Oil Prices Fall $20 in a Week

The Price of oil dropped from a record high of $147 dollars a little over a week ago to $128.88 on Friday. The drop marked the largest ever drop in a price of oil recorded in a week. Some anaysis have siad that a nationwide average of under $4 a gallon could be fast approaching. The average is currently $4.10 a gallon.

There could be several reasons for this sudden drop in prices: people driving less, buying cars with better gas millage, oil inventories being up, but I go back to what I wrote a couple of days ago President Bush lifting the moratorium on drilling off shore. Notice that we didn't start drilling, or even lift the congressional ban on drilling. Which we would have to do before we could start drilling. Still, the Price of a barrel of oil has dropped almost $20 a barrel since that announcement. I've read in some places that if Congress would follow suit we could have gas prices back between $2- $2.50 a barrel. This is without touching Alaska or the oil shell in the Mountains.

Alot of the Price of oil is psychologically drive. If traders believe the oil will go higher they bid the price of oil higher. With wars in Iraq and Afgahnistan, problems with Iran, and the constant threats made on Israel. It's no wonder that traders bid oil higher since we have to get so much of it comes from that region of the world. However when those traders believe that we will start drilling for our own oil and our serious about adopting new forms of energy then the price drops as it has this week. So when President Bush lifted the Ban on drilling in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans it caused a sell off which drove prices down at a record rate. The fact that American's having been using less oil recently also helped.

Americans need to continue to use less oil from here on out. No matter what the price is. We cannot forget the lessons we have learned during the past two years and go back to what we were doing before. However we will need oil for the foreseeable future. We need for that oil to be affordable for every American so that they can live their lives. Right now the best way to get to price of oil back to an affordable level is to follow President Bush's lead and drill. I don't know if their will ever be a time where we will not need oil at all. However I do believe we can make our need for oil significantly less than it is now with innovation and American ingenuity. However make no mistake about it right now we need oil!

Unfortunately the Democrats in Congress are more interested in sabataging Bush's Presidency than they are doing what's best for America. Their worried about how their liberal base will react if they allow a vote on lifting the moratorium on drilling, which would pass both the House and Senate. So right now Speaker Pelosi is the only thing standing between Americans and lower prices at the pump. So what's it going to be Speaker will you hold our wallets hostage to the environmentalist, or will you do what's in the best interest of your country. We're waiting for the answer.

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U.S. to restore Diplomatic relations with Iran.

O.K. Obviously something is going on here. When I heard that the U.S. was sending a diplomat to listen to Iran's response to the latest proposal I got to be honest no red flags went up for me. Now the U.S. is rumored to be planning to announce their intention to put an interest section inside Iran. This announcement allegedly will occur next month. This would be the first time since the hostage crisis in 1979 that the U.S. has had diplomatic relations of any kind inside the country. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has said he "welcomes any attempts to expand ties."

The only thing I can think of his that Iran has already informed the U.S. it will stop enriching uranium and accept this latest deal. If that is not the case I am looking forward to hearing President Bush's reason for this dramatic shift in policy. "The Guardian," a liberal paper out of London apparently broke the story.

However this story is about 5 minutes old right now and could easily be wrong by the time I wake up tomorrow. If that is the case ignore everything you just read.

General believe they will be able to cut troops in Iraq soon.

Admiral Mullen has said he was likely to recommend further U.S. Troop drawdowns in Iraq this fall. These troops would most likely be sent to Afganistan due to a recent uptick in violence in that front of the war. "It's a tougher fight, it's a more complex fight, and they need more troops to have the long-term impact that we all want to have there," Mullen said.

The bottom line here is that Iraq has become remarkably safer since the surge. While there are still attacks they are much smaller in number. This improvement is why the U.S. Millitary will be able to move troops from Iraq to Afghanistan to stop the uptick in violence that has recently occured in that Country. Of course this may not be necessary if our Allies in Afganistan were willing to fight the terrorist, but many of them aren't. So we will send our forces from one front in the war on terror to another. I hope that other countries don't have to go through what we went through to realize that this is a war, but I'm afraid they will.

Israel trades live prisoners for dead soliders

The Israeli government today traded five Hezbollah terrorist for the bodies of the two soliders that were kidnapped in 2006 which started the war with Lebanon. Israeli intelligence had suspected the soliders were dead, but only got confirmation when Hezbollah pulled the caskets out of the van. One of the terrorist released, Samir Kantar, killed a four year old girl by mashing in her head with the but of a gun after shooting her father in front of her. Hebozlah celebrated his return has he had been in a Isreali prison since 1979. "Samir Kantar is a brutal murderer of children and anybody celebrating him as a hero is trampling on basic human decency," said Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Isreali Prime Minister.

The Israeli people believe that it was important to bring the soliders home and that the deal was worth it, I disagree. Trading live terrorist for dead soliders makes it more likely that the terrorist will kidnap and kill soliders again to get their comrades released. If the Soliders had been kept alive I wouldn't have such a problem with the switch, even though it would have still have encouraged Hezbollah to do it again. Israel puts it's soliders and it's people in greater danger with this deal. What reason is there for Hezbollah to keep hostages alive?

Favre wants to play football

Brett Favre held a very emotional retirement press conference a couple of months ago. Even has I was watching it I was thinking, this guy really wants to play why is he retiring. Turns out he's now thinking the same thing. The Packer Legend has decided he wants to go one more round has a quarterback in the NFL. However the Packers are saying, "not so fast there Brett." Aaron Rodgers has waited in the shadow of Brett Favre for three full seasons. I remember when he was drafted I thought to myself that he would back up Favre for a year and by the next season, two at the most be staring for the Packers. Now he has waited three full seasons and Brett wants him to wait for another year. It appears that the Packers have decided that neither they nor Rodgers can afford to wait another year. Let's face it the kid deserves a chance to play. However it also appears that the Packers don't want to let Favre go either, and this is where the problem lies.

Brett Favre will always be a Packer in the eyes of the fans of the NFL. He's undoubtably go into the Hall of Fame has a Packer, and have his number retired in Lambou Field. However if the man still wants to play who are the Packers to say that he can't. Although I can see the problem with having him in the same divison so here's what I purpose. I think the Packers should release Favre and allow him to sign with any team outside the NFL Central. This way they don't have to see him two times a year and he can still sign with almost any team he wants.

As far as has Legacy goes it doesn't matter. Joe Montana spent his last years with the Kansas City Chiefs, Michael Jorden played for the Washington Wizards and Johnny Unitas signed with the L.A. Rams for their last seasons. However if I went out and asked who Joe Montana played for everyone would say the 49ers, Johnny Unitas the Baltimore Colts, and Michael Jordan the Chicago Bulls. These athletes did not hurt their legacy by switching teams at the end of their career and neither will Favre. Whatever happens here we'll see Favre as a Packer at least one more time at his Hall of Fame induction.

President Bush lifts Executive ban on oil drillling.

On July 14th President Bush lifted the ban on drilling off the our coast by executive order. This of course means nothing unless congress also lifts its ban on drilling, or does it. In the two days since Bush lifted the drilling ban oil prices have dropped $10 a barrel. That's right President Bush said the word drilling and prices dropped $10 in two days. This also led to a 276 point jump in the Dow today. Imagine what would happen if we were to actually start drilling.
We need to produce our own energy in this country. Sending billions of dollars a year to countries that aren't exactly our best friends is not good policy. I would like to see us eventually be off of oil completly, but how long that will take is anyone's guess. If you want to know more about my opinion on this issue read Let's Drill.

Sorry for the long break between post.

Sorry that it's been awhile since I've added a new post. I'm been consumed with trying to find a new job and have been spending all my energy on that. I'm going to try to get you caught up on all the happenings today 7/16/2008. There is alot going on in the world.