Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act - The Second Circuit is "W"rong

The law (click title to entry - thank you) was written by the former Senator Larry Craig and signed into law by Georgie, but, that isn't why it is unconstitutional.


This seems fairly straight forward to me, actually.


It violates States Rights.  In other words it allows the distribution of firearms by manufacturers to any state in the union in complete disregard of the State Legislation to prohibit them.


If California wants to make the sales of Assault Guns illegal this removes that by not holding responsible the manufacturers for the illegal distribution into the California.


Section 3 -
Prohibits a qualified civil liability action from being brought in any state or federal court against a manufacturer or seller of a firearm, ammunition, or a component of a firearm that has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce, or against a trade association of such manufacturers or sellers, for damages, punitive damages, injunctive or declaratory relief, abatement, restitution, fines, penalties, or other relief resulting from the criminal or unlawful misuse of a firearm....


It allows free interstate arms sales and transportation regardless of the laws of the State.  Manufacturers have no responsibility to be sure their firearms are not found in California if they are prohibited there.  That means they can sell freely to Nevada without any concern about the sales and transport to other states or over the border to Mexican Drug Cartels.


It allows manufacturers to sell to any gun shop, anywhere without worrying about whom their customers are.  So, if a gun shop in Texas wants to sell weapons to mules going to Mexico the manufacturer has no liability in allowing such activity.  As a matter of fact it encourages the sale of more guns 'for profit' REGARDLESS of the ultimate customer or use.


So, while American gun manufacturers should be held liable, as a deterrent, to the ultimate use of their product, instead they can sell them like water from a faucet.  Imagine a group of rebels seeking guns for use against law enforcement in the USA.  A very real scenario.  There is no liability for the uncontrolled manufacture of guns going anywhere in the USA or abroad.  


Better yet, Brazil.  Brazil is one of the NRA's pride an joy.  There are regular killings of innocent people in that country now because the Brazilian landscape is saturated with weapons.  


The banner reads: “586 dead police officers - for less than R$ 30 a day”. The daily rates for a police officer in Rio de Janeiro is $17 a day. Photo by Thiago Velloso  (click here)


S. 397 PLCAA was actually passed when the height of deaths of police officers were being realized in Brazil.  The NRA was active in promoting the gun presence there and literally the Brazilian government could not stop it.


S. 397: Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act

10/26/2005--Public Law. (This measure has not been amended since it was passed by the Senate on July 29, 2005.

The NRA Takes on Gun Control -- in Brazil (click here)

The defeat of a historic referendum to ban guns in South America's largest country has the American pro-gun group's fingerprints all over it....

October 25, 2005



Brazilians flatly rejected a plan to ban the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition in a historic national referendum on Sunday. The vote is a victory for Brazil's wealthy gun lobby which opponents say used strategies learned from the National Rifle Association to shift public opinion.

An estimated 122 million citizens took part in the referendum -- the first of its kind in the world -- and preliminary counts showed 64 percent went against the ban while 36 percent backed it. The referendum -- which asked the simple question "Should the commercial sale of guns and ammunition to civilians be prohibited?" -- divided the country, a world leader in gun deaths, into "não" and "sim" camps....

So, while the NRA was overtaking the efforts of the government, through fear tactics of course, to stem the flow of guns into Brazil, Georgie and his friends were busy in Washington, DC to allow all the guns flowing into Brazil free of liability by their manufacturers.


The Brazil circumstances are case in point regarding PLCAA.


It is difficult to believe Brazil hasn't brought human rights issues against the manufacturers and THE USA, primarily George Walker Bush, given this legislation that protects the GOP's cronies.


Protecting cronies is an 'economy at any cost.'  

...Two months ago, polls showed 60 to 80 percent of Brazilians favored the ban as a way to control the estimated 17 million small arms that are circulating in the country. But as the vote neared, and as both sides of the issue were given free television time, a slick media blitz by the gun lobby appears to have shifted enough voter opinion....


I don't consider the legislation and NRA's involvement in Brazil a coincidence.  It absolutely is not.  Hence, the argument against PLCAA.  It is too dangerous a law.  It acts in contradiction of the sovereignty of nations and the protections of people.  


Blanketing a nation with firearms is not wise.  I think the last count of guns on the loose in the USA was 300 million.  That is one per person.  That is ridiculous and increases the STATISTICAL incidence of what happened in Ohio.  If there are more guns on the streets there will be more gun deaths.  So, for states and countries that want to reduce the violence unleashed against its citizens there is no defense against this level of exploitation.

