Fitz and all the Marys!

no comment

Bandar Bush is laughing all the way to the bank. Hugo Chavez is armored carpooling with him so they can use the HOV lane.

Energy costs are in the top three concerns of all Murkans polled recently…

And this is before $5.00/gal. gas which is on the way.

When the stories of folks sleeping under their desks alloted them by The Corporate Slave State because they can’t afford to go home every night hit the air…

The shit will hit the fan.

We, as a nation, can solve this problem but not with the Republicans nor centrist Dems in charge.

Long, long ago Governor Jerry Brown was tagged with the moniker “Governor Moonbeam” for his advocation of renewable power. His tax incentive program in California created the opportunity for the windpower industry to grow to the point where it is now supplying a sizeable fraction of our power.

That is the kind of intelligent progressive leadership we need. Not the likes of Schumer, Hillary and the bloviator Kerry.

This nation can become energy independent once we kick our addiction to oil.

But first we are going to have to:

Drive the Republican Party into the Sea!

Shall we get started?

and amazingly, no public discussions on the $2.8+ billion worth of tax breaks for the energy (fossil fuel) industry. just amazing.

And of course, the subhead in the MSNBC article gets it wrong, as was pointed out in the last thread. The price jitters are not caused by “worry about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.” They’re caused by worries about disruption in supply, which are caused by Bush’s threats of an insane response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

But that might make it sound like MSNBC is saying the administration is doing something wrong; much safer to declare that it’s entirely the Iranians’ fault.

Damn, ljust ook at what got posted on this site today. This site has some of the best contributors on the web.

Sedrunsic & Redshift - BRAVO.

excellent point made by redshift -was thinking exactly the same.

Taylor sed: “This could get really ugly, especially if another oil executive gets a golden package that resembles the collective wealth of several small countries combined.”

I call this the People’s Golden Shower.

mommybrain - You’re wicked, but in a good way.

Thank you, Taylor.

From house to work and back is about 100 miles. I got a diesel Golf late last summer. It gets between 39 and 48 mpg, depending on conditions and how fast I drive. When I fuel up, people in HUGE Alaska trucks and SUVs - like Navigators and Expeditions - look at me wistfully.

It is the first vehicle without all-wheel drive I’ve used over a winter here since the late 1980s, and it did just fine.

I’m going to attempt a biodiesel experiment with a friend, beginning in late May

While the local news is calling the hike in the price of a barrel of oil the Iranians’ fault… when they stop and break down the price of our $3/4 per gallon gas, they state at the end the words, “…almost pure profit for the oil companies.”

amazing!

Let us not forget that today is Earth Day. Communities across the country like mine are educating people as to the realities and the alternatives.

Drive hybrids and other alt-fuel cars, have your house analyzed for solar power potential, buy green energy credits for your home energy use, use public transportation and walk and ride bicycles when possible, learn what the alternatives are so you can educate someone else.

I would imagine this is common knowledge on a site like firedoglake, but too many Americans are complacent and lazy. We need to give those people a reason to change. They will be listening in bigger numbers as gas prices go higher. Be ready!

Peace and good luck.

let’s see, what was it during the evil clinton blowjob omg-what-will-we-tell-the-children years? $24-26?

Lee Raymond could own the following:

171 Comoros 370
172 Timor-Leste 355
173 Samoa 336
174 Vanuatu 332
175 Guinea-Bissau 288
176 Solomon Islands 288
177 Dominica 283
178 Tonga 219
179 São Tomé and Príncipe 70
180 Kiribati 63

A U.S.A. Energy Project is a matter of survival. IF are to have ANY chance, we will have to solve the problems of redesigning a response to the end of the Age of Petroleum. This is a problem completely beyond “market†economics. Market economics gave us Enron–a management of pirates who were utterly unsuited to solving a real problem like converting to a non-petroleum-powered economy (see the 11-minute (25 meg) movie here–QT, or WMV).

The American middle class is being systematically destroyed. First it was the blue collar guys who made steel and cars, then it was the technical professionals like air traffic controllers or software writers, then it was the rocket scientists like the engineers at Boeing, and now it is anyone whose job can be done over the Internet.

If we merely talk about the economy as ‘Clinton was better than Bush,’ we are going to wind up inheriting a BIG mess with instructions to apply the Cod Liver Oil.

The economic models most relevant this time around come from the New Deal with political ideas from the 1890s Populists. This is NOT good news. The distance between Harry Hopkins and, say, Joe Lieberman, is roughly the same distance as between Lincoln and Dubya. We are in a DEEP hole. Worse, the class of people who have had their lives ruined are precisely the sort of people we will need to solve our large problems. (The linked movie on class is about 6 megs)

GWB is oddly silent about gas prices, isn’t he?

Speaking with a friend the other day, we figured out that one half of his daily wages go towards putting gas in his car. He is struggling to figure out how he will pay for rent, food and utilities with the rest. Though this is purely anecdotal, I’d wager that many Americans are right now confronting the same choices.

It is no surprise that most aren’t feeling prosperous in spite of low unemployment numbers and decent GDP growth. Inflation is here!

Bush — who never met a tax cut he didn’t LOVE — COULD ask for repeal of the $0.184/gal federal gas tax.

Nah. And, as prices continue to rise, it wouldn’t help much anyway. Bet Congress is sorry they hadn’t made it a percentage rather than fixed cents/gallon.

Hey BobbyG, how’s your mother?

Ms. Marsh, you’re right (again!…chuckle), but summer driving may just be a part of the problem. I believe, that Venzuela, Nigeria, and a few others have discovered a subtle point about oil. When the world is at “peak oil”, as we are now, or soon to be there, it actually makes money to slightly back OFF production. Even really small production declines, in a really tight market, can send large ripples thru the barrel price. I think some of these countries have figured this out. NOT good for us.
I just wish the D team would get their lungs going. We have a NUMBER of issues with which to cream the R team…but ya gotta get in the game to win it! Come on D team!
Ghostman

I’m seriously thinking about buying one of THESE:

http://www.bgladd.com/Europe_t.....e_THIS.JPG

They’re around 20 grand US. 60+ mpg.

