Cuban crisis
“Vladimir Putin is calling for Russia to regain the influential position it used to hold with its former Cold War ally Cuba. ‘We must restore our position in Cuba and other countries,’ the Russian prime minister said on August 4 while listening to a report on a Russian delegation’s recent trip to Cuba. The areas of Russian-Cuban cooperation currently under negotiation include energy, mining, agriculture, transportation, tourism, banking and oil exploration. Russia is allying with Cuba in order to more effectively tap the oil reserves under Cuba’s territory in the Caribbean, while America refuses to even start developing the oil reserves on its portion. Americans need oil reserves to get them through energy crises, but instead of developing their own reserves, they have protected those areas and refused to drill ostensibly for the sake of the environment. Now, the oil is going to be drilled anyway as the Russians and Cubans start sucking it out for their own purposes.”
Gored again
“Al Gore may now be extending his excessive consumption to the water. In an amazing display of conspicuous consumption, even for Gore, his new 100-foot houseboat that docks at the Hurricane Marina in Smithville, Tennessee is creating a critical buzz among many of his former congressional constituents. Dubbed “Bio-Solar One,” which may reflect some latent Air Force One envy, Gore has proudly strutted the small-town dock claiming that his monstrous houseboat is environmentally friendly. (Only Al Gore would name his boat B.S. One and not get the joke. Or perhaps the joke is on us?) Let’s not forget: Gore made similar claims about the environmental benefits of the solar panels and other ‘green’ additions he made to his 10,000 square foot home in Belle Meade, a cushy neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee. The environmental savings promised from his “investments” failed to produce the results that he touted. In fact, his ‘energy efficient’ renovations to his home actually INCREASED his electrical consumption by 10% rather than producing the promised reductions.”
Electoral math
“Despite Barack Obama‘s amazingly consistent lead throughout the general election over John McCain, the talking heads on cable television returned to their incessant bloviating over whether Obama should be leading by more than just five points over McCain. It’s really painful to watch these fools who don’t bother to pay attention to history to understand how a five-point popular vote victory almost always translates when it comes to the only metric that matters – the Electoral College. (Hint: landslide). In 1992: Clinton won the popular vote by 5.6 points, winning the Electoral College by a 370 to 168 margin (a difference of 202). In 1948: Truman won the popular vote by 4.5 points, winning the Electoral College by a 303 to 189 margin (a difference of 114). In contrast, Bush’s landslide over Dukakis in 1988 happened with a popular vote margin of just 7.8 points and Reagan’s rout of Carter in 1980 saw a margin of 9.7 points. In a historical context, a five or six point popular vote victory always translates into a landslide. So, exactly, what are the dimwits on cable news talking about?”