A Point For Those Worried About The Middle East

Iran, “which holds the world’s second-biggest oil and gas reserves and supplies about 4.5 percent of the world’s oil production,” uses its oil power “as a strategic asset.” One mechanism to control the flow of petrodollars to Iran — whose oil production is worth $120 billion a year at current prices — is for the United States to control its appetite for oil. ThinkProgress has found that a carbon cap that reduces global warming pollution by 80 percent by 2050 would mean Iran would lose approximately $1.8 trillion worth of oil revenues over the next forty years — over $100 million a day...

And don't think that Iran doesn't have lobbyists, my friend. They're in there right now (probably paid by Iran but obstensibly working for somone else) fighting Cap 'n' Trade.

What the hell, let's just give 'em the nukes directly - we'll all be underwater by 2050 and they can't hurt us anyway.

Other People's Nestle's

You'd think that our less socialistic brethern would be more inclined to pay for their own chocolately beverages, or at least refuse to accept chocolately beverages paid for by the government. As Wonkette notes:

“This fridge is located outside of the House Republican Conference in Longworth House Building. They seem to be moving offices, and this is a note they have attached to their fridge.”

My, That George Bush Fellah is Evil

So this morning Bush announced that he was going to both withdraw the surge by summer AND reduce the time soldiers are out in the field back to 12 months, both on the advice of the commanders in... I dunno, sub-chief? He also announced that he will hold the line on any further withdrawals until Petreus and company can evaluate the situation caused by the first set of withdrawals.

Interestingly, NPR's hourly newscast is emphasizing the last point, that Bush is refusing to consider further withdrawls at present. Could be liberal bias, could be that they consider that the real news since we knew he was going to say the other stuff.

Bush also whined about the next emergency war funding bill, saying that unless Congress met his conditions for it he would veto it. I think that when Bush whines about stuff, he really believes it. It's when he's not whining that he's lying. The whining is his way of saying, "you idiots! Why are you fighting me on this? I'm right!" I gotta admire a man who so doesn't accept compromise that he's willing to underfund his own war in order to get his way. There's your rejection of nuance!

By the way, how is this an emergency? Were they planning on the war being over when they did the regular budget?

I think Bush made a good point about the need to keep troops in until we have defeated the terrorists. If we withdraw, they will be emboldened. But if we don't and we don't "defeat" them, they will also be emboldened. And the terrorist aren't likely to throw in the towel any time soon, because they're terrorists.

And how did poor Iraq get in this situation, with us taking over their country to lure terrorists away from our own soil and thus fight them there? Isn't that the worst possible foreign relations move? I'm deliberately ignoring the point in the narrative where we claimed to be invading Iraq because they were harboring the 9/11 attackers. Because they stopped saying that for a long time and only recently started saying it again.

It was amusing to hear the President say that 15 months ago we were on the defensive... I don't recollect that kind of assessment coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania 15 months ago. As I recall, victory was just around the corner back then. Well, the corner must be pretty damn vast.

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Almost forgot my most important point! Why is Bush willing to draw down the troops? That's not like him!

Well, maybe even he recognizes that if he doesn't want to be the one to start up the draft again, he's going to need to get his Iran invasion force from somewhere. He's got till the end of the year to crank up THAT machine, and from the speech I'm guessing it's going to be sooner rather than later. Maybe that's the emergency which will postpone elections. Still too early to tell. I'm keeping some money on a bird flu epidemic.

Orwell That Ends Well

I love stuff like this, in the same way that I love slowing down at car wrecks on the freeway. Did you know that there are over 30 public surveillance cameras in the vicinity around George Orwell's historic London home? Ha ha ha... 1984 is funny because it's true!

In the DIGG comments under this story, someone points out that his girlfriend's bike was stolen in London, and they have footage of the perp from about a dozen angles, but the police say they are unable to catch him. Gosh, why would those cameras even be up if it isn't to catch criminals?

Personally, I'm a middle child but I have a big SISTER, so the idea of a Big Brother might appeal to me. But if the dude takes me away in the dead of night and brainwashes me, maybe I'd be happier as an orphan. If I ever pursue my dream of making a new life in England, I think I'll live in Cardiff. Even with Torchwood and their temporal rift.

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