In the run up to the 2006 mid term elections, the Democratic leadership announced that they had sweeping plans that would ease the burden of high fuel costs. The average price of a gallon of gas at the time was more than a dollar less than what it is now. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and her leadership in the House have yet to introduce one piece of legislation to help bring the price at the pump down to a less painful level. They have done a lot of posturing in front of the cameras as they hold hearings with oil company executives. They have accused the CEOs of Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, Valero, BPAmerica, and others of purposely manipulating the price of gas to reap the huge profits that they have made over the past few years. Lost in all the pontificating from Congress is the fact that although these companies are huge in the Unites States, the massive nationalized companies of the rest of the world dwarf them.
This week, President Bush called on Congress to open up 2000 acres in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, better known as ANWR, the outer continental shelf, and allow the exploration and retrieval of oil shale. The estimates of oil reserves in ANWR and the outer continental shelf are about 28 billion barrels of oil. That is more than double the current 21 billion barrels that we have currently. Oil shale is a type of sedimentary rock that through refining processes can produce oil. There are over 800 billion barrels of oil shale in the United States. By comparison, that is more than 4 times all of the oil in Saudi Arabia. The process of extracting the oil from the oil shale is expensive and until the price of oil rose above roughly $80 a barrel it was not economically feasible for the oil companies to go after it. Now is the time for that oil to be retrieved. If the Democrats on Capitol Hill truly are concerned about the high cost of a gallon of gas, they will seriously consider taking action on the President's proposals. Sadly, the Democratic Party, the "party of change", are stuck living with a 1970's mindset on energy.
The Democrats response was the same response that we have heard for the past several years. "It will take 10 years for us to see any oil from ANWR or the outer continental shelf." That response is pure political posturing, especially when you realize that 13 years ago President Clinton vetoed legislation that would have allowed drilling in ANWR. It has been a few years since I sat in any type of Math class, but I do believe 13 years is more than 10 years. Besides, aren't the same people making the argument that we need to do something now on "global warming"? Shouldn't we then do something now for our future energy needs? They also claim that the "small" amounts of oil that drilling in ANWR and off the coast would produce would have little effect on the price of oil. I find it amazing that these same politicians were calling on the President to convince Saudi Arabia to produce more oil. They then cheered when the Saudis announced to produce 500,000 more barrels a day, when just the first 2 proposals would produce around 1 million barrels a day.
I must admit that the Democrats have proposed a few plans on energy that I believe would have the effect of raising the price of oil instead of lowering it. They have proposed a "Windfall Profits Tax" on the oil companies as a way to punish them for making a profit. The end result would be to raise the price at the pump. The oil companies are in business to make a profit. They will either pass the cost of the tax on to the consumers or move more of their business overseas to escape the tax. Either way, we pay more. They have also suggested that the government take over control of the oil companies. Representative Maurice Hinchey, a New York Democrat, called for the government to take over the oil refineries on Wednesday. California's Maxine Waters admitted that she would like to see the government take over the oil industry to better regulate the price of gas. The Democrats are in good company. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and virtually every other Middle Eastern country have a government controlled oil industry. If government control is the answer to every problem in our lives than why do we have a social security mess? How well did the Katrina aftermath go with a government run agency? How many government programs are actually run efficiently? Why should we expect the government to be able to run an industry that they know absolutely nothing about? This is just one more piece of evidence of where the Democratic leadership wants to take our country. To Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama socialism is the goal and capitalism and the free market is the enemy.
A few years back, former Vice President Al Gore admitted to wishing for $5 a gallon gas to cause all of us to drive less. This is not surprising from Gore who has been on his crusade against "global warming" and our economy for many years. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, recently said that $4 a gallon gas is not an issue. It is just that the price has risen so rapidly that has caused Americans to grumble. Could it be that Obama and Gore are just out of touch with reality? They don't mind high gas prices and actually welcome them, just not the quick jump in prices. Of course when you are a millionaire it does not really affect you the same as those of us in the lower or middle class. Obama is proposing more than $1 trillion in new spending if he is elected, and promises no new exploration or drilling for oil. His campaign is one based on "hope and change". The only hope we have is that he is not elected to bring about the change back to the days of malaise from the late 1970's.
