RK ARCHIVE - Oil Prices Surge Near $66 per Barrel; Thanks Pres. Bush!

First, Bush IS good friends with the Saudis, yet he has almost no leverage on them. Frankly, the Saudis know that the United States is addicted to its oil, and that they've got a President in the White House who refuses to take any action to alter this situation. Given that, why shouldn't the Saudis just sit back and enjoy their huge oil revenues -- of which a portion goes to anti-Western, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic fundamentalist Islamic religious "madrasas" around the world?

Second, the Bush Administration has done essentially nothing, even in the aftermath of 9/11, to reduce U.S. oil imports, either on the demand side (the key to the equation) or the supply side. Instead of getting us off of oil (which we can start to do right now with a jump start to hybrid engine technology) from a country that supplied 15 of 19 hijackers on 9/11, the Bush Administration has instead has urged us all to go shopping, to live our lives normally, and not to worry as our military takes care of the situation over in the Middle East. Yeah. Right.

Third, the Iraq War has, aside from resulting in around 1,800 American soldiers killed and many more wounded (thanks, in large part, to the Bush Administration's poor planning and arrogance heading in there in the first place), also removed around 1 million barrels per day of oil from world markets compared to when Saddam was in power. And the situation's not getting any better over there either, with pipelines getting blown up seemingly the minute they're repaired. This is not what the Bush Administration promised, that's for sure.

Fourth, Bush's foreign policy failures have now put is in a bad position vis-a-vis yet ANOTHER major oil exporter, Iran, which is ratcheting up a nuclear crisis even as I type these words. As the New York Times points out:

So what's the Energy Plan here? Oh, that's right, we're all going to be using (heavily subsidized) ethanol, which unfortunately takes more energy to produce than you get out of it. Or, maybe in 20-30 years or so, we'll have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, except for the problem that you get hydrogen from...you guessed it, FOSSIL FUELS! Or, maybe opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling is the answer, except that the government estimates that this would produce as little as 650,000 barrels per day (with a mean projection of around 1 million barrels per day) at its peak, or just 3%-4% of U.S. oil consumption.

In other words, as gasoline prices soar, the Bush Administration has no clue what to do about it. Meanwhile, the American motorist is screwed. Unless, of course, the incredible wealth flowing to OPEC eventually "trickles down" to Americans. Isn't that what Republican economic theory says? Oh wait, that's why the call it the "Laffer" curve. Ha ha ha, very funny.

Comments

You're blaming the p (Jim Patterson - 4/4/2006 11:27:29 PM)

You're blaming the price of a commodity, which is dependent on a worldwide market, on George Bush?

ROFL!!

That's truly rich. I think you actually believe it, too... and that's pretty sad.

Everyone assumes tha (Jonathan Mark - 4/4/2006 11:27:38 PM)

Everyone assumes that if Mark Warner runs for President in 2008 and Jim Moran is in Congress and supporting Warner, that Moran will not harm Warner.

I think that the opposite is the case. People who dislike Warner will seize on the Mark Warner/Mame Reiley/Jim Moran connection and blast Warner for everything from Moran's Schering-Plough loan to grabbing an 8-year-old boy to Moran's suggestion that "the Jewish community/Israel/neocons/etc. caused the Iraq War.

I think that if Mark Warner is serious about running for President he should arrange for Jim Moran in 2008 to be in a safe place where Moran cannot further embarrass Moran's associates.

Representing the 8th in Congress is not a safe place for Moran to be if the point is to avoid more embarrassments.

I notice that Tim Kaine has never rescheduled that one-on-one Town Meeting he cancelled with Jim Moran. Tim Kaine is protecting himself from Moran's deadly embrace. Will Mark Warner do the same?

Warner/Clark has pot (Daniel Owen - 4/4/2006 11:27:38 PM)

Warner/Clark has potential, I think. Easley might be interesting, but shows no apparent interest in running yet (which may sound normal three years ahead of the election, but everyone else seems to be well under way). Gore also seems to have vanished, at least while he launches his TV station. Lowell - there are a few who think Evan Bayh fits the bill you've described.

If you'll forgive the plug, I'm tracking all this impartially on my website - Oval Office 2008. (http://www.ovaloffice2008.com)

RICHMOND, Va. The fi (billy - 4/4/2006 11:27:40 PM)

RICHMOND, Va. The first independent, scientific statewide voter poll of the year suggests Virginia's race for governor is neck-and-neck.
Democrat Tim Kaine was the choice of 38 percent of 625 likely voters surveyed last week while Republican Jerry Kilgore was the favorite of 37 percent. That's according to the Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Incorporated's survey sponsored by a group of newspapers.

