Its the middle of June and we are still getting rain in north Texas, and although we are enjoying it to some degree, when it starts ponding its time for it to go away for a few days...this shot was taken from my street this AM as the storm came thru town early...

As bad as this may seem for us I am told the people in Gainesville in Cooke County have it a whole lot worse this AM, and am watching high water rescues on TV now...bridges are washed out up there as well as roads flooded and they have shown pictures on Ch 11 this AM of people who literally cut holes in their roofs to escape high water...Authorities are reporting flooding in Sherman and Dennison as well...I-75 was closed temporarily as was !-35 - there are fatalities...in both Sherman and Haltom City...

Lemme see now...Thursday night...Poppy's Garden Cafe...Salsa night...meet some friends, eat a good meal, have a couple of drinks, and then let Jennifer teach you how to Salsa to hot Latin music...its a hell of a good time!!

Saturday night was Second Saturday in the square...and this month it did not disappoint...the square was on fire tonight!!!...it was close to what might be called an "event" in McKinney...Carrie Garner opened her new gallery at the historic old prison with a show of her own work...along with the opening of Studio Duende and Aristeia Gallery upstairs...The Maylee Thomas Band rocked the house!!! Across the street the Cadillac Pizza Pub was rockin as well...in fact - almost anywhere you walked on the square people were out enjoying themselves...and the likelihood was high that you were going to wait awhile to get a seat no matter where you went...

Art Exhibit – “An Artful Love Affair” at Carrie Garner’s
Galleria d’Arte June 9, 2007

Carrie Garner’s Galleria d’Arte hosts their first art exhibit in their new location. Join us as we open our brand new doors at the Old Collin County Prison located at 115 S. Kentucky Street. Designated a Texas historic landmark in 1990, the 3-story, 6,000 square-foot building welcomes its newest tenants with a gala reception on June 9, 2007 from 8PM to 10PM.

In conjunction with this grand opening, owner, Carrie Cameron Garner is proud to announce the opening of Studio Duende and Aristeia Gallery, located on the second and third floors of the prison. Help to welcome these talented artists as together we celebrate community and enjoy new works of art from local artists in our new surroundings.

Using a technique known as oil sculpture, Garner’s paintings are explosions of vibrant colors and textures. Pallet knives - not paintbrushes – are Garner’s tools of choice, which allow her to apply varying amounts of oil paint to her canvasses. She lists the works of Cezanne and Van Gogh as major influences while she developed her style. Mentor and friend, JD Miller of Reflection Fine Art gallery in Dallas, also greatly influenced Garner’s style and helped her to perfect the oil sculpture technique.

Garner’s newest works take center stage in “An Artful Love Affair,” an exhibit that honors nature’s beauty with oil sculpture paintings that feature florals and landscapes. “Being an artist allows me to put on canvas what’s in my heart and mind,” says Garner. The entire exhibit debuts on June 9 and will be on display at Galleria d’Arte through the beginning of July.

Specializing in one-of-a-kind works of art by local artisans, Garner’s Galleria d’Arte is one of the hosts of downtown McKinney’s Second Saturday celebrations where art galleries and other downtown businesses extend their normal business hours to celebrate the arts and the community with live entertainment, spirits, and food. Garner’s desire to provide affordable art to a wide variety of art lovers and collectors is her focus and goal. According to Garner, “We’re not one hundred percent mainstream; we pride ourselves on having a wide appeal.”

You are invited to join the celebration of community and the arts so plan to spend an evening in downtown McKinney. Live entertainment by The Maylee Thomas Band, wine, and finger-foods await gallery guests. Voluntary donations and a portion of the evening’s sales will be donated to the Love Life Foundation (www.lovelifefoundation.com), helping abused and at-risk children.

Co-sponsors of the evening are A Twist of Kime, Alternative Furnishings, BLING!, Cadillac Pizza Pub, Café Malaga, Ellie & Ollie, La Misha, Market Square Antiques, Market Street, and Poppy’s Garden Café.

For further information, contact Carrie Garner’s Galleria d’Arte at 469-742-9509 or visit us online at www.carriegarner.com.

Background: Galleria d’Arte hours are Tuesday thru Friday: 11am – 5pm; Saturday: 10am – 5pm; by appointment only on Sunday and Monday. To schedule an appointment, please call 469-742-9509.

