Oil! Hoo-ah! What is it good for?

Conditions: Hot. damn hot. Real hot.


I had to laugh last night while watching Fox News. Don't panic, I only watch it to laugh and get angry. And last night it was about the laughs. With the Democrats taking over the house and the senate, Fox News has appointed itself the 'What went wrong?' channel, and every story, every interview is focused on how the people just don't get it, the war is complicated, and most importantly; the democrats are evil and everything is going to go to hell.


The main topic is of course Iraq, and the fear now is that the Democrats are going to cut and run. This is a technical term for getting troops out of Iraq. It's used to incite disdain for the cowardly democrats who don't have the cojones to fight a war (amusing if you follow American history, which I try not to.) The fun of it is that before the elections the republicans were openly talking about withdrawing troops from Iraq. The difference (according to them) is that while the republicans wanted a gradual, phased withdrawal, the democrats will instead support a policy known as 'Retreat!!' where everyone not Iraqi drops what they're doing and run for the departing helicopters.


This is of course nonsense, disproved by the latest versions of Time and Newsweek magazine, where articles are drawn up explaining what the (democratic) plans would likely be - a phased withdrawal. But the truth matters not to Fox News, only spin. And now that the American people were misguided enough to traitorously vote in the eeevil democrats, the people must be chided. And of course the new democrats must be taken down a peg or twelve as fast as possible.


Anyway, on one of the multi-person 'debates' they had last night the subject turned to, of course, oil. And how important it is to America, and how big a political deal it is. And one of the pundits turns to the camera and says, in all seriousness: "We need to stop buying oil from countries that hate us."


Oh how I laughed. Laughed till my sides hurt. Laughed till I saw red. Laughed and laughed. Only buy oil from countries that like America? So, what, restrict purchases only to Alaska and certain parts of the future Antartic drilling fields? I guess everyone in America will be walking to work by, oh, next Tuesday. Seriously, how deluded are these people? Do they seriously think the nations of the Middle East and Europe have a high regard for America? That they secretly think those guys are aces? Do they not see the images on the television screens, or read the words in the newspapers? How deluded, how sheltered would a person have to be to say something like that, especially a newscaster? Look, if the goal was to ensure of a steady supply of oil by sucking up to the countries that have it, then holy crap have the Bush Administration screwed the pooch. That ship hath sailed. The only way America can influence the oil providers now is through incentives and intimidation. Which is what they do best.



Death toll.

Why aren't people more angry about the death toll in Iraq? A recent Lancet Journal (respected British medical journal) study estimated around 655,000 Iraqis have died since the war. Since the war was unjustified, unauthorised, and ultimately a failure, you'd think people would be upset that Six Hundred and Fifty Five Thousand Iraqis have died for those mistakes. No one seems to talk about it, it's not on the news channels, nor the papers, and no one's dropped 655,000 Iraqi flags on the whitehouse lawn (yes, Dick Cheney would likely shoot them, but that's not the point). Yes, around 3000 Americans have died, and that's sad, but they shouldn't have been there in the first place, and they did sign up to fight. What did the Iraqis do? I dunno, maybe there's something to this idea that people are all raged out. I'm feeling a little tired myself.



Peace out.