Candidate Barack Obama is now describing himself as the “Energy President”. How many faces can one man have? Obama was in Oklahoma City yesterday for the start of construction on the Keystone Pipeline that will bring it to south Texas. You see, in associating himself with this project, he is trying to create the illusion that he is taking action to deal with the out of control gas prices. What a farce.
It will take years for this section to be completed and when it is done, it will do nothing to lower gas prices in the United States. This oil is going to Israeli owned refineries in south Texas, where it will be turned into gas and diesel, which is to be exported to China.
The fact is the completion of this line is going to cause gas and diesel prices in the US to go up. Why? Because at present the oil coming through the pipeline is being refined in Illinois and sold in the US, as shipping the finished product to the coast for export is not cost effective. Once the new section is completed, the plant in Illinois will be shut down, dismantled, and shipped to China, just as so many of our other refineries have been.
The only reason this section of the pipeline is being allowed to go through is because it benefits the Israelis, who control our government.
The fact is there is a mad dash at present to get every drop of our oil out of the ground and sold before the American people wake up and realize the reality of the theft. As we all know, it is not just oil but every resource that is being ripped out of our country and cashed out, while we, the owners of the resources become poorer every day.
The sickest part is the enormous wealth being created through the theft is going to the same international gangsters that collapsed our economy through the mortgage derivative fraud. And it all is being accommodated through the unconstitutional Federal Reserve that is the mechanism being used to transfer our wealth out of our country.
You wonder why the Occupy protesters are being attacked so brutally for nothing more than coming together to renew acquaintances. Well I’ll tell you why. Occupation of the ports of our country is the one action that can force the revolution literally overnight. If we try to stop the theft of our natural resources, they are going to try to kill us and they do not give a shit what we or the rest of the world think about it.
So the choice is simple. Let our enemies finish sucking out our resources and leave us in a third world hell hole, or kick their asses, stop the theft, and recover our stolen wealth. And don’t take all day considering the question because every day we wait, they steal billions more.
Keep coming out in mass for Ron Paul, but by all means do not neglect to prepare for the inevitable, because whether we stop the theft at the ports or with our military under Dr. Paul, there is going to be a fight.
God bless the Republic, death to the international corporate mafia, we shall prevail.
Unhappy public not sure who to blame for high gas
Families canceling vacations. Fishermen watching their profits burn up along with their boats’ gasoline. Drivers buying only a few gallons of gas at a time because they can’t afford to fill the tank.
From all corners of the country, Americans are irritated these days by record-high fuel prices that have soared above $4 a gallon in some states and could top $5 by summer. And the cost is becoming a political issue just as the presidential campaign kicks into high gear.
Some blame President Barack Obama. Some just cite “the government,” while others believe it’s the work of big, greedy oil companies. No matter who is responsible, almost everyone seems to want the government to do something, even if people aren’t sure what, exactly, it should or can do.
A Gallup poll this month found 85 percent of U.S. adults believe the president and Congress “should take immediate actions to try to control the rising price of gas.” An Associated Press-GfK poll last month showed 71 percent believe gas prices are a “very” or “extremely” important matter.
Chris Kaufman, who spends $120 a week on gas to travel the 60 miles between his two jobs, at the University of South Dakota in Sioux Falls and at a hotel in Vermillion, S.D., blames the price spike on threats from Iran to cut off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
“I think the candidates running for president need to take a good hard look at that and determine what their foreign policy is going to be for countries that threaten to do that,” he said. “It’s going to affect every single citizen in the United States.”
Still, he believes the president has little control over gas prices, adding that it is commodities traders who really dictate prices.
Trucker Cory Nissen of Ruther Glen, Va., agrees.
“The president is nothing but a fall guy,” Nissen said as he took a break from his rig at a stop in Wilton, N.Y., earlier this week.
Nissen, who is paid by the mile, said he has seen his paychecks shrink because his employer has cut back delivery runs in reaction to the rising cost of fuel. “It needs to change and change quick,” he said. “I got bills I got to pay, and half the time I can’t pay them.”
On the presidential campaign trail, Mitt Romney called on Obama last weekend to fire his energy secretary, interior secretary and Environmental Protection Agency administrator, dubbing them “the gas-hike trio.” Fellow Republican Newt Gingrich promised to roll the price of gas back to $2.50 a gallon if he is elected.
Obama mocked Gingrich’s promise, saying, “They start acting like they’ve got a magic wand and will give you cheap gas forever if you elect us.”
Amy Lis of Buffalo, N.Y., and her boyfriend canceled their vacation to Florida this spring in favor of a three-hour drive to Cleveland for an overnight stay and a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Even that trip will cost more than $100 in gas.
“It’s more than our hotel,” she said as she filled up her boyfriend’s Ford Ranger pickup.
In truth, there is not a lot the president and Congress can do in the short term to push down gasoline prices. They are tied to oil prices, which have climbed in recent months, pushed by increased consumption from developing nations in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East and by concerns about supply disruptions in Iran and elsewhere.
