Comment from Nosebetter
Time: August 25, 2008, 1:14 pm

The price of oil is dropping like a rock, the price of gas is falling off a cliff, the strength of the dollar is taking off like a rocket, and the Republican convention is just around the corner. Are we repeating 2004? The Dems may be in for a tougher ride than they think. On the bright side, the Dems picked up a lot of seats in 2004.

Any opinions on how the election will be affected if all of the demons are swept under the carpet for the election?

Comment from Sandy
Time: August 25, 2008, 2:24 pm

Nosebetter, you’ve nailed it. The “experts” in and out of gov’t try to tell us that the price of oil is driven by demand. I can’t believe that demand can rise and drop so dramatically over such short periods of time. Darth must be calling in all the IOU’s from those secret energy policy meetings.

I just hope oil stays this low through the election - at least then some of us in the northeast will be able to buy one delivery for the coming winter.

Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: August 25, 2008, 5:50 pm

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Gov. Rick Perry indicated Monday that he supports a school district’s decision to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes start this month.

Timr, what do you think of this ? “That’ll learn’em”, has taken on a whole new meaning.

Comment from Amos N. Handy
Time: August 25, 2008, 5:58 pm

Republican Convention Schedule Leaked!

7:00 pm – Ceremonial burning of the U.S. Constitution

7:15 pm – Spiritual Medium Sylvia Browne performs psychic séance in desperate attempt to raise Ronald Reagan from the grave

7:35 pm – “The Pleasures of Adultery” - with Newt Gingrich & Rudy Giuliani

8:05 pm – Gay sex party in Minneapolis airport’s Men’s Restroom hosted by Senator Larry Craig

8:35 pm - Transvestite Ann Coulter – “My Life as a Man”

8:55 pm – Live satellite feed from Federal Prison – Ohio Rep. Bob Ney

9:05 pm – Guest speaker ex-Florida Congressman Mark Foley “Joys with Young Boys”

9:25 pm – Oliver North – “Iran is Evil, but I sold them weapons anyway”

9:40 pm – Bill O’ Reilly – “The costs of sexual harassment and phone sex with employees”

10:00 pm – Gay sex party in Men’s Room hosted by Ken Mehlman and Geraldo Rivera

10:25 pm – Check on McCain to see if he’s still breathing and if his adult diaper needs to be changed.

10:35 pm – N.R.A. President hosts an assault riffle target practice on Gays and Mexicans.

10:45 pm - Call emergency squad after a drunken Darth Cheney accidentally shoots his friend in the face.

11:00 pm – Bush performs his hilarious comedy routine where he looks for Iraq’s fictitious WMD’s under guests tables.

11:15 pm – Mike Huckabee does his famous uncanny imitation of Gomer Pyle.

11:20 pm – Group intervention to get Rush Limbaugh back into drug rehab

11:45 pm – Go up on rooftop and throw rocks down at homeless Vets sleeping in alley.

12:00 am – Live satellite feed from Federal Prison –California Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham

12:20 am – Convicted felon/Fox News analyst G. Gordon Liddy – Lock picking secrets

12:40 am – Guest speakers Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz – “How to lie your Country into a War”

1:00 am – Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay –”Tips on Money Laundering”

1:15 am – Hookers arrive for after party

Comment from Pat
Time: August 25, 2008, 6:43 pm

For those of you who have Dish TV, they have provided a channel with a live feed of the Democratic National Convention.

Comment from Max
Time: August 25, 2008, 7:18 pm

For those of you concerned about oil, it is dropping because of decreased demand. There is no massive conspiracy, in fact humans have little control have the price fluctuations. People are only driving when absolutely necessary. However, the entire US economy depends on people constantly driving around.

I can imagine people now driving to work and the food store, but many other businesses will see a very decreased customer flow. Restaurants, pet stores, and large businesses not in a condensed business location will suffer. And they will start to go bankrupt.

Which will cause an increase of homelessness. The price of oil is not the only indicator of American decline.

Also, among those of us who study things from a military angle, there was a saying that fear of war with Iran had caused some $30 of oil price increase. Last summer, I was predicting that this years price would vary between $100 and $120 a barrel, which is right where it is now.

