Anybody who read The American Reporter's "Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Next Energy Crisis" on Aug. 13 (datelined Aug. 12) would have known the price hikes were coming, and the piece was blasted to about 3,000 readers - many of whom responded. The opening graf:

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 12, 2003 -- Remember the phony claims of energy traders that unraveled into the Enron scandal and, as California Gov. Gray Davis said during his Los Angeles Times debate with Republican businessman Bill Simon, "We were bilked out of $21 billion..."?

And not many would have been taken by surprise
by the price hikes when they read this deeper down:

Only those who really search, or drive from state to state, are likely to grasp the magnitude of the fraud, and fewer and fewer people are doing that. Just last year, the floating crap game that is the manipulated energy and gasoline market had Californians paying close to $2 for a gallon of the same gas that was going for $1.24 at Arco stations in Phoenix. This year, gas is $1.65 or thereabouts for regular at those stations, but most people in each state are focused on their particular price change. Soon, though, everything that is transported from one state to another may experience a sharp rise in prices - unless refiners and the Bush administration decide it would be better to postpone the political damage into his second term.

I get a kick out of those who sanctimoniously block our commentaries - usually because they think we are all liberals or conservatives - and then end up being victmized because they lacked critical information. It has happened a lot in the past few years.

Anybody who read The American Reporter's "Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Next Energy Crisis" on Aug. 13 (datelined Aug. 12) would have known the price hikes were coming, and the piece was blasted to about 3,000 readers - many of whom responded. The opening graf:

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 12, 2003 -- Remember the phony claims of energy traders that unraveled into the Enron scandal and, as California Gov. Gray Davis said during his Los Angeles Times debate with Republican businessman Bill Simon, "We were bilked out of $21 billion..."?

And not many would have been taken by surprise
by the price hikes when they read this deeper down::

Only those who really search, or drive from state to state, are likely to grasp the magnitude of the fraud, and fewer and fewer people are doing that. Just last year, the floating crap game that is the manipulated energy and gasoline market had Californians paying close to $2 for a gallon of the same gas that was going for $1.24 at Arco stations in Phoenix. This year, gas is $1.65 or thereabouts for regular at those stations, but most people in each state are focused on their particular price change. Soon, though, everything that is transported from one state to another may experience a sharp rise in prices - unless refiners and the Bush administration decide it would be better to postpone the political damage into his second term.

I get a kick out of those who sanctimoniously block our commentaries - usually because they think we are all liberals or conservatives - and then end up being victmized because they lacked critical information. It has happened a lot in the past few years, and sometimes I wonder if it's because someone doesn't want others to know what we publish.