I don’t see how the hell OPEC, or the laws of supply and demand are controlling the price of oil on a daily basis. Demand does not change on a daily basis. OPEC countries, whose leaders for the most part detest one another, do not meet everyday at dawn to announce an increase in the price of their oil.

That price is determined solely on the maneuvering of greedy speculators. With the current idiotic commodities exchange markets of New York and London determining the price of oil. There is no limit to what prices the barrel of oil may reach. The more speculators speculate on oil, the higher the price goes. And any event can be taken as an incentive to create a rush on oil. Anyone with enough capital can engineer a buying or a selling spree. Oil exporting countries may benefit, but big oil conglomerates such as Exxon-Mobile get to have their cake and eat it too. Their revenues sharply increase, multiplying the value of their shares, logarithmically enriching their corporate elite.

What the hell kind of a system is that? Now this most essential of human needs, WATER, is being targeted for privatization all over the third world by American and European companies. A big new American military base is being built in Paraguay at the mouth of the Guarani Aquifer, the second largest reservoir of potable water in the world. Are we soon going to talk about the water conglomerates and the price of the barrel of water on the stock exchange? What will then be the fate of humanity? Global feudalism with an elite transnational aristocracy? Then what? A new global Bolshevik Revolution?

Serving Michigan are 27 Clear Channel Radio Stations, 6 Fox Television Stations and the Wall Street Journal all controlled by Newscorp against ten million of us.
Still it looks like we doubled Dr. Paul’s primary votes. Kucinich got a healthy handful also.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ggYoE_tQgO0bCfTEw1KC-ock94Hg

Why is this story not reported by the MSM? We are told that we have “won” in Afghanistan. But last week Dutch NATO occupation troops killed two of their own troops in a friendly fire incident and two others. Taliban leaders claim that they have killed 2,100 US occupation troops. At least 218 US/NATO troops have been killed by Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2007. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are confident and upbeat that they will defeat the US. The US may be losing the war in Afghanistan. This is a possible reason for censoring this story.

Afghanistan was supposed to be easy and a cakewalk. After all, we trained, supplied, and funded the Al Qaeda and Taliban “terrorists”, the once Freedom Fighters of the Reaganite era. But the Taliban is getting stronger, not weaker. It is the US that is being bled white, it is the US that is panicking. Al Qaeda is sitting pretty.

This raises questions. Have we learned anything about Afghanistan? It appears that we have not. After all, it was the US that said that the Taliban and Al Qaeda were Freedom Fighters. They are Freedom Fighters that want to drive out the evil foreigners. After all, Charlie Wilson devised this ideological struggle. Charlie said Ossama was a Freedom Fighter.

The thing is, the Taliban know that they will win the war there. They just have to sit back and wait. As more and more Americans are killed in Afghanistan, now close to 1,000 dead, the Taliban will only get stronger.

Charlie Wilson did a lot to empower Al Qaeda and the Taliban and Ossama bin Laden. Now Charlie is going to sow the whirlwind. Those mujahedeen Freedom Fighters that Charlie Wilson funded and created will dig his grave. They will bury him. I’m sure the Soviets are laughing their asses off!

The rise in the price of oil is partly illusory–what is really happening now is that oil is being valued in Euros and the dollar is collapsing.

There is no way military contracts will benefit Michigan, nor the declining dollar, nor lower interest rates–unless Michiganites are willing to work for air.

Some figures today:

(1) January 15, 2008 USD 1=0.6722 Euro

(2) “HOUSTON, Jan. 15,2008 — After falling to a 3-week low over three prior trading sessions, crude rebounded above $94/bbl Jan. 14 on the New York market because cold weather increased demand for fuel oil in the Northeast and the value of the dollar dropped to a near-record low, prompting an investment shift to commodities as a hedge.” [MarketWatch]

(3) “WASHINGTON Jan.15, 2008 AP: Wholesale inflation last year shot up by the largest amount in 26 years while retailers suffered their worst December shopping season in five years as mounting economic woes caused consumers to put away their wallets”.

