Naomi Klein has a great new article up on her website called Look Out, that is worth a read. Her book, The Shock Doctrine has just been released in paperback so grab your copy here...She explains how the Shock Doctrine is being applied in the usual Milton Friedman way in the pursuit of pushing through the last remaining remnants of Bush's policies. As usual they prey upon the fears of Americans living in a time when gas and food prices are creating household insecurity like we haven't seen in a long time. What better time for the Republcians to pounce, right

Iraq isn't the only country in the midst of an oil-related stickup. The Bush Administration is busily using a related crisis--the soaring price of fuel--to revive its dream of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). And of drilling offshore. And in the rock-solid shale of the Green River Basin. "Congress must face a hard reality," said George W. Bush on June 18. "Unless members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels--or even higher--our nation must produce more oil."

This is the President as Extortionist in Chief, with gas nozzle pointed to the head of his hostage--which happens to be the entire country. Give me ANWR, or everyone has to spend their summer vacations in the backyard. A final stickup from the cowboy President.

Despite the Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less bumper stickers, drilling in ANWR would have little discernible impact on actual global oil supplies, as its advocates well know. The argument that it could nonetheless bring down oil prices is based not on hard economics but on market psychoanalysis: drilling would "send a message" to the oil traders that more oil is on the way, which would cause them to start betting down the price.

Two points follow from this approach. First, trying to psych out hyperactive commodity traders is what passes for governing in the Bush era, even in the midst of a national emergency. Second, it will never work. If there is one thing we can predict from the oil market's recent behavior, it is that the price is going to keep going up regardless of what new supplies are announced...read on

She appeared with Tavis Smiley in the above video and got into this discussion a bit more and really explains the exploitation that occurs when some sort of disasters hit and BushCo is there just waiting...Her book was the best one I've read in a long, long time. Naomi will be joining C&L for a live chat next Wednesday, July 16 at 2:00 PM EST. I'll keep you posted...

During his nonsensical press conference today, President Bush argued that the best way to help the struggling economy and the staggering price of gas was to either start drilling immediately in ANWR or to get him a magic wand.

Download | play Download | play (h/t David)

Somehow if you mention ANWR it means you don't care about the environment. Well, I'm hoping now people, when they say "ANWR," means you don't care about the gasoline prices that people are paying.

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I think that if there was a magic wand, and say, okay, drop price, I'd do that.

The sad reality is that this President has done nothing over the past 8 years to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, leaving us beholden to the skyrocketing prices -- which are due in large part to the instability we have created in the Middle East. It's a truly vicious circle.

Imagine if we had invested a fraction of what we spent in Iraq on sustainable energy. Gasoline could be well on it's way to being a relic of the past instead of one of the primary causes of the current recession. Considering both Bush and Cheney's extensive ties to the oil industry, I guess this shouldn't come as a big surprise.

Full transcript below the fold:

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