Fact or fiction

Gas prices haven't quite reached $4 a gallon here but they're damn close. Grocery prices are already skyrocketing because of fuel costs, and I don't even want to see my next electric bill after running the air conditioner this month.

So I was more than a little pissed when I read this - CEOs from ExxonMobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips were paid from $15 to $22 million dollars last year. The article says they "earned" it but we all know damn well that nobody "earns" that much.

The average pay for CEOs of other companies listed on the S&P 500 is $9.9 million. The oil guys are making so much because their income is tied to the companies' stock prices and profits.

Now, veering from rage to paranoia. Because I'm moody like that.

Ever heard of EMP? Me either, although I think it might be what some of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists are talking about when they say the towers were brought down by magnetic impulses.

EMP stands for electomagnetic pulse. According to William R. Graham, Reagan's top science advisor, who was to testify before the House Armed Services Committee today, about Iran's testing of ballistic missiles. Back in 2005, Graham said that:

... there was no other plausible explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons – even one of which could knock out America's critical electrical and technological infrastructure, effectively sending the continental U.S. back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years.

Republican Senator John Kyl says:

"No need for the risk and difficulty of trying to smuggle a nuclear weapon over the border or hit a particular city. Just launch a cheap missile from a freighter in international waters – al-Qaida is believed to own about 80 such vessels – and make sure to get it a few miles in the air."

I don't know which is worse - believing this capability exists, or believing the warmongers are making this crap up to build support for an attack on Iran.