I love Gasoline!

The current price of a barrel of oil is $135. Wow that is a lot of money. People have been talking about this eventuality for years. But nobody wants to think about ones own death until forced to do so by fate and the facts of life.

Our world runs on oil and so to have our BLOOD supply so expensive really screws things up for the whole system. We become sick, like a patient with a blood disease where the ability of the body to produce blood is dysfunctional. So the whole body begins to weaken.

In the future location is going to be even more important. Location of work to home, location of food to home, location of manufacturer to consumer, location of supplies to demand. Making a car on one side of the planet and selling it on the other side of the planet may to really work anymore. Same with growing food and shipping it thousands of miles.

We have built a world economy based on some really bad sand. The sand of cheap crude oil. If things continue the entire world economy will shift into a radically new direction. I hope it will be a smarter direction.

Then again we tend to make decisions based on momentary satisfaction. For instance ethanol from corn is causing food prices world wide to soar. It is also the spreading of a crop that is very costly to produce. In fact it is more costly than pumping oil out of the ground. We are doing this since it is a quick fix.

In the long run it is only conservation of energy resources that is going to work. We are not going to replace petroleum with ethanol or bio-diesel. We have to make our life more efficient. Only efficiency in energy usage is going to allow for the continued expansion of human civilization. The equation we are in is very complex and hard for the average human to solve. An example of this is recycling. How much energy does it take to recycle? Somethings are better to recycle than others. Somethings it may be better to simply bury.

What is clear is that the idea of buying, using, and tossings, is about over. Also the idea of vast arrays of cheap consumables may also be coming to and end. Look inside a Walmart and ask yourself "how much energy did it take to fill this store? How much to produce the products lining the shelves?"

Efficiency, at some point, is going to rub up against the consumer economy. Simply put we are not going to be able to live in an efficient world, safe from environmental destruction, and with an expanding civilization based on available energy, and have a Walmart society. They will probably be mutually exclusive.

I hate people who claim to be able to predict stuff, but I will do it now anyway. I would predict that, ceterus paribus, manufacturing will be done close to the consumer, and that the manufacturing process will be based on instantly available data on need not desire. This pattern will be managed through a order of magnitude shift in cost from Needed items to Desired items. This does not bode well for an society of equality. Especially if you define equality as being able to acquire the same stuff as your neighbor.

75,000 people in Obama rally in Portland

What is it about Obama that can get so many people out? I have heard him speak and he is good. But 75,000 people? That is rockstar status. He is drawing crowds larger than almost any candidate in history.

As I see it the Democrats are either headed into the White House with Obama or into a train wreck. The establishment does not know what to do with this guy. McCain is trying to paint Obama as a lightweight, like Clinton. However judging by the campaign organization, the fire, the crowds, and message crafting, McCain and Clinton are the lightweights. True they both have been around a lot longer. But that is exactly the point. Obama has charged ahead faster and stronger than either of the other two. Where was Mrs Clinton at Obama's age? Suffering as the wife of a Governor who slept around. And McCain? He was dealing with bribes and the coming S&L disaster.

Obama is so clearly the man who should be President. The other two, not bad at all, are simply not in the same class as Obama.

McCain last week said that we should win Iraq by 2013. Do you know what that means? Why 2013? Because that is the year AFTER the end of the next Presidential Administration. So McCain is basically punting the stinking turd down the lawn again admitting that there will be war in the first four years of his administration. Sounds brilliant doesn't it? Sounds like a loser to me.

Hot Hot Hot!

I do not like it hot. I do not like it cold. I am getting old, set in my ways, and beginning not to like things that are too hot and too cold. When I was a kid I could jump in the northern Pacific and the only thing that would annoy me was the time it took for my body to go numb so I could enjoy frolicking in the 50 degree water. And heat? Heat was to be much anticipated. 100 degree days were a reason to play with the hose, waste precious ground water, and jump in the neighbors green swimming pool. In January I could go up to the mountain and try to climb it. Cold and windy? Hey all the more adventurous!