Nine percent supported state Senator H- Russell Potts Junior and 16 percent of the respondents were undecided.

Because the poll's margin of error was plus or minus four percentage points, Kaine's one-point advantage is statistically insignificant. That makes this one of only two governor's races in the nation this fall to be in a dead heat.

Regardless of whethe (Marc - 4/4/2006 11:27:40 PM)

Regardless of whether or not it is skewed Democrat, everyone is losing touch with the point that he still gained 5 points on Kilgore since the last poll. What this means may be tied up in the skew of the poll, but it doesn't take away from the fact that Kaine is gaining on Kilgore, and judging by the recent polls that have come out, will continue to do so into the fall.

"Include the fact th (Tom Joad (Kevin) - 4/4/2006 11:27:40 PM)

"Include the fact that SurveyUSA admitted that their own sample was skewed Democrat?"

Where does it say that they skewed more to Democrats? I think it said that more blacks and females answered this time around which makes sense since more people are taking interest with only three months to go.

You could turn it around and say they underrepresented Hispanics...they were only 3% of the sample...I don't know if they will be a reliable 60% bloc for Kilgore.

Now...what I don't like is 18-34 barely going to Kilgore. Dems should be cleaning up in this category and as a young Dem myself I will get the message out to my age group

Lowell- Why didn't y (Vineyard - 4/4/2006 11:27:40 PM)

Lowell- Why didn't you point out that the Survey USA folks note that their sample has a higher than average number of African-American females, thus skewing the results? They talk about it in the first paragraph of the synopsis? What this means is if Kilgore is up 5 given this sample makeup, then he cruises to victory in November. WHy are you highlighting this poll? not good news for Kaine at all.

A few myths to debun (Josh - 4/4/2006 11:27:41 PM)

A few myths to debunk:

Myth: Immigrants take jobs away from Americans.
Fact: Studies have shown that the opposite is true. Many immigrants create jobs. Many immigrants are self-employed and start their own businesses.
Myth: America is being overrun by immigrants.
Fact: The percentage of immigrants in the total population is small. So far, no single decade has topped 1901-1910 for immigration admissions.
Myth: Most immigrants are a drain on the U.S. economy.
Fact: Each year immigrants earn $240 billion, pay $90 billion in taxes, and receive only $5 billion in welfare payments.

Walter, Kilgore o (Josh - 4/4/2006 11:27:41 PM)

Walter,

Kilgore opened up this can of worms. It's his ignorance of issues that is on display here. He's the one who stuck his nose, uninvited, in to Herndon politics. He's the one who is trying to boost his weak and faltering candidacy by turning us against eachother.

You learn a lot about how a candidate will act in office by how he manages his campaign. Kilgore's campaign in notoriously rude, and arguably violent. Kilgore's candidacy itself is weak: he has no executive experience, no public presence, no ability to inspire unity or work with those of opposing viewpoints.

All he has is division, attack, negativism, fear, and hate.

If you want to be made a victim by the Kilgore campaign, you go ahead.

Virginian's know good leadership. They see the accomplishments of Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, and they're ready for more of the same.

As this campaign season rolls on, watch as Virginians stand up in unity and turn their backs on the childlike, raving grandstands of Jerry Kilgore.

There was a southpar (Josh - 4/4/2006 11:27:41 PM)

There was a southpark episode where people from the future come back in time to steal the jobs of the poor hapless townsfolk.

Their solution? To have massive all-male sex orgies, thus eliminating the people of the future and saving jobs for the "good, hardworking men" of southpark.

If Jerry Kilgore thought it would protect our jobs, I'm sure he'd be the first one on all fours, giving it all for Virgina's hardscrable workers.

Gotta respect that kind of dedicated service to mankind.

When the law only al (Mary - 4/4/2006 11:27:41 PM)

When the law only allows for the regulation of day laborers by labor centers, opposition is a meaningless gesture. Even with centers, day laborers continue to work in unsafe conditions and still are cheated out of pay. But the centers do provide a means for starting to control the issue. I don't know who is mowing Jerry's lawn this year while he campaigns the state--but it probably is a low wage earner, maybe even a day laborer. The fact that he's proposing something that has no bearing on illegal immigration probably missed him (in fact, doing nothing likely will make the situation worse). Haphazard positions like this that meaninglessly exploit sensitive issues are curious (especially since he delayed his response until after the issue had been closed in Herndon). It sort of makes me wonder whether they are in a scramble to grab for issues.