O-bam-a

Was awesome. Just awesome. He tore it up. Even if you are not inclined towards Barak, this was a speech that you should be proud to have your President deliver. It was truly masterful. And McCain should fear the whipping that lays ahead, because it is on now. If this is any indication of the debates, Obama will skin McCain alive. Not Gonna Be Pretty.

Oh my Gore

Al Gore just rhetorically burned Mile High Stadium down. Holy cow was he good. If America saw that Al Gore in 2000, the George Bush contagion would have been confined to the borders of Texas. Spilled milk I suppose, but what could have been…

Also, whoever suggested that Gore should be followed by Michael MacDonald (?!?!?!?) should have their head examined. Was Aretha Franklin or Tony Bennett otherwise engaged?

History

So in case you needed reminding, the Democratic Party just selected a black man to be our nominee for President.

I have never been so proud to be a Democrat.

Biden lays it down

Bush = McCain, more of the same. ‘Nuff said. I did, however, expect him to smack McSame about a bit more but heh, Biden was solid.

Sidebar: hearing Biden talk about how his mother told him, after he took a beating, to go back out and bloody the bully’s nose so that he could walk down the street with dignity recalls a conversation I had with my own father twenty odd years ago. Good advice is always good advice…

The Big Dog

I only saw the first dozen or so minutes of Bill Clinton tonight but damn, when the man is on, he can lay down the rhetoric like almost no one (*cough* Obama *cough*). And he can came out full force for Obama’s readiness to be President. Good stuff – and now Biden is getting ready to tear McCain a new one. This should be fun.

Night two

I have watched sparingly tonight but as predicted, the speakers put the wood to Bush/McCain. Mark Warner proved why he is going to trounce the odious Bush-clone Jim Gilmore come November and serve the Commonwealth well as our next Senator. His delivery is that of a tech savvy geek with a bit of D.C. polish but the thrust of his speech was spot on, declaring that science and education are our future – amen brother. Brian Schweitzer was great as well. His line about drilling the backyards of all of John McCain’s homes was terrific.

I must say Hillary has shown a hell of a lot more passion in her speech tonight than I have seen from her since forever. Her invocation of Harriett Tubman was a brilliant rhetorical device. And she did what she had to do, no matter how hard; she threw it all behind Obama, including giving props to Michelle, so kudos to Senator Clinton. Better than I thought it would be, given the drama that the Clintons generate; utterly generous and unselfish. Really, really good stuff.
But the line of the night has to go to Mass. Governor David Patterson who quipped of John McCain:

If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous.

Word. That ought to be the unofficial slogan...

The Big Show begins and the Lion returns

Let’s face it. The bulk of the time in conventions is trite, insipid, and utterly milquetoast. Seriously, how many minutes of watching the delegates “dance” to “Living In America” can you watch? My bet is not much but a good bit of what I saw tonight (between skipping over the watch Anthony Bourdain) was pretty damn good.

Case in point was the piece on Senator Kennedy, rightly referred to as the Liberal Lion of the Senate. If you caught Kennedy’s tribute and his subsequent speech tonight, you know just how important that man is to so much of the progress this nation has made over the past 40 odd years. If his body can harness the fight in his heart, that cancer does not stand a chance. Hell of a moment for Uncle Teddy…

Also, Michelle Obama was terrific. Compelling, strong and full of love for her man, she killed it. I just wish like hell the organizers had picked to play her out by something more imaginative than “Isn’t She Lovely”. That said, whoever thought up the idea to give their kids a mic during his satellite appearance deserves a raise. They were a trip. IMHO, good stuff for the first night and tomorrow, we bring the pain...

And so it is Biden

I will be the first to admit that Joe Biden is not my favorite politician. He voted for the Iraq War, he been in Washington since forever, and rightfully deserves the title of “the Senator from MBNA” for his slavish devotion to the credit card industry. He has a reputation for being a bit of a blowhard and to shoot from the hip. Last but not least, this is a pick that is not exactly going to fire up voters to race to the polls. I don’t know of anyone who is going to be inspired by the prospect of Vice President Biden. With that said, there are some pretty good reasons for choose him.

