AP Fact Check: In 36 Years Of Data, Not A Shred Of Evidence That Drilling Reduces Gas Prices

THINK PROGRESS

Experts deny that drilling brings down gas prices, despite how often Republicans claim to have the “silver bullet.” Now, the Associated Press reports that an analysis of 36 years of Energy Information Administration data shows “no statistical correlation” between domestic oil production and gas prices.

AP writes:

U.S. oil production is back to the same level it was in March 2003, when gas cost $2.10 per gallon when adjusted for inflation. But that’s not what prices are now.

That’s because oil is a global commodity and U.S. production has only a tiny influence on supply. Factors far beyond the control of a nation or a president dictate the price of gasoline.

When you put the inflation-adjusted price of gas on the same chart as U.S. oil production since 1976, the numbers sometimes go in the same direction, sometimes in opposite directions. If drilling for more oil meant lower prices, the lines on the chart would consistently go in opposite directions. A basic statistical measure of correlation found no link between the two, and outside statistical experts confirmed those calculations.

Domestic oil production is at its highest level in eight years. According to the AP, if drilling dictated gas prices, they should already be at the $2 Republicans promise. However, gas prices fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including speculation and tensions in the Middle East.

These facts haven’t stopped Republicans from rallying around “drill, baby, drill.” President Barack Obama quipped last week on the GOP’s drilling fever: “I guess there’s some empty spots where we’re not drilling. We’re not at the National Mall. We’re not drilling at your house.”

Race Provocateur Condoleezza ‘Al Sharpton Jr.’ Rice Claims Society Is Still Racist

Whoa whoa WHOA there, Ms. Al Sharpton Jr. and OJ Simpson Jr. Combined! Andrea Mitchell Reported on Andrea Mitchell Reports that known African-American confirmed bachelorette and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, when asked about the Trayvon Martin case perpetrating in Florida, said that we are not a race-blind society.

HOW DARE SHE AND ET CETERA! What is she going to do next, claim that there is still institutional racism, particularly at the intersection of race, the courts and the law? How will Tucker Carlson and Ghost Andrew Breitbart feel about this? Will they call her a race pimp? Will they taint everyone who’s ever hugged her with guilt-by-hugging?

For some reason, we do not think so. They might even pretend to forget that Condi staunchly defended Affirmative Action too — along with fellow whiny-ass titty-baby Colin Powell — but will they ever be able to get over the fact that she does not even bother to explain that the worst racism is pointing out when something is racist? OUTRAGING video and transcript, after the jump! READ MORE »

Conservative ‘Bad Boy’ Ambush Reporter Sticks It To Bono (Impersonator)

Jason Mattera is the official Bad Boy Reporter of Washington, D.C. — always wearing his rebellious leather jacket, pickin’ up chicks with his Harley, showin’ ‘tude to the Man, the Liberals. The guy will do anything! He’s a wildcat, and he don’t care. Just check how he stuck it to Bono in this video shot last month, calling out that Irish fuck on his taxes — what kind of Irish fuck cheats his taxes but also tries to “save Africa”? WHAT IS THAT? Stupid hypocrite Bono! Expose him!

Sean Hannity aired the audio on his radio show yesterday, while The Blaze and Breitbart.com each posted the ambush video. But wait a minute… why is the Breitbart.com story page down? Why are the YouTubes now private? Was there some sort of… problem… The Blaze? “There is widespread discussion on Twitter that the person Mattera interviewed in the videos may have been a Bono impersonator.” Oops! READ MORE »

Top Romney adviser: Mitt will erase his conservative positions once he’s the nominee

By Greg Sargent

Think Progress flags an amazing exchange on CNN, in which Eric Fehrnstrom, a top adviser to Mitt Romney, seems to confirm that the conservative positions Romney has been forced to take during the primary won’t be a big deal because he can simply erase them once he becomes the GOP nominee:

Here’s the exchange:

HOST: Is there a concern that Santorum and Gingrich might force the governor to tack so far to the right it would hurt him with moderate voters in the general election?

FEHRNSTROM: Well, I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.

There you have it. Dems, predictably, are pouncing on the remark, arguing that it validates their message that Romney has no core and will say or do anything to get elected.

But you’d think this exchange should have more meaning for conservatives. Fehrnstrom has come awfully close to admitting that the most damaging conservative positions Romney has had to adopt in the primary will be “reset,” and — to continue the Etch A Sketch analogy — can be erased at will if necessary. You’d think conservative reporters and commentators might want to press for a bit of clarification here.

