Complaint Review: Exxon Shell oil BP oil Arco Texaco Chevron Phillips 66 Citgo Conoco Fina Hess Sunco Fina - USA Nationwide

I love conspiracy theorists. They have no clue about what they are talking about. Spewing so-called facats without any proof to back them up just makes them look like the ignorant fools theyh are. But I have to ask, why is it Bush's fault for high oil and gas prices? Was Carter blamed for the energy crisis in the 70's? C'mon now people exercise the common sense that God gave you. Bush is no more responsible for high oil and gas prices than I am. I drive my imperialistic gas guzzling SUV everywhere and I love it. Gas is 90 bucks to fill it up but that's my choice. I like the comfort and safety of my SUV and am gonna keep it. So drive those Yugo's and Hyundai's thinking you're doing the environment some good! The earth is amazingly resilient and even after a nuclear war it would recover just fine thank you very much!!

American corporations are pissed because they aren't allowed to develope fuel cells and new energy producing devices. Sure they can do it, but big oil, and the car community aren't buying. Detroit wants a reduction of chlorine in freon, not a CO2 system like England's making. They simply state they can't afford to make those changes. Let corporations dedicate changes. The job of many people inside corporations for instance, is to go to places like NASA and Detroit. And say hey this is what we can do for you, it's cheaper, more efficent, and quicker. Best of all we can always make these changes right now! Jed time to make a time zone jump, you follow? Bush has foiled every bid to move on including his cheapo space ride to the moon. We're only in it for the money. When will the world be ready for intergalatic prime time?

If it is not the oil companies ripping us off it is companies like Google and others. As far as the cars polluting, I heard some interesting info about how much China polluted burning coal. It would take billions of SUV's per year to even compare to them. Like was said in one of the posts, we have more oil in this country than anywhere in oil shale deposits, especially in Colorado. But they aren't doing anything to get it because they are too busy making enormous profits off of us. That is all these people care about is ripping us off. Then they try to say they need the profits for research. But then you see how much the CEO's profit. They are all pigs!!!

Oil companies have the whole nation by the balls, therefore; we are slaves to oil companies to get to point A to point B, and we allow this resource to become a private good while the oil companies exec make millions out off workers getting there products to market, lobbying congress to remove regulations that would hurt there bonsus, and profit expectation wall streets cranks want or expect. Yet, Captialism is a good ecomonic system, but goverment policy and levers make people dependant on a erengry source that takes geologist time and money to find more oil. Exploration is still cheaper than alternative energy sources, but I belive ethonal based fuel will help migatate in the long some of the increase in oil, and if switch grass can be made to ethanol it would in the long term help reduce the amount of oil we import. Oil, we have thousands of years of it left, but the cheap easy oil to process and extract is running out soon. BP, Exxon know they can pay off congress to be able to knock out a few mountians with tar sands for oil if the easy sucking for oil is gonethe price to extract wouldnt be 15 dollars per barrel. Tar Sand extract cost be closer to 50 dollars a barrel. Yet, the politicans screw it up energy and rational policy debate, so they can protect there jobs for election, or enrich themshevles after there done serving the people. Ex polticans are board member on pubically traded corporations. Black Gold=Reelection for some, and More Ethanol=Reelection for others. Dealin with 200 different house members makes a pain to get some real energy debate goin. Group one of house members have oil companies in there backyards, and the workers work at the oil fields. As a result, the oil workers provides dollars to that local economy. Some politcans is hand tied by oil workers in one district wanting this energy policy. Group two of house members, have farmers in big Argiculture with corn leftovers, and know they if they make Big Oil look band it lines there pockets too with selling corn. Conclusion, there will be no real change in energy policy unless we as a people become collective in resreach and innovation. There a in the federal goverment to screw the big man, and let the big obilarchs control the energy agenda.

