democracyforcalifornia.com

Paris Hilton's Energy Plan

Paris Hilton responds to John McCain's Obama attack ad with one of her own.

Paris Hilton coming back at MCain's ad with a non-partisan energy plan is a great piece of political satire.

I have to say, she pulled this one off with flair.

Open Thread

It's all yours.

What's on your mind?

Oil prices higher after Iran nuclear talks stall

Leave it to that Neanderthal in the White House to blow what could be the last chance to quiet the futures market and stabilize the economy before oil prices send it into free fall.

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Oil prices were higher in Asian trade Monday after weekend talks in Geneva aimed at convincing Iran to halt its nuclear programme made little progress, dealers said.

Washington's decision to send Under Secretary of State William Burns to the talks marked a major US policy shift, which has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980.

Analysts have said the shift was one of the factors that helped to explain a plunge in oil prices last week.
AFP

How do you convince someone to halt what they claim not to be doing?

Iran insists their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. They've argued all along that it is their legal right, authorized by its membership as a non-nuclear weapon state in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees its members the right "to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." What evidence is there to prove they are doing otherwise?

All we have are accusations from Israel and the hearsay of some exiled Iranian groups. Haven't we seen this movie before?

Iran UN envoy: Exiled group feeding U.S. lies on weapons plan

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said that an Iranian opposition group is feeding fabricated evidence to Washington that purports to show the Tehran government tried to produce nuclear weapons. - Haaretz

We all remember when Iraqi expats, "Curveball" and Chalabi, peddled those lies about Saddam's non-existent WMD.

Same story, different actors.

Skyrocketing Oil Prices Force Bush to Negotiate with Iran

"There's been a lot of talk about what the administration would have to do to lower oil prices. Making a peace overture to Iran is doing the job.'' - John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York.

Crude oil fell for a fourth day, capping the biggest weekly decline in more than three years, as the Bush administration's decision to participate in nuclear talks with Iran eased concern of a possible military conflict.

Prices tumbled 11% this week on reduced tension between the US and Iran, which holds the world's second- largest oil reserves. A slowing global economy, faltering US fuel demand and rising supplies helped push futures to their biggest weekly dollar decline ever.

``There's been a significant lessening of tensions with Iran in recent days,'' said John Kilduff, vice president of risk management at MF Global Ltd. in New York. ``A feared imminent attack on Iranian nuclear facilities helped push prices to records. The meeting in Geneva is a significant step.'' - [LINK}

And from the AP (Oops, the link has mysteriously disappeared):

Analysts said that news the United States' direct involvement in talks with Iran about its nuclear activities was helping to dilute some of the pressure from geopolitical factors which had been reinforcing the energy market's bullish sentiment.

"We are for now a bit far away from the atmosphere of imminent confrontation that was fueling the market fire a few weeks ago," said analyst Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix in Switzerland.

U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns will attend talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday and meet with a top nuclear negotiator from Iran, a sea change from Washington's policy which until now had avoided direct contacts with Iran.

Iran’s recent missile tests sent a clear message and removed all doubt that an attack by either the United States or Israel would have disastrous consequences.

Bush originally tried to shrug off the Iranian missile tests, siting it as as yet another example of Tehran's rogue behavior in an attempt to suppress the fact that it was relentless saber-rattling by the U.S. and Israel's war games that finally provoked Iran to respond with a show of force). But resulting oil spikes and its effects on the U.S. economy couldn't be shrugged off for long. Like an aching tooth, they scream for attention. The meteoric rise of crude oil prices on the commodities exchange and its effect on the financial markets finally forced the administration to sit up and listen to the clear and resounding message oil prices were sending: "IT'S THE WAR, STUPID!"

Like money, oil talks, and when it does the world is obliged to listen. With each and every word threatening an attack on Iran, oil prices spiked. As much as the American media has tried to overlook the fact that an unmistakable pattern was developing, making it clear that war and threats of war were the prime movers in the oil market, the truth has finally seeped through the cracks.

