Marcy Kaptur: “not so many years ago two famous American artists, Josh Stone and Dionne Warwick, created a song called, ``What's it all…”

“not so many years ago two famous American artists, Josh Stone and Dionne Warwick, created a song called, ``What's it all about, Alfie?'' Here is how the song began: ``What's it all about, Alfie? Is it just for the moment we live? What's it all about when you sort it out, Alfie? Are we meant to take more than we give?'' On June 19 this week, 2008, the New York Times lead story said quite a bit about taking. The headline reads, ``Deals With Iraq Are Set To Bring the Oil Giants Back.'' I hope every American reads the lead story in the New York Times this week, June 19, a story written by Andrew Kramer. Here is some of what it says. It says Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, and BP, along with some other companies like Chevron, and a number of smaller oil companies, are in talks with Iraq's oil ministry for no-bid contracts, I repeat, no-bid contracts to service Iraq's largest fields. The no-bid contracts are unusual for the industry. Many experts consider these contracts to be their best hope for large-scale increases in production over there.”