The NY Times’ Frank Rich wants Al Gore to run for president:
Even so, let’s hope Mr. Gore runs. He may not be able to pull off the Nixon-style comeback of some bloggers’ fantasies, but by pounding away on his best issues, he could at the very least play the role of an Adlai Stevenson or Wendell Willkie, patriotically goading the national debate onto higher ground.
After you see An Inconvenient Truth, you’ll likely want Gore to run too.
I haven’t seen his computer compilation of convenient “facts”, I won’t see his computer compilation of convenient “facts”, but HOT DAMN! I do want to see that boy run.. Run Bore, Run!!
As I mentioned in a previous thread, ANY mainstream politician who takes a principled stand on global warming is going to get severely attacked (as we saw in Proud’s smear campaign, which dovetails with striking similarity to the fossil fuel industry’s ongoing attack against him).
Ross Gelbspan has suggested that a big reason Gore did not assume the presidency in 2000 is because West Virginia went Republican for the first time in ages. Why? Because the Bush campaign — in alliance with the fossil fuel lobby — did a good job of scaring coal miners about Gore’s global warming views.
What Gore is doing today is the moral equivalent of RFK’s crusade against black poverty and the Vietnam War. I think that many have been electrified by Gore’s film precisely because it is so rare today to see a politician take such a strong moral stand on such a deeply controversial issue.
I don’t think this is a ploy by Gore to run for president in 2008. No sane political strategist would have dared recommend such a risky strategy.
In the absence of a sea-change in American politics, I don’t think he can win. However, he sure can force a change in the tone and focus of the debate.
God knows Hillary won’t do it.
If global warming were real, it would be in the Bible.
From Yes magazine:
Sweden has announced plans to be the first oil-free country in the world by 2020. Plans for for renewables — including biofuels, wind, and wave power — to replace fossil fuels. The country already committed itself to phasing out nuclear energy.
“A Sweden free of fossil fuels would give us enormous advantages, not least by reducing the impact from fluctuations in oil prices,” says development minister Monika Sahlin.
Scientists, industry leaders, farmers, and others will develop a detailed plan for presentation to Sweden’s parliament in October.
Sweden already gets 26 percent of its energy from renewable resources, while the European Union average is just 6 percent.
“We want to be both mentally and technically prepared for a world without oil,” The Guardian quoted a government official as saying. “The plan is a response to climate change, rising petroleum prices, and warnings by some experts that the world may soon be running out of oil.”
Many Swedish homes are heated by wood-fired boilers, geo-thermal energy, or waste heat. Sweden is encouraging its citizens to drive non-gas-powered vehicles by offering exemptions from tolls and parking fees. Tax breaks now make ethanol-based fuel one-third as expensive as ordinary gasoline.
— by Rik Landendoen
Yes magazine is published here in western Washington. It’s summer 2006 issue discusses how the U.S. could transcend the oil-based economy.
Green Thumb up your Ass–
Move to Sweden!!!
Sounds like a Greenies Utopia!
What is their immigration policy?
How much do they spend on defense?
What are their tax rates??? 80%???
How is a poor bastard like YOU going to afford to live there?
Are you proosing the US become Sweden??
Here are the LOCAL tax rates–
Highest and lowest local tax rates 2005
Municipality
Total local tax rate, %
Dals-Ed 34.04
Ragunda 33.72
Sollefteå 33.69
Härnösand 33.64
Smedjebacken 33.59
Mora 33.57
Borlänge 33.55
Säter 33.45
Kramfors 33.44
Vansbro 33.43
.
.
.
Höganäs 30.12
Laholm 30.00
Staffanstorp 29.88
Solna 29.85
Halmstad 29.75
Lomma 29.63
Vellinge 29.62
Ängelholm 29.43
Örkelljunga 29.15
Kävlinge 28.90
The OECD collects data on 30 member countries and annually calculates what it calls the tax “wedge” for each — the combined effects of personal income tax, employee and employer social security contributions, payroll taxes and cash benefits.