However, that does not at all mean things are better. Anything over $80 is trouble, over $100 signals the eventual destruction of the US economy. The only good news is that we have more time. When we hit $145, and there were indications we could clear $200 this year, we were looking at mass starvation in a year or two. $300 is goodby America. Very simple. Every food item depends on oil to move from farm to store to table. Oil is disappearing, so alternatives must be found.

The Bushies did stop all their war rhetoric with Iran, and have decided to talk to Iran instead of bombing it, that is the primary cause of oil dropping to around $115.

But it will again rise no matter what we do, simply because there is not enough. Too many people are seizing upon the fantasy of magical new sources. They are not there in any great amount, many alternative new sources are too expensive to get.

Americans are going to have to wake up to the fact that we are in for a drastic lifestyle change. Transport in the near future will have to be electrically powered. And we are going to have to have much more public transport.

In my own blog, I will be soon be putting out a piece telling the world that oil will soon become too precious to simply burn as fuel, I think in the near future it’s primary use will be industrial lubricants.

And yes, particularly in America, I think horse transport will make a comeback. Self reproducing, fueled by natural materials like grass, horses are wonderful creatures. And when they get old, you can always eat them.

But it is time for America to wake up! The luxurious lifestyle we have enjoyed since the end of WWII is disappearing forever.

Comment from timr
Time: August 26, 2008, 10:29 am

Amos, it is just 1 district so far. What do I think. After what happened in 2 local schools yesterday-one had a mad man attempting to gain entrence to a school armed with a baseball bat and a pistol with several clips-luckily an off duty cop, who was directing traffic(that is how cops make extra money down here) at the school managed to stop him before he entered the school-(admittedly he was tasered not shot) and at a nearby brand new school a student was arrested with several long guns in his posession-in the school parking lot- other students said that he told them that he wanted to do another “Columbine”-I think that given all the shootings at schools all over the country over the past few years.-in one incident in MS the principle ran out to his car and got his gun and stopped the student before he had killed to many-if the teachers are trained and practice regularly-then I have no objection. Everyone believes that all you have to do is call the police and then everything will be ok. Sorry, but that just don’t happen. What will you be doing-besides dying-if the police take 20-30 min to get to your house? Disreguard the Brinks commercial where an alarm scares off an intruder, life does not happen that way. One house, a block away from mine had several people break in. Alarm came on, but the intruders did not leave. By the time the cops arrived 1 of the householders were dead. We have something called “the castle doctrine” here in Texas where you can protect yourself, your house, your car and your neighbor without being prosecuted. Crooks do not have the upper hand here. and yes, I keep a couple of guns next to the bed. My wife is small, so she has a .38 hammerless police positive revolver. Me, I have a .45 revolver that can also shoot .410 shot shells, which my gun is loaded with. I also keep a loaded 12 guage pump shotgun in my front closet. There is nothing like a round being chambered in a pump shotgun to scare an intruder. I have been the victim before, back in the early 70’s in Ca when I woke up to someone attempting to beat the crap out of me-a case of mistaken identity as the cops discovered when they arrested him(he had gotten the wrong apt, he wanted the one next door)-I hit him with a nice louisville slugger that I kept next to my bed-the next day I went out and bought a .357 magnum revolver, which I still have. I have a CC permit and I carry it when I am in some parts of town. If you expect the police to protect you, you are living in a fools world. The police are there to protect society, not an individual. They will not protect you if you believe that someone is out to kill you. They will not protect women if someone violates a court PPO. Sorry, but it is the truth. We live in a very dangerous society where there are about 130 million guns. No matter what laws are passed, crooks can still get guns without a problem. 30 years ago I could get hold of a handgun in NYC in about 3 hours dispite their being illegal. I’ll bet I could do the same today.

Comment from timr
Time: August 26, 2008, 11:33 am

and so it begins
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/08/25/obama-to-doj-block-terrorist-ad/

Comment from Josh Hammond
Time: August 26, 2008, 12:23 pm

Good catch, timr. The good news is that Obama is on the case, and taking it to the Department of Justice is a good move, unproductive given the injustices of that department, but a smart talking point.