Congressional Fools Day

Yesterday was April Fools Day, but could just as easily have been called congressional fools day for the way congressmen acted in a public pummeling of the oil industry:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Don't blame us, oil industry chiefs told a skeptical Congress. Top executives of the country's five biggest oil companies said Tuesday they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it's not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries.

Appearing before a House committee, the executives were pressed to explain why they should continue to get billions of dollars in tax breaks when they made $123 billion last year and motorists are paying record gasoline prices at the pump.

"On April Fool's Day, the biggest joke of all is being played on American families by Big Oil," Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said, aiming his remarks at the five executives sitting shoulder-to-shoulder in a congressional hearing room.

I wish the execs had the guts to get in Markey's face and demand why he and his allies in the Dem party won't allow drilling in Alaska or other offshore tracts where the experts know there are significant reserves. Instead of playing defense over the issue of their profits and investments in alternative energy, they need to play offense and tell Congress that it's none of their business what a company does with its money. They're in the oil business to make money for their shareholders, not to solve America's self-created energy problems.

UPDATE: A loosely related story from Scrappleface: Rev. Wright: Big Oil Attacked Because It's Black