WHAT IS THE RIGHT POLITICAL LITMUS TEST?

JUST WHAT IS THE LIBERAL LITMUS TEST?

______________________
GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 6/25/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
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** REFLECTIONS: It should offend everyone that we do not have neutral professional in the U.S. Department of Justice...... Prosecutorial ACTIVISM ....is much worse that ACTIVISM from the judiciary.[trb] ***

“When it comes to the hiring of nonpartisan career attorneys, our system of justice should not be corrupted by partisan politics,” said Representative John Conyers Jr., the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “It appears the politicization at Justice was so pervasive that even interns had to pass a partisan litmus test.”[n]

NO JUSTICE IN THIS JUSTICE DEPARTMENT..IN HIRING AND FIRING... Justice Department officials blocked liberals and people with Democratic Party ties from a highly selective program that funneled young lawyers into government jobs, according to an internal investigation released Tuesday.[c] Investigators are also looking into whether those firings were prompted by partisan political reasons, whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his aides misled Congress, and whether civil-rights and voting-rights cases were politicized. Those studies could be issued soon, according to lawyers following the issues.[s] Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, now under investigation for allegedly politicizing the Justice Department, ousted a top lawyer for failing to adopt the administration's position on torture and then promised him a position as a U.S. attorney to placate him, highly placed sources tell ABC News. [A2]

ITS OKAY TO BREAK THE LAW TO KEEP THEM LEFTISTS OUT The report, prepared by the Justice Department’s own inspector general and its ethics office, portrays a clumsy effort by senior Justice Department screeners to weed out candidates for career positions whom they considered “leftists,” using Internet search engines to look for incriminating information or evidence of possible liberal bias. [n]

IDEOLOGICAL!, WE WANT JUSTICE LAWYERS BRED OUR WAY... Justice Department officials illegally used "political or ideological" factors in elite recruiting programs in recent years, tapping law-school graduates with conservative credentials over more qualified candidates with liberal-sounding résumés, an internal report found Tuesday.[S] Scores of highly credentialed young lawyers and law students were denied interviews for coveted positions at the Justice Department because of an illegal screening process that took political and ideological views and affiliations into account rather than merit, Justice Department investigators concluded in a report released Tuesday.[l] Both Justice Department policy and federal law prohibit discrimination in hiring for career positions on the basis of political affiliations.[c] The Democratic-controlled Congress has been engaged in battle for months with the White House over information about the dismissal of the attorneys and the prosecution of Siegelman. [c2] Current and former White House aides have refused to testify, citing executive privilege.[c2]

INSPECTOR GENERAL IS NOW A WHISTLE BLOWER Esther Slater McDonald, a political appointee at the Justice Department, "wrote disparaging statements about the candidates' liberal and Democratic Party affiliations on the applications she reviewed and ... she voted to deselect candidates on that basis," said the report by Inspector General Glenn Fine. McDonald, who has left the department, refused to be interviewed for the investigation.[c]

GOOGLE YOUR OWN NAME, HIGH SCHOOL POSTING CAN COST YOU YOUR ADULT JOB... The report, prepared by the Justice Department's own inspector general and its ethics office, tells how senior department screeners weeded out candidates for career positions whom they considered "leftists," using Internet search engines to look for incriminating information or evidence of possible liberal bias.[s]

NEW LAWYER SET UP TO TAKE THE FALL Much of the report's focus is on a 2003 law school graduate, Esther Slater McDonald, who was hired as a counsel to acting Associate Atty. Gen. William Mercer in June 2006 after being recommended by former Gonzales aide Goodling. Despite her inexperience, McDonald was named to the three-person committee that decided which applicants recommended by department sections would get interviews for the highly competitive intern and honors jobs. [l]

WHAT DO CLINTON, PARENTHOOD AND MYSPACE HAVE IN COMMON?...NO JOB... One rejected candidate from Harvard Law School worked for Planned Parenthood. Another wrote opinion pieces critical of the USA Patriot Act and the nomination of Samuel Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. A third applicant worked for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and posted an unflattering cartoon of President Bush on his MySpace page.[s]

BUSH DID NOT WANT THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST..ONLY THE CONSERVATIVE BRAIN WASHED(ASSUMING THERE IS ONE) AND COMPLIANT Other students or graduates brushed aside include a University of Alabama law graduate, ranked sixth in the class, who had written a paper on the detention of foreigners under the USA Patriot Act; a Yale Law School graduate who was fluent in Arabic; and a Georgetown law student who had worked for Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential campaign.[l]

ONLY JONES (WHITE BREAD)UNIVERSITY LIKE, ALMA MATTER NEED APPLY Another applicant, a student at the top of his class at Harvard who was fluent in Arabic, was relegated to the “questionable” pile because he was a member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that advocates civil liberties. And another rejected candidate said in his essay that he was “personally conflicted” about the National Security Agency’s program of wiretapping without warrants. [n]

CAREER PROSECUTOR POLITICALIZED The report, the first official investigation to document politicization of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, is an offshoot of the larger investigation of Justice Department politics triggered by the furor over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys.[c] Justice Department officials illegally used “political or ideological” factors in elite recruiting programs in recent years, tapping law school graduates with Federalist Society membership or other conservative credentials over more qualified candidates with liberal-sounding résumés, an internal report found Tuesday. [n]

BUSH’S BRAIN TO GET LOBOTOMY! The House Judiciary Committee served a subpoena on former top Bush aide Karl Rove on Thursday to compel his testimony concerning allegations that the Department of Justice had dismissed U.S. attorneys based on party affiliation.[c2]

BUSH ADMINISTRATION ROTTEN TO THE CORE It found two of three members of a screening committee considered political views and experience when choosing new lawyers for the Justice Department Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program.[c] The report found that McDonald and Michael Elston, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, engaged in misconduct, an administrative violation. The third member of the screening committee, career lawyer Dan Fridman, was cleared of any involvement in the politicization of the process.[c] Elston was interviewed by the investigators, who asked him about the role of former Justice Department official Monica Goodling in politicizing the selection process.[c]

THIS MICHAEL SAYS NO WACKOS TO APPLY...HERE..TRY THE WHITE HOUSE IN 2008 The report also notes that Michael Elston, former deputy chief of staff to the deputy attorney general, told a member of the search committee to weed out "Wackos" and "Wack Jobs." [a]

FROM THE LOWEST TO HIGHEST RINGS OF POWER ACCOUNTABILITY IS AT HAND. The committee ordered Rove to appear July 10 to testify on claims that he was a key player in pressing the Justice Department to dismiss some U.S. attorneys and to prosecute Democrats.[c2]

ROVE WILL NOT VOLUNTARILY HONOR A SUBPOENA TO TESTIFY, CONGRESS DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH AUTHORITY GIVEN CARLS.... STATUS It had authorized the subpoena earlier but delivered it Thursday after Rove's attorney said he would not appear voluntarily, Chairman John Conyers, D-Michigan, said in a written statement.[c2] "It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers said. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate. Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters."[c2] "Today's report confirms that the Bush administration was engaged in a deliberate effort to inject partisan politics into the administration of justice," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The honors and summer intern programs, he said, "were made into a recruitment firm for conservatives, rewarding ideology with career advancement."[l]

LYERS IN THE RANKS Elston told investigators he could not recall Goodling telling him to select lawyers who appeared to share Attorney GeneralAlberto Gonzales' philosophy. Goodling testified before a House panel last year that she had told Elston he should identify such candidates.[c] Goodling directed Elston to lead the selection committee in 2006. She and Elston have both left the Justice Department. She refused to be interviewed for the inspector general's report.[c]

OOPPSEY DAISY..BETTER CHANGE THE POLICY.. As a result of the controversy, the hiring process was changed in 2007 to insulate hiring decisions from political considerations.[c] Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who replaced Gonzales last year, said Tuesday that using politics in hiring career lawyers was "impermissible and unacceptable" and that the department had taken steps to fix the problems. The report recommended further tightening of internal policies, which Mukasey said he would welcome.[s]

IT IS AGAINST LAW AND POLICY.... Both Justice Department policy and federal law prohibit discrimination in hiring for career positions on the basis of political affiliations.[c] The report did not find clear evidence that an earlier screening committee took political considerations into account. It says data from 2002 shows a disparity in the hiring of liberal and conservative candidates, but there were no complaints about the committee's work from 2003 to 2006, when Goodling put Elston in charge of the process.[c]

A REVIEW UNDERWAY RE: OUR CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN , IN BRED WHITE BREAD, NON-JUSTICE DEPARTMENT The report Tuesday is the first of perhaps several to be issued as the broad-ranging investigation into the role partisan politics has played in the Justice Department during the Bush [c] administration.[c]