Mr. Lane was not an 'at risk student,' he was guaranteed.

A .22 caliber pistol. A pea shooter. It would have to be used a point blank range if it were to kill someone.

A gun barrel (or its ammunition) that measures twenty – two hundredths of an inch in diameter.

...Prosecutors (click title to entry - thank you) identified the suspect as T.J. Lane and said he has admitted to taking a knife and a .22-caliber pistol into the cafeteria at Chardon High School in a town 35 miles east of Cleveland on Monday and firing 10 rounds....

Ten rounds is not an extended clip.  It is standard for most .22 caliber handguns.

Established in 1990, The NRA Foundation (click here) raises tax-deductible contributions in support of a wide range of firearm related public interest activities of the National Rifle Association of America and other organizations that defend and foster the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. These activities are designed to promote firearms and hunting safety, to enhance marksmanship skills of those participating in the shooting sports, and to educate the general public about firearms in their historic, technological and artistic context. Funds granted by the NRA Foundation benefit a variety of constituencies throughout the United States including children, youth, women, individuals with physical disabilities, gun collectors, law enforcement officers hunters and competitive shooters.

The charitable giving of the National Rifle Association does nothing for people like Mr. Lane.  The charitable giving of the NRA is based in promoting right wing propaganda regarding the 2nd amendment and the use of guns at all levels of society, in the USA and internationally.

NRA's Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum (click here)

This all-time favorite event features an all-star lineup of the Second Amendment's most ardent defenders. Join some of America's biggest names on Friday, April 13 for an afternoon of motivational speeches. Reserve your seats today at nraam.org or call 877-672-7632. 

The NRA is breaking the law, this is a political action committee, not a non-profit; .org.  That is a sham.  The NRA is a political action committee and not an organization.  One might note Mr. Santorum's face in the upper right corner of the e-page.

Most if not all of the Right Wing organizations that fund candidates and media services serve their own purposes.  The sincerely don't care about social issues that surround their political will.  The organizations are above all that.  They believe society is allowed to be in 'free fall' so long as they are unrestrained in their market share and profit margins.

Virginia governor signs repeal of 19-year-old law limiting handgun purchases to 1 per month (click here)

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, February 28, 6:27 PM

RICHMOND, Va. — Gov. Bob McDonnell signed a bill Tuesday that repeals Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month law, enacted in 1993 when the state was a haven for gun runners.

McDonnell had earlier expressed support for repealing the law, which limited individuals to one handgun purchase every 30 days but did not apply to rifles or shotguns. The General Assembly passed the legislation Feb. 15....

...The signing came after McDonnell met Saturday with families of people killed or injured in the April 2007 shooting rampage at Virginia Tech, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The families had hoped to persuade him to veto the bill, although they knew it was a long shot.

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was wounded in the Virginia Tech shooting, was among those who met with the governor. He said the governor had previously said he would sign the bill and “it would have been very difficult for him to go back on it.”

Goddard, president of the Virginia Center for Public Safety, reserved his harshest criticism for legislators who passed the bill.

“They have not learned a damn thing,” Goddard said in a telephone interview. Alluding to Monday’s school shooting that left three students dead in Ohio, Goddard said: “Here we are watching kids dying in other states, and we’re going to be a purveyor of firearms for other states.”...

Under the Bush Administration and a majority Republican Congress victims of gun crimes were striped of their rights to hold accountable the manufacturers of weapons.  It exonerates manufacturers from being responsible for responsible distribution of their products.

The law is the PLCAA (The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act), supposedly protected on the GOP's and the Robert's Court favorite clause, the Commerce Clause.  The law has stood regardless of moral objections by judges.  Previous challenges have made it to the 2nd Circuit but never the Supreme Court.

..."This is the highest court – and the first state Supreme Court (click here) – to directly consider the scope and constitutionality of this controversial federal law.   The PLCAA is the only law ever enacted by Congress that purports to utterly deprive a class of victims of their right to seek compensation against wrongdoers who caused them harm.  And it is the first law that bars states from using their courts to establish civil liability standards," said Lowy. "If the Kims win, we can change the way gun dealers do business and save lives. Today marks the 18th anniversary of the Brady Law and if Rayco had completed a background check on Coday, Simone Kim might be alive."