One other point: Note how casually these remarks were greeted by the panel of commentators, as if his kind of thing is just business as usual. As I and others, such as Steve Benen, have been pointing out, it seems likely that many commentators will forget all about Romney’s flirtation with far right positions and grant him the presumption of moderation the second he becomes the nominee. It will be widely accepted that Romney didn’t really mean any of the things he said to get through the primary; all that silly stuff was just part of the game. The above foreshadows this perfectly.

NFL suspends Saints coach Payton for one year without pay

NFL.com

The NFL announced Wednesday that New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton will be suspended for one season without pay for his involvement in the team's bounty program. Saints general manager Mickey Loomis has been suspended for eight games. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams has been suspended indefinitely.

The team has also been fined $500,000 and will have to give up its second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 NFL Drafts.

The league said in a news release that the involvement of individual players in the program is still being reviewed, and that any discipline will be announced at a future time.

In addition, Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt has been suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2012 season.

Payton's suspension is without pay. It will begin April 1 and last for the entire 2012 season. Loomis' suspension will be for the first eight games of the 2012 season.

Williams, who was hired to be the St. Louis Rams' defensive coordinator earlier this year, will have his status reviewed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the 2012 regular season has ended, according to the release. Goodell will then decide if Williams should be reinstated.

Sources close to Williams told NFL Network insider Jason La Canfora that they were shocked by the news. The sources said they had been expecting a shorter suspension, something like a month or six games, and had been hoping for something less than half a season.

The NFL revealed March 2 the findings of a lengthy investigation into a Saints "bounty" program that gave thousands of dollars in payoffs to players for hits that knocked opponents out of games. The program, administered by then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, reached its height in 2009, the season the Saints won the Super Bowl.

The program ran in violation of league rules, and the investigation showed that Saints players received $1,500 for a "knockout" hit and $1,000 for a "cart-off" hit, with payouts doubling or tripling during the team's three playoff appearances.

The NFL Players Association formally requested that the league not punish the 22 to 27 players it cited in the scandal until the union had completed its independent investigation, which is underway, an NFLPA source told NFL.com's Steve Wyche.

The league initially did not respond to the union's request. The NFL told the NFLPA last Thursday, according to SI.com, that it was free to question any current or former Saints officials about the matter, but that it would not delay announcing its own decisions.

"We have given your requests careful consideration, and have concluded that there is no basis for delaying the imposition of any discipline in this matter, and particularly not as it may apply to a club or any non-player employee of a club," NFL attorney Jeff Pash wrote in the letter to union general counsel Richard Berthelsen on Wednesday. "Any disciplinary action affecting any player would be imposed only in a manner consistent with our Collective Bargaining Agreement. As you know, the sole authority to investigate and impose discipline in this matter rests with the Commissioner."

Williams, now defensive coordinator of the Rams, has admitted to and apologized for running the program.

Saints head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis also were implicated in the scandal, and they released a statement March 6 in which they took full responsibility for the violations.

"We acknowledge that the violations disclosed by the NFL during their investigation of our club happened under our watch. We take full responsibility. This has brought undue hardship on (owner Tom) Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologize to him.

"These are serious violations and we understand the negative impact it has had on our game. Both of us have made it clear within our organization that this will never happen again, and make that same promise to the NFL and most importantly to all of our fans."

Barack Obama Chopping Up Aborted Babies for Fun and Profit

Did you know that Barack Obama is personally chopping up aborted babies and sending them to “labs” to make beauty creams for the Rothschilds? Alex Jones’s PrisonPlanet, your No. One Source of FEMA Camp News, is on the case! READ MORE »

Media Matters Daily Summary 03-20-12

Bret Baier Ignores Fox News' Role In Fueling Obama Muslim Myth
Fox News anchor Bret Baier responded to a new book reporting that in 2010, President Obama criticized the network for pushing the myth that Obama "is a Muslim" by saying: "For the record, we found no examples of a host saying President Obama is a Muslim." In fact, Fox has repeatedly questioned and promoted falsehoods about Obama's faith, including pushing the false claim that Obama attended a "madrassa." Read More

STUDY: Media Missing The Mark On Gas Prices
A Media Matters analysis of print and television coverage of rising gasoline prices between January 1 and February 29 finds that news outlets often provided a shallow and shortsighted treatment of the issue. For instance, several outlets largely overlooked fuel economy standards -- a key policy solution that mitigates U.S. vulnerability to price spikes -- while promoting increased U.S. drilling and the Keystone XL pipeline, which would likely move gas prices by only a few cents, if at all. In addition, cable news outlets primarily hosted political figures rather than energy experts or economists to comment on gas prices. Fox News, which covered gas prices far more frequently than any other outlet, regularly blamed President Obama for the recent price increase, a claim in line with Republican strategy but not with the facts. Read More

