Is Oil A Problem Or Not?

BRENT CRUDE FUTR (USD/bbl.)
PRICE 139.830
CHANGE -0.480
%CHANGE -0.34

Have you heard the latest dramatic action that president Bush is taking to get oil prices under control?

Me neither.

The Bushes are self proclaimed "oil men" who have been sucking up to the Saudis and other oil giants for generations, so you would imagine that they would at least be able to call some kind of summit meeting for all of the big players to discuss what's happening. But nothing.

Not a word.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I am under the impression that the tripling of oil prices is a world-wide economic catastrophe that could lead to a near global depression. Yes? No? Maybe?

Is anybody in our government paying attention? Well, apparently that task has fallen to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Let's see what he's doing . . .

Monitoring Market Conditions

Courtesy of Bloomberg June 24, 2008 -

Paulson also repeated his view that high oil prices are a symptom of tight supplies, rather than a trend driven by financial speculators. ``I just think it's important that when you see a fundamental issue, that you don't get diverted with an issue that is not a key driver and is not central to the problem,'' Paulson said. When asked about the role of speculators, Paulson stuck by his insistence that it is not a big factor in current market conditions. ``I've seen no evidence that it is a major factor. And I've seen a lot of evidence that there's a supply-demand issue, and inventories are becoming tighter,'' Paulson said, adding that U.S. officials will continue to monitor market conditions.

Well, OK, I guess. But should something more be happening? For some reason, I personally am way more worried about oil prices that I am about Al Quaeda blowing me up, or Iran building nuclear power plants (actually seems kind of smart), or whether Mitt Romney will get to lose another election this year, or who's doping up at the Olympics.

I've had three of my clients go out of business this year. And I don't have a lot of clients. Our economy is about to go into the tank, and it already has for a lot of people. Meanwhile, folks in Dubai are skiing indoors. That's great for them. But it seems to signal a big shift in wealth. We say good bye, they say hello. Let's make it not so big.

George should at least call a big meeting to discuss it. He's done nothing! Instead I'm only hearing about what McCain or Obama will try to do about it next year. What about this year? Will somebody please go into the oval office and slap that fool awake!

Remember all that bullshit talk justifying the Iraq War II about oil being the fuel for the "engine of democracy" and so strategically we could not allow ourselves to be blackmailed with it? Well, guess what? We're not being blackmailed. We're being robbed.

Let's get it together here. The sellers should not have this kind of pricing power. We have other cards to play here besides just stupidly bidding our dollars away. Please tell me we are smarter than this. We, meaning you and I, can start by letting own pols know that we demand some action. And we don't mean invading Iran.

Word of the Day - Mau Maued

Ahhh. Maureen Dowd. NYT's resident bitchy vixen, has managed to use the term Mau Mau in relation to Barack Obama. I'm not sure how many main stream media types would dare to do this. There is absolutely no way this was a mistake. She's playing with fire, teasing all the conservative writers who would get pilloried for such cutesiness with racially charged terms.

Here's the quote from Sunday's column:

"It’s hard to fathom why Obama should be mau-maued into paying off the debt that Hillary and Bill accrued attacking and undermining him, while mismanaging the campaign and their nearly quarter-billion-dollar war chest so horribly that one Hillaryland insider told The New Republic that it bordered on fraud."

Redheaded Seductress Maureen Dowd

Excellent point! Especially given that about $12MM of Hillary's $22MM campaign debt is owed to Hillary herself, and another $6MM is owed to the hateful and rightfully despised Mark Penn. Take those two out of the mix and I'll send in $100. I don't even mind paying Hillary back, but as long as Mark Penn is in the mix, fuggedaboutit.

So, unless you're as old as John McCain, you're probably wondering, "What the hell is a Mau-Mau?" Some kind of chocolate-coconut candy from Hawaii? Well, no.

The Mau Maus were a group of African revolutionaries in Kenya in the 1940's and 1950's, fighting English imperial rule. They used protests, strikes, and terrorism to fight the English. Of course they were also black, and so even scarier than the Irish Catholics. The Mau Mau lost, but their cause ultimately prevailed.

Kenyan Mau-Maus

And their name has stuck around. Tom Wolfe used it in a hip book from the 1970's. (Isn't it funny that Tom Wolfe used to be hip?) As a verb, it means to strong arm someone, which is a form of "unarmed" (hah hah!) robbery. Basically to bully someone into doing something or giving up something.

But, it also is used, rarely, as a racial pejorative for black people, implying that they are criminals or violent. When I say rarely, I'd say not as rarely as "Macaca," which I had not heard used as an epithet prior to Senator George Allen's famous blurtation.

So, for context, I've included this song from Hair! which includes the use of Mau-Mau (I know I'm being inconsistent with the hyphens) among a litany of racially derogatory pronouns. It's also a pretty snappy tune. But don't sing it at work.

I'm not typing or saying the name of this song.

So, what do you think? Will Maureen catch any flak? Should there be fallout? Will anyone even notice? If nobody notices, is that even worse for Maureen? And finally, what is she up to with this?

Weekend Roundup

Kids Today

My 5 year old tells me that the big kids "make out" while they hang around their swim meet waiting for their races. When I ask what "make out" means, I get giggles, until finally my 8 year old answers that it means, "bust a move." Who knew?

Young MC

Our Growing Economy

If GDP is up 1%, but inflation is 4.2%, then I don't think the economy is really growing. Oh, and oil is at $142 a barrel.

The Angelina Jolie of Journalism - Lara Logan!

So, I saw CBS's Lara Logan on The Daily Show and thought, "What a gutsy chick going into all those war zones. May she's brainy, too." Well, maybe. But now she's also a tabloid queen for having 2 boyfriends in Iraq who got into a fight over her. A fistfight in Iraq? Now that's news! Oh yeah, she and one her boyfriends are married to other people, and she's from Africa.

Old Ralph Nader Still Crazy But Now Also Racist!

Ralph Nader, who may or may not also be Alan Alda, became a famous liberal icon by writing a daring "tell all" book to inform the country that cars can be dangerous. And he was right! That was about 45 years ago. So, apparently bored, Ralph has kept busy by being a public crank and helping Republicans beat Democrats in elections because his own political soul is too pure to engage in the dirty business of doing any real-life good in the world.

For his next act, Ralph will publicly soil his pants in a condescending and pretentious manner.

Here's Ralph's latest insightful ralph on Barack Obama:

"There's only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He's half African-American," Nader said. "Whether that will make any difference, I don't know. I haven't heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What's keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn't want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We'll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards."

Well, they call it ralphing for a reason. Obama is obviously just a white-talking mulatto who doesn't give a crap about exploitation. (When's the last time you heard the word "explotation" in a political context?) He ain't no better than that white-playing quadroon Tiger Woods.

Nader, of course, is Green, thus continuously embarrassing all people who care about the environment.

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