Burnt Orange Report

You Can't Make This Stuff Up.

By Jim Dallas

Two stories caught my eye this weekend.

The first reveals the depths of the ongoing Moody-Fertitta dynastic feud in Galveston County:

The deal had been under wraps for 10 months. But Friday, with the signed papers in hand, Moody representative Irwin "Buddy" Herz announced that American National Insurance Company was a partner with Schlitterbahn in a $30 million water park planned near the airport.

Herz said he hoped the deal will show islanders how much Robert L. "Bobby" Moody, chairman of the board and CEO for the American National Insurance, cares about Galveston's future.

"This is probably the largest investment American National has ever made in Galveston," he said. "I hope that people will realize that Robert Moody loves this island and that the Moody interests wanted to do this for Galveston."

Originally city officials thought Schlitterbahn, a New Braunfels-based water park giant, was going into the deal alone.

"This is taking me by total surprise," said Roger "Bo" Quiroga, who was mayor when the deal was approved by city council....

...Herz said the Moody family kept their negotiations with the Henrys a secret out of fear that some council members, including Quiroga, would try to kill the deal if they knew about the partnership.

"We were told there were four votes to kill it if there was any Moody money in it. That's why the negotiations were extremely private," he said.

Quiroga called this statement "asinine." He said he only would have had reservations with the partnership if Schlitterbahn property was taken off the tax rolls.

Disclaimer: I'm a Moody Gardens employee.

The second? Well, just read it.

While Americans are shelling out record prices for fuel, Iraqis pay only about 5 cents a gallon for gasoline -- a benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies bankrolled by U.S. taxpayers....

More than a year after the invasion, that logic has been flipped on its head. Now the average price for gasoline in the United States is running $2.05 a gallon -- 50 cents more than the pre-invasion price.

The only people getting cheap gas as a result of the invasion are the Iraqis.

Filling a 22-gallon tank in Baghdad with low-grade fuel costs just $1.10, plus a 50-cent tip for the attendant. A tankful of high-test costs $2.75.

Although Iraq is a major petroleum producer, the country has little capacity to refine its own gasoline. So the U.S. government pays about $1.50 a gallon to buy fuel in neighboring countries and deliver it to Iraqi stations. A three-month supply costs U.S. taxpayers more than $500 million, not including the cost of military escorts to fend off attacks by Iraqi insurgents. The arrangement keeps a fleet of 4,200 tank trucks constantly on the move, ferrying fuel to Iraq.

"We thank the Americans," Baghdad taxi driver Osama Hashim said. "They risked their lives to liberate us and now they are improving our lives," said Hashim, 26, topping up the tank on his beat-up 1983 Volkswagen....

Analysts say the U.S. gas subsidies can't last forever -- and Iraqis may be in for an unpleasant shock when they end. In the meantime, however, the American taxpayer continues to foot a huge bill.

"The U.S. taxpayer has a right to be indignant, and Iraqis have to be warned about the long-run damages of this," said Anthony Cordesman, an Iraq analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The minute the aid goes out, the party is over. And there's going to be a hell of a hangover."

Those darn hippie peaceniks demanded "no blood for oil." And guess what? We didn't get no stinkin' oil! And the Iraqis are so happy to be liberated that we have to bribe them with cheap gas!

You can't make this stuff up.