In early June, Israel's Deputy Prime Minister stated that an attack on Iran was unavoidable. That same day, oil prices made a historic rise of $10 a barrel. Days later, when the New York Times reported Israel had conducted war games over Iraq in preparation for a possible air strike against Iran, oil prices soared another $5 dollars. These prices were rattling the equities markets. With the Dow plummeting and the value of the dollar sinking, something had to be done to bring down these prices in order to avert an economic collapse. But what could anyone do? Nobody seemed to have the answer. While Congress dithered with numerous, pointless hearings and finger pointing at Big Oil and "evil" speculators, Bush, who must surely have been shaking in his boots with public anger rising and the financial markets roiling, got a real kick in the pants from the oil market. Oil prices were not only forcing the nation to change its driving habits, they were also forcing Bush to change his warmongering attitudes.

The decision to hold talks with Iran this weekend in Geneva, represents a startling reversal from the Bush policy against talking to "our enemies." Only last May, in his speech to the Knesset in Israel, Bush suggested that statements from Democrats –including Barack Obama – about talking to America's enemies were akin to appeasement of Hitler.

George W. Bush is now eating his words. Talking with one's "enemies" is proving to be the wiser course, as Barack Obama has repeatedly stated, for now we see that war, threats of war, and a rigid policy of bullying one's enemies into submission can have grave consequences. No one should be surprised that the war that was "fought over there so that we don't have to fight it here" is coming to our shores, striking at our economy. The blowback effect is as devastating as any terrorist attack. It's almost mythical that the war for "cheap oil" would have the reverse effect. Talk about unintended consequences!

Let this be a lesson to the warmongers and, hopefully, the start in a new and more sensible direction for our foreign policies.

OBAMA NOW MAKING U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

.
DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE DICTATES EVERY MOVE PENTAGON, STATE, WHITE HOUSE MAKE

DESPERATE REPUBLICANS COPY DEMOCRATS' PLATFORM

MSNBC
"Obama the new Bush?"

McCain Working On Tan, Cindy's Liquor Distribution Company Stocking More Malt Liquor

The Repukelickins are now officially running against themselves. A McCain aide recently stated that "We don't need ANOTHER President who can't admit when he's wrong." Of course, McCain still supports everything Dubya has ever done, including draft-dodging, desertion in time of war, snorting cocaine, driving drunk and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children for absolutely no reason.

What Obama has refused to admit, according to the McCain aide, is that Bush was right. Get it? Now that they are running a millionaire "c*nt" beer-distributer's house-husband for President, it makes sense for the Repukes to use pretzel logic. Next: The Pickled Egg Strategem.

By November, McCain will be so twisted up, he won't be able to fart without blowing his nose. Dubya will probly be wearing full minstrel make-up, riding his horse backwards, and commanding the troops to "Backward, HARCH!" I guess we might as well elect Obama. He's doing a much better impersonation of a Democrat. So far.

(Links after the jump.)
.

THE PRICE OF TEA IN CHINA, THE PRICE OF GAS IN IOWA

.
WHAT'S THAT GOT TO DO WITH MCBUSH POLICY ON ISRAEL, IRAN, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN?

DUBYA DETERMINED TO HIT $200/BBL, $6/GAL BEFORE HE GOES

It's A Family Thing: He Promised His Daddy & His Friends

What rational reason could the United States have for attacking Iran, at this point?

Or Iraq, in the first place?

Let's look at the results: Much higher oil prices. Much less security in America, the Middle East, and around the world. A rising police State. A cowering, compliant, corporatist Congress. Much higher military budgets. Much larger deficits. A large permanent American military presence in the oil fields. Strategic positioning between Israel and her enemies. A more and more belligerent Israel. Greater tensions in the Middle East. A general shift toward anti-Islamic and anti-Arab sentiments and policies in the U.S. A loss of respect for and belief in American world leadership. A shift away from the U.S. Dollar in international business and in financial markets. More and more public debt required to support the war effort and the sinking dollar. A still further sinking dollar. Multiple crises in business and finance in the U.S. and abroad. Consumer confidence shattered. Unemployment and inflation rising dramatically. Much higher gasoline prices. The rich are up and the rest are down. Public outcry. Weak-kneed politicians. More oil drilling. More corporate control.

