The Political Voices of Women

With much of US oil production temporarily shut down due to Hurricane Ike there could not have been a worse time for the US’ relationship with Venezuela to be strained further. But it has.

As reported by The New York Times:

The United States stepped up the diplomatic skirmish with its left-wing adversaries in Latin America on Friday, saying it would expel the Venezuelan ambassador and declaring that Venezuela’s top two intelligence officials had supported the “narco-terrorist activities” of rebels in the region.

The moves heightened the political tensions that have been building between the United States, Venezuela and Bolivia in recent days. On Wednesday, Bolivia’s embattled president, Evo Morales, expelled the American ambassador there, Philip S. Goldberg, accusing him of supporting rebellious groups in eastern Bolivia.

Then on Thursday, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela said he was expelling the American ambassador to his country, Patrick Duddy, contending that an American-supported coup plot had been discovered.

The State Department responded by declaring Bolivia’s ambassador to Washington persona non grata. Then on Friday morning, it said it would expel Venezuela’s ambassador, while the Treasury Department accused the Venezuelan intelligence officials of aiding Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, “even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents.”

The latest moves represent a low point in Venezuela’s political relations with the United States, which imported more than $40 billion in oil from Venezuela last year. Trade between the countries has remained resilient, topping $50 billion in 2007, despite repeated threats by Mr. Chávez to halt oil exports to the United States, a warning he reiterated on Thursday

In her post “We live in a global village“, Political Voices of Women blogger Paula Hall raises the question of why the US Presidential Candidates have seldom addressed this issue:

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If you’re like me you can’t wait for the new season of “Real Time With Bill Mahr” to begin because whether you agree with all of Bill’s views or not, he does have a way of cutting through the cow dung and making a point.

In the following clip from Larry King Live, Bill Mahr points out: why Hillary Clinton would be a good VP choice (believe it or not; why the Obama campaign is losing much of its luster with progressives; the role that race is playing in the presidential campaign, and more.

url:http://www.politicstv.com/blog/?p=4157

A feast for any political junkie

Oil and gas companies want you to believe that alternative sources of power (such as wind and solar), are not cost effective. They want you to believe that renewable power will be more costly for the consumer. And, in today’s bad economy, that can be quite troubling for most of us. But now, the truth is being revealed, in Colorado of all places.

From The Washington Post…

In Colorado — a state historically known for natural gas and fights over drilling — wind and solar power are fast becoming prominent parts of the energy mix. Wind capacity has quadrupled in the past 18 months, according to Gov. Bill Ritter (D), and Xcel has become the largest provider of wind power in the nation.

The politics and economics of energy are shifting here in ways that foretell debates across the country as states create renewable-energy mandates and the federal government moves toward limiting carbon emissions. One advocate calls Colorado “ground zero” for the looming battle over energy.

. . .

Ten years ago, Xcel began offering wind-generated electricity, but it was a niche market for eco-conscious customers willing to pay extra. That changed in a significant way after 2004, when Xcel lost the referendum fight.

After legislative efforts failed, proponents of renewable energy turned to the ballot that year. The initiative, Amendment 37, required the state’s biggest utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. Advocates found themselves facing off against Xcel, which said it feared for its bottom line.

“We ended up opposing that amendment. In retrospect, I wish we hadn’t,” said Frank Prager, Xcel’s vice president for environmental policy.

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This is really funny. Paris Hilton Responds to John McCain’s Smear Ad on Barack Obama…

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Just in case you haven’t seen the controversial video and commentary, here is a video clip…



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So…What do you think? Does this help or hurt McCain? What about Obama? Or, is it just plain silly? Personally, I hate attack ads, especially when they provide no helpful information for voters, at least the Hilton response, had addressed an issue. Let me know what you think in comments.

See more on this at BlogHer.

Here is a clip from Sen. Obama’s speech on energy, earlier today…

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What do you think of the Obama energy plan? Let me know in comments.

If you are interested in reading the full transcript of todays speech, it is here on the Obama website.This is the Obama New Energy For America Plan, as seen on his website (see full plan pdf here)…

• Provide short‐term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug‐In Hybrid cars – cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon – on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy‐wide cap‐and‐trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

From CNN Politics…

Obama has previously said he was opposed to using the strategic reserves, but on Monday he proposed selling 70 million barrels of oil from the reserves in order to lower gas prices.

Speaking before a crowd in Lansing, Michigan, the senator from Illinois said the country’s “addiction to oil … is one of the most dangerous and urgent threats this nation has ever faced.”

Obama unveiled his energy plan, which includes a windfall profits tax on big oil corporations that would be used to provide a $1,000 rebate to people struggling with high energy costs.

Here is the full video of speech…

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Here is what other bloggers are saying about Barack Obama’s Energy Policy…

BlogHer Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest…

As the Senator discussed his very detailed New Energy for American plan, touted by Climate Progress as “…easily the best energy plan ever put forward by a nominee of either party…” republicans were emailing me to let me know they were handing out tire gauges to mock Obama’s reminders that keeping your tires properly inflated saves gas.

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Barack Obama was in Jacksonville, Florida today. He talked about the rising cost of gas prices, and his opposition of offshore drilling. See video and what other bloggers are saying. And, let me know what you think in comments.

This is from a post by Carol Nissen at the Obama Community Blog…

“Obama risks ire of Voters by opposing new oil drilling” (From AP of course, they make almost every single headline on Obama something negative) I think they have NO idea of how angry the American people are at having their country trashed for the past 8 years. It’s NOT just the oil, it’s the un necessary Iraq war, the falling apart infrastructure, the self serving of many politicians, the trampling of the constitution, the lowest ranked healthcare of an industrial nation, the treatment of our soliders, on and on and on.

