Evil Oil Companies?

"If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you." Friedrich Nietzsche

I get so tired of folks that are too lazy to think things through, making sweeping nonsensical arguments about what is wrong with America.

One popular argument is that evil oil companies are destroying our economy and taking advantage of us all. Usually Exxon-Mobil (XOM) is cited as the biggest offender, raking in windfall profits and bilking us out of millions of dollars!

Did you ever think to wonder who owns Exxon-Mobil (XOM)? Some consortium of oil barons who sit on OPEC boards? Darth Vader himself?

Obviously, since the government doesn't spend enough money, a windfall tax on XOM makes perfect sense. The government can "steal" that money from the rich and spread it around to the rest of us or spend it on things we need, right?

No...pretty much the American public owns XOM. 51% of XOM is owned by institutional mutual funds that pretty much every American owns in their 401Ks and individual retirement accounts. The other 49% is held by investors that hold individual shares of XOM in brokerage accounts.

Exxon executives and insiders cumulatively own closer to 0% of the company than 1%. No one individual investor owns greater than .02% of the company. The largest institutuional owners include noted mutual funds Vanguard and such and also various ETF's and Spyders that are popular investment vehicles for retirement accounts.

If you look at a chart of XOM, you see that investors get a very modest 2.1% cash dividend ($1.60 per year for each share) and the stock price movement is very boring when compared to something like Google. For many years, the stock didn't move at all until it's recent swing up and now it's falling back down. Let's face it, nobody is making a fortune recommending a very boring XOM stock.

So, who is the evil oil company? We are....

Us who have bought mutual funds to save for our retirement over the years. If you look in your portfolio, I can almost guarantee that you own some XOM somewhere. Lots of pension funds own plenty of XOM as well.

So then, who exactly will benefit from the XOM stock price finally moving from $50 to $90 (it's currently at $73) after not really budging for years. Do us investors get it?

Not if government has it's way with windfall taxes on these companies. Government will try to steal our money and use a clever ruse to "blame evil oil companies". Oh, it sounds good as we fill our gas tanks with $4 gasoline. But lo and behold we look into the abyss and realize that the abyss is us...

Oil companies have small profit margins at 10% or less. Google has a profit margin near 30%. But government doesn't consider enacting windfall taxes on them.

Government thinks you are too stupid to realize this.

Are you?

Bluey's Hail Mary 195, Blicious 90.

The Hail Mary continue to roll with its' 7th consecutive win (7-1) and maintain a first place tie atop the standings with the Flashes.

The week was a group effort with almost the entire roster ringing up 20+ points apiece. Next up on the schedule are the Birdmen of Alcatraz.

NY Rangers 4, NY Islanders 2.

The NY Rangers whooped the Gorton fishermen's ass last night to post their ninth win in October!

I just have one other comment to make about it.

1984! Losers!

Scariest Halloween Costume: Obama-Man

If nothing else, I've got to admit that Obama-Man is teflon. Nothing seems to stick to him and he seems impervious to any criticism.

No US birth certificate....no problem.
Disturbing set of friends, mentors and associates...nope.
Socialist ideology to "redistribute wealth"...it's all good.
A trillion dollars in new spending...so what.
No tangible experience...it's ok, we hope for a change!

Every other superhero seemed to have moments when the public questioned their motives or "goodness". Obama-Man gets nothing but love from the masses save a few annoying conservatives.

Abraham Lincoln once said "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Unfortunately, being able to fool some of the people (democrats) all of the time can be enough to get this guy elected as our next president.

My guess is that if he is elected, after he serves four painful years, there is a good chance that democrats won't get another sniff at a presidency for another 16 years or so. This guy is going to tax us into a depression and leave this country's defense department (he's advocating a 25% reduction!) devastated and that will be that.

Make sure your jobs are secure or you may find yourself the recipient of one of his "tax rebates"...er....I guess you can't call it a rebate if you pay no taxes...um....welfare? I'm not going out on a limb to suggest double digit unemployment will be the result of his tax plan.

Americans have a week left to find out what this guy is about. And he's not offering many answers because he's too busy enjoying being so enamoured. Hell, he's the unanimous pick of Hollywood and the UN! Does that tell you anything?

