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ENERGY News:
 John
McCain -  Barack
Obama -  Financial
-  Law
-  Veterans
-  Housing
- Energy
- 2008
Election -  US
-  Iran
"McCain has not sponsored a banking bill this Congress." ... "[2008 Election] Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while [2008 Election Presidential] Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five." ... "Obama’s legislation calls for bolstering housing assistance for veterans, amending the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 to provide shareholders with an advisory vote on executive compensation, halting mortgage transactions that promote fraud, authorizing local and state governments to crack down on companies that invest in Iran's energy sector and authorizing a pilot program to prevent at-risk veterans from becoming homeless." -By Bob Cusack -TheHill.com
 Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Money
-  Politics
-  Federal
-  Alaska
- Oil
- 2008
Election
"Palin's Project List Totals $453 Million." ... "Last week, [2008 Election] Republican presidential candidate [and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain said his running mate, Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin, hadn't sought earmarks or special-interest spending from Congress, presenting her as a fiscal conservative. But state records show Gov. Palin has asked U.S. [United States] taxpayers to fund $453 million in specific Alaska projects over the past two years." ... "These projects include more than $130 million in federal funds that would benefit Alaska's fishing industry and an additional $9 million to help Alaska oil companies. She also has sought $4.5 million to upgrade an airport on a Bering Sea island that has a year-round population of less than 100." ... "During an appearance Friday on ABC's "The View," Sen. McCain said Gov. Palin shared his views, and hasn't sought congressional earmarks. "Not as governor she hasn't," he said." ... "In fact, in the current fiscal year, she is seeking $197 million for 31 projects, the records show. In the prior year, her first year in office, she sought $256 million for dozens more projects ranging from research on rockfish and harbor-seal genetics to rural sanitation and obesity prevention." ... "The state's earmark requests stand out in part because its state government is among the wealthiest in the U.S. Flush with oil and gas royalties, it doesn't impose income or sales taxes. In fact, money flows the other way: Every man, woman and child this year got a check for $3,200." ... "The McCain campaign has also come under fire for saying on the stump and in TV ads that Gov. Palin killed the controversial "Bridge to Nowhere," a $223 million earmark linking the mainland to a sparsely populated island. In fact, she supported the project initially and killed it after it was widely criticized and Congress allowed the state to use the funds for other projects." -By Laura Meckler and John R. Wilke -WSJ.com
Corporate
- Oil
- Government
- Political
-  Accounting
- Legal
-  Investigation
-  Drugs
"Sex, drug use and graft cited in U.S. agency scandal." ... "As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal — including allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct." ... "In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department's inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government's largest sources of revenue other than taxes." ... ""A culture of ethical failure" pervades the agency, Devaney wrote in a cover memo." ... "The reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the [Republican President] Bush administration's watch." ... "The highest-ranking official criticized in the reports is Lucy Denett, the former associate director of minerals revenue management, who retired earlier this year as the inquiry was progressing." ... "One former official named in the report, Jimmy Mayberry, pleaded guilty to a felony conflict-of-interest charge in August and faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine." ... "In late 2002, when he was about to retire from the government, Mayberry drafted a "statement of work" for a consulting contract to perform essentially identical functions to his own. He then retired, started a company, and in June 2003 won the contract with the help of Denett and Milton Dial, another friend at the agency who later went to work for Mayberry." ... "Denett did not return a message left at her home on Wednesday with her husband, Paul Denett, who was the top procurement official in the [President Bush] White House Office of Management and Budget until he resigned this month. He declined to comment." ... "The other high-ranking official the Justice Department has declined to prosecute is Gregory Smith, the former program director of the royalty-in-kind program." ... "Some 19 officials — a third of the program's staff — took gifts from oil and gas executives, some with "prodigious frequency."" ... "On one occasion, the report said, the royalty-in-kind program allowed a Chevron representative who won a bid to purchase some of the government's oil to pay taxpayers a lower amount than his winning offer because he said he had made a mistake in his calculations. A report from Devaney's office earlier this year found that the program had frequently allowed companies that purchase the oil and gas to revise their bids downward after they won contracts. It documented 118 such occasions that cost taxpayers about $4.4 million in all." (1, 2, 3) -By Charlie Savage -NYTimes via -IHT.com 
