“And all they found was the camera…”

Michelle, thank you.

As was our country’s original mission, it looks like we – woops, I mean big oil – will start to see some profits out of this nearly trillion dollar war.  God bless America.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/17/news/Iraq-Oil-Deals.php

“Al-Shahristani was expected to annonce the completed contracts at the end of last month. But he said the government was still negotiating the deals because the firms wanted to participate in oil field production rather than simply provide consultancy services for cash.

Neither al-Shahristani nor the senior oil official named the companies involved.

But Iraqi officials have said the government is negotiating short-term technical service contracts with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, BP PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron and Total to boost oil production by 500,000 barrels per day.

The U.S. State Department has said it provided advisers to help draft the contracts, which led to an outcry in Washington.”

Yeah, yeah – Raad Alkadiri at the Washington Post tries to justify the no-bid contracts…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072502717.html

“Reports that a number of international oil companies are on the brink of signing contracts with Iraq have prompted a furious reaction in certain parts of the media and on Capitol Hill. The deals have been widely characterized as no-bid contracts, implying that Big Oil has somehow used its political clout to muscle in on Iraq and renewing suspicion that the whole U.S. intervention in Iraq was primarily a grab for natural resources. In the Senate, senior Democrats have argued that the contracts would heighten Iraq’s sectarian tensions, and those lawmakers are threatening to cut financing for some nonmilitary programs in Iraq if the deals go ahead without prior passage of new hydrocarbons legislation.

These are gross mischaracterizations of the Iraqi contracts.”

P.S.  I’d rather see bin laden’s head on a platter but I guess big oil profits – so we can destroy the planet with more consumption at a lower price – is good enough.  Yes, I’ve been asking for an interest rate hike for some time now (going back before the blog’s May 2008 inception) so that inflation could ease and the cost of oil, food, etc. would go down.  However, at some point you have to be more concerned about workers being able to afford the commute to work than pollution.

Step Brothers is definitely better than Knocked Up, as good (if not better) than Forgetting Sarah Marshall, almost as good as Superbad, not nearly as good as Wedding Crashers – but, what recent comedies are other than Old School and The 40-Year-Old-Virgin?

Worth the $9 fo’ sho’ (sic).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/business/23rates.html

“Even as policy makers rushed to support the two companies, home loan rates approached their highest levels in five years.

Loan rates are rising because of concern in the financial markets about the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or guarantee nearly half of the nation’s $12 trillion mortgage market. The federal government has proposed a rescue, and has urged Congress to approve it quickly.”

Comment:

After pleading for an interest rate hike over the last few months, I’ll never complain about the fed at least hinting of a hike back in June (publicly released in mid July).  However, it would be nice if they actually raised the rate – like the mortgage companies are doing to consumers – so inflation chills out and we could pay $3.00 or less for a gallon of gas again. Beggars can’t be choosers.  I guess $3.50 a gallon in a few months is good enough – as seen here.

P.S. As predicted, oil continues to trade lower.

Without being said, I was surrounded by bigots growing up in the south during the early part of my childhood.  I’ve luckily managed to overcome my early developmental environment – thank you mom and dad for moving us to Michigan.  This morning, the aforementioned racial hatred from my youth was briefly rediscovered.

I entered the train station turnstile, saw a weird looking guy at the bottom of the “loop bound” staircase, had a strange feeling as I walked towards the stairs, was bumped by him after I ignored whatever he was shouting from a distance because I was listening to my iPod and purposely choose to ignore the less fortunate, pulled out my headphones, he crazily asked for directions, I told him he needed the other side of the tracks to go towards his destination, and then Chase called an hour later with a fraudulent charge alert.

There were 2 unsuccessful ATM withdrawals of $500, $200+ in gas purchased at Shell, and $130 of god knows what purchased at 7/11.  Don’t gas stations notice $200 fill ups since it had to be multiple cars?  Has anyone without the munchies/need for mass quantities of booze ever legally spent $130 at 7/11?

