An ongoing conversation between George Hartzman and Allen Johnson on "RUCO rest in peace"

"...last week the General Assembly stuck a fork in the city’s proactive and clearly effective
rental unit inspections program.

There the GOP went again, meddling in local affairs.

By signing the law, didn't Bev Perdue also meddle?

That’s too bad. By virtually any measure the RUCO program was working.

Two days after the program was effectively neutered
Beth McKee-Huger of the Greensboro Housing Coalition
was scheduled to speak about RUCO on a panel in Denver.

It had become a model for cities all over the country.

The program might have had a fighting chance
if the City Council had expressed any semblance of solid support.

It had that chance on June 7 with a proposed resolution in favor of RUCO.

It tabled the matter.

Did the News & Record Editorial Board raise the issue,

between the time City Council tabled the matter

and when the bill was passed by the state legislature?

The council should be held accountable in the coming election.

Who on City Council should be held accountable?

Allen Johnson

Why did Bev Perdue sign it?

Why didn't Robbie or anyone else speak up after it got out of congress?

wtf?

Bev Perdue could have vetoed it?

Why didn't she veto the bill Allen?

There's plenty of blame to go around on all sides.

What will they tell the widows, and/or orphans or the asthmatic or the burnt

or the broken?

Will we have spilt blood in exchange for campaign contributions?

Robbie didn't step up.

Skip didn't.

Small didn't.

Coleman didn't.

The NAACP didn't.

The Pulpit Forum.

The Simpkins PAC.

Pcjeort Heatsomed.

Aiogapn Bowrn Sevten Krouy

Come clean

By not mentioning Bev signed it into law puts you at at rhetorical disadvantage

by placing you on a side.

Please get off of all the sides.

Tell the truth.

Abner Doon, June 28, 2011 - 9:27 pm EDT

"I have no idea what your point is, Abner,
aside that I agree it would have been useful
to have seen some of the people and organizations you mention step forward.

Most of the ones you list are African American,
but this is not a racial issue as I see it.

Allen, where do you think most of those who this will harm live?

How many do you think are not white?

How can this not be a racial issue,

if most of those who will be harmed are not white?

I don't see why Wade, Knight, Thompson, Matheny and Rakestraw
didn't speak on RUCO's behalf either.

How can you not see they didn't speak up,

if much of their campaign cash comes from many

who wanted to get rid of RUCO?

Or were you just kidding?

If you weren't kidding,

why would you say that?

As for a veto, I imagine the governor did not see this one
rise to the level of many other bills she already has vetoed,
though it would have been nice if she had."

Allen Johnson, June 29, 2011 - 8:54 am EDT

Again, how can you not understand the correlation

between campaign contributions and legislation?

How can the News & Record talk about campaign contributions

in today's paper on a tax break for an out of town company,

and not recognize the same thing only different on local issues?

Could it be that Skip, Small, Coleman,

The NAACP, The Pulpit Forum and The Simpkins PAC

didn't speak up because they are a part of the problem?

How could they not be part of the problem,

if they didn't bother to stand up for the people they say they represent?

Why won't the Editorial Board call out our black leadership

for being what many believe to be crony hypocrites?

"WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices"

"US diplomat convinced by Saudi expert that reserves of world's biggest oil exporter
have been overstated by nearly 40%

The US fears that Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter,
may not have enough reserves to prevent oil prices escalating,
confidential cables from its embassy in Riyadh show.

The cables, released by WikiLeaks, urge Washington to take seriously a warning
from a senior Saudi government oil executive
that the kingdom's crude oil reserves may have been overstated
by as much as 300bn barrels – nearly 40%.

...Many analysts expect that the Saudis and their Opec cartel partners
would pump more oil if rising prices threatened to choke off demand.

However, Sadad al-Husseini,
a geologist and former head of exploration at the Saudi oil monopoly Aramco,
met the US consul general in Riyadh in November 2007 and told the US diplomat
that Aramco's 12.5m barrel-a-day capacity needed to keep a lid on prices could not be reached.

According to the cables, which date between 2007-09,
Husseini said Saudi Arabia might reach an output of 12m barrels a day in 10 years
but before then – possibly as early as 2012
– global oil production would have hit its highest point.

This crunch point is known as "peak oil".

Husseini said that at that point Aramco would not be able to stop the rise of global oil prices
because the Saudi energy industry had overstated its recoverable reserves
to spur foreign investment.

He argued that Aramco had badly underestimated the time needed to bring new oil on tap.

One cable said: "According to al-Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold.

First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described,
and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained
as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray."

It went on: "In a presentation, Abdallah al-Saif,
current Aramco senior vice-president for exploration,
reported that Aramco has 716bn barrels of total reserves,
of which 51% are recoverable,
and that in 20 years Aramco will have 900bn barrels of reserves.

"Al-Husseini disagrees with this analysis,
believing Aramco's reserves are overstated by as much as 300bn barrels.

In his view once 50% of original proven reserves has been reached

… a steady output in decline will ensue and no amount of effort will be able to stop it.

He believes that what will result is a plateau in total output
that will last approximately 15 years followed by decreasing output."

The US consul then told Washington:
"While al-Husseini fundamentally contradicts the Aramco company line,
he is no doomsday theorist.

His pedigree, experience and outlook demand that his predictions be thoughtfully considered."

Seven months later, the US embassy in Riyadh went further in two more cables.

"Our mission now questions
how much the Saudis can now substantively influence the crude markets over the long term.

Clearly they can drive prices up,
but we question whether they any longer have the power
to drive prices down for a prolonged period."

A fourth cable, in October 2009,
claimed that escalating electricity demand by Saudi Arabia
may further constrain Saudi oil exports.


"Demand [for electricity] is expected to grow 10% a year over the next decade
as a result of population and economic growth.

As a result it will need to double its generation capacity to 68,000MW in 2018," it said.

It also reported major project delays and accidents as
"evidence that the Saudi Aramco is having to run harder to stay in place
– to replace the decline in existing production."

While fears of premature "peak oil" and Saudi production problems had been expressed before,
no US official has come close to saying this in public.

In the last two years, other senior energy analysts have backed Husseini.

...Jeremy Leggett, convenor of the UK Industry Taskforce on Peak Oil and Energy Security, said:
"We are asleep at the wheel here:
choosing to ignore a threat to the global economy that is quite as bad as the credit crunch,
quite possibly worse."

Guardian

Is there a global shortage of Light Sweet Crude Oil?

"...the IEA’s release suddenly altered the supply and demand balance of the market.

Instead of a flood of heavy, sour oil from Saudi Arabia,
the market is now braced for the release of light, sweet oil from the emergency reserves.

...The collapse of the differential indicates that the release of the strategic reserves
is not only lowering the headline cost of oil,
but also the premiums that refineries were until a week ago paying
to secure scarce supplies of high quality, light sweet oil."

CNBC

If plenty of light sweet crude is being released by world governments,

why has the cost gone back up so quickly?

"North Korea shuts down universities for 10 months"

"North Korea has shut down its universities for the next 10 months
and sent students to work in factories, agriculture and the construction sector...

..."One reason is that there is a possibility of demonstrations at university campuses"...

"The leadership has seen the 'Jasmine Revolution' in Africa
and it is very frightened that the same thing could happen in North Korea"...

"They fear it could start in the universities."

...North Korea has purchased anti-riot equipment from China in recent months,
including tear gas and batons,
while there has been an increased police presence
at key points in Pyongyang in recent months."

Tele

Jeff Rubin: "Why is the IEA tapping strategic reserves?"

"The IEA cites the loss of 1.5 million barrels of Libyan production
but that’s been going on since February.

So why has it taken until July for them to respond?

Perhaps it is a vote of non–confidence in Saudi Arabia’s ability
to ramp up production to its new 10 million barrel per day target.

But who in the IEA really believes Saudi Arabia could sustain that level anyway?

It hasn’t happened since the early 1970s.

...the only country capable of producing oil at that rate is Russia,
and it’s already doing it.

Other than the level of oil prices
and the resulting weakness in oil consuming economies,
what supply shock does the release redress?

How about a lack of Light Sweet Crude,

not enough refineries set up for Heavy Sour,

and Japan needing massive imports to make up for nuclear energy lost?

...There is no doubt the loss of Libyan production
has made world oil markets even tighter
but triple-digit world oil prices aren’t really about supply shocks.

They’re about the growing imbalance between ever-surging world oil demand
and little-growing world oil supply.

And that imbalance is becoming bigger all the time.

While global inventories can still bridge the gap in the very near-term,
they are hardly a sustainable solution.

...If inventories aren’t going to be depleted,
tapping reserves today means restocking them tomorrow.

When exactly does the IEA expect to take back into inventory
to rebuild the 60 million barrels that they are now adding to the market?

What’s going to change in the world demand-supply balance
that will allow inventories be rebuilt without stoking the price pressures
that tapping reserves are supposed to relieve?

The only plausible time for restocking to happen
is during the onset of another oil -induced global recession,
which, of course, the IEA may think will occur sooner than most of us yet suspect."

Jeff Rubin

Did increasing amounts of money, debt, energy and people enable the world to consume more raw materials in the last 75 years than in recorded history?

If US mainland oil discovery peaked in the 1930’s
leading to a production peak in the early 1970’s
and world discovery peaked in the 1960’s
when should global oil production peak?

By some estimates there will be an average of 2% annual growth

in global oil demand over the years ahead

along with conservatively a 3% natural decline in production

from existing reserves

Richard Bruce Cheney

Guilford County Redistricting Meeting Tomorrow and Linkfest at Guarino's Blog

Guilford GOP redistricting plan

HT: Jordan Green for map above from scribd account on Guilford County GOP redistricting map
Just a friendly reminder that on Wednesday 6-29-2011 at 3:30pm in the blue room at the old guilford county courthouse the second installment of the Redistricting for Guilford County meeting will take place.

As you can see in the top left corner of this blog there is a countdown clock for the number of days that the Guilford County Commissioners have to present the map for a 9 member board of commissioners with a 8 district and 1 at large make up. The countdown clock has 48 days left before they need to turn the map into the Department of Justice for approval.

We also have a new category over at Guarino's blog titled "Redistricting Guilford" CLICKHERE which has plenty of post on this subject .

Newsbusted is New for June 28, 2011 Please Enjoy The Embedded Video Compliments of Newsbusters

Newsbusted is new for June 28, 2011 please enjoy the embedded video compliments of newsbusters CLICKHERE

Topics in today's show:

-- Obama announces plans to withdraw 30,000 troops from Afghanistan

-- NY legalizes same-sex marriage

-- NBC omits "Under God" from Pledge of Allegiance

-- Tom Hanks says Obama has saved 1 billion jobs

-- China has overtaken America as largest consumer of energy

-- Michelle Obama visits Africa

-- Cars 2 opens last weekend

-- John Stewart uses racist voice to mock Herman Cain

Starring: Jodi Miller
Production: Dialog New Media

Feeling generous? Text 'NewsBusters' to 85944 to make a $10 contribution to keep 'Busted going strong.

