theyeti1:26PMJun 23rd 2008

You should not even have the catagory "not sure". If YOU can't answer YES or NO don't even bother!

Nathan1:53PMJun 23rd 2008

yeah i totally agree with theyeti. AOL should not put a not sure choice in these polls. Either make your opinion yes or no, or DONT VOTE. All the not sures drive me insane.

stone thrower1:56PMJun 23rd 2008

McCain 2008(former hillary supporter)

Nathan2:02PMJun 23rd 2008

Way to go stone thrower!! McCain 2008. I am shocked that you arent supporting Obama but at the same time i am happy to see that some Americans are smart enough to see all the issues Obama has going for him.

Vicki2:29PMJun 23rd 2008

I did not realize that Beorge W Bush was so popular.

gizmo2:29PMJun 23rd 2008

Democratic party is not the same party it used to be. It is filled with far left radicals and etlists. These people do not care if the gas gets to 20 dollars a gallon. They do not want you to use gas supposedly for the environment. This party does not care about the working people of this country. From a Ex-Democrat.

robert2:35PMJun 23rd 2008

OSAMA CAN KISS MY TYPICAL WHITE ASS.
X-DEMOCRAT

landmreyn82:42PMJun 23rd 2008

landmreyn8@aol.com

I don't think suing OPEC will help, but regulating the commodity markets sure would. Speculators are at the bottom of this, and the low interest rates and dollar are feeding it. The Federal Reserve could raise rates, which would help. Prices are not likely to fall much if any before we have a new president. But I do not have much enthusiasm for any of the candidates either. Big oil runs and is ruining the U.S. and GWBush and Cheney are the ring leaders.

Joyce2:50PMJun 23rd 2008

I am thoroughly disgusted with the Democratic Party as they allowed an unethical primary election. It appears they have lost their marbles along the way; as a result I can no longer support the party. I cannot condone "handpicking" an unknown candidate...something they will live to regret, I'm sure. I don't believe they are looking out for the interests of concerned citizens. Instead there appear to be acts of desperation to win at any cost. Winning by cheating should not be the American way, but corruption is becoming more prevalent all the time. We, the people, need to put our foot down in an effort to stop it. Waking up & seeing that Obama is all wrong for our country & not supporting him is a place to start. I fear for the "change" he has in mind. He's focused on self not on YOU & that needs to be realized NOW before it's too late. It would be risky business having such an incompetent, untruthful president who has beliefs we are uncertain of.
I'm to the point of "anybody but Obama." I do not trust him at all....not even the white part of him.

Hard core Democrat2:51PMJun 23rd 2008

Oh You put two oil executive in the white house 2x and only now you surprise that gas price is $4 and climbing.

Let me get back to my plans in discovering my auto battery LMAO

coolpharmer2:51PMJun 23rd 2008

The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It’s controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major oil companies.

As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. The problem has to do with control of oil and its price.

Anyone who voted "no" -- saying that regulating U.S. commodity markets to remove some aspects of speculation will not lower the price of oil -- got it wrong. Now "by how much?" is the real question.

AdventurusBlonde3:09PMJun 23rd 2008

Question? What is it with the media...even Fox News shares Mcain is behind, but the AOL Hot Seat polls shows Mccain far ahead of Obama....Why does the media not acknowledge the Internet polls? I'd think that they would be more atuned to what the people think since it is more acessable and hopefully can not be skewed. "I do not vote 4 someone based on their race, but the EXPERIENCE they bring 2 the table." So Obama how long do we need to wait to find out about your great changes you have planned for our country?

Randy3:40PMJun 23rd 2008

What is the difference in Wanting to talk with North Korea and Russia when if you want to talk to IRAN and Hugo Chavez? I do not see any diffferent just double standard from McBush and this administration.. And I voted for Bush the last 2 terms thinking that he was going to fix things, BUT NOT. I am a retiree and have a son in law in Iraq we should not be there because there were no WMD. Get a grip people, Breathe

Polar Bears for McCain4:18PMJun 23rd 2008

Polar Bear mission statement: Less Ice More Fish...

*Obama as President makes US an Obamanation...
*Obama's Oil policy is "Yes We Can"t", "Hopeless", and "Changeless...
*Obama and the left wing Retards only like "Big Oil" when it's time to move their "Big Ass"...

bandit5:38PMJun 23rd 2008

To all the republicians. I can not believe how thick you all are. You think that the Dems. are going to raise the price of gas and not care about the working class of this country. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS. Get your damm head out of the sand. The only thing the repubs. have done is made big business richer and lined their own pockets. It will be great when Obama wins by a huge landslide. When you're all sitting there crying I'll be laughing. Kiss mine.

wheeljc5:54PMJun 23rd 2008

This is a different perspective!!!!