From AP:

Oman evacuated tens of thousands of people Wednesday, suspended oil exports, and closed the major port of Sohar as a weakening Cyclone Gonu roared toward the Strait of Hormuz - the world's major transport artery for Persian Gulf oil.

Oil prices rose amid forecasts that the storm - a rarity in the region - was barreling toward Iran.

As heavy rains lashed coastal areas of Oman, authorities closed all operations at the port of Sohar and evacuated the 11,000 workers, port spokesman Dirk Jan De Vink said.

Sohar's oil refinery and petrochemical plant remained running at very low levels, with authorities considering a total shutdown, he said.

From Reuters:

In Oman, however, the country's only outlet for 650,000 barrels per day of crude exports, Mina al-Fahal, was shut for a second day as was the Sur terminal, which handles 10 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas.

The United Arab Emirates' eastern port of Fujairah, in the Gulf of Oman, has been cleared of anchored vessels and is closed to all ships until further notice, the state news agency said.

More than 100 ships are anchored along the Fujairah coastline and around 180 vessels, mainly oil tankers, pass through the area daily.

Pictures are from BBC website...

Information out of Oman is somewhat sketchy this AM and changing hourly, here is position of Cyclone best I can see...now tracking strait for the Straits of Hormuz, but forecasted to turn north sometime today into Iran:

Widespread power outages, damage to the eastern coast south of Muscat. Oil and gas facilities down for the second day.

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Oman/10130416.html

From CNN this AM: "you cannot move tankers in 26 foot waves and that this will once again effect gas and oil prices"...

Oil is up sharply in Europe, less so here in the U.S.

In the final analysis what happens to Oman is only part of the picture, what happens in the Persian Gulf and the passages of the Straits of Hormuz is more important since 40% of the worlds oil comes from this region...delays in getting oil out of the Persian Gulf, thru the Straits and into the Indian Ocean is the real deal!!!!!

Category 5 Cyclone Aimed at Strait of Hormuz
June 04, 2007 18 29 GMT

A Category 5 cyclone with winds of up to 195 miles per hour is heading toward one of the world's most productive energy basins, threatening local devastation and global disruption at a point at which oil prices are already flirting with record highs. For once, the region in question is not the Gulf of Mexico. There is cause for concern; Cyclone Gonu is headed directly for the Strait of Hormuz.

The cyclone is rotating counterclockwise -- as it would in the Gulf of Mexico -- meaning that, should it enter the Persian Gulf, the gulf's west coast would suffer the most serious damage. Along the west coast, low-lying areas are the norm, and there are few barrier islands like the ones that line the Gulf of Mexico to absorb much of the storm surge that could therefore penetrate miles inland.

Like all weather phenomena, hurricanes and cyclones are notoriously fickle, so there is (thankfully) no guarantee Gonu will enter the Persian Gulf, much less wreck it. But there are two facilities that bear specific mention: the Ras Tanura and Ras al-Juaymah oil loading platforms in Saudi Arabia. So far, the chances of either of these facilities suffering a direct hit are very slim -- Gonu is still 750 miles away from those export points -- but they collectively pump nearly 10 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude. These facilities, while critical to global energy supplies and -- due to their size -- largely immune to terrorist attacks, are not particularly hurricane resistant. After all, they were built in an area where such storms are almost unheard of. Other (hardly insignificant) energy installations dot the region in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- most of them on the west coast. Luckily, there is little offshore production in the Persian Gulf -- unlike in the Gulf of Mexico -- so there is unlikely to be much permanent damage to the oil production facilities themselves.

More likely is shipping disruption. Right now, Gonu is on a collision course with the Strait of Hormuz, a major chokepoint that transits some 17 million bpd of crude. Within the next few hours, the tankers and supertankers -- not to mention the massive container ships that often visit regional hubs in the United Arab Emirates -- that ply that route will be scurrying out of the storm's way. In the Gulf of Mexico, such storm-dodging is an annual ritual that is no major concern, but in the world's "Cradle of Oil," this is a completely new sport, and even a short disruption with minimal damage is sure to send the price of a barrel of crude sharply upward.

