Brazil has approximately 60% of its' cars to running on alcohol from sugar cane...Why is this technology not promoted here? Why reinvent a fuel alternative? Why does the US press not bring this story out?

PRESIDENT BUSH HAS ALWAYS GAVE WAY TO BIG OIL COMPANIES..THEY IN FACT GAVE HIM DONATIONS TO BECOME ELECTED. HE IN TURN PROMISED TO TAKE CARE OF THEM, WHICH HE HAS DONE. NOW THAT THINGS HAVE GONE SOUTH HE SAYS WE NEED TO SELL OUR SUV'S AND NOT BE ADDICTED TO OIL. AT THIS STAGE YOU CAN'T EVEN SELL
YOUR SUV'S EVEN IF YOU WANTED TO AS NO ONE WANTS THEM.
SO YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP MAKING PAYMENTS. OUR ONCE GREAT COUNTRY IS GOING DOWN THE TUBES, AND FAST, I FOR ONE AM GOING TO TRY TO SAVE UP SOME MONEY AND SUGGEST EVERYONE DO THE SAME AS WE HAVE MANY DARK DAYS AHEAD..GOD HELP US ALL!!!

I am wondering why some in Congress think a "windfalls tax" is the way to get the oil companies. I am also wondering how such a tax is supposed to help me, the consumer. Any new taxes will just be passed on as an increase of price, and I will be paying even more. This is nothing but another method of getting into my pocket for Congress' pork. If there is some help for the consumer, let's find out if the oil companies are really gouging, as appears, or make it possible for them to produce more gas/diesel from our local sources of petroleum. Also, remember that almost half of us don't have the choice to buy so-called fuel efficient vehicles or to use mass transit. It is called economics of have-nots.

Two issues with Brian Williams. First, I didn't realize we were at war because of 9/11. Thanks for perpetuating one of the lamest pieces of propaganda ever. Try reading up on the events that lead up to the war, you are in the news business after all.

As for your piece on gas prices, please stop the insanity. Were you kidding when you asked, "will we look back on this time as a turning point towards a greener country"? One of Bushes gas savings ideas was to relax enviromental regulations in order to score political points. Doesn't sounds green to me. Poor SUV owners, here's a tip, skip the bottled water and burrito next time you fill up, it'll save you some cash. My super liberal sister-in-law used to tell me the nightly news was biased in favor of Bush and I would laugh at her. Was she right?

During the 1970's we were standing in line at the pumps and whining about paying $1.00 per gallon for gas. Many states went to pseudo-rationing mode, usually based on even/odd last numbers on your license plates.

The automobile companies responded by building smaller, lighter cars which got better gas mileage. Alternative energy sources were studied and a few were made available to the public. We had nuclear energy, windmill energy and solar energy, to name a few. We had solar energy installed on our house in California and our gas bill became 1/2 of the previous bills. Also we had tax energy credits for installing energy saving devices. During this time, the drilling on the North Slope in Alaska started and the Alaska pipeline became active. Everyone in Midland/Odessa, TX became oil millionaires.

We had enough gas, but never below $1.00 per gallon again; the tax credits expired; and Midland/Odessa dried up and everyone in town was broke. We discovered that solar panels on your garage do not increase your property value.

We had forgotten our fear.

Automobile companies that had been failing for years started producing big, heavy cars again. Chrome bumpers began to rear their shiny, heavy heads. Nuclear energy was never perfected to good safety levels and was allowed to die. You rarely see solar panels anymore. The one really good doable alternative energy source - the windmill - has been sidelined by the greeniacs because they offer a possible danger to birds.

I do not have answers, but I hope we remember our pain and fear for a long, long time. We need to fix this for our children and grandchildren and then remember why we fixed it.

Looking back at why Bush had those SUV's tax deductable way back when seems to bring this all into focus. Give a sample of your "drug" to a potential buyer and that person will get hooked. So, W. dangled all those gas hogs in front of potential buyters and were bought with the idea that these would consume copious amounts of fuel in time and would have to be stricken with potential gas guzzling in the near future. Pass on a few years and these gas hogs are now falling victim to high gas costs with expected raises in gas prices. What appeared to the car buyer back in the early 2000's as a boon is now seen as a pariah. All those Navigators, Hummers, Excursions, and Suburbans which were all written off as tax writeoffs for small businesses can probably all write off most of those small businesses as losses as these are now gouging the owner of two and three times their original gas costs. But think of it, doesn't a pusher do the same thing with his drugs to potential "drug addicts". Perhaps gasoline should be considered a narcotic as Ol' W. pushes his "we have an oil addiction" phrase in our faces. Yeh, thanks alot, Mr. President, for helping to push the substance on us. What a racket he has made!