This could have all been avoided if Dick Cheney’s Energy Taskforce had been allowed to do its work in secret–instead the MSM and the shrill cries of the left have sabotaged the fine work of these well-meaning patriots, and thus, we are at $75 a barrel…

I’d love to find out what exactly happened at that meeting–weren’t Lee Raymond and Ken Lay there? After all, Raymond’s $400 million retirement package was based in part on his ‘key relationships’–as Barbara Bush would be sure to say to him at their next tea in Houston, ‘That’s working out very well for you, isn’t it?’

Has anyone else here noticed how much Taylor Marsh has been on a roll in the past few days of sub-ing here, with post after post in rapid succession keeping us on top of the news with insightful comments?

Way to go, girl!!

mommybrain -

OK. Got a gastric tube down her nose and is doped out. I’m waiting on call from the Attending (he wasn’t there yet when I was there a while ago. Off to see my Dad in the nursing home in a few minutes, doing my next-of-kin schtick).

I think she has a bleeding ulcer.

gas boycott! ok, I was just informed that this was an O’Reilly idea, but after gagging for awhile I thought I’d post the suggestion anyway. The idea is to Boycott ExxonMobil gas until the prices come down. Hey, it’s worth a shot, nothing to lose.

Ghostman, may I just say that I’m pleased you have joined the community?

There’s an interesting article about Chavez in this month’s Atlantic Monthly (that dastardly rag). I have no doubt he will use his oil against us.

Rather than it being “The Iranian’s fault…” the liars of the MSM know that once again it’s McChimpy who is doing the damage; though they will never say so. It is the fear that he will nuke Iran that is driving much of this rise in the price of crude. The future markets always drive up the price when there is uncertainty about future supplies; it’s how the market works.

And what is more uncertain than just exactly what McChimp and Doin’ Time’s next colossal fuckup will be?

Ghostman, you’re right, they’ve got us by our vacation holidays!

leftAhead, you said a tank full.

green lantern -

Yes, major Props to Taylor.

wikipedia has an interesting chart showing the price of oil dating back to the 19th century - inflation adjusted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I.....1_2006.jpg

Thanks, green lantern and bobbyg. I so appreciate it.

Here’s how the GOUGE works. Scroll down to the first chart…

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/margins/

Notice that the state and federal excise taxes are fixed at a flat rate per gallon. The refinery “costs” are a PERCENTAGE per gallon.

BobbyG @ 22

I love those little cars! I see quite a few in my neighbourhood. I’d love one. Maybe when we’re back to just the two of us.

I have never owned a car and only rent one when I need it. We get by with feet and public transit mostly, with a few cabs thrown in for good measure. And we have created a lifestyle that allows us not to have to drive everyday.

I live in a big city in an older neighbourhood which helps and when I have a car I make good use of it to pick up things that I can’t easily buy and lug.

I notice that when I have a car for extended periods of time (once had to keep one for a month) it’s easy to get lazy and I start driving for things that I normally wouldn’t.

I also notice that I buy less junk at the grocery store when I can’t just sling it all into the back of a car.

Bionic -

Those little “Smart” cars are ALL OVER Paris. That’s where I shot that pic.

Yeah, y’know, when I live in San Francisco I used public transit and didn’t need a car. Loved it. Got everywhere I needed without trouble.

Wouldn’t work in Vegas, though. We’re starting to resemble L.A.

You know, when California was having rolling blackouts, and Gov. Grey (Gray?) Davis was trying to tell the rest of the country that energy prices where being manipulated by Enron (yep, Kenny Boy) and other energy companies, the MSM dismissed his assertions as a desperate to save his own political life.

He was proven correct. So, so correct. Call me paranoid, but…. .

Bush — who never met a tax cut he didn’t LOVE — COULD ask for repeal of the $0.184/gal federal gas tax.

Nah. And, as prices continue to rise, it wouldn’t help much anyway. Bet Congress is sorry they hadn’t made it a percentage rather than fixed cents/gallon.

Or he could just borrow a few trillion more from China and hand it out to everyone. Since he’s not going to raise any other taxes or cut spending on any program big enough to make a difference (only programs for the poor, which are a vanishingly small part of the deficit), it would amount to the same thing.

An interesting thing I’ve noticed, BTW. If you ever hear an “oil industry analyst” talk, their stock answer for why prices are higher anywhere is always “local taxes.” There was one on and NPR call-in show a few weeks back, and a caller asked why prices had gone up so much more in our area (DC metro area) than other places, and he immediately responded “that would be because of your local taxes; you’ll have to talk to your local officials about that.” Didn’t even have to think about it, because if anyone did think about it, they’d realize that local gas taxes hadn’t gone up, so how could they have caused a local price increase.

In fact, the higher relative prices were apparently caused by problems with a pipeline from the Gulf Coast, and replacing MTBE as a gas additive, and lack of competition in suppliers to the area. But for “industry analysts,” the only causes of price increases are those nasty OPEC countries (not us!) and world instability (not us!) and taxes (not us!)

So if you chance to hear an oil industry analyst on a news program, just switch it off. You’ll learn just as much, and waste less of your time.

RE: $2.8 billion tax breaks for energy companies.

What kind of sense does this make? THe Bush Administration and Republicans are happy to gives this kind of support to corporations yet lecture us that as citizens we need to learn to stand on our own and not lean on government. Are American corporations incapable of self-sufficency?

Bush is crazy. Cheney is evil, not crazy. So they’re serious about nuking Iran if they don’t get what they want. But here’s what they want:

Oil production-sharing agreements (PSAs) with the Kurds and the Shiites, with the Sunnis cut into a minority position. Iran holds the biggest key to letting that go ahead. These PSAs would be signed for 40 years and the governing Iraqis (Shiites and US client Kurds) would be able to divvy up the proceeds just like Saddam did. And for the oil majors, the sky is the limit.

