Letters to the Editor
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The market has no politics
If politicians would stand up to the oil companies.
Legislation could be created to hold the oil companies accountable and ensure that they pay for it, and don't manipulate the costs for consumers more, as a result of it.
The gas tax is levied on oil companies. They simply pass the buck down to the customers. That's because demand is high, and people will pay the price (which is relatively low, by any global measure). Eliminating that tax, while instituting another on the same industry, is simply robbing Peter to pay Paul.
That's ignoring the other problems associated with this proposal, which have been illustrated in detail.
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FredBizzle
I'm not "just" anti-Obama or "just" someone living on a fixed income or "just" amything else. Amnd I did not mean to associate you personally with all those anti-Clinton rants, but I've heard them too many times in too many places to take them calmly anymore. Clinton is not the ideal candidate and I will vote for Obama if I have to in the general election, but I'm tired of the "Clinton rules" that have been written about by others, that Clinton is Evil and Barack is Good (or, as someone said on TV, Clinton was born in Illinois; Obama was born in a manger."
To equate Clinton with Bush or McCain is just stupid, even on the gast tax holiday. Are you saying that, even in principle, there shoould never ever be any relief for regular folks who drive cars? What kind of new politics is that? (I also think your conflation of a very short, tem porary gas holiday with Social Security problems is a bit far out.)
In closing, I really am bitter about my economic situation because not all of it was my fault; and if it just affected me, I'd live through it. But I don't think its Hillary Clinton's fault either. And I hear too many criticisms of her that are personal innuendo instead of reasoned political argument. And I don't trust the pro-Obama journalists such as Matthews, Russert, Dowd, Rich and the others who lied to us about Gore and got Bush elected. They are as much to blame for Iraq as Hillary is for any of the evils you've mentioned. I've even seen Hillary bashed in these pages over Whitewater, which was fabricated by the NYTimes, and accused of murder.
So I apologize for mixing you in with the less reasonable people who post anti-Clinton screeds, especially the ones who cry "racist" at any criticism of Obama.
p.s. I would like to know why so many people who post on liberal and progressive blogs, regardless of candidate preference, think it is funny to mock people who take medicine of any kind.
(Above comment should not be taken to mean I am conservative. I do think liberal is probably the best that can be accomplished right now, but I'm still basically a Trotskyite.)
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Steve
I apologize if it seemed I was making fun of you for taking medications. That's a whole other complicated issue, combining the sorry state of health coverage and the deregulation of prescription drug advertising. I'm bitter about the state of this country in a whole lot of ways, and I'm sorry if I dropped some of that on you.
I'll support whoever the nominee is, too, but I definitely have a favorite.
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Did you ever notice...
You never hear an American politician saying, "I support elites." (Just like "I support political correctness" or "I support extremism" or "I support ideology.")
BTW, there is a way you can reduce prices and consumption at the same time. It's called rationing.
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@vbjack
It's all academic anyway because if no one has noticed she is not the President, there is no bill pending and even if there was one the current sitting President, if the bill even passed through Congress, would never sign it. And there is no way it would be veto proof.
But I bet Hillary, born wealthy, educated at Wellesley and Yale is having a hoot playing populist Presidential candidate.
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@Steve Fox
You are fighting the wrong fight here. The price of gas isn't your problem, it's your health coverage. You might want to look into some of these options. Arizona seems to do a lot for it's seniors, especially those with medical disabilities:
http://www.medicarerights.org/maincontentwhatmedicarecovers.html
http://www.ahirc.org/seniors_arizona.html
http://phoenix.about.com/cs/health/a/copperx01.htm
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040325.html
http://www.ssa.ocgov.com/Health_Care/Medical_Services/Aged_Blind_Disabled/default.asp
http://www.arizonaseniornetwork.com/CommunityServices.html#anchor_184
And if $30 really makes that much of a difference for you each month you might want to consider dropping the internet service.
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RIRedinPA:
You are wrong. Clinton was not born wealthy. She was born middle class. Her father owned a small drapery business. She went to public high school, was class president, and a member of the National Honor Society. She was very fortunate to have parents who respected education. Unlike that two-bit jock-sniffing dirty Texas drunk who has spent the last seven years running down our country, Clinton was not born on third base.
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RIRedinPA
I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I thought the gas tax was my biggest or only problem. Since the topic of the post was mostly about the gas tax and how it related to the primary election, and that's what everyone else wrote letters about, that's what I did, too. I'm quite aware that health care coverage is my biggest concern right now, but that wasn't the topic.
Also, I thought I made it clear, but I guess I didn't, is that I am drawing Social Security Disability, not straight Social Security. You don't have to be a senior to receive SS Disability benefits; I've got 5 more years before I reach the age to take advantage of programs that are specifically for senior citizens.
Thanks for the links, though, I'll save them.