Archive for September 28th, 2005


Clueless Kos

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 11:31 - Category: Unfiled ;

From DailyKos, who appears to not even comprehend there is a thriving antiwar movement.

Ultimately I was
agnostic over the march this past weekend because I can appreciate that
people want to gather to fight for the cause, I appreciate that they
want to feel like they’re doing something.

Golly, how thoughtful of you. Or was that condescending? Watching
DailyKos steadily morph into a pliant fund raising tool for the
Democratic Party has been instructive indeed. Sometimes there’s still
genuine outrage, but never ever is there actual criticism of the
system, or of a Democratic Party that moves in lockstep with the
Republicans on the war.

My
question, then, becomes whether the money and effort people expended
getting to DC to march might’ve been better spent in other forms of
activism — letters to the editor, contributions to anti-war
candidates, politicians, and organizations, calls and letters to their
elected officials, creating anti-war media (e.g. Flash animations,
documentaries), and so on.

How lame. Well, that always has been the role of the Democratic Party anyway; to defuse,
subvert, and co-opt genuine protest. As if an antiwar letter to a
Congressmember will get any real response. Sue did that for years on a number of issues including the war and
never got anything back but a form letter that was usually off topic.
And I’m not aware there are any anti-war politicians in the first place.

As for “creating anti-war media”, well, there’s hundreds if not
thousands of such media out there now. But you would have to actually be
active in opposing the war to know that. Like I said, clueless.


I’ve been critical of peace protests in the past, and I’ve definitely got nothing good to say about ANSWER.

How unsurprising. ANSWER is
anti-imperialist, a view that calls into question the bedrock
foundations of both parties - and of Democratic Party feeder
organizations like DailyKos and MoveOn, who (deliberately or otherwise) function to defuse and
channel genuine activism into the Democratic Party where it will be
neutralized.

This isn’t a Republican vs. Democrat thing. Both parties
currently support the imperialist wars of BushCo almost without exception.
It’s imperialism that is the root cause of these wars, not the policies
of one party.

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Do that funky perp walk, white boy

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 09:59 - Category: Unfiled ;


DeLay indicted in campaign finance probe

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Lynndie’s slap on the wrist

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 09:43 - Category: Unfiled ;

Iraqis furious at ‘lenient’ Abu Ghraib abuse sentence

Her sentence is almost as noxious as Brownie blaming Louisiana for his
mismanagement of FEMA. Both demonstrate sleazy evasion of
responsibility and contempt for public opinion.

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The 13 ‘most corrupt’ in Congress

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 09:35 - Category: Unfiled ;

Right here

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Harbinger

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 09:15 - Category: Unfiled ;

Gas prices blamed for late credit card payments

The percentage of
credit card payments that were past due shot up to a record high in the
second quarter as surging gasoline prices strained budgets and made it
difficult for some people to pay their bills.

And these are the second quarter numbers, from April-June. That percentage is unquestionably much higher now.

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Quote of the Day.

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 09:07 - Category: Unfiled ;


From Lefti on the News.

“There
is some schedule showing what you (need) to do to get Iraqis standing
up and defending themselves which is now suddenly beginning to happen,
so there are some signs of progress. The only way we’re going to be
successful there and ultimately, success is going to have to be
somewhat redefined  is to create sufficient stability to get the
troops home.”

- George Bush? No, John Kerry, doing his best George Bush imitation

Third party, anyone? Or is remaining delusional about the prospects for reforming totally reconstructing the Democratic Party still your thing?

Indeed, the apparent great hope of the Dems, Hillary Clinton, is
unwaveringly supportive of the war. For liberal/progressive sites like
DailyKos to think she, or any other mainstream Democratic candidate,
will somehow morph into a peacenik if president and end the war is -
well - delusional.

BushCo heard us on Sept. 24, they got the message loud and clear. The
people want the war to end. Antiwar sentiment is now majority
sentiment. That our elected leaders in both parties continue to ignore
this simply shows how the rulers must have their war at all costs
because it suits their interests and lines their pockets.

But the people stopped the Vietnam War, and we’ll stop this one too.

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Rita causes record damage to oil rigs

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 00:06 - Category: Unfiled ;

Hurricane Rita has caused more damage to oil rigs than any other storm
in history and will force companies to delay drilling for oil in the US
and as far away as the Middle East, initial damage assessments show.



High oil prices and the desperate
search for new oil supplies needed to meet rampant demand from the US
and China have made rigs difficult to find and expensive to hire. Rigs
cost $90m-$550m to construct, depending on how sophisticated the
structure and how deep the water in which it will drill. A rig ordered
today is unlikely to be ready before 2008 or 2009, analysts said.

But after these two hurricanes, there are sharply fewer rigs available.
Plus much of the Gulf workforce will be working on clean-up and repair,
not on producing oil. Well, those workers who can be located and who
still have homes to return to, that is - after they get the electricity
turned on, the roads repaired, and the water drinkable.

So why are gas prices dropping a bit after Rita?

It might be because Big Money is seriously short oil futures and
options. They need time to unload these shorts. Thus they need the
price to stay down for a bit.

Here’s how it works. In futures and options you can sell something you
don’t own in expectation of a price drop. This is called going short.
Then, after the price drop, you buy it back cheaper and pocket the
profit. However, if the price rises, you could be screwed. If Big Money
is seriously short oil, then they will want to keep prices down until
they they buy back, or close, their shorts.

None of that had
anything to do with damage assessments from two major hurricanes which
haven’t really even begun yet. As one astute observer noted, “A couple
of months ago if there was one small refinery fire, crude oil futures
went up $2 a barrel. We have two major hurricanes taking all refineries
offline and oil prices fall. What’s up with that?”

Market manipulation is up. That’s what’s up. And I suspect the move is
now on around the world to suck as much last minute “sucker” cash into
play as possible before pulling the plug this winter.

AKA predatory capitalism.

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Underestimating the threat of global warming

Bob Morris @ Sep 28th 2005 00:04 - Category: Unfiled ;

A record loss of sea ice
in the Arctic this summer has convinced scientists that the northern
hemisphere may have crossed a critical threshold beyond which the
climate may never recover.

Scientists fear that the Arctic has now entered an irreversible phase
of warming which will accelerate the loss of the polar sea ice which
has helped to keep the climate stable for thousands of years.

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