The Nation
by Nicholas von Hoffman

11/07/05

The Senate is getting ready to perform one of its ancient ceremonies -- the public hanging of a varlet by the ears. A Republican-controlled Senate has, surprisingly, chosen for the role of star varlet Lee Raymond, ExxonMobil's CEO. When committee hearings begin on Wednesday, Raymond will find himself under the thumbscrew, trying to explain why his company has been making money at the rate of $75,000 a minute, or nearly $10 billion from July through September. CEOs from the other big energy companies will get the same treatment, and not just from Democrats. This is a bipartisan necktie party. The senators are heated up over the price of gasoline, which has gone down a little lately, and the price of natural gas, which has not. They fear the many millions of natural gas users (voters) who are about to be socked with heating bills like they've not seen before...

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051121/vonhoffman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp