Selasa, 16 September 2008

High Performance Four Wheeled Motorcycles Run Into Importing Troubles

Wild new high performance machines such as the $65,000 GG Quadster which is built in Switzerland, and which uses a powerful 167 hp BMW inline four cylinder probably won't be seen much on American streets, not only because of the high asking price, but the Department Of Transportation and most states legally regard any motor vehicle with more than three wheels as an automobile rather than a motorcycle. This requires air pollution controls, airbags, and other equipment required for automobiles but not motorcycles. This leaves wild fantasy machines like the GG Quadster likely out of reach for anyone seriously wanting to own one.

This is the problem with DOT and state regulations. Creative minds can conceive of wild new transportation ideas, only to find that they are impossible to market in the United States. Further more restrictive driver's license rules for motorcycle use may deter some potential riders from seeking out two, three or even four wheel transportation alternatives.

Sometimes fantasy of the creative mind far exceeds what reality laws may actually allow. But you can't help but be awed at the GG Quadster. It's king of the wild machines, and with a wild price tag to match as well. It's like Tiffany's meets the daredevil show.

Senin, 15 September 2008

Sarah Palin's Wasilla; High Crime, Big Budgets, A Sales Tax & Wal-Mart

While the McCain-Palin Campaign continues to misrepresent Barack Obama's $1000 middle class tax cut proposal by falsely claiming that he will raise taxes on those earning less than $250,000 a year, it was actually Sarah Palin who ran on a sales tax platform for her town of Wasilla while running for city council.

Palin supported a 2% city sales tax which hit every citizen including children anytime they purchased anything including candy or toys. And Palin grew the city budget from $4 million to $6 million for a town of just over 9,000 persons. When Palin planned to run for governor, she lowered the city sales tax to 0.5%. Since the state of Alaska does not levy a sales tax, Palin's city sales tax was the only one of it's type in the state.

Palin also lured low wage big box stores like Wal-Mart to the town. Generally these big box low wage stores tend destroy many small businesses and replace many higher wage jobs with minimum wage jobs. Because of the high cost of living, the average wage in Alaska state is $832. However in Palin's Wasilla wages lagged far behind at just $652, or around 25% less than the state average. How many families could survive with a 25% wage cut?

Another serious area of Palin failure as mayor was a crime rate in Wasilla nearly three times the statewide average rate.

Under Palin crime was high, as were taxes, and Wal-Mart helped to make wages about 25% below the statewide average. On paper it sure doesn't look very attractive at all. This is some record of achievement to run on? Is this how Palin would run the U.S. if she became president. The thought is chilling and the facts sobering.

Minggu, 14 September 2008

Will The Pro-Corporate Welfare McCain-Palin Ticket Cut Your Wages Or Benefits?

Just as the right wing McCain-Palin ticket moves into a tiny national poll lead, wrongfully attracting the votes of many working class victims of the failed Bush Administration, these voters need to seriously ask whether this pro-corporate welfare ticket won't reduce their benefits while they struggle to make ends meet?

John McCain has a pathetic 11% voting record in favor of issues impacting working people compared to the stellar 98% record of Obama by the AFL-CIO. And McCain has opposed increasing the minimum wage on a fairly consistent basis since he was sworn into office as a congressman in January 1983. McCain even supported a radical antilabor union bill that would have made the entire U.S. one big "right to work" state, thereby reducing wages and benefits of workers. Millions of workers would have seen huge wage and benefit reductions such as a possible loss of health insurance or retirement security.

Even in polling conducted by the McCain Campaign, there seems to be an obsession to ask those questioned whether they are union members or not. McCain is one of the most antilabor union candidates the Republicans have ever run for office. It is only through labor unions that many Americans have even been able to enjoy a rise to a middle class lifestyle or job security and home ownership. McCain puts this middle class lifestyle at great risk for working people. Is this really the sort of "reform" that working people really want?

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, who is both conservative and Republican oriented himself, even questions McCain's screwball economics. Greenspan does not believe that McCain can hand the big business community massive tax cuts without also cutting important social services such as Medicare or Social Security. Who wants to give away their retirement security for themselves or their parents just so that big oil companies can get some new billion dollar tax cuts when they are already reaping record profits? This is "reform"?

Neither McCain or Palin have ever run anything any larger than some small elective office with a few staffers. Neither have actually run a business, yet both would direct so much of the economic policies that we all live under including the business community. If McCain applied his record of years opposing decent wages, benefits and labor unions to working people in America, then millions could only see huge wage and benefit cuts and be thrust into poverty. McCain-Palin could certainly make the current economic problems in the U.S. far worse than they already are.

