So what are you doing on War Movie Weekend? If you’re bored, here are a few things worth a look-see:
Joseph Cannon explains why gas prices are so high:
Kids, I remember the ’70s. I recall waiting in my car all night long — in a weird line of similarly stranded travelers, snaking through a residential neighborhood — for a chance to pump up my Ford Falcon when the gas station opened at dawn. When I finally got home from school the next morning, it was time to go back to school.
The Carter-era gas crisis hit like the Joplin tornado: Precious little warning. Just…WHAM.
Did a similar crisis happen in 2008? Did it happen in 2011?
No. That fact tells you that something other than a supply squeeze caused gas prices to reach the four-buck-a-gallon stage. I am here today to tell you what that “something” is.
Andrea Mitchell explains that Sarah Palin wasn’t invited to Rolling Thunder. Except she was invited. (Don’t hold your breath waiting for a correction)
Meghan McCain goes on national television and says Sarah Palin is ruining her love life:
Jay Leno: Are you dating anyone?
Meghan McCain: No. I’m in, like, dating Babylon. Like, I go on dates with men and, literally, like Sarah Palin will come up in like the first 20 minutes, and that doesn’t put me in the mood. Like, talking about Sarah Palin. And they just want to know gossip, and I’m just kind of taking a little hiatus from dating right now, because I just don’t want to talk about Sarah Palin.
She was almost FDOTUS – we dodged a bullet with that one.
Congressman Weiner’s weiner got posted on Twitter. (you can’t make this shit up)
In honor of the holiday, here’s a clip from one of my favorite war movies:
The Crawdad Hole 
From my local paper:
I never had fun teachers like that.
It was all for the study of science.
Too bad it isn’t as simple as Joe Cannon believes. QE has a part in it to, due to decrease in value of the dollar, but Dak won’t blame that. If she did, she might have to pin some of this on Bernanke and that ain’t gonna happen due to ideological blinders.
By the way, since he claims to have lived through the ’70s, did he forget about Stagflation?
I remember “Whip Inflation Now” (I still have my WIN pin) and “the misery index.”
Throw in polyester leisure suits and Disco and there is no doubt that the 70’s were the low point of Western Civilization.
(Clearing throat)
Yes, Ralph. Dak’s “economics expertise” is very ideologically driven—what doesn’t fit within her own blinders , doesn’t get mentioned.
Eco 101: The lower the value of the dollar (due to QE and printing more and more), the higher gas goes up. Higher gas means higher consumer costs.
Sure, there are speculators, but the lowering of the dollar value is the prime cause.
Glad to see somebody finally said it out loud.
BTW, she’s still frantically defending the corporate drug companies’ huge, obscene profits. Anyone who disagrees with her is an idiot—or so she says.
Yawn…..
Wait, I thought she hated drug companies because RD worked at one (enter cat fight music). I’m so confused, I can’t keep these things straight.
Big oil = evil
Big Pharma = good
Gee, it’s so simplistic anyone can get it. Oh, you want reasons? Sorry.
I think Big Pharma is yesterday’s demon. 😉
My bad, Moose—it was RD. But Dak was right in there with her.
Neither of them ever mentioned Treasury or Geithner and printing money, or the economic fact that when the dollar goes down, gas goes up. Gas goes up, everything else goes up. Before long, you got stagflation and a new misery index.
I think you’re thinking of Riverdaughter….
The only college econ course I took was taught by a Randian.
Actually he was a randy Randian – they let him go due to complaints of sexual harassment.
I mowed the lawn. That’s enough of an accomplishment for one weekend. Time for some movies. Have no idea what’s on, but will hunt for old favorites. I esp. like the old WWII ones.
Patton is on. Eh. I’m holding out for The Great Escape. Love that one.
We can thank MASH for making war seem fun.
Calling Major Major Major Major… hello, Catch-22. I there. Where’s the popcorn.
