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I Am Not The Barber Of Seville
  
If Liberals really hated America, we'd all vote Republican.

I don't promise to know what I'm talking about.

Your indulgence is requested & appreciated.

Rightwingers, please burn no crosses on my lawn Sundays.
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Airlines may charge extra for fully qualified flight crews Aug 5, 2008 10:51 am
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The Airline Transport Association (ATA) said today that some U.S. air carriers are quietly looking into charging passengers a premium for having cockpit crews with first-rate qualifications assigned to their flights.

ATA spokesman Herb "Crash" Kaputnick explained that carriers are considering a two-tier system of standard and premium flights. Kaputnick indicated that flight crews assigned to standard flights could include members "in not necessarily perfect compliance" with FAA pilot medical standards and state and/or federal alcohol, drunk-driving, firearms and controlled-substance laws.

Kaputnick stressed that it will not be any airline's policy to intentionally bar well qualified crewmembers from standard-tier flights. Crew assignments will be based on passengers' willingness to pony up prior to boarding.

"Don't you smartass reporters give people the idea we're rounding up junkies, heart-transplant patients and winos and pouring them into the captain's seat," Kaputnick demanded. He said airlines will make a "good effort" toward the safe conduct of each flight.

Kaputnick said "very strict" measures will ensure each crewmember is fit for duty. "Absolutely no personnel unable to reach the plane under their own power will be allowed in the cockpit under any circumstances," he said.

According to Kaputnick, crew members unable to walk to or find the aircraft unassisted will be given vouchers for a meal in an airport restaurant, including "lots of good, strong coffee," and will not be permitted to fly till at least an hour later.

Appearing exasperated by the line of questioning, Kaputnick said, "You people should lighten up. Fuel costs a fortune and airlines are just trying to stay competitive. Last I looked, flying still beats walking."
14 Comments
Why you need to study math Aug 5, 2008 9:59 am
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Sent to me by a friend.
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To My Dear Wife,

You will surely understand that I have certain needs that you, being
54 years old, can no longer satisfy. I am very happy with you and I value you as
a good wife. Therefore, after reading this letter I hope you will not wrongly
interpret the fact that I will be spending the evening with my 18 year old
secretary at the Comfort Inn Hotel.

Please don't be upset, I shall be back before midnight.

When the man came home late that night he found the following letter on the
dining room table:

To My Dear Husband,

I received your letter and thank you for your honesty about my being 54 years
old. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that you are also 54
years old. As you know, I am a math teacher at our local college. I would like
to inform you that while you read this, I will be at the Hotel Fiesta with
Michael, one of my students, who is also the assistant tennis coach. He is
young, virile, and like your secretary, is 18 years old.

As a successful businessman with an excellent knowledge of math, you will
understand that we are in the same situation, although with one small
difference: 18 goes into 54 a lot more times than 54 goes into 18.

Therefore I will not be home until sometime tomorrow.
8 Comments
Tributes: George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant A Step Closer To Reality Jul 17, 2008 1:57 pm
387 Views
George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant One Step Closer To American Reality

The SFist just sent this breaking news from San Francisco: “The ordinance initiative to changing the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility to the ‘George W Bush Sewage Plant’ will, in fact, be on the November ballot.”

This is great news for everybody, as it will provide retaliatory amusement for San Francisco voters while confirming every “bunch-a gald-damned communist lezbo fruitcakes” wingnut cliche about Baghdad by the Bay. [SFist]
5 Comments
How the width of a horse's butt decided the size of the Space Shuttle Jul 9, 2008 11:14 am
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I'm not making this up. Honest. Nobody makes up stuff like this.
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How the width of a horse's butt decided the size of the Space Shuttle

From Rob Kall's OpEdNews site

Here is an interesting story that ties together 2000 plus years of technology development.

The U.S. standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that is the way they built them in England, and the U.S. railroads were built by English expatriates. Why did the English people build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did they use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing. Okay! Why did the wagons use that odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagons would break on some of the old long-distance roads because that is the spacing of the old wheel ruts.

