[geoschmo]

I got the impression that fuel was something that they could replenish given some amount of time, either by creating it from raw materials or collecting it from a planet maybe? The mentioned using half their fuel supply looking for Starbuck in the last episode. If that was half of the total fuel they'd ever have available to them, then the search was incompetance on a galactic scale. Something well worthy of Adama losing his command over immedietly.

On the other hand if the fuel reserve was something they could replenish in time then all he was doing was taking a chance that they'd get found and attacked by Cylons before they could build up their combat reserves again. A dangerous and risky decision, but not an insane one. That seemed to be how they were treating it.