Blaming speculators for high gas prices is like blaming the cashier at the gas station. Speculators speculate on the price of oil. If they guess wrong, they lose money because they bought oil contracts for $120 a barrel they can only sell for $90. There is demand all over the world for oil. China is ramping up, both for American plastics and boat fuel, and for their own population.
This is another case of Wikileaks telling us something we already knew. Any president should ask the Saudis to produce more oil when prices are high. At the same time, SA blames everyone who doesn’t produce oil. They criticize Europe for gas taxes equal to the actual cost of gas. They blame speculators who make money off an oil supply they restrict to keep prices us.
The bit about a glut of oil in the market is ridiculous. The whole point is to create a glut because it puts an obstacle into speculation. The Saudis just don’t like it because it lowers the price of crude. Remember, their oil contracts are being bough BY speculators.
I may not have been around for this, but I’m pretty sure gas lines in the 70s were a result of an actual embargo where oil supplies were being cut off. Right now, you can buy as much gas as you want. You’re just going to pay $3.80 for it.
Yes indeed, there was an OPEC Oil Embargo from ’73-’74 and it had a still lasting effect along with the ’73-’74 Stock Market Crash.
The 1979 Energy Crisis happened in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. So unless speculators caused the Iranian Revolution and the following Iran-Iraq War then Cannon and Dak are full of crap.
No, Joe is pointing out that the high gas prices in the 70’s were due to the factors you mention, but there is no comparable reason today for the way gas prices have gone up.
You’re right about you-know-who being full of crap though.
I read it again and you’re right but the argument about there not being inflation because wages aren’t rising is the one made by the Fed and it’s garbage,
The ’70s started the middle class downward spiral when there was huge inflation but wages stayed flat and did not rise. Before Stagflation, it was still quite possible for a middle class woman to be a stay-at-home Mom and the family did OK. After Stagflation, the pressure for both parents to work went way up, just to maintain their standard of living.
Millions of women entered the workforce during the 70’s, not because of Women’s Lib but because they HAD to.go to work.
They sure did. My wife was one of them.
I was a young, just out of college, pregnant wife in 1973-1974. I made a lot of money during the gasoline crisis. I drove to people’s work, left my car, took theirs to the gas station, sat in line to get it filled up, and returned it to the parking lot and picked up the next car. It started out with just one client, and before it was over, I was making as much as my husband was at a “real job”. I was kind of sorry when it ended.
Speculators can contribute to higher prices but they are not allt he answer. There is no embargo, but the cost of finding and producing hydrocarbons is much more expensive than it used to be.
In about a hundred years, we have found and used the cheap stuff, which took the Earth billion of years to create. Kind of like a kid blowing the inheritance it took his grandparents and parents lifetimes to earn on one night on the town.
Fun while it lasted.
djmm
F
Speculators are the result of increased liquidity from the Fed, and the bubbles that follow. The way I see it, the price of oil and commodities have increased because the Fed is throwing cheap money to the banks. The interest rate charged for money from the Fed is at zero percent, hence banks can borrow and make money, even if it’s half of one percent by simply moving money. The economy can’t support much investment because too many are out of work and those who have jobs have lots of debt. The banks then buy commodities, and it’s a game between different speculators as to who will be left holding the bag. Sooner or later the bubble will burst, and the speculators holding the bag will lose, but in the meantime, people are forced to pay the higher price and the speculators make hay while the sun shines.
Blame Bernanke for the current bubble. Under Greenspan it was housing, and the dot com.
Technically, all the airlines are “speculating.”
But you’re about Bernanke and Geithner throwing easy money to the banks at low interest rates.
Printing mucho money also devalues the dollar. Americans know this. Just demonizing the Big Oil companies, when yes—counties, states, and feds add on gas taxes for their own bills– is simplistic and insulting.