Now I find myself cursing the wind, the cold, the heat. Not in a easy going manner either. But in an earnest way one might curse a villain like Hitler, of Bush. It is a curmudgeonly dislike for the discomfort of extremes. A lack of desire to accommodate such changes. Oh I could be gracious and accommodating. But in an angry spiteful, and quite useless, way I toss up my nose at any such niceties.

It is hot now. 9:30pm at night and it is hot. It should not be hot. I should be relaxing but no. The heat has decided that it will stay the night. Like a drunken house guest that you cannot reason with. It sulks, ruining the night. If I go to the bathroom it is there waiting for me. In bed it will not move over, it hogs the whole thing. I open the window to let in some cool night air only to find my ugly house guest has invited more uncivilized friends over to have a party.

I spend $21.00 to get me and my kid into see a movie, not because I am wealthy really want to watch a movie, just to get a big cold drink (a $5.00 drink!!!) and sit in a cold room for two hours. Last night we wandered around shopping mall until it closed. In the morning I longed for Sheri's, yes Sheris resturant, only for its overly active airconditioning system.

So here I sit at 9:30 pm with my loathsome sticky house guest and all I can do is write this blog that few people, if any, will ever read.

Getting near the end...sort of

All the crap shoveled at Obama didn't really stick. Yesterday was the opposite of what the media was advertising. Before yesterday the headlines were "Clinton hopes to narrow Obama victory in NC" and "Clinton hopes to widen victory in Indiana" Both proved incorrect. Both hopes failed. Obama and Clinton nearly tied in Indiana and Obama held on to a double digit lead in NC.

Furthermore Obama has picked up a series of super delegates. While Clinton is having trouble convincing them that she can still win this without a bunch of last minute back-room dealing.

Either candidate would be a gigantic improvement over the current occupant in the White House. H. Dean is right when he says that the loser of the nomination is going to have more to do with winning in November. A back-room deal fest is going to release a stink that is going to really set the Democrats back. I would make the case that before the end of this month somebody had better get out. As of today I see no "open" way for Clinton to wind this. The only way she can do it is via rule changes, and strong arming super delegates, most of whom will have to answer to their own electorates. So as of today Clinton, in all seriousness, needs to bow out. I do not know if Obama can win, but as the presumptive nominee we need to get behind him and charge on.

Election reminders

Before we all get happy or sad, understand that this country is still filled with idiots who voted Bush into the office twice. There are still lots of people who want to vote for a bar-stool warmer. I would love it if this were not the case. However that would be very wishful thinking. Just because you make a good argument doesn't mean that the lowbrows will buy it. I know this sounds kind of insulting to the average voter but I think the shoe seems to be fitting pretty well.

Obama is the only candidate worth your vote. Not that you will vote for him. But he is the only one who is worth the effort. The other two are lame and will accomplish little that is good. They will take your money and give it to their friends, their rich friends.

Review of Vatel

M. Vatel was the cook for M. la Prince D'Conde. He produced spectacular festivities for a visit to Conde's estate, by king Louis XIV and 2000 other guests. After the event he committed suicide with a sword. He was the inventor of Chantilly Creme.

Passion, Seduction, Betrayal? No not really. Little passion, no real suduction, and the only betrayal was Conde who bet his cook in a card game with the king.

The movie is about that last gigantic feast. It is a visual feast and the acting is also well done too. However the story, as it is portrayed is quite thin. The characters, though splendidly portrayed, are not introduced well and if you are not a connoisseur of history a lot is going to be lost on the average viewer. I read a review that said the story is hard to follow. Well it is rather easy to follow if you know the history, but if you do not know Conde and his relationship to the king, or the nature of the king himself, it is kind of hard to understand.

Tim Roth is typically caustic in his role, Uma Thurman would definitely have turned Louis' head. And Depardieu is superb as Vatel himself. The supporting cast is also spot on.

