Monday, October 31, 2005
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
BP profits rise, but oil rig problems weigh
CNN
"The main driver of the profit increase was a bumper result at BP's upstream oil and gas production division, with record oil prices during the quarter more than compensating for a fall in production, largely due to U.S. hurricanes."
The chop logic of the capitalist state is evident here in its sentence structure. "Largely due" is an ambiguous modifier. In this sentence, it might modify either "record oil prices" or "fall in production." It would probably be better for oil industry political interests if you think the record prices are largely due to U.S. hurricanes, but it's only when "record prices" "more than compensate" for the "fall in production" "largely due to U.S. hurricanes" that they can "drive" such a "profit increase."
In other words, record profits are equal to a rise in price beyond what is imposed by hurricane damage. Prices are restrained only by what anyone can afford to pay for a voluntarily curtailed supply. As with its explanation for a "surprising" drop in consumer confidence (see below), the capitalist state attempts to group the price of energy together with hurricanes as inexorable acts of god, attributable neither to the capitalist system nor to unrestrained corporate capitalist behavior. There is therefore no political solution but to pay the bills and bite the bullet.
"The main driver of the profit increase was a bumper result at BP's upstream oil and gas production division, with record oil prices during the quarter more than compensating for a fall in production, largely due to U.S. hurricanes."
The chop logic of the capitalist state is evident here in its sentence structure. "Largely due" is an ambiguous modifier. In this sentence, it might modify either "record oil prices" or "fall in production." It would probably be better for oil industry political interests if you think the record prices are largely due to U.S. hurricanes, but it's only when "record prices" "more than compensate" for the "fall in production" "largely due to U.S. hurricanes" that they can "drive" such a "profit increase."
In other words, record profits are equal to a rise in price beyond what is imposed by hurricane damage. Prices are restrained only by what anyone can afford to pay for a voluntarily curtailed supply. As with its explanation for a "surprising" drop in consumer confidence (see below), the capitalist state attempts to group the price of energy together with hurricanes as inexorable acts of god, attributable neither to the capitalist system nor to unrestrained corporate capitalist behavior. There is therefore no political solution but to pay the bills and bite the bullet.
Consumer confidence for October shows surprise drop
CNN
If you're not suprised, don't worry. It's only that, after years of baseless claims about job creation and outright fraud in housing and equity markets and in corporate and government statistics, all designed to make a strengthening economic recovery a credible reality, for the sake, not only of the stability of the global markets, which depends on mass sentiment, but of wartime morale, corporate media like CNN have to act surprised that confidence has not increased. The culprits are given in order of: first, acts of god; second, supposedly involuntary price gouging by the oil industry that now owns the part of the government not owned by arms merchants and bankers; and last, a "weakening labor market." The last has not to do with the triumph of supply side "productivity," praised endlessly by Greenspan who is then praised endlessly by equity investors posing as economists and politicians, but rather with culprits one and two, neither of which can be helped, except perhaps by another act of god like a pandemic that cuts unemployment the hard way.
If you're not suprised, don't worry. It's only that, after years of baseless claims about job creation and outright fraud in housing and equity markets and in corporate and government statistics, all designed to make a strengthening economic recovery a credible reality, for the sake, not only of the stability of the global markets, which depends on mass sentiment, but of wartime morale, corporate media like CNN have to act surprised that confidence has not increased. The culprits are given in order of: first, acts of god; second, supposedly involuntary price gouging by the oil industry that now owns the part of the government not owned by arms merchants and bankers; and last, a "weakening labor market." The last has not to do with the triumph of supply side "productivity," praised endlessly by Greenspan who is then praised endlessly by equity investors posing as economists and politicians, but rather with culprits one and two, neither of which can be helped, except perhaps by another act of god like a pandemic that cuts unemployment the hard way.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Bird flu found in parrot in British quarantine
My Way News
I thought Blair was the only parrot in the UK.
"This budgie's dead." "No it isn't." "Yes it is"...
I thought Blair was the only parrot in the UK.
"This budgie's dead." "No it isn't." "Yes it is"...
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Chickens Come Home to Roost on Cheney
globalresearch.ca
Don't count your chickens before they cross the road. Going back to the Halliburton board room two years early is hardly perdition. You don't expect them to arrest themselves, do you? Something sure is fowl at the White House, though; the flu's in the chickens, and Cheney's in the duck blind.
Don't count your chickens before they cross the road. Going back to the Halliburton board room two years early is hardly perdition. You don't expect them to arrest themselves, do you? Something sure is fowl at the White House, though; the flu's in the chickens, and Cheney's in the duck blind.
US planning invasion, says Chavez
BBC NEWS | Americas
If the US invades Venezuela, it would only be because there was an al Qaeda training camp there.
