Doug Sutherland--Scumbag!!!

Washington State DNR Commissioner Doug Sutherland is a serious scumbag. He bullied, humiliated, and repeatedly publicly sexually harassed a brand new female employee.

Hat tip to Goldie @ horsesass.org for the story.

The guy GROPED HER TWICE, made sexualized remarks, was dismissive of "her" and humiliated her--HE'S A PERVERTED, BULLYING SCUMBAG AND NEEDS TO BE IMMEDIATELY REMOVED FROM OFFICE!!!

Why in hell hasn't our local media covered this story AT ALL??

Gas Prices--It's the Speculators, Stupid

Lately I've been hearing reported the result of polling showing that Americans now overwhelmingly support increased oil and gas drilling because they believe this will lower gas prices.

This belief is the result of crappy, but unsurprising, news framing. What passing for respectable "journalism" and "reporting" in this nation truly, truly sucks.

News Flash: It ain't the Arabs, or the enviro-whackos, or the red-tape bureaucrats, or the Chinese, or the Indians or the Socialist governments in South America that have caused the price increase. It's the disgustingly greedy speculators and the collusion of the monopolistic oil conglomerates who are behind the price gouging.

There's been little to no discussion of the central role of stock market commodities speculators in creating skyrocketing prices for all sorts of staples and goods. Instead, we're fed a "news" diet of "Average Joe" pain at the pump stories, and patently silly "how you can save a penny or two per gallon" filler pieces.

Here's some ideas for our "news" media to use:

How come all the stations are charing the same price for gas? Where's the MIA gas wars? Remember when gas stations used to compete for customers by lowering prices? Even during the 70s supply crisis, stations would cut prices sometimes. When was the last time you saw a gas war? Gas price wars haven't happened in years, simply because those who have control over the resource are colluding to keep the price up. Here's some other

Here's some other story ideas:

How come we never hear a discussion of the benefits to nearly all American if we were to nationalize the oil industry?

How come the oil companies won't drill in places where they're already permitted to do so (Florida, California coasts)? And why, if they're not drilling in places where they're already permitted to do so do they need to lock up leases for oil and gas rights in places they're not allowed to (ANWAR, for example).

How come no oil refineries have been built in over 25 years?

If the multi-national oil companies now have regained access to Iraqi oil and can make private profits from same, how come the price hasn't gone down in anticipation of an oil glut?

How come when the trading price goes down, the retail price stays up, but when the trading price goes up, the retail price goes even higher, sometimes on the same day?

How come India moved to shut down its stock market when the commodities traders' speculation drove gas and food prices too high, but the US won't similarly regulate its commodities market speculators?

I know that real reporting is hard work, but isn't that what journalists are supposed to be doing? Reporting?