The Senate is considering an energy bill with a tax component that would repeal some $13 billion in tax breaks for five of the biggest oil companies, ostensibly as incentives for oil and gas production. Bush has threatened a veto and some Senators are bemoaning cuts in corporate welfare. (And at $100 per barrel, I hardly think Big Oil needs any more incentive to find as much oil as possible on American soil.) The president and his Senatorial enablers talk a big game about "fiscal responsibility" and the evils of earmarks, but when it comes to tax expenditures it's a whole other story. Image by Flickr user Skrewtape used under a Creative Commons license