NewsBusted is a comedy webcast about the news of the day, uploaded every Tuesday and every Friday.

If you like the show, be sure to tell your friends and family!

Feel free to post your comments on this video, we love them. We also love seeing how many people won't read this disclaimer and realize the laughtrack is a joke itself.

Think you're funny? Send your (short) jokes to newsbusted at dialognewmedia.com. If we use them, we'll pay you USD $50 for each one.

Why would the “Consultant” who created a $14,337,210 hypothetical Greensboro Aquatic Center economic impact “projection,” say only debt free competitive swim centers work?

"Drowning in debt, Triangle Aquatic Center wants Cary to buy swim facility

The Triangle Aquatic Center is swimming in troubled financial waters
and wants the town of Cary to throw it a $14 million life preserver.

…Thanks to the financial meltdown, the nonprofit that built and runs the facility
says it will have trouble paying off its debt without significantly raising the fees it charges the public.

Instead of hiking those rates – which could drive off customers
– TAC President Mike Curran has asked the town to buy the facility by assuming its debt.

…TAC…posted a net gain of $114,448 on nearly $1.4 million in revenue last year.

That operational number excludes debt payments and donations from the Curran Foundation.

Hill Carrow…who runs Cary-based Sports & Properties Inc.,
says facilities such as TAC are rarely self-sustaining.

“The only way you can make that work
– you’d have to have everything paid for in advance,” says Carrow.

“You can’t have any debt service.”

Triangle Business Journal, May 8, 2009

George Hartzman's challenge to Ed Cone, Fec, Roch, David Hoggard and whoever else...

Mr. Perkins is in violation
of city's code of ethics policy on the White Street Landfill
disclosures and conflict of interest policy's.

Prove me wrong Ed.

Fec.

Roch.

David.

Me.

I believe Rita Danish and Robbie Perkins

violated city ethics guidelines

relative to the White Street Landfill Contract negotiations.

George Hartzman

That would be a definitive statement.

So let's hear the rebuttals.

Why did Robbie and Rita not violate the ethics rules?

I believe this is a whitewash,
and should be beyond partisan.

Prove my conspiracy theory wrong.

Abner Doon at Ed Cone's

The City of Greensboro,
City Council and Robbie Perkins' very serious conflict of interest issue:
Is this why Rita Danish left?

Greensboro News & Record Editorial:
Going, going, gone: On firing city attorney Rita Danish

Rita Danish Linkfest

"Obama, Democrats, Republicans AND Bernanke All in a Bind – What they will do and when" Bruce Krasting: Would this be a hidden tax hike by both Dems and Pubs?

"We have two distinct groups in D.C. that are stuck between a very big rock and a hard place.

The first is the Federal Reserve.

The second is the Democrats and Republicans and the battle being waged over the debt limit.

...The Fed is in a bind.

The economy is clearly slowing down again.

Unemployment will soon follow.

According to the Fed’s Dual Mandate they should be doing something about that.

...They can’t do more Large Scale Asset Purchases (“LSAP”).

What has become referred to as “QE”, has not worked.

It was also very unpopular (both in and out of the country).

...Now consider where the politicians are on the inflation story.

Republicans have drawn a line in the sand on the debt limit with their position
of “No New Taxes”.

If we cannot raise taxation and we are spending more than we make,

and we cannot borrow more,

where will the money come from to pay for Social Security, Medicare

and Medicaid?

The Democrats have said pretty much the opposite with, “No spending cuts”.

...to go to August 2 without a resolution is just a dumb move.

...the next presidential election is riding on the outcome.

...The “side” that gets the blame will lose the election. And both sides understand this.

So where’s the compromise?

...The government has got to get out of its inflation indexed obligations.

If everything gets more expensive and fixed payments stay the same,

who takes the hit, and who benefits from others having less to spend?

You don’t have to raise tax brackets to raise revenues or cut expenses.

You can mess with inflation adjustments to achieve these ends.

Lying by omission

One lies by omission by omitting an important fact,

deliberately leaving another person with a misconception.

Lying by omission includes failures to correct pre-existing misconceptions.

…Propaganda is an example of lying by omission.

Wikipedia

Both sides can appear to win if this is accomplished.

Consider the words last week of Brian Graff of ASPPA (Lobby for pensions and actuaries)
(The conference was sponsored by the IRS!!)

"Eliminating indexing is one of the proposals receiving serious consideration
as Congress enters “uncharted territory” with legislation to raise the debt ceiling.

If Congress were to stop indexing for a period of time, which would affect tax brackets,
individual retirement account contributions, and contribution limits under tax code Section 415,
“you could raise a lot of money, and those are the kinds of things they are talking about.”

On the expense side of the equation a great deal of fat can be cut
by eliminating/cutting COLA increases in a variety of programs.

The most important of which would be Social Security.

Depending on how the cuts in COLA are defined and how they are applied
a huge amount of money would be saved over an extended period.

If all social obligations had their COLA increases cut in half
it would (on paper) put the US on a much more solid long-term footing.

If some financial estimates and hypothetical illustrations

assume perpetual levels of varying data,

can governmental inflation valuation measures be manipulated

to increase taxes without most understanding what is occuring?

It is a very appealing “kick the can down the road” approach.

No cuts in programs (just smaller increases) and no new taxes
(but higher revenue as the inflation adjustments for AMT and other tax issues kick in).

Why not do the same with federal state and corporate pension funds?

...this is the way it could play out:

We DO go to the 11th hour on the debt limit. But a compromised is reached.

Central to the deal is a broad restructuring
of the way inflation impacts both revenue and expenses at the federal level.

