European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday August 28, 1990marilyn Geewax Oil companies deserve Hack in the late 1970s and very Early 1980s, people hated the big Oil companies. I mean they really despised them. They were fed up with the enormous Windfall profits Oil companies were sucking up and they resented paying higher gasoline prices every week. They even stand the Way Oil men would Wear goofy Cowboy hats. In .1981, i attended the annual shareholders meeting of the Standard Oil co. Of Ohio where a Bunch of senior citizens was protesting spiralling prices. To demonstrate their contempt they blew Oscar Mayer Wiener whistles throughout the meeting. The directors figure out How to Slop the whistling without letting to reporters get footage of Beefy guards ripping red weenies front the lips of old ladies. So the Board just raced through its Agenda and adjourned in about five minutes. But that kind of noisy protest died Down As Oil prices slipped. By the mid-1980s, the phrase a Oil com panics Quot no longer caused veins to pop out on Peoples necks. Jokes about Quot Windfall profits Quot disappeared from Johnny Carsons monologue. Instead we switch a amp Avci to hating Wall Street raiders savings and loan thieves and ruthless Bosses such a As Frank Lorenzo. Huf after just a few years of not hating Oil companies it looks like we re going to have to warm up our Wiener whistles again. Within hours a a or was it seconds a of Iraq s invasion of Oil Rich Kuwait the Oil companies were raising wholesale prices of gasoline. Within a few Days prices at the pump were As much As 19 cents a gallon higher. A Petroleum Industry spokesman quickly informed Congress that critics of the Price hikes were taking a Quot naive one sided View of the business. It seems to me however that they were making a a a fair assessment. R. The gasoline that was silting in the tanks of local service stations at the Lime of the iraqi invasion of. Kuwait had been purchased by the Oil companies weeks or months earlier. Ii it did t Cost More for the companies to buy the fuel at the pipeline Why should it Cost customers More at the pump a especially when neither the Supply nor the demand for gasoline had changed significantly Consumers would understand if in a few weeks they had to pay More for gasoline that Cost the Oil companies More to obtain. That would be fair enough. The Market should be tree to adjust to changing r. Mears a Thoss in fax of of highs <sasoul0e prices. Its when companies raise prices to reap windfalls that Consumers rightly gel furious. 1 suspect this latest round of Oil company bashing May be even More vicious than in the late 1970s. For one thing we re much More experienced now at hating. After All we be had Donald Trump Leona Helmsley and Ivan Boesky to practice on. But even More importantly the Oil giants Are going to give us new reasons to despise them. They Are going to continue sponsoring hideous Oil spills. In a just completed investigation of the 12 Oil spills around new York this year the coast guard determined that systems for cleaning up Oil spills have deteriorated in the past decade. In the 1990s, we can expect our Oil companies to provide us with sharply higher prices More dead fish and bigger numbers of Oil poisoned Birds. I just Hope we Arentt going to have to put up with Cowboy hats again. Marilyn go Wax is an Edita Marilyn go Wax is an editorial writer for the Atlanta Constitution. Bush believes in vacation As part in i he Best of limes presidential vacations Are closely watched getaways these Are not the Best of times and president Bush s hectic respite on the Maine coast reflects it. The White House goes with presidents and they can conduct business at Home or Awa. Nonetheless Bush s whereabouts have become grist for National Public opinion polls. Three National surveys published last week show opinion is closely divided on whether Bush should have stayed in Washington because of the persian Gulf crisis instead of going to his Kennebunk port \ aeration Home. Quot 1 he presidents in command wherever he is a said w Hite House press Secretary Marlin fit water. Quot that s All that a it in to though. Appearances Mailer too. And the president s men know it. Bush it of it wed his own Seniti it to the problem when lie told reporters on the 18th Hole at the Cape Arundel go i course that "1 ust Don 1 like taking questions on serious Maltis on mgt \ a part of his problem is that he has taken and answered reporters questions on serious matters in that same setting. His vacations have been Spectator sports. His quest to catch a fish was a National diversion last summer. The swing for which he once wryly dubbed himself Quot or. Smooth a has made him one of the More televised of Amateur golfers. He goes jogging boating golfing sometimes in weather that drives less determined men from the course. When we re working which in a trying to do up Here also ill work hard a he Sank work and play Are covered reported photographed and televised when possible by a corps of new people temporarily residing in Maine. Quot everybody knows he keeps in touch with what s happening Quot said John Sununu the White House Kenief of staff who joined Bush pm avg in a Falmouth Maine Golf tournament to raise Republican Campaign funds. Quot id rather have president who kept the whole thing perspective than one who lucked himself behind closed doors and brooded about the at u Republican fund raising reception in Rhode Island on the Back a in from one of two Quick trips to Washington Bush said head been asked whether he Felt a Little funny going to a political event just then. Quot and i knew exactly Why the question was asked and i certainly respect it Quot Bush said Quot but life goes on and we have an election coming up in the fall. His vacation visibility contrasts with Ronald Reagan a style. During eight years As president Reagan spent a total of 11 months on vacations and Breaks at his ranch near Santa Barbara Calif a in private. There were periodic glimpses of Reagan on horseback or Reagan chopping Vood but those were the exceptions. Seclusion was the Rule. Jimmy Carter went fishing on his vacation during the Iran hostage crisis but not on camera. A there have been exceptions but most presidents have opted for Holiday Priva so with of their vacation pursuits but no More than that. 1 hat Hasni to been so with Bush. Accessibility is part of the engaging Bush usage. Lut it is no asset when television pictures juxtapose the golfing boating president tils Deviov ing in the saudi Ara Bian desert or the fearful families of americans trapped in Kuwait. Bush went to Maine on aug. 10, saying he would a play and play hard a and then work like hell the rest of the Quot what you done to want to do is appear to be held hostage in the while House to events a Bush said. Bush has made his vacation part of his policy. To Cut it Short would amount to a signal that the crisis was worsening. And he a broadened his message to defend other Peoples vacations too. A a in a going to keep using Rny boat and i Hope the rest of America will prudently recreate a Bush said when asked whether he would Cut Back on his speedboat outings to save gasoline. Quot i done to think we be reached the Point where i want to Call on everybody in the recreation Industry to shut it Down or everybody that taking a vacation in american to shut it Down.�?�. There a a lot of Industry lot of people that have been looking Forward to vacations in this country. And i would not suggest that the situation at Home requires they stay at Home it j pays i
