Exxon's second-quarter profit breaks its own record

I think that Exxon is also pumping cash into McCain’s and the Republican’s campaigns.

"Exxon is pumping cash, not oil," said Judy Dugan, research director at Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog. "The big oil companies are wallowing in cash, and Exxon is the most aggressive in buying back its stock instead of taking the risks it should to both find new oil and develop new forms of energy."
Jim Pitcherella
From the Los Angeles Times
Exxon's second-quarter profit breaks its own record
The oil giant brings in $11.68 billion, the largest profit for a U.S. company, and still fails to meet analysts' expectations. Critics say Exxon and others aren't doing enough to reduce gas prices.
By Elizabeth Douglass
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 1, 2008

Exxon Mobil Corp. today posted second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion, once again topping its own record for the biggest profit ever by a U.S. corporation.

Still, the massive profit by the world's largest publicly traded oil company pleased hardly anyone. Production fell during the quarter, and financial analysts had been expecting better earnings -- two factors that helped push the company's stock down $2.49 to $81.89 at 3:15 Eastern time.

Activists renewed their complaints that Exxon and other oil companies weren't investing enough to find new oil that would bring pump prices down, instead preferring to drill for wealth on Wall Street by purchasing their own stock.

Read more at
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-exxon1-2008aug01,0,849528.story

John McCain made a stone cold error on the "surge"

After a series of forgetful jumbles of history and geography by McCain, I think the American people may indeed “make a judgment”; that is that we may have a second Republican Presidential candidate with incipient Alzheimer’s disease. The question is will the press continue to try hiding McCain’s flubs or not.

There is also of course the possibility that McCain will forget he is a Presidential Candidate.

From the Huffington Post VIDEO:
"During a CBS interview on Tuesday, John McCain made a stone cold error on a subject about which he claims expert knowledge: the "surge" strategy in Iraq. In an interview with anchor Katie Couric, the Arizona Republican said, inaccurately, that the surge strategy was responsible for the much-touted "Anbar Awakening," in which Sunni sheiks turned against Al Qaeda, helping in turn to reduce violence in the country."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/22/mccain-gets-history-of-th_n_114419.html

McCain confused again

The last time I looked there was no border between Iraq and Pakistan.

Good thing he has a limo driver otherwise he might get lost on the way home.
Jim

McCain Defends Czechoslovakia, A Non-Existent Country -- Again
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/14/mccain-references-non-exi_n_112650.html

McCain Owns First Foreign Policy Gaffe During Obama's Iraq Trip (VIDEO)
And it was McCain who owns the first big gaffe of the trip -- appearing to confuse Iraq and Afghanistan.
Asked by ABC's Diane Sawyer Monday morning whether the "the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent," McCain responded:
"I think it's serious. . . . It's a serious situation, but there's a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I'm afraid it's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border," said McCain, R-Ariz., said on "Good Morning America

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/21/mccain-owns-first-foreign_n_114013.html

I would highly recommend the book McMafia: Crime Without Frontiers by Misha Glenny

I would highly recommend the book McMafia: Crime Without Frontiers by Misha Glenny
Bodley Head £20, pp426

It is about international organized crime but it foreshadows some of the political, financial, national security and energy crisis that we now face.

Although is not the direct cause of the explosion of organized crime, the Republican Conservative Deregulation Agenda promoted by Bush, Rove and McCain has an unintentional effect on the rapid spread of international organized crime.

Much of the explosion of international organized crime is due the break up of the Soviet Union. International organized crime is now the primary industry of several countries and a high percentage of the economy of many others.

Our financial institutions had not begun to fail when McMafia was published in 2006 but the seeds for failure are evident. The manipulation of our financial institutions by organized crime syndicates when no one was watching is a major cause of our economic crisis.

