It pains me to see how we can go from civil to malicious in a matter of seconds. G. Gellert, I say this in the nicest possible way… never run for public office. I am afraid you seem easily susceptible to the mudslinging we so often find ourselves looking down upon. So I would like to interject on a few points you made. Don’t be offended. I am not doing so as a Democrat, Republican, or a Pinko Commy Bastard… just as a fellow voter and political junkie.

We’ll start off small. First,
Contradiction/Inconsistency… they’re synonyms (different word, same meaning check it out.). If we are going to be hostile and anal when examining one person’s language, then we will be anally hostile when examining all people’s language. Yes, there was a slip of the tongue, nice catch Franco, but Gellert is secure in his restated argument. Gas prices have risen to over $4, and assuming the “average American” we’re speaking of goes through a twenty gallon tank of gas per week, Gellert’s point is sound.

“And those Diesel trucks! My god! Even when diesel was $1 a gallon, those trucks run CONSTANTLY and get very poor mileage”

-I fear your perception of diesel fuel is far from the truth my friend. Two quotes for you.

“Diesels are known for getting extra mileage out of every gallon of fuel. They offer better torque than many gasoline engines. And their price differential over gasoline models generally is much smaller than that for hybrids.”

“Diesel engines are getting cleaner. Thanks to cleaner diesel fuel with lower sulfur content now available in the U.S. and new vehicle technology that filters or traps troubling engine particulate emissions, diesels are becoming cleaner than ever.”

So don’t worry your pretty little head about those poor truckers who’ve been facing the hardship of using diesel fuel for years. They ran their trucks CONSTANTLY and I stress ran, because they are so efficient that back when diesel was cheaper than gas, truckers could afford to leave them on all the time. Due to growing demand for diesel across the globe and the increase in crude oil price, diesel has surpassed gas in price per gallon. (read more here). Oh and they’re getting cleaner too. Yippee!

“The ’solution’ that is hydrogen and like technologies are DECADES off since a huge infrastructure has to be developed for them.”

Do you remember my post a few days ago. I spose not. Craig Venter claims he can develop biological fuel within a few years (not DECADES) and it can work within the existing infrastructure. Even the dreaded President Bush has a goal of using 35 billion gallons a year of ethanol and other alternative fuels by 2017 (a mere 9 years away). That’s a five fold increase.

In addition, remember that post you made about how ethanol was bad. Well yeah, we know. In your interesting supporting article (an opinion piece by Jon Stossel, famous for 20/20’s give me a break) the second sentence was a quote by John McCain. “Ethanol makes a lot of sense,” says John McCain. And then you go on to say ethanol is “just a pipe dream, like most ideas in your candidates head.” Well it looks like this wet/pipe dream is in your candidates head too. Strange huh?

I think you really said it best with this statement. “Democrats forget that just because there is an immediate problem, there isn’t always an immediate solution.” Exactly wrong. The immediate problem- a rapid increase in oil prices. Obama acknowledges there is no immediate solution. He instead looks to the long term, thinking about how our children will survive, rather than how we will cope with a loss of $20-40 a week. Thus an energy policy, and a $150 billion “green investment.” You deemed this a pipe dream (a fantastic hope or plan that is generally regarded as being nearly impossible to achieve). Well its time to wake up Gellert. This $150 billion investment for research and development (which = jobs and $$) is the future, and possibly our best way out of this crisis. Agree to disagree shall we?

Sure it will be rough, but isn’t it selfish to sacrifice the future so that we can have a little extra jingle in our pockets today? I’d rather pay more for gas than start another war over oil or destroy a national wildlife refuge and kill all those wolves and grizzlies. That is assuming there were fucking grizzlies in Alaska. (There aren’t.) But maybe that’s just me being selfish, you know, hoping there is a world left for my children.

I disagree with you as you bold the word RECESSION and proceed to prophesize as to the coming of the apocolypse in our “messiah” Barack Obama. Do you remember the recession of 2001? Nah me either. And besides, economies go up and down. We’re bound to hit a bad spot at some point, we might as well make the most of it. (I really don’t feel like delving further into this topic right now, but let me know if you want to)

Finally, lets go back to the very start. The exact quote that started this whole discussion.

“So could the high gas prices help us,” the commentator interupts Obama as he is stressing the need for an energy policy, which the Bush administration lacks.
“I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment. The fact that this is such a shock to American pocketbooks is not a good thing. But if we take some steps right now to help people make the adjustment, first of all by putting more money in thier pockets, but also by encouraging the market to adapt to these new circumstances more quickly, particularly with US automakers,” Obama responds.

Of course “rising oil prices aren’t the problem” Gellert, its much deeper than that. Obama makes no effort to imply that “its helpful to the environment since it curbs demand,” as you suggest. He does say we need new energy policy, but that’s not quite the same.

