Lest We Forget

These people had names, faces and stories.   They need to be heard.   It is not the time for moving on.  It is the time to grieve.

(H/T and BSWK photo: Pamela Geller Oshry, Atlas Shrug.)

About two years ago, I posted a list of causes of high gasoline prices.  The situation, has not changed, except for the worse.  The causes are the same as they were then.  So, let’s revisit what I said two years ago:

What are the causes of-life crisis?

1: ‘Seasonal Blends’ It’s ‘Enviro friendly’ to create gasoline that burns at it’s best under certain driving conditions. Supposedly. Yet, it does cause supply restrictions, given point 2, which is a limited refining capacity. Re-tooling this limited capacity to create these blends every few months, costs the refineries millions every year. And they actually have to stop making gas while the production line is shifted to the new blending, thus making supply/demand even worse. Where do you think that cost difference goes? Thank you, un-American left for forcing this enviro-wacko nonsense on us. If the Democrats were really serious about lowering the costs of fuel, don’t you think we’d see them eliminate this enviro-wacko madness?

2: Limited refining capacity: We have not built one new refinery since 1976.Our current systems are running at around 95%, despite the gyrations of the different blends we’re forcing though every few months… see point 1. Worse, we’re losing some of the refineries we now have online because they can’t deal with the regulatory load placed on them in the name of the ‘environment’, and the outrageous taxation on the investors in those companies and the companies themselves, al of whom make such systems possible. Thank you, un-American left for forcing this enviro-wacko nonsense on us. If the Democrats were really serious about the cost of gas and heating oil, don’t you think they’d get serious about eliminating the mountain of red tape and impediments we’re up against in the task of increasing our refining capacity?

3: World demand: The third world, along with places like China, for example, are seeing their energy demands increase. It’s interesting to note that as such they’re not working under the same environmental regulations nightmare we are here in the states and thus their gas prices are far cheaper. Wonder why manufacturing jobs are moving to China, and what is responsible for such shifts? The cost of energy being lower there is a large chunk of the deal. Thank you, un-American left for forcing this enviro-wacko nonsense on us. If the Democrats were serious about the cost of fuel, don’t you think they’d call for our *adding* to the world supply? Which is a nice tie-in to;

4: Lack of domestic drilling: We have oil here in the US; lots of it, but the usual suspects won’t let us drill for it; ANWR, for example would be turning out about a million barrels a day. Think that’d help? Remember, Bill Clinton vetoed drilling there, and the Democrats in Congress blocked the idea when Mr. Bush re-proposed it more recently as a part of his energy bill. Thank you, un-American left for forcing this enviro-wacko nonsense on us. If the Democrats were serious on this topic, don’t you think they’d be willing to allow us to drill for our own oil?

5: Taxes: Not only are we dealing with tax levels amounting to as much as 70 cents per gallon in many states, particularly in the left-leaning north eastern states, but we’re also paying a very heavy tax burden when is placed on the oil companies, and everyone in the delivery process… all of which adds to the cost you and I pay at the pump…. Because they pass it along as a cost of doing business. If the Democrats were really serious about lowering the costs, don’t you think they’d lower the taxes both on the oil companies and direct taxation on the buyers at the pump.. Both of which come out of your wallet?

6: The growing world economy; More or less a good tie-in to point 3… As the World economy recovers from Clinton, we’re seeing increasing demands and somewhat shorter supply. This is normal in an economic growth pattern. But this wouldn’t be a problem, but rather a blessing, had the rest of the factors not been in place. And all the rest of the factors are directly attributable to the left.

Remember that when you go to the pump, gang. You’re paying for the snail darter. Doesn’t it feel good?

Now, notice, please, I said nothing whatsoever about lack of available crude oil to refine.  There is no lack.  Contrary to what many will tell you, there is no oil shortage for say.  OPEC is reporting record stockpiles, in fact. What we have is a refined product shortage.   We do not have enough refining capacity, because of several factors, some listed here. All of the problem, however, lies with the left, who has traditionally resisted the building of any additional refining capacity through taxation , through legislation, and neglect, as well as support of NIMBY movements where attempts to add additional refining capacity have been made.

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”

Thomas Jefferson, via David B. Kopel, Wall Street Journal 

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NEW YORK â€”AP-  Kitty Carlisle Hart, whose long career spanned Broadway, opera, television and film, including the classic Marx Brothers movie “A Night at the Opera,” has died at age 96, her son said Wednesday.

