Shocking. I tell you, it's shocking

Smirky McWorstPresidentEver found yet another way to enrich his friends and destroy the environment, even in the midst of a financial situation that has many Americans worried about how to afford getting to work.

I know, can you believe it?

So Bush uttered some words this morning (I won't diminish the language by calling what he does "giving speeches") about rising gas prices. Something must be done, he hears the people cry - well, he hears Frist and Hastert cry, it didn't matter much when Chuck Schumer said exactly the same things a week ago. Now, he had all sorts of options, from increasing supply to asking his friends in the oil industry to reduce profiteering by a small amount, but he did, of course, what was expected.

First, there's the small bone tossed to those who want to see the oil supply go up - the US will temporarily cease putting oil into the strategic reserve. We'll ignore the reports that OPEC, etc, could actually produce more oil, and say fine, that at least gets at that whole supply/demand thing.

But then what's next? Well, we all know that the reason prices have gone up is that that MTBE, a gasoline additive for years, gets into the water supply, makes it undrinkable, and might cause cancer, is being replaced by ethanol, and that takes time and money. And we certainly can't expect the oil companies to eat any of that cost themselves - if the government is going to punish them by trying to make their products less toxic, dammit, the peons will have to pay!

Oh, and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the daily inferences that we will invade every oil producing nation on the planet. Nope, that uncertainty doesn't upset anything.

So, what does Bush want to do to ease prices?

President George W. Bush on Tuesday gave U.S. refiners extra time to pay back emergency oil loans, and called on the government to find ways to ease new clean-burning gasoline regulations.

In a speech to the pro-ethanol Renewable Fuels Association, Bush said the U.S. Congress should find a way to approve permits to build new refineries a year after they are filed.

Bush said he told the Environmental Protection Agency to use "all available authority to grant waivers that would relieve critical fuel shortages," and said he would seek more waiver authority from Congress if needed.

Let's see - he wants to give his buddies (the $10 billion profit club) extra time to pay back loans (but Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public had better not dawdle on those credit card payments when they get laid off because their employers moved to India).

He wants to reduce regulations designed to keep our air breathable and our water drinkable, even as companies like GE have come out in support of limits on greenhouse gas emissions to attempt to curb mankind's influence on global warming.

He wants to make sure that refineries aren't delayed by anything, so that his $10 billion buddies can make more money faster.

He wants the EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency. Protection. Sigh.) to allow the oil companies to not change from MTBE to ethanol, so that a small portion of their profits don't vanish ($10 billion) and drinking water continues to get more polluted.

Truly no shame.