Opec says to expect oil to hit $200/barrel. Currently it’s around $120.
Keep in mind that despite the rise at the gas pump everyone around the country has noticed - that price increase does not fully reflect the increase in oil prices. Our gas is heavily subsidized, effectively keeping us addicted to the stuff while the price at the pump is allowed to slowly creep up.
But, these magic tricks at masking the true price of oil are going to go up in smoke as prices for everything else that requires oil skyrockets. Food, cars, trucks, airplanes, goods and building materials. We can’t subsidize everything.
I think it is way past time to start effectively investing in alternative energy sources. And I believe it’s going to take independent entrepreneurs without any assistance from Washington to lead the way.
An addict has to hit rock bottom before he sees the light and changes his proverbial ways. We haven’t come close to hitting rock bottom with oil prices. And we need to admit that we are addicted. Addicted-addicted. So, expect things to get worse.
Americans should be raising their voices in protest at the way both fronts in the “War on Terror” are being conducted. But, more disturbing than Iraq is our quagmire in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s US-anointed President, Hamid Karzai, is highly critical of America’s “handling” of the War in Afghanistan. Innocent Afghans continue to die at the hands of American soldiers. Security is still a joke in the country. The US is still searching rural Afghan villages for Taliban and Al Qaeda members while everyone with an internet connection knows that the Taliban and Al Qaeda regrouped to Pakistan’s Northwest Tribal Regions long ago. Our forces in the country are understaffed and overwhelmed. Tribal warlords and local chieftains barely bother with Kabul, the capital. And Afghanistan is free only in name.
And all of this is not to mention that our own generals are saying that we should expect things to “get worse” in Afghanistan this year.
What is going on here? What could possibly be the reason that the White House stopped looking for Osama bin Laden or hunting down the Taliban and Al Qaeda??? How in the world did we let the Taliban set up shop next door in Pakistan?
Unfortunately, Bush has ensured it so that Afghanistan will remain fertile ground for extremist groups hostile to the United States for at least another decade. Probably another generation.
Afghanistan should have been our number one priority from 9/12 onward. No question.
But, dwelling on the Bush Administration’s criminal flaws can not be our number one concern at the moment.
Now we need to turn as much of our attention as possible back to Afghanistan and get the job done once and for all. Get the job done right.
The country needs to be cleared of all terrorists. It needs security. It needs rebuilding. It needs to learn self-sufficiency. And it needs to be lead down the path towards prosperity. Like an orphan we need to take Afghanistan by the hand and finally treat her like a long lost family member now found.
This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky-polly anna-rant. All of this is possible. All of this can be done.
Our future depends on it.
We cannot forget what happened last time we let Afghanistan fall into ruin. We cannot let it happen again. And at the moment it looks like Afghanistan may be slipping further down that slope. Time to regroup. Time to refocus.
Seriously. 
Presidential “hope”full Senator John McCain still can’t tell his Shia’s from his Sunnis, or Maliki from Sadr, or a ceasefire from all out defeat. He keeps on getting it wrong. All wrong. You just can’t make this stuff up!
But, hey: cut him a break! McCain’s just calling it as he sees it … through McCain-colored glasses that is. Keep on livin’ that dream, McCain!!!
I’m sure McCain will find all sorts of stuff to forget about if he makes it to the White House. (Anybody seen my “Straight Talk Express” lying about?)
Duh. Apparently the UN’s Human Rights (has not been) Watch(ing) very closely. The organization just released a report today which details the suppression of women in the world’s largest oil producing country.
Saudi Arabia has a hooorrrrible track record regarding women’s rights. But, I assumed that everyone already knew this. There is no such thing as a “woman’s right” in conservative Saudi society. Women in Saudi Arabia are nothing but property. They cannot vote, drive or be without a male relative’s “supervision”. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. This isn’t just Saudi custom; repressing women is Saudi law.
But, hey, better late than never. Thanks Human Rights Watch for keeping Saudi Arabia’s systemic abuse of women on the front page.
Because do I need to point out where almost all of our petrol-dollars are going? That’s right: Saudi Arabia. And as long as we remain addicted to their oil, there’s not much hope for the emancipation of Saudi Arabia’s women. The Sauds have got their kingdom cowed under a repressive blanket of oil money.
