Just some more random notes and madness from around the world:
Ralph Nader met with John Kerry yesterday to discuss “common ground” issues. Look folks, the only thing these two have in common is a hated for George Bush. I have said all along that the Nader campaign is a sham. He will drop out of the race as soon as the DNC tells him to. They already cut off funding and now have formed a group to oppose Nader. This was a good way to get everyone all hyped up and remind the base of 2000. It’s a good strategy actually. Personally I respect Nader because he stands up for what he believes in. He is the ONLY anti-war candidate running and should be the choice of environmental activist, feminists and most social libertarians. I may disagree with just about every policy Nader wants to implement, but I can respect the way he takes on unpopular ideas and runs with them. In fact I wonder why so many people would run from Nader. Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, why have you turned on your beliefs?
For more on the Nader/Kerry meeting, you can read: Kerry Meets With Nader
Everyone is feeling the pinch at the pump again and that has both the Dems and Reps playing politics with our tanks. The Democrats from Kerry on down are calling on the President to release our oil surplus. This is something that Clinton did in the summer of 2000 to help Gore at the polls. It is also a really stupid idea. I’m sorry, but the benefit just isn’t worth depleting the emergency supply. Kerry estimates it will save a nickel at the pump, but even if we go with Dianne Feinstein’s optimistic claims that it will save us 12.5 cents, why bother? We are still talking about well over two bucks a gallon and within a month we would be out of oil. I’m sorry, that just isn’t enough to make this a good idea. On the other side of the aisle, President Bush is using the price crunch to push his energy plan. I don’t agree with everything in that plan, but it certainly helps his calls to open up US oil fields when we’re staring 3 buck a gallon fuel costs in the face. There is some money in the President’s plan for alternative fuels. Enough money? Probably not, but it is a step in the right direction. As for the drilling, I’m still not entirely convinced it will be the solution, but if prices at the pump are an issue, then we have to break our dependence on OPEC. Funding new fuel alternatives and exploring in our own backyard sounds like a good start. In the end though, don’t count on Bush giving up the reserve or the Dems allowing his energy plan to make it through. I think we’re just stuck in the middle as usual my friends. As the song says, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers on the right.”
Off politics for a bit, how about if we talk about fantasy baseball. I don’t know how many of you play, but Tuesday was a good day if you were lucky enough to have Randy Johnson or Jason Schmidt on your squad. I happen to have the both of them on two of my teams and it was a great day. Now if I could just find a way to make up for the loss of Troy Glaus and Sammy Sosa for who knows how long.
I’m still working my way through the DVD collection and have hit a good streak. After freaking out over just how bizarre “Alice in Wonderland” really is, I got “All the President’s Men” and “Almost Famous” today. Next up is the Americas. American President, America Psycho, American Graffiti and the like.