Christopher Hart said his mother had been in and out of the hospital since contracting pneumonia over the Christmas holidays.

“She passed away peacefully” at home, said Hart. “She had such a wonderful life, and a great long run, it was a blessing.”

Hart had appeared for years on the popular game show “To Tell the Truth” as a celebrity panelist.

Good Lord… I honestly didn’t know she was still alive. Always liked her sense of humor, personally. I figured an Opera singer with an overt sense of humor couldn’t be all bad.

Edit:  (David L)  added photo. 

All it took to kill Geoge Allen was one slip of the tongue.   Well, if the attributed quote is accurate, Barack Obama has just had his Macaca moment.  According to Texas Rainmaker, Obama said:

“the violence of men and women who have worked all their lives and suddenly have the rug pulled out from under them because their job is moved to another country.”

If the loss of one’s job, or a percieved slight, is the equivilence of violence, the victim, whether real or precieved, will feel more justified in resorting to violence himself.  In comparing Cho Seung-Hui massacre to global out-sourcing, Obama has in effect defended Seung-Hui’s murderous outrage.

Sister Toldjah is on the emerging story that Cho Seung-Hui used the nom de plume of “Ismail Ax”   The possible Islamic connections should not be over looked.

I find it interestng, revealing and disturbing that idiots like Keith Olbermann and Brian Ross are so quick to jump the non relevant items like the  expiration of the assault weapon ban but so loath to mention Islam.

Too often, bloggers act as if they invented the world the day they came on the scene.

Don Surber. 

I hasten add that the phenomenom is not necessarily restricted to bloggers.

Boortz raises an interesting point… although I think he’s not spot on, with it;

How far have we advanced in the wussification of America?  I am now under attack by the left for wondering aloud why these students did so little to defend themselves.  It seems that standing in terror waiting for your turn to be executed was the right thing to do, and any questions as to why 25 students didn’t try to rush and overpower Cho Seung-Hui are just examples of right wing maniacal bias.  Surrender — comply — adjust.  The doctrine of the left.

Amazing, isn’t it?  Even the suggestion that young adults should actually engage in an act of self defense brings howls of protest.

He’s got it pretty close, though. There is something to this… an element of conditioning… several generations worth of resistance to the concept of defending one’s self, have finally paid off. 

One might even suggest that this attitude is now being reflected in the foreign policy being pushed by the Democrats, where the biggest weapon employed is the two-lip smack on the buttocks of those attacking us. I’ll have to give this some thought, today. Perhaps I’ll have something more to say on this in the near future. I can’t always shoot from the hip.

He makes another interesting point, here as well, does Boortz… essentially a shorter version of what I said yesterday:

OK .. so you haven’t heard of Pierre Lemieux.  No, he’s not a hockey player.  He’s an economist from Quebec.  Yesterday he wrote that “Mass killings were rare when guns were easily available, while they have been increasing as guns have become more controlled.”  And why not?  The murderer knows that he doesn’t have to fear a victim with a gun!  Virginia Tech, after all, was a “gun free zone.”  Any of your lefties care to comment?

If I’m not mistaken, Pierre Lemieux was on campus in Montreal, last Spetember, when a similar incident occurred there.

THe article Neal mentions, is here. The reason, of course, you don’t hear of him much is the angle he takes doesn’t mesh with the agenda of the traditional media.

 And yes, I know I’m quoting a lot of Boortz the last few days. I don’t always agree with him,(there are times I swear he shows clear evdience of being brain damaged)  but he’s the one getting closest to the truth, on this partcular issue.

Saying the second amendment is inconsequential is foolish, in my view. If we don’t support demonstrably just laws, such as the second amendment, don’t UNjust laws have greater sway?

Out.

Joe Biden called Barack Obama “clean and articulate”   .   You can listen to Biden, here.

Well you can also listen to Obama here.   Warning: while the audio is not good, Obama himself is flat out horrid.   The clip is also unbearably long.   Great men can raise to the occassion.   Losers, such as Obama, use national tragedities to give their standard stump speech.   Say what you will about Don Imus, he never killed anybody, much less thirty-two.  At least Imus wasn’t boring.

Back to Joe, gotta give him some credit, Obama does at least bathe    Then too the Reverend Jackson is articulate.

