Unless you live under a rock, you know that Senator Obama has been in Iraq for the past few days. Yesterday, after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki pulled back on remarks he made over the weekend agreeing with Senator Obama’s plan for Iraq, his chief government spokesman released a statement saying that the Iraqi government supports a timetable to get US troops out of Iraq by 2010. If you check your box scores you will see that is essentially the same thing as Senator Obama’s plan.
My favorite development of the past few weeks was the rise of Texas oilman and corporate raider T. Boone Pickens as a major advocate for alternative energies and wind power. Wind power is great, but mostly I just like getting to say T. Boone Pickens. Today the New York Times offers a strong endorsement of his alternative energy plans.
To go along with that, the Los Angeles Times has a survey piece on the state of oil and whether we have found all there is to find. Some say that we have but others say that we have only found the easy oil and that there is plenty of oil but it will just be harder to access. My favorite statement about the idea of “Unconventional oil” is from Al Gore’s Rolling Stone interview: “you know, junkies find veins in their toes. It seems reasonable, to them, because they’ve lost sight of the rest of their lives.”
Today’s story you should read to feel like a well-informed citizen is on how the economic downturn is affecting women. Economists had thought that the decline in the percentage of women working was the result of women choosing to stay home, but studies are showing that the majority of women who have left their jobs have done it for the same reasons men have. Namely, they have been laid off while their job was moved to Kuala Lumpur. The whole piece is worth a read and has some great graphics.
Since the Supreme Court is about to recess for the summer, the Justices have been cranking out opinions like a college freshman cranks out poorly written term papers on The Republic. To be fair, most of the Justices have to clear out of their dorms by Monday and be home in time to start their summer jobs. Chief Justice Roberts lifeguards at his local YMCA, Antonin Scalia mows lawns and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dons a mask to fight crime on the streets – where she is known only as “The Talon.”
Like any college student, the first decision they turned in was top notch, but as the deadlines started to pile up it became more hit-or-miss.
They have barred the death penalty for those that rape a child – This was actually a decision that was applauded by rape victim groups. They argued that if the death penalty was on the table, there was nothing to prevent a rapist from killing his victim. More broadly, the court ruled that the death penalty is off the table for any individual crime where the victims life is not taken.
They ruled that Americans have a right to guns – This is the first major pronouncement on guns in the history of the court and by far the biggest ruling ot the year. If you read only one of the articles I link to, read this one. The case was focused on Washington DC, and many of the Justices cited the heavy amount of crime in that area as a rationale for the right to own a weapon. Would a case have gotten a similar result if it was in Bathesda? Expect the NRA to file lawsuits everywhere there is a gun ban. It is now no longer safe to do anything.
The court reduced the penalty against Exxon that a jury awarded after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 – They reduced the amount that the company must pay in punative damages from $5 billion to $500 million. Keep in mind that Exxon made $10 billion in the first quarter of this year but also that they have already paid $4 billion in cleanup fees, fines and restitution.
The Iraqi Oil Ministry is negotiating a series of no-bid contracts with a collection of Western oil companies. This would be the first major commercial oil development to take place since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. More than 40 companies from a variety of countries including Russia and China submitted proposals, and it is unusual for oil companies to get no-bid contracts (Only one country, however, has more than 100,000 troops in Iraq). There is a lot going on here and many ways you could look at this. You could argue that this supports the idea that the US went to war in Iraq for oil (an idea that has a lot of credence in that Arab world). You could also argue that this is a very favorable turn of events because the sooner oil production can start the sooner Iraq will have money to begin investing in infrastructure. You could also argue that no-bid contracts in general are a bad idea. However, you really don’t have to argue anything since no one will be talking about this at your office. Unless you work at Shell.
In the face of skyrocketing oil prices, Americans are driving less. Specifically, drivers have cut back by 30 billion miles over the last 6 months. This is the largest decrease since the fuel crisis in the late 70s. It’s weird to see market forces at work.
Senator Obama has opted out of Public Financing. We had mentioned he was considering it before, but now he has actually pulled the trigger. If he had gone with public financing, he would have been limited to spending $84.1 million for the general election campaign. Contrast that with the fact that he raised $95 million in February and March alone. See our previous coverage of the issue for the proper way to discuss this at the office.
A runoff election in Zimbabwe is planned for June 27th, and prominent international and African groups are escalating their rhetoric against President Mugabe. Since losing the initial election (but not by enough to prevent a runoff), President Mugabe has launched a terror campaign against the opposition party that has included beatings, murders, threats of civil war should he lose and multiple imprisonments of the opposition leader. “Every sign” that it “will never be free nor fair” indeed.
Because I didn’t post the news yesterday, some people might have missed that the Celtics won the NBA championship. Just an FYI that Boston rules.
Home, sweet home. We left to spend two weeks either seeing family (Jeff) or working like crazy then drinking/crying myself to sleep every night (Josh). It is not like we missed much. Nope, nothingmuchatall. However, we are back and better than ever.
One thing that hasn’t changed much since we left is the economy. On Friday, the release of high unemployment numbers and a surge in oil prices sent the stock market plummeting.
Because of the surge in oil prices, gas prices nationwide hit an average of $4/gallon on Sunday. Today’s must-read is from the New York Times, who profiles the people most screwed by increased gas prices: the rural poor. How to talk about this is pretty simple. Do you drive to work? Then commiserate with your coworkers about how terrible the gas prices are. Do you take the subway/bus? Then commiserate with your coworkers about how terrible public transportation is.
Luckily, while we were gone, we didn’t miss anyone bothering to institute the rule of law or anything. The Pentagon had been urging interrogators to destroy all handwritten notes in case they were called to testify on detainee torture.
And finally, because we live in a modern gilded age, Apple will be announcing a new generation of the iphone today. The new phone is rumored to have a much faster Internet connection, new business-focused applications and an improved display. There are also rumors of a reduced price, but I still won’t be able to afford one.
Don’t worry kids, Daddy’s back. Neither rain, nor snow nor stomach flu will keep me from my appointed blogging. At least, not for very long.
And what a day to come back to. It is a day some (the lame) are calling Junior Super Tuesday. The fate of the Democratic and Republican primary campaigns are on the line in elections and caucuses today in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island. This round of elections caps of two weeks of furious campaigning. If Senator Clinton doesn’t win in either Ohio or Texas, than her campaign is all but finished. Some are saying that you shouldn’t forget about Rhode Island and Vermont — Those people are wrong. For those interested, today’s must-read is a longish piece on 8 questions that the primary could answer. For the lazy, just say that you think Clinton will probably win Ohio and that Texas will be very close.
Canada, Oil, and Male figure skating after the jump
