What the high price of gasoline will do to us!

I went up north for the Memorial Day weekend and gas along the way was $4.19; the most I have ever paid in my life.

This is a topic that is discussed everywhere and especially by people it impacts the most.

I have explained in a previous blog how the pricing works and I have to still keep reminding people that the oil companies do not set the price of gasoline just to be greedy as hell.

Many people are starting to see how this whole “supply and demand” thing works and that if demand is high and supply is low, prices go up because they “gotcha”!

Many prophets of oil doom have warned us for many years about what is coming but we did not want to listen. We bought bigger and bigger gas guzzlers, moved further and further away from work just to live in the countryside, etc.

Now we are stuck and need to change things pronto. We are an inventive people and I am sure we can eventually handle this dilemma but NOT without pain.

The new mantra should be LOWER DEMAND and this holiday weekend was proof that we are starting to get the message. People did not drive, they stayed home and barbequed. The gasoline market immediately recorded the drop in demand and a drop in demand is what scares the hell out of the oil producers.

Yes, we will have to change our ways. Smaller, more fuel efficient cars, sidewalks in suburbia to enable us to remain mobile through means other than auto. I feel every suburban community should rise to the challenge and start a side-walk building craze, connecting residents with places they need to go. Make them wide enough to accommodate bikes and even scooters.

Plus, a little physical exertion may just thin America down and save on all the medical costs caused by rampant obesity.

In Europe, where gas is $9-10 / gallon, you can see how they have adapted to that cost. They drive smaller, fuel efficient cars, they use their bicycles a lot and they tend to live in towns that have a shopping center easily accessible by foot, bike or scooter. Our suburbs are not towns and probably cannot be made into towns so I suggest sidewalks and corner stores, just like in the old days.

Some predict a migration back into cities and they may be correct in that thinking. Cities are big towns with public transportation – get it?

Wow – this may change the way America is developing into a developmental “contraction”. I remember a class I took many years ago in urban planning where “MEGALOPOLIS’ ” were discussed. These are heavily populated areas that extend and encompass a number of cities. One that was presented was from Detroit to Chicago; yes, that whole area in between – crazy or the way of the future – interesting.

McClellan dishes out the "Truth" about BUSH

Scott McClellan, former Bush White House press secretary has come out with a tell-all book about his time in the White House and it ain’t pretty; well at least as far as Bush and his cronies fare in the book.

All the usual questions immediately rise to the surface; why now, do you need the money that bad, what about loyalty, what is really happened to make you write such a scathing book about your “friends”?

He defends himself with sound bites like (The truth must come out…) and (I was deceived…) and the biggest of all (I lied to the American people or at least misled the American people).

I guess we will never know his real motivation unless he tells us but for now I am digging it!

I thought we would have to wait till way after Bush descended from his thrown but here we are still in his presidency and the shit starts flying. Others have written about what really went on in the White House during crucial decision times about Iraq etc. but here we have an insider (not a major insider) but he will do, spilling the beans.

What McClellan is saying is what many have known all along but could not prove it.

We already knew that Bush was not the brightest star out there and probably was easily influenced by the “Neo-Conservatives” led by Donald Rumsfeld, et. al. McClellan tries to say that Bush was also duped and what, innocent? Sorry, that is not going to work with me.

The problem is that even though Bush may have been misled by people he trusted, he did not have to play the game once he found out it was all a lie. He continues to this very day saying the same stupid things like “Stay the course” and “The surge is working” and things like, democracy in Iraq is just around the corner, when no one, including his own generals believe any of it anymore or never have.

We need more of the truth to come out because I want those responsible for the debacle of Iraq and all that is associated with it including the neglect of Al Qaeda / Taliban in Afghanistan at the outset which is directly responsible for their renewed numbers and strength today, to be “punished”. I put the word “punished” in quotation marks because I don’t know what I actually mean to happen to them.

I will settle for absolute humiliation and a cry for an apology from all of them especially Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld, Rice and Rove. I want Congressional hearings to last a long time investigating every goddamn lie they uttered. I want them dishonored as un-American for killing all those soldiers and civilians. I could go on but I think you get my drift…

Why are gasoline prices going up so fast?

Finally going to head up north to our condo in Charlevoix, Michigan. It is Memorial Say weekend and we are just getting an early start. The weather promises to behave.

