Kirk pulls his own gas price stunts

Mark Kirk is once again offering to put bandages on major problems in this country.

He continuously votes for the conservative agenda of tax cuts for the wealthy, protection for corporations over individuals, liability caps on lawsuits, privatizing social security, underfunding public education, and he has faithfully stood by the President for a war based on lies in which over 4,000 American soldiers have died needlessly.

Mr. Kirk is now accusing Dan Seals of doing a publicity stunt in terms of the oil crisis. And yet that is exactly what Mark Kirk has done time and time again. He's the master of the media circus. Now he's proposed some solutions to stem the rise of our skyrocketing energy costs, none of which would diminish the influence of the oil and gas industries and lobbyists. A summer moratorium on gas taxes? Tax credits for employers subsidizing mass transit for their employees? Bandages on the problems, but no real cures offered here.

Mark Kirk claims he is for renewable energy sources and research on energy alternatives. However, I have never heard him address the fact that we only have two flex fuel stations, or E85 tanks, in all of the 10th District even though there are now about 200 in the rest of the state. I have never heard Mr. Kirk speak to the issue of importing sugar ethanol from Brazil, a country heading for 100 percent energy self-sufficiency in just a few years, a country more than willing to export their ethanol to us. He's for free markets, but not a word importing sugar ethanol. Corn ethanol may not be a pancea, but sugar ethanol just may be.

So, Mr. Kirk, before you criticize Dan Seals, how about looking in the mirror?

Sharon Sanders

Northbrook