Yip,, thats Right,,,Exxon/Mobil & Shell & Chevron all have posted really huge profits into the Billions,,, and thats Good !!!!!!! Why,,,,, Because it shows they can get by with Gouging the American Public and swindle or Buy off,, the Politicians,,,, and "YOU", The AMERICAN Hard Working Citizen of this Country,,, and may have fought for this country and served this country,,,, aren't going to do Anything about it,, but whine and complain a little bit about it to your co-workers and family and friends,, and thats,, the extent of it,, they've made Billions off of ya, meanwhile,,, and when your State Senator or State Congressman,, comes flying into town with his entourage of "Gas-Guzzling" SUVs,,, you also will be footing that bill as well,, while your stuck in a Traffic Jam,, in your little tiny car, with no airconditioning,, because you can't afford to get it fixed, because of $4.00 a gallon gas, and all your other bills too !!!! So Now Gas is way up there,,, what happens next ?? Well,, shipping of goods slows down, and people buy less,,,stores begin to cut their hours, and employees make less money,, on their paychecks, and find themselves working part time hours,,,and because of this,, they have to drop their Health Insurance,,, to be able to buy the Expensive Ridlicious Gas,, to get to their Part-Time, barely make ends meat job!!!!! Now as if this isn't neat enough,,,, its time to Raise your Utilties beyond belief, because Winter is here,,,now its gonna cost ya,,,$400.00-$600-00 a month just to heat your house at 55-60 degress on a 20-below day,, ohh ya,, that house payment,, you have your struggling to make on that part time job,,, your gonna fall behind on the payments, and get foreclosed on, because now the Banks and Financial instutions are going to start playing games with consumers, and help them get homeless that much faster !!!!!!! Meanwhile,,, you'll be paying for $4.00 a gallon gasoline or more,,,!!!!!!!!!!! You and or your Family will not be Taking any Vacations for a very long time, but, you can bet, those Oil Company Executives and those Politicians they bought off,, will be going to Hawaii, or Jamica, or Disneyland,,, as they pass you and your Family out on the HI-WAY in your small car as they pass you,, in their Cadillac Esclade SUV,, with the air on at 70 MPH !!!!!!!!! Your Retirement package,,,, well,, it'll end up in your gas tank, eventually thru time , or to pay High Utilties bills !!!!! Meanwhile those Executives at the Natural Gas Company,, just voted to give themselves a Raise and a Huge Bonus and some stock options,,,, while your shivering in the cold attempting to chop wood to keep warm by the fire in the 55 gallon drum your standing beside outside in the cold,,,, wondering What Happend to this Country,,, I remember when,,,,this was a nice place to live ??????? What happened , why am I in this predictment, and didn't do anything but work and pay my bills best I could ?????????? Ohhh ya your car Insurance is do now,, and it just had a Rate Increase,,, because those Insurance Executivs who sit in those plush Offices need to keep their heat on at 80-degrees so they don't get too cold,, hope you don't mind,, a small $200.00 a month rate Increase !!!! Whoops,,, now your car tags are due,,, and the State needs more money,, because so many people have been Laid-Off, they need more revenue,, so now tags on your 7 year old vehicle will run about $900.00 dollars a year,,, sorry,, but those state workers have to keep warm too !!!!!! Hungary,, need some food,,, well most of the Truckers and Trucking Companies went Broke or Bankrupt, trying to keep up with the high cost of Diesel Fuel for their Trucks, attemting to haul the groceries or products to the stores and warehouses,,, and now you have to pay un-godly amounts of money at the stores for food,, like say maybe a gallon of Milk, $9.00 dollars,,hamburger:$25.00 a Pound,, candy bars,,$15.00 bucks for a snickers bar !!!!!!! Think all this can't or won't happen,,,, well,, I tried like hell to Warn Everybody back in 2000-2001,, that if this Bush Jr and Cheney got in Office it would, not because I personally disliked them,,,,but because ""WHO"" was actually putting them in Office,,, and "WHO" the actual Campaign Contributors were at the time,,, donating mega-multi-millions of dollars to their campaign !!!!! The Big Oil Companies ,,,all of them !!!!!!! Several web sires even listed the Companies and the Amounts,, commonly referred to as the BUSH-WAR-CHEST !!!!!!! Now,, everybody,,, don't you think their gonna want and Expect something in Return,, these Big Oil Companies,,,,, You scratch my back,, now,, and later,, I'll rub your back !!!!!!! Meaning,, we'll let you raise the prices as high as you want,, for supporting us and our Campaign,,,,,and,,, if you could also provide some decent Stock Options to certain individuals within the party , both parties,, well be sure to look the other way and be d**n slow to respond,, so as we can make & profit in the Billions,, in both Cash and Stocks!!!!! So a Few hundred Thousand Americans suffer and go without, and end up in despair and homeless and lose their jobs , due to layoffs,,,, look, were makin out like Bandits,,, and we'll be livin high on the hog,,, and I've got a really great plan too,, I'll create a Major Diversion,, to throw everybody off,,,,, by starting a Middle East Crisis,, in the Name of Terroism,, and that will be the Excuse for prices being so high,,, it'll all work out,,everything will be fine,,,, for us anyways,,,,,the rest of the country,, well,,,kind of a 3rd world country,, most of their jobs ned to be shipped to China anyway, or India, or whereever,, so those CEO-Executives can start making million dollar bonuses too,, Ya ,, see I got it figured out boys,, we only need about 400 of the richst people here in the US,,,,the rest will just become,, well Slaves and Servants to serve us for Free,, like in other countries !!!!!! Now I'd like to be this countrys Ruler for about the next 25 years,, and end these stupid term linits of 4 to 8 years,, I want 25-30 year term limits,, like Cuban Prsident Fideo Castro,,, and others like him,,,,, I mean, just think of the fun we could have,, and the nations Hi-Ways won't be crowded anymore,, because we got all the Gas, and they're on foot or bicycle,,,,, We'll have more Fuel for our Ocean Going Luxury Yachts, and Private Jet Aircraft,,, for our personel use,, what more could ya ask for,, life will be Grand once again,,,, for US anyway !!!!!!!!! Well let Foreigners come over and buy the Houses and Properties thats been foreclosed on,,and sell their $100- to 250 thousand dollar houses for say,,,, 30-to 40 thousand dollars,,,, get them to move in and sell them all these houses,,, and years down the road,, we'll impose huge property taxes on them and they'll lose their house and start the process all over again,,,, what a plan !!!!!!!! Isn't this America Grand,,, for us Rich Folk anyways,,,,,,the CEOs, the Bank Executives,the crooked politicians,,, and other s on the take who helped us get here today !!!!!!! Thank You for Particpating in this grand plan !!!!!! Other wise known as "The New World Order" !!!!!

