That’s right.  Despite the lies that you have been told by our government, oil companies, wall street and the media, if our legislature drafted a bill curtailing oil speculation and providing transparency to the industry, we would have $2/gallon gasoline nationally in less than thirty days. This is according to testimony given to the House Committee on Energy & Commerce this week.

Expert testimony states that although there are deep underlying issues to supply and demand, oil should be trading at $65-$75/barrel.  It is the self-fulfilling prophesy of financial speculation that has created the current climate of $131/barrel plus pricing.

To add insult to injury, our federal governing body for commodity futures (the CFTC) has been issuing exemptions that ALLOW and ENCOURAGE further speculation. In other words, OUR government’s corporatism is to blame for this acute rise in gas prices, not OPEC, not you.

Read the testimony given to the House Committee Energy & Commerce on 6/23/2008 below and ask yourself, whom do you believe?

Question:
“BOTH SECRETARY PAULSON AND SECRETARY BODMAN HAVE ARGUED SPECULATIONS’ PLAY NO ROLE IN THE RISING OF OIL PRICES.  THE CFTC AGREES WITH THEM.  WHAT ARE THE COST OF INACTION IF CONGRESS FAILS TO ADDRESS THIS MATTER?  WILL IT SELF CORRECT ITSELF?”

Answer:
“THIS IS AN ACUTE PROBLEM.  IT CAN BE SOLVED VERY QUICKLY WITH CHANGES IN THE VERY GOOD BRIEF REMARK.  — AND THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK.”

Question:
“MR. MASTERS, YOU INDICATED THIS PROBLEM COULD BE SOLVED  RATHER QUICKLY IF WE TOOK STEPS  REGARDING THE REGULATORY ON A TRAIN OF SPECULATORS IN THE MARKETS.  LET’S SAY THAT CONGRESS PASSED  LEGISLATION AND ADOPTED THESE,  AND SEND IT, PAST, AND THE  PRESIDENT SIGNED.  HOW SOON WOULD WE SEE A  SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION IN RETAIL  GASOLINE PRICES?”

Answer:
“WITHOUT BEING ABLE TO PREDICT THE FUTURE, MY ESTIMATION WOULD  BE WITHIN 30 DAYS.”

Question:
“HOW MUCH WOULD THEY BE REDUCED, ROUGHLY?”

Answer:
“I AM NOT SURE I HAVE A CRYSTAL BALL.  I WOULD GO BACK TO WHAT I SAID EARLIER.  MY SENSE IS THEY WOULD PROBABLY  DROP OVER A REASONABLY SHORT  PERIOD OF TIME CLOSER TO  $65-$75.”

Answer:
“I THINK IT IS REASONABLE TO CONCLUDE THAT IS ABOUT HALF OF WHERE PRICES ARE TODAY.  I WOULD THINK THAT GASOLINE PRICES WOULD REFLECT THAT.”

Question:
“YOU’RE SAYING THAT WE COULD ALMOST CUT THE RETAIL PRICE OF GAS IN HALF IN A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME.”

Answer:
“YES.”

(more…)

Tags: acute problem, cftc, commodity futures, corporatism, Energy & Humanity, expert testimony, financial speculation, Gov, government oil companies, insult to injury, oil prices, oil speculation, paulson, regulatory framework, retail gasoline prices, self fulfilling prophesy, speculators, thirty days

On Thursday June 19, 2008, leaders of Congress and the White House reached an agreement to approved telco amnesty, legalize and then expand President Bush’s Secret Spy Program. All citizens should know that when the bill is enacted, your email, website, phone calls and any other digital communication will be unprotected.

Who will have access to this information and for what purposes?  How will it be protected?  How long will it be until this sweeping new power is abused?  What precedent does giving immunity to corporations who collaborated with illegal government activities set?  After all, I stick to my cell phone agreement.  Shouldn’t they?

With legal action pending against major telecommunications companies, House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said courts will make the call but predicted, “The lawsuits will be dismissed.” FERRARO, Thomas (2008), Spy bill to shield phone companies from lawsuits, Reuters, [19 June 2008]

“I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped to get,” said Senator Christopher S. Bond, Republican of Missouri, who led the negotiations. LICHBLAU, Eric (2008), Deal Is Struck to Overhaul Wiretap Law, The New York Times, [20 June 2008]

Tags: 19 june, amnesty, FINALIZED, Gov, illegal government, Image, immunity, Net Neutrality & Stats, Partner, precedent, ScherrTech.com, spy bill, spy program, telco, telecommunications companies, Website, wiretap law

New York, USA (March 04, 2008) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The USSNEWYORK.COM website, built by Scherr Technology appeared on the Channel 4 NY news with Chuck Scarborough. Watch the video below. 5 min, streaming Flash, courtesy WNBC TV. Watch more streaming USS New York clips in Videos. Watch more Scherr Technology clips in Media.

About the USS New York

On 7 September 2002 in a ceremony aboard USS Intrepid in New York City, then Secretary of the Navy Gordon England announced the decision to name the fifth amphibious transport dock ship of the San Antonio class, New York (LPD 21). Secretary England said, “This new class of ships will project American power to the far corners of the Earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century. From the war for independence through the war on terrorism, which we wage today, the courage and heroism of the people of New York has been an inspiration. USS New York will play an important role in our Navy’s future and will be a fitting tribute to the people of the Empire State.” Governor George Pataki, Governor of New York, responded by stating, “On September 2001, our nation’s enemies brought their fight to New York… The USS New York will now bring the fight to our nation’s enemies well into the future.”

About Scherr Technology

Founded in 1994 by Brian C. Scherr and located in New York, Scherr Technology is a full service media company specializing in video enabled website design and development, existing site redesigns, corporate identity, ecommerce and marketing. Scherr Technology provides unique solutions to a diverse range of clientele across the United States and throughout the world with an emphasis on emerging technologies.

© 2007 Scherr Technology. All rights reserved. Scherr Technology is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries. USS New York is a registered trademark in the U.S. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Tags: 9-11, client, ecommerce, Gov, Intrepid, Pataki, Press Releases, Redesign, ScherrTech.com, USS New York, ussnewyork.com, Website

Possibly reacting to the uproar over the recent Network Solutions debacle, ICANN (the organization that governs domain names) and Google have announced that they are taking immideate action to plug the “domain grace period hole” that has allowed the process of “tasting” and “front running” to be profitable.

Google leads, ICANN follows: domain tasters can now eat dirt
By Nate Anderson | Published: January 30, 2008 - 01:53PM CT

“Domain tasting might sound like a leisurely Sunday afternoon activity, but ICANN isn’t amused, and it has just proposed a crackdown plan that could make “tasting” and “front running” of domains an unprofitable activity.

Under current ICANN rules, anyone who registers a new domain name has a five-day grace period to back out and receive a total refund. The policy is in place to prevent hassles if people mistype domain names during signup or simply have buyer’s remorse at signing up for ilovespaminacan.com. But because a five-day registration is free, some users “taste” millions of domain names in order to see how well they perform as marketing vehicles. The sites that don’t perform are then deleted and the cash refunded.”

Continued…

Tags: Gov, Net Neutrality & Stats, Press, ScherrTech.com, SPAM