David Ortez

It is unfortunate that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the Earth, ship it to a refinery, convert the raw product into plastic, manipulate it into an appropriate shape, transport it to a business, purchase it, and consume it is considered to be less effort than what is required to just wash the eating instrument when we are done with it.

It is nice to see Republicans take care of their own. They felt it was imperative to change the policy in the House cafeteria and terminate the "compostable" utensil program in lieu of plastic utensils. Thank you to the Party of No. Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. 

Somethings in life never fail to amaze me. Even though I was not alive in 1979 … I cannot believe that 30+ years later we are reliving this ordeal. I will not be surprised if in 30 years or 2040 … something similar to what we are witnessing in the Gulf of Mexico happens again. As long as we have idiots that keep yelling, "Drill, Baby, Drill," we will not have the productive discussion we need to prevent a future catastrophe like this.

If you told me 4 months ago that gasoline could drop as low as $1, I would called you crazy. I would have even gambled on it reaching $5 before it ever went back to $1. Well, it seems with the steady drop of crude oil, gasoline may once again reach pre-Bush levels of $1.

In fact, it is speculated that gasoline may go for 90 cents by January. In a time where everyone else should be ecstatic about the drop, that is not the case. Economic times are so hard that people cannot afford to do anything with their $1 a gallon gasoline.

The hypocrisy of the Republican Party does not seem to surprise me anymore. Sometimes I think that Republicans are in denial and lie to themselves to believe the non-sense that they reiterate. In fact, they seemed like zombies as they chanted, “USA or Drill, Drill, Drill” during John McCain’s speech.

Then I heard something that struck a chord with me. As Palin stood on the stage she touted how she fought the oil companies. She claimed to be a maverick and had stood up to big business. She secured $1200 per person for the state of Alaska due to her initiative. "It’s a one-time, special return of the vast wealth that Alaska has right now. We’re returning it to the resource owners, the people of Alaska," claims Palin. Republicans praised her and labeled her a reformer for this cause.

Imagine the day when cars run off of salt water. Pretty sweet deal right? Wrong! Even though it may seem that cars running off salt water is a better solution then gas, the end result will be the same. It might seem that salt water is an abundant energy resource compared to oil but everything else that makes up the vehicle is not abundant. For example, the main reason why a society where cars that run on water would not last would be because it would be so cheap to travel that more cars would be on the road, thus more tires and plastics would be needed to produce the cars. Unfortunately, we have limited resources on rubber trees and well plastic . . . you know where that comes from.

With the economy in the dumps and everything in sight seeming to be overpriced or at least that is what it seems like, gas hits the $4 dollar mark officially today. This comes the day after Associated Press reports that unemployment rate has reached 1986 levels. There are more people with no jobs and many more with underpaid positions who can not afford the $4 per gallon gas to get them to their low paying jobs.

American Cancels 850 More Flights – American Airlines canceled 850 flights Wednesday — more than a third of its total — as its efforts to inspect and in some cases reattach wiring bundles in the wheel wells of its 300-plane fleet of MD-80s dragged on. The total could climb above 850, a spokesman said, as only 30 of the 300 single-aisle planes were so far cleared of the inspection process and operating.

IMF slashes world growth forecast – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that the world economy will grow much more slowly in the next two years as a result of the credit crunch. In its latest economic forecast, the IMF says that world economic growth will slow to 3.7% in 2008 and 2009, 1.25% lower than growth in 2007. The downturn will be led by the US, which the IMF believes will go into a "mild recession" this year.

New downtown park’s a beauty, but is it money spent in the right place? – Twelve acres in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center have been transformed into Discovery Green, adding green space, restaurants, an interactive fountain, model boats, a jogging path and a small library to the downtown landscape. The new park –downtown’s largest– opens this weekend, almost four years after a massive fundraising campaign that kicked off in October 2004. In total the park cost $122 million, of which the city paid $41 million. The rest came from donors.

Oil jumps to near record on weak supply – Oil prices surged to near record levels Wednesday after a government report showed an unexpected decline in crude supplies. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose $2.40 to $110.90 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded as high as $111.43, within 40 cents of the all-time intraday mark of $111.80 set March 17. Oil prices had risen to $109.31 immediately before the report’s release.

Petraeus: Another troop buildup in Iraq unlikely – The top U.S. military commander in Iraq said today that he is unlikely to call for another troop buildup in Iraq, even if security deteriorates after the extra American soldiers return home this summer. Gen. David Petraeus told a House panel that such a move would be considered the last resort, in part because of the strain it would place on the Army. First, the military could try to reallocate existing troops to respond to any hotspots. It also would rely more on Iraqi forces, which are improving in capability, he said.

Army Worried by Rising Stress of Return Tours to Iraq – Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about the mental health of soldiers who would be sent back to the front again and again under plans that call for troop numbers to be sustained at high levels in Iraq for this year and beyond. Among combat troops sent to Iraq for the third or fourth time, more than one in four show signs of anxiety, depression or acute stress, according to an official Army survey of soldiers’ mental health.

Administrative problems fuel drop in U.S. legal immigration – The number of people who legally immigrated to the U.S. dropped 17 percent last year, largely because of administrative problems, according to a Homeland Security Department report. Citizenship and Immigration Services has been under fire after processing times grew because immigrants flooded the agency with applications filed last year in advance of dramatic increases in filing fees. The delays will keep some people from becoming citizens in time to vote in November.

Skybus becomes third airline this week to close – Skybus Airlines announced Friday it is shutting down its passenger flights — becoming the third airline this week to cease operations. The low-cost carrier couldn’t overcome "the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment," the company said Friday.

Mugabe ‘preparing for poll war’ – Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has accused President Robert Mugabe of preparing to go to war against the country’s people. He said Mr Mugabe was deploying troops and armed militias to intimidate voters ahead of a possible run-off poll. Mr Tsvangirai insisted he had won last weekend’s presidential vote, the result of which has yet to be announced.

More experts now warn U.S. already in grip of recession – It’s no longer a question of recession or not. Now it’s how deep and how long. Workers’ pink slips stacked ever higher in March as jittery employers slashed 80,000 jobs, the most in five years, and the national unemployment rate climbed to 5.1 percent. Job losses are nearing the staggering level of a quarter-million this year in just three months. For the third month in a row, total U.S. employment rolls shrank — often a telltale sign that the economy has jolted dangerously into reverse.

Gasoline, oil futures jump on tight supply report – Gasoline and oil futures rose sharply today after the Energy Department reported an unexpected jump in gasoline demand and a big drop in supplies. Prices at the pump returned to record levels, and appeared poised to extend their march higher.

Bernanke Nods at Possibility of a Recession – In his bleakest economic assessment to date, the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, said Wednesday that the American economy could contract in the first half of 2008, meeting the technical definition of a recession, and he encouraged Congress to help homeowners caught up in the mortgage crisis.

U.S. and Britain at Odds Over Guantánamo Inmate – The Bush administration and the British government are at odds over how to treat one of the last two British residents held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, officials from the countries involved in the case and his lawyer say.

Mugabe’s Zanu-PF loses majority – Robert Mugabe’s party has lost its majority in parliament for the first time since Zimbabwean independence in 1980, official results show. President Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party has taken 97 of the 210 seats, while opposition parties have won 109, the Zimbabwe Election Commission says.

Cubans on new freedoms: ‘We’ll see how far we go – In the past week, President Raúl Castro has legalized cell phone use for ordinary Cubans; granted Cubans access to previously off-limits tourist hotels; and legalized the sale within Cuba of microwaves, DVD players and personal computers. Cubans are welcoming the change, even if the costs are out of their reach.