These are the % (first # is % for SINGLE people…second % is the % for married with 2 kids)
Australia 28.3% 16.0% Korea 17.3% 16.2%
Austria 47.4% 35.5% Luxembourg 35.3% 12.2%
Belgium 55.4% 40.3% Mexico 18.2% 18.2%
Canada 31.6% 21.5% Netherlands 38.6% 29.1%
Czech Republic 43.8% 27.1% New Zealand 20.5% 14.5%
Denmark 41.4% 29.6% Norway 37.3% 29.6%
Finland 44.6% 38.4% Poland 43.6% 42.1%
France 50.1% 41.7% Portugal 36.2% 26.6%
Germany 51.8% 35.7% Slovak Republic 38.3% 23.2%
Greece 38.8% 39.2% Spain 39.0% 33.4%
Hungary 50.5% 39.9% Sweden 47.9% 42.4%
Iceland 29.0% 11.0% Switzerland 29.5% 18.6%
Ireland 25.7% 8.1% Turkey 42.7% 42.7%
Italy 45.4% 35.2% United Kingdom 33.5% 27.1%
Japan 27.7% 24.9% United States 29.1% 11.9%
Your comments are very interesting, Mr. Cynical. First of all, what’s this fixation you have with your ass?
Second, why are you linking taxation rates with global warming policies? It’s not like they are promising that wine come out of the water faucets.
Third, what’s with the charge of “fucking hypocrite”? Where is there a gap between my words and actions? Or do you think before you write?
Fourth, and finally, I haven’t actually advocated anything. I showed folks some information about how another country is approaching global warming policies. If you were interested, my rationale was to point out that there are other ways of thinking about energy policy.
Alas, you aren’t interested in a real discussion. When the discussion doesn’t go your way, you start shouting, kicking over tables, and throwing around bottles. Must be nice to have around the house.
Uncle Cyn, can I sleep over again tonight?
Hey, cynical. How does our Gini Coefficient stack up?
Goldy –
If we raise the sales tax from 8.8% in 2006 to 9.5% in 2007, does that mean that state and local government will be taking a smaller percentage of personal income in 2007, than it did in 2006?
And by what percentage does the sales tax rate have to increase each year to keep up with inflation?
And by what percentage to keep up with the Democrat demand for spending?
Richard, have you looked at who’s actually spending in Washington? Why should we trust the trillion dollar deficit people to handle our money?
Do you guys know who’s spending our money? Aer these people even elected? Do we even need government?
Pope is there a reason you give your daddy GW Bush a free pass for raising spending 42% since taking office but want to cry about a small raise in our local transportation taxes? Don’t you see that you have immediately marked yourself as a hypocrite in addition to a person who plays a lawyer on TV? And thanks for reminding us that Baby Bush took a surplus and managed to turn it into a deficit. Man that really is quite an accomplishment. You fucks should be proud of your Pretender & Thief.
Regretfully Mr Cyanide and Mr Poop have not recovered their election contest loss! Now theis lives are wasted trying to smear anything that a liberal says. Keep working hard, our own ‘brokeback’ GOP trolls
Regretfully Mr Cyanide and Mr Poop have not recovered their election contest loss! Now theis lives are wasted trying to smear anything that a liberal says. Keep working hard, our own ‘brokeback’ GOP trolls
Mr C. has long had many repressed sexual problems. Bet his wife does NOT read his posts.
Not aging well in his hetero marriage. He should negoiate a good money settlement with wife and go for it while he can.
Palm Springs has a good geriatric game for the older set.
Give it try, C. Assfixateddrunkard, report back. Might cahnge you into a mainstreaming R.
For Green Thumb, every single climate scientist that has stepped forward to question global warming alarmism is a paid stooge of big oil. And every commenter on this board who disagrees with his views is a paid troll. Any attempt to present an article with an opposing view is simply dismissed. So much for an honest debate.
Richard… hypothetically, if the sales tax rate remained constant between 1950 and 2000, but during those years the sale of services (exempt from the tax) went from only 10 percent of our local economy to 60 percent of our economy, while the percentage of goods sold via mail or internet (and thus tax exempt) went from 3 percent of all goods purchased to over 10 percent of all goods purchased… would our sales tax be sufficient to maintain government services at the level required to support our economic growth?
That should be a simple enough example to understand the structural insufficiency of relying so heavily on a sales tax, but if it isn’t GO READ THE FUCKING GATES REPORT before wasting anymore of my time with your uninformed bullshit. There’s charts and graphs and science in there. Really.
(And nobody please pick apart my numbers. This was a hypothetical. It’s too early in the morning to dig up the actual numbers.)
goldy, ok, you oppose regressive taxation.
