Yes if all member items were throughout the state were kicked out. We could save hundreads of thousands of dollars. But the current situation is not like that. So her district gets hurt.

I’m also at a loss to understand an apparent paradox- When John McCain rails against earmarks/member items, he’s hailed as a straight shooting maverick that will fix DC. When Sandy Galef does the same thing, it’s bad?

Gore: Cellulosic ethanol. Different from corn-based ethanol. I think it is going to be a huge new source of energy, particularly for the transportation sector. You’re going to see it all over the place. You’re going to see a lot more flex-fuel vehicles. You’re going to see new processes that utilize waste as the source of energy, so there’s no petroleum consumed in the process—that makes the energy balance uniformly positive, so you can regrow it and it does become, in a real sense, renewable. You may also begin to see a new generation of fuel cells that run on cellulosic ethanol, where you can grow your own electricity. I think it’s going to play a huge role.”

BTW, even with corn-based ethanol, that doesn’t explain the shortages of rice or wheat, which are NOT used to make ethanol.

Nice try, Wahoo/Ethan.

Both parties are responsible. But the terrible ethanol idea originated with the Al Gore crowd, those people who like to embrace trees and sing “Wooden Heart” to them.

It’s just politicians pandering to voters by projecting the appearance that they’re “doing something about it.” In actuality, I’m sure that they’re well aware that these proposals aren’t going to go anywhere, but it gives the right appearance to the casual observer, and gives them an opportunity to blame someone else when it goes nowhere.

A 3 month holiday from the fed gas tax (about $.18/gal) would end up saving me personally about $47, or about $3.90 a week. While I wouldn’t turn any extra cash down, how far do you think $3.90 would go with today’s prices? It’s a bandaid, backed by empty promises.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/economy/2008/02/01/exxons-profits-measuring-a-record-windfall.html

Keep in mind that much of that profit is also due to the fact that they are not reinvesting much, if at all, in expanding refinery capacity. What THAT does is keep their margin up in the short term, and in the long-term creates shortages, which drives up the prices we pay. For them, it’s a win-win situation. Not so much for us…

It is about time some politician is doing something about it.

The oil companies are convenient villains. But their profit margins aren’t obscene. They are also regulated to death. There is a grade of gas for each day of the week, or so it seems, and grades OK for California but not New York, and so on. The biggest villain is government.

The facts he outlines speak for themselves.

Prices also go up for anything corn-related. That includes feed for animals, and those costs are passed on.

The standards being devised for cars’ gas mileage are not do-able economically, and they are hurting the auto industry. The cars will be smaller, lighter, much less safe, and much more expensive.

The Left-wingers won’t allow refineries, offshore drilling, and anything else that would help. The Right wing rolls over and plays dead.

This entire mess in the fuel and food situation is either government created or at least made worse to a large extent—either by action, inaction or over-regulation. The travel part of the economy is tanking too. Airlines going broke, long lines, higher fares. Higher transportation costs affect food prices, too. Etc. Etc.

It almost all is fixable. But the cowards in government would rather blame the oil companies. They are lying.

She really has done a bum job for the people she’s supposed to represent. Her recent movie theater legislation was about as hair-brained as they come. Bill Gouldman is right on this issue but who knows where he stands on others or if he has the experience to be a good legislator. It would be better to have someone like Marshall Goldberg run for State Assembly. He’s a Democrat which is a plus, and he has tons of experience. As a school board member, he knows all about Galef’s unfunded mandates and other problems that she’s created. I think he would win if he decided to run, he should think about.

$3.37, $3.52, $3.62 is still expensive to me. I understand what Bill Gouldman is saying, and it’s a good idea, but all he’s really talking about is saving about $10 each time we fill up. Sure, that can add up, but I still remember not too long ago, paying anywhere from $1.50 – $2.00 per gallon, thinking THAT was expensive. Something else is going on here.

Everything is going up except salaries and people are hurting yet we have a President and Congress that ignore us and a government in Albany too dysfunctional to get the job done.

typical big government bs at work. everything needs to be studied, debated, polled – meanwhile, nothing gets done.

cut the damn gas taxes! we can’t afford it anymore!

As for Eliot Engel, who is just echoing Nancy Pelosi, that is ridiculous. It’s a drop in the bucket.

Why don’t the pols really address the problem? Take on Al Gore and the tree-huggers over ethanol, any and all bio fuels, and all the other crazed ideas which are affecting the prices of gas, heating oil and food in extremely adverse ways. That’s the answer. Not the band-aids being pushed by the politicians.

If you think it’s bad now, just wait. And it won’t be a long wait, either.