Gas prices surge 17 cents in a week

As the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa escalates, America's dependency for foreign oil must stop. With the weak dollar making the barrel of oil very expensive, it is impossible to hear our politicians gripe about this dilemma. In fact, higher pump price means more tax revenue for Washington, D.C. Since 1974 during the Nixon Administration, politicians want the USA to be less dependent on foreign oil. Ironically, it has been more than 30 years and the same politicians are still talking about it. Currently, alternative energy is decades away. The electric cars currently available are not what the consumers had in mind. America is current sitting on a massive depot of untapped oil, but afraid to touch it. It is time to be more proactive and tap into that resource, and at the same time, we must continue to improve all forms of alternative engergy. Like the old adage, "Why live for tomorrow if we can't live today."

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Gas prices have increased nearly 17 cents a gallon in the past week. And analysts expect prices to continue higher, following a sharp rise in the price of crude oil.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gas rose 4.3 cents to $3.33, motorist group AAA said Saturday. That marks the fourth day in a row that prices have risen, and brings the national average to the highest level since October 2008.

Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service, said gas prices' 6-cent jump reported Friday was the largest one-day increase since at least 2008.

Analysts expect prices to continue rising over the next few days, since gas prices typically lag trends in the oil market.

The spike in oil last week could translate to an increase in gas prices of 37 cents per gallon in the coming weeks, according Moody's Analytics economist Chris Lafakis. He estimates that for every $1 increase in the price of oil, retail gas prices typically rise 2.5 cents a gallon.

Economists warn that an energy price shock could hurt the economic recovery in the United States. In general, every $1 increase in the price of oil costs consumers $1 billion over the course of a year.

That's concerning because consumer spending makes up the bulk of U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic growth.

A Good Pirate is a Dead Pirate

Four dead Americans are left dead as the final outcome from the hostage siege out in open seas and the only thing the US government can do is say, "we strongly condemned the killing of the Americans as deplorable." That statement came from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Well, what is that going to do, Madam Secretary? Also, Obama instructs the navy to follow the yacht and use force if the hostage is in imminent threat. I guess the last incident in the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama wasn't a wake up call to Obama. Now, Obama is responsible of the deaths of 4 American citizens, who yachted around the world giving away bibles. These pirates are kidnapping Americans without fear. The pirates have become increasingly bold in their attacks despite a flotilla of international warships patrolling the waters off East Africa.

Now the military is in a quandry. Obama's stupid rule of engagement for the military has made us look weak. Military planners aren't sure to go after the pirates harder and attack their bases on Somalia's ungoverned shores? Commonsense will mandate that America don't appease with terrorist and understand a good pirate is a dead pirate.

(Yahoo) NAIROBI, Kenya – A U.S. Navy destroyer was shadowing a hijacked yacht with four Americans aboard when a pirate fired a rocket-propelled grenade, followed by bursts of gunfire. U.S. special forces scrambled onto the occupied vessel only to find the four Americans fatally wounded.

The yachting enthusiasts from California and Washington killed off the coast of East Africa on Tuesday were the first Americans slain by Somali pirates since a wave of attacks began six years ago. One of the American couples had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles.

The deaths of the four travelers, all in their late 50s or 60s, appeared to underscore an increasingly brutal and aggressive shift by pirates in their treatment of hostages.

Killing hostages "has now become part of our rules," said a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi. He referred as a turning point to last week's sentencing of a pirate to 33 years in prison for the 2009 attack on the U.S. cargo vessel the Maersk Alabama — just two days before the hijacking.

"From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies," Abdi said. "It will never, ever happen that hostages are rescued and we are hauled to prison."

Obama Gets His News From Al Jazeera Network

It explains why Obama is making bad calls. He watches CNN and Al Jazeera Network.

(Business Insider) The Daily Beast just posted an “exclusive” look inside the White House’s “scramble” to find the right response to the unfolding crisis in Egypt this week.

The short version is that the crisis caught U.S. intelligence off guard and they were slow to react. But here’s the line that jumped out at me.

That’s right, even the President of the United States is watching Al Jazeera. Needless to say this is a far cry from the time (just two years ago!) thatColin Powell declared on Meet the Press that “those kind of images going out on Al Jazeera are killing us.”

Now, huddled in the big office of their boss — one of the administration policy-makers trying to calibrate the U.S. response to the unfolding drama — the advisers watched Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s first statement. Two television sets were running, one showing CNN and the other a satellite feed from Al Jazeera.

More Cost Effective to Deport these Illegal Aliens than to Pay to Keep them Here

Commonsense would say that it is more cost effective to do a one time permanent deportation of every illegal alien in this country than paying them to stay here.

(Examiner.com) On December 3, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs, Nelson Peacock, responding to request from several U.S. Senators, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), wrote: “Our conservative estimate suggests that ICE would require a budget of more than $135 billion to apprehend, detain and remove the nation’s entire illegal immigrant population.”

So, while it would cost a one-time fee of about $135 billion to deport every single illegal alien in the country, it is actually a bargain considering the fact that it already costs us $113 billion ANNUALLY to keep them here.

In other words, the mass deportation would pay for itself in a little over a year.

Sorry Obama, Guantanamo Will Not Close

(Washington Times) Congress on Wednesday signaled it won't close the prison at Guantanamo Bay or allow any of its suspected terrorist detainees to be transferred to the U.S., dealing what is likely the final blow to President Obama's campaign pledge to shutter the facility in Cuba.

The move to block the prison's closure was written into a massive year-end spending bill that passed the House on Wednesday evening on a vote of 212-206, part of a last-minute legislative rush by Democrats to push through their priorities before ceding the House to Republican control in January.

News of the Guantanamo provision brought a quick and sharp rebuke from the Obama administration Wednesday.

Current law allows the Justice Department to bring detainees to the U.S. for trial as long as the Justice Department gives Congress 45 days notice of the transfer.

The spending bill, which includes wide-ranging new regulations on food safety and shifts money to Democratic priorities, even as it also blocks the Guantanamo Bay transfers, is already two months overdue as Democrats have struggled to find ways to balance their policy preferences with the deteriorating fiscal condition of the government.

The spending bill freezes 2011 funding at the same level as 2010, or $1.09 trillion, which is less than Mr. Obama requested, but still more than Republicans wanted.