The music sucked. Of all the courts of Europe that you could make a movie about, Louis' court provides an immense reportior. Particularly music for grand festivities. The music dudes for this film, I guess were too ignorant and used Rameau, who wasn't born yet, and Handel who was not born yet either. If Lully saw this film he'd be pissed.

Other than the music the movie a lot of 17th century fun.

Movie gets a 6 out of 10

The Nuclear City

And no I am not talking about nuking a city. We are on the verge of being forced once again into a city centered, high density, community. The days of far flung subdivisions where people could live twenty miles or more from their job are coming to an end. Tree huggers have been talking this way for a while now so nobody, until fairly recently was inclined to worry too much.

Now gas prices are hovering at or above $3.60 a gallon. That means if you own a little car that gets 40 miles per gallon, something that most people do not own, and you travel 12,000 miles in a year in your car, something that most people do, it will cost you $1,080 a year to drive you little eco-car. Of course the average American has a car that gets about 24 miles per gallon, so they get to pay almost $2,000 a year for gas.

Now the for the "fun" future. Americans will eventually be paying about $7 per gallon. This is still about $2 per gallon less than everyone else in the world pays right now.

At $7 per gallon that little eco car will cost you $2160 a year in gas. Remember too that this equation I am using is for a person that has puts 1000 miles a month on their car. How many of you really do that?

For suburbanites some people are putting 100 mile round trips on their cars. At that level, at $7gal., they will be paying out a wopping $7600 bucks for gas a year just to drive to work and back.

So the era of long commutes from the country to jobs in the city is almost over. If you want to live in the country, fine, just make sure you have a job in the country. Another telltale sign of the times is that housing prices are falling, pretty much, only in the outlying areas. City housing has not really been touched by the so called housing slump.

Adam Smiths invisible economic hand will push people back to the city, kicking a screaming at times, but will drag them back all the same.

Stupid things to say!

"If Iran attacked Isreal with a nuke we would obliterate Iran." That is what H. Clinton said yesterday. As a student of history, politics and common sense, I find that another nail in her coffin.

Not that defending a friend is a bad thing. But in politics it is always better to keep your enemies guessing. What she said sounds like something that could be coming out of Bush's mouth. One of the numerous problems Bush has had is that he swaggers around showing people his hand all the time. Clinton seems to want to be Mrs. Bush.

The last thing I want is a President so mindlessly stupid as to think that talking tough is the same as being tough. "Speak softly and carry a big stick" Remember that? Not a bad idea. But lately our Presidents and wannabe-Presidents have forgotten, or perhaps are not educated enough, to understand the basics of foreign policy.

Many wars have been averted by Presidents NOT talking tough. So far there has been no war with China over Taiwan precisely because of the language NOT used by either side. By tipping your hand and telling your enemy what would make you do X you show them the way forward for their own agenda. This leads to America being on the defensive again.

Just because the idiot in Iran says stuff like that all the time about Isreal is NO reason for the President, or person who seeks that office, to act in such a stupid way. If the President of Iran jumped off a bridge would Clinton and Bush do the same?

Religion and War

It is a regular conservative talking point that the Koran states that Islam should be spread by the sword. Hmmm. What does the Bible say?:

Firstly the image above is taken from the Bible given to Louis the XI back in the 13th century. What a peaceful bucolic scene.

expert from Psalm 149

Let the godly ones exult in glory;
Let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations
And punishment on the peoples,
To bind their kings with chains
And their nobles with fetters of iron,
To execute on them the judgment written;
This is an honor for all His godly ones.
Praise the LORD!

Jashua 6 20-21:

"When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys."

Ah the peaceful Bible...

My point is that both the Koran and the Bible are filled with sword play, war, and lots of bloodletting. So for a Christian or a Muslim to try and tell the other that "their" religion is one of violence is a joke. Both religions have been spread with violence and both spread with peace.

I am tired of having the ignorant Christian voice the only one that is ever heard. Many, and I mean many - the majority, of Christian scholars understand very well the history of both faiths. Only an ignorant person could claim that Christianity spread via only peace and Islam via violence.

