Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (404386)	8/4/2008 10:38:18 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575426

Naw. The polls don't really mean anything this far out. I've got faith that Obama will find a way - he's a pol for the ages, while McSame is just a pol for the aged. Besides, the press will pimp whoever is behind and slam whoever is ahead to make it a horse race. So, you think we've got a coming recession too? Ted seems to think we're in the "bottoming process".

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (404386)	8/4/2008 10:49:59 PM
From: Ruffian	Respond to of 1575426

he is shitting red.................................

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (404386)	8/5/2008 1:53:59 AM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1575426

McCain says he trusts Big Oil over energy and economic experts Posted by Kate Sheppard at 4:42 PM on 01 Aug 2008 John McCain said today that he believes what Big Oil says about the amount of oil still available in the United States' outer continental shelf, rather than estimates offered by energy experts, economists, and the government's Energy Information Administration. A questioner in the crowd at the National Urban League conference in Orlando, Fla., asked the Republican presidential candidate about reports that offshore drilling would reap no benefit for consumers for at least a decade, if even then. "I don't agree," McCain replied. "In fact I met with oil executives just a few days ago in California ... and the fact is that we can, using existing facilities, expand our oil production within months, according to these executives." McCain continued, "In my view and that of oil company executives that I've talked to -- the people that actually do it, not those that comment on television, but those that actually do it -- we could, in a very short time, have a beneficial effect as we bridge the gap between our dependence on foreign oil and becoming energy independent." "So I disagree with those experts and I've talked to the actual people that do the work, that are in the business that say within months and certainly within a very short time, we could have additional oil supply for this nation," he said. "So we ought to drill now." Maybe the oil execs who spoke with McCain should check in with the American Petroleum Institute. The industry association states up front that opening the outer continental shelf for exploration wouldn't result in bringing new oil to market for five to ten years. Here's what API had to say [PDF]: Before a lease sale could even occur, a complete environmental study would have to be conducted by the government. Once leased, it could take anywhere from five to 10 years for production to begin, depending on the amount of oil and gas discovered, availability of infrastructure and the geological complexity of the region. In an area like Destin Dome, offshore Florida, where there is a confirmed discovery of natural gas and infrastructure exists, supplies could come on more quickly, perhaps in less than five years. Frontier and deepwater areas with no infrastructure in place would take longer. Guy Caruso, the Bush-appointed head of the Energy Information Administration, has said that offshore drilling wouldn't affect the price of gas very much, citing a recent report from his agency. This directly counters claims that drilling would bring down energy prices in the short term. "It does take a long time to develop those resources," said Caruso. "Therefore the price impact is muted by that." Watch the video: Of course, McCain is right -- oil executives have been claiming that there are potentially major gains to be made if the moratorium on offshore drilling is allowed. ExxonMobile's executives touted their support earlier this week, and Shell and BP. McCain's rival, Democrat Barack Obama, has blasted the GOP candidate's support for offshore drilling, saying that claims of immediate benefit to consumers is disingenuous. "John McCain's proposal ... would not provide families with any relief, this year, next year, five years from now," he said. "Believe me, if I thought there was any evidence at all that drilling could save people money who are struggling to fill up their gas tanks by this summer or the next few years, I would consider it, but it won't." Obama did, however, tell a Florida newspaper today that he could support some drilling if it were necessary to enact a comprehensive energy plan. Regardless of where the candidates stand, Congress would need to lift their ban on offshore drilling, an issue that has tied the body up in knots all this summer. gristmill.grist.org

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (404386)	8/5/2008 1:55:09 AM
From: bentway	Respond to of 1575426