Shame on you, Americans!

Grand Larceny in Shootout!

Great article in Hockey Buzz on Saturday's Pens-Rangers game.

Just wanted to rub the Ranger victory in to all my Penguin loving friends.

You guys choked! Hahahahahahahhhaahahaha!!!

Well, I wonder what the clueless naysaying cock-knocker, NY Post columnist Larry Brooks has to say now about the Rangers. He's been pissing on this team since last season ended.

Larry lamented the non-signing of Sundin, Jagr, Shanahan et al ad nauseum.

I've been saying for years, play the rookies, play the rookies and play the rookies....they are very good.

The Rangers are finally prescribing to my theory to huge success...it's about fucking time!

Let's Finish Carving The Pumpkin!

Let's see.....

...a letter F....and a letter L...

What does it say?....

B...F....L....

Big Fat Liar!!!!

What a jackass! People like this woman deserve what they get.

Absolutely sickening...

Maybe we should force her to be Obama's intern if he wins...

Why Couldn't The Dems Recruit Colin Powell Earlier?

I tell you what. If the Democrats wanted my vote, they would have put General Colin Powell up for President, not simply for an endorsement. I would have easily voted for him.

Oh, wait...General Powell would have never gone for all the other crazy platforms that the Democrats support. There's the difference. He's good enough for an endorsement but wasn't good enough for any support from the liberal left or African Americans when he held Condi Rice's post in Bush's first administration.

I've always admired General Powell, as I do Condi Rice and will continue to do so. It's a shame that it took his political capital to make him worth something to liberals instead of the merits of his experience.

Sure, I'm disappointed that he chose to endorse a supremely underqualified candidate to be the next President of the United States, but I'm not surprised given his limited support of both wars in the first place. I'm also sure that Obama's people have promised him a prominent post in an Obama presidency for his support. I really can't blame the guy but hopefully he realizes that this is the party that never supported him through his ascendancy to the position in the world that he enjoys today.

And they'll be quicker to cut bait on him the minute it suits them to do so...

Right now, he's helping offset the Biden talk of America being attacked during the first 6 months of an Obama presidency. Honestly, don't the Dems write Joe's speeches? Wire that guy up with a shock collar already!

First Place!

Bluey's Hail Mary (6-1) bested former WashPA first place team, Flashes, 142-127 in a battle of the titans this past weekend.

Clinton Portis, Calvin Johnson and newly acquired Ryan Grant led the way to victory in this much anticipated matchup.

Both teams sit on top of the standings with identical 6-1 records. Next up for the Hail Mary is Blicious.

My Newest Purchase!

I went out and purchased another gun, a Remington 770 .270 caliber rifle. Also picked up enough .270 WIN rounds to hold off the federales if they try to take my land by force or if Obama sends government agents to quantify my carbon tax under some new crazy green scheme to tax my mowing activity. It should also be useful for deterring boyfriends from getting too handsy and should also blow a raccoon to unrecognizable bits.

I was test firing it the other day and it is a cannon! I'm going to have to wear ear plugs when I fire those 130 grain rounds. It puts huge holes in things! Yeah baby!

"Western PA Filled With Racists"- John Murtha

John, you are one motherfucking stupid honkey!!!.....

Oops, i guess you're right....

Honestly, can there be a more clueless asshole out there serving our country? Hmmmm.... Pelosi, Frank, Reid...pretty close....

God help this country if these people get a president to rubber stamp their nonsense!

Mr. Met Whacks Heilmann and Schoenweiss!

Notoriously underperforming NY Met relief pitchers, Aaron Heilmann and Scott Schoenweiss got their official releases today in the form of a savage deadly beating by fan favorite Mr. Met, the team mascot.

After watching countless games in which the two stooges surrendered late inning leads, Mr. Met got some blessed retribution today as the pair were in to clean out their lockers.

As GM Omar Minaya watched, Mr. Met laid the lumber on both players, beating each to an unrecognizable pulp of flesh, bone and sinew. Ballpark maintenance crews reported the blood spray extended all the way to the 17th row of seats with some brain matter reaching as high as row six.

