Trick or Treat

Doesn't this guy look like the rat who just stole the cheese? Can you guess who this is? That's right Hastert. And why is he so furtive? According to this and this he apparently cannot abide being in a hybrid car for any longer than one minute without going through gass guzzler withdrawls.

The trick or treat? Well, according to the NYT's article above, we can all be looking for congress to buy our votes for a fat juicy $100 cheque, a gas "rebate," right in time for elections (which puts it right about Halloween). While, simultaneously, Bush, true to form, blames environmentalists for our increasing gas prices. After all, the tree huggers were the ones who forced us to add all that Ethanol bologna to our tanks to make the gas burn cleaner, Environmentalists who force us to import oil from so far away, raising the cost exponentially. So he is proposing legislation that will slash requirements for ethanol added to gas for cleaner air and open up Alaskan oil fields for unlimited drilling (wasn't this the guy who just told us in his State of the Union Address that USA is addicted to oil and we need to get off of it?). Fortunately, Republicans are "suggesting" to congress that there be greater oil company taxes. All this while Exon is raking in the money, a seven percent gain in first quarter profits.

The trick here is the same trick that these Republicans play on us again and again. Bait and switch. Coopting our ideas into their own evil schemes. Buying our love. This "rebate" for our high gas woes? Don't fall for it. What is $100 when the prices keep soaring upward, and oil production and use is destroying our planet? And the timing! You can take it to the bank those rebates will come right before the November elections. "Suggesting" taxes on oil companies? Folks, a suggestion is less than a promise, much less than a bill, and much much less than a law. Anyway, that was the Democrat's idea, everyone. It was sneared when "W" promised to veto a bill it was in last year before all the Republicans in office feared losing their jobs. Republican's don't really love you and don't really care about your out of pocket woes. They just just blocked an effort to "...prohibit oil companies from escaping federal royalties for drilling on public lands when oil prices exceeded $55 per barrel. (Prices recently rose above $75 a barrel.)." That's right! Taxpayers are supporting oil companies for our high oil prices and Republicans feel that we should all continue to do so. They are like the "magicians" who hide the jewel under the cup, move the cups around really fast, and you have to guess where the jewel is when it really is not there at all. It is all smoke and mirrors and illusion, a clever disguise as caring folks. Just look at Hastert sneaking from his hybrid back to his gas-guzzler, and please don't be bought. Please don't be tricked this year.