On August 2, 2006, Jason Coday, a bizarre-acting, methamphedamine-abusing fugitive who was prohibited by federal law from possessing or buying firearms, walked into Rayco Sales, the gun store of Ray Coxe.  Coday, who had a garbage bag filled with his belongings wrapped around his waist, told Coxe he was interested in obtaining a gun, and Coxe showed him a Ruger rifle, and told him the price was $195.  Coday soon left the store with the gun, leaving $200 in exchange. Coxe did not subject Coday to a background check and the paperwork required under federal law.  The store had two video surveillance systems, but Coxe later claimed that both videotapes did not record that day.  Two days later, Coday used the gun to kill Simone Kim, a 26-year-old man he had never met, who was at work as a painter outside the Juneau Fred Meyer store....

In the challenge to the law began with Caitlin Halligan.  The current New York Solicitor General is hated by the Right Wing.

Targeting the Second Amendment (click here for the activism of the Republican Policy Committee)


As Solicitor General of New York, Ms. Halligan vigorously advanced a specious legal theory attempting to hold gun manufacturers liable for the crimes of third parties.


Gun Owners of America described this as a strategy to “eliminate the manufacture of firearms in America.”


Despite the fact that New York law, as the appellate court explained, had “never recognized a common-law public nuisance cause of action”


advanced by Ms. Halligan,she mounted a crusade to hold the gun industry responsible for the “easy availability of illegal guns.”


The New York state court rejected Ms. Halligan’s call to judicial activism.
  
In 2003, a bipartisan coalition in Congress responded to the type of frivolous litigation pushed by Ms. Halligan by introducing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).  Ms. Halligan, in turn, sharply criticized this legislation,which Congress ultimately enacted with wide support. 


The National Rifle Association described PLCAA as “an essential protection both for the Second Amendment rights of honest Americans and for the continued existence of the domestic firearms industry.”


Undeterred, Ms. Halligan filed an amicus brief in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the PLCAA.  The Second Circuit, in rejecting Ms. Halligan’s argument, held that PLCAA was 
constitutional and dismissed the litigation against gun manufacturers.

The Republican Senate AGAIN returned judicial nominees of President Obama by obstructionism.

Caitlin Joan Halligan (born December 14, 1966) (click here) is an American lawyer and the Solicitor General of the state of New York from 2001 until 2007. She has been nominated by President Barack Obama to fill a federal judicial vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On December 6, 2011, the Senate failed to invoke cloture by a vote of 54 ayes to 45 nays, falling six votes short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate and proceed to a floor vote. Her nomination was returned to the President on December 17, 2011, pursuant to the rules of the Senate.

Posted at 01:57 PM ET, 02/28/2012

Ohio school shooting may draw attention to state’s lax gun laws

By Elizabeth Flock

It is unclear how T.J. Lane, 17, who authorities say carried out the shooting, acquired the gun. (click here)

But the shooting is bound to push Ohio lawmakers and residents to look more closely at their gun laws.

Under Ohio gun laws, a person must be 21 years of age, pass a national background check and fill out a firearms transaction record to purchase a handgun. A state permit, firearm registration and owner’s license, however, are not needed.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence rated Ohio only a 7 out of a possible score of 100 in terms of strong gun laws, saying that people can avoid background checks by buying handguns in private sales.

Last summer, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a “guns-in-bars” bill into law, making it legal to carry concealed firearms into bars, restaurants, shopping malls, nightclubs and sports arenas for the first time. The law is considered one of the broadest gun laws in the country.

Critics say Kasich passed the law because of a strong gun lobby, despite reports in 2009 and 2010 that found that nearly half of the guns used in crimes were sold in just 10 states, including Ohio....


Kasich's best effort to date to honor the dead is to fly the USA flag at half staff.  In the future he'll attend a prayer vigil, call the incident an unfortunate act of a mentally disturbed person, but, will never, not ever attempt to end the outrageous laws of Ohio in relation to their liberal gun laws that endanger the lives of all Americans, not just Ohioans.

It would be interesting of the Right Wing actually walked the walk and talked the talk.

An Ohio State highway patrol (click title to entry - thank you) helicopter leaves the grounds of Chardon High School as students leave the area in Chardon, Ohio February 27, 2012....


Instead of spending millions and billions on immoral political agenda's based in lies and half truths, perhaps the GOP, Tea Party and Santorum should have actually lived up to their godly purpose.


