While things at work have been very hectic the last few days (Honest, they have!), I have been falling further and further behind on my usual daily reading and even further behind on my blogging. I did manage to pick up on a couple of articles yesterday and wanted to pass them along.

The hurricane has been dominating the news lately. (While I really enjoy Fox News’ political and war coverage, I truely hate their habitual sensationalism.) We’ve seen everyone from Rev. Jesse Jackson to the average Joe sleeping under an over-pass pointing fingers this way and that over Katrina and the resulting devistation. News flash!! George Bush didn’t create this hurricane. I’m not even comfortable calling it an “act of God”. If you know much about theology than you should know that all natural disasters are the result of a sin cursed earth, but I digress.

My hero, Ben Stein, wrote a short column (which you can read here) clearing up the muck of passing the buck for Katrina.

In other non-news, a friend sent me a great article on “Peace Mom” Cindy Sheehan. I know she’s been out of the public eye for a week or so. (Thank God Almighty!) But this was just too good to pass up. Mark Steyn’s piece on the “Peace Mom” is really well written and makes tons of sense. (He fails to mention the rumors I’ve heard about Sheehan calling Bush a “Zionist” and the fact that her sit-in is inspired more by anti-semitism than by pacifism, but, like I said, that’s only a rumor… for now.)

There is a gas station by the highway where I live. I’m sure you have a similar one in your neighborhood. It’s the gas station that no one ever goes to because the prices are ridiculously high, sometimes nine cents a gallon more than the station just up the road. That gas station, this weekend, posted a price of $2.69 a gallon for regular unleaded (87 octane). Great googly moogly! What is going on here.

I remember the big price scare after 9/11/01. The economy was tanking fast and everyone thought that the rag heads were going to turn off the taps and starve the U.S. of oil. Gas shot up from around $1.15 up to $1.85 in Colorado Springs (as I remember it). I made a pact with myself, that I would not buy gas for more that $1.80, and I pulled it off. I only had to ride my bicycle a couple of times and I managed to hold out until gas came back down. It only took about a week for folks to realize that the oil wasn’t going anywhere and that there was no need to stock pile the stuff.

So, what the heck is going on now? The war in Iraq? Nope. Oil has been flowing freely from Iraq for over a year now. Besides, Iraq isn’t that big of a supplier on the global scale. Terror threats? C’mon, how many times can we cry out for that wolf? The news occasionally blames labor strikes here or there. Rubbish! Even if one entire refining company stopped producing, the others would just step in and make all that money for themselves.

Okay, well, then it must be simple economics, supply and demand, right? That’s what I thought until today. I’d heard that Asian countries were growing fast economically, and that they were starting to buy more cars and drink oil as fast as they could ship it in. That may be true, but that’s no why oil is over $65 a barrel. You may say, “It’s the economy, stupid!” to which I would replay, “Hey, that’s not very nice, and besides, it’s wrong, stupid.”

I submit the following news blurbs:
From rfcnet.org, a Washington based lobby group:

“The economy is continuing to grow, but not as fast as the cost of gasoline. Consumer confidence is down because people are spending money on gasoline they would rather spend on everything from better steaks to new furniture … Oil experts say that the fundamentals indicate the price of oil should be at $38 to $40 a barrel, yet oil futures are trading in the mid $60 range … There is so much oil the refineries can’t even keep up with it and we are running out of storage space. Tankers are sitting offshore unable to unload because storage facilities are full.” ¹

From mosler.org, an economics think-tank:

In the past few months, Morgan Stanley has been accumulating warehouse space in the Netherlands to store its hottest new property: oil … With the stock market proving lackluster, the oil market has been a godsend for the banks, which describe it as the new Nasdaq … Speculators have helped to drive oil prices to near record levels … Oil is the talk of the City with many millions of pounds being made every day … [The oil futures market] acts as a benchmark for the price of oil … If prices on the futures market rise too far above the so-called physical market [mentioned above to be around $40 a barrel], oil users such as airlines and petrol dealers pull out, so prices fall … However, this traditional equilibrium has been rocked by short-term speculators dipping in and out of the futures market. This has led to sharp rises in the price and far more volatility. Meanwhile, banks such as Morgan Stanley are also beginning to move into the physical market to buy oil or even entire oilfields. ²

So, who is driving up the price of oil? Are those dern camel drivers pocketing all your hard earned money? Well, to some degree yes, but not any more than usual. A small group of investors and banks are making hundreds of millions of dollars off of schleps like me and you by artificially inflating the price of oil. Mohamed is not ripping you off, Morgan Stanley (and their peers) are!!