You made a very good point Robert,,,,,,everybody should read his above post,, above this one !!! Frankly,,,,, I'm about ready to buy a Horse,, but,, the city I live in has zoning laws where I live and I can't have any live stock on my property,,,, so,,, I'm screwed again,,, But I definetly do Remember,,,,, this,,, that back in the 2000-2001 Presidential Election, Bush/Cheney run for the White House,,,,, all I ever heard was how Bush had this "WAR-CHEST" of Capitol to spend or Fuel his election,,,, from,,????? The Big Oil Companies, all of them,, one of the News Reporting agencies gave a public break down of who contributed and how much,, and it was astonshing and just unbelievable, at how much they contributed to his Campaign for President !!!!! Now,, I imagine,, in my opinion,, the way this played out behind some secret doors somewhere,,,, was this: You guys contribute to my campaign for President now,, and while I'm in office,,,I'll help you to see to it,, you'll make Billions in profits, in return for supporting me and donating such huge financial contributations to my Presidential Campaign,,,and I'll futhermore,, see to it your stock price raises considerably,,, and your investors make out like Bandits as well !!!!!! Now, we got to keep this quiet,, boys, so the general public and reporters don't get wind of this,,,,,but I'm goona also help ya,, by starting a half Assed take over of some middle eastern countries,,,and claim its in the name of Terroism,,,but don't woory,, its all just a Diversion,, to throw everybody off,, so they don't catch on to us,, hopefully it'll drag out long enough for us to make moo-koo,, bucks !!!! Now, I've also devised another plan,,,to fund this war, and get a company some No-Bid Contracts over there,,, and use that Funding,, to supposedly to reconstruct what we are gonna tear up,, but actually,,, we'll be shipping that money over there,, and having it all bundled back up, put in Lock boxes, and then have those boxes loaded onto Military Transport planes,,,,and flown back to the US,,, and unloaded,, and all that cash,,, well,,, it'll be ours and divided evenly beteen us,,, just for you helping to support my campaign for Election,,, how's that grab Ya,, Boys !!!!!! Meanwhile,, I'll be in my "last" Presidential Term in Office,, and thats when ya, really "jack" them prices up beyond Ridlicious and absurd,,,, I'll have them thinkin its all to do with the Middle East Crisis,,,,and the general American Public, will be workin so many long hours trying to keep up with the price of everything,, they won't have time to pay attention(or for gas for that matter-Ha !),,,and I'll create a Diversion for the Reporters and the news media,, by Amping up hostility in the middle East,, and the press will be so busy trying to report and cover that Crisis,, that I have somebody in mind to help Fabricate,,,, the press won't have time to Investigate or report on this Petroleum problem,,, for which I'll help Fabricate,, to cover our A****,,, ,,,,, but don't woory, I got enough players picked out who are willing to play along,, just so long as you guys would be willing to give them a few stock options within your company,,for helping to pull this off !!!! Thank You Gentlemen,, for attending this meeting,, and enjoy your NEW Found wealth,, don't forget,,,, to,,, "C.Y.A",,, Yeeeee Hawwwww,,,,its good to be a Corrupt Republican and from Texas,, I got both parties Fooled,,and soon the public toooooo ,,,, Yeeeee Hawwwww !!!!!!!