It seems to me as two more students die there is a huge gap in what the Right Wing says and what it actually does.  For the millions and billions they spend on election strategies based in nonsense and anti-constitutional rhetoric they could do actually be doing 'good works' like outreach to challenged young people.   Oh, but, that responsibility belongs to big government and not the faithful.

February 28, 2012

Third Student Dies After Ohio School Shooting (click here)

A third student has died from wounds suffered in a shooting at a school in the central U.S. state of Ohio.

One victim died hours after the shooting Monday. Two others died on Tuesday, while another two are recovering from their wounds.

The alleged attacker appeared in court Tuesday. Authorities say they apprehended the teenage suspect Monday afternoon, after he allegedly opened fire on students inside the Chardon High School cafeteria.

Witnesses and local news reports say he is T.J. Lane, a student at a nearby school for at-risk youth. Authorities say his motive remains unclear.

A lawyer for the suspect told local media Monday that his family is "devastated" and has expressed condolences to the victims' families. The lawyer described the suspect as a "fairly quiet" and "good kid" who, to his knowledge, has never been in any trouble....

To say, Mr. Lane was troubled is an understatement.  He had more personal pain than any young person I have ever heard of, in that his brother is in prison, his parents are absent in his life and he was being raised by a Grandmother.  If that wasn't painful enough, he was bullied for his difference.

Where is the Koch Brothers Right Wing outreach for troubled youth? Nowhere to be found.  The Koch Brothers and those like them are more immoral the more they are scrutinized.

The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation (click here) was established with the stated purpose of advancing social progress and well-being through the development, application and dissemination of "the Science of Liberty". Charles' and David's foundations have together provided millions of dollars to a variety of organizations, usually libertarian or conservative think tanks, such as Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Mercatus Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, Citizens for a Sound Economy, the Institute for Justice, the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, the Institute for Energy Research, the Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment, Heritage Foundation, the Manhattan Institute, the George C. Marshall Institute, the Reason Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. The foundation also funds study groups called Koch Scholars who gather and read "an assortment of select books, movies, and podcasts surrounding the principles of a free society." Colleges where such groups exist include the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

There so called charitable giving is for the sole purpose of developing more profits for their corporation.  

And Rupert Murdoch isn't much better.  Homes for lost kittys.  Just wants to make a soul cry.

...For many years, (click here) Ruperthas been involved in the charity Moguls Find Lost Kittens (or M.I.L.K.).  He started it after his son ,Lachlan, lost his kitten ,Joey, when he was 17 years old and wouldn’t stop crying, screaming and sucking his thumb. 

Rupert vowed to find Joey and launched a charity in the process called Murdoch Finds Lost Kittens (also M.I.L.K.).  (It was changed to“Moguls” after Jeffrey Immelt and Sumner Redstone heard about it and also wanted to get involved.  Legend has it they both had traumatic childhoods that involved lost kittens.)

The party was okay.  The food not bad.  I didn’t realize it was BYOB so I had to bum a couple of beers from Sheryl Crow, who was the evening’s entertainment.  There wasn’t room in the apartment for her band – so she just did a few songs on acoustic guitar....

Rupert Murdoch Dead Last In Charitable Giving (click here)

Posted by Mark on October 20, 2008 at 10:30 am.

Conde Naste’s Portfolio Magazine has compiled a list of billionaires ranked by their charitable donations. The Generosity Index itemizes fifty of the wealthiest individuals as donors, relative to their wealth.

Coming in fiftieth is the miserly media mogul, Rupert Murdoch. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that an uber-conservative, Republican monopolist, should finish last in expressions of charity. The Republican me - first ideology that values greedy self - centrism predictably drives people like Murdoch to the bottom of these lists.

At the other end of the spectrum, the top five most generous billionaires (Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, George Soros, and John Kluge) are all reliable supporters of Democrats and most have contributed to the campaign of Barack Obama.

This news bite is just a little more evidence that Republicans tend to be selfish, social Darwinians and Democrats tend to have more compassion and concern for the well being of others.

But, the same billionaires that lie at the bottom of charitable lists will be the first to derive satisfaction from advocating the role of government in the lives of families and children.  They are the first to praise the faithful while they put cash in their back pockets from doing so.  Ah, yes, Murdoch and all those million - billionaires that make corruption possible in the USA political arena won't reach out to young people in sincere needs of help, but, heck at least they have kittens.  Maybe.


