put all friday politically motivated threads here

[kevinb70]

so the uninterested have only 1 thread to ignore



this just in..... HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHH!!!!!1



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/business/30coal.html?th&emc=th



So.....


We're going to dig a big fucking hole, then pump all the CO2 gas from coal plants into these big fucking holes, and then cover them up? LOLOLOLOLOLOL youre killing me!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!



The amount of energy expended in digging these big fucking holes, then compressing CO2 gas, then pumping the gas into these big fucking holes.... I wonder if even burning coal will be a positive energy transaction anymore, or if (like ethanLOL) will be a negative energy transaction, using up more energy than is released?



I can see it now.



2000 years from now... archeLoLoLgists unearth a big fucking hole... releasing all this CO2 gas from this big fucking hole into the atmosphere, then the CO2 gas from this big fucking hole spreads out all over the earth... and then



























NOTHING HAPPENS
































HAHAHHA bet you liberal envirowhackos thought I'd say the earth would be destroyed by gLoLbal warming lol. Get Real.




What's next? We gonna be forced to tie big fucking GLAD bags to the exhaust of our cars and then bury these bags of gas in our back yards? lollllololol

I know you liberals dont like rockets, but how about we just put CO2 on rockets and shoot them at the moon? We wouldn't use conventional rockets of course, maybe we can make some of big fucking air/water powered rockets we had as kids?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512mWlSdWIL._AA280_.jpg


or maybe ones with big rubber bands?



IM NOT KIDDING ITS REAL!!!! read teh article :


WASHINGTON — For years, scientists have had a straightforward idea for taming global warming. They want to take the carbon dioxide that spews from coal-burning power plants and pump it back into the ground.

HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!1

President Bush is for it, and indeed has spent years talking up the virtues of “clean coal.” All three candidates to succeed him favor the approach. So do many other members of Congress. Coal companies are for it. Many environmentalists favor it. Utility executives are practically begging for the technology.

But it has become clear in recent months that the nation’s effort to develop the technique is lagging badly.

In January, the government canceled its support for what was supposed to be a showcase project, a plant at a carefully chosen site in Illinois where there was coal, access to the power grid, and soil underfoot that backers said could hold the carbon dioxide for eons.

Perhaps worse, in the last few months, utility projects in Florida, West Virginia, Ohio, Minnesota and Washington State that would have made it easier to capture carbon dioxide have all been canceled or thrown into regulatory limbo.

Coal is abundant and cheap, assuring that it will continue to be used. But the failure to start building, testing, tweaking and perfecting carbon capture and storage means that developing the technology may come too late to make coal compatible with limiting global warming.

“It’s a total mess,” said Daniel M. Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Coal’s had a tough year,” said John Lavelle, head of a business at General Electric that makes equipment for processing coal into a form from which carbon can be captured. Many of these projects were derailed by the short-term pressure of rising construction costs. But scientists say the result, unless the situation can be turned around, will be a long-term disaster.

Plans to combat global warming generally assume that continued use of coal for power plants is unavoidable for at least several decades. Therefore, starting as early as 2020, forecasters assume that carbon dioxide emitted by new power plants will have to be captured and stored underground, to cut down on the amount of global-warming gases in the atmosphere.

Yet, simple as the idea may sound, considerable research is still needed to be certain the technique would be safe, effective and affordable.

Scientists need to figure out which kinds of rock and soil formations are best at holding carbon dioxide. They need to be sure the gas will not bubble back to the surface. They need to find optimal designs for new power plants so as to cut costs. And some complex legal questions need to be resolved, such as who would be liable if such a project polluted the groundwater or caused other damage far from the power plant.

Major corporations sense the possibility of a profitable new business, and G.E. signed a partnership on Wednesday with Schlumberger, the oil field services company, to advance the technology of carbon capture and sequestration.

But only a handful of small projects survive, and the recent cancellations mean that most of this work has come to a halt, raising doubts that the technique can be ready any time in the next few decades. And without it, “we’re not going to have much of a chance for stabilizing the climate,” said John Thompson, who oversees work on the issue for the Clean Air Task Force, an environmental group.

The fear is that utilities, lacking proven chemical techniques for capturing carbon dioxide and proven methods for storing it underground by the billions of tons per year, will build the next generation of coal plants using existing technology. That would ensure that vast amounts of global warming gases would be pumped into the atmosphere for decades.

The highest-profile failure involved a project known as FutureGen, which President Bush himself announced in 2003: a utility consortium, with subsidies from the government, was going to build a plant in Mattoon, Ill., testing the most advanced techniques for converting coal to a gas, capturing pollutants, and burning the gas for power.

The carbon dioxide would have been compressed and pumped underground into deep soil layers. Monitoring devices would have tested whether any was escaping to the atmosphere.

About $50 million (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAa!!!!!1 ) has been spent on FutureGen, about $40 million in federal money ( /cry ) and $10 million in private money (Soros' maybe?), to draw up preliminary designs, find a site that had coal, electric transmission and suitable geology, and complete an Environmental Impact Statement, among other steps.

