Once Again, With Feeling
Jun 11, 2009 Political
Here we go, on the ferris wheel of price increases with regards to gasoline and heating fuel, and all other related products, as the price of a barrel of crude rises yet again to it’s highest price this year. In a land with common sense, this would mean that drilling off of our coasts would make sense especially given the lag time between beginning the process, and actually obtaining the oil.
We, however, do not live in a land with leaders who have a lick of common sense when it comes to this issue. Instead, they prefer to run around like Chicken Little, screaming at the “ecological ” damage done to the environment. Truth be told, more damage is done by the oil tankers that ship the crude from far away places, than the pipelines that the oil flows from in the Gulf of Mexico, or the Alaska pipeline.
When the price of crude fell sharply last year, most people breathed a sigh of relief,as if the crisis was behind us- not so, as this is just the deep breath before the plunge into icy water. If we do not begin to drill now, then we will continue to be reliant on the Arab world, or Chavez, both of whom are repugnant to me. It would be much better to use our own petroleum reserves while we search for an alternative that might be as long as ten years away from commercial viability.
Pump prices have been on a tear as the price of crude oil—the biggest single factor in gasoline prices—has more than doubled from a low point this spring.
On Wednesday, the national average price for regular rose a fraction of a penny to $2.63 per gallon, according to motor club AAA. That’s up 40 cents from a month ago and just over $1 since the first day of 2009. In Houston, the average edged up nearly half a penny overnight to $2.43 a gallon, and is up 34 cents from last month, AAA said.
Crude oil prices are surging as investors pour cash into commodities as a hedge against the weakening U.S. dollar. The price got another boost Wednesday as traders reacted to Energy Department data showing a higher-than-expected drop in U.S. oil inventories, a sign that supplies are tightening, demand increasing and the economy improving.
Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $1.15 to $71.16 a barrel, its highest price this year.
chron.com
Oil rigs don’t just float into place and begin pumping oil,which is why we need to begin now, or we will be forever behind the curve. That might sit well with Hussein, but the rest of us, normal American people, should not get this kind of “change” in our lives. We have already suffered these Liberal fools quite enough, thank you, and we would like to begin a return to sanity.
Part of this return would be to drill for the oil here while we figure out the best way to go. Using a shotgun approach to solve the energy crisis is counterproductive- what is needed is focus on what works. In some places, solar might work- in others, wind may do it, although I personally have my doubts about wind.
Nuclear power should be used more for everyday residential and commercial use, and I believe that we can make coal much cleaner, but we won’t know this if we rely on people who say no- as my mother used to say, ” “Can’t” never could.”
Total U.S. petroleum product deliveries, including gasoline, fell to their lowest point since 1998 during the first four months of the year, according to the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group in Washington. The decline came despite pump prices that hovered around $2 a gallon nationwide for most of that time.
Now, some experts fear higher pump prices will cut deeper into the pockets of Americans and prove a drag on the rebound of the U.S. economy.
“A lot of what drives the U.S. economy is consumption,” said Ken Medlock, a fellow in energy studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute. “If we’re not consuming, we’re not going to recover at the same kind of pace we would otherwise.”
“I think if we had stayed in the low $2 range, we probably would have seen much stronger demand this summer,” he said.
This week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said it expects regular-grade gasoline prices to peak in July, hitting a national average near $2.70 per gallon.
chron.com
Now, on the one hand, decreased usage means that pollution will be less, but the other side of the equation is that reduced usage means that our economic recovery will be prolonged.
The drilling off of the East and West coasts could prove a boon financially to the states, like California, and New Jersey, both of whom desperately need the money, and also the Federal government, which would make money both in the sale of the leases, and the taxes on gasoline refining and sales.
And still you have some people in these respective governments turning a blind eye to the realities of the situation.
Are they waiting for the return of four dollar gas?
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Tags: common sense, energy, governmental idiocy, oil
Is It Really Green?
May 16, 2009 Political
I have written a couple of times on the so- called “Green” technology, and what I believe is the future of energy, and I have been taken to task for not having a coherent grasp of the minutia relating to the various technologies of this “new” change in direction. I have said that I would be glad to embrace new Hybrid, or electric, or hydrogen cars, IF THEY WORKED, and if there was an infrastructure in place to refill, or re- charge, or re- whatever needs to be done.
But I have always felt that if you have to travel fifty miles round trip, in order to fill your car, you are not saving money, you are not reducing your precious “carbon footprint”, and you have not done the environment any favors in any way.It does not matter what fuel you use, if you have to travel to the ends of the earth to get it. I mean let’s face it, “Dilithium Crystals” are not real, and our energy needs are.
