Tue 13 Sep 2005
Rapid fire
Posted by Johnny under Sports thoughts
Just a bunch of thoughts, random though they may be.
- Zygi Wolf partially revealed his vision for the new Vikings stadium. Although he didn’t go into specifics (at least according to the article) he did divulge that the price tag would be between $700 and $760 million dollars. Of that, the Vikings and Anoka county would each put up about $250 million with the rest coming from a new state tax district. Let’s see how far this one goes.
- ESPN has put up their new NFL power rankings. Vikes at 13. I’m surprised they are this high. They looked terrible against the Buccaneers. I know it was only one game and I also know that they will probably pull it together. That said, they almost made Chris Hovan look like a football player.
- Radke turned in a good performance just a day after Lohse made amends for his tantrum.
- In non-sports news, Jon D. Markman makes an attempt to tell us who to blame for rising fuel costs. Although he is probably a lot smarter than I am and has his finger on the pulse of the industry, I find a problem with a part of his article. Specifically this part:
“In the case of gasoline, many consumers do not seem to yet grasp the difference between crude oil, the price of which is declining of late, and the stuff that they pump into their car, which is getting more expensive. One is the raw material, while the other is a finished good. It’s the difference between the price of raw cotton and an Armani T-shirt. You wouldn’t expect a sharp cut in prices at Bloomingdale’s just because cotton futures prices fell, and neither should you expect a 1:1 change in the relationship between oil prices and gas prices. ”
I keep track of gas prices religiously. It goes back to my frugal upbringing. My dad would know every deal to be had around town and would take advantage of it. My issue with Mr. Markman’s article is that he says we can’t expect prices to go down in a 1:1 ratio with the falling prices of crude oil. I have noticed repeatedly that whenever it is reported in our local paper that the price of a barrel of crude oil has increased, the prices at the pump make a jump the following day.
If gas can’t fall with crude, why can it rise?.
- Speaking of gas, here’s an intersting (and brief) website related to it. Notice the chart on the right side that shows crude prices versus wholesale and retail prices.
- It wasn’t Bush’s fault that some people didn’t get the response they wanted in regards to Katrina. However, it shows the character of the man that he’s willing to take the blame.
In my mind, Bush isn’t to blame at all for the catastrophe that happened in New Orleans. Bush has a whole country to run. His job is to delegate the responsibilities of running sections of the country to other people. In this case the person responsible was not able to handle the duties.
Anyway, that’s enough for today.
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September 21st, 2005 at 1:52 pm
Oh, I can’t help myself: Bush said he takes responsibility for the response to Katrina, but he also said he’d fire anyone involved in the Plame leak, as well as a lot of other things that were the opposite of what he actually did. His idea of taking responsibility apparently is to put his political fixer Karl Rove in charge of relief operations, leave Mike Chertoff in charge of Homeland Security despite his incompetence exposed by Katrina, and appoint his own domestic security advisor Frances Townsend to review the administration’s performance in handling the disaster. Hmm, I wonder if Ms. Townsend will find that Bush or Chertoff did anything wrong?
For a taste of Bush’s history of auditor appointments, check this out: http://billmon.org/archives/002158.html
Oh, and I forgot to mention the tens of billions Bush is giving to his no-bid contracting friends at Halliburton, Bechtel, and Blackwater, while he’s suspended the prevailing wage laws for workers who will do the actual rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, the White House man in charge of procurements and contracting was arrested on Monday for lying and obstructing an FBI investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under indictment on six counts of fraud and conspiracy. But I’m sure all the contracting in the Gulf Coast region will be on the up and up, won’t it?
Bush was out West giving speeches about Social Security and Medicare or Medicaid when Katrina approached and hit. He had the time to get involved and make sure things got done; he chose to remain disengaged. He chose to appoint cronies to FEMA and Homeland Security who weren’t qualified. Even now, he’s chosen to keep Chertoff on the job–and he couldn’t bring himself to fire Michael “You’re doing a heckuva job!” Brown, either. He’s now chosen to put Rove in charge of an operation for which he has no qualifications or experience. The woman he’s named to review his administration’s performance is one of his own aides, who has no experience with disaster management.
What does that say about Bush’s character?
His sense of “responsibility” is apparently nothing but empty rhetoric to take some political heat off himself. He hasn’t actually done anything to follow through on his words. The man hasn’t been accountable for a thing in his life. Don’t expect him to change now.