The Meat of the Matter

Surprise!

The Meat of the Matter is moving over to Wordpress. Blogger has served me well for these past years, but I'm tired of needing three services to manage one blog (Blogger, HaloScan, Blogroller). Plus, the old blog was starting to look tired, and my template was so heavily modified that one change could mess it all up. Please re-point your browsers to http://meatofthematter.wordpress.com See ya there!

Calling For Reinforcements

My Blog needs a shot in the arm. We seem to be arguing with only one person, so I am going to reach out and try to find some really big Conservative guns to come in here and help Todd out. Otherwise, we just end up slinging poo at each other, and that is frankly a waste of my time. I want us to get some serious debate going with people who have the time and inclination to do research, and back up the Conservative stance with some meat. Stay tuned for some major renovations.

Gas Prices and Elections

Two primary forces drive the price of anything: supply and demand. Demand for gasoline has been rising exponentially--not merely due to the popularity of SUVs in North America, but mostly by the emergence of India and China on the world stage and their subsequent need for petroleum products. Reflexively, the supply is decreasing and fixed. No economist in his right mind can tell you that the price of oil will go anywhere but up. This is not the President's fault, although temporary issues in the Middle East certainly don't help. Furthermore, the recent decrease in the price of oil can also not be credited to the President. Or can it? The price of gas fluctuates largely based on reserves. The amount of oil in reserve is based on reports from major suppliers--Saudi Arabia being the largest. These reports are easily manipulated, and frankly, Saudi Arabia holds the keys to the kingdom when it comes to temporary fluctuations in the price of a barrel of crude. It just so happens that the Bush family is extremely good friends with Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia. In fact, there is historical precedent to assume that today's gas prices are the result of manipulations intended to influence the upcoming election. I don't have to go very far back to show the history here. I only have to go back to the last election in 2004. CNN reported, based on a Bob Woodward finding, that Prince Bandar agreed to temporarily increase production, which would increase the reserve and thus lower the price of oil--all for the purpose of getting President Bush re-elected. If you look at the chart, you'll see a fairly sharp dip in November of 2004. How fortuitous for the Republicans! Also, how fortuitous for the gas companies, since Republican policies allowed them to make record profits in January of 2005. After the 2004 election, the price jumped right back up and continued skyrocketing We see a similiar trend now. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what is going on.

Progressive Plans on Iraq

We DO need a plan to get out of Iraq. The majority of American people want us out of Iraq. The majority of Iraqi people want us out of Iraq. Yet, neither of our "representative" governments are in favor of getting us out of Iraq any time soon. Why is that? Because our current adminstration doesn't have a plan. Reflexively, I've oft heard it said that "the left has no plan" regarding how to handle the situation in Iraq. News soundbytes and bloggers who purport themselves to be in the know have parrotted the Right-Wing theory that The Left just wants to "cut and run". But how intelligent is this argument? It assumes that the Democrats have no exit plan, and that President Bush does. In fact, President Bush hasn't made it all that clear of what our objectives are. All I've heard is "When Iraq Stands up, We'll Stand Down." Well that's nifty, but what does it mean? What is the timetable? What are the steps we are taking to get them to stand up? What are the incentives? Answer: "They don't know." And the coup de grace: the Left has offered several plans. Earlier this year, one of them got a fairly united backing from the Democratic party. News of this can be found here and it is called "Strategic Redeployment" and seems to be a well-reasoned plan that takes many factors into consideration. Another--possibly even better--idea is to divide Iraq into three regions that would more accurately reflect the three distinct national cultures that Iraq has. Give each region the ability to govern itself according to its culture, and give the central government the reigns on the few areas of common interest. This plan makes a whole hell of a lot of sense. And it comes to us from Joe Biden ... a Democrat. The news media and the Bush-Koolaid-Drinkers have puppeted out the "cut and run" term so many times, that it has led many gullible Americans to believe that the Left has no plan. The fact is, we do. Bush is the one who has no plan. So when it comes to the word "plan" I can come to only one conclusion Inigo Montoya did: "I don't think that word means what you think it means."

R ... The New Scarlet Letter

Would you trust your child with this man? In the dark of night, you turn your kitchen light on, and you see dozens of slimy little creatures run for the safety of darkness. Those aren't Cockroaches, they're Republicans! Senator Hastert, who winkingly approved of Sen. Foley's pedophilia, is finding people "accidentally" cancelling fundraisers for him. Some politcal ads for Republican Senators and Representatives are "accidentally" leaving out which party they are in. The party whose election slogan in 2000 was ... what was it? Compassion and decency? No, wait ... Morals and decency? Aw shucks, I've forgotten what their slogan was now. But these days Republicans were wishing it were something that held them to a slightly lower standard. Meanwhile, Bob Woodward has written a book that says that things in Iraq are much worse than the Bush Administration has been letting on. It's already in its 3rd printing and selling like hotcakes. And lastly, our President has slashed away at another American value called Habeas Corpus. Apparently, the situation in the world is so bad that people whom the President suspects are guilty, no longer have to be proven guilty. Oh wait ... it's been that way ever since he suspected Saddam was an Al Qaida kingpin with his finger poised over a button to launch WMDs against us. Well, those American values are out-of-date anyway. They were thought up in the 1700s and we live in a different time! 9/11! 9/11! Godspeed a Progressive majority.