They manage to top all expectations and come up with this
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation on Tuesday allowing the Justice Department to sue OPEC members for limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices, but the White House threatened to veto the measure.
The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.
The measure passed in a 324-84 vote, a big enough margin to override a presidential veto.
What kind of complete morons are these people? Oh wait, it’s an election year, so they are pandering morons. There is absolutely no reason why foreign companies in foreign countries should be subject to US anti-trust laws, or any US laws, for that matter. Of course OPEC is a cartel and limits supply to try and keep prices elevated; it doesn’t matter. If they were a US based group then something Congress does might have relevance. Oh sure, if Congress really cared about taking a stand against OPEC they would say “because they are a monopoly we are not going to allow any of their products into the US; that’ll teach ’em.” And that would be the extent of what they could do. Our legislative authority extends to our borders, and that’s it. It is a very very dangerous idea to try and extend it with stupid ploys like this, because then it must be a two-way street. Should US-based companies, whose products are produced in the US, be subject to foreign laws? I don’t think so.
I mean, that would be like allowing the author of a book who lives in America and the book was published in America to be sued in, say, a British court for libel. Completely insane, right?
Election year economic populist legislation such as this leads to towering examples of Solomaic wisdom as expressed by this noted thinker:
“This bill guarantees that oil prices will reflect supply and demand economic rules, instead of wildly speculative and perhaps illegal activities,” said Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, who sponsored the legislation.
It does nothing of the sort. In fact, were I OPEC I would institute an immediate cut in production of, say, 1/2% to spike prices some more and show the complete impotence and incompetence of the US Congress. How do you like them supply apples now, Rep. Kagan? What are you going to “do” about it now, big guy?
How about approving the building of some nuke plants, approving ANWR drilling and oil sand extraction?
Oh, and wind farms off of Hyannis Port would be nice, too.
…You can be assured Greenpeace is against it
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are not doing enough to eliminate potentially harmful chemicals and metals from their games consoles, Greenpeace has said.
The body examined materials used inside the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Greenpeace said that while all three machines complied with European laws, the consoles still contained harmful materials that “needed to be replaced”.
Nintendo’s environment policies were “non-existent”, Greenpeace added.
“Nintendo doesn’t have any environmental policies, ” said Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace’s International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator.
Why is it that people who are “concerned” about, well, damn near everything are the whiniest old damp dish towels imaginable? And maybe I missed something along the way, but since “all three machines complied with European laws” why doesn’t Greenpeace just stfu? Who replaced the EU parliament with them?
Oh, those cagey generals ~ letting all the neighbors through the door just in time to carry back to their countries all those lovely biblical, epidemic diseases.
Myanmar relents, will allow relief help
Military junta to permit neighboring countries to over see aid distribution
Domination by elimination ~ sounds like a plan to me! Pass a high energy biscuit over here!
…it can conclusively and empirically be stated that the routine and continued ingestion of plastic turkey foisted on unsuspecting troops by a complicit and unfeeling government bureaucracy…
…inevitably results in slower troop movements…
Read more »
“So, mate, there I was, sittin’ ’round the bar and asking the sheila behind fer a cold quaff. She grabs ‘erself a bottle, then the opener and crikey!!”
“It’s like me ‘ol body shrieks Danger, Danger, DANGER!!!”
…kicks his ass.
-May 18: Taliban bullet shatters a wall an inch from face of U.S. Marine from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit during firefight with Taliban near Garmser in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
But a NINEDOLLAHFITTYCENT BUDWEISER?!?!?!?
• $9.50 for Budweiser on tap.
• $10.50 for Foster’s beer on tap.
• $5.75 for a box of Cracker Jacks.
• $8 for Italian sausage.
• $5 for a Nathan’s hot dog.
Not even for my boys would I spend that.
About what other countries think of us
Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.
“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.
And I’m really getting tired of our “leaders” trying to fellate foreign media. I don’t care if the Brits want to eat everything fried or if the French want to smoke the stinkiest damn cigarettes imaginable; they can do what they want.
“Leadership” is not getting everyone to like you and say nice things about you.
“Leadership” is not forcing your people to abide by some other’s standards and look to another country for approval; that’s treason.
“Leadership” is doing what is best and right for your country, and the foreign opinion be damned.
From now on, you don’t need a subway grate…
…to peek up skirts in Florida!
An Escambia County Judge set a new legal precedent in the case of a former high school teacher charged with voyeurism.
Judge G.J. Roark ruled that upskirting a woman with a mirror in a public place, is not illegal under Florida’s voyeurism statute. Pensacola Police arrested former Catholic High teacher Brian Presken when a woman accused him of looking up her skirt with a mirror at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Pensacola last summer.
No ruling yet from the judge on what happens if victims hereafter choose to kick the shit out of the asshole with the mirror vice calling police, since it follows that there should be no expectation of being safe from an ass kicking in a public place, then.
“Great shot, girlfriend!”…
…”I understand when you’re running for office you sometimes think the world revolves around you. That is not always true. And it is not true in this case,” she said.
…ths says, as she 
in delight.
Wunder is having a bumper sticker contest. Go give it your best shot!
I couldn’t resist it.
I am weak.
Now it’s reached 78,000
The official death toll for Burma’s cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV.
Previously, Burma was giving a toll of 43,000 dead and 28,000 missing while the Red Cross and United Nations had estimated a death toll above 100,000.
Aid agencies are frustrated at the slow progress of aid to areas worst hit.
Cyclone Nargis battered southern regions of Burma, including the Irrawaddy Delta, on 2-3 May.
