So it looks like Bush is going to release some much needed oil from the Strategic Oil Reserves, which should take some of the bite out of the anticipated gasoline prices which are expected to in some places to soar to over three dollars a gallon. In fact, they have probably gone over that mark in some areas. Now there's something else he could do, but he won't. He recently received an indirect offer from Venezualan President Hugo Chavez, to the effect that he would sell the U.S. cheap oil, if only the U.S. would give him some aid in fighting drug smugglers.
So, is he trying to be a smart-ass or what? I mean, isn't this the guy that has been accussed of funding FARQ, the narco-terrorists who have been wreaking havoc in Columbia, and other places? Or is he perhaps being serious? There could be another possible answer that is somewhat a combination of the two. Everyone knows-well, let's just say it is widely assummed-that the Drug Enforcement Agency is arguably the most corrupt of all U.S. government agencies. In fact, it has been alleged that a good many DEA agents are involved with illegal drug smuggling and trafficking, and that in fact without their aid a good many of the drugs that make it over here would never make it to the border, let alone across it.
This could be a way for Chavez to actualy increase the amount of drugs that he is involved with smuggling into our country, perhaps a way he could as much as double the amount. Get in good with the DEA. Sure, good DEA agents don't come cheap, but they can provide an invaluable insurance policy, they save you money in the long run, and you are ultimately assurred of increasing your profits two or three-fold, with a much lessenned chance of ever being caught, and thus charged with a crime.
Chavez earlier mused that he might be willing to open gas stations here in this country and sell gasoline cheap to the American public. Hugo wants to be your friend. Hey, fine with me. Gasoline in Venezuala is currently 12 cents a gallon, due to the fact that gasoline is subsidized by the Venezualan government. Naturally, it could never be that cheap here, but shit, I'd be thrilled if it was back to the good old days of two dollars a gallon.
The problem is, Bush is never going to accede to this, and Chavez knows it. Bush would never allow him to compete with the American and other oil companies such as BP, who contribute I am sure handily to all his campaign goals and agendas, and who look upon Mr. Bush as their ultimate protector. Chavez's offer for cheap gas in return for aid in combating drug smugglers, I am very much afraid, was not so much a serius offer as it was a shot across the bow. One might even go so far as to call it a cheap shot.
