Ladywriter

WASHINGTON (February 1, 2008) – Today Exxon Mobil Corp. posted the highest quarterly and yearly profits for any company, ever. This follows a concerted effort, aided and abetted by the Bush administration, to strike portions of the recently-passed energy bill that would have repealed billions in oil company giveaways by the former Republican Congress, and re-apportioned that money to a renewable energy fund to create a new generation of fuels. “The President’s oil-centric energy policy has shown itself to be completely bankrupt for everyone but the oil companies,” said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. “While the oil companies are turning the American consumer upside-down at the pump, shaking out every last cent, the White House is defending unnecessary giveaways and tax breaks to big oil. At a time of record oil prices and record oil company profits, the Bush administration should not be standing in the way of ensuring that oil companies pay what they owe to drill on public land.” Exxon’s net income in the fourth quarter of 2007 was $11.66 billion, and the yearly profit topped $40 billion. Other major oil companies like Chevron and Conoco also saw increases in profits as oil prices spiked above $100 early this year and gasoline and heating oil prices continue to hover around or above $3 per gallon. The energy bill that passed out of the House of Representatives late last year repealed billions of dollars in tax breaks given to these highly profitable companies, and would have channeled those monies into a renewable energy fund to spur the development in renewable energy. The Bush administration threatened to veto the entire bill due to the inclusion of these provisions, and they were eventually stripped from the bill in the Senate. “Measures to repeal oil company giveaways have already passed the House, but have not yet been taken up in the Senate because of White House opposition. The President must support these provisions and prove that he is on the side of the American consumer, not the oil companies,” continued Chairman Markey. http://www.globalwarming.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0166

article The world's largest publically listed company, the oil giant Exxon Mobil, has reported $40.6bn (£20.4bn) net profits during 2007, a record for a US company. Net profits surged to $11.66bn during the October to December quarter, also a record, up from $10.7bn a year earlier. The profits were buoyed by soaring global oil prices which briefly hit $100 a barrel in December. ya know what? fuck it. I'm tired of singing this song.

He is all gimped out cuz a Roger X'D Well, and he does have some shit wrong with him X'D I still wouldn't count the old man out yet. Garp too now that I think about it What I really wonder is who Whitebeard is gonna go after first. I think he may be inclined to say fuck you to the WG and go bust his man out personally. Neither Whitebeard nor Shanks have any problem taking out entire fleets. Look what Luffy and his small band did to Enies Lobby where the so called Gates of Justice were revered... yet nobody who ever passed through was ever found innocent and now the entire island is just a memory... Are we witnessing the end of an age where the WG is in charge? Enies Lobby leads us to Impel Down at any rate. ID will have to be the next big WG/marines base to fall to pirates in the Grand Line. Whitebeard could prolly wipe that place out easy. Mutherfucker got his own armada, Ace was his #2 commander just imagine what the others are like and how many there are. Unless the marines are willing to throw everything they got at the old man resistance is futile It would be a good place for Teach to try and take on the old man. See if he really has what it takes to be king. The person a war in the Grand Line benefits most..... Monkey D Dragon. If the WG/marines are pouring their resources into a sea battle in the Grand Line, Dragon/the resistance is pretty free to topple the govt in one country after another much faster. WG officials can't do shit w/o the military to back them up, they just die....

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/02/02/severe.weather.ap/index.html CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Winter storms at both ends of the country dumped snow and snarled travel Friday, killing at least 10 people, blocking major highways and stranding 400 train passengers in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Nearly 7½ inches of snow was reported at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before the front moved out of the area Friday. About 500 flights were canceled at O'Hare, which canceled 600 flights Thursday and housed hundreds of stranded travelers who spent the night awaiting planes from other cities also affected by the storm. At least 12 inches of snow was reported in Springfield by Friday morning, said National Weather Service meteorologist Gino Izzi. Other parts of Illinois saw similar amounts. "If you don't have to be out here, don't," Ty Wilson, a very wet Chicago bicycle messenger, said as he stopped along a slushy street between morning deliveries. The storm brought snow, freezing rain and sleet to the Northeast, where arriving flights at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey were delayed as long as three hours Friday afternoon. Watch what happens when a waterfall freezes » Arrivals were delayed by 2½ hours at New York's La Guardia Airport, two hours at Philadelphia International in Pennsylvania and an hour and a half at New York's Kennedy, according to the Federal Aviation Administration's Web site. Along the nearly 500-mile-long New York State Thruway, troopers reported more than 200 accidents -- compared with 10 to 15 on a typical clear day. At least four people died Friday on ice-slicked Hudson Valley roads in New York -- three when their car slid into an oncoming sanding truck in East Fishkill, the fourth in a head-on collision in the town of Goshen. Six people died on Illinois roads Thursday and Friday. See I-Reporters' photos of tons of snow » Another storm system made roads impassible in parts of the Pacific Northwest. In Washington state, a 70-mile stretch of Interstate 90 remained closed because of the avalanche danger at the Snoqualmie Pass in the Cascade Range. The state's main east-west traffic route across the Cascades had been closed for all but six hours since Tuesday morning -- the lengthiest closure for the pass since 1997. Recent storms have dumped more than 5 feet of snow on the pass, and more was expected by Saturday morning. Crews used dynamite to dislodge unstable snow near the highway. State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Claudia Cornish said officials hoped to reopen it early Saturday "if all goes well." Watch driver describe being swept up in avalanche » Two Amtrak trains carrying 400 people got stuck in the mountains of Northern California near Donner Pass, agency officials said. No injuries were reported. The trains had been stuck since 2 p.m. Friday, but the passengers are being fed and both trains have heating and lights, Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said. The tracks were expected to be cleared early Saturday morning. nope, no climate destabilization 'round here

