One of the things I don’t get about the current energy discussion is the extent to which some of the louder rightist voices are going to defend the oil industry.
I understand these people taking positions which go against popular sentiment–e.g., countering the argument that big oil is “gouging” customers. But this goes beyond that. These guys are so zealous they sound as if they are on the oil industry payroll–perhaps they are.
At any rate, they are having success in brainwashing at least some of their audience.
I was listening to WGOP yesterday, and a listener chimed in bragging about a call he made to the White House. He said that he had told them that if Congress should pass the $100 gas refund, he would sign over his check and send it to ExxonMobil.
Huh?
Once upon a time, in times of “crisis,” Americans showed they were good citizens by recycling, planting gardens, or volunteering. Apparently now we live in an era where some believe that the strength of American can be measured by the oil industry’s profits.
I guess if some people hear something enough, they can be lead to believe anything.
“White Guilt”
Yesterday I was listening to WGOP and the recently-arrested host was raving about this Shelby Steele column. Out of curiosity I dig it up; turns out it’s merely another tortured attempt to argue that something bad–in this case the war in Iraq– is the result of liberal, Anti-American thought. For some reason, we don’t try to wage combat at full force because ideologically, the world is against us.
Glenn Greenwald and Billmon do a good job of smacking Steele’s piece down.
I merely add that as far as comparing our current conflict with the good ol’ wars goes, haven’t these people been listening as Bush himself has proclaimed we’re now fighting a different kind of war. You know, confronting IEDs and suicide bombers rather than columns of German tanks and artillery? One would think that the difference in nature of this warfare would be obvious.
Colbert On Exercise
Rough paraphrase, from last night:
“I don’t exercise for fear of injury, which would prevent me from future exercise.”
Health Care Across The Pond
I know this isn’t as important to most Americans as last week’s American Idol, but some of us find it interesting:
White, middle-aged Americans – even those who are rich – are far less healthy than their peers in England, according to stunning new research that erases misconceptions and has experts scratching their heads.
Americans had higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, strokes, lung disease and cancer – findings that held true no matter what income or education level.
Those dismal results are despite the fact that U.S. health care spending is double what England spends on each of its citizens.
Americans spend about $5,200 per person on health care. And gasoline prices are our real national crisis?
Late Night At The Election Commission
The big story waiting for Knox County election results to come in was some technical snafu reading the machines. But that’s not the only trouble reporters encountered:
Deceiving screensaver
Lola Alapo reports from the Knox County Commission building. She said supporters had been crowded around a computer screen looking at election results. When the computer screen displayed the screensaver, someone screamed “No!” until someone else moved the mouse to display the information again.
Does Diebold make screensavers?
“End of Life Care”
Back when I was in boarding school, I helped a little (and I emphasize little) with a metal recycling project–you know, separating copper and other metals from larger contraptions. At the time, I wondered how much money could really be made with a small-scale operation.
With commodity prices going the way they have been, there’s more money to be made now. Problem is, for common products, such as paper, plastic, or aluminum, it’s apparently still not very profitable to run city-wide operations. So a lot of it still goes in the land fill.