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Democracy for America personal blog for John Archibald
Oil and economy hand in hand!
I am a member of the working middle class. I normally vote Democrat because I am concerned with the plight of the working people and their families. I believe in adequate wages sufficient to allow all middle class working Americans to live the American dream. Like most others, I believe medical cost should be affordable to the point where it is not an issue for us or our employers. I believe we should continue to have the decent working conditions provided by our hard won labor laws obtained through the sacrifices of organized labor. I vote Democrat to keep the separation between church and state alive so we can remain free from religious persecution. I also vote Democrat because I believe in their progressive policies which enable us to be one of the worlds leading innovators in industrial and technological advances. This is good for our economy and our spirits.
I also like and, as long as we can afford to, support taking care of our environment along with all the other creatures who share this planet with us. I am, however, not willing to risk facing the catastrophic consequences which will be brought on by not immediately setting up programs and incentives to utilize our own oil, coal, and natural gas reserves here at home. This should be our biggest concern. Without affordable oil and all it implies we will have nothing. With as much regard for the environment as we can bring to bear we must compromise on our environmental desires, to what ever extent is dictated by our current needs, and immediately begin to exploit our own fossil fuel resources while taking the necessary steps to end our dependence on energy sources derived from fossil fuels. The development of realistic sustainable and dependable alternative fuels and energy sources must be our number one priority both in the immediate and distant future while we, for the time being, survive by promoting the exploration, capturing and utilization of our own national fossil fuel resources.
I have been a supporter of a Democratic candidate from day one for obvious reasons but am gravely concerned with their political approach to this issue. I am not so sure they realize the severity of the consequences of not meeting this challenge head on, right now! The war in Iraq is likely the biggest mistake we’ve every made but it’s not going to shut our nation down if it goes on, heaven forbid, for a little longer. The fossil fuel issue, however, can’t wait, and I believe most people, at least those who are not ‘obsessive compulsive’ will be in favor of applying the common sense to do what is needed to save us from this looming cloud of doom which is drifting in on us as we sleep. It is the key to solving our current economic woes. It’s currently at the heart of our problem and, if the topic is our economy, must be addressed. Anyone who is not talking about taking such measures is merely pandering to the public and is doing nothing more than what they perceive as necessary to get elected. That is not change!
Please remember, it’s a fact that the world now demands more oil than is being produced. We are entering a crises of monumental proportions which, very soon, will become all too evident. Within the next two years the American way of life may be completely out of reach for all but the very rich. Many of us will be unable to afford the gas to get us to work. Meaningful jobs will disappear. The dependent entitlements from the corresponding investment side of things, such as retirements and medical, will also disappear. There will be anarchy and chaos, and, with our already under staffed local law enforcement, people will be facing horrors right out of fiction. This is part of the reason we are seeing such an energized presidential primary campaign. Some people know we have reached the end with respect to how much political neglect we can endure without a complete collapse of the American middle class. We are desperate to make the necessary changes within the guide lines of our democratic system because the other alternative could rival or surpass our worst nightmares. If we are really thinking green we had better begin to capitalize on our vast supply of natural gas, coal and our own oil resources including offshore oil deposits to keep our machinery, transportation and petrochemical bi- products going. A global war caused by a hungry world desperate for energy will pose a far greater threat to our planet and its inhabitants than any of our current scenarios of drilling and mining etc. If forced to, I and many others will reluctantly vote for the other party if it offers an immediate solution as described above to this most critical issue.
This is a very doomsday main post -- I certainly hope Obama wins, and I'm worried about things too, but maybe not to the extent of the diarist. We've had a number of diarists recently whose names are not familiar to me.
but this poster does not write like a Democrat. He says he votes "Democrat." That formulation is usual for Republicans.
Also, the juxapposition of people and environment isn't consistent with people who recognize that people and environment are intimately connected and if we foul our own nests, we won't survive. It's as simple as that.