Yes, oil companies are recording record profits. Yes, we are all "greasing up" before every trip to the pumps. Yes, we are hurting and screaming for relief. BUT...you are all blaming the wrong entities...maybe...it is complicated. Oil is traded in futures contracts on the commodities market. Analysts set the prices at will, using every blip and bleep on the radar that MAY affect production in the future. It is far from an exact science. Control of price setting was taken away from OPEC in the mid-eighties and pricing became a function of the international petroleum exchanges. I happened to be around in the mid-eighties and it seems to me that prices at the pump began going up almost immediately, but at a much more modest level. I believe that anything that is deregulated and turned over to brokers (as almost all energy is now) becomes an immediate vehicle for wealth-garnering by those involved. When greed becomes pervasive, prices begin spiraling out of control like gas prices are today. I am skeptical of this "free-market" model because I have no idea how much involvement exists between these elite analysts, our government and the oil industry. Do the analysts and oil company executives know each other by first names, eat lunch together quite often, play golf together? Does Bush or other high-ups in government call one of the analysts "Bobby-boy" or tell them "Good job, Jonsie"?? Do they all get together to discuss possible futures pricing in an effort to drive prices up? Do the oil companies secretly run the petroleum exchanges behind the scenes with the knowledge of the government? Would the government start wars to destabilize energy markets? I have no way of knowing for sure. The stock market is crawling with fraud on every level. The only way to know for sure if there is collusion would be to monitor the phone calls, emails, and general comings and goings of all the analysts, government officials and oil execs, a la Bush under the heading of "National Security". Then follow the money. Opportunities for collusion abound in all segments of industry and it seems that stock and futures prices are easily manipulated at will. The problem is knowing WHO IS REALLY PULLING THE STRINGS. Case in point: bird flu (bear with me here). Bird flu has always been around, always been a problem. I could not figure out why it suddenly became a huge deal and we were all on the verge of dying tomorrow, according to the mainstream media. The government was rushing out to buy huge stocks of Tamiflu (a product proven to be all but worthless against regular flu, let alone bird flu). The government was urging all countries to stockpile this useless crap (Tamiflu is made from star anise, otherwise known as LICORICE. Star ansie grows in China, imagine that!). Suddenly every single bird flu death was newsworthy. It was enough to make casual news watchers think that droves of people were dying all over the world every day. What the media was NOT saying is that the mortality statistics they used was the death toll from over a ten year period...at the time it was 109 deaths...OVER A TEN YEAR PERIOD!! Almost all deaths were limited to backward Asian countries where people tend to come into intimate contact with their fowl on a daily basis. The makers of Tamiflu saw a huge jump in its income and stock prices due to this scare tactic fueled by the government and the mass media. I was still scratching my head over the overnight hysteria, but then I came across this article that made it all so much clearer (I have excerpted part of the article from Fortune magazine, dated October 31,2005): "The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the

Yes, oil companies are recording record profits. Yes, we are all "greasing up" before every trip to the pumps. Yes, we are hurting and screaming for relief. BUT...you are all blaming the wrong entities...maybe...it is complicated. Oil is traded in futures contracts on the commodities market. Analysts set the prices at will, using every blip and bleep on the radar that MAY affect production in the future. It is far from an exact science. Control of price setting was taken away from OPEC in the mid-eighties and pricing became a function of the international petroleum exchanges. I happened to be around in the mid-eighties and it seems to me that prices at the pump began going up almost immediately, but at a much more modest level. I believe that anything that is deregulated and turned over to brokers (as almost all energy is now) becomes an immediate vehicle for wealth-garnering by those involved. When greed becomes pervasive, prices begin spiraling out of control like gas prices are today. I am skeptical of this "free-market" model because I have no idea how much involvement exists between these elite analysts, our government and the oil industry. Do the analysts and oil company executives know each other by first names, eat lunch together quite often, play golf together? Does Bush or other high-ups in government call one of the analysts "Bobby-boy" or tell them "Good job, Jonsie"?? Do they all get together to discuss possible futures pricing in an effort to drive prices up? Do the oil companies secretly run the petroleum exchanges behind the scenes with the knowledge of the government? Would the government start wars to destabilize energy markets? I have no way of knowing for sure. The stock market is crawling with fraud on every level. The only way to know for sure if there is collusion would be to monitor the phone calls, emails, and general comings and goings of all the analysts, government officials and oil execs, a la Bush under the heading of "National Security". Then follow the money. Opportunities for collusion abound in all segments of industry and it seems that stock and futures prices are easily manipulated at will. The problem is knowing WHO IS REALLY PULLING THE STRINGS. Case in point: bird flu (bear with me here). Bird flu has always been around, always been a problem. I could not figure out why it suddenly became a huge deal and we were all on the verge of dying tomorrow, according to the mainstream media. The government was rushing out to buy huge stocks of Tamiflu (a product proven to be all but worthless against regular flu, let alone bird flu). The government was urging all countries to stockpile this useless crap (Tamiflu is made from star anise, otherwise known as LICORICE. Star ansie grows in China, imagine that!). Suddenly every single bird flu death was newsworthy. It was enough to make casual news watchers think that droves of people were dying all over the world every day. What the media was NOT saying is that the mortality statistics they used was the death toll from over a ten year period...at the time it was 109 deaths...OVER A TEN YEAR PERIOD!! Almost all deaths were limited to backward Asian countries where people tend to come into intimate contact with their fowl on a daily basis. The makers of Tamiflu saw a huge jump in its income and stock prices due to this scare tactic fueled by the government and the mass media. I was still scratching my head over the overnight hysteria, but then I came across this article that made it all so much clearer (I have excerpted part of the article from Fortune magazine, dated October 31,2005): "The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the

