Dear BushCo: Quit Lying to Us
This morning, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told G8 members that skyrocketing oil prices were a result of lack of supply and rising demand. That’s pretty much a bald faced lie (at least according to the Saudis, who produce a lot of the supply). Brazen market manipulation and a weak U.S. dollar are the primary culprits. The former can be prosecuted, the latter can be propped up, and shazam: oil prices drop immediately.
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC
To Whom it May Concern,
Listen. For nearly 8 years, you’ve lied, cheated, looted the national treasury, and generally fostered a culture of extreme incompetency in order to support the lying, cheating, and stealing. America’s prestige in the world community has suffered greatly for the wars of choice and human rights violations that will be the true legacy of this administration.
You guys only have a handful of months left in office. It’s time to at least stop the lies. Hell, you’ve already done the damage. And it’s clear that even the Democratic Party-controlled congress has no intent of holding you to account. So why not just level with us for once?
This morning, I read a specious report on Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman’s trip to a G8 conference in Japan. According to the article:
Samuel Bodman, attending two days of meetings in northern Japan among energy chiefs from Group of Eight industrialized countries and other top economies, said the surge in world oil prices was largely a simple problem of supply and demand…
“We’re in a difficult position where we have a lid on production and we have increasing demand in the world,” he told a small group of reporters, dismissing the effects of speculation and unclear inventory levels and other factors on oil prices.
That’s bullshit, and this administration knows it. The Saudis told George Bush a few weeks back that there are not any real production issues. They’re pumping as much as they can sell, so there’s no reason for them to increase production. Yes, demand might be up on a global basis, but that’s not the real problem, because demand is being met. There are no oil shortages or lines at the gas pumps. So, how about leveling with the American people?
You know as well as I do that there are two principal factors that are impacting oil prices: brazen market manipulation, and the fact that the U.S. dollar is in the tank. Both factors have been very clear in the past few days. This past Thursday, the EU says they’re going to quit cutting interest rates, and the dollar goes into freefall. Oil prices jump. Then on Friday, investment bank Morgan Stanley releases a report from one of their desk jockeys that says oil could top $150 within a month. Commodity traders respond by running up the price another $11 a barrel, and the prediction becomes a self fulfulling prophecy. If that’s not market manipulation, I don’t know what is.
Secretary Bodman’s remarks were not meant for the G8 members. They know what the deal is, wink wink. He was simply catapulting more administration propaganda for internal U.S. media consumption. If he truly believes what he said, then President Bush should immediately demand his resignation on the basis of incompetence and stupidity alone. But then, those personal attributes have never resulted in the firing of one single administration official.
The bottom line is that you need to level with us. Quit treating us like morons, even if a vast majority of your constituents meet this profile. At this point, there’s absolutely no downside to being straight up. Americans already know that it’s going to take a complete regime change to turn things around. That’s a given, and it will happen in a few months.
When the real stories start to be told, it’s going to be bad enough for you guys. Advance confession could be good for your collective souls, and maybe even be a mitigating factor in the criminal investigations to follow.
Think about it.
Sincerely,
Richard
P.S. Please also see this article on the litany of instances of “untruthiness” from your friends and colleagues in the Bush administration. Yeah, it’s that bad.
P.P.S. From a market manipulation standpoint, could Morgan Stanley have issued their “prediction” in order to drive up the value of their holdings in the petroleum commodity market, as a way to offset their recent S&P rating downgrade due to their exposure in mortgage backed securities? Hmm? Just askin’. This certainly smells like market manipulation to a novice such as myself, but then, I’m not a securities lawyer. You guys might want to have your buddies at SEC and the Department of Justice look into it.
Pretty potent stuff, richard, especially the remark about “untruthiness”.
I pasted below a link to an interview — on IWT-Real News — of Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell’s chief of staff, where Wilkerson lays out boldly the bad policies — and “lies” of his former bosses — and proposes what needs to be done.
Interestingly, Wilkerson does not favor Obama over MCCain, in other words attributing to McCain the possibility of — under a mccain admin — of America “correcting” its flawed, “pre-emptive” geo-political strategies. Personally, I have doubts that McCain’s approach will mark a major departure from Bush’s failed ones.
(Aside: I am waiting with anticipation to see whether Colin Powell is added to President Obama’s cabinet.)
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=1628
Iranian influence is a fact, negotiations a must
Powell’s former Chief of Staff, Lawrence Wilkerson: War with Iran would reinforce strategic failure in Gulf (2/3)
“For 26-years we recognized, funded, fueled and helped Iran be the hegemon of the Persian Gulf when it was under the Shah. Demographically, militarily, every way you want to measure hegemony Iran is the dominant power in the Persian Gulf. Reality says that therefore we have to come to recognize that, we have to deal with that and hope we can shape that to a responsible role, ultimately, in the world. The only way you do that is through diplomacy, you don’t do that by attacking Tehran or by bombing facilities”.
Bio:
Wilkerson is a retired United States Army soldier and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson is an adjunct professor at the College of William & Mary where he teaches courses on US national security. He also instructs a senior seminar in the Honors Department at the George Washington University entitled “National Security Decision Making.”