We will be driving my new Lincoln Navigator SUV and so gas mileage has been discussed. Actually, gas mileage is on everybody’s mind these days as prices here approach and are nearly at $4 / gallon. This is probably double what we paid the last time we went up to the condo.

Economists are watching this summer driving season to see what effect these prices will have on the tourist / vacation economy and believe me in Michigan, it is a huge industry.

When discussing gasoline pricing with my fiends and relatives, I sense that they don’t really know why these prices are going up and what determines them and/or controls them.

Most Americans blame the oil producing Arabs, our government, greedy American oil companies, etc.

Not knowing where to direct your anger is frustrating; we need somebody or something to blame!

That may not be all that easy to do since many factors play into why you pay the price pay to fill up your car that you do.

First, the oil producing nations (OPEC) do not actually set the price of a barrel of oil (42 gallons / 159 Liters); they just set how much oil is pumped on a daily basis. In setting how much is pumped, they set the price per barrel, how? Well, if they consider the price too low, they produce less; I don’t think the price has ever been too high for them but they will occasionally try to lower a very high price by producing more oil if they feel the exorbitant price is hurting the world economy. That means if countries are hurt economically to such an extent that they can no longer buy as much oil as they need; the oil producers will suffer lower sales – kapish?

In our day and age, two powerful economic powers have entered the world market for oil. These nations are new players: China and India. In the near past, they were barely making it with China’s closed Communist system and India’s non-system that produced nothing but plain, abject poverty. Things have changed and now they have a ravenous appetite for oil to power their factories, etc. and compete directly with us and the rest of the world for that limited supply of oil – and they can pay for it.

Are you starting to see the picture? OPEC could produce more oil, increasing inventories and therefore keeping prices reasonable but they won’t because they don’t have to and there are no overwhelming reasons for them to do anything at this point.

But who in the hell sets these ever increasing prices for a barrel of crude oil? It is the marketplace; the oil marketplace where buyers buy and sellers sell. This is too involved to explain in this place but investors buy oil futures promising to deliver oil for a specific price. Buyers can also buy oil on the “spot” market which means they buy oil cargo on ships for a specific price and deliver it to a buyer for a specific price.

The prices are set naturally by “supply” and “demand”; the price goes up when there is a great demand but a limited supply – common logic!

So you see the price of oil has nothing to do with the cost of producing the oil.

The oil that is made into the gasoline we use has a long road to travel from oil well to refinery to our gas station BUT the reason the gasoline costs more for us is because the crude oil is costing more; it just goes down the line.

Will the price go down as usual; don’t bet on it. China and India are not going away or getting less industrious. Hell maybe other countries are on the verge of an economic boom that will require them to buy more oil.

Now that you know why gas prices are on the rise, we will talk about what can be done about that and how the higher prices will impact our lives here, in a later blog…

Who has the "White" vote?

The primaries in Kentucky and Oregon just closed and Hillary won Kentucky and Obama won Oregon; both won handily.

The pundits, heard the next day, were debating if Obama can get the white vote or has Hillary sown up the white vote for herself.

In the early elections Obama did garner basically 100% of the black vote but had mixed results with other ethnic groups including “whites”. The debate then goes into, who has the best chance against McCain in the general election or who can carry the most whites who after all, represent the majority of the population, at least today.

You may not have known this but Kentucky is basically white and so is Oregon so if Obama won Oregon and Hillary won Kentucky, who won the white vote.

Well, I think we are talking about two classes of whites. Oregon is populated by white yuppies; Microsoft, Starbucks, educated, liberal, rich type of whites. They will most definitely vote for Obama in the general election even though as business people they may hold a fear of Democratic socialist philosophy which Obama espouses and may try to institute but they hold a greater fear of Republican social backwardness which may move the nation into the dark ages.

The whites in Kentucky are different from the whites in Oregon. They are about country music, middle class, hard work, conservative, horses, some education type of whites. In fact, these types of whites will probably vote for McCain and only voted in the Democratic primaries to show Obama that they prefer a white candidate even though she is a female.

Will the whites unite to support a Democratic candidate irregardless of whether it is Obama or Hillary? I think when everything is said and done, the majority will because to vote Republican is basically not an option.

Who will have an easier time beating McCain? Well, I still think it is Obama because he has less political baggage dragging him down, is not a Washington insider, is a man (unfortunately the country is still sexist), is a better debater and is younger.

