Surrender To Big Oil And Shut Up

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Borrowed from the Philadelphia Enquirer, Wednesday’s Janesville Gazette Editorial titled, ”Congress ducks harder choices on gas prices” was one of those rants attempting to prove that Democrats are no different than Republicans and just as helpless when it comes to doing something about the high price of gasoline. But if that were true, then why oppose democrats efforts and waste ink accusing them of grandstanding?

JG Editorial Excerpt:
“The American people can no longer afford the Republican rubber-stamp Congress and its failure to stand up to Republican Big Oil and gas company cronies,” House Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California said at the time. She said the Republicans had given the public “empty rhetoric rather than join democrats who are working to lower gas prices.

And that’s just it. Pelosi accused the Republicans of empty rhetoric, in other words, they made no attempt to enact legislation to hold Big Oil accountable. And to the contrary, that’s all the democrats are trying to do now, hold Big Oil accountable. Some way – some how. And you know what? The same people who claim democrats are ducking the issue now are the same people who rip Gov. Doyle for trying to tax oil profits, they are the same people who blast Rep. Judy Robson for standing up for people over profits, and they are the same people who accuse democrats of grandstanding because unlike the republicans, the democrats have held hearings on alternative fuels, climate change and hydrogen research.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
A year later, Democrats control Congress, Pelosi is Speaker, and gas prices are at a record nationwide average. Some analysts predict gasoline will hit $4 per gallon this summer in many parts of the country. Should we presume that Democrats are now in cahoots with Big Oil? No. Democrats can’t control prices now, just as Republicans weren’t responsible for rising gas prices a year ago.

This is classic. Again, the problem here is Republicans were accused of doing nothing at all and still do nothing about profits gouged out from record high prices. In fact, Bush and his beloved republicans call the record profits a sure sign of success and a direct result of the “free markets.” I have yet to hear that from those "same as republican" democrats.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
Though oil companies may not be gouging, they make enough to forego governmental charity. The House did vote this year to rollback $14 billion in subsidies to oil companies but couldn’t agree on a version that might get past President Bush’s veto pen.

It might not get past Bush’s veto pen? Shouldn’t ANY version of cutting off $14 billion to profit-gouging Big Oil be better than none at all?

After ripping Democrats about doing nothing about gasoline prices, then ripping them again for trying to do something, the writer(s) of this article then slams renewables including ethanol and bio-fuel as potentially poor alternatives to gasoline. It's a can’t fail if you don’t try mentality and a sure sign that the Republicans answer to high gasoline prices is to surrender to the manipulated markets of Big Oil.

JG Editorial Excerpt:
It should levy a higher tax to discourage consumption and raise desperately needed revenue to repair crumbling highways and boost mass transit.

At the closing of this piece of work, the writer implies that paying the high gasoline prices to Big Oil now (assuming prices fall) is better than the government taking that extra revenue in the form of taxes to discourage consumption and repair our crumbling roads, mass transit systems or worse yet, pay back the money borrowed from Social Security. God forbid if that were to happen.