This is why I have advocated for the continued use of present- day fuels, which means (by virtue of common sense), that we need to drill for oil and gas on both coasts. Our finances dictate that we use our own fuel, and refine it here, and sell it here. This keeps the money at home. In the meantime, the search and refinement of alternative energy proceeds. After all, the company that perfects the next generation of usable energy is the company that can feasibly write its own future.
What I find incredible is the news that a nuclear reactor that would have provided energy to all of southeastern Texas was denied the issuance of Government surety bonds, which effectively killed the project, as it needed the bonds to help develop the capital needed to proceed. The environmentalists killed it, just as they have killed any further coal- fired plants, and here is the problem with these nitwits- they have NO alternatives. None- and that is not acceptable. The saying, Lead, Follow, or get out of the way comes to mind. The mindless throwing up of roadblocks is not adding anything positive to the discussion.
Because, let’s face it- Progress will happen, that is written in stone- the only question is in what direction progress will take. Standing pat, as the enviro- nuts seem to want, is impossible, so it would seem to me that if they really want to be a part of the discussion, they should open their mouths and say something, but say something that keeps the discussion on topic.
The Republican party has been called the party of No, but it is really the environmentalists, who say no to oil and gas, say no to coal, say no to nuclear power, say no to ethanol, and say no to both solar and wind, because the laying of transmission lines would hurt a snail darter fish, or some lizard. Here’s a thought- the lizards can probably crawl over the transmission lines as they do at my house. Give me a freakin’ break- animals are more flexible than you might think, and accept things like pipelines and transmission lines in their midst easier than you know.
In the end, there are two ways humanity can proceed- we can find and use ALL available forms of power we can harness, or we can kill off at least half of all humanity, which will free up demand on the uses of energy, won’t it? Which one do you think would be more desirable? More logical? More user- friendly?
Of course, the other way would give us more elbow room, but what if you are on the wrong side of THAT equation? Whoops! There go your hopes and dreams. No, I think that if you are logical about this, and not blindly adhering to an agenda that has ulterior motives, you would have to agree that the only logical way is the first one I described, using all available forms of power, and keeping our money here at home.
Reviling oil and gas, as some in the “green” movement are doing, is doing them no favors, because just what are they using for power while they are building their brave new world? Rubber bands? No- they are using gas powered machines- but they are not liking it. Still, it’s better than rolling the wind turbines over logs to get them where they want, I think even they would agree.
Sometimes being a hypocrite is the best you can do- do the ends justify the means?
Now we’re cookin’ with gas.
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Obama And The Democrats Lie About Drilling
Feb 2, 2009 Political
During the latter part of the campaign season gasoline rose to about $4.00 a gallon while oil was pegging at $150 a barrel. This all took place under the Democrats who had control of Congress at the time. Now I don’t particularly think any member of our government has control over oil prices but our friends on the left seem to believe that the “oil men” Bush and Cheney controlled oil prices. I would not normally attribute oil prices to a political party but Nancy Pelosi made the promise in 2006 that if we voted Democrats in control they had a plan to lower gas prices. Since she said that they would do it then it means she could do it. Since it did not happen then it stands to reason the Democrats caused it not to.
During the same period of $4.00 gas the Democrats were getting hammered from all sides on the subject of drilling for our own oil. The call to drill here and drill now drowned out the cries of the tree huggers. Sarah Palin brought some sense to the issue because, unlike all the others, she actually has experience in this area. It did not take long for Obama to change his stance and say that he too was in favor of responsible drilling. The Democrats began to say they were willing to work with Republicans to drill responsibly. They even let the offshore drilling ban expire.
I warned at the time that they were lying. They had no intention of allowing drilling and they only said and did those things to influence people to vote for them. The high cost of gas was turning voters away and the Democrats said and did things to turn that trend around. I knew all along and stated in several posts that the Democrats expected to win the White House and make big gains in Congress and that they would put a stop to drilling and would reinstate the ban. It looks like that is taking place and Obama, Mr. I’m all for responsible drilling, not opposed to this effort. Democrats are working very hard to ensure we will never be able to drill for oil on any of our property including Alaska, a state rich in resources. Sarah Palin has written an article taking Democrats and Obama to task for breaking their word on drilling.
As I traveled throughout the country campaigning for vice president, I was glad to hear politicians, including Barack Obama, promise that “everything was on the table” to address America’s great challenges. I also found that when Americans were apprised of the facts, most people became supporters of responsible oil and gas drilling in Alaska. So, I want to remind our national leaders of this promise and make the case against this legislation:
•Oil from ANWR represents a huge, secure domestic supply that could help satisfy U.S. demand for more than 25 years.