He is a foreign policy guru, respected by just about everyone for his prowess and knowledge in the field. That alone adds some serious policy experience and weight to the ticket. When he can reign in his windbag tendencies, Biden is actually a solid orator with a commanding presence and he can think on his feet. He is, with the exception of his consumer protection positions, reliably liberal. But I think the best reason for his selection is that Joe Biden is tougher then shoe leather and he knows how to throw a punch. He will take no shit from anyone. One of the knocks against the otherwise excellent Obama campaign has been its unwillingness to go after McCain hard. With McCain’s recent blunder regarding his inability to recall the number of homes he owns, that seems to have changed a bit but with the addition of Biden, the Obama camp is going to really start throwing some elbows. That can only be regarded as a positive development.

So in total, I am not thrilled with Obama’s choice but I certainly understand it and Obama/Biden is absolutely a ticket I can support.

Vindication

I just love that the US women beat Brazil to capture the Gold in Beijing, especially after suffering a humiliating 4-0 loss to the Brazilians in the World Cup last year. And Hope Solo is the probably the greatest name for a goalkeeper ever.

Science is cool

And there are lots of really smart scientists working at Intel.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Intel on Thursday showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say could revolutionize modern life by freeing devices from transformers and wall outlets.

Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link as he spoke at the California firm's annual developers forum in San Francisco.

Electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer.

Most importantly, the electricity was transmitted without zapping anything or anyone that got between the sending and receiving units.

"The trick with wireless power is not can you do it; it's can you do it safely and efficiently," Intel researcher Josh Smith said in an online video explaining the breakthrough.

This is one of those Jetson-like inventions that can fundamentally alter modern life. Without getting too pie in the sky, imagine if cities could laid green-powered transmitters into the road bed, essentially giving electric vehicles infinite range within the city center, with the added benefit that commuters could drive in from the ‘burbs and get a recharge once they are close to work. Then you have the city electronically toll drivers that use the system to pay for the system. Something like that would lower pollution, carbon emissions, dependence on oil, etc.

Waving the bloody shirt

So some enterprising reporter had the temerity to ask John McCain just how many homes he had (consensus is seven give or take). I think is a legitimate question given that his campaign has gone to great lengths to portray Obama as an out of touch elitist. McCain’s response did not just undercut that attack on Obama; it reduced it to a smoldering pile of patrician bullshit.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own.

"I think — I'll have my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums where — I'll have them get to you."

Seriously dude, “I’ll have my staff get to you”? That is Leona Helmsley territory. I am not sure how many Americans have trouble keeping a tally of their lodgings but I am sure that their staffs are all on top of that as well. As I understand it, staffs are good for that sort of thing.

And as bad as that exchange was, and it was really, really awful, the McCain campaign just made it worse. Via TPM, I saw this:

The McCain campaign is road-testing a new argument in responding to Obama's criticism of his number-of-houses gaffe, an approach the McCain camp has never tried before: The houses gaffe doesn't matter because ... he was a POW!

"This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," spokesman Brian Rogers told the Washington Post.

For those of you who haven't kept track, the McCain campaign just recently cited McCain's POW years in explaining away the Miss Buffalo Chip gaffe, and in dealing with the allegation that he broke the rules and listened in on Barack Obama during the Rick Warren forum.

The words utterly disgraceful come to mind…

Don’t freak out over Zogby’s poll

Lo, and I am sure many others, is tripping over the latest Zogby poll showing McCain up by five on Obama. Well y’all just need to relax. Zogby’s numbers are notoriously unreliable, this one looks like an outlier when compared to most of the other numbers out there, and national polling is irrelevant besides. This is a state by state contest now and by that score, Obama is way, way ahead.

So please, take a deep breath and chill out. We have a ways to go yet but heading into the Conventions, Obama is in pretty good shape.

It is ridiculous that this went so far

The California Supreme Court strikes a blow for decency.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Doctors may not discriminate against gays and lesbians in medical treatment, even if the procedures being sought conflict with physicians' religious beliefs, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday.

Just for fun, I am going to throw out the King James Version of Luke 4:40 regarding Jesus’s travels in Galilee:

Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers [Ed. Note – translates to diverse) diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.

In Joe’s World, if your God tells you to withhold medical treatment from someone because of their sexual orientation, then your God is a dick or you have been mislead. Jesus never rolled that way.

This doesn’t seem like a good idea

From ABC:

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to allow teachers and staff to pack guns for protection when classes begin later this month, a newspaper reported.

Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements.

[Snip]

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," (Superintendent David) Thweatt said in Friday's online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Ok, the Every man as Rambo logic at work here seems pretty freaking stupid to me (as does the Thweatt’s unsubstantiated assumption that declaring schools gun free zones caused these problems but that is a different discussion). And yes, I concede that when another nut decides to shoot up a school, this one will be better protected than most but come on, these are teachers not cops or soldiers. The people in position to ostensibly defend the students may know how to handle a firearm fine on the range but in a life and death situation, well that is another matter altogether. Adding more guns to the mix makes no sense at all.

My point here is that the potential benefits here seem vastly outweighed by the potential risks; crossfire, accidental shooting, hell, purposeful shootings even. Indeed, I think it much more likely that a teacher will flip out and draw down on a disrespectful punk in his class rather than use the weapon to defend himself or his students. I would bet that if this policy were instituted nationwide, students would be in a great deal more danger than otherwise.

The Democratic Veepstakes

Pretty much everyone thinks Obama will choose his running mate prior to the Convention which means any day now and the speculation is centered on three candidates: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Gov. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.). Ugh, that is a bummer of a list. I am no fan of Bayh because of his votes on Iraq and FISA as well as his ties to the Clinton crowd (and I am sooooo done with them). Kaine has been something of a disappointment as Governor, not bad but hardly outstanding. And while Biden may have foreign policy chops and a penchant for hardball, the guy is a tool of the credit card industry. I mean, Biden is not simply in bed with MBNA, he is a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Like I said, ugh. There is not much to love about those options so I am hoping that Obama decides to double down on his “Change” message and go with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) or Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM). Sebelius has pursued a solidly progressive agenda and largely succeeded in Kansas of all places and all the while maintains high approval ratings from her conservative constituency. That is leadership, people. Then there is the case for Bill Richardson; another good progressive who is bilingual, hugely appealing in the Latino community and has a resume a mile long (Congress, Sec. of Energy, UN Ambassador, etc.). I would be remiss if I didn’t mention his one potential deal-breaker; Richardson is rumored, though never proven, to really, really like the ladies, especially those not married to him. So there is that.

At any rate, the Obama campaign is making history in and of itself. I say why not push that envelope even further, particularly if one has groundbreaking yet accomplished candidates from which to choose? Why not have the first African-American President enter office with the first female or Latino VP? Whose says you need to have a token White Guy on the ticket?

Daily Show and Colbert viewers are smarter than O’Reilly or Dobbs fans

OK, sure, but does that really surprise anyone? Hell, I think most Daily Show/Colbert fans are smarter than Bill O’Reilly, not to mention a good bit saner, more honest, and less sexually deviant. And no, that isn't exactly setting the bar very high.

Today's required reading

Thomas Frank explains why now is not the time for Barack Obama to play nice.

If he is to prevail in November, Mr. Obama cannot allow the right to profit from the discontent stirred up by their own misbehavior. Talking about "hope" is very nice when you're leading by 20 points, but what the Democrat has to do, now that John McCain has evened up the score, is take control of public outrage. He should not recoil from the bitterness that's out there. He should speak to it.

At the very least Mr. Obama must begin to offer an explanation for why things have gone so very wrong over the past seven years. He should tell us how, say, the failures of Iraq reconstruction were made inevitable by the conservative philosophy that "government should be market-based," as Mr. Bush once put it.

Besides, attacking Mr. McCain himself is pointless. The man no longer stands for anything. He has transformed himself from a maverick into a cipher, a hood ornament on a hit-and-run machine [Ed. Note - Daaaaaaaaaaaamn!!!!]. He has no more political content now than the constantly changing cast of cynical right-wingers aboard his campaign plane.

That's why this election must be a referendum on Republican rule and the destructive doctrines behind it. It is a contest to put the blame where it belongs.

Word.

Super human

After completely smoking the competition in the 200 IM last night, I think it is pretty obvious that Michael Phelps is an alien. He won that race, an under two minute affair, by almost two and half seconds. People, that is just sick. And as silly as it sounds, it looks like the guy is actually getting stronger the more he swims. Even if he does not win all eight gold medals, a near impossible feat that is now very probable, what he has accomplished thus far in Beijing is pretty damn amazing; six finals, six Gold medals, six new World Records. That is some body of work.

Annexed

Putin has essentially declared portions of sovereign Georgia Russian turf and there is very little we can do about it.

TBILISI, Georgia, Aug. 14 -- Russian officials said Thursday that the Georgian government will not regain control over two breakaway provinces that are at the center of a week-long military conflict, as the Kremlin issued an uncompromising response to U.S. and Western threats over its military incursion deep into the territory of its tiny neighbor.

So much for the notion of territorial integrity – Russia has effectively stolen a country.

So not getting it

OK, so I know the Washington Times is about as useless a newspaper as one is bound to find (it’s like Highlights for the wingnut set), and I should therefore disregard damn near anything written in its disreputable pages but really, Paul Weyrich’s piece today is too just much. After spending several paragraphs telling us the Mr. Bush’s visit to the Beijing Olympics was the correct course of action while praising his “tough stance” on China’s human rights record, he closes with this jewel of cognitive dissonance:

If Mr. Bush had done what he promised in 2000 - that is, no nation-building - he would go down in history as perhaps the greatest president since George Washington. As it is, he will be judged on the outcome of two wars, and that outcome is mostly out of his control.

And aside from that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play? This brand of idiocy totally smacks of Marion Barry’s classic bon mot that “Aside from the murders, DC has one of the lowest crime rates in the country”. Barry and Weyrich – two peas in a pod of stupid.

(hat tip to BarbinMD at DailyKos)

Thank you internets!

So I heard this amazing voice in a GM commercial during the Olympics last night and I just had to find out who it was. Five minutes and a shake of the Google later I am a huge fan of Brandi Carlile. YouTube has disabled embed for the video so I beg you to follow the link. The song is called “The Story” and it truly mesmerizing; as good as anything I have heard in this vein in a very long time.

Taking the scientists out of science

I swear to God, W is a one man wrecking crew of everything that is right and good.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration on Monday said it plans to let federal agencies decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

The proposal, which does not require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years. Developers welcomed the plan, while environmentalists derided it [emphasis mine].

[Snip]

"The new rules take decision-making on endangered species listings out of the hands of scientists and wildlife professionals at agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, and instead put those decisions in the hands of agencies working on projects that may be adversely affected by a listing," added Sierra Club director Carl Pope.

We can add this bit of malfeasance to the pile of outrages, crimes, and abuses already committed by the horrendous Bush administration. And really, who wants competent, qualified people making decisions in government anyway? Certainly not Mr. Bush. Seriously, can we just give the motherfucker his walking papers a couple of months early? Pretty please?

RIP Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes

Heaven just got a bit funnier and funkier.

The Edwards thing

I don’t have much to say about the whole business except what the hell was he thinking that he could get away with this while running for President? I mean, it is not like the press is likely to look into such things *cough, cough Gary Hart. So dumb.

The Closer

The stunning US victory in the 400 meter freestyle relay last night was among the most exciting three in minutes of sports I have ever seen. Sports Illustrated is calling it “one of the great comebacks in Olympic history”. I don’t know a whole lot about the Olympic history but I do know this. Going into the last 50, Jason Lezak, the US anchorman and the oldest man on the team, was a couple of strokes behind Frenchman Alain Bernard, the world record holder at 100 meters and somehow, Lezak and the Americans won - by eight tenths of a second. That last 50 meters was an absolutely thrilling thing to behold. Amazing.