some days I feel like Luffy... other days I'm havin the Chopper moment X'D

I'm just bored with HM already

just some interesting stuff going on in the series... Ace vs Teach is known as the trigger that causes an event we aint seen yet. Lets speculate here what that event might be Personally I think its going to involve Whitebeard making a move against the World Govt. He hates Teach who gave Ace over to the WG and in turn was made one of the Shikibukai. Mmm mmm! That's gotta toast the old man's cookies. He's prolly pretty pissed at the WG and thusly all previous agreements between the 2 are void cuz the WG has butted into Whitey's personal business. Monkey D Dragon. What does this guy know or suspect that makes him hate the WG so bad he's incited a world wide rebellion and became the most wanted man on the planet? What is drives him to spend his life fighting? Did he ever sail with Roger, Whitebeard or another pirate that made it to the end of the Grand Line? Has he been to Raftel, seen the Rio ponyglyph, read what was inscribed there? OP has had a dark side from the beginning (the sad pasts of the characters esp Arlong Park) but the darkness is spreading. The most recent bad guys reanimate corpses, steal shadows(a metaphor for souls I'm sure) and control gravity to the point even the most powerful DF users are getting slammed. I think the sea they must travel to get to Raftel and the end of the Grand Line could turn into a war zone. For the moment the WG, 4 Emps, Shikibukai and revolutionaries are stable, but if just 1 of these elements goes off the deep end the whole structure is going to fall apart. If the WG has to put forth more effort to damage control a rampaging emperor it is going to take something outta their fight with the revolutionaries and loose their control over the Shikibukai.... leaving the door wide open for both Teach and Dragon to make drastic moves.

His power is evil awesome scary. Logia users who aren't used to getting beat on fall at his feet. (Oh my poor Acey Wacey!) He can pretty much nullify all DF powers and then its just a pummeling contest ne? Thing is, I think Luffy could hold up to a pounding better then Teach could, but could/would Teach suck in a DF user and if he did would it kill him ala 2 devils in the same vessel? And then there is Shanks who wants to be the guy that tears Teach a new asshole. Shanks is hella powerful but how often does he fight/spar. Dueling with Mihawk hasn't happened since he lost his arm. Could Shanks crushing aura be enough to suppress a DF user or ability? I'm sure Whitebeard is so flaming pissed by now he's shitting fire. What would happen if the big guy got off his ass and engaged in a real man to man fight? Hmmmm so who do you think is going to get to Teach first and which character will break his ass? If Teach is still in the vicinity of Impel Down it is possible Luffy and co could run into him. mr.tthat messes with Luffy's family. Shanks busted through the marines blockade to meet with Whitebeard indicating both powerful captains are free to go wherever whenever, including Impel Down or after Teach directly.

I'm sorry but thats just lazy ass writing. It wouldn't be that hard to have the series be a link between the 2 movies. The way this is going its like Terminator AU, fan fiction on tv and motherfuckers gettin paid to crank out sub par shitz. At this point in John's life they should be in Nicaragua or some other bloody hell hole not suburb USA. Using my awesome psychic powers I predict this series will fail miserably, be sold off to Sci fi channel in a few years and possibly be re written to actually fit in with the cannon. Or not.

fight nice yo:p

Making it up as he goes along sounds about right. It seems that every time Kishi feels a little stuck his answer is to just create another character to waste some time on and then eventually drop the new guy too. The battles have been uber disappointing. I expected a lot more Oro vs Sasuke, something on par with a kage level fight. When Oro fought the 3rd THAT was a battle. Oro vs Sasuke was lame, pathetic, a pretty fucked up joke. The Jiarya fight was also disapointing, Ero sannin shoulda owned but from page 1 of the fight I predicted his death (as I'm sure many others did). I dun even know how to save Oro's character, seems to me Kishi wrote himself into a corner there. I would have thought Oro one of the most primary characters of the series considering one of the major themes is history repeating itself. Tsunade has done nothing (unless ya count throwing up) as kage. She's got to be one of the most powerful characters of the series but she's unused. Throwing team Gai into the rescue Garra arc was okay but their fights looked stupid as hell. The current team, from Konoha... I dun even know whats up with that mix. Maybe our writer has realized ya don't send a boy to do a man's job but is dicked because he has to appease his predominantly young male audience; sacrificing decent content for ratings. Akatsuki wasn't enough and so we get Root too (again with making shit up and throwing in new characters to distract from the no plot- otherwise there would be more about this dangerous mysterious org) ........... there is a better way to use the over abundance of characters and loose plot he already has established. He needs to get back to the beginning, to when it was a good story and not this lame ass crap.