JUST AS LONG AS THEY SPELL HIS NAME RIGHT Goodling is expected to be a central figure in later inspector general reports examining efforts to increase the influence of conservatives in the department.[c]

JOINERS... The Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility, a separate watchdog office that monitors prosecutorial conduct, joined in the inspector general's investigation. [c]

GOOD PEOPLE ON THE INSIDE STARTED THIS REVIEW Allegations about improper hiring practices in the programs surfaced in an anonymous April 2007 letter sent to Congress signed by "A Group of Concerned Department of Justice Employees." The claim prompted the internal review. [a]

–END Posted here by Terry Bankert ... 06/25/08
(If you like this article please forward to your friends, if not just keep it to yourself.)
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—where did this stuff come from---
[c] CNN http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/24/justice.investigation/
[c2] CNN http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/05/22/rove.conyers/index.html
[s] SEATTLE TIMES http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008015893_justice25.html
[l] LA Times http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-justice25-2008jun25,0,1683417.story
[TRB] Comments of Terry Bankert to include CAP headlines. http://attorneybankert.com/
[n] The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25justice.html?hp
[a] ABC NEWS http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/DOJ/story?id=5234656&page=1
[a2] ABC NEWS http://www.abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5202405&page=1

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TOAST AND GLOBAL WARMING, WE ARE IN A JAM

DRASTIC ACTION OR WE DIE
______________________
Recording of Live and Liberal 6/21/08
http://www.stickam.com/editMediaComment.do?method=load&mId=179652184
______________________
GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 6/24/08
early edition
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
Flint Talk http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=30891#30891 __________________________
BLOGGING FOR MICHIGAN http://bloggingformichigan.com/
Great information from caring people in Michigan USA
__________________________

** REFLECTIONS: Our lives are changing, global warming is but one part of our new equations.[trb] ***

20 YEARS AND NO LEADERSHIP ACTION!...CHANGE LEADERS! Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world's only hope is drastic action. [y] Why are we in such disagreement on this issue?[trb] "We have reached an emergency situation" said Hansen and warned lawmakers that it was almost too late to defuse what he referred to as the global warming ticking time bomb.[TH] What will diffusing look like? Who has the leadership on this issue?[trb]

20 YEARS TO ECOSYSTEM COLLAPSE..WHAT WILL HAPPEN FIRST? James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the "dangerous level" for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth's atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.[y]

TRY GRAPE JAM AND BUTTER WITH IT "We're toast if we don't get on a very different path," Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press. "This is the last chance."[y] "The greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now," Hansen said, according to aWashington Post account of the hearing. "We already reached the point where the greenhouse effect is important." [w] Christopher Flavin of the Worldwatch Institute said Hansen's testimony made a crucial point: that rising temperatures were a problem for the present, not just for future generations. [w]

I TOLD YA SO Hansen brought global warming home to the public in June 1988 during a Washington heat wave, telling a Senate hearing that global warming was already here. To mark the anniversary, he testified before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming where he was called a prophet, and addressed a luncheon at the National Press Club where he was called a hero by former Sen. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., who headed the 1988 hearing.[y] The earth has been warmer in the first five months of this year than in any comparable period since measurements began 130 years ago, and the higher temperatures can now be attributed to a long-expected global warming trend linked to pollution, a space agency scientist reported today.[N]

JUNK THE COAL FIRED PLANTS To cut emissions, Hansen said coal-fired power plants that don't capture carbon dioxide emissions shouldn't be used in the United States after 2025, and should be eliminated in the rest of the world by 2030. That carbon capture technology is still being developed and not yet cost efficient for power plants.[y]

CONTINUING TO BURN FOSSIL FUEL WILL MAKE US ALL FOSSILS Burning fossil fuels like coal is the chief cause of man-made greenhouse gases. Hansen said the Earth's atmosphere has got to get back to a level of 350 parts of carbon dioxide per million. Last month, it was 10 percent higher: 386.7 parts per million.[y] On this anniversary of his first landmark testimony, Hansen once again appeared before Congress today. This afternoon, he told the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Climate Change that the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies should be put on trial for crimes against humanity and nature. He argued that global warming science has been corrupted in the same way that tobacco companies once attempted to blur the links between smoking and cancer, and he called for government investments in alternative energy to help end our dependence. He also asserted that because we haven't done anything yet to curb our emissions, he is certain that the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is already beyond the safe level – we're already at 385 parts per million of carbon dioxide, and it's increasing at a rate of 2ppm a year. The "safe" level, according to Hansen, is 350.[g]