How State Media Turned A Blind Eye To ALEC's Influence On The Voter ID Debate
Dozens of voter ID laws have been introduced in state legislatures over the past two years, including particularly strict measures passed in seven states in 2011 -- Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. There is widespread evidence that this surge of voter ID laws stems from model legislation crafted in 2009 by a conservative group called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). But a Media Matters analysis has found that the largest newspapers in the seven states that enacted voter ID laws in 2011 have largely ignored ALEC's influence. Indeed, of the newspapers examined, only Rhode Island's Providence Journal mentioned any connection between the state's voter ID bill and ALEC. Read More

CNN's Dana Loesch And The Bullying Campaign Against Sandra Fluke
Amid the controversy over Rush Limbaugh's misogynistic attacks on Sandra Fluke, CNN contributor Dana Loesch has aggressively pursued the right-wing campaign to bully the Georgetown law student. After announcing that she would call Fluke "whatever I want," Loesch has called Fluke a "nympho" and used her radio show and posts at Big Journalism to claim that Fluke "embarrass[ed] herself and her sex by ... discussing about how she has a huge inability to control her sexual urges." Read More

Top GOP Congressman Reaffirms His Doubts About Obama’s Birth Certificate, Cites Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Investigation

THINK PROGRESS

Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), who was roundly criticized last week after ThinkProgress reported the Florida congressmen questioning whether President Obama’s birth certificate is “legitimate,” confirmed today that he is indeed a birther.

When asked about the issue on Capitol Hill today, Stearns told reporters, “I am, shall we say, looking at all the evidence.” He called for credence to be given to birth certificate investigations, saying, “I don’t think it is unreasonable just to see what they have to say.” The Hill has more:

In April 2011, the White House released Obama’s long-form birth certificate to the public, hoping to put the matter to bed for good. But the issue has popped back up repeatedly — most recently in early March, when Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio said he had evidence the document was a fake.

Asked Tuesday if he thinks the birth certificate is legitimate, Stearns cited an inquiry by an Arizona sheriff – an apparent reference to Arpaio – and noted he believed there is “another investigation” as well.

“I think we are just going to hold in abeyance a final decision until we hear, you know, some of these people seem to have legitimate concerns, so I don’t think it is unreasonable just to see what they have to say,” Stearns said.

The man Stearns finds it reasonable to listen to is disgraced Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, generally known for rampant racial profiling against Latinos, but more recently for assembling a team of volunteer self-styled investigators to examine Obama’s birth certificate. Earlier this month, that team concluded that the birth certificate is a “forgery and fraud.”

Not so long ago, Stearns actually accepted the fact that President Obama was born in the United States. In 2009, his office looked into the matter and concluded that there was “no reason to question the President’s citizenship.” It’s unclear whether new evidence or a right-wing primary challenger has since led Stearns to dive into the murky world of birtherism.

Stearns is chairman of the the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, a perch he has used to spearhead the investigation into failed solar manufacturer Solyndra and Planned Parenthood.

Former Army Contractor Sentenced to 39 Months in Prison for Role in Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme Related to Department of Defense Contracts

WASHINGTON—Terry Hall, 45, was sentenced today in Birmingham, Alabama to 39 months in prison for his participation in a bribery and money laundering scheme related to bribes paid for contracts awarded in support of the Iraq war, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins for the Northern District of Alabama also ordered Hall to serve one year of supervised release following the prison term. Hall has agreed to forfeit $15,757,000, as well as real estate and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Hall pleaded guilty on February 18, 2010 to bribery conspiracy and money laundering and agreed to testify against his co-defendants, former U.S. Army Major Eddie Pressley and his wife, Eurica Pressley. The Pressleys were convicted on March 1, 2011 of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, honest services fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and engaging in monetary transactions with criminal proceeds.

The case against Hall and the Pressleys arose from a corruption probe focusing on Camp Arifjan, a U.S. military base in Kuwait. As a result of this investigation, 17 individuals, including Hall, have pleaded guilty or been found guilty at trial for their roles in the scheme.

According to evidence presented at the Pressleys’ trial, from spring 2004 through fall 2007, Hall operated and had an interest in several companies, including Freedom Consulting and Catering Co. and Total Government Allegiance. The companies received more than $20 million from contracts and blanket purchase agreements (BPAs)—a contract that allows the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to order supplies on an as-needed basis at a pre-negotiated price—to deliver bottled water and erect security fences for the U.S. military in Kuwait and Iraq.

Hall testified that, to obtain the contracting business and facilitate unlawful payments by other contractors, he made more than $3 million in unlawful payments and provided other valuable items and services to U.S. Army contracting officials stationed at Camp Arifjan, including to Eddie Pressley and former U.S. Army Majors John Cockerham, James Momon, Christopher Murray, and Derrick Shoemake.

According to Hall’s testimony and other evidence presented at the Pressley trial, Eddie Pressley demanded a $50,000 bribe before he would issue bottled water orders or “calls” to Hall. Hall testified that in April 2005, he and his associates arranged for Pressley to receive the money in a bank account established in the name of a shell company, EGP Business Solutions Inc., which was controlled by Eurica Pressley.

Hall testified that soon after the $50,000 bribe was paid, Pressley and Cockerham, another U.S. Army contracting official, increased the bribe demand to $1.6 million, which consisted of $800,000 for Pressley and $800,000 for Cockerham. After Hall and others agreed to pay the money, Pressley and Cockerham issued calls for bottled water and fencing, arranged for Hall to receive a fence contract, and modified Hall’s agreement to remove the upper limit of the money Hall could receive from the DoD under the bottled water BPA.

Evidence at trial also showed that Eddie Pressley enlisted the help of his wife, Eurica, to receive the bribes. Eurica Pressley traveled to Dubai with Hall in May 2005 and to the Cayman Islands in June 2005 to open bank accounts to receive the bribe money. Hall testified that he and the Pressleys attempted to conceal the true nature of their corrupt scheme by having Eurica Pressley execute bogus “consulting agreements.” They also prepared false invoices that were designed to justify the bribe payments as payment for non-existent “consulting services.”

Hall testified that, in total, he transferred approximately $2.9 million in bribe payments to the Pressleys, approximately $1.6 million of which consisted of payments from other contractors that Hall facilitated for Eddie Pressley. Bank statements, wire transfer reports, and other records presented at trial showed that the Hall and Eddie Pressley used approximately $2.9 million of the money to purchase commercial real estate in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

In addition, Hall testified that, after Eddie Pressley and Cockerham left Kuwait, he paid Momon more than $300,000, approximately $100,000 of which consisted of unlawful payments from another corrupt military contractor, which Hall facilitated by routing the money through bank accounts in Kuwait controlled on Hall’s behalf. In exchange, Momon issued calls under Hall’s bottled water BPA worth more than $6.4 million. Hall also testified that he paid Murray approximately $30,000 in exchange for official acts that benefited Hall and his companies.

On January 5, 2012, Eddie Pressley was sentenced to 144 months in prison, and on February 23, 2012, Eurica Pressley was sentenced to 72 months in prison.

On August 13, 2009, Momon pleaded guilty to receiving approximately $1.6 million in bribes and agreed to pay $5.7 million in restitution. Momon’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled. On January 8, 2009, Murray pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and making a false statement. He was sentenced on December 17, 2009 to 57 months in prison and ordered to pay $245,000 in restitution. On January 31, 2008, Cockerham pleaded guilty to participating in a bribery and money laundering scheme at Camp Arifjan. He was sentenced on December 2, 2009 to 210 months in prison and ordered to pay $9.6 million in restitution. On June 9, 2011, Shoemake pleaded guilty to two counts of bribery, including receiving $215,000 from Hall. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 18, 2012.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Peter C. Sprung and Edward J. Loya Jr. of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section. Assistance also was provided by the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs. The cases are being investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, and the International Contract Corruption Task Force (ICCTF). The ICCTF is a joint law enforcement agency task force that seeks to detect, investigate, and dismantle corruption and contract fraud resulting from U.S. Overseas Contingency Operations worldwide, including in Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

The real slim shady lyrics [eminem]

Will The Real Mitt Romney Please Stand Up (feat. Eminem)

China’s spending on renewable energy soars

RAW STORY

World’s biggest polluter spends £4bn a year on wind and solar power generation in single region as it aims to cut fossil fuel use.

The remote, wind-blasted desert of northwestern Gansu could be the most unloved, environmentally abused corner of China. It is home to the country’s first oilfield and several of the coalmines and steel factories that have contributed to China’s notoriety as the planet’s biggest polluter and carbon dioxide emitter.

But in the past few years, the landscape has started to undergo a transformation as Gansu has moved to the frontline of government efforts to reinvent China’s economy with a massive investment in renewable energy.

The change is evident soon after driving across the plains from Jiuquan, an ancient garrison town on the Silk Road that is now a base for more than 50 energy companies.

