A month ago, I wrote a couple of blogs (Pain in the Gas and Pain in the Gas, Pt 2) about what is driving the price of gas so high, and why there is little that the president can do about it. I reminded that crude oil is a commodity, and the price is set by traders, just like on the stock exchange, where perception and "investment strategy" is more important than actual shortages or surplus. I pointed out that oil companies are creating gasoline shortages by closing "unprofitable" refineries, yet still maintaining obscene profits.
The president reiterated yesterday that there are "no silver bullets" for lowering gas prices, despite what Newt Gingrich says.
But what if it WAS possible to make more gasoline available, thus rebalancing the supply/demand equation? What if Newt's "$2.50/gal" pipe dream could actually be possible? There just might be a way:
Continue reading...
32 comments(Latest Comment: 04/07/2012 00:24:44 by Raine)
It doesn’t make us weaker when we guarantee basic security for the elderly or the sick or those who are actively looking for work. What makes us weaker is when fewer and fewer people can afford to buy the goods and services our businesses sell, or when entrepreneurs don’t have the financial security to take a chance and start a new business. What drags down our entire economy is when there’s an ever-widening chasm between the ultra-rich and everybody else.
Early morning, April 4 Shot rings out in the Memphis sky Free at last, they took your life They could not take your pride - Pride (In the Name of Love), U2
On April 03, 1968, I turned 8 years old. I don't really remember it, but I am certain my mother put together a birthday party for me, including a homemade cake. There were likely small presents for all of the guests - my mother didn't like anyone to leave empty handed. I was in the 2nd grade, and this would be the last birthday I would celebrate in the small WWII-era house in which we had lived since I had been born.
On that same exact day, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "mountain top" speech. It would be the last speech he ever gave. In retrospect, it seems foreshadowing, as if he knew what was in his future:
Continue reading...
22 comments(Latest Comment: 04/05/2012 01:31:02 by TriSec)
We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from on ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,920 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1022
We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:
$ 1, 318, 408, 520, 000 .00
You may have missed it, but this past week was IAVA's annual "Storm the Hill" conference, where they spend days in Washington meeting with VA and elected officials to ensure that veteran's issues remain in the forefront. Seems like things went well. Continue reading...
59 comments(Latest Comment: 04/04/2012 02:56:57 by livingonli)
I want a house. I want a plane. I want to travel. I want to not worry about paying my bills.
Seems to me that's what American society is rapidly becoming...I want, I want, I want. But to turn a phrase, "Who's paying for this, Morris?"
Middle Class America was once the so-called "American Dream". Study hard, work hard, and you can live a decent life and maybe make it a little bit better for your kids.
Continue reading...
6 comments(Latest Comment: 03/31/2012 22:34:30 by BobR)
A young man is walking along, minding his own business. He disappears and turns up dead days later. His killer or killers are defended by those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. The perpetrators of the true crime are let off the hook, and all because the victim was "different". This is a story that has been played out hundreds of times in America, and now is being seen again in the case of Trayvon Martin.
This week among the flurry of SCOTUS arguments was the topic of the individual mandate and it's constitutionality. Arguments have been made for and against it. Lost, once again, in the shuffle is the actual mandate and its cost. Lost in the debate are the number of people that will be affected by the mandate slated to go into effect in 2014. This is all making the assumption that the Supreme Court declares the Mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act Constitutional.
I would like to reclarify what the mandate is. Basically, if you or your family do not have insurance by a set time you will be required to buy an insurance plan or pay a penalty.
Q. I don't have health insurance. Will I have to get it, and what happens if I don't?
A: Under the legislation, most Americans will have to have insurance by 2014 or pay a penalty. The penalty would start at $95, or up to 1 percent of income, whichever is greater, and rise to $695, or 2.5 percent of income, by 2016. This is the individual limit; families have a limit of $2,085 or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater. Some people can be exempted from the insurance requirement, called an individual mandate, because of financial hardship or religious beliefs or if they are American Indians, for example.
On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was walking home from the store to his dad's house. Self-appointed block "captain" George Zimmerman decided in his mind that this boy was a criminal and pursued him, despite direct directions from the non-emergency 911 operator NOT to do that. Supposedly, a scuffle occurred and Zimmerman shot Martin, claiming self-defense. Had Zimmerman been an actual police officeer, this may have been just another white-cop-shoots-black-youth story, and gotten little press.
But Zimmerman was a private citizen, and Trayvon's parents were not about to let Zimmerman get away with murder (literally). And so - in the interim, the case has turned into a national discussion about racism (both casual and institutionalized), assumed guilt, and what constitutes self-defense and justifiable homocide. So let's take a closer look at these things...
Continue reading...
40 comments(Latest Comment: 03/28/2012 22:46:25 by Raine)