DFA has extended the voting deadline for their Netrrots Nation contest. I would really appreciate your vote! (You can vote for more then 1 person):
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/netroots_nation_scholarships/3-jessica-falker
How did you vote for me twice??? DFA seems to have some software glitches in this contest (Shocking!) You should probably delete one of those votes if you can. I think you're supposed to only be able to vote for each candidate once...?
Nobody can vote for anybody twice. One person - One Vote. There is no glitch and there is no need to delete a vote. Thanks.
Danny
Communications Director
Yes, there are two different votes from linda b, but that is because she voted with two different accounts. Thanks.
Danny
Since I have you on the line...
Do you know why Robert Harding's votes dropped from 180 this morning to 116 now? Did he have a lot of people voting for him multiple times?
Somebody created about 60 some odd dummy accounts and voted multiple times from the same IP address. Thanks.
Danny
Vote Cheryl or cHeRyL! (whichever you prefer ;)<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]-->
http://democracyfor america.com/ netroots_ nation_scholarsh ips/73-cheryl- r<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->I know there are lots of great candidates who deserve this. You can vote for more than one candidate (I did). I would love to go but with medical expansive there is no way. It is bad enough I have to miss DemFest. :( <!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->If Thankful is still on, THANK YOU! I just saw your vote today. Much appreciated. :) <!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Danny, I saw that rapid rise last night in those votes and wondered too because it was like 50 new votes over an hour or something. Jeff Gardener deserves a lot of credit for really getting his state to vote. I think they won the most new member competition a couple of years ago too. <!--[endif]-->
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->One bit of criticism, it would have been great if DFA had told us yesterday they extended this. I told my lists it ended last night and don't want to spam them with another email since people get enough email to wade through. I read on Kos they extended it but it hadn't been confirmed by DFA until today so I didn't know for sure. <!--[endif]-->
However, there ARE software glitches. I am documenting them now to send another report to Tim. I sent other messages. I have had people who have tried to vote and could not. Some of them were even from my computer and I was able to vote so it wasn’t my computer. It had to be their account and/or the software. Also, some said they didn't get the confirmation email and filled out their accounts again and pressed to resend it and still didn't. There are other issues unrelated to the voting but the software itself but I will send that privately to Tim when I get the chance. Just an FYI. Reed from VT was still waiting to get use of his account back last I talked to him.
- Well, I guess my post above proves my point about software glitches, lol
By Cheryl on Jun 11, 2008 1:07 PM EDTVote Cheryl or cHeRyL! (whichever you prefer ;)
http://democracyfor america.com/ netroots_ nation_scholarsh ips/73-cheryl- r
Hope that is better. And since she likely won't see it in the mess above, thanks again THANKFUL!
As for the main post. Europeans and Canadians have been paying more than we are now paying for gas for a very long time. It has not shut their economies down. We simply need to grow up and join the world community.
Europe balks at $8 a gallon gas - Yahoo! News
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Europe balks at $8 a gallon gas. By Mark Rice-Oxley Fri May 30, 4:00 AM ET ... which recently topped 130 pence a liter or $9.88 per gallon. ...
<!--n-->news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080530/wl_csm/osqueeze - 56k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this |
Re: Yikes! Gas Price $5.50 Gallon in Canada - Don't Visit Alberta ...
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more and more natural gas car (1/3 cost compared to gasoline) or similar... >> Here in Italy NOW the price per gallon is 9$, so you're lucky. ...
<!--n-->www.national-anthems.net/forum/article/rec.travel.europe/1026690 - 15k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this |
The Urban Vandweller: Will the Rising Price of Gas be the End for ...
Apr 27, 2008 ... In Canada, the national average price of gas is $5.74 CAN per CAN gallon. ... In Europe, the price of gas is approx. $8 - $9 per gallon. ...
Yes, Puddle but I've always heard that their gas price included a bunch of taxes for which the Europeans and the Canadians get some nice goodies like health insurance.