Sarah
Palin - US
-  Iraq
- Military
- Politics
- Alaska
- Gas
- Companies
- 2008
Election
"Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'." ... "Alaska [Republican Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."" ... "In an address last June, the [2008 Election] Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."" ... ""Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."" ... "Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets." ... ""God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said." -By Gene Johnson -AP via -Yahoo  WATCH:
"Sarah Palin: War in Iraq is "God's Plan""
WATCH:
"Sarah Palin: Alaskan Pipeline is "God's Will""
Sarah
Palin - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Oil
- Alaska
-  Arizona
- 2008
Election
"Sarah Palin: Earmark Queen Of The Earmark State." ... "In 2000, [Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin, as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired a Washington lobbyist to secure federal earmarks for her community." ... "This is not totally atypical in her state. Alaska’s government receives more money per capita in federal earmark money than any other state, despite being the only state in the union with no income tax and no sales tax. They fund their government primarily with petroleum money, and recently distributed oil profits to its citizens in the form of rebate checks." ... "But even in her heavily earmarked state, Sarah Palin was the earmark queen." ... "From 2000 to 2003, she secured over $27 million in earmarks, averaging $6.7 million in federal money every year for her town of about 6,700 people." ... "An analysis of the databases of Taxpayers for Common Sense by Center for American Progress Action Fund Senior Fellow Scott Lilly puts these numbers in perspective." "Per Capital Federal Earmark Funding""He notes the following amounts:" "–$50: The amount the average state received in earmarked funds, per capita in 2008""Some of these earmarks drew the scorn of Senator John McCain. The LA Time reports that, “three times in recent years, McCain’s catalogs of ‘objectionable’ spending have included earmarks for this small Alaska town, requested by its mayor at the time — Sarah Palin.”" ... "As Scott Lilly writes, “Palin has advertised herself as a reformer and a skeptic of earmarking while maneuvering to become the earmark queen of the earmark state.”" -ThinkProgress.org/Wonk Room
Sarah
Palin -  Ted
Stevens -  Don
Young - Federal
- Money
- Politics
- Alaska
- Oil
- Law
- 2008
Election
"Palin's earmark requests: more per person than any other state: GOP [GOP=Grand Old Party=Republican] vice presidential candidate Alaska [Governor] Gov. Sarah Palin touts her record as a reformer who worked to end the "abuses of earmark spending in Congress." But Palin has embraced earmarks from early on in her career as a mayor of Wasilla [Alaska] to the governor's mansion in Juneau [Alaska's capital]. Just this year she sent to [Alaska Republican Senator] Sen. Ted. Stevens a proposal for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state." ... "Palin's requests to Congress came at a time of huge federal deficits, while Alaska state revenue was soaring due to rising oil prices and a major tax increase on oil production that Palin signed into law in late 2007." ... "As a result, Alaska this year was in such a money-flushed condition — with no state income tax or sales tax and total state revenues of $10 billion, double the previous year's — that Palin gained legislative approval for $1,200 cash payments to every Alaskan." ... "In addition, each Alaska resident gets an annual dividend check, about $2,000 this year, from Alaska's oil-wealth savings account, known as the Permanent Fund, now fattened to more than $35 billion." ... ""She was hungry for earmarks just like everybody else," said Larry Persily, who worked at the Alaska state office in Washington, D.C., until earlier this year. "Everyone was feeding at the trough."" ... "Before she left office, Wasilla, with aid of the lobbyist and the blessing of Stevens and [Alaska Republican Representative] Rep. Don Young, got $27 million in earmarks, according to the nonpartisan Taxpayers for Common Sense." ... "During her fall 2006 campaign for governor, Palin appeared to embrace the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," even after Alaska had been held up for ridicule by McCain and others for what was seen as a wasteful boondoggle, a $233 million bridge that would replace ferry service connecting [Alaska's] Gravina Island and its Ketchikan airport to mainland Ketchikan [Alaska]." ... "In a debate, Palin said she would fight for the earmark to build the bridge." ... "Last year, Palin requested $254 million in earmarks[....]" -By Hal Bernton and David Heath-SeattleTimes 
Sarah
Palin - John
McCain - Political
- Investigation
- Attorney
- Government
-  Transportation
-  Construction
- Money
- Alaska
- Oil
-  Global
-  Climate
- 2008
Election