I got one for you, how come I pay a lot more in taxes, just because the neighborhood is building/remodeling like crazy (prop taxes soaring).
a. I cannot eat/enjoy the increase in my own valuation, kids maybe when i die can sell the place
b. meanwhile i pay a ton more in taxes
c. and i subsidize you and your brethern
d. in fact, why isn’t our overall taxation just per capita? I don’t consume any more 02 or services than you do.
18
What a load of hypocrisy, SeMo. Last you did what you accuse Green Thumb of doing concerning bio-mass ethanol, a subject that you certainly know (or knew) little about.
You’ve got a list of talking points, and if you are confronted with an unusual response, you drop back to your pre-scripted responses.
20 (a)
Of course you can, you can sell.
You’ve heard of it, buy low sell high. Take your big bucks from Bellevue or wherever and buy in the next growing market.
harry, i know, but i don’t wanna sell….
so, i’m a loyal, good member of the “village”…but communists want me to move out
you all should subsidize those of us who are sober, intelligent, quiet, by freezing our property taxes.
Of course, I got caught up in liberal speak…. my quesiton is why should my expenses soar, while i’m not out buying flat screen tvs or anything else. Somehow i’m pouring money into the coffers of the schools and state, and paying a LOT more than i used to, and also more than others.
tax us all 1k a year or whatever and be done w/ it.
Rightoff you get to pay taxes for things you support and things you don’t just like the rest of us. My taxes go up so I can pay for prisons and courts that enforce laws I don’t agree with – so that I can subsidize churches who preach things I think are bullshit. If you want lower taxes, call on your GOP buddies to stop making victimless crimes an enforcement priority. Stop allowing the state to give your church a free pass when it comes to taxes. And then ask your federal government, controlled by your GOP pals, to stop issuing unfunded mandates that require the states to generate more income to cover the cost of federal bullshit.
Since liberal Democrats think sales taxes are such a good idea, and the city of Seattle has the highest concentration of liberal Democrats, why not limit the sales tax increase to Seattle?
Consider the following:
1. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is the most expensive highway project and needs about $2 billion or so more for a tunnel. It is located entirely within Seattle.
2. The Sound Transit extension to Northgate would be located entirely within Seattle. Most of the proposed downtown to Sea-Tac current route is also in Seattle.
3. Seattle should pay 1/2 the cost of a new Evergreen Point bridge, since one end is in Seattle.
4. The Seattle Sonics want to have an improved taxpayer subsidized stadium in Seattle.
5. Seattle voters would like a monorail in Seattle, if they can pay for it.
6. The Mariners stadium in Seattle is currently supported with King County-wide taxes, including 0.5% on restaurants, etc. They could be replaced with a Seattle-only sales tax.
7. The Seahawks stadium in Seattle is currently supported with state-wide taxes. They could be replaced with a Seattle-only sales tax.
Maybe a nice healthy Seattle-only sales tax increase of 2.0% to 3.0% is just what the doctor ordered to properly satisfy the “demand for public services” and stimulate the economy in Seattle.
Since liberal Democrats think sales taxes are such a good idea….
This is demonstrably false, Dickie.
Richard –
At my last count – done in 2004 – there were 14 or 15 state and local sales and use taxes that coould be imposed. King county and the state of Seattle are precluded from imposing 4 of them due to county size or rate restrictions. (I could supply RCW citations if you’re too lazy to check chapter 82 of the Revised Code of Washington.)
Most of the projects you mention above do not fall within the juristicion of the general sales or propety tax stautes of either RCW 82 or RCW 84.
In the alterative, look to to the exclusions, exceptions, and exemptions in the statutes that have been pushed through the legislature by special interests for lack of revenue. (Hint: the Department of Revenue has a publication that lists the revenue loss and the number exemptions. Some think that their numbers are conservative because their figures are based on estimates.)
Since GW Bush and the GOP think taxes to support the war for oil are such a good idea, why don’t we have a war tax? Every time a right winger goes to church, buys a gun or purchases an American (or Confederate) flag or lapel pin, they can pay a tax to support Bush’s war? Then the VAST MAJORITY of Americans who think Iraq is a HUGE FUCKING MISTAKE won’t have to pay for Bush’s blunder? How’s that Pope?
And while we’re at it, let’s stop sending tax money from Seattle to Yakima and Spokane. Let the righties fund their own jails.
“Progressive” means one person pays more than his neighbor for the same government services????
