Trade, Not Sanctions for Libya

Looks like most of the oil flowing out of Libya right now is from the eastern part of the country, and not in the control of Gaddafi.

Rajab Sahnoun, an official with the Arabian Gulf Oil Co., said a tanker bound for China with capacity for one million barrels was being loaded at Tobruk. An Italy-bound tanker is also waiting to begin loading in the coming days, he said.

"The terminal is working at 100 percent," Sahnoun told The Associated Press.

Another Agoco official, Ali Faraj, said a pipeline connecting the port to the eastern oilfields of Sarir and Misla was operating normally. The company's production of around 220,000 barrels a day had been largely unaffected, Faraj said.

European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who is struggling to contain a popular uprising that threatens to sweep him from power, had lost control of most of the country's oil and gas fields.

Many facilities were now controlled by regional families or provisional regional leaders opposed to Gaddafi's authority, Oettinger told a meeting of EU energy ministers.

"They have taken over control, they have taken away control from Gaddafi," he said.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201122815340296600.html

House Passes Patriot Act Extension–Now to Senate

The House of Representatives have passed a bill to extend provisions of the Patriot Act 275-144.  Mississippi’s representatives voted as follows:

Gregg Harper(R) voted FOR the extension.
Alan Nunnelee(R) voted FOR the extension.
Palazzo(R) voted FOR the extension.

Bennie Thompson voted AGAINST it.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll026.xml

 

Now Rand Paul, a man who was criticized by Democrats for being a racist hell bent on taking back his country seems to be the most vociferous opponent of the act in the Senate. 

Here is Paul’s Letter of Opposition to his Senate colleagues, and here is a video.

Opposition to Patriot Act