If oil STAYS ABOVE $130-140 a barrel.

Offshore drilling is one of the most expensive forms of drilling. The reason the ban was allowed to happen at all was because the oil industry back in the 80s and 90s knew that at those prices they could hot profitably extract oil from costal waters. The ban was meaningless to them so they put up little to no resistance.

Now with oil hanging out at $140 a barrel it may now be profitable to do offshore drilling. But again, only if the price STAYS that high.

Offshore drilling will NEVER bring down the price of oil. Psychological effects or not.

The American public can be remarkably stupid at times. Of course it doesn’t help when the MSM reports the ‘controversy’ of drilling (McCain says this, Obama says this) rather than reporting the FACTS of offshore drilling (no competent authority, even in the oil industry, believes allowing offshore drilling will decrease prices).

Oh well, I’ll most likely be dead before the really nasty climate change and peak oil stuff hits anyway.

Once again, its not just about getting Obama elected. It’s about getting Democrats elected to as many positions as possible.

Think about what the Christian Right did in the 70s and 80s. They spent time and energy in lots of states, building up candidates from school boards to city councils to mayors to state legislatures to congress then to the Presidency. It took time, it took patience but they got what they wanted.

Democrats (and progressives within the party) need to start thinking the same way. They probably won’t win Georgia this time around, but maybe they pick up a house seat or two. Get some people unto city councils and into the state legislature. Experienced candidates who can run again for higher office down the road. They also build up some organization, donor lists, volunteers. Come the 2010 midterms that can be built on. Come 2012, it can be built on again.

It requires patience. It requires the ability to see the future. And it requires getting away from the beltway Democrats who are content with their base while letting the Republicans keep their base and only fighting at the periphery.

I am pissed about the FISA vote. Reid and Pelosi deserve most of the blame as they’ve had multiple opportunities to kill this thing or at least push it out to after Jan 09 when a solid majority and Dem President could pass a superior bill and THEY decided to push it through now (they may have voted against it, but they could have stopped it if they truly felt it was a bad bill).

Obama let a lot of people down yesterday.

But we can still work to try and get better Dems into office. The Christian Right did not spring into being over night; they spent decades working at the local levels to get candidates they liked into power. They were patient.

We’re going to have to be patient too. And yes, it sucks, especially after a day like yesterday. But that means we have to knuckle down harder to get true progressives into office.

China is getting more and more of its oil from Iran. An attack on Iran would be an attack on China’s strategic interests.

How much US debt does China control?

I saw it the first time when I was ten and was enthralled. Granted a lot of it went over my head, but the music and visuals combined with Sagan’s amazing voice and story telling ability kept me hooked. I make it a point to re-watch the DVDs every couple of years.

Overall, a VERY good list. I love the Iron Giant. In my opinion the BEST movie of 1999. The marketing peopel and at Warner Bros never knew what they had and the movie got lost during its theatrical run. I'm thrilled so many people are finding this movie, great for kids and adults.

A few months ago. Their 'Young Scientist" special. If you want to see more jump on over to their website and look it up. Its actually pretty fun.

One of the underreported exchanges of Bernake’s testimony yesterday was when he worried that American’s might start demanding higher wages that kept up with inflation, which in turn would raise costs for business forcing them to raise prices thus increasing inflation and more demands from workers for money to buy silly things like food thus increasing costs etc etc.

It was a repeat of the argument made in the 1970s stagflation debate that the COLAs (Cost of Living Adjustments) were a key driving force behind inflation.

It was interesting listening to a government official sit there and tell congress that not allowing the average American’s wages to keep up with inflation was a GOOD thing.

KIVA's problems are small. Add to that the fact that they are helping to enrich 'the little guy' instead of a few Wall Street bankers and I'd much rather stick an extra $25 or $50 there, where it does some real good, than in a bank account that doesn't even keep up with inflation.

Go KIVA.

I’ve been wondering when Obama would start up with heavy advertising.

This strikes me as a smart move. A major national forum to re-introduce himself to America. My guess is the campaign will put up a lot of biographical ads. But I hope he puts up a couple of issue oriented ads as well, some economic stuff. He needs to start dispelling the notion that he has no substance. Even a cursory viewing of his website will show a depth of policy proposals and plans.

It will be interesting to see if McCain tries to counter.