But in January, the government pulled out after projected costs nearly doubled, to $1.8 billion. The government feared the costs would go even higher. A bipartisan effort is afoot on Capitol Hill to save FutureGen, but the project is on life support.

The government had to change its approach, said Clarence Albright Jr., the undersecretary of the Energy Department, to “limit taxpayer exposure to the escalating cost.”

Trying to recover, the Energy Department is trying to cut a deal with a utility that is already planning a new power plant. The government would offer subsidies to add a segment to the plant dedicated to capturing and injecting carbon dioxide, as long as the utility bore much of the risk of cost overruns.

It is unclear whether any utility will agree to such a deal. The power companies, in fact, have been busy pulling back from coal-burning power plants of all types, amid rising costs and political pressure. Utility executives say they do not know of a plant that would qualify for an Energy Department grant as the project is now structured.

Most worrisome to experts on global warming, the utilities have recently been canceling their commitments to a type of plant long seen as a helpful intermediate step toward cleaner coal.

In plants of this type, coal would be gasified and pollutants like mercury, sulfur and soot removed before burning. The plants would be highly efficient, and would therefore emit less carbon dioxide for a given volume of electricity produced, but they would not inject the carbon dioxide into the ground.

But the situation is not hopeless. One new gasification proposal survives in the United States, by Duke Energy for a plant in Edwardsport, Ind.

In Wisconsin, engineers are testing a method that may allow them to bolt machinery for capturing carbon dioxide onto the back of old-style power plants; Sweden, Australia and Denmark are planning similar tests. And German engineers are exploring another approach, one that involves burning coal in pure oxygen, which would produce a clean stream of exhaust gases that could be injected into the ground.

But no project is very far along, and it remains an open question whether techniques for capturing and storing carbon dioxide will be available by the time they are critically needed.

The Electric Power Research Institute, a utility consortium, estimated that it would take as long as 15 years to go from starting a pilot plant to proving the technology will work. The institute has set a goal of having large-scale tests completed by 2020.

“A year ago, that was an aggressive target,” said Steven R. Specker, the president of the institute. “A year has gone by, and now it’s a very aggressive target.”

[TheCourier]

i bet you dont get pussy... at all.

[kevinb70]

i bet you dont get pussy... at all.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!1


OMG OMG you've TOTALLY and successfully argued against me and I admit defeat.... OK YOU WIN.... pumping CO2 into the earth is a great fucking idea



PLEASE I CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF YOUR HYPER-INTELLECTUAL ARGUMENTS.... YOU WIN :toothless


ps: im saving myself for you, lover!

[Cynispin]

LOL @ hyper-intellectual

BTW Kevin, do you have stairs in your house?

[kevinb70]

no, i was told it was discriminating towards handicap people and they took them out

[Cynispin]

no, i was told it was discriminating towards handicap people and they took them out

hahah! Seriously though...goon much?

[SidReflux]

Wow, someone found their hidden coke stash today huh ???


Liberals dont' like rockets.......... wtf ????

[Cynispin]

Wow, someone found their hidden coke stash today huh ???


Liberals dont' like rockets.......... wtf ????


A reference to the exhaust they put out, probably. I'm sure there are people out there who protest the space program because of it.

[kevinb70]

hahah! Seriously though...goon much?
i am not protected by nytimes sending me these hilarious emails tho. i dont even have to search for stuff like this... they just send it to me :)

while living at patrick afb i saw a rocket blow up a few seconds after takeoff (nearly shattered my windows) and indeed the crap they use to put satellites up there is some nassy shit hypotetrachlorosnizzle

[tripeboi]

I protest protesters and people who protest the people protesting the protesters at a protest.

[Cynispin]

i am not protected by nytimes sending me these hilarious emails tho. i dont even have to search for stuff like this... they just send it to me :)

while living at patrick afb i saw a rocket blow up a few seconds after takeoff (nearly shattered my windows) and indeed the crap they use to put satellites up there is some nassy shit hypotetrachlorosnizzle


LOL! I was actually talking about SomethingAwful. I thought you might have been a forum member.

[kevinb70]

You write very well, support you

Thanks, asshole!

[Cynispin]

Google translates that last bit to be "Tanker tanker tanker tanker tanker"

[biggin_junglism]

WE'RE NOT GONNA PROTEST. WE'RE NOT GONNA PROTEST. WE'RE NOT GONNA PROTEST. TRIPEBOI IS A TOOL. TRIPEBOI IS A TOOL. WE'RE NOT GONNA PROTEST.

