Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Bush Lies Again

If people wonder why this blog is called Elephantlies, one only has to listen to George Bush on Tuesday explaining why gasoline prices are so high. Bush was continually wrong and the only question was whether he knew he was wrong and lying, or was it just that he doesn't study, isn't very smart, and is intellectually lazy?

Well, Bush did get us stuck in a war in Iraq, so maybe he's not too smart. But when Sen. John Kerry pointed out Bush isn't bright, conservatives jumped all over Kerry's "joke" so that can't be right. As result the only answer is that Bush must be lying, right?

Don't believe me? Let's go to the tape and look at a report on Marketplace, one of the few places that looked into the story and as a result all but called Bush a liar.

Bush: One of the main reasons for high gas prices is that global oil production is not keeping up with growing demand.

Oil Analyst: The U.S. market is well supplied.

Business correspondent Bob Moon pointed out that "analysts have been reporting that gasoline reserves in this country have been on the rise since October and in recent months, we've got more stored up than we have since the early 1990's, so as Shook points out, we've got enough on the supply side. Then you've got demand and that's actually been falling since last July. None other than the Bush administration's own Energy Department now says the demand for gasoline here is on track to see the first annual drop in consumption in 17 years."

Bush: Another reason for the high gas prices is the lack of refining capacity. It's been more than 30 years since America built its last new refinery.

Analyst: We're expanding refining capacity in this country. We have probably more than half a million barrels of new refining capacity per day under construction right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see another 100,000 barrels per day of new capacity announced in the next six months to a year.

But how are the current refineries operating? Moon pointed out that "We're actually using less gasoline lately. Well that means refineries here in the U.S. have actually been cutting back on production because their margins are tightening up."

So why is gas going up? Possibly that the dollar continues to drop against other major currencies. And why is the dollar dropping? Because of the policies of the current administration.

But would Bush tell the truth and say the reason the price of gas is increasing is his administration's fault? No, because elephants lie.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Who has contempt for the non-elites? The GOP

When Barack Obama's "bitter" comments came out prior to the Pennsylvania primary, a number of conservatives were outraged about the elite comments Obama had and how out of touch he was with the common people and questioned whether he respected the people.

But the people who have the real contempt for the American people is the Republican Party. One only has to look at Florida. It was bad enough when Jeb Bush's administration helped determine the outcome of the 2000 presidential election in favor of his brother, now the state has passed a series of laws that effectively limits efforts to register people to vote.

The New York Times is reporting that the League of Women's Voters of Florida sued state election officials on Monday to challenge a law that fines voter registration groups for losing registration forms or returning them late.

This, along with the Supreme Court's decision on Indiana's Voter ID bill that deals with non-existent voter fraud, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia comment on the courts' gift of the presidency to George Bush - "get over it. It's so old by now" shows the contempt conservatives have for Americans.

Scalia and others may pretend that their actions are based on laws and concern for laws, in reality their actions are little more than rationalizations for self serving actions.

Rather than questioning if Rev. Wright loves American, maybe one should ask why the right hates America and Americans.