•ANWR sits within a 20 million-acre refuge (the size of South Carolina), but thanks to advanced technology like directional drilling, the aggregated drilling footprint would be less than 2,000 acres (about one-quarter the size of Dulles Airport). This is like laying a 2-by-3-foot welcome mat on a basketball court.
•Energy development is quite compatible with the protection of our wildlife and their habitat. For example, North Slope caribou herds have grown and remained healthy throughout more than three decades of oil development. Most of the year, our coastal plain is frozen solid and thus characterized by low biological productivity.
•ANWR development would create hundreds of thousands of good American jobs, positively affecting every state by providing a safe energy supply and generating demand for goods and services. Star Tribune
The entire article is worth the read and it shows that Palin has a better grasp then all these beltway bandits who have little experience in the real world. Barack Obama said he was open to drilling and other responsible methods of energy independence but the reality is he and the Democrats are working on a bill that will take away part of the argument. The bill means that Democrats are not willing to drill responsibly and they are not open to discussion. They lied.
Our country has a lot of resources but the Democrats are committed to the environmental lobbyists and their desire to use alternatives that are either expensive or have not been developed yet. We have oil and we should continue to use it until we have better options.
It only makes sense to use our own. Since it makes sense it will not happen.
Lying seems to be a common theme in this administration. Like I always say, never trust a Democrat.
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Time To Bail Out Oil Companies?
Jan 30, 2009 Political
When oil companies were making record profits Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said they were going to take those profits and spend them on the people. They would impose huge windfall profit taxes on the “excessive” profits because it just isn’t right, in their minds, for private businesses to make too much.
The oil companies, they claimed, were manipulating the markets and causing fuel prices to rise. No, drilling was not the answer though Obama bought into that for political gain. It was not a matter of our oil going unused, it was the evil oil companies manipulating markets. If they could do that then why are they not manipulating them now and causing the price of a barrel of oil to go up?
Looks like we will now have to send the oil companies some of the bailout money. Royal Dutch Shell posted its first loss in 10 years. The loss was 2.81 billion dollars.
If Obama wanted to take their money when they earned it then it only stands to reason he has to give them money when they don’t.
I am willing to bet that does not happen.
This just shows how little Obama and his Democrats understand the free market.
He said he wanted to redistribute the wealth but I bet that was only when he was taking it from evil oil companies. I bet he will not redistribute it the other way…
I don’t believe the oil companies should get money if they are not doing well but I also do not believe the government should take their money when they are profitable.
In other news about fossil fuels, thousands of gas stations in California will close by 1 April rather than spend the huge sums of money it would cost to get them up to speed with some strict new environmental standards being imposed by the state.
Looks like the already cash strapped state will be earning fewer business tax dollars.
UPDATE: Looks like Exxon will break its record for profit. I guess it will have to give money to Shell under the redistribute the wealth plan.
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Tags: loss. shell, Obama, oil, taxes, windfall
Pelosi and Hoyer No Match for Thinking People
Aug 26, 2008 Political
A group of protesters chanting “Drill Here, Drill Now” in front of Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer were confronted by the House leaders when Pelosi asked if it was OK to drill their brains. Nancy, it is only OK to drill a person’s brains when that person wants to become a liberal Democrat. Then and only then may you remove brains.
Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland, stated:
“sophomoric chanting” won’t solve the energy crisis and that “all thinking Americans know” — stressing the word “thinking” and looking at the crowd — that America doesn’t have a quarter of the word’s fossil fuels yet uses a quarter of the world’s energy. Politico
Hoyer couldn’t find his ass if his hands were in his back pockets and he is talking about people who think. Here are a few thoughts for him:
- Was it not Obama who said he was open to drilling for oil and did not Nancy Pelosi then follow suit? According to Hoyer, are they unthinking?
- Have not the Democrats been using sophomoric chants throughout the convention? Pelosi had them chanting that Obama was right and John McCain was wrong.
- Hoyer keeps talking about solving the energy crisis but Democrats have been touting alternative energies for years. Nothing has panned out yet and we can’t get rid of oil until we have something else that works as well.
- If they are now acting as if drilling won’t matter is it safe to assume the remarks about being ready to drill were a ruse to fool people into voting for them? (as I predicted earlier).
- Is Pelosi aware that we could have oil flowing in 1-3 years (not 10) and that an increase in supply will reduce the prices far more than a few cents?
- If the protesters are “2 cents in 10 years” as Pelosi called them, does that make her no sense ever?
These people do not care about the country. They only care about being reelected and they will say anything to accomplish that. They have had an abysmal record since they took control despite all