[kevinb70]

And, it's friday again and once again the NY Times mails me something to laugh at





Breaking News Alert (lol BREAKING NEWS ALERT ZOMG)
The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Friday, June 6, 2008 -- 8:34 AM ET
-----

Economy Loses Jobs for Fifth Straight Month

The economy lost 49,000 nonfarm jobs in May, the fifth
straight month of contraction in payrolls, according to the
Labor Department. Analysts had expected a loss of 60,000
jobs. The unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent from 5
percent in April.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na (http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na)






OH NOES!!! DOOM AND GLOOM!!! the unemployment rate has risen from 5% (1/2% more than full employment) to 5.5%!!!! (which 5.5%-6% is considered FULL EMPLOYMENT)

Oh noes! Run chicken little! The sky is falling!

For the macroeconomically impaired, 5.5%-6% is a generally agreed upon "natural rate" of unemployment (whether you want to believe it or not) caused by firings, layoffs, and quitting for other jobs/moving/between jobs, going back to school, etc (generally everyone who wants to work can work - I personally would exclude those with poor job hunting skills, jobs won't come knock on your door).

If we can hold it as 5.5-6% it would be ideal as it matches closest with low inflation, there is no point in attempting to lower unemployment below 5.5%






Unemployment Rate Hits 5.5%; Payrolls Shrink for Fifth Month



By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/michael_m_grynbaum/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 7, 2008

The American job market weakened again last month as employers shed 49,000 jobs, the government said on Friday, further darkening the outlook for workers as they try to cope with the housing slump and high oil prices that cut into their spending power.

The unemployment rate surged to 5.5 percent from 5 percent in April, far higher than economists had expected.

Payrolls have shrank every month this year, the worst losing streak since 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/b/bureau_of_labor_statistics/index.html?inline=nyt-org). Manufacturers, construction companies, and goods-producing businesses were the hardest hit, as the collapse of the housing market left several industries reeling and facing an imperative to cut costs.

The government also revised down its estimate for April to a loss of 28,000 jobs. It had originally reported that 20,000 jobs were lost that month.

A weak labor market can leave many Americans concerned about their future and less eager to make large-scale purchases. Many will have little room to maneuver if they lose their jobs, as home values decline and equity lines are maxed out.

Americans’ salaries continued to shrink when adjusted for inflation. Workers’ wages grew in May but at an anemic pace, with the average weekly salary for rank-and-file employees rising just 0.3 percent, to $604.58. (Inflation is running at about 4 percent a year.)

The average number of hours held steady at 33.7 hours.

[LitLaur]

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200806051609DOWJONESDJONLINE000837_FORTUNE5.htm

stimulus checks going straight to wal-mart

[Isis]

I got these for the gift shop...

http://www.bbtoystore.com/Merchant2/beanies/election2008set.jpg

they are Beanie Babies 2.0 and they are named "Lefty" and "Righty". They are like Webkins in that you can go online with them. They are super cute, but not nearly as fun as the Webkins :p

[biggin_junglism]

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200806051609DOWJONESDJONLINE000837_FORTUNE5.htm

stimulus checks going straight to wal-mart

mine's going to men's warehouse and to guitar center.


I GUARANTEE IT.

[kevinb70]

OH NOES!!! MORE DOOM AND GLOOM!!!!1


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy_134;_ylt=AgFg.6EHMgfTaTy3T7ek7utv24cA

Biggest jobless jump since '86 — Wall Street sinks

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
16 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Pink


WASHINGTON - Pink slips piled up and jobs disappeared into thin air in May as the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in the biggest one-month jump in decades. Wall Street swooned, and the White House said President Bush was considering new proposals to revive the economy.


Help-wanted signs are vanishing along with jobs, so the unemployment rate is likely to keep climbing, a government report indicated, underscoring the toll the housing and credit crises are taking on jobseekers, employers and the economy as a whole.



OH NOES!!! WE NOT GONNA HAVE NO JOB!!!!1



Let's compare the JUMP in unemployment rate NOW and in 1986....


2008........5% to 5.5% oh noes!
1986........6.7% to 7.20%

Now... can we really compare the state of the job market when you are saying a 5.5% unemployment rate is just as bad as a 7.2% unemployment rate? NO... 5.5% is still considered full employment, and 7.2% is considered 1.2% higher than the upper margin of full employment.

(Source: http://www.miseryindex.us/urbymonth.asp 1986-01 to 1986-02)


Why don't we compare todays unemployment rate with... say.... 1983 when it was peaking at 10.8% unemployment? Well the media simply CANNOT do that... because showing the unemployment rate NOW is half what it was 25 years ago ISNT BAD NEWS.


Stay tuned for more doom and gloom by the media who count on your ignorance, or "How the Media Can Make Full Employment Sound Horrible to the Common Folk"




Now to find a media source that doesn't attempt to insult my intelligence.

[BreakTastic]

I think the reason for alarm is not the level, but the rapid increase. If this trend was to continue (or accelerate) for the rest of the year, as some economists think it might, that is something to be concerned about. I think you might be giving the state of the economy more credit than it deserves (not that im complaining in my safe, cushy, IT job).

[hoppy]

mine's going to men's warehouse and to guitar center.


I GUARANTEE IT.