Both sides claim victory."

Bruce Krasting

The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war,

the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture,

and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation.

These contradictions are not accidental, nor do they result from ordinary hypocrisy.

They are deliberate exercises in doublethink.

George Orwell

Do the few who control dissemination of most financial and political information,
enjoy relatively disproportionate levels of influence than the many who don’t?

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Exodus 20:13

All warfare is based on deception.


…when able to attack we must seem unable,
when using our forces we must seem inactive,
when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far…,
when far away, we must make him believe we are near.


Sun Tzu

Duke Professor Michael Munger Explains Why Government's Job is NOT to Create Jobs

Well said Mr. Munger , could not agree more. HAT TIP : CAROLINA JOURNAL TV

Redistricting and The Voting Rights Act Map for Guilford County and District #28

NC Senate proposed map for District 28 for Guilford County VRA

Above you will see the map proposed by the Chairman of the Senate Redistricting Commission in Sen. Rucho. This map shows Guilford County's Senate District #28 which is the Voting Rights Act district made up of majority- minority constituents.It looks like from the maps they stretched it to split a precinct to have Senator Robinson PG1 be a part of this majority minority district in the pleasant garden area.

You will also see that it looks like Senator Don Vaughan who is from G18 on the map will probably be in another district. As TRIADWATCH has stated in the past  CLICKHERE it might be the case that you will see a more heavily republican tint to the district in Guilford County. We will see when all the maps come out but as this maps indicates it seems like we might see more Republican voters actually be voting in a district in Guilford County  and not voting for a senator from another county in Sen. Phil Berger from Rockingham County or Sen. Stan Bingham from Davidson County.

John Hammer Cartoon Linkfest: Ed Cone, Spag, Guarino, Killian etc...

Seems like old times - Ed Cone

David Wharton at Ed Cone's on the Rhino Cartoon - Abner

The Rhino Cartoon - Spag

On John Hammer's Apology - Abner

Sam Sees Possible Bigotry in the Rhino Cartoon... - Guarino

More Cartoons

"Dey builds a brand new jail..." - Joe Killian

Can two wrongs make a right, or can two wrongs not make a right? - Abner
If John Hammer and John Stewart both did wrong,
does it make both instances OK?

John Hammer's apology

decolored version

Cartoons

...it appears they may have told a fib to get out of it

confirming and compounding upon the original set of circumstances.

I hear they do the Article and the drawing together over the week.

The premise of the cartoon is legit.

The delivery lacked...

But they, being John and Geof may closely collaborate.

The drawings appear more to resemble Geof's black charachters.

So the "New York Mobsters" story doesn't fly,

so they tried to appoligize without having to actually appoligize.

They still havn't acually come clean

because they look like they are using a lie to soften the blow.

I would love to know what they were talking about

when they came up with it.

$100 million jail and then a ankle program

that could empty it.

.

Abner at Guarino's

"The Biggest Republican Mastermind And The Biggest Democrat Fundraiser Literally Work For The Same Company"

"...I had to meet Alan Quasha, the owner of Brean Murray,
at an event they were throwing...

He had no idea who I was.

I certainly wasn’t anything like George W. Bush,
the man Quasha had personally saved in 1986.

...In 1986 Bush was CEO of some oil company that was going down in flames.

Possibly the worst oil company in Texas history.

Some calls were made and Quasha’s Harken Oil
bought Bush’s company for millions of dollars.

Then, of course, a few years later, Bush sold his shares in Quasha’s Harkin Oil
right before Harkin Oil announced a mega-loss and the stock tanked.

Bush used his profits to buy a stake in the Texas Rangers, s
old that stake later for 10-15 million dollars
and was finally able to follow his father’s sage advice
(“don’t go into politics until you get rich” ***).

...Alan Quasha had moved on.

Now I was being introduced to Terry Mcauliffe.

Terry was the Vice-Chairman of Brean Murray.

Terry was known in most circles as “Bill Clinton’s best friend”.

Terry raised the bulk of the money for the two Presidential campaigns
that Bill was in (the first, of course, where he crushed Bush, the Elder).

I’m guessing Terry also raised the money for all of Hillary’s political races.

...So there you have it.

The biggest mastermind in Republican politics,
the behind the scenes mover and shaker across the entire Bush family,
was Chairman of the company.

And the biggest mover-and-shaker in Democrat politics, was Vice Chairman.

The war of values, between Democracy and Republicanism that our founders had fought for,
had shed blood for, was over between them, if it ever even existed.

Screw “The Federalist Papers”! Let’s make some money!

You see why your vote is useless? Not only is it useless, it’s scary.

...Obama extended Bush’s tax cuts, kept Bush’s Secretary of Defense,
extended the wars in Afganistan and Iraq, didn’t close Guantanamo Bay,
and fought for a healthcare that’s now being disputed (and overturned) in every court in America.

What else has he done? I can’t think of it.

Planned Parenthood has less government funding now than under Bush.

Africa has less funding from the US than under Bush (in fact, Obama has bombed Africa / Libya).

...We fought so hard for beliefs we all thought we had and where do they all end up?

Where does it all congeal together right before it flushes down the toilet?

Answer:

One is Chairman and the other is Vice-Chairman of the same company.

They’re all laughing together. Slapping backs. Making Money.

They are laughing at you and me, my friend. The war is over for them.

We voted them all in there, they served their time,
and now they are minting money as if they own the printing press.

I watched Quasha and McCaulliffe laugh,
sitting next to each other when they used to pretend to be sitting so far apart.

