We're coming to you live from Los Angeles tonight. L.A. is cool and all, but we're hard at work here. Here's the proof:
Exhibit A: In the photograph above, you'll see Rachel in her very sparse, makeshift office. There's Dan in the back (red arrow), our resident technology expert (and therefore, a superhero around these parts.)
Exhibit B: If you squint, you'll see tonight's rundown (red arrow), executive producer Bill Wolff plugging away on the laptop (blue arrow) and Rachel's blazer (yellow arrow) which you'll see live on our show tonight at 9pm ET (6pm PT!)
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OK there is only one the you HAVE TO DO if your going to be in LA
Go to Pinks!! N LaBrea off Melrose
one coffee, two soft drinks and three waters!! Let's hear it for water!!
You all are so fancy! :D
In the case that you may have missed it [Rachel .. Bill.], ....
Today's element, of NPR's series, "Solve This", ...
"[Pres.] Obama's Jobs Plan Focuses on Federal Investment"
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=162400400&m=162524294
(What'a concept.)
— Idea for future segment, .. "The sh*t (stuff, things.) I haven't done, and why."
I thought when Rachel started discussing high energy prices on the West Coast due to price manipulation at the end of her program tonight she was talking about Enron (or at least I had a flash back to Enron and on-line traders screwing "grannies" out on the West Coast in 2001).
Nope. Gasoline price manipulation, maybe? Refinery outages causing supply shortfalls? An investigation being called for, Gov. Jerry Brown trying measures to increase supply. And then the story about the oil futures trader in 2009 buying up 69 percent of the oil futures market supplies in several hours one night, causing a oil barrel price spike.
Oh wait, it was proven in 2008 that oil futures speculation DOES cause energy price spikes. Why else did oil barrel/gasoline prices plummet so dramatically in 2008 when the Wall Street index plunged 6,000 points? IOW, oil futures trading was disrupted when the market crashed, leading to an 80 percent drop in oil barrel prices and an over 50 percent drop in gasoline prices, almost by two-thirds.
Anyway, Rachel, why are we still experiencing such high gasoline prices (relative to where they were for decades before regulations were lifted in the late 1990s)? Last week, a D.C. judge refused to let the Dodd-Frank re-regulation of the oil futures market to take place this month as planned. Coincidence? Part of the right-wing effort to use oil futures trading to drive up energy costs before an important presidential election, in Republican hopes of blaming and bringing down President Obama over their price manipulation? Is anyone checking into this at all?
Screwing grannies? The grannies had their rates capped at $0.15/MWhr. The Utilities were forced to pay up to $1.40. They siphoned $45 Billion out of our economy in about 14 months. The largest utility, PG&E, went bankrupt. The next two largest, SCE and SDG&E, barely survived. The Governor had to take money out of the General Fund to keep the lights on. FERC, Bush, Cheney and Perry refused to intervene. I seem to remember some people gloating about Texans being better capitalists than Californians. I think we wound up getting about $200 Million back.
...When Texas declared war on California*....
Grrrrrr. Still pisses me off. Reliant. Enron. Dynegy. Mirant. AES. And weren't it just a co-inky-dink that Ken Lay met with Schwarzenegger the same month it all started....
*And Oregon and Washington.
As long as decent people step up to shield future Christina-Taylor Greens from the madness or the NRA, we have hope that such precious children will not be taken from us and that they will be free to make their mark on our world.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to today's story "Hollow Point". I am sure that Christina would be proud and joyful to see you fighting this good fight.
Nice to see some are not wedded to the iJOBS platform, since the Intel/Nvidia eclipsed the 32bit world, some time ago.
Hello Ms. Rachel. Hope you and your Crew are enjoying your time in California (all but the gas prices that is- ha !).
I wrote a little dittty in honor of the rising gas (as gas will naturally rise) prices.
The Oil Rig Jitters and the Fear Monger Boogie
Toot-a-toot! Hear the Brass and the driving Beat of the Drum! The
Corporate Oil Drums! Yeah, Man! We had All better Dance and Jive to Their Global
Beat ‘n Tune. Know what I mean, Jellybean?! You don’t learn to slide’n flow with
the Oil Rig Jitters, Your Jellybean sweet tunes turn ugly and bitter, and You
find Yourself stompin’ ’n gruntin’ out the Fear Monger
Boogie!