Mission accomplished.

And it only cost a few thousand American lives, and an unknown number of "Other" lives, but they don't patronize our gas stations, so, no great loss.

So, if we have to threaten, provoke or start another war in the oil fields to reach Bushco's price point, it's just business as usual. Nothing personal. And if the Iranians cooperate by rattling their own sabers, or scimitars, they get more money for their oil too. The question is, between the bloodthirsty ayatollahs and the money-hungry oil sheiks, or whatever they call them in Iran, are there any sane people in charge over there? Because it doesn't seem like there are any back in Texas, home of Big Oil and really Bad Presidents.

[Cross-posted on blog me no blogs.]

(continued)
.

NOVEMBER IN JULY: REPUBLICANS START ELECTION FRAUD EARLY

.
MCCAIN BRINGS SLIGHT-OF-HAND SHOW TO CANADA, MEXICO, COLUMBIA

MAGICALLY, HOSTAGES ARE FREED WHEN JOHN SHOWS UP

YOU TUBE
"Video of the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt"

Columbian President Uribe Says "Coincidence"

For no apparent reason, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain shows up in the drug and terror infested nation of Columbia, one of Bushco's last remaining right-wing friends in the world, and BINGO: U.S. corporate mercenary soldiers and one Franco-Columbian celebrity hostage are released, under bizarre circumstances.

The Columbians say they sent their brave commando's to some drama academy to learn the craft of acting well enough to fool the "narco-terroristas" into thinking they were comrades. No, really! Method acting, or classical? Broadway or Stratford-upon-Avon? "Bite the onion" or "smell the fart"? It doesn't say.

The Columbian commando's then used their "acting skills" to convince the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) guys that the commando's' Columbian government helicopter was one of the rebels', although they don't have any, presumably. Or maybe it was a rental. ¿Quién sabe? No biggie. The FARC gunmen didn't seem to care. Presumably because the Columbian government says the rebels have a "medieval communications system," so they never knew what hit them until the hostage rescue was over. Mm-hm.

In case you don't believe their story, the Columbian actor/ commando's videotaped the whole thing. Standard procedure in a dangerous commando operation: Take home-movies. The last such effort ended with the slaughter of the hostages and the commando's, so, of course, you'd want a keepsake. (DVD's will be sent to every member of the Academy, and the Golden Globes voters.)

In the video, the allegedly terrified, under-nourished, maltreated hostages are shown laughing, smiling and complaining before they ever knew they were about to be rescued and not executed. They look pretty good, too, like they'd had a month off from hostaging. And their captors seem cool with all that's going on. As if they'd seen the script. And been payed to play their roles.

That's what a Swiss source claims: The U.S. Government, which NEVER negotiates with terrorists, paid the FARC $20 million to let their hostages go after many years, just when candidate McCain happened to breeze into town for no apparent reason. (Unless McCain wanted to remind us that most of his staff are former, current or future lobbyists for icky people and foreign governments looking to screw American workers, like, say Uribe or his government.)

Uribe's people say, Hey, if we were going to do a deal with FARC, we would NEVER tell the U.S., cuz they don't want to know. So, since McCain obviously knew, then it must have been the U.S. that did the deal. The acting thing is what really gave it away. They prob'ly got the commando's from an ad in Variety. I bet they didn't even use SAG/ Equity professionals, those right-wing union-busting bastards!

This doesn't sound like the Republicans at all, does it? Hey, anybody wanna fly a birthday cake and a Bible to the Ayatollah? You know, just to get him in the mood to accept U.S. arms in exchange for hostages? Nah, never happen... October surprise, anyone? Wonder where McCain will be around Halloween? Trick-or-treating in Pakistan?

More on America's secret private wars after the jump: There are still citizen-soldiers after all, and they're for sale or rent. Your tax dollars, er, not at work, really...