Sorry….should say “But you’re right about…”
The airlines speculate, but it’s a different type of speculation in that they have a purpose, to smooth the price of gasoline they use. Hedging is done by most industries, such as those who use large quantities of a commodity, like sugar. Those type of speculation don’t drive up costs because their buys are not significant enough to move the price of commodities. The speculators that do damage are gamblers with no other purpose but to make money on money, a different ballgame.
This is kind of wonky but interesting on current commodities trading dynamics.
Full-on PDS is coming out now that Palin is doing her dry run for a campaign. I don’t watch Andrea Mitchell anymore because her face scares me.
Meghan McCain can stop talking about her (lack of) dating life any time now. I imagine any time a date of hers is thinking about Sarah Palin, it diminishes Meghan’s chances of getting any later on.
Then there’s some “tell-all” book by a disgruntled Palin staffer. Palin has done more to improve the economic situation of her detractors than Obama has.
What really pisses the haters off is that Palin got rich thanks to them.
I really want Palin to run. It should expose groups for what they are and, at the same time, do serious and lasting damage to the MSM. That’s a win, win for the country and she may wind up the nominee.
I want her to run just to see if she can pull it off.
If she loses or falls flat on her face, it’s on her.
If she even comes close to winning there will be a shortage of Depends.
It really will be great fun. Best political theater evah!
I’m buying depends stock now. Because of that and because you know who told me not too. 🙂
Someone speculated that one or more Republican candidate will run an no MSM campaign. Basically, they won’t do those hatchety Katie Couric sit-downs and will instead do online media, Fox News and conservative publications. Nothing like starving the beast.
Wouldn’t that be nice? A whole new paradigm.
The media seem to think it’s their job to select our presidents for us.
They get really upset when we elect the “wrong” candidates, like the Big Dawg.
They picked G-Dub and Obama for us. Gore and Hillary were “wrong.”
Uhh, if Angelina Jolie speaks I’m listening and watching.
In the case of Gore, he wasn’t quite right.
Apocalypse Now is on AMC
David Mamet’s Coming Out Party
Heh. Mamet’s a funny man.
Toyota Prius, the least green car made on the planet. Hello, heavy metals anyone. But try to tell that to an Obot.
Well props to it tho for minimizing reliance on oil/gas.
Coal/hydro driven cars are my favorite…i.e. electric cars.
Me too, but it’s kinda hard to shovel coal and steer at the same time.
OMG, it’s Jeremy Clarkson. Still going strong.
The best way to save gas is car pool
Second is public transportation
Third is to move closer to work or most common destination.
Everything else is just a bandaid.
The best part is how pissed off liberals get when they don’t own EVERYONE in the entertainment industry.
Being a rich celebrity doesn’t give anyone any special insight about politics or world affairs.
I don’t see any real difference between the opinions of Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and Lindsey Lohan.
I trust my own judgment
If Angelina Jolie speaks I’m listening and watching. She seems trust worthy to me. 🙂
Yeah. Angelina knows tons about the world. She has kids from every corner of it.
There are two Americas on Memorial Day.
As you were.
You post a lot of good stuff in the comment threads – have you ever considered frontpaging?
If the Moose can do it,
anyone canso can you.I resemble that remark. 🙂
I think I’m retiring in a few weeks. I’ll give it some thought but usually don’t have that much to add. 😉
Don’t let that stop you. Never did me. 🙂
Is there really a *Moose?*
I always thought he was your sock puppet?
No, the Moose is real. Happy Memorial Day Cat. 🙂
I think I’m real. Though I’ve been known to be wrong before. No, Bull J. Moose is indeed my real name. Wait, that’s not right.
Cowed by udderly insane regulations
more weekend funny.
Does anyone else find “Wienergate” too good to be true? 😉
Ironic, to be sure. I just saw him on Maddow the other night. They were crowing about how NY-26 was decided by people’s hatred for Ryan’s Medicare plan. Funny how 2010 apparently didn’t have anything to do with Obama’s plans for Medicare.
