Rising gas prices are inspiring drivers to find new ways of protecting themselves against future increases--including buying gas in advance and investing in stocks that tend to rise along with the price of gasoline. One new company, MyGallons.com, lets customers buy gallons ahead of time based on the current prices in their area--in theory, locking in a lower price--and then redeem those gallons at a later date, regardless of any price increases in the interim. Note: What do you think? I can see this company making lots of money. What I cannot see is me saving on gas.

Former North Carolina Senator, Jesse Helms, has died at the age of 86. I doubt it’s possible, but I’ve often wondered if the dead can look back and see their legacy. It would be nice to know that Jesse Helms would want to modify portions of the one he leaves.

A must see video by an 11Yr. old.

Nothing of substance that we know of was accomplished at the recent G-8 meetings and the oil producers meeting in Saudi in lowering oil prices. In fact, their failure has pushed oil prices higher. We believe they recognize that what Lieberman, Israeli agent and poodle for the neocons, is proposing is tantamount to exchange controls totally unbeknownst to Americans who are deep in slumber, mesmerized by the puppets reining for their presidency. The proposal is that the US would control all commodity markets and foreign exchanges that deal in commodities. It would be Neocons über alles. Herr Lieberman wants a prohibition on all private and public pension funds with assets in excess of $500 million from investing in agriculture and energy commodities traded anywhere. How is that for imperial overreach? Another issue would be that the CFTC would be able, arbitrarily, to stop any financial institution from purchasing said commodities. There would be the ability to impose speculative position limits, which we are sure won’t fly because it would limit swaps written by banks and investment banks. These proposals would control capital flows that in time would grow.

he fought for peace in the unconstitutional, immoral war of the 1960s - far more heroic than dropping death from the sky on innocent people

While you’re watching this fireworks this July 4th, take a moment to reflect on the words of International Atomic Energy Director Muhammad Al-Baradei, who said that a military strike on Iran would “turn the Middle East into a ball of fire.” Also take a moment to reflect on just how far we have strayed from our nation’s origins as a struggle for freedom and against the domination of an abusive empire. George Washington cautioned our new nation against the “mischiefs of foreign intrigue”. Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison all warned that the invasion and occupation of other lands would turn America into precisely the sort of occupying force they had rebelled against. “If there be one principle more deeply written than any other in the mind of every American,” Thomas Jefferson said in 1791, “it is that We Should Have Nothing To Do With Conquest.”.”

U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing. On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials. Three Marines, Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, Capt. Philip Dykeman, and Lt. Col. Max Galeai, were assigned to 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. The explosion also killed two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including the mayor of the nearby town of Karmah, two prominent sheikhs and their sons, and another sheikh and his brother. All were members of the local “awakening council,” one of the U.S.-backed militias that have taken up arms against al Qaeda in Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

An article by the Colombian weekly magazine Cambio suggests the U.S. military base in Manta, Ecuador, will be moved to a new location in Colombia after the U.S. military’s contract with Ecuador expires in 2009. The likely new host for the U.S. base is Colombia’s Palanquero air force base in Puerto Salgar, 120 miles north of Bogotá. Cambio cites an April 22 meeting between U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield and Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos in which the U.S. diplomat delivered some unexpected news. Brownfield told the minister the State Department had decided the Palanquero base was being “recertified.” Cambio mentions “military and diplomatic circles” interpreted the decision as the first step toward establishing the new U.S. base in Palanquero.

Three US military contractors and eleven Colombian soldiers and police were released along with high profile Ingrid Betancourt who expressed grave concerns about the remaining hundreds of hostages.

"The Environmental Protection Agency had serious concerns about how barrier fencing would affect habitat, animals and communities along the border near El Paso, according to recently released comments the agency prepared earlier this year. ... The undated comments...show that federal environmental officials wanted the Department of Homeland Security to do more research and analysis on effects the border fence might have on wildlife, farming and water quality in the region. That may be one reason why DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff in April signed a waiver that allowed the department to circumvent about 30 laws, including environmental regulations, in order to complete 670 miles of fencing this year, said Cyrus Reed, conservation director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club."

Louisiana Senator David Vitter, who has been found to have affiliation with prostitutes twice in his political career, is now asking the Federal Elections Commission if he can use his campaign funds to pay the legal fees he acquired in the last incident. So, let me get this straight - first, you screw over your constituents by being caught in "sin" after campaigning as a religious right/holier-than-democrats candidate. Next, you want to screw 'em over again by using the campaign money they gave you to defend yourself in these illegalities?

