Dicky's Doodles &Scribbles

Cartoons,editorials and comment about current events and more.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Exxon-Mobil Reaps Record Earnings...Again!


(AP)
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday soaring oil prices pushed its second-quarter earnings up 14 percent, again breaking its own record for the highest-ever profit by a U.S. company. Net income in the quarter rose to $11.68 billion, or $2.22 a share, from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, last year.
Exxon,the world's largest publicly traded company,previously set the high-water mark for quarterly earnings in the fourth quarter of last year, when it brought in $11.66 billion.

Friday, July 25, 2008

McCain Is Getting Desperate, Making Crazy Remarks!



John McCain is getting desperate and showing more signs of creeping senility. Recently he said "It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign." That’s a sorry thing to say and he has apparently no clue that such intemperate talk may come back as a backlash. It’s one thing to disagree on issues and policy positions but to impugn his opponents patriotism and motives in such a way does himself no credit.
Once again Boswell’s dictum, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” is proven. Time's Joe Klein called the political hit "as intemperate a personal attack as I've ever heard a major-party candidate make in a presidential campaign."

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Bob Novak Hits Pedestrian, Leaves Scene



An online story today, from Politico, described the events after Bob Novak, "The Prince of Darkness," as he is often called, hit a pedestrian in Washington, D.C. and then left the scene in his corvette. Sure sounds like Robert Novak alright, the asshole!

(The Politico) This story was written by Jonathan Martin and Chris Frates.
Syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak was cited by police after he hit a
pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C., on
Wednesday morning.
A Politico reporter saw Novak in the front of a police car with a citation
in his hand; a WJLA-TV crew and reporter saw Novak as well. The
pedestrian, a 66-year-old man who was not further identified by
authorities, was treated at George Washington University Hospital for
minor injuries, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. Novak was later released
by police and drove away from the scene.
“I didn’t know I hit him. I feel terrible,” a shaken Novak told reporters
from Politico and WJLA as he was returning to his car. "He's not dead,
that's the main thing." Novak said he was a block away from 18th and K
streets Northwest, where the accident occurred, when a bicyclist stopped
him and said, "You hit someone." He said he was cited for failing to yield
the right of way.
The bicyclist was David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, who was on
his usual bike commute to work at 1700 K St. N.W. when he witnessed the
accident.
As he traveled east on K Street, crossing 18th, Bono said a "black
Corvette convertible with top closed plowed into the guy. The guy is sort
of splayed onto the windshield.”
Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a "Walk"
signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and that Novak
then made a right into the service lane of K Street. “The car is speeding
away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and
drive away,” Bono said.
He said he chased Novak half a block down K Street., finally caught up
with him and then put his bike in front of the car to block it and called
911. Traffic immediately backed up, horns blared and commuters finally
went into reverse to allow Novak to pull over.
Bono said that throughout, Novak "keeps trying to get away. He keeps
trying to go.” He said he vaguely recognized the longtime political
reporter and columnist as a Washington celebrity but could not precisely
place him.
Finally, Bono said, Novak put his head out the window of his car and
motioned him over. Bono said he told him that you can't hit a pedestrian
and just drive away. He quoted Novak as responding: “I didn’t see him
there.”
A concierge at 1700 K Street said that she saw a bicyclist yelling and
walked outside to see what the commotion was about.
"This guy hit somebody and he won't stop so I'm going to stay here until
the police come," Aleta Petty quoted Bono as saying, as he stood in K
Street, blocking traffic.
D.C. police confirmed that there was an accident at 18th and K streets NW
at approximately 10 a.m. involving a black Corvette convertible and that
the driver was a white male.
The intersection is in the hub of Washington’s business district and is
filled with pedestrians who work in the law firms and lobby shops that
line the corridor.
Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital as an aggressive
driver, easily identified in his convertible sports car.
In 2001, he cursed at a pedestrian on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue
and 13th streets Northwest for allegedly jaywalking.
“’Learn to read the signs, [bodily orifice]!’ Novak snapped before
speeding away,” according to an item in The Washington Post’s Reliable
Novak explained to the paper: "He was crossing on the red light. I really
hate jaywalkers. I despise them. Since I don't run the country, all I can
do is yell at 'em. The other option is to run 'em over, but as a
compassionate conservative, I would never do that."
Two years later, the same column reported that Novak had gone to a racing
school in Florida.
"I've wanted to be a racecar driver all my life, and anyone who has
watched me drive can tell you that,” Novak said.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Blackouts Looming



