Winter Fears in June

With the price of oil going through the roof and every other utility that people use to heat their homes going up and up people are terrified. People that can not or do not have access to alternative heat sources such as renters and some home owners are literally fearing the coming winter. This is not a joke, just talk to your neighbor if you live in a northern climate state. People are scared to death that they will either eat or heat. What are the elderly folks living alone in their houses going to do on a fixed income when the cost to feed the oil tank is more than the Social Security check they get each month. To put it simply, they will freeze to death in their own home only to be found in the spring.

Americans fought a revolution over tyranny a couple of hundred years ago because their rights to exist were trampled on by a King thousands of miles away. In perspective to that, the King has been replaced by Wall Street’s self proclaimed Lords of the free market. They are not alone in the guilt and blame for this current energy crisis but the prices will never drop to where they were before simply because financial gravity dictates that it can not and will not. In all of this speculation is mutual funds that many of us own and have profited from with the rising price of oil. Retirement funds moved dollars into oil when the dollar fell on the world markets and in doing so reaped enormous profits for the funds.

We have a revolution on our hands in America and the enemy is Us! We can choose to shoot ourselves in our foot with our retirement investments or we can shoot ourselves in the foot with our need for gasoline and home heating oil at a reasonable price? Pick one, then pick a foot to shoot off!

What can you do as your part of the energy revolution? Move your investments out of oil stocks and energy futures. Place the funds into alternative energy research and the double digit growing green energy field. Talk to your investment analyst but make your voice loud and clear. Wall Street and the markets are pricing you out of heat this coming winter and now is the time to speak up with your investment dollars.

We can all bitch and moan about the cost to heat our homes but if you benefit from the gains for the sake of someone freezing to death because a cheaper alternative energy investment did not have the potential gain then the game is the game. When it’s ten degrees out and the thermostat for your grandparents is set at 45 degrees because the oil will run out faster than the pension money does then it is what it is. Investment dollar gains in your IRA or 401K will never equal the amount of sweaters and blankets an elderly person will need to put on to survive this coming winter.

What is truly scary is that this same scenario holds true for many middle class families. People earning decent wages, people with the means to change heating sources now, people working multiple jobs and still in fear of what they will have to do next winter to keep warm. Make no mistake about it, the price of oil is the American peoples enemy and the people controlling that market manipulation in many respects is you and I with our investments for our own retirement. You can look at your statements and shrug your shoulder or move your money out of the people robbing you blind on your oil tank and gas tank. It’s your choice. Money is feeding this frenzy in the price of oil and the gains you get now are not gains when they are taken away ten fold every time you fill your oil tank or gas tank. Investing is a choice and you have the ultimate power to make that choice. It’s your money!

Start knitting your sweaters now for your golden years. If our investments work out as best that we can hope then we just might be able to set the thermostat at sixty degrees. Thus proving that we are far better off than our grandparents. Choose your battle and defend America’s future with your investment dollars wisely.

Papamoka

Over at the Boston Herald they have this great article on the subject...

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This is Obama Time

While the rest of the Main Stream Media is begging to ask who will be Barack Obama’s running mate this is not the time to ask that question. The run up of the end of the primary is still way to fresh in the heart beat of Democrat voters and the time to heal those primary wounds is now. If you had the chance to see the Unity, NH first speech between the former Presidential candidates for President on the Democrat ticket then it was a love fest. Hillary is in the Obama camp and she is ready to fight for what is right. Something she has always done throughout her political career.

Hillary Clinton is jumping on the Obama campaign and it is what a true Democrat should do. She didn’t lose the election, she participated in it. Her voice was heard loud and clear during the primary process and it is now and will be a part of this election that will work against John McCain. McCain has no weapon in his political artillery to throw up against Hillary Clinton without pointing his own Senate record at himself. A dilemma that both Barack Obama and John McCain face in this election cycle.

Many of the folks in the MSM are discounting the Hillary Clinton vote base that will transfer from Obama to McCain and that is ridiculous! Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were so close on all of the issues that it was tantamount as a liberal or moderate voter to picking the cutest puppy of the two. Everyone loves what both of them are selling and that is the end message. Only Democrats could put up a Black man and a Women in an election process for President of the United States. Do you think for a minute that any form of the Republican political party could do that? Not in this lifetime or the next, or the next, or the next! That is the grass roots difference in this election. Democrats are about change in America and Republicans are looking at another old man that used to be a hero but morphed into more of the same because politics told him to change.

Time for change is not about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, it’s about the candidacy of John McCain in step with George W. Bush. President Bush is an oxymoron of America and what we are as a people. Since the days of Abraham Lincoln and probably before that this has been a nation of ideals that changed the world for the better. Change is what this nation needs and in that respect, all of the facts point to the fact that Hillary Clinton is on the same page when discussing what is best for America in her support for Barack Obama.

This election is not just about red states and blue states anymore. America is a world leader and our place in the world has been hijacked by a seriously misguided President. Our sense of America has been distorted to think that being an American is no better than being an imperialist with nation building ideology.

