Is it High, Is it Low, How much can we make, before They all know?

I found both these stories on Bloomberg today.  After reading these, do you feel that you’ve been drilled as well? How can oil be poised to go to $85 by the end of the year, and go to $60 because of a glut?  Remember someone telling you about fuzzy math?

#1

By Mark Shenk

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil is “coiled” to spring to $85 a barrel before the end of the year, according to a technical analysis by Auerbach Grayson, a brokerage in New York.

The range that crude oil has traded in has narrowed since futures broke though resistance at $76.50 a barrel on Oct. 15 and reached a one-year high of $82 on Oct. 21, according to Richard Ross, an analyst at Auerbach Grayson. This pattern is setting up the market to rise, he said.

“A coil has formed since Oct. 15 as the range has got narrower and narrower,” Ross said in a telephone interview. “We’re seeing the lows get higher and the highs get lower.”

The former resistance level of $76.50 was tested last week and held as a new support level, according to Ross. A close above $80 a barrel will be a signal for traders to push prices to $85.

“Prices will probably break out to the upside due to the fact that $76.50 has been tested and held,” Ross said.

Crude oil for December delivery fell $2.34, or 3 percent, to $76.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement price since Oct. 14. The contract traded between $76.55 and $82 after breaking through the Oct. 15 resistance level.

#2

By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) — Oil in New York may fall as low as $60 a barrel next year as wealthy countries maintain near-record levels of crude and fuel inventories, said Deutsche Bank AG’s Chief Energy Economist Adam Sieminski.

Crude-oil inventories are currently equivalent to “61-day forward cover in Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development countries while normal levels would be 55 days,” Sieminski said in a telephone interview from Washington D.C. today. “That’s 300 million barrels of oil too much, with daily demand estimates of about 50 million barrels.”

Deutsche Bank forecasts West Texas Intermediate crude oil, the U.S. benchmark, to average $65 a barrel in 2010, Sieminski said. That’s $10 below the median estimate of 36 analysts compiled by Bloomberg News. Oil may reach $60 in the middle of the year when the U.S. and China start to ease stimulus spending, he said.

Crude and fuel stockpiles stored in non-government tanks in the OECD’s 30 member-nations rose to 2.76 billion barrels in the third quarter, close to the record 2.77 billion barrels reached in 1998, U.S. Energy Department data show. The 1998 glut caused oil to collapse to $10 a barrel.

The volume of heating oil and jet fuel stored offshore increased 17 percent to 112 tankers with a combined capacity of 13.1 million deadweight tons, London-based Simpson, Spence & Young Ltd., the world’s second-largest shipbroker, said in a report on Nov. 6. Deadweight tons is a measure of a ship’s capacity to carry cargo, fuel and water.

Sieminski expects oil to climb as high as $85 next month. “I would expect that would come some time in December if the dollar hits 1.55 to the euro,” he said.

Oil has gained 78 percent in New York this year, and was at $79.21 a barrel at 1:47 p.m. Tokyo time. The dollar traded at $1.4997 per euro at 1:29 p.m. in Tokyo compared with $1.4987 in New York yesterday, when it touched $1.5048, the lowest since Oct. 26

Report: Dobbs to Resign from CNN; Last Show Tonight | NewsBusters.org

It appears that the left has run another from the airwaves of CNN, he’s been in talks with Fox…

 

Report: Dobbs to Resign from CNN; Last Show Tonight | NewsBusters.org.

Well, there you go. Waaa, it’s because of Bush!

 

 

Pure Arrogance

Hey, it’s enough that he try to push socialism and his form of government.  It’s enough that he doesn’t listen to people.  It’s even enough that it’s all about him…but it’s not enough to call those who don’t agree with him names and anti-government.  I’ll post this, and highlight his words in red…read it yourself. What a jerk.

//

November 7, 2009, 9:45 pm <!– — Updated: 1:17 pm –>

Lawmakers Detail Obama’s Pitch

By Jackie Calmes

In an odd coincidence, the House debate on Saturday to overhaul health care took place on the third anniversary of the 2006 election that gave Democrats majority control after 12 years of Republican dominance. It fell to President Obama and to Congressional leaders to persuade those Democrats still sweating the final vote that it would not prove the party’s undoing in next November’s midterm elections.

The House Debate

 

Prescriptions will be following the floor debate over health care legislation in the House of Representatives throughout Saturday.

