Buffoonery

The stunning hypocrisy of the U.S. Senators on the Judiciary committee was on full display yesterday when they hauled up the chief executives of some of the largest oil companies to explain why oil and gas prices are so high. "Where is the corporate conscience?" asked Dick Durbin. One might ask Durbin where his own is. These politicians know full well that oil and gas prices are high due to a shortage of supply. Yes, there is some speculation in the market right now but there would be no speculation if there were no shortage. And what is the main reason for this shortage? The handcuffs that these very Senators have put on the oil companies. No drilling allowed in Anwar, no drilling off-shore, no nuclear plants. Instead, in order to appease the environmental lobbies, they funnel tax-payer monies into the ethanol boondoggle, causing farmers to switch their fields from other grains to corn, corn grown not for food but for subsidized ethanol. As a result there are now world-wide food shortages, shortages which cause higher food prices for everyone and contribute to the deaths of the helpless poor in third-world countries. And the good Senators ask "where is you conscience?" The unmitigated gall! "People we represent are hurting, the companies you represent are profiting," Patrick Leahy said, apparently unaware that profits are the lifeblood of the American economy and without them there will be no further advancement in alternative or more efficiently-produced energy. There were calls once again yesterday for punitive 'windfall profits' taxes on these oil companies, as well as a move to sue OPEC (!!) for not supplying more oil. Yeah, Senators, that'll fix everything. What a bunch of clowns.