June 2007 Weasel of the Month
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Here are the facts: a) President John F. Kennedy supported the coup d'etat that resulted in the assassination of Diem; b) twenty-one days later, Kennedy was assassinated; c) forty-eight hours after JFK's murder, the FBI deported a French assassin-a fact that was not reported at the time, even to the Warren Commission; d) this deportation order came from the Office of the Attorney General, Robert F. Kennedy.Bradley O'Leary and L.E. Seymour present a convincing argument that implicates not Lee Harvey Oswald, but rather a conglomerate of conspirators, in the death of beloved President Kennedy. Using actual CIA documents, interviews, and evidence, Triangle of Death will alter everything you thought you knew about John F. Kennedy's death.
"He [JFK] murdered Diem, and then he got it himself"
Lyndon B. Johnson
"We had a hand in killing him [Diem]. Now it's happening here."
Hubert H. Humphrey

USA: August 10, 2005
WASHINGTON - US refiners' attempts to phase out a water-fouling gasoline additive could mean "transition pressure" for gasoline prices next summer, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.
Some refiners will phase out use of methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, because of liability concerns, the EIA said in its monthly supply and demand report. The chemical is a suspected carcinogen, and has leaked into underground water supplies in many US states.
"As the market adjusts to the new provisions, there could be transition pressure on gasoline prices from the supply loss next summer, depending on the number of suppliers that eliminate their use of MTBE," the EIA said.
The EIA did not quantify the possible price impact in its report.
The phase-out could take about 150,000 barrels per day of gasoline-blending components off the market, the EIA said.
The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association estimates that MTBE accounts for 1.6 percent of US gasoline supplies.
So far, independent refiner Valero Energy Corp. is the only US company to publicly announce it will phase out making MTBE in 2006.
Valero said taking the additive from its US production will reduce its gasoline output by 6 percent.
Some refiners will be able to switch to corn-distilled ethanol as a replacement but others will have to opt for higher quality products, the EIA said.
MTBE has been used by refiners since the 1980s as an anti-knock agent to replace lead. The 1992 Clean Air Act required US refiners to use oxygenates like MTBE to make gasoline burn more cleanly.
But the additive has leaked into water supplies in many US states, rendering water undrinkable...
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., absent from the Senate since suffering a brain hemorrhage late last year, is likely to return in September, if not earlier, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Reid, D-Nev., said Johnson undergoes physical and speech therapy five days a week and has recovered 90 percent of his speech, although his right side remains weak.
"He and his family and the doctors are trying to decide whether he will come back in September or July, but he's really doing quite well," Reid said.


House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) will ask the ethics committee to review the federal indictment filed Monday against Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) in order to seek his expulsion from Congress.
Boehner will offer a priviledged resolution on the House floor as early as Tuesday calling for the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to review the 94-page investigation filed against Jefferson Monday, according to the Republican leader's office.
The Justice Department indictmented the Louisiana Democrat Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money laundering.
Boehner's resolution is intended to "jump start" a previous investigation into Jefferson's alleged misdeeds that expired last year.
They have given us the most ill-conceived, poorly-executed war in our nation's history, one that has made us less safe, not more. Like Carter, Our Leader has presided over high gas prices — which, in part, are a direct result of that war.
Iraq
US war dead (KIA per month) 52
Months at war: 43
Average US KIA per day 1.73
Afghanistan
US war dead (KIA per month) 3
Months at war: 60
Average US KIA per day 0.1
What factors are causing gas prices to rise so quickly?
The biggest factor in rising costs is the price of crude oil, followed by the cost of refining.
If a gallon of gasoline costs $2.90 (this week's average, according to the Energy Department), crude oil accounts for about $1.60. The cost of crude oil on the futures market has risen about 33 percent in the last year. This reflects supply problems in such places as Nigeria, Iraq and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the threat of supply problems in Iran.
Refining costs add another 64 cents or so to a gallon of gasoline. Refining margins have increased from a few years ago, and are especially high this spring, because many refineries are currently shut down for seasonal maintenance. Refineries are still recovering from the effects of last year's hurricanes. And they are adjusting to more stringent low-sulfur fuel requirements and the phase-out of the gasoline additive MTBE.
The balance of the price is taxes -- about 55 cents -- and distribution and marketing costs, which account for about 11 cents per gallon.
US refiners' attempts to phase out a water-fouling gasoline additive could mean "transition pressure" for gasoline prices next summer, the US Energy Information Administration said Tuesday.
The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association estimates that MTBE accounts for 1.6 percent of US gasoline supplies. The phase-out could take about 150,000 barrels per day of gasoline-blending components off the market, the EIA said.