You're absolutely right re Canada at least--and none of my Canuck friends are whining about a gas-tax holiday.
Last week, I paid $1.30 a litre to fill my old VW Beetle in Grand Bend, ON. With the US and CDN $ at about par, that's $4.94/gallon.
Actually, I put in $20, which didn't quite fill it. When I first bought the car in 1965, it was a challenge to get $3 worth into th 10 gallon tank!
- our guest blog appears pulled from the Birmingham News. here is another
By Phil Specht on Jun 11, 2008 10:57 AM EDTPosted by John Archibald -- The Birmingham News June 01, 2008 1:01 AM
Birmingham police are turning to the screws.
Turning the screws, that is, on perps and cops alike.
Folks who break the littlest of laws are going downtown in the paddy wagon in these, the halcyon days of zero tolerance. Cops who fail to take enough of 'em downtown will go before a review board.
Yep. The days of prayer as the city's primary crime-fighting strategy are over, like so many other failed fads.
Amen to that.
- how did this Republican rant get posted on the front page?
By Phil Specht on Jun 11, 2008 11:00 AM EDTJohn Archibald has written 5 blog posts since he joined DFA 4 months ago. 4 out of 5 of them have been front paged.
HQ, how about front paging the announcement by long time DFA member, Ellen Garneau (also my Mom :-), that she is running for the VT State House.
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/blog_posts/25543-i-am-running-for-the-vt-state-house
Jessica, have her expand her diary and talk about one or more issues more in depth on her platform. If people don't know a candidate they need something to draw them in. I read her endorsement application and she really has some good progressive positions. She could take one topic, like sustainable living or shopping/supporting local businesses and expand on what she has done and how this fits into her platform going forward.
Her current diary is short and people don't tend to click and read about a candidate, much less supprot them if there isn't something that draws them in. I know this from my own experience.
I checked it out of course, because she is your mom and I luff ya and all, but people who don't know you or her need to be "sold". Bait and hook ;)
I hope clean up efforts are going well in Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Mary, our former State Chair who bought his way into his chairmanship used to campaign when he was runnig for office and refrer to the Demcoratic Party all the time as the Democrat Party. We repeatedly told him that was a Faux news tactic and it was "Democratic" Party. After many months he finally changed it. Sheesh. I wasn't even a registered Democrat and knew that, lol.
- water is still rising most places and rain is in the forecast
By Phil Specht on Jun 11, 2008 11:04 AM EDTno reason to start cleanup til it's over
In business, this is called "Profit Taking." Major corporations allow a pool of disposable asets develop in the working, and after several years, or decades, they siphon up the profits regardless of the destruction this creates with actual lives of real people.
The oligarchs see that the free ride is about to come to an end, and they will pull as much profit out as possible. The scale of this is unimaginable, and with folks in Asia and Europe already starting massive protests over the price of oil, just wait till this happens with water.
Still raining and more on the way? When will it end? This is terrible.
on the previous thread, was complaining about my anger, and wend off in a huff.
I'm bewildered that there's not a lot more anger, since we're being ruled by a crime family headed by 2 of the most evil men in the world. When Dennis Kucinich makes a reasoned and well-documented case for impeaching them, their pathetic accomplices in the Democratic Party, led (??) by the amoeboid duo of Pelosi and Hoyer, buck it over to Conyers, who is so desperate to keep his chairmanship that he does nothing.
- Archibald is a wolf in sheeps clothing doing Republican framing in DFA space.
By Phil Specht on Jun 11, 2008 11:20 AM EDTespecially his conclusion:
If we are really thinking green we had better begin to capitalize on our vast supply of natural gas, coal and our own oil resources including offshore oil deposits to keep our machinery, transportation and petrochemical bi- products going. A global war caused by a hungry world desperate for energy will pose a far greater threat to our planet and its inhabitants than any of our current scenarios of drilling and mining etc. If forced to, I and many others will reluctantly vote for the other party if it offers an immediate solution as described above to this most critical issue.