The problem is that oil investments (called “hedge funds”) are out of control.

The International Energy Authority recently criticized the role of speculators. They have also been attacked by French and American government ministers. Alan Greenspan, chairman of America s Federal Reserve Board, said that speculators had caused oil prices to surge … A senior executive at one oil firm said, “This is the hottest oil market I have ever seen. There has been a massive increase in hedge-fund activity … [investments] have doubled recently.” … Hedge-fund insiders therefore say that oil is an excellent short-term bet. ²

Yes, the world is using more oil, but it’s interesting to me that the people making the most noise about a possible shortage are the same people who are raking in millions on oil investments.

Now, before you storm the bank with torches and pitchforks, let’s talk about what can really be done to save our economy from the same folks who orchestrated the big crash in the 1920’s (and the great depression that followed). I don’t have a hundred million dollars to spend on oil futures and even if I did, no one investor could restore the market. In fact, even the President of the United States does not wield enough power to correct the market (even though he is taking most of the heat for it).

The oil market will crash. Any artificially inflated market does (ex. margin stock in the 1920’s and dot-com ventures in 2000). However, I’m not sure that our current growing economy can wait for the market to correct itself.

Governments world wide could do a lot to cut this trend short, by being honest with people about the real cause of the price hike. I don’t believe this would instantly return us to $1/gallon nirvana as some do:

This could all be stopped in one day and the price of oil could drip $20 a barrel … if Treasury Secretary John Snow would hold a news conference and simply tell the truth about the oil reserves on hand and how the hedge funds are manipulating the markets. ¹

Would it help? Sure. Some investors would see that oil prices are artificially high and pull their money out of funds which are heavily invested in oil to avoid losing money on the inevitable crash.

Consumers, believe it or not, probably have the best chance of breaking this market. I know we can’t all ride our bicycles to work. Nor can we effectively boycott gasoline. There are some movements out there to stop buying from the biggest producers (ExxonMobile). That may have some impact, but probably not enough. The consumers that can impact the market are the big consumers: Airlines, utilities, shipping companies, etc.; the folks that buy gas by the millions of gallons. If the airline industry alone were to band together and demand lower priced contracts, it would put a strain on the market bubble.

Maybe, just maybe, between industry demands, intelligent investors, and government exposure, this bubble will burst and we can all get back to the great American past-time guzzling gas at reasonable prices.

So what can you do today? Do what you can to buy less gas: drive smart, car pool, travel as little as possible. Let the big consumers know that want to see lower prices. Contact major airlines and other big fuel consumers and let them know that you will support companies that fight for lower fuel prices and that you will withhold your buying power from companies that don’t. Contact your government representatives (House, Senate, White House, Treasury Dept., and Energy Dept.). Ask them to expose the truth about oil reserves and real cause of these painful prices. You may not have a loud voice, but a chorus of thousands of quiet voices will be heard.

Pardon me for a moment while I vent some serious frustration. I know I’m about a month late on this and that a google search on the topic will yield thousands of bloggers with the same opinion, but I just have to get this off my chest.

<rant>I know that this is an established bit of Americana, but could someone tell me please why mass media insists on latching on to some rich kid’s personal tragedy and dragging it out for months on end under the pretense of journalism?! Every time I see that Holloway girl’s face on the news, I want to puke! The kids dead, okay? It’s sad, yes. It’s mysterious, I suppose. But it stopped being news after the first report. It’s been two months and she’s still making headline news. GAAAH!!

Civil rights groups are up in arms (and I feel rightly so) about the fact that the rich, pretty, blonde, white girl has been headline news for months, but literally hundreds of poor, minority kids go missing every week and are lucky if they make it onto a milk carton. The media coverage has even ruffled the feathers of some media watchdogs who say the disproportionate coverage is bad journalism (*gasp*).

This morning, while peacefully munching my Cheerios, I was driven to rage and was thiiiis close to putting a .25 caliber slug in my TV when Good Morning America ran yet another Holloway story. That alone, was maddening, but not ragening (no, it’s not a real word, but it should be). The rage came when I switched over to CBS only to find them running a story on… SCOTT PETERSON!!! AAAHHHHH!!!!
</rant>

Thanks, I feel much better now.

File this under cruel and unusual.

“Me” is Steve from The Sneeze. “The Boy” is his four-year-old son. Talk about crushing the dreams of the future generation.

From The Sneeze:

The Boy: I want to be a hobo when I grow up!

Me: You don’t like beans.

The Boy: Oh yeah.