If the US invades Venezuela, it would only be because there was an al Qaeda training camp there.
Friday, October 21, 2005
British military investigator found hung in Basra
WSWS
The socialists try to make sense of an unsuspicious hanging with no suicide note. Someone manages to get the word "devastating" into it.
The socialists try to make sense of an unsuspicious hanging with no suicide note. Someone manages to get the word "devastating" into it.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Military police chief found dead
BBC NEWS|World |Middle East
"...circumstances were not regarded as suspicious. ... Defence analyst Robert Fox told the BBC ... 'It's quite an onerous job. ...there is, I think, quite a lot of stress involved ... It's pretty tough for them and it's not very comfortable doing the kind of work they have to do...'"
"Circumstances are not suspicious" conventionally means that the cause of death is readily evident and no reason to doubt it. No cause of death is named here, though; just a lot of discussion by a "military analyst" about how stressful it all must have been.
If millions of readers precipitously conclude that the death is unambiguously a suicide, it won't be because the BBC said so. This article doesn't even use the word suicide (unlike other articles about the investigator's stress, anxiety, fear, and worry that feel compelled to point out the absence of a suicide note). After (or during?) the Dr Kelly scandal, however, it's doubtful they would even if the BBC did say so.
"...circumstances were not regarded as suspicious. ... Defence analyst Robert Fox told the BBC ... 'It's quite an onerous job. ...there is, I think, quite a lot of stress involved ... It's pretty tough for them and it's not very comfortable doing the kind of work they have to do...'"
"Circumstances are not suspicious" conventionally means that the cause of death is readily evident and no reason to doubt it. No cause of death is named here, though; just a lot of discussion by a "military analyst" about how stressful it all must have been.
If millions of readers precipitously conclude that the death is unambiguously a suicide, it won't be because the BBC said so. This article doesn't even use the word suicide (unlike other articles about the investigator's stress, anxiety, fear, and worry that feel compelled to point out the absence of a suicide note). After (or during?) the Dr Kelly scandal, however, it's doubtful they would even if the BBC did say so.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Hatfill to sue NY Times for slander
washingtonpost.com
The Times unsuccessfully tried to spread his name all over the media as the most likely suspect in the 2001 anthrax attack. In order to right this injustice, he's spreading his name all over the media as the most likely suspect in the 2001 anthrax attack, after everyone has forgotten all about him.
The Times unsuccessfully tried to spread his name all over the media as the most likely suspect in the 2001 anthrax attack. In order to right this injustice, he's spreading his name all over the media as the most likely suspect in the 2001 anthrax attack, after everyone has forgotten all about him.
Is this the end of the world?
Independent Online > World Environment
Would someone with a subscription to the Independent let me know?
Would someone with a subscription to the Independent let me know?
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Miller's Confession; last gasp before indictments
Mike Whitney
"If you plan to read Judy Miller's long and circuitous apology in the New York Times Sunday edition, bring your hip-waders. The obfuscating manure is knee-deep and bound to stymie even the most curious reader."
"If you plan to read Judy Miller's long and circuitous apology in the New York Times Sunday edition, bring your hip-waders. The obfuscating manure is knee-deep and bound to stymie even the most curious reader."
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Monday, October 10, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Bush: Iraq crucial in war on terror
CNN.com
Are you saying, Mr. President, that the fact that Iraq contains a third of the world's oil supply bringing the greatest profit windfall in the history of capitalist warmongering to your and the vice president's former employers is only an accident?
Are you saying, Mr. President, that the fact that Iraq contains a third of the world's oil supply bringing the greatest profit windfall in the history of capitalist warmongering to your and the vice president's former employers is only an accident?
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
At the Very Top, a Surge in Income in '03
New York Times
"...the share of income going to the richest slice of Americans - the top tenth of 1 percent - grew significantly in 2003 while the share going to 99 percent of Americans fell... At the same time, the effective income tax rates paid by the top tenth of 1 percent fell sharply, declining at more than 10 times the rate reduction for middle-class taxpayers..."
... and nobody even bothered claiming it would lead to a strengthening economic recovery.
"...the share of income going to the richest slice of Americans - the top tenth of 1 percent - grew significantly in 2003 while the share going to 99 percent of Americans fell... At the same time, the effective income tax rates paid by the top tenth of 1 percent fell sharply, declining at more than 10 times the rate reduction for middle-class taxpayers..."
... and nobody even bothered claiming it would lead to a strengthening economic recovery.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Monday, October 03, 2005
Bush picks own counsel for Supreme Court
CNN.com
"He called on the Senate to 'review her qualifications thoroughly and fairly and to vote on her nomination promptly.' ...Miers has no judicial experience..."