That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it!???
Not really.
The cost of government services should be shared be all users based on usage.
The cost of Government services and their funding has absolutely nothing to do with someones income.
Please explain how it does??????
Robin Hood died century’s ago…..in fact, he is a figment of your vivid imagination.
Anyone who does not pay their fair share for the services they receive and consume is RECEIVING WELFARE!!!!!!!!!!
Put all the lipstick you want on the “freeloader” pig……but it’s still a pig that merely redistributes wealth and creates a welfare mentality where folks want somethin’ fer nothin’!!
GIMMEE A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sims was born in Spokane, Washington. He graduated from Lewis and Clark High School and attended Central Washington University in Ellensburg, where he earned a B.A. in “psychology”.
SIMS has an undergraduate degree from CENTRAL WASHINGTON IN friggin’ PSYCHOLOGY!!!!!!!!
Show me where in his vast resume, Sims has become an expert in GLOBAL WARMING???
How much HARD SCIENCE did Ron take to get his CWU PSYCHOLOGY degree??!!!
You KLOWNS remind me of what Andy Griffith used to say to Barney Fife………”you beat everything, you know that!!”
Good idea lefty – just as long as you moonies are the only ones that pay for your causes –
YOU PAY TO SUBSIDIZE ABORTION
YOU PAY TO SUBSIDIZE WELFARE
YOU PAY FOR PRISONERS TO RE-GENDER THEMSELVES AND BACK
YOU PAY FOR YOUR MONORAIL INSANITY
YOU PAY SOUND TRANSIT FOR THOSE *NOT* RIDING THE BUS
YOU PAY FOR ETHANOL AND WINDFARMS AND ECOBULLSHIT
YOU PAY FOR TEACHING KIDS TO USE CONDOMS INSTEAD OF COMMON SENSE
YOU PAY FOR AIDS
YOU PAY FOR PHONY DEAD BABY STEMCELL RESEARCH
YOU PAY FOR PISS ON A CROSS PARADING AS ART
YOU PAY FOR PHONY “PUBLIC” TV AND RADIO
YOU PAY TO GIVE ADDICTS THEIR NEEDLES AND DRUNKS AN APARTMENT TO TRASH
YOU PAY FOR THE MORONIC DECISIONS OF MORONIC DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS – LIKE USELESS COMPUTER SYSTEMS
HOWCAN—
The GOOD NEWS is that the Cascadian Fault Line will likely cut loose with a 9.0 Earthquake and Tsunami and kill all of you KLOWNS before Global Warming does!
The last Cascadian Fault Line major Earthquake was January 26, 1700. The resulting Tsunami is clearly documented in Japanese and Native American History and has been absolutely confirmed with carbon dating. Carbon dating near the Hoh River has also confirmed the Cascadian Fault Line cuts loose every 300-500 years…..most closer to 300 than 500 years! The record goes back many Millenium. We are now at 306 years.
I think you are focusing on the wrong imminent threat. But if it keeps y’all busy & happy, I’m all for it!!!
Good thing you have the great Scientists Albert Einstein Gore and Ron “Central Washington Psychology Degree” Sims lookin’ out for you!!
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000771.php
Looks like MORE rethugs going to jail Man that place will be full of GOP sweathogs trying to find the biggest dick they can suck so they get protection from general population. Probably makes Ms. Cynical jealous.
HEY LeftTurd….did this KLOWN help Global Warming???
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Judge pays off debt for cutting park trees
Money funds full-time gardener, native plantings
By JENNIFER LANGSTON
P-I REPORTER
Nearly four years after more than 120 cherry and maple trees were cut down in Colman Park to create a better lake view, a federal judge has fully paid off his debt to the city.
Senior Judge Jerome Farris of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has paid a total of $618,000, city officials said Friday.
It’s the result of a settlement reached in 2003, in which the judge agreed to pay $500,000 plus 12 percent interest.
Here is his BIOGRAPHY:
Farris, Joseph Jerome
Born 1930 in Birmingham, AL
Federal Judicial Service:
U. S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on July 12, 1979, to a new seat created by 92 Stat. 1629; Confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 1979, and received commission on September 27, 1979. Assumed senior status on March 4, 1995.