*** Net worth of most recent Presidents and Vice-Presidents (according to celebritynetworth.com)

* Barack Obama: $5 million (will probably end up around a billion)
* George W. Bush: $26 million
* Bill Clinton $85 million (my guess is this is understated by about $50-100 million.)
* George H.W Bush: $15 million (I think this is understated by about a billion)
* And now the big question: Al Gore versus Dick Cheney? Democrats versus Republicans. The winner is….
* Al Gore, coming in at $300 million with Dick Cheney at $90 million (don’t forget Gore was an advisor to Google since 2001 and on the Board of Apple. He also manages a billion dollar “green fund”). Al Gore’s net worth in 2001: $1 million."

James Altucher

WTF on Crude Oil Statistics

"…crude oil plus condensate (C+C) production
reported by the Energy Information Agency of Washington (EIA)
had begun to diverge from same data reported by the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI)
to the point that EIA data was now about 3.8 million barrels per day (mmbpd) higher than JODI.

EIA data show strongly growing global oil production reaching new peaks
in excess of those reached in 2005 and 2008,
whilst JODI data do not and are more consistent
with a continuation of the bumpy plateau reached in 2006.

Why is this important?

There are a number of issues at stake.

First, the EIA data give the impression that high price
has fed into an increase in global production capacity whilst the JODI data do not.

The EIA data give the impression of strong growth in the global economy
feeding into higher demand for and production of oil
whilst the JODI data do not.

Finally the cause of the divergence
raises questions about reporting standards and why these should vary.

From 2004 to 2009, the EIA and JODI data show very good agreement for Saudi Arabia,
showing that for a prolonged period in the recent past
the Saudis reported more or less same numbers to EIA and JODI
and that these agencies managed to report these numbers accurately.

But since Jan 2010, the two data sets began to diverge
to a maximum over 1 million bpd in June - Sep 2010.

A similar kind of discrepancy appears in the pre 2004 data.

The divergence may not appear to be much,
but added to similar from other OPEC countries shown in Figure 1
the cumulative effect is highly significant for global oil production statistics.

Which of the data sets are correct?

Did Saudi production rise during 2010 as shown by the EIA
or did it stay flat as shown by JODI?

Did the Saudis (Iranians, Algerians and Angolans)
for some reason start reporting different numbers to the EIA and JODI?"

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7965

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/7949

Gregor on the SPR release: Pay Attention

Two fundamentally different stories have been enacted

…during the lifetime of man.

One began... some two or three million years ago by the Leavers,

and is still being enacted by them today, as successfully as ever.

The other began to be enacted here some ten or twelve thousand years ago

by the Takers,

and is apparently about to end in catastrophe.

Ishmael, a wise fictional gorilla

…the IEA inventory release implies that whatever extra supply Saudi Arabia can offer,
it is either too sour and heavy to bring down the price of global diesel,
or Saudi can only pump extra oil for short periods of time.

…both of these factors are in play.

We are in the first age since the dawn of civilization

in which people have dared to think it practicable

to make the benefits of civilization available to the whole human race.

Arnold Toynbee

Releases of oil from inventory are counterintuitively bullish, not bearish, for prices.

While oil prices no doubt will be rocked for several months now,
releases such as these only highlight the fundamental problem at hand:
structurally restrained supply.

The greatest shortcoming of the human race

is our inability to understand the exponential function.

Dr Albert Bartlett

For example, the OECD could have turned to non-OPEC producers
…and asked them to produce more.

But Non-OPEC producers, accounting for 57% of total global supply,
have no spare capacity.

The major advances in civilization

are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur.

Alfred North Whitehead

The oil market is going to figure this out more quickly than most imagine.

…Release of inventory is confirmation that the era of permanently constrained supply
is now very much with us.

Because industrial economies are simply machines that convert energy inputs
into useful work and services, today’s action is also a reminder
that the dream of higher growth in conjunction with lower oil prices
is now very much a backward looking view,
a nostaglia for a past that’s no longer possible.

Gregor

All progress

is based upon the universal innate desire on the part of every organism

to live beyond its income.

Samuel Butler

Pay Attention = Dennis Gartman, late June, 2011, on the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release

"According to the DOE, of the 726.5 million barrels
[Ed. Note: this is down of course from the 727.7 million barrels...,
perhaps due to evaporation, leakage, et al.] in the reserve,
434 million are “sour” barrels.

The remaining 292.5 million are considered “sweet.”

The market wants “sweet” crude and will only take “sour…”
high sulfur content… crude when forced to do so.

Even then it will take “sour” crude only after material price discounts are made available.

…If there was a constriction in supply in the world
it was because of the situation in Libya, where that countries wonderful, sweet light crude
so demanded by the European refiners had been lost to them.

…the global energy market and the decision by the Europeans
and the Obama Administration to release crude oil from their respective SPRs
flies into the Saudi face.

Saudi Arabia wanted to be seen as the reason for the break in prices,
even though Saudi was going to supply unwanted, high sulfur, heavy crude to the market,
which the market clearly does not want and which the European refiners,
whose processes are somewhat less sophisticated than are the US refiners,
have a great deal more difficulty putting through their cracking towers.

…The IEA tells us that at current rates of usage, the SPR holds 75 days of import protection,
given the recent usage of 9.7 million bpd.

The DOE tells us that the average price paid for the crude in question was $29.76/barrel,
so there shall be a huge windfall profit that the government will earn
as it sells this crude into the market."

Dennis Gartman
June, 2011

If those who should know won’t report the differences between Heavy Sour and Light Sweet oil production, how can energy analysts, investors and consumers ascertain whether Light Sweet production is falling, while Heavy Sour production is filling in the shortfall?

We regret that the information you requested

on crude inventories of sweet and sour

is not available

U S Department of Energy email to George Hartzman

Why would the US Military and the IEA have contradictory oil supply outlooks?

US military warns oil output may dip causing massive shortages by 2015

..."By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the [Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command]...

It adds: "While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."

The US military says its views cannot be taken as US government policy but admits they are meant to provide the Joint Forces with "an intellectual foundation upon which we will construct the concept to guide out future force developments."

...The Paris-based International Energy Agency remains confident that there is no short-term risk of oil shortages but privately some senior officials have admitted there is considerable disagreement internally about this upbeat stance.

Future fuel supplies are of acute importance to the US army because it is believed to be the biggest single user of petrol in the world.

...Glen Sweetnam, main oil adviser to the Obama administration, admitted that "a chance exists that we may experience a decline" of world liquid fuels production between 2011 and 2015 if the investment was not forthcoming.

...The Joint Operating Environment report paints a bleak picture of what can happen on occasions when there is serious economic upheaval. "One should not forget that the Great Depression spawned a number of totalitarian regimes that sought economic prosperity for their nations by ruthless conquest," it points out.

Terry Macalister
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 11 April 2010

Pay Attention - On Oil Production, Consumption and Light Sweet and Heavy Sour Crude: Why did the US open up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

Before we started using it, there was about 76 cubic miles of oil on Earth,

or a sphere with a diameter of 5.26 miles, about as tall as the tallest mountain on Earth,

of which since 1859, we have consumed about half.

If Earth’s diameter is about 7,960 miles and the diameter

of all the oil has a diameter of about 5.26 miles, and about half of it is gone,

then less than less than ½ of 1% of Earth is made of oil.

Source: John Gilkison, New Mexico State University, February 2006

In 2000, the difference between non-OPEC light sweet and sour crude oil production
of 66 mb/d
was 41% light sweet and 59% sour.

mb/d = million barrels per day

From 2000 to 2004, non-OPEC light sweet production fell 3.26 mb/d,
from 27.06 mb/d to 23.8 mb/d.

34% to 67%, light sweet to sour.

Source: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
August 2005 monthly report on the global oil market,
data on non-OPEC and OPEC oil extraction by weight and sulphur content
from 2000 to 2004, Page 4

Oil producing nations export petroleum products only after domestic needs are met.

A ‘2000’ nation producing 5 mb/d, consuming 1.0 mb/d of light sweet

can export 1.05 mb/d of light sweet. (41% light sweet production)

If a ‘2004’ nation’s total oil production increased 6% to 5.3 mb/d,

like non-OPEC production above,

and total light sweet production dropped to 34% while domestic consumption

rose to 1.1 mb/d,

then light sweet exports fell about 33.3%, to 0.7 mb/d.

If between 2000 and 2004, non-OPEC lost 3.26 mb/d as OPEC added 1 mb/d of light sweet,

then total global light sweet production fell about 2.26 mb/d.

Source: The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

August 2005 monthly report on the global oil market,

data on non-OPEC and OPEC oil extraction by weight and sulphur content from

2000 to 2004, Page 4

If total oil production rises or stays the same while light sweet production falls
while consumption rises in oil producing nations and China and India
and now Japan, after multiples of Nuclear Plants went offline…?

Brandon Burgess - Regarding religious justification for laws:

"I believe that, in America,
the same freedoms should be available to all legal, law-abiding citizens.

I can't understand why anyone who loves this country
would argue against that."

Brandon Burgess at Ed Cone

Philosophical Libertarianism

"Libertarianism is one of the main philosophical positions
related to the problems of free will and determinism,
which are part of the larger domain of metaphysics.

Libertarianism, ...argues that free will is logically incompatible with a deterministic universe
and that agents have free will, and that therefore determinism is false.

...The term libertarianism in a metaphysical or philosophical sense
was first used by late Enlightenment free-thinkers to refer to those who believed in free will,
as opposed to determinism.

The first recorded use was in 1789 by William Belsham in a discussion of free will
and in opposition to "necessitarian" (or determinist) views."

Wiki

A few oil price related links from the theoildrum.com

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/06/25/govt-plans-cut-oil-production-target.html





http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/802106/ht/Protests-across-Andhra-Pradesh-against-fuel-price-hike

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110625/wl_sthasia_afp/indiapoliticseconomyoilinflation_20110625120152

Phil Flynn on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Oil release

"The market was screaming for action and the International Energy Agency acted.

Despite the critics of the surprise release of 60 million barrels

...the truth is they made the right move.

It was clear that if you listened to what the market was saying
it was telling you quite clearly that the combination of sub-par North Sea production
and the war in the Middle East was causing a serious enough disruption
to warrant some help from the International Energy Agency.

The market, as judged by the record breaking spread
of Brent Crude over the West Texas Intermediate,
showed the refining market was broken
and the International Energy Agency was correct in trying to fix it.

This is one of the reasons that strategic reserves are there
and that is to make up for major disruptions of supply
by things like acts of God and by acts of war.

...Believe it or not this move was just not done to move price
but to replace lost supply due to a major disruption due to war.

This is a disruption that constrained the supply of light sweet crude
that was causing a major headache not only in Europe
but was starting impact supply in the United States.

East coast supplies into New York harbor have been falling,
causing a spike in gas prices and impacting US consumers
as Brent crude stared to spin out of control.

While oil supply in the US is at the highest level since 1980,
because of the war in Libya, supplies in Europe are at a five year low.

