How To Escape The Oil Trap

This is a great article from Newsweek. Why are we letting the Saudies get away wth this???

They cannot be trusted and I refused to do business with them as they are taught to lie and lie and lie!!!!

By Fareed Zakaria
Newsweek
Aug. 29 - Sept. 5, 2005 issue - If I could change one thing about American foreign policy, what would it be? The answer is easy, but it's not something most of us think of as foreign policy. I would adopt a serious national program geared toward energy efficiency and independence.

Reducing our dependence on oil would be the single greatest multiplier of American power in the world. I leave it to economists to sort out what expensive oil does to America's growth and inflation prospects. What is less often noticed is how crippling this situation is for American foreign policy. "Everything we're trying to do in the world is made much more difficult in the current environment of rising oil prices," says Michael Mandelbaum, author of "The Ideas That Conquered the World." Consider:

Terror. Over the last three decades, Islamic extremism and violence have been funded from two countries, Saudi Arabia and Iran, not coincidentally the world's first and second largest oil exporters. Both countries are now awash in money and, no matter what the controls, some of this cash is surely getting to unsavory groups and individuals.

Democracy. The centerpiece of Bush's foreign policy—encouraging democracy in the Middle East—could easily lose steam in a world of high-priced oil. Governments reform when they have to. But many Middle Eastern governments are likely to have easy access to huge surpluses for years, making it easier for them to avoid change. Saudi Arabia will probably have a budget surplus of more than $26 billion this year because the price of oil is so much higher than anticipated. That means it can keep the old ways going, bribing the Wahhabi imams, funding the Army and National Guard, spending freely on patronage programs. (And that would still leave plenty to fund dozens of new palaces and yachts.) Ditto for other corrupt, quasi-feudal oil states.

Iran. Tehran has launched a breathtakingly ambitious foreign policy, moving determinedly on a nuclear path, and is also making a bid for influence in neighboring Iraq. This is nothing less than an attempt to replace the United States as the dominant power in the region. And it will prove extremely difficult to counter—more so, given Tehran's current resources. Despite massive economic inefficiency and corruption, Iran today has built up foreign reserves of $29.87 billion.

Russia. A modern, Westernized Russia firmly anchored in Europe would mean peace and stability in the region. But a gush of oil revenues has strengthened the Kremlin's might, allowing Putin to consolidate power, defund his opponents, destroy competing centers of power and continue his disastrous and expensive war in Chechnya. And the "Russian model" appears to have taken hold in much of Central Asia.

Latin America. After two decades of political and economic progress in Latin America, we are watching a serious anti-American movement gain ground. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela—emboldened by his rising oil wealth—was the first in recent years to rebel against American influence, but similar sentiments are beginning to be heard in other countries, from Ecuador to Bolivia.

I could go on, from Central Asia to Nigeria. In almost every region, efforts to produce a more stable, peaceful and open world order are being compromised and complicated by high oil prices. And while America spends enormous time, money and effort dealing with the symptoms of this problem, we are actively fueling the cause.

Rising oil prices are the result of many different forces coming together. We have little control over some of them, like China's growth rate. But America remains the 800-pound gorilla of petroleum demand. In 2004, China consumed 6.5 million barrels of oil per day. The United States consumed 20.4 million barrels, and demand is rising. That is because of strong growth, but also because American cars—which guzzle the bulk of oil imports—are much less efficient than they used to be. This is the only area of the American economy in which we have become less energy-efficient than we were 20 years ago, and we are the only industrialized country to have slid backward in this way. There's one reason: SUVs. They made up 5 percent of the American fleet in 1990. They make up almost 54 percent today.

It's true that there is no silver bullet that will entirely solve America's energy problem, but there is one that goes a long way: more-efficient cars. If American cars averaged 40 miles per gallon, we would soon reduce consumption by 2 million to 3 million barrels of oil a day. That could translate into a sustained price drop of more than $20 a barrel. And getting cars to be that efficient is easy. For the most powerful study that explains how, read "Winning the Oil Endgame" by energy expert Amory Lovins (or go to oilendgame.com). I would start by raising fuel-efficiency standards, providing incentives for hybrids and making gasoline somewhat more expensive (yes, that means raising taxes). Of course, the energy bill recently passed by Congress does none of these things.

We don't need a Manhattan Project to find our way out of our current energy trap. The technologies already exist. But what we're searching for is perhaps even harder—political leadership and vision.

50 th class reunion St Stephen's

group reunion St Stephens,
originally uploaded by SnazzyRon.

Amazing!! We had an 8th grade 50th class reunion and was amazed at the amount of classmates that showed up. It was a most enjoyable afternoon and alot of memories.

Feds probe mysterious credit card charges

Complaints mount over bills for phantom DVD purchase

Federal authorities have opened an investigation into a rash of mysterious $30 and $40 charges
appearing on consumer credit cards around the country, MSNBC.com has learned. The charges
are for the purchase of DVDs and CDs from a company named "Pluto Data Ltd." Thousands of
complaints about the charges have appeared on a Web site devoted to the mystery, with
consumers saying they've never heard of the company.

Adding to the mystery -- most consumers report a 1 cent or $1 charge appearing on their cards
first, followed by the larger charge from Pluto Data or PLUTO D, NICOSIA.

Phone calls to the toll free number listed next to the charge on the credit card bills provide little
additional information. The firm answering the calls, Answer Quick Telecommunications Inc.,
located in Baton Rouge, La., says it was an answering service for Pluto Data prior to closing the
account several weeks ago. Answer Quick referred questions to local law enforcement
investigators.

Don Kelly, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge police, said his office has received 125 complaints
about the alleged fraud. "We are working with the FBI and the Secret Service," he said. He added that Answer Quick was not a suspect. "We are keeping track of the complaints and doing what we can to help them on what's going on."

Officials from the FBI in Louisiana and the Baton Rouge Secret Service office wouldn't comment
on the investigation. Dave Collett, a spokesman for Mastercard, said an investigation was ongoing, but he would not provide details. "We are auditing the merchant." Consumers who find the alleged fraudulent charge on their accounts are not liable for it, he said.

A February surprise

The mysterious charges began appearing around Valentine's Day. Many frustrated consumers
who searched the Internet for help found each other on a bulletin board service named
BroadBandReports.com. By Thursday, there were 35 pages of complaints on the site, with
hundreds of victims and over 50,000 visits, suggesting the number of victims could be larger than the 125 complaints logged by local police so far."I'm just so angry, and so is everybody else on that site," said Connie Shotkoski, of Columbus, Neb.

Rich Sinclair, a consumer in Salem, Ill., said he just found out about the alleged scam Wednesday
when he tried to buy paint at Wal-Mart and was declined. His card had been suspended a day
earlier by his credit card company after a suspicious $1 charge and a $40 charge were rung up on it, he said. He was impressed by his bank's quick action to stop the fraud -- and knows he's not liable for the charges -- but said the experience is still frustrating."I don't like it, not a bit," he said. "I use this card for charging business expenses, and it'll be 10 days before I get another card."

A proactive defense

Consumers from around the United States -- as well as several from outside the country,
including Australia and Britain -- have complained about the charges, suggesting the scope may
be widespread. Initially when consumers called Answer Quick, they were told a refund request would be filed with Pluto Data. But it's not clear if the firm has issued refunds, so many consumers elected to dispute the charge directly with their credit cards. That's a good idea, says credit card fraud expert Dan Clements. "It's better for the consumers to be proactive," Clements said. "If ... Pluto has their merchant account go belly up, (then there are) no funds to credit customers. The consumers will have to dispute to get the charges taken off."

A two-step fraud

Clements speculated that the charges resulted from a common two-step fraud: thieves steal a
batch of credit cards, then steal or set up a fake merchant account, and run a series of charges
through it. When the money is deposited into the merchant's bank account, the criminals
withdraw it and disappear. The incident is similar to a fraud involving a Web site named PharmacyCard.com, reported by MSNBC.com a year ago. Eventually, PharmacyCard officials were sued by the Federal Trade Commission, which said the site owners gleaned $10 million from 90,000 consumers before the operation was shut down. The FTC said that a firm in Nicosia, Cyprus was involved in that incident, and that money taken from consumers was headed for a bank account there. Some of the charges in the Pluto Data incident appear as "Pluto D Nicosia Cy" suggesting a Cyprus connection in this incident, as well.The longer the operators can keep this kind of credit card scam going, the better, Clements said. That's why consumers found the 1 cent or $1 charges, he said -- it created a track record so the
merchant account appeared to have a normal volume of transactions when the higher-priced
fraud began.

MASSIVE CREDIT CARD FRAUD PERPETRATED AGAINST VISA/MASTERCARD CLIENTS


Starting in mid-February 2005, mysterious charges are appearing on thousands of Visa/MasterCard accounts for phantom purchases. These charges are by a company called Pluto Data Ltd, located in either the UK or Cypress

For_Immediate_Release:

Starting in mid-February 2005, mysterious charges have appeared on thousands of Visa/MasterCard accounts for online “phantom” purchases. These charges have been by a company called Pluto Data Ltd, possibly originating in either the UK or Cypress.

To date, thousands of cardholders have found first a ping amount of either .01 or $1.00 followed within hours or days by a purchase for either $29.99 or $39.99. The product is supposedly a DVD of varying titles. Shipping addresses are all over the US and phone numbers typically from still a different state.