Education:
Morehouse College, B.S., 1951
Atlanta University, M.S.W., 1955
University of Washington, J.D., 1958
Professional Career:
Private practice, Seattle, Washington, 1958-1969
Judge, Court of Appeals, State of Washington, 1969-1979
Race or Ethnicity: African American
Gender: Male
The big difference between George Washington and Jerome Farris is that Farris LIED about cutting down the cherry tree!!!
In fact, Farris cut down the whole damn forest!!!
Alberto Goridiot for President. Ummm, ummm good cracka!
Ms Cynical I should think you’d be happy about Justice Farris’ mistake. Don’t you right wing nutjobs like cutting down trees for the heck of it?
Yet ANOTHER GOP crook is getting a look!
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/014959.html
Don’t you right wing nutjobs like cutting down trees for the heck of it?
Commentby LeftTurn— 5/28/06@ 4:35 pm
Let’s see LeftTurd has THE BALLS to answer these questions.
1.) Do you have wooden furniture?
2.) Do you own a wooden frame house?
3.) Do you have wooden planters for flowers?
4.) Do you have a wooden deck?
5.) Do you wooden sound speakers?
6.) Are you house doors wood?
7.) Are any outdoor tools made of wood?
If you answer yes to any of them you better slit your throat!
Gore, Her Highness and Dean… Republican Dream Team.
Let’s hope NYT and Frank Rich get their dream.
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
8 more years…
Let me answer Pubbybutt’s question for him. . . but I’ll turn it around a bit.
1.) Do you have wooden furniture?
Puddybutt doesn’t have any wooden furniture. As a resident of the state prison’s sex offender unit, he’s only allowed metal furnishings
2.) Do you own a wooden frame house?
When not in prison, Puddybutt lives in a trailer park in an old metal trailer.
3.) Do you have wooden planters for flowers?
Puddybutt can’t have flowers because of the stink and stench that comes from his wife’s pussy killing every living thing for miles.
4.) Do you have a wooden deck?
Puddbybutt had a wooden deck but his hillbilly father in law chopped it up for firewood to heat the trailer.
5.) Do you wooden sound speakers?
Wooden sound speakers? Wouldn’t that be hard to accomplish?
6.) Are you house doors wood?
Puddybutt’s cell door is made of metal.
7.) Are any outdoor tools made of wood?
Puddbybutt isn’t allowed tools until he gets out of prison.
LeftTurd—
I think Puddy has you on the wood thing.
After all, your noggin is obviously made of wood.
Puddy-
I think LeftTurd is actually made outta wood like Pinocchio!!
LeftTurd tells so many “whoppers”, I’m sure his schnoz is sore from bangin’ on the computer screen when it grows.
One day, Pinocchio LeftTurd and his girlfriend were in bed doing what girls and wooden boys do. Later, as they were cuddling, Pinocchio LeftTurd could tell that something was bothering his girlfriend. So he asked her, “What’s the matter, baby?”
Pinocchio LeftTurd’s girlfriend gave a big sigh and replied, “You’re probably the best guy I’ve ever met, but every time we make love, you give me splinters.”
This remark bothered Pinocchio LeftTurd a great deal, so the next day he went to seek some advice form his creator, Gepetto. When Pinocchio LeftTurd arrived, Gepetto could tell something was bothering Pinocchio LeftTurd, and asked him what was the matter. As Pinocchio LeftTurd revealed his dilemma, Gepetto searched up and down for a solution. Eventually, he suggested that sandpaper might be able to “smooth” out Pinocchio LeftTurd’s relationship with his girlfriend.
Pinocchio LeftTurd graciously thanked Gepetto and went on his way.
Gepetto had not heard from Pinocchio LeftTurd for a while and therefore assumed that the sandpaper had solved all of Pinocchio LeftTurd’s problems.
A couple weeks later, Gepetto was in town to have some blades sharpened at the hardware store when he ran into Pinocchio LeftTurd. When he saw Pinocchio LeftTurd buying all the packs of sandpaper the store had in stock, Gepetto remarked, “So Pinocchio LeftTurd, things must be going pretty damn good with the girls.”
To which Pinocchio LeftTurd replied, “GIRLS? WHO NEED GIRLS???”
But Al Gore is part of BIG OIL! He owns several hundred thousand dollars of Occidental stock! Might even be worth a million by now. Doesn’t that pretty much disqualify him from running as a Democrat?? (explain for the rest of us why this hasn’t disQ’d him from being a major Dem player, pls. There’s some kind of disconnect going on there, isn’t there?)
Properly grown, wood is a renewable resource which can meet our needs while maintaining open space. Somewhat complicated, so if you wingnuts don’t get it, I understand.
No K, you missed the point. Look at LeftTurd Post#37. We Republicans know wood is renewable. LeftTurd obviously does not from his stupid inane comment!
Hey you right wing cowards, how’s do you like all the infighting that’s going on within your own party? Me personally, I think it’s a beautiful thing. More fun than HBO. Read the latest…
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ert29.html
HE HE!
As the Pretender And Thief pays homage at the Tomb of the Unknowns today, I wonder, is he thinking…
“Wow, good thing my daddy got me into the National Guard during Nam so this doesn’t have to be me. And Hell, if he hadn’t been a Congressman, I might not have been able to jump ahead of 130,000 other guys who weren’t so lucky. And if my daddy hadn’t been a Congressman, I couldn’t have gotten away with being a drunk all the time and going AWOL. And if I weren’t a rich white guy, my two poor girls might have to go fight in this Iraq war. Good thing my “support” of the troops doesn’t actually mean sending my own family to do my dirty work. I’ll rely on poor Latino, Black and southern rednecks to do the fighting for me. And wow, if people only knew what a hypocrite I am for starting one of the biggest military campaigns in US history, even though I won’t fight, my family won’t fight, my friends won’t fight and I was an AWOL drunk chickenhawk in college!”
LeftTurd–
Who will you focus all your anger on when Bush is out of office??? Only about 2-1/2 years before you will be forced to face the fact once & for all that you are an empty-shell who cannot function without hate fueling your engine. Is HATE a renewable resource LeftTurd???
HATE causes more pollution than fossil-fuel….don’t you agree??
Ms. Cyn you tell me…who did you focus your anger on when President Clinton left office? Where you fearful that America would rightfully start to focus on your party and their failures since there’s no Clinton to blame?
You’ve obviously proven successful at keeping your hate intact. What’s the secret? And do the other 13 year old girls in your class act like a hypocrite all the time?
LeftTurd—
I never got sucked in to blaming Clinton.
I am a Conservative. Clinton did some conservative things…especially in the area of government spending.
However Clinton was asleep while Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations grew in strength. I blame him for that….as well as NAFTA, GATT and China. Clinton road the Dot.Com false economy bubble…just like Bush is riding the Real Estate Bubble.
Bush is NOT a Conservative. I am not a fan of his for many reasons and I have never, ever said I am.
However, you FRINGE LUNATIC LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS are also not the answer. You play on emotion, fear and junk science. You are “trendy” with the ignorant Hollywood types jumping on every half-baked cause imaginable. You KLOWNS show it repeatedly….right here @ good old HA.org!!!
I enjoy making fun of you KLOWNS because you are oh so serious and oh so self-righteous. Some of you actually have some good ideas and I have no reason to believe that many of you are hard-working, decent people.
However LeftTurd, YOU are obviously not one of them. Your HATE has choked your ability to see thru the smoke-and-mirrors of your fellow KLOWNS. And I find you IGNORANT as well. But I don’t hate you.
A sense of humor is something either you have….or you don’t. Roger Rabbit, dj & Goldy do have a sense of humor….they enjoy the give & take…..and could easily sit with folks that disagree with them, have a beer and talk about stuff other than politics.
Most of the rest of the KLOWNS are serious DumbAsses…like you!
Have a great Memorial Day!
Senator Maria “DotCom Windfall Bubble” Cantwell—
Chew on this one–
The Senator From Windfall
By James K. Glassman Published 12/05/2005
Of all the politicians complaining about the profits and practices of America’s wicked oil companies, few can top Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
Among her latest ventures is a demand that the oil company executives who testified Nov. 9 be brought back to the Senate, this time under oath. In a letter to the chairmen of the two committees that held the hearings, she claimed that the CEOs “failed to answer the simple questions asked of them. This is unacceptable. If we’re going to get to the bottom of high gas prices, we need complete answers that Americans can trust.”
Of course, “getting to the bottom” of price rises isn’t difficult. Energy exists in a global commodity market. Demand is rising from China and India, as economic growth brings a better life to more than two billion people, and supply has been constrained by OPEC, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and absurd policies that restrict domestic drilling and the construction and expansion of pipelines and other energy infrastructure.