Every day that Libya is off line
1.5 million barrels of high quality crude from the marketplace.

Don’t get thrown off by the argument that 60 million barrels is not enough to make a difference
because it would just about cover US demand for the weekend,
this is about quality not quantity.

While Saudi Arabia is pumping the most oil they have in 30 years to try to fill the void,
the quality of their crude is not going to help the European refiners
that can’t refine the sour crude the Saudis are putting out there.

The truth is that an influx of light sweet crude into the market place
could bridge the gap until North Sea production can get caught up.

This should not only beef up supply on the East Coast of the United States
as well as Europe.

...there is a precedent for what they did.

The IEA moved to replace supply after Iraq invaded Kuwait,
so disruptions due to war are a legitimate reason for a release.

...This is not about price but about supply.

Oil prices were already under pressure due to weak data in China
and the US and flashing red lights in Europe!

...I am not talking about another IMF type scandal
but European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet
saying that risk signals for financial stability in the euro area are flashing “red”
as the debt crisis threatens ...Europe and the world.

...Keep moving, nothing to see here.

But perhaps a large reason for the weak moves ...is the end of QE2.

The training wheels are coming off and we will see a period of adjustment
as the QE 2 stimulus goes away."

Phil Flynn

McMorris Rodgers & DeMint Introduce Bill to Stop U.S. Participation in European Bailouts

"Legislation Would Block IMF From Using $108 Billion in U.S. Taxpayer Money for Growing Bailouts

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference,
and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
introduced legislation today that would stop
the Obama Administration’s costly bailouts of Greece and other European nations.

Since the bailout money is being dispensed through the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
their bill would rescind the IMF’s authority to spend up to $108 billion of U.S. taxpayer money
which was made available to fund these disastrous bailouts.

“At a time when the federal government is borrowing $5 billion every day
on top of a $14 trillion national debt,
I am gravely concerned by America’s growing involvement in the ‘gathering storm’ of European bailouts,”
said Rep. McMorris Rodgers. “The European debt crisis was caused by too much spending and borrowing
and that crisis will not be solved by more spending and borrowing.

A ‘Euro-TARP’ is the wrong approach because it's creating a ‘moral hazard’
that will lead to larger counties — particularly Spain and Italy
— standing in line for U.S. tax dollars tomorrow.

America should have no part in it.”

“We haven’t even begun to seriously address our own economic difficulties,
so it makes no sense to continue bailing out failing European countries,” said Sen. DeMint.

“If we don’t reverse our reckless fiscal course, America will be the one in need of a bailout.

We need to stop the spending, stop the debt, and pass a balanced budget amendment.”

“American taxpayers have seen more bailouts than they can stomach,
and the last thing they should have to worry about are their hard-earned tax dollars
being used to rescue a foreign government,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
who introduced the Senate bill with Sen. DeMint.

...The House bill number is H.R. 2313.

The European Union charter
requires that every EU member have a debt-to-GDP ratio lower than 60 percent
and a budget deficit below 3 percent.

Virtually none of the EU members meet that standard.

Since the European debt crisis broke in early 2010,
the IMF has committed $353 billion to bailing out European governments,
although most of that money hasn’t been dispensed yet.

The U.S. is the leading funder of the IMF.

On March 24, 2010, Rep. McMorris Rodgers was the first Member of Congress
to publicly oppose U.S. involvement in a European bailout.

Greece became the first country to receive an IMF bailout seven weeks later."

Karl

Some Race, Hate and Rights Quotes

Racism isn't born, folks, it's taught.

I have a two-year-old son.

You know what he hates? Naps!

End of list.

~Dennis Leary

The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to "create" rights.


Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government
from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.


~Justice William J. Brennan, 1982

I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul

by making me hate him.

~Booker T. Washington

I think you should defend to the death their right to march,
and then go down and meet them with baseball bats.


~Woody Allen, on the Ku Klux Klan

I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!

And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

~Barry Goldwater

Hatred is one long wait.


~René Maran

A racially integrated community is a chronological term

timed from the entrance of the first black family

to the exit of the last white family.

~Saul Alinsky

It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away
than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.


~Carl T. Rowan

The price of hating other human beings is loving oneself less.

~Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice, 1968

I hold it to be the inalienable right of anybody to go to hell in his own way.


~Robert Frost

I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women

join the unqualified men in running our government.

~Cissy Farenthold

Racism is man's gravest threat to man
- the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason.


~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Silence never won rights.

They are not handed down from above;

they are forced by pressures from below.

~Roger Baldwin

If malice or envy were tangible and had a shape,
it would be the shape of a boomerang.


~Charley Reese

I have always claimed Americans didn't want a drink

as bad as they wanted the right to take a drink if they did happen to want one.

~Will Rogers

Take care that no one hates you justly.


~Publilius Syrus

Can two wrongs make a right, or can two wrongs not make a right? If John Hammer and John Stewart both did wrong, does it make both instances OK?

Two wrongs make a right is a logical fallacy that occurs when it is assumed
that if one wrong is committed, another wrong will cancel it out.


Like many fallacies, it typically appears as the hidden major premise in an enthymeme
—an unstated assumption which must be true for the premises to lead to the conclusion.

This is an example of an informal fallacy:

Speaker A: You shouldn't embezzle from your employer. It's against the law.

Speaker B: My employer cheats on their taxes. That's against the law, too!

The unstated premise is that breaking the law (the wrong) is justified,
as long as the other party also does so.


It is often used as a red herring, or an attempt to change or distract from the issue.

For example:

Speaker A: President Williams lied in his testimony to Congress. He should not do that.

