Congress vs. Big Oil

It really bugs me everytime I hear someone complain about gas prices and the first thing out of their mouth is "These oil companies are making record profits by gouging the little people!" Really? Is that where the blame actually lies? I don't think so. People think that companies like Exxon set the per barrel price of oil. This is not the case. Oil is traded as a commodity. The price of oil is set by people that panic and pee their pants everytime some nutball over in the Middle East rattles a sabre. It's not set by actual demand on the product. I am not even close to understanding the stock market and all of the nonsense that goes on at Wall Street. But this manner of setting oil prices doesn't make sense to me. Why should a bunch of Wall Street Weenies have that much control over something that affects every man, woman and child in America? Additionally, if Congress and the Environmentalist Whackos would get the hell out of the way, let Big Oil explore for new sources and let them drill for it in environmentally friendly ways. You might just see a decrease in gas prices. No doubt that it will take years for any new oil to impact current prices. But if we had been drilling for oil that when it was discovered 10 or so years ago, we might not be in the pinch that we are in now. Glenn Beck illustrated this in a very good way yesterday on his national radio show. In this portion of his show he parodied a Congressman grilling someone from Big Oil. I have edited it a little, however, no pertinent content was removed. You can find the full transcript here.

Mr. Big oil, we're here to talk about the high price of gasoline. How could it have possibly gotten this high?

Let me tell you what we've done here in congress.
We told you that drilling in ANWR is off limits.
We told you that drilling off the coast of Florida and California is off limits.
We told you, Mr. Big oil, that there wouldn't be any new leases for drilling in the Gulf while China and Venezuela and even Cuba pursued these leases and have just signed 100-year leases on the oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
We here in congress have promised, as all three presidential candidates have also promised, to introduce and pass in the next term a cap and trade legislation bill that will increase the price of gasoline according to the EPA by an additional $1.50. Some people say it could be as high as $5 additional per gallon.
We have said that we're shutting down oil fields in Colorado.
We won't let you develop shale oil fields in several Western states.
We passed legislation that would let us sue OPEC with the full understanding that they'll never retaliate.
We have allowed environmental attorneys to sue you big oil fiends for future possible destruction of Alaskan Eskimo village which legal experts believe is the same strategy used to bring down big tobacco.
We're especially proud of our recent action to protect the polar bear and their habitat which just happens to be where the future oil deposits happen to be located.
We told you that you're making too much money and that we're looking at seizing any money that we consider windfall profits.
We have allowed you to drill in some very small areas in Alaska while simultaneously creating very generous environmental laws which have tied up the very production we authorize through years of litigation after you spent the money on buying and setting up equipment.
We told you through our policies that we would not allow you to build a new refinery in over 30 years.
In fact, this great country, under our tutelage, has even reduced the number of operational refineries by half since 1982.
We have even told your potential competitors in the nuclear and hydroelectric industries that we would send the environmental lawyers after them if they even dared think about building a new plant or a new dam.
We've refused to fund or allow the deployment of coal-to-oil technology which has been around since the 1930s.
We've told you that you have to make different blends of gasoline, let states like California dictate what unique gasoline blends you have to make for them.
We will not reduce our federal gasoline tax.
We won't even consider reducing it for the summer months.
So Mr. Big oil, tell me why exactly are gas prices so high?

NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

Earlier this month, my wife and I went to visit my brother and his wife at their apartment in New Jersey. We got to spend 3 full days with them and visiting New York City. This is the first time that I had been to either place. New York City has been in the top 2 places in the U.S. that I wanted to visit in my life. So needless to say, I was excited to visit the Big Apple. It was awesome.

While we were there it just so happened (wink, wink) that the subscribers to Conservative radio host and CNN Headline TV host Glenn Beck's website were having a National Insider Convention. Basically it is a gathering of Glenn's fans just to meet each other and spend time together. There are several of these Insider Conventions held across the country. About 2 years ago several Insiders wanted to have a national meeting. Glenn was invited to attend. Long story short, New York City was the only place that Glenn's schedule allowed him to attend. The first National Insider Convention was held last year. This year was the second and I was able to attend. Beck and his staff organized several events and Glenn was there for each one. Maybe it's just me, but Glenn genuinely seemed like a real person. He was very down to earth and very polite.

I have posted several pictures of a couple of the events. (I am the tall fat dufus with the loud shirt and goofy beard.) The first set were taken before and after a private screening (for the Insiders) of the taping of Glenn's TV show. Before the taping he described a little of what to expect and what he does. Afterward he came back to talk a little longer and even answered a few questions from us. The second set were taken the next day during a Meet & Greet session. Glenn and his staff answered questions for about 90 minutes. Then he met (albeit briefly) with each and every Insider. Posing for pictures and giving autographs. I was really impressed with the intimacy of the whole thing. Plus, he seemed genuinely thankful for those of us that are willing to pay a little extra every month to subscribe to his site. That or he was really laying it on thick. :D

The New York City photos (all 554 of them) are ones that the wife and I took on our trip around Manhattan, Ellis Island and Liberty Island. There is a lot of boring stuff in there. Believe it or not, I weeded out a lot of the really boring stuff. (I started with about 600+ pics)

Some of my favorites are from our trip to the World Trade Center site, FDNY Ten House & the memorial wall, St. Paul's Chapel (next to WTC where many of FDNY & NYPD took refuge during rescue & recovery operations) Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty. There is also a short visit (near the end) to the infamous FDNY Hook & Ladder #8. The last few pictures are of the Deutsche Bank Building. Sadly two of New York's Bravest died in that building fighting a fire on the upper floors. Those pictures were taken a couple of days after that fatal fire. God bless the FDNY and their fallen brothers.

Sorry for being so long winded. I hope you all enjoy the pics. If nothing else, maybe they'll help cure that insomnia that has been nagging you for the last several years. :)