Both Mr. Obama and the House leaders showcased Democrats’ newest colleague, Representative Bill Owens, who last Tuesday won a special election in an upstate New York district that Republicans had held since 1872. In the campaign, Mr. Owens gave unabashed support to the pending House health care bill, despite the opposition of national conservative groups, including the new Tea Party Patriots, who backed Mr. Owens’s conservative rival.

Mr. Obama, during his private pep talk to Democrats, recognized Mr. Owens’s election and then posed a question to the other lawmakers. According to Representative Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, who supports the health care bill, the president asked, “Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”

Another freshman Democrat from New Mexico, Representative Martin Heinrich, said the president’s comments overall were reassuring. “If you want to see a recipe for failure,” Mr. Heinrich said, “don’t do the things you talked about in your campaigns and turn your back on your base. All the independent voters in the world don’t matter if the Democrats don’t turn out.”

“This is an opportunity to do something as big as Social Security,” he added. “And me, personally, I don’t want to be on the wrong side of history.”

Oh, let’s not Jump to Conclusions

Hey, what happened to common sense?  I was going along with this pc attempt at covering up the obvious, then here it is…they’ve been watching him for months.  Our soldiers didn’t have to die at home…they freakin’ knew about it.  This is disgusting! Go get em Joe…

Officials: U.S. Army Told of Hasan’s Contacts with al Qaeda

Army Major in Fort Hood Massacre Used ‘Electronic Means’ to Connect with Terrorists

By RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE and BRIAN ROSS

Nov. 9, 2009 —

 

U.S. intelligence agencies were aware months ago that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan was attempting to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda, two American officials briefed on classified material in the case told ABC News.

According to the officials, the Army was informed of Hasan’s contact, but it is unclear what, if anything, the Army did in response.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he requested the CIA and other intelligence agencies brief the committee on what was known, if anything, about Hasan by the U.S. intelligence community, only to be refused.

In response, Hoekstra issued a document preservation request to four intelligence agencies. The letter, dated November 7th, was sent to directors Dennis Blair (DNI), Robert Mueller (FBI), Lt. Gen Keith Alexander (NSA) and Leon Panetta (CIA).

Hoekstra said he is “absolutely furious” that the house intel committee has been refused an intelligence briefing by the DNI or CIA on Hasan’s attempt to reach out to al Qaeda, as first reported by ABC News.

“This is a law enforcement investigation, in which other agenciesnot the CIAhave the lead,” CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said in a response to ABC News. ” Any suggestion that the CIA refused to brief Congress is incorrect.”

Investigators want to know if Hasan maintained contact with a radical mosque leader from Virginia, Anwar al Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen and runs a web site that promotes jihad around the world against the U.S.

In a blog posting early Monday titled “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing,” Awlaki calls Hasan a “hero” and a “man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.”

According to his site, Awlaki served as an imam in Denver, San Diego and Falls Church, Virginia.

The Associated Press reported Sunday that Major Hasan attended the Falls Church mosque when Awlaki was there.

 

The Telegraph of London reported that Awlaki had made contact with two of the 9/11 hijackers when he was in San Diego.

He denied any knowledge of the hijacking plot and was never charged with any crime. After an intensive investigation by the FBI , Awlaki moved to Yemen.

People who knew or worked with Hasan say he seemed to have gradually become more radical in his disapproval of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Sunday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called for an investigation into whether the Army missed signs as to whether Hasan was an Islamic extremist.

“If Hasan was showing signs, saying to people that he had become an Islamist extremist, the U.S. Army has to have a zero tolerance,” Lieberman told Fox News Sunday.

Army Chief of Staff

A fellow Army doctor who studied with Hasan, Val Finell, told ABC News, “He would frequently say he was a Muslim first and an American second. And that came out in just about everything he did at the University.”

Finell said he and other Army doctors complained to superiors about Hasan’s statements.

“And we questioned how somebody could take an oath of office&be an officer in the military and swear allegiance to the constitution and to defend America against all enemies, foreign and domestic and have that type of conflict,” Finell told ABC News.

The Army Chief of Staff, General George Casey, raised concerns over the weekend that innocent Muslim soldiers could suffer as a result of the shooting at Fort Hood.

“I think the speculation (on Hasan’s Islamic roots) could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Guess Who’s at the Dinner Table…they’re not just coming!

Despite identification as terrorists, terrorist related…this administration wants to cavort with them and invite them to dinner.  Pardon me for being so blunt, but look up the definition of TREASON!

Despite ban, Holder to speak to CAIR-linked group

Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization.