Mine's probably going to Service Honda. (www.servicehonda.com) Unfortunately, it wouldn't be for their CR500AF (http://servicehonda.com/specs/05cr500af.html), but rather to replace whatever more parts I discover missing from my project engine.



Stupid engine.

[Blueaquatiger]

OH NOES!!! MORE DOOM AND GLOOM!!!!1


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080606/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy_134;_ylt=AgFg.6EHMgfTaTy3T7ek7utv24cA

Biggest jobless jump since '86 — Wall Street sinks

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
16 minutes ago


WASHINGTON - Pink


WASHINGTON - Pink slips piled up and jobs disappeared into thin air in May as the nation's unemployment rate zoomed to 5.5 percent in the biggest one-month jump in decades. Wall Street swooned, and the White House said President Bush was considering new proposals to revive the economy.


Help-wanted signs are vanishing along with jobs, so the unemployment rate is likely to keep climbing, a government report indicated, underscoring the toll the housing and credit crises are taking on jobseekers, employers and the economy as a whole.



OH NOES!!! WE NOT GONNA HAVE NO JOB!!!!1



Let's compare the JUMP in unemployment rate NOW and in 1986....


2008........5% to 5.5% oh noes!
1986........6.7% to 7.20%

Now... can we really compare the state of the job market when you are saying a 5.5% unemployment rate is just as bad as a 7.2% unemployment rate? NO... 5.5% is still considered full employment, and 7.2% is considered 1.2% higher than the upper margin of full employment.

(Source: http://www.miseryindex.us/urbymonth.asp 1986-01 to 1986-02)


Why don't we compare todays unemployment rate with... say.... 1983 when it was peaking at 10.8% unemployment? Well the media simply CANNOT do that... because showing the unemployment rate NOW is half what it was 25 years ago ISNT BAD NEWS.


Stay tuned for more doom and gloom by the media who count on your ignorance, or "How the Media Can Make Full Employment Sound Horrible to the Common Folk"




Now to find a media source that doesn't attempt to insult my intelligence.

much to gripeboi's dismay this was put into proper context on fox news today.

see i used to never watch fox news, but i am finally tired of dumbasses bitching about it so now i just watch to piss them off. :D

[Blueaquatiger]

Stupid engine.

...

you made me look bad!









http://tv-mafia.com/series_images/Courage%20The%20Cowardly%20Dog.jpg

[kevinb70]

much to gripeboi's dismay this was put into proper context on fox news today.

see i used to never watch fox news, but i am finally tired of dumbasses bitching about it so now i just watch to piss them off. :D
haha nice!

[kevinb70]

This article gets a little ridiculous. We now have TWO things we can blame every misfortune on: George Bush and the price of gas.

Make your fucking point then move on. Beating a dead horse reaching for all these people making excuses. Make your point: A dollar spent on gas by a low income earner is a higher percent of his income than a dollar spent by a high income earner. Same with everything. Since you global warming religious fanatics embraced turning corn into fuel, price of corn has gone up along with everything that it is used for (livestock feed).

Another thing global warming cultists ignore is that 75% (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/04/us-corn-ethanol.html) of ethanol producers release the CO2 from fermentation into the atmosphere. oO This is above an beyond the CO2 released when it's actually burned in vehicles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/business/09gas.html?th&emc=th

Rural U.S. Takes Worst Hit as Gas Tops $4 Average

By CLIFFORD KRAUSS
Published: June 9, 2008

TCHULA, Miss. — Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country.

But the pain is not being felt uniformly. Across broad swaths of the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, the combination of low incomes, high gas prices and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets.

Here in the Mississippi Delta, some farm workers are borrowing money from their bosses so they can fill their tanks and get to work. Some are switching jobs for shorter commutes.

People are giving up meat so they can buy fuel. Gasoline theft is rising. And drivers are running out of gas more often, leaving their cars by the side of the road until they can scrape together gas money.

Drivers are running out of gas more often? Wow thanks for the observation. Did you actually run a poll or count the number of cars stranded on the road? I would not attribute this to price of gas, but running out of gas is driver stupidity. Why would you drive somewhere knowing you would run out of gas, vs staying put?

The disparity between rural America and the rest of the country is a matter of simple home economics. Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent.

This statement should have been the end of the article. But no, the author has to push the limit.

As a result, gasoline expenses are rivaling what families spend on food and housing.

Families spend on food and housing. Family of 4 (in this NJ article 05/20/08 (http://www.myheraldnews.com/view.html?type=stories&action=detail&sub_id=34920)) would spend about $766/mo for food and let's say for grins rent is that amount as well (tho probably much more!). If $766 were spent on gas as suggested by the NYTimes article, that would be $766 / 4 = 191 gallons. At 20 mpg that's 3830 miles driven a month. Or 127 miles a day. What NORMAL family drives 127 miles every single day?

SO WHO'S LYING?

“This crisis really impacts those who are at the economic margins of society, mostly in the rural areas and particularly parts of the Southeast,” said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service, a fuel analysis firm. “These are people who have to decide between food and transportation.”

A survey by Mr. Rozell’s firm late last month found that the gasoline crisis is taking the highest toll, as a percentage of income, on people in rural areas of the South, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming and North and South Dakota.

With the exception of rural Maine, the Northeast appears least affected by gasoline prices because people there make more money and drive shorter distances, or they take a bus or train to work.

But across Mississippi and the rural South, little public transit is available and people have no choice but to drive to work. Since jobs are scarce, commutes are frequently 20 miles or more. Many of the vehicles on the roads here are old rundown trucks, some getting 10 or fewer miles to the gallon. Now who's fault is that? I grew up in rural alabama and there was no law you had to drive an old run down truck that got 10 or fewer mpg. If you are a farm worker why the hell would you need a truck?

The survey showed that of the 13 counties where people spent 13 percent or more of their family income on gasoline, 5 were located in Mississippi, 4 were in Alabama, 3 were in Kentucky and 1 was in West Virginia. While people here in Holmes County spent an average of 15.6 percent of their income on gasoline, people in Nassau County, N.Y., spent barely more than 2 percent, according to the survey.

Economists say that despite widespread concern about gasoline prices, the nationwide impact of the oil crisis has so far been gentler than during the oil crises of the 1970s and 1980s, when shortages caused long lines at the pump, set off inflation and drove the economy into recession. Can anyone name the Peanut that caused these shortages?

Americans on average now spend about 4 percent of their after-tax income on transportation fuels, according to Brian A. Bethune, an economist at Global Insight, a forecasting firm. That compares with 4.5 percent in early 1981, the highest point since World War II. At its lowest point, in 1998, that share dropped to 1.9 percent.

“Gas prices have doubled over the last year but the economy has not fallen off the cliff,” said Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Economic Forecasting Center at Georgia State University. “But for the rural lower income people, as a proportion of their income the rise of gas prices is very high.”

While people everywhere are talking about gasoline prices these days, some folks in Tchula (the T is silent) have gone beyond talking.

Anthony Clark, a farm worker from Tchula, says he prays every night for lower gasoline prices. He recently decided not to fix his broken 1992 Chevrolet Astro van because he could not afford the fuel. Now he hires friends and family members to drive him around to buy food and medicine for his diabetic aunt, and his boss sends a van to pick him up for the 10-mile commute to work. So what you are saying is, this magical van gets over twice as much gas mileage as his little Astro van? Because driving yourself is 1 round trip, getting picked up is 2 round trips a day. And relatives which have to drive and pick him up, and drive to drop him off and drive themselves home, also magically get over twice the mpg as his astro van. Note he HIRES them, so he's basically still paying for gas! Fix your fucking van and drive yourself, you'll need 1/2 the miles.

A trip from Tchula to the nearest sizable town about 15 minutes away can cost him $25 roundtrip — for the driving and the waiting. That is about 10 percent of what he makes in a week. What exactly is for the driving and the waiting? Let me see. If I had my astro van fixed, driving 45mph a 15 minute trip will take me 11 miles. A chevy astro at 17mpg will use 1.3 gallons or cost $5.29 in gas. He could save $20/day on transportation by getting his astro fixed

Taking a break under some cottonwood trees beside a drainage ditch filled with buzzing mosquitoes, Mr. Clark and members of his work crew spoke of the big and little changes that higher gas prices have brought. The extra dollars spent at the pump mean electric bills are going unpaid and macaroni is replacing meat at supper. Donations to church are being put off, and video rentals are now unaffordable. OMG we can't afford video rentals!!!! Since most health professionals who recommend against meat ANYWAY regardless of the price, why not vegetables instead of macaroni? Oh that's right, the ethanol production has shot the price of food thru the roof.

Cleveland Whiteside, who works with Mr. Clark and used to commute 30 miles a day, said his Jeep Cherokee was repossessed last month, because “I paid so much for gas to get to work I couldn’t pay my payments anymore.” His employer, Larry Clanton, has lent him a pickup truck so he can get to work. PEople have gotten their vehicles repossessed when gas was $0.98/gallon... but now any vehicle repossessed at this point in time, it's ALL THE FAULT of price of gas.

Signs of pain and adaptation because of the cost of gas are everywhere. Local fried chicken restaurants are closing because people are eating out less. At the hardware store here, sales have plummeted to $30 a day from $250 a day a month ago. I'm gonna check see how many KFC just went out of business. Wait... are we talking about RURAL america still? WTF are low income families eating out at fried chicken places all the time even when price of gas was low? I thoguht they could barely afford meat from grocery stores, when price of gas was low? Get yer story straight

“Money goes to gasoline — I know mine does,” said the hardware store’s manager, Pam Williams, who tries to attract customers by putting out choice crickets for fishing bait beside the front door.

Local governments are leaving grass high along the roads and doing fewer road repairs to save on fuel costs. The Holmes County government has cut the work week to four days to give workers gasoline relief (keeping the same total of hours), and politicians are even considering replacing sanitation workers with prison inmates on some shifts to conserve money for fuel.

