TruthTeller’s blog

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Old gas pumps can't handle ever-rising prices
Monday May 12, 2008
By John K. Wiley
AP Writer Dale Wetzel in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.

(I hope you will decide to contact your congressperson after reading this AP report.  Small business owners are taking the brunt of this economic downturn.  We need to help these small business owners out, if they fail, we all fail.  A phone call, email, or personal letter could make a big difference.)

REARDAN, Wash. (AP) — Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.

The pumps, throwbacks to a bygone era on the American road, are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and replacing them is often out of the question for station owners who are still just scraping by.

Many of the same pumps can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale, preventing owners of some SUVs, vans, trucks and tractor-trailers to fill their tanks all the way.

As many as 8,500 of the nation's 170,000 service stations have old-style meters that need to be fixed — about 17,000 individual pumps...

...many station owners — who, because of relatively small profit margin on gas, aren't raking in money even though gas prices are marching higher — replacing the pumps altogether with electronic ones is just not an option...

..."In small towns, where you don't have the volume, there's no way you can afford to pay for the replacements for these old pumps," Colville said. "It's just not economically feasible."

The problem is worse in extremely rural areas, where "this might be the only pump in town that people can access,"...

...Mechanical meters can be retrofitted with higher numbers when pump prices climb another dollar. The last time that happened was in late 2005, when gas went over $3 a gallon, and owners of the older pumps installed kits that went to $3.999.

This time around, owners of the old pumps will need to install another kit that can handle prices up to $4.999, and possibly higher. Industry experts say those changes could cost as much as $650 per pump.

It costs less to change the meter to raise the maximum price from $2.99 to $3.99 a gallon, but that option raises the risk of a breakdown...

"The computer that they're upgrading was not designed to go any more than what it's going now, and if you do it, they don't last long enough," Turner said. "They run so fast that the gears are wearing out."

To deal with the problem, some state regulators are allowing half-pricing — displaying the price for a half-gallon of gas, then doubling the price shown on the meter.

"If gas is the profit driver and you are one of those guys with the old pumps, you're either evolving or getting out," said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade group that represents about 115,000 stores that sell gasoline.
2008 The Associated Press

That comment from Jeff Lenard in the last paragraph...  makes me shake my head.  "Evolving or getting out?"  Spoken like a true lobbyist.

Make a call to your congressperson and keep America evolving.

Contact the Congress

Contact the White House

via AP

US diplomat: 100,000 may have died in Myanmar cyclone
2 hours ago

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Bodies floated in flood waters and survivors tried to reach dry ground on boats using blankets as sails, while the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said Wednesday that up to 100,000 people may have died in the devastating cyclone...

The title link will take you to the full article.

At 5 p.m. On Tuesday the U.S. Treasury Department posted on its website a ruling (.pdf) that softened sanctions to allow donations by U.S. citizens and charity directly to the relief effort.

A list of organizations that are accepting donations for the Myanmar / Burma relief effort can be found here:  Interaction.org Disaster Response

The Goracle Speaks

"Former Veep doesn’t rule out an endorsement, and/but expects the party to come together, a de facto nominee to be determined sooner rather than later, and the Florida and Michigan delegations to be seated in Denver"

This is something the Republicans don't want to hear.  Clinton and Obama advocating Democratic Party unity at last night's North Carolina's Democratic Party 2008 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

From:  Married to the Sea

Gardening-is-therapeutic

(I have to give him some credit for this.  Notice the last paragraph...  We still have MANY reasons to be proud of our country... no matter what the cable news talking heads may want you to believe)

Bush calls for approval of $770 million in food aid
By JENNIFER LOVEN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush urged Congress Thursday to approve $770 million to help alleviate dramatically escalating food prices that threaten widespread hunger and increasing social unrest around the world.

In a surprise midafternoon appearance at the White House, Bush announced he is asking lawmakers to approve the additional funds for global food aid and development programs. The money — to be directed primarily at needy African nations — is being included in a broader $70 billion Iraq war funding measure for 2009 that the White House sent to Capitol Hill on Thursday.

"In some of the world's poorest nations, rising prices can mean the difference between getting a daily meal and going without food," Bush said. "The American people are generous people and they're a compassionate people. We believe in the timeless truth `to whom much is given, much is expected.'"

The new money comes on top of $200 million Bush ordered released two weeks ago for emergency food aid. It also is in addition to a pending $350 million request for emergengy food aid funds. Because the new funds are part of a 2009 budget, they wouldn't be available for distribution until the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, even if they are approved sooner.

Even so, Bush called it "just the beginning" of the U.S. effort to help. He said the United States would spend a total of $5 billion this year and next on food aid and related programs.

"America's in the lead, we'll stay in the lead and we expect others to participate along with us," he said.

The new funds are aimed at meeting immediate needs with direct shipments of food aid, and the White House said they would allow for millions more people to get help. Emergency aid accounts for $620 million of the request, said Steve McMillin, deputy director of the president's Office of Management and Budget.

The funds also have long-term aims, with $150 million aimed at boosting U.S. programs to help farmers in developing countries increase productivity and make cash purchases of local crops, so communities are less in need of emergency help in the first place.

The issue has become more urgent recently because of food shortages and rising prices that, combined with high gas costs and rising home foreclosures, are putting a huge squeeze on families at home and abroad. What has been termed the first global food crisis since World War II has resulted in cries for help from United Nations officials and raised questions about how Bush will respond.

Some have blamed the food crisis in part on Bush-backed policies that push food-based biofuels such as ethanol as alternative energy sources. Bush says diverting corn and soybeans into fuel is still a smart approach, though he favors increasing funding for research into eventually using wood chips or switchgrass rather than food crops.

Bush's top economic adviser, Edward Lazear, said ethanol made from corn is responsible for just 2-3 percent of the overall increase in global food prices, which are 43 percent up this year over last year.

Bush's announcement drew praise from several quarters.

"Millions of people around the world may be saved from starvation if we can quickly move forward with the president's request," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "Global aid is not only the right thing to do; it's the smart and safe thing to do. I commend the president for his leadership."

The United States is the world's largest provider of food aid, delivering more than $2.1 billion to 78 developing countries last year.

This video always brings me back to reality.  I hope you enjoy it and get as much out of it as I always do.  It reminds me why I am a Progressive Democrat first and foremost.  We are all in this together...  Let's keep that close to our hearts.  The things that really matter, do matter.

Powerful Video

"It was an illuminating speech. It was a really funny, not angry, interesting, dynamic speech. So, certainly a home run for him from that perspective,"

Soledad O'Brien on CNN's American Morning Monday April 28, 2008
Regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright's speech at the NAACP Dinner on Sunday Night April 27, 2008
(Rev. Wright would give a variation of the same (this time emphasizing his interpretation of Black Theology), now infamous, speech just two hours later at the National Press Club)