BIG OIL

Bill Phillips spent nearly 50 years in the US oil and gas industry; most of his career was with the Phillips Petroleum Company. Bill is a descendant of Frank Phillips. Frank Phillips, along with his brother Lee Eldas (L.E.) Phillips, Sr., founded the original Phillips Petroleum Company in 1917 in Bartlesville, OK. Do you remember Phillips 66 gas stations? Phillips Petroleum Company merged with Conoco, Inc. in 2002 to form the current ConocoPhillips oil company.


So, when Bill talks about oil and gas issues, I tend to listen - very closely. I think that you will find Bill's thoughts and facts very revealing, very compelling and very difficult to argue with.


As you prepare to cast your crucial ballots this Fall, please think long and hard about the far-reaching, cumulative effects of the US political philosophies, policies and legislation that have contributed to the current and future US oil supply situation.


May 28, 2008

"Big Oil"
Did you know that the United States does NOT have any big oil companies. It's true: the largest American oil company, Exxon Mobil, is only the 14th largest in the world, and is dwarfed by the really big oil companies--all owned by foreign governments or government-sponsored monopolies--that dominate the world's oil supply.

This graph below tells the story; you can barely see the American oil companies as minor players on the right side of the chart in gray. The chart was presented to the House committee last week by Chevron.

With 94% of the world's oil supply locked up by foreign governments, most of which are hostile to the United States, the relatively puny American oil companies do not have access to enough crude oil to significantly affect the market and help bring prices down. Thus, ExxonMobil, a "small" oil company, buys 90% of the crude oil that it refines for the U.S. market from the big players, i.e, mostly-hostile foreign governments. The price at the U.S. pump is rising because the price the big oil companies charge ExxonMobil and the other small American companies for crude oil is going up as the value of the American dollar goes down. They will eventually bleed this country into printing even more money and we will go into runway inflation once again as we did under the Carter Democratic reign.

This is obviously a tough situation for the American consumer. The irony is that it doesn't have to be that way. The United States--unlike, say, France--actually has vast petroleum reserves. It would be possible for American oil companies to develop those reserves, play a far bigger role in international markets, and deliver gas at the pump to American consumers at a much lower price, while creating many thousands of jobs for Americans. This would be infinitely preferable to shipping endless billions of dollars to Saudi Arabia, Russia and Venezuela to be used in propping up their economies.

So, why doesn't it happen? Because the Democrat Party--aided, sadly, by a handful of Republicans--deliberately keeps gas prices high and our domestic oil companies small by putting most of our reserves off limits to development. China is now drilling in the Caribbean, off Cuba but our own companies are barred by law from developing large oil fields off the coasts of Florida and California. Enormous oil-shale deposits in the Rocky Mountain states could go a long way toward supplying American consumers' needs, but the Democratic Congress won't allow those resources to be developed. ANWR contains vast petroleum reserves, but we don't know how vast, because Congress, not wanting the American people to know how badly its policies are hurting our economy, has made it illegal to explore and map those reserves, let alone develop them.

In short, all Americans are paying a terrible price for the Democratic Party's perverse energy policies. I own some small interests in tiny, 4 barrel-per-day oil wells in Wyoming. We have 14 agencies that have iron-hand jurisdiction over us. If we drop any oil on the ground when the refinery truck comes to pick up oil from our holding tanks, we are fined. Yet down the road the state will spray thousands of gallons of used oil on a dirt road to control dirt. When it rains that oil runs into rivers and creeks. Yet a cup of oil on the ground at our wellhead is a $50,000 EPA fine plus additional fines from state regulating agencies. They treat oil as if it were plutonium that has the potential to leak into the environment. We are fined if our dirt burms are not high enough around a holding tank, yet the truck that picks up our oil runs down the road at 60 mph with no burm around it. People wonder why there is no more exploration in this country.. It's because of the regulators; people who have lived their whole lives doing nothing but imposing fines on small operators like us for doing mostly nothing.