"The Class of Murdoch" are two faced, controlling and Anti-American.

The USA lost its moral content and now there is proof. Rock solid, undesputable proof.

Borat received more attention on the news today then a dead American student and his three peers.  I really could not care less about the GOP primaries.  It is moronic and does not deserve my attention.


CHARDON – Donna Rickers (click title to entry - thank you) stepped over a snow bank Monday morning, into a puddle and ran down Maple Avenue, shouting into her cell phone at her husband Paul.

“Yes, I’ll be right there. Hang on,” she said, skipping past a police barricade outside Chardon High School where Paul Rickers was pulling up in a car to pick her up.

It was about 9:30 a.m.– nearly two hours after the shootings at Chardon High School. The Chardon-area mother had just heard that her daughter Joy, a senior, had been shot and taken to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights, where she was reportedly in stable condition....

Because internet access is inconvenient, doesn't mean I am in the deep forest.  There is little left of it, the deep forest that is, in the USA anyway.  MInority Speaker Pelosi needs to hold a press conference to speak to this tragedy, one again repeated by the free flowing gun supply in the USA.


The story started with news flashes about 10AM.  That is when I first noted it.  The story was gone off most media services by 2PM this afternoon.  I then witnessed a complete abandonment of the story except for CNN.  Wolf Blitzer is a moral man and does not allow populism to dominate his two hours of serving his viewership.


Heck, the front page of the New York Times now has the topic below the central picture.  


CNN continued with its coverage with Soledad O'Brien and Piers Morgan.  Soledad devoted a full one third of her program to the shooting and another one third to a mother attempting to return her daughter's body home from Syria.  Something happened in the middle of the program about some kind politics something.


Piers Morgan and Bill Mayer discussed the lousy gun culture in the USA.  The ONLY discussion of the day.  I have yet to hear what type of gun was used in Ohio and how it was obtained.  I understand the shooter was a peer as well, victimized most of his life including bullying.  He had few but good friends.


Where was the Ohio Governor by the way, still chancing lions, tigers and bears?


Shepard Smith at FOX forgot what country he was in because the only shooting appearing on his program was in Afghanistan and something about an apology that was used for political fodder.


Bill O'Rielly's show was completely disgusting.  It was nothing but politics and opened with a defamation of a dead President, namely John Fitzgerald Kennedy whom died in service to his country as did his older brother Joe.  Bobby wasn't far behind.  O'Reilly was a veiled attempt to support Santorum and his religious rant. 


Oh, yeah, none of the candidates addressed the tragedy.  


But, the frosting on the cake for O'Reilly was his final segments of pure, unadulterated narcissism.  Narcissism to beat the band.  Bill was enthralled with his own inaccurate depiction of Lincoln's assassination or something.  It was a book he wrote that is being made into a movie.  You'll never catch me reading it or in a theater.  But, Bill was thrilled with his own reality throwing thank you kisses to his audience.


That wasn't the best part, "Fair and Balanced O'Reilly" was excited over a race horse named after some kind of icon of his existence.  Oh, yeah, "The Factor."  Evidently, Bill has high hopes for Factor winning the Kentucky Derby.


Seriously.  Not a mention of a dead American child shot in an American high school, but, if it was all about Bill, it made the show.


Then Hannity came on with some kind of 'B Movie' like show featuring all the latest spin of the GOP, Rove himself and hate for President Obama.  After all, why make a big deal of a topic that would embarrass the NRA?  Hannity would simply be forced to call for guns in the classroom, in the cafeteria kitchen, officers where there weren't armed administrators and a new movement called "Arms for Librarians."  So, why go there?  Seriously.


Hannity, like the rest of Murdoch's media, including Greta Van Sustran ( the lawyer of the group) are deeply immoral in their content and completely disregard the lives of Americans as important.  Sound, complete and absolute proof.


But, it doesn't stop there.


Wanting to stop the 'wave of GOP' victories over the 2nd Amendment, MSNBC was nowhere to be found in regard to moral and dedicated coverage of yet ANOTHER student shooting from the 2PM hour onward.  After all, why risk sending negative signals to swing states?


The global community should take notice; the USA is depraved.  It values little its young people and seeks no attempt to stop guns in the hands of people that should not have them.  The NRA has no solid method to end the possibility of limiting inappropriate gun procurement and uses propaganda facilitated by tons of money to make sure they have as deep penetration as they can get for their product whether it means the death of the innocent or not.