Currently the "best guess" indicates Gonu will slowly lose force to be "only" Category 3 when it makes initial landfall in Oman, forecast for June 5 at 6 p.m. local time.

The first day of the annual Art and Jazz Festival in downtown today was a hit...lots of people out enjoying a rain free, albeit humid day in downtown...

There was Jazz...




And there was Art...



There was even a few clowns out there...



And of course there was Wine Tasting...




The festival will go thru Sunday...and is free to the public...come out and enjoy the fun! The hours on Sunday are 12 noon till 5PM...

Are you ready for a great weekend of art and Jazz?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE P07-97 June 1, 2007

Media Inquiries: Kimberly Rawlings, 301-827-6242 Consumer Inquiries: 888-INFO-FDA

FDA Advises Consumers to Avoid Toothpaste From China Containing Harmful Chemical
FDA Detains One Contaminated Shipment, Issues Import Alert

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today warned consumers to avoid using tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in China, and issued an import alert to prevent toothpaste containing the poisonous chemical diethylene glycol (DEG) from entering the United States.

DEG is used in antifreeze and as a solvent.

Consumers should examine toothpaste products for labeling that says the product is made in China. Out of an abundance of caution, FDA suggests that consumers throw away toothpaste with that labeling. FDA is concerned that these products may contain "diethylene glycol," also known as "diglycol" or "diglycol stearate."

FDA is not aware of any U.S. reports of poisonings from toothpaste containing DEG. However, the agency is concerned about potential risks from chronic exposure to DEG and exposure to DEG in certain populations, such as children and individuals with kidney or liver disease. DEG in toothpaste has a low but meaningful risk of toxicity and injury to these populations. Toothpaste is not intended to be swallowed, but FDA is concerned about unintentional swallowing or ingestion of toothpaste containing DEG.

FDA has identified the following brands of toothpaste from China that contain DEG and are included in the import alert: Cooldent Fluoride; Cooldent Spearmint; Cooldent ICE; Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste; Superdent Toothpaste; Clean Rite Toothpaste; Oralmax Extreme; Oral Bright Fresh Spearmint Flavor; Bright Max Peppermint Flavor; and ShiR Fresh Mint Fluoride Paste. Manufacturers of these products are: Goldcredit International Enterprises Limited; Goldcredit International Trading Company Limited; and Suzhou City Jinmao Daily Chemicals Company Limited. The products typically are sold at low-cost, "bargain" retail outlets.

Based on reports of contaminated toothpaste from China found in several countries, including Panama, FDA increased its scrutiny and began sampling toothpaste and other dental products manufactured in China that were imported into the United States.

FDA inspectors identified and detained one shipment of toothpaste at the U.S. border, containing about 3 percent DEG by weight. In addition, FDA inspectors found and tested toothpaste products from China located at a distribution center and a retail store. The highest level found was between 3-4 percent by weight. The product at the retail store was not labeled as containing DEG but was found to contain the substance.

DEG poisoning is an important public safety issue. The agency is aware of reports of patient deaths and injuries in other countries over the past several years from ingesting DEG-contaminated pharmaceutical preparations, such as cough syrups and acetaminophen syrup. FDA recently issued a guidance document to urge U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers to be vigilant in assuring that glycerin, a sweetener commonly used worldwide in liquid over-the-counter and prescription drug products, is not contaminated with DEG.

FDA continues to investigate this problem. If FDA identifies other brands of toothpaste products containing DEG, FDA will take appropriate actions, including adding products and their manufacturers to the import alert to prevent them from entering the United States.

Consumers can report adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of these products to FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program:
www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm
(800) 332-1088

EXHIBITION: “An Artistic Execution”

GALLERY: STUDIO DUENDE

ARTISTS: PERNIE FALLON and GUY GIERSCH

OPENING: Saturday, June 9 from 8–10 P.M.

HOURS: 11 – 5, Tuesday–Friday; 10 – 5, Saturday; and

by appointment (214)-592-9888 or artstudioduende@yahoo.com

New Art Gallery – Studio Duende – Opens at Old Prison in McKinney on June 9, 2007

In a place famous for its executions, Studio Duende celebrates its grand opening at the old Collin County Prison in downtown McKinney with a gala reception from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 9. At the new Studio Duende, an execution of a different sort is taking place on the second floor of the old prison located at 115 S. Kentucky, a half a block south of the McKinney’s Historic Square.