I was disturbed by the spin you put on the broadcast last night of the 'unfortunate' people in Texas who have to spend over $70 to fill up their SUV weekly or the woman who ferries around her family because she won't give up her BMWSUV (did you ask her why she won't give up her comfort/image?)It seemed that you wanted me to feel sorry for them. On the contrary, I have been waiting for their pain for decades - they chose to buy the stupid vehicles and chose not to live in a city or not to promote mass transportation. Americans simply can't force themselves to give up their comforts for the betterment of society, the world politically, or our mother earth. The writing has been on the walls for a VERY long time. The government has failed to mandate sustainability, the voters have turned their backs on anyone who threatens their obese lifestyle, and the media has continued to put a spin on the entire oil situation as if we are victims and not to blame. That would be too responsible and your viewers might be offended and your ratings would go down....
There are many who voted for Bush knowing full well he is an oil man. Is it ironic that he is from Texas the site of the largest consumption of petroleum based fuels?
A few minutes later in your broadcast you spoke about the emotional experience of watching Flight 93 and said that it is "afterall, why we are at war". That is a lie and I resent your spin again. We are not at war because of September 11th. Iraq didn't attack us! Bin Laden was in another country! We are at war because the president had a personal vendetta to finish, the pervasive attitude (excuse?) that America needs to protect or police the entire world, future personal profits in the oil industry to secure for Bush, his cronies, and dangerous/lying advisors.
Finally, I remember during the Gulf War (Desert Storm) I was the only one in my circle of friends that said it was wrong. They all made the argument that it is okay to go to war to secure the oil that drives our economy. Twenty plus years ago I said it is not okay and that there are lifestyle alternatives that we can set in motion to secure our independence politically and economically for the future. Listening to my friend's arguments I realized that it would only take a crisis and time to budge them from their views. I never lost hope that we as a country would change course voluntarily - but vehicles and houses just got bigger and less efficient. I felt powerless at the directions that my country was taking so I made alternative choices in my own life. I kept screaming that we were on the wrong path but my contribution to this mess is that I didn't scream loud enough - certainly the lady in the BMWSUV never heard me. Mr. Williams, when will you start screaming?

Gas prices at $3.00 per gallon. Why is not the $400 million buy out of an oil CEO at the front of the news?? Why isn't he given a rifle and sent to the front lines of Iraq? Why are the gas price increases the same for all the gas companies at the same time? Maybe the Oil companies out to be taken over by the Federal government and regulated.Time for the people to wake up and get the money hungry Republicans out. It appears the news companies are alibiling for the President. Get back to good reporting.

Everyone seems to forget that it has been previous Administrations (Republican and Democrat) that have not authorized the building of refining capacities, exploration and drilling for oil within the confines of the US or building of Nuclear generating facilities (Not in my backyard mentality). Had this been done we would not be held captive to the whims of the foreign sources today.

If you think that an american gallon of gas is expensive try a reality check. I live just north of Toronto and paid today about $3.46 US a gallon. North of the border and around the world a gallon of gas is alot more expensive than most Americans think.
Get use to it America, and stop complaining.

Come ON, NBC!! Don't report that the oil companies can't control gas prices because most of the oil is imported! Can you say "RECORD PROFITS"???? If the big 5 oil companies have no control over prices, how in the world do they ALWAYS make record profits. Do the math...just think for a second. Of COURSE they can control how much they charge at the pump. Please.

I think now would be a good time for the media to re-examine Cheney's "secret" meetings with energy companies in 2001. Did anything in those meetings lead to higher prices today? Obviously with the gas/oil crisis we have, I think the time has come to force the administration to come clean about those "secret" meetings between Cheney and the Oil companies in 2001. Many thanks.

Again we see that Republican Administration has national security at the forefront of the nation. "Early this afternoon, conservatives in the House Homeland Security Committee voted down an amendment by Rep. Ed Markey (D-MI) that would have mandated 100 percent scanning of American-bound shipping containers for radiological weapons. The vote followed an “aggressive lobbying campaign” by a “coalition of industry groups” who pressed conservative members to oppose the amendment. Yesterday, committee chairman Peter King (R-NY) announced that he was caving to industry interests. His excuse was that Markey’s plan was “not realistic“". This technology has been acheive in China. They screen every shipment that comes into their country. Why have I put this article in this forum you ask, because this is exactly what will happen to the Repulican controlled administration when it faces the "Big Oil" companies. They will cave in to the oil lobbyists.

Try using the true alternative of free energy...as the fox is watching the chicken coop, oil men in charge, it will only get worse.
Time to put them out of business and anyone else who requires use of fire based fuels.
Those who are ready for this send me an e-mail.

I am of the impression that Bush's speech regarding "every little bit helps" did not and will not help at all. This satisfied perhaps two things: one, I am leading, which he is not and,two, stop the spot market acceleration of speculation over and beyond the milking of profits which he wants continued. In my opinion, Bush allows the tremendous gouging that the oil companies are reaping so long as it doesn't hamper the overall national economy and promote recessionary effects. W. can allow the bilking of the national economy so long as he controls the tendancy but he cannot control the speculative processes once these get out of control. Speculators can spin the process out of control and his eight cent drop after his speech essentially attempted to keep the speculative acceleration in control, if he can. This man is not out for the average American as if the average Amrican wants to be fleeced, but he is an oil man and if he cannot find oil to profit, he will profit on existing oil by means available to him.

It's becoming an all-too-familiar sight on tv stations across the country: more packages on high gas prices. How many have been done before? This time, can you delve deeper into the practices of the gas companies?

I'd be very interested in a breakdown of what taxes and prices go into $3 of gas. Also, maybe you could talk about the record profits (not revenues, but profits) of the gas companies.

Why is gas above what it was after Katrina? Does the price of a barrel of oil really matter that much, and how much oil are we putting to market by not contributing to the reserve?

I'm sure you'll have something interesting for tonight, thanks.

the USA citizens should appreciate that the oil crisis is not only affecting them. I work in France where the price of 1 gallon is approximately $7 per gallon. It cost me $60 to fill my 10 gallon tank in 1997! And it is even more expensive in other parts of the world! The oil crisis is more than a USA concern as presented onfailry by most USA news.