The local price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was roughly $3.85 last week, slightly below the national average, but the median family income in Holmes County is about $18,500.

Nationwide, regular unleaded gasoline reached an average of $4.005 on Sunday, according to the American Automobile Association. That is the highest price ever and about a dollar higher than at the start of the year.

While looking to cut workers at his fish processing plant in nearby Isola, Miss., Dick Stevens, president of Consolidated Catfish Producers, said that 10 workers walked into his office last week and volunteered to take a buyout rather than continue commuting from Charleston, Miss., 65 miles away. “The gas ate them alive,” he said.

Workers at the plant are trying to find ways to cope. Josephine Cage, who fillets fish, said her 30-mile commute from Tchula to Isola in her 1998 Ford Escort four days a week is costing her $200 a month, or nearly 20 percent of her pay.

“I make it by the grace of God,” she said, and also by replacing meat at supper with soups and green beans and broccoli. She fills her car a little bit every day, because “I can’t afford to fill it up. Whatever money I have, I put it in.”

Sociologists and economists who study rural poverty say the gasoline crisis in the rural South, if it persists, could accelerate population loss and decrease the tax base in some areas as more people move closer to urban manufacturing jobs. They warn that the high cost of driving makes low-wage labor even less attractive to workers, especially those who also have to pay for child care and can live off welfare and food stamps.

“As gas prices rise, working less could be the economically rational choice,” said Tim Slack, a sociologist at Louisiana State University who studies rural poverty. “That would mean lower incomes for the poor and greater distance from the mainstream.”


CHICKEN LITTLE... THE SKY IS FALLING!!

FUUKKKK!!!1

[Wrex Barrett]

I dont know but after Osama gave his speach today Insurance companies and Oil producers alike are both figuring how to pass the buck back to the American people because of Obama and his windfall tax...............


Dont know about you but Im building a fallout shelter, stocked with overpriced ciggarettes and wiskey, if he is elected its gonna be a long four years!

[tripeboi]

LOL

[kevinb70]

and with amazing speed and accuracy, NY Times comes backfilling my previous post with supporting information! I can always count on the NY Times to make me sad and depressed.....


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/business/10planting.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th

Worries Mount as Farmers Push for Big Harvest

By DAVID STREITFELD (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/david_streitfeld/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and KEITH BRADSHER (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/keith_bradsher/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: June 10, 2008

GRIFFIN, Ind. — In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster. ("AVERAGE AT BEST" ... what a wonderful way to make average seems so ... horrible!)

American corn and soybean farmers are suffering from too much rain, while Australian wheat farmers have been plagued by drought.


Last winter, as the full scope of the global food crisis became clear, commodity prices doubled or tripled, provoking grumbling in America, riots in two dozen countries and the specter of greatly increased malnutrition


As the world clamors for more corn, wheat, soybeans and rice, farmers are trying to meet the challenge.


Harvests ebb and flow, of course. But with supplies of most of the key commodities at their lowest levels in decades, there is little room for error this year. American farmers are among the world’s top producers, supplying 60 percent of the corn that moves across international borders in a typical year, as well as a third of the soybeans, a quarter of the wheat and a tenth of the rice.


In the American corn belt, the issue has also been getting the rain to stop. After heavy rains and flooding last weekend, the price of corn on the commodity markets rose Monday to a record $6.57 a bushel.






but hey... as long as we burn 1.3 energy units of fossil fuel to create 1 energy unit of ethanol... will keep the treehuggers happy and hungry (can't afford corn to eat, but will fill their tanks with it).

[kevinb70]

BOYCOTT TOURISM TO FLORIDA

maybe after 5 years of no one wanting to go on vacation in florida they might change their mind due to complete loss of tourism income? paint the dam oil rigs sky/grey blue and forget about'em......


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080618/ap_on_go_pr_wh/offshore_oil

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — A House panel put off a vote Wednesday on extending Congress' ban on offshore drilling, even as President Bush was poised to publicly renew his call for lawmakers to open U.S. coastal waters to oil and gas development.

Drilling for oil and gas off nearly all the American coastline has been banned over the past quarter-century, in part to protect tourism and to lessen the chances of beach-blackening spills. Now, $4-a-gallon gasoline prices are a part of people's daily lives and motorists are clamoring for something to be done about the record price of oil, much of it produced in foreign countries

[kevinb70]

yes its friday again, time for more uninteresting politically motivated news







http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_go_co/cia_leak_probe
Ex-spokesman faults Bush for withholding fact
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Former presidential spokesman Scott McClellan on Friday said President Bush has lost the public's trust by failing to open up about his administration's mistakes and backtracking on a promise to tell all about the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

"This White House promised or assured the American people that at some point when this was behind us they would talk publicly about it. And they have refused to," McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee. "And that's why I think more than any other reason we are here today and the suspicion still remains."

