You know things are bad when really nice, well-mannered people — such as Moms — start using strong language. I enjoyed this portion of a letter in today’s paper:
I am a full-time, working, middle-class mother of two. Times are getting very bad for me and my husband, as well as for all American middle-class working families. The main item that needs to be on all Americans’ minds is why the gas prices ever rose more $2 in the first place. This is shocking.
If other countries wanted to hurt the United States, this is how they do it, and we are letting them. It is time to start drilling in the United States, and the heck (sorry) with those other countries.
I can see the kids bouncing up and down in the back seat now: "Mom said a bad word! Mom said a bad word!" After the last couple of decades of linguistic deviance being defined ever-downward, with the situation exacerbated (sorry) personally by my current "Sopranos"-watching binge, coarsening my ears to a level I find distressing, it warms my heart to run across a nice lady who gets red-faced over a public "heck," even when provoked.
And she is indeed provoked. She goes on to say:
Americans need jobs, and we need to start relying on ourselves again. If the only reason we are sitting on the oil is to protect some kind of animal or bird, I am sorry, but put them in a zoo, and drill for oil. I understand that statement will make some people mad.
Sorry, Mr. Chipmunk and Mr. Bluejay, but Mom’s had enough, so you march straight to your zoo, and none of your guff, now. Don’t you make Mom come down there, or she will tan your bottom (sorry)…
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And of course, she is exactly right about it too.
This is what gives me faith that we can eventually fix this and drill for our own petroleum: That average peole “get it” inspite of misguided ideologues with bad intentions like Brad, Bud and others in the “un” party…whatever the hell THAT is.
Average people understand perfectly. This is a good thing. David
that would be average PEOPLE
And above-average people understand that we can’t just drill our way out of the coming fossil-fuel crisis.
The problems with drilling “our own oil,” aside from displacing animals are as follows: 1) Petroleum products are a prime producer of greenhouse gasses–how much more do we want to contribute to greenhouse gasses? 2) Other countries are now competing with us, big time, for petroleum (eg. China, India). They want to drive,too. Do you expect our companies to a) save the gas to sell in the U.S. at a low price, or b) sell it to the highest bidder? It’s a ‘heckuva’ situation.
I wouldn’t confuse ‘average’ with ‘right’ or ‘informed’. Just because something may be popular, doesn’t mean it’s the answer. Also, the benefits of drilling anywhere and everywhere are surely debatable, but don’t underestimate the will of the oil companies to keep things just like they are (or worse). They’re making money hand over fist, they have no real obligations to America, and even if we buy less, at $5 or so a gallon, I think they’ll still be ok.
And while drilling might be an answer, it’s only part of the answer. There are so many other ways to get energy, and it’s going to take some serious diversification in how we get it to really help us out in the future.
Can someone out there please tell me how we can go from 5.1 million barrels/day oil production to 20 million? 20 million is what we currently use. Do you people not understand that even if we drill everywhere possible (assuming we can find the petroleum engineers, oil rigs and other inputs) we cannot ever produce 20 million barrels of oil per day, 15 million, 10 million or even 8 million. Never. It’s not in the ground ready to be exploited. It’s just not, period, end of story.
So in order to become energy independent we have to cut back on oil consumption, waaaaaaaay back. And since oil, even at the world level, is finite eventually we won’t even be able to import enough to sustain a 20 million/day habit. All discussions about energy should start with conservation and end with alternative sources. So let’s stop all this endless talk about drilling and start looking at real solutions.
Just to start back up at the top — David’s not paying attention. It’s a basic tenet of the Energy Party that we drill like crazy — along with everything we can think of to conserve, including things that are counterintuitive to “average people,” such as increasing the tax on gasoline to jack up the price ahead of the market. That’s so that we’re keeping the money in THIS country. The price is going up anyway — possibly to $6 within a year. Far better to put it in our own coffers than those of Chavez and the house of Harkonnen. I mean, Saud….
Of course, it may be too late for that to work. I’d like to see what some economists say about it. If we had jacked it up to $4 back when it was $2, we’d still have the money here, and would have put a hurt on the petrodictators because voluntary conservation measures on the part of consumers would have happened a couple of years back.
James, the only crisis we face where petroleum is concerned is the one we’ve created by not demonstrating that we intend as a sovereign nation to do everything necessary in order to secure the petroleum we need. Our lack of resolve and dithering with ridiculous ideas like cap and trade and begging not-so-benign countries like Saudi Arabia to “please pump more oil Mr. Ali” has convinced the world that we aren’t committed to our own best interests and has allowed speculators to go nuts. Again James, we are suffering from self-inflicted wounds, not some exteranl crisis.
