I just got this in an email.

[Midlodemocrat]

Is this doable? Or even accurate?

GAS WAR - an idea that WILL work

This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worth your consideration.

Join the resistance!!!! I hear we are going to hit close to $4.00 a gallon by next summer and it might go higher!! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea.

This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around last April or May! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to
us than it was a problem for them.

BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $1.50 is super cheap Me too! It is currently $2.79 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a gallon of gas is CHEAP at $1.50 - $1.75, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..... not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war.

Here's the idea:

For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies (which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit.

But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people.

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 =3D 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =3D 3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted! If it goes one level further, you guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't understand how we can reach 300 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... Well, let's face it, you just aren't a mathematician. But I am, so trust me on this one.)

How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next 8 days!!!

I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you?

Acting together we can make a difference If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from EXXON/MOBIL UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO THE $1.30 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. THIS CAN REALLY WORK

[Warpy]

1. I won't buy from them because they're usually much more

expensive than the McGas down the street. Even if they were a few cents cheaper, I'd resent having any of my money fatten that pig at the top.

You always have to consider what weasel is getting rich off your hard earned money. Sometimes it's a really close call, a choice among evils.

That pig is so egregious, though, that it's no choice at all. Don't support him.

It's just too bad that station franchisers are going to suffer, too.

[Midlodemocrat]

4. I have cut way back on my driving. Not just because of the price

of gas, or at least not solely, but because I don't have a ton of time to do errands. I have to combine them to make it worth leaving the house.

My five year old van only has 50,000 miles on it. My friend had the same year and had 130,000.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. About the tenth time I've posted this, and many other have posted it too

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

It's called supply and demand.
You want lower prices? Make more supply or less demand. Period.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Thanks for posting that. I didn't enter the correct search terms

obviously, because I couldn't find anything on snopes.

[BlueEyedSon]

6. good instincts to check Snopes first!

sorry if i came off harsh

[Midlodemocrat]

8. LOL. You didn't. and believe me, I get some of the

weirdest damned emails, I always check snopes.

I have a fundie aunt by marriage that sends the weirdest stupidest crap. :eyes:

[Bigmack]

11. When you send them the snopes...

debunking of the dumbshit email, do they ever say anything back? Like "Oh... why would anyone send me an email that was a lie?" When I send people the snopes entry, I also point out that somebody had to make up the lies in the email. What purposes do those liars have in making stuff up to fool people? I tell them to always be suspicious of the person who sent them the original email.

I had a guy say that snopes - with all the references and sources listed at the bottom - was wrong! Hilary did SO insult the Gold Star Mothers.

[Midlodemocrat]

16. I haven't ever received an email back after sending them a snopes

link.

[Ganja Ninja]

5. I like the idea of boycotting Exxon/Mobil.

After the money they shelled out to their CEO something needs to be done. All of these companies have been manipulating us long enough. Turn about is fair play. Whether this plan will work or not it's worth a try.

[BlueEyedSon]

7. Please read

http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/gasout.asp

[Village Idiot]

10. I don't buy Snopes' explanation. Sounds specious, to me.

I was reading on CounterPunch that they make on average seven to eight times what a barrel of oil is worth for their gasoline, for one thing. That's a hell of a lot of wiggle room as far as price vs. Supply/Demand goes...

If you actually could succeed in a boycott of Exxon and Mobil - I'm not talking for one or two months, but for long enough to actually REALLY hurt the motherfuckers - six months or more - or better yet, target only one corporation and CRIPPLE THEM through a YEAR LONG BOYCOTT - the rest will have no other option but to fall into line for fear that they will be targeted next...

Unfortunately, there isn't the will to follow through among USAsians and Canadians for this to work appropriately.

[BlueEyedSon]

13. fuggedaboudit: oil is fungible and there are many middlemen

[Warren Stupidity]

9. We now get this post at least once a day.

Can this be automatically deleted by the mods? Can we have a separate forum for email chain letter viri posing as 'protest'?

The protest idea expressed in this chain letter has been debunked repeatedly as bogus.

Here is a good protest idea: 5 million people in DC with one simple message: end the war in Iraq, no war in Iran.

[PATRICK]

12. The same as auto union worker selective

strikes at key plants. There the theory was that one domino was enough. That way the costly, suicidal general strike was not necessary and the whole union could comfortably back the strikers at the one company or one plant.

What is missing is the most key element: united, organized discipline in execution. Even proposing this to the American masses is very difficult although universal success is not needed to bring about possible results. The other question is what effect that crushing dealerships will have on the larger company much less the whole industry that pools its oil and tactics. This is the reverse of the buy only at Citgo or Hess idea promulgated during recent price hikes. Price wars can get at the local dealers but how will it pressure anyone up the line unless those dealerships quickly go under, period?

Huge profits at the top insulate big corporations from the pain of local dealerships. It is going to take a lot of success and time. People and groups holding stock in these companies(who could "pressure" such companies as well) won't help in spreading your message, and in the case of big media, will try to squelch it.

But it sounds truly logical and effective if only the people would vote carefully with their wallets. Lord knows the paper ballots aren't entirely a matter of choice anymore.

[RebelOne]

14. Well, for what it's worth, Bill O'Reilly

said he is boycotting Exxon/Mobil. He has a lot of fans, so I'm sure many of them will do the same.

[DelawareValleyDem]

15. Yeah, me too, about five minutes ago

I was waiting for it to happen because it's gotten posted here several times this week.

I just hit Reply All with a link to the snopes article, and a recommendation that people consider driving less if they really want to do something effective.

[giant_robot]

17. Better yet - Buy from Citgo

Here's an email I got from True Majority Action:

Dear xxxx,

Want an easy way to help America's poor stay warm this winter? Buy Citgo gasoline.

Of the top oil producing countries in the world, only one is a democracy with a president who was elected on a platform of using his nation's oil revenue to benefit the poor.1 The money you pay to Citgo goes primarily to Venezuela - not Saudi Arabia or the Middle East.

"Citgo is not just another oil company," says Citgo CEO Felix Rodriguez. "With Venezuela's state oil company, of which we are a subsidiary, we share a broad social mission." So buy Citgo gasoline and support democracy in South America:

Find the Citgo station closest to your home address.

And this winter Citgo is helping out less fortunate Americans, too.

You already may have seen the headlines about how Citgo, unlike every other oil company in the U.S., is making cut-rate heating oil available to struggling families in the Northeast. The Energy Department predicts a nearly 26 percent jump in heating costs this winter compared with last year,2 and despite a year of record oil company profits, the country's heating oil assistance fund is falling behind.3

Citgo has stepped in to help out. They're selling heating oil at discounted rates to poorer communities in Massachusetts and the Bronx, NY, and working on deals to keep low-income homes in Rhode Island and Vermont warm, too.

So while you're out on the road this month, you can help some fellow Americans by filling your tank with Venezuelan gas. Here's a link to find the nearest one of the 14,000 Citgo gas stations in the U.S.:

Find the Citgo station closest to your home address.

Naturally, if you can get where you're going without a car, do so. And we'll continue to work for a country with more renewable energy options. But in the meantime, help your Northeast neighbors by supporting Citgo when you drive.

Find the Citgo station closest to your home address:

http://www.truemajorityaction.org/find_station.php

Thanks for all that you do,

Matt Holland
TrueMajorityACTION

1 Buy Your Gas at Citgo: Join the BUY-cott!

2 "Poor get chilly federal reception," USA Today, 12/15/2005.

3 "OUT IN THE COLD: How Much LIHEAP Funding Will Be Needed to Protect Beneficiaries from Rising Energy Prices?" Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.