Free Republic

"Nobody's really free until nerd persecution ends."

Does a hybrid have a lower insurance cost because it’s a small economy car(like any economy car) or is it more than that because it’s a hybrid? If it’s because it’s a hybrid, why?

Other question I always wondered about. What do they do with the batteries once they’re completely spent? (after that 6 to 10 year life) I’ve always been told that a battery in a dump is one of the worst forms of environmental pollution. Now they want us all to drive one? Something seems counterproductive there.

I find Donna refreshing after the smitten unrequitted love angles from the previous two companions. She’s there to be “fun”, and I think her character works more often than not. This last Agatha Christie episode was a great ride!

And they actually went through with the Americanization of Life on Mars? Ouch. I have a bad feeling about this. The british version was AWESOME, and I heartily recommend it, especially if you have a love of cliche cop shows which it cleverly parodies. The sci-fi angle is just the cherry on the top.

Isn’t it this exact type of irresponsible rhetoric that sends the futures market into a steep climb for fear that government will actually carry through with the threat?

"Next week, the House will also act on legislation that will extend and expand tax incentives to invest in renewable energy and create the green jobs of the future, as well as revised NOPEC legislation to crack down on OPEC-controlled entities and oil companies for oil price fixing.”

Where is a genuine reporter to ask how any of that's going to lower the price of gas NOW especially since they've been "cracking down" on oil companies for as long as I can remember only to find absolutely nothing. Someone needs to push a time line any time one of these idiots like Pelosi talks this "green markets" and renewable energies nonsense, because John Q. Public is pretty blind to the fact that these are decades off at the earliest, if at all. She's talking decades to centuries in the future to people who are expecting her to be talking about the present. Of course, she probably doesn't even understand that. Frustrating.

I think I can understand this futures market thing now. Maybe the price of oil went up because there was a future market for oil at this set price we see now for fear that the liberals would be doing the kind of anti-energy crap they are now or possibly much worse. "The liberals are going to be in power? Crap, that means more regulation and energy's going to be even more expensive to obtain for my company, better hedge my bets now."

Ok, there has to be a story behind that photo. I have to ask, is that stupid idiotic moron pointing that gun at the cop? And is that cop that effin retarded to not stop him and tell him that you NEVER joke around like that! You treat a gun like it’s loaded and that it can go off at ANY time. Sheesh....

Obama said McCain "not only wants to continue some of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, he actually wants to extend them, and he hasn't told us really how he's going to pay for them."

What the HELL does that even mean? Did he just say the government's going broke?

Reducing energy use by U.S. manufacturers will have a braking effect on jobs and income.

And there's the dirty little secret that all politicians(R and especially D) go to great lengths to avoid saying.

Declining dollar is one of the lesser factors involved. Even removing the weak dollar, oil went from $9 to $70/barrel in less than a decade. The biggest factors are huge increase in demand in China/India, burdensome regulations, and no drilling allowed in the US.

Like I said, those are all factors. I think addressing any of them would definitely help, but I don't think all of what you mention together is going to fix the problem. I just can't discount the comodities futures especially because of the insane amount of money invested into *that* futures market during that same time frame. There's an artificial bubble here that can't sustain itself, and it needs to pop.

All this talk of domestic drilling is slight of hand to misdirect our attention at what is truly causing the price of energy to skyrocket, the systematic dismantling of the value of our $$$$dollar, and rabid speculation on the commodities exchanges.

That's pretty much the point of another article posted here. Although everything that's been mentioned so far in this thread(no more drilling, too many blends, regulations, etc) is a factor, imo; it's the declining dollar and more importantly the rabid speculation of commodities that are the big two factors.

From the other article:

"As for the speculators, in 2000 approximately $9 billion was invested in oil futures, while today that number has gone up to $250 billion. Now, if any publicly traded company had an additional $241 billion put into its stock in the same period, its stock would rise out of sight too—even if the company was not worth anywhere near that amount of market capitalization."

I ask again like I asked in that other thread. What's going to be the catalyst to get this futures market bubble to burst? It's long overdue.

HA! Russia has better ratings than we do? HA! Makes the author’s point completely. How are you supposed to take an ignorant point of view seriously?

What’s the solution? Do we have to wait for the speculation bubble to burst on its own? What’s going to be the catalyst for that to happen?

It has to correct itself eventually, and I’d prefer it did so without Washington getting involved. But reading an article like this, it sounds like the burst in the futures market is long overdue.

Once a pastor/reverend/rabbi starts talking politics from the pulpit, he loses said title. Nowhere in any of this political talk(and that’s exactly what it is, it is NOT a sermon) have I read anything remotely Christian. Where’s the golden rule, “love thy neighbor”, or H-E-double-hockeysticks, civil language?

That particular episode just didn’t do it for me, but I really don’t have well thought out explanation, other than I generally prefer Kyle, Stan, Cartman, and company to play a bigger part in the episodes (although I loved the one where Butters parents tried to kill him), and I thought the novelty of the talking vagina wore thin after a bit.

If you listen to the commentary by Matt and Trey for that episode, you'll find out they didn't much like it either. They described it as "putting a hat on a hat." Putting that hat on is funny (Towelie), but putting another hat on it(Mingy) is just too much.

To the extent that we have any social and legal problems from unchecked illegal immigration, it has nothing to do with the cynicism and corruption of the Mexican government that deliberately exports, exploits and profits off its own people. The problem is not the fondness for low-paid, off-the-books illegal labor among the upper-middle classes, nor the disdain for the law of illegal immigrants themselves, who crowd to the front of the immigration line. Instead, America’s xenophobia, blame-casting and insensitive government have made it needlessly rough on 11 million arrivals who otherwise did us a favor by coming.

Yeowzer, talk about nailing it. Short, concise, and completely on point eloquence in satire. I really wish a *leader* would step forward and put forth the same sentiment and put the blame where it really belongs.

Gosh—I always thought that picture was photoshopped.

I always thought it was a joke pose done by McCain himself just to be funny and lighten the mood. So I never really thought much of the picture.

The truth is far worse.

If it weren’t for PC, this war would have ended years and thousands of lives ago..........

Bump for truth.

McCain is another Dole.

Oh, how I wish that were true as it'd be much easier to tolerate the loss then.

Sen. McCain Teamed Up With Sen. Ted Kennedy

Is it really necessary to read any further?

The “so-called war on terror.” Tells us all we need to know about this hack jihadist supporter.

I don't know where the writer was going with this article, and now I don't care. I stopped reading at that exact point.