Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses.

But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's portfolio -- at one point in July, the firm held 11 percent of all the oil contracts on the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange.

The discovery revealed how an individual financial player had gained enormous sway over the oil market without the knowledge of regulators. Other CFTC data showed that a significant amount of trading activity was concentrated in the hands of just a few speculators.

Washington Post 8/21/08

and here we go again. if it's not iran it's russia. yeeha.  

In debate jargon, there is a term called a "Turn" where you use an opponents argument against them to effectively prove your point. It's time for Democrats to turn the energy debate in an immediate, simple and effective way.

This information appears to destroy the outrageous Republican election platform that Republicans are the champions of the poor and downtrodden in relation to oil and gas.  While the rule change cited by this WaPo article was initiated by the Daddy Bush in 1991, Bill Clinton allowed this deregulation to stand per his DLC philosophy that anything goes business-wise and to hell with the effects on regular Americans.

This information is pretty damning but I'm sure some free market concern trolls will poo poo this:

The myth that the Republicans, and the Drill-heads keep screaming about; is a domestic oil supply.
There is no such thing, and there can never be one.
All our domestically produced oil is sold on the open market. Period

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

(Applause)

Bit of an energy crunch we're in, ain’t it? I was pondering how we got caught so seemingly flat-footed, so I went back and revisited President Bush's State of the Union speeches to see if there was a way we could've avoided this mess. (He said nothing about energy in either his 2001 or 2005 inaugural addresses.) Turns out he was quite the visionary:

2002:  "Good jobs also depend on reliable and affordable energy. This Congress must act to encourage conservation, promote technology, build infrastructure, and it must act to increase energy production at home so America is less dependent on foreign oil."  (Applause.)
-
2003: "Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home." (Applause.) ...
-
2004: "Consumers and businesses need reliable supplies of energy to make our economy run---so I urge you to pass legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy." (Applause.)
-
2006: "Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion [Less than the cost of waging the Iraq war for one month. --BiPM] to develop cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable alternative energy sources---and we are on the threshold of incredible advances. (Applause.)
-
2007: "For too long our nation has been dependent on foreign oil. ... It's in our vital interest to diversify America's energy supply---the way forward is through technology. We must continue changing the way America generates electric power, by even greater use of clean coal technology, solar and wind energy, and clean, safe nuclear power. (Applause.) We need to press on with battery research for plug-in and hybrid vehicles, and expand the use of clean diesel vehicles and biodiesel fuel. (Applause.) We must continue investing in new methods of producing ethanol -- (applause) -- using everything from wood chips to grasses, to agricultural wastes.
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2008: "Our security, our prosperity, and our environment all require reducing our dependence on oil. ... Together we should take the next steps: Let us fund new technologies that can generate coal power while capturing carbon emissions. (Applause.) Let us increase the use of renewable power and emissions-free nuclear power. (Applause.) Let us continue investing in advanced battery technology and renewable fuels to power the cars and trucks of the future. (Applause.)

Now he's down to his last five months---goals unmet and promises broken---and the best he can do as he sleeps through the rest of his term is this:

"And so we discussed a variety of strategies about how to affect the supply of oil, and one way that we can affect the supply of oil is to increase access to offshore exploration on the Outer Continental Shelf. ... Once they solve this problem, they can allow us to drill in northern Alaska."

Great president...or Greatest President Ever?

P.S. Congressional Dems, if you're gonna collapse on drilling, at least try to collapse intelligently. I know, I know...probably too much to ask.

Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

I was sitting at my desk at work and I received a push poll against Larry LaRocco for Jim Risch. Angry gnome Risch must be getting nervous about this race. Apparently the gloves are coming off as we get closer to November.

Even in Idaho the Republicans are running scared!

   Dole said she also supports drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve, where drilling would have a small footprint that wouldn’t harm much wildlife.

   "Even the caribou like to snuggle up to the pipeline," she said.

I first came upon that claim about the caribou years ago when I was working as a fact checker for a science magazine. A reader had written in about a story we had run about the Alaska pipeline and made the claim that the pipeline really wasn't a problem for the Alaskan wildlife, that the caribou liked to snuggle up against it. It was left to me to track down whether or not this was true.

John McCain talks a big game, but does he have the chops to be commander in chief?

Well, since it looks like we're finally going to cave - excuse me: since it looks like congressional Democrats are finally going to cave - on this bad joke of an offshore- drilling fiasco, I say let's make the most of it:  Let's turn the table on the Republicans, who have up to this point been making political hay with this inane issue.

Since the logic of the reductio ad absurdum argument of Okay, pal, exactly where do we stop drilling - your backyard? appears to be utterly lost on the majority of the American electorate in its oil-starved fevered panic, I say we turn around and pull a Rove. Let’s attack their strength. Let's get more visceral, more jingoistic, more patriotic, more freakin’ Amrkin than they could ever hope to possibly get:

You wanna drill for oil in America?  Fine – every bit of that oil you drill in America, stays in America, for use by Americans.

The International game of tit-for-tat seems to continue.
Poland and the US signed the missile "defense" -deal, now Russia has said that there will be other than diplomatic "action".

Today the President of Syria is in Moscow and he wants more weapons.

More after the flip.

There are apparently some liberals, and some Democrats, and some independents out there, who claim that the media is not only not "liberally biased," but that it in general slants its coverage in order to make the facts come across as less biased to the right and far right. (Most often accomplished, so this claim goes, by largely ignoring or glossing over them, but other times, by miscontruing them or simply parroting misleading arguments with little objective context.)

To Our Leaders: Give Us 100% Clean Electricity in 10 Years

copyright © 2008 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Americans, addicted to oil and quick fixes, embrace a man and a mantra; yet, most are unwilling to envelop themselves in a cause.  The public appreciates the need for clean energy.  Accolades are bestowed upon the former Vice President, author, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and environmentalist Albert Gore for the work he has done to inform us of an inconvenient truth.  Nonetheless, as knowledgeable as the public may be, nothing truly changes.  

An AlterNet article Republicans Have Handed Democrats a Winning Election Issue (http://www.alternet.org/environment/95469/) proposes that the Democrats, and Obama in particular, should shift the focus of the energy crisis to renewable energy and away from offshore oil.  According to the article, they should place the emphasis on renewable energy and allow the Republicans to filibuster in Congress against a bill proposing to extend subsidies to the renewable energy sector.  The filibuster would expose the Republican’s real agenda, which is to continue to support the oil industry and cut off funding for renewables.

Who knew that the US is currently exporting 1.8 million barrels of oil a day?

To make sure everybody does, Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, sent a public letter to President Bush, asking him to "keep our oil at home."

There is a new moveon.org ad that hits McCain for not voting to decide if $13.5 billion tax breaks for big oil should go towards alternatives for oil, money that could have gone towards wind and solar. There needed to be 60 votes and they only got 59. John McCain chose not to vote.

As a result, instead of powering millions of homes with clean energy and building next-generation solar technology, ExxonMobil and other companies are getting billions in tax breaks at a time when they're already making record profits.

Well before the written word or pictograph, before the alphabet or the printing press, even before media or mediums... there was fire.  The flame has been a passion of mankind's throughout history.  With it came the need for fuel.  

If Big Oil is given the permission to do offshore drilling, it should be allowed but only under certain stringent conditions :