Supreme Court Moves One Step Closer to Destroying American Democracy:

The Republican handpicked members of the U. S. Supreme Court moved one step closer to killing off democracy in America with its decision yesterday in support of the Indiana law requiring voters to provide photo ID when voting.

This will allow pole workers to deny anyone they suspect as voting contrary to their wishes to be denied the right to vote.

Please note, this will allow pole workers the right to deny anyone the right to vote, regardless of whether they have a photo ID or not.

How so? Now if a pole worker believes you might vote for someone other than their candidate, they can simply deny that you are the person in the photo. The burden of proof is on you, and by the time you are able to prove you are in fact that person, your vote will be irrelevant. This is an extension of the tactics employed in the 2004 and 2000 elections which brought the Royalist nincompoop George Bush to power.

(See Linda Greenhouse's New York Times story.)

Pandering to Voters:

Sen. Clinton has joined forces with Sen. McCain in pandering to voters by advocating a reduction in fuel taxes. The question is whether voters are dumb enough to fall for this. The federal gas tax amounts to a tiny drop in the bucket at 18.4 cents per gallon. But the nasty secret is that suspending the tax, while further escalating the national debt, meaning that the tax would have to inevitably be paid anyway, is that tax paying drivers wouldn't save money anyway. Do you really think for one second that the price at the pump will go down for longer than a day or two? The oil companies are very aware that you are willing to pay $4.00 a gallon for gasoline. So that's what they're going to charge you. The question is whether you want all of that money going into their pockets or some of it being used to help maintain the roads and bridges you drive over. (See The New York Times story.)

In the meantime, oil production capacity is suffering from a variety of causes. (See The New York Times story.) In some cases, wells are drying up, while in others the above ground capacity to produce and refine is running into roadblocks.

And no one is talking about global warming, which looms over us and our children, like the monster in the TV show, Lost. But this monster is real, not simply a distraction.

David Brooks Anoints Demography King:

The New York Times' token Republican has spent far more time talking about Obama and Clinton than his party's candidate, old what's his name, in recent weeks. In today's Op-Ed pages, Brooks explains that "[t]he upscale liberals who revere Obama have spent their lives championing equality and opposing privilege. But they’ve smashed the old WASP social hierarchy only to create a new educational one."

It's a fair analysis—what else would I say when a stooge for big oil agrees with me. The big question for the Democrats, as everyone knows, is can they regroup once the party finally chooses a candidate.

The bigger question is whether whoever is elected president will be able to effect an upright ship of state over the course of the next four years. The boat's leaking and the forecast is for worse weather. Will any captain be able to prevent it from swamping?

Bush Blames Congress for Economic Crisis:

Georgie Boy, in a bit of brilliant analysis, declared congress was at fault for whatever was wrong with the economy today. The Prez wants lots of tax cuts for his buddies at the oil companies and the country club crowd, and congress is hesitant to grant them. In making his argument, Bush, who has an MBA in business, declared he'd let the economists describe the economic situation the country is in as he lacks the expertise. Now there's a revelation! (See the NPR story.)

Crude Hits $119.93 per Barrel:

As the price of crude oil reaches a new record high, Royal Dutch Shell and British Petroleum record their largest profits in history. The New York Times reports, "Shell’s net income in the first three months of the year rose 25 percent to $9.08 billion and BP reported its profit increased 63 percent to $7.62 billion."

What the Dude was thinking a while back: "We look forward to analyzing and working with legislation that will make—it would hope—put a free press's mind at ease that you're not being denied information you shouldn't see." — George W. Bush, Washington, D. C., April 2005. (George Orwell would have been proud.)

China Facts: "China is expected to overtake the U. S. as the world's largest economy in ten years." (Source: ngm.com)