On Nov. 19, Holder is scheduled to speak in Detroit to the first annual awards banquet of Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust, a coalition of several dozen law enforcement and community groups. An online registration form for the event includes the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan on a list of “official & participating organizations.”

A spokeswoman for ALPACT confirmed that CAIR is a member of the coalition.

“CAIR has been involved for a while,” said Chandra McMillion, community development facilitator for ALPACT. “CAIR is listed as an official member.”

The executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter, Dawud Walid, also confirmed its involvement with ALPACT. “It’s really nothing controversial. We’ve been part of this organization for years,” he said. “We meet every month and included with us is the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI.”

Walid said he is a regular at ALPACT meetings—including one held Friday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit. “A lot of people are there: the NAACP, the ACLU, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee…the National Lawyers’ Guild,” he said.

The FBI claims it cut “formal contacts” with CAIR after federal prosecutors in the 2007 criminal trial of officers of a Texas-based Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, introduced documents the government said showed links between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, which gave rise to Hamas.

“Until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner,” FBI Congressional liaison Richard Powers wrote in an April letter to Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

The Justice Department referred questions about Holder’s speech and CAIR’s involvement to the FBI’s field office in Detroit which, in turn, referred the questions to FBI headquarters in Washington.

An FBI spokeswoman confirmed that the FBI’s Special Agent-in-Charge in Detroit, Andy Arena, will serve as co-chair for the Nov. 19 dinner.

“We are co-chairing the event. We are not sponsoring the event,” spokeswoman Jennifer Burnside said. She said the FBI “didn’t have any role” in selling tickets for the event or in issuing invitations.

Burnside also stressed the fact that the dinner is not a closed briefing. “It’s a public event and Joe off the street could attend,” she said.

Another factor contributing to federal law enforcement’s prominent role in the event is that the dinner will involve a tribute to Paul Sorce, an FBI agent killed in a traffic accident in March while conducting surveillance. “Honoring a fallen agent is very important to us,” Burnside said.

Asked about the FBI’s limits on contacts with CAIR, Burnside said, “Our policy doesn’t prohibit the FBI participating in meetings where CAIR is going to be involved.”

Former terrorism prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, a CAIR critic, said he was disappointed but not taken aback by the FBI’s parsing of its ban on “formal contacts” with the Muslim group.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised but I’m not remotely surprised,” McCarthy said. “When [the FBI] said they cut off formal ties with them, whenever they say something like that you have to look very carefully at the way it’s worded… The last administration was guilty of it, this administration is guilty of it—they have determined it is more important to have what it can publicly hold out as ties to the Muslim community than it is to be careful about who you have the ties with.”

In the FBI’s letter to Kyl, the agency said the limits on contacts with CAIR stemmed from its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land case. In 2007, five Holy Land officers were acquitted on some charges, while a mistrial was declared on others after jurors deadlocked. In a retrial in 2008, all the men were convicted.

“During that trial evidence was introduced that demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders…and the Palestine Committee,” the FBI’s Powers wrote. “Evidence was also introduced that demonstrated a relationship between the Palestine Committee and HAMAS, which was designated as a terrorist organization in 1995. In light of that evidence the FBI suspended all formal contacts between CAIR and the FBI.”

CAIR officials have denied any connection to terrorism and have complained bitterly about being named as co-conspirators in the Holy Land case. They note that since the group was never charged it had no forum to challenge the documents prosecutors said linked CAIR to the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR officials have also noted that aspects of the documents are not consistent with CAIR’s activities.

CAIR and two other Islamic groups named as co-conspirators asked a federal judge to nullify the designation, but POLITICO reported recently that the groups’ motion was rejected in a secret ruling. However, the judge faulted prosecutors for publicly filing the conspirators list, a source said.

In March, an array of American Muslim groups threatened to cut ties with the FBI, citing, among other concerns, the agency’s treatment of CAIR.

McMillion said the connection ALPACT creates between CAIR and the FBI’s Detroit office has been vetted by top officials in Washington.

“This issue came up,” she said. “We know….of the real tension in terms of the FBI nationally having a very different posture. It actually did have to be approved through national channels not only for the FBI being a member but a co-chair…It ultimately was approved.”

Walid said he was unaware of any problems created by CAIR’s involvement in ALPACT. “It’s never been an issue,” he said.