The sad truth is that Islam is at a violent crossroads. Christianity has really only been at peace for the last 300 years. Prior to that very few people would have considered Christianity and peace one in the same. And even during that brief three centuries there have been outbreaks of Christian terrorism. Particularly in Northern Ireland. Few Londoners would argue that those who planted bombs in stores and train stations were not inflicting terror upon the population. And likewise few Catholics would view the assassinations carried out by the ultra unionists as civil.

It is advisable to remember the nature of the last great Christian blood letting. In the 1680's the Protestant population of France was viciously, and at sword point, either converted, enslaved, or massacred outright. Children were taken from the parents to be raised by Catholic parents, and protestant towns burned to the ground. Hundreds of thousands of refugees streamed into England fleeing the genocide.

That was only the most recent mass Christian genocide. What made the genocide possible and popular among Catholics was that it was standard operating procedure and had been for a thousand years. Yet it would be a great mistake to assert, because of the genocide of the Huguenots, that Catholic Christians were more violent than Protestants. The violence was policy carried out for various political and personal reasons, by the King, and the evil nature was due to the king's ambitious secretary of war. Even the King was horrified when he learned how the "conversions" had been carried out.

Today there are fringe elements of most all faiths that see violence as required to serve God. What makes the fringe dangerous is when circumstances become such that their way, the way of Satan, is seen as Godly. Poverty, war, uncertainty, all can lead to that.

Proud but stupid too

I was accosted outside Powell's Book Store by a signature gatherer. He wanted me to sign a petition to make Oregon's primary "open" I got into it with him.

So let me get this straight. You are a voter who wants to vote for candidate "A" This candidate belongs to Party "A" You belong to party "B" You wish to not follow your fellow "B" people and vote for "A"? Well then become a member of the "A" party!!!!!!!

As a member of "A" party I do not want other people who aren't really sure about what they believe in or want, mucking around. If you, as a "B" member want to vote for our candidate in the general election GREAT!!! Just don't expect to be part of our decision making process when WE are determining who OUR candidate is going to be. Again if you are really interested in the things that candidate "A" is saying then maybe you really belong in "A"'s party.

Remember we are not currently electing a President. All the various parties are deciding who they want to represent them in the coming election this fall. That is it.

When the parties are finished deciding who they are going to field, then in the general election you can vote for whomever you want.

We have heard the Generals and Bush talk...now how about the Iraqi's?

Here is the latest blog posting from MAMA: another lady living in Iraq:
Friday, April 11, 2008

Reasons why Iraqis leave their houses
"There are many reasons to make Iraqis leave there own houses.
just try to imagine leaving your own house suddenly.
Raffi's family left home because every corner reminds them about their loss ,and induce pain . they see Raffi in his room ,on his chair, every where causes grief for them. they left their memories and their own house behind them and rent another house.
Others may leave their house for the same reason or because of danger either direct threatening, or dangerous neighborhood.
Sometimes the terrorists captivate the house and it's owners, so in any chance, they leave to stay alive.
In the other hand the military forces may hide in citizens house’s to watch the surrounding areas or to make an ambush for someone hiding nearby.
Some may leave the country or their town to look for a job or to work safely without blackmail..
But the American government and president Bush talk about their big achievements in my country, where we find nothing but fear ,losses, pain, and threats. no safety , no electricity, no tap water in most of the cities , lack in all kind of services even health services , nothing but the worst schools and education , no jobs, no human rights."

Taken from: Emotions


note: "Raffi" was the blogger's older brother. He was killed last month in a suicide car bombing.

Obama "Bitter" Comments

As a person who lived in Small-town rural America I can attest to Obama's comments as right-on-the-money. He is totally correct in his comments about rural, poor, America. It has always been that way and not to acknowledge that, just like not acknowledging a racial divide, is the silly.

As far as I am concerned he again shows that he is "in touch" with Americans. McCain and Clinton, too cowardly and afraid to speak the truth, want to dump on Obama for telling it the way it is. They would have dumped on him about his race speech too if he wasn't a man of color.