As it turns out, it was easier to have the pair whacked to salvage some salary space rather than placing the players through waivers. "I just wanted to send the team a message for the 2009 season", a determined Minaya quipped.

The pair will be taken to the brand new Citi Field and buried beneath the urinals, so that fans can remember them everytime they "relieve" themselves.

Bluey's Hail Mary 149, Brio 90.

The Hail Mary have finally slain the Brio beast to the tune of a 59 point victory! The 5-1 Hail Mary surge past Brio (4-2) into second place.

Usual suspects, Clinton Portis and Roddy White carried the day again.

This week's matchup pits WashPA's #1 team, Flashes (6-0) against its' #2 Hail Mary!

Fall Pilgrimage 2008

(props to Irish for the picture)

The Fall 2008 pilgrimage can be best summed up by this picture. Just a bunch of guys enjoying 70+ degree weather in the middle of October!

With Lake Erie as as backdrop, we drank some brews and played a Cornhole tournament (Jimmy P and the Handyman took the title, going undefeated at 3-0).

We also renewed the Genius/Tard rivalry in softball with SRU besting a severely depleted Genius squad 14-9. The Tards performed well in the clutch scoring their five go ahead runs in the last inning breaking the 9-9 tie. Quite an offensive display including an impressive moonshot HR by the Handyman at a crucial juncture in the game. Choder picked up the win on the mound.

We celebrated Paul Newman's life by watching Slapshot and later in the evening Meersky used Newman's Own salad dresing to moisturize his chapped lips after licking them to dryness during the Newman bedroom scene with the topless "A Christmas Story" mom. We also watched Ironman as well.

Several games of Ca$h and Gun$ were played to hilarious fruition with Poppinfresh, Bluey, Francois, Irish, Choder and Handyman putting their mad gangsta skilz to the test. Francois, HandyMan and Yags played a marathon Magic session and Irish again took home the Stones title with no Conor there to challenge him. Unfortunately, the Pilgrimage Jeopardy game wouldn't load so I guess we'll save it for the spring.

Other highlights include Meersky bartending with his awesome whiskey sours, Habib got as drunk as I have ever seen him on Thursday night and was hilarious, the return of Bluey's special sauce, Stebie sending Tracer to a guys only pilgrimage by herself for babysitting while he spanked off backstage at a Joe Satriani concert and Officer Mehoff made his triumphant return from Afghanistan.

All in all, lots of fun as usual...see you in the spring!

The Fall Pilgrimage - Thursday Night

The weather is supposed to be in the mid 70's. It looks like were going to get some perfect pilgrimage conditions.

Bluey, Habib, Meersky, Irish and the Handyman are in the house...

Tracer, Poppinfresh and Erie are MIA, ...I'm guessing threesome!

The tomato water was made last night and is just waiting to sicken pilgrimage goers....

The Stock Market

Curse Poppinfresh for dragging me into this god-forsaken business!!!

Nah....

While admittedly the recent pain has been hard to stomach, I think we've done as good of a job as we could reasonably expect.

So, nobody has to call us to find out if we're still alive. I did have to talk Poppinfresh and Francois off the ledge earlier this week, but I think we're okay now.

Just wanted to share this hilarious parody of our favorite magazine "The Economist". Yes, I do wish this cover was real!

All I have to say is thank god I'm relatively young, nowhere near retirement age, haven't recently purchased a home and live fairly simply.

Maybe it's time to increase my chicken flock though!

Bluey's Hail Mary 140, Classy 115.

The Hail Mary squad bettered its' record to 4-1 with a solid win over Classy this past weekend. Eli Manning stepped in for Bret Favre and led the Mary to its' fourth consecutive win.

Clinton Portis and Roddy White both posted 30+ point games to round out the scoring. The Hail Mary gets its' chief nemesis Brio next week. The Mary is 0-3 historically versus Brio.

Are The French Retarded?

...or has this become the way we deal with rogue nations in the world today?

Oh, I just can't wait until Obama is president. Then we won't have to use France as a go between to Iran and we can just provide nuclear power to Venezuela and Iran in return for their promise not to use it to make weapons.

Honestly, does anybody ever wonder why such huge oil producing nations need nuclear power when they have all the cheap energy they can possibly want? uh-duhhhhh...