In the second quarter, refiners bought crude oil at lower prices and sold gasoline at record high prices. As a result, companies like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Valero could see record profits when the industry reports earnings this week.

Exxon (Charts, Fortune 500), which actually refines more barrels of oil than it pumps, could see over $11 billion in earnings, which would be the biggest quarterly profit in corporate history.

 

Australian anger as Greer attacks 'slow-witted and neurotic' Diana …..

Germaine Greer's fellow Australians will be choking on their breakfast cereal this morning as they read her latest piece of invective: an excoriating attack on the late Diana, Princess of Wales, whom she describes as devious, neurotic and stupid.

In an essay in today's Weekend Australian Magazine, the Melbourne-born author and academic claims that Diana was nicknamed Brian by her siblings after the slow-witted snail on The Magic Roundabout.

Yes Gus, the rats are all scurrying away …..

Rattus & Ruddock repeatedly claimed that they had no responsibility for Haneef’s treatment & that the case was simply in the hands of the police & the courts.

Time & again, however, Rattus, Darth Ruddock, & other rodents from the government made prejudicial comments against Haneef & declared that his arrest was a “wake-up call” to the Australian public that the “war on terror” must be continued indefinitely.

 

As astronauts fly drunk, as the case against Dr Haneef falls down, as the stock market feels the jitters of a 3 per cent wipe off, as some people have sabotaged computers for the international space station, as a private space port explodes in the Mojave desert, as more bombs explodes in wherever, the US president is steadfast.

He wants more bullets to shoot willy-nilly at sumpthin' but congress is not forthcoming with the dough & has cut his budget for European fancy footwork.

This TV soap plot was brought to you by the cat that smells death in a US nursing home.

‘The House Judiciary Committee did its duty yesterday, voting to cite Harriet Miers, the former White House counsel, and Joshua Bolten, the White House chief of staff, for contempt. The Bush administration has been acting lawlessly in refusing to hand over information that Congress needs to carry out its responsibility to oversee the executive branch and investigate its actions when needed. If the White House continues its obstruction, Congress should use all of the contempt powers at its disposal.

‘Behind all this is a perception that nuclear power is needed to help fight climate change. But there's little chance that nuclear plants could be built quickly enough to make much difference. The existing 104 nuclear plants in the U.S., which supply roughly 20% of the nation's electricity, are old and nearing the end of their useful lives. Just to replace them would require building a new reactor every four or five months for the next 40 years. To significantly increase the nation's nuclear capacity would require far more.

 

There is a proverb in Europe that goes along the line that: "The Neanderthal with the biggest stick shall win the philosophical contest", meaning that "force shall prevail upon reason".

‘Cheney's inability to tap Iran's resources has long been a source of frustration. During the administration of Gerald Ford, Cheney pushed a reluctant Ford to sell Tehran Westinghouse technology that would have allowed Iran to reprocess plutonium and obtain uranium for a nuclear energy programme. The deal foundered in 1979 under the Carter administration, when the Shah was overthrown.

‘Although Donald Rumsfeld claimed that "we don’t seek empires" and "we’re not imperialistic," I don’t hesitate to use the terms. Not only did the 9/11 Commission Report conclude that "the American homeland is the planet," it referred to the Department of Defense as "the behemoth among federal agencies. With an annual budget larger than the gross domestic product of Russia, it is an empire."

 

Labor's IR changes madness: Howard …..

Prime Minister John Howard has used a visit to Western Australia's mining heartland to declare that voting for the Labor Party would be madness because of its industrial relations (IR) policy.

Mr Howard told a fundraising lunch in Kalgoorlie that Labor's plans to abolish Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs) will hurt the one in four workers in WA currently on an individual contract.

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‘Six years ago, the White House had the opportunity to pursue a relatively small group of jihadists across the Earth. With the support of every country that mattered, we went into Afghanistan to oust the Taliban, who had given sanctuary to bin Laden and his mad dream of global jihad.

 

Medicare; Private Health Fund costs; Higher Education costs: interest charges on HECS debts; the GST; the impact of the GST on prices, including fuel; no new taxes; Ethanol; Pensions; Foreign Debt; funding of Labour Market programs; reductions in government services; Children Overboard; Iraq & WMD; the funding of Party Political advertising; AWB; the length of Parliamentary sittings; David Hicks; Superannuation; Taxation; Immigration; the Ministerial Code of Conduct; Nuclear Power; the environment; Sorry …..

The New South Wales state government in Australia is boosting security at this year's APEC summit in light of the foiled attacks in Britain. Hundreds of additional surveillance cameras will be installed on trains and buses. Authorities are building a citywide digital network linking public and private closed-circuit TV cameras.

This introduction to a Voice Of America story exemplifies my worries that Dr Haneef has been used in Australian media to portray the possibility that a person similar to him could attempt to assasssinate the likes of US President Bush and Russian President Putin when they come to Sydney in September.