But during their show trial, the execs delivered some other pertinent factsin their defense:

* U.S. companies, while huge, are actually relatively small players in a gigantic global oil market. They can compete directly for only 7 percent of available reserves while large government-owned companies like Petroleos de Venezuela own and control 75 percent of world supply.

* As Stephen Simon of ExxonMobil humbly pointed out, his hated behemoth -- America's largest oil and gas corporation -- accounts for only 3 percent of global oil production and 6 percent of global refining capacity. It has only 1 percent of global petroleum reserves - 14th in the world.

Big Oil can take care of itself in Washington - and it always has. It has bought and paid for all the lobbyists and political patrons it needs. Big Oil is not perfect. And it doesn't deserve a dime in government subsidies or special tax breaks.

But with worldwide oil demand up, oil harder to get at and oil prices at $130-plus a barrel and maybe climbing, America needs Big Oil now more than ever -- no matter what environmentalists and liberal senators feel or think.

So instead of pandering to voters' ignorance, maybe Washington politicians should try to do something useful for once -- like helping Big Oil discover, extract and deliver the energy all earthlings still need to make their lives better.