Regardless, the guy was the creepiest guy I’ve ever seen in my life.  30-40 years old, 6 foot 2, 275 pounds, huge afro, jaundice yellow eyes but guaranteed working WITHOUT an accomplice.  Being overly aware of my surroundings, I specifically looked around before taking out my headphones because it’s known that pickpockets work in teams. This guy was amazingly skilled enough to get my wallet on that initial bump. Put that on a resume.

For a moment, after I received the call from Chase and realized I didn’t have my wallet, I immediately turned slightly republican/racist.  After I settled down, I realized that I can’t wait until Barack gets into office and degenerates of all races have something to look up to – an African American that came from a broken family, who earned admission into Harvard, after graduation helped a broken community, and has risen to become our next president.  Maybe the wastes of space will feel inspired to become slightly less worthless.

Luckily, the only thing of importance I had in my new fcking (not cheap) leather wallet from Italy was a debit card, all of my ids, and social security card (woops).  Thankfully, I don’t have credit cards.

Since I take the train from this stop everyday and clearly remember his face, I will literally fcking beat him to a pulp at 8:15 am in the morning as need be.  I will not stop plummeting him until the police pull me off his hopefully dead body.

Off to call all the credit agencies, social security administration, etc.  Somebody bail me out if I see this piece of shiat at the train station over the next few months.

While entertaining throughout the entire 9 minutes, the clip gets jaw dropping good and/or overly embarrassing for mccain at the 2:03 mark.

Very worthwhile watch.  Wow!

Digg, thank you.

Finally, after 11 years, the WNBA will finally grow some audience share. Keep up the fighting and/or Rick Mahorn tossing people around while sporting a purple suit and even I will tune in!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight started off a made free throw. Moreover, I’ve never seen anyone start a fight with a belly button to the face technique.

The clip gets boring after you hear Laimbeer – since he was miked up – asking for a wheel chair to cart one of the injured players off the court.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Gordon – even though I’m not quite sure why you were watching this live last night – thank you for the heads up. That aside, do we need to have a talk?

P.S. Isn’t it ironic – don’t you think – that Rick Mahorn and Bill Laimbeer were in the middle of a fight on the Pistons’ home court?

As originally seen on BccList.com here and within the comments of the post here, I don’t understand how anyone – including our next president (a democrat from Illinois) – can state the surge has “worked.”

Bluntly, the United States of America is fcked for years to come. Inflation, the value of the dollar, and national debt have reached a tipping point. Granted the inflation/dollar devaluation troubles can be fixed relatively quickly with a few interest rate hikes.  But, the national debt isn’t going away for some time.

Clearly stating, we are broke as a joke domestically.  The Iraq “war,” subsequent surge, and tax rebate checks has China – our “credit card” company – holding us by the balls and I can assure you they’re ready to squeeze at any given time.

Bridges are falling because states are broke and can’t “waste” money on bridge inspections.  The U.S. Highway Trust Fund is going broke.  People are losing their houses at an unheard pace.  Consumer debt has skyrocketed.  Workers can’t afford to travel to work.

But, the surge “worked” because violence is down in Iraq after the last few months – which, by the way, is a horrible subset of data. Furthermore, the decrease in violence can’t be solely attributed to us dropping way more money than anticipated via the surge on this unauthorized “war” – see pre surge Anbar Awakening.  Doesn’t make sense to me.

Seriously, paulson earned an MBA from Harvard.  Can that be confirmed?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hdC1Kj_uJopkS6pnZCLkGMxgmJBwD9221MQO0

“I think it’s going to be months that we’re working our way through this period — clearly months,” he said.

“We’re going through a challenging time with our economy. This is a tough time. The three big issues we’re facing right now are, first, the housing correction which is at the heart of the slowdown; secondly, turmoil of the capital markets; and thirdly, the high oil prices, which are going to prolong the slowdown,” he said.