It's rare for the junior partners of NAFTA — Mexico and Canada — to have a chance to sit down and discuss regional integration without the dominating influence of the United States. Even when they do, of course, the U.S. is the elephant in the room. The University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico hosted a conference recently on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) from the Canadian and Mexican perspective. Although most of the presentations were from academics, businessmen or government officials, our panel on civil society participation set me to reflecting on the long personal and political history of the nearly 15-year-old NAFTA and its offspring, the SPP.

"It seems that Senator Joseph Lieberman’s political metamorphosis into a super-surrogate for the presidential candidacy of John McCain isn’t playing too well in his home state of Connecticut. A new poll from Quinnipiac University found that Lieberman’s approval rating among his constituents has dropped to 45%, with 43% expressing disapproval for his performance. That’s down from a 52%-35% ratio in March. ... Daily Kos...commissioned a poll that found that Lieberman’s vanquished electoral foe, Ned Lamont, would today decisively win in a rematch."

In a case of the pot calling the kettle black, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England are telling their developing-country counterparts to get their respective economic houses in order and do something about growing inflationary pressures. Maybe the big boys should learn that responsibility, like charity, begins at home. Global status used to be a national airline. Now every country wants a stock market and world-class financial center. Preparing for the day the oil and gas runs out is important. Even so, regardless of its wealth, the Middle East needs only one major financial hub. During the past two decades, the U.S. has repealed legislation that barred interstate banking, separated commercial and investment banking, and split lenders and insurers. The result was the emergence of big financial conglomerates with an increasingly complex makeup as banks, securities firms and insurers entered each other's business. We need to create a resolution process that ensures the financial system can withstand the failure of a large, complex financial firm," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in a speech in London this week. With banks already lobbying for no change, and regulatory turf battles to be expected, enlightened legislation may be too much to hope for.

The closure of the Sacramento and other Central Valley rivers to salmon fishing this year is now official. The California Department of Fish and Game announced on July 2 that the 2008 recreational salmon fishing closures in the Central Valley would go into effect on Thursday, July 3, to protect the imperiled Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon. The announcement was expected after the Fish and Game Commission voted to close all Central Valley rivers and streams to the retention of salmon with one exception on May 9. A federal regulatory body, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC), in April closed all commercial and recreational salmon fishing on the California and Oregon coast for the first time in history. The ocean and river closures are the result of state and federal water policies that have resulted in the unprecedented collapse of Central Valley fall chinook salmon populations.

About 1,000 joined Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at a campaign event in Fargo, N.D. Obama planned to discuss U.S. job losses and other issues but ended up defending his commitment to get Americans out of Iraq quickly. He blamed any confusion on the McCain campaign, which he said had "primed the pump with the press" to suggest "we were changing our policy when we haven't. I have said throughout this campaign that this war was ill-conceived, that it was a strategic blunder and that it needs to come to an end," he said. "I have also said I would be deliberate and careful about how we get out. Obama insisted that his position has not changed at all. He pointed out that he has always said, "We need to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in." This means, he said, that his 16-month timeline "was always premised on" not endangering either U.S. troops or Iraq's stability, which he had previously been told by commanders was possible.

Democrat Barack Obama's presidential campaign yesterday seized on comments by the nation's top military officer that the war in Iraq is draining military resources from Afghanistan and criticized Republican opponent John McCain for opposing troop reductions in Iraq. Susan Rice, a top foreign policy adviser to Obama, and Sara Sewall, another former Pentagon official now advising Obama, said that Mullen's comments confirm what Obama has been arguing for nearly a year: The Iraq war has hobbled the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "The oxygen has really been sucked out of the [Afghan] theater into Iraq," said Sewall. "The issue is not simply ground forces. It is also a question of reconnaissance and surveillance assets and air support."

“Neither a government information campaign, nor promised subsidies and visits by top politicians, the U.S. ambassador and experts have persuaded the locals to change their mind....They did not welcome the government's promise of high subsidies for the region in connection with the radar base. Neoral and other mayors reiterated that they would not sell their opinions for money.” --- -- “Locals still oppose U.S. radar in Czech Brdy district," Ceské Noviny, 3 July 2008 --- --- --- On July 8, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to arrive in Prague. Concurrent with her visit, a conference will be held on anti-missile defense featuring representatives from Raytheon and Boeing. The nature of the conference is obvious; it is an opportunity to garner support for the U.S. installation of the X-band radar by appealing to potential industry partners and the scientific community within the Czech Republic.

