"The Bush administration, eager to sell the country on 'personal' Social Security accounts, cannot be all that pleased to see Kenny Boy again. He's the poster boy for how big guys can rip off suckers in the stock market. He also dredges up some inconvenient pre-9/11 memories of Bush family business. Enron was the biggest Bush-Cheney campaign contributor in the 2000 election. Kenny Boy and his lovely wife Linda flew the first President Bush and Barbara Bush to the ensuing Inauguration on the Enron jet. Even as Enron was presiding over rolling blackouts in California, Dick Cheney or his aides had at least six meetings with the company's executives to carve up government energy policy in 2001. Even now what exactly transpired at those meetings remains a secret."

Serving a nation of oil addicts, legislators know that to be re-elected, you gain a lot more favor from users by reducing the cost of their fix than forcing them into a treatment program to ease their dependence.

Our oil reserves in that region are like money in the bank, gaining in value while also providing an asset that could be used for our national security in the future when our survival may depend on it. Using it now is like burning your furniture to stay warm because it’s easier than insulating the roof and chopping some firewood.