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Comments: 128
Haven't we been over this before a few thousand times, Troy? Are you STILL pushing the same line of BS about poor little Exxon? The company that mad the LARGEST PROFIT EVER MADE BY ANY CORPORATION IN THE WORLD for the last two quarters?
Now let us talk about the ANWR. You know perfectly well what the analysis is. Why are you still spouting the same nonsense. If we drill in ANWR, the SOONEST it can come on line is 2026 and it will make exactly 4 cents difference in the price of a gallon of gasoline at that time. Considering that a gallon of gasoline in 2026 will probably cost somewhere between 10 and 20 bucks, I think it is fair to say that the impact of ANWR oil will be below negligible, somewhere between inconsequential and infinitesmal. And for this we destroy one of the last wildnerness areas in the United States. And then there is oil shale...strip mine half of Wyoming and Colorado for what? So you can drive your SUV for a few more years?
The "future energy needs" that you are so worried about are not going to be filled by drilling and drilling and strip mining and strip mining until we deface and destroy the whole surface of the earth. You guys just don't get it. We have to change. We can't keep doing this unsustainable depletion of the earth. What will future generations do? What will your kids do? Have you really thought about that?
You are right about one thing. It is not the millionaire Republicans who will suffer if the current rape of the earth continues. It's the rest of us, and our kids, and their kids.
We are not going to let you guys wreck this planet, Troy. The people are catching on to your little games. You guys are history.
The companies are not to blame for oil. We as a society have fed them and empowered them to do what they do. "The people are catching on...." people are no more in the know now than they were years ago. Why? Because most people don't care. We are becoming the nation of entitlement, where rather than accept the responsibility for our actions or accept the consequences of poor choices we are willing to give over our freedoms so someone else can regulate us. What is going on with Oil is nothing different. People could have forced the issue years ago to force their representatives to create new sources of fuel, but they didn't. Instead we bought SUVS that get 5 miles to the gallon and only have one person ride in it every day. We consumed, and consumed, and consumed and now that it's biting us in the ass we want government to come in and fix it for us. Sheesh.
Instead of government groups focusing on oil, why not give these "monsters" of a corporation an incentive to use their "extreme" budgets to pursue a new source of fuel? Why not stop punishing people who are successful in their enterprise and instead use them to fix a problem?
Why can't we? Because we're too busy blaming everyone else and not taking a good hard look at ourselves.
But giving even MORE money to Exxon is not going to solve our problems. And letting them drill yet more wells, or strip mine half the country will not help us at all in the short run, and only microscopically in the long run.
Yes, we need alternative energy sources. Why would you think that giving money to Exxon would be the best investment? They have considerable interest in maintaining the status quo.
This whole thing about oil and the price of fuel is a scam, not by oil companies, by the people who are running our government and pushing the US into bankruptcy so they can install the NAU and a fascist government over it all.
A combined US Canada and Mexico could make a mega force (economically or military), that no one could stop as they took over control of the world. That is the ultimate goal and it is so damn obvious it is pitiful.
Did they kill Jack Kennedy too?
Here's a video you will just love.
Fact 1. We are an oil based economy. When you environmental wackos campaign against oil exploration and drilling, you are campaigning against the jobs and the standard of living of the American people.
Fact 2. You continue to spout the fiction that the "SOONEST" ANWR oil would come on line is 2026. The TV liberals spokesmen are using 2018, and that 10 year interval is only because of the studies mandated by the environmental groups and their lawsuits designed to delay oil production. If Congress stripped away all of that bureaucracy and "fast tracked" the permitting process, we could see production in 2 years according to the oil industry.
Fact 3. If Bill Clinton has not vetoed the ANWR drilling exploration bill, we would be pumping ANWR oil right now.
Fact 4. The liberals have put this nation at risk by blocking domestic exploration and making us dependent on foreign sources of oil, . Because of their stupidity, enemies like Iran and Venezuela can hold the U.S. hostage by oil embargoes, like the Arabs did in the 1970's.
Fact 5. Now the liberal wackos in Congress are talking about nationalization of all or part of the U.S. oil industry. I'm old enough to remember when the government got involved in the oil business in the 1970's, resulting in shortages and hour long waits in lines at gas stations. We learned that the government doesn't have any oil, and can't do a better job than the oil industry. Then, we elected President Reagan in the 80's because he recognized that "government is the problem, not the solution".
