Oil drops to $106 a barrel

OPEC meets in a week to consider their market position.  If they want to defend the $100 per barrel limit, they will have to cut production.  This will create a false shortage on the market which will cost them money in the short run, but preserve their assets for longer-term pricing.  That will push prices at the pump higher, or at least keep them at current levels for a longer period than American consumers may have expected.

At the moment, because we import so much of our oil, we remain at the mercy of OPEC.  The only way to break that reliance is to massively produce our energy independent of foreign oil, or at least as independent as we can make ourselves.  The more we add our own resources, the less money we send abroad, the more jobs we create here, and the weaker OPEC gets.  They can only play with the market as long as they control it; with the US mostly out of the global market, OPEC might collapse as its members abandon the cartel and fend for themselves instead.

When will we finally begin to take responsibility for our own needs and keep our money in the US?

Biden’s deferments

Does this really make much of a difference otherwise?  Plenty of people took deferments, and as many of them as they could, including Dick Cheney.  Deferments weren’t illegal, although they certainly were controversial at the time and remain so today.  Biden didn’t become a “draft dodger” or a deserter, and as we can see, he became a productive member of American society. Under normal circumstances, it shouldn’t make any difference at all.

However, the same can be said for Cheney — and mostly wasn’t over the last four years.  Democrats who gleefully questioned Cheney’s manhood and patriotism over this issue should now explain why they support a candidate for the same office with the same record of deferments.  This issue shouldn’t be about Biden, who cooperated with the system as it existed at the time.  It should be about holding the hypocrites accountable for their baseless attacks over the years.

Obama’s answer on experience: But I’m such a great campaigner!

Even if they did, it gives him no experience at managing disasters.  Governors and mayors have to manage disasters, and when they succeed, they save lives.  When they fail, as we saw in Katrina, it costs lives.  Legislators have no role in disaster management itself, although honestly, disaster management isn’t usually a resumé point when voting for mayor, governor, or President.  Whatever impulse exists now to make it one stems from the irrational blame heaped on George Bush for the failures of Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco in Katrina, although FEMA certainly had its failures as well.

But the main point here is that Obama didn’t really answer the question, and he set up a straw man argument in response to Cooper.  Governor Palin is, well, governor, and not currently the mayor of Wasila.  As Governor, Palin operates a $9 billion budget, and manages $13 billion in revenue.  Furthermore, she runs a government that employs 25,000 people.

Obama blithely pretends that she’s still the mayor of “Wasilly” in order to boost himself.  However, running for office isn’t executive experience, for one good reason: Obama isn’t the campaign manager.  He has a CEO actually running the campaign, handling the budget, and managing the people while Obama makes the speeches.

I spoke to Cherie Shirey, Assignment Manager for TV station KTVA in Anchorage and she made the following statement...

"These internet rumors are very bizarre. We worked with Governer Palin many times in 2008. Our reporters worked her on location and in the studio and I worked with her myself. She was definitely pregnant. You could see it in her belly and her face. The whole idea that Sarah Palin wasn't pregnant with Trig is completely, absolutely absurd. "

It's a KTVA reporter in this picture with Governor Palin. Shirey confirmed the photo was taken in April, 2008.

ST. PAUL--Newsday columnist Larry Levy, here at the opening of the Republican convention, says of the story about Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter being pregnant, “It’s almost all upside.”

In addition to making the pro-life, religious right happy, Levy says, "it appeals to the average, working-class woman.” Those women, Levy says, are “tired of hearing guys questioning the experience of the governor of Alaska who, geez, if she hadn’t taken time out to raise five kids, might be president of the United States already.”

Who knew, right? Still, nice catch by the RJC, who just sent this out over email. Hey - what's that over Governor Palin's shoulder?

Because that question was otherwise a total nail biter. There are nice zoom shots starting at about 6:50, and thus does MR get its first Palin banner. Meanwhile, leftists ostensibly concerned with Jewish issues came out swinging against Gov. Palin:

Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida lashed out Saturday at John McCain's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate, accusing her of supporting "Nazi sympathizer" Pat Buchanan, and branding the move an "affront to all Jewish Americans." "John McCain's decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans," said a statement by Wexler.

