Don't Expect to Find This in Mainstream Media!

Two topics that will surely not be covered at all by the so called "mainstream media"are the prospect of foreign countries drilling for oil off the coast of the Southern tip of the Florida Keys. And the real reasons for gasoline prices being so high.
In 1977 the United States signed a treaty with Cuba guaranteeing that Cuba has exclusive right to an exclusive zone of commercial exploration up to 50 miles off its coastline. Cuba is approximately 100 miles from the southern most tip of the Florida Keys, so this gives them mineral rights for an estimated 4.6 billion barrels of crude oil beneath these waters. This estimate was given in a speech on the Senate floor by Idaho Senator Larry Craig recently. The environmentalists and fellow travelers like Senator Martinez of Florida have managed to forbid passage of legislation allowing offshore drilling to provided the crude necessary to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. But the Cubans have already discovered oil offshore with the aid of the oil exploration company Repsol from Spain. Cuba is now in negotiations for drilling and production agreements with Repsol of Spain, Sherritt of Canada and (surprise-Surprise)the Communist Chinese company Siopac. Undoubtedly soon oil will be flowing to one or all of these countries while we Americans continue to suffer at the gasoline pumps.
The second thing you will not hear or read from "old" media is the main causes of the high cost of gasoline at the pump. It is not the price gouging of "Big Oil" as they and the Washington politicians would like us to believe. The real reasons are as follows.
1. The world increase in demand due to economic expansion both at home and in developing countries like china and India. These two countries have 8 times the population of the U.S. and are developing rapidly. Requiring more oil products.
2. Available supply of gasoline has been reduced Hurricane Rita and Katrina reduced U.S. refinery output by 5%. Government mandates for ethanol have reduced the refineries ability to produce gasoline. They can't produce them at the same time. Addition government regulation requiring the additive MTBE be put in ethanol for environmental reasons has delayed refinery retooling and increased time away from the production of gasoline.
3. The government tariff of 54 cents on the importation of foreign ethanol from countries like Brazil has reduced the supply of a government mandated product. This done by Congress to protect Midwestern corn farmers, especially Iowa.
4. Government failure to allow the building of additional refineries for the last 30 years.
5. Federal and State taxes cost an average of 50 cents a gallon. In some states it is higher.
6. Oil production in the United States has fallen by 44.5% since 1971, and since 1996 alone it has dropped 12.3%. Diminished supply always increasing demand and higher prices for what is available.
7. Today we have dropped the demand for fuel efficient cars, and have purchased many more gas guzzler SUVs and Pickup trucks.
So you see it isn't the money grubbing oil companies who are to blame. Some of the big companies like BP, the 2nd largest oil corporation in the world reported a net loss in profit of 15% for this years first quarter.
Just a few things to think about the next time you are filling your gas tank while cursing 'Those Damn Oil Companies!"