Posted by
Too Tall in Texas on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 1:50:12 AM
Yaaaaaay! Finally something is starting to get done on moving Washington to do something about oil prices. I'm glad that "W" signed the executive order to open off-shore drilling. Now if the idiots in Congress will get off their lazy, fat, overpaid a**es then we might be able to start to become the U.S.A. we all remembered before we sold our souls to the Saudis, Venezuela, etc. For our friends on the left who'll argue about this let's take their points apart one by one:
"Why did it take so long for Bush to do this?" or "It's all just politics, so why now and not last year or even longer ago?" Ok, let's think about this. Was the price of gas putting as big of a strain on the economy and the public a year ago as it is now? Not really. Sure it was starting to become a burden when we hit $3 a gallon, but the "tipping point" really was a combination of how long we've been paying this much and when gas hit $4 a gallon. The effects of these prices are finally starting to show up now (higher food/commodities prices, etc.). No, it's not politics...it's just Bush finally got it. Hate to say it, but it takes a while for the voices of the people to drown out the symphony of crap that big money lobbyists, etc. are playing. Add to this the fact that the liberal congress hates being called on their complicity in this fiasco. They are just as much to blame as the last 5 administrations (all the way back to Carter).
"Well, what about the 68 million acres of land the oil companies have leases on? Why can't they drill there?" Let me ask a question. If you had a business plan that you knew was going make you tons of money you'd do it - right? Do you think that if the oil companies knew there were oil deposits on that land that they would just sit on it and not drill? I don't think so. Sure holding the lease on the land is not the best thing to do, but there hasn't been any oil found on any of that land. There are proven oil reserves found in the waters off the coasts of FL, MS, AL, TX, GA, CA and the ANWR lands as well. Why would China, Cuba, and others be drilling off OUR shores if there wasn't any oil there? Just to make us mad? I don't think so. (Warning science content) Alaska has probably the biggest oil producing capabilities in the world. If you believe the evolutionary thing, do you remember something about a "land bridge" between Alaska and Russia thousands of years ago? Ancient animals and such crossed that land bridge all the time, and these animals, etc. died up there in AK and Russia. They turned into oil. Russian oil companies are making huge discoveries of oil in Siberia, and there have been large discoveries of oil in AK as well. So what's to say that there aren't huge oil deposits in ANWR?
"The oil from ANWR and the off shore drilling won't do anything to lower the prices. It will take 10 years before we see any of that oil, if there is any." You must not know how the futures market works. Speculators are betting - yes, betting - that there will be a decrease in the amount of oil available based on what is going on in the world. Every time Iran shoots off a rocket, every time Israel threatens Iran, every time anything happens - the price of oil changes. So if the market were to get word that the U.S. finally grew a pair of nuts and said, "ENOUGH! We're drilling for our own oil!" - don't you think that the market would back off and start bidding down the price of oil?
"Well, it will be bad for the environment. The spotted polar fluffy seal bear and Willy the killer whale will lose their natural habitats!" Oh puh-leeeze! Look at Norway - one of the 'greenest' nations in the world. They are drilling off their coasts and pumping lots of oil without any impact whatsoever to their shores. The ANWR is so small compared to the millions of acres of land that the wildlife up there can inhabit. If you're so frickin' worried about the caribou up there then have Congress set aside another few hundred acres of tundra elsewhere and call it ANWR 2.0. Not only that but I guess that when you won't be able to get your venti mocha choco lattes because the Starbucks have all closed down due the coffee not being shipped from the politically correct fields in Columbia or wherever in Africa due to the incredibly high prices of diesel fuel to truck it to your sorry neighborhood - you may actually start to get the picture. You can't have your cute cuddly caribou and sip your latte too (at least at these prices).
"But we need to not use oil and start using solar or wind power." I agree in part with that. But the U.S. cannot be a single source user of energy to move forward to energy independence. Oil is going to be here to stay for a long time - until a viable energy source to power transportation (ships, trucks, planes, trains, and cars) is discovered. That is why the economic future of the U.S. is based on oil. If nothing is moving, then the economy isn't moving.
Bottom line...we need to keep the pressure on the overpaid lazy bums in Congress until our screams of discontent are heard. Get involved and don't let the responsibility pass on to the next person. We cannot afford to be complacent, because there are a lot of wrong-headed folks out there who don't get it. Obama (Dr. No) and his liberal sheep are not going to fix the problems - they will compound them. Educate yourselves - and your community.