Designated as a Texas historic landmark in 1990, the prison was the site of the last legal execution in Collin County in 1922. Convicted of killing a man and sinking the corpse in a well, Mr. Ezell Stepp was shoved out of the upper window to hang. Accounts say that his head separated from his body when he reached the end of the rope.

Now hanging at the prison is “An Artful Execution”, the first exhibit of art works by gallery owners Pernie Fallon and Guy Giersch. Together with Carrie Garner’s Galleria d’Arte, housed on the first floor, and Aristeia Gallery on the third floor, Studio Duende embraces the vivaciousness that the community of talented local artists brings to the city.

Guy Giersch is McKinney’s Historic Preservation Officer and portrays Collin McKinney in the city’s nationally recognized ad campaign. In his photography, he portrays beauty. His photographs are as distinct as he is, playing with the dichotomy of body and soul – how seeing produces experiences and in turn, how experience tempers what one sees. His images range from landscapes to portraits to architecture. The balance Giersch maintains between seeing and experience gives his work its striking vitality.

Pernie Fallon’s hallmark has always been an emphasis on spontaneity, expression and intuitive creativity. Her first ring at the age of 14 won a national award and ignited her passion for becoming a masterful goldsmith and sculptor. Her 18K gold jewelry, set with semi-precious stones, is inspired by nature. Like nature, she never creates the same thing twice. Her love for the outdoors led to becoming a plein air painter, capturing the light in her color-drenched pastel and oil paintings. Whether her stroke is made with a goldsmith’s hammer or a sable-tipped brush, her touch is direct and skilled – expressing an endless and intimate exploration of beauty and nature.

In case you were wondering, duende translates into English as a spirit or force of artistic mystery – equivalent to one's soul – that drives an artist's inspiration.

At Studio Duende, you will probably not encounter the headless soul of Ezell Stepp, but you just might lose your head over the exceptionally well-executed paintings, jewelry, sculpture and photography.

June 1, 2007 – McKinney, Texas

PERFORMANCE: ART OSBORNE – Jazz Saxophone

GALLERIES: STUDIO DUENDE, ARISTEIA and CARRIE GARNER’S GALLERIA D’ARTE

WHERE: old Collin County Prison, 115 S. Kentucky, McKinney

HOURS: Saturday, June 2 from 3–6 P.M.

The Saxman Cometh

Make your prison break this Saturday, June 2 from 3 – 6 p.m. to hear the scorching jazz saxophone of Art Osborne on the patio of the old Collin County Prison. The old prison is the hottest new art venue in town – home to Studio Duende, Carrie Garner’s Galleria d’Arte and Aristeia. The work of these local artists sizzles with talent. The prison is the place to be cool during the Art & Jazz festival this weekend.

Art Osborne has traveled the world playing jazz saxophone. He has performed with many well-known stars including Captain Kangaroo, Doc Severenson, the Supremes, B.J. Thomas, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Debbie Boone, Rich Little, the Temptations, Tom Jones, the Four Tops and many others. He is well-known in the Dallas Independent School district as the beloved “Mr. Bandman” where he produces an educational children’s TV show to engage students in learning and appreciating music.

On Sunday, June 3, a twelve-string guitarist will be playing on the prison patio during the Art & Jazz festival. Studio Duende, Carrie Garner’s Galleria d’Arte and Aristeia will celebrate their Grand Opening next weekend at the old Collin County Prison in downtown McKinney with a gala reception from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 9. The old prison located at 115 S. Kentucky, a half a block south of the McKinney’s Historic Square.

Remember...this weekend is the annual Art/Jazz festival in McKinney...come out and enjoy the fun!

"Running on Empty" Gas station owners close down due to high prices!

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Running on empty

Hit by high prices and fees, some gas station owners stop selling fuel

By THOMAS CONTENT
tcontent@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 23, 2007

As gas prices hit another record last Friday, Jeff Curro couldn't take it anymore.

After owning the Shell gas station at 3075 N. 124th St. in Brookfield for 20 years, Jeff Curro has stopped selling gas. As gas prices rose, his profit margin dropped.

