- Cool pictures of Saturn.
- Freedom on the march: Steve Howards was arrested for saying, “Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible” to Vice President Cheney. The Secret Service claimed this was an “assault.”
- Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner will not run for president in 2008. That’s too bad; I’ve considered him a candidate of interest. From a distance, he appeared like a moderate, results-oriented candidate who has proven he can win in the South.
- Glenn Greenwald questions the Department of Justice’s first treason indictment in 50 years. Politics at play behind the scenes? Perish the thought.
- A USA Today poll found that 42% of respondents believe there’s a political component to plummeting gas prices. A more recent Washington Post/ABC News poll says it’s 32%. Whatever the case, it’s a sizable number of Americans.
Anyone who knows much about oil markets realizes that the president has little influence over market supply and demand, which supposedly dictates price (though frankly it doesn’t satisfactorily explain the recent price volatility). So I don’t believe President Bush has been engineering the $20/barrel drop in oil.
However, I am a little suspicious in this regard: during the surge in oil prices, traders said a few dollars of the price was attributable to geo-political tensions. I found it quite curious that during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, when the rightist noise machine was ramping up the march toward World War III, that the White House suddenly came out in favor of a truce (after it had been condemning prior “fake” peace deals). And since then, we’ve heard very little hawkish rhetoric from the White House–you know, those statements which would cause concern in the oil market.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chávez give inflammatory speeches at the UN? The White House choses not to dignify them with a response. North Korea claims to hold a nuclear test? This isn’t something diplomacy can’t fix.
Call me suspicious, but it seems that Operation Don’t Rock The Oil Markets Until After November 7 is in effect.