The relationship between the FBI and Muslim groups in Michigan has been strained in recent days after agents shot and killed a local imam they said was the leader of a radical fundamentalist group. Luqman Abdullah, 53, was killed on Oct. 28 in Detroit after he refused to surrender and opened fire on agents attempting to arrest him and a band of his followers on federal weapons and conspiracy charges, the FBI said. An FBI dog was also killed in the exchange of fire, the agency noted in press released.

Walid has been sharply critical of the FBI for using deadly force in the operation, but the CAIR official said that doesn’t mean the group is at loggerheads with the federal law enforcement agency.

“We all have each other’s cell phone numbers,” Walid said. “There’s not the level of hostility that some people may think…..There are a number of organizations, not just CAIR, raising concerns about that situation with the imam.”

Scientists discover the Heavy Element

I’m still laughing at this one.  My friend Ken Marrero, who has the Blue Collar Muse emailed this to me…I promise it to trip your funny lever.  Ken is going to be on Mike Slater’s show on the TJ network Thursday, 6-9, so listen in.

Thanks to Bobbie Patray for this one …

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 – 6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.  In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each re-organization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Waaaa, Waaaa, Waaaa! It was that darned George Bush!

So, when he goes home in 2012, is he going to blame his defeat on George Bush?

One year on, Obama cites struggle with Bush legacy

Thu Nov 5, 2009 4:04am IST

By Ross Colvin

MADISON, Wis. (Reuters) – A year after his historic election, President Barack Obama sought to remind Americans on Wednesday the biggest problems he is grappling with — from the economy to the war in Afghanistan — are the legacy of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

With his approval ratings down from once-lofty levels and Tuesday’s Democratic election losses raising questions about his political clout, Obama held no special ceremony to mark the anniversary of his election as America’s first black president.

He instead traveled to Wisconsin to appear before a friendly audience in a school gymnasium and promote education as a pillar of his economic recovery efforts.

Obama was elected on a promise of sweeping change after eight years under Bush, but many Americans are increasingly expressing impatience that his pledge has yet to bear fruit.

He used the preamble of his speech to insist his administration had indeed had important successes and also to remind Americans of the litany of daunting challenges he inherited when he took office in January.

“One year ago, Americans all across this country went to the polls and cast ballots for the future they wanted to see,” Obama said.

But he said his administration was also confronted with a “financial crisis that threatened to plunge our economy into a Great Depression, the worst that we’ve seen in generations.”

“We had record deficits, two wars, frayed alliances around the world,” Obama added.

He said his administration had acted swiftly to save the economy from “imminent collapse.”

“While we still have a long way to go, we have made meaningful progress toward achieving that goal,” he said.

Nine months into his term, Obama’s Republican critics have accused him of overplaying the “blame card” against Bush, a Republican who left office with one of the lowest poll ratings of any modern president.

Obama has seen his own approval numbers fall to the 50 percent range from above 70 percent as he struggles to push through a healthcare overhaul, reverse massive job losses and decide whether to send more troops to an increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan.

He took another hit to his political standing on Tuesday when voters elected Republicans in state governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey despite his personal campaigning for the Democratic candidates. The White House denied the election losses were in any way a referendum on the president.

Ignoring the People, Pelosi forces Health Care Bill Through

Tennessee’s Jim Cooper and Steve Cohen vote with Nancy Pelosi…

House narrowly passes landmark health care bill

Nov 8, 12:18 AM (ET)

By DAVID ESPO

(AP) – In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.

 

Oops, George Bush made me say that!

Obama Gives Shout Out to ‘Congressional Medal of Honor Winner’ Who Isn’t

By Mike Bates
November 6, 2009 – 01:18

The Washington Post this afternoon reported “President Obama delivers remarks on Ft. Hood shooting at end of tribal leaders conference.” The transcript begins:

SPEAKER: PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA[*] OBAMA: Please, everybody, have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference.

I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow (ph) was around, and so I want to give a shout out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It’s good to see you.

Ah, the dangers of giving shout outs without a teleprompter.  Crow is not a Medal of Honor recipient.  As noted by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society:

The Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force which can be bestowed upon an individual serving in the Armed Services of the United States. Generally presented to its recipient by the President of the United States of America in the name of Congress, it is often called the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Crow’s name is not included on the Society’s Medal of Honor recipient list.  He was, however, awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in August.

Obama, often described as “cerebral” by the mainstream media, should know the difference between the Medal of Honor and the Medal of Freedom, especially since he personally awarded the latter to Crow.  Don’t expect his blunder to receive wide coverage.  It’s not something he can blame George Bush for.