The truth is the only ones who are going to have the “ire” are the already obscenely profiting oil companies. All this talk of Obama being “uppity”, “arrogant”, etc. stinks to me of a bunch of good ole boys who just might not get their way. The truth is there is going to be a big struggle in this country over how we get our energy and the fossil fuel gang has no plans for being replaced anytime soon. Why that’s why GWB was elected…and now that he and his cronies have screwed things up royally, well McCain will say and do as he’s told.

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Pain At The Pump & Record Profits For Exxon/Mobil

More record profits for the oil companies. Shocking! While everyday people can’t even afford the gas it takes to get to their jobs, Big Oil continues to celebrate high prices at the pump, with record profits.

From The New York Times – Rising Oil Prices Swell Profits at Exxon and Shell…

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported on Thursday that second-quarter income rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, the highest-ever for an American company.

Net income of $2.22 a share compared with $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, in the quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose 40 percent, to $138.1 billion, from $98.4 billion in the quarter a year ago.

Excluding an after-tax charge of $290 million tied to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings were $11.97 billion, or $2.27 a share.

From ABC News – Money Beat…

For big oil, 2008 has been a very good year. How good? Well, it’s even better than last year, when the combined sales of the top five oil companies added up to $1.5 trillion — that’s greater than the GDP of Canada.

Since then, the price of crude has soared by as much as 50 percent while the price of natural gas has also taken off. And though oil has had a significant drop from its high of above $140 a barrel for the second quarter, the benefits of high oil are clearly noted in balance sheets of the world’s largest oil companies.

And if that doesn’t make your blood boil…

Massive Profits, High Gas Prices and $33 billion in Taxpayer Giveaways to Big Oil…

Over the next 5 years oil companies will receive $33 billion in taxpayer funded giveaways.According to the report set to be released tomorrow morning by the Friends of the Earth, (pdf) the $33 billion in taxpayer dollars will come to Big Oil through tax loopholes, royalty rollbacks and research and development subsidies.

I wrote a post a few months ago about Gas Prices, it also included tips on saving money at the pump. My friend and Contributing Editor to The Political Voices of Women, Pamela Lyn, wrote a very popular post on What is the Real Reason Gas Prices Are So High?

What do you think about Big Oil reporting record profits? It seems to me, there is really no reason for oil companies to do anything to help lower gas prices. Let me know what you think in comments.

Al Gore’s Challenge For Environmentally Friendly Power

Al Gore wants Americans to abandon electricity that is generated by fossil fuels, and instead develop environmentally friendly power. Gore thinks we can do this within ten years, what do you think?

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From The New York Times – Gore Calls for Carbon-Free Electric Power…

Former Vice President Al Gore said on Thursday that Americans must abandon electricity generated by fossil fuels within a decade and rely on the sun, the winds and other environmentally friendly sources of power, or risk losing their national security as well as their creature comforts.“The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk,” Mr. Gore said in a speech to an energy conference here. “The future of human civilization is at stake.”

From TreeHugger…

There’s also a warning from Gore: If we don’t act, the price of oil will keep rising because of demand from China and India, most of the world will be at the mercy of oil-producing countries, and irreparable harm will be done to the planet and the ecosystems that support our life.

From The Slant…

It appears even Al Gore (right) can’t get congressional Democrats to move quickly in addressing global warming.

According to The Hill, activism to save the world from greenhouse gases and global warming are taking a backseat to the hue and cry over $4-a-gallon gas.

The big concern: Appearing too much of a tree-hugger in a close presidential election would leave Democrats open to political reprisals from Republicans. The last thing Democrats — even those from an environmentally conscience state like Florida — want is to be seen as “soft” on energy.

[cross-posted at The Care2 Election Blog]

When Vice President Dick Cheney declared in 2007 that he was a unique branch of government many of us laughed at his arrogance. But who’s laughing now.

If you’ve been following the discussions about the rising price of oil, (and who isn’t these days), it is clear that there is a fourth branch of the US government. Its name is “The Oil Industry” and this week it’s become pretty clear that it doesn’t matter who’s in control in Congress because what the oil industry wants, the oil industry gets.

While Congressional Republicans claim that they were only looking out for their constituencies’ with their repeated calls for expanding the oil industry’s drilling rights to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as well to the coastlines of Florida and California, Congressional Democrats are asking why the oil industry is not drilling on the 68 million acres ( much of which was previously protected public land) which they are warehousing.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court reduced ExxonMobil’s punitive damages liability for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska to to $500 million, one tenth of the jury’s original award of $5 billion.

And today, oil prices reached a new high of $140/barrel due to a weak US dollar and speculative trading.

Is there anyone who still wonders what was discussed during Vice President Dick Cheney’s 2001 Energy Task Force meetings?

The Fourth Branch of Government is in control.

In the following video Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) speaks in favor of the Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act aka the “Use It or Lose It” Act (H.R. 6251)

Could Gas Prices Drop To $2 a Gallon In 30 Days???

Also See:

Close Loopholes For Speculators and Gas Prices Will Go Down

So…What do you think? It seems crazy to me, that speculators only have to put 5 to 7% down on these oil deals, when at least 50% is required for stock transactions. It’s no wonder this is happening, with such a small investment bringing in huge profits.

If speculators are stopped, could gas prices get back to $2.00 a gallon? Do we need to get the speculators out of the oil business? It seems to me it a great place to start.

Sign a petition to stop off-shore drilling.