So, who built those old-rutted roads? The first long-distance roads in Europe were built by Imperial Rome for the benefit of their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts? The initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagons, were first made by Roman war chariots. Since the chariots were made for or by Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. So, why did the Romans pick that spacing? Because the Imperial Roman chariots were made to be just wide enough to accommodate the backends of two horses.

What's this got to do with the Space Shuttle? The engineers who designed the solid rocket boosters, or SRBs, wanted to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line to the factory runs through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than a railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So,in summary, a major design feature of the world's most advanced transportation system was determined by the width of two horses' behinds. Unfortunately, history has failed to record the names of the two horses.
3 Comments
The U.S. is drowning in pretend patriotism Jul 5, 2008 6:40 am
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Mr. Scheer is a former columnist for the Los Angeles Times.
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The U.S. Is Drowning in Pretend Patriotism

by Robert Scheer

As we head into the Fourth of July weekend of patriotic bluster and beer swilling -- but before we are too besotted with ourselves -- might we also for once consider our imperfections? Why not take a moment to heed the cautions of our founding father, George Washington, whose true legacy will most likely be ignored during the flag-waving weekend?

Washington's "Farewell Address" to the new nation was a warning about the threat of American imperial ambitions and a declaration of his high expectations for a republic of free men: "In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself, that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. ..."

We are drowning in the "impostures of pretended patriotism," used to cover the lies that got us into Iraq, the defense of torture and the violation of our basic liberties. In the name of patriotism, we presume a God-given American right to reorder the world to our liking, masking the vice of unfettered greed as an obligation of national security.

Any doubts as to this later governing impulse of our imperial ambitions were shattered with the recent news that U.S. advisers to our puppet government in the Green Zone of occupied Iraq have worked out agreements for American oil companies to gain control of Iraqi oil fields. But, then again, what did we expect when we elected a Texas oil hustler, and a failed one at that, to be our president?

Only in an America dumbed down by constant propaganda about our innate moral superiority will anyone any longer believe that we didn't invade Iraq for the oil, even though Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to the Bush administration from the board of directors at Chevron, where they named an oil tanker after her. Like Vice President Dick Cheney with those Halliburton contracts, Rice has stayed true to her corporate sponsors. That's what the U.S. invasion of Iraq accomplished; for the first time in more than three decades after Iraq joined a worldwide trend of formerly colonized nations gaining control of their own resources, Big Oil is getting its black gold back. It was always about the oil -- that's why "we" invaded Iraq -- only "we" aren't getting any, at least not at a reasonable price. The oil companies are.

I know it's difficult for the corporate media and politicians, both fueled generously by energy money, to grasp the distinction, but we the people and they the oil companies are not one and the same. While we suffer at the pump, they make record profits, which is the way they like it. Don't think for a second that U.S. oil companies are rushing into Iraq to expand production to help lower world oil prices, thus making their investments less profitable. They just want to be on the winning side, which is why the CEO of Halliburton relocated his office from Texas to the United Arab Emirates, where I am certain he and his fellow corporate expatriates are able to happily celebrate the Fourth of July.

So, take that American flag off your lapel and replace it with a button bearing the Exxon or Chevron logo. C'mon, Dick Cheney and Condi Rice, be straight about what it is you are really pushing here. 'Fess up -- it's not the good old USA as represented by the sucker taxpayers conned by your patriotic blather. No sirree, what you would have Americans paying homage to is the majesty of the big multinational corporations that exploit American military power to rule the world.

But recognize that you have shamed the legacy of our first president. George Washington, who distinguished the promise of the new world from the corruptions of the old by shunning imperial conquest, said: "Our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing."

If Barack Obama or John McCain was to offer such words of wisdom this Fourth of July, he would be vilified as "weak," and that is a fit measure of just how far we have descended from the high hopes of our first president.
4 Comments
The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating Jul 2, 2008 12:44 pm
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Okay. I admit I don't know if you're eating them or not. But here they are.

