At 08:41 AM 7/9/01 -0600, Richard wrote:
 What's more, they (the Oil interests) would
really hate it if they were
require
to sell all the production from the U.S. to the U.S. and stop exporting. 
        Dammed Right!  I used to live in Roanoke, Virginia during the so
 called "energy shortage" in the mid-70s. Roanoke was the headquarters of
 the N&W Railroad and is located on their main line between W.Virginia and
 the seaports on the east coast of Virginia. EVERYDAY I used to see a
 multitude of trains loaded with nothing but coal from W.V. headed to the
 seaports to be loaded and hauled to Japan and other countries.  This was at
 the same time that we couldn't heat our houses or drive our cars due to a
 "lack" of coal and oil!   Wake up, folks! These "shortages" are
nothing
 more than the manipulations of the oil industries and other large companies
 and are designed to do nothing except increase their profits.   Go look up
 the statistics for the amount of oil imported during the so called arab oil
 embargo of the 70s. It was virtually the same as before the "embargo" but
 yet the comsumers were hood-winked into believing that there was a major
 shortage and tricked into paying more than double the price for all fuels.
 Even the ones that originated in the US.  Go look at the amount of oil, gas
 or electric power consumed in this country.  Has it declined at all in the
 last 30 years?  No, of course not.  The oil and power companies don't want
 it to decline, they have to keep up their profits.
      Stop and think about what's going on in this country. The major
 companies are screwing the American public on a daily basis and many of the
 politicians (particularly the Republicans) are playing right along.  The
 companies invent these crisis and then use them as a pretext to not only
 rob us blind but also to circumvent numerious laws including conspiracy,
 anti-trust and enviromental laws. If you have doubts about the willingness
 of the politicians to play along with the enrgy companies, go look up the
 donor's names and amounts of the contributions to guys like GWB. All of
 that data is public record.  While you're at it look up his investments in
 the oil and other energy related companies.    With conficts of interest
 like his, we will never develope an alternative to oil and gasoline and we
 will never resolve the "energy crisis". 
Well said Joe!
Buit is even deeper than that (i.e. Big Oil and politicians). At one time
the oil industry was under investigation for price fixing and the like. There
was even anti trust legislation and I'm not talking about Rockefeller and
Standard Oil. It started in the 40s was shelved during the war (WW2).
It resurfaced in the 50s. When things came to a head, the Supreme Court
ruled that oil is a national security mineral (vital). Not only did the
investigation go away, but the oil industry was given a lead role in
American foriegn policy. They got access to the CIA and the like!
The interaction between Big Oil and the intelligence community is
quite notorious. Its amazing to watch people like Dick Cheney
flow between them. And now as VP his secrets are supposed to
be part of the public record. He still has not provided the GAO
with the list of members of is enegry task force.
Should an industry get access to the vitals of US foreign policy?
Eric