Make no mistake

This is what our current administration is about, and why we need a change. They are helping corporations steal from the American people.

The Interior Department has dropped claims that the Chevron Corporation systematically underpaid the government for natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, a decision that could allow energy companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.

. . .

“The government is giving up without a fight,” said Richard T. Dorman, a lawyer representing private citizens suing Chevron over its federal royalty payments. “If this decision is left standing, it would result in the loss of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars in royalties owed by other companies.”

. . .

“This latest revelation proves that the Bush administration is incapable of preventing big oil companies from cheating taxpayers,” said Representative Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, a senior Democrat on the House Committee on Resources. “The public has been systematically fleeced out of royalties that these companies owe for the privilege of drilling for oil and gas on lands belonging to all of us.”

It's a corporate give away to an industry already awash in record profits, dragging down our economy. This is the Bush-Cheney agenda.

Once again, since it’s the Iraq war that’s driven up oil prices and led to record profits for the US petroleum industry, why not impose a surcharge on that industry to pay for the Iraq war, since they're the ones benefiting from it.