I think they’re afraid that Dick Cheney will make money off of this
Our good friend Donviti, currently styling himself as Delaware’s Hottest Blogger, wrote:
so all you f’ing idiots that want to drill for oil in the United States, Have you stopped to think about how the frig we are going to refine the oil? Refinery’s in the US are at 95% capacity right now. NO ONE IS BUILDING NEW ONES….
So, whose backyard get’s the new refinery?
Freaking idiots…
if we were drilling our own oil, wouldn’t that replace the foreign oil that our refineries are currently using? Isn’t that kind of the point?
Let’s face facts, people: we have to have oil. We can pay Americans for it, or we can pay foreigners for it. Now, would you rather have your hard-earned dollars circulating through the American economy, or enriching foreign companies and countries? Even if you really hate oil industry executives, and don’t want them to get more money, if they have more money, at least they’ll spend and invest most of it here! I don’t know why anyone would rather line the pockets of Hugo Chavez or the Sultan of Brunei, who when they spend the money, won’t be spending it here.
I think that they’re afraid that Dick Cheney will make more money off of this. Well, maybe he will. But unless he takes it all as cash, and then stuffs it in his mattress, it will still flow out into the economy, aiding in the creation of new money and new jobs and new wealth right here in the United States.
Might we need more refineries? Maybe. If that’s the case, then build them! That would mean more good jobs for Americans, in building and then operating the refineries.
I have to admit: I find it odd that so many of our friends on the left, who continually combitch that the Bush Administration is shipping American jobs overseas, are so opposed to doing something which would generate new jobs, good-paying jobs, in the United States.
It has been objected that if we start drilling for oil offshore today, the oil wouldn’t actually start coming online for several years, so it wouldn’t do anything about oil prices today. That’s true enough. But we’ll still need oil ten years from now, and twenty years from now, and fifty years from now; if we don’t start exploiting some of our own reserves now, ten years from now the next generation of leftists — we hope that our friends on the left today gain some wisdom as they age, and become conservatives — will be saying, “Starting to drill for oil now won’t help, because we won’t see that oil for ten years.”
In one of the most amazing feats of linguistic legerdemain, our friends on the left have co-opted the word “progressive” for themselves. I certainly can’t see why, because I’ve never seen people more opposed to progress!
Arthur Downs:
I certainly can’t see why, because I’ve never seen people more opposed to progress! Dana
Most of the folks on the left are more into failed ideology than technology.
Their ‘expertise’ is often the overuse of buzz words and recitation of what sometimes appears in Sunday Supplements.
What is allegedly ‘analysis’ is often gross curve-fitting with cherry-picked data. Some trendy panacea is offered as the hope for tomorrow.
Quite often some ‘new’ technology is hyped as the ultimate answer. Ethanol was touted as a fuel over a century ago and it was the basis for racing fuel. It had one advantage: it allowed higher compression ratios and greater power output without increasing engine displacement. Fuel economy (in mpg) dropped substantially and the hygroscopic nature of the fuel meant damage to car components.
As a fuel for automobiles, nothing can beat gasoline. We can develop gasoline from coal using hydrogentation processes proven during WW II. Cheap electricity could be available from nuclear plants.
Perhaps the disdain for hydrocarbon fuels expressed by the New Aristocrats has an echo of ‘Let them eat cake’. Folks flitting about in private jets may be displaying more than a bit of arrogance by advocating that the peasants ride mass transit.
20 June 2008, 12:22 pmRovin:
Dana,
I have linked this site to the first post on my newly created blogsite called “Public Energy Number One” Please take a moment to check out this site and then follow the link back here to comment. (I haven’t got a decent comment function—yet)
My whole point to the new site is to let people understand that YES, WE CAN DRILL OUT OF THIS MESS and I will expose every leader (left or right) that stands in the way of allowing this nation to become energy independent.
20 June 2008, 3:31 pmDana Pico:
Rov: Your link doesn’t work.
20 June 2008, 4:09 pmRovin:
Sorry—– Try this one: LINK
http://citizensforenergyindependence.blogspot.com/
20 June 2008, 6:03 pmRovin:
I think my corrected post went into moderation?
20 June 2008, 6:17 pmRovin:
I’ll try this one more time:
Public Energy Number One
20 June 2008, 8:14 pmDana Pico:
Worse than the moderation queue; it went into the spam queue! But it has been rescued.
The commenting feature would work for someone with a blogspot account or an “Open ID,” but not for anyone else.
20 June 2008, 8:40 pmBrian Shields:
I seriously think the offshore drilling thing is basically a ploy to get what the Oil Execs want, in a time where public outcry for lower gas prices is at it’s highest.
They are just using the gas price panic to get their political agenda pushed through, at the same time making the politicians look pro-active on the issue.
