Politics and Oil

I remember the late Kurt Vonnegut, shortly after the Iraq War was launched, saying it was all about oil. Certainly evevents have proven him correct. Sadaam Hussein was an evil dictator, but so is Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and Kim Jong Il in Korea. They weren't invaded. Their country doesn't sit on oil.

It amazes me this election that the democrats haven't done a better job tying the bad economy to the war. Sending hundreds of billions of dollars to Iraq causes big budget defecits which weaken the dollar, and the weaker dollar means a weaker economy and higher prices for oil. It's a simple calculation, but noone is making it!

Almost noone.

A great blog which looks at oil from both the left and the right can be found at (http://www.theoildrum.com/story/2006/4/26/121441/891).

Enjoy!

Politico

Another good source for political news, blogs, and features is Politico (http://www.politico.com/). This website is a real "inside the beltway" site, with great coverage of DC politics, especially the Capital Hill news. It also has a nice section on "Campus" politics--geared to the college student. My favorite blog here is "The Crypt," a scream of a name for Congress!

Another favorite political blogger I enjoy is Eric Alterman's "Altercation" at the Media Matters website. (http://mediamatters.org/altercation/)

I love Alterman so much, that it is quite amazing that I've forgiven MSNBC for canning him in 2006--see the Wikipedia article for some history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Alterman).

One of the great things I love about Alterman is that he is unabashedly lefty, and in fact, makes a strong argument that the right wing has managed to label the mainstream media as liberal when, in fact, it isn't!

Daily Kos

Another political blog I access regularly is Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/). The title comes from the last three letters of the founding blogger's first name: Markos Moulitsas.

A liberal/progressive blog, this site has been at the forefront of legitimizing the journalistic activities of bloggers.

Although Moulitsas shares the work with a number of guest bloggers and staff bloggers now, his presence is still felt on the site.

Drudge

Although I tend to be a lefty (in spite of my military background) I try to listen to voices from across the political spectrum.

The Drudge Report (http://www.drudgereport.com/) is one of the oldest of the political blogs, and until recently, when it was overtaken by the Huffington Post, it has had the biggest readership.

Matt Drudge made his name as a muckraker, breaking news about scandals. His big break came when he released the Monica Lewinsky/Bill Clinton affair to the public after Newsweek decided to withhold the story.

Real Clear Politics

There is a lot of speculation in the blogosphere today that Barak Obama will clinch the Democratic nomination today. Since the nomination is about delegates, one place I check every day is the delegate tally at Real Clear Politics (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_delegate_count.html)

According to today's count, Barak is about 38 delegates short of clinching the nomination. He should win 15-18 delegates in the last two primaries tonight, which means he needs the endorsements of 20-23 superdelegates to reach that total today. The word is that he has at least that many ready to endorse, either today or tomorrow.

A lot of these superdelegates want to wait until the votes are in, so I'll be surprised if he gets the 23 he needs before the polls in Montana close at 10:00 PM tonight--however either late tonight or early tomorrow, the race will be OVER!