Wind turbines, which were almost unknown five years ago, stretch into the distance, competing only with far mountains and new pylons for space on the horizon. Jiuquan alone now has the capacity to generate 6GW of wind energy – roughly equivalent to that of the whole UK. The plan is to more than triple that by 2015, when this area could become the biggest windfarm in the world.

This is the other side of China’s development. Although it is the world’s biggest CO2 emitter and notorious for building the equivalent of a 400MW coal-fired power station every three days, it is also erecting 36 wind turbines a day and building a robust new electricity grid to send this power thousands of miles across the country from the deserts of the west to the cities of the east.

It is part of a long-term plan to supply 15% of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2020. Most of that will come from nuclear and hydropower, but the government is also tapping the wind and solar potential of the deserts, mountain plateaus and coastlines.

The scale of investment has led to hopes that China may emerge as the world’s first green superpower. This is premature. Breakneck economic growth has left much of the country enshrouded in a murky grey smog. But the environmental crisis is so bad that it is a driver for change.

Carbon dioxide emissions have more than doubled in the past 10 years, taking China past the US as the world’s No 1 source of greenhouse gases. Dirty smokestacks and illegal discharge pipes contribute to the hundreds of thousands of annual premature deaths from pollution related diseases. Environment ministry statistics suggest that 40% of river water can make you sick...................

Media Matters Daily Summary 03-19-12

Fox's Varney Attacks "Feel Good" Food Stamp Program As Hunger Reaches Elevated Levels
Fox's Stuart Varney dismissed the federal food stamp program as an "entitlement" that "make[s] you feel good" and attacked an outreach program intended to ensure that people know whether they are eligible for benefits, suggesting it was being used by the Obama administration to "buy votes." But the food stamp program -- the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- is effective and necessary as the number of hungry Americans has reached elevated levels, and the SNAP outreach program goes back at least to President George W. Bush. Read More

The Rush From Limbaugh
Media Matters has compiled the following list of 56 companies who have issued public statements confirming that they are excluding their ads from running on the The Rush Limbaugh Show. Read More

SC Immigration Law Secretly Exempted Jobs South Carolinians Really Want Mexicans to Do

Well well well. It seems a secret loophole in South Carolina’s anti-immigration law, undoubtedly put in at the behest of Big Nanny, lets South Carolina employers off the hook in checking the immigration status of any potential worker who wants to clean their house, diaper their kids, or pick their strawberries. READ MORE »

Santorum Charges Ahead With Anti-Porn Crusade

Santorum Pronunciation: san-TOR-um
Function: noun
1. The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.

2. Former Senator Rick Santorum

TPM

Rick Santorum has garnered quite a bit of attention recently for his animated remarks against pornography, and on two separate Sunday shows the Republican presidential candidate refused to cede an inch, doubling down on his crusade against “hard-core pornography.”

A recently added section on the candidate’s website declares that America is “suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography,” and laments that the “Obama Administration has turned a blind eye to those who wish to preserve our culture from the scourge of pornography and has refused to enforce obscenity laws.” The site goes on to say that the Justice Department “seems to favor pornographers over children and families.”

Asked to defend this odd claim, Santorum argued Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union that the Justice Department is not enforcing pornography laws as rigorously as President George W. Bush’s DOJ did.

“Well you have to look at the proof that’s in the prosecution. Under the Bush administration, pornographers were prosecuted much more rigorously under existing law than they are under the Obama administration,” Santorum said. “My conclusion is they have not put a priority on prosecuting these cases, and in doing so, they are exposing children to a tremendous amount of harm. And that to me says they’re putting the un-enforcement of this law and putting children at risk as a result of that.”

It’s not clear what data there is to back up Santorum’s claim, and his spokesman did not immediately return TPM’s inquiry for evidence. A Justice Department spokesperson also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former senator made the same argument on ABC’s This Week.

“There are laws against purveying hard-core pornography,” he said. “And that — we have attorney generals in the country, at least under the Bush administration, who did prosecute that. And this administration isn’t. And I simply said I would follow the law, which I know in the case of Barack Obama can be somewhat of a hefty challenge for him.”

The sudden emphasis on pornography is a questionable strategy for a candidate whom top Republicans, eager to keep the focus in 2012 on fiscal concerns, worry has a tendency to get sidetracked with culture-war issues that are often a dead end with swing voters. While it animates a segment of social conservatives, battling pornography doesn’t make the list of top concerns for most Americans.

Yet, Santorum isn’t confining his anti-pornography crusade to enforcement of the law — he’s passionately making the case against the broader concept.

“Congress in its wisdom understood that hard-core pornography is very damaging,” he said on ABC, “particularly to young people, and that exposure on the Internet can be very damaging, and of course it’s very damaging to a lot of folks.”