Yes, oil companies are recording record profits. Yes, we are all "greasing up" before every trip to the pumps. Yes, we are hurting and screaming for relief. BUT...you are all blaming the wrong entities...maybe...it is complicated. Oil is traded in futures contracts on the commodities market. Analysts set the prices at will, using every blip and bleep on the radar that MAY affect production in the future. It is far from an exact science. Control of price setting was taken away from OPEC in the mid-eighties and pricing became a function of the international petroleum exchanges. I happened to be around in the mid-eighties and it seems to me that prices at the pump began going up almost immediately, but at a much more modest level. I believe that anything that is deregulated and turned over to brokers (as almost all energy is now) becomes an immediate vehicle for wealth-garnering by those involved. When greed becomes pervasive, prices begin spiraling out of control like gas prices are today. I am skeptical of this "free-market" model because I have no idea how much involvement exists between these elite analysts, our government and the oil industry. Do the analysts and oil company executives know each other by first names, eat lunch together quite often, play golf together? Does Bush or other high-ups in government call one of the analysts "Bobby-boy" or tell them "Good job, Jonsie"?? Do they all get together to discuss possible futures pricing in an effort to drive prices up? Do the oil companies secretly run the petroleum exchanges behind the scenes with the knowledge of the government? Would the government start wars to destabilize energy markets? I have no way of knowing for sure. The stock market is crawling with fraud on every level. The only way to know for sure if there is collusion would be to monitor the phone calls, emails, and general comings and goings of all the analysts, government officials and oil execs, a la Bush under the heading of "National Security". Then follow the money. Opportunities for collusion abound in all segments of industry and it seems that stock and futures prices are easily manipulated at will. The problem is knowing WHO IS REALLY PULLING THE STRINGS. Case in point: bird flu (bear with me here). Bird flu has always been around, always been a problem. I could not figure out why it suddenly became a huge deal and we were all on the verge of dying tomorrow, according to the mainstream media. The government was rushing out to buy huge stocks of Tamiflu (a product proven to be all but worthless against regular flu, let alone bird flu). The government was urging all countries to stockpile this useless crap (Tamiflu is made from star anise, otherwise known as LICORICE. Star ansie grows in China, imagine that!). Suddenly every single bird flu death was newsworthy. It was enough to make casual news watchers think that droves of people were dying all over the world every day. What the media was NOT saying is that the mortality statistics they used was the death toll from over a ten year period...at the time it was 109 deaths...OVER A TEN YEAR PERIOD!! Almost all deaths were limited to backward Asian countries where people tend to come into intimate contact with their fowl on a daily basis. The makers of Tamiflu saw a huge jump in its income and stock prices due to this scare tactic fueled by the government and the mass media. I was still scratching my head over the overnight hysteria, but then I came across this article that made it all so much clearer (I have excerpted part of the article from Fortune magazine, dated October 31,2005): "The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the