PROTESTS ANYONE... Hansen said he'll testify on behalf of British protesters against new coal-fired power plants. Protesters have chained themselves to gates and equipment at sites of several proposed coal plants in England.[y] "The thing that I think is most important is to block coal-fired power plants," Hansen told the luncheon. "I'm not yet at the point of chaining myself but we somehow have to draw attention to this."[y]

SIMPLISTIC Frank Maisano, a spokesman for many U.S. utilities, including those trying to build new coal plants, said while Hansen has shown foresight as a scientist, his "stop them all approach is very simplistic" and shows that he is beyond his level of expertise.[y]

DEBATE HEATS UP The year of Hansen's original testimony was the world's hottest year on record. Since then, 14 years have been hotter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.[y] Two decades later, Hansen spent his time on the question of whether it's too late to do anything about it. His answer: There's still time to stop the worst, but not much time.[y] "We see a tipping point occurring right before our eyes," Hansen told the AP before the luncheon. "The Arctic is the first tipping point and it's occurring exactly the way we said it would."[y] Hansen, echoing work by other scientists, said that in five to 10 years, the Arctic will be free of sea ice in the summer.[y] This anniversary comes just after a major setback for environmentalists, as a bill that would have begun to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions failed in the Senate. [w] Longtime global warming skeptic Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., citing a recent poll, said in a statement, "Hansen, (former Vice President) Gore and the media have been trumpeting man-made climate doom since the 1980s. But Americans are not buying it."[y] But Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., committee chairman, said, "Dr. Hansen was right. Twenty years later, we recognize him as a climate prophet."[y] ...in an op-ed, NYT columnist Thomas Friedman offers up what he believes should be the next president’s energy policy: Oil is poisoning our climate and our geopolitics, and here is how we’re going to break our addiction: We’re going to set a floor price of $4.50 a gallon for gasoline and $100 a barrel for oil. And that floor price is going to trigger massive investments in renewable energy — particularly wind, solar panels and solar thermal. And we’re also going to go on a crash program to dramatically increase energy efficiency, to drive conservation to a whole new level and to build more nuclear power. And I want every Democrat and every Republican to join me in this endeavor. Friedman likened President Bush’s call for more domestic oil exploration to the pleas of crack dealer. After diagnosing America as “addicted to oil, Friedman writes, Bush’s plan seems to be “Get more addicted to oil.” [e] –END

Posted here by Terry Bankert ... 06/24/08
(If you like this article please forward to your friends, if not just keep it to yourself.)

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— WHERE DID THS STUFF COME FROM....
[G] Guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/23/climatechange.carbonemissions2
[y] Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_sc/sci_warming_scientist [trb] Comments of Terry Bankert to include CAP headlines http://attorneybankert.com/
[w] Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201862.html?hpid=sec-nation
[th] The Herald http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/200826/1311/NASA-climate-scientist-sounds-new-warning
[N] New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7DF133AF937A15755C0A96E948260
[e] Earth2Tech http://earth2tech.com/2008/06/23/green-campaign-watch-mccains-300m-clean-car-prize-hansen-friedmans-oil-rants/

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Saudi Arabia to boost oil out put will pump prices fall?

Saudi Arabia to boost oil output. Will gas prices fall?[cm]

Obama Targets Speculation On Energy[wp]

______________________
Recording of Live and Liberal 6/21/08
http://www.stickam.com/editMediaComment.do?method=load&mId=179652184 ______________________

GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 6/23/08 early edition http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
Flint Talk http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=30818#30818

__________________________
BLOGGING FOR MICHIGAN
http://bloggingformichigan.com/
Great information from caring people in Michigan USA
__________________________
***
REFLECTION: I am not advocating war over oil prices. But we are beyond short term economics. We must develop alternative fuels. Our middle class life style depends upon it.[trb]
***

THE POT IS CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah condemned oil "speculators" on Sunday at a summit on the spiralling price of crude which called for greater transparency in market dealings.[a] The speculators may have a role but the big villian is Saudia Arabia itself. They are holing down supply.[trb] While reaping record profits, Saudi Arabia is also growing increasingly concerned that oil current prices might eventually dampen economic growth around the world and lead to lower oil demand, as is already happening in the United States and other developed countries. [n]