The former White House press secretary suggested that Bush could do much to redeem his credibility on the Plame matter and his reasons for going to war in Iraq if he would embrace "openness and candor and then constantly strive to build trust across the aisle."

"This is a very secretive White House," McClellan said. "There's some things that they would prefer not to be talked about."

The White House was dismissive of the event and McClellan himself. Presidential spokesman Tony Fratto disputed McClellan's assertion that that Plame matter concluded with the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, citing an ongoing lawsuit by Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, against current and former administration officials.

"The White House has the consistent position that we would refrain from comment while there was ongoing litigation," Fratto said. "Scott must have forgotten the policy he repeatedly stated from the podium."

McClellan cites other examples of Bush's lack of candor, including what he called the "packaging" of intelligence to justify the Iraq war and the president's handling of allegations that many years ago he used cocaine.

In his recently released book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan recounts overhearing Bush on the telephone telling a supporter that "I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not."

McClellan called that kind of response to sensitive questions by Bush and other politicians "essentially evasion."

"That (approach) later transferred over to issues of policy," McClellan said. "It tells something about his character."

Bush's spokesman from 2003-2006, McClellan said that former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told him that the president and vice president wanted him to publicly say that Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff at the time, was not involved in the leak.

"I was reluctant to do it," McClellan said. "I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this in any way?' And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not."

In fact, both Libby and former presidential adviser Karl Rove had discussed Plame's identity with reporters. Libby resigned from office the day he was indicted on charges of covering up the leak. Rove remained, eventually leaving office in August 2007. Rove has never been charged in the case.

Plame maintains the White House quietly outed her to reporters as retribution for criticism from her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, of Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq.

Last July, Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence, sparing him from serving any prison time. "It was special treatment," McClellan said of the commutation.

McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if a crime was committed and does not believe that Bush knew about or directed the leak. When asked about Cheney, he replied: "I do not know. There's a lot of suspicion there."

Bush backtracked on his promise of accountability in the Plame matter, McClellan said.

The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Bush reiterated that promise in June 2004.

By July 2005, Bush qualified his position, saying he would fire anyone for leaking classified information if that person had "committed a crime." He then commuted Libby's sentence.

McClellan said the White House helped the Justice Department investigate the leak, but he knew of no internal White House probe to ferret out and fire the leaker.

"I certainly think that the president should have stuck by his word on the matter, and I certainly view the commutation as it was special treatment," McClellan said. "It does undermine our system of justice."

Republicans cast his testimony as old news. Ranking Republican Lamar Smith of Texas questioned the impartiality of McClellan's publisher and said that whatever McClellan had been instructed to say about the Plame affair was typical work of the White House press office.

"It should be of no surprise that there was spin in the White House Press Office," said Smith. "What White House has not had a communications operation that advocates for its policies? Any recent administration that did not try to promote its priorities should be cited for dereliction of duty."

-----------------
-still no word on whether plame was a bonafide CIA Operations Officer. As in.. belonging to the DO (Directorate of Operations) and this is very specific as to what a covert agent is and isn't. She would have gone thru the professional trainee program etc. Since she was wife to a very high profile person (an Ambassador) that would make her very suspicious to any foreign nation's intelligence community. Now if she wasn't an operations officer, but working with the CIA in collecting intelligence (which is possible) then that makes her more of an 'asset' than an agent, an operations officer would work with her to get data, but she herself would not be an ops officer.

-I have felt she wasn't an operations officer, so the administration could categorically refuse that she was not a covert agent and that NOT be a lie. So all this hoopla has to be about SOMETHING, not simply she "worked at the CIA but wasn't an operations officer". Someone in DI can't be "outed" simply because they aren't the "secret agent" division.

-But if she was in DI or R&D or whatever, but asked to perform surveillance while on a trip with her husband, that puts her in a classified status IF it is brought up that she spied on XYZ nation or collected XYZ data. I don't think saying "she did covert work" without mentioning specifics is "outing" her.

-Point there, about not explaining everythign b/c they still got their stupid lawsuit.

-Libby - contrary to this history revisionist reporter, was not indicted for outing but for "lying" when questioned. If you witness a crime, and then get picked up for questioning and be a witness in court, if you lie, you can be imprisoned for lying... not for the crime you witnessed. The only "crime" so far was perjury or whatever for lying about a crime that didn't exist (that we know of so far).

-This case may never be fully explained b/c there may be some covert activity she was doing that can't be publicly revealed, simple as that.

-And... no one cares. Tripe care to comment or not interesting enough since it's not on YouTube?

[tripeboi]

yes its friday again, time for more uninteresting politically motivated news







http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080620/ap_on_go_co/cia_leak_probe
Ex-spokesman faults Bush for withholding fact
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Former presidential spokesman Scott McClellan on Friday said President Bush has lost the public's trust by failing to open up about his administration's mistakes and backtracking on a promise to tell all about the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.