The company acting as their call center, AnswerQuick in Baton Rouge, LA says they are innocent and have terminated Pluto Data's account.

We called our credit card company and the were not aware of this fraud. How could they miss it when it is all over the internet.

Request a new card immediately

Throw Syria out of Lebanon!!

The ramifications of Hariri's assassination

The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive bombing in central Beirut on Monday sends a loud and deadly message - but the nature, origin, destination and intent of the message all remain painfully unclear to many observers. What is crystal clear, though, is that this crime will send out important political ripples in at least three dimensions.

The two most immediate dimensions are internal Lebanese politics and the Syrian-Lebanese relationship. The third dimension is the relationship between Syria and external powers - the U.S. and France most notably, the UN and the Europeans more broadly. The speed, clarity and intensity with which Lebanese opposition groups Monday blamed Syria and its allied Lebanese government for the killing spoke volumes about the troubled Syrian-Lebanese axis being the central political context in which this whole matter must be analyzed. That became obvious immediately after the bombing, as affirmed by the behavior of the three principal protagonists - the Syrian government, the Lebanese opposition and the United States government.

The events of Monday have unleashed political forces that could transform both Lebanon and, via the Syrian connection, other parts of the Middle East. The already intense backlash to the assassination may lead to an accelerated Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, and faster reform movements inside both Lebanon and Syria.

The fact that within just hours of the murder five distinct parties were singled out as possible culprits - Israel, Syria, Lebanese regime partisans, mafia-style gangs, and anti-Saudi, anti-U.S. Islamist terrorists - also points to the wider dilemma that disfigures Lebanese and Arab political culture in general: the resort to murderous and destabilizing violence as a chronic option for those who vie for power, whether as respectable government officials, established local warlords, or freelance political thugs.

The madness is not just in the murder of a fine man and a true Lebanese and Arab patriot; it is in the ongoing legacy of rampant and often brutal political violence that at once defines, disfigures and demeans political elites and perhaps even Arab society as a whole. That madness has now been even more deeply institutionalized and anchored in the modern history of this region due to the impact of the American-British invasion of Iraq and the new wave of violence it has spurred. One of the reasons why the Lebanese-Syrian relationship has become increasingly contentious in the past year is the consequence of American pressure on Syria to be more cooperative on Iraq. The circle of violence that engulfs the Middle East is as vast and intertwined as it is senselessly destructive.

But this murder was not primarily about our wider Arab dilemma. Regardless of who carried it out, the murder and its fallout have focused attention on a tortured Lebanese-Syrian relationship that is problematic in its own right, and that has become the crucible for testing new forms of American and Western political intervention in the Arab world.

It was not at all surprising that opposition forces in Lebanon quickly came together and openly pinned responsibility for the assassination on Syria and its allied Lebanese government. For the most significant political development in Lebanon in recent months, in my view, has been the Lebanese opposition's coalescing around an increasingly clear and sharp rejection of Syria's military presence in the country and its political interference in domestic Lebanese affairs. This position became more focused and vocal last autumn after the Syrian-backed extension of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's term by an additional three years. American-French diplomatic pressure on Syria and the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 demanding Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon are all part of that same thrust.

This escalated almost instantly to a new level of intensity and importance in the hours after Hariri's death: The opposition not only blamed Syria, but also held the Lebanese government responsible and asked it not to participate in Hariri's funeral Tuesday. In Arab political culture, I cannot think of a more acerbic, angry and insulting gesture than asking the incumbent political leadership to stay away from the funeral of a leading statesman who almost single-handedly (working with the Syrians!) rebuilt Beirut and Lebanon. The Lebanese opposition has taken its battle with the Lebanese and Syrian governments to a new level, with unpredictable consequences.

As fascinating as the opposition's speedy accusations against Syria was Syria's equally swift rejection of the accusations. Damascus marshaled an unprecedented array of its officials who spoke to the mass media simultaneously on three continents, and who pointed the finger at Israel and others who are accused of wanting to destabilize Lebanon. Not losing a beat or a step, the U.S. State Department and White House weighed in at the same moment with their not-very-veiled linkage of Hariri's killing with the need for Lebanon to enjoy total sovereignty from Syrian influence and control.

Investigations may or may not identify and prosecute the killers of Hariri, as was the case in half a dozen other assassinations of Lebanese leaders in recent decades. Despite the quick accusations against Syria, the regime in Damascus, like all other accused parties, will get its moment in the court of public opinion, and in the deliberations of the UN Security Council, where the contested Syrian-Lebanese relationship is likely to be debated. The reality now is that Hariri's assassination, regardless of who did it, has vastly speeded up and intensified the efforts of Lebanese political forces that are demanding that Syria get its troops and political operatives out of Lebanon.