ONLY SEVERAL COUNTRIES ARE UPSET OVER THE LOSS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS BECAUSE OF INCREASED FUEL COSTS? ABDULLAH MUST NOT GET OUT MUCH! Saudi output has risen to 9.7 million barrels a day (bpd), the king said, vowing to further increase production if necessary to defuse market tensions which have sent the price of a barrel of oil up to almost 140 dollars -- sparking angry protests in several countries.[a] An emergency energy summit meeting convened hastily here on Sunday underscored how few options the world has to push oil prices down from their record levels, as producers and consumers repeatedly emphasized starkly divergent views on both the fundamental causes and possible remedies for the current energy crisis.[n] Politicians in oil-consuming and oil-producing nations fear that rising prices could contribute to a global recession that would hurt all sides. [cm] It is not unusual for countries to go to war to secure something that they need and do not have. It looks now as if we have had two modern oil wars (can anybody doubt that the USA and Europe would have bothered to liberate Kuwait, or Iraq invade it, if it did not have the sixth – depending on statistics – largest oil reserves?) It is probable that there will be many more in the decades to comes.[w]

IS A MONARCH A DICTATOR WITH A CROWN? OR JUST A FOX IN THE CHICKEN KOOP! The monarch, who said Saudi Arabia would give 1.5 billion dollars to efforts to ease energy shortages in poor nations, told the 36-nation summit his country was "very concerned" about consumers worldwide.[a] For Saudi Arabia, the meeting was a rare foray into the spotlight, and an opportunity to underscore that the oil-rich kingdom was aware of growing anger and frustration caused by surging prices in oil-importing countries. [n] A seven-fold increase in the cost of oil since 2002 is causing growing economic and political pain in both industrialized countries and the developing world. [n]

THE PAIN WILL BECOME MORE INTENSE The International Energy Agency estimates that world oil use this year will climb 800,000 barrels a day, or 1 percent, as demand climbs in emerging markets. Stagnating production from Russia and the North Sea and disruption in Nigeria are also contributing to higher prices, which have touched off strikes, riots and accelerating inflation in nations around the world. [B]

I BELIEVE HE JUST LOOKED IN THE MIRROR He blamed increased oil consumption and taxes on fuel, but added: "Among other factors behind this unjust increase in oil prices is the abhorrent act of speculators acting for their own selfish interests."[a] The pain of escalating oil prices - crude sold for more than $134 a barrel on Friday, double year-ago levels - have cascaded throughout the U.S. economy. [c] Oil has become a hot-button political issue as the cost of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel have spiked in recent months. Congress has scheduled hearings this week to debate legislation that would attempt to dampen prices.[c]

HOW IRONIC THAT THE REPUBLICAN FREE MARKETEERS ARE SO QUIET ABOUT THESE SAUDI THIEVES... IT’S A MONOPOLY FREE MARKET SUPPLY AND DEMAND PREDICTORS OF PRICE DO NOT WORK IN THIS MONOPOLY! The summit in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah was the scene of an international debate over the cause of the doubling of oil prices in the past year.[a]

OBAMA ITS THE OIL COMPANIES DOING IT TO US Obama targeted the oil companies and traders after rejecting calls by both McCain and Bush to lift a ban on offshore oil drilling that has been in place for more than a quarter century.[i]

THE LOGIC HERE IS THAT THE SPECULATORS HAVE CAUSED PRODUCTION SHORTFALLS...REMEMBER IT IS A MONOPOPLY SUPPORTED (PROTECTED) BY YOUR GOVERNMENT ...THE SAUDIS SET SUPPLY. The United States and other Western powers blamed production shortfalls while Saudi Arabia and other Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members said speculators have played a key role.[a] On Saturday, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, attending the Saudi summit, attributed the record-high oil prices to lagging production.[c] Bodman said he did not believe speculators are the cause of high oil prices.[c] Since 2003, he said, global demand for oil has increased because of industry in China, India and the Middle East. But from 2005 to 2007, there was very little increase in supply.[c] Nations need an additional supply of energy to market, whether that energy is nuclear, coal, fossil fuels, solar or wind power, Bodman said.[c] "We spent 30 years digging ourselves into this hole," Bodman said. "It won't be solved soon."[c]