Where Has The Real McCain Gone? His zesty attacks on corporate greed and inspiring plans for national service are no more. Jonathan Alter NEWSWEEK Updated: 1:48 PM ET Aug 2, 2008 In the middle of John McCain's dopey Britney & Paris attack ad, the announcer gravely asks of Barack Obama: "Is He Ready to Lead?" An equally good question is whether McCain is ready to lead. For a man who will turn 72 this month, he's a surprisingly immature politician—erratic, impulsive and subject to peer pressure from the last knucklehead who offers him advice. The youthful insouciance that for many years has helped McCain charm reporters like me is now channeled into an ad that one GOP strategist labeled "juvenile," another termed "childish" and McCain's own mother called "stupid." The Obama campaign's new mantra is that McCain is "an honorable man running a dishonorable campaign." Lame is more like it. And out of sync with the real guy. Of course, it might work. Maybe depicting Obama as a presumptuous and vaguely foreign presence will resonate. (Why else would one of McCain's slogans be "An American president for America"?) Maybe voters will agree with McCain campaign manager Rick Davis, who played the fussy card last week by arguing the central importance to the future of the republic of Obama's taste for "MET-Rx chocolate roasted peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew called Black Forest Berry Honest Tea." (Davis somehow forgot to mention McCain's own preference for $520 Ferragamo shoes.) Maybe convincing nervous white voters that Obama is another Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson in his use of racial grievance politics will carry McCain to the White House. But this is not 1988, when Vice President George Bush turned Michael Dukakis into an unpatriotic coddler of criminals. (Bush that year had a popular president and a strong economy behind him.) And it's not 2004, when his son Swift-Boated John Kerry. (The president would have likely won anyway by playing on post-9/11 fear.) This year, McCain is running under a tattered Republican banner, with more than 80 percent of the public thinking the country is on the wrong track. Without some compelling vision beyond support for offshore drilling, the negativity may well boomerang. "It's hard to imagine America responding to 'small ball' when we have all these problems," says John Weaver, McCain's chief strategist in 2000 who was pushed out of the campaign last year. With the exception of Mark Salter, who is still friendly with Weaver, the rest of McCain's high command says Weaver is just bitter and disloyal. "Actually, it's being loyal," Weaver says. "I want him to win." He's despondent over the destruction of a priceless maverick brand. McCain's zesty Theodore Roosevelt-style attacks on corporate greed and inspiring plans for expanding national service are gone, replaced by Karl Rove's playbook. "When was the last time you heard the word 'reform' or 'service' come out of his mouth?" Weaver asks. "We need to return to the John McCain who speaks his mind. Instead, it's Dick Butkus running a West Coast Offense or Wilt Chamberlain playing point guard. It's not going to work." That's because McCain is patently insincere when his heart's not in it, like a little boy who eats his peas when his parents tell him to but remains transparently unhappy about the experience. It's not clear how committed McCain himself is to this latest assault on Obama. Does he genuinely believe that Obama is an out-of-control egomaniac who thinks he's Moses? McCain no doubt comforts himself that the ad making that argument—an argument that is beneath a major-party candidate for president—was not part of a big media buy but just chum thrown to the media piranhas via the Drudge Report. McCain's erratic campaign has GOP strategists scratching their heads. The obvious play for him was to tack right during the primaries, then navigate back to the center, where American general elections are always won. Conservative base voters can rarely be turned into McCain enthusiasts. But most will reluctantly vote for him. So why jeopardize his standing with independents by being grouchy and partisan? Makes no sense. I misread McCain. On the night of the 2000 South Carolina primary, I was in his hotel suite and watched Cindy weeping over what Rove and his goons did. Her husband was plenty mad, too. Now he's got Rove's protégé, Steve Schmidt, running his campaign. Eight years ago, McCain profusely apologized for playing racial politics in South Carolina by backing efforts to fly the Confederate flag at the state capital. Now he's content to see race crowd out the economy in the battle for precious media oxygen. McCain argues that Obama opened himself up to attack by saying, "They're gonna say he doesn't look like those other presidents on the dollar bills." But if his campaign hadn't leaped on that Obama comment, it would have been another. Accusing the other guy of playing the race card is a not terribly subtle form of, well, playing the race card—and the victim. The real question is what all of this might mean for a McCain presidency. The list of troubling portents is growing long: repeated campaign staff upheavals reflecting poor management skills; abrupt reversals on big issues like tax cuts and relations with Russia (where he was superhawk one day and superdove the next); shameless pandering on a gas-tax holiday that even his own economic advisers think is a joke; confused handling of Social Security that annoys all sides of the debate; bogus charges (e.g., Obama is causing high gas prices, Obama didn't visit wounded soldiers because he couldn't take the press) that undermine his integrity; and an angry, bunker mentality among aides that one GOP operative, fearing excommunication from Team McCain if identified, describes as "lacking only a Luger and a cyanide pill." Victory for McCain would hardly prove redemptive. "You can't govern winning this way," Weaver says. "We've seen that after the last two elections." And defeat would leave John McCain feeling more than the usual depression, wondering why he mortgaged his precious personal honor just to trade up to the White House. URL: newsweek.com

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (404386)	8/5/2008 10:15:47 AM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575426

Firm claims first pet dog clones news.bbc.co.uk ( The real question is: pets or meat? Also, this dog was cloned after death. Cool! ) The embryos were created from skin cells from Booger Scientists in South Korea say they have successfully completed the world's first commercial cloning of a pet dog. Bernann McKinney, from the US state of California, stumped up $50,000 (£25,000) for five identical copies of Booger, her beloved pit bull terrier. The puppy clones were unveiled at a press conference in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Tuesday. "Booger was my partner and my friend," Ms McKinney said, as she appeared with the five identical copies of her pet. Scientists at Seoul National University created a number of embryos from preserved skin cells taken from Booger's ear tissue before he died. The embryos were then implanted into two surrogate mother dogs and, three months later, the puppies were born. Among the scientists involved in the project was Professor Lee Byeong-chun, who was part of the team that created the world's first cloned dog - Snuppy the Afghan hound - in 2005. Difficult process "They are perfectly the same as their daddy. I am in heaven here. I am a happy person," Ms McKinney said at a televised press conference, with tears in her eyes. The former beauty queen, from Hollywood, recalled how Booger once saved her life by chasing off another dog that had attacked her, leaving her with serious wounds. She said: "Booger had a kindness in his heart and I believe that kindness is something that can be, I don't want to use the word reproduced, but the best way Dr Lee explained it is we can give him his body, you are going to give him the love and environment to recreate the original Booger's personality." She said she was considering training some of the puppies to help the handicapped or elderly after they are delivered to her in the US in September. It is not the first time that scientists have cloned a dog, but the process is notoriously difficult and the Korean team say this is the first commercial success, says the BBC's John Sudworth in Seoul. The company which arranged the cloning, RNL Bio, says it is now open for future bookings. As the technology improves, the price is expected to drop. Chief executive Ra Jeong-Chan told AFP news agency that RNL Bio could clone up to 300 dogs next year for wealthy pet lovers. He added: "For my next project, I will consider cloning camels for rich people in the Middle East." Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk