Cruel Idelogy

Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey is incensed that House Republicans are going to investigate the (Venezuelan government-owned) Citgo program that provides heating oil at reduced prices to low income people in the Northeast.

"As we all know, the oil industry just made more money than any industry in the history of modern commerce.... There has been widespread concern about price gouging, supply manipulation, speculation and profiteering, but the Energy and Commerce Committee has yet to send a single demand letter to any of the companies alleged to be involved in such activity. Instead, it has decided to spend its Committee resources and staff time trying to prevent CITGO from getting any credit for helping the poor."

Maybe it offends their free market sensibilities. Or maybe standing firm against the Venezuelan menace looks good on their political resumes. It is the campaign season, that time of wheedling and posing.

But the main reason may be to stop any heaving-and-cracking of opinion that American oil companies--or the American government--should likewise be prevailed upon to help. Charity is for suckers and socialists, apparently. Everyone else can just turn down their thermostats and shut up.

Sweet... (no really!)

Chocolate lowers your blood pressure? Thank you, gods. Kind of reminds me of that scene in Woody Allen's Sleeper (in the days when Woody Allen was still cool, or maybe it was neurotic self-absorption that was cool?) where we learn that in the society of the future, scientists have discovered that cigarettes are good for you. But since this is real life, and since I am addicted to chocolate and not cigarettes, this is very good news.

...because a picture is worth a thousand words.

...because I need something to cheer me up.

Brownie Points

John Judis writes in The New Republic that scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are being muzzled to obscure the increasingly self-evident connection between global warming and the frequency of intense hurricanes. Given all that's been written recently about how we may be approaching a disastrous "tipping point" in planetary climate, this would seem almost criminally negligent; instead, it seems to be yet another instance of the Bush administration inserting its ideological enforcers in positions of authority in government agencies. And a heck of a job they're doing too.

Why Elections Matter

“Our local hospital tells me they see 12-20 patients per year, who have already self-induced or had illegal abortions. Some make it, some don’t. They are underage or poor women mostly, and a few daughters of pro-life families...”

I'm not surprised. I'm angry and I'm very sad, but not surprised. Expect to see more of this as reproductive freedom is thrown overboard by both major parties.

Maybe the title of this post should be "Why Elections Don't Matter". I'd like to think that women's reproductive rights were important enough that Democrats would be willing to go down fighting to protect them. But the truth is that the Democratic party is pretty powerless in Washington right now. And in the triage of congressional politics, you have to pick your fights. Government corruption and cronyism; the erosion of civil liberties; the loss of jobs to support families and communities: these issues are every bit as serious as abortion rights and--like it or not-- they matter more to more people. And when you have limited political capital, you have to spend it where it's most effective. That's what happens when you are the minority party in Washington these days. If you want more capital, you need more bodies. Numbers matter. Elections matter.

It ain't a perfect world. Never give up.

Speed of Light

It says something about our present diminished state that the idea of the Bush administration reinventing the wheel seems like a good thing. But apparently federal mine regulators are considering new safety rules, including some that were "in the pipeline" before being scrapped six years ago:

In all, the Bush administration abandoned or delayed implementation of 18 proposed safety rules that were in the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's regulatory pipeline in early 2001, a review of agency records shows. At least two of the dropped proposals have now been resurrected in the aftermath of deadly accidents at the Sago and Alma mines in West Virginia.

In addition to the proposal to require caches of oxygen tanks, MSHA also is again considering expanding the number of mine rescue teams available to respond to disasters. A similar proposal to beef up rescue teams was scrapped by the agency in 2002, agency records show.

Wouldn't oxygen tanks in mines be a fire hazard? On the other hand, 72 men in a Canadian mine equipped with such tanks were rescued after being trapped underground for 3o hours a few weeks ago. (Another example of Canadian "cultural marxism"? See below.)

Better late than never, I suppose. Too bad those seem to be the only choices we have. American miners deserve better. Come to think of it, so do the rest of us.

Why Mounties Wear Red

Republican strategist Paul Weyrich has his ear to the ground, in Canada anyway. He urged his fellow conservatives not to publicize their support for Big-C Conservative Canadian Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper during his campaign, because Canadians perceived American small-c conservatives as "scary" and might be put off if Harper were linked with them. (Those wimpy Canadians! We robust Americans, on the other hand, are not so easily frightened by massive deficits, intrusive government and endless war.)

Weyrich goes on to call our neighbors to the north "so liberal and hedonistic" that Harper can't hope to change their philosophy of "cultural Marxism" right away. (Hedonistic...Canadians?? Who knew that under that hockey-loving, Moosehead-drinking exterior lurked a love of excess and debauchery?)

Just wait, hosers. Somewhere out there is a Biblical passage low wage job bright new day of freedom with your name on it.

One Hand Clapping

Turns out the prez was just speaking, um, metaphorically or something when he said in the SOTU that he wants to reduce dependence on Mideast oil by 75% by the year 2025. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman explains that "this was purely an example" and we might still have to import large amounts of oil from these friendly client states in 20 years because, by golly, that's just where the oil is. I mean, what are you gonna do?

Asked why the president used the words "the Middle East" when he didn't really mean them, one administration official said Bush wanted to dramatize the issue in a way that "every American sitting out there listening to the speech understands."

See, he's not lying, he's dramatizing. Suddenly the whole WMD thing makes sense.

"In 2025, net petroleum imports, including both crude oil and refined products, are expected to account for 60 percent of demand ... up from 58 percent in 2004," according to the Energy Information Administration's 2006 Annual Energy Outlook.

Oh no, cognitive dissonance! (I hate when that happens.)...or maybe it's like a Zen koan, and our challenge is to perceive the deeper truth at the heart of the conundrum that is the sound of George Bush talking.

Then we will be rewarded with a flash of insight, like a cudgel to the side of the head, and achieve bliss in a post-oil economy.

Good night and good luck, grasshopper.