Forget that there are a lack of refineries to process the oil, forget that it’ll take upwards of 10 years to see production from these wells, forget that there are oil wells currently capped in the Gulf of Mexico that could be tapped at a moment’s notice.
It’s all spin to push for a relaxation of regulations. They gotta get it now before the corrupt administration leaves office.
21 June 2008, 8:03 amDana Pico:
Mr Shields: Even if oil from new wells would take ten years to reach the market, ten years from now we’ll still need oil.
You’ve just about proved my point: the opposition comes from people not wanting to see the oil industry make money. But if we don’t do more to develop what resources we have, we’ll just keep sending our money overseas.
Everything about drilling for more oil from American sources is an economic benefit. The wages paid for getting the oil out of the ground are paid to American workers, the money paid to build new oil rigs and refineries are paid to American companies, the money spent by the oil industry people, from the CEO on down to the roustabout, is spent in American grocery stores and restaurants and car dealerships.
Would you rather enrich Americans, or someone else? The oil industry executives are going to get rich, regardless; they haven’t been drawing food stamps because the oil is being produced in Mexico. The real difference will be seen below the executive level, by having the people who do the work of producing the oil do so and live here.
21 June 2008, 8:45 amRovin:
Iowa Liberal trackback my “ranting” to his site:
Here is my response which I also left at IL:
First and foremost, the site was put up in haste to combat the single most petulant reaction our Democratic “leaders” are putting out in their “prepared” statements——-all the reasons why we can’t do something today that our grandfathers accomplished with half the tools and know-how. In the days and months ahead I will list the pros and cons of both sides of this argument in detail.
Second, my first advocacy will be the drilling/mining of the oil shale reserves in Colorado and Utah in addition to offshore reserves that can produce a substantial outflow that factors in production levels and yes profitability. I will provide links to show the vast amounts of oil shale reserves in this region that potentially has more resources than the entire Middle East. I for one would love to tell the Saudis, Iranian Mullahs, and the Hugo Chavez’s of the world to take their oil and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.
Third, the author of this post has conveniently left out the most important declaration made at the site:
“Public Energy Number One will link any and all websites that promote the development of all sources of energy, including the exploration of oil and gas.”
My purpose for the site is to promote any and all sources that seek to advance the cause of this country becoming energy independent from the rest of the world. No where in this new site will I suggest that drilling alone will suffice to reach this goal. I believe that it will take all of the resources and ingenious thinking this nation has to reach our goals. This should be a combination of billions invested in alternative energy sources along with oil and gas exploration that combined could allow us to accelerate the prime goal of energy independence, and eventually phase out the fossil fuels as the primary source.
We did not get to this point overnight and we cannot (ouch, I hate that word) resolve this overnight. The classic rhetoric and battle lines that are getting drawn up between the left and the right are disturbing to say the least. Under the current circumstances in this global economy that is competing for energy sources, (which we are currently losing), will certainly get worse before it gets better. I will admit that my declaration that we can drill our way out of this situation was the direct response to my dear friends on the left and their democratic leaders that are proclaiming that we can’t. Neither side is realistically correct or completely defensible to provide the answers to a complex problem that will certainly haunt us in the years ahead.
I welcome all debate and the sharing of ideas that can provide realistic solutions that confront all of us. This is not a liberal or a “ranting” conservative problem. It’s a problem for all of us that I still believe we can collectively resolve as still the greatest nation on the face of the earth——drawing philosophical lines in the sand and playing spitting games of rhetorical “I’m right and you’re not” will only delay, or worse destroy this economy that is on serious shaky ground. Supply and demand of energy sources must be a collective resolution with out political agendas standing in the way of progress.
Side-note: Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard! If you folks think conservatives sink their teeth into relying on this man’s bloviating, you need to step out of the eighties and get real.
21 June 2008, 10:56 amRovin:
In one of the most amazing feats of linguistic legerdemain, our friends on the left have co-opted the word “progressive” for themselves. I certainly can’t see why, because I’ve never seen people more opposed to progress!
Dana,
Not only are they (the left) opposed to progress, they fail miserably to even begin to supply any ideas to advance progress. I’ve wasted most of the morning attempting to advance the discussion over at Iowa Liberal and NOT ONE COMMENTER has provided anything other than “you can’t do that” or “this is rediculous”. NOT ONE COMMENTER has suggested even an alternative view or idea. I’ve come to the realization that it’s a waste of time and “energy” to expect rational thought from these pathetic rhetorical filled liberals that are incapable of participating in finding solutions to complex problems facing this nation. I guess “hope and change” is all they need to feed their solipsism.
I’m repairing my old toyota PU that has over 450k and still gets 32mpg, (so I can leave my carbon footprint on the roadways). The 4×4 work-truck that gets maybe 10mpg will get parked indefinatly.
21 June 2008, 12:34 pm