Two Faced Weasel

It is a difficult decision, but I'm going to award the 'Two Faced Weasel of the Year Award' for 2011 to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV).

Senator Reid has been leading the fight in the Senate to get tax breaks for oil and gas companies rescinded. The logic has been that they are making so much money, they don't need the tax breaks. They should be paying a full share of taxes, and more, to help pay for all of Obama's social programs. Big Oil is making record profits, so why should they get tax breaks?

OK, that is a legitimate point for discussion. (I'm not a fan of Big Oil, and I don't see any reason for tax breaks, as long as the same rules are applied fairly to other companies as well.)

However, this same Senator Reid has put into place and has consistently defended huge tax breaks for gold mining companies based in Nevada. Why? Because they paid him to do so.

Mining companies have 'contributed' 3/4 of a million dollars to Reid's election campaigns over the years. This includes 127,000 from the two largest gold mining companies in Nevada for his 2010 re-election. These two companies made $5,000,000,000 off the gold they pulled from public lands, and paid next to nothing to the government for the public land mining leases, and no taxes on their profits or operations, courtesy of Reid's protection.

In these days of soaring gold prices, why is Senator Reid delivering tax breaks to companies who are making fortunes that make Big Oil look like a non-profit outfit? Follow the money. As always, just follow the money.

I have not seen any public statment from Reid's handlers trying to explain this. My guess is that he is trying to ignore it and hope it goes away.