Will he make a better president? Only time will tell.

"Appeasement" my ass !

President Bush and later, John McCain dared to say the word “APPEASEMENT” with a wink at the Democrats.

For you that don’t know your history and especially your WWII history, appeasement is a word identified with Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister who thought he “appeased” Adolf Hitler by giving him parts of Czechoslovakia so as to have “peace in our time”.

Well, we all know what happened next.

Bush and McCain inferred that the Democrats would rather “appease” our enemies than to crush them before they can harm us. This all stemmed from the fact that Obama said he would talk to the President of Iran as part of his foreign diplomacy efforts instead of just attacking the country.

Needless to say, my blood immediately started to boil at the chutzpah of an idiot that has caused so much damage to the world and his own country through his cowboy diplomacy (shoot and then talk). Bush has the nerve to defend his totally failed, disastrous foreign policy on the eve of his leaving the presidency with the facts of his debacles staring him right in the face; is he totally insane or just delusional – maybe both?

Once I calmed down I thought that this political ploy; equating Obama with Neville Chamberlain, could and would resonate with the conservative male sector of this country, the ones that feel that the sword is always mightier than mere words.

Bush and McCain are obviously implying that the Democrats are willing to sacrifice our safety for a false sense of peace. This is called fear-mongering and has worked in the past.

The Democrats, to their credit, did immediately respond but I think the response should not only be loud but prolonged!

I think the nation should be shown from all angles, what the Bush / McCain philosophy has wrought. The nation has to be shown how things would be so different today if a “sane” person was president and how things will not change if another republican is elected to the presidency.

McCain, who has been trying to distance himself from Bush on some sound advice, may have made a fatal error by endorsing and supporting Bush’s “appeasement” charge against the Democrats.

Lets make some noise about “appeasement”…

Relay For Life / Defeat Cancer !!!

Reverend Wright, Part 2

Let’s get back to talking about Reverend Wright, Black Liberation Theology and Barack Obama.

Black Liberation Theology (BLT) was born in the turbulent 60s when blacks were either following MLK to change things peacefully or Malcolm X to change things not so peacefully.

The theology combined Christianity with politics and preached activism against the oppressors (whites). Yes, it talked about personal salvation but combined with issues like political social justice.

On the Christianity side as I have mentioned before, they saw Jesus as coming to earth to liberate his people from oppression. They site New Testament passages like Luke 4:18, Mathew 25:31 and John 3:16; “…to release the oppressed…”, “…he will sit on his throne…”, “For God so loved the world…” These blacks see themselves as His (Jesus’ / God’s) people and are doing God’s work.

The preachers see themselves as Old Testament “prophets” whose mission is to warn the people about their sinning and the repercussions to come if they don’t change their ways BUT also as the Old Testament prophets who preached to “nations” to mend their ways. So when we heard him say “…damn America…” he was only doing what these prophets do; they damn people and nations when they are doing wrong. This really put things in perspective for me.

But back to Jeremiah Wright. He probably should have stayed quiet and out of the public’s eye. He was mad that people did not understand him and called him unpatriotic. His interview with Bill Moyers on Public TV gave him the opportunity to explain himself and he did BUT…

The idiots at the Detroit NAACP invited him to give a speech at their biggest gathering. His speech was OK, it was about being different but not deficient where some of his ideas and comments were, how should I put it, not very smart.

BUT then he went to Washington, DC in front of the National Press Club where he answered questions and where more “not too smart things” came out like the U.S. Government inventing AIDS to kill black people.

Rev. Wright has been a preacher / pastor for over 35 years and built up a very large congregation that did and does many great and charitable things. These people came for a reason and stayed and their reason was what Rev. Wright preached so we cannot condemn the man for a few unfortunate words and maybe a few totally stupid beliefs BUT…

In the end, he was not smart enough to just shut-up. He let the limelight get to him and he grew arrogant and yes, divisive.



His legacy after 35 years will be a historical footnote about how he became a negative issue in the presidential candidacy of the first African-American candidate with a realistic chance of attaining the office.

The great irony here is that through 35 years of trying to help blacks throw off their oppression and become equal participants in the American society, he compromises the chance for a black man to govern over that very society.