Over the 4th of July weekend the LAME STREAM MEDIA has launched an assault on Barack Obama by planting a very dangerous meme into the minds of America. What does the NRA, the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, CNN, the DETROIT NEW, and the NEW YORK TIMES, have in common? These media outlets are aiding and abetting the political machine of the Republican National Committee and the National Rifle Association by using language to suggest assassination of Presidential Candidate Barack Obama on INDEPENDENCE DAY!! This is TREASON, and if not should be. To imply Obama is a TARGET in this time in our history is the lowest political trick imaginable. HEADS SHOULD ROLL OVER THIS BLATANT USE OF OUR MEDIA IN SUCH A TRANSPARENT WAY. BOOO, BOOO, BOOO!!!!! Chris Cox of the NRA, Patrick Healy of the New York Times, Brian Todd, CNN Washington Bureau, and Gordon Trowbridge of the Detroit News Washington Bureau are all UN-AMERICAN for the premeditated assault. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/04/us/politics/04strategy.html?ref=politics, http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/POLITICS01/807030366/&imw=Y, http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/07/rnc-plans-ad-as.html, You can reach Gordon Trowbridge at (202) 662-8738 or gtrowbridge@detnews.com.

Swiss radio station RSR broadcast a report questioning the official version of the operation to free Ms Betancourt and 14 other hostages – saying that Money, NOT Cunning, had Clinched their Freedom. According to Bogota, the hostages were freed in an elaborate ruse by Colombian intelligence agents who had infiltrated the Marxist Farc rebels holding them. RSR said that the 15 Hostages “Were In Reality Ransomed For A High Price, and the Whole Operation Afterwards Was A Set-Up". Citing a source "close to the events, reliable and tested many times in recent years", it said that the United States – which had three citizens among those freed – was Behind The Deal and put the price at $20 million.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The U.S. economy shed 62,000 jobs in June while the unemployment rate unexpectedly remained at a four-year high of 5.5%, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Payrolls have now fallen in all six months this year for a total job loss of 438,000, the strongest evidence that the economy fell into a recession. Job losses in June were worse than the 40,000 expected by economists surveyed by MarketWatch.

It appears that John McCain didn’t go storming bare chested into a Colombian militant camp earlier this week and single-handedly free the hostages being held. Their release was a simple cash transaction, apparently formulated by the Bush administration. $20 million ransom, and the hostages went free...on the day after John McCain visited. There are no coincidences in a presidential election year.

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee released documents revealing that the Bush administration knew in advance that a major Bush donor’s oil company, Hunt Oil, was trying to sign a contract with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to develop oil fields in the Kurdish region of Iraq in 2007. At the time, the State Department claimed it had “actively warned Hunt Oil” against the deal and President Bush said he “knew nothing about the deal.” In the White House press briefing today, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino tried to spin the dissonance between the administration’s 2007 public comments and the documents released yesterday:

Besides supporting fishermen, salmon is a keystone species in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, supporting wildlife from birds to bears and orcas. A crash could cripple dependent creatures.

The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves. What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero. Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

There are three basic requirements of life: Self-defense, liberty and property- all dependent upon each other. These are all natural rights granted us by God. Found within the Declaration of Independence, are these inspired words written by Thomas Jefferson:

Ron Paul on Alex Jones Ron Paul on Alex Jones Ron Paul on Alex Jones

REPORTER ASSAULTED, ARRESTED IN MIAMI FOR FILMING MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL GANG TASK FORCE (FederalJack.com) - SOUTH BEACH, FL - A reporter for FEDERALJACK.COM was arrested at 3:15am in front of Royal Palm Hotel on Miami Beach during Urban (Hip Hop) Beach Week for obstructing an investigation. The charge was later changed to resisting arrest without violence, and the arrest was considered a Gang Activity and Fraud Activity related arrest according to the arrest affidavit.

Google has been ordered to hand over details of YouTube users' viewing habits by a judge presiding over a copyright infringement case against the site. Viacom, the parent company of MTV, filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the video-sharing site last March. It demanded that Google, which owns YouTube, should hand over data about how people use the site, arguing that the information would show that copyright-protected material was routinely posted and watched. Judge Louis Stanton of the US District Court granted the request, ordering Google to divulge details of every video clip uploaded to the site, along with viewers’ YouTube usernames and IP addresses.

Okay... NOW can I be your VP McCain? (NOTE: The Miami Herald has disabled comments ONLY on this particular story... I wonder why?)