Well…it has been a day of thinking, recovering, and reading and that led me to an article on ThinkProgress today that should shut the whole “oil prices are high because Obama won’t let them drill” crowd up once an for all. The article compares the amount of drilling and production in the US to the consumer price of gasoline and found what I have been saying for a long time…that none of this extra production, or the building of the Keystone pipeline is going to have any effect on the prices we pay since they are disconnected from the market forces that the repubs just love. The study shows that we used less oil last year than we did in 2001…that’s lower demand for the economically challenged out there….and oil production went up almost 14%…that’s higher supply for exactly the same reasons. Okay…so the great, unregulated marketplace that the repubs think is the cure all for everything including dandruff….takes lower demand, couples it with higher supply, and what this market gives us is higher prices…doesn’t anyone else think this is nuts? Let’s throw one more little piece into this puzzle…the oil companies profits are the highest they have ever been…something that should not happen if there was a truly open marketplace…so, what does that say to you? That the oil companies and the traders that they own are rigging the market to maximize profit…essentially taxing every American to the tune of $2,900 dollars each….the only thing that degrading our environment so the oil can be extracted is doing is adding to the already obscene profits that the oil companies make…so let’s continue to give them tax breaks and subsidize this thievery…just like the repubs continue to do…geez…
All posts by James DeVol
February 4th
Well…running really late today and I’ll blame it on the superbowl…it’s as good as anything, I guess, and that means I feel like crap today…but most of it is the damn bug I’ve been fighting for the past week….my lungs are starting to get quite bad but I guess I’ll live through it…slept okay last night…the weird power outage at the game was compounded by the same thing happening at the Man U match Sat….I wonder if it’s aliens or something like that…that was a joke…my tin foil hat is at the cleaners…not much to do today…I do have to do the bathroom and then clean up the kitchen some and cook, too….I will be back for another one later if I can come up with a topic…
The right is still stupid and crazy…
Well…as you know, I am amazed that Jennifer Rubin still has a job at the Washington Post and she showed again today why she shouldn’t. With every column being nothing but regurgitation of repub talking points, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when she spouts the latest one…that Obama’s recovery in the economy is not what he promised. Okay…let me get this straight…the right does everything they can to make sure that a fact based response to the downturn will be unsuccessful by their relentless carping on the deficit and making sure that the stimulus was too small, and now you have ole Jennifer bitching that the recovery isn’t better? The only thing I have to say to that is: get the hell out of the way and let serious, non-fanatic, people do their jobs instead of cheering for America to fail. Just like Rush and the rest of the idiots on the right…just shut the hell up and let the adults run the government…geez…
Okay…that one sounded better in my head than it did after I wrote it…I’ll try to do better next time…
February 3rd
Well…feel like crap this morning so this one is going to be short…and this time I know it is a bug since I have been coughing and my head feels like it’s full of concrete….it was a bad day for my teams yesterday with the Wings and Michigan losing..but, Man U won so I guess that is okay….I keep forgetting that today is super bowl day…I wonder if I can use that term without paying the NFL? I noticed that the restaurant up the street changed it’s sign to “big game” from “super bowl” and I think that the NFL has that long of a reach…okay…going back to the couch to watch soccer…more later…
Haven’t talked about this in a while…
Well…it’s been a while since I’ve talked about the militarization of police forces across America, but I read an article today that brought it back to the front of my brain and I thought I’d weigh in again. In Billings Montana last week, a swat team broke into a family’s house, threw in flash bang grenades, and attacked the people inside with a 12 year old getting seriously burned. All on the idea that the people in the house were running a meth lab….and the police chief came out and said they had warrants and did everything right…and didn’t attack until they had “evidence” that there was a crime taking place. Only thing was, their “evidence” was completely wrong…no meth lab, no people selling meth, no crimes at all. That make me wonder what the hell ‘strong evidence’ did they have?” So, if the evidence was wrong, utterly, completely wrong, where did they get it? And, how did they get a judge to approve the warrants on lies? One of the residents of the house, who have lived there for years, asked: “…why didn’t they just come up and knock on the door?” The invalid owner was even trying to open the door when they kicked it in. I think this is just another incidence where the police just love playing army men in their little swat teams…this police chief should get fired for this nonsense…..and the ones that developed the “evidence” should go to jail. Geez…
One last thing…who the heck throws a flash bang grenade into a suspected meth lab? Those things blow up all by themselves every day….
