Gasoline prices hit a new high here today!

[Rammstein]

Hi,

Here in Germany : 7 $US / Gal (1,44 € / L) !!!

Beer is cheaper !

Ever heard about the "Peak Oil" ?

Rammstein

[A.W]

What's the difference between Jesse James and the oil companies?

Jesse James was honourable, he used a gun.

[GaryL]

our government is letting the people down,, of course we have an oil man in the oval office,, so why does he care he is getting rich,, read an article the CEO of Exon Mobill makes over 200 million a year. what could possibly justify that kind of wage.. even back in the eirly 80`s there was a spell when gas went over 100 a barrel and it didnt effect gas prices at all.. now every time the wind blows in an unusual direction they raise the price of gas, we might live to see another civil war right here .. just my thoughts,,

You said it htoler, we got enough oil for the prices not to skyrocket for one thing, they just won't turn it lose Also I seen just this past week on the TV that most of our oil & NGas from Alaska and yep CANADA goes over sea's....Go Figure they just be sticking it to us.

[Partikle]

New film entitled 'Who Killed the Electric Car':

http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/index.html#here


This week, NOW talks to director Chris Paine about his upcoming documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The film looks at the hopeful birth and untimely death of the electric car, an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving salvation to some, but a profit barrier to others.

In a film that has all the elements of a murder mystery, Paine points the finger at car companies, the oil industry, bad ad campaigns, consumer wariness, and a lack of commitment from the U.S. government.

"[The film] is about why the only kind of cars that we can drive run on oil. And for a while there was a terrific alternative, a pure electric car," Paine said.

In 1996, General Motors (G.M.) launched the first modern-day commercially available electric car, the EV1. The car required no fuel and could be plugged in for recharging at home and at a number of so-called battery parks.

Many of the people who leased the car, including a number of celebrities, said the car drove like a dream.

"...the EV1 was a high performer. It could do a U-turn on a dime; it was incredibly quiet and smooth. And it was fast. I could beat any Porsche off the line at a stoplight. I loved it," Actress, Alexandra Paul told NOW.

After California regulators saw G.M.s electric car in the late 1980s, they launched a zero-emissions vehicle program in 1990 to clean up the state's smoggy skies.

Under the program, two percent of all new cars sold had to be electric by 1998 and 10 percent by 2003.

But it was not to be. A little over 1,000 EV1s were produced by G.M. before the company pulled the plug on the project in 2002 due to insufficient demand. Other major car makers also ceased production of their electric vehicles.

In the wake of a legal challenge from G.M. and DaimlerChrysler, California amended its regulations and abandoned its goals. Shortly thereafter, automakers began reclaiming and dismantling their electrics as they came off lease.

Some suggest that G.M. -- which says it invested some $1 billion in the EV1 -- never really wanted the cars to take off. They say G.M. intentionally sabotaged their own marketing efforts because they feared the car would cannibalize its existing business. G.M. disputes these claims.

Take a trip with us this week as we find out more about why the electric car slipped off the road. Next time on NOW.

"Who Killed the Electric Car" appears in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on June 28th and in other theaters throughout the country sometime this summer.

[Partikle]

Check out this video clip http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/
Pretty interested movie trailer, here are some quotes from it.
"The oil companies have a strong incentive to discourage alternatives.”
"The cost of this electric car is the same as gas at 60 cents a gallon."
“There is still a Trillion barrels of oil left in the earth’s crust, that’s 100 Trillion dollars of business yet to be done."

[Woody Williams]

It "only" went up 7 cents here to $2.99..

[marmot]

I used to vote for the man until I seen what the Liberal Democrats are doing to this country and yea that includes Gun Rights.

Please elaborate on what the Democrats have done in the past that is worse than what the current incarnation of the GOP is currently doing to this country. In the last six years, the GOP leadership has stood by as the last of the industrial sector has all but been dismantled and shipped offshore. They have also helped to accelerate the movement of the hi-tech sector and cutting-edge R&D to offshore locations (often via taxpayer backed loan guarantees from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation). To complicate matters, the current GOP leadership has been engaged in shifting the tax burden onto wage income while simultaneously running up the largest deficit in this country’s history. That bill is going to come due, and you and I, Joe Wage Income Earner, are going to have to pay it because the current GOP leadership has all but eliminated the tax on investment income and wants to make the tax cuts permanent (while tax cuts are good thing, this move is nothing more than tax shifting).

In the end, it does not matter if one picks a Republican or a Democrat, as they are now two sides of the same coin. Both parties now believe in large, obtrusive government. The only real difference between the two parties is which section of the Bill of Rights they are trying to trash. If you are truly interested in protecting your rights as well as your ability to earn a living in a non-gerrymandered free market with a government that is afraid of the people, I suggest that you join our team.