He wasn't a motorist at the pump fed up by the blur of numbers spinning higher as he filled his tank.

Curro is a gas station owner who has stopped selling gas to his own customers.

After selling gas at N. 124th and W. Burleigh streets for 20 years, Curro turned off his pumps at his Shell station in Brookfield when the price he was being asked to pay was just too much.

Including the wholesale cost of gas and other taxes and charges, he was being asked to pay $3.44 a gallon Friday, a day when the competing stations down the street were selling gasoline for $3.47.

"Three cents a gallon doesn't cut it," Curro said. "It doesn't pay the bills."

Add to that the money he loses every time a motorist uses a credit card at the pump, and there was no reason to keep selling gas, Curro said.

Credit card companies and banks get an average of 2.75% on every gallon of gas sold, and credit card processing fees now rank as the second-biggest expense for gas station operators, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores.

"The way I see it is, I'm doing all the work of providing the labor, the wages, the electricity, the lighting, the maintenance of the pumps, the repairs and the insurance, which is quite substantial," Curro said. "I'm doing all the work, and somebody else is getting fat on me."

Curro isn't alone in deciding to not sell gas anymore. Casey O'Gorman did the same thing. In business for 25 years near State Fair Park, his West Allis service station is now doing business exclusively as Auto Analyzers. The Shell name came down a few months back.

"I finally had to just pull the plug on it and say, 'I can't afford to do it anymore,' " O'Gorman said.
High wholesale prices

Curro and O'Gorman are leaving a relatively small and disappearing group of service station owners who both sell gas and repair cars.

Independent auto-repair shops face competition from car dealerships and quick-lube repair shops, and in the sale of gasoline, they compete against full-line convenience stores.

Most gas stations today double as convenience stores, and although they generate more than two-thirds of sales from gas, two-thirds of profit comes from in-store sales of cigarettes, drinks and food, according to the convenience store association.

When drivers are paying more, they think that means higher profits for the filling station, said Bob Bartlett, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores Association.

The case of the two Shell stations stopping sales of gas illustrates the challenges faced by independent station owners across the state, Bartlett said. Nine of 10 stations in the state are independently owned and run, he said.

Between Feb. 1 and Monday, Bartlett said, the average wholesale price paid by service stations in Milwaukee to buy gasoline rose from $1.66 to $2.94. Add in taxes paid to the federal and state governments, as well as transportation costs, and the average service station had to cover $3.47 on Monday, without charging any profit. On that day, stations were charging their customers $3.47 on average in Milwaukee, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report.

"People are upset about oil and gas prices, but it's not this guy right here," Bartlett said of the independent gas station owner. "He's not OPEC. He's not refining it. He's buying it kind of like I am, right at the end of the line here."
Sales up, profit down

Curro has been thinking about shutting down his gas pumps for about a year, and he has complained to his supplier about prices.

When he shut down his pumps, he was charging $3.59 a gallon, 12 cents higher than the competing stations nearby.

"Even at $3.59, I was making 15 cents, but I was still giving 10 of those cents to MasterCard," he said.

Nationally, the Association of Convenience Stores estimates that sales rose 12% but profit fell 23% industrywide last year, and for the first time, credit card fees were higher than the industry's profit.

Lower margins on the sale of fuel and credit card fees were the two main factors behind the drop in profit, the association said, as profit margins on the sale of fuel dipped to their lowest point since 1983.

Until January, O'Gorman and the predecessors at S. 84th St. and W. Greenfield Ave. sold gasoline on that corner since 1938.

He says he never made much money selling gas but started seeing margins nosedive last year when gas prices rose.

"More and more, it was crowding out my real form of income," O'Gorman said, referring to car repairs.

"Then you listen to the public, and they say we're gouging them. Who needs to listen to that? I'd need to have my head examined."

We should prolly feel thankful that our gas prices have not reached the national average yet...which as of Monday afternoon was $3.14/gal for regular unleaded...this picture was taken Sunday afternoon...in McKinney!

Found a couple of interesting articles this AM on news wires and such...they are worthy of attention since Memorial Day weekend fast approacheth...