"What McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin." ... "They've [the 2008 Election Republican Presidential campaign of John McCain] bragged that [Alaska Republican Governor Sarah] Palin opposed the famous "Bridge to Nowhere," only to learn that Palin supported the project and even told residents of Ketchikan [Alaska] that they weren't "nowhere" to her. After the national outcry, she decided to spend the funds allocated to the bridge for something else. Actually, maybe it's more fair to say that coincident with the national outcry, she changed her mind. The story shows her political judgment, but it is not a reformer's credential." ... "Likewise, though she cut taxes as mayor of Wassila [Alaska], she raised the sales tax, making her hardly a tax cutter." ... "She denied pressuring the state's chief of public safety to fire her sister-in-law's husband even though there's mounting evidence that the impetus did indeed come from her. Ostensibly to clear her name, Palin asked her attorney general to open an independent investigation—the legislature had already been investigating. (I am told that the campaign was aware of the ethics complaint filed against her but accepts Palin's account.)" ... "McCain's campaign seemed unaware that she supported a windfalls profits tax on oil companies and that she is more skeptical about human contributions to global warming than McCain is." ... "They did not know that she took trips as the mayor of Wasilla to beg for earmarks." ... "They did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does." -By Marc Ambinder -TheAtlantic.com 
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin -  Science
- Politics
- Oil
- Money
-  Wildlife
-  History
- Global
- Climate
-  Ice
- Law
- Alaska
- Arizona
- 2008
Election - US
- Canada
"McCain VP Pick No Friend to Polar Bears." ... "Alaska [Republican] Governor Sarah Palin has ignored research showing that polar bear populations are declining in the quest to plumb new sources of energy, according to scientists, and environmental groups who fought to put the bears on the endangered species list." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential candidate Friday. Palin is only the second woman to be on a major party's ticket as VP -- the first was Geraldine Ferraro, who ran with Democrati Walter Mondale in 1984." ... "The 44-year-old Palin, a beauty pageant winner and former mayor of a small town in Alaska, is an advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has infuriated environmentalists for her support of the aerial shooting of wolves as a way to build up herds of moose and caribou. She's also sued the Interior Department for putting polar bears on the endangered species list." ... "In the lawsuit, filed this month in federal district court in the District of Columbia, Palin argues that the government's move to list polar bears as endangered is not based on sound science, and restricts oil and natural gas development. The Interior Department had put the bears on the list in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups, who argued that the bears are being threatened by global warming." ... "In an interview on the conservative CNN talk show hosted by Glenn Beck earlier this year, Palin said that she was worried that environmentalists are using the Endangered Species Act to block the extraction of oil and gas." ... ""In fact, the number of polar bears has risen dramatically over the past 30 years," she said. "Our fear (is) that extreme environmentalists will use this tool, the ESA, to eventually curtail or halt the North Slope production of very rich resources that America needs."" ... "But biologists who have studied polar bear populations counter that the facts simply do not support Palin's assertion that polar bear populations are on the rise." ... ""Polar bear populations have not been increasing for the past 30 years, and that's a well-known fact," said Ian Stirling, an emeritus scientist with Canada's Department of the Environment and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta in an interview. Stirling has studied polar bears for 37 years -- the longest of anyone." ... "In fact, the polar bear population has actually declined by 20 percent in Alaska's Southern Beaufort Sea since the mid-1980s, he says, referring to peer-reviewed research that he's conducted with other scientists for the US Geological Survey. The reason: Loss of their habitat in the form of melting ice." -By Sarah Lai Stirland -Wired
Ted
Stevens - Don
Young - Oil
- Money
-  VECO
- Legal
- Investigation
- Alaska
-  Florida
- Road
- Construction
"Indicted Senator Wins G.O.P. Primary." ... "[Alaska Republican] Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska won the Republican primary in his home state on Tuesday, soundly defeating six Republican challengers less than a month after he was indicted by a federal grand jury for concealing more than $250,000 in gifts from an oil services company." ... "The victory for Mr. Stevens, 84, means he now moves to a tough general election campaign against [Anchorage, Alaska Democratic] Mayor Mark Begich of Anchorage, who easily won the Democratic primary on Tuesday and leads the senator in polls. Mr. Stevens enters the general election also having to prepare for his trial, which is scheduled to begin in late September." ... "[Alaska Republican] Representative Don Young, the state's lone House member and a 35-year incumbent, was locked in a close primary race with Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell early Wednesday. With nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Young led by fewer than 150 votes out of more than 85,000 cast." ... "Like Mr. Stevens, Mr. Young is under federal investigation for his ties to VECO, a former oil services company, but he also faces scrutiny on other matters, including a controversial $10 million earmark he pushed through for a Florida road project. Mr. Young has spent more than $1 million of his campaign funds on legal fees." -By William Yardley -NYTimes
