Monday, October 29, 2007

Oil Prices...I know why they're so high

So oil is now at $93/barrel. Last summer I was betting my dad they wouldn't go above $60. No money on it, thank goodness. Yes, it's going to go higher. But why? OPEC has been trying their darnedest to control it. Way to go OPEC, for thinking of us. We salute: SALute! Some say it's the Kurdish unrest, others the Nigerian unrest. However, they apparently don't have my keen Mel-Gibson's-crazy-character-regarding-kidnapped-son (am I mixing my movies?) ability to pull together random news into logical, yet somehow unbelievable twists. So here it goes:
The Red Sox's win...there's bound to be an Argentinian on the team, right...okay, so maybe they've met Argentinian President Kirchner whose wife, Cristina, is now president-elect. She perhaps knows someone in Israel (or Gaza, but not likely) who happened to cut fuel to Gaza. Now, the Gazans send a shout out to their buddies in Syria who are hanging with the Turks (Likely? Really? I have no idea.) The Turks are all like "Whassup?! S**t, we're gonna mess with that." And then then the Turks cause trouble with the Kurds, which BBC says caused oil increases.

Kurds

Does it seem like this to anyone else, or are the Kurds about to get wiped off the face of the Middle East map? Their PKK is apparently attacking Turkey (or so the Turks say). The Turks, as they assemble 100,000 troops along the border, have asked Iraq to control the Kurds, to keep them in line. The Iraq PM says, "You want us to do what? They're in their own place...up in the mountains...with guns no less! No way."

So this does seem a little fishy to me. No one is seemingly happy with the Kurds. They are a little like the Hmong: they have no country to call their own. So what will happen? With no one interested in looking into it or taking sides, I fear that there will be a free-for-all open season on the Kurds. However, perhaps the Kurds saw this war as the distraction to allow them to make their move. It's going to be interesting to see what transpires.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Gap's self-imposed sentence misses the mark

On BBC news this morning, Gap reportedly used child labor for a particular girls' smock. Now, in their defense, Gap is strongly against using child labor and is now scrambling to make it up to their customers. They are having emergency meetings to review suppliers' sources, etc. However, the fact is the shirts have been made. What, you say, are they going to do with them? Destroy them, says Gap. Wouldn't it be better to perhaps give them away, to perhaps the very poor children that are being sold into child labor by their families. Or, in addition, give a chunk of cash to help fight famine in same said areas? Well, Gap, hopefully we won't have a repeat offense, but next time, let's not destroy, okay? Give, help: good. Destroy: even at the hands of child labor, still bad.