So there are senior former officials negotiating with Iran right now to figure out how to give it what it wants and to provide cover for moving away from the rhetoric once the deal is done. Israel is currently as ripe for betrayal as Saddam was after he stopped Iran (remember, with significant US aid) in the biggest ground war since WWII. Trouble is, Iran wins either way so they’re in no hurry to get what they want. And Cheney really does have an itchy trigger finger. Maybe “reflexive” trigger finger might be a better phrase. So this really could blow up.

But that’s not the plan. The plan is to keep the oil in Iraq, make huge profits for the majors, maintain access to oil in Iran and the Caspian region, and keep gasoline below $4 a gallon in the US. If gasoline goes into the $4 a gallon range, BushCo can’t maintain power. Now…does it really make you feel any better that BushCo has a plan?

looseheadprop - You’re right, that’s exactly what happened. Bush and Kenny boy inspired a gubernatorial coup, if you will, against Davis. I was still living in LA at the time. I remember it well.

#27, mommybrain, well thank you. So far, in my short time here (and folks, I AM LAUGHING as I type this), I managed to, at times, disagree with every one of the fine ladies who write articles here, and somehow start a crap storm with this Wolcott dude…goodness! If you guys ever want to start throwing a few dishes at me….I probably deserve it! But, everyone here actually is very nice, and allows differing opinion to come forth. Good for you guys!
Back to oil…add this to the mix:
1. Summer…as in hurricanes. If another one whacks our refineries…man oh man.
2. Osama:…yes, that turd. I’m worried. In January, he released a tape calling for attacks on America. He’s also instructed his minions to seek out economic targets. So, forget hijacking airliners. What if his followers decide to tear down a few American refineries? NOT GOOD.
Ghostman

(OT Hey Edward T, re your jazz hist Q, I hit & ran the other night - not that I could have begun to answer…I don’t know nothin bout birthin no jazz insight - did grow up with dad’s dorsey/basie/anita o’day/lambert hendricks/buddy greco/ella/etc records - great great education actually in zillion ways, made me the bass player i am today - dad & me going so see Buddy Rich’s band early 70s at constitution hall - high nostalgia for him, heavy inspirational punkass shit for junior high me, along with beatles/hendrix/etc)

miss you dad, scuse me thread

I pulled Exxon’s SEC filing off the web. Here are some interesting numbers.

OR= Operating Revenues in millions of dollars.
BPD= Barrels Per Day Sold (worldwide, all petroleum products such as naptha and aviation fuel, in thousands).
Ratio=OR/BPD.

Year O.R (mil) BPD Ratio
2005 358,955 8,257 43.47
2004 291,252 8210 35.48
2003 237,054 7957 29.79
2002 200,949 7757 25.9
2001 208,715 7971 26.18

It appears to me there was a steady ratio of 25 until 2003, which coincides with the run-up of prices at the pump. The oil companies are doing much more than passing on increased costs to consumers, which is rational. Their pricing exceeds their increased costs, which is the reason for the mega-profits.

How do you like knowing every time you fill up, you are contributing to re-elect Republicans?

oh, typos. the human condition.

Bobby G 35

Wouldn’t work in Vegas, though. We’re starting to resemble L.A.

That’s gonna be when the shit really hits the fan, because there are plenty of places that aren’t set up to accomodate people without cars.

I do get tired sometimes when I realize how much extra time I spend doing some things because I don’t have a car. When I used to go to an office my commute was about 45 minutes max on transit. I worked with people who took 2 hours to get to work.

Try multiplying all those folks on transit, because people can’t afford to drive themselves. We might see a slight improvement as more people carpool, but what happens when even that gets too expensive?

The costs of improving public transit are very high and take a long time to implement. Combined with communities that are designed upon family homes with 2 cars in the drive, we are heading into interesting times.

sharkbabe,

Thanks. I’m having fun with the class - only two more weeks.

Ghostman,

Osama’s dead. Died near Tora Bora in early 2002.

Taylor, it’s a pleasure reading your posts. Thanks for your reply on the earlier thread.

This is way off topic but I can’t find the “when will they ever learn†category.
Steno Sue is showing her continued commitment to truthiness. According to Roger Ailes, earlier this week she was still saying:

Abramoff had — was giving a lot of money to Democrats, too. Abramoff gave to Democrats.

“RE: $2.8 billion tax breaks for energy companies.

What kind of sense does this make? THe Bush Administration and Republicans are happy to gives this kind of support to corporations yet lecture us that as citizens we need to learn to stand on our own and not lean on government. Are American corporations incapable of self-sufficency?”

Yes. Remember DeadEye during the VP debate saying he has never needed the govt, or some such bullshit? He (and Raymond, Lay, etc.) is disgustingly wealthy BECAUSE of his use of the corporate welfare system. Yet a majority of the country bought his lies. These thieves would be nobodies without our tax dollars propping them up.

Too bad that the mid-term elections are coming up. BushCo can’t pull out all the stops just now. What horrible luck. It’s the fever swamps of the blogs and the media that are to blame.

They won’t talk about the good news: there’s plenty of oil in the Mid-East, dammit! Running out of gas? As if!

There’s a major disconnect in the media and even in the blogs regarding the true costs of a war with Iran. Someone mentioned $5/gal. gasoline. :-) We should be so lucky. Gas, if you can get it, is more likely to be many multiples of that. And that’s just for starters …

The Iranians (Persians) are a proud people and very sophisticated. I would expect that within a few days of our bombing their country, numerous planes would go down in the U.S., effectively grounding air travel for a long time. Rather than being protected by the two oceans, America will be isolated — and universally scorned. I wouldn’t even rule out military action against us by our former allies (after all, their economies will be ruined too). In short, what you’re looking at is no gas, no food, and very little electricity. Hey, sounds like Baghdad! The economy will obviously drop like a stone, the housing bubble will be burst for good, and any countries holding our debt will be sorely tempted to sell out. We won’t be buying cheap crap from China anyway, because no one will be buying anything. Hardly anyone has laid out in black and white what the consequences could be, yet if these eventualities were widely known, we might yet see a million people in the streets of D.C. looking to bring a president and vice-president to justice.

And just think how all of this could have been avoided if we only understood our true relationship to nature and the planet.

Bombs away, we’re okay. Bombs away in old Bombay.

-The Police

Oh you silly willies. If we would only listen to the sage advice Steve “Flat Tax” Forbes as expounded on Fox News our troubles would be over.

Bomb Iran.

That removes the uncertainty from the speculation markets and voila, prices drop.

So, bombs away.

-GSD

Pleasure, RBG. Steno Sue is an ignoramus. She likely drives a Hummer. Not even my diesel truck driving hubby would be caught dead in one.

lhp#36:”Gov. Grey (Gray?) Davis was trying to tell the rest of the country that energy prices where being manipulated by Enron”.

Yes, and so was Phil Angelides, the next great governor of our great state. And what did Ahnold do? He attended a meeting with Kenny Boy in which, IIRC, KB asked those summoned to sign on to his plan to keep the Enron losses at .10 on the dollar.

Bustamante, as Lt. Gov., had just filed a $9 billion suit against Enron for - price gouging? Price fixing? Market manipulation? (CRS)- and KB was in full metal defensive mode, while Dicky and Georgie covered his ass by refusing to cap prices.

I checked out prices in my neck of the woods (Toronto) at http://www.torontogasprices.com/

I averaged the highest ($1.119/L) and lowest ($.939/L) reported price and converted to US gallons and US dollars using rates at http://www.xe.com/ucc/convert.cgi

The price in Toronto is about $3.43 a US gallon.

Gas prices are the death knell for Bush’s plan to attack Iran. If the worries spike the price past $3 per gallon, imagine what a war will do?

I know we give you a lot of shit Karl, but please — do the whole straterergy explain’ thing to the Deciderer, complete with the show n’ tell paper dolls that get flushed down the toilet when gas hits $5 per gallon. Maybe the Deciderer will realize a new war is not so hot, when his paper doll swirls away down the tubes.

I do agree with the people above that the price of gas is a very powerful issue that resonates with people out of all proportion to its actual effect. If the people at large equate the Republican kleptocracy with high gas prices, then they are absolutely dead.

It is absolutely true that the oil companies are going to get immensely wealthy during this period of peak oil. They have billions of barrels of something that is going to increase in price tremendously. They’re in the right place at the right time.

The days of cheap oil are gone. Even if we don’t go to war with Iran or Venezuela, the increase in demand from China and India will quickly take up whatever slack there is in global production. Oil shale and tar sands extraction from the western US or Canada (respectively) are going to be fabulously expensive and enviromentally calamitous, even if they could make oil on a large scale — and I don’t think they can.

The Democratic Party has to be seen as the best hope for a solution. The fact that it is the best hope is a plus.

We just have to invest in alternative energy. The easiest way to do that, without raising taxes on fossil fuels, would be to make guaranteed, long-term contracts for future energy supply. If you told the wind industry, for example, that you were willing to spend $0.10/kw-hour for the next twenty years, there would be a stampede of construction. 10 cents is more than we’re paying now, but it’s a damn sight cheaper than what rational people forecast if fossil fuels have no alternative.

We do live in interesting times. I think that the best campaign posters I’ve seen are posted already. They say something like $3.05/$3.15/$3.35

Re oil prices: I expect nothing but the worst.

On the one hand, we need it to get bad enough for fundamental change.

On the other hand, we have strange greed-caricature children who are running things right now.

It blows my mind - the experience of gas lines, even/odd license plates at gas stations etc in the late 70s, and we kicked Jimmy Carter to the curb for saying hello like duh get a clue assholes, this shit’s gonna run out, hello, you morons hearin the wake-up call just a little?

Having lived through that, if you’d told me that 25 years later this country would have not only gotten the message but have gotten TOTALLY INTO HUGE GAS GUZZLER SUV shit, I’d have said, please, nothing could be that absurd, nobody could be that stupid.

acitizen #4
Governor Moonbeam does policy better than 1000 Al Gores or Barock Obamas
He was my pick for ‘92
His Flat Tax proposal would go a long way towards straightening out the deficit as well
Figure out what you need and charge accordingly.

not not gotten the message

Apparently pawn-shops are the latest beneficiaries of the Bush “ownership society”.

http://cbs11tv.com/local/local.....31803.html

-GSD

As painful as it is for me to acknowledge this, $3.00+ a gallon for gas, which is an irreplaceable resource, still costs less than 1/2 gallon of organic milk ($3.99 at my local Stop and Shop), which is a renewable resource (all you need is lady cows and feed, an occasional virile bull).

Point being, we Americans have been spoiled rotten for too long a time. Not saying that $3+ is a fair price if BigOil is gouging us, and as far as I can tell they are. One industry expert said recently that most of the run-up in price, not all, is due to speculation and hysteria. So the real-world price should be maybe $2.50.

The point is, we, collectively, you and I, brought this upon ourselves by our years-long habit of prodigal gas/electricity/energy consumption. How much good would it be for me to stand at every intersection with a sandwich sign telling people to use less gas. Not so much. And if I did that at a gas station, I might be physically removed by the owner.

So, to take the path of wisdom (yes, it is a rocky path), we need to see $3/gal as a wake-up call to a future of individually motivated self-correcting behavior and reduced aspirations about a lot of things, and just possibly, in the long run, we might have a more sustainable planet.

Now let the flames begin.

Bionic,

LA may someday have a sensible mass transit system, but right now, in its infancy, it’s a pain in the backside. The lines don’t go everywhere yet and it may be generations before they do. By which time a big earthquake will have disrupted it.

There are few if any express trains yet, so each train stops at each station. It takes 2.5 hours by metro to make a journey that takes .75 hours by car.