Oil prices surge on Nigeria unrest, US refinery woes
05.21.07, 8:59 PM ET


NEW YORK (XFN-ASIA) - World oil prices rose on Monday as the market saw no end to concerns over tight supplies caused by unrest in key crude producer Nigeria and output disruptions at US refineries, traders said.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, gained 1.33 usd to close at 66.27 usd a barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for July delivery added 1.07 usd to finish at 70.49 usd. In intraday trade, it climbed as high as 70.83 usd, a level not seen since late August.

Crude prices remained underpinned by concerns about abnormally tight supplies of gasoline in the

United States due to refinery problems, just as motorists take to the road this weekend at the start of the summer vacation driving season.

'With the country running on fumes for supply and another bad week for refiners with outages, or good luck if you look at it from the profit angle, the market seems to be adjusting to its bullish destiny,' said Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading.

Meanwhile, US gasoline prices continued to hit fresh record highs. The American Automobile Association (AAA) said the average national price of unleaded regular gasoline had jumped to 3.196 usd per gallon, the highest average it has recorded.

A month ago the price was 2.859 usd a gallon.

The AAA has forecasted 38.8 mln Americans will be on the roads this weekend, up 1.7 pct from last year.

Fresh unrest in Nigeria, where strikes are planned this week at two refineries, also drove prices higher.

'Crude futures were a little firmer today, supported by further attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria,' Sucden analyst Michael Davies said in London.

Reports of an attack early on Monday by unidentified gunmen on France's Total oil facility in Nigeria, an OPEC member, added to instability.

Nigerian oil unions threatened Sunday to launch a strike this week to protest against the planned sale of two government-owned oil refineries to private investors.

Representatives of the PENGASSAN and NUPENG oil workers unions told a joint press conference in Lagos that the strike against the proposed sale of the installations in the oil city of Port Harcourt would begin on Thursday.

The refineries, which have a combined production capacity of 210,000 barrels of crude per day, are subsidiaries of the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation that employs some 4,000

workers.

'What could stir things a bit are worries over the strike on 24 May that would affect the global crude market,' said Tobin Gorey, a Commonwealth Bank of Australia commodities strategist in Sydney.

Oil-rich Nigeria is Africa's biggest producer, accounting for 2.6 mln barrels per day of crude, but a quarter of that figure is currently lost to unrest in the restive oil-producing south.

Further price support this year would come from limited refining capacity in the United States, according to the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London-based research body which published its monthly report on Monday.

'As long as ... capacity remains inadequate to meet gasoline demand and OPEC responds by restricting output to keep prices too high ... the oil market's current period of high and volatile prices will continue,' the CGES said.

The CGES also warned that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) must increase supplies to avoid oil prices spiking to record levels.


http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/...fx3744172.html


The other interesting piece of news:

"The news today that Kuwait had "unpegged" their currency from the "dollar" because of its rapid devaluation guarantees we will see more price increases in the near future."
------------------------------------------------------

As long as there is political turmoil in the Mideast things are not going to get any better...as long as the dollar continues to fall in value things are not going to get any better...a poster to a message I read frequently said it best:

" Anyone looking for sanity regarding gas prices is best off exhibiting some themselves and making serious adjustments to their lifestyle. It is probably best to do this before the hurricane season lobs a kill shot right into the Gulf of Mexico. In other words, things aren't going to get much better, and they may get significantly worse in the months (and certainly in the years) to come."

Looking for something fun to do on Thursday night? Look no further than Poppy's - where they have been having Salsa lessons on Thursday nights...its a blast! Eat some good food, have a couple a drinks, enjoy the company of friends, and then do Salsa and Merengue to some serious Latin music! Yeah...its a hell of a good time!!

I find this article tremendously disingenuous...whether you or I support Ron Paul and his policies is not the issue to me, the simple fact is that the man has a right to be heard - and then let the people decide for themselves whether or not his politics have merit. To discourage debate sponsors and broadcasters from inviting him to the table is a slap in the face to the American way of life!


And so it begins: GOP leader starts petition to ban Ron Paul from future debates

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http://www.thestate.com/166/story/66451.html

One GOP leader has heard enough of Paul

The chairman of the Michigan Republican Party said Wednesday he will try to bar presidential candidate Ron Paul from future GOP debates because of remarks the Texas congressman made that suggested the Sept. 11 attacks were the fault of U.S. foreign policy.

