Saturday, May 17, 2008

Who's To Blame For High Gas Prices?

Saudi oil output hike would not solve US problems: Bush
US President George W. Bush said on Saturday that a hike in oil output by Saudi Arabia would not solve American energy problems.

"It's not enough, it's something but it doesn't solve our problem," Bush told reporters in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Bush said he was "pleased" with a Saudi decision taken on May 10 to increase its oil production by 300,000 barrels per day in response to customers, but said that he was "also realistic" about what the Americans should do.

"Our problem in America gets solved when we aggressively go for domestic exploration. Our problem in America gets solved if we expand our refining capacity, promote nuclear energy and continue our strategy for the advancing of alternative energies as well as conservation," he said. "One interesting thing about American politics these days is those who are screaming the loudest for increased production from Saudi Arabia are the very same people who are fighting the fiercest against domestic exploration, against the development of nuclear power and against expanding refining capacity."

Even if Saudi Arabia, Iraq, China and Russia starting pumping like mad our gas prices would remain high and going higher. It's called price competition worldwide. It is also called stupid liberal policies that have griped our country like a virus for over 30 years of energy legislation.

Our fuel problems are a direct result of modern American liberalism as seen through the eyes of an out-of-touch Congress, radical environmentalists squealing "wolf", the main stream media and a populous whose biggest mistake was believing all this crap. That belief was and is costing jobs, homes and money and will take 6 - 10 years to repair.

If, as it is being reported, the Democrats make major gains in the upcoming elections, the 6 - 10 year guesstimate is out the window which means America will be financially subservient to other countries for decades to come.

Be careful what you wish for.

Mickey Mouse Policing The Toons

U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S. from Monday
The United Nations said Doudou Diene would meet federal and local officials, as well as lawmakers and judicial authorities during the May 19-June 6 visit.

"The special rapporteur will...gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance," a U.N. statement said on Friday.

His three-week visit, at U.S. government invitation, will cover eight cities -- Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Race has become a central issue in the U.S. election cycle because Sen. Barack Obama, the frontrunner in the battle for the Democratic nomination battle, stands to become the country's first African American president.

SENEGAL: Heavy handed response to food protesters
Protesters clash with riot police in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, during a march over the high cost of living in Nov 2007DAKAR, 31 March 2008 (IRIN) - A crackdown by police against Senegalese citizens who gathered in the capital Dakar on 30 March to protest the high cost of living was “brutal”, say human rights groups.

"The interior ministry or at least the police force believe that maintaining order means stepping up repression," Leonard Vincent, Africa director of the Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders, told IRIN. Police used tear gas and batons to disperse a demonstration organised by the national consumers' union to protest recent hikes in the prices of rice, oil and soap.

Authorities in Dakar said the demonstration had not been authorised. At least 24 people were arrested and many are still being detained, according to the Agence France Press. The Dakar-based African human rights coalition RADDHO (Rencontre Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme) said in a statement on 30 March that it firmly condemns "unspeakable" acts by security forces which "violate" people's rights.

It likened alleged beatings with electric prods to "torture" and called for an investigation into "all acts of violence and poor treatment suffered by demonstrators".

Darfur force tainted by war crimes allegations
· Claims that deputy ordered Hutu killings· West reluctant to join peacekeeping mission

The deployment of an international peacekeeping force in Darfur was thrown into confusion yesterday by war crimes allegations against its proposed deputy commander.

The United Democratic Force-Inkingi, A Rwandan opposition group, accused Major General Karenzi Karake of responsibility for carrying out political assassinations and ordering reprisal killings against Hutus in Rwanda and Zaire in the years after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when he was the country's chief of military intelligence.

I guess that is really unfair to the Toons.