The carpool lanes on the freeways are always busy now, but are user-unfriendly (long distances between exit/entrance to lanes, not all busy freeways have them, etc).

Buses are better but not great. The first time I ever took a bus, a drunk held a knife to a woman’s throat because she had the temerity to ask him not to curse in front of her three-year-old. So instead he took her hostage in front of her three year old. Cops came, made us all stick around to give testimony - 4 hours later. Same problem as trains - not enough expresses, takes wayyy longer to arrive than driving.

Seniors are the big losers, IMO. No good alternative forces them to drive. It’s stressful to be old on the freeways. BobbyG better hope his city has a bgetter master plan than our apparent No-Plan-At-All.

Bobby G, good thoughts sent your way. If she does have a bleeding ulcer, she will get better. My mother had a bleeding ulcer caused directly from the arthritis pain meds. They switched to another one and she did fine. She had Alzheimers and having her in the hospital trying to pull out tubes, asking why she was there was trying.

Does your mother understand what has happened to her? That helps a great deal. It sounds like your father is a bit ‘confused.’ So was mine and he kept calling my son his brother. Memories are always keener for the long ago past.

Looks like some other folks have oil on their minds too.

Looks like the Shia may not want to cede oil rich Kirkuk to the Kurds after all.

Bad developments all around. Looks like we’ll be seeing the continued Lebanonization of Iraq for along time.

Mission Accomplished there, Great Decider, heckuva job.

“COL. GRAY: Okay, in terms of numbers of Shi’as, I would tell you we only have a general sense. That general sense comes from reports from the population itself, it comes from observations of the Iraqi army and Iraqi police patrols in the area, and our own patrols. We have seen some movement, as I mentioned, of the Badr Corps setting up additional offices in Kirkuk, and some indication of the Jaysh al-Mahdi coming to Kirkuk. How many the numbers are, I can’t really say. They’re coming in bits and pieces. I don’t think it’s in huge numbers right now. It’s probably in maybe a hundred or so, couple hundreds. It’s something we’re going to monitor. It adds to, of course, a already ethnically diverse population.”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyo.....15422/5639

-GSD

This is interesting…

New Rig Gives Brazil Oil Self-Sufficiency

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....NlYwM5NjQ-

orangejumpsuit@61: I would generally agree with you that higher gas prices in and of themselves aren’t going to be unbearable. A friend of mine posted on his blog less than a year ago “I never thought I’d be saying I was glad to find gas at $1.75,” and now $2.50 seems low. The thing that is going to be unnecessarily painful, especially for people not rich enough to be Bush Pioneers, is the fast and unpredictable changes in prices. And we’re in this situation precisely because we have leaders whose response to diminishing reserves is to say what is best for them politically in the short term rather than what is best for the country in the long term.

One of the best quotes I ever read here was about how future generations will marvel that, considering the irreplaceable importance of petroleum to fertilizer, plastics and other products, future generations will shake their heads in disbelief that we burned billions of barrells of the stuff to run our cars.

I’m celebrating Earth Day by sitting around blogging in my bathrobe instead of driving anywhere, and I didn’t even realize it! *g*

orangejumpsuit, nothing to flame about your post. People are just starting to pay attention and that’s only because it’s hitting them square in the pocketbook. $4-5/gallon gas will hurt me too (at least we are prepared - I drive a Prius and my wife drives a scooter), but seems to be the only thing that actually makes people think about alternatives.

I surely hope Taylor has a wee typo in that first line. . . just for the sake of accuracy, isn’t the Iraq war about 200 MILLION per day (not BILLION)? Ain’t nothin to sneeze at for an illegal war fought on trumped-up premises, but I think it’s important to be accurate for the trolling wingnuts.

mommybrain @ 62

Your examples are precisely what worries me. But troubles with transit aren’t limited to the vast urban sprawls of the biggest cities. Even in smaller places, they are set up to be used with cars.

If vast quantities of people can no longer function with that key component, a car, forget about worrying if bird flu may suddenly appear, it will be panic in the streets before that.

Its effect will ripple through society as people have to rethink (even more) where to spend their evershrinking disposable dollar.

I can remember once, coming from a trip to NYC and sitting in our subway. It was, comparatively, so clean it was like riding in someone’s rec room. Even so, there are many people here who make it a matter of pride that they have never taken public transit.

That’s the thing. It’s the battering of pride that will finally give the people in power their comeuppance.

Gas prices are hitting me hard every single day. I am a senior and live on my disability income. I no longer can drive to my daughter’s house, and rarely use my car. My daughter needs a big car for her 4 kids and drives only to the grocery store and to the schools when needed. Her husband drives 50 miles one way to work and he is going to a 3 or 4 day workweek.

The current issue of Business Week has an interesting article titled “Dark Days for Energy Efficiency: Federal funding for research aimed at cutting energy use faces the knife.” The reason, of course, is that cutting energy use is unappealing to the energy industry, which owns Bush and Cheney. (Recall Cheney’s statement “Conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy.”) The article describes in detail how productive programs that repay their cost many times are being terminated by the Bush Administration.

Nuclear energy may be necessary. I agree that Republcans can’t be trusted to run nuclear power plants safely.

Here’s the article (though it may be behind a subscription wall–not sure). Very good article, though.

sharkbabe
americans love big cars
always have always will
well, until the price of gas reaches minimum wage and stays there for a sustained period (2-3 years)
which *will* happen
at which time everyone will blame the auto companies

tyler drumheller!

We really do need a big fat shock on “easy motoring,” a la nihilistic bringdown artists like James Kunstler. I trust JK’s thought on not necessarily much except this: buh-bye idiot mindless car-based (cheap-fossil-fuel-based) world.

All the quick-buck oil/tire/etc company assholes back in the 40s and 50s who couldn’t see ahead - who tore up the railroads and urban streetcars - how sad for them and us - quick-buck shit

We’re their grandchildren reaping the result.

