Oil Shale is a lot like Ethanol, in that it’s competitive as a fuel source if the price of oil stays high in the long run. Those kind of energy sources do make $200/barrel (adjusted to today’s dollars, naturally) scenarios unlikely in any of our lifetimes.
I’m sure there is oil price manipulation. OPEC publicly manipulates the price, but the US also has strategic reserves. Bush’s approval rating is so closely tied to the price of gas right now that if I was him, I’d do everything I could to manipulate the price downward for the election.
That said, the Republicans are still going to lose seats in both chambers. They’re still going to keep control, but by slim margins. They’ve done a great job of gerrymandering and minimizing the number of competitive districts.
