Panic at the pumps

40 acres and a mule: a pretty good deal when you compare it to a hundred bucks and a handout to Halliburton. Funny how the Republicans like to tell you that market forces are the way to regulate things but then panic when those market forces require that we get more energy efficient and self-reliant. One could almost imagine that we’re dealing with liars cheats and scoundrels.

Actually, even as a dyed-in-the-denim-Democrat, I do prefer that rising gas prices be left to rise in the long run because market forces can do a much better job of producing more efficient vehicles and promoting more efficient use of vehicles than the misguided CAFE standards that gave us three and a half ton SUV’s.

But politics isn’t about making things better; it’s about buying your vote cheap and then claiming a mandate to screw you. Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t going to lower prices enough or for long enough to matter at all, but it will make a few people rich. Making a few people rich is the hidden code, the Holy Grail and the modus operendi of the Republican Party – as if we didn’t all know.

For other interesting takes on the Shell game (or Exxon game if you prefer) the petro-pirates are playing with our country and our future, check out Goofy Blog. (No it has nothing to do with Disney!) and the Daily Curmudgeon.