The Biggest Bush Administration Lies And Falsehoods Of The Week

1. There is "no evidence" of oil company price gouging: This week a number of oil companies posted some of the biggest corporate profits in American history. One oil company actually posted the fourth largest quarterly profit of all time for a U.S. owned corporation. In the second quaurter of 2005, the profit on a barrel of oil was $10.95. Today it has grown to an average of $21.96.

It must also be noted that the world commodities markets prices over $70 for a barrel of oil relate to a barrel of oil that must be imported from a state such as Mexico, Canada or Saudi Arabia. Locally pumped and refined oil in close locations such as Houston, Texas or in cities in California close to this processing can be pumped and processed far cheaper, but oil companies never seem to offer very much of a discount to local motorists. On the other hand motorists in other world cities receive huge discount benefits from the local pumping and refining of oil. In Venezuela, a gallon of gas is a mere 12cents. In Iraq it is about 35 cents. Even in oil rich Iran, motorists seldom pay much more than about $1.13 a gallon. In Saudi Arabia it is about 91cents. In Kuwait it is about 78cents. In Lagos, Nigeria it is about 38 cents. In Cairo, Egypt it is about 65cents. In fact, the U.S. is one of the few nations of the world in which the big oil companies seem to offer no local huge discount for locally pumped, refined, and sold oil products. Gross domestic price gouging and profiteering of the oil industry seems to be the only explanation when 46% of the nation's oil supply is from domestic sources and Mexico and Canada are the two closest importers with far cheaper shipping than from much farther sources like Saudi Arabia.

2. U.S. troops will be able to come home soon after the new Iraqi government is finalized: This is completely absurd. Since the December 2005 legislative election in Iraq, only one 40 minute session of the Iraqi legislature has been held. And while the Shiite majority finally decided to break the deadlock by chosing another leader, there is no evidence at all that a new government will be able to immediately end the sectarian conflict in Iraq that has continued since Winston Churchill drew up the nation in 1922 in a hotel room after the defeat of the WWI Turkish ottoman Empire. Three weeks ago there were 35,000 refugees from the growing violence living in tents from the sectarian violence and "ethnic cleansing" in Iraq. Today there are more than 100,000. April was the bloodiest month for U.S. troops this year. Insurgents of all types wage around 460 attacks a week. And a rising spectre of a serious war with Iran forces U.S. troops to stay deployed in Iraq close to the Strait Of Hormuz, and to protect MidEast oil supplies shipments from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The Bush Administation merely floated the U.S. troop level reduction lowering comments to bouy sagging political support for both the administation as well their war policy.

3. President voiced his disapproval for the new Spanish language version of the National Anthem, claiming it should done only in English: The "National Anthem" is not some uniquely American patriotic song. It is merely the British anthem that honors the Queen of England, "God Save The Queen", done with American lyrics. So there is no history of this anthem having any uniquely American history that has ever existed. And in musical history, different artists doing new versions of existing songs has always existed. There is no reason why this anthem must only be performed one way or by one artist. In fact two of the most famous versions of this song were from Jimi Hendrix at the Woodstock concert and the terrible mockery that Roseanne Barr performed at a sporting event. Right wing hate talk radio and the Bush Administration may have circled their wagons around attacking the Hispanic community over one Latin radio station playing this new Spanish version of the National Anthem on the airwaves, but there is no historical reasoning to either of their bigoted attacks or using this as a new political talking point. The National Anthem has always been open to new versions ever since the days the song was ripped off from the British who wrote and performed it long before any American ever had.