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: THE SWAMP
"McCain and the Colombian hostage rescue"

NARCO NEWS BULLETIN
"Uribe’s Attack on Obama"

THE TIMES OF LONDON
"Brilliant or a sham? Questions asked over Ingrid Betancourt rescue"

BLOOMBERG NEWS
"`Che' Shirts, Fake Rebels, Acting Class Helped Free Betancourt "

LA TIMES
"Inside the brazen hostage rescue in Colombia"

NY TIMES
"Bold Colombia Rescue Built on Rebel Group’s Disarray"
.

JUDGES CHOP OFF OWN RIGHT HAND

.
SUPREME COURT OUTLAWS "EXCESSIVE" PUNITIVE DAMAGES

LIABILITY NOW LIMITED TO "ACTUAL DAMAGES"

Video Credit Google.com

The "Justices" Have Now Cut Off Their Own Ability To Punish Bad Corporate Behavior

Overstuffed corporate pigs and sociopathic corporations everywhere breathed a polluted sigh of relief this week as the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) handed U.S. oil-giant Exxon $5 billion as a reward for the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. Lower Court judges had "erroneously" placed the environment, the economy, and public health & safety in Alaska ahead of the oil company's profits by assessing Exxon $5.5 billion in compensatory and punitive damages for the negligent, careless and entirely avoidable environmental disaster. Now 32,000 Alaskans whose lives & livelihoods were ruined by the world's largest oil company will split only the $0.5 billion left after SCOTUS's gift to their corporate masters.

Beaches in Valdez are still fouled by oil spilled from the supertanker twenty years ago. The local herring fishery has never recovered, smashing the local economy and bringing endless pain and suffering to thousands of Alaskans. What little is left of the fisheries is now being decimated by skyrocketing oil & gas prices, bringing Exxon well over a billion dollars in profits every day. But that is all "irrelevant" to the corporate lawyers who have now gained control of your last bastion of Justice in America, SCOTUS, thanks to the corporatist Republican Party.

The $5,000,000,000 is equal to two days' profits for Exxon as reported by the company in FEB 2008, before the huge run-up in prices this Spring. Alaskans who have been waiting almost twenty years for relief, will each receive $15,000 or less. For most of the victims, this covers almost none of the actual damage they have suffered, economically and environmentally.

Despite all the conclusive evidence which the Court itself included in its' own decision proving that punitive damage awards have not been excessive in the vast majority of cases, the Court has now established a broad precedent severely limiting victims' rights in favor of corporate profits in every single case that will ever be brought against any business at any level anywhere in these United States. If some lower Court defies SCOTUS, the Corp's now know that they can stretch their appeals out for decades, and then get a free pass from SCOTUS, just like Exxon. Additionally, corporations can now predict exactly how much environmental, economic and other damages will cost them, and simply add it to their prices. In effect, we will all pay for future oil spills out of our own pockets. The same now goes for nuclear, chemical and biological disasters, including the current widespread negligent food-poisonings. There is no longer any judicial deterrent to corporate crime. The law will now punish only those without money or corporate status. A two-tier system of "justice" is officially in effect.

The Wild-West judicial activists on the bench have done what so-called conservatives promise never to do when they are up for nomination to SCOTUS: Usurp the role of Congress in writing, or deciding not to write new laws. (Et stare decisis be damned.) Congress, itself under corporate control, will likely do nothing to protect its' own powers, even after the Exxon outrage. The people have no recourse at all. The people have no one to blame but themselves, for allowing a corporate takeover of their formerly democratic government. The people, that's you.

The question is, will the American people now see what has happened to their democracy, and take the risks and pay the costs of regaining control of their own lives? Or will they settle down into self-satisfied sheepdom, and accept their role as landless peasants in a corporate medieval State, where they have no say, and no rights at all? SCOTUS, POTUS and Big Awl are betting "YES" on Prop 2!

