My view is that Texas Child Protective Services acted hastily in pursuing this. I'm sort of puzzled as to why this group, instead, wasn't brought up on charges of welfare fraud instead, treating each parent (mother and father) as individuals. It just seems to me that, because their leader, Warren Jeffs, has the philosophy of "starve the beast" (the state), that this well off church cult, by having mothers (seen as "single" by the state, but "married" by the cult) apply for welfare, Medicaid, etc., there was a pattern and practice of deceit and fraud. You just cannot have it both ways.
Seems to me that an investigation of welfare fraud would have turned up more substantial evidence that there was underage sexual exploitation and would have provided an opening for CPS to investigate both sexual and physical abuse.
These people are ripping off the taxpayers plenty. They're not indigent by any means, so why was Legal Aid allowed to represent them? Legal Aid is also a taxpayer sponsored legal service, so the state is getting screwed a lot more than once. I read somewhere that the ACLU might get involved, and that is exactly where legal representation should have come from for those parents.
Now, where are the fathers, who are reaping the rewards of having multiple wives who drain the welfare system?
darkh0rse
· 1 year ago
This seemingly progressive website always ignores Peak Oil when the science is inconvertible in backing it up. Why is that?
Price goes up $30, drops back $10, and everybody acts like they're getting a break.
Chris: You keep forgetting: Americans are dumb.
Anyway, it's stupid to call it a bubble. It's a long-term trend. Will there be jumps, then retreats, sure. But the long-term trend is a continuous rise in oil prices until it's no longer economically viable as a primary energy source.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
darkh0rse This seemingly progressive website always ignores Peak Oil when the science is inconvertible in backing it up. Why is that?
----
Don't know enough about peak oil to have an opinion, though I think it's inevitable so, even if it isn't happening now, we should be preparing for it.
But thanks for the link: some interesting looking-books there.
Bush_Bites
· 1 year ago
Who wants future generations to look back and point the finger at the last remaining idiot who blocked reform?
----
Exactly.
This is why I think Energy should be as big a priority as health care for Obama.
These are the two domestic issues that will determine this country's future for decades.
(Infrastructure is an important one too.)
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Well, do we really believe that a fossil fuel that tooks millions (billions?) of years to develop will really last forever? Hardly. When it's gone, there is no more.
And yes, I'm prone to believe the Peak Oil theory and think we have already passed the point of no return. I mean, if it wasn't becoming scarce, why would it cost so much? Will we be satisfied drilling, digging, changing the landscape, just to get to what's left? Preposterous.
Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement act just came out of committee and needs House Sponsors. Check if you're congressman is on the list and, if not, get him/her to co-sponsor.
World usage will rise 50% by 2015...other countries will want oil and gas as much as the US. Instead of being hogs (the US has 4% of the world's population but uses 25%+ of its resources), the US will be forced to SHARE. Therefore, we MUST develop alternative sources of energy to avoid conflict. Do we really want the future that implies?
OlderAndWiser
· 1 year ago
Rail is wonderful. It should have been heavily promoted during the 70s. It's my favorite form of long distance transportation anyway. Nothing like a soothing train ride...I remember many from my childhood. : )
Hell, I even enjoyed the NYC subways!
dad
· 1 year ago
bubble or reality
both. they will rise to a solid $4+, flirt with the possibility of five and come down in August so that by election - or should I say re-elections - it will be down to mid $3's. incumbents don't like and angry electorate and we'll be back to Lalavill, happy to be raped, then, only from the front . The bar successfully raised to a $4-$5 mark. This is exactly how we accepted $2 and have allowed $3. But they will be back. Corporapists always are. Its as much about power as it is about the - sex.
Indigo
· 1 year ago
I think it's more likely to be the equivalent of 100 Euro a barrel by September's Labor Day. That'll be about $170.00 in US dollars with $5.00 gallons of regular at the pump. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
tlsintx
· 1 year ago
this is what you get when the vice president of the United States takes the oil execs behind closed doors to set national energy policy in secret.
thanks a lot dick.
jr
· 1 year ago
we have 100 percent inflation
Forty2
· 1 year ago
it is both a bubble and reality, but more the former i believe, and I also believe there will be a serious disruption in bonds and commodities fairly soon.
point 1: the Fed has given out at least 250 billion in exchange for crap paper from the commercial and i-banks.
point 2: large investors and those who traded crap paper know that it is crap paper backing US Treasuries and have been fleeing into commodities, esp. oil, for awhile now. in fact I believe this is a domestic carry trade: borrow cheap money from the Fed and give them crap paper for collateral, then invest it. e.z. oil is totally fungible worldwide; treasuries, not so much given what everyone knows is backing the Fed now: crap paper.
if I can figure this out it means it's not rocket science.
Forty2
· 1 year ago
oh hey, scottinSF, if you want a good home for your Jetta TDI, lemme know!
venisson
· 1 year ago
Last year, Exxon had $404.55 billion in sales, and ended up with $40.61 billion in profits. That's a net profit margin of 10.04%. Compare and contrast with the companies below:
Microsoft Sales: $57.90 Bil Income: $16.96 Bil Net Profit Margin: 29.29%
3M Sales: $24.46 Bil Income: $4.10 Bil Net Profit Margin: 16.97%
Should we penalize Microsoft and 3M also...? Maybee two times as much?
debrazza
· 1 year ago
George Bush is throwing himself under the bus to try and save the failed religion of conservatism. People are going to say in a few years time that the reason the Bush Presidency failed was because he was not a "true conservative", he was a big spender and even a big environmentalist. The fact of the matter is conservatism has always equaled big spending, unless I missed something in the 80's. And this sad attempt at greenwashing his legacy is pathetic. Go and read about how the current EPA Administrator said that his position on denying California a waiver to enact legislation to curb global warming was as significant as choosing which tie to wear. Bill Clinton's last minute gambits did not save his pathetic environmental legacy and this will not save Bush's even worse legacy. The simple fact that the Republicans lost a good deal of the Mountain West because of oil and gas drilling says it all.
