Merry Christmas Everybody

Rejuvenate well.

love granny

A Real Winter of Discontent

With the season's first snowfall hitting the Northeast last week, it is becoming apparent that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita did far more to the nation's energy equation than spoil Labor Day vacation drives. The storms upset the already precarious balance of the nation's supply and demand for fuel. So much Gulf of Mexico oil and natural gas production remains in disarray that even with a mild winter, Americans face a Big Chill: astronomical heating bills--on average, 38 percent higher than last year's record costs for natural gas and 21 percent higher for oil.

Triple threat. That means hundreds of closed factories and enormous hardship for low-income and working poor families, who can expect scant federal government help. And if bitter cold rides in on Mother Nature's coattails, extraordinary measures will be needed to keep energy flowing, particularly in the Northeast, as natural-gas shortages spill over into oil and electricity supplies. "We pray for warm weather. We have a prayer chain going," says Diane Munns, an Iowa regulator who is president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. "People are talking not just about high prices but actual shortages."

{...]

Out of options. Hundreds of factories will be similarly forced to lay off workers or freeze or cut wages because of high natural gas prices this winter, says the National Association of Manufacturers. Many large companies, like chemical giant Dow, have moved major operations overseas near cheaper fuel. But smaller domestic companies don't have that option. "In manufacturing, there's just one way to use less energy, and that's to make less widgets," says Paul Cicio, executive director of the Industrial Energy Consumers of America.

Industrial shutdowns are actually vital to the current energy market because they curb demand. Without them, prices would be even higher for consumers trying to heat homes.

I am flabbergasted that we have done so little and have so little invested in renewable, sustainable fuels.

via Scrutiny Hooligans

Toxic Pet Food Alert

We're safe here in Montana, but Diamond pet food consumers in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky (eastern), Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Vermont, and Virginia may be at risk of their pets exposure to Aflatoxin, a naturally occurring toxic chemical by-product from the growth of the fungus Aspergillus flavus, on corn and other crops. The fungus develops on crops during years with severe high temperature stress and drought.

We are rapidly analyzing retained samples of all products produced in
>Gaston so we can isolate specific lot numbers impacted and provide this
>information to our distributors, retailers and customers as quickly as
>possible.
>
>Meanwhile, if your pet is showing any symptoms of illness, including
>sluggishness or lethargy combined with a reluctance to eat, yellowish tint
>to the eyes and/or gums, and severe or bloody diarrhea, please consult your
>veterinarian immediately.

Of course granny is wondering how much more of this we will be seeing as the weather gets screwier because of global warming.

Meet the Boogeymen

Catholic High School students, Florida Quakers and student unions from major American universities and another 1500 (+ or -) anti war groups.



Who was the Pentagon really spying on?

So many Boogeymen. So little time.

Been To Buy Blue Lately?

It's a real live blog that covers issues like Bush's FEC picks, the Koch Brothers acquisition of Georgia Pacific Corp and what that might mean in regards to environmental policy and Congressional desires to give our land to wealthy suitors in addition to being a resource to know if you're spending your hard earned dollars in a way that supports progressive causes.

They are also adding a lobbying dollars section (On goodie!)that I presume will be somewhat different than PSOTD does. Give them some feedback here.

Three Kinds of Conservatives

Which kind are the conservatives in your life?

War Sales Pitch Falls on Deaf Ears

Deja Vu'

Same speech. same lies. same insults.

People want to believe him. Really, they do. White House Correspondent Bill Plante (CBS) was so desperate to find something positive in the President's speech that he had a hiccough tempo'd Tourettes fit repeating that the President suggests the President suggests the President suggests the President suggests.

It really should bother people that the President and his team of media management specialists work so hard to make it sound as if he is saying one thing when he is really saying the polar opposite.

This speech was another of his attempts to sell this was and all the accompanying domestic horrors to his own base for the umpteenth time without their understanding that he doesn't plan to change a single thing.

He vowed to continue to ignore any critisism or suggestions for improvement as he has all along=

We will continue to listen to honest criticism, and make every change that will help us complete the mission.

Recap

Keep torturing

Keep the propoganda machine fired up in high gear

Continue illegal unchecked surveillance

Continue to steal from the poor to carry out this war without armour

Refuse to create a plan for success in Iraq also refuse to mitigate damages

Bush: Eavesdropping Helps Save U.S. Lives

Somebody forgot to tell this guy















Nobody told him or the other corpses in this photo, either





Three-and-a-half months after Katrina people are still finding decomposing bodies and more than six thousand people are still missing. That is the equivalent of two 9/11's and then some.

Shocking.



See this and this, sincere flattery intended. All that fair use mumbo jumbo applies too.