We've reached peak oil. If we drill out all the little puddles that are left at the expense of further environmental degradation, we'll stretch supplies by a minuscule amount 10-to-20 years down the line.
There is no solution--just adaptation to the new reality.
There have been a couple of comments about John Archibald's post. I would encourage people to write a response and post it to the Blog. Odds are it will make it to the front page.
I often find comments that would make great posts in and of their own, but instead they are just in the comments. The more actual posts, as opposed to comments, the more robust the front page will be. Thanks.
Danny
This article is disturbing to me. Especially Terry McAuliffe's comments. Exactly why she won't be POTUS - thank goodness.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/11/america/11clinton.php
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts06112008.html
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review.
No flaming liberal..............
How to explain the oil price? Why is it so high? Are we running out? Are supplies disrupted, or is the high price a reflection of oil company greed or OPEC greed. Are Chavez and the Saudis conspiring against us?
In my opinion, the two biggest factors in oil’s high price are the weakness in the US dollar’s exchange value and the liquidity that the Federal Reserve is pumping out.
The dollar is weak because of large trade and budget deficits, the closing of which is beyond American political will. As abuse wears out the US dollar’s reserve currency role, sellers demand more dollars as a hedge against its declining exchange value and ultimate loss of reserve currency status.
There are other factors affecting the price of oil. The prospect of an Israeli/US attack on Iran has increased current demand in order to build stocks against disruption. No one knows the consequence of such an ill-conceived act of aggression, and the uncertainty pushes up the price of oil as the entire Middle East could be engulfed in conflagration. However, storage facilities are limited, and the impact on price of larger inventories has a limit.
When Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, the average price of oil that year was about $27 per barrel, or about $31 in inflation adjusted 2007 dollars. The price rose another $10 in 2004 to an average annual price of $42 (in 2007 dollars), another $12 in 2005, $7 in 2006, and $4 in 2007 to $65. But in the last few months the price has more than doubled to about $135. It is difficult to explain a $70 jump in price in terms other than speculation.
Now that Obama has pledged allegiance to AIPAC and adopted Bush’s position toward Iran, the high oil price could be a forecast that US/Israeli policy is likely to result in substantial supply disruptions. Still, the recent Israeli statements that an attack on Iran was “inevitable” only jumped the oil price about $8.
Of course, Americans don’t get real inflation numbers from their government and have not since the Consumer Price Index was rigged during the Clinton administration to hold down Social Security payments by denying retirees their full cost of living adjustments. According to statistician John Williams, using the pre-Clinton era measure of the CPI produces a current CPI of about 7.5%.
Understating inflation makes real GDP growth appear higher. If inflation were properly measured, the US has probably experienced no real GDP growth in the 21st century.
The crisis that looms for the US is the loss of world currency role. Once the dollar loses that role, the US government will not be able to finance its operations by borrowing abroad, and foreigners will cease to finance the massive US trade deficit. This crisis will eliminate the US as a world power.
I think the markets will hold off on any move to downgrade the dollar as a world currency, to see the direction the next President takes the economy. If McCain wins, the oil rich nations will move toward the Euro. If Bush declares martial law, the profit taking will proceed unabated, and the flight to Euros will accelerate.
If Obama wins, it's all good.
- the weak dollar has been caused by Bush's trillion dollar tax cut
By Phil Specht on Jun 11, 2008 11:44 AM EDThigh gasoline prices are caused by the Bush tax cuts
"core" inflation numbers take out the "volitile" food and energy sectors
what a joke
The weak dollar is caused by Bernanke making too many. The high oil prices are a function of too many dollars printed by Bernanke and the resulting weak dollar. Ok so I'm a psych major not economist, but that's still what I think. Nationalize the oil companies, the Fed.
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