"This White House promised or assured the American people that at some point when this was behind us they would talk publicly about it. And they have refused to," McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee. "And that's why I think more than any other reason we are here today and the suspicion still remains."

The former White House press secretary suggested that Bush could do much to redeem his credibility on the Plame matter and his reasons for going to war in Iraq if he would embrace "openness and candor and then constantly strive to build trust across the aisle."

"This is a very secretive White House," McClellan said. "There's some things that they would prefer not to be talked about."

The White House was dismissive of the event and McClellan himself. Presidential spokesman Tony Fratto disputed McClellan's assertion that that Plame matter concluded with the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, citing an ongoing lawsuit by Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, against current and former administration officials.

"The White House has the consistent position that we would refrain from comment while there was ongoing litigation," Fratto said. "Scott must have forgotten the policy he repeatedly stated from the podium."

McClellan cites other examples of Bush's lack of candor, including what he called the "packaging" of intelligence to justify the Iraq war and the president's handling of allegations that many years ago he used cocaine.

In his recently released book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan recounts overhearing Bush on the telephone telling a supporter that "I honestly don't remember whether I tried it or not."

McClellan called that kind of response to sensitive questions by Bush and other politicians "essentially evasion."

"That (approach) later transferred over to issues of policy," McClellan said. "It tells something about his character."

Bush's spokesman from 2003-2006, McClellan said that former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told him that the president and vice president wanted him to publicly say that Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff at the time, was not involved in the leak.

"I was reluctant to do it," McClellan said. "I got on the phone with Scooter Libby and asked him point-blank, 'Were you involved in this in any way?' And he assured me in unequivocal terms that he was not."

In fact, both Libby and former presidential adviser Karl Rove had discussed Plame's identity with reporters. Libby resigned from office the day he was indicted on charges of covering up the leak. Rove remained, eventually leaving office in August 2007. Rove has never been charged in the case.

Plame maintains the White House quietly outed her to reporters as retribution for criticism from her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, of Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq.

Last July, Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year sentence, sparing him from serving any prison time. "It was special treatment," McClellan said of the commutation.

McClellan told the House Judiciary Committee that he doesn't know if a crime was committed and does not believe that Bush knew about or directed the leak. When asked about Cheney, he replied: "I do not know. There's a lot of suspicion there."

Bush backtracked on his promise of accountability in the Plame matter, McClellan said.

The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in the case would be dismissed. Bush reiterated that promise in June 2004.

By July 2005, Bush qualified his position, saying he would fire anyone for leaking classified information if that person had "committed a crime." He then commuted Libby's sentence.

McClellan said the White House helped the Justice Department investigate the leak, but he knew of no internal White House probe to ferret out and fire the leaker.

"I certainly think that the president should have stuck by his word on the matter, and I certainly view the commutation as it was special treatment," McClellan said. "It does undermine our system of justice."

Republicans cast his testimony as old news. Ranking Republican Lamar Smith of Texas questioned the impartiality of McClellan's publisher and said that whatever McClellan had been instructed to say about the Plame affair was typical work of the White House press office.

"It should be of no surprise that there was spin in the White House Press Office," said Smith. "What White House has not had a communications operation that advocates for its policies? Any recent administration that did not try to promote its priorities should be cited for dereliction of duty."

-----------------
-still no word on whether plame was a bonafide CIA Operations Officer. As in.. belonging to the DO (Directorate of Operations) and this is very specific as to what a covert agent is and isn't. She would have gone thru the professional trainee program etc. Since she was wife to a very high profile person (an Ambassador) that would make her very suspicious to any foreign nation's intelligence community. Now if she wasn't an operations officer, but working with the CIA in collecting intelligence (which is possible) then that makes her more of an 'asset' than an agent, an operations officer would work with her to get data, but she herself would not be an ops officer.

-I have felt she wasn't an operations officer, so the administration could categorically refuse that she was not a covert agent and that NOT be a lie. So all this hoopla has to be about SOMETHING, not simply she "worked at the CIA but wasn't an operations officer". Someone in DI can't be "outed" simply because they aren't the "secret agent" division.

-But if she was in DI or R&D or whatever, but asked to perform surveillance while on a trip with her husband, that puts her in a classified status IF it is brought up that she spied on XYZ nation or collected XYZ data. I don't think saying "she did covert work" without mentioning specifics is "outing" her.

-Point there, about not explaining everythign b/c they still got their stupid lawsuit.

-Libby - contrary to this history revisionist reporter, was not indicted for outing but for "lying" when questioned. If you witness a crime, and then get picked up for questioning and be a witness in court, if you lie, you can be imprisoned for lying... not for the crime you witnessed. The only "crime" so far was perjury or whatever for lying about a crime that didn't exist (that we know of so far).

-This case may never be fully explained b/c there may be some covert activity she was doing that can't be publicly revealed, simple as that.

-And... no one cares. Tripe care to comment or not interesting enough since it's not on YouTube?

huh... oh do I have to read all that piss and wind to comment?

[Flynt]

>>>