In his short career in the Senate, Senator Obama has at least proven that with a 98% support for working people issues that he won't throw millions of Americans under the bus to give huge tax cuts to the big oil companies or other nonsense like McCain seems to clearly advocate in his shallow one inch deep campaign built on petty personality attacks on Obama and advocacy for a few big greedy corporate interests like big oil. And with his role as a community organizer, Obama has also proven an ability to create lasting changes in a community for the better as well. Organizing poor people to vote for candidates who economically improve their community was an important first step in community improvement.

The fact of the matter is that with such serious economic challenges rapidly making the U.S. a declining world economic power, McCain only promises to worsen things with more of the same, but even worse economic policies than even Bush. The McCain Campaign continues to ridicule Obama for daring to even offer hope or a vision for a better America, instead asking voters to further economically decay this nation with the wrong sort of economic policies instead. McCain and Palin have no real vision for this country. Obama talks about creating millions in new jobs in high tech and alternate energy areas by comparison. McCain only wants to be president because he believes it's his turn because he's one of the oldest GOP senators. That's a pretty poor reason to elect the guy president. The old Soviet Politburo used to elect leaders to higher office based on the absurd same old-age criteria until they finally elected a young reformer Mikhail Gorbachev and improved decades of society economic and civil liberties declines.

Obama is the only major presidential candidate with a clear vision for America. He promises to challenge America to become great nation once again just like John Kennedy once did, when the U.S. became the undisputed world economic powerhouse and greatly respected worldwide. Instead McCain is a prowar candidate only certain to anger many in the world community and further isolate the United States in the world community in the U.N., and in other critical areas where international cooperation are needed among the over 200 world governments.

If you like economic decline and a further loss of U.S. prestige around the world, then McCain is clearly your man. But if you love your country and believe it is supposed to have a great and bright future then Obama is your clear choice. It is a clear choice between a rusted out, run down city on the hill, or a bright shining one with a real future.

Sabtu, 13 September 2008

It Sure Looks Like A Credit Card Offer, But It Sure Isn't

It sure looks like a credit card preapproval letter for a new "Platinum" credit card with a $10,000 limit for union workers. But it turns out to be nothing of the sort.

Union Workers Credit Services is sending out letters to households at random, union or not, seeking persons to send in $37 as a "Platinum Card" membership fee for what they think is a credit card, but instead only receive a merchandise catalog and a credit line that can only be used for merchandise in the catalog that is often greatly overpriced compared to retail store prices. The information certainly looks like a normal credit card preapproval letter, but then you notice that the federally mandated information about costs of the card are missing from the letter and a $37 membership fee is asked for upfront before you receive more details about the offer. $37 is a big price to pay for a small merchandise catalog. But that's all that your $37 buys. But the company claims that it will credit that amount to your first purchase but nearly item has prices inflated far beyond any $37 from normal retail store prices.

It is typical of both scams and unscrupulous credit card businesses to seek upfront fees. In some cases, some businesses do not even issue any credit card themselves but only search for a card for persons who pay them a fee, something that can be easily done by the individual themselves. But the Union Workers Credit Services is merely an unethical and misleading letter meant to lure customers to a company selling mail order merchandise. Instead of a straight-forward representation of their true nature of business, the letter appears as a credit card preapproval letter that only upon closer examination of some questionable wording tips off the reader that it is a good company to avoid at all costs.

Union Workers Credit Services claims that it offers a low 5% interest rate. However with merchandise selling for absurdly high prices, there is certainly no savings to individuals even if the interest rate is low. And a $10,000 credit line for some persons of lower income status only means years of financial bondage in many cases.

It is very disappointing that the Bush Administration has been so lax going after some companies that take advantage of consumers, let alone the numerous Email scammers. The letter from Union Workers Credit Services is a real good letter to ignore. It is not a real credit card offer for a credit card usable anywhere. Any business can buy some merchandise wholesale and sell the merchandise for full list price and offer a credit line to customers. This is a business with an unethical and misleading way of marketing it's overpriced goods to customers. Avoid this company.

Jumat, 12 September 2008

THE BUSH-McCAIN MANDATE Music Video

Here's a really funny music video made from a silly old song we only played just once.