All too often mass media reports stories that are not news to anyone except maybe mass media. You know what I’m talking about. How many times have you read head-lines like:

I.T. Managers Hate Buggy Software

Some Hollywood Romances Are More P.R. Than Love

Student’s Don’t Learn Much in Last Few Weeks Before Vacation

Solution to Stinky Subways is Regular Bathing

I think you see where I’m going with this. Recently, another story high on the “duh” scale has seen a lot of press.

An AP-AOL poll on American’s views of Hollywood shows that 69% or respondents feel movie stars are bad role models. Now, pardon me for a moment. … DUUUHH!!! … ahem … Sorry about that. Couldn’t help myself.

Earl Ledbetter, a movie fan quoted in one of the many articles on this poll, said, “They just don’t have the morals,” he said. “They marry and divorce, sleep around a lot.”

Wow. Who knew? I thought all those movie stars were the best source around for political, social, and moral standards. You mean those people who make millions of dollars by pretending have bad morals and pretending to have sex with everything that moves do in fact have bad morals and have sex with everything that moves?! NOOO!! Martha! Get the kids! We’re moving to an anti-Hollywood convent to save ourselves from the Devil’s celluloid sin!!

You can read the full article in many places, but here is a couple:
CBC
Yahoo News

I read in the news today that an ex-radio DJ was awarded a whopping $10 million settlement because she (the ex-DJ) had a co-worker who wore too much perfume.

The story goes that Erin Weber co-hosted a radio show with Linda Lee on WYCD-FM. Ms. Lee wore a bit too much perfume for Ms. Weber’s taste. So much, in fact, that Weber claimed the perfume caused her to lose her voice, resulting in three months of sick leave to recover from the smell. Three months?! Take a shower and get it over with already!!

Weber’s doctor, Martin Charles (aka Doctor Nick), “warned (Weber) that further exposure to perfume could even result in death.” Wha?!

The radio station changed the women’s schedules and asked Lee to stop wearing the perfume, but that wasn’t good enough. After more incidents and more complaints from Weber, the station let her go. Now she claims she can’t find work because the station blacklisted her. Well, maybe it’s because prospective employers called the station to check a reference and found out SHE’s INSANE!

In a stirring tribute to all that is wrong with the world, a six woman jury gave Weber over ten million dollars in compensation. Do you have any idea how much the average disk jockey makes? Let’s just say that Ms. Weber would have be a DJ for around three hundred years to make ten million dollars.

Now, let’s be fair. I’ve been subjected to a few olfactorily-challanged women. I know what it’s like to have your eyes burn in return for politely holding open a door. As a matter of fact about once a week, I walk up the back stair well to my office and smell the lingering cloud from a woman who works down the hall several minutes after she has made the same trek. But GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY! TEN MILLION DOLLARS?!

I’ll bet you ten million dollars you can’t guess what format WYCD-FM plays. Yep! Country!

Three of the big four sewage television outlets have joined forces to lobby Washington and the American public for less government interference. According to an article I read today, the TV Watch Coalition, which includes the parent companies of NBC, CBS, and Fox, intends to push for less regulation and to “counterweight such groups as the Parent’s Television Council and the American Family Assn.”

In other words, Hollywood is tired of getting it’s wrist slapped by the FCC for airing indecent content. Instead, Hollywood wants to monitor itself. Now, call me intolerant, but isn’t that a lot like hiring the produces of “Girls Gone Wild” to chaperone you’re daughter’s Spring Break trip?

Sam Walton had a vision… The store that saved America. American goods sold at low prices to help the average Joe make ends meet and keep Joe’s company running strong. Poor old Sam died in 1992 and his dream died with him.

I vividly remember the big push back in the late 80’s. Wal-Mart was the big new thing and all their commercials talked about buying American. Made in the USA! Whoo Hoo! Apple pie and baseball. Let’s head on down to the Wal-Mart! Of course, I also remember that a few months after the Wal-Mart opened, the K-Mart down the street closed. Then the Anthony’s (cheap clothing store) closed. Then the… well, you know the drill.

The last time I went to Wal-Mart, I did an improptue survey as I strolled through the women’s clothing with my wife. I couldn’t find a single piece of merchandise that was made in the USA. Granted this was not an exhaustive search, but it was enough to turn my stomach.

Wally-World has had a ton of bad press lately. I watched in horror as their CEO was interviewed recently. The guy was as cold and heartless as you can get. The words coming out of his mouth were all about low prices at any cost. Every question about fair wages, health care, and sweatshop merchandise was answered with the same cold, heartless smirk. “We give American’s good products at low prices.” Excuse me while I uneat my American made lunch.