Beets is one of them. Can you believe it? Beets! In fact, beets is Number One on the list. I remember my folks making me eat beets. It was horrible. Somewhere, Bush's henchmen are cramming beets down some jihadist's throat. If I concentrate, the retchworthy residual taste of beets haunts my tongue to this day. Worst of all, when I sneaked them to the dog, she spat them out too.

Anybody finds a list like this one that has lobster and beer on it, please let me know.

From the New York Times.
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The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating

Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice.

1. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power.

2. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches.

3. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil.

4. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal.

5. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it.

6. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked.

7. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad.

8. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread.

9. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,'’ it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish.

10. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds.

11. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.
How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg.
15 Comments
Corporate corruption and the collapse of America as we know it Jun 29, 2008 9:09 am
557 Views
Corporate greed, corruption and the coming collapse of America as we know it

by Mike Adams

The U.S. government, once crafted as a system that would serve the interests of the people, has devolved into a system of plutocracy where corporations control both the government and the people. Virtually every government regulatory department, for example, is now run by the corporations it is supposed to be regulating. Just look at the FDA, USDA, FTC, FCC, NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and most other government regulatory bodies and you'll find a room full of politicians and bureaucrats who utterly disregard the People while prioritizing the financial needs of influential corporations.

Our nation's policies on health, finances, agricultural, national defense and even education are increasingly slanted towards enriching the corporations, usually at the expense of the People. Even worse, the People have come to fear their government here in the United States, and any time a government gains so much power that the people begin to fear it, the scenario is set for police state atrocities against the citizens. In a healthy society, you see, the government fears the people, and it's this fear of being replaced or kicked out of office that keeps government bureaucrats in line. But in America, that's been lost, replaced by a tyrannical system of government that treats the people like common criminals. Don't believe me? Just try to board an airplane without being detained and searched against your will. Try to bring a bottle of water on an airplane and see how much "freedom" you still have left in America today.

How did the corporations gain so much power over government and the people? It's simple: Campaign finances. The corporations hire hoards of lobbyists who dart in and out of lawmakers' offices in Washington, leaving behind trails of cash and corruption. Most lawmakers hardly ever meet with the actual people they claim to represent. Instead, they spend their time cavorting with corporate rabblerousers who operate based on the simple principle of greed. Think Enron, but times a thousand. That's who controls Congress today.

To keep the People in line, public protests have been limited and outlawed in many areas, where new fenced-in "free speech zones" have been set up to force protestors to protest out of the way somewhere. (Note to all: If free speech is limited to a "zone" then it isn't free speech at all!) At every turn, the U.S. government seeks to marginalize the power of the People and expand its own reach and power, usually at the behest of the wealthy corporations pulling the strings backstage.

The natural cycle of collapse and rebirth
So where is it all heading? To a desperate place, unfortunately. It's a natural cycle of nation states. Following abundance comes greed, then corruption, then police state tyranny, then collapse. After the collapse there's rebirth, reconstruction and a new cycle of abundance until the whole thing repeats itself over and over again, one century after the next. Read your world history to hear this same story repeated over at least fifty empires that once existed on Earth. The American empire will be no different: It will drown in its own greed and corruption, collapsing into a state of moral and financial bankruptcy, and then will likely be reborn as a series of smaller nation-states like the Washington / Oregon / Idaho / Northern California region that has very different values and interests than, say, the Texas region.

During all this, there will be lots of social unrest, poverty, personal bankruptcy, police state arrests and perhaps even the widespread use of detection camps to indefinitely hold troublemakers who dare to protest or speak out against government corruption. This is what's coming for America, and the interesting part is that almost nobody in America seems to be able to anticipate this. Yet the writing is on the wall, and it's as obvious as the dot-com crash was before 2000.

I publicly predicted the dot-com crash starting in 1998, and urged everyone to get out of the market through 1999, 2000 and right up until the bursting of the dot-com bubble in early 2001. All this time, nobody listened. Virtually everyone was caught up in the insane illusion that we would all get rich by selling each other pieces of paper with increasingly large numbers written on them (those are the stock prices, you see). Almost everybody was swept up by Groupthink, believing that the laws of economics had changed forever. CNBC became the cheerleader of unbridled greed, and brainwashed idiots at the American Enterprise Institute were publishing books predicting a Dow of 36,000 that would create infinite wealth requiring no effort or productive work.