Michigan party chairman Saul Anuzis said he will circulate a petition among Republican National Committee members to ban Paul from other debates. At a GOP candidates’ debate Tuesday night, Paul drew attacks from all sides, most forcefully from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, when he linked the terror attacks to U.S. bombings.

“Have you ever read about the reasons they attacked us? They attack us because we’ve been over there. We’ve been bombing Iraq for 10 years,” Paul said.

Anuzis called the comments “off the wall and out of whack.”

“I think he would have felt much more comfortable on the stage with the Democrats in what he said last night and I think that he is a distraction in the Republican primary and he does not represent the base and he does not represent the party,” Anuzis said during an RNC state leadership meeting in Columbia.

“Given what he said last night it was just so off the wall and out of whack that I think it was more detrimental than helpful,” Anuzis said.

Anuzis said his petition would go to debate sponsors and broadcasters to discourage inviting Paul.

Paul’s campaign did not immediately return calls seeking comment Wednesday.

After the debate Tuesday, Paul said he didn’t’ expect his remarks to end his campaign.

“The last time I got a message out about my position on the war it boosted us up by tens of thousands and I didn’t change my position,” Paul said. “I think the American people are sick and tired of this war and want it ended.”

Venezuela nationalises foreign oil rigs
Web posted at: 5/15/2007 4:9:7
Source ::: AFP

CARACAS • The Venezuelan government of firebrand President Hugo Chavez said yesterday it was taking control of oil rigs from multinational firms, in the latest of a wave of nationalisations.

Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez, who also heads the state-owned energy company PDVSA, said the firm had in the past ceded control of 18 offshore drilling platforms to foreign giants.

"These companies demand millions for the use of these machines. Faced with this situation, we have decided to nationalise this equipment," he told the official Venezuelan news agency ABN without elaborating.

Oil services firms present in Venezuela include US giants such as Halliburton, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger. At the start of his second six-year term in January, the leftist Chavez decided to nationalise "strategic" interests in sectors such as energy, telecommunications and power generation.

Chavez, whose government is flush with cash from booming oil prices, has been a repeated thorn in the side of the United States, which buys about half of Venezuela's daily crude production of three million barrels.

PDVSA is diversifying its supply of drilling machines used in oil exploration, and Ramirez said the first of a new batch from China would arrive in November. "The idea is to acquire 13 machines, with one arriving each month," the energy minister said.

"In parallel to this agreement, Venezuela will install an assembly plant for drilling machines and in a second stage, the objective will be to make these machines directly in the country," he said.

Meanwhile, President George W Bush rolled out yesterday plans to slash US reliance on oil supplied from unstable regions and so boost the energy-hungry country's defences against extremist attack.

The directive to cut gasoline usage by 20 per cent in the next 10 years will make the United States "more secure for generations to come," help economic growth and safeguard the environment, Bush said.

The so-called "20 in 10" plan was first laid out in Bush's State of the Union speech in January, seeking to slash US oil imports from the restive Middle East and make US energy supply less vulnerable to terrorism.

The president presented legislative proposals for Congress and ordered regulatory action from his cabinet members in charge of transportation, energy, agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by end-2008. "Our dependence on oil creates a risk for our economy because a supply disruption anywhere in the world could drive up American gas (gasoline) prices to even more painful levels," he said in the White House Rose Garden.

"Our dependence on oil creates a threat to America's national security because it leaves us more vulnerable to hostile regimes and to terrorists who could attack oil infrastructure.

"For all these reasons, America has a clear national interest in reducing our dependence on oil."

Bush urged Congress to pass legislation setting fuel economy standards that would result in quintupling the current consumption of renewable and alternative fuels to 35 billion gallons (133 billion liters) by 2017.

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Dis...0070515497.xml

Summer must be on the way, as is usually the case this time of year in Tejas...but at 5PM today it was 88 degrees here in McKinney, which means it had to be hotter than hell down in Dallas...but thats the way it is this time of year...smart people would be inside enjoying some air conditioning on a day like today...but Norm and I went on another one of our now world famous adventures...this time to play with his new 10.5 fisheye lense...and I can tell ya that this lense ROCKS!