It is now impossible to lead a normal life in the USA and not be touched in some manner by international organized crime in your daily living.
Jim

22 Obama field offices to open in PA - July 22nd

JULY 22 ~ 22 OBAMA OFFICES OPEN IN PA!!
SPREAD THE WORD TO ALL YOUR
LISTS, FRIENDS, RELATIVES, ORGANIZATIONS!!
Grand Opening: Chester County Headquarters of the Pennsylvania Campaign for ChangeWhen: Tuesday, July 22, 2008. 6 ~ 9pmWhere: 543 E Gay Street, West Chester PAPlease bring food & drinks to share, BYOBWe still are in desperate need of office furniture, supplies, chairs, etc. the office will be open from 9-9 daily
Now through Monday. Please bring a tables, chairs, supplies, so that we are prepared for our opening on TuesdayDan Gabor Campaign For Change - PA Field Organizer312.805.5797 mobile dgabor@barackobama.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Police show up at Encino IndyMac branch as waiting customers clash

This is only the beginning. Wait until ordinary people understand to what extent international organized crime, the Mafia and Mafiya has dipped into our banks and lending institutions. A lot can happen when people are handed piles of other people’s money and no one is looking in an age when billions of dollars can be transferred electronically in microseconds.

Carl Rove and the Nuevo Robber Barons need to stand down while Democrats sweep the country with a New, New Deal. We need to bring back regulated industry and financial institutions. In a few years we might be able to sing; “Happy Days are Here Again”. That is, if the USA survives intact from the devastation that Republican Conservatism has brought us.

I don’t think that it will happen but, If China decides that we are too poor of a financial risk and cashes out, our money will be basically worthless and the USA and the “Experiment in Democracy” are finished.
Jim

________________________________________
From the Los Angeles Times
Police show up at Encino IndyMac branch as waiting customers clash
People in line seeking to withdraw their money are told to remain calm or face arrest. A disruption reportedly occurs when some try to cut in line outside the failed institution.
By Andrea Chang and Andrew Blankstein
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

11:17 AM PDT, July 15, 2008

Los Angeles police were dispatched to an IndyMac Bank branch in Encino this morning when customers waiting to withdraw money became agitated after several people tried to cut in line on the second day of the failed institution's federal takeover.

Police told customers to remain calm or face arrest as they tried to withdraw their money.

Three police units were dispatched shortly after 8 a.m. amid reports of a disruption outside the branch in the 17000 block of Ventura Boulevard, LAPD spokeswoman April Harding said.

Harding said that as many as 80 people were waiting outside the bank when several people tried to cut in line.

Order was quickly restored and private security guards stood watch over the line, with police acting as backup. As a precaution, the LAPD sent a squad car to another IndyMac branch in Northridge, although no incidents were reported there, Harding said.

As the morning wore on, customers leaned over a metal railing separating them from a row of security guards and yelled complaints. The main point of contention surrounded a sign-up list that was started late Monday after many customers gave up and left for the day.

"He promised us there would not be a list," one woman yelled at a security guard. "We don't know who to believe!"

As tensions rose, customers began pointing fingers at one another and trying to cut in line.

"Listen to me, lady," Mahvash Barjasteh, 51, a loan broker from Woodland Hills said to a guard. "I was in front of him."

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-indymac16-2008jul16,0,1217522.story

A Shortage at the Pump: Not of Gas, but of 4s

The prices that we are experiencing are the result of a slowly but steadily increasing worldwide demand for oil and the slow but steadily diminishing oil supply. There has not been a catastrophic event that is making prices spike.

Cheney and Bush talk about attacking Iran. If that happened Iran would begin sinking oil tanker ships. If there is such an event prices could spike very quickly. And Bush, Cheney and a good chunk of the Bush Administration could double their oil fortunes over night.