Meanwhile, I was urging everyone to sell their stocks, which of course made me look utterly insane given that everybody else in the world was telling people to keep buying -- including all the stock brokers and investment fund managers, who it turns out know almost nothing useful about finances or investments and are just as easily swept up by Groupthink as anything else. When the bubble finally burst, I was completely out of the market and lost nothing. But many people I knew lost big portions of their life savings.

Now, I told you that story to tell you this: What's coming in America's future is going to be far, far worse than the dot-com fiasco. Imagine the financial market breaking down, the U.S. government defaulting on its debt, the dollar going through massive hyperinflation, wiping out the value of the life savings of virtually all Americans. Think it can't happen here? That's what the Groupthink thinks. But it will happen here, and the massive corruption in our government is making sure of it. Whatever dollars you have in the bank will, in a few years, become virtually worthless. Hyperinflation is inevitable. Study the history of Germany following World War I to gain additional insight on this topic.

Sacrificing the future for today's profit
When the corporations run a nation, that nation has no real future, because corporations only think in terms of the next quarter, not the next generation. Corporations will naturally do whatever they can to maximize their profits right now, including poisoning the children with vaccines, poisoning the population with toxic food products, sacrificing the financial future of the nation for short-term gain, destroying the environment, ignoring the health care needs of the People, inciting war so they can sell more profitable weapons to war-torn countries around the world, and so on. Essentially, corporations will sell out the future for higher profits today, and that's exactly what they've done in America.

America has no real future. Not a good one, anyway. I give the nation anywhere from 5 to 25 years before it will self destruct under a mountain of debt, disease and corruption. You can thank the corporations and corrupt politicians for that. They've thrown away the dream of a nation that was once great and could actually be great again, if not for the greed.

My message to all U.S. citizens is to prepare yourself now for what's coming. Get out of debt. Get healthy. Invest in your education and learn some practical skills like gardening, bicycle repair or natural medicine. Own some productive land and learn how to use it. Be near a source of fresh water. When the oil runs out, and the fresh water tables are drained, and the financial system collapses, and the real estate bubble bursts, life is going to be a whole lot harder than it is today. Forget about shopping malls, must-see TV and the latest fashions. Most families are going to be struggling just to put food on the table.

This is all several years away, of course. And until then, most people are going to continue the pursuit of even more debt and disease, oblivious to the future that awaits them. A great book to read on how that future might play out is The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler. Or The Party's Over: Oil, War and The Fate of Industrial Societies.
13 Comments
George Carlin political quotes Jun 28, 2008 6:33 am
564 Views
Famous Political Quotes by George Carlin

"In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem."

"Bipartisan usually means that a larger-than-usual deception is being carried out."

"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity."

"Conservatives say if you don't give the rich more money, they will lose their incentive to invest. As for the poor, they tell us they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money."

"Have you ever wondered why Republicans are so interested in encouraging people to volunteer in their communities? It’s because volunteers work for no pay. Republicans have been trying to get people to work for no pay for a long time."

"Once you leave the womb, conservatives don't care about you until you reach military age.
Then you’re just what they’re looking for. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers."

"The real reason that we can't have the Ten Commandments in a courthouse: You cannot post 'Thou shalt not steal,' 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,' and 'Thou shalt not lie' in a building full of lawyers, judges, and politicians. It creates a hostile work environment."

"If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else."

"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."

"This is a little prayer dedicated to the separation of church and state. I guess if they are going to force those kids to pray in schools they might as well have a nice prayer like this: Our Father who art in heaven, and to the republic for which it stands, thy kingdom come, one nation indivisible as in heaven, give us this day as we forgive those who so proudly we hail. Crown thy good into temptation but deliver us from the twilight's last gleaming. Amen and Awomen."

"Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?"

"You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans."

"These days many politicians are demanding change. Just like homeless people."