Getting their war on

Looks like the tensions between Georgia and Russia have erupted into armed conflict. This situation needs to be cooled off quickly before we see an escalation into full scale war. As Georgia is a staunch American ally (they even have boots on the ground in Iraq), the US is in the very uncomfortable position of once against staring down a territorially ambitious Russia. Not to put too fine a point on it but given the foreign policy disaster that the Bush Administration has been, it is not out of the realm of possibility that he could bequeath his successor a new Cold War with the Russians. And while I don’t think Bush is directly responsible for this mess (there is little question that Russia is funding and arming the separatist movement), his choices regarding Iraq, NATO expansion, and his embrace of Putin have certainly limited the range of responses we have now. But the US can ill afford to stand by and watch friendly democratic government get crushed by an ever more authoritarian Moscow.

"Wrinkly, white-haired guy"

Just how inept is the McCain campaign? Inept enough that they just got their asses handed to them by Paris Hilton.

Not exactly profound but...

Summertime colds suck.

We’re number 1! We’re number 1!

This is probably not the best way to increase the value of the dollar.

Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.

The New York Times wants me to be stupid

That is the only explanation I can come up with for why they continue to employ David Brooks. Here is the opening from today’s effort in the Paper of Record.

Why isn’t Barack Obama doing better? Why, after all that has happened, does he have only a slim two- or three-point lead over John McCain, according to an average of the recent polls? Why is he basically tied with his opponent when his party is so far ahead?

OMG that is a lot of stupid to absorb in just the lead paragraph but I cannot let this nonsense slide so into the chasm of dumb we go. To begin with, national tracking polls at this point in the race are beyond pointless when attempting to judge the horserace. As Al Gore proved so painfully in 2000, the popular vote which the national tracking polls measure is irrelevant. This is a state level contest now. Brooks, a presumably astute political observer, should understand that but what the hell, he has a column a write and a false premise to prove.

Second, his assumption that the race is within two or three points is not just wrong but supersized, double deluxe wrong. According to Pollster.com, their state by state electoral vote aggregation shows Obama up 284 to 157 with 94 votes undecided. Furthermore, all of the tossup states, with the exception of Florida and Missouri, are traditional Red states in which McCain should be way ahead. Now, it only takes 271 electoral votes to win the race so by that standard (the only one that matters BTW), Obama is not just winning, he is kicking McCain’s ass. And yet Brooks sees a virtual tie. That is some awesome punditry.

Finally, I must concede that Brooks has a point in that Obama is underperforming vis-à-vis the Democratic brand but I am not sure how important that is, especially prior to the convention. Brooks argues that because people have a hard time pigeonholing Obama, they are not comfortable voting for him. I think there are two more likely reasons for that. One, there are, unfortunately, some people that will not vote for a black man. And two, there are a lot of bitter former Hillary supporters out there that have not yet gotten behind Obama but when faced with the prospect of a third Bush term, they will get over it and come home. After a rancorous primary, that seems more plausible than Brooks's sojourner thesis but then again, what do I know. I am just some jerkoff with a website while David Brooks writes editorials for the Times.

Some good news

A huge and previously unknown population of threatened gorillas has been found on the Congo.

A grueling survey of vast tracts of forest and swamp in the northern Congo Republic has revealed the presence of more than 125,000 western lowland gorillas, a rare example of abundance in a world of rapidly vanishing primate populations.

[Snip]

The survey was conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society and local researchers in largely unstudied terrain, including a swampy region nicknamed the “green abyss” by the first biologists to cross it. Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, the president of the society, marveled at the scope of what the survey revealed. “The message from our community is so often one of despair,” he said. “While we don’t want to relax our concern, it’s just great to discover that these animals are doing well.”

Peoples on the move

Two much beloved friends, Starpower and Sara, are or maybe on the move. Sara is pulling out of DC and heading to NYC while Star may be leaving LA for DC. Everyone here at give ‘em enough rope Central wishes these two lovelies nothing but the best and may the wind be at their backs.

Lo has lost her patience

OMG - this is hysterical and further evidence that one trifles with my wife at ones own peril.