Speaker B: But you are ignoring the fact that President Roberts lied in his Congressional testimony!

Even if President Roberts lied in his Congressional testimony,
that does not make it acceptable for President Williams to do so as well.
(At best, it means Williams is no worse than Roberts.)


By invoking the fallacy, the contested issue of "lying" is ignored.

The tu quoque fallacy is a specific type of "two wrongs make a right".

Accusing another person of not practicing what they preach,

while appropriate in some situations, does not in itself invalidate an action

or statement that is perceived as contradictory.

Two wrongs don't make a right


Two wrongs don't make a right is the proverb that contradicts this logical fallacy.


It means that a wrongful action is not a morally appropriate way
to correct or cancel a previous wrongful action.


Wiki

.
The fallacy is commonly used to justify actions,

perhaps most noticeably in conflicts between countries and ethnic groups.

Palestinians and Jews alike can point to perceived injustices committed by the other side,

in some cases stretching in to the distant past.

This same pattern can be seen in arguments over The Crusades

in which Muslims and Christians attempt to attribute blame

by citing slights committed by the other side.

Eddie Murphy provided an example of this during a comedy stand-up performance

when he told a joke about wandering up to a white man and saying

"I just lost my job today, to a white man, looks just like you!"

He went on to explain that he was going to beat up some white guys to redeem himself.

Color may or may not be relevant,

but assuming that the loss of his job was wrong,

it is certainly the two wrongs make a right fallacy being committed,

since there's no other justification provided for the threatened assault.

Why were blacks not supposed to eat with whites or use the same restrooms or water fountains?

He who will not reason is a bigot

he who cannot is a fool

and he who dares not is a slave

Sir William Drummond

Why did many white religious institutions teach congregants that God supported racial segregation?

My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter.

It points me to the man who once in loneliness

surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were

and summoned men to fight against them and who,

God's truth!

was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter.

… How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison.

As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated,

but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice...

For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.

Adolf Hitler, April 12, 1922

Why were women denied the right to vote until 1920?

It is an unmistakable lesson of history

that when one group of people starts to see another group of people

as ‘other,’ or as ‘different,’ as ‘undeserving’ as ‘inferior’,

ill treatment inevitably follows.

Air Force Reserve Major David J. R. Frakt

More Cartoons

On John Hammer's Apology

"I apologize for the offensive political cartoon in this week's edition of The Rhinoceros Times.

The cartoon appears to be two black male prisoners using poor grammar talking about being in jail.

The males are supposed to be two white men.

Why don't they look like the white people Geof usually draws?

We regret the error and offer sincere apologies to everyone who is offended by the cartoon.

We are also offended by the cartoon.

Why wasn't John offended until others were offended?

As it appears in the newspaper it is racially insensitive
and promotes a negative racial stereotype we find offensive.

Who's we?

How could it have been non-offensive before it was?

Both the cartoonist and the graphic artist who colored the cartoon
were shocked today at how it appeared in the newspaper.

The cartoonist said he was sick when he opened the paper and saw his cartoon.

He said he drew the characters as New York mobsters.

What stereotype are "New York mobsters" supposed to look like?

Why don't they look like the white people Geof usually draws?

How many New York mobsters

are stereotypically wearing orange jumpsuits?

Why would New York mobsters

complain about not getting "three squares and cable"?

Why would New York mobsters

complain about being under house arrest

so the "Man" can pay for a new jail?

...we have removed the colorized cartoon from the website
and replaced it with the original pen and ink drawing, which we find acceptable."

So stereotyping is OK if they are Italian, Irish or "insert ethnicity" Americans,

as long as they are not Black?

Is some bigotry more acceptable than others?

John Hammer
Editor-in-Chief
The Rhinoceros Times

I Googled the phrase "dey puts us."

Among the hits: a book about African Americans

who served in the Regular Army between the Civil War and World War I;

three references to Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery; a Texas Slave Narrative;

and a book called Yule Log with a racist chapter title I won't repeat here.

Nothing about New York mobsters.

The phrase "three squares and cable" is limited to blog and forum comments

from people who may or may not be New York mobsters.

Guilford County Jail Current Inmate List; Report Run on 06/23/11 at 22:05:00; Total = 883

Black or African American male 554

White male 229

White female 48

Black or African American female 37

Indian or Alaskan Native male 8

Asian or Pacific Islander male 4

Other 2

Indian or Alaskan Native female 1

(No specific listing of New York mobsters.)

If it's a cartoon about two black males on house arrest from the Guilford County jail,

it does capture the jail's largest demographic,

but the way the men are portrayed is, indeed, shocking and offensive.

If it's a cartoon about two New York mobsters on house arrest from the Guilford County jail,

it's still offensive, but it makes no sense. New York mobsters? What?

michele at Ed Cone

David Wharton at Ed Cone's on the Rhino Cartoon

If John Hammer says these guys were supposed to be white,
why don't they look like the other white people Geof draws?

Why would the cartoonist choose to portray the convicts speaking in a phony,

minstrel-show dialect?

(African-American English doesn't inflect 3rd-person plural verbs

with "-s" as the cartoon does in "builds" and "pays.)

Is he making a real attempt to represent black speech,

but is too ignorant to do so?

Or is he being intentionally provocative by evoking a form of entertainment

that is particularly demeaning to black people?

And why choose to portray both convicts as African-Americans?

In any case, I have a hard time seeing the cartoon as anything but a deliberate racial provocation

-- one that I find both disgusting and depressing.

David Wharton

Can you hate someone you don’t know?

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye

the more light you pour upon it the more it will contract

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

Cartoons

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