"Deep Throat: Think about it. There is actually a semi-important figure in American history who is named for a ****-job movie. How do school teachers handle this?"

"I don't think we should be governing ourselves. What need is a king, and every now and then if the king’s not doing a good job, we kill him."

"George Washington's brother, Lawrence, was the Uncle of Our Country."

"The owners of this country know the truth: It's called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."

"This country was founded by a group of slave owners who wanted to be. Am I right? A group of slave owners who wanted to be free! So they killed a lot of white English people in order to continue owning their black African people, so they could wipe out the rest of the red Indian people, in order to move west and steal the rest of the land from the brown Mexican people, giving them a place to take off and drop their nuclear weapons on the yellow Japanese people. You know what the motto for this country ought to be? 'You give us a color, we'll wipe it out.'"

"The difference between left and right of center...originated in the French parliament. The people left of center were liberals; the people right of center were conservatives. Broadly speaking. And generally speaking, people on...the right of center, are interested in property values, property, property rights. The rights and the rights of property. And generally speaking again – it's all generalized – the left-of-center people are more concerned with humans and human beings and human concerns; to the care of humans, not the care and worry about property rights. That's generally been true. And Bush is pushing this country farther down the hill, faster than anyone has before."

"Now, there's one thing you might have noticed I don't complain about: politicians. Everybody complains about politicians. Everybody says they suck. Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They don't fall out of the sky. They don't pass through a membrane from another reality. They come from American parents and American families, American homes, American schools, American churches, American businesses and American universities, and they are elected by American citizens. This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer. It's what our system produces: Garbage in, garbage out. If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders. Term limits ain't going to do any good; you're just going to end up with a brand new bunch of selfish, ignorant Americans. So, maybe, maybe, maybe, it's not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here... like, the public. Yeah, the public sucks. There's a nice campaign slogan for somebody: 'The Public Sucks. F**k Hope.'"

"I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don't vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, 'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain,' but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created."

~Compiled by Daniel Kurtzman
13 Comments
Analysts: If Congress acts, retail gas could fall to $2.00/gallon in 30 days Jun 26, 2008 1:19 pm
717 Views
The price of energy is quickly becoming a national emergency.

This gas-price runup is artificially created by people who are getting fabulously rich off it by doubling the price you pay for gas. If nothing is done, the price will keep climbing.

When the president and his men tell you gas is over $4/gallon because of short supply, they're either honestly mistaken, or they're lying to you. After Bush's 7 1/2 years of lies and screwups, what difference does one more lie or one more screwup make, anyway?

This is not a supply/demand problem, but I don't expect you to take my word for that. Go see for yourself. Google Enron loophole, Phil Gramm, CFTC.

Think about the cost of heating your home next winter.

Please read at least some of the article below. And then, please try to do something about it.

You can reach your Congressman's office by calling 202 225 3121 and asking for him by name, or by telling your zip code to the lady who answers. Please call your Congressman today and ask that he take action.

Question: Will you call?

I guess the question I'm really asking is, Do you think there's still enough left of this country that the time you spend and the cost of the phone call are worth it to you?

To vote, scroll down to below the article.

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Gas could fall to $2 if Congress acts, analysts say

Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told

By Rex Nutting & Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy Consultants agreed with Masters' assessment at a hearing on proposed legislation to limit speculation in futures markets.

Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets.
"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel."

Futures trading in London has not been a major factor in rising oil prices, testified Sir Bob Reid, chairman of the Chairman of London-based ICE Futures Europe. Rising prices are largely a function of fundamental supply and demand, not manipulation or speculation, he said.

"Energy speculation has become a growth industry and it is time for the government to intervene," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the full committee. "We need to consider a full range of options to counter this rapacious speculation." It was Dingell's strongest statement yet on the role of speculators.

There has been much discussion recently about how big a role speculators have been playing in the sharp rise in energy prices, though no consensus has emerged on this point.

Dingell introduced a bill on June 11 that would ask the Energy Department to gather the facts on energy prices, including the role played by speculators.