BobbyG, best love to you and yours from everyone

Mack - my ex-girlfriend has a Jeep grand cherokee, the whole time we were together I urged her to ditch the piece of shit. (It really is that, I couldn’t believe how awfully it drove and handled.)

I told her and told her, get rid of this bigdumbass gas guzzle crap, Reality is coming.

Big Fat Seriously Bad Shit, that’s all that even cool Murkans will pay attention to. She and everybody WILL get it.

Sharkbabe @ 77

Saw an interesting program years ago about streetcars and the politics of their removal from the cities of America. It was all about selling cars and suburbs to the post war young families. All part of the need for the post war prosperity payoff.

I’ve long felt that the politicians of the day committed to it because when the chickens would come home to roost, they’d be long dead. Kinda like Bush’s attitude with his own policies.
Much easier to buy things, dontcha know, when you can make someone else pay for it. And even easier when they aren’t even born yet to have a voice about whether or not they even want to pay.

Here in Toronto we still have streetcars. We all ‘em the Red Rockets and they are a kind of tourist attraction along with a regular mode of transit. It’s what I usually take downtown because I like looking at things and enjoying daylight. *g*

We had electric trolley buses until a few years ago too.

The tagline for the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) is “The Better Way”.

Take two on Tyler Drumheller!
href=”http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/21/60minutes/main1527749.shtml”

Tyler Drumheller!
(mmkay, I suck at formatting but at least I didn’t tear Hu’s jacket!)

I thnk we do have to point a big fat finger at Bill Clinton on this one. He is the one who allowed all of the oil companies to solidify into a three-way oligopoly rather than a seven way oligoploy. Remember Texaco, Mobil, ARCO? These companies are now part of ChevTexXon76Co. Billy didn’t say boo when this was going on. But we had the tech bubble creating gazillions in new wealth.

Now Bill doesn’t deserve all (or even most) of the blame. He is just the first high winds of BushCo’s perfect (shit) storm.

In Maryland, we are bracing for a 72% hike in electricity rates, which BGE claims will bring current - regulated - rates up to where the market actually is (they say this is what is “fair,” but experts claim that electricity rates have not risen to this degree). Our dimwit governor thinks he has scored major points by bringing “rate relief” to Marylanders, by working out a “plan” whereby the 72% rate will be phased in. The phase-in will be something you have to opt in to get (heaven forbid it should be an automatic option, because then BGE can’t make money off those too poor, too old or too uneducated to understand), and for the privilege of spreading out the pain, BGE will charge you $15 per month - which is what they estimate is the cost of the money they have to borrow to make this plan available.

Now, the folks at BGE and at BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy, are making money like never before. So far, I have yet to see any indication that their bottom line has suffered over the years of electricity regulation. Their top executives are printing money, the shareholders are earning great dividends.

Our so-called “Public Service Commission” comprises former energy industry executives and lobbysists, and some really good pals of Governor Bobby. Attempts to reconstitute the PSC with members who can look out for the consumers have so far been unsuccessful.

So, between high gas prices, and living out in the country in my all-electric home, I am about ready to spit nails over the way the average person - soon to be the below-average, very poor person - is used and abused by greedy corporations, and the politicians who can’t live without them.

Aaaarrrrgggghhhh. Mad as hell!

Watch the oil companies — and the GOP — blame “environmentalists” for the impending East Coast spot gasoline shortages, as the refiners empty their storage tanks to get the gas with the MBTE poison out.

These crooks are best at pointing fingers: local gas tax burden, environmentalists, Iran. But your high gasoline prices have nothing to do with ExxonMobil paying its chief executive more than $144,000 per day. Nothing at all.

Hmm…

The only publicly traded pure-play ethanol maker, Pacific Ethanol of Fresno, plans to build five plants in California and has raised a total of $111 million, including $84 million from Bill Gates.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines.....6/8367959/

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=PEIX&t=2y

This is OT, but such a beautifully written, powerful letter about the Bush administration and their methods needs to be shared.
http://time.blogs.com/daily_di.....trage.html
And excuse me if any have read this already.

Edward Teller at 31,

The reason oil cost so much in the 1800’s was mainly because of one man, John D Rockefeller

“this country can without a doubt be energy independant in ten years”

THAT’S THE FRIGGIN SLOGAN FOR THE NEXT ELECTION!

and it’s true, and we can make it happen and we can blame the republicans for preventing it from happenening

we invaded a fuh riggin oil rich country and wound up with less friggin oil

ARE THESE RETARDS THAT VOTE FOR THIS ASS HOLE PARTY?

this is just disgusting, Americans making less money, labor weaker, corporations registering the highest profit in history and getting friggin tax breaks for it, it is un fathomable that anyone wants to defend the policies of this administration

Anne #83 and all fellow Marylanders.If you would be interested in joining the grass roots project started by Pach,e-mail me at paradox65@comcast.net whith your e-mail addy.Hope to hear from ya!Lets get something going here.

Anne - I’m in MD too - where you exactly? It seems like Baltimore and elsewhere are gonna get hit big. Maybe me in better shape in SoMD, with SMECO as provider? (rural elec coop, thanks Frankie Roosevelt!) - I’ve been following this MD nightmare, even if it doesn’t affect me it’s just a horrow show, I want to do whatever pissed off shit I can for other vulnerable MD ratepayers

New thread from Taylor.

sharkbabe,
this offer is for you too.Holler back!

For some reason, once I post a comment, I cannot see new comments after mine, despite refreshing the screen and leaving the site and coming back…strange.

I’m there

Sharkbabe - I’m 25 miles north of Baltimore, so I am stuck with BGE - at least for now.

DMM - will e-mail you from work tomorrow - don’t know whether the problems I am having seeing new posts are peculiar to my home system or to the blog, but it’s annoying as all get out.