But of course, Maddow didn’t mention that the so-called “Tea Party” candidate was actually an ex-Democrat , active in the party, who pulled 9% of the vote, did she?
Read Somerby about Maddow’s little selective tricks to manipulate her audience. Somerby despises her.
How do you mean?
Just seems awfully stupid of him to be sending penis pictures. Doesn’t mean he didn’t do it though.
Or maybe his facebook, twitter, and hairdryer were hacked.
Well, he’s a hack, so it stands to reason.
Does his hairdryer use the same password?
Bret Favre did it – some guys are really proud of their equipment.
That’s really sad when a guy lists “I have a big dick” as one of his best qualities on his online profile.
That’s like saying “I’m the useless flesh attached to a penis”
Joe Cannon has a post up, he thinks it’s the work of hackers.
Let this be a cautionary tale of letting one’s biases cloud their judgment. Hoping something is true doesn’t make it so.
Because whatever Joe says must be the truth? What the hell.
Nah, hackers would have posted a bigger one- just for the drama and effect.
The Weiner shnitzel pic is not at all impressive.
Here are some interesting charts about global oil.
Do we have a verdit on Weinergate. Is someone going to investigate this thing.
Go for it.
If they can investigate Sarah Palin’s uterus, Anthony’s weiner is fair game.
I think an investigation would be ridiculous
There’s nothing there.
I think he might resent that remark.
Someone should look into it. It would be almost as telling if no one investigated though. 😉
I am constantly amazed by the risk behavior of politicians.
A bit more about current oil supplies in the US.
Shale Boom in Texas Could Increase U.S. Oil Output
Also largely overlooked are some good plays in the Permian Basin which are expanding estimates of available West Texas Intermediate quite a bit.
If you want to see a photo of Sarah at Rolling Thunder, check it out here…
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/for-palin-a-short-ride-with-lots-of-rumbling/
Palin Rolling Thunder with video from CNN
Thanks for finding that! ya know, Sarah used to sound much more natural/authentic when she spoke and now she seems to be sticking to well rehearsed lines and over scripted themes… bordering on becoming a caricature of herself and that is not just the media’s fault (watch her 3 way debate when she ran for guv of Alaska in 2006, and her earlier speeches on the campaign trail in 2008 – great stuff). On a personal level, I don’t like or enjoy her as much as I used to. But I still enjoy the fact that she makes liberals-progressives, as well as the repub elites, froth at the mouth and reveal what stooges they really are 🙂
A natural reaction to the media jumping on every gaff or deliberately misquoting her. Just ask Al Gore how the same media bias did him in back in 2000.
No I’m not talking about the media reaction. I am talking about how I feel when I hear her talk these days… her tone of voice and what she is saying. I don’t listen to those media opinions, I have my own opinion. Obvioulsy no one else agrees, but that’s fine also.
Happy Memorial Day weekend all!!!! 🙂
Happy Memorial Day right back at ya! 🙂
Happy Memorial Day everyone, however you celebrate it!! Cheers!
I’m thrilled that I don’t have to go to a boring dinner party tonight – YAY!! (my husband has a cold 😦 ) I generally prefer to stay home on Memorial Day weekend. Got some gardening done, but mostly I like to relax and do nothing much.
McCain: Palin can beat Obama
Well, McCain knew he couldn’t win against Obama. Maybe he has some good prognostication skills.
He’s certainly right about the attacks from the Obots. It was pretty bad with Hillary. But got worse with Sarah. Obots need a good spanking. Especially the sexists. They make me nauseous.
Too true! I hope someone hands them their heads this time around.
Yet more evidence of the pro-wrestling like nature of politics. Get out the chips and beer and cheer on your guy or gal, while dissing the competition! Yee-hah!
What’s wrong with pro-wrestling?
Not a thing! Love the taunting and big talk!