Actually that's asinine, but at least guilt by association is in the ballpark of what might someday become almost an argument. Compared to the rest of the NJDC's incoherent anti-Republican smears it's a veritable mathematical proof. And I kind of like this new standard: giving money to Nazi sympathizers is a direct affront to Jewish Americans. Hmmm.

Democratic Leader "Pleased" Israel Has No Plans To Defend Itself From Iran

A Question For Democratic Jews: Are You ******* Retarded?

NJDC: Biden Is Pro-Israel Because... Ummm... Err... Because He Just Is OK?

That's about the only thing that I didn't know about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. The rest of the details I picked up almost without trying, while talking about other things with townsfolk — some who know the governor and her family well, some who don't. It was, more or less, an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: the governor's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it's really nobody's business beyond that.

I happen to agree.

About those peaceful anti-GOP protestors …

Biden: Obama will surrender on nukes to Iran

For those unfamiliar with Ha’aretz, it doesn’t exactly have a knee-jerk conservative spin.  In fact, it’s at best a center-left editorial board. They’re not terribly sympathetic to the Bush administration or most of its policies.  They wouldn’t have much reason to simply make this up.

If anyone doubted that an Obama presidency would surrender to radicalism and hostile forces abroad, this should clinch it.  Biden has pretty much told the Israelis that they’re on their own, and America won’t bother to support them against the nutcases in the region.  If Obama and Biden don’t have the courage to face Iran’s nuclear ambitions, then exactly when will they defend American interests?

Update: The Jerusalem Post says this conversation took place three years ago:

Army Radio reported that the Delaware senator was heard saying in closed conversations with Jerusalem officials three years ago that he was firmly opposed to an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Biden, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reportedly claimed that Israel would likely have to come to terms with a nuclear Iran. He reportedly expressed doubt over the effectiveness of economic sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic and said he was against the opening of an additional military and diplomatic front, saying that the US had more pressing problems, such as North Korea and Iraq.

The Ha’aretz report didn’t mention a time frame.  Still, either way, the message is the same: Biden won’t stand up to Iran, and since Barack Obama chose him for his foreign-policy chops, one has to figure that Obama agrees.  After all, Biden is the man who once proposed sending $200 million to Tehran to pacify the mullahs.

Trippi to Democrats: Don’t laugh off Palin

At any rate, this shows that reality has begun to dawn for the Left.  The massive support for Palin on the campaign trail, the enormous fundraising boost, and the sinking poll numbers for Obama point to the conclusion that McCain made a wise choice.  He will attack Obama at his supposed strength and point out what a pair of empty suits the Democratic nominees are on reform and change.

Trippi says that Democrats will make a mistake in ridiculing Palin.  Unfortunately, just like his analysis, it comes at least a day late.

Oy: Palin’s daughter is pregnant

Update: KP was ahead of the game:

A McCain campaign official tells ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that McCain knew of Bristol’s pregnancy and “didn’t believe Governor Palin should be disqualified” from the vice presidency because of it. “If Democrats try to attack, it will backfire spectacularly,” the official said.

Update: The more I think about it, the more I think McCain probably did know. The timing is simply perfect to release the news: You wouldn’t want to do it on Friday, lord knows, when she’s getting her intro to the country, and you wouldn’t want to do it later in the campaign when it’s closer to Election Day or even later this week when it’d distract from her convention speech. Now’s the time to do it, when it’ll be no higher than the third-most important story of the day.

If I’m right, then the nutroots’s smears about Palin’s own pregnancy gave McCain an amazingly fortuitous pretext here. Now he gets to play the victim — “we had to do it to stop those dastardly left-wing bloggers from hurting the family” — instead of just someone making an embarrassing admission.

Homeopathy degree suspended after wave of criticism - The degree at the University of Central Lancashire has been put on hold after "relentless attacks from the anti-homeopathy league" (The Guardian)

Bloody idiots should never have offered such nonsense to begin with.