We’ve been living in a gas guzzeling dream for the last few decades. It is high time that we wake up and see that peak oil is here and it is going to drastically change our lives. Gas prices should have been higher years ago. The government should have placed a higher tax on fuels. Consumer response would have been rational and measured. Lifestyle and commercial adjustments would have been made in an orderly way. Now we are going to see a crisis, with panic driving our decisions and policies.
The spike in energy prices may be bearable for a while, but it will soon ripple through the economy destructively. The value of those big suburban homes with 5000 sq. ft. to heat, and a 100 mile commute to work and back, will start to tumble. Since consumer confidence is largely based on property value, that confidence will fall. Once that happens, our economy will likely go into the dumpster. Sad. It was going to happen eventually, but it could have been a softer landing.

Leah#86- you lost me at
“I supported the action in Afganistan.(sic) Everyone - the whole world - realized that that action was necessary. Hell, even Dennis Kucinich supported it. There was no other choice”
Ptooey!

I’m just glad that sleazy SOB, Bill Clinton is out of office, or we wouldn’t get access to all this cheap gas.

And, in other news…SAD news… Lee Raymond,
the retiring CEO of Exxon-Mobile, is being cut off and throw out into the cold, cruel world, with hardly a farthing to show for his years of loyal service.

He’s only getting a $168,000,000 dollar “handshake”.

I’ll be going door-to-door, collecting canned food for him. Please give generously.

I certainly enjoy reading the posts here. I know that this is WWOT, but I saw Susan Schmidt’s name and I haven’t seen any reference to her participation in the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting about Abramoff. What happened?

Given the rate the Chinese economy is growing, what is to put a cap on the gas price? Will it just keep rising until the Republicans are driven from power?

Who said this?

“What I think the president ought to do is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots. One reason why the price is so high is because the price of crude oil has been driven up. OPEC has gotten its supply act together, and it’s driving the price, like it did in the past. And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price.”

If you guessed George W. Bush, you are correct. Of course, he was then just candidate for President. Now, he is President and the best we can get from him is that he is ‘concerned’. The Republicans in Congress are too busy plundering the nation to even notice oil prices.

It it time for them to go.

MarcLord (#39):

I couldn’t disagree with you more about Chavez and anyone who views him like you do has digested way too much MSM Propaganda. The rest of what you say makes sense. But Chavez is simply watching out for his own people, which in Latin American History, is a welcome change. Where he ran afoul of Bush was in trying to get more revenue from HIS OIL to HIS PEOPLE. We had no right to try and topple his government and reinstall the same ilk that have looted that country for over 100 years! The fact that our government tried and then had it’s Ambassador photographed with the Coup D’Etat leader was illustrative of how we treated him. Unfortunately for Bushco, the people didn’t take kindly to the same people who had screwed them over—doing it again. Try looking at alternative information sources, like Greg Palast on this issue. I get very angry when I hear the MSM report about the 1 million folks protesting Chavez, when they ignore the rally at the same time across town, with twice that number. Unlike Bushco, Chavez is not focused on looting everything for the well to do.

Drew 97:
That is the only statement that he made that I found objectionable. The remainder is very astute.

Nuclear power has little to do with our current problems with oil. Oil only accounts for 2% of our electricity generation. I suppose that electricity generated by nuclear power could be used for plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

This NYTimes article discussing the issue says that nuclear could potentially be used to replace power plants that use natural gas. The natural gas could then be used in cars. Also, nuclear power could potentially be used to produce hydrogen.

The conclusion seems to be that none of these options will have a significant impact on oil consumption in the near future.

Did you notice what happened last week when gas went over $70 a barrel. The stock market rose over 200 points. There was some mention that the rise was tied to the probability that the interest rates had peaked.
However, a financial planner I know has a different take. He thinks that the government is and has been intervening in the market. He bases his theory on a historical study of markets over the last century and the fact that the government is no longer going to tell the public how much new money is being printed. He also says this did not start with Bush.

Anyone else know any relevant information on this “free” markets, not so much” possibility?

Good point Ron Russell, I read a good article somewhere recently on how Chavez’s big sin is the good chance that his social experiment will succeed. Our capitalistic power brokers here don’t want that to happen.

Sharkbabe, I like most of what you write, but blaming SUV’s and the folks that drive them for our current situation is wrong. The fact that Bushco has gotten elected 2 times and the ignorant masses have elected a republican controlled congress is the real culprit. US policy is the most to blame. The vehicles that are built and bought prior to this time are just a reflection of what the customer wanted to drive based on current energy costs. If we had a govt that would make it policy to encourage dialogue on our energy future and take action to educate the masses, provide incentives to conserve and to explore alternatives, we wouldn’t have such a crisis now. I live in the rural midwest, very hilly and treacherous in the winter. I drive 28 miles to work one way, own and drive a 4wd vehicle that has been paid for many years now. Buying a new economy car now would actually increase my monthly costs. But before you judge that I’m not energy aware, you need to know that I heat my house with wood heat and have added insulation everywhere I can. The point I’m making is that we all have to be aware that there are various shades of gray out here in the real world. Not everyone has access to public transport or live within walking distance to everything. So please folks, dont go pointing fingers and blaming… too rightwing-like.

Scudrunner, thanks for the reply. I would all that if the GOP hadn’t been so successful at killing CAFE standards, we’d all be better off. Even if they had drilled till ANWR was a Dry Hole, they wouldn’t have bought as much relief from imported, as if we’d just kicked up the MPG a bit. Now they are beginning to make Hybrid SUV’s and I’m worried that folks will look at 20 MPG and say–”I’m dong my bit”. I agree with everyone who is concerned about “Peak Oil”. Something to remember: Without Oil, the planet’s total carrying capacity is about 1 Billion People. If we don’t (through Attrition) decrease the population and come up with alternate fuels (and fertilizer), the die off is going to make the Bubonic Plague look like a picnic. Time is not on our side and we need a crash program along the lines of:

Apollo X The Manhattan Project X Reduced Population Efforts (beyone ZPG) = Will it be in time?