I want to vote for the smart guy, not a couple of has-bens.

The Face of Iraq

To view Iraqi's only through the lens of the NEWS is to see a dirty, bearded, screaming, dead, shooting, man, or a veiled woman. Here are a couple of young Iraqi's. They do not know who George Bush is, they do not know who Bin Laden is, and they have NEVER known a time in their country when their was peace. Neither was born when Bush invaded.

They will learn, like all kids do. They have already had mortors and bullets fly by them. Their parents have known friends that were blown to bits. And these little kids even got to get woken up in the middle of the night to a US Army inspection team. What will they end up learning?

The Stupidity of the war in Iraq

The strategic mistake of Iraq is still very much alive. To prove this go down the list of EVERY single enemy or potential enemy of the US and see who is the worse off for our blunder? The only "enemy" who is worse off is Saddam and he is dead. Other than that one man there is NO other enemy of the US that is in any way worse off.

The strategy of global supremacy being practiced by Bush and the idiots around him is the same strategy as the Russian roulette player uses when trying to amass cash in his own lethal, and quite stupid, game.

The use of military power should always put you at a strategic advantage at once. Anything other than predetermined victory and you should keep your army at home. And do not hold up WWII to me to refute my view either. WWII validates my view. For all the nations that thought that the moving of their armies into one nation or another were destroyed. Remember the Allies did not start WWII. If you are going to start a war you better be 100% certain, in a cold, rational, non-religious, mathematical, non ideological way or don't bother wasting your time and blood.

The war in Iraq is the capital sin, vainglory, and those that started it are now being punished by the souless, unstoppable hands of fate. All wars are evil and those that start them are followers of darkness. This being said there is no problem with defending yourself from attack. If you are attacked by all means defend yourself. It is righteous to defend your children and friends from harm. But to start a war with the idea of preempting a future you do not like, is the same capital sin, the same loathsome evil, dressed up to look noble.

Who Came up with "The United States Of America"

Did you ever wonder who originally came up with the name United States of America?

You can thank Thomas Paine for your countries name. You can also thank him for writing Common Sense and his articles called "The American Crisis" that Washington had read to his troops to bolster their confidence.

Thomas Paine was another founding member of our nation. Like many of the founders he was also a deist. While he languished in a Paris Jail awaiting execution as an enemy of the State, he wrote his last work "The Age of Reason"

This little book was warmly recieved in most countries but not in America. Even though it was dedicated to the USA and to President Washington. Paine argued in this last book that a revolution in theology was needed to follow up on the revolution in government. If not he feared that simple atheism would gradually take over the world.

To Paine all the great religions were nothing but myths. He called Christianity, "an amphibious fraud". This did not endear him to American Christians. However the reformers in Europe, long oppressed more directly by imperious churchmen, eat it up!

Paine was rescued from execution.

In Paris, where he had lived, there is a plaque that reads, "Thomas Paine. Englishman by birth. American by choice. French by decree. Citizen of the World."

Thomas Edison, the inventor, had this to say about Paine:

"I have always regarded Paine as one of the greatest of all Americans. Never have we had a sounder intelligence in this republic… It was my good fortune to encounter Thomas Paine's works in my boyhood… it was, indeed, a revelation to me to read that great thinker's views on political and theological subjects. Paine educated me then about many matters of which I had never before thought. I remember very vividly the flash of enlightenment that shone from Paine's writings and I recall thinking at that time, 'What a pity these works are not today the schoolbooks for all children!' My interest in Paine was not satisfied by my first reading of his works. I went back to them time and again, just as I have done since my boyhood days"

Abraham Lincoln wrote a paper defending Paine's Deism but his friend burned the paper to save Lincoln's political career.