John
McCain - Houses
- Economy
-  Car
-  Internet
- US
- Foreign
- Gas
- Torture
- Guantanamo
- Prison
- Stem
Cells -  Health
Care - Politics
- 2008
Election
"Trust Me." ... ""You’re the Republican candidate for president and you want to fix the country's problems even though you don’t know much about the economy, you don’t know how to use the internet, you don’t know how many houses you own or what kind of car you drive, you admit you don’t think clearly when you’re tired, you make frequent gaffes on foreign policy, you think offshore drilling is a short-term solution to high gas prices, you support torture and keeping the Guantanamo prison open, you make rash decisions and statements from which you have to quickly backtrack, you have an explosive temper on a hair trigger, your idea of health care reform is 'wear more sunscreen,' you're for stem cell research except when it's done on stem cells because you consider them all American citizens, and you voted to support the policies of the worst president ever 100 percent of the time this year?"" ... ""Trust me, my friends. I was a POW."" ... "Only in Republicanland." -Bill in Portland Maine -DailyKos.com 
Prices
- History
- Energy
-  Labor
"Wholesale prices: Highest annual rate in 27 years: The Labor Department reports that its Producer Price Index increased by 1.2% in July and by 9.8% in the past year." ... "In another indication of growing inflation, wholesale prices increased in July to the highest annual rate in 27 years, according to a government report released Tuesday." ... "The annual Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 9.8% in the 12 months that ended in July." ... "The jump in wholesale prices is the fastest rate of increase since a 10.4% bump-up in June 1981, according to Joseph Kowal, economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics." ... "The Labor Department also reported that PPI rose 1.2% in July, after increasing 1.8% in June. Analysts polled by Briefing.com had expected an increase of only 0.6%." ... "The surge in producer prices is in large part due to higher energy prices, said Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist for ChannelCapitalResearch.com." -CNN
John
McCain - Oil
- Politics
- Military
- 2008
Election - Arizona
-  Calif
- Fla
- US
- Iraq
- International
"Bundler Collects From Unlikely Donors." ... "The bundle of $2,300 and $4,600 checks that poured into [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign on March 12 came from an unlikely group of California donors: a mechanic from D&D Auto Repair in Whittier [California], the manager of Rite Aid Pharmacy No. 5727, the 30-something owners of the Twilight Hookah Lounge in Fullerton [California]." ... "But the man who gathered checks from them is no stranger to McCain -- he shuttled the Republican on his private plane and held a fundraising event for the candidate at his house in Delray Beach, Fla [Florida]." ... "Harry Sargeant III, a former naval officer and the owner of an oil-trading company that recently inked defense contracts potentially worth more than $1 billion, is the archetype of a modern presidential money man." ... "Some of the most prolific givers in Sargeant's network live in modest homes in Southern California's Inland Empire. Most had never given a political contribution before being contacted by Sargeant or his associates. Most said they have never voiced much interest in politics. And in several instances, they had never registered to vote. And yet, records show, some families have ponied up as much as $18,400 for various candidates between December and March." ... "Both Sargeant and the donors were vague when asked to explain how Sargeant persuaded them to give away so much money." ... "His firm, International Oil Trading Co. (IOTC), holds several lucrative contracts with the Defense Department to carry fuel to the U.S. military in Iraq." ... "The work has not been without controversy. Last month, [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif. [Democratic-California]) initiated a review of IOTC's contract to determine whether it was overcharging the military for jet fuel, and to learn how the company, which did not submit the lowest bid, landed the contract to supply the fuel." (1, 2) -By Matthew Mosk with contributions by Ashley Surdin, Lucy Shackelford, Alice Crites and Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
Barack
Obama - John
McCain - Oil
- Companies
- Politics
- 2008
Election -  Ohio
- Arizona
- Working
-  Families