Hillary Clinton is cool with Barack Obama as the Democrat nominee for President. Only the MSM has a problem with that fact. Democrats should see loud and clear that “Johnny keep us in Iraq for 100 years McCain” is not the same candidate for President of the United States of America that Hillary Clinton was! Why in honest to God sense would a Clinton supporter refuse to not support someone that has almost identical issue agreement on most of the issues? Why would they think McCain is the only logical choice for President?

Simple answer to that question is that the former Clinton supporters would rather commit suicide than vote for John McCain and that is reality. Liberals in the Clinton camp do not go extreme right wing simply because the liberal candidate is no longer in the race for President. Mega Duh to the pundits tossing Hillary Clinton supporters to McCain. All of the spin doctors can spin this story all they want but I can’t think of a single Clinton supporter ever voting for a strong conservative hard line stance that ignores the American people and their thoughts of what America should be in the world. Americans should come first.

Just my opinion.

Papamoka

Papamoka Traffic and Visitors

I’m thinking that my little political blog site Papamoka Straight Talk is an enigma machine that can not be explained. From my calculations from sources I use to track this site we have been seen in some form or another by over 500,000 visitors from feeds, links, and mutual interest contributions since December of 2007. In that respect I’m a little bit humbled since I stumbled on this information today. To see my written work in so many places made me proud and yet a little bit intimidated. When you consider the sources that have linked to this site it is just a little bit breath taking. Many of the sources linking to this site use the posts free of charge and I have never charged anyone for linking to any post I've written. Never! I'm cool with that because my work has been seen by 500,000 people all over the world. Who knows, it could be more than that with links from links and links from that link etc.

I’ve always tried to just write what I feel and I was amazed to find out where Papamoka shows up! Google search Papamoka yourself and we are here, there, and everywhere. Even in languages I do not speak they have Papamoka post links.

What simply baffles me is that on some search engines, this site is above many of the main stream media houses. I’m not one to even second guess how that works but I’m happy that it is what it is. This Worcester Mass a Two Sticks blogger is proud of the work he has put out there on the internet for anyone to read. Maybe the old advice for bloggers is still true that it is after all about content.

Just something for me to think about when writing what I do, I guess. Thanks to all the folks putting us out there and everywhere. God bless you and keep you happily coming back to this site for more of what my contributors and I have to say. No charge per word, just a kind link back to the original post is much appreciated.

The question remains, if Papamoka Straight Talk is linked to a post, is there any legal damage if someone quotes my work? I put it out there on the internet that is a free media source. Is that not the same thing as any main stream media house that puts their work on the internet? I thank them all for using my works and encourage more of the same status quo. I have no monetary gain from blogging, it's a work of passion. I love writing and if you are reading it somewhere else that links back to my original work then I'm good to go. In that respect, bloggers need to credit the sources of the material they write on. But, by all means feel free to keep borrowing the work here! Traffic is growing...

Papamoka

Feel free to borrow or steal this post!

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Child Prostitution Mega Bust!

Politically, they should call this the “War on Pervert’s”. When I see stories like this one I honestly realize that we live in a very sick society where children need to be protected like gold in Fort Knox.

When it comes to seeing our tax dollars at work you the individual rarely get the chance to see those dollars actually working. Headlines like the one below in regards to a nationwide major child prostitution ring bust by the FBI are comforting to see. Right there are all those ten’s, twenty’s and hundred dollar bill’s that we pay in federal taxes at work. Some of the hard working bills anyway.

Over at Reuters they have this on the news…

Hundreds nabbed in U.S. child prostitution sting
Thu Jun 26, 2008 10:09am EDT


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 300 people have been arrested for involvement in child prostitution rings and 21 children rescued in a nationwide sweep, the FBI said on Wednesday.

"Operation Cross Country," a five-day sting that ended on Sunday, spanned 16 cities in 10 states and the District of Columbia and caught 389 people who exploited children through prostitution, the agency said.

Investigations uncovered schemes ranging from prostituting children at truck stops to promoting their services on the Internet, the FBI said.

"We together have no higher calling than to protect our children and to safeguard their innocence. Yet, the sex trafficking of children remains one of the most violent and unforgivable crimes in this country," FBI Director Robert Mueller said at a news conference.

While I applaud the FBI for a job well done I have to wonder based on the facts from the article if we as a people are really doing enough? The FBI program Innocence Lost Initiative has been ongoing since 2003 and to date they have 308 convictions and have rescued 433 children from monster perverts. While I am thankful for the convictions and the saved children I think our nation needs to look at the laws concerning child molesters, pedophiles and any other sicko that preys on children. These monsters were not only abusing these children sexually but making money from their exploitation.

My questions are not for the job the FBI is doing in this effort to protect our nations children but to put some teeth behind their efforts when a conviction is the end result. Our Congress should look at the sexual predation of our children especially when it comes to prostitution of a child with harsh jail and financial penalties. These children were held against their will somewhere and if it was the perverts home then it should be seized by the government as a direct penalty. For that matter seize all their assets to pay for the psychological treatment the kids they abused are going to need.