There are two kinds of speculators in the futures markets, Masters said. Traditional speculators are those who need to hedge because they actually take physical possession of the commodities. Index speculators, on the other hand, are merely allocating a portion of their portfolio to commodity futures.

Index speculation damages price-discovery mechanisms provided by futures markets, Masters added.

The committee will likely consider legislation that would rein in index speculation by imposing higher-margin requirements; setting position limits for speculators; requiring more disclosure of positions; and preventing pension funds and investment banks from owning commodities.

Both major presidential candidates have supported closing loopholes that encourage speculation in the energy markets. Read more on Election Blog.

However, other witnesses said that pure speculators have had little impact on energy prices, which have doubled in the past year to about $135 per barrel. Both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman have dismissed the impact of speculators on prices paid by consumers.

Speculators now account for about 70% of all benchmark crude trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 37% in 2000, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the investigations subcommittee. Stupak introduced a bill on Friday that would limit index speculation.

There has been much discussion recently about how big a role speculators have been playing in the sharp rise in energy prices, though no consensus has emerged on this point.

Congress, however, has grown increasingly concerned over speculative investors' role in the energy market in comparison with those buying futures contracts to hedge against risk from price changes. Lawmakers are expected to consider legislation to set strict limits -- or in some cases, an outright ban -- on speculative trading in energy futures in some markets.
Dingell is looking into any legal loopholes that may have contributed to speculation in energy markets. In 1991, according to documents provided by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to the committee's investigators, the agency authorized the first exemption from position limits for swap dealers with no physical commodity exposure. This began what Dingell said was "a process that has enabled investment banks to accumulate enormous positions in commodity markets."

Is Congress barking up the wrong tree?

Note: Readers should be aware that Neal Ryan is in the gas & oil business and therefore is profiting handsomely from the spike in oil prices. Mr. Ryan has much to gain by helping the speculation to continue. Because of that fact, I advise readers to regard what he says here with skepticism. JP

Neal Ryan, manager at Ryan Oil & Gas Partners, said that if Congress develops regulations to cut back speculative trading, speculation will just find a new home.

"Speculation is the root of capitalism," he said. "If the speculation is forced out of the U.S. exchanges, it'll simply show up on other exchanges that are OTC like the ICE, or new exchanges will pop up to allow for the spec trades to continue functioning."

Ryan said he does see a reason for Congress to look at eliminating aspects such as allowing West Texas intermediate crude oil futures to trade on foreign markets and the "Enron loophole," but "these exchanges are currently functioning as they are supposed to in a free marketplace."

The creation of a comprehensive U.S. energy policy that tackles issues of increasing domestic supply and reining in consumer demand via conservation should be Congress' focus, Ryan said. "Instead we're on bended knee begging the Saudis to put more oil on the market and talking about shutting down spec trades."

Rex Nutting is Washington bureau chief of MarketWatch. Michael Kitchen is a copy editor for MarketWatch and is based in New York. Nate Becker contributed to this report from San Francisco.
Yes.
No.
13 Comments, 15 votes
McCain offers extraterrestrials one billion dollars to abduct terrorists Jun 24, 2008 12:06 pm
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Republican presidential candidate John McCain has already offered 300 million dollars in prize money to the inventor of a new electric car battery.

Tuesday McCain topped even that by offering extraterrestrials a cool one billion dollars to abduct terrorists and other individuals McCain called "troublemakers with funny names."

McCain indicated new technology is the key to solving the nation's problems. In the latest of a series of verbal gaffes, McCain said "because we have been unable to track down that 9/11 terrorist Barack Obama, maybe extraterrestrial technology might be the answer."

McCain denied there was any deliberate political intent in his briefly confusing Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama with terrorist kingpin Osama Bin Laden.

McCain used the error to emphasize his disgreement with McCain campaign chief strategist Charlie Black's Monday comment that another 9/11-like terrorist attack in the U.S. would give McCain "a big advantage" over Obama.

Interviewed by telephone at his brand-new vacation home in south Antarctica, Black said, "If anything's better for John McCain than another 9/11, it would have to be that Barack Obama guy up and vanishing into thin air."
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