#gbtp

GBT(AP)+ [GBTA/GBTP+ or GTB(AP)+/GTBA/GTBP+, GTBQ(PA+)/GTBQP(A)/GBTQP(A), GTBP(A)+/GBTQA(P), GBTQ(N)/GTBQA(P)]: ascribing men, or otherwise non-women, in the queer community; inclusion of gay, genderqueer, bisexual/bi+, transgender/trans*, questioning, queer pan-/ply/pluralian, asexual/ace(spec), aro(spec)/aromantic, agender, androgyne, and more, individuals.

[ID: 12 stripes of dark green, purple, blue cyan, yellow, hot pink, black, grey, pink, white, dark magenta, royal blue and cyan. End ID]

Cross-posted at AustinHess.com and UncommonSenseBlog.com

by Austin Hess…

I saw another great graphic at QandO today, this one from the American Petroleum Institute showing a map of the combined federal, state, and local gas taxes for each state in cents per gallon. The average is just under 50 cents.

Remember that next time Obama blathers on about how there’s no “silver bullet” for lowering gas prices. The government could lower the price of gas at the pump by 50 cents immediately with a gas tax holiday.

But of course, they won’t do that. They prefer to scapegoat and demagogue evil “speculators” and oil companies for “price-gouging,” “price-fixing,” and “profiteering,” or whatever other supposed sins of the capitalist marketplace that the statists in D.C. like to form investigative commissions (like the one Obama just formed) to find (which they never actually do) whenever the price of gasoline gets high.

This chart points out their hypocrisy. Consider, for comparison, that oil companies generally make a pretty anemic profit margin of around 6%. We’re paying about $4 per gallon for gas at the pump right now, meaning the evil oil companies take about 25 cents as their “obscene windfall profits” compared to the Government’s 50 cents of profiteering. About 12.5% of the price at the pump (on average) goes to the Government, which is twice the amount that goes to the robber barons of big oil. Let’s also keep in mind that the profit motive is the only reason oil companies provide us with gas in the first place. I don’t see how you can call them evil on one hand, but expect them to fill your tank out of the goodness of their hearts on the other.

Now, I’m not suggesting that gas taxes be eliminated. I’m actually ok with them philosophically, because it is fair to pay for roads with funds raised from taxpayers in a way that is proportional to how much they use them (though not all the money ends up getting used that way). The point is, though, that the Government takes a bigger cut in “profit” than the oil companies (even though the government’s cut isn’t profit because they did not invest or contribute to the gas production). Obama should be investigating himself, not the oil companies. He could take some steps to bring down gas prices immediately over the short term with a temporary gas tax holiday. What’s more important, though, is what he could be doing to bring the prices down over the long term.

Gas prices are high right now because of supply and demand (which control all prices for everything). Prices are higher in the summer rather than winter because people drive more (more demand). The trend in demand is upward as developing economies like India and China use more oil. The supply is in some jeopardy right now due to instability in the Middle East, and is constantly manipulated by the monopolistic cartel that is OPEC. The government has little control over that, but it can lower prices by increasing the supply of oil by opening up more areas (offshore, ANWR, anywhere) for domestic drilling. We have plenty of domestic resources to drill, and plenty of companies willing to drill for it if the government would just get out of the way. Increased domestic production would not only stimulate American job growth and the economy, it would lower and stabilize gas prices, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and shielding us from the effects of instability in the Middle East and price fixing by OPEC.

Of course, Obama and the environmental movement are never going to lower gas taxes and allow more drilling (unless its in a third world country like Brazil where I guess they don’t care about spills). They’re doing the exact opposite. Obama’s permitorium has steadily been decreasing oil production and driving oil companies overseas to greener pastures. One campaign promise Obama has kept, is that with his energy policy, energy costs have “necessarily” skyrocketed (the price of gas is double that when he was inaugurated). Obama wants energy prices high, despite the fact that it hurts the economy (and the poor most of all), because it makes his preferred pie-in-the-sky green energy sources comparatively more cost effective. That’s another reason he hypocritically wants to end “subsidies” for oil companies, mainly in the form of tax breaks (but hey, to Obama all money is really the government’s anyways), without a word about green energy subsidies. I’m sure that’ll help lower gas prices.

The government actively tries to reduce the supply of oil, and it takes more of your money at the pump than the oil tycoons. Remember that next time some busybody bureaucratic liar like Obama tries to blame high gas prices on the oil companies.

Cross-posted at AustinHess.com and UncommonSenseBlog.com

by Austin Hess…

I saw another great graphic at QandO today, this one from the American Petroleum Institute showing a map of the combined federal, state, and local gas taxes for each state in cents per gallon. The average is just under 50 cents.

Remember that next time Obama blathers on about how there’s no “silver bullet” for lowering gas prices. The government could lower the price of gas at the pump by 50 cents immediately with a gas tax holiday.

But of course, they won’t do that. They prefer to scapegoat and demagogue evil “speculators” and oil companies for “price-gouging,” “price-fixing,” and “profiteering,” or whatever other supposed sins of the capitalist marketplace that the statists in D.C. like to form investigative commissions (like the one Obama just formed) to find (which they never actually do) whenever the price of gasoline gets high.

This chart points out their hypocrisy. Consider, for comparison, that oil companies generally make a pretty anemic profit margin of around 6%. We’re paying about $4 per gallon for gas at the pump right now, meaning the evil oil companies take about 25 cents as their “obscene windfall profits” compared to the Government’s 50 cents of profiteering. About 12.5% of the price at the pump (on average) goes to the Government, which is twice the amount that goes to the robber barons of big oil. Let’s also keep in mind that the profit motive is the only reason oil companies provide us with gas in the first place. I don’t see how you can call them evil on one hand, but expect them to fill your tank out of the goodness of their hearts on the other.

Now, I’m not suggesting that gas taxes be eliminated. I’m actually ok with them philosophically, because it is fair to pay for roads with funds raised from taxpayers in a way that is proportional to how much they use them (though not all the money ends up getting used that way). The point is, though, that the Government takes a bigger cut in “profit” than the oil companies (even though the government’s cut isn’t profit because they did not invest or contribute to the gas production). Obama should be investigating himself, not the oil companies. He could take some steps to bring down gas prices immediately over the short term with a temporary gas tax holiday. What’s more important, though, is what he could be doing to bring the prices down over the long term.

Gas prices are high right now because of supply and demand (which control all prices for everything). Prices are higher in the summer rather than winter because people drive more (more demand). The trend in demand is upward as developing economies like India and China use more oil. The supply is in some jeopardy right now due to instability in the Middle East, and is constantly manipulated by the monopolistic cartel that is OPEC. The government has little control over that, but it can lower prices by increasing the supply of oil by opening up more areas (offshore, ANWR, anywhere) for domestic drilling. We have plenty of domestic resources to drill, and plenty of companies willing to drill for it if the government would just get out of the way. Increased domestic production would not only stimulate American job growth and the economy, it would lower and stabilize gas prices, reducing our dependence on foreign oil and shielding us from the effects of instability in the Middle East and price fixing by OPEC.

Of course, Obama and the environmental movement are never going to lower gas taxes and allow more drilling (unless its in a third world country like Brazil where I guess they don’t care about spills). They’re doing the exact opposite. Obama’s permitorium has steadily been decreasing oil production and driving oil companies overseas to greener pastures. One campaign promise Obama has kept, is that with his energy policy, energy costs have “necessarily” skyrocketed (the price of gas is double that when he was inaugurated). Obama wants energy prices high, despite the fact that it hurts the economy (and the poor most of all), because it makes his preferred pie-in-the-sky green energy sources comparatively more cost effective. That’s another reason he hypocritically wants to end “subsidies” for oil companies, mainly in the form of tax breaks (but hey, to Obama all money is really the government’s anyways), without a word about green energy subsidies. I’m sure that’ll help lower gas prices.

The government actively tries to reduce the supply of oil, and it takes more of your money at the pump than the oil tycoons. Remember that next time some busybody bureaucratic liar like Obama tries to blame high gas prices on the oil companies.

Cross-posted at AustinHess.com and UncommonSenseBlog.com

by Austin Hess…

That’s a picture of me and former Minnesota Governor (and current coyly “possible” candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination) Tim Pawlenty at the Greater Boston Tea Party’s Tax Day Tea Party on Boston Common, where he was the headline speaker. He’s signing my sign, which has pictures of Obama and Jimmy Carter with an “equals” sign between them and reads “Barack O'Carter” on the second line and “ONE & DONE” (with Obama logos for “O’s”) on the third.

I was working at the event, setting up, cleaning up, and general purpose stuff, but I took some time to get autographs this time. I thought it would be amusing to get all three of the radio talk show hosts from competing stations (Michael Graham, Todd Feinburg and Jeff Katz) to sign the same sign (on the other side of where I had Pawlenty sign). I also made sure I got Pawlenty’s signature. Before he went up on stage, I asked him, “Governor, would you mind signing my sign?” to which he replied “I’d be proud to.” He read it, laughed, told me he liked it, and took it (and the sharpie I provided) out of my hands (leaving me standing awkwardly and grinning goofily). I couldn’t think of much else to say other than “Please beat Romney… and then Obama.” A Boston Globe reporter asked if they could quote me on that (and I said yes), but I haven’t seen it show up anywhere. Pawlenty signed the sign with “Stay Strong!” and his signature, then handed me back the sharpie. I thanked him for the autograph. Other people were asking for autographs too, but he couldn’t find anything to write with and asked one of his aides to go get something, so I just handed the sharpie back and told him to keep it (I know, I’m so generous). He thanked me, and I got out of the way of the crowd. End scene.