Yes, oil companies are recording record profits. Yes, we are all "greasing up" before every trip to the pumps. Yes, we are hurting and screaming for relief. BUT...you are all blaming the wrong entities...maybe...it is complicated. Oil is traded in futures contracts on the commodities market. Analysts set the prices at will, using every blip and bleep on the radar that MAY affect production in the future. It is far from an exact science. Control of price setting was taken away from OPEC in the mid-eighties and pricing became a function of the international petroleum exchanges. I happened to be around in the mid-eighties and it seems to me that prices at the pump began going up almost immediately, but at a much more modest level. I believe that anything that is deregulated and turned over to brokers (as almost all energy is now) becomes an immediate vehicle for wealth-garnering by those involved. When greed becomes pervasive, prices begin spiraling out of control like gas prices are today. I am skeptical of this "free-market" model because I have no idea how much involvement exists between these elite analysts, our government and the oil industry. Do the analysts and oil company executives know each other by first names, eat lunch together quite often, play golf together? Does Bush or other high-ups in government call one of the analysts "Bobby-boy" or tell them "Good job, Jonsie"?? Do they all get together to discuss possible futures pricing in an effort to drive prices up? Do the oil companies secretly run the petroleum exchanges behind the scenes with the knowledge of the government? Would the government start wars to destabilize energy markets? I have no way of knowing for sure. The stock market is crawling with fraud on every level. The only way to know for sure if there is collusion would be to monitor the phone calls, emails, and general comings and goings of all the analysts, government officials and oil execs, a la Bush under the heading of "National Security". Then follow the money. Opportunities for collusion abound in all segments of industry and it seems that stock and futures prices are easily manipulated at will. The problem is knowing WHO IS REALLY PULLING THE STRINGS. Case in point: bird flu (bear with me here). Bird flu has always been around, always been a problem. I could not figure out why it suddenly became a huge deal and we were all on the verge of dying tomorrow, according to the mainstream media. The government was rushing out to buy huge stocks of Tamiflu (a product proven to be all but worthless against regular flu, let alone bird flu). The government was urging all countries to stockpile this useless crap (Tamiflu is made from star anise, otherwise known as LICORICE. Star ansie grows in China, imagine that!). Suddenly every single bird flu death was newsworthy. It was enough to make casual news watchers think that droves of people were dying all over the world every day. What the media was NOT saying is that the mortality statistics they used was the death toll from over a ten year period...at the time it was 109 deaths...OVER A TEN YEAR PERIOD!! Almost all deaths were limited to backward Asian countries where people tend to come into intimate contact with their fowl on a daily basis. The makers of Tamiflu saw a huge jump in its income and stock prices due to this scare tactic fueled by the government and the mass media. I was still scratching my head over the overnight hysteria, but then I came across this article that made it all so much clearer (I have excerpted part of the article from Fortune magazine, dated October 31,2005): "The prospect of a bird flu outbreak may be panicking people around the globe, but it's proving to be very good news for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other politically connected investors in Gilead Sciences, the California biotech company that owns the rights to Tamiflu, the influenza remedy that's now the most-sought after drug in the

The costs involved that include local retailer profit equal $1.00 to $1.30 a gallon. That means the oil companies are making nearly $2.00 a gallon profit. The reason for the gouging is that they are taking it while they can get it. Petroleum fuel will only be profitable for a few more years. This is due to multiple sources of alternative fuel becoming available, as well as multiple types of hybrids entering the market, and tighter EPA requirements 2007 thru 2010. In 5 years or less we will not have half the demand for gasoline that we currently do. Diesel is the easiest to eliminate from petroleum demand, as BioDiesel can be made totally from vaious vegetable oils, etc. I just did some investigation on this and my next vehicle will be a diesel. You can burn multiple types of cooking oils in a diesel engine with no real mechanical changes. All you have to do is add a filter, a tank warmer and replace rubber lines with synthetic. Thats it! BioDiesel can be made safely in your garage for about 70cents a gallon. Brazil has been running on 100% ethanol for over 20 years. It costs less than $1000 to convert a gas powered vehicle to run on pure ethanol. We have lots of options for alternative fuels. Oil companies will be begging us in 5 years. I can't wait to pay $1/gal or less for gas again! Supply and DEMAND rules.

To Mike, The key is always supply, demand, and price. I know of stations that, because they are all by themselves on a route to a national park, they raise the gas 50 to 75 cents per gallon over what they are paying per gallon. At the same time, at a busy intersection where there are three different stations, they are only making 2 to 5 cents per gallon on the gas and maybe even losing a penny on diesel. They only make money on the beer and pretzels and stuff. A good break down of where the moneys goes is this for every dollar at the pump: 40 cents is attributed to the barrel price and the cost of refining 25 - 40 cents is state and fed taxes, (if you have really high gas, check your state taxes per gallon and you'll probably find it's way above the nat'l average) 10 cents goes to the terminal supplier. 5 - 10 cents for distribution depending on location and the cost to transport the gas (incindentially that cost has been going up with the price of diesel and is now probably closer to 15 cents which means somebody is operating in the red.) The balance is what the station gets which can be and usually is between zero and a nickle per gallon. It's all economics, pure and simple. If they have to truck the gas further, it costs more. If the supply is down, the cost goes up. It doesn't matter if Mickey Mouse was in office, with the exception of maybe Ronald Reagan who scared the begeezes out of everybody in the world. Finally, with the current tensions in the middle east (Isreal vs the rest), chances are the prices are gonna go up and I would expect to see the price of crude going to 100 per barrel by labor day. Do the big gas companies make money hand over foot - duh! But there is more to that than meets the eyes and it would probably take a whole college semester to explain all of what they do and don't do. Well, that's about it - my 6 cents worth (2 cents adjusted for inflation and the price of crude).

