New York Times reports that oil "jumped to a new high above $62 a barrel" today. As Larry Goldstein of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation notes, "'The market is hypersensitive to facts, rumors and noise because the supply cushion is gone.'"

Kind of makes you wish for the good old days of September 2000 when folks were worried about oil going for $35 a barrel. Remember back then when candidate George Bush was accusing Vice President Gore and President Clinton of playing politics by releasing some 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve? Remember when candidate George Bush said,

We need to use our strong hand in the diplomatic circles to make it clear to our friends overseas that we don't want them holding our nation and our consumers hostage. We expect them to increase the supply of crude oil, so that the price of crude oil drops.

Too bad he's squandered all that diplomatic capital. Remember when candidate George Bush said of Vice Presiednt Gore's tax plan, "You may get a break on transportation, but only if you drive around in a hybrid electric and gasoline-engine vehicle." Just imagine how much better off we'd be if five years ago the government offered tax cuts on hybrid cars instead of Hummers. Just imagine.

Those were the same days when candidate Bush declared,

Today, the armed forces of the United States are used too much and supported too little. Military commitments around the world have multiplied, stretching the services to the limit. Our military suffers from back-to-back deployments, poor pay, shortages of spare parts and equipment, and rapidly declining readiness.

These are difficult days for the military and they will not continue. [. . .] [I will] provide the armed forces with clear missions, better pay, better housing, better training

Things have gotten worse instead of better under George Bush. Oil trading above $60 a barrel. Our troops sent to war without the proper equipment and then stuck in a country that is spinning out of control. Facing an insurgency while lacking the proper spare parts, body armor, and other equipment that would make their job a little safer. Worst of all, they were sent there on a fool's errand with no thought of an exit strategy. The military Bush inherited fromClinton was pretty efficient and well trained. Can we say the same things today? Our military sturggles to meet recruiting deadlines. Struggles with readiness issues. And according to some reports the military is rationing equipment like body armor.

The more one digs the bigger George Bush's lies become.

And with John Bolton's appointment to the U.N. it appears that George Bush wasn't joking when upon visiting Congress for the first time as President-elect said, "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just so long as I'm the dictator."

posted by Idle Crank at 8/01/2005 05:18:00 PM