Henry Payne in the Detroit News.
Now that the GOP and Democrats have recommitted government to intervening in fuel markets, price hikes will become more likely. Republicans have strayed from free-market principles and created a mother of all fuel mandates that is draining their popularity and credibility.
In short, if you’re upset over high gas prices, don’t look at Big Oil — look at Big Government.
Read the full article here.
MORE: Denny Pelosi.
Dear Liberal Democrats – If we went to war solely for oil, why do we have a gas crisis?
Dear Sen. Alan Specter – Please explain how your “windfall profits tax” proposal will prevent a decrease in supply and a return of gas lines ala the 1970’s? Oh, and one other thing. Who decides what a “windfall profit” is?
Dear Sen. Chuck Schumer – You’re suggesting the government should break up the big oil companies because “enough is enough”. Please explain how punishing companies whose profits are tied to supply and demand remains consistent with this country’s history of promoting good ‘ol American capitalism and the principals of economics 101?
CNN is reporting that Tony Snow will (likely) be the next press secretary for the Bush White House.
Confused by the seemingly random fluctuation in gasoline prices? Who’s making the all the money when you pay over $3 per gallon? Before you go screaming at the gas station owner, or curse the management at EXXON, read this article, or just look at this graphic:
How about a 120 day moratorium on the collection of gas taxes? That would bring the price of gas down approximately $.35 to $.40 cents depending on where you live. Who has the guts? Anyone?
When it comes to the politics of gas, a little fuel tax relief sounds like a good reelection strategy, especially in 2006.
How else can this be explained?
Three explosions rocked Egypt’s Sinai resort town of Dahab on Monday night, leaving at least 21 people dead and 62 wounded.
One blast hit a hotel, a second a restaurant and the third explosion rocked a supermarket in the resort town’s tourist area about 7:15 p.m. local time (1715 GMT). Egyptian authorities said the blasts were likely not caused by suicide bombers but rather bombs that had been planted.
Southern Sinai Gov. Maj. Gen. Mohammed Hani put the death toll at 21, including 18 Egyptians. He said 62 people were wounded. Police officials and doctors said the death toll was 22 and that more than 150 people were wounded. It was not immediately possible to account for the difference.
Today Dahab, tomorrow Los Angeles? Las Vegas? Chicago? Think it can’t happen here again? Think 9/11 was a one time thing? Think again. Wake up.
Cynthia McKinney, that’s who.
Michelle Malkin along with a band of bloggers have created “Hot Air”, a conservative Internet broadcast network built to bring more balance to the videoblogging world. Michelle’s first episode can be found here.
So far, so good, but let’s not kid ourselves. Building this kind of thing takes a HUGE amount of time, a good amount of money and a lot of cooperation. Let’s hope Michelle and the gang have the will to continue to build this alternative media source into something really big.
Wanna know what the Democrats plan is for taking over Washington? In a comment posted in response to this story, ‘Society Dweller’ says it best.
Their plan is a 6 point program for warming up cold pizza. Same-o same-o. The War in Iraq is wrong. Bush lies. Raise taxes on the rich. Higher minimum wages. Free healthcare for everyone and all illegals can stay and bring their entire families to America. That’s their plan to retake the government. Should work.
And in the current political climate, it probably will.
Look who peeked out of the hole today…
Parts of an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired Sunday on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government and referred to a “crusader-Zionist war” against Islam.
Al-Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, said the new tape is from bin Laden. CNN could not immediately confirm the tape’s authenticity, but analysts said the voice sounds like bin Laden’s and the language is consistent with his manner of speaking on previous tapes.
A U.S. intelligence official said technical analysis of the tape is under way.
Well, what do we make of this? I suppose we could sit back, yawn, and toss this bin Laden appearance on the heap of the other tapes received post 9/11. Or, we could react to this as yet another reminder that terrorism remains real. It’s still close. Another terrorist plot could be (and likely is) just around the corner.
You know what scares me the most? It’s not Osama bin Laden. It’s the complacency of the American people.
New Orleans residents vote for mayor tomorrow. There are twenty-three candidates on the ballot. Will Ray Nagin survive?
The election, which includes seven City Council seats and other local offices, was originally scheduled to take place Feb. 4 but was postponed because of the damage and dislocation caused by Katrina.
Of the city’s 297,000 registered voters, about 20,000 cast ballots early by mail or fax or at satellite voting stations set up around the state.
Some voters are expected to drive in from far-flung cities on Saturday. Several hundred planned to arrive from Atlanta on buses provided by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s former church, Ebenezer Baptist Church.
The turnout is being closely watched by civil rights groups, which have questioned whether the election in a city that was once two-thirds black will be fair with so many black voters scattered around the country.
Less than half the city’s pre-Katrina population of nearly half a million has returned. As a result, candidates have had to travel to cities like Atlanta and Houston, where many evacuees live, to get their message across.
The polls have offered little guidance because they account only for residents with home phones in New Orleans — a minority of potential voters. But most observers believe Nagin, who is black, will advance to the runoff against Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu or executive Ron Forman. Both challengers are white.
Setting aside the campaign strategies and the obvious racial overtones, one thing is crystal clear. The next mayor will face a monumental job – the rebuilding of a destroyed city.
Four-fifths of the city was flooded, and large parts of New Orleans are still woeful expanses of ruined homes and rusting cars. Rebuilding plans — and the federal money to pay for them — are still being debated. Nearly all the public schools remain closed, and the tourism business, long the economy’s anchor, has drawn few conventions.
So, the winner actually won’t win anything. The job ahead of the individual won’t be easy at all. Wimps need not apply.
This election is likely to be the first mayoral race watched nationwide.
UPDATE: Runoff