Of course he has a problem with the “average 40,000 dollar a year employee paying $80 at the pump weekly– as long as it got that high slower?” This is why he suggests we take some steps right now in order to help people make the adjustment. Tax cuts for those average $40,000 a year “employees” (Boy i love your inherent eliticism. It makes me giggle and cry at the same time. You can make 40 gs and be an employer you know). McCain wants to give tax cuts to the rich, and $30 to those middle class employees in the form of a holiday tax. Now who’s better for them, honestly?

Your errors and exaggerations go on and on to such a degree that I must honestly say I have neither the time nor the energy to rebut them all. I hope that this clears up some errors, and sets the record straight a bit.

I just have one question left to ask you… Now who’s naive?

Habeas corpus. This funny sounding latin word is not some elite concept that you can leave to the lawyers to know, it is a precedent dating back to the 12th century that every single western country uses. In fact, it is the bedrock of western justice. Habeas corpus is the name of a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from unlawful detention of himself or another person.
This simple measure, which pretty much means the government can throw you in a dark dungeon for the rest of your life without ever charging you, seems like a pretty reasonable thing. An in fact, it is so reasonable that it is enshrined in our constitution to apply to all people (who aren’t specifically POW’s where other regulations come into play) in U.S. custody. To check, this is Article 1, section 9, of the US constitution: The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. Again, all makes sense and is great.

Then Congress did that very thing, they suspended Habeas Corpus for enemy combatants found over in Afghanistan, Iraq, and 1 who was even a United States citizen. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly think its in the ‘public safety’s interest to not even bring charges against these enemy combatants for half a decade. In fact, I think that ENDANGERS me by enraging the rest of the world and inflaming hatred toward the US.

The US supreme court has recently agreed with me by extending Habeas Corpus to enemy combatants in a 5-4 decision.

The 4 dissenting opinions are some of the worst opinions I have ever read from a judge. In fact, they highly exactly what is at stake in this election. I could literally quote, sentence by sentence, exactly how terryifying their comments are, but I’ll pick out two choice quotes before I get to Mccain’s take on the matter:

Roberts is pissed that the government can’t throw random brown people into dungeons for half a decade for no reason: entirely consistent with the Government’s interest in avoiding “a futile search for evidence” that might burden war making responsibilities

Scalia is pissed because apparently locking people up and throwing away the key somehow makes Americans safer, but charging those people and proving that they are guilty will get Americans killed: The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander in Chief will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.

But let’s give Mccain the benefit of the doubt and see what he says on the matter:

“The United States Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country,” McCain said.

Holy shit. Plessy vs Ferguson, which upheld segregation? Eeeeeeh not so bad compared to this according to McCain. Dread Scott, which upheld slavery? What’s so bad about slavery, congress can’t regulate interstate commerce right?
Fuck you McCain. 3 justices in the majority could very well retire in the next 4-8 years. If McCain wins this election, we could see Roe vs Wade actually overturned in less than half a decade. Our constitutional freedoms that have been slowly eroded over these past 8 years could be broken away in chunks with a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Our nation that we have come to love will actually radically change, and I hope every single McCain voter is well aware of the implications of that vote. Because when the riots break out, I hope you still don’t have that bumper sticker on your car.
-Mike Dunn

I want to talk about “A Penny For My Thoughts” from Common’s debut album Can I Borrow a Dollar? ; back when he was better known as Common Sense. Instantly, I loved this song the first time I heard it, but not too many people are into Common’s work before resurrection. I almost prefer his style on his debut….it is not perfect and his voice cracks occasionally, but I believe his word play is just as clever, and his youth surely shines through.

Anyway, the sample is Eddie Kendricks-intimate friends, which has been sampled many times throughout the years. The song was produced by No I.D. back when he was known as immenslope. Recorded in 1992.

Also, I will post the original Eddie Kendricks song and the lyrics can get crazy so peep them in the more info on the youtube page. I’m also posting the video for “Take it EZ” because this song embodies the spirit of the album. – Ronnie Stern

Here we are ladies and gentlemen. In a country of 300 million people, one of our two presidential candidates has, not only a mere 3 years of actual experience (not including his Illinois Senate seat where he voted on highway speed limits), but also a fundamental misperception of the GRAVE IMPORTANCE of rising oil prices. Attached below is a link to an Obama interview where he states that rising oil prices aren’t the problem (implied here is that its helpful to the environment since it curbs demand). The problem, as he put it, is its rapid rise! So let me get this straight: Obama has no problem with the average $40,000 a year employee paying $80 at the pump weekly–as long as it got that high slower? So then, as we enter a huge RECESSION over the fact nobody can buy anything anymore since oil prices leave them no disposable income, on top of the rise of prices due to this $4.50 a gallon oil–transportation cost, plastic (oil is in it), food (it’s in fertilizer and machines). The fact of its rapid rise has very little to do with it. The fact this naive man has a 50% chance of being president scares me SHITLESS. -Greg Gellert

Youtube link

(Editor’s note: Click HERE for more about Obama’s plans on the economy)