Electricity production is lagging behind consumption. Americans are using more and more electricity and new power plants are not being built at a rate to keep pace.
Fuel costs are sky rocketing as are electric bills!
Imminent brownouts are being predicted in some quarters as summer sizzles along and the coming winter may put even more stress on our overloaded grid.
It is time to regulate electric rates once again and help working class people and the poor have the ability to keep their lights on!
Communities should have their own primary power plants and, like it or not, nuclear energy needs to be incorporated into our future energy plans.
Alternative energy sources should be rapidly developed and put in place. Solar, wind and other sources need to be given top priority.
It is also time to begin conservation in earnest! Homes do not need to so huge as many are now! We need to think smaller and smarter when it comes to building new homes and other buildings. There are lots of lights and other power hogs which do not need to be on all the time. We don't need so many lights turned on at night.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Searching For Energy Independence

Monday, July 14, 2008

US Exports To Iran Include, Bull Semen, Cigarettes, Bras


The following is from a story on CNN's website. John McCain had a comment when this story came out. Referring to US exports of cigarettes to Iran he said it may be "a way of killing 'em." This from the man many say has foreign policy expertise.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. exports to Iran grew more than tenfold during President Bush's years in office even as he accused it of nuclear ambitions and sponsoring terrorists.
America sent more cigarettes to Iran -- at least $158 million worth under Bush -- than any other product.
Other surprising shipments during the Bush administration: brassieres, bull semen, fur clothing, sculptures, perfume, musical instruments and military apparel.
Top states shipping goods to Iran include California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of seven years of U.S. government trade data.
Despite increasingly tough rhetoric toward Iran, which Bush has called part of an "axis of evil," U.S. trade in a range of goods survives on-again, off-again sanctions originally imposed nearly three decades ago.
The rules allow sales of agricultural commodities, medicine and a few other categories of goods. The exemptions are designed to help Iranian families even as the United States pressures Iran's leaders.
"I understand that these exports have increased," Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman, said Tuesday when asked by reporters about AP's findings.
"However, we believe that they are increasing to a segment of the population that we want to reach out to, we want to know and understand that the U.S. government, the U.S. people want to be friends with them, want to work with them to integrate them into the world economy and become partners in the future."
The government tracks exports to Iran using details from shipping records, but in some cases it's unclear whether anyone pays attention.
Sanctions are intended in part to frustrate Iran's efforts to build its
military, but the U.S. government's own figures showed at least $148,000 worth of unspecified weapons and other military gear were exported from the United States to Iran during Bush's time in office. That included $106,635 in military
rifles and $8,760 in rifle parts and accessories shipped in 2004.
The Bush administration looked into those shipments after AP questioned whether the U.S. really approved the export of military rifles to Iran. A review found the rifles and parts actually went to Iraq; the wrong country was entered on the shipping record, Treasury Department spokesman John Rankin said. The government will correct the data, he said.
The remaining military gear is likely $33,000 in military apparel shipped to Iran under the humanitarian exemption to the trade sanctions, Rankin said.
AP's questions also prompted the government to look into U.S. records showing the export of at least $13,000 in "aircraft launching gear and/or deck arrestors," equipment needed to launch jets from aircraft carriers. Iran's navy is not believed to have carriers. It turned out they went to Italy rather than Iran, and the data is now being corrected, Rankin said.
U.S. law enforcement believes Iran is actively trying to acquire U.S. military technology, including aircraft parts that can sell for pennies on the dollar compared with what the Pentagon paid. Last year, federal agents seized four F-14 fighter jets sold to domestic buyers by an officer at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, California, for $2,000 to $4,000 each, with proceeds benefiting a squadron recreation fund. When F-14s were new, they cost roughly $38 million each.
Bush this year signed legislation prohibiting the Pentagon from selling leftover F-14 parts. The law was prompted by AP reporting that buyers for Iran, China and other countries exploited Pentagon surplus sales to obtain sensitive military equipment that included parts for F-14 "Tomcats" and other aircraft and missile components.
Two men were indicted in Florida last week on charges they shipped U.S. military aircraft parts to Iran, including Tomcat and attack-helicopter parts.
Iran received at least $620,000 in aircraft parts and $19,600 worth of aircraft during Bush's terms. Iran relies on spare parts from other countries to keep its commercial and military aircraft flying. In some cases, U.S. sanctions allow shipments of aircraft parts for safety upgrades for Iran's commercial passenger jets.
Iran is a hot issue in Washington. The House plans a hearing Wednesday on U.S. policy toward Iran, and the Bush administration announced Tuesday it was freezing the U.S. assets of several people and entities accused of helping Iran develop nuclear weapons.
But the U.S. government seems uncoordinated on efforts to limit trade with Iran.
The Securities and Exchange Commission sought to shine a light on companies active in Iran but stopped after business groups complained.
The Treasury Department allowed some companies and individuals suspected of illegal trading with Iran to escape punishment. Yet the Bush administration also has collected millions of dollars in fines from trade-rule violators and pressed Congress without success to pass laws to strengthen enforcement.
The fact that the United States sells anything to Iran is news to some.
"Until you just told me that about Iran I'm not sure I knew we did any business with Iran," said Fred Wetherington, a tobacco grower in Hahira, Georgia, and chairman of Georgia's tobacco commission. "I thought because of the situation between our two governments, I didn't think we traded with them at all, so I certainly didn't know they were getting any cigarettes."
The United States sent Iran $546 million in goods from 2001 through last year, government figures show. It exported roughly $146 million worth last year, compared with $8.3 million in 2001, Bush's first year in office. Even adjusted for inflation, that is more than a tenfold increase.
Exports to Iran are a politically loaded but tiny part of U.S. trade. The United States counted more than $1 trillion in world exports last year. The value of U.S. shipments last year to Canada -- America's top trading partner -- was more than 1,000 times the value of shipments to Iran.
Top U.S. exports to Iran over Bush's years in office include corn, $68 million; chemical wood pulp, soda or sulphate, $64 million; soybeans, $43 million; medical equipment, $27 million; vitamins, $18 million; bull semen, $12.6 million; and vegetable seeds, $12 million, according to the AP's analysis of government trade data compiled by the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
The value of cigarettes sold to Iran was more than twice that of the No. 2 category on the export list, vaccines, serums and blood products, $73 million.
Iran is a top customer of Alta Genetics Inc., a Canadian company with an office in Watertown, Wisconsin., that sells bull semen, used to produce healthier, more profitable cattle. "The animals we're working with are genetically superior to those in many parts of the world," said Kevin Muxlow, Alta's global marketing manager.
Also getting Bush administration approval for export to Iran were at least $101,000 worth of bras; $175,000 in sculptures; nearly $96,000 worth of cosmetics; $8,900 in perfume; $30,000 in musical instruments and parts; $21,000 in golf carts and/or snowmobiles; $4,000 worth of movie film; and $3,300 in fur clothing.
Few people or companies asking U.S. permission to trade with Iran are turned down by the Treasury Department, the lead agency for licensing exports to sanctioned countries. During Bush's terms, the office has received at least 4,523 license applications for Iran exports, issued at least 2,821 licenses and 213 license amendments and denied at least 178, Treasury Department data shows.
Neither the Treasury data nor trade data compiled by the Census Bureau identify exporters or specify what they shipped. The AP requested those details under the Freedom of Information Act in 2005 and still is waiting for the Treasury Department to provide them. Though some trade with Iran is legal, some businesses prefer that people not know about it.
Citing corporate financial reports, the SEC published a list online last year of companies that said they had done business in Iran or four other countries the State Department considers state sponsors of terrorism. The SEC withdrew the list after business groups complained but is considering releasing one again.
"There's no question that people are looking for that kind of information," SEC spokesman John Nester said. "But under the current disclosure regime, it's beyond most people's abilities and time to slog through every corporate report and find companies that make reference to one of those nations."
Business groups oppose publishing such lists. It "could inappropriately label companies with legitimate activities as supporters of terrorism," the European Association of Listed Companies told the commission earlier this year.
An AP photographer strolling through shops in Tehran had no problem finding American brands on the shelves. An AP review of corporate SEC filings found dozens of companies that have done business in Iran in recent years or said their products or services may have made it there through other channels. Some are household names: PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, Canon, BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, GE Healthcare, the Wells Fargo financial services company, Visa, Mastercard and the Cadbury Schweppes candy and beverage maker.
Georgia led states in exports to Iran over the past seven years, with cigarettes representing $154 million of the $201 million in goods it exported there.
Cigarette shipments to Iran peaked in 2006, apparently from a Brown & Williamson cigarette factory in Macon, Georgia.
When the plant closed, tobacco shipments to Iran fell dramatically. No U.S. tobacco shipments to Iran were reported for 2007 or the first quarter of this year, the most recent figures available.
British American Tobacco began operating in Iran in 2002, producing most of its cigarettes under a contract with the Iranian tobacco monopoly, company spokesman
David Betteridge said. B.A.T. shipped Kent cigarettes from the United States to
Iran until 2006, he said.
The factory in Macon closed after B.A.T.'s Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. and
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings merged their U.S. tobacco and cigarette
businesses. B.A.T. said it now makes cigarettes for export to Iran in Turkey. It
declined to say how much tobacco the company previously shipped from the U.S. to
Iran, but said the U.S. government approved the shipments.
The Bush administration's record enforcing export laws is mixed. The Office of
Foreign Assets Control let the statute of limitations expire in at least 25
cases involving trade with Iran from 2002 to 2005, according to one internal
department audit. The companies involved, disclosed to the AP under the Freedom
of Information Act, include Acterna Corp., American Export Lines, Parvizian
Masterpieces, Protrade International Corp., Rex of New York, Shinhan Bank,
Phoenix Biomedical Corp., World Cargo Alliance and World Fuel Services.
Abdi Parvizian of the Parvizian Masterpieces rug gallery in Chevy Chase,
Maryland, said his case was dropped because his business proved everything was
imported from Iran legally. He bristled over current congressional proposals to
ban imports from Iran, including carpets.
"The problem with the rugs is it has nothing to do with the government of Iran,"
Parvizian said. "This is something that is made by the very unfortunate people
in the country, and those people are going to get hurt more than anybody else."
World Fuel Services said an employee fueled a ship out of Singapore that turned
out to be Iranian-owned, and the U.S. government spotted it from a wire
transfer. The company explained the mistake to Treasury with no repercussions,
said Kevin Welber, general counsel of the company's marine business. It has
since put in place techniques to identify Iranian-owned ships, which Welber said
can be difficult because some Iranian ships sail under Cyprus flags.
Phoenix Biomedical acknowledged it shipped surgical shunts to Iran without a
license. It previously was allowed during the Clinton administration to send
them to Iran and sent replacement shunts without a new license, which was
required, said Charles Hokanson, who sold Phoenix Biomedical to French-based
Vygon and is now chief executive of Vygon USA. He said that was the last
business it did with Iran.
The other companies did not respond to requests by the AP for explanations.
Failure to obtain export licenses has caused trouble for some companies whose
products can legally be sold to Iran.
Months after Zimmer Dental of Carlsbad, California, acquired Centerpulse Dental
in late 2003, it learned Centerpulse had sold dental implants and related items
to Iran without necessary export licenses, Zimmer spokesman Brad Bishop said. It
voluntarily reported the violations to the Treasury Department, which announced
in January that Zimmer Dental had paid an $82,850 penalty.
Bishop said the company has since trained employees and also took the easiest
solution to avoid such problems:
It stopped doing any business with Iran.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Jesse Jackson Inserts Foot In Mouth