Crimes against children gets my blood to boiling thinking how the blatant evil actions committed against them will effect them for the rest of their lives. Some of them, with the right help, they just may survive it but they still will have a part of their innocence lost forever. Many of these children will never overcome this abuse.

Information from the FBI report:

The Innocence Lost initiative was created in 2003 to address the growing problem of child prostitution in America. Our Criminal Investigative Division partnered with the Child Exploitation-Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and with the nonprofit National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to bring together state and federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and social service providers. The initiative’s 24 task forces and working groups have recovered 433 children to date and seized over $3 million in assets.

“Child trafficking for the purpose of prostitution is organized criminal activity using kids as commodities for sale and trade,” said NCMEC President and CEO Ernie Allen during the press conference. “These kids are victims. They lack the ability to walk away. This is 21st century slavery.”

“Snip”

In addition to the Innocence Lost initiative, our Crimes Against Children program manages Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) Teams, which support state and local law enforcement in investigations, and the Innocent Images National Initiative, which targets the proliferation of child porn.

The message to the public, NCMEC's Allen said, is: "If you see it in your city, if you hear about it, if you suspect it, report it."

To do that, please contact the NCMEC hotline at 1-800-THE-LOST or file a report through its CyberTipline. - FBI


Papamoka

FBI, Innocence Lost Initiative, Predators, Child Molesters, Child prostitution, Robert Mueller, Operation Cross Country, Prosecute Perverts, Sentencing Child Molesters, Defending Children, Defense of Children, Lost Children, Child Rape, Broken Society

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Oil Speculation Outcome

Oil market speculators are going to be scrambling for the largest profits they can get from now till the first Tuesday in November. With the outright demand for change from not just one political party candidate for President but BOTH! When it comes to oil speculation then the free for all of the Bush Big Oil dynasty will be over. Or is it?

The so called free market game is up when the King of Saudi Arabia opens the spigot of his oil rich nation and says to the world that it is not a supply problem. It is not a supply problem when only a fraction of oil reserve drilling sites inside the United States have yet to be tapped. It’s not a supply problem when the only voice in the world saying it is a supply problem is coming from President Bush and his administration. If you for one minute think that George W. Bush is not in bed with Big Oil then you deserve to pay $12 a gallon for gasoline and see the cost of every product you need to survive triple.

Over at Market Watch they have the official word on what the price of oil should be and the wink, wink, wink of Congressional investigations into oil speculation.

Gas could fall to $2 if Congress acts, analysts say

Limiting speculation would push prices to fundamental level, lawmakers told

By Rex Nutting & Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:24 p.m. EDT June 23, 2008

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The price of retail gasoline could fall by half, to around $2 a gallon, within 30 days of passage of a law to limit speculation in energy-futures markets, four energy analysts told Congress on Monday.

Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135.

Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy Consultants agreed with Masters' assessment at a hearing on proposed legislation to limit speculation in futures markets.

Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets.

"Record oil prices are inflated by speculation and not justified by market fundamentals," according to Gheit. "Based on supply and demand fundamentals, crude-oil prices should not be above $60 per barrel." - Market Watch

With the current price of oil threatening $140 per barrel then Congress needs to act with or without the President of the current administration. Not doing so is threatening the American and world economy at near collapse levels. Protests are breaking out all over the world because the cost of oil is crippling industries and yet the prices are going higher day after day. Maybe it is time for Americans to get pissed off too when they tank up the old Chevy for the week and it costs three times more than it did eight years ago!

Same article and same message from the Bush crew in bed with Big Oil…

However, other witnesses said that pure speculators have had little impact on energy prices, which have doubled in the past year to about $135 per barrel. Both Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman have dismissed the impact of speculators on prices paid by consumers.

Speculators now account for about 70% of all benchmark crude trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 37% in 2000, said Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the investigations subcommittee. Stupak introduced a bill on Friday that would limit index speculation. - Market Watch

Both of the candidates running for President are ticked off at the runaway oil speculation markets and it doesn’t matter at this point in our economy who wins if the economic engine of the world collapses under the oil greed and speculation. When, or if the dust settles, there will be no oil giants, no oil speculation, no free markets simply because you can’t feed your children oil! Anarchy is close and it will start with the mothers of American babies saying enough is enough.

This is not a joke my friends, it is a prediction of times to come. Americans love the simple life and when that life is no longer available to them then they react. How they react is up to the actions of a Congress willing to listen.

People are loosing their homes, jobs are being lost, wages and benefits are being cut, and yet oil continues to take more of what the people no longer have and that is a recipe for a disaster that none of us could ever fathom. People can not sit idly by as they see reports of even more grotesque record profits in the tens of billions as they look at the car in the driveway that they can no longer afford to drive simply because the cost of living has outstripped their paycheck.

Dupont today announced staggering price increases across the board just to stay in business. If you don’t know who Dupont is then all you have to do is look at every item in your home and if it looks like your stuff then Dupont had a hand in making it your stuff at the manufacturing level. Some of their customers are increasing prices by 20% simply because they can’t cut costs any further. This is an oil based cycle that is out of control.

Don’t believe me, Google search it and see what you come up with on Dupont Price Increase. Google search protests across the world on the cost of oil hurting economies not as resilient as ours in the United States. Google is the worlds largest search engine and the links you find do not lie.

Now is the time for you in America to start emailing and complaining to your representatives in the Congress to get behind this disaster that is oil pricing. Tell them you are pissed off and do something about it. Numbers in the complaint column will speak louder than these written words ever will when the other end of the phone or email is your Congressional Representative.

Papamoka

Hat tip to Worm Town Taxi

Energy Breakthroughs

Many people will look at this post and the attached video and call it voodoo science or just pure bunk. I’m beginning to think the time for the new Henry Ford’s, Thomas Edison‘s, and Albert Einstein’s has arrived and it is just in time. Thinking outside of conventional wisdom and even academic pretense is what it takes to be a true inventor and I’m finding that my research into new energy breakthroughs is simply amazing.

If the average homeowner wanted to take their home off of the electric grid the price can be a bit intimidating. Then there is the problem of location if the peak wind or sun just does not jive with the area you live in.

With the cost for a barrel of oil hovering at $140 per barrel today then I’m sure that backyard and garage inventors that are pissed off are very busy. Nothing spurs invention more than someone telling you that you will pay what they tell you the price is, you have no choice in the matter! New energy breakthroughs are coming fast and furious and many of them will in fact bust the oil market down to a whimpering whipped dog. No bull, no bear, just a whining, cowering oil market speculator dog.



John Christie and Lou Brits started this little project on their own some years back and it looks like they have a winner but as in all new inventions the road to marketing and production is not paved with gold. If you have any questions about the device, its availability you can check out the link at RexResearch.com or check out the Lutec company website that has a ton of info on the machine.

Amazing… Freaking me out because this machine they invented could take every single home in America or the world off of the energy dependence grid with further research. What the reality of it will end up being is that it will be bought up by some oil rich nation or company and mandated to the scrap bin forever for a very fat check!

Supply and demand my foot! I’ll let President Bush put his own foot where the solar panels aren’t working.

My thoughts are that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet should be placing a call to these guys and offer the cash investment to get the scales of justice in the oil markets balanced once more. While Obama and McCain are whacking one another upside the head on who has a better energy plan to reign in the out of control oil markets there is a machine sitting in Australia that actually is the answer to all of the worlds energy independence.

Papamoka

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Water for Fuel

After seeing the price for a gallon of gas bust the $4 per gallon mark I went searching for alternative fuels for my truck. A couple years ago I did a piece on this and the technology has now come down to do it yourself kits sold online. Let's just say that I was little skeptical so I went YouTube surfing for a couple of hours looking for results on HHO gas from water as fuel.

Mind you most of the video's I watched use HHO gas as an additive to your gasoline and the vehicles are not running strictly on the water to fuel cell process. The television show Mythbusters did a piece on this one and of course they proved the myth as Busted! But! Big old hairy BUTT! They forgot a couple of key components to the process... DUH!




It seems like an interesting back yard mechanic project but I would be afraid to try it on my truck. With my luck I'd blow up the engine and the block would melt through the core of the Earth and show up in China somewhere. If you know of someone that has tried one of the internet kits then please have them email us.

Papamoka

Obama‘s Fear of Muslims

With the right wing conspiracy rampant on the fear and labeling of Barack Obama as a Muslim it was not inconceivable for his political campaign staff to ask two Muslim women to take another seat. Seats not in view of the camera while he spoke. It’s politics and you don’t hand your opponent a weapon that they have already chosen!

Feeding right into this controversy is the main stream media with their own version of political correctness. Excuse me while I just label this story as ignorant of politics and how the game is played. Look for the latest flier from the McCain camp running this issue up the flag pole while beating the we are family drum of his newly revamped definition of American values. Then watch for the Cheney and Bush ventriloquist show on McCain who used to have a voice on his own prior to the Bush endorsement. You might have noticed the President choking back on a little bit of bile during that speech. AKA a little bit of vomit in the back of his throat.

This little two bit story feeds to the ignorance in knowing who the candidates are and only proves out that Karl Rove is alive and well and working for John McCain.

Obama apologizes to Muslim women barred from seats
Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:36pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama apologized on Thursday to two Muslim women who were barred from sitting behind the podium where Obama was speaking because they were wearing Islamic headscarves.

At a campaign rally in Detroit on Monday, Shimaa Abdelfadeel and Hebba Aref were prevented by volunteers from taking seats behind Obama that would have been in view of television cameras, apparently because of their headscarves.

"I reached out to Ms. Aref and Ms. Abdelfadeel this afternoon," Obama said in a statement. "I spoke with Ms. Abdelfadeel, and expressed my deepest apologies for the incident that occurred with volunteers at the event in Detroit."

Obama said the volunteers' actions were "unacceptable and in no way reflect any policy of my campaign." - Reuters

President Bush has had a history of public speaking engagements where it was and is by invitation only. It makes for good publicity and news broadcasts when you hide the fact that most Americans hate him and his policies concerning our nation. You can Google search that fact. Senator Obama is only guilty of having a political campaign staff trying to stem the ignorance that he is not a Muslim.

If you think I’m kidding about the Obama ignorance factor when it comes to his religion then just ask someone at random. When you hear the replies then by all means quote facts and not innuendo or some commercial put out by a group that is motivated just to end the possibility of change in America. Change in the American way of life comes with a price and that price is education and the truth that bares no obligations to any political party.

What I find ironic about all of this issue is the fact that we are looking at a shiney object over here and forgetting the fact that this nation is in a world of trouble. Our country is broken and the answers to the problems is not in what you see but in the thoughts to make it better and not worse. While John McCain is telling you what to fear, being Bush 3.0, Barack Obama is telling you what you need to hear. That is the difference between the two of them running for President of these here United States of America. Obama is telling the truth while McCain hopes you believe the spin.

Papamoka

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War, Veterans and Unemployment Funds

In a typical Washington D.C. style of diplomacy and legislative ignorance the war in Iraq is funded, veterans from the war get a GI Bill for education, and the unemployed get and extension of benefits. Senate President Harry Reid was right, you don’t get services for Americans or Veterans if it isn’t attached to a bottomless pit called the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I talked about this a while back here.

Domestic Spending Intact as House Passes War Bill

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 20, 2008; Page A03

In a pair of bipartisan votes, the House yesterday approved $162 billion to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan well into 2009 and a separate measure that would allow veterans returning from those battlefields to receive increased education benefits.

The domestic spending measure, approved 416 to 12, also includes a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance for laid-off workers who have used all 26 weeks of their current benefits, and $2.65 billion for Midwest flood relief.

"It became clear this is what we had to do," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during debate over the bill. "I will enthusiastically vote for the domestic piece of this."

The emergency spending bill -- which authorizes $95.5 billion for the unemployment and veterans benefits and a variety of other programs -- heads to the Senate, where leaders say it could be approved next week.

After weeks of gridlocked negotiations, President Bush threw his support behind the legislation yesterday despite the tens of billions of dollars in domestic spending above his original demands. Despite his original preference for a slimmed-down version, Bush embraced the veterans' plan drafted by Sen. James Webb (D-Va.), then demanded that the education benefit be transferable from veterans to military spouses and children -- adding an estimated $1 billion a year to its cost. - Washington Post


What will be interesting is to see how the political candidates in the race for President vote on this spending bill in the Senate. This is a catch 22 piece of legislation. If Obama votes for it then he is putting his name to the war in Iraq, if he votes against it then he is telling the unemployed and veterans to get lost. Same scenario goes for McCain. Vote for it and he is all for another hundred years in Iraq, vote against it and he is bashing the veteran base he allegedly loves to vote against time and time again.

On the other side of this coin is the current resident of the White House who has all of a sudden found this is legislation he can sign with pride. Do ya think the money that will find it’s way into the coffers of his and Dick’s bank account has anything to do with it?

I don’t even want to think about what Bush’s signing statement will look like!

Papamoka

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It's a Wonderful Life

Louis Armstrong has this song that just fits so perfectly into life. With all the intenseness of life it would be so nice to just sit back and ponder how wonderful life really is. Here in America we are facing a sense of longing for the good old days now more than ever and Louis has it all right here in this song, What a Wonderful World...



When you come across all the stresses in your life then listen to Louis Armstrong and be thankful for what you do have. Then vote the bastards keeping you down out!!!

Papamoka

MBA Clears Up AP Issue

I owe the Associated Press a huge apology. With all the hype over AP allegedly going after the Drudge Retort with a law suit, the whole matter was a very large misunderstanding. In an email from a fellow blogger I received a link to Media Bloggers Association that has all of the facts behind the AP issue with Drudge Retort. You can read it here. MBA is a group of volunteers that mediate on behalf of bloggers. They are a bloggers best friend when it comes to freedom of speech on the internet.

After reading all of the facts I have to say that I agree with the AP. Drudge Retort was posting entire articles including the headlines from the Associated Press and that is copyright infringement.

Wrapping this story up with a huge apology to the Associated Press.

Papamoka

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Cost of the Iraq War

Just a little something to make you go hmmmmm? These films are made by a company called Brave New Films and frankly I can't argue with them.

Thanks for the tip Jim!



Papamoka

Associated Press Blindsiding Bloggers

*****UPDATE From Media Bloogers Association


On my own site and others that I post on I am a stickler for linking to the site the quote comes from, the author when listed also. Over at the Associated Press they are going after bloggers for monetary damages for using quotes in their posts that originated from AP.

You can check the Associated Press thought here.

What I just don’t get is the terms of their definition of “Fair Use” in the news and blogging world. My good friend is a retired Newspaper Editor and she has this definition of “Fair Use” listed on her blog. I may be way off the mark on who knows what is “Fair Use” policy in the printed media world but I’m going to trust my friend BJ. God forbid the Associated Press would go after someone that used to buy ink by the barrel that has a blog. I would be the first one to go to her defense with a fat check for her lawyer if the AP attempted to sue a retired editor that is slowly loosing her vision. I’ve deliberately not linked to her site to protect her happy retirement life from AP lawyers thinking they are on the scent of blood and bloggers… Sorry BJ.

"This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. I am making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of current issues. I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes."

Tell me I’m wrong and that the Associated Press is making up there own rules for the internet use that they post on the internet that people read every single day. Most legitimate bloggers link back to the persons originally credited with the article which in exchange drives people to the AP post that was paid for by the news service posting it. That in turn pays the advertising bills for the site and thus money is made by the original site. For that fact to be true then Crooks and Liars can steal my work seven days a week if the link back benefits my advertiser. Daily Kos, feel free to hold my entire posts hijacked on a trip to Cuba. As for the Huffington Post, I don’t want those bastards stealing my works. What the AP is doing is picking and choosing what web sites or blogs they want there work to appear on and that is wrong. The law is clear and the AP does not write the law. Legally I don’t think they have a leg to stand on but I will defer that to the people in the know of the law, AP lawyers not included.

As a blogger I read dozens of blogs a day and each one is more or less opinion of the article written than content theft. In that same thought I have found myself clicking on many AP articles to read the associated quote from many sites across the internet. I’m not talking about just AP articles but many other sources of news in the “Fair Use” presentation of the articles posted online. If any organization posts its writers articles online then they are open and free to interpretation just as much a letter to the editor is in your local paper. Or are you guilty of theft if you send a letter to the editor in opposition to an article labeled “XYZ on ABC”?

Some of the folks in the undergound blogger union have spoken of a united front to boycott the Associated Press and I’m finding myself looking favorably toward that position. We bloggers have our own secret handshake and manifest destiny that compels us to rebel against the institution of society. And there is that other thing where we are just one person writing opinion where the media has no clue as to the real world in America.

At the next meeting for the local chapter of Bloggers I’m going to raise the resolution to ban AP from our posts. From now on I will be only quoting over the fence news from my neighbor. No, that won’t work. Maybe I could use this search engine called Google to find relevant information? I’ll have to just check that out.

Papamoka

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Best of Imus and Russert

If you are a fan of Tim Russert and Don Imus formerly of WFAN in New York then this video courtesy of YouTube is a must see...



View the video link HERE!

You simply can not hide the fact that these two brothers from another mother were the best of friends. Tim Russert loved to bust the Iman and in doing so it made for great radio.

Papamoka

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Tim Russert, the Gold Standard of Journalism

With the sudden passing of Tim Russert I find myself in the same company of many of the friends he worked so closely with. His presence on our nations televisions was that of the friendly and jovial uncle that just loved politics simply because it was a competition of the best available candidates for our times. His style and grace when confronting political figures called them to task where others would have given them a pass. Honestly, I feel like my brother or my closest Uncle has died. His passing is very personal to me and I’m just a political blogger.

Tim brought to journalism what no other person could in today’s media hubbub, the truth. Politicians love to hide behind the real story and yet he alone called them to task and dared to ask the questions that nobody else could find the guts to even think of asking. His secret was a relentless pursuit of the truth in politics and for that I thank him from the bottom of my heart. If you were a guest of Tim Russert on Meet the Press then there would be no softball pitches coming across the plate. That kind of journalism he left to the people dreaming of being a real political reporter that found themselves swooned by the politician.

Tim Russert was not about fluff pieces and feeling the love to anyone that dared to sit in the hot seat of Meet the Press. What perplexes the media institution that he built is the fact that anyone wanting an interview with him had better be ready to face all the facts no matter how ugly they were. And yet, politician after politician would seek him out knowing the gauntlet they would have to face. Facts do not lie, Tim never hid those facts from his guest and in the long run the truth or an inkling of it was established during his broadcast of Meet the Press.

One of the things I admired most about Tim Russert was his devotion to friends in the business. He never forgot his friends during the bad times they each faced. From Mike Barnicle during his alleged plagiarism debacle at the Boston Globe to Don Imus and his Rutgers girls basketball disgrace. While the rest of the press, politicians, and people that were supposed to befriends were running fast and furious, Tim stood by his friends, backed them and supported them. In the media business friends are for the most part there only as long as you shine, Tim was there during the dark days lighting a candle of light for a friend who thought the world had forsaken them. That was just who he was. His friends were for life, his love of people unquestionable, and his deeds quietly done because he was at the heart of his being just a man that loved people.

