Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

While our politicians point fingers, create well-planned soundbites, act in obstructionist ways, and so forth, there are others in the world who are acting in their own best long-term interests. In case you missed a newsclip from last week...

China is racing to lock up a long term supply of Middle Eastern oil. It is already the largest importer of oil from Saudi Arabia, bypassing the U.S. as the Saudi's most important customer. Just a few months ago, the Chinese National Petroleum Company signed a $15 billion contract to develop southern Iraq's Rumaila oilfield, thought to be the second largest oil reserve in the world. Two other Chinese firms also recently signed similar deals to develop a large oilfield in eastern Iraq. In Iran, the Chinese have signed $8 billion in oil and gas development deals with the Tehran government. China is now Iran's largest trading partner.

So there you go. Our politicians are arguing about the likes of "don't ask, don't tell" or whether the BCS should have a playoff or whether or not to allow illegal immigrants to be able to seek U.S. citizenship, even though we have no way of catching them for deportation if we don't. We're breaking the U.S. bank funding what remains of a decade-long war in Iraq, killing about 4,000 U.S. kids in the process...and the Chinese go in under our cover and buy up the biggest part of the Iraqi oil.

What in the world are our politicians thinking about?...other than getting re-elected, that is.