"Energy wars continue on trail." ... "In Youngstown [Ohio], [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama said that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John] McCain has "proposed an energy plan that’s nothing but four years more of the same," and that helps oil companies and not consumers, according to excerpts provided by the Obama campaign." ... "Obama says that "under [Arizona] Senator McCain’s plan, the oil companies get billions more, we don’t pay any less at the pump, and we stay in the same cycle of dependence on oil that got us into this crisis. The oil companies have placed their bet on Senator McCain, and if he wins, they will continue to cash in while our families and our economy suffer and our future is put in jeopardy.That’s the choice we face in this election. We can choose four years more of the same failed policies that have gotten us where we are. Four years more of oil companies calling the shots while hard working families are struggling. That’s what Senator McCain is offering."" ... "Obama then promotes his own plan for alternative energy and green-collar jobs." ... "Trying to reinforce Obama's point about McCain't ties to Big Oil, the Democratic National Committee posted a web video that shows McCain as a puppet whose strings are being pulled by oil company lobbyists." ... ""Big Oil in the White House. We've seen this show before," the video concludes. " -By Foon Rhee -Boston/Globe WATCH:
McCain Oil Industry Lobbyists Puppet Masters ad
John
McCain - Oil
- Politics
- 2008
Election -  NY
"Did New York couple give $61,600 to McCain, GOP?" ... "Alice Rocchio is an office manager at the New York headquarters of the Hess Corp. [Corporation], drives a 1993 Chevy Cavalier and lives in an apartment in Queens, N.Y. [New York], with her husband, Pasquale, an Amtrak foreman." ... "Despite what appears to be a middle-class lifestyle, the couple has written $61,600 in checks to John McCain's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee, most of it within days of McCain's decision to endorse offshore oil drilling." ... "At a June fundraiser, the Rocchios joined top executives at Hess Corp. — Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Hess, his wife, Susan, his mother, Norma Hess, and six other officials in giving a total of $313,500 to a joint McCain-RNC [Republican National Committee] fundraising committee, Federal Election Commission records show." ... "The donations, first traced by Campaign Money Watch last week, were part of $1.2 million in oil industry contributions to McCain's Victory '08 Committee, 73 percent coming after McCain reversed his long-held opposition to offshore oil drilling." -ByGreg Gordon -McClatchyDC.com CampaignMoney.org/mccainoil
John
McCain - Oil
- Money
- Politics
- 2008
Election - New
York -  Texas
- Ocean
-  Environment
"Oilman greases skids for McCain campaign: Among the donors from John B. Hess' company are an office manager and her husband, who pony up $57,000." ... "On June 10, John B. Hess, a top executive at the oil company with his family name, summoned friends to the 21 Club, a former speakeasy in Manhattan [New York], and delivered $285,000 to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain and the Republican National Committee." ... "A week later, McCain traveled to Texas and announced his support for offshore oil drilling." ... "Hess Corp. is an East Coast gasoline retailer with major refining and exploration operations, some of which happen to be offshore in the Gulf of Mexico." ... "Hess was one of half a dozen hosts who tapped friends for the maximum $28,500 donation to the GOP. Others included investor Henry Kravis and hedge fund mogul Paul E. Singer." -By Dan Morain -LAtimes
Money
- Gasoline
-Unemployment
"U.S. Economy: Inflation Erodes Buying Power, Tax-Rebate Effects." ... "The biggest increase in prices in almost three years eroded consumers' buying power, reinforcing speculation the Federal Reserve won't raise interest rates in the face of faster inflation and slow growth." ... "Consumer inflation in June climbed 0.8 percent, the most since September 2005, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Spending increased 0.6 percent, more than forecast, compared with a gain of 0.8 percent the prior month. Price jumps in petroleum and chemicals also swelled the value of orders to American factories in June." ... "Tax rebates from $168 billion in fiscal stimulus will provide only a temporary boost for Americans facing $4 a gallon gasoline and unemployment at the highest level since 2004. Fed officials, meeting tomorrow, must find a way to acknowledge the risk of accelerating inflation without signaling a rate increase that would worsen the economic slowdown, economists said." ... "The Fed's preferred gauge of prices, which excludes food and fuel, climbed 0.3 percent, more than economists forecast." -By Bob Willis and Shobhana Chandra -Bloomberg
Barack
Obama - John
McCain -  Media
- Politics
- Iraq
-  Pakistan
-  Afghanistan
- Iran
-  Kuwait-  Britain
- US
-  Nuclear
-Military
-  Terrorism
- Gas
- Money
- 2008
Election