Fact 6. Nationalization is what second rate, socialist governments use try to fool their people. It destroys economies, as has been demonstrated time and time again in Russia, Africa, and South America. The U.S. has the highest standard of living in the world because of our capitalist economy, and we will not allow extreme liberals, like Rep. Maxine Waters, to fool with our economic system.
Fact 7. Bert, what you, and liberal extremists like you, are trying to do is to tell the rest of us how to live. That's not how this country works. This is a free country, and you liberals are free to live in communes and adopt a lifestyle where you are cold in the Winter and hot in the Summer. You can go back to jobs in agriculture and depend on horses for transportation.
But, when you start telling the rest of us how to live because of some controversial theories, like "global warming", then you are headed for a fight. We are tired of the superior attitude of you liberals, and your constant bitching and criticism of our wonderful country.
They say it takes a long time to get the American people riled up, but when you do - watch out! I think we are almost at that point, and this "liberal oil shortage" may be the thing that starts the "War Against Liberalism" in this country.
Americans belive our rights rights come from God. The Canadians and Europeans believe rights come from bureaucrats. Tahe your pick.
So, if we tax oil companies more, they will continue to pursue new oil sources and upgrade equipment?
"The scariest people in the world are free people who hate freedom"
Kane Robinson
If you continue to restrict the supply of something and demand goes up, the price goes down? (The WORLD consumption of oil is going up, no matter what the US conserves).
Aren't the Democrats and the environmentalists partially responsible for the high price of gas? Laws prohibiting drilling and refinery building?
Isn't that what you liberals have wanted all along? Oh, if we could just be like Europe and have $7 gallon gasoline! You got what you asked for?
Why can Cuba and China drill 20 miles from Key West Florida and we cant?
The Earth contains more oil than our civilisation could EVER use...
We are simply being HAD.
I'm an American and I damned sure don't believe anything of the sort, so please don't presume to tell people what I believe. If you choose to base your notion of rights on a myth, that's your problem. I prefer to stick to reality, thanks.
I love freedom and liberty! I love personal and economic freedoms!
It is fitting not to count you among "them..."
Kay-
I've met precious few for whom I have more respect and appreciation. That respect and appreciation, and admiration, are not precluded by Your opinions and thoughts on this issue. Don't change a thing!
Yeah? Where exactly in the Constitution does it say that?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are enowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consengt of the governed. That when any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall see most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
"It would take at least a decade for oil companies to obtain permits, procure equipment, and do the exploration necessary to get the oil out of the ground, most industry analysts say. And even then, they add, the amount of new oil produced would probably be too small to significantly affect world oil prices." ~ From today's Boston Globe.
"All I can say is, President Obama's administration will prove you wrong when he brings democrats and republicans together to develop a smart energy policy."
That is funny you are calling him president. Last time i checked our president was Bush and the election was not until November 4th. As for Obama bringing the Republicans and Democrats together that is laughable. He can't even bring his own party together.
Why doesn't the government stay out of the whole energy situaion?
Supply and demand - "The Markets", given the freedom to do so will find the alternatives needed to end our depandancy on fossil fuel.
If we look to the government for the solution, "WE" will be the fossils providing that fuel (as in it will take so long). Remember the wheels of government always move slowly.
A true "FREE" market can and will provide the solutions the planet, and those who occupy Her needs. Government cannot! McCain cannot, Obama cannot.
Kay...I agree with you that we need to loose our dependancy on fossil fuels but I would content that of equal importance - We need to loose our depandancy on government to solve our problems. When we continue to look towards the government as the answer, we simply gain the appearance of security.
"LET FREEDOM REIGN"...that should inlcude the "FREE Markets" as well.
The government, if it comes to this point, will be speaking for the rest of America, that does not squander finite resources, and cause an already humongous problem to be worse. Greed, averice, wastefulness, thy name is conservative.
As for the rest of that purposely misleading, and fact challenged crap up there, you have no shame, and no ethics, and now, no credibility, if you ever had any, just a huge line of spun BS, as others have noted.
Hence not much to say for me.
