Anagram: Rhinoceros/I Scorn Hero

       It’s a late one for me.  It’s almost 11:30pm and I am just getting started here.  I have a few reasons for this.  One, I did my Tuesday election-coverage story, just writing about the Chambliss-Martin runoff that will be happening on Tuesday.  Two, I am at work, and as a consequence I do have work to do every once in a while.  Work on the Job is an occasional occupational hazard where I am.  

    LOL.

    Finally I have done what I believe everyone else on earth has done.  No not that, I’m talking about joining facebook.  Under my real name no less. Guess they like to know who you really are.  It’s nice, but it’s not all that big a deal.  I don’t really know too many people on their, maybe that’s why I’m not really impressed.  I did see an aunt there, and a cousin, and a few people I work with.  That’s cool.  It’s a nice toy, so far.

    Two videos, a Few quotes, and I am done. 

    First Video is of Saxby Chambliss talking to Chris Wallace on Fox news Sunday.  The statements he makes around the 1:50 mark of the video I think are a bit silly. Somehow this man is still of the opinion that P.E. Obama is going to raise taxes through the roof and take away peoples guns.  Chambliss is a Jackass, he sounds a bit um… slow at times here.  But that’s just My assessment. Watch it yourself and see.

    

       The second Video is a video that I put in to a post a few months ago, and I just noticed that that post is perhaps my least viewed post.  One of My Favorite songs, Judas Priest, Screaming for Vengeance:

   

That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, culled from old posts of mine that hardly ever get looked at:  It is an object of vast magnitude that systems of education should be adopted and pursued which may not only diffuse a knowledge of the sciences but may implant in the minds of the American youth the principles of virtue and of liberty and inspire them with just and liberal ideas of government and with an inviolable attachment to their own country.   Noah Webster

Five miles meandering with mazy motion, Through dale the sacred river ran, Then reached the caverns measureless to man, And sank the tumult to a lifeless ocean: And ‘mid this tumult Kubla heard from far Ancestral voices prophesying war!  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Anagram: Roaming Rhino/Hiring A Moron

        The anagram has nothing to do with this piece, which is a piece on OPEC. I just liked it.

      OPEC looks like they are going to slash oil production again in an attempt to boost prices through lowered demand at a meeting in mid December. During the upcoming Dec. 17th meeting in the city of Oran, Algeria, which will now include all members of Opec (the meeting was initially going to be only it’s arab member states) Another round of oil production cuts are expected. I have seen numbers as high as a cut of 1 and a quarter million barrels a day, on a story I read on the washignton post on my cell phone on my way to work today.  That may not be enough to stem the tide of falling prices however, because there is less and less demand from their number one buyer, The United States, and for all that they seek a barrel of oil that costs $75 a barrel, they may not get it.  There is just no real demand for the amount of oil that they have been putting out recently, and while most oil producers need $60 to $90 a barrel to balance their budgets, that in no way means that the market can necessarily sustain that type of price in this type of economic climate. 

    The aforementioned $75 price comes straight from the King of Saudi Arabia Himself, King Abdullah, and later echoed by his oil minister, Ali Al-Naimi. This price he says, is a “Fair price” needed to support investment in new oil fields. 

     Well, isn’t that nice. So now it comes to this.  Saudi Arabia, tipping it’s hand, and with it the hand of Opec by implying that without additional money through a oil price increase they will not be able to sustain growth in the Oil Industry.  I say let’em rot.  Don’t Use.  Don’t buy.  Let’em starve.  Are we here to pay for the luxury of kings and Oil magnates? NO. If we buy oil at prices that meet their demands, they will only demand more.  We need to cut them off and we need to cut them off now.

       How? Gas is too expensive, even at $2.25 a gallon or whatever it is in your neighborhood.  How much does it cost to heat your house with that oil heater again? Do YOU have money to burn? No? Me Neither.  Oil is holding us hostage, we can free ourselves by using some discipline here.  If we all cut our use of oil and gas to a minimum, we can make our lives easier and free ourselves of dependence on the Oil magnates. 

   There is also trouble in Oil paradise, according to a story on the New York Times website. Seems that members of OPEC are starting to look at each other with wary eyes, “distrustful of one another’s pledges to trim production.” is how the Times article put it.  Seems that Iran and Venezuela are not, in the eyes of some of their compatriots, doing all they can, and Angola apparently sees no good in cutting output while trying to find new markets to sell to.  All this in turn raises concerns in Saudi Arabia. If they cut production while others don’t, they lose market share and revenue. 