"He called on the Senate to 'review her qualifications thoroughly and fairly and to vote on her nomination promptly.' ...Miers has no judicial experience..."
Miller's Big Secret
washingtonpost.com
"So what was Miller doing in jail? Was it all just a misunderstanding? The most charitable explanation for Miller is that she somehow concluded that Libby wanted her to keep quiet, even while he was publicly -- and privately -- saying otherwise. The least charitable explanation is that going to jail was Miller's way of transforming herself from a journalistic outcast (based on her gullible pre-war reporting) into a much-celebrated hero of press freedom."
For the least charitable explanation look at my own long diatribe below (Aug. 19; a month and a half before the Washington Post had any question about it):
"The Plame Game... Judith Miller, The New York Times, the US Supreme Court, never had anything to do with the Plame Game. The Times, least of all Miller, doesn't stoop to that kind of "outing the undercover" tabloidism so popular in the nation's check out lines. Unsuccessfully defending the right of the press to protect the identity of whistle-blowers from their powerful accussees is more their speed. By the time the game left the Supreme Court, the administration leaker's identity was nobly protected, and the right to blow the whistle on the administration was dismantled: pretty impressive Karl Rove or whoever.
Judith Miller is in prison, or so claims The New York Times, and even if Justice Scalia was in the same duck blind with Cheney that time, rather than a couple of duck blinds down, it doesn't mean that if you're not with Dick you're with the ducks."
"So what was Miller doing in jail? Was it all just a misunderstanding? The most charitable explanation for Miller is that she somehow concluded that Libby wanted her to keep quiet, even while he was publicly -- and privately -- saying otherwise. The least charitable explanation is that going to jail was Miller's way of transforming herself from a journalistic outcast (based on her gullible pre-war reporting) into a much-celebrated hero of press freedom."
For the least charitable explanation look at my own long diatribe below (Aug. 19; a month and a half before the Washington Post had any question about it):
"The Plame Game... Judith Miller, The New York Times, the US Supreme Court, never had anything to do with the Plame Game. The Times, least of all Miller, doesn't stoop to that kind of "outing the undercover" tabloidism so popular in the nation's check out lines. Unsuccessfully defending the right of the press to protect the identity of whistle-blowers from their powerful accussees is more their speed. By the time the game left the Supreme Court, the administration leaker's identity was nobly protected, and the right to blow the whistle on the administration was dismantled: pretty impressive Karl Rove or whoever.
Judith Miller is in prison, or so claims The New York Times, and even if Justice Scalia was in the same duck blind with Cheney that time, rather than a couple of duck blinds down, it doesn't mean that if you're not with Dick you're with the ducks."
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Typhoon, minor quake strike Taiwan
Science Daily
"Longwang -- which means "dragon king" in Chinese -- was expected to hit the mainlaid after crossing the Taiwan Strait."
"Longwang -- which means "dragon king" in Chinese -- was expected to hit the mainlaid after crossing the Taiwan Strait."
Target for Right Wing Attack?
"I'm Right Behind you." The president demonstrates chirality to the Heritage Foundation or the American Enterprise Institute.
FDNY Chaplain Resigns After 9/11 Remarks
Guardian Unlimited | World Latest
"...he believes something other than al-Qaida hijackers brought down the World Trade Center. ``It became clear to him that he would have difficulty functioning as an FDNY chaplain,'' Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told reporters ... ``There has been no prior indication that he held those views.'' " [my italics]
"...he believes something other than al-Qaida hijackers brought down the World Trade Center. ``It became clear to him that he would have difficulty functioning as an FDNY chaplain,'' Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta told reporters ... ``There has been no prior indication that he held those views.'' " [my italics]
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Minutemen step up Mexican border patrol
BREITBART.COM - Just The News
You can't have a fascist coup d'etat without death squads. These showed up when Negroponte was made reichsuberfuhrer of fatherland security.
You can't have a fascist coup d'etat without death squads. These showed up when Negroponte was made reichsuberfuhrer of fatherland security.
Sun's Changes to Blame for Part of Global Warming
LiveScience Managing Editor
See my repeated caveats "maybe it's the sunspots" stretching out at least fifty times over the last five years below. This is the article I was waiting for.
See my repeated caveats "maybe it's the sunspots" stretching out at least fifty times over the last five years below. This is the article I was waiting for.
Containment Of Burbank Fire 'Nowhere In Sight'
NBC 4 - Weather
Earth's immune system: scramble the Gulf oil platforms and burn Hollywood to the ground.
Earth's immune system: scramble the Gulf oil platforms and burn Hollywood to the ground.
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Journalism is like sex and wrestling. There are amateurs and professionals. Come to think of it, sex is a lot like wrestling.
--Karlo Marx