Just from the fact that all the idiot talking head pundits keep saying she can’t possibly win is enough for me to think she certainly can.
That doesn’t mean she would. And most importantly, it doesn’t mean she would be allowed too. See for example the financial meltdown conveniently just before the 2008 election.
For the Obots:
From IowaHawk, ROTFLMAO !!!!
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/05/help-me-bring-the-weiner-hacker-to-justice.html
He’s just hilarious!
Hilarious!!! Thanks!
Nice.
Palin to Visit Iowa as Bus Tour Kicks Into Gear
Pass the popcorn, this could be a real barn burner.
This is going to be fun.
Now that’s an understatement!
People seem to be kind of freaking out. There must be some interesting poll numbers out there which aren’t public.
It’s not exactly a secret. The tea party crowd LOVES Sarah Palin. We’ve never seen their effect on a full national election, though. On balance, they gave Republicans a huge victory in 2010, but races like Delaware, California and Alaska scared the hell out of them. The reality is that non-Tea Partiers were the ones who helped lose those races. By and large, the Tea Party chose the Republican even if their candidate lost the primary.
Guys like Romney need to keep Sarah out. If they can win the nomination instead of Palin, she will ultimately endorse them. They want her support, but not her presence.
In Gallup’s public poll numbers, Palin is only 2% behind Romney while Pawlenty is pulling single digits. It’s not a secret, just under-reported.
I’ve actually heard MSM idiots say if Sarah would just go away, Pawlenty would have a better shot. Yep, they have their favorite, and they’re not shy about it.
Man, that reminds me of them saying Hillary should just get out so Obama could start the real campaign. I hate the MSM!
I read a great comment on an SP fan site:
Wickedly good analogy!
Weiner has hired an attorney. That’s probably not a good sign. Why wouldn’t he just call the cops.
If this is correct, he was following a bunch of young women and not much else. This would be weird.
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/05/gennette-was-not-alone-weiners-twitter-friends-include-dozens-of-young-lucious-hook-ups/
He follows 198 people. I just scrolled thru, mostly predictable. The half dozen pulled by gatewaypundit are the exception, though they do certainly look out of place.
Until yesterday, I understand he only followed 91 people. Adding the over 100 others would make a nice smoke screen.
….but doncha’ know, Kos has declared Andrew Breitbart the hacker ! So it must be true 😛 Also, I think Breitbart is way too smart to “hack” an account without a more incriminating photo, like with an identifiable face ?
Besides, I’d blame Tucker Carlson. The Daily Caller is way more shady that Big Government.
Does this mean Kos decided to stop that fake Palin baby investigation?
Sending them pictures of your junk is a little creepy, but it sure would be a quick way to separate the sheep from the goats, so to speak.
It’s not the crime, it’s the cover-up. Considering his junk was hidden in the pic, some fake hacking story could end up worse than a pervy reality.
I love the smell of rampant speculation in the afternoon.
🙂
I caught MSNBC this morning during their supposed non-biased news. When the anchor mentioned Sarah Palin and Rolling Thunder, he said her appearance “was not without controversy” and that “some in the leadership consider her a distraction.”
Yep, they doubled-down on their own failure. We know that the guy in “the leadership” who called Sarah a disctraction (besides being a Democrat) was interviewed under the assumption that Palin was not invited by Rolling Thunder. Secondly, the “controversy” was generated entirely by MSNBC who failed to verify the invitation with an organization leader as opposed to a member.
I didn’t know that creepy Andrea Mitchell was a leader of Rolling Thunder.
I always suspected… 🙂
On the other hand, I am pretty sure she’s going to be the Joker in the next Batman movie.
Independence day – 5/31/08
The day of the Backroom Obama Coup.
To quote Notyoursweetie.
“You stole my vote so you can steal my money.”
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/insurance-ceo-fronts-obama-steals-election-for-him-writes-hcr/
This is hilarious.