Imagine the newb eating he'd get X'D

ya know.... some ppl have too much free time

...

that was so

The Kishimoto Bitch I know I'm not the only one getting tired of Kishi's Plot no Jutsu when it comes to this damn series. It seems to me as someone who does a lot of creative writing that he probably started the series off with specific goals in mind, achieved a few and then decided beer pong was more important then his career. (No, I'm not calling him an alkie I'm just pointing out that I don't see him taking what put him in the spotlight seriously.) It seems the manga goes from yawn to wtf in under two chapters, it has become predictably boring, dragging along like a busted mower blade and so he throws these 'zinngers' in there; the worst of all of course being the "untimely demise" of Orochimaru..... that was just LAME. Anyway... I don't wanna sit here and list off all the plot holes or just plain stupid moves on Kishi's part. Let's try to be more positive and kick out the ideas that could improve if not flat out save the series. Not all of the characters suck and he has put some thought into some of them. They deserve better then this deal (made extra poop flavored by 2 godamn years of crappy filler) So many characters just get dropped. We prolly wont see anyone from Sand again (maybe Temari in Konoha) until the end of the series. Sai.... wtf. lets begin developing this character and then abandon him -for what about a year~ish now? Was he going someplace with Sai and Root? If Root is a threat and Sai is under their complete control why not have him commit an act of war against Konoha? How about having his mysterious big bro turn out to be Kabuto? Might even be able to retro fill in some plot holes tieing Sai and Kabuto together. Kabuto has been affiliated w 3 different organizations anyway*Leaf ,Akatsuki(Sasori of the Red Sands) Sound and then wherever the hell he actually comes from. We've seen Kabuto fight a little; he didnt want to do nothin in front of Kakashi, his chakra healing abilities are on par with the current hokage. He could be capable of all kinds of shit. Kishi's had Kabuto in there from way back for a reason;writers can always keep one character ambiguous enough to use as the scape goat to explain a lot of shit. Trade secret, the back door man. Don't tell anybody X'D

I noticed..... amazing cuz I was still blinded by that ugly dress 2 posts above

yeah they're boned http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/31/china.weather/index.html The weather has paralyzed transportation, frozen the power grid, killed at least 63 people and delivered a $4.5 billion blow to the economy. By late Wednesday, 12 national highways across six provinces remained impassable in areas. In Guangzhou -- a city in the south -- about 800,000 people remained stranded unable to take either bus or train, local media said.

same thing that happens to everybody else I guess.

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's worst winter in more than half a century showed no signs of abating Wednesday as forecasters told citizens to brace for three more days of snow and sleet. "The heavy snow and sleet has paralyzed transport and coal shipments, and led to travelers cramming railways stations and airports and power supply reductions in almost half of the 31 provinces and regions on the Chinese mainland," China's Xinhua news agency reported. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao apologized to the hundreds of thousands of people stranded in train stations across his country -- a rare move by a Chinese politician. "I apologize to you all," said Wen, using a bullhorn to address stranded travelers at a train station in Hunan province. "We are currently trying our best to repair the system. "First we'll fix the electric grid. After that, the trains will run again. ... Then all of you can go home for the Chinese New Year," the premier said, bringing applause from the crowd. Chinese media replayed the apology several times. The unusual gesture is likely to go a long way in pacifying the anger and frustrations of the thousands stranded across the country, CNN's Jaime Florcruz said. Chinese President Hu Jintao called an emergency meeting of the policy-making politburo and promised quick action and immediate relief for those trying to make it home. The moves are intended to show that the government is in control and taking responsibility for the situation, Florcruz said. The weather could not have come at a worse time: Millions of Chinese workers were trying to leave the cities where they work to travel home to their families for the Lunar New Year holiday, the Xinhua news agency reported, putting intense pressure on the country's transportation network. The holiday, also known as the Spring Festival, falls on February 7. More than 177 million Chinese are expected to travel by train, and 22 million more by plane, for the holiday. ... Brutal winter weather has pounded China's central, eastern and southern sections. In its 10-day forecast, the China Meteorological Administration said Wednesday that southwestern, eastern and southern China can expect more snow and sleet with freezing temperatures, while northern China will stay clear but windy. More than 300,000 passengers who wanted to board trains at the Guangzhou station were stranded in the city as heavy snowfall knocked out power and greatly slowed rail operations in Hunan province, along a line serving Beijing and Guangzhou, Chinese media reported. Armed riot police were deployed to keep order. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/30/china.weather.apology/index.html

I like the look what he did to my hand bit. We have that issue with Ditto X'D

rock and roll and video games are evil! Not X'D

I think everyone who brought a kitten home experiences this X'D Qit3ALTelOo&

I'll pre organize but its still gonna take a while

I must see this