Why boost the oil reserve now?

A quiz

Riddle me this Batman, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was boosted from 778 million barrels of oil to one billion barrels of oil in 2005. Now just as gas is getting under $2.00 a gallon, the president wants to double the reserve, taking another billion barrels of oil off the market. Supply and demand being what they are, do you think gas prices will go up or down as we add an additional billion barrels to the reserve? If prices rise, will Bush’s popularity go up or down? And now the $64,000 question, what does the president know that we don’t that would cause him to risk his already anemic favorability rating to yank a billion more barrels of oil off the market?

Perhaps this what Bush knows:

Iran (From ynetnews)

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad… assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives," the Iranian president was quoted as saying.

"Sparking discord among Muslims, especially between the Shiites and Sunnis, is a plot hatched by the Zionists and the US for dominating regional nations and looting their resources," Ahmadinejad added, according to the report.

The Iranian president also directly tied events in Lebanon to a wider plan aimed at Israel's destruction. He called on "regional countries" to "support the Islamic resistance of the Lebanese people and strive to enhance solidarity and unity among the different Palestinian groups in a bid to pave the ground for the undermining of the Zionist regime whose demise is, of course, imminent."

North Korea (From Telegraph news)

North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year.

Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists.

The Bush Doctrine

The U.S. will "make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them".

The State of the Union

To extend this nation's prosperity; to spend the people's money wisely; to solve problems, not leave them to future generations; to guard America against all evil; and to keep faith with those we have sent forth to defend us.

Listen to this warning from the late terrorist Zarqawi: "We will sacrifice our blood and bodies to put an end to your dreams, and what is coming is even worse." Osama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."

These men are not given to idle words, and they are just one camp in the Islamist radical movement. In recent times, it has also become clear that we face an escalating danger from Shia extremists who are just as hostile to America, and are also determined to dominate the Middle East. Many are known to take direction from the regime in Iran, which is funding and arming terrorists like Hezbollah -- a group second only to al Qaeda in the American lives it has taken.
Hezbollah terrorists, with support from Syria and Iran, sowed conflict in the region and are seeking to undermine Lebanon's legitimately elected government.

Radical Shia elements, some of whom receive support from Iran, formed death squads. The result was a tragic escalation of sectarian rage and reprisal that continues to this day.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran, and made it clear that the world will not allow the regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons.

We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time, the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.

US Senate

Takes up a non-binding resolution against those who’d do us harm. Iran? No. North Korea? No. Al Qaeda? No. The brave souls who populate the hallowed halls of our congress are taking up a resolution against the President of the United States. Below is note I sent to Chuck Hagel

Dear Senator Hagel

It is doubtful that anyone will ever include in their “Profiles in Courage” a weak craven politician who votes with the majority on a non-binding senate resolution to quit a war. Aside from boosting enemy morale and dampening our own, what possible good does a non-binding resolution serve?