New Gasoline Study Shows Profits, Not Crude Oil Prices Or Ethanol, Are Driving Pump Price Spike

Santa Monica, CA — The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights released a new study today of rising gasoline prices in California that found corporate markups and profiteering are responsible for spring price spikes, not rising crude costs or the national switchover to higher-cost ethanol, as the oil industry claims.

…”Oil companies are opportunistically using the rising world price for crude oil as an excuse to excessively raise gasoline prices and pump up their profits, even though the spot market price for crude has gone up far more slowly than gasoline prices,” said FTCR President Jamie Court. “In addition, the spot price is higher than most oil companies pay, since they either harvest their own crude or pay more stable and often much lower contract prices.

woke up this morning…got myself a gun…

Oh yeah. Sopranos music time…

So you can pass laws that net you a 2 million dollar tax refund by “donating” millions of your income to Katrina contributions- at least, that’s what you call them.

Really, if you sat down in a diner in Kansas and explained how the vice king gamed the system to get even richer, I think even those fine folks might be moved to violence against our corrupt theocratic state. Drag his snarling ass into the street and let people do to robbers what they always have, when they’ve caught ‘em.

Pound them into hamburger, and then call the law.

The Ongoing War on Truth in Iraq

By Dahr Jamail

04/18/06 “t r u t h o u t” — – On Monday, April 17, my sources in Baghdad reported fierce fighting in the al-Adhamiya neighborhood of the capital city, as well as fighting in the al-Dora neighborhood. One source, who lives in the predominantly Sunni area of Adhamiya, had been telling me the situation was disintegrating for days leading up to this. There had been clashes every day for four days leading up to yesterday’s huge clash there, with sporadic fighting between Sunni resistance fighters and members of the two largest Shia militias. The armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Badr Organization, and Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army have been launching ongoing attacks against fighters in the neighborhood. There is a shorter version of this description.

Civil war.

I’ve started a new book entitled “Music To Play When I’m Dead”. It will consist of peoples thoughts on what music they would want to be remembered by- a sort of musical immortality, if you will.

And I need your help. Go here and fill out the form. I’ll keep everyone updated as to progress. I’d really like as many responses from as wide a range of people as I can get, so please, forward to friends.

Thanks!

that our judicial system, post 9.11, is just making stuff up whenever it wants. This latest digusting ruling is just one more incident:

Justices Reject Gitmo Detainees’ Appeal

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from two Chinese Muslims who were mistakenly captured as enemy combatants more than four years ago and are still being held at the U.S. prison in Cuba.

The men’s plight has posed a dilemma for the Bush administration and courts. Previously, a federal judge said the detention of the ethnic Uighurs in Guantanamo Bay is unlawful, but that there was nothing federal courts could do.

These men have committed no crime. Let them go.

Mass whale deaths tied to U.S. Navy sonar, report says

TOKYO - The U.S. Navy’s deployment of active sonar to detect submarine activity is believed to have been responsible for at least six incidents of mass death and unusual behavior among pods of whales in the last 10 years, according to a recent U.S. Congressional Research Service report.

The potential impact of active military sonar on marine mammals, whose hearing is critical for their survival, has long been a concern. Even the deployment of low-frequency active sonar is said to cause a roaring sound comparable to that of a twin-engine jet fighter, while the midfrequency sound is believed to equal that of a rocket. Experts have warned that the sound could critically damage the mammals’ hearing organs.

Too bad for you, Mr Whale. The war machine must keep on rolling.

U.S.: Rumsfeld Potentially Liable for Torture
14 Apr 2006 22:23:19 GMT

Source: Human Rights Watch

(New York, April 14, 2006) - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could be criminally liable for the torture of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 and early 2003, Human Rights Watch said today. A December 20, 2005 Army Inspector General’s report, obtained by Salon.com this week, contains a sworn statement by Lt. Gen. Randall M. Schmidt that implicates Secretary Rumsfeld in the abuse of detainee Mohammad al-Qahtani. Based on an investigation that he carried out in early 2005, which included two interviews with Rumsfeld, Gen. Schmidt describes the defense secretary as being “personally involved” in al-Qahtani’s interrogation.

I ain’t holding my breath waiting to see him frogmarched out of the Pentagon.

Iran was not ordered to Stop Enrichment

By Mike Whitney

04/16/06 “ICH” — – It’s easy to get confused about developments in Iran because the media does everything in its power to obfuscate the facts and then spin the details in way that advances American policy objectives. But, let’s be clear; the Security Council did NOT order Iran to stop enriching uranium. It may not even be in their power to do so since enrichment is guaranteed under the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty). For the Security Council to forbid Iran to continue with enrichment activities would be tantamount to repealing the treaty itself. They didn’t do that.

No thanks.

The Little Willies- lowkey country honk from Norah Jones and crew. Cool stuff.