Everytime I hear some wing nut banter about “Life” I get sick. I’d rather not have folks born–than for masses to starve to death. I wasn’t concerned till I read Matt Savinar’s work.

Ceee, this is, I suppose a deliberate EPU — I just woke up here in Australia. But I don’ t believe your financial planner’s claim. The US government doesn’t have the cash to intervene in the market like this, and the Fed only does so when things are already going to hell. (think: LTCM) They wouldn’t intervene just to keep the market rising.

You can find out how much extra money is in circulation each week at the Federal Reserve Web Site. (They don’t cover just how much new money is being printed - that statistic doesn’t matter because some of it is to replace torn or otherwise spoiled notes being withdrawn from circulation.) The amount of currency in circulation is available monthly in the Fed Bulletin.

Don’t know if you are still watching this thread or if this is a deliberate EPU, but since I know the answer to this stuff, I thought it was worth de-lurking on a Sunday morning on the other side of the world.

PS: Love the comment preview thingy!

Ron Russell,
I agree… I work for an automobile manufacturing plant and my union even supported the company’s effort to block cafe. I was appalled and indignant, but alas it was a bunch of my union brothers and sisters that voted for the republicans now trying kill organized labor. But its going to take more than cafe to fix us. The energy waste of operating huge (ancient and uninsulated) assembly plants, the heating of large office complexes in the off hours, all the lights that are on everywhere for advertising, etc. All these things need to come under scrutiny to reduce exorbitant consumption. Conservation could go so far to relieve our demand pressures.
Hybrids are but a minor stopgap and I fear that they will trick folks into believing that they are doing the right thing by buying/driving them. The ONLY net energy gain on a hybrid is the regenerative braking system. If you burn fossil fuel to generate electric and then turn electric into mechanical energy, you are losing efficiency. Better to convert fossil fuel directly to mechanical energy. Otherwise, the hybrid achieves its mpg from the fact is has a much smaller powerplant/performance capability and shuts off the engine in traffic stops. All admirable traits and a net energy saver but if you calculate the fuel cost savings into the added cost of owning, the net savings is minimal (I don’t intend to start an argument here, but there are dozens of forums out there discussing this at any given moment).
But it is true that this “crisis” will shake things up and I for one am glad that it will (should) reflect poorly on the republicans. Its just too bad that you have to take a (figuratively) two-by-four to people to get them to pay attention…

scud has just scored a point and will be the recipient of the best post this hour prize,which is a genrous 2 lb can of jane’s secret recipe crispy peanut brittle.iv’e never won and im burning with envy.
i was about 16 years old when the oil embargo of the 70’s occurred.i think you dont see many references to it because alot of people were either little kids then or not even born
now,im not saying that an embargo like that would ever happen again.it wont because it worked too well.
however,for about 2 weeks in our county,gas was unobtainable at any price.our county was democratic party controlled at that time and had an office for consumer affairs.my mother was the consumer advocate at that time.
station owners from all over the county were desperately begging for help to get gas. my mother was able to help most of the people who asked for help to get gas.
however,there were a few who she could not help and many others who did not call the county,not knowing where to turn.just about all of these were wiped out-bankrupted.
the station owners are little guys,and they are about to get hit big time,while being accused of greed.
one further note:the next county administration was republican-controlled and my mother got the very first pink slip when the offc for consumer affairs was axed.

DownUnderGirl,
The “MP3″ was the statistic that supposedly is going to be discontinued. I have no idea what that specifically refers to but I was told it tells how much money is in circulation.
As for not intervening to raise the market, perhaps they overcompensated for the dip they expected.
Thank you for the lead as to where to look. I’m going to have another discussion with the financial planner before I bring this up again.

I live in a major metro area and I happen to do a lot of driving for work. Just my experience in the past 4 to 6 wks. Traffic is down significantly. I am absolutely certain that my driving times are down. I happened to notice it about 6 wks ago and I thought it was because kids were out onspring break,therefore their parents had taken them out of town. Even the later spring breaks were over about 2 wks ago and the traffic continues. GDubb can continue yakking about the good economy but I can tell you that people spending another 30 percent on gas will to use a conservative term “trickle down” to every part of the American economy. I thought the Aaarabs were good buddies of Dubbya but I guess even the Aaarabs have difficulty understanding Dubbya’s speech.

As we speak, there are assholes working at Exxon (or any other major oil company) who are rubbing their hands together in glee, just like the Enron cats did as they laughed about how they were robbing “grandma” of all of her cash. If you squint just so, you can almost hear the workings of the fear machine pushing the prices up, traders (traitors?) applauding everytime the idea of “nuking Iran” comes up on the news as it boosts the price per barrel another $5.00 each time they do it, resulting in shiploads of cash being delivered to them. Nice to know that this administration is made of almost exclusively from folks pulled from the oil biz, specifically for the task. Hey, they’re just working on behalf of the shareholders, right?

Would any of the dems thinking about running in 2008 consider a platform plank of regulating gas prices? :o)

When Bush starts war with Iran, the price of gasoline will go down.

Why?

Bush will tap into the Strategic Oil Reserve, and make sure that U.S. oil companies have enough stockpiled crude oil delivered to them to tide them over in case there are any delays in crude oil shipments from the war-torn Middle East.

In fact, in preparing for just such a contingency, Bush recently ordered the topping off of the Strategic Oil Reserve. And the Republican Congress, on orders of the Bush administration, authorized a 250 million barrel increase in the capacity of the Strategic Oil Reserve a couple of years ago. Planning ahead?

So, the Bush administration, after Bush’s recent order, must come up with 250 million barrels of crude oil to fulfill his order to fill up the Strategic Oil Reserve to it’s maximum capacity.

Hmmmm, I wonder if this crude oil going into storage is being siphoned from present crude oil imports into the U.S., and if this diversion of crude oil from the refineries could be causing the price of gas to skyrocket???

Nawww, this couldn’t be happening. Otherwise, I would have heard it on the news. Right?

Bwwwaaahhhaaahhhaahhaa.