) about their interest in physics; says she, “We mainly call up bearded academics with oddly impenetrable titles, like Professor of Molecular Nanosystems, and invite them to explain to us in words of no more than two syllables, and in no longer than two minutes, work they have spent a lifetime getting to grips with. I like to think it’s an immensely rewarding challenge for both parties. I hope so.”

Alaska and Canada may enjoy a short-term boom and huge economic gains when drilling for oil and gas at today’s prices, but it is all a flash in the pan. It’s better to leave the caribou habitat as is than to build a pipeline to “warm themselves” with. What a ridiculous statement that was…

So I’m skeptical that tapping into the fossil fuels buried deep in this part of the world will really benefit anyone, other than the stockholders of Big Oil, and I know from personal experience that the activity itself has an enormous, long-term negative impact on the place that I call home.

Science is needed now more than ever to move us beyond our thirst for oil, and politicians with some brass monkeys to fight Big Oil wouldn’t hurt either. My money is on the scientific community…

“Improved balance of trade”
China is our biggest problem there–and they aren’t an oil producer.

“less vulnerability to the whims of the foreign wackjob dictators who supply much of our oil.”
You prefer domestic wackjobs like the Alaskan Independence Party?

The real problem concerns the obscenely huge record profits American oil companies are making off the rest of us. All the while sitting on the 90% of the American oil lease land which is not being used.

Do not mock THE ONE!

Improved balance of trade & less vulnerability to the whims of the foreign wackjob dictators who supply much of our oil. Seems worthwhile to me.

I doubt Bp or Conoco will be selling Alaska oil at a discount in the US market place,,,So how is that supposed to help us?

GAry 7