I don’t understand people who are shocked that oil companies want to sell oil. Telling "big oil" to spearhead alternative fuel development is like telling NFL team owners to come up with some other game to replace our dependence on football. How utterly totalitarian. Exactly the way Hugo Chavez runs Venezuela!

If world oil producers and refiners were characters in a movie, then so called "big oil" like Chevron and Shell wouldn’t merit speaking parts. U.S. oil companies control and or pump a very small percentage of the world’s reserves. And it is not in any oil company’s interest for its product get priced beyond the ability of people to buy it at the pump. Instead it is the environmental extremists and the elected officials whom they have successfully bought or intimidated who welcome high gas prices as an opportunity to lecture the rest of us on conservation and how evil we great unwashed troglodites are for driving cars that actually burn gasoline. Saying we can conserve our way out of this latest liquid fuel crisis is like trying to convince a starving man he can fast his way out of hunger.

But what about those obscene "big oil" profits? Well, big government takes more in taxes on a gallon of gas than the oil companies make in profit. "Big cosmetics" like Revlon has a profit margin twice as great as "big oil." The biggest beneficiaries of "big oil" profits are pension funds and investments that average working people have in those companies to help pay for their kids’ college.

Environmental extremists need to realize their livelihoods too are interrelated with the price of oil and gasoline and how those prices affect the mobility of goods and people. If you want tourists to come to Myrtle Beach, Charleston, and even Audubon South Carolina, then you should certainly hope they can afford to get there.

After The Daniel Island News went to print last week, D.R. Horton’s attorney sent this statement to staff writer Tom Ratzloff:

"D.R. Horton, Inc. was first notified of Mr. Allen’s concerns in a letter received from his lawyer. The house was recently inspected, at Horton’s expense, by a third-party Professional Engineer. On the engineer’s recommendations, Horton intends to follow that inspection with an evaluation by a Certified Hygienist, also at its own expense. We are working with Mr. Allen’s attorney to schedule a time for the hygienist to visit the property. Once this evaluation is complete, we will discuss with Mr. Allen’s lawyer how to most appropriately address Mr. Allen’s concerns. Horton is hopeful that Mr. Allen’s concerns can be resolved in a timely manner to the mutual satisfaction of both parties.

D.R. Horton is not aware of any other claims of mold contamination in homes on Jordan Court ."