(H/T:  Lorie Byrd, Wizbang )

Appendum:  My idea picks support from the other side of the aislle.  MIckey Kaus, Slate, has “Barack the Hack,”

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Ana Marie Cox has her knickers in a twist over this statement by John Derbyshire, NRO – Corner:

As NRO’s designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn’t anyone rush the guy? It’s not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness’ sake—one of them reportedly a .22.

At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands

Ms Cox:

If I had to choose a favorite insane statement here — like, say, if someone was holding a gun to my head — I think it’d be the idea that, “At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him.” Or, best yet: you could always try the ol’, “Shoe’s untied!” bit. Works with my theoretical mass shooting murderers all the time.

“Your chances aren’t bad,” in any case.

Other politically correct whimps;  First Draft, Crooks and Liars.

Yet I remind Ms. Cox et al of yet another gun man with lots of legally unarmed victims with plenty of time and ammo, Colin Ferguson.   Dead six.  The difference, the unarmed passengers jumped Ferguson.

Addendum:   Ed Morrissey recently described the Anchoress, as the kindest soul on the Internet.   I do not argue.   If Cox et al find John Derbyshire too violent, maybe they might heed the her call, to “Throw a desk, a heavy book, make him flinch…” 

Selwyn Duke. American Thinker.

BLACKSBURG, Va. â€”FOX-  The gunman responsible for at least the second of the two Virginia Tech attacks that claimed 33 lives to become the deadliest shooting rampage in U.S. history has been identified as Cho Seung-Hui, a campus student in the United States on a permanent resident visa, Virginia Tech police said Tuesday.

But police are still searching for a motive.

“He was a loner, and we’re having difficulty finding information about him,” school spokesman Larry Hincker said.

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The Chicago Tribune reported that the note included a rambling list of grievances that railed against “rich kids,” “debauchery” and “deceitful charlatans” on campus.

So far, that’s the only reasonable clue as to why. Don’t it figure… he blames the ‘evil rich’ for his doing.

I’m not even going to bother, here.

So, the perpetrator of the Virginia Tech massacre is a Chinese national here on a student visa. And, today, this alien did “the job that Americans just won’t do.” Remember that the next time you hear President Bush and Condi Clueless waxing lyrical about how we need more foreign students in America. We do not. Remember the Mana Saleh Almanajam and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, two Saudi students in Tampa, last year, who hijacked a school bus full of kids while wearing trench coats in 90-plus degree weather?

Oh, come on, Debbie, that’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? I mean, are you really suggesting that Chinese nationals who are exchange students, are a threat based on some kind of ideology endemic to the breed? Given the apparent lack of similarity between this perp, and the Muslim Radicals you cite as your other examples,  there seems a huge hole in your argument.

Sorry, Debbie, no sale.

BBCT: James who has his own comments.

Boortz, this morning;

….let’s set up a hypothetical situation.  You’re in a class full of people at a university.  Let’s say that there are 30 people in that room.  A predator with a gun walks through the door.  He shoots the professor, kills him.  He then takes the remainder of the people in the room and lines them up against a wall.  He then walks up to the first person and shots them in the head.  Now … let me allow you to change the scenario.  We can freeze-frame this situation while you make a decision.  Your decision is this:  You can put a gun into the hands of one student or a professor in that room, or you can leave things exactly the way they are.  What are you going to do?   Come on now, let’s have it.  Which way do you want it?  Do you want the predator to be the only one in the room with a gun?  Or would you like to have at least the fighting chance that would result if one, maybe two of your classmates had a firearm. 

And there it is, freinds. That’s my whole, entire position from yesterday’s post, in one para.

Not bad, Neal.

Look, gang… we have no guarantees, here, except that the ‘gun free’ status on the campus of VT didn’t work to protect those people, yesterday, nor did all the gun control laws, supposedly designed to do the same thing. Indeed; logic suggests that such were counter-productive. That’s the only things we know, yet. The motivation of the gunman, we don’t know, nor does it matter. 

The actions of officials we don’t know fully… nor in the end do they matter all that much, either; regardless of what they did, campus officials simply are not equipped to deal with such conditions, due as much to their own gun phobia as political correctness and gun control laws. The only chance anyone would have had to stop those killings was taken away from them, by people claiming to proect them, but who, in fact, made mewling sheep of them.

See also, here and here.