THE ISSUES ARE COMPLEX AND THE WORLD MUST EXERT STRONG PRESSURE TO CAUSE CHANGE. But for many Western governments, the prime culprit is a lack of enough oil to meet growing demand, principally from booming economies in China and India. [cm] "Fundamentally tight market conditions, in our view, are the main driver of price increases that we have seen over the last five years and particularly during recent months," Mr. Bodman told reporters. [cm] The kingdom – the only major exporter with enough capacity to significantly increase production – is under intense pressure from Western governments to increase output. Angered by high oil prices, Congress has initiated moves – so far unsuccessful – to force Saudi Arabia's hand. These have included a proposed halt to a major US arms sales package to Riyadh and draft legislation to allow US prosecutors to charge OPEC countries with antitrust violations. [cm]

REGULATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL MONOPOLY, WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST? The final communique by leaders and ministers from the 36 nations called for greater regulation of oil markets and greater investment in refining capacity.[a] "The transparency and regulation of financial markets should be improved through measures to capture more data on index fund activity and to examine cross-exchange interactions in the crude market," the statement said.[a] OBAMAS PLAN Sen. Barack Obama rolled out a proposal yesterday to curb speculation in energy markets, which his advisers said would help stabilize soaring gasoline prices. [wp] The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee laid out a four-step program that would, among other things, close an "Enron loophole" that protects some trading in energy futures from federal oversight, his advisers said. [wp] "I think everyone believes there's too much speculation in the oil markets, and a lot of it flows directly from that particular loophole," New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D) said on a conference call hosted by the Obama campaign. [wp] The three other components of the plan, as described by Obama economic adviser Jason Furman, are to ensure that U.S. energy futures cannot be traded in offshore, unregulated markets; to work toward international regulation of oil futures markets, in cooperation with like-minded countries; and to have both the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department investigate the oil markets. [wp]

OBAMA PLEDGE TO NOT LET BIG OIL MONEY ENRON US. HE ATTACKES MCCAIN'S ADVISOR GRAHM AS TAINTED.... Obama blamed former Republican Senator from Texas Phil Gramm, who serves as an economic adviser of his presidential rival, John McCain, for inserting a provision into the bill in 2000 "at the behest of Enron lobbyists" that exempted some energy traders from government oversight.

MC CAIN'S PLAN INEFFECTIVE The U.S. economy went into a nose dive last year as shaky home mortgage practices began to unravel, leading to foreclosure rates not seen in decades.[i] That, combined with rocketing oil prices and growing unemployment, have led Obama to charge that McCain's economic policies represent little more than a continuation of programs instituted by President George W. Bush, the 71-year-old Arizona senator's fellow Republican.[i]

HOW MUCH INVESTMENT IN REFINING CAPACITY IS BEING ARGUED BY THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES? It added: "An appropriate increase in investment, both upstream and downstream, is necessary to ensure that the markets are well supplied in a timely and adequate manner."[a] OPEC was split, however, over whether to follow the Saudi lead in increasing output.[a] Kuwait said it was ready to increase production, but the OPEC president -- Algeria's Oil Minister Chakib Khelil -- insisted this was not necessary.[a]

AMERICA SAYS THE SAUDI DICTATOR / MONARCH IS WRONG! US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said "there is no evidence that we can find that speculators are driving futures prices" to current record heights.[a]

MARKET MANIPULATION ANYONE! He told the meeting: "Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept pace with growing demand for oil, resulting in increasing -- and increasingly volatile -- prices."[a]

ASK YOUR SELF ...Q: AT WHAT PRICE PER GALLON OF GASOLINE WOULD YOU SUPPORT INVADING THE OIL PRODUCING COUNTRIES AND SEIZING THE OIL FIELDS? A:Would it be a pump price of $20 per gallon, $15, $10, $9,$8, $7, $6, $5, or $4 (bombs away).[trb] Warning that prices would almost certainly rise further, Bodman said: "In the absence of any additional crude supply, for every one percent increase in demand we would expect a 20 percent increase in price in order to balance the market."[a]

LOCK AND LOAD......currently $ 134 a barrel soon $200 a barrell... a 30% increase at the pump $4 x 1.30= $5. When do we start the draft and redeploy or armies? Or do we invest in alternative fuel and create policies , that do not include higher pump prices, to lower demand.[trb] “This means we will have $200 a barrel oil,” said Mohammed H. A. Abudawood, a prominent businessman and member of the Jeddah Economic Forum, after the speeches were finished and the delegates began drifting out of the room.[n]