So, America enjoy your $4.00 per gallon gasoline. Your dollar is now worth 0.62 Euro-Cents. The lack of American production of GNP, the massive trade deficit (as labor markets have moved overseas to fight insanely high union imposed labor costs in America) and the run away printing of money (backed by nothing of value here in America) has caused the dollar to become more worthless on the international market. And that's where our oil comes from. It's paid for with dollars that become more worthless everyday. If we had just kept par with the Euro we'd be paying $62 dollars per barrel for oil (42 gallons) or about $1.50 instead of $2.50 a gallon for crude oil.

What the US government also does not tell you is that it is the leaseholder and royalty recipient of most oil production and receives 25% of the gross oil sales before we pay for electricity to lift the oil, propane to keep the oil-water separators from freezing in the winters. We pay a pumper to visit each well everyday plus we have equipment failures all the time. We pay for that out of our 75% of gross sales. The government does not share in any expenses to run any production well. So, if the Big Oil Companies are making record profits, then so is the federal government from it's 25% tax on every molecule of oil sold to a refinery in this country. Why isn't the government on the stand for "Record" profits? What you don't see is this 25% of the sales price of crude oil being siphoned away by the government. That money plus the road taxes, state taxes, etc. amounts to over $1 per gallon of gasoline you are buying while the governments only admit to about 50 cents per gallon.

To all you Democrats, when you go vote for your candidate, a blazing liberal like Barrack Hussein Obama or Hillary Clinton, just keep in mind that their liberal spending habits will further decrease the value of the American dollar on the world market and your gasoline costs will hike even higher. As they introduce more give-away programs, raise taxes on everyone to pay people not to produce or work, your dollar will continue to dwindle on the world market and you will be paying $10.00 per gallon at the next election. Cheap hydrocarbon fuel is all over. Enjoy! Enjoy the fruits of your decision to elect these folks when you are there in that voting booth and you stab your pin through a Democrat's name.

William "Bill" Phillips

j ness7:08PMJun 23rd 2008

I am a traditionalist. As far as I'm concerned if the Democratic Party wins the Presidential election, we can all say good bye to the America I used to know and maybe the one you used to know.

I am appalled at the comments about this country coming from "The Left". Does anyone remember the
Veterans of WWII, Viet Nam, Korea and Iraq? Probably not. I see more and more people looking for a free ride in this country. There not asking what can I do for my country? It's more of what can I get from the country. And the Dems want my/our tax dollars given to the very people who ask what can you give me. Our we headed for Socialism ?

All the Dems want is power. But, the virgin voters and the so-called learned voters of this country can't see beyond their pseudo-intellectual circle. Wake up America!

P.S. I'm not a Republican either. I just love my country.

BERT10:05PMJun 23rd 2008

TO THE OBAMA WORSHIPPERS. OBAMA HAS NO EXPERIENCE AND I DOUBT HIS ALLEGIANCE TO THIS COUNTRY.THINK OF THIS COMPARISON. IF YOU NEED BRAIN OR HEART SURGERY WOULD YOU WANT A SECOND YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT TO OPERATE ON YOU OR WOULD YOU WANT A DOCTOR WHO HAS GRADUATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL WITH LOTS OF EXPERIENCE IN ONE OF THESE FIELDS WITH EXPERIENCE AND TIME AS A DOCTOR. DO YOU WANT A PRESIDENT WHO HAS LITTLE EXPERIENCE AS A 2 YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT (OBAMA) OR DO YOU WANT A PRESIDENT WITH EXPERIENCE AS MCCAIN. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY OBAMA’S SMOOTH TAKING AND HIS CHARACTER REFEREENCES , REV WRIGHT, FATHER PFLEGER,AYERS THE TERRORIST . IF YOU THINK BUSH WAS BAD FOR THE COUNTRY FOR THE PAST 7 YEARS YOU WILL PRAY THAT YOU HAD BUSH BACK AFTER OBAMA WAS VOTED IN AS PRESIDENT. SERIOUSLY THINK WHEN YOU GO INTO THE VOTING BOOTH IN NOVEMBER AND VOTE FOR MCCAIN

David10:07PMJun 23rd 2008

allwoing US to drill our own oil will be one of the only things to bring down gas prices...this would have already happened but the demos voted NO...guess who was one of the no votes? Barack HUSSIAN Obama

VOTE FOR A TRUE AMERICAN HERO....Vote Jophn MCCain

David10:08PMJun 23rd 2008

if the demos had been with republicans on drilling our own oil, gas prices would be lower today...guess who was one of the no votes? Barack HUSSIAN Obama...
Vote for John McCain a true american hero