Understanding Reverend Wright, #1

Well I guess I should say a few words about the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. This is the minister that Barack Obama called pastor and mentor for twenty (20) years while he attended the Trinity Church of Christ near Chicago.

When I first heard or actually “saw” snippets of Wright’s sermons on TV I recognized a political hatchet job as professional as they come. Out of context, vitriolic blasts against white America are what people heard and that was enough for some.

At the time, I called these remarks absolutely racist and was happy to see Obama start distancing himself from his pastor and his remarks BUT he did not disown him. After all, he attended his church and listened to his sermons for 20 years, was married by him and had his kids baptized by him.

I wanted to know more about the man and not just what the political manipulators wanted me to know. I learned that he was a medical corpsman in the United States like I was. He spent six (6) years in the military and eventually advanced to the position of “cardiology technician”.

He was not uneducated; getting degrees all over the place. He is very articulate, notwithstanding the screaming sermons in “black talk”. I wanted to know more.

He did an interview with Bill Moyers (great guy) on PBS and sounded really good defending himself, his church and his people. He mentioned that a big problem is that whites do not understand “Black Christian Liberation Theology” – interesting!

I have heard of “Catholic Central & South American Liberation Theology” in my studies but never the black brand. The priests in South America basically espoused Marxist philosophy in a Christian covering. This was the only way they could see to help the hopelessly poor and downtrodden in their parishes.

Jesus wanted to overturn the reigning order and bring in a new kingdom where justice and fairness would prevail and so they preached revolution and overthrow of the oppressors and bringing in a new kingdom albeit Communistic – wasn’t Jesus the first Communist? The Vatican told them to shut up!

I have never, though, heard of a black variety of this theology. You probably will not believe me but one of my white colleagues; who is very smart and very religious, attends a black religious seminary with mainly black ministers to be, women and men, so he is in a perfect position to learn more about this black type Christianity. Do not ask me why a white ministerial student is attending a black seminary – maybe its really close to his house?

So, as you may have guessed, we have some pretty good discussions (on company time no less).

The black theology works in the same fashion as the South American one; Jesus (Christianity) tries to lift people out of oppression and into a kingdom where there is no oppression. The blacks as slaves were most definitely oppressed big time and even after slavery was outlawed, racist whites kept up the oppression, some say, to this very day.

So what is the premise of this theology as it applies to the black Christian church? Well, let me first state that this theology does not apply or is practiced by ALL black Christian churches. Actually the Trinity Church of Christ belongs to the national, mainly white and oh so liberal and progressive “United Church of Christ” (UCC) Protestant denomination as opposed to, lets say, the “Baptist” Protestant denomination.

More to come…

Time to grow up and legalize "drugs"!

Another story of interest in the news that struck a chord with me involved a woman that escaped a prison that happens to be very near to where I live (Scott Correctional Facility) in 1976.

I drive by this facility every so often and see groups of women surrounded by barbed wire and then surrounded again by suburbia; must be disconcerting for the women to watch normal life go on right outside their prison. In 1976 this place was in the boonies with only fields and woods around.

Anyway, Susan LeFavre was convicted of selling drugs to an undercover narc when she was a young woman (19) and sentenced to 10-20 years under then current Michigan Drug Laws.

After one year, she walked away from the prison (easy to escape I guess) and just recently has been arrested and is on her way back to Michigan from San Diego where she has been living a privileged life as Marie Walsh. She became a mother and a wife, stayed out of trouble and contributed to the welfare of her community.

As you may imagine, opinions on what top do with her are flying all around.

In my case, just as my views on prostitution, I feel very strongly that “drugs” should be legalized and controlled. We obviously will never win the “war on drugs” but we can control them and minimize their detrimental affects on people and the community by de-criminalizing them.

I have already addressed the issue in detail as to how this would be carried out but let me just remind you that drug lords, drug gangs, killing for drug money, etc. would be eliminated so think of a world without all that if you can.

I am saying this up-front because I feel laws criminalizing the use and sale of drugs and, especially in Michigan, instituting totally absurd penalties for their use and sale as a societal aberration that is absolutely improper and without any redeeming purpose.

Yes, you say, but these are our laws and should be obeyed and I would have to agree with you but in this specific case of Marie Walsh who was given an absurd sentence for a dubious crime (my opinion), and leading an exemplary life, free of any crime for thirty two (32) years – I think she should be left alone and allowed to return to her family. Punishing her at this point would serve absolutely no purpose.

