Eight Feet Deep

Cliches aren’t all bad. Take for instance this one: “If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

It appears that someone may be using American discontent with the news media to invent something that it is too good to be true. I say appear because I am not 100 percent certain. I only have circumstantial evidence. If I am wrong, the person or persons involved can sue me. Which would be unfortunate for them because if they won, THEY would end up in the red.

Listed this morning on Yahoo Hotjobs for Beaumont, Texas, — where I live — was this ad:

“USA Voice Launching
Come be a part of USA Voice.

“In July 2006 USA Voice is launching the world’s largest news organization. The power of the Internet is allowing USA Voice to launch a worldwide news network, focusing on news reported by local reporters in over 1,000 cities worldwide.”

The ad goes on to say that USA Voice wants voices that are “edgy” and “not reporters who have been through the ‘establishment’ news organizations.” So that leaves quite a few people don’t you think? Never mind that those people might not have a clue about what is news, how to collect it or write about it.

Continuing with the pitch, this news organization that will supposedly be the “world’s largest” says editors will have “total anonymity to run the stories he or she feels are relevant and newsworthy.” Hmmm, I wonder if their slogan will be “Anonymity Inspires Accountability?”

You may obviously sense that the ad struck me as a bit suspicious. I realize that I’m not always on top of all the news that I should be. But after searching various news Web sites including “Google News,” I couldn’t find a single story about the anticipated start-up of USA Voice. I also could find no press releases or other pertinent information after a Web search about operations beginning for this huge “peer-to-peer” news organization.

What I did find on the Web were some people who believe this is a scam that is masterminded by someone with a history of Internet scams. Klaas DeVries Jr., whomever that is, has quite an extensive dossier on the supposed brainchild. DeVries believes that USA Voice is some sort of method for mining personal information that could be used for consumer fraud. I also saw similar concerns both in a Scam.com forum as well as doing a search of blogs on Technorati.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything about USA Voice from government or Better Business Bureau databases. But I do find the circumstantial evidence to be sufficient that I am not going to correspond with USA Voice about a position.

Although the news media may not always be totally on their game, one would think there would be tons of stories about a news outlet which would potentially be the world’s largest. Secondly, I did a “Who Is” search and found the domain was created April 26, 2006. To put together an Internet site for the world’s largest news organization to be up and running by the end of this month would be the relative equivalent of the “Genesis” creation story of the Earth.

Whether USA Voice is a scam or legit, I don’t know. It certainly sounds “phishy.” I must say, however, that whomever is behind it has cleverly tapped into the bashing of the so-called “mainstream media,” which is so popular today among both those who are politically left and right. I worked in the MSM for a number of years and I will be the first to tell you that it has its faults, although the MSM isn’t as homogeneous as some would have you believe. There is a lot of self-righteous bashing these days of “corporate media,” as if every story — be it a report of a car wreck or about the Iraq War policy — was directed out of the corporate boardrooms. What a bunch of hooey!

Many people are so quick to want to hear the news that they want to hear. It’s as if news contrary to the beliefs of some should not exist at all. Well, enough preaching for today. If you want a fabulous job as a “citizen journalist,” then good luck. I also suggest you be very careful before applying to something that sounds too good to be true.

Oh it pains me that I am so beautiful! But I truly need to get out of this position in which I am stuck.

Bill Clinton. Always good for a chuckle.

Thar she blows! The Spindletop gusher near Beaumont, Texas, in 1901.

Oil prices reached yet another record high today at $76 per barrel. Do you know why? Answer the following question:

Oil and gasoline prices are at record levels because:
a. The Iraq War
b. Instability in Africa and the Middle East
c. Extremely high demand and inadequate refining capabilities
d. A black cat crossed the street in front of the guy who sets oil prices.

If you picked any of the answers above you may be partially right or you may be as wrong as Teddy Kennedy in a Speedo. Now I am not an economist, nor do I play one on TV. But doesn’t it seem as if experts on the oil industry sometimes just pull an answer out of their ass when asked the reason for rising fuel prices? The latest hike is attributed to troubles in Nigeria and the escalation of military action by Israel. It could have just as easily been caused by a black cat though.

About a bit more than 5 miles — as the crow flies — across town from where I live sits the spot where the petroleum industry as we know it began. It started with the gusher at Spindletop on a cold day in 1901. Since that time, the area in which I live eats, breathes (no jokes please), and sleeps the petrochemical industry. Even in bad times, one would be hard pressed not to run into someone here who works at a place like Mobil-Exxon, Motiva, DuPont, Goodyear or for some business related to petrochemical refining.

With all the petrochemical plants here one might think, just off the top of one’s head, that gas prices would be cheaper here than in other parts of Texas. But that’s not the case. AAA said last week that the average price of a gallon of gas in the Beaumont-Port Arthur area was a hair over $2.77. But gas was cheaper in places such as the Austin-San Marcos area which are a ways from heavy refining activity. And the Houston-Galveston area, another place with a high concentration of petrochemical manufacturing, had the highest average in the state at slightly more than $2.92. Go figure.

Those prices don’t, on the surface, appear to make sense. However, not all of the petrochemical plants in the Beaumont-Houston corridor refine gasoline. But with the proximity to refineries it would seem gasoline would be a little cheaper. It all seems a bit illogical but that’s the petroleum biz. I have said before in this blog how it doesn’t make sense that an oil company can get thousands upon thousands of dollars from oil while my, admittedly miniscule, royalty share in a few wells nets me $10 a month.

The whole shebang is a mystery to me. And by shebang I mean life and vacuum packaging. But I think if you asked them for the unvarnished truth, some of the so-called “experts” who are supposed to know the ins and outs of the petroleum business would tell you that their analysis of pricing is largely a product of an educated guess. I guess a guess is a good as no answer at all, right? Maybe. Or maybe not. I really don’t know, so stop asking me.

Nature smacks around its toys near Holly Beach, La.

Large machines were dragging up tangled, steel messes this afternoon along Hwy. 82 near Holly Beach, La., that were once cars and trucks. It’s amazing how many people left behind automobiles when they headed for the hills to escape Hurricane Rita. The assumption would be that many of the abandoned cars wouldn’t run, but surely some were operable. Cars and trucks, and even a shrimp boat or two still litter the marshes a good 300 yards from the water almost 10 months after Rita hit.

I don’t claim to be a great photographer or even a photographer, except for the fact I know how to aim and snap the camera (and now download the pictures). With that lengthy preface, I note the above photo I took today heading back home to Beaumont after visiting Cameron, La., on business. I don’t know what the wheeled ruins were when they were meant to be something. Perhaps it was part of a trailer. I just liked the juxtaposition of the natural Gulf of Mexico setting in the background and nature’s most impressive sculpting.