CBS producer: Palin’s creating a dangerous traffic situation by making us follow her around
http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2011/05/31/cbs-producer-palins-creating-a-dangerous-traffic-situation-by-making-us-follow-her-around/comment-page-1/#comments
I love how anything bad that could possibly happen will always be Palin’s fault.
Btw, I think they are headed to the Liberty Bell now. Zomg, I am sure as soon as she looks at it the bell will break in half! (On a serious note, downtown Philly is BZero country – takes guts for a GOPer to go there with min security).
That situation kind of reminds me when the news people were following Sasha Cohen around in his character of Borat. They felt compelled to follow him no matter what.
LMAO… and ya gotta love the title of the CBS article…
Sarah Palin’s bus tour treats reporters like paparazzi http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20067591-503544.html
OMG, the news guy is actually using Sarah’s meme on himself… love to watch the media squirm – they so deserve it!!
In reality, the media are acting like paparazzi, which is an important distinction. If it’s so damn dangerous, maybe they should get a pool reporter like Obama makes them do. That is, when he doesn’t bar them entirely and distributes pictures from his official video crew instead.
Like the paparazzi following Lindsay Lohan. Btw, looks like the house arrest is really taking a toll.
No one has ever accused Sarah of a lack of guts, with a straight face.
Or to her face for that matter…..
What a beautiful thing. 🙂
C4P, via Facebook
Seems pretty reasonable course to me.
Yup. Karzai is just posturing so he doesn’t look bad to the neighbors and the local opposition, so the USA needs to take a tough stand so he can back down with grace.
Btw, just heard some rightwing radio peep (dunno who) saying he thinks SP isn’t running but Bachmann & Hunstmann are. LOL.
As if the bus tour and movie aren’t enough, they should look at what she’s wearing for this bus tour. Everyone in her family is in casual clothes, she is in professional clothes.
As a man, I am proud to say I noticed that myself. It also seem like she’s starting to get back to her ’08 persona. Doesn’t sound too scripted, though I imagine she’s following one. 😉
Today is the anniversary of the day the Democratic party died, May 31, 2008, the day the Rulez Committee stole the election from Hillary Clinton and handed it to the Boy Wonder.
I haven’t been a Democrat for 3 years now. I will never forget why.
The old Democratic party died that day. I don’t know what party emerged from that coup, but it’s not my party. Proud to be independent for the last three years to the day. I have to admit, it has been freeing.
{waves at everyone}
Hey DT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yo!
DT!
{waves back}
hiya!!!!!
yttik, Dandy–you both said it for me. I was a lifelong dem, now a forced independent. Won’t vote for the current corrupt party. Would vote for Hill in a second, knowing she would clean house immediately.
PS: Hi everyone!
Every vote I cast will be viewed through that day.
(Waves back at DT)
Household tips with Barack Oba,a
This is freakin funny. 😉
His speechifying makes things worse…they’ve got him pegged.
Saw this blurb on Fox Business News this morning and forgot to post it, but file it under things that make you go hmmmm…
Apparently, in 2008 Goldman lost 98% of Libya’s $1.3 billion investment.
WSJ article only a blurb offered the rest is behind a pay wall.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576347190532098376.html?mod=WSJ_World_MIDDLENews
So these two articles have more details.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/libya_goldman_dalliance_ends_in_reEaA9JBNmMnRX4R89sOHI
Pretty much the same info as the Post.
http://dailybail.com/home/how-goldman-sachs-turned-a-13-billion-investment-from-libya.html
Is this why we are going for regime change….Goldman Sachs?
I wouldn’t be at all surprised. Since Obama is violating the War Powers Act now, someone should bring up an article of impeachment.
OT: Not mentioned in left-leaning press, but the Democratically controlled Senate, on Tuesday, voted DOWN a bill to repeal tax breaks and subsidies for 5 major oil companies. Vote was 48-52.
I guess it was all political posturing.
Surprised?
New open thread!