Today, the media has proved beyond a reasonable doubt they are owned and operated by the power of the Plutocrats and not licensed by citizens to carry out the country's business for them when it comes to the 'need to know.'  Murdoch is a power broker.  He is not a media mogul, not even close.  He has allowed powerful leverage of the wealthy over the people and now we have proof.

"Good Night, Moon"

Internet access is not convenient currently...

..., that will change Wednesday afternoon.


I appreciate your interest and patience.  I'll check in as I can until then.


Regards.

President Obama stated in his speech the cost of gas is related to Middle East unrest.

Yes and no.


He is correct in that the price of gasoline is fluctuating due to events in the Middle East, Israel is muscle flexing with Iran, Iran is running war games from time to time, Syria is experiencing human rights violations by their government, Egypt is having elections that are tainted by what can best be defined as 'divisive' election policies.


That is correct, however, the gasoline prices are fluctuating because of speculation.  I challenge the fact there is little to speculate about.


Israel is ranked 99 out of 115 oil PRODUCING countries.  If Israel exports it has little effect on the global oil supply.


So, we have oil producing and oil exporting countries that actually have effects on global supplies and supposedly commodities pricing on Wall Street.  The speculation surrounding oil prices is hyped and has been hyped for several years now.


Iran is ranked 4 out of 115 and is undergoing sanctions to stop the development of nuclear capacity.  The world has a right to levy sanctions for the purpose of averting war, citizen's deaths and global instability.  


When a world of countries are exerting sanctions to maintain the stability of markets those should be upheld by the financial 'speculators' as honorable and best for all.  In that lies an immorality if the global markets are putting pressures on governments by speculating unnecessarily and exploitation of a myth rather than facts for greed.  The speculation is out of control because it can be not because it has a right to be.  The pressure the markets are exerting on governments due to out of control speculation is also an assault against a government's sovereignty when greed is the goal.


Iran has been under sanctions for some time now, there is absolutely no reason for sanctions today to reflect a new reality when it is not. 


Libya was noted on this blog to be producing more oil in exports than expected and more than past exports.  There is no reason to cite Libya as a reason for increased oil prices.  Libya is actually contributing to a decrease in the cost of oil


Pakistan is ranked 59 out of 115 countries in oil production.  There is absolutely very little 'stable' about the Pakistani government for decades now so any instability there can't be adding to the cost of oil


Yemen is ranked 36 our of 115 countries and things are actually becoming better in Yemen, so there is no reason for them to contribute to oil prices.


It was noted on this blog that OPEC has just concluded their 'demand' on oil this year, so that is a stabilizing factor.  Saudi Arabia is not in danger of any instability within its domestic economy or otherwise.  Saudi Arabia has a long history of increasing production during difficult times with other oil exporting countries.  Indonesia is about the same dynamic.  Indonesia will not be experiencing instability domestically and will maintain and/or increase (within reason) production of the world is challenged due to instabilty in other oil exporting nations.


...The Houston company ( click here ) reached a deal with the Egyptian government to invest in exploration and production projects in the country throughthe end of next year, Abdullah Ghorab, the Egyptian oil minister, and Steven Farris, the chief executive of Apache, said this week. Oil and gas assets provide relativestability for investors in Egypt because they are not easy to shut down and are mostly far away from urban unrest, said Catherine Hunter, an analyst at IHS Global Insight in London....

By Christopher Johnson 

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Nigerian oil exports will jump to their highest level (click here)  in four months in April as output from a new crude stream starts to flow, traders and shipping sources said on Friday.

The increase in Nigerian oil production, much of it high quality with low levels of contaminants such as corrosive sulphur compounds, will help meet any shortfall from disruptions to supplies from South Sudan, Syriaand Yemen.

Africa's top oil producer is expected to sell around 1.96 million barrels per day (bpd) in April in 70 full or part cargoes, up from 1.87 million bpd in 65 cargoes in March, the sources quoted provisional loading programmes as showing....

As always Saudi Arabia are among the countries in OPEC to stem global economic disaster as related to their commodity of oil.  The actions of these countries nullifies the threat of instability in Iran and the speculation should reflect that but does not.  The problem is Wall Street and NOT OPEC or other oil producing and exporting countries.

