is anybody paying attention to this

[TheLorax]

“Woodward told 60 Minutes that Saudi Prince Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/...in612067.shtml

[smoothmoniker]

accusations are fairly easy to make.

more difficult to substantiate.

-sm

[TheLorax]

What did you expect them to say?

“oh we would have gotten away with it to if it weren’t for the Scooby Gang”

What do you suppose they all said to each other on that plane when they were getting to leave the country while all the other planes in the country were grounded right after 9/11?

[Elspode]

'Tinfoil hats! Get your tinfoil hats here! All sizes and styles! Get 'em before the mind rays change frequencies! Tinfoil hats!"

[smoothmoniker]

Originally posted by TheLorax
What do you suppose they all said to each other on that plane when they were getting to leave the country while all the other planes in the country were grounded right after 9/11?

"This country is about to go stupid nuts. Thank God somebody had the foresight to get us out before the lynch mob arrives."

-sm

[Happy Monkey]

We won't know until election time.

[Griff]

Originally posted by Elspode
'Tinfoil hats! Get your tinfoil hats here! All sizes and styles! Get 'em before the mind rays change frequencies! Tinfoil hats!"

That was my first reaction but then I reflected on the situation. If Kerry gets elected and significantly changes our foreign policy, Bandar and company could be the charred bodies in the street. Bush is a personal friend of these people, they trust him, that's a pretty good motivation and oil prices are a huge lever on the economy.

[Undertoad]

Higher prices now will have more of an effect on the economy in November than prices in October. The book was written before the prices increased. Oops.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If you promise to drop oil prices before the election AND you don't want to give up profits, just jack it up in the spring then drop it back to where it should normally be, just before the election.

[TheLorax]

There is no “oops”.

A change in the conditions does not automatically negate the question of whether or not there was a conspiracy between Bush and the Saudis.

Say for example, you and some friends plotted to rob a bank. You drew up plans, acquired weapons, determined strategy – had the whole thing planned down to the time of the event. Then for whatever reason, you never actually go through with your plans. Does that mean that there never were any plans or does it just mean that you didn’t go through with them?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Or the oil companies beat you to the bank.

[tw]

Originally posted by Undertoad
Higher prices now will have more of an effect on the economy in November than prices in October. The book was written before the prices increased. Oops.

The problem is that prices today just are not high. At $1.73 per gallon today, that is $0.84 in 1981. You do remember, gas prices in 1981 were over $1.00. I recall something like $1.20 per gallon. A $1.00 per gallon price in 1981 is $2.06 per gallon today. Gasoline prices are still low.

[richlevy]

Originally posted by tw
The problem is that prices today just are not high. At $1.73 per gallon today, that is $0.84 in 1981. You do remember, gas prices in 1981 were over $1.00. I recall something like $1.20 per gallon. A $1.00 per gallon price in 1981 is $2.06 per gallon today. Gasoline prices are still low.

Especially when you consider that their are more taxes on gas now then there were then. The federal tax was 3 cents a gallon in 1981 and is now 18.4 cents a gallon. State taxes have probably also risen.

The Federal Excise Tax on Gasoline and the Highway Trust Fund: A Short History

[richlevy]

I saw this movie in Israel. I remember being searched when I went into the movie theatre, which was a new experience for me. Considering the subject matter of the movie, it was appropriate. Even if the reason they were searching people was serious, I couldn't help thinking that they should hire people to do this wherever the movie was playing, because it set the mood.

For those who have never seen the movie, Three Days of the Condor is about some naive CIA researcher (bookworm) whose whole section is brutally murdered. It turns out that his report that a certain novel was not being translated into Arabic threatened a plot by a rogue CIA official.

In one of the last scenes of the film, Turner, the researcher, confronts Higgins, a neutral CIA official. This may be after the rogue official, Atwood, has been killed.

BTW, I went to IMDB to get the quote, but they only had the bottom half of what I have listed below. Someone else has this quote on his site as his favorite movie quote.

TURNER: Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?

HIGGINS: We have games, that's all. We play games. "What if...?" "How many men...?" "What would it take...?" "Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime?" That's what we're paid to do.

TURNER: So Atwood just took the games too seriously. He was really going to do it, wasn't he? Supposing I hadn't stumbled on the plan? Say nobody had?

HIGGINS: Different ball game. The fact is, there was nothing wrong with the plan. Oh, the plan was alright. The plan woulda worked.

TURNER: Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?

HIGGINS: No. It's simple economics. Today, it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years... food. Plutonium. And maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?

TURNER: Ask them.

HIGGINS: Not now. Then. Ask them when they're running out. Ask them when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask them when their engines stop. Ask them when people who've never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask them. They'll just want us to get it for them.

BTW, it's a great movie. The suspense is phenomenal, and it really created the whole cynical spy drama genre. Think of it as the grandfather of The Bourne Identity.