   Good, good, good.  That’s what I like to see.  Teamwork, OPEC style.  There may be no I in team, but according to them, there is an M  and an E, and that spells ME. 

   A Video, a few quotes, and I am done.

     The Video is good.  Hot woman dancing in right half of the frame while the same woman (with less makeup and a hoody on) in the left half explains exactly how bad the situation with oil really is from her perspective.  I don’t agree with her assessment completely, she is a pessimist in comparison to my viewpoint, and she is something of a nut, but she does make the occasional point.  Enjoy. Oh, and Try to pay attention to the words.

      

     That’s about it from me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, by Thomas Jefferson, Via Wikiquote:  No generation has a right to contract debts greater than can be paid off during the course of its own existence.

Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.

Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.

Anagram: Cat Pictures/Super Tactic

      

    Happy Pictures of Cats before words about stupid humans.  Look at these pictures, then read about the idiots and unfortunates.  It is no wonder that some people actually like animals more than people.  Sometimes people just suck.

         People are stupid.  Proof? Look at the news today.  Two instances of deaths during black Friday shopping.  One man at a Walmart in Valley Stream Long Island, A temp just looking to make a few bucks extra was trampled to death by an impatient crowd.  Stepped on by hundreds of people.  Think about that for a second.  Would you just ”step on” someone who was laying on the ground in a store? The door they passed through was, by one account I read, “Crumpled like an accordion”.  The police who were trying to assist the man when they showed up were themselves jostled.  Heartless. Brainless.  Gutless.  Inferior, less than human, everyone who did that.  Undeserving of the name Human.

    Two others were shot to death at a Toys R Us in Palm Desert, California.  In this incident, two women were bickering, and were with their men, and they pulled guns and a bloody battle to the death ensued.  It is unfortunate that these two men died, but more fortunate that no one else was injured or killed.  Gang Related? A possibility, Police said that it appeared that the incident was not shopping related, despite its location. 

    What kind of people go to a toy store armed? What kind of people are that berserk over crap that they would crush a door and kill a man to get some cheap crap that no one really needs? What kind of assholes are being raised in this country? Where, pray tell, is the humanity? Thankfully these were the only two events, but that doesn’t excuse or forgive the stupidity here.  There were two spots where these things happened and three deaths at these two spots and it is exactly two spots and three deaths too many.

   Don’t people realize what they are doing? This is for Christmas gifts.  Christmas.  Remember what that is supposed to be about? The Birth of the Prince of Peace?  Remember him?

      Apparently not.  Read about the unfortunates here.

      In Other News, Gm is being a bunch of assholes. 

   Dammit, I’m running late.  A Viddy, A few quotes, and I am done.

   Today’s Viddy is from This morning on Bloomberg Television, questioning the credibility of Opec amongst other things.

    

That’s about it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, Via Wikiquote:  Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.   George Washington

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it… What is this liberty that must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not the freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check on their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few.   Learned Hand

Anagram: A Happy Evening/Vegan Epiphany

       Before I get to the News and Politics and whatnot, If I do, Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!  I know, it’s nearly over, but so what? I spent most of my day and evening hanging out talking to family that I really don’t get to see enough, talking about matters large and small, and generally having fun.  I went with my Wife to Dad and Mom’s house for dinner.   Stuffed myself silly.  I must’ve eaten 10 pounds of food. Turkey and ham and mashed potatoes, Oh My!   

       After that Me and the wife and Mom and dad went over to my Uncle Bill and Aunt Barbara’s house and hung out.  My Cousin Bill and his wife Jen and the kids were hanging out, along with Jen parents and my Aunt Margaret. (If i forget anyone I apologize) As is my usual role, I played the role of Playground for the kids.  Had fun doing that.  I did my level best to wear the kids out, and they obliged by trying to do the same to me.  They are sleeping, I’m up and blogging, getting ready to hit the Politics and news and whatnot.  And to think cousin Bill thought the kids would wear me out.

      Well, ya know maybe they did a little because I was going to do news, cover the Mumbai madness, and the Iraqi status of forces agreement, but I think I will leave that to another day.  To be honest I really couldn’t be bothered.  Think I’m gonna go grab a cup of coffee, have some cake, and play a few games on pogo and hang out with the wife. 

   All in all though, I really had a good night. I don’t get out to talk to family everyday and it feels good to talk to them and meet them again after not seeing them for however many months it has been.