"Oil prices developments (click here) are one of the potential risks to the global economy but there is awareness among G20 about this problem," Italy's deputy economy minister Vittorio Grilli told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group of 20 leading economies.

"Oil-producing countries are aware of this potential risk and they have said they will act in a way to prevent the risk to materialize."

The world's top oil producer, Saudi Arabia, is a member of the G20. Other petroleum exporters in the group include Russia, Canada and Mexico.

Saudi Arabia increased exports sharply in the past week and is offering extra supplies to its biggest customers worldwide in what industry sources said appeared to be a bid to tame runaway crude prices....

Domestically in the USA, North Dakota is increasing production.  Globally and domestically there is absolutely no reason why Wall Street speculation should be increasing the LIABILITY to the USA or global economy, but, they are.

Has anyone looked into decommissioning Wall Street and require commodities to be traded directly with its consumers?  It is a conversation the global community should be having.  Cut out the Middle Man and remove 'the wealth factor' from global economic survival.

In western North Dakota, (click here) oil production is moving faster than infrastructure is being built. The state is producing more than half a million barrels of oil a day and there are no signs of it slowing down. 

It`s unclear just how much oil sits underneath the state`s 15,000 square miles of Bakken oil play. The state estimates the Bakken contains somewhere between seven to nine billion barrels of recoverable oil, but some geologists believe there`s even more oil underneath what`s currently being drilled.

"This is an industry that reinvents itself every 10 years or so, so it`s conceivable that future generations will be producing Bakken oil as well," said Lynn Helms, director of the state`s Department of Mineral Resources.

The Wealth Merchants and Greek Customers of Wall Street is destroying the democratic process.  In the USA, the prime example of how a democracy is disassembled by Wall Street is noted by a corrupted Supreme Court and the unleashing of 'wealth' buying elections.  This is a sovereignty problem and one that victimizes a populous and destroys their brain trust.


Why should the USA have a US Department of Education when employees can be obtained in China as all levels of management and production.  Wall Street and its 'constructs today' has disposed of the necessity for educating Americans to produce a qualified work force.  Why not unleash the power of the USA Treasury on Wall Street dreamscapes, while the citizens have no power to make it happen otherwise.


I have to laugh when I hear Right Wingers state they are all about unleashing the FREE MARKET SYSTEM.  But, the Free Market System as they define it is contained in impoverished India and Communist China (ie: Apple).  Americans should not equate the Free Market System with Freedom of Democracy.

1:24 pm - February 25, 2012

11:24 pm - February 25, 2012

Oil prices rising to near 2011 highs (click here)

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are approaching last year’s highs as tensions increase over Iran’s nuclear program. The rise pushed gasoline prices on Friday to a national average of $3.65 per gallon, the highest ever for this time of year.

Western nations fear Iran is building a nuclear weapon and have been trying to force it to open its facilities to inspection. Iran has refused, turning away international inspectors this week for the second time this month. The United Nations said Friday that Iran has responded to the recent scrutiny by speeding up production of higher-grade enriched uranium, feeding concerns that it is developing a bomb.

As both sides dig in for a protracted standoff, investors are snapping up oil contracts in case fighting breaks out in the heart of the one of the world’s biggest oil-producing regions. “Everyone’s pricing in the potential for war now,” independent analyst Stephen Schork said. “Without a concrete resolution, nobody knows how high this can go.”...

The cost of gasoline today is NOT about supply and demand it is about instilling the fear of a nuclear Iran.  Doesn't that just want to make you drop the bomb and get it over with?

...Gasoline has become a major political issue this year as prices tick higher.

Some lawmakers have called on the Obama administration to release more oil from emergency stockpiles in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but analysts say that would be ineffective. The government tried that last summer after the Libyan uprising shut down that country’s oil fields. Prices dipped slightly but eventually rebounded....

The cost of gasoline is NOT about supply and demand.  It is NOT about the free market system.  It is, however, about greed and how much Wall Street can leverage power over nations.


Sooner or later the United Nations has to draw up a resolution on the price of oil as dictated by producing and exporting countries and not the financial markets, otherwise, the global community will be in this negative feedback loop forever.  


The free market system has not worked and will not work with a commodity that is becoming rarer and rarer everyday.


The oil exporting nations have proved over and over again they hold high moral content in their production and exportation in ATTEMPTS to stabilize the global economy. It is the financial markets that have provided immoral and unworthy.