Mike Siroub, who has operated a Union Oil station in the Los Angeles suburb of Arcadia for 25 years, said customers who used to fill up their tanks now put in just $10 or $20 at a time, telling him that that’s all they can afford and that they are driving less or using more fuel-efficient cars.
He himself has joined them.
“I used to have a car with a big V-8 engine,” he said. “I traded it for a four-cylinder Toyota Camry.”
Among the things the government can do to bring prices down is reduce gasoline taxes or push to get more fuel-efficient cars on the road. The first new fuel standards since 1990 are just now going into effect, and the U.S. auto fleet is now more efficient than ever
People are still feeling the pain.
“When I go out to change the prices, they honk their horns and yell at me,” said Siroub whose station’s cheapest grade of gas, regular unleaded, was selling for $4.44 a gallon earlier this week. “The other day one person even gave me the finger.”
In New York City, some cab drivers say the high cost of gas is prompting them to race through the streets of Manhattan even more recklessly than usual to pick up more passengers during a shift.
“When the gas is up, the money you make is going down,” said Less Sylla, who paid $4.17 a gallon earlier this week. “You see a lot of drivers, they’re driving, boom-boom-boom, because the lease is too high and it’s working on their minds. So that’s why they go like that, and it causes a lot of accidents.”
Sylla, who said he will vote for Obama, blames greedy oil companies.
In Anchorage, Alaska, general contractor W.M. Lewis said he has had to raises his prices to keep his half-dozen trucks running. “It affects your bottom-line pricing,” he said as he put $90.13 worth of gas, at $4.25 a gallon, into one of those trucks.
Milton Walker Jr., whose Louisiana tour company takes vacationers on boat rides through the alligator-infested swamps, said he raised prices last year because of the increased cost of fuel and will do it again if gas hits $5 a gallon. He blames the Federal Reserve, saying it hasn’t kept inflation in check.
“I don’t think it matters who’s president,” he said.
Shrimpers in Louisiana and lobstermen in Maine complain that high fuel prices are cutting into their profits. Craig Rogers, who burns through 50 gallons of gas a day tending his lobster traps along Maine’s rocky coast, blames commodities traders, though he questions whether politicians are doing enough. He said politicians are too well off to really grasp what ordinary people are going through.
“They can say they feel for us, they can say they understand us, but when you have that kind of money, there’s no way you can truly understand what we’re feeling,” he said.
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Associated Press Writers Jim Drinkard and Jonathan Fahey in Washington; Cain Burdeau in Louisiana; Chris Carola in Albany, N.Y.; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.; Christopher Hawley in New York City; Dirk Lammers in Sioux Falls, S.D.; Clarke Canfield in Portland, Maine; Rachel D’Oro in Anchorage, Alaska; and Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this story.
© Copyright 2012 CSC Holdings, Inc.
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A lot of my friends are commercial waterman, and the majority of them are ” Packing it In “, they were operating on a shoestring previously,however, they can no longer afford to work . One waterman who has been fishing, crabbing,and oystering for 32 years,told me, ” What the (expletive) am I supposed to power my boat with, a ____ing Volt engine ?,that about says “IT” to me.
http://www.rt.com/news/us-iran-sanctions-list-160/
US reveals Iran petro penalty hit list after exempting allies
The US State Department has revealed the list of 12 countries which may be subjected to American financial sanctions for failing to cut oil imports from Iran.
The number of countries was mentioned earlier on Tuesday, as Washington announced a penalty waiver for Japan and 10 EU counties which complied with American demands and reduced their purchases. However, the names of the countries were not given.
Four of the countries on America’s anger list are among top 100 buyers of Iranian crude. They are China, India, South Korea and South Africa, with the first two being the two largest buyers.
Also targeted by possible financial sanctions are Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Turkey.
US President Barack Obama may order banks based in those countries and involved in oil trade with Iran to be cut off America’s financial system. On the other hand, he may exempt some of them from sanctions, if US national security demands it. So America’s allies like South Korea or Pakistan may dodge repercussions.
Meanwhile China on Thursday slammed America’s pressure on Iran’s trading partners following the exemption of Japan and European countries from penalties. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, called the US policy misguided and selfish.
“One stand-out feature of unilateralism is this: that one’s own rules become the world’s rules. Everyone must respect them, and if you don’t, then you will be punished,” the paper said in a commentary.
The US is campaigning to cripple Iranian oil export as part of pressuring it into stopping uranium enrichment. In January the EU joined the sanctions with a six-month grace period, while Japan adopted a policy to reduce imports from Iran. Western countries say the Islamic Republic may be trying to build a nuclear weapon under the guise of its civilian nuclear program.
Tehran rejects the allegations. Some counties including UN Security Council members Russia and China say no evidence of such intension is available and oppose economic sanctions against Iran, saying they fail to resolve the problem.
The uncertainty of the situation over Iran has resulted in world oil price gradually climbing over the months. The IMF warned this week that if the flow of crude from the country is abruptly cut, the resulting price shock would deal a serious blow to the global economy.