On many occasions while listening to Imus in the Morning over the years Tim would be on and dog the I Man on how his little boy was doing in between talking about political issues of the day. Tim was never impressed with the fact that Imus in the Morning was listened to by millions of people, that wasn’t the important part of the friendship. The Imus family little boy that looked up to his mom and dad was the key figure in the relationship. In every friendship that Tim had, the kids were the ones that made many of them call him simply Uncle Tim.

When he wrote of his hard working father in Big Russ and Me, it reminded me of the many trials my own family had faced over the years. No family is perfect and here was the moderator of one of the longest running news broadcast in our nations history telling the story of his dad. It inspired millions in more ways than he will ever know. Evidenced by the follow up book from many of the people that read about his life with Big Russ. In my mind, Tim gave the fathers of this nation and many others something to live up to with actions as a dad rather than just words. The old saying of anyone can be a father but it takes hard work and faith to be a dad was the Russert credo.

It’s a dark day for political reporting just knowing that the extreme grasp that Tim Russert had on politics is lost. There is not in my mind anyone that can fill his shoes and do what he did with the shear simplicity that he was able to do so effortlessly. His broadcast seemed almost like watching a figure skating routine and the scores garnished depended on how the person in the hot seat replied. The more squirming the higher the score.

My personal condolences to the Russert family and to all of his many friends including his viewers on many of the broadcasts he participated in. His quick wit and sharp mind will be missed.

God bless and keep you close Tim Russert. We can only hope to carry on with the same integrity that you brought to journalism.

Papamoka

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Tim Russert Death

Tim Russert from Meet the Press and the NBC MSNBC News Chief has passed away at 58. He was an amazing man and an inspirational character in the news. In all the years of my life I have never seen a person that was able to get to the truth in politics so clearly.

My heart felt prayers are with his family and many friends around the media. His many friends great and small, I’m sure are saddened at the loss of a man with such kind greatness.

He was one in a million and will be sorely missed. God bless you Tim Russert…

Papamoka

Bush Consistent Deafness to Unemployed

One has to give President Bush credit for being unrealistically consistent. He’s threatening his mighty veto pen if Congress passes an extension of benefits for our nations growing unemployed. Bush is true to form even when it comes to telling the unemployed to get a paper route you lazy good for nothing leaches. Especially, those folks in states with robust economies, there is no excuse for these unemployed people to not work according to President Bush. There is just one problem with his thinking. The jobs he sold out to God knows who overseas were once good paying American made jobs no longer exist. The economy in America with good jobs at great wages has morphed under his watch into an environment where no amount of higher education will guarantee you a well paying job.

President Bush I swear is an economic idiot in thinking that a job is a job, and a paycheck is a paycheck. An engineering job is not the same pay grade as the person manning the French fry baskets at the local McDonald’s. McDonald’s might be a great place to work but it doesn’t afford the paycheck needed to pay down college loans for any college degree, pay for health insurance for your family, or even pay for a mortgage once obtained by a person with a higher education position.

Over at the New York Times they have this to say on Bush threatening a Veto if unemployment benefits are extended by the Congress…

House Passes Unemployment Benefits Extension

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 12, 2008
Filed at 2:51 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House on Thursday approved an extra three months of jobless benefits for all unemployed Americans, knowing the plan's chances are slight in the Senate and almost nonexistent at the White House.

After failing to get a veto-proof two-thirds margin Wednesday, Democrats said they pushed the legislation through to the Senate anyway, on a 274-137 vote, to help Americans survive a slumping economy.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week increased by 25,000 from the week before. The unemployment rate in May jumped to 5.5 percent, up from 5 percent in April. It was the biggest one-month gain in 22 years.

"The American people are waiting to see if Congress is going to help them," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.

But the White House already has threatened to veto the bill, and Senate Democrats have said they won't try and force their Republican colleagues to consider the House legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he will try to bring up the House bill, but he won't force the issue if Senate Republicans object. "We're not wasting weeks" on it, he said. Instead, Reid said, Democrats might attach the jobless benefits extension to the Iraq war spending bill, a move also opposed by the White House.

The White House and Republicans said a bill targeting unemployment benefits only to states that have high unemployment would be more palatable to them. The Democrats' plan "is dead on arrival," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said. "The Senate's not going to take it up." - New York Times

Or you could read what they have to say at the Washington Post...

"The Congressional Budget Office estimated that about 3.2 million Americans would collect $11.7 billion in extended unemployment benefits over the life of the extension."

I have to get this straight in my head… Our government has no problem with $15 Billion Dollars unaccountable for in Iraq but if Americans in America need help then Republican’s have a problem with it? That $15 Billion dollars, who was overseeing how that cash was distributed in the middle of the desert of Iraq? Was there a division of unemployment to make sure the cash was distributed properly? Power Line News has this to say about our tax dollars being spent, or misplaced in Iraq…

Friday, May 23, 2008 10:44 PM

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon cannot account for nearly 15 billion dollars in payments for goods and services in Iraq, according to an internal audit which members of Congress blasted Friday as a “shocking” accountability failure.

