I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read the headline on
CNN.com today.
There it was, in large font: Bush will urge end to oil addiction
CNN might as well try some of these headlines:
Mafia Calls for end to Organized Crime
Hue Heffner objects to Janet Jackson's Funbag Incident
Adolph Hitler condemns Iran Leader's Verbal Attacks on Israel
If Bush and the Republicans really want to reduce dependence on oil, they should start by looking at themselves. Follow the money and come see what I mean.
As many of you already know, Exxon Mobil recently
reported a quarterly profit of over $10 billion In fact, the total yearly earnings
amounted to the most profitable year in U.S. corporate history.
The results pushed up Exxon's profit for the year to $36.13 billion -- bigger than the economies of 125 of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank. Profit rose 42 percent from 2004, largely due to soaring oil and gas prices.
Let's track back to November of 2005. Remember the hearing the Senate held to question oil executives about price gouging and ridiculous profits?
Here is Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, or as I like to call him, the Incredible Jowl:
Here is what he had to say back in November:
"History teaches us that punitive measures hastily crafted in response to short-term rises in prices will have unintended consequences and disincentives to investment..."
[snip]
He said the company's pricing policy after Katrina was "to minimize the increase in price while at the same time recognizing that if we kept the price too low, we would quickly run out of gasoline and have shortages. It's a tough balancing act."
It sure is a tough balancing act, Ray (can I call you that?) It's hard to pay the bills when you're only making $36 billion per year. And what is with those silly middle and low income Americans who expect you not to take advantage of a national crisis to make money by inflating oil prices?
How does all this relate to the SOTU address, Bush, and the Republicans? If you remember, Democratic Senators demanded that the oil execs testify under oath. The Republicans refused. Turns out, to EVERYBODY'S SURPRISE, that, holy shit, the oil execs lied! But why would Republicans want to protect greasy liars? Maybe it's because the same greasy liars contribute millions of dollars to Republican campaigns every election cycle.
All of the following information is courtesy of OpenSecrets.org.
Take the 2004 Election cycle, for example. During that time, the oil industry donated a total of $25,719,739 to political campaigns. 80% of that money went to Republicans.
In fact, leading the way was Exxon Mobil (yes, the same Exxon Mobil that made a killing last fiscal year), which donated $820,134 to Republicans.
Take a look at donations to political campaigns from the oil industry for the 2006 elections. Our good friend Tom DeLay has already received a whopping $95,550. Not one of the top twenty recipients is a Democrat.
Bush receiving an enormous $2,627,825 from the oil industry for his reelection campaign. That's $2,627,825 extra that Americans had to pay for gas so that the oil companies could assist Bush in retaining his position. President Bush, do you really want to talk about reducing dependence on oil? If you do, look to yourself and fellow Republicans first. You bums wouldn't have jobs if America didn't have an insatiable demand for oil.