Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

I loves my Senator (via McClachy):

WASHINGTON — With the price of crude oil hovering near $110 a barrel and gasoline prices at record levels, a Washington senator says federal regulators need to stop delaying and start investigating whether petroleum markets are being manipulated.

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell said the Federal Trade Commission should move quickly to implement a provision she inserted in a national energy bill approved by Congress late last year that gives it authority to investigate whether excessive speculation and manipulation have driven up prices.

[snip]

Cantwell noted that crude oil prices have doubled over the past year despite adequate inventories, no major disruption in supply and a slight drop in demand in the United States as the economy has cooled.

Observant of her, no? That's why I like her: little things like skyrocketing oil profits combined with agony at the AMPM mini-mart don't escape her notice, unlike a particular President I could name. Considering her history, I don't think she'll let this one go.

In other news, our President signing off on torture is no news:

And yet, major news outlets have decided not to bother mentioning these revelations to the public at all. Froomkin observed, “There was no mention of Bush’s admission in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal or the Los Angeles Times. There was nothing on the major wire services. And nothing on CNN, CBS or NBC.”

I will have a shitload more to say on this within the next few days, but for now: our media's priorities are so fucking out of line it's beyond belief. If anything should be news, it should be this. Does anybody know why this isn't newsworthy?

At least they're taking note of all the fuckery that went on under HUD chief Alphonso Jackson:

All the while, Jackson enjoyed a chef and a full-time security detail that trailed him to Washington social events. His office launched a new $7 million auditorium and cafeteria at HUD's headquarters, money that some within the agency believed should have been directed toward housing for the poor. His office solicited an emergency bid to obtain oil portraits of
Jackson and four other HUD secretaries at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000.

Since when is getting an oil portrait of yourself and your buddies an "emergency?" In the midst of foreclosures, defaults, and other crises in the housing market, you need a new cafe and a fucking portrait?

Why, oh why, did we let the monkeys take over the zoo?