If You can’t Compete, can’t Win the Global Game Dancin’
the Terrorist Twist and Military Mambo, then get back to that Global Jukebox and
find another Tune. There are many ways to Win a War. And Everybody knows Worker
Bees Work Themselves Slavishly to Death for Honey, Hive and Queen (Motherland).
Tap into Their Bread and Butter Survival Fears! That’s right! Play, The Fear
Monger Boogie! Boogie - Woogie - Woogie! Housing Foreclosures!!
Families
on the street kerb! Food Shortages!! Begging for a hand out! Natural Dieting for
a Fat Nation! Toot - a - toot! Beat It Eight to the Bar! Sky High Energy Costs!!
Short-sighted Energy Policies!! No Real Fuel, Technological or Locomotive
Alternatives!! Just the Way the Oil Corps Like it!! Yeah, Man!! No Gas to get
the Cars out of the Family Garages (Where’s Fred Flintstone’s peddle car when
you need it - sigh!). Can’t Work if You can’t get to Work!!
Suburbia is
Crying, because it’s Picket Fenced Dream of Private Ownership is Dying! (In
Texas, in places where the dreams of the West still hold True they’ll grab their
Saddles, Those lucky Few, mount their trusted Steeds, and trot down to the local
Grocery Stores for some ’grub’. But not Everyone can solve Their problems quite
so resourcefully or easily. Life is a complicated Organism.) Can’t pay for Heat
when it’s 28 degrees outside and can’t pay for Air Conditioning when it’s 103
degrees in the shade! What Will We Do??!!
Hear the trumpets blare out
the Oil Rig Jitters! "Buy Our Oil, On Our Terms! Help Us Drill Our Oil, On Our
Terms! Stay Dependent on Our Oil, On Our Terms! Continue to Maintain Our
Kingdoms while We Suck Your Slavish Bones Down to the Marrow! This is Capitalism
at its Best! Supply and Demand is Our Guiding Star!" Feel the Thunder Drums Beat
out - Pound out The Fear Monger Boogie!
"Don’t ask Questions You Whiners!
Such as: Why did We (Americans) spend billions of dollars of Our American Tax
monies in Iraq when We’re suffering at Home with Our problems? That doesn’t make
Sense (Common Sense - Sense of any kind). You should always Take Care of Your
Family (America) First. Who’s Benefiting from all of Our American Tax monies?
What did all of Our American Tax monies Purchase and Invest in and for Whom?
What Oil companies? What Corporations? What political/corporate/military
regimes? What are the future global
political/economic/theological/judicial/corporate/military agendas involved?
Please, remind Us, Who are All of Our Allies?
Uh-Oh, it’s the Oil
Rig Jitters. Toot - a - toot - hear the strident Horns - louder than ever - hmmm
- I didn’t hear Answers to any of those Questions. Did You? But, oh those Horns
can blare - The Oil Rig Jitters - Go, Man, Go! Have to admit it’s a catchy Tune.
Grabs You by the Throat. Makes it hard to Breathe. Forces You to Move! Oh, looky
there Man, Who’s that ‘a Comin’? Why it’s the Oil Man Shuffle! Knew that Tune
sounded familiar.
No matter what Nation They hail from, They’re All
pretty much Cut from the Same Cloth. Heel and Toe - Slip and Slide - Side Step -
Quick Turn and before You know it - Away You Go - Down Their Slippery, Oily
Slope! Slope of Black Gold that only Their Tight-Fists can Grab and Hold! Toot -
a - toot! The Oil Rig Jitters!! The Oil Man Shuffle!! Who’s Winning This Dance
Contest?! The Players are Interchangeable.
Speculators Speculate!
Percolate - don’t Hesitate to over Rate or over Inflate Our (The Elitists) ready
made Economic Bubbles. Puff ‘em Up! Puff ’em Up! Way, Up! Up and Down and Down
and Up the Stock Market Carousels go. Round and Round the
Economical/Political/Sociological Games and Mythological/Legendary Dances Play
Out and Move On to the Global Elitists Beats and Rhythms of the Oil Rig Jitters,
the Oil Man Shuffle, The Military Mambo, The Terrorist Twist, The Corporate
Dirty Jive, The Bankers Hip-Hop, The Political Polka, The Judicial Krump, The
Royal Jelly Roll, The Fear Monger Boogie, and many Other such Powerful,
Evocative, Provocative and Effective Melodies and Movements. Who Can resist?!
These Dances are encoded within Our Genetic Memories.
It‘s an
historically evident (and unfortunate repetitive looping) Cycle that the Global
Masses Willingly continue to Sweat and Toil for a Handful of Global Wealthy and
Powerful Elitists - The Puppeteers. As the World has grown smaller through the
advancements of Communications would it not also be important for Them (the
Elitists) to develop more assertive and effective ‘ways and means’ of ‘mis’ and
‘dis’ Communications?
What if the Global Elitists have focused their
Attention and Intentions on the AirWaves and SpaceStrings? Spent billions
(perhaps trillions) getting Their Pied Pipers of Hamelyn on the AirWave and
SpaceString Megaphones to cajole and seduce millions of Listeners into
continuing the destructive patterns of following Themselves into the Dark Abyss
of Their Own Blinding and Consuming Fears and Desires, Their Own Subconscious
Personal Agreements of Enslavement and Self Oblivion? "Keep spending Your Money
(when You should be Saving it) - Keep investing Your Money (in the Economic
Houses We suggest to You) - Continue Consuming Our products and Our Investments
the Way We Want You to. Vote to the Right. Vote to the Left. Do the Hokey-Pokey
and You Turn Your Vote Around....." Radical - Moderation is probably Your safest
Inclination!
And let’s not forget the Importance of remaining" Hypnotized
by the Money-Making Hollywood Glamour and Glitz Machine or the alluring Broadway
Streets of Bright Lights and Fame - the daily dose of brain numbing Television
and Computer opiates where You live Your Lives through the made-up Lives of
Others, making Them (Celebrities of all kinds, from all walks of life) somehow
Greater than, and more important than, Yourselves." Teaching You - Priming You -
to lose YourSelf to Others before You ever Question losing Yourselves to the
Elitists and Their Strategies. You are taught from Birth to lose Yourselves to
SomeOne or SomeThing else. How Slavish is that? Whose Social strategy is that?
In accordance to some current Social trends, They (The Elitists) would
probably also continue to suggest to Us that, "We want Your Nations "dumbed"
down and Preoccupied with silly Nothingness - with a constant flow of
Meaningless and Useless Entertainments. Entertainment and Drugs make All of You
Slaves so much easier to Handle and Manipulate. We prefer You with no Free Will
(Only deluded into thinking that you have it), Docile and Questionless. We are
the Hidden Puppeteers. We are Secrets within Secrets within Secrets. Symbols
within Symbols. Languages within Languages. You are the Inferior, Uneducated,
Slavish Puppets. We Pull the Strings. You have only to Mindlessly Obey. Don’t
Think. Don’t Ask Questions. Don’t Attempt to Initiate Changing the Status Quo
Unless or Until We tell You to do so. We are the Motivators and the Motivations.
Not You. You are the Slaves. Your Only Function is to Serve Us. If We are not
Benefited by an Action or an Event (much less a Change), We will do Everything
within Our power to make sure that it does not Happen. We, Few, We Elite, are of
Primary and Utmost Concern. You, huddled, stinking Masses are Fodder for Our
Wills, Our Plans, Our Motivations, Our Puppet Dance and Play."
"That’s
right. Roll the Thunder Drums - Feel the Lightning in Your Feet - Jump and Bump
- Grin and Spin to The Fear Monger Boogie - Let the Bugles Scream - Yeah -
brassy and mean - drill and drill - til We get Our gluttonous fill to the Oil
Rig Jitters - flap those fritters hopeless, panderin’ Critters. While All of You
Dance to Our Tunes - All Hope is Ours - Not Yours. The Future is Ours - Not
Yours!
So keep on Dancing! The Oil Rig Jitters!! The Fear Monger
Boogie!!
No Questions Asked!! Ha!!
Fools Playin’
Fools!!
And the Crazy Making Beat Goes On and On and On and
On..........!!!!!
Wait - Let Me Breathe - Let Me Hear - What’s that
Sound, piercing the fray, Warm as the Sun, coming through the noise and the din?
A Note, so Pure, so Radiant, so Inspirational, so Beautiful, it Vibrates - it
Transforms Your very Soul! Hear It! Feel It! Within the Very Core, the very
Essence, of What It is to Be! What Glorious Cosmic Note is burgeoning forth - is
Formulating this Atomic Universal Symphony? ‘Self ’ Is Becoming a
Question?!
A Question!
The Beginnings of the Cosmic Egg of
Creation!
Your hard work is paying off, wash those sodas down with lots of water, though.