Who Elected Howard Dean ruler of the universe, anyway? He’s now saying that Clinton or Obama should drop out of the race to the finish to “unify” the Democratic party? Huh? Why not a photo finish, Howard? Fight to the last. A “party” is unified by definition, isn’t it? Because a “party” brings tradition and past practices to the White House along with a president, a cabinet and a lot of other folks who get elected to lesser office. Is a Democrat going to stay home on election day and leave the election to the Republicans because one or another Democratic candidate didn’t win the nomination? Hardly. So let’s stay the course, as they say and let the better candidate take the nomination from the whole process.
Finally, an idea…
from the campaign trail. Hillary wants to ditch the federal gasoline tax for the summer. Obama says NO. Hillary says the “lost” revenue could be recovered from the oil companies. Obama says that won’t help at all. Standing out here by the gasoline pump, this sounds like a very good idea indeed. It would help commuting Americans. It would send a message about obscene profits. The states should do the same. If Obama and the environmentalists want to crash their boats on the rocks, then they should keep right on pushing for even higher fuel prices (to limit consumption) and oh, yes, keep on objecting loudly that windmills are an eyesore and a danger to birds. Now that REALLY makes sense, doesn’t it?
Why Hillary won’t quit…
Maureen Dowd of the New York Times is a pretty funny lady. She recently wrote a column about why Hillary won’t quit making Barack uncomfortable, why she stays in the race. She pointed out that Obama is behaving like a guy who thinks everyone ought to just get out of the way so he can get on with it and become our president. Well that’s just not how it works. Sure the primary race is icky. Sure, campaign trail breakfasts are covered in sticky maple syrup. You have to actually MEET THE PEOPLE. And you have to get more delegates than Hillary. Hillary won’t quit because she’s tough. If that’s what it takes to be the last man standing, then good for her. And good for us. The process is meant to rub off the polish and show us what’s under the hood.
Selecting the unelectable…
Now here’s a problem. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama white lady and a black man. Nobody like that has ever been elected president before. While race and gender shouldn’t matter the suspicion is that race and gender DO matter, that American voters are averse to change and the only hope the Democrats have is the revulsion many Americans are feeling toward Republicans of all kinds because of their fearless leader. So here’s a question. How come the Democrats can’t field a regular guy named “Joe,” who sucks down an occasional brewski, loves football and could kick some serious Republican butt in November? Are they all fiddleheads who couldn’t see this problem looming?
Pick up the phone…
So the president of United Airlines reported a huge financial loss for the quarter, largely due to rising fuel costs. The company will lay off 11,000 and cut back on flights in an attempt to save money. That’s going to be painful. Here’s a low-cost suggestion. Pick up the damn phone and get the president of Exxon or Mobil or whoever on the line. Tell him (them) if he wants to keep a customer who buys millions of gallons of fuel each year that prices have to stop going up. If the oil industry drives us all out of business, who will buy their oil?
Cut the price of oil and gas…
Quick. We can fix this. Right now.
1. Suspend the federal gasoline tax.
2. Suspend state gasoline taxes
3. Stop buying oil for the national reserve. It’s 97 percent full.
4. Divert those purchases to refiners who will produce heating oil and sell it for $1.00 a gallon
5. Divert those purchases to refiners who will produce diesel for truckers and sell it through cheaply.
6. Suspend the highway tax for diesel truck fuel.
7. Pass a new tax. 100% of any amount collected at the pump for gasoline sold for more than $3.00 a gallon.
Any or all of this can be done right now by the same legislators who are wringing their hands and saying they “understand” how this is all hurting us and the economy. That’s Nice. But how about Actually Doing something along the way? Well? What are they waiting for?
Good cup of coffee…
Where we are, Ocean State Job lot has been selling 28 oz. bags of Java Time coffee for $2.99 for quite long time. Today, the price went up — to $3.50 a bag. Now that’s still a pretty good deal for a pretty good cup of coffee. But for the economists in Washington who monitor such things and who report that after you take out the price of this and that, energy and all that stuff, there’s no inflation on the horizon? There is this – THE PRICE OF STUFF IS RISING ALL OVER THE PLACE AND GASOLINE JUST HIS $3.40 FOR REGULAR. Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to shout. I just wanted to scream.
40 degrees and warming up…
What is so cold about 40 degrees F in the shade? Can anyone explain that?
Gee, Gosh and Golly…
Guess what, folks. Retailers are hurting all over the place because people aren’t buying enough stuff? Go figure. Do the greedy people really believe that the rest of us can afford heating oil at $3.80 a gallon and Gasoline at $3.20 without a struggle? Do they forget that there’s only so much water in a stream? Or that when you take too much it dries up? Economics 101 — go back to school. These are lessons that are learned again and again. So stores are going bankrupt and suppliers aren’t getting paid and more people will lose their jobs. Gee, what a surprise. What next? Jumping from windows on Wall Street. Now THAT would be different. Or not really.
Oops. Bigotry 101…What Obama said.
Barack Obama said it. “I didn’t say it as well as I should have,” he explained. What he said was basically that when stressed, small town Americans blame economic and other woes on people who are different from them. Or, put another way, Mr. Obama thinks Americans, especially small town Americans, are bigots. He’s quite possibly correct, but hey, he’s running for President and he’s not supposed to say what they really think like that. But here’s the real question. If this candidate of hope and unity doesn’t like the rest of us all that much, why does he want to be our President?
