--- Now here's a campaign my
father could get behind. The man is a stickler for correct usage of the
English language. I can't tell you how many times he busted me for
using the phrase, "or something," when I was a kid. Fortunately,
however, he's given up on his children and has turned to criticizing
the grandkids. Phew. --- Zapatero is either a wimp or very clever when it comes to bending other countries to his whims.
I thought the EU Constitution might play a part in his minute switch
about pulling Spanish troops from Iraq. First it was, "we want all
Spanish troops out, as soon as possible...there's no negotiating on
this one." Then it was, "Well, if we get a UN mandate and they take
over the organization, we'll stay." Wiggle room, in other words. Now,
he's chatting not only with Tony Blair, but with Leszek Miller---the
Polish Prime Minster---as well. Highly suspect for someone whose
actions have dictated that they would be throwing their lot in with the
French and Germans sooner rather than later. The new EU constitution
(which is probably the most ineffectual piece of governmental writing
I've seen since the Defense of Marriage Act) is needing some
ratification. The main hangup is the same one we had here in the US
when we enacted our constitution: how do you rectify the power between
large states and small states? Their problem is that France and Germany
want a goodly portion of the power (read they want to be able to blow
off EU fines whenever possible) because they're established, large
entities. Spain, by the new constitution, would not have had the veto
power that those two countries had---throwing it in the same league
with newer EU countries, like Poland and the Czech Republic. Poland and
Spain are not only in the same boat when it comes to the threat of
terrorism and the relative unpopularity of participating in the
Coalition of the Willing (the Iraq war wasn't exactly popular in
Poland, but nowhere near the levels of dissaproval in Spain), but in
terms of EU power as well. If the constitution goes through as written,
Poland, Spain and other countries where the economies are
actually---ahem---working, would not only be footing the bill for
France and Germany's out of control public spending by propping up the
Euro, but they would be powerless to do anything about the situation. This explains why Blair was hot to get to Madrid. If the US/UK
can get a resolution through the UN mandating the Iraqi war, they will
have just garnered further support in the EU to battle back France and
Germany. Balance of power, kids. It's all about the balance of
power---and traditional balance of power, no less, which is something
we haven't seen in Europe for years. I guess that helping them through
the Cold War was worth it if this is what we're getting as a result.
It's entertaining for foreign policy watchers, like me. Kissinger must
be having a field day watching all of the developments. This is right
up his ally. But then again countermanding French hegemony has always
been his forte.
--- It's lovely here today. It's not even eleven and it's over fifty
degrees. WOOHOO! I went outside this morning to take a digital picture
of my tulips, which are starting to peek out from the cold earth, but
the camera crapped out on me. Dead batteries are the culprit, it seems.
Sigh. I don't like buying batteries for my camera: they're expensive.
As in $20 goes flying from my wallet to Duracell every time they crap
out---which happens more than I would like. I shouldn't bitch, I know. I have a cool camera.
(No, I don't have this exact model; I have last year's variant with an
8x zoom on it.) But it sucks power. It doesn't daintily sip at its
power source like a little old lady at a tea party who sips her tea
genteely, her pinky outstretched defiantly. Instead, it chugs power,
like a frat boy with a beer bong, who then belches and shakes the
richter scale in the process. Honestly, this is my only complaint about
the camera. It works great and I get spectacular pictures, but when you
have to buy new batteries all the time, and the batteries cost as much
as they do, it gives the phrase "love/hate" a whole new meaning.
---Thank God we have an oilman in the Oval Office.
The Bush administration voiced concern Wednesday about gasoline
prices reaching an all-time high, but
ruled out tapping into the government's oil reserves to temporarily
ease the problem.
``We need to make sure we have the resources in the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve to act in the event of an emergency, which would be a severe
disruption of energy supplies,'' said White House spokesman Scott
McClellan.
Thank God he's not going to pull a Clinton! The strategic reserves are
titled that for a reason: it signals that they're to be used, you know,
strategically, not to ease the woes of people paying $1.70 a gallon. They're to be used in case OPEC halts production entirely.
They're to be used to keep OPEC from holding us by the short and
curlies and then yanking to get what they want. The reserves give us
leverage, which we didn't have when OPEC embargoed us back in the
1970's. Bubba was an idiot. He opened up the reserves when gas prices
hit $1.50 a gallon and he
was the one who put us in the situation where we're having to refill
them at $35+ a barrel, when barrel prices back then were under the $30
threshhold. He gave OPEC more power, in other words. Short term
electoral gain at a very bad long term cost. Once again, Bubba wanted
us to know he felt our pain---but completely ignored the ramifications
of that action in the meantime. It also means he was ignoring what the
hell was happening in Venezuela at the time, which contrary to what the
media will tell you, is our 2nd largest source of oil---not the Middle
East. All of this kind of makes you wonder, though: if the invasion of
Iraq was all about oil and how we shouldn't be giving any blood for
that precious commodity, where the hell is the cheap gas?
We shed some blood---that should have at least translated into a couple
of cents off at the pump, shouldn't it?
If we really want cheap gas, well, pass an energy bill that includes
some coin for fixing and updating refineries. That will solve the
problem. I'm not a big fan of government subsidizing private companies,
but they won't act unless they get some money to keep up with the
demands the law has put upon them. It's time to take care of this and
to take care of it now.