At the same time that all companies in the fossil fuels industry (oil, gas, and coal) are reporting record earnings, Bush has hunkered down to give them another handout.  This time, it's not a tax break.  Instead, the New York Times is reporting that Bush and Friends simply failed to collect the money that the gas companies are supposed to pay for fuel extracted on public lands.

At a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters.