The Conservative Edge www.conservativeedge.com

I've bookmarked a political website and have been watching it closely. I have even commented on a few posts and registered as a member. It is interesting to watch this website as it evolves. The Conservative Edge seems to be fair and timely even if somewhat slanted to the conservatives. Since I'm somewhat conservative, I enjoy the perspective.

http://www.conservativeedge.com/ Registration Information (WhoIs) Conservative Edge 131 Baybrook Circle Nicholasville, Kentucky 40356 United States

About Us The Conservative Edge is the World's first Conservative Online Information and News Service. Our purpose is to provide news and opinions from the conservative side of America. All three writers call Kentucky home, so our Site will focus on Kentucky. However, national news impacts us all, so events in Washington and around the country will be fair game.

Brian Goettl, Leland Conway, David Adams, Darrin James

There was a post made on September 26th that I had missed until yesterday. It inspired a couple of thoughts. First, they were not all fluffy Bush which kind of goes against the grain of what I have seen there in the past. Second, I agreed with it.

The post:

Bush out to lunch on gas issue

President Bush has called on Americans to think about ways of reducing their driving, to cut down on gas consumption. You can read a Washington Post story here. Someone may want to clue Bush in, that most Americans are already cutting their driving. Not so much to reduce gas consumption, as to have MONEY TO BUY FOOD WITH. Maybe instead of calling on the average American to do what it is they are already doing, Bush could call on his "Big Oil" buddies to do a little less price gouging. You know, only make obscene profits instead of grossly obscene profits. It's days like today, that you have to wonder if Bush is out to lunch. Posted By: Brian Goettl @ 9/26/2005 9:55:00 PM http://www.conservativeedge.com/

I agreed with it and even offered a comment. Since their comment system does not allow formatted text, not carriage returns, it's all one string. (That drives me almost as crazy as the inability to link to a specific post. They need a good webmaster (grin)) I reformatted the response here.

The reply: (spelling corrected slightly)

Yes, I agree too.

I'm usually quite supportive of President Bush even when I don't completely agree. But this man, his family and his friends do have the muscle to make some significant improvements. There are a few speed bumps to possible solutions however, mostly because if it is not voluntary, it could be seen as inviting an unfriendly administration into their business someday.

From a marketing and PR perspective, this would be a wonderful time for US oil companies to make points by lowering their margins AND forcing their distributors to bite the bullet and keep their margins at normal levels.

The old adage, "supply and demand" should be ignored in the name of good press and helping America. I talked with one service station owner who indicated his margins have never been better and the past few weeks have been the most profitable of the year. I didn't say anything at the time but I was sickened by this.

It's NOT all the big oil companies fault, unthinking small franchise owners are to blame as well. Let Bush and Co. flex their muscle from the refinery to the street, I think that would make all the difference in the world.

Again, from a small business marketing and PR perspective, the small gas stations would do well to lower (or eliminate) their margins on fuel and write it off as advertising/marketing/public relations/community involvement. I think they would be surprised how fast the news gets out that they are selling gas 25 cents lower than everyone else. I am also confident they would be equally as surprised how loyal those new customers would be.

Just my thoughts. -- sokybiz @ 10/2/2005 8:36:00 AM

This is sort of a dual post, one about the Conservative Edge and one about the fuel. Maybe Google (and soon Yahoo) blog searches can figure it out. (grin)