Remember a few months ago, when gas prices passed $3 per gallon? People were angry and weren’t going to stand for it. Somebody should do something, they muttered at the pumps. Congressional hearings were held. Our commander-in-chief-executive, the failed oil tycoon, talked about hydrogen cars again.
Leave aside that it was ridiculous to be upset at such relatively cheap gas. Ignore that we haven’t had shortages like we had 30 years ago, during the oil embargo that taught us nothing except that we’ll pay anything for a fix (what an ironic use of that word).
Now, gas prices are in free-fall less than 2 months before a crucial election. Simple market forces at work? Or could it be:
(1) Corporations know that Republicans serve them better than Democrats;
(2) Foreign oil producers know that Republicans serve them better than Democrats.
Wouldn’t want the rabble roused. Go back to sleep. mjh
Line Up
Bloggers have taken over The Line (KNME, Fridays, 7pm). Which should remind us all that talking and writing are not the same skills, though if anyone obscures the difference, it’s bloggers.
The ousted/retired creator of The Line, Steve Lawrence, disdained bloggers. New host, Gene Grant, is one.
Last Friday, every panelist but, um, uh, Professor Margret Montoya, was a local blogger. Scot Key, who teaches the 3 S’s in Albuquerque, joined Montoya’s side, opposed by Whitney Cheshire and Mario Burgos.
Burgos brags that Cheshire said, “Geez, you almost make me look like a Democrat.” That’s because she knew saying, “You make me seem almost reasonable,” wasn’t a big enough insult.
On the other hand, it’s harder to get furious with Mario Burgos looking at his cherubic face than reading his text.
At one point, Mario admitted sounding like a broken record in response to a question on public transportation downtown: if it were feasible, somebody would be providing public transportation already. Let the infinitely wise market decide for us! Consider the hilarious implication that everything that is profitable already has a supplier (bad news for future entrepreneurs and start-ups). Or does Mario mean we just need to be patient? Do nothing until someone sees a way to get rich doing it. Garbage would pile up in the street in the meantime.
Thank the creator that market-worship wasn’t the attitude of the Founders. Or does Mario believe corporations would have written the Constitution given enough time (after all, they’re re-writing it as fast as their pawns can — there’s a mutually profitable venture). But maybe Mario has a point: corporate devotion is politically profitable. Suggesting that all of us pay our fair share for the good of the community is much less profitable. mjh
cosmos
Book ’em, Dan-o
This week, working on the book, I had alternating periods of productivity and backsliding as I cut out some of the text I had written. Early in the week, I struggled with a chapter on computer utilities. I want this book to be practical and I don’t regard many of Windows’ utilities practical for my needs. But I recognize that some of those utilities are very important among people supporting other users, especially on a network. I risk disappointing the more technical reader either by leaving out some tools or putting them in with a caveat to the more general reader, whom I risk insulting by suggesting this may be “more than you need.” But, hell, there are things here that I’ve never, ever needed.
On the other hand, I had great fun with the Photo Gallery chapter. This new application contains many cool features for working with photographs, as well as some maddening inconsistencies between it and other applications.
Next week, another dreadline, er, deadline. mjh
Major Problems At Polls Feared
Major Problems At Polls Feared By Dan Balz and Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post Staff Writers
In the Nov. 7 election, more than 80 percent of voters will use electronic voting machines, and a third of all precincts this year are using the technology for the first time. The changes are part of a national wave, prompted by the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and numerous revisions of state laws, that led to the replacement of outdated voting machines with computer-based electronic machines, along with centralized databases of registered voters and other steps to refine the administration of elections.
But in Maryland last Tuesday, a combination of human blunders and technological glitches caused long lines and delays in vote-counting. The problems, which followed ones earlier this year in Ohio, Illinois and several other states, have contributed to doubts among some experts about whether the new systems are reliable and whether election officials are adequately prepared to use them.
In a polarized political climate, in which elections are routinely marked by litigation and allegations of incompetent administration or outright tampering, some worry that voting problems could cast a Florida-style shadow over this fall’s midterm elections. [mjh: Especially if Republicans defy all odds and polls and make gains in control of the House and Senate.] …
What is clear is that a national effort to improve election procedures six years ago — after the presidential election ended with ambiguous ballots and allegations of miscounted votes and partisan favoritism in Florida — has failed to restore broad public confidence that the system is fair. …
Twenty-seven states require electronic voting machines to produce a paper trail available for auditing during a recount, but an analysis of Cuyahoga County’s paper trail by the nonpartisan Election Science Institute showed that a tenth of the receipts were uncountable.
Nonlethal weapons touted for use on U.S. citizens
Nonlethal weapons touted for use on U.S. citizens By LOLITA C. BALDOR, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGTON — Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns, said Secretary Michael Wynne.
“If we’re not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation,” said Wynne. “(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press.”
In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal
In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal
Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats
By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza, Washington Post Staff Writers
Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.
The hope is that a vigorous effort to “define” opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. …
GOP officials said internal polling shows Republicans could limit losses to six to 10 House seats and two or three Senate seats if the strategy — combined with the party’s significant financial advantage and battled-tested turnout operation — proves successful. Democrats need to pick up 15 seats to win control of the House and six to regain power in the Senate.
Against some less experienced and little-known opponents, said Matt Keelen, a Republican lobbyist heavily involved in House campaigns, “It will take one or two punches to fold them up like a cheap suit.” [mjh: noble Republican rhetoric.]