The station owners need to start thinking about new signs with room for an extra set of digits. A row of three digits might not be enough if prices go over $9.99 per gallon.
Jim
________________________________________
July 15, 2008
A Shortage at the Pump: Not of Gas, but of 4s
By KEN BELSON
If one is the loneliest number, then four is the hottest — at least when it comes to gasoline.
With regular gas in New York City at a near-record $4.40 a gallon, station managers are rummaging through their storage closets in search of extra 4s to display on their pumps. Many are coming up short.
That’s why Vishal Nair, who runs the Lukoil station at Eighth Avenue and 13th Street in Greenwich Village, took another plastic number last week, turned it over and scribbled “4” on it with a black magic marker. The result was an obviously homemade “$4.47,” but it would have to do until he received the extra 4s he ordered months ago.
“Typically, we have a lot of 9s and 1s, and we had a shortage of 3s before we got a lot of 3s in,” Mr. Nair said.
The missing digits are an unanticipated barometer of how frequently prices are changing. The average price of regular gasoline in New York City has risen by 35 percent this year, forcing station managers to change their price displays almost every time they get a delivery, which can be daily at some stations.
Franchises often order numbers from their parent companies, though like independent station owners, they can buy directly from sign companies. Sets of 40 include equal numbers of each digit, which are magnetic or slip into plastic holders. Digits, which are often in a Helvetica font, are sold individually for as little as a $1.50. In New York, numbers must be 4.5 or 9 inches tall.
When prices passed $4, many stations ran out of 4s, and managers improvised by photocopying signs or stenciling numbers by hand.
The makeshift digits are legal as long as they are similar to the neighboring numbers, said John Browne, the assistant director of enforcement for the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs’ petroleum unit.
“As long as the color and size are correct and it is apparent what the number is, they are fine,” said Mr. Browne, who inspected Mr. Nair’s handiwork last Friday at the Lukoil station…
To read the rest of the article go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/

Rove’s Third Term

"Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors."
-- George Herbert Walker Bush, 1999
Karl Rove is among those “most insidious of traitors”. Karl Rove is responsible for undermining years of work by Valerie Plame tracing the proliferation of weapons grade nuclear material. Rove has the blood of CIA operatives, real patriots, on his hands. The fact that he still leads the Republican Party says a lot about what it means to be a Republican in the Twenty-first Century.

One Chester County Republican Committeeperson and one Republican Committeeperson who recently stepped down from the CCRC in Chester County have people closely associated with them convicted of selling crack cocaine- their sons. I believe that says a lot about what it means to be a member of the CCRC.

I guess that it why Chester County Republicans hold their heads high. What else can you do when you are standing waist deep in manure?
Jim


________________
July 4, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
Rove’s Third Term
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.
Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.
The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves.
What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero.
Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.
It was predictable that the McCain campaign would go wild over the Clark remarks. Mr. McCain’s run for the White House has always been based on persona rather than policy: he doesn’t have ideas that voters agree with, but he does have an inspiring life story — which, contrary to the myth of the modest maverick, he talks about all the time. The suggestion that this life story isn’t relevant to his quest for office was bound to provoke a violent reaction.
But the McCain campaign went beyond condemning General Clark’s remarks; it went out of its way to distort them. “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history,” said retired Col. Bud Day, who participated in a conference call organized by the campaign. In fact, General Clark had said no such thing.
The irony, not lost on Democrats, is that Col. Day himself has done what he falsely accused Wesley Clark of doing: he appeared in the 2004 Swift boat ads that impugned John Kerry’s wartime service.
The willingness of the McCain campaign to engage in these tactics, employing such tainted spokesmen, tells us that the campaign has decided to go negative — specifically, to apply the strategy Karl Rove used so effectively in 2002 and 2004 (but not so effectively in 2006), that of portraying Democrats as unpatriotic.
And sure enough, Adam Nagourney of The New York Times reports signs of the “increasing influence of veterans of Mr. Rove’s shop in the McCain operation.”
Will Rovian tactics work this year?
In 2002 and 2004, Republicans were so successful at playing the patriotism card thanks to a combination of compliant media and cowering Democrats. At first, the Clark affair suggested that nothing has changed. News organizations reported as fact the false assertion that General Clark criticized Mr. McCain’s military service, and the Obama campaign rushed to “reject” his remarks.
“Two days into the Wesley Clark fallout,” wrote the Columbia Journalism Review on Tuesday morning, “the press, the G.O.P., and the Obama campaign all seem to have agreed that Clark’s recent remarks on John McCain’s service record were at best impolitic and at worst despicable.”
Since then, however, both the press and the Obama campaign seem to have recovered some of their balance. Opinion pieces have started to
READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/opinion/04krugman.html?_