Yet another campaign surrogate has put his foot in his mouth and has embarrassed his candidate.
It seems Jackson and Phill Gramm would have enough political saavy to not do such things. Perhaps these two have here manifested a Freudian slip since in the past each sought the Presidential nomination for their respective parties. Is it possible they harbor some innermost envy of their candidates?

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Phill Gramm To Public..."Shut Up You Whiners!"


Once again one of the Presidential candidates has been embarrassed by the utterances of one of his campaign team members.
This time it is the former Senator Phil Gramm, (R-Tx) who has been serving as John McCain's "economic adviser." Gramm called critics of the faltering U.S. economy "...a bunch of whiners."
McCain responded saying Gramm didn't speak for him. When asked if Gramm would have a place in his administration should he win the election McCain said, with a straight face, "Maybe we could make him our ambassador to Belarus."

McCain, Bush, "Surge Is Working!"

Monday, July 07, 2008

Supply And Demand

Friday, July 04, 2008

Helmsosaurus



Jesse Helms died today. The former five term Senator from North Carolina leaves a stormy legacy. I feel much the same as did Mark Antony when he said "...I come here not to praise Caeser but to bury him!"

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Swift Boats Are A Comin' !!






Ex-Swift Boaters Donate to McCain
By Fredreka Schouten,USA Today
Posted: 2008-07-01 13:16:09

WASHINGTON (July 1)Republican John McCain, who four years ago condemned
independent ads challenging Democrat John Kerry's military record, has accepted
nearly $70,000 for his presidential campaign from the top donors of the group
behind the attack ads and their relatives, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
That's nearly four times the amount McCain received from those donors in the 14
years before launching his current campaign at the end of 2006, campaign finance
records show.
In 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (later called SwiftVets and POWS for
Truth) bankrolled ads charging that Kerry had lied about the incidents in
Vietnam that led to his military decorations. The group included former members
of the Navy who served in the same kind of river patrol boats as Kerry. McCain,
a former Vietnam prisoner of war, called the group's advertising "dishonest and
dishonorable."
McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in an e-mail that McCain accepted
the money because the donors are "interested in supporting (his) agenda of
reform, prosperity and peace." He said McCain has been critical of so-called 527
groups — named for the tax code section under which they operate — and argued
that "virtually every attack-style 527 group on the airwaves" is aiding Democrat
Barack Obama.
Obama recently cited 527s as a reason he decided to bypass public-financing in
the general election.
Outside groups have spent nearly $10 million to aid Obama in this election,
according to data compiled by the non-partisan CQMoneyLine, which tracks
campaign money. Independent groups have spent less than $50,000 on McCain's
behalf.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

G.W. Says It's OK To "Annoy" Polar Bears While Looking For Oil!



From an email from the Center For American Progress;
www.americanprogressaction.org |


ENVIRONMENT -- BUSH ADMINISTRATION GIVES OIL COMPANIES A PASS TO HARM POLAR BEARS: Last week, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) issued regulations allowing seven oil companies to annoy and potentially harm polar bears while searching for oil and gas in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea. These regulations, which include legal protection for the incidental harm of "small numbers" of polar bears, come despite the Interior Department's decision last month to list polar bears as a threatened species because of habitat loss due to global warming. Even though "vibrations, noises, unusual scents and the presence of industrial equipment can disrupt" polar bears' "quest for prey and their efforts to raise their young in snow dens," the FWS said "oil and gas exploration will have a negligible effect on the bears' population." "The oil and gas industry in operating under the kind of rules they have operated under for 15 years has not been a threat to the species," claimed FWS director H. Dale Hall. Environmentalists, however, are calling the regulations a "blank check" for the oil companies to harass polar bears. Prior to this decision, environmental groups had announced a "plan to sue the federal government for not imposing new regulations on oil development in Alaska's Arctic waters as part of offering protective status to polar bears."

15 Year Flood