Of course, YOU, the people, have a very special opportunity to vote against the Republican-sponsored corporate takeover of the United States of America: Vote. Become active in your local Democratic Party Organization, and demand that President Obama purge all corporate influences in the Party and the Government.

Unless you'd rather RESET at 1065 AD.

[Links & quotes after the jump]
.

"Bomb, Bomb, Bomb... Drill, Drill, Drill..."

The Santa Barbara Oil Spill of 1969


Photo credit: Los Angeles Times

On Jan. 28, 1969, a "blowout" erupted below a Unocal Corp. drilling platform about 5 miles off the Santa Barbara coastline, causing the worst oil spill in the nation's history. More than 3 million gallons of crude oil spewed from drilling-induced cracks in the channel floor. For weeks national attention was focused on the spill's disturbing, dramatic images. Oil-soaked birds, unable to fly, slowly dying on the land. Waves so thick with crude oil that they broke on shore with an eerie silence. Thirty miles of sandy beaches coated with thick sludge. Hundreds of miles of ocean covered with an oily black sheen. But the spills impact went far beyond the fouled beaches. The disaster is considered to be a major factor in the birth of the modern-day environmental movement.

Santa Barbara's catastrophe sparked a local environmental movement that fused the youthful and militant energies of student activists with the money, connections, and indignation of well-established blue-bloods. Together these forces were directly responsible for founding the Community Environmental Council, a major think-tank; starting numerous grass-roots organizations like GOO, the January 28th Committee, and later the Environmental Defense Center; and opening UCSB's Environmental Studies program, the first of its kind in the nation. These forces played a key role in the victory of the statewide initiative that created the California Coastal Commission and contributed to the State Land's Commission decision to ban oil drilling in state waters for 16 years. Nationally, they aided President Richard Nixon in his push to reduce special tax breaks enjoyed by the oil industry and, most important, the forces played a major role in Nixon's decision to sign the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) on January 1, 1970. The law stipulates that the environmental consequences of federal projects be considered before the appropriate federal permits are issued, requires that public hearings be held, and that the public be given access information previously viewed as the property of the developer. The state of California passed a similar law, known as the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).... [LINK]

On his visit to Santa Barbara, the location of the greatest oil spill in the nation's history, John McCain, who seems to have a penchant for offering monosyllabic solutions to complex problems (remember when he sang, "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran"), deigned to call for offshore drilling on the California coastline as a solution to higher gas prices.

John McCain and George Bush have apparently joined forces. Now Bush is demanding that Congress lift the moratorium on drilling in the next two weeks. "If Congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action," he said, "they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act."

"Bomb, bomb, bomb..." and "drill, drill, drill..." are not the solution. It will take more enlightened problem solving by more sophisticated leaders to bring down gas prices. A change in our foreign policy and an end to saber-rattling against Iran would be a good start.

Bush wants to use the "gas scare" to pressure Congress to absolve him of responsibility for creating this fiasco by creating yet another deflection from the real causes for higher oil and gas prices. We need to let them know we're not falling for it. We won't be bamboozled.

Not this time.

Oye vey! We are screwed!

More doom and gloom from Kunstler at Clusterfuck Nation

What makes Kunstler's "peak oil" predictions so unsettling is that so many of them are coming true.

Read, if you dare.

The Price of Oil and Our Foreign Policy

The ever astute columnist, Rosa Brooks, connects the dots.

What's really missing in the public debate about American foreign policy?

I don't know if I'm breaking rules of etiquette by posting comments from another blog, but I thought this one, by Phillip, is so thoughtful and conveys such potent ideas that it deserves a wider reading. Some rules just need to be broken.

Posted by: Phillip | March 30, 2008 at 12:08 PM

What's really missing in the public debate about American foreign policy? I believe it's the absence of honesty, a reluctance to level with the American people regarding the direct consequences of our own behavior. On any given day, you can find articles castigating the Bush administration, the foreign policy elite, or liberal academics, but you won't find anyone willing to talk directly to the American people about their own responsibility, even culpability, in shaping our hypocritical foreign policy and irresponsible domestic policies.