On the road again

Carola Hoyos, FT:

Opec’s president on Monday warned oil prices could hit $200 a barrel and there would be little the cartel could do to help….

He told El Moudjahid, Algeria’s government newspaper: “I don’t think that an increase in production would help lower prices, because there is a balance between supply and demand and the stocks of gasoline in the United States have recorded a surplus and are at their highest level for five years.”

He added: “The prices are high due to the recession in the United States and the economic crisis, which has touched several countries, a situation that has an effect on the value of the dollar. Each time the dollar falls 1 per cent, the price of the barrel rises by $4 and of course vice versa.”

Please, Let’s Do Talk About Taxes And The GOP

As a followup to my earlier piece on the Minnesota Republican Party looking for a mote in Al Franken’s eyes whilst their vision is somewhat impaired by the tree trunks sticking out of theirs, we have the peerless MNObserver doing what MNO does best: Observing.

But this is the Minnesota Republican Party we’re talking about. You know, the one that is under investigation by the FEC for years of financial mismanagement. The same organization who retaliated against their own Finance Director who wrote a letter to the party’s Executive Committee complaining about the party’s accounting practices, including questions about whether employee retirement money was misappropriated and whether the party was – gasp! – guilty of tax evasion. The same organization that continues to file – over and over and over again – statements that it hasn’t been able to sort through their own finances enough to figure out where all the money went. The same organization that has racked up legal fees as high as $17,000 in a single month trying to stay out of trouble. The same organization that has been the recipient of a whole series of FEC letters asking about why they can’t keep track of their money. The same organization that has some pretty suspicious looking connections with the National Republican Party’s favorite accused thief, Christopher Ward.

But once again, we’re talking about the Republican Party of Minnesota.

That we are, indeed.