“I’m focused on this stimulus package. It’s made a difference in the second quarter. It’s going to make a difference in the third quarter. We need to watch this very carefully,” he said.

“Right now we’re going through a tough period. There is no doubt about it. But the stimulus plan is making a difference,” he said.

Comments:

Hank – if you will – the last few months have been a nightmare for “MAIN STREET” AMERICANS compared to the next 6 months.  You’re seemingly always a few months behind the times like when you called the economy stable in late 2007/early 2008.

This is not a good thing when you consider he’s the United States Treasury Secretary.  I will add that he was nominated by bush and you know how well qualified bush cronies turn out to be.

Ah, the good ole stimulus package that you pushed.  It surely did help offset inflation but did nothing to truly stimulate the economy.  Great analysis.  I can’t wait for Obama to dig us out of compounding debt over the next 8 years.

P.S.  Gas prices dropped 15 cents in Michigan – at the same gas station – from a Saturday morning fill up to a Sunday afternoon fill up.  $3.50 a gallon gas once we get through the “busy summer driving season” as seen here unless we invade (or continue threatening to invade) Iran…

Update from September 23, 2008: paulson is officially a laughingstock as seen today (9/23) on BccList.com here…

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=74029&catid=158

Comments:

“A lot of people thought I was a weirdo with the Pokemon backpack and pillow and blanket.”

Pokemon backpack? Dude is weird.

“He lost his reading glasses Monday when he left them unattended.”

Ahahaha. Translated as stolen.

“I got a little bit of flack because I hung out at the playground. It seemed like I was a weirdo pedophile, the way I looked.”

The pokemon backpack makes him catching flack understandable.

So, given time constraints and the fact that the positives of the iPhone 3G are too numerous to list, this abbreviated review will focus on the few “negatives” I’ve stumbled upon.

1) As everyone has complained since the original iPhone release last year, there’s no copy and paste feature on the new iPhone 3G. This is easily the most baffling “issue.” Copy and paste is a much needed feature that virtually every other touch screen cell phone offers.  Apple, wtf?

2) You can’t watch videos and surf the internet. Why? This doesn’t make sense. The fix is to download the audio version of the video podcast since you can listen to audio (music, podcasts, etc) and be on internet at the same time.  This isn’t a huge issue unless you have a.d.h.d. and want to switch been a video and the internet.

3) The touchscreen keyboard doesn’t go to landscape mode – more space between keys – when sending a text message or work email.  Any website via Safari – gmail, wordpress, hotmail, etc. – allows for a landscape keyboard so that’s good. Fortunately, you somehow get used to the small a$$ normal keyboard when sending a text message or work email.

That’s it. The battery life and being able to send/receive picture text messages are non issues though people on the internets love to complain about these – and other random/insignificant – “shortcomings.”

Note: I’m not a mac guy.  I’m sure I’m not using the phone as thoroughly as I could.  But, everything this phone offers such as 3G speed, the internet shown as it’s supposed to be shown, the ability to not have to carry around an iPod and a cell phone, turn by turn GPS, the Apple applications like Pandora, etc. makes the iPhone 3G the best invention ever.  Seriously, go out and buy the coolest technology since the advent of the modern day internet, huge boxed cell phone, iPod, and Garmin GPS – combined.

You know how I love Op-Ed articles.  These 2 from today are no exception.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121633739458263831.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Yada, yada, bla, bla. I can’t wait until the upcoming debates this fall!

The NY Post earns its first – and probably last – link on BccList.com…

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07182008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/why_not_to_panic_on_inflation_120415.htm

Yeah, there’s no problem with $4.50 gallons of gas and $4.00 gallons of milk.  Inflation – check out the definition – is definitely not out of control….ha!  The good news is that unlike a few months ago, inflation is actually being discussed by the main stream media.  What a (sarcastic) relief.