Richard Pombo (R - Easter Island)

They got it wrong. It doesn't end with a whimper. It starts with a whimper. Oldman points out the return to a comical hunter/gatherer society at the suggestion of a rather comical Republican congressman from California, Richard Pombo.

The Republican chairman of the House Resources Committee on Tuesday proposed waiving fees on collecting firewood in U.S. national forests as a way to help "families cope with the high costs of home heating" this winter.

Natural gas household heating costs in the U.S. Midwest will soar by nearly 50 percent this winter while heating oil in the Northeast will rise by 25 percent, according to government estimates.

"Rural American families who depend on firewood to heat their homes will be hit just as hard as those who use oil and natural gas," California Rep. Richard Pombo said in a press release.

Perhaps now I understand the significance of Bush's mysterious query "Wanna buy some wood?", during last year's presidential debate. We can answer that question with a resounding "no way!" Last time I checked, scavenging doesn't put a crimp on the old wallet, and the rethug brain-trust figures this an adequate substitute for a windfall-profits tax to redistribute wealth to the poor.

---

And another one from BOPnews: To hear the voice of Jerome A Paris on Chris Lydon's Boston-based public radio program, Open Source, click on the vintage cassette: