23 May, 2008

I Just Don't Understand

I read this week that the House of Representatives has passed a law giving the Justice Department the ability to sue OPEC "limiting oil supplies and working together to set crude prices".

The bill would subject OPEC oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Venezuela, to the same antitrust laws that U.S. companies must follow.

Rep. Steve Kagen from Wisconsin's 8th District (that's the upper northeast part of the state) is a sponsor of the bill and I must wonder just how exactly he plans to make any judgment against OPEC binding. This is just classic: "The lawmaker said Americans 'are at the mercy' of OPEC for how much they pay for gasoline". Well, duh! It's not Saudi Arabia's fault that there's a lot of oil underneath their sands; it's not Venezuela's fault that we built an interstate highway system in the '50s & 60s instead of investing in public transportation; Iran is not to blame for whites fleeing the cities in the post-war period and establishing suburbs where you have to drive a mile just to go to the bathroom.

Here's another great one: a U.S. soldier has been accused of using the Koran for target practice while being stationed in Baghdad. Dumb idea to be sure. Really dumb. But this prompted Bush to call the Iraqi PM to apologize and the military is playing all nice'n'sorry.

U.S. military commanders in Iraq held a ceremony to formally apologize and present a new Koran to tribal leaders in the area where the incident took place. The number two U.S. commander has also met Iraqi leaders to apologize.

You have got to be shittin' me. Does Bush call Nuri al-Maliki or anyone else to apologize when Blackwater contractors randomly shoot civilians? Did he get on the horn to apologize for Abu Ghraib? When innocent people are slaughtered, it's just breaking eggs for a Yahweh-sanctioned omelet. But when a book of fairy tales gets some bullet holes, it's a national emergency.

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