] LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices could touch $105 a barrel
] in the next few years, the influential investment bank
] Goldman Sachs said Thursday.
] "Based on our analysis of gasoline spending and the economy
] noted above, we estimate that U.S. gasoline prices may need to
] exceed $4 per gallon," they said.

Goldman says oil could spike to $105 a barrel - Mar. 31, 2005

] We got it, we played it, we love it. Polyphony Digital's
] latest-generation Gran Turismo introduces a toolbox full
] of new features that'll have you playing for hours,
] sometimes without even driving a single lap. Ever want to
] race in the Grand Canyon? On ice? Around New York City,
] Hong Kong, The Cote D'Azure? How about a drag race down
] the Las Vegas Strip? Now you can take your pick--all over
] the world, on any track, on any surface.

Damnit. I just solved San Andreas and they go and release this. I need a life man. I don't want to be a gamer!

Gran Turismo 4 - First Drive - Motor Trend

] The proposal to change the benefits calculation --
] adjusting only for inflation, not productivity growth --
] will dramatically cut the income-replacement rate for
] future retirees. The size of the cut will depend on when
] workers retire. The heaviest cuts would fall on the
] youngest workers. Those already retired or near
] retirement would be protected.
]
] Let's call it what it is: a tax hike
] The administration has not called this a tax increase,
] but that is exactly what it is: a massive tax hike
] reserved for the young and the young only. It is a tax
] increase because they will pay the same payroll tax but
] will receive less in benefits.
]
] The difference is who gets the money and benefits now. Older
] voters get the money, benefits and reassurances now. Our
] children and grandchildren get the shaft.
]
] Tell me, Mr. President, what's moral and good about that?

Now this makes sense, but I'd like to see this analysis get some peer review.

MSN Money - Social Security cuts: a tax hike for the young

] I call it the Kerry trade, which is not to be confused
] with the "carry trade," a major position among hedge
] funds involving money borrowed at low U.S. interest rates
] and invested in products that pay higher rates.
]
] The Kerry trade has been rampant on Wall Street in the
] last several weeks as large investors sell their holdings
] to hedge against the possibility that the Massachusetts
] junior senator could actually, might possibly win in
] November.
]
] The theme behind it is that if a tax-and-spend Democrat
] wins the White House, the stock market will immediately
] tank, so better to sell now and be in cash as long as the
] polls indicate that it could be a close vote.
]
] But the theme is wrong for several reasons.

Unwinding the Kerry trade - Commentary: Sell Iraq, buy the economy

] Jerusalem used to be the direction in which the prophet
] Muhammad and the first Muslims turned to pray. In time,
] Muhammad changed the direction, or qibla, and Muslims
] began to pray facing Mecca, as they do today. All the
] Bush White House did was change the qibla of American
] Middle East policy from Jerusalem to Baghdad. While the
] present clique of White House ideologues assumed that a
] safe, stable, and democratic Iraq would reshape the
] region, Zinni, Brzezinski, and company still maintain
] that the peace process is the key. They don't know more
] about the Middle East than the Bush White House; they're
] just angry that someone replaced their absurd reductive
] paradigm with another, equally absurd reductive paradigm.

Good article.

Palestine Policy Paralysis - Face it: There is no -key- to Middle East peace.

] In press conferences, TV ads, and interviews this year,
] President Bush has manifested a series of
] psychopathologies: an abstract notion of reality,
] confidence unhinged from facts and circumstances, and a
] conception of credibility that requires no correspondence
] to the external world. Tonight, as he vowed to stay the
] course in Iraq, Bush demonstrated another mental defect:
] incomprehension of his role in history as a fallible
] human agent. Absent such comprehension, Bush can't fix
] his mistakes in Iraq because he can't see how or even
] that”he screwed up.

Thats pretty much how I feel about the present spin work that Bush is engaged in. The situation in Iraq is fucked up. I want to see changes on the ground. Spin doctoring doesn't influence me.

But the American people's attention span is about 1 week long, so I'm sure this thrust will improve his numbers domestically. It would be really neat if he could change the perceptions in the minds of people actually in Iraq, but that remains to be seen. I told someone a few days ago that I wish that I could fast forward three or four months. The uncertainty right now is unbearable. It will either completely improve in that timeframe, or we'll have completely lost control. Either way, we'll know whats up.

MSNBC - About last night

] At current rates of production, there were 40.6 years of
] consumption covered by proven reserves in 2002, the latest
] data available, according to the Wall Street Journal.
]
] The newspaper, citing the BP Statistical Review, said
] that in 1989, there were 44.7 years left of consumption.
]
] "[A shortage] will probably happen in the next 10 to 20
] years," Professor David Goodstein, a physicist at the
] California Institute of Technology, told CNNfn.

hrm...

As prices rise, concerns grow about world oil supplies

] Hey, George Soros! You're sending sackloads of cash to
] all sorts of groups dedicated to defeating President Bush
] this November. But by so ruthlessly exploiting one
] loophole in campaign-finance law”the one that allows
] unlimited donations to the political nonprofits known as
] 527 committees ”you're ignoring a different, equally
] large loophole. And it's one that affects a medium no one
] seems to be taking advantage of yet: the Internet.
]
] 1. The Internet is the only place where political parties can still
] spend soft money on the presidential election.
] 2. On the Internet, you can run things that look like TV ads.
] 3. There are fewer disclosure requirements.

McCain-Feingold's Internet Loophole

] The Cybercrime Convention does three major things:
]
] It includes a list of crimes that each member country
] must have on its books. The treaty requires
] criminalization of offenses such as hacking, the
] production, sale or distribution of hacking tools, and an
] expansion of criminal liability for intellectual property
] violations (Articles 2-11).
]
] It requires each participating nation to grant new powers
] of search and seizure to its law enforcement authorities.
] They include the power to force an Internet Service
] Provider (ISP) to preserve a citizens internet
] usage records or other data, and the power to monitor a
] citizens online activities in real time (Articles
] 16-22).
]
] It requires law enforcement in every participating
] country to assist police from other participating
] countries. US police would be required to cooperate
] mutual assistance requests from police in
] other participating nations to the widest extent
] possible (Articles 23-35).

The obvious intent of this treaty is good and it does some things that need to be done, however, the ACLU makes a compelling case that it is poorly crafted. The result would be worse then the disease.

In general, the problem with these UN treaties is that these are governments negotiating with eachother over their interests. Citizens, and their interests, are frequently not at the table.

American Civil Liberties Union : Seven Reasons the US Should Reject the International Cybercrime Treaty

] Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news -
] web sites), D-Mass., snowboards during the first day of
] his vacation at Sun Valley in Ketchum, Idaho Thursday,
] March 18, 2004

John Kerry snowboarding