MNUSA
· 1 year ago
I agree with those that bring up the record profits oil companies are reaping. We are being fleeced. If any of you can explain to me exactly what their executives are saying when they explain away their profits, I'd appreciate it. No reporter interviewing them has ever challenged them and pinned them down. Basically their explanations are gobbledygook designed to intimidate anyone not very knowledgeable about business and accounting..
scottinsf
· 1 year ago
I remember a few short years ago when I was paying about 50 cents more per gallon for biodiesel for my TDI Jetta Wagon than regular diesel. I was a member of a biodiesel co-op up in Seattle and I didn't mind paying the extra. Since moving here I NEVER drive nor do I need to. Biodiesel is not popular here at all. The San Francisco Bay area is home to the largest oil company and many refineries after all. The drivers around here are taking a hit though, many of them are driving in from the suburbs with some of the worst forclosure rates in the country. Between gasoline, wear and tear, bridge tolls, parking costs in the city, and the time consumed I don't know how they do it.
As for me....I'm a short walk, muni-train, or bus from anywhere in the City and I've got a $20,000 car dying to be sold but letting go is hard after always having owned a car.
All Comments
After all, you can't get high enough, in their estimation.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110ap_p...
My view is that Texas Child Protective Services acted hastily in pursuing this. I'm sort of puzzled as to why this group, instead, wasn't brought up on charges of welfare fraud instead, treating each parent (mother and father) as individuals. It just seems to me that, because their leader, Warren Jeffs, has the philosophy of "starve the beast" (the state), that this well off church cult, by having mothers (seen as "single" by the state, but "married" by the cult) apply for welfare, Medicaid, etc., there was a pattern and practice of deceit and fraud. You just cannot have it both ways.
Seems to me that an investigation of welfare fraud would have turned up more substantial evidence that there was underage sexual exploitation and would have provided an opening for CPS to investigate both sexual and physical abuse.
These people are ripping off the taxpayers plenty. They're not indigent by any means, so why was Legal Aid allowed to represent them? Legal Aid is also a taxpayer sponsored legal service, so the state is getting screwed a lot more than once. I read somewhere that the ACLU might get involved, and that is exactly where legal representation should have come from for those parents.
Now, where are the fathers, who are reaping the rewards of having multiple wives who drain the welfare system?
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/BreakingNew...
Price goes up $30, drops back $10, and everybody acts like they're getting a break.
Chris: You keep forgetting: Americans are dumb.
Anyway, it's stupid to call it a bubble. It's a long-term trend. Will there be jumps, then retreats, sure. But the long-term trend is a continuous rise in oil prices until it's no longer economically viable as a primary energy source.
This seemingly progressive website always ignores Peak Oil when the science is inconvertible in backing it up. Why is that?
----
Don't know enough about peak oil to have an opinion, though I think it's inevitable so, even if it isn't happening now, we should be preparing for it.
But thanks for the link: some interesting looking-books there.
----
Exactly.
This is why I think Energy should be as big a priority as health care for Obama.
These are the two domestic issues that will determine this country's future for decades.
(Infrastructure is an important one too.)
And yes, I'm prone to believe the Peak Oil theory and think we have already passed the point of no return. I mean, if it wasn't becoming scarce, why would it cost so much? Will we be satisfied drilling, digging, changing the landscape, just to get to what's left? Preposterous.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/22/222447/...
Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement act just came out of committee and needs House Sponsors. Check if you're congressman is on the list and, if not, get him/her to co-sponsor.
World usage will rise 50% by 2015...other countries will want oil and gas as much as the US. Instead of being hogs (the US has 4% of the world's population but uses 25%+ of its resources), the US will be forced to SHARE. Therefore, we MUST develop alternative sources of energy to avoid conflict. Do we really want the future that implies?
Hell, I even enjoyed the NYC subways!
both. they will rise to a solid $4+, flirt with the possibility of five and come down in August so that by election - or should I say re-elections - it will be down to mid $3's. incumbents don't like and angry electorate and we'll be back to Lalavill, happy to be raped, then, only from the front . The bar successfully raised to a $4-$5 mark. This is exactly how we accepted $2 and have allowed $3. But they will be back. Corporapists always are. Its as much about power as it is about the - sex.
thanks a lot dick.
point 1: the Fed has given out at least 250 billion in exchange for crap paper from the commercial and i-banks.
point 2: large investors and those who traded crap paper know that it is crap paper backing US Treasuries and have been fleeing into commodities, esp. oil, for awhile now. in fact I believe this is a domestic carry trade: borrow cheap money from the Fed and give them crap paper for collateral, then invest it. e.z. oil is totally fungible worldwide; treasuries, not so much given what everyone knows is backing the Fed now: crap paper.
if I can figure this out it means it's not rocket science.
Microsoft
Sales: $57.90 Bil
Income: $16.96 Bil
Net Profit Margin: 29.29%
3M
Sales: $24.46 Bil
Income: $4.10 Bil
Net Profit Margin: 16.97%
Should we penalize Microsoft and 3M also...? Maybee two times as much?
As for me....I'm a short walk, muni-train, or bus from anywhere in the City and I've got a $20,000 car dying to be sold but letting go is hard after always having owned a car.