Some say we need to teach a lesson here so people will not think that it is OK to do what she did. I will agree with part of that but when the crime is about drugs and not a “real” crime; for me this negates normal rules of jurisprudence.

DC MADAM WAS KILLED BY OUR STUPID SOCIETY!

There are many issues I have to catch up with so let’s get going.

The suicide of the DC Madam was a minor story on the world stage but it hit something in me. As long as I can remember, I have been railing at the utter stupidity and waste of human and monetary resources, at policing prostitution, which in my opinion should be legalized and controlled.

I have written countless letters to the editor and blogs about how the “oldest profession” has been around since day one because it serves a valid need.

If the “need” will NEVER go away, which it won’t, why not make the profession healthy and safe as well as tax producing. It is common sense at its most basic level so why don’t we get it?

We are a nation of American Christians (not any other form of Christian) and that makes us Neanderthals when it comes to social issues and we will not allow a progressive social thought into our lives even if not doing so causes us and our country, pain and suffering.

The DC Madam (Deborah J. Palfrey) recently committed suicide by hanging in a shed at her mother’s Florida retirement home; her mother found her. She vowed not to spend the rest of her life in jail and intimated that death would be preferable and why the hell did she have to make that choice?

Her clients, Washington, D.C. big shots that today are sitting alive and well with their wives, the ones that could not or would not service them properly, while the madam that arranged for their sexual servicing is cold, dead and buried before her time; do you see a problem here?

If she offered those same services for free she would be alive today.

For the life of me I don’t see why we are so blind to reality and so, oh so stupid when it comes to our own sexual needs and behavior that we so fervently try to deny. Maybe the myriad sexual crimes that occur in this country every day could be minimized by a legal, healthy and safe prostitution industry – did you ever think of that?

SORRY HILLARY, YOU NEED TO GO!

My goodness, I sure haven’t written in these here pages in a long while! Blasted work has kept me busy but good news, I finally have decided to semi-retire. That only means I will “attempt” to take every Monday and Friday off; let’s see if this works. If it does, it will give me some time to do what I feel like doing.

Anyway, I want back into the fray and there is so much going on that does need comment!

The day after the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic Primaries, it is time to ask Hillary to step down.

She barely won Indiana (working class whites) and drowned in North Carolina. She came out with a smile after the primary debacle and promised to fight on. She even borrowed her campaign another bunch of millions of her own (and Bill’s) dollars in an expensive gesture to show that she “really” thinks she has a chance.

I have been watching this on the sidelines for some time with really no overriding liking for either Hillary or Obama; just watching…

Lately though, she has started to grate on me. That “gasoline federal tax exemption” for the summer driving season that she proposed, made me see her as a stupid, populist politician that would stoop to any level to get the popular vote. Obama said the proposal was stupid and would not bring any sizeable relief to the common man; a long term energy plan would make more sense.

I saw a leader on one hand and a political hack on the other and I knew she cannot be our next president. I should have known that ever since she tried to introduce “socialized medicine” into the United State; she is a flaming populist socialist.

Barack is still a Democrat and has a socialist streak in him but I detect ability at independent thought; a willingness to look at all sides and come out with the best possible plan instead of the most popular.

His stance against Hillary’s (and McCain’s) plan to halt the gas tax was nothing short of brilliant. Ninety (90%) percent of people polled on the subject agreed that temporarily halting the federal tax on gasoline was a political ploy with no serious benefit for anyone. The voters saw right through Hillary and I think this one issue may have finally done her in.

She does not have to quit and probably will not but the longer she stays in the race, the more clownish she will appear until she will be nothing more than someone to be pitied.

Is she harming the Democratic Party? Well, the longer Obama fights her and she keeps attacking him; the less either candidate will appeal to the electorate. The constant in-fighting, with each candidate finding new ways to portray each other in a worsening light; exposing more and more negatives about each other will create the impression that McCain is the only sensible choice.

There are voters that will not allow another Republican, no matter who he is, into the White House but there are those that do not feel that way and are waiting to feel that something that will help them decide on the candidate to be their next president.

Hillary should resign but if she does not, Obama must begin campaigning against McCain and totally ignore Hillary; I see no other way out.