The Online Coalition :: Letter to the FEC

I suggest you sign it. The only thing I don't like is where we "request" that unpaid political speech be exempted from campaign finance regulation. I think we should demand it.

Hanoi Lame

Jane Fonda to get hip replacement surgery. Procedure to be performed in Los Angeles, orthopedic docs in Pyongyang booked solid.

Consumer Confidence Jumps Sharply in March

Good news, economically speaking.

Consumer confidence, which had plunged sharply in February, jumped by the largest amount in seven months in early March as Americans were heartened by a big surge in hiring.

The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index rose to 84.2 in early March, a gain of 6.4 percent from a February reading of 79.1. It was the largest one-month gain since a 13.9 percent rise last August.

The March rebound came from stronger confidence about current economic conditions, job prospects and personal finances. The survey was taken the first three days of this week, following the news last Friday that the economy created 262,000 jobs last month, the best showing in four months.

Yahoo! News - Consumer Confidence Jumps Sharply in March

The Italian Job

The story keeps changing. Hoo doggie.

Come back, liberals!

The latest from Ann Coulter:

Liberals have been completely intellectually vanquished. Actually, they lost the war of ideas long ago. It's just that now their defeat is so obvious, even they've noticed. As new DNC Chairman Howard Dean might say, it's all over but the screaming.

Oy!

Ann Coulter: Come back, liberals!

Paying for Leftist legislation

By now, you should all know that anytime a Leftist gets a piece of legislation passed, you're going to take the hit right on the wallet (or a nearby area, if you know what I mean).

I saw an article in the paper today about how truckers are complaining about the high price of disel fuel. And that got me to thinking, and from that to getting kinda pissed. Here's the information you can use when some leftist asshat starts whining about the "greedy oil barons".

#1) Oil is a commodity. That means that it's bought and sold pretty much at auction. If people are willing to pay $50 a barrel for crude oil, then that's what they're going to pay. If demand goes up and people are willing to pay $100 a barrel for crude, then that's what they'll pay. Ask anyone who trades commodities. It's nothing but a huge, nationwide or even international auction, and price is set by demand.

#2) There hasn't been any new oil refineries built in this country for two decades. Not a one. Meanwhile, demand for gas and oil has gone up. Do the math.

#3) Thanks to idiotic rules and laws that crop up every year, these refineries have to produce a multitude of blends of oil products. The same refineries that produce gasoline also produce kerosene, disel, and heating oil. Since we have the same number of refineries that we've had since 1980, and we're forcing them to do more, they're already operating at top gear. They're close to the breaking point, if not already there.

These are the basic facts. Those with more knowledge in these matters can expound upon them if they wish, but those three pieces of information are all you really need to know. With these three facts in mind, let's use some logic.

We cannot increase our production of any fuel without cutting production of a different fuel. Right now refineries are still pumping out heating oil for the East Coast, while demand for gas and disel is increasing on the West Coast. Refineries cannot produce different kinds of fuel at the same time, which means that one demand is going to be unfullfilled. Without building more refineries this condition will not change, which means that demand will drive the price of oil products up even higher. I expect gas prices to hit $3 a gallon in the next few years, because people still use gas without allowing any new refineries to be built in their area. The gas has got to come from somewhere, folks.

Adding to the problem is the fact that due to legislation in different urban areas, refineries now have to produce hundreds of different blends of gas. The gas that is sold in Seattle is not the same blend as the one that's sold in Spokane, which is different than the one sold in Renton, ect., ect., ect. Since refineries are already operating at top gear, this means that refineries have to stop production in order to refit the operations to produce a different blend. Stopping production = drop in supply. Adam Smith will not be denied. Low supply + high demand = pay through the nose at the gas pump.

What does all of this adding up to? Don't expect gas prices to drop anytime soon. I stated a while ago that gas prices were going to stay high, and I'm sticking with that. In fact, I think they'll continue rising in the next few years until someone builds more refineries, because demand isn't going down while supply remains, in effect, static.

Now pardon me, I need to go beat a few hippies. See y'all later.

