Jessica,

You are absolutely correct. I believe that the reason for all this is plain political dirty poo whereby the Republicans are trying to make an uninformed American public believe that there is plenty of cheap domestic oil that can be sourced from US offshore waters, and that the Democratic Congress is simply being obstinate in denying that voting public a continuation of business-as-usual based on cheap fossil fuels (Bush and Cheney's "the American way of life is not negotiable"). I should know because I am a Republican turned Democrat. The biggest worry that I have is if the Republicans keep the White House, they will push an oil exploration and development agenda that will be the most expensive government-subsidized program in history, FAR, FAR more expensive than the switch of 100% of US electricity to renewable energy proposed on Thursday by Al Gore, which by the way is completely realistic. The cost of this oil exploration and development program is $5 TRILLION (that is a T), or 5X the combined market capitalization of Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, and Chevron. We humans (mainly your Baby Boomer parents) simply have consumed so much "easy oil" out of the earth that the oil companies do not have enough money to explore on their own dime, even with the enormous record profits that they make now! All future oil exploration and development will have to be PRIMARILY (not just heavily, as in today) government subsidized. Note that global oil discovery peaked in the 1960s; people didn't stop drilling for oil fortunes, the geological situation is THAT BAD. (I won't even go into the tragic environmental shortcuts that will take place under the desperate drilling program that the Republicans want; look up Ecuador and Texaco in the 1960s and 70s.) Guess whom the Republicans would want to pay for most of that $5 trillion in oil exploration and development? The American taxpayers (who have already subsidized much of the cheap oil that the developed world has consumed over the last 50 years by having guaranteed its availability through the US military), which under the Republican tax regime are primarily the poor, the middle class, and faceless future generations (by continuing to run huge deficits). But the absolute worst part of all this is that oil exploration by no means will necessarily put any gas in your tank; there is enormous uncertainty in the amount of oil that could be recovered. If the Republicans win in November and the US energy policy remains heavily and artificially biased toward oil and other fossil fuel sources, many experts (and unlike Sean Hannity, I will name one: Matt Simmons, chairman of Simmons & Company, an energy investment bank) fear that there will be an extreme diesel and gasoline shortage that would shut down transportation in the United States. Since food is transported thousands of miles in this country, think not only food shortages but the chaos and disorder that can occur when people who are used to eating a lot and have guns (Americans) are starving.

If you and your community visit my site, http://cnbcsucks.wordpress.com, you will undoubtedly gasp in horror and indignation at the misogyny on the site. I will not apologize because (I am a horny pervert and) I pledge to counterbalance Republican misinformation and propaganda on media outlets such as CNBC (see Larry Kudlow's daily DRILL, DRILL, DRILL crap on Kudlow & Company) and help the Democrats win by any means necessary, to help prevent the national security nightmare above that will be all too possible if John McCain and business-as-usual win in November. But make no mistake, I am in TOTAL AGREEMENT with your wonderful site on ALL your causes, including the latest funny Friday Feminist Fuck You on cooking by Sarah Haskins. (Top ramen, anyone?) I hope that all of your community remain as committed and engaged as ever in making sure that not only Barack Obama wins in November, but that we elect as many Democratic Senators, Representatives, Governors, state legislators, mayors, judges, you name it. We need TWENTY YEARS of Democratic Party political hegemony in this country to safely get through the energy crisis ahead. We all need to work together, including feminists and misogynist-feminists such as me.

All the best,

CNBC Sucks (and it does)