Republicans and Dems are playing games to earn votes. They play games on all issues including energy.
Big SUVs, wasting energy, a consume too much based society will be what will eventually bring America down, figuratively speaking. All empires fall, America is no exception. I don't know if that will be in 15 years or 150 years. However dependency is something we don't have will eventually bring us down and if I have to guess I would say energy.
Well, lets see, maybe because it is a strategic and economic necessity that is dragging our whole economy down the tubes. Oil is much too important to leave it to you greedy bastards to fleece our country yet again, and throw it deeper in the swirl of the toilet bowl. Free marketers are brainwashed to think that it's some kind of magic, and the standard human sins don't apply. Bull shat.
We are already seeing food shortage riots in the third world. How long before we see empty shelves at grocery stores right here in the U.S. If we dont STOP burning shit to generate energy, we will see a crisis unprecedented in human history.
I would argue that it is a wasteful, greedy and self-serving government which is dragging this nation down the tubes.
Politicians all too often tell us what the latest polls tell them we want to hear and in large part, we all rejoice. "Change is apparent and upon us"
Didn't we hear that "change" is what we would get in 2006? 2004? 2000? and on and on.
I'm still waiting on change and the only real change that I can see is that more and more of our elected officials are getting richer and richer and less and less moral.
Does it not bother anyone else that a new trend amongst politicians is that as soon as they hit the street of Washington, the are working on book deal or two? I thought that they were elected to be writing legislation that will imporve our way of life...not multi-million dollar book advances to line their own pockets. To that I say "Bull shat".
Are these the ones we want deciding our strategic and economic fate? My vote on that one is NO F---ING WAY!!!
That applies to both parties by the way!
The answer isn't in drilling more. Because there is no shortage! There is however extreme Greed! A speculator (one person) goes into the futures market and buys up with one goal in mind....I wanna be the first person to sell at over 100.00 a barrell. So this being an unregulated situation because Bush doesn't like to regulate things (same as the sub-prime market which he himself said he did not want the government to regulate but the investors and lenders were greedy they over did it, the home buyers were greedy and dove into a house that they could not afford and now look where we are...businesses folding and a surge in homelessness or the government steps in and has to do something about, something a little regulation back when could have prevented massive regulation now required) and suddenly this is what happens. Congratulations W. on NOT regulating "stuff" because you wanted to change how government works. Guess what you did...all for the worse. You couldn't be successful in business and the only reason you had two dimes to rub together are thanks to people who bailed you out with Big OIL money and I mean people who made killings in Oil like ummm Obama. You failed in driving sober and Daddy bailed you out. You failed in business time and again and friends tied to Obama bailed you out. You faile in business again so you sold off a freaking ton of stock while investigating what would happen to the average stock holder if the company went under and you failed at that by not filing the required paper work with the SEC who then opened and investigation on you and they stopped but it is still open. You failed as governor of Texas. You sat back and kicked up your stinky feet in your stupid boots while deregulating what little regulation Texas had. Meanwhile schools are doing worse under your leadership and children can't make change but under your plans they can fill in a little circle on a test. You made it so anyone who needs a public defender has to face a longer wait in this state than anyother state in the nation and by weeks not days. You made it so the system will make examples out of poor people rather than guilty ones. You made it so that your good buddies in the born again group could take over foster kids and beat them to death while getting paid for it. You made it so one man who was involved in the highly criminal act of outing Valerie Plame (and thereby endangering every person she has worked with not to mention ruining her career) was scapegoated, allowed to resign and not serve a day in jail, where as all the others including yourself will not even appear before Congress because you think you are above it all and too many people have played along. So the fact that ANYONE in this country could still think that ANY rhetoric that you spew forth could make ANY sense what so ever is the Biggest Fool of all. Please sit down shut up and try really hard not to do any more damage and ruin any more lives than you already have. Because that would be AWESOME.
The answer to the supposed crisis is for everyone to open their eyes and realize there is NO SHORTAGE. There is GREED and everyone who waste fuel by driving around in a vehicle too large for your needs, or with heavy stuff in the trunk that you don't need for that trip, Or going 75 and up with your foot to the pedal, and then slamming on the brake to wait at that red light ....well you feed into the Greed by feeding into the Supply. If the Majority of Americans were to start acting more wisely about their consumption then the demand would shrink and the Oil companies would be forced to lower their prices and I am willing to take small incremements. But as long as people will buy vehicles as a status symbol be in a rush to stop and feed the greed then the prices will only go up.
Big business as usual ... we are ALL being had ... and in "effect" doing it to each other, just what "they" want ... but then half of us have been convinced by "them" that there is no such thing as "them/they" ... so that half acts as apologists for the "they" that supposedly does not even exist ... a strange world of smoke and mirrors.
Truly a "hell" on earth for the "normal" people at the bottom of the heap ... while "they" live as the gods in wealth and freedom to jet around the world on their whims ... and "their" apologists give them the verbal and voting support to assure it all ...
The UNIversal Truth is that there is a God who has a Spirit (=) that for the seekers of real truth, will find that Spirit (=) bridging the voids of (/) duality (+/-) with Spiritual Cooperation INvolving the Trinity of (+=-) ... the BET, the Basic Equation of Truth which is the UNIversal Basis of what God's Creation REALLY IS from a spiritual perspective of heavenly potentials ... that being a relative Utopia ... something denied as possible by the apologists for the evil "them" that actually run "this" hell with the help of "their" apologists ...
I would bet that a very few would understand what I have just said ... and those few probably only coming from the ranks of the half that are NOT apologists because the apologists only deal in sound bites from FAUX (For All yoU Xenophobes).
IMnsHO.
This is from an EIA report. The EIA is not some "ecoterrorist" outfit, for those of you who think I am either one of those or a "fucking idiot." It is a branch of the US government.
As always, a well written, well reasoned article.
Please link us to the article from EIA. I am curious when it was written.
The economics of ANWR oil have changed dramatically in the last few months.
John McCain has, can and will work across the aisle to accomplish BOTH.
Here is the link.
Click on the "Conclusions" icon to find the quote that I cited.
Good thing Bush is a lame duck. If this very fragile ecosystem is further exploited in this way, we may as well do what we were told in grammar school during those old Atom Bomb Drills. Go under our desks and kiss our asses goodbye. Troy, your article is filled with nonsense that doesn't even deserve this comment.
That such self-destructive words by you constantly gets any sort of featuring attention by Gather Corp is yet another reason I am slowly walking away from Gather.
But...if you, or any other Right Wingers would like to read things that might give you a challenge, I have written some things lately that will make your hair stand on end.
I'll give you a link to the first part of a two-part piece I did on Capitalism, and why it no longer works and is threatening to destroy all life on earth.
LINK
If energy conservation matters, then let's act that way and exert our efforts, money, and incentives to more away from oil instead of this goofy doctrine of embrace it today and reject it tomorrow. That makes no sense, and I cannot help noticing that tomorrow always turns into today for Republicans- in other words the time to address climate change in actual policy never quite arrives, ever.
Someone mentioned lobby influence ... as if (?) the farm and auto lobby was the farmers and buyers of cars ... give us a break. Lobby money comes from the people with the money and most of it is probably hidden in one way or another anyway ...
Also when the terms republican and democrat are tossed around pejoritively as a nasty put down, we must consider that the politicians themselves are but two sides of the same greedy conniving coin for the most part, not all for sure, but far too many. The rest of us probably want much more of the same thing for ourselves, just a portion of what our elected representatives get. So lets just keep in mind that there is a HUGE difference between the politician and those that would vote for them. Most of us vote with trust and high expectations between usually only one of two choices ... just because those choices are, as it too often turns out, a-holes and crooks, does NOT necessarily mean the voter is/was ... think about it.
One other issue I wanted to mention, "government stats" ... since when are they to be believed with any trust ? Sure, it may be the best information available to the little guy on the street, maybe all we have to go by, other than the lies from the media who may be just using those same stats when it serves a particular purpose ...
You can bet that the corporate institutions are either purchasing different stats or owning their sources in the form of think tanks that give them the truth they need to be ahead of the game ... there is absolutely nothing valued in this world that does not put money into ones pocket at the expense of another's loss when it comes to corporate/financial/ business as usual ... let alone spiritual truth which is free and institutional religions even reject ... the world condition is ALL about money and power taking advantage where and when it can for more ... to deny that is buy into the lie that supports it.
But I think you are limited in your thinking, too, Troy. Why, when we're talking about energy/energy independence, does your discussion begin and end with oil. It's not the only source of energy we have. I'm not saying oil can or will be totally replaced by other sources, but we certainly can add wind, solar, geothermal, etc. to the mix to reduce our dependance of foreign energy sources and keep from decimating otherwise pristine wildernesses. As for offshore oil shale, the ocean's polluted enough, thank you very much!
"Decimating otherwise pristine wildernesses???"
What is the matter with you???
Still, oil slicks would definitely make things a whole lot worse.
oh, that would never happen? like it never happened to Alaska from the Exxon Valdez?
But nobody wants to really confront that issue. We are too accustomed to our wasteful ways. Europeans use one-half as much energy per capita as Americans...and their standard of living is AT LEAST equal to ours.
Their gas prices have been over five bucks a gallon equivalent for a long, long time.
Their governments did NOT provide subsidies to oil companies. In fact, they added big tax loads on gasoline to discourage consumption and encourage conservation. Result...they drive much more efficient cars than we do, and their houses are much less wasteful.
We could do the same, but instead our government has systematically ENCOURAGED wasteful consumption. Now, the chickens have come home to roost and all you Republicans can think of is DRILL, DRILL, DRILL. Waste the rest of the planet so I can maintain my wasteful lifestyle...and oooooh, don't do anything that would hurt the economy...especially my investments!
My East-Coast reference was in relation to Kennedy's "windmills." No comment with regard to hypocrisy THERE??? And, despite the concentration on the East Coast, it can hardly be termed "crippling." My goodness...
My other reference was in response to an outrageous and alarmist phrase used by Jeannie.
"Their standard of Living is AT LEAST equal to ours???"
Oh my goodness...Bert, you couldn't swing a CAT in the crumb-holes they live in!
Why don't you do this, Bert. Quit complaining,...or please, move to Europe.
Thank you for a wonderful analysis of the situation. You covered all the bases, except the speculation argument, which McCain is propounding lately. I found a great rebuttal to that, which says that the speculators are starting to bet on oil prices coming down. It's by Alan Reynolds of the Cato Institute, in the NY Post. Here's the URL:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06202008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/scapegoating_the_speculators_116339.htm?page=0
I'll echo Charlie V's comment: You nailed it!
The Declaration of Independence has no absolutely legal authority, and I don't know about you, but I was created by my parents.
"Now if I'm a member of OPEC, I don't give a crap what Americans want to pay for my oil anymore cause I don't need to sell to them anymore. Basic supply and demand economics 101. I have the supply and China has the demand."
There's no reason why this would only apply to OPEC. It applies to ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, etc. as well. Why wouldn't they sell their oil to anybody who wants to buy it, at the highest price they're willing to pay?
I see Saudi Arabia wants to flood us with crude to stabilize gas prices. It is a world problem.
Having lived, been educated and worked in both America and Europe, and living now in Europe, I absolutely agree with Bert's point here. Yes, there is often a small surprise among Americans who are used to huge, spacious homes that most of Europe has economized on such spaces. Many tourists who find their way to a Scandinavian, German or French hotel while traveling may be shocked also by the size of some hotel rooms. But that does not in any way compromise our standard of living. The average European actually enjoys a slightly better standard of living that the average American, in terms of food on the table, various scales of "satisfaction with life" index, and of course that an accident or sickness likely won't make them homeless due to the various social safety nets.
Europe is a far far older society, if we just look at the ethnic European cultures, than its equivalent in America. America history is filled with untamed spaces. Europe is not, so it has had to architecturally design houses with this space limitation in mind - like how European cars are traditionally smaller to, among other reasons, better accommodate old buggy trails through ancient, compact villages with their centuries old building so close to each other.
Because I am just as good a citizen as you are, MJ, and I have every right to criticize you and anybody else who I think is misguided. You sound like the fundamentalist Christians who bray that if I don't like living in a "Krischun Nayshun" I should leave the country.
Your suggestion illustrates how intolerant you are of opposing views.
Oh, and read Bent's comment above. He has lived in both Europe and the US.
I find it fascinating when a Socialist begins a comment rhapsodising about how wrong I am, and then promptly continues on for paragraphs to make excuses for why I was right.
I almost prefer the usual style of Liberal debate...complete ignorance and non-responsiveness to the issue.
Ah, case in point...Bert, did I mention ANYTHING about theology?
..."we must be ready to do what is right ourselves." Great point, David. What do you believe is right for us to do?
JK-
As I was saying...more typical Liberal-style debate; complete ignorance and non-responsiveness to the issue...
Higher gas prices are something we are going to have to live with and the market is adjusting but depending on foreign countries like we do knowing full well we have so much of our own oil is beyond asinine. Oil is used for far more things than just cars. It is something we are going to need for a long time to come.
Democrats always howl when jobs are outsourced oversees but what do they think opposing drilling in America is doing?
And no, you didn't mention theology. As I said, your views were LIKE fundamentalist Christians. Study metaphors, MJ, and when you understand high school level writing, come back and talk to me.
I love opposing opinions; in bringing Christianity to the conversation, it would appear that it is YOU who does not. I merely detest stupidity.
Oh, and look up M-E-T-A-P-H-O-R. It's a long word...more than 4 letters, but I think you can do it.
But I came here for an interesting discussion, not to give English lessons.
Trading insults with you is boring me.
I'm outta here.
Just as what I and everyone else here that see Troy's writing as a last-gasp expression of suicidal ideation, also would suggest to you, to please be careful as the door shuts on your epochal stupidity.
The world each year demands far more oil than can possibly be extracted, and as the incentive to extract grows, so does the environmental and social impacts... impacts we are just at a kindergarten's level of scientifically understanding fully. War has been one of these impacts, as finally can be seen clearly by the Bush invasion in Iraq to better control its oil resources.
Abhor the United States if you wish; you are, of course, free to do so. As I have stated previously, (and with simple, how did you say, high-school economics) The United States consumes 25% of the Worlds resources because we are the most innovative and productive society in the World. Get over it. I realise that this makes you seethe, but, hey, at least we're still discussing.
Speaking of high-school educations, why don't you broaden your horizens, Bent, and have a go at a few of my articles. No need to rate or comment; I would merely like you to have a look at some of the comments your University pals leave when no-one is looking. Go ahead. Take a chance.
Then, let me know what you think about the incredibly "didactic" words of the "educated."
Good point. "Educational level" is irrelevant, here.
Might I pose a question? (he asks, rhetorically); Statistics are unimportant, for now; just the question:
Assuming that the U.S. "fleet," CARS excluded, runs on oil, and the machines that make the machines that make the machines (you get my point :) use oil, and personal auto use is, let us say HALF that of the U.S. fleet, what do you propose?
Mind you, I won't be taking my Kit on a 5-state swing on a Vespa. Further, I could RUN faster than any contraption running on bio-fuels.
Would you say that I'm merely being selfish, or would you agree that I have the right to a concern for my livelihood? Would you have me forsake the Drums for a harmonica? (I don't perform well on the Harmonica! ;)
I write here as I do due only to my love and hopes for America... and the world.
Your words are certainly NOT "evidence" of that. We are not "potential." We are empirical. When you use rhetoric such as, "I feel that America potentially has the right stuff," your slight-of-hand becomes exposed.
What does "multi-ethnicity" have to do with ANYTHING?
Multi-ethnicity would describe a society where the enculturated patterns of each distinct ethnic group's evolutionary path to support survival, advance etc are merged into the overall, perhaps more amalgamated, society's capacity to problem solve the issues that challenge us.
As to your personal attack on me, Is that the best you can do?
I agree now with Bert. A conversation with you is not possible.
Well then, Bent; its' been a fun run, you've made your decision, and that is good. For that is why I have come here; to seperate those with whom I can reason, from those with whom I cannot.
Who the frack do you think has been directing our government for the last eight years, GWB? Gotta laugh at that one.
To Maxine Waters, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama socialism is the goal and capitalism and the free market is the enemy.
Oh... and the GOP are the party of Laissez Faire? Wake up, dupe. I mean, dude.
Then how does it work out that my non-green pieces of paper (also known as Australian Dollars) will buy twice as many US Dollars as they would a few years ago, but only half as much petrol (also known as gasoline)?