Merlin;
Your point is if we drill enough to supply us with oil, we will not have to depend on anyone else!! Which is very profound and significant in it’s own little special way, but it’s kinda like saying to cure hunger we should just feed everybody??

Thank you! Thank you to all the little people! My people, my people! Thank you so much, you can send me my Nobelly Pizza Prize, cause I’m going to DisneyUniverse!!

OK for the sake of the argument let’s say that I agree with you and we go punch the crap out of the wilderness, leave a few bald spots here and there, and screw up the mating ritual of several entire species, so we can have all the oil we can process on a daily basis!! OK! Now, we still come up short over 12% (2005) of meeting our needs/demands?? I smell dependency!!!

Now being the take charge kinda guy I know you think you are, you of course will insist ever so simplistically that we need to build more refineries!!

And I am with you up to here!! Now, who will build these refineries and where will they be built, keeping in mind, none of the extremists involved, want any part of it??

The environmentalists don’t want them built because the oil industry has never been responsible when it comes to cleaning up their messes and/or shown any inclination to keeping things tidy, and leaving things as they found them!!

The oil companies don’t want them built, they have major investments in the ME oil interests??

Who will step up and build these much needed refineries, and at what cost???

Merlin;
Sorry I didn’t take into account invisible numbers, and the imaginary math, that hid the fact that I had a surplus even though I was paying more?? Thank you for the enlightenment!!

All I know is that back in the 70’s, I, me personally remember paying 24.9 cents per gallon, then later in the 70’s I personally paid up to $1.15!! In the 80’s, up to $1.35 (maybe a little more), in the 90’s up to $1.70 (give or take), now we pay $3.00 and an oil company is giving their top executive a ½ a billion dollars, and telling him that he doesn’t have to go home, but he can’t use the fancy office no more??? I think we have found that inflation problem??

That’s reality, my friend!! If you want to add in for inflation, knock yourself out!!! Has inflation gone up over 1000% since 1970??? You gotta link???

Merlin;
Nope!! Got none on me?? Thanks for bringing it up and bringing it home, by convincing yourself you were right all along??? You should be proud???

So I guess since you skirted my question…;

…you believe no judge, in the history of the US judicial system, has ever been swayed, for any reason other than the letter of the law???

I thought you didn’t like the control the government has, and wanted them to keep there nose out of businesses business?? Oh but when they give demands based on your opinion, and beneficial to your portfolio, all is well??? Please???

What year was this price gouging accusation against oil companies, brought to the halls of justice??

I's just wondering cause it would be kinda hard to make such an accusation, since the governments definition of price gouging is as followed;

http://www.house.gov/platts/gas_price_gouging.shtml

Gouging is distinct, by definition, from price fixing, which is the collusion of multiple gas stations to set prices. Gouging is an act of an individual station taking advantage of supply problems (or even perceived supply problems). Both are illegal activities that will not be tolerated by federal, state or local authorities.

It’s those evil individual owners, and/or rouge managers, that take advantage of things like, “supply” problems, not the poor oil companies??? Rich executives would never take advantage of their consumers to secure windfall profits (they can use to skim money off the top), jeez just because one of them gets 1/2 a billion dollars, how extremely unfair?? He worked a lot of overtime in the past few years, and earned every penny from the blood of his palms and the sweat on his brow... oh, ah, wait i gotta go, pukes coming up in the back of my throat... uhhh!!!

OK, I'm back!! I had to go wash my mouth out with gasoline!! It only took about $1.32 worth, but it was worth it, and necessary I might add!!!

So you can plainly see that corporate oil companies are exempt, simply by definition?? I guess when corporations do it, it is just considered another pay raise, for executives in particular, who have been known from time to time to share some of those record profits with those pesky investors, and those political prostitutes, but they don’t go crazy with any surpluses, if you know what I mean??? You gotta leave ‘em coming back for more??

Here is the contact information on seeing to it that those evil gas station owners and rouge managers, cutting out the middle man, and taking what rightfully belongs too, those poor oil companies, so we can put an end to these injustices, and to protect the interests of monopolized corporate entities!! Please act responsibly and use this federal service/hotline;

The feds promise to you;
OPEC is in no way in collusion to set prices, there is no one to be in collusion against (except the consumer), they are all in it together and they determine the price that we will pay, competitive or otherwise, period!!! Evidently our Supreme Court condones their anti-competitive nature, unanimously!?!

I think it would be easier to list the branches of government (lately) that has not shown favoritism towards corporate oil companies, above it’s own peoples interests!!!

Wait no wait don’t tell me, that would be “none”!! Whewww, that was a toughie!!!

Merlin;
Holy-(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) Batman!! If only we were fighting our dependency on whale oil and wax candles???

I’m not sure what your going for here, living as the wildebeest, scavenging off the land, fighting off natural predators, and killing your neighbor to obtain all the natural resources lying about, takes no taxpayer money either, so what is your point!!

This has reached the level of National Security, which does fall under the responsibility of the government who just by coincidence, happens to pay their bills with taxpayer money!! Comprehendo??

If ingenuity is stifled (naturally or with help of rich corporations), what is wrong with the government giving it a little kick start?? Besides the fact that it goes against the wishes of their corporate bosses!!

Somebody definitely needs to lead follow or get the hell out of the way!!!

__________________
There are only two things wrong with this great nation of ours, democrats and republicans!

Not necessarily in that order.