Oil Prices Continue to Surge, Hitting $66 a Barrel

For the third time this week, oil prices whizzed through a new high. Crude oil prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange hit $66 a barrel in trading today. Oil first touched $64 a barrel on Monday and $65 a barrel on Wednesday.

[more]

The Saudi Oil Peril to U.S.
The Vice President's visit to pay homage to the new Saudi ruler sent a huge signal that the U.S. will do everything it can to placate the Saudi regime.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters recently that relations with the U.S. "couldn't be better." The prince could afford to be cheery and expansive. The royal kingdom literally has the U. S over a barrel, that is the roughly 10 million barrels that Saudi Arabia pumps out daily, about 11 percent of the world's total. Bush officials desperately need their oil. U.S. dependency on Saudi oil is greater now than it was before the 9/11 attacks, and that mocks Bush's claim that the U.S. can and will at least any time soon wean itself off Saudi oil, or dictate to the Saudi's how they should run their government, or diplomatic policy.

[more]

Pictures are sometimes worth much more than a 1000 words...(or, "it's here")