      I wrote some happy crap in El-Co that came out early this morning.  100 things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  I hope it doesn’t entirely suck.  Read it (and maybe a few of the previous posts) and tell me what you think.

    A Viddy, a few quotes, and That’s it for me. 

   I rarely do this, but today’s video is a video that I am only just now viewing, and won’t be done watching and listening to prior to finishing this blog.  Michigan Representative Bart Stupak speaking on the C-Span show  “The Communicators”. Approximately 30 minutes in length.

      

     That’s it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nugget, Via Wikiquote:  In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence agst. foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.   James Madison

Anagram: Events Of The Day/Do Envy The Feast

       If you are the religious type, say a prayer for those unfortunates

Taj Mahal Hotel

in Mumbai who are still being held hostage as we speak.  Apparently Westerners, Particularly Britons and Americans have been targeted in that Indian city, and 86 people so far have died, and I have heard numbers of wounded that were as low as 240 on bloomberg.com and as high as 900 on MSNBC.  Three luxury hotels, including the Taj Mahal Hotel, pictured here,  were targeted in the attacks.  An islamist group named “Deccan Mujahedeen” has claimed responsibility, and are still holed up in at least one hotel according to reports with approximately 100 hostages.

   Knowing the threat, Islamic terrorists, I for one am already counting those hostages as dead. And a number of the police who will go in and try to save them will die as well.  Eleven Indian police have died already.   Minimum 200 dead before all is said and done. 

    How Many More?  How many more before we finally do what we need to do and cut the head off of the Islamist beast and kill Osama Bin Laden? How much longer must we wait before we kill the man who masterminded the Bombing of the Cole and The 9/11 attacks?  How many more innocents must die before the guilty die the death that guilty men are meant to die? Our President Georgie Porgie, let this weasel go so we could hunt Georgie’s fathers enemy, Saddam Hussein.  At what cost?

     I cannot wait for January 20th to come around,  for the hunt for Osama Bin Laden will begin in earnest that day.  Bush wants no part of him, that much is plain.  And as a consequence I want no part of Bush.  He is a weak man, President 43, deserving much the same fate as the man he should have hunted down all those years ago.                                                                                                                                     

    There are light things Of which I wish to write, but I will step away for a moment to compose myself before I do. 

 ….

    Ya Know, It’s almost Thanksgiving.  I can give thanks for the good things in my life.  My wife loves me, and I her.  We are both in good health.  There’s food on the table.  Life is good.  Sure there is some kind of threat being spoken of for New York City,  The Long Island railroad supposedly, but when isn’t there some kind of threat somewhere in New York City? Even with the ugly events in Mumbai unfolding as we speak, I feel safe.  I’m not afraid of the big bad terrorists. 

    They can’t touch me like that anymore.  Hate them with the all my strength? Yes.  Fear them? Run from the thought of facing some invisible enemy? No.  Hell no.  This is my home.  I will not be moved.

   That’s enough of that crap. 

    Good News!  The Stock Market went up again today!  almost 250 Points! The Nasdaq went up Almost 5 percent,  up 67 points, and the S&P went up 30 points, to end up just short of 900 points!  Nices!

    Let’s See…what else…. Oh Yeah!  The Rangers won again tonight, in a shootout 3-2 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.  I feel pretty good about that, too. And with the Bruins loss, that means we are again #1 Overall in the Eastern Conference!  Can I get a Let’s Go Rangers!

    A Video, a few quotes and I am done. 

    An Apache Helicopter shooting up a few terrorists.  I have seen much stronger and more violent content, but i still must give a warning, this is not for the tame of heart. 

    

That’s about it for me.  Later!

Today’s Nuggets, Via Wikiquote:  War does not end strife – it sows it. War does not end hatred – it feeds it. For those who argue war is a necessary evil, I say you are half right. War is evil (where strife, there every evil work: Bible, James 3:16). But it is not necessary. War cannot be a necessary evil, because non-violence is a necessary good. The two cannot co-exist.   Rep. John Lewis

People used to believe in ‘the soul’ as they believed in grammar and the grammatical subject: people said that ‘I’ was a condition and ‘think’ was a predicate and conditioned — thinking is an activity and a subject must be thought of as its cause. Now, with admirable tenacity and cunning, people are wondering whether they can get out of this net — wondering whether the reverse might be true: that ‘think’ is the condition and ‘I’ is conditioned, in which case ‘I’ would be a synthesis that only gets produced through thought itself.   Friedrich Nietzsche