They have to reap a profit there, because as the wholesale price occasionally goes down, they will be caught with old expensive gas still in their tanks. They have to lower the price immediately in that case and sell the gas at a loss, or no one would buy it. Consumers would go to a competitior who just filled up with cheaper gas, and could sell it for less. Nearly everyone else in the petroleum supply chain nets a higher profit per gallon than the retail gas station. Strong local competition keeps them in line.

Since when? Living in Oklahoma where we have more oil wells per square mile than Texas, I can tell you that new drilling rigs are going up everywhere! We have at least three new wells within 5 square miles from my house. Not to mention all the work over rigs that are going up. That being said, could someone please explain to my why the price at the pumps raise every time the price of oil raises per barrel? You know as well as I do that these gas stations didn't pay that much for the gas that is already in their tanks.

Got rid of my lightning, 9 to 10 MPG on premium gas and bought a V-6. During the winter, I heat my house with a wood burning stove, using wood I cut from my yard. Utility bill during the winter around $40. Going home I put the cruise control around 60. It amazes me, the number of vehicles roaring past me at 80 or more. The weird thing is, the last time oil hit $50 per barrel, the gov. went ape sh*t and lowered the speedlimit to 55 MPH. Oil got over $75 per barrel this morning, the highest in history and they are raising the speedlimits to 80 MPH in west TX. Something's wrong here. People are driving like there's no tomorrow. THE ONLY THING these friggin oil companies understand is when people start to drive less, THEN they'll lower the prices.

Well Nothings going to change, if you Sleepy Eyed Lame Americans don't get up off your Butts and start publically Protesting and Demonstrating at your state capitols, in front of the Big Oil Company Executive Offices where they're Headquarterd,,, nothings going to change, and it definetly won't change sitting around watching TV, and attending your favorite ball game or hanging out at your local Beer Tavern either, discussing the situtation with the rest of your Drunk friends !!!! People it takes action, and the power is in numbers,the more the better,, WE must unite and stand together and band together as 1, a Unity, a Platoon, a Brigade,, in able to make changes we need people by the numbers to do as described above!!!! Say,,10,000 people decend on a State Capitol some where, every day, and another 10,000-15,000 in another place, and 150,000 to 300,000 to start protesting at the White House and Capitol in Washington DC,, soon the numbers will grow,, and there will be more people,,and then more people, and maybe we'll have to shut this Nation Down to get results, and oust those from political office if need be, by what ever means necessary !!!!!! Then Maybe,, we can can continue to do Nothing, just as we are now,,, and the situtation only gets worse,,, Now whats that really say about us as a Society,,,,as a Nation, a supposed Free Country under a Democracy ??????? Are we really a Free Country,,, under this Regime, the way their acting lately ?????? Think its time people wake the ****-up !!!!!!!!!

"But relief is on the way--Bush has only 32% rating, and has threats of impeachment because of lying to the American people about our national security, and many other things." What lies? This is the same old song and dance that has been spewed for 5 years now. If it were true, at least one shred of evidence would have been presented, and both houses of Congress would not continue to fund the war. "LIke HITLER, yes, HITLER, he has killed millions of innocent Americans and Middle-easterner civilians by sending them off to Iraq and Afghanistan to get blown to pieces and blow them up." Hitler? OMG! Another one straight from the "I don't have an actual point to make" handbook. Just call someone a racist, or Hitler, and you win the argument. Bravo. Millions of ...? Millions have been killed so far? That's big news. Maybe you should get a job as a reporter for the NY Times, or CBS. They need more accurate information like you have. Most people have put the numbers far lower. Apparently, those people don't have the accurate info you are privy to. "Instead of decently hunting for Osama bin Laden and Al-quaida, he his vicously blowing up women and children over in these countries! And Al-quieda is everywhere--is he going to war with the world?? HMMMMM...like HITLER??" Ah, the Hitler comparison again. Now we're blowing up women and children? Newsflash for you Princess...the TERRORISTS are the ones killing women and children. Unfortunately, our military has it's hands tied because of crybabies wanting to make sure no Mosque, school, hospital, Church, Museum, etc. gets targeted by our troops. This war could have been over and done with in one week if it was done correctly. Carpet bomb the entire country at once. Drop leaflets the first day informing the cities that they will be obliterated if they do not expel the TERRORISTS. Then DO IT! Don't negotiate, just reduce the cities to rubble. That would eliminate the problem quickly. When the first city disappears, the rest of them will get the idea and start hurling the TERRORISTS out. BTW, do you even have a clue about the difference between profit, and profit margin? Also, Do you understand capitalism and the laws of supply and demand? I think not. Hitler didn't either.