Of 8.2 billion dollars in US taxpayer-funded defense contracts reviewed by the defense department’s inspector general, the Pentagon could not properly account for more than 7.7 billion dollars.

The lack of accountability of the funds, intended for purchases of weapons, vehicles, construction equipment and security services, amounted to a 95 percent failure rate in basic accounting standards, according to the report. - Power Line News

I’m thinking that the Bush administration and his political crony Republican’s in the Congress have no problem flushing cash down the drain without care as to where it ends up in the war in Iraq but all of them lazy Americans that are unemployed should just screw. Unemployed people are not paying taxes, thus not contributing to the endless money grab of the Iraq War and thus are terrorist and anti American.

I’m still fuzzy on the Republican math but if they say it’s for the protection of our nation against terrorism then it must be true. There has to be a mistake with the 95% accounting failure rate? Maybe an auditor forgot to carry the one somewhere or missed a large receipt for French fries from KBR. Or should I be politically correct and call them “Freedom Fries”?

Papamoka

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$12 Per Gallon Gas is Cool With Republicans

Not that you need to hear this but every single energy bill in recent years where Big Brother Oil was involved has taken a nose dive in the ring of our nations government. Things that make you go Hmmm?

Current legislation would have imposed heavy taxes on Big Brother Oil if they did not invest the mega profits into alternative energy sources. Oh, and it would have stripped out $17 Billion in tax credits for Big Brother Oil Incorporated in Washington D.C. Republicans in the Senate killed it. There was a small service, no flowers, no formal funeral. Just a bunch of folks from the Senate going “Oh Gee Willickers?”

Over at the New York Times they have this on the Republican Party in the US Senate telling the American People that $17 Billion in US Treasury funds are better spent by Big Brother Oil than you pesky gas guzzling near do wells…

2 Energy Bills, Including Windfall Tax, Stall in Senate

By DAVID STOUT
Published: June 11, 2008

WASHINGTON — A Democratic proposal to impose heavier taxes on big oil companies stalled in the Senate on Tuesday as Republicans and Democrats offered different ideas on how to deal with soaring energy costs.

A bill that would have rolled back some $17 billion in tax breaks on Big Oil and pressured the companies to invest in new energy sources by hitting them with a windfall-profits tax if they did not failed to get enough votes to move forward. Fifty-one senators voted to bring the measure up for consideration, but that was nine short of the number needed under Senate rules. Forty-three senators, most of them Republicans, voted “no.” - New York Times

And people wonder why the Republican Party is looked at as the party of big business and screw the rest of ya?

Is it just me or do all Republicans feel that Exxon/Mobil needs a huge chunk of that $17 Billion in tax credits? Hell Exxon could almost pay for the whole program in one quarters profits! That is clear profit!

Oil profiteering is reaching the point of genocide of our nations commerce. In doing so they are killing the beast that feeds them and that in turn will lead to the days of Teddy Roosevelt where every Big Oil Brother will be and should be broken up into a family of thirty and forty Little Oil’s. History must repeat itself for the greater good of the nation and for that matter the world.

In some respects I understand Hugo Chavez for privatizing his nations oil markets. When one organization thinks it owns the nations government, has that nations commerce by the throat, then government must step in with a heavy hand. Just my opinion. No Commie innuendo’s applicable. It works for New Hampshire with the control of liquor?

Do we need more Republicans in office to protect and defend the rapist’s of our economy. Is rape good and defending the victims in this oil market gone mad bad?

At one point in the price per gallon of gasoline the Oil Market will kill all of our world economy and the ones profiting the most from it will walk away clean as a new born babe. That isn’t just an assumption it is a cold hard fact. Every single product you use as a human being is in some way or form connected to the price of oil. Millionaire Republican’s killed this bill simply because they do not face the reality of someone living in the lower classes. Paying double for heat, double for gas, double for food, double for everything you need to survive is not a priority when you have a million dollars. It’s irrelevant in their minds. Tell that to someone surviving on Social Security! Then it becomes extremely RELEVENT!

The only question to ponder is at what point does the world economy collapse based on the price of oil per barrel? Make no doubt about it, that point is coming very soon. You can almost mark it on your calendar as oil spikes nine and ten dollars a day based on nothing than speculation.

There is something not right with the pricing of oil and I’m just guessing that the multiple billions of profits from all of the oil companies per quarter across the world just might have something to do with it. Excessive oil prices is wiping out the bottom layer of our nations economy. Without the bottom income earners the middle will collapse, without the middle the top will cave. Domino effect and that we can thank the Republican party for. Just for giggles, President Bush was going to Veto this bill if it passed.

In that respect, the meek shall inherit the Earth. It all comes down to oil and economics. One can not live without the other and in that respect any economy can not be hijacked by the price of oil without serious government intervention.

Papamoka

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