All fired up in Portland OR

I took this shot outside the Portland HQ for Barak Obama's campaign. There were several hundred people there to sign up for phones, canvasing, and other such jobs. Congressmen Earl Blumenauer was there as was Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky of Illonois. This was the kick-off of things in Oregon. I would have to say that it was a diverse bunch of people in attendance. Though since Oregon is about 85% white the audience reflected that.
There was a lot of positive energy in the air and Schakowsky and Blumenauer did a good job firing them up. The state wide effort is not just based in Portland either. There were simultaneous events in all the major regions of the State.
I wonder what the Clinton show will look like?

Hurray for Iraq!

The surge was supposed to allow for the Iraqi government to begin the process of reconciliation with Sunni and Shiite citizens. Well the reconciliation appears to be taking the form of more shooting.

Taking a cue from the Bush play book of stupidity, the Iraqi government has decided to takes the gloves off and stop swatting at flies. Instead they are beating the bee hive with their sticks.

Whats it to us? Well they blew up the Basra oil pipline today...again. This cut the crude output in Iraq by 30%. This sent a barrel of light suite crude over $107 today. When you fill up your tank remember that Bush is as much to blame as China for the price you are paying.

Good thing we have an unlimited supply of cash and soldiers who couldn't care less about when they see their families.

The Iraq mess needs to be paid for by the walking cartoon characters who voted for this nonsense.

Clinton is a spoiler

The media spin is that there still is a race between Clinton and Obama. This seems to me not to be the case. Clinton, having only won 14 contests to Obama's 30 and trailing by almost 200 delegates does not seem to be much more than a spoiler now.

But what really showed me who is Presidential material was Obama's speech last week. He took a big negative, did not run away like a coward, and took the matter head on and used it to great advantage. It takes brilliance in order to see the way through such trouble. He and his team seem to me to be the only team running that really has what it takes to lead. McCain and Clinton are not the leaders that Obama is. It is the hight of stupidity to say that because Clinton or McCain have a lot of Washington experience that they would make better Presidents.

History does not shine a good light on "experienced" Presidents. The most experienced President of the 19th century was Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's VP. He was a monumental failure and presider over massive corruption, and was impeached. Lincoln on the other hand, was the least experienced President of that century.

Again in the 20th Century experience is no indicator of greatness. Wilson and Eisenhower were probably the least politically experienced Presidents in the history of the Republic while Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon two of the most experienced.

What makes a President great or a loser is contained in his or her own head and who that head keeps around it. The best man for the job is Barrak Hussain Obama. No other candidate has been so maligned and yet comes through cleaner than before the mud was slung.

Clinton and McCain are the past, of a different age, and unfit to carry the glory of America into the future. If you want a caretaker who will accomplish little, let America drift along without reclaiming her manifest destiny, then by all means vote or McCain or Clinton. If you believe in America then vote for Obama.

VP prospects for Obama

With a delegate lead of almost 100 after the overwhelming victory in Wyoming and Caucuas win in Texas, Obama needs to really be thinking about who his VP coice will be. While Clinton is trying to pretend to be the natural choice, of who I am not quite sure, Obama needs to think beyond the next several contests that he is sure to do well.

The VP should not be another Cheney. Bill Richardson is one name that comes to mind, as does Governor Shwitzer of Montana. Another name that I would recomend would be John Kitzhaber of Oregon. I would stay away from a senator or rep.

Notice I did not mention Clinton. That is because she would be a death scentance to any campaign.

Limbaugh and the right fear Obama

Today Rush, the reactionary idiot not the band, told people on FOX NEWS to vote for Clinton in the open Texas primary. Why? Well he and his kind have spent so many years getting ready to fight the Clinton Wars II, that to face Obama would mean certain defeat. Clearly Limbaugh and his ilk are scared of Obama. If the right-wing-nuts are not scared of Obama then they would not care who is the Democratic nominee. They want Clinton since they have grown up hating that family. It is kind of pathetic if you think about how much effort the right has wasted on the Clintons.

This hatred will be their undoing. Their myopic approach, which of course is their way of seeing most things, to the Presidency has proved both boring and nonsensical. Years ago I said that conservatism is, in the end, worthless since it dooms itself to spin itself into a storm only to tear itself apart.