The Car

Here are pictures of the car the Italian "hostage" journalist was riding in when panicky or vicious American troops open fire on it, allegedly targeting her for her anti-war stance.

Either this woman is full of shit or the Army better beef up its firearms training, because I have seen worse damage in pictures at Analog Kid's blog after he and Dave and Mollbot hit the range.

Mark These Words

Here we find excerpts from an article in Le Monde that recognizes the pro-democracy surge in the Middle East and manages to (begrudgingly, no doubt) toss some credit to President Bush.

Here's where the word marking comes in.

Talk to a Leftist lately about Ronald Reagan and the Cold War? Me neither.

But when I used to do so, I found that by the mid-Nineties they had found themselves a new mantra:

"The Soviet Union was already collapsing. Gorbachev saw this and made the only decision he could. Reagan maybe sped things up a little bit, at most. But the Soviet Union would have collapsed anyway."

Maybe you've heard that one, too.

This is what is next for President Bush and the Middle East.

Even the blindest Lefty can see what is happening. Some moonbats will say the freedom of democracy is just the freedom to be ruled by Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and ChevronTexaco. But those toward the center from the moonbats will need something new -- some way to deny President Bush any credit whatsoever for reforms in Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

What will it be? What will the mantra be???

The mantra will be that the regimes of the Middle East were "already collapsing". It'll be about modernization, Internet, media, globalization, it'll be about any. other. reason. Leftists can find to explain why oppressed people rise up to shed their shackles. Bush was just along for the ride.

Make a note of it.

Danny Glover can kiss my ass

So can any mouth-breathing leftist who drones on about how great Cuba is. Piss off, screw you, blow me, and go suck on a shotgun barrel.

Why, you ask?

This is why.

There was, at the time of this, the policy of the Clinton administration to deny access to the US Naval base by refugees. One day, while I was serving as part of a reactionary force, a group of refugees were spotted heading towards the base. As the reactionary force, it was our duty to react to whatever came up. We did so in this case as well.

We deployed in the vicinity of the fenceline. We met the refugees as they approached, and with weapns in hand, denied them entry to the base. They had managed to traverse a kilometer deep minefield covered by towers with machine guns to get to this point. They had left everything they had ever known in order to get out of there. And we stopped them. We had orders. We had our orders, so we followed them. After enough shouting and threatening, the refugees eventualy gave up and headed back. Back into Cuba. While I was sweating my balls off under the hot sun, these refugees made a mistake. They had gotten through the minefield the first time, but they had not followed in their own footsteps going back. While I was thinking to myself how I wish these people would hurry up and go back so that I could head back to someplace with air-conditioning, one of them stepped on a landmine.

That explosion touched my world.

Then, I witnessed the worst thing I ever saw in my life.

As the dust cloud wafted away from those refugees, nobody ran. Nobody screamed. Nobody said anything.

They just laid down to die in the middle of a minefield that was the sun's anvil.

Think of how badly you would not want to die like that. Think about that real hard. Think about slowly dying of exposure in a minefield. Think about what would make you risk such an outcome. Think about it real hard, and then remember that as bad as that was, it was better than going back.

Despair was once described to me by a college english professor as "the death throes of hope." That day in the minefield was despair incarnate, and it was the worst thing I have ever seen with mine own eyes.

Make a fucking documentary of that.

How many of these damn leftists giving Fidel Castro a metaphorical blowjob ever wonder why people are willing to risk death by swimming 90 shark-infested miles to get to the USA? I wonder if Danny Glover ever swam with sharks? I wonder if he ever risked his life to do anything?

I wonder if Jimmy Cah-tah ever stopped to wonder why Cubans would rather die than stay in Cuba? I wonder if any of those damn leftist idiots and drones ever wonder why people would risk everything they hold precious in order to get off of that island?

Probably not. If they actually did any thinking, they wouldn't be Leftists, would they?

Found via Cold Fury.

Linky Love!

Time to spread some love around through the blogosphere! (Not like that, you pervert! Get that thought out of your head! I'm married!)

