That's Billion With A B

The kicker is that there's an Exxon station right by my house which I try desperately to avoid but occasionally visit. Me and most of the rest of the civilized world:

Record earnings for Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, have become routine as the surge of oil prices in recent years has filled its coffers. The company’s income for the second quarter rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. That beat the previous record of $11.66 billion set by Exxon in the last three months of 2007.

Exxon’s profits were nearly $90,000 a minute over the quarter, but it was less than Wall Street had expected. Exxon’s shares fell 4.6 percent, to close at $80.43. (The company calculates that it pays $274,000 a minute in taxes and spends $884,000 a minute to run the business.)

Which means they make a million bucks a minute in raw revenue. They really expect us to not know the meaning of the word "profit." Also, I know something they're not paying 10 cents a minute on - alternative energy.

Shell's profits were a record, too. But Wall Street thinks they should have been MORE of a record, so I'm supposed to feel sorry for the oil companies and give them offshore leases.

There are these little nuggets - oil spills on the Mississippi, record profits for Big Oil, Veco bribing a sitting Senator - that should demolish the "Drill Now" argument. It's real simple - if you expect the folks who are getting rich off of high gas prices to do the lowering for you, then you're a sucker. And guess what? People actually aren't the suckers that media types and politicos make them out to be.

1. Yesterday's CNN poll found 69% supported coastal drilling, but only 51% believed it would lower gas prices. And that's without a real coordinated effort to get the facts out about how painfully little coastal drilling would affect prices.

2. Also in that CNN poll, when voters are asked which presidential candidate would do a better job on gas prices, coastal drilling opponent Barack Obama beats coastal drilling supporter John McCain, 51% to 40%. Obama has emphasized the need to invest in clean energy and use less oil, and that forward-thinking approach appears to resonate more than the drill, drill, drill mantra.

3. The headlines in California today talk up a Public Policy Institute of California poll showing support for coastal drilling rising from 41% to 51%.

But PPIC's own analysis says: "California adults narrowly support allowing more oil drilling off the California coast and narrowly oppose building more nuclear power plants, with deeply divided opinions across party lines. By comparison, there is solid support and consensus for increasing fuel efficiency of automobiles and increasing federal funding for research on alternative energy sources."

4. All of the above is in sync with last week's poll from the Wilderness Society, which found:

-- Only 34% "strongly" support coastal drilling, with another 19% merely supporting it "somewhat."

-- 54% don't believe coastal drilling will lower gas prices (slightly more than in the CNN poll), a number that rises to 64% when respondents are reminded that "we have already opened up most of our public lands to oil drilling and gas prices have not gone down."

-- 63% believe coastal drilling "is more likely to enrich oil companies than to lower gas prices for American consumers."

-- A whopping 76% believe "Investing in new energy technology including renewable fuels and more efficient automobiles" is a more important priority than "expanding exploration and drilling for more oil."

More on the CNN poll here - oil companies are blamed for high gas prices, overwhelmingly.

So this suck-up from Republicans, thinking they've got an issue to run with, is another phantom, as sure as immigration was in 2006. Meanwhile, Harry Reid smartly let the GOP walk right into a trap today.

Going into this week, the Senate Republicans insisted that they would block all the legislative measures until an energy bill was first brought to the floor.

Democratic leadership, initially furious over the obstructionism, is now calling their bluff. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night introduced a Department of Defense Authorization bill that would, among other things, include a 3.9 percent across-the-board pay raise for military personnel; major funding increases for research into traumatic brain injury treatment and troop suicide prevention efforts; $26 billion for the Defense Health Program, and $500 million for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles. A vote could come as early as tonight.

It did come tonight, and Republicans filibustered. Now I know the DSCC has a large war chest. Every dollar of it that goes against those Senators up for re-election who either voted "No" today or missed the vote:

Sununu (NH), Cornyn (TX), Chambliss (GA), Inhofe (OK), McConnell (KY), Stevens (AK), Wicker (MS)

And the message is simple - "Your Senator voted to get your kids killed. Send them a message and send them home."

They can stamp their little feet on this oil thing all they want. In so doing they make a mockery - yet again - of "supporting the troops."