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Nightly Ramble: Oil Price Dropping; Obama And Thomas Again; Car Stereo; The VP Chase; More

  • Amazing, how the press isn’t covering the drop in oil prices the way they covered every penny of it’s rise. Despute a bit of bouyancy surrounding Faye ad the possiblity of disruptions from that storm, prices are back on their downward spike, starting at $111 [1]and change this morning and $110 by 1pm. [2] Then back to $115 by 2pm [3]. It’ll be back down by the time you read this. It’s done this several times since the bubble burst a month or so back… it keeps trying to rally, but it always drops in the end.
  • The dollar, meanwhile, has hit a 6 month high. [4]  And yes, these two are partially linked.  We are seeing prices rise by a fairly good clip just now, but I see tis as a trailing indicator due to oil’s recent run up. those will come down over the winter accrodingly and are no more than a short term worry, in my view.
  • Remember, gang, the above two items started happening when the voters here in the US started making noise about domestic drilling. Imagine what happens when we actually start prducing the stuff.
  • And I have to say that when even the LA Times [5]starts saying ‘it’s time to drill’ it’s past time.
  • Phil Collins got divorced again… bigtime payouts involved. POssibly the largest in British history. What, no pre-nup, Phil? What’s WRONG with you?
  • I note increasingly hostile commentary [6]on Obama and his attitudes about Justice Thomas. Good. He should get called out for it. Trouble is, his attitude isn’t all that unusual on the left. So much for post racialism.
  • Driving into work this morning, I heard the strangest sound, coming from under my dashboard. Turned out to be the heater coming on. It was 60 degrees here this morning. Cold a morning as we’ve seen since May. Truck’s HVAC has been on automatic for so long I don’t even thnk about it anymore. Weird.
  • I guess the surge worked [7].  No, it’s not what you’re thinking, but it does have implications…
  • You need to go see this ad [8]Hawkins has put together.
  • Kaus is still on Edwards case.  And he’s right; this case does provide a clear view into how the press gets manipulated, …often allowing it willingly… by powerful Democrats.
  • Why is this [9] so damned hard? It’s the one thing that annoys me about an otherwise great vehicle… and even the Bose Stereo I’m messing with sounds great and has a great tuner. What is it about auto designers that they need to place you in a figurative box when you try to add something?
  • McCain will announce VP pick on the 29th [10]. AFTER the Denver fiasco. Smart move, John.
  • I see Gary Glitter… (Yeah, him…) got released [11]from that Vietnam prison he’s been in for trhee years. Actually, I’m amazed he survived.
  • Heath Schuler is an idiot. [12]
  • Speaking of such things, there are two types of drivers, who when totaled up, I swear, must account for the vast majority of frustration-related accidents on the road today.
    • The left lane roadblock. This is the guy… or woman… in the older LTD, a Fleetwood, or more recently, the newer econobox, out in the left lane in 65mph territory, doing 55… usually with their right turn signal on. The effect is one of holding up both lanes of traffic, usually amounting in a rolling traffic gaggle, some 5 miles long.
    • The right lane obsessive. This is the guy… or woman… invariably in the above mentioned vehicle, who upon enetering the freeway from the left, will dive across three lanes of traffic inside of about 15 feet worth of foward mostion, simply because the right lane is where some habit- driven part of their brain feels most comfortable. This will usually cause at least one spinout and a great deal of brake testing data for highway safety investigators as drivers head for the weeds trying to avoid this moron. Here’s someone who doesn’t like driving on freeways…. and, irony abounds, most other drivers don’t like them there, either.
  • Pot to Kettle [13], Roasanne.
  • Did you see this moron in Florida folling with a parachute in the middle of a hurricane? (Video) [14] Damn near the winner of today’s Darwin award.
  • Yah, I did get a chuckle out of that [15], Billy. But what really burns my biscuts is they get $75 an axle for doing that… with power tools that make it twice as fast as what you did the job in. Or maybe $49 at the cut rate places. Sheesh. And they say oil companies are a problem?
  • Michelle has an post up clled “WhiteWashing Helen Thomas.”.  [16]Let me just say tthat a fresh coat of paint would do Helen a world of good.