February 2nd
Well…another boring day yesterday but I did make a little cash so that was a good thing..but, I spent a lot of it this morning going over to get food…there was about 8 inches of snow on the car but it went through the snow great…was even plowing with the front of it and scooped up a bunch into the radiator opening….and I do feel pretty crappy today with the bug…my lungs hurt some and I have been coughing with my eyes so damn scratchy that it is driving me nuts…fell asleep on the couch last night and that make me sore everywhere…won’t do that again…it is a big sports day today with Man U playing then UM and MSU hockey and then UM and Indiana playing basketball later…and I do feel crappy so I’m going back to the couch for another cup of coffee and some soccer….
Can’t work up any outrage….
Well…it’s the start of the month and I have been trying all morning to work up some outrage about some topic but I’m just not having any luck….the repubs are just being themselves…and I wonder why they always have to play the blame game instead of doing their jobs? Like ole Boehner this morning going on and on about the jobs numbers and it being Obama’s fault that the economy is not growing faster and creating more jobs. But, what does he offer? Where are the concrete proposals, based in fact, that would get the economy growing faster? Where is the action on Obama’s job bill that economists agree would create millions of jobs? Nowhere. The only thing the repubs have to offer is more spending cuts and more tax cuts…neither of which will do anything to make the economy grow and, in fact, are the exact opposite of what should be done. I guess all I have left to say to Boehner and the rest of the repubs is “get to work making the economy better”….but they’re not listening…they never do…geez…
February 1st
Well…another month has gone by and it’s now my least favorite day of the month..rent day and it physically hurts to write the rent check…I did sleep okay last night but the bug that I thought was coming on hit last night…feel like crap today…part of it is cocktails but they don’t cause coughing and the temp that I feel….looks like it will be a lay low day for me…I do want to see the new Kevin Spacy, Netflix show so that could be what I’ll do to rest and suffer today….other than that, I think I’ll just do nothing and try to get over the depression from having money go out and not in…
Keynes was right…again…
Well…I wonder if the repubs in congress are getting whiplash from changing their positions so rapidly on government spending? With the new numbers out yesterday that showed that the economy contracted by .1 percent over the last quarter, the repubs are in full howl that they are right with their new position that we should cut more spending…never mind that during the campaign, they ran on the idea that the automatic sequester, that they agreed to, would push the economy back into recession. The consensus from real economists is that the contraction was caused by the huge cut in defense spending that happened over the last quarter…down almost 22% due to getting ready for the cuts to come if the sequester remains in place. What I find really funny about this whole thing is that the repubs did not believe any of the numbers coming out of the administration over the course of the campaign when they showed that the economy was growing and unemployment was falling…but now the repubs seize on this “government” number and loudly proclaim that they have leverage now for more spending cuts….can these folks get any more stupid? They keep trying…and succeeding…to the detriment of the rest of America…geez…
Oh…kind of buried the lead there…Keynes was right…cutting spending in a time of near recession will lead to lower growth….but the repubs don’t believe in facts…or Keynes….
January 31st
Well…it was a day yesterday and I won at pool so that was okay…but, it was a cocktail night so I am running late today and just realized that I didn’t come back for a second one…but, I was one ahead for the month so I should be able to make the goal…slept okay for the first time since last Sat but no dreams to speak of so it was only half good….I am dreading going out to start the car this morning with all of the rain yesterday and then the freeze last night…might have to try to melt the doors with some hot water…but, if that doesn’t work I may just say the hell with it and not go out for the papers….I do have stuff to do around here today and I have a pork loin to cook that I have been brining all night so that is something to look forward to…more later…I think this one will be on gun control and the craziness that is oozing out of the gun nuts..