All these are tied directly to the Iraq War, which is also tied to the collapse of real estate, mortgage, and credit.

The other ads are by and large economy-focused. In fact I got several phone calls yesterday from a recorded message assuring me that a vote for Mike Huckabee is a vote for jobs. Since I already have a job I chose to disregard them. The only other Ron Paul commercial I heard (and I only heard it once, the military one seemed to get way more airtime) was warning of the dangers of the North American Union, and the NAFTA Superhighway, and illegal immigrants destroying America. That seems like it could play around here, because if there’s one thing the Union Democrats like, its worrying about immigrants taking their jobs (which is remarkable inasmuch as unemployment around here is already near the double-digit range, so its hard to imagine illegals flocking to Saginaw in search of work).

Mitt Romney has focused on the theme that he was born and raised in Michigan. This is his main TV ad selling point. Romney has spent an estimated $17 million of his own money for campaign ads. There has been a media blitzkrieg in Michigan by the Romney camp. He focuses on the Michigan economy and how Michigan is in a “one state recession”. He says he wants to help the Michigan economy but does not say how. It is mostly gibberish and postering. It is a simple approach. “Michiganians, I too am a Michiganian. I feel your pain. Vote for me because I was born in Michigan!” It is an appeal to emotion and an appeal to vanity. Vote for someone that looks like you, not these strangers. It is all fluff.

John McCain has a TV ad in Michigan that is all bluster. He will fight radical Islamists and jihadists (unless they are our own mujahedeen Freedom Fighters or proxy Muslim troops that we fund and back). He focuses on how he opposed Donald Rumsfeld because he was essentially too soft. He presents this phony persona on how McCain is supposed to be opposed to the status quo. It is very subtle and manipulative. McCain is a rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth warmonger who is made to appear like an outsider and a peacenik. McCain is US Warmonger no. 1 but in the ad he appears to be a patriot. He says that he loves America. He loves war even more. McCain is the American War God, the American Mars, the God of War. His TV ad is clever. Warmongering is equared with patriotism. By this standard, Adolf Hitler too was a great “patriot” like McCain. Language is manipulated and prostituted by the McCain campaign team. There is no substance in McCain’s ad, merely mindless posturing. A vote for McCain is a vote for perpetual war. But McCain has the money and his ads run non-stop in Michigan.

Dennis Kucinich has also campaigned in Michigan, making several stops in the state. He does not have the money like Romney for any media blitz so his campaign is low-key. The Ron Paul campaign is also low-key in terms of TV ads. Ron Paul flyers have been distributed at many events in Michigan. The candidates have also mailed campaign pamphlets and made taped telephone calls to potential voters. I received a taped telephone message from John McCain and from Mitt Romney myself. McCain and Romney have the most bucks and have non-stop TV ads and campaigning activity. Both have made numerous stops in the state. Both were at the Detroit 2008 Auto Show in Downtown Detroit. Mike Huckabee was also making personal appearances in the state, appearing at two polling stations in Warren, Michigan.

In short, there was nothing on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The candidates know that the wars are a non-starter. They know that what is good for GM is good for America. As McCain has noted, Michigan is the military arsenal for America, making the tanks, planes, and vehicles that make war and intervention possible. Wars are good for the economy. Wars are good for GM. Wars are good for Michigan. And to their credit, all the candidates know this. That is a no-brainer. The upshot is that the wars are not an issue at all. All Michiganians care about is their life-style. Don’t cramp that. High gas prices and a poor economy threaten that life-style. All Michiganians care about is to be able to maintain their life-style. Everything else is meaningless.

Not surprisingly, only about 20% of Michigan voters are expected to even bother to vote in the primary. Not much to choose from either. Can we vote for “None of the Above”?

Geez. I’ll again delay the rebirth of my idealism.