Cantwell has opposed such supply-boosting policies in the United States, lately blocking measures that would have benefited her own state while increasing tanker traffic in Puget Sound.
Another sure way to reduce supply is to pass laws to stop “price-gouging” in fuel costs – legislation such as Cantwell herself has introduced – or to exact special “windfall” taxes on a few large energy companies. Windfall taxes have been tried before, in the early 1980s, and, according to a Congressional Research Service study, they had a predictable effect. The taxes cut production by U.S. energy companies and increased our reliance on foreign oil. So much for “Energy Independence 2020,” the Democrats’ organization that Cantwell chairs.
Cantwell voted “yes” on Nov. 17 to an amendment (No. 2626) that would have imposed “a temporary windfall profits tax on crude oil.” The amendment failed, but the irony lingers because, as it turns out, Maria Cantwell’s life story has revolved around her own windfall profits.
Back in 1992, when I was editor of the congressional newspaper Roll Call, a young woman from Indianapolis named Maria Cantwell, who had spent her life working on campaigns (at age 24 she was out helping Jerry Springer run for governor of Ohio) and serving in government, won a U.S. House seat from a Seattle district.
At the time, according to the Associated Press, Cantwell earned $33,789 in the year before she came to Congress, and she had a net worth under $15,000.
The House provided her with a $10,000 raise, but, alas, she was washed away in the Republican tsunami of 1994. She emerged from Congress practically broke, but, luckily, with some nice friends. One of them, Rob Glaser, a former Microsoft employee, “recruited the out-of-work politician for his new company, Real Networks,” according to The Industry Standard.
These were the lovely days when many high-tech firms were handing out stock options like crazy, and Glaser showered them on Maria Cantwell. A few years later, her Real Networks shares were worth, according to a definitive 2001 article in the Seattle Weekly, “roughly $80 million.”
She was rich – so rich that she could run for Senate, in a great Democratic tradition followed that same year by Sens. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.), the department store heir, and Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), former CEO of Goldman Sachs.
She used $9.2 million of her own money in the campaign, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. About $6 million came from stock sales and the rest from loans using her stock as collateral.
Cantwell’s Senate seat itself is a windfall profit. Without the lucky timing of her plunge into Real Networks, it’s unlikely she would be a member of the world’s most exclusive club today.
As fortune would have it, just as Cantwell started her Senate campaign, Real Networks was hitting a new high ($93 a share, adjusted for splits). By February 2001, after she was safely sworn in, the stock had fallen to $8, in which neighborhood it’s pretty much been ever since (Friday’s close was $8.89).
So, if Cantwell had run first in 2002 instead of 2000, she couldn’t have mustered $9 million from her Real Networks stock to put into the campaign.
Maria Cantwell is truly the Senator From Windfall, but I wouldn’t want to slap some kind of special tax on her just because she got a bit lucky – like her colleague, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), another backer of windfall profits, who won $853,000 in the Powerball lottery in October.
But let’s contrast the windfalls of Cantwell and Gregg with the increased earnings of integrated oil and gas companies in the third quarter of 2005. Those firms use a big chunk of their profits each year to make huge long-term capital investments in the risky business of exploring for energy and producing it. (ExxonMobil’s capital expenditures over the past 10 years have roughly equaled its reported earnings.) The price of oil, like that of any other commodity, bounces around, so some months oil companies make more from their upstream operations than others.
Guess I struck a nerve in Ms. Cynical – forced her to defend herself. HE HE!
Fuck Frank Rich. Frank Rich was one of those jackasses leading the make shit up about Gore bandwagon. Now I really hate him but he should run anyway, so he can lose in a nice way is the extent of how liberal we’re allowed to be in this country? Seriously, what does it say that Al Gore thought he would get better treatment from the type of people who take pictures of Britney Spears’ incorrect use of a car seat and comment on it for a month would give him more fair treatment than the likes of Frank Rich? The people who decided after a decade to notice that Tom Cruse is nutty were better than the typical political hack?
You know whats freakin funny?
Time always exposes GOP allies as being lying bastards after the fact, and yet time and time again they seem to find enough idiots to support their crooked ideals. How the hell do they do it? PT Barnum said there’s a sucker born every minute. Only now it’s a lot more often than that. We’re not laughing with you, you greedy crooked dolts (you know who you are). We’re laughing AT you.
Regards.
The GOP should be renamed SOB. Truth in advertising.
Yes, run Al, run!