Newt Gingrich's Absurd "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" Myths

When disgraced former Speaker Of The House, Newt Gingrich isn't using God to endorse his own ideas, he still finds some other way to generate donations, make some noise, keep his name in the news, sell books, or support his Republican Party with some sort of new nonsense. With a new nonsense battlecry of "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less", Gingrich is giving a phony new election year argument to his Republican Party that few serious economists or even oil industry experts really even believe. The phony battlecry is merely meant to neutralize all of the public anger against high oil prices from hurting the GOP this year and using it to hurt the Democrats instead. It's partisan political nonsense of the worst variety that doesn't even seriously address the nation's increasing oil needs or consumer needs for lower prices.

The fact of the matter is that when Newt Gingrich and the Republicans had control of Congress and the Senate both, there wasn't really very much interest in promoting more oil drilling, especially offshore drilling because of environmental concerns as well as the fact that there is really no way that the very limited supply of American oil could supply all of this nation's growing oil needs for many years at best. Even South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was opposed to any new oil drilling off the scenic resort and hotel beaches of his state, but now supports such drilling since he is involved with the McCain Campaign which is all about favoritism to the big oil industry, even though it is doubtful that the big oil companies are all that interested in the cost and effort of a massive new exploration process when plenty of oil can be purchased on the wholesale market from Canada, Mexico or elsewhere with a lot less expense and effort.

The truth is simply the U.S. has at best has but just 3% of the world's oil supply, but consumes 25% of the entire world oil supply output according to an oil industry expert like T. Boone Pickens. If at best every drop of oil could be discovered within American held territory and ocean limits, there is only a 60 year supply at best. But the reality is that only half or less of this is likely to even be found, limiting the supply to just 25-30 years at most, and then there is no more American oil at all. It's all gone.

Governor Sarah Palin is a huge advocate of new oil drilling in Alaska. But she is simply not forthright about some very serious health and quality concerns with much of the oil coming from Alaska. Much of this oil is heavily contaminated with hazardous levels of toxic benzene compared to most other world supplies of oil. This benzene contamination problem is so serious and such an expensive problem that American oil companies have been given until 2014 by the Bush Administration controlled EPA to resolve the problem with extremely high cost new refineries that cut down this health risk to the public. So far only the British owned BP has stepped up to build a very expensive newer refinery that filters the toxic benzene contamination from the Alaskan oil. Normal automobile air pollution systems simply do not catch this benzene contamination and it passes right out in the exhaust gas creating a serious cancer risk to the general public.

Governor Palin has a heavy special interest in the success of the oil industry in Alaska in order to subsidize deficit spending in the state. In 1976, the voters established the ALASKA PERMANENT FUND which has bailed the Alaska government out of years of red ink by using invested oil royalty funds to prop up the government of Alaska any time it ran into financial problems paying for services to this state with a tiny population but a huge land mass. There was also another 2 billion dollar fund available to the government of Alaska due to a lawsuit against the oil industry as well. Yet in just 18 months in office, Palin has asked the federal government for over $450 million in funds to prop up programs and projects in Alaska when plenty of oil revenue royalties or other income to state were available. Palin was also on both sides of issues such as the famous "Bridge To Nowhere" project as well, asking taxpayers all across the U.S. to fund it despite Alaska's huge oil revenues for the state.

Benzene that passes through automobile exhaust systems can accumulate in the blood, attack the bone marrow and even result in leukemia among other deadly illnesses. It is indeed outrageous that the Bush Administration controlled EPA would give the oil industry a pass until 2014 to continue to allow unhealthy levels of this highly toxic substance in oil coming from Alaska without first mandating that it be refined or filtered down to safer levels.

The Bush Administration also hardly believed that it was possible for the U.S. to self-reliant with oil as well as witnessed with the 2003 Iraq War which was far more involved with placing the Iraq oil supply "under international control" according to testimony of Paul Wolfowitz to Congress before in an attempt to lobby for the Iraq War to the Republican controlled Congress as far back in 1997 when Bill Clinton was still president. Iraq is thought to have up to 225 billion barrels of undiscovered oil which would be a 98 year supply for the U.S., and far more oil than that in the U.S. by far. However, all of the violence associated with the war has made both the salaries and safety concerns so high that only a week ago Secretary Of State Condoleezza Rice was in Libya looking to open up their oil supply to the U.S. It is incredible that the U.S. is looking to a former sponsor of state terrorism for new oil supplies, but with demand only growing in the U.S. this is what things are coming to. But it is just one sign of the desperation of the U.S. to find new oil supplies because the American appetite for oil has become so large compared to much of the world. Americans just don't want to give up their huge SUVs and horsepower rich cars in favor of smaller vehicles like Europe or Asia. Americans just like to waste far more than their share of the world's resources. And when they need more resources they invade some poor weaker nation like Iraq under phony national security pretenses.

