Arianna Huffington: The truth about soaring gas prices

[CatWoman]

May 27, 2004 | Drivers, start your engines -- and empty your wallets! As we gear up for the biggest driving weekend of the year, vacationers all across America are coming face to face with the highest average gas prices in history -- up 42 cents a gallon since 2001 -- and a bad case of "pump panic," a new malady in which your heart rate instantly matches the price of full-service high-test. Where I live, there are lots of folks palpitating at 325 beats a minute.

At the same time car owners are having to consider taking out a second mortgage in order to fill up their tanks, oil companies are raking in record profits. ConocoPhillips, for example, the United States' largest oil refiner, recently reported its largest first quarter profits ever. And Exxon Mobil just posted its highest first quarter refining earnings in 13 years.


Coincidentally, these companies and their oil and gas industry brethren have a highly profitable habit of greasing the receptive palms of their friend George Bush -- doling out over $3.5 million to his 2000 and 2004 presidential runs.


http://www.salon.com/opinion/huffington/2004/05/27/big_oil/index.html

[tandot]

1. Thanks for posting. That is what really p*sses me off

I don't mind paying more for gas if it is used to decrease pollution or goes into programs that finance public transportation, or grants for the creation of more fuel-efficient cars.

But they are taking more and more of MY hard-earned money and give it to the filthy rich oil industry bastards.

And than I see those post here at DU saying "good, gas should be even more expensive" ... more expensive so those f*cking bastards can pocket even more of my money??? And on top of it all, they'll get a huge tax break from Bush.

:mad:

[quispquake]

4. I agree with you...

I have posted before that I think gas should be more expensive (in line with the rest of the world)...BUT, I also ALWAYS add that the extra money should be going to schools, roads, and infrastructure, and NOT oil company executive's pockets...

The fact that they're making this much money while the rest of us are struggling to make ends meet is obscene.

[tom_paine]

2. kick for Arianna!

:kick:

[phantom power]

3. great line at the end

"America isn't confronting a shortage of fuel; it's confronting a shortage of leadership."

[Raster]

5. One number Arianna left out: zero...

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10102002/ap_48664.asp

Bush administration is against California's zero emissions requirement for cars

Thursday, October 10, 2002
By Pete Yost, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration sided Wednesday with auto manufacturers in opposing a California requirement that a percentage of passenger vehicles sold in the state achieve zero emissions, meaning reliance on all-electric cars.
The Justice Department maintained that federal law overrides any state effort to regulate fuel economy for cars and trucks.

In a 37-page filing with a federal appeals court in San Francisco, the department lawyers argued that California's zero emission mandate impinges on what is solely a federal responsibility.

<snip>

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10102002/ap_48664.asp

[nightperson]

6. Good to see her and Kerry

finally speaking out about "our nation's untreated addiction to oil". No more filthy junkies with their depraved lifestyle choices :P ! Do people generally agree with conservative Charles "Gas Tax" Krauthammer's comment that "The fact is that for two decades neither party has distinguished itself on the issue of oil blackmail and price vulnerability"? Here's a related "Peak Oil"-type article.