[marmot]

New film entitled 'Who Killed the Electric Car'

Interesting?

[A.W]

Kind of like the old Chrysler slant six engines. They were made too good. They didn't break down that often which meant less repairs, lasted too long, less profit. Let's get rid of that sucker!!!

[wabi]

Before we erupt in a political mud-slinging dispute, lets face facts. The oil companies are the #1 contributors to the presidential campaign funds - FOR BOTH PARTIES!!!!!!!!!!
The oil companies own the president regardless of his political party!

[ENYAW]

Heres a paragraph from a letter I received from T.D. Waterhouse last week[ A recent poll reported that U.S. citizens think most of there oil comes from Saudia Arabia and Iraq. The facts are domestic U.S. production supplies 41%, Canada 9%, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela each 8%,Mexico 7%, Nigeria 5%, Iraq 4%, Norway,Angola, and Columbia each 1.7% and the rest by Ecuador,Kuwait,Indoneia,and Libia] . Strange eh.

[A.W]

The history of electric vehicles.

http://inventors.about.com/library/week ... ctrica.htm

[marmot]

Kind of like the old Chrysler slant six engines. They were made too good. They didn't break down that often which meant less repairs, lasted too long, less profit. Let's get rid of that sucker!!!

Like the 225?

[marmot]

Before we erupt in a political mud-slinging dispute, lets face facts. The oil companies are the #1 contributors to the presidential campaign funds - FOR BOTH PARTIES!!!!!!!!!!
The oil companies own the president regardless of his political party!

Correct, but here's a piece from back in 2001:

Oil, gas giants anticipate vast benefits from Bush policy

By William E. Gibson
Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON --

The big oil and gas companies that spent almost $2 million to help
President Bush get elected last year are pouring millions more into an
advertising campaign this summer to help sell his energy policy in
Congress.

The campaign contributions, the ads and an intense lobbying effort
behind them are part of a major investment in energy legislation that
could lead to a massive payoff for industry.

The stakes are enormous for Bush and for the companies that stand to
gain from his plan to boost production.

The price of campaign cash and ads would be easily eclipsed by the
billions of dollars of tax breaks and potential business that would
spring from the Bush-inspired energy bill approved by the House of
Representatives just after midnight on Aug. 2.

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, two former Texas oilmen with a
wealth of connections to the fossil-fuels industry, rode into office
on a rising tide of fuel prices while warning of an energy crisis.

Although gasoline prices have since dropped and brownouts have
receded, energy legislation shaped by the president’s proposals is
churning toward a confrontation in the Senate when Congress reconvenes
next month.

For his allies in industry, enactment of Bush’s energy policy would
mean more land and offshore oil and gas production, new refineries,
293,000 miles of pipeline, looser government regulation, greater
access to public lands and, if the House bill prevails, more than $20
billion of tax breaks over 10 years.

Companies would be allowed to begin exploratory drilling about 100
miles off Florida’s shoreline under an administration plan to lease
1.47 million acres in the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

[kendo kid]

The fact remains, Oil only is causing the problem. As long as there are no sizable alternatives for people to use, the cartels will meet in the Caymans to set prices and keep their sweet heart deals with our enemies. The oil companies and their allies (our enemies) will continue to rake in huge profits while keeping the world unstable thus allowing prices to rise.

Competition drives prices down and services up. Monopolies drive prices up and services down. (Ask any body from Ontario what the service is like from their cable company.) As long as we tolerate the existence of energy operating as a monoploy we are f----ed. Alternatives will provide people with a choice. It is the choice that big business fears. More choices, more competition, lower prices and better service.

Regarding the issue of being conservative: Both of you get your head out of your a-- because Hill-a-roy is starting her offensive and run for office. If she gets in you can kiss a lot of things we have good-bye. Her attack on Rumsey is an angled attack at the protesting the war without looking like a 1960 war protester she and bill really are. Believe me, she will begin to develop positions on alternative energy in order to appear more in support of the working man and the control of gas prices. However, she is in bed with the oil companies and the desire to control the distribution system for energy. This snake in the grass will devour the poor toad before he even knows it.

There are answers and we must begin to use our buying power to force the alternative to the surface. The Coal companies and the oil companies have been competition for 140 years. They do not like each other and it seems a natural place to begin to develop some pressure for gasoline made from coal. I do not know much about this area. However, a hydrocarbon is a hydrocarbon. American ingenuity needs to figure this out.