A BBC reporter in the delta this week saw little sign of official help and foreign aid workers have been barred from the area.
Foreign aid workers barred. Jesus H. Christ. I can understand Chinese reluctance, as they have millions of troops able to help out with their earthquake relief, but these bastards in Burma? Oh wait, they say everything is honky-dory now
Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein has announced that the “first phase of emergency relief” is over and that the focus is now on reconstruction.
Nothing to see here folks, move along.
I bet I could give him a run for his money
Poems by the man ridiculed as “the world’s worst poet” are expected to fetch up to £6,500 at auction.
Thirty-five of William McGonagall’s works – many of them autographed – are going under the hammer on Friday.
The ditties by “The Tayside Tragedian” have been valued in the same league as Harry Potter first editions signed by JK Rowling.
McGonagall, who died in 1902, was often mocked and had food thrown at him during readings in Dundee.
Now here was a real artist, a man who interacted with his adoring public
“He tried to hawk these poems around the streets of places like Dundee and he was notoriously encouraged to give performances just so people could make fun of him.
“Poet-baiting became an ongoing activity, they used to throw vegetables at him and all sorts.”
Poet-baiting.
I love that.
Everyone’s homework assignment for the weekend is to email me some of the worst, most tortured drek they wrote during those teen angst years and I’ll publish it next week. You know you all did it. We’re all friends here. We won’t laugh.
Well, in fact we will, which is the point.
Go hit those crap scrap books!
I wonder if the guy is auditioning for the NY Post?
Naked Ugg boot ram-raider jailed
A man who ram-raided a supermarket dressed in only a pair of Ugg boots has been jailed for four years.
David Ball, 32, from Tyseley, Birmingham, ram-raided a supermarket and stole about £1,500 of cigarettes.
“Naked Ugg Boot Ram-Raider”
My goodness.
Via Ace, I mean, I know the winters are mighty long up in The Great White North, and Canadians are upset about polar bear testicles and stuff, but it seems to me that this is carrying their carvingcraving for some Nanook nookie a little too far
A Winnipeg woman who accidentally plunged a knife into her boyfriend’s chest during a drunken bout of rough sex received a three-year conditional discharge yesterday.
… Allan said the man and woman had been drinking heavily and were engaged in “rough sex activities” when the man requested she “carve artwork” into his chest.
“He said they engaged in dangerous play, and due to her intoxication, was not precise with the knife and punctured his heart,” Allan said.
The man told police the stabbing was an accident and that the two routinely cut and scratched each other with knives. The man showed police several wounds, including a heart-shaped scar on his back featuring the woman’s initials.
I wonder if she made him a “get well carve”?
Her teachers always said she was a knife girl from a good family.
I don’t want schmancy cheese; I want da’ Whiz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ? Sliced, sizzled and slathered with cheese … the famous Philly cheesesteak serves as an iconic representation of our city and now, an expensive luxury.
That’s because Chef James Locascio, of Rittenhouse Square’s Barclay Prime, created Philadelphia’s “haute” cheesesteak, an upscale version of the sandwich that includes butter poached lobster and shaved truffles.
“It’s every ingredient you want to try in a life time in one,” said Locascio.
Still, that kind of lavishness doesn’t come cheap. For one cheesesteak, expect to pay $100. That is nearly 15 times more than the original.
Truffles? Lobster?
Pffft.
My cosmic twin, who ~ oddly enough ~ shares a birthday with…
…the Enumclaw Mountain Man (aka brother-born-between-ths-and-Bingley).
A happy, Happy Birthday to you, sweet little brother!!!
So Long, Fare Well,
Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu
I’ll take my axe
To you and you and yoo-u
(CNN) — An Austrian man has confessed to killing five members of his family with an ax, Vienna police said Wednesday.
The man walked into a Vienna police station early Wednesday and told authorities he had killed his wife and 7-year-old daughter early Tuesday, police spokesman Michael Braunsperger said.
The man, a self-employed public relations consultant according to The Associated Press, said he had also murdered both his parents and his father-in-law in the cities of Ansfelden and Linz, respectively, the spokesman said.
Police found the five victims, who had all been killed with an ax, Braunsperger said. The man said his motive was “financial difficulties.”
“He said he’d been speculating on the financial markets and had lost everything, so he … wanted to spare his family the shame,” Braunsperger said.
What a thoughtful guy. I wonder if that’s a traditional Austrian saying: “Spare the shame and axe the child.”
Austria certainly has had its share of wackos lately, hasn’t it?
Tim Blair has moved his blog to here, which seems to be run where he works…and now it’s moderated. It’s just starting up and the delay seems to be down to under 10 minutes before something is posted, but it still will crimp the ‘live conversation with someone around the world’ aspect that made the old site such a blast.
And there’s no Mistress Andrea to keep the naughty folks in line.
Sigh.
That’s progress, folks.
“…said young Gerald McGrew.”
…I know it’s all relative, but if I come back as a lab rat in another life, I hope I’m forced to eat powdered drink mixes instead of having a cigarette shoved in my little rat piehole or made to wear experimental lipstick.
Somewhere Gaia is crying
The Lexus LS600H, which costs £84,000, was a gift from Lexus to the 65-year-old former Beatle, who helped promote the hybrid vehicle.
But instead of arriving by boat as expected, the car was flown to Britain on a Korean Air flight, creating a carbon footprint almost 100 times bigger than if it had come by sea.
Gawd, I just love this stuff.
…it’s a necessary evil.
• The applicant smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
Politics | Mr. Bingley | 
May 21, 2008 6:42 am | 
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