Bud, as usual, you’re exactly wrong. Immediate and vigorous exploration and drilling for our own oil would have a dramatic calming effect on speculation markets, and the sources we develop and exploit would ease our supply problems. ANY that we would get from our own resources is more than we have now, and there is no legitimate reason that we shouldn’t begin drilling RIGHT NOW.
TODAY.
We don’t have to go from 5.1 to 20 million barrels as you’ve asserted. And you know it. How ridiculous this line of non-reasoning is. This is a mere smoke screen that avoids the real point: If we went from 5.1 to 10 million, or even 5.1 to 8 million, at least it would be that much more than we have at present, and it would certainly change global petroleum market dynamics.
Sheesh. How dense can people be?
Actually, I don’t think it’s being dense. In your case, and maybe James, it is obstinate refusal to do the obvious right thing in favor of some non-existent future solution. And it is truly sickening not only that you and James engage in it, but more so that many other well-intentioned but shallow thinking people do as well. I don’t know WHAT Brads’ excuse is. Sheer obstinacy I suppose.
Dave
BY the way, Bud, the Rocky Mountain oil shales represent the single largest oil reserve on the planet (estimates are at 1 trillion barrels), according to what I’ve read. No legitimate reasons for not exploiting them have ever been given.
If we had started drilling in ANWR when Clinton depp-sixed the idea in the 90’s, that resource would be providing about 5% more petroleum than we presently get from in-country resources.
These two resources do not even count what is available from untapped resources in our littoral waters. How many oil spill disasters did hurricane Katrina cause when it damaged dozens of wells in the gulf, Bud? (queue final jeopardy theme here) Answer? N-O-N-E. So don’t even try it.
So…wrong again Bud…as usual you reach wrong conclusins by starting with wrong premises.
IT IS IN THE GROUND and READY TO BE EXPLOITED.
It just is. End of story.
No soup for you! David
I should have said that there has been no reason not to exploit the oil shales except that it wasn’t economically attractive when retail gasoline was selling for $1.50 a gallon.
The oil shales make PERFECT economic sense now, when gaoline is at $4.00 a gallon.
David
“Do you people not understand that even if we drill everywhere possible (assuming we can find the petroleum engineers, oil rigs and other inputs) we cannot ever produce 20 million barrels of oil per day, 15 million, 10 million or even 8 million. Never. It’s not in the ground ready to be exploited. It’s just not, period, end of story.”
Uh, can you back that up with evidence? It’s not in the ground ready to be exploited? Why isn’t it there, because you say it isn’t? Are you saying ‘forget ANWAR, the Bakken field and off shore, cause there really isn’t any/much oil there anyway’? If so, I could not disagree more.
And…I am too listening Brad.
Just not to cultists, fatalists, naysayers and otherwise misguided people who are apparently do not hold this country’s welfare at heart like you, Bud and James. That’s a harsh thing to say, but I used the word apparently because that’s certainly how it ‘appears’ to me.
David
And all you greenie libs in Congress, march straight to the zoo of your choice!!!!!!!!!
We have to do SOMETHING with you.
Actually, not drilling ANWAR, etc., is a pretty good policy, but not because of greenhouse gases, snail darters, penguins or the proliferation of seven-hoofed wildebeests.
If we spend the next hundred or two hundred years using everybody else’s oil, when all theirs is gone, think how much ours will be worth!
Not only that, but the chance to read how much James McCallister thinks of himself will probably have disappeared, too.
Oh, how lucky our grandchildren’s grandchildren!
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand the idea of producing more oil seems a lot like producing more cocaine for an addict. On the other hand, if we do produce more of our own oil, we have more control over its price. I think both ideas are worth considering.
Hey Jay, You’re an IDIOT !
Its amazing. So many scientists (you know, those wild and crazy guys who insist on working from hard data, and actually study what’s happening) keep insisting that global warming is a fact, and that we are going to see dramatic changes if we don’t act now to reduce our carbon footprint. But what do they know? Lets just keep on encouraging gasoline engines, the lower the mpg. the better! God forbid that anyone should have to change their lifestyle, or even drive a smaller car! But I keep hearing a small voice say that if we’d committed ourselves in the 70’s to research for alternate power sources, after the oil “shortage” then, we wouldn’t be in this mess now. But, fuel prices went down, so any attempt at conservation or alternative fuel went out the window! Even though the middle east wasn’t our friend then, either (remember the hostages)we went back happily to paying them to fuel our Hummers. I think that qualifies the US as a whole for that “idiot” label.
I noticed that as well, Brad, her apology for “heck.” And then I wondered if she were actually apologizing for being less than compassionate about the other countries.
It is interesting, though.
As to the oil situation, I’d just rather not comment. “Heck” would seem quite tame.
This is sort of like trying to convince people that the earth is round. No amount of evidence is going to convince people of the truth. Not a single expert believes we can ever produce more than 6-7 million barrels of oil a day regardless of what we do. Shale, ANWR, Coastal shelf drilling will never boost production any higher, never. Those things are little more than short-term partial fixes.
We’re in a terminal production decline and have been for 38 years. It’s time to accept the truth. The sooner everyone does that the sooner we will do what we have to do: conserve, conserve, conserve.
All the big oil executives should be fired, because they are stupid. They probably kick themselves everyday because they didn’t raise the price years ago. They could have doubled the price every couple of years. No one is going to stop them. It doesn’t matter anyway. If big business, oil or whatever, is involved, what replaces oil, even if it’s water and air, will cost just as much as oil. Why, because big business says so. And everybody knows what big business wants, big business gets.
I heard on the radio this morning that Sri Lankans pay about $18.00 per gallon. Venezuelans pay $0.19 per gallon. Who taught the Venez how to get all that oil out of the ground. How many animals has that country made extinct?
How much do our big oil companies charge for a barrel of oil pumped out of the ground in Texas or Alaska, the going world market speculation rate? I suspect so. But their operating cost haven’t gone up in the last 6 months run up. So don’t sit there and blow smoke up my …, and tell me they are not making a huge profit. They think everybody is just stupid. But as I said earlier, no one is going to stop them.
Something else to get ticked about.
Subject: Emailing: The State 06-16-2008 Clyburn earmarks could benefit family, friends.htm
Clyburn earmarks could benefit family, friends
Report says S.C. congressional leader has set aside at least $6.2 million
for projects
The Associated Press
MYRTLE BEACH – South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn has earmarked millions of
taxpayer dollars this decade for projects that could directly benefit his
friends and family members, a newspaper reported Sunday.
The (Myrtle Beach) Sun News found that Clyburn has set aside at least $6.2
million for such projects. That includes money for two projects his nephew
was to help design, a community center that runs a program employing his
sister-in-law and a Columbia wellness center that employs his daughter.
Clyburn is the House majority whip. He was the sole sponsor for 32 earmarks
totaling $38.8 million in the current budget. In contrast, all of South
Carolina’s other lawmakers combined to sole-sponsor $45.5 million in
earmarks in the same budget.
Clyburn’s office did not return calls seeking comment, although he has
repeatedly defended the earmark process, telling reporters last year that
the special provisions help provide for community needs.
“I don’t see that as wasteful government spending,” he told reporters in
February 2007. “I see that as responding to the needs these people said they
had.”
I’m game if you are, Slugger. Let’s get ticked!!!
I need a constructive outlet for tickation, though — so I don’t keep taking it out on the solicitors beating a path to my door. Today it was some guy wanting to aerate my yard. I told him my husband takes care of all that stuff and to beat it….
What is aeration, anyway? Will that be the next man toy for the garage?
Slugger — do you think that last one really wanted to aerate my head with buckshot?
Karen McLeod continues to mouth the untruth about “all those scientists” who believe in the Theory of Global Warming. The truth is that scientists in the fields of meterology and climatology overwhelmingly reject the notion of global warming caused by human activity.
1. All the data shows the Earth has been in a cooling trend since 1998.
2. Extranormal levels of so-called “greenhouse gases” ( a political, non-scientific term) actually reflect solar radiation, cooling the Earth back to an equilibrium normal average temperature.
James T. McCallister says:
“And above-average people understand that we can’t just drill our way out of the coming fossil-fuel crisis.”
We can for at least ten years, buddy! The caribou will find a new migratory pattern.
Karen McLeod says:
“So many scientists (you know, those wild and crazy guys who insist on working from hard data, and actually study what’s happening) keep insisting that global warming is a fact, and that we are going to see dramatic changes if we don’t act now to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Problem is, we’re going to see dramatic changes anyway! Once the industrial revolution began, if we are, indeed, contributing to Earth’s natural process of warming and cooling by speeding it, we were already doomed! We can stop using fossil fuels and electricity and all of those things altogether, and it won’t make much of a difference. Quit being so naive.
Not to worry about global warming. It was invented by Al Gore who will be running for VP on the ticket with Obama.
Gore will run for VP again when Hell freezes over, slugger.
Having read only a few of your posts, I’m sure that you’re accustomed to hitting 0 for 2– so the climatologists are safe with their analysis.