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A New Way to Guzzle Gas
In response to the rise in fuel-related crime, authorities are becoming more vigilant. Earlier this week firefighters in Oak Ridge, Tenn., noticed two trucks driving by with 55-gallon drums in their beds that reeked of fuel. Suspicious, they alerted the police, who went to investigate and found that the trucks were operated by two brothers who were in possession of nine 55-gallon drums, one 30-gallon drum and a gas tank from an old truck, all filled with different grades of fuel, according to police chief David Beams. The brothers told the police they had purchased the fuel from a local Phillips 66 station with a credit card. But when the cops contacted the station, the owner said no such transaction had occurred and that, in fact, he was missing 1,100 gallons. Police are now investigating the brothers' possible connection to that and other fuel crimes in the area. They may be only two culprits among a growing army, but these days, every drop of rescued fuel counts.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: TheVigil @ 07/06/2008 8:41:44 PM
Comment: Only part of this rise in gas prices has been due to Bush's policies. The bungled war and unregulated Wall Street meltdown have ravaged the dollar, which is part of what's killing prices. If the dollar were able to buy more foreign currencies that trade in oil at a higher rate, gas would be correspondingly cheaper, maybe up to a buck or so or even more.
However, the era of buck-fifty-a-gallon-gas is gone forever, no matter what any president does. International demand for oil has skyrocketed due to increases in demand from India, China, and former Soviet Bloc countries which aren't going away. As a matter of fact, oil prices are only likely to increase from here on out, including the price of gas.
America is in very poor shape to withstand this. Bush isn't really culpable for the rise in gas prices; the largest energy poilcy failure of this administration was the complete failure to see this coming (it's been pretty visible on the horizon since at least 2000) and to take action to move us toward renewable energy sources eight years ago.
The biggest challenge to America's prosperity has been a trick question for years now. Since 2001, a tremendous number of Americans have believed it's been the threat of foreign terrorism. Bad as 9/11 was, I don't think it's going to compare with the coming economic and environmental problems our petrochemical dependence is going to cause. Biofuels only exascerbate the problem, because we've tied our fuel sources to crops that are going to increasingly fail due to environmental catastrophes. In reality it's been the intense and growing dependence of our entire economy on a really relatively scarce as well as highly polluting fossil fuel that was the major challenge the administration governing from 2000 to 2008 needed to face, and Bush has gotten distracted and blown the money we needed to do it on military contractors in a useless war. We're going to be in for hard times in the coming years.
Posted By: Nins @ 06/20/2008 12:07:17 AM
Comment: Oil and war, war and oil. Environmental destruction. Endless greed. US corporations getting tax breaks while shipping jobs overseas to countries that have no environmental protection laws, no workers' rights, no human rights. Countries where people are factory slaves and the air is so polluted you can hardly breathe. US military violating the Geneva convention, torturing prisoners. US government imprisoning people without charging them with any crimes, and holding them for years without trial. Working class Americans losing their homes in a mortgage banking scandal, and the government bails out the banks, not the working people.
It's simple:
If you are sickened by these things, vote for Obama. If you think these are good things, vote for McCain.
I'm a Republican and I own two corporations. I thought it would be a cold day in hell before I ever said anything like this. But the unprecedented corporate greed aided and abetted by an unscrupulous Presidential administration is now starting to take down the US economy. I have to stand up and protest.
Corporations are good only insofar as they strengthen America. When they start to weaken us, we need to re-evaluate the rules and regulations governing business.
And we need to get rid of George W. Bush, along with all of his misguided policies that have dragged our once proud nation into the mud.
Posted By: james323@yahoo.com @ 06/16/2008 9:35:53 PM
Comment: Owning and driving a vehicle is a privledge, not a right. If people can't afford to fill up their gas tank, they should not be driving. There are other means of transportation. People aren't willing to change and are always looking for someone to blame rather than exploring alternative options.