Playing on a broad field

With three months until the elections, the Obama campaign is pressing McCain hard in seven Republican –leaning states with money and boots on the ground.

WASHINGTON - Alaska is young. Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia have growing populations and many black voters. Montana has seen recent Democratic inroads, and North Dakota has sent only Democrats to Congress since 1986. Indiana borders Barack Obama's home state.

The Democratic presidential candidate is putting money and manpower in all seven of these states — at levels unmatched by Republican rival John McCain.

For decades, these states have almost exclusively voted for Republican presidential candidates and have rarely seen any campaign action. Now, thanks in part to demographic and political shifts, they are emerging as new battlegrounds.

"We have the organizational ability and the financial ability to compete there," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said recently. "There is not a head fake among them."

That is the kind of talk that makes opponents lay awake at night. Not only does this strategy put McCain on defense in traditional GOP strongholds and limit available resources in places like Pennsylvania and Florida, it will also help swing a few down-ticket races to the Democrats. Obama has proven that he can mobilize and turn out the youth vote and the minority vote, and at times, in record numbers. Add to that new polling showing low-wage white voters favoring Obama by 10 points and you get an idea of just how high a hill the Straight Talk Express must climb.

McCain, already saddled with an uninspired base and a Republican brand not worth the powder to blow it to hell, is now staring down the barrel of Obama’s formidable organizational abilities on his home turf and in a key demographic that McCain must carry to win. Awesome…

The Open Book

Everyone knows someone who, for reasons of their own, operates in the world without a filter. These folks are deficient in a certain ability to halt or even soften the sometimes raw but obvious truth from passing their lips and for whom no topic is off limits. The brain thinks, the mouth speaks, consequences be damned. I am fortunate to know a couple of these people and I say fortunate because few things in this world are as funny as a person possessing a bit of wit coupled with a complete and utter lack of common restraint. This goes double in the workplace. T., a co-worker, 38 year old mother, self-professed cougar and 24/7 party girl is one such person. She is the proverbial Open Book. Here is a bit of the conversation we just had that I think illustrates just how funny, even unintentionally, these folks can be.

Me: So how was your weekend?

T: Pretty good. I saw Step Brothers this weekend and I haven’t laughed that hard in 10 years.

Me: It was good? I love Will Ferrell.

T: It was the best movie he has ever made.

Me: Better than Anchorman or Old School?

T: Oh yeah. But if you go see it, go to a quiet theatre. People were laughing so hard and it was so loud that at times I could not hear it. We went to Regal because I am protesting AMC.

Me: Why are you protesting AMC?

T: Because they raised their prices.

Me: Really. What’s a movie cost now? [Note – I think I have been to one movie in the past year. I seriously have no idea what a movie costs.]

T: Well, I know AMC raised their price by like $1.50 but I am not sure what it was at Regal because I was on a date.

Me: Oh.

T: And he had a Student ID but I think it was like $17.50 for the two of us.

I don’t care who you are. That’s funny.

Science is cool

Now that NASA has found water on Mars, a wow moment in its own right, the space agency is now looking for the building blocks of life. My inner nerd says “neato”.

The Pickens Plan

Follow the money. That was the edict of “Deep Throat” to Woodward and Bernstein during their Watergate investigation and that maxim holds true with just about everything in politics, doubly so when it involves a Texas oilman on the make. You see, much hay has been made of T. Boone Pickens’ plan to replace this country’s natural gas fired electricity generation with wind (commendable if not entirely practical) and use that liberated gas to power automobiles (not gonna happen) with a goal of cutting off the US’s dependence on foreign oil. In fact, he is spending tons of time and money promoting his plan via commercials and town halls meeting across the country. What Pickens does not tell you is that he is one of the single largest private holders of natural gas fields in the country as well as a significant player in the wind energy markets, not to mention sugar daddy to any number of right-wing jerkoffs like the Swiftboat vets. The guy is the ultimate insider and knows how to play any angle.

So I ask you dear readers, do you think that Pickens is pushing this plan out of altruism and patriotic concern or is this grizzled corporate raider out to make a buck? Follow the money.