I was kicking myself for not having a camera or anyone around to take my picture, though I figured one might crop up, since there were so many cameras around. One friend got close (but got the back of someone’s head). Christine Morabito got one of the two of us with me in profile, and then (yesterday) found this frontal one (an AP photo) while searching around online (thanks Christine!).

I had to fight the crowd to make sure I got Pawlenty’s autograph. I was mad last year when I couldn’t get Sarah Palin’s but my sister did (somehow, while also chatting with Todd Palin). So far her collection of prominent Republican autographs is a bit more impressive than mine. She’s got Sarah Palin and Scott Brown; I’ve got Pawlenty and Pataki (though I have met Brown a few times, I’ve never had anything for him to sign).

Pawlenty generates a less excitement than Palin, as evidenced in the difference in turnout from this year to last (she’s just a force of nature in herself). I think the perception of him as “boring” is his biggest weakness, and that’s what events like ours (which allow him to polish his stump speech) help with that (and that’s why he’s doing them). I think he was well received.

I gave a few interviews during the event, including the Boston Globe (as I mentioned), the Talking Points Memo website, and the Christian Science Monitor. So far, the only one that actually used my quotes (that I’m aware of) was the Christian Science Monitor, which got picked up by Yahoo, which is where Christine found the photo. I think the quote (which also mentions the other side of my sign) reflects the attitude of a lot of the attendees of the event:

Austin Hess, who held a sign that read “2012: the end of the (liberal) world,” which Pawlenty had autographed, said after the speech that the governor was growing on him. Still, with so many contestants likely to vie for the nomination, he would wait and see what they had to offer before deciding whom to support.

Actually, as an aside, I shouldn’t say that I was only quoted by the CSM, because the Globe did quote me indirectly. During the rally a dozen or so union thugs decided to muscle their way up to the front of crowd, unfurled a large banner designed to obscure the speakers from the view of the crowd, and tried to drown out the speakers by chanting about how racist, sexist, and homophobic we all are (including during a moment of prayer, prompting Michael Graham to yell at them to “Shut the BIDEN up!”). They had a bull horn, which the police eventually made them put away (though not shut up). The police, apparently trying to keep the peace, surrounded the counter-protesters (instead of removing them) facing outwards as if they were protecting the thugs and we were the problem. Hey, the police are union, too. At one point the thugs started chanting “USA! USA!” to drown out a speaker… but that’s OUR thing. The speaker encouraged the crowd to drown out the thugs… by chanting the same thing. So we had two opposing groups trying to drown each other out by shouting the same thing louder, which I found amusing. I tweeted from the @BostonTeaParty account “Bizarro moment: both union thugs and teapartiers join in chanting: USA! USA!” Brad Marston later told me that the Boston Globe had named that their “Tweet of the Week.” I couldn’t find anything about that online, but he said he saw it in the print version (which is ironic for a tweet). I called him a dinosaur for reading the “dead-tree” version of the globe and told him I preferred to save the environment by reading the internets and/or interwebs.

Anyways, back to the point. Most of what I said in my interviews is reflected in that quote. I think that Pawlenty has a hard time generating excitement, but that he’s improving. I also talked a little about my particular issues with him, mainly his past support of cap-and-trade (so say nothing of some more esoteric and obscure issues like smoking bans). But I made the point that he has come out, admitted that he was wrong and made a mistake, and that his views have changed for the better. I can respect (and possibly forgive) that. That’s more than can be said of, say… Romney and the RomneyCare fiasco. I believe it was the Globe reporter that I told “I can’t forgive Romney if he doesn’t apologize.” Though I guess the title of his book (“No Apologies”) precludes that.

I am still trying to decide which Presidential hopeful to support (though I’ll support whoever the nominee is), but Pawlenty is definitely a contender. I don’t like any of the “front-runners,” and there are several people that I like but that I don’t think can win. I’d be comfortable with Pawlenty, though. As a successful two term veto-happy conservative governor in a pretty blue state (who won even in 2006, and whose face I have never even seen adorned with a Hitler ‘stache), he has the credentials and the political wherewithal to be President. I think he has appeal to all the major factions on the right. As a libertarian, for instance, the fact that the Cato Institute gave him an “A” in their 2010 gubernatorial grades on fiscal policy is a huge plus for me. Pawlenty may not be everyone’s first choice, but I think he’d be a lot of people’s second choice. A good compromise candidate.

In fact, that may be one area in which T-Paw’s lack of “excitement” might be an asset rather than a liability. I think it certainly would be in the general election. Pawlenty is probably the least “objectionable” candidate (or person?) you could find. The closest thing to a vanilla, generic Republican. And in the general election, the Republican candidate can’t be the focus. They don’t need to fire the right up. Obama already has. Obama has to be the focus. He actually has to run on a record this time, and it’s a pretty bad one. Obama should be on constant defense. We don’t need to hand him any ammo by offering up a candidate with any major flaws.

So maybe I’ll end up supporting Pawlenty, if only for selfish reasons: If he wins, I’ll have a picture of myself with the guy who beat Obama.