I am so dog-on tired of paying $300 a month at the gas pump--that's a dog-on car note!! Thanks toBush! That's what we get for re-electing him! But relief is on the way--Bush has only 32% rating, and has threats of impeachment because of lying to the American people about our national security, and many other things. LIke HITLER, yes, HITLER, he has killed millions of innocent Americans and Middle-easterner civilians by sending them off to Iraq and Afghanistan to get blown to pieces and blow them up. Instead of decently hunting for Osama bin Laden and Al-quaida, he his vicously blowing up women and children over in these countries! And Al-quieda is everywhere--is he going to war with the world?? HMMMMM...like HITLER??

Jed is on to something here. There is absolutely NO LEGITIMATE reason for the high prices we are paying. GREED and CORRUPTION are the ONLY factors in our high prices. We have now exceeded the inflation adjusted all time high of 1981. We have had ethanol technology for our cars since the early 70's! Why have we not switched to it? It is renewable and clean. And CHEAP! The federal government pays out BILLIONS of dollars each year for them NOT to grow corn! Why not spend those billions of dollars in subsidizing ethanol production facilities? BUSH is the reason for our high oil prices, after all his entire family and group of friends are all somehow in the oil business! What about our citizens that are working for minimum wage and supporting a family? Are they supposed to take a THIRD job just to fill the gas tank to get to the other 2 jobs they already have to work? It is a perfect example of ORGANIZED CRIME!

I agree with one part of your post. The commercial aircraft should go back to propellers. Propeller driven aircraft are much more fuel efficient than jet powered. Military aircraft require technological improvements, and speed is one of them. The rest was meaningless. Do you expect them to hoist a sail on a 400ft tanker? What about that 40K ton freighter? How large would these sails be? I can see them now, blocking out the sun as they make their way across the oceans. Locomotives? They're actually pretty efficient. You want to put solar panels on everything? Good luck trying to keep up in traffic. I have yet to see a solar powered car that can go 50mph and seat four people. In reality, we have the environmentalists to thank for our situation. With 55 different blends across the country, California leads the pack, refineries have to shut down to reformulate. There have been no new refineries built in 30 years, and many were shut down because the "greeners" fought against repairing them. Add to this overload on the current refineries, the mere fact that we are not allowed to drill anywhere, and guess what you get? HIGH prices. We currently have about 1.2 TRILLION barrels of oil locked in shale deposits in this country. That's 1.2 TRILLION out of a total 1.6 trillion worldwide. There are only about 250 billion barrels of oil in the middle east. What about ANWR? Low estimates put the reserve there at 10.4 billion barrels. There is NO reason whatsoever that this country needs to import a drop of the stuff. In fact, the tiny section of that frozen wasteland in ANWR that was ORIGINALLY designated for oil drilling, is NOT some pristine habitat where Caribou graze. It's above the artic circle, and is a FROZEN wasteland. It's covered in snow 10 months per year, and a mix of snow and nearly dead vegetation the other two. There are NO animals around the place. Here's a novel approach. If you(readers) are this much concerned for the environment, STOP driving. STOP heating your house. STOP cooling your house. STOP using electricity that does not come from solar panels. Better yet, just STOP! Anyone else ever notice the cars sporting the evniro-bumper stickers ALWAYS spew oil smoke, and are generally in a total disrepair? Global warming is a normal cycle. We've had ice ages...Many of them. We've had warming periods too. Mass extinctions have been attributed to them both...and millions of years before MAN showed up on the scene. The temperatures during Shakespeare's era were higher than they are now. Amazingly, Earth's temperatures correlate directly to the temperatures of the Sun. Who would have ever thought that possible? The star that keeps us from freezing to death, may actually do this by WARMING the planet. I remember back in the 70's, when Al-Gore and his ilk were blathering on about the coming ice age. The money ran out on that scare, and it immediately became Global Warming. Sure. Get a grip. I read recently some genius scientist now claims the cleaner atmosphere is causing Global Warming. We cleaned up the air so much, more SUN gets through and is causing record numbers of skin cancer, and the surface of Earth is absorbing more SUN. HUH? The SUN is causing Global Warming! No DUH! Here's another little known FACT. That smog around Los Angeles? It's been there forever. It was there when the Mexicans owned it. It was there when the Indians owned it. It was probably there when the dinosaurs owned it. Ya'll have fun now.