A murder/suicide in Ammon, Idaho, made news in Iran.
Iranian news outlet, Press TV, aired the story of the murder of two women, two children, and the suicide of the man who shot them. The man is from Iowa, and tried to set the house on fire before shooting himself.
Iranian media picked up the story after the British news outlet, Reuters, ran the story.
An Idaho political commentator was interviewed by Iranian PressTV, which aired on May 13.
Controversial Mark Glenn, high school teacher turned political commentator, stated that United States foreign policy is controlled by corporate America, and Israel: “…with Tel Aviv as well we have to keep in mind that this is a two-headed beast, it’s not just the U.S. and her political/business interests.”
Glenn also said that corporate capitalism and true democracy are not compatible: “Where there is freedom as far as capitalism goes where there is true freedom to choose, capitalism cannot thrive. Capitalism as much as we are told it is a supporter of a free market and competition, in true essence it is not. We do not want the people to have the opportunity to choose for themselves to make choices in their own best interests and so America at the highest political level is not in the least bit interested to have any form of democracy- it is the iron fist in a velvet glove.”
Events in the Middle East and North Africa will only make the U.S. government more aggressive: “…if the U.S. and Israel manage to lose control of these governments in that part of the world they are going to up the ante as the saying goes and they are going to apply even more desperate measures to maintain the kind of control that they have enjoyed…”
Starting in 2012, Florida will cut back the maximum number of weeks that unemployed people can collect benefits.
This is not to save the state money, but the corporations. Like Idaho, companies in Florida are the ones who pay into the unemployment system. Florida lawmakers said by reducing the number of weeks a person can collect benefits, it will reduce the cost to the companies paying into the unemployment plan.
In Idaho, companies actually get a refund at the end of the year, if they don’t have over a specific number of unemployment claims filed against them. The idea is to encourage companies not to let workers go, but it hasn’t helped reduce Idaho’s high unemployment, which is holding steady at 9.7%.
The Bosnian Serb government is refusing to recognize the Bosnian national government. This over the country’s national court, which has been hearing cases of war crimes.
Austrian Valentin Inzko, is the supreme decision maker in Bosnia, and has ordered the Serbs to back off their plans to officially refuse to recognize the Bosnian national government. In retaliation, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, sent a letter to the United Nations accusing Inzko of abusing his power.
Since the end of the Bosnian Civil War, the Idaho Air & Army National Guard has supported several peacekeeping missions to Bosnia.
Read my November 20, and November 5, 2011, postings about current diesel prices. It’s bad news, it explains why prices are only going up, and how fracking of natural gas is really for fuel production.
May 3, Diesel fuel prices are higher than gas, at the pump.
In Idaho, as of May 3, most gas stations are selling Diesel for about $4.15 per gallon. The highest is $4.50 near Mountain Home. That’s way higher than gas. Most gas stations are selling gasoline around $3.65 per gallon, with the highest at $4.00 near Hailey, Idaho.
Yet Diesel futures are selling for less than gas futures on the commodities market. As of May 2, gas futures, for June delivery, were at $3.34 per gallon. Compare that to Diesel NY at $3.29, and Diesel Gulf at $3.31 per gallon.
So why is Diesel so much higher at the pump?
Many websites say it’s because Diesel must be refined to low sulfur standards. That doesn’t explain the higher price at the pump! The commodity prices paid are for already refined Diesel, so the claim that low sulfur refining is the cause doesn’t work.
Some people say it’s because Diesel is actually in higher demand than gasoline, due to industry (like trucking & airlines, “jet” fuel is actually a form of Diesel/Kerosene) and the military (possibly the biggest user of Diesel, thank the War on Terror). That might be, but normally the commodity price reflects anticipated demand.
Some journalists have asked oil executives about fuel costs, but oil executives can only talk about the price of refined fuels sold on the commodities market, not at the pump.
What about taxes? It turns out that taxes for Diesel are more than taxes for gasoline. In Idaho the average (January 2011) pump tax (combined state/federal) for Diesel is 49.4 cents per gallon. For gas, in Idaho, it’s 43.4 cents. That’s only a 6 cents per gallon difference, so that doesn’t explain the 50 cent per gallon difference in the pump price of Diesel vs gasoline ($4.15 for Diesel minus $3.65 for gas).
By the way, California has the highest tax rates in the country for Diesel at 76 cents per gallon, and gas at 66.1 cents. That’s because California has higher local and state taxes on top of the federal taxes.
So, the only conclusion I can come up with is that Diesel fuel prices, at the pump, are higher than gasoline due to higher taxes for Diesel, and maybe higher demand for Diesel (again that’s usually what drives commodity prices, before it gets to the pump). Maybe gas stations are trying to make up for their extremely slim profit margins on gas prices by jacking up the more stable Diesel prices?
“…it is Easter morning. Here at the Lucky Friday Mine in Northern Idaho we have been hoping for a miracle for more than a week, but have now informed Larry Marek’s family that we believe hope for his survival is gone.”-Phil Baker, Hecla CEO
Officials say they are no longer trying to rescue Larry Marek, it is now a recovery.
“Words cannot express the deep sorrow we feel at the tragic loss of our friend, colleague and 30-year veteran of the mining industry. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, loved ones and friends.”-Hecla press release
“Crews have been progressing safely and quickly. However, as the crew advances closer (to where Marek may be), the work involved will become much more difficult, time consuming with new materials, equipment and supplies in order to advance the tunnel into potentially unstable ground.”-Hecla press release
Four firefighters from Yellowstone National Park and Gallatin National Forest were sent to help fight the fires in Texas.
The ‘Pipeline’ wildfire, one of many in Texas, is burning on the Big Thicket National Preserve. The local firefighters were sent in because of a inter-agency request. Officials believe the ‘Pipeline’ fire was started by people.
Rescuers used a tiny camera to see if Larry Marek was behind the cave in debris. No such luck.
Rescuers also pumped in air and water, through the holes they drilled. They’re hoping that Marek is in the open space found behind the rubble of last Friday’s cave in.
They’re still trying to dig alternate tunnels. They had to stop digging through the cave in rubble because the ground was unstable.
Rescuers at the Lucky Friday Mine cleared about 71 feet of debris, in their attempt to get to where Larry Marek might be. They still have another 149 feet to go. They’ve also started to drill a third air hole.
Nearly 200 people gathered in a local school to hold a vigil for the trapped miner.