THE MARKETS ARE GAMBLING AND THE WORLDS POPULATION IS GETTING VERY ANGRY German Economy Minister Michael Glos told the summit an increase in production would be "a strongly needed signal to the financial markets to not gamble any more on an increasing oil price."[a] India's Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Australia's Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson also called for increased output.[a]

IF THEIR SURVIVAL IS THREATENED THEY WILL SUPPORT A MARKET ADJUSTMENT, NOT TILL THEN. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Mohammed al-Olaim said OPEC members "will not hesitate" to increase production if the market needs it.[a] But OPEC chief Khelil insisted there is enough oil to supply the market.[a]

IF THERE IS NO SUPPLY PROBLEM THEN THE WORLD IS BEING RIPPED OFF "We believe that the market is in equilibrium. The price is disconnected from fundamentals. It is not a problem of supply."[a]

NEXT MEETING IN SEPTEMBER , WE WILL SEE WHO STILL HAS TERRITORIAL SOVERINTY? Khelil said the 13-nation OPEC would only consider a production increase at a meeting in September.[a]

OPEC IS BLAMING AMERICA.... "We believe speculation, in its noble and not noble terms, has its impact," the OPEC chief said, also blaming "uncertainties on the dollar" for the soaring price.[a] THEY SAY THEY HAVE OIL TO SPARE A Saudi source said there is scope for other countries to follow the production increase as there are up to three million barrels of spare capacity within OPEC nations.[a]

WE WANT A NEW DEAL OR IT WILL BE A NEW DAY British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, senior Western leaders at the summit, called for a "new deal" between consumers and producers.[a] But like many Europeans at the meeting he said production shortages and speculation had to be studied.[a] Brown said that the world was going through "the biggest of all three oil shocks" in recent decades.[a]

OUR ARMIES ARE IN THE WRONG COUNTRIES Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi said, however, that the world has enough crude to last "many decades" and that Riyadh will invest 129 billion dollars to be able to produce 15 million barrels a day (bpd).[a] Nuaimi said Saudi Arabia's production capacity will rise to 12.5 million bpd by the end of 2009 and another 2.5 million bpd could be added if demand warranted.[a]

RESOURCES ARE NEEDED TO DEVELOP ALTERNATIVE FUEL, IF WE CAN FUND THE HALBURTON WARS WE CAN FUND THIS RESEARCH. But asked how all this would help remedy the worst oil crisis in decades, some ministers seemed baffled and uneasy. [n] “Let me ask you,” said India’s oil minister, Murli Deora, when a group of reporters asked him for his views on how to address the crisis. “what else can we do to bring harmony between buyers and sellers?”[n] Oil wars seem inevitable. Even if the OPEC countries wanted to be ‘fair’ and allocate the oil evenly when production declines, it would mean that major users would face shortages and high prices. Will an American or Chinese leader stand back in the face of rising prices and domestic unrest or will they resort to military pressure, maybe on the pretence of terrorist threats or instability? We have grown used in the latter half of the Twentieth Century to major countries fighting economically or by proxy, forgetting the thousands of years of near-perpetual conflict that occurred before. The wars of the Twenty First Century could be the first sign of a return to a historical way of life, a regression in civilisation.[w]

-end Posted here by Terry Bankert ... 06/22/08

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— where did this stuff come from--
[a] http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hjeemQwn9qRJNc4Y-M9HprTnTz8Q
[c] CNN http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/22/news/international/Saudi_summit/?postversion=2008062214
[n] The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/world/middleeast/23saudi.html?hp
[b] BLOOMBURG http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=agZ1gqbuhxpo&refer=africa
[bw] Business Week http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2008/gb20080622_256542.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_news+%2B+analysis
[w] The Wolf at the Door http://wolf.readinglitho.co.uk/mainpages/oilwars.html
[cm] Christian Science Monitor http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0623/p06s02-wome.html [wp] The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201865.html
[I] INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/23/america/NA-POL-US-Elections.php
[ch] China View http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-06/23/content_8420299.htm
[trb] Comments of Terry Bankert to include CAP headlines. http://attorneybankert.com/ 63840/ 15517

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