The inflation disaster is near

February 23, 2011
By Lee DeCovnick

Five dollar a gallon gas will shatter the Federal Reserve's tightly constrained lid on inflation and accelerate the other half our long anticipated "double dip" recession. Gas and diesel powers America's 141 million cars, 100 million pickups and SUV's, 8.8 million heavy trucks and 6.7 million motorcycles. Oil runs our harvesters, delivers our groceries, cooks our food, heats our houses, propels our jets, fuels our M-1A1 Abrams tanks, and lubricates our bicycles. American business can only absorb a few percentage points increase in oil prices before passing on their additional distribution costs to the consumer. Already the increases in food and clothing prices have been felt at the cash register. Disposable income will inevitably drop along with consumer demand for domestic cars and trucks, imported goods from China, and destination vacations to resorts in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean. Don't even ask what this means to our already sluggish unemployment numbers.

So, how close are we to $5.00 a gallon gas? This photo was shot yesterday, February 22, 2011. We may look a back at these prices as the "good old days" of inexpensive energy costs.  Read More

Post Traumatic American Syndrome

***I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area (mostly Berkeley) for 30 yrs...through the 50s, 60s and early 70's.  All through the 50s Berkeley was a clean collegete beautiful town.  The 60s changed everything...Berkeley became a dirty town with bars on store windows...the atmosphere of innocence lost forever.

Post Traumatic American Syndrome

February 23, 2011
By Robin of Berkeley

I have noticed fewer people around town this past weekend. First I thought it was because of the Presidents Day holiday. Then I realized it was because anarchists were being bused into Wisconsin! More for them, and fewer for us!

The Midwest is getting a bit of a taste of Berkeley life. I'm guessing they are not liking it one bit. The violent, hostile vibe wouldn't sit well with decent Midwestern folks.

Of course, around Berkeley, riots are nothing new; there are street uprisings whenever the spirit moves people.

On Telegraph Avenue, the poor merchants have endured impromptu mayhem for decades. I say "poor" merchants for a reason: most of them are struggling, and, if you've visited the area recently, you'll find that a number of storekeepers have packed up and moved on.

When the infamous BART police shooting occurred a few years ago, there was lawlessness all over downtown Oakland. Cars were destroyed, stores ransacked and looted, and people were injured. Of course, many joined in who weren't motivated by righteous indignation, but by the promise of free jewelry and clothes.  Read More

The Taxpayer’s Civil War

A showdown over the nature of government itself

February 22, 2011
Daniel Greenfield

The protests in Wisconsin represent a split in American politics. Not a split between Republicans and Democrats, but between those who believe that the government should continue expanding, and those who see the continued expansion of governments as the greatest threat to their political and economic freedoms. This is not just a debate over budgets, it is a battle over political power, and it is the country’s most fundamental split since the Civil War.

The combination of abuses of power by an out of touch liberal party, an economic recession and growing insecurity about America’s future have touched off something that is more than a taxpayer’s revolt. Instead it’s turning into a showdown over the nature of government itself.

Money is the engine of government. Tax revenues are meant to to fund the operations of government only through the decisions of elected officials. Which is why public officials who want to expand the size and scope of government need an electoral base of support. That electorate is created using wealth redistribution. Taxpayer money is siphoned off to a redistributive electorate, which delivers mass votes and campaign contributions. There’s no way to halt the expansion of government, without taking on the redistributive electorate.  Read More

Gulf Oil Disaster's Hidden Devastation

Full devastating effects of Gulf oil disaster could take a decade to emerge

February 23, 2011
By Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) The full extent of the damage caused by the BP oil disaster last April may not become apparent for at least another decade, says Samantha Joye, a professor in the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of Georgia. Contrary to claims made by BP's compensation fund that the Gulf will fully recover by 2012, Joye says that 2012 will more than likely mark the point at which some of the more serious Gulf damage begins to come to light.

Under healthy conditions, multitudes of organisms and microorganisms populate the Gulf seafloor and provide oxygenation for sediment and food for other species. These creatures, which play a vital role in the aquatic food chain, were largely devastated by the oil disaster, though the issue has not been addressed. In time, this hidden devastation throughout the entire aquatic ecosystem will become apparent, and the end result will not be pretty.  Read More

Oil prices continue to rise at a rapid pace

5 Dollar Gas? Get Ready To Pay An Arm And A Leg For Gasoline

The Economic Collapse
February 23, 2011

One of the quickest ways to bring down the U.S. economy would be to dramatically increase the price of oil. Oil is the lifeblood of our economic system. Without it, our entire economy would come to a grinding halt. Almost every type of economic activity in this country depends on oil, and even a small rise in the price of oil can have a dramatic impact on economic growth.  That is why so many economists are incredibly alarmed about what is happening in the Middle East right now.  The revolution in Libya caused the price of WTI crude to soar more than 7 dollars on Tuesday alone.  It closed at $93.57 on Tuesday and Brent crude actually hit $108.57 a barrel before settling back to $105.78 at the end of the day.  Some analysts are warning that we could even see 5 dollar gas in the United States by the end of the year if rioting spreads to other oil producing nations such as Saudi Arabia.  With the Middle East in such a state of chaos right now it is hard to know exactly what is going to happen, but almost everyone agrees that if oil prices continue to rise at a rapid pace over the next several months it is going to have a devastating impact on economic growth all over the globe.  Read More

Obama: Polarization brings redistributive change

The Battle for Wisconsin is the Battle for the Future of America

February 23 2011
By Matthew Vadum

Contrary to what the Left says, it is not a sign of mental disturbance to believe that President Obama is deliberately fomenting crises in order to advance his radical agenda. I might even argue that it is a form of denial to fail to recognize that the Community-Organizer-in-Chief’s deliberate, exquisitely calculated, ongoing campaign to sow discord and chaos is part of a larger strategy. Crises, as Rahm Emanuel and Hillary Clinton remind us, present opportunities that should not be wasted.

There is no conspiracy because to my mind that implies that the plan is hidden. It is not. The evidence is there for anyone who cares to look. There is a plan to smash America’s longstanding institutions and render the U.S. Constitution meaningless and it comes from Saul Alinsky, Richard Cloward, Frances Fox Piven and from others in a rogue’s gallery of liberty-hating revolutionary activists and thinkers. Not every aspect of the plan is clear-cut and not all radicals agree on every aspect of it but there is no denying that there has been a meeting of the minds on the hard Left for the last 50 or so years. They know that the kind of change they want will not come organically, not in America with its wonderfully anti-authoritarian cultural biases. As Che Guevara remarked, “The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall.”
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