$2.84 per gallon of diesel

[Chase]

$2.84 per gallon of diesel. That's what it cost a year ago. Since then, the cost of a barrel of oil has more than doubled and we're paying an average of $4.65 today, or more like $4.92 (and more) in California.

I'm mad as hell about what has been allowed to happen with the cost of fuel. The price of a gallon of diesel and gas is a matter of national security and it appears to me that our leaders in Washington D.C. are asleep at the wheel.

When OPEC threatened to halt the flow of oil to the United States in the early 70's because of our support of Israel, President Nixon was smart enough to understand that the well being of both our economy and nation was at stake. Nixon ordered the speed limits reduced to 55 mph and I'm pretty certain that either the Congress or Nixon himself would have taken steps to prevent fuel prices from spiraling out of control.

One would have to be living in a state of near denial to not be able to recognize that as the cost of fuel has gone up, the strength of our economy has gone down. Read any paper these days and you'll see articles written about this driving firm or that one going belly up. Airlines are going out of business almost as quickly as trucking outfits.

Americans who are able to barely hang on through the summer might find themselves wiped out by fuel costs this upcoming winter.

Let's place the blame where blame belongs. Opec isn't complaining about the price of $136 per barrel of oil. That just means more American dollars filling their overflowing coffers.

Oil companies have no interest in seeing prices come down. They're not drilling on 68 million acres of land they've been sanctioned to drill on in the United States. They've applied for only one license to build one refinery here in the states during the past 30 years. They benefit to pump oil out of the ground anywhere when they can charge $136 per barrel.

Unfortunately, *unregulated speculation* and commodity investors deserve most of the blame for this unnerving drive to the wild side. Some in Congress understand that speculators are driving the price up and are profiting at our expense. Where is the remedy by way of legislation? Why hasn't President Bush issued an Executive Order to put a screeching halt to the insanity?

[BugCatcher]

I been posting here a long time and it's good to see your fire. Reminds me of something I heard the other day.

A farmer (one that hasn't been wiped out yet) finally decided to buy a new television. The store assured him they would install the antenna and TV the next day.

The next evening the farmer turned on his new TV and found only political ads on every channel. The next morning he turned the TV on and found only political ads again.

When he came in to eat lunch he tried the TV again but still only found political ads.

The next day when he still found only political ads he called the store to complain. The store owner said that it was impossible for every channel to only have political ads, but agreed to send their repairman to check the TV.

When the TV repairman turned on the TV he found that the farmer was right. After looking at the TV for a while he went outside to check the antenna. In a few minutes he returned and told the farmer he had found the problem.

The antenna had been installed on top of the windmill and grounded to the manure spreader.