Wal-Mart stocks are hurting and their media image is suffering, but they are fighting back tooth and nail. At least that part of Wal-Mart is still All-American. You poke me in the eye, I’ll gouge yours out! Case in point: http://walmartwatch.com has started running ads in big name news papers explosing Wal-Mart’s dirty laundry. Today, as I was reading the news, I caught a banner ad for Wal-Mart’s newest PR web site, http://www.walmartfacts.com which comes out swinging: “WalMartWatch.com – Do they just make this stuff up?!” Youch!

This month Chistianity Today published an article, “Deliver Us from Wal-Mart”, which discusses the morality of shopping at the big blue. Wal-Mart has been a boon to Christian marketing. They require music labels to produce toned down versions of hip-hop music or they won’t sell it. They push a heck of a lot of Christian media, from VeggieTales to The Purpose Driven Life. But, once again, at what cost? I’m curious to see how Wal-Mart will retaliate for the Christianity Today article.

I’ll let you read all the nitty gritty details. Personally, Wal-Mart is my new least favorite place to shop. I’m not advocatting a boycott or anything, but this consumer will be spending a lot less money on Chinese goods at America’s Superstore.

A few weeks ago, I linked to an article in which a woman found a human finger in her Wendy’s chili. Gross, yes. But ever since infamous 1992 Stella v McDonald’s hot coffee case, any legal claim against a fast food giant has had to be looked at very carefully.

Now, first I want to be fair to poor old Stella. It turns out that the “Micky D’s coffee burned my butt” case has been pretty badly misrepresented. You can read all the details in this article, but Stella did receive third degree burns, requiring skin grafts, from coffee that, as a policy, was served at almost 200 degrees! (Youch!) AND, the $3 million dollar jury award was reduced to $600k by the judge. None the less, the case did spawn the age of the Stella Awards.

Now, back to Wendy’s. Police in Las Vegas seem to be very concerned over the fact that Anna Ayala, the finger-lickin’ victim, “has a history of filing lawsuits – including a claim against another fast-food restaurant.” So concerned, in fact, that the LVPD fraud division got a search warrant for Ayala’s house.

The problem with Anna’s case is that no one can get their hands on the short handed source of the offending digit. All searches have come up empty handed. According to Wendy’s, “The employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy’s ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries.” Hmm. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something seems amiss.

Anna’s defense? The police are “out to get her.” Uh huh…

“Lies, lies, lies, that’s all I am hearing,” she said. “They should look at Wendy’s. What are they hiding? Why are we being victimized again and again?”

More finger pointing. In the end it comes down to a matter who’s telling the truth. If the gloves don’t fit, you must acquit!

Unfortunately for Anna, Johnnie Cochran is busy defending another client… giving his closing arguments at the big courtroom in the sky.

Read the complete article here.

Heaven help us! What has the world come to?

These two evil vixens, Taylor and Lindsey (such insidious names), were found guilty this week of scaring the wits out of a peaceful law abiding citizen of Durango, Colorado, with … cookies.

That’s right! Cookies! Those most frightening of all baked goods. Last July, “The T and L Club”, as they are referred to in ubber-villain circles, asked their parents if they could bake cookies for their neighbors after their chores were done, rather than go to a school dance where they might encounter “cursing and drinking”. A likely story!! With their parent’s consent, this terrible twosome baked batches of chocolate-chip and sugar cookies and packages them in small tins decorated with red and pink hearts! OH THE HUMANITY!!

But fear not, good citizens, because justice has been dealt. One of their victims had the nerve to bring them to justice. That’s right! Wantia Renea Young, 49, filed suit against the girls to pay for her medical bills, as well as pain and suffering, when she ended up in the hospital after suffering a “severe anxiety attack”. It seems that when the girls knocked on Mrs. Young’s door to drop of the cookies at 10:30 PM, she mistook them for the boogie man, or some other imaginary foe, and her heart just couldn’t take it.

She was awarded $900 to cover the cost of her E.R. visit, but was not paid for her pain nor her suffering. “The victory wasn’t sweet,” she said. But apparently the cookies were.

Wanita said that she believes that the girls should not have been running from door to door late at night. “Something bad could have happened to them.” Indeed. They could lose $900 to some… well… bad person.

If you’d like to call and thank Mrs. Young for protecting us all from the evil of sugary pastries, her home phone number is (970) 259-6130. (I luvs me some information super-highway.)

Read the complete article.