It is a well known fact that for any new oil wells or offshore rigs to produce even one drop of oil would take about a ten year process of permits, exploration, construction of new rigs or drilling equipment and the costly construction of new refineries. Yet often the big oil companies are not even operating their existing refineries up to full capacity or even making full use of land in which they already own mineral contracts on. It is nonsense to assume that if the oil companies had a free hand to explore and drill as they please that it would produce even one drop of new oil in the short term.

The fact of the matter is that since 1968 the Republicans have had either control of the White House or one or two branches of Congress many of those years, yet any new effort to massively open up new oil drilling in the U.S. was never a really a high priority either for them or the big oil companies. In fact, many of the big oil companies have been perfectly content to purchase raw oil supplies at wholesale commodity prices from foreign sources including Canada, Mexico or the Mideast for many years. It is only because it is an election year that Republicans have seized on false claims of blaming the Democrats for current oil price and supply problems. And you know that OPEC would certainly cut their world production levels to keep prices over the $100 a barrel mark if more supply or lower demand would drop the prices. Even Russia's recent wealth is almost entirely oil related and they also have a huge financial interest in higher oil prices. No one including the American oil companies, the foreign oil companies, has had any real interest in creating a huge supply of new oil on the world market as it reduce their prices. None of these major oil concerns is all that interested in producing more product for less money. It's just not in their interest. It is only the Republicans running for election who have made an election issue out of this and are using footsoldiers like Newt Gingrich to make their phony case in favor of more American drilling reducing oil prices or putting more American oil on the market. But you know that's not really what the big oil companies really want. This is merely a phony election year issue to keep control of the White House and keep the big tax breaks coming for the oil industry which were recently figured at $18 billion while the companies have record profits as well.

Kamis, 11 September 2008

The U.S. Paying More Than 80,000 In Iraq A Salary Not To Kill Or Blow Things Up


While both Bush and McCain continue to claim that the troop "surge" was somehow responsible for the roughly 80% drop in violence in Iraq, the real truth is that the U.S. is paying over 80,000 Sunni militia fighters associated with the Sahwa Councils in Iraq a salary of $10 a day not to kill Shiites or blow them up with car bombs and instead target supporters of Al Qaeda. However, among the Sunni community is where the support for Al Qaeda is, so it is highly likely that some Al Qeada members or supporters are receiving U.S. payments as well. In fact, journalist Michael Ware of CNN claims for a fact that the U.S. is paying some members of Al Qaeda not to kill or plant car bombs, etc.

The wide extent of a massive program that pays over 80,000 militia fighters not to be radicals and kill others such as Shiites cannot be understated. It is like a huge national bribe program to stem violence in Iraq and such a massive U.S. taxpayer funded program that is costing over $800,000 a day seems only to have bought a temporary peace as long as the program continues. In fact, many of these same fighters promised a strike or even return to violence if the U.S. payments would stop only recently. And the Shiite dominated government in Iraq which makes a hefty profit from oil estimated at $78 billion has been real reluctant to take over payments to these rival secular fighters.

McCain, Palin and Bush only continue to beat up the Democrats by claiming that they were wrong about the surge. But this turns out to be only a halftruth. The fact of the matter is that the surge may be one of the smaller reasons for the decline in violence in Iraq compared to the huge and expensive program of bribing militia radicals not to kill or blow things up. The biggest problem is that any reduction in violence seems to rely on these payments never ending only locking the U.S. taxpayers into another lifetime overseas financial commitment.

The really interesting thing is that it is Republicans like McCain who rail on about support for cuts to entitlements, social security and social welfare programs to American citizens, while fully supporting massive welfare giveaway programs such as paying over $800,000 a day to armed militia radicals in Iraq to not be quite so radical. I guess as long as Republicans are paying people overseas it doesn't count in their own minds. But the myth of the success of the surge is beginning to suffer under the reality of paying so many in Iraq not to do bad things like planting car bombs. For some odd reason, tens of thousands of persons in Iraq just don't seem to have the good sense not to ruin their own nation and kill their own people unless they are paid not to do so. If anything this is only a serious reminder of just the type of problem for the U.S. that Bush created and McCain supports that will hang around for years as an American problem.