"How Obama Became Acting President." ... "The growing [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama clout derives not from national polls, where his lead is modest. Nor is it a gift from the press, which still gives free passes to its old bus mate [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain. It was laughable to watch journalists stamp their feet last week to try to push Mr. Obama into saying he was “wrong” about the surge. More than five years and 4,100 American fatalities later, they’re still not demanding that Mr. McCain admit he was wrong when he assured us that our adventure in Iraq would be fast, produce little American “bloodletting” and “be paid for by the Iraqis.”" ... "Never mind. This election remains about the present and the future, where Iraq’s $10 billion a month drain on American pocketbooks and military readiness is just one moving part in a matrix of national crises stretching from the gas pump to Pakistan." ... "First, on July 7, the Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, dissed [Republican President] Bush dogma by raising the prospect of a withdrawal timetable for our troops. Then, on July 15, Mr. McCain suddenly noticed that more Americans are dying in Afghanistan than Iraq and called for more American forces to be sent there. It was a long-overdue recognition of the obvious that he could no longer avoid: both Robert Gates, the defense secretary [of Republican President Bush], and [Admiral] Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had already called for_more American troops to battle the resurgent Taliban, echoing the policy proposed by Mr. Obama a year ago." ... "On July 17 we learned that [Republican] President Bush, who had labeled direct talks with Iran “appeasement,” would send the No. 3 official in the State Department to multilateral nuclear talks with Iran. Lest anyone doubt that the White House had moved away from the rigid stand endorsed by Mr. McCain and toward Mr. Obama’s, a former Rumsfeld apparatchik weighed in on The Wall Street Journal’s op-ed page: “Now Bush Is Appeasing Iran.”" ... "Within 24 hours, the White House did another U-turn, endorsing an Iraq withdrawal timetable as long as it was labeled a “general time horizon.” In a flash, as Mr. Obama touched down in Kuwait, Mr. Maliki approvingly cited the Democratic candidate by name while laying out a troop-withdrawal calendar of his own that, like Mr. Obama’s, would wind down in 2010. On Tuesday, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, announced a major drawdown of his nation’s troops by early 2009." -By Frank Rich -NYTimes 
Money
- Energy
"Wholesale inflation is worst in 27 years." ... "Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 9.2 percent, the largest year-over-year surge since June 1981, another period when soaring energy costs were giving the country inflation pains." -By Martin Crutsinger -AP via -Google
John
McCain -  Czech
Republic -  Slovakia
- History
-  Russia
- Energy
- Military
- Phoenix
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - Politics
"Note to McCain: Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist anymore." ... "This is almost certainly going to sound nitpicky, if not actually petty, but bear with me. It’s not unreasonable to note that [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain continues to make references to a country that doesn’t exist." ... "At a press conference in Phoenix [Arizona] today, for example, McCain referenced Czechoslovakia. Again." "“I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia. Apparently that is in reaction to the Czech’s agreement with us concerning missile defense, and again some of the Russian now announcement they are now retargeting new targets, something they abandoned at the end of the Cold War, is also a concern. So we see the tensions between Russia and their neighbors, as well as Russia and the United States are somewhat increasing.”""On first blush, this sounds like more antagonistic rhetoric towards Russia — which McCain wants to kick out of the G8 — which isn’t especially helpful." ... "But more importantly, Russia can’t “reduce energy supplies to Czechoslovakia.” Czechoslovakia, of course, doesn’t exist. It split into two countries more than 15 years ago. McCain has actually been to the Czech Republic and Slovakia since they became independent countries, and he’s met with their leaders." ... "First, as Greg Sargent noted, McCain has made this same mistake more than once during the campaign. About three months ago, McCain vowed to “work closely with Czechoslovakia” on missile defense. Last fall, during a Republican debate, McCain said: “The first thing I would do is make sure that we have a missile defense system in place in Czechoslovakia and Poland, and I don’t care what his objections are to it.”" ... "Second, before Republicans condemn Dems for being picky on this, let’s not forget that in the 2000 campaign, when McCain also screwed up Czechoslovakia, it was none other than [Republican] George W. Bush who said it deserved to be a campaign issue: “A guy gets up and quizzes me [on world leaders] … but John McCain says something about the ‘ambassador to Czechoslovakia.’ Well, I know there is no Czechoslovakia [there’s a Czech Republic and a Slovakia], but yet it didn’t make the nightly national news." ... "But the raison d’etre of John McCain’s entire presidential campaign is the notion that he’s an expert on foreign policy, thanks to his decades of experience as a Washington insider. When the foreign policy expert keeps referencing a non-existent country, it’s not unreasonable to mention that maybe his expertise isn’t quite as impressive as his campaign and the political media establishment would like us to believe." ... "McCain, meanwhile, makes mistakes like this all the time, almost always with no media scrutiny at all.” -By Steve Benen -TheCarpetbaggerReport.com |
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