DANEgerus has a whole host of links that you should peruse when you can, including China's latest threats of war against Taiwan, more news on Hezbollah in Syria, and an interesting bit of history on the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac).

Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters has three different posts on John McCain. Mr. Clean?, Screaming Hypocrisy: NYT, and Revisiting the Keating 5. A couple of things have made me start taking a look at McCain in a different light. The very first thing was the claims that Bush had attacked McCain's patriotism in the 2000 election. That was flat out BS, but those claims didn't come from McCain's lips, so I ignored them for the most part.

Then came McCain-Feingold.

Anything that limits the 1st Amendment cannot be a good thing. But I still kept mostly silent, for the reason that I didn't have what I thought was a good enough understanding of the legislation to open my yap. But now finding out that bloggers could be up on the chopping block was the last damn straw. I dove into publications and explinations, finding out everything that I could on McCain-Feingold and the people assocciated with it.

And what I found out is that McCain isn't nearly the conservative he wants people to think he is. In fact, he's pretty damn dirty. The Republican party would do well to dump him like a bad habit. Follow the links to see what I mean.

(I don't actually think that the Republicans will dump McCain, because like all politicians, their primary focus is gaining and retaining power, and McCain gives them that. But they SHOULD dump him, for the good of the party and this country.)

And last but not least, Kim du Toit has dug up the history on Bush's appointment to the UN, John Bolton. Short short version? Hoo-fucking-rah!

Anywho, back to work. Go read and enjoy!

The Italian Hostage

A compendium at Cox & Forkum.

"They're getting there."

Joe's Dartblog: Europe Limps Toward The Uptake

R. Gregory Stevens dies in the home of Carrie Fisher

According to the Washington Times Mr. Stevens spent much of his life promoting Republicans and their ideals in, among other places, Hollywood:

A native of San Clemente, Calif., Mr. Stevens began his career working for the California Republican Party, and later worked on the Bush/Quayle 1988 presidential campaign. ............

"He was very popular, and had tons of connections in Hollywood," said Haley Barbour, one of the firm's founding partners, who resigned to take office as governor of Mississippi in 2004. "They found him fun, engaging, energetic. Just the way people in Washington did," Mr. Barbour said yesterday from his Jackson office. ...............

Mr. Stevens served on the 2001 presidential inaugural committee, where he recruited numerous celebrity performers. For the most recent inauguration, Mr. Stevens reached out to Hollywood, trying to invite numerous celebrities to perform. ..........

"He was in good shape," Miss Fisher recalled. "Tons and tons of people saw him. He was Greg." She said Mr. Stevens returned home shortly afterward, and the two watched the 1942 classic film "Mrs. Miniver," then went to bed. The next morning they had planned to have brunch and tango lessons with other houseguests. Miss Fisher said she went to his room and Mr. Stevens was lying on his back in the bed. "He passed away here, and in a place where he was loved," Miss Fisher said yesterday from her home in Los Angeles.

Being the Star Wars fanatic that I am, I think it's pretty awesome to see Carrie Fisher showing friendship, kindness, and respect to a dedicated Republican like Mr. Stevens. RIP Mr Stevens. Thank you, Carrie.

Democracy in Lebanon

I've been surfing a few blogs, trying to get caught up, and I notice all the good news about Lebanon.

Kick ass!

Seriously, I don't know who's been putting all the hot Lebanese chicks waving flags on all the news photos, but they need to keep it up!

In all seriousness, I think that while developments are good, we need to just keep one thing in mind: It ain't over yet, and it ain't gonna be easy. Just as there is much work left to be done in Iraq, if Lebanon manages to kick Syria out there won't be elections overnight. It will be a start, and a damn good start at that, but there will be much work to be done.

I'm not trying to downplay the events, just warning people to not be overly flighty about the current events. Nothing happens on it's own; sometimes you have to keep watch and give it a nudge every now and then.

Sorry for the lack of posts.

I've been busy with the Army as of late, drilling and trying to ensure that I get down to Puerto Rico in good time. I've barely had time to breathe, and in the ranks of priorities that I have, breathing comes before blogging.

I'll be back to my ranty goodness in a little while.