Pump prices have been lower for quite a while now, so this might not be extremely interesting, but I’ll post it anyways.

I remember that at the height of gas prices there was a TON of complaining. It was Bush’s fault, the government should do something, the oil companies are evil, etc. Once you see the following though, you will be a better informed citizen, and when you hear people say stupid things, you can then correct them.

Gasoline prices are directly related to the price of oil. The price of oil gets set in a fashion similar to the stock market. That’s not something the government controls, or George Bush (or now Obama), or the evil oil companies. It’s set on the open market, and take a look at the graph below. The price of oil and the price of a gallon of gas are perfectly aligned. In the future, the next time you see Congress summon the heads of the major oil companies to see if they are in collusion, now you will know what a bunch of idiots they are.

To make your own chart go here.

Gas prices are heading south, but I don’t hear anyone giving George Bush credit for that. After all, if people want to blame him when they go up, they should praise him when they go down. If that sounds retarded to you, it’s because it is.

As gas prices go down, I would like to point out that OPEC doesn’t like that. In an effort to make the price go back up they are cutting supply. Gasp! "You mean gas prices aren’t up to the Dick Cheney and all the evil Republicans?" I get sick and tired of the idiocy of the general public that attributes anything negative to the people in charge.

Aside from gas prices, the economy is another great example of how dumb people are. The ENTIRE time Bush has been in office I’ve had to listen to people complain that the economy is in a recession (when it’s not) and that everything sucks. I found an interesting poll over at Reuters that seems to contradict itself.

On October 18th, 47% of people think the job market is worse than three years ago, and 38% think it’s better. On October 16th, 76% thought the country was on the wrong track, and only 22% on the right track. Both of these make it sound like people think the country is in the toilet. The economy is worse, and everything is on the wrong track…right? Only 2 weeks earlier on October 2nd, 53% of people have a higher salary than 4 years ago, only 22% make less, and 25% make the same. Why doesn’t the fact that people individually are doing better translate into the economy doing better?

According to this poll, people that don’t like Bush are confused….

On your Household Financial Situation…among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 99% say excellent, very good, or good. Among those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, 53% say excellent, very good, or good and 46% say bad, very bad, or terrible.

-People that don’t like Bush think their personal financial situation is about 50 positive/50 negative.

On the National Economy…among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 96% say excellent, very good, or good and 3% say bad, very bad, or terrible. Among those saying they disapprove of  the way Bush is handling his job, 89% say bad, very bad, or terrible and 10% say excellent, very good, or good.

-Whoa! People that don’t like Bush (who were 50/50 on their personal situation), almost 90% of them say the economy is bad!?!?

Yah statistics are boring, but they can sure tell a lot. Apparently to some, success in your own life has no effect on the economy. As long as George W. Bush is in charge the economy will suck. People, get your head out of the sand and stop blaming others.

So I found this picture on Foxnews, and realized it was the perfect subject of my second "That Doesn’t Make Sense" column.

So I don’t know what’s going on here, but I think it’s pretty clear: George Bush is hanging out with some guy who thinks he’s Genghis Khan. First of all, the guy playing Genghis Khan is clearly Russian, not Philipino. Second, the guy on the right is waving the Romanian flag, and he’s wearing different colors than Genghis Khan. If they’re supposed to be mortal enemies, they don’t look like they’re in perpetual violence fighting for the survival of their tribe. Third, the girl to the left is wearing a metal bra.

Now for George Bush, he’s clearly trying to barter with Genghis. He is saying "If you let me join your dojo, do I get a cool horse like that? In turn I will trade you this schmuck behind me that can’t stop smiling about the metal bra joke." The guy playing Genghis Khan can’t stop laughing and he keeps muttering something about meeting James Bond. I think they are going to jump President Bush into their gang now.

This recent story about John Kerry really struck me as odd. If you read it, you’ll see that John Kerry is claiming President Bush will call up more troops after he gets elected in November. The article goes on to show several people who have no idea what he’s talking about, and one person who claims he’s heard about this. Not surprisingly that person is a Democrat, but we’ll come back to that.

I’ve found it to be a constantly recurring theme that I must decipher and critically think about everything people say this election year. If John Kerry says President Bush is fighting the “wrong” war, what does that mean? John Kerry supported the war at one point, so does he just not like the way it’s turning out? Or is he trying to separate himself from Bush? What the evening news doesn’t tell you is that Kerry has had a 100 stances on the war in Iraq. It stems all the way back to the Democratic primaries. Good ‘ol Howard Deam was completely anti-war, so to distinguish himself from Dean, Kerry was pro-war. Well, Kerry won that battle…but now he’s got a problem: Bush is pro-war…and he can’t have the exact same stance on one of the most important issues to voters. Therefore, like he did in the Democratic primaries, he’s trying to find a new stance to “market” himself. If you don’t believe me check out www.kerryoniraq.com.

Something else in that article that blows me away is when Kerry says “Doesn’t George Bush watch the evening news?!” In other words, doesn’t President Bush see the body count reported every night?. This is an important point, because I think it’s what separates Liberals from Conservatives. Liberals think primarily with their emotions, and Conservatives think primarily with their brain. A Liberal can’t look at Iraq, see a death toll, and then decide “is it worth it?” Instead they just gawk and wail that a US Soldier died. I’m not demeaning the value of life, and in fact I’d say that is what the liberals are doing. I say when a soldier dies they have served their country and worked to secure freedom in Iraq. A liberal on the other hand will say they died fighting a pointless war and it’s all President Bush’s fault. They can’t even support our troops now because that’s indirectly supporting Bush.

Ultimately I think the majority of voters will be able to decipher all the coded messages being transmitted this election year. Democrats have been hoping for Iraq to turn into Vietnam, but that’s not happening. Republicans have been wanting the economy to boom like crazy, but I’d say it’s just in a regular recovery. In the end, look at what people say and decide for yourself if it’s the truth. You’ll be smarter for it.

If you’re like me and work at night or go to school, you probably missed a lot of the Republican National Convention. I went out on the web to find some videos of the best speeches, check it below.

Every Speech from the Convention – I highly recommend George Bush’s acceptance speech, and Zell Miller’s speech. If you have a short attention span, watch Zell Miller’s and the following link. Look in the small box for every video.

Zell Miller’s Interview with Chris Matthews (Great! Requires Internet Explorer)

I did an interesting comparison today between George Bush’s contribution page and John Kerry’s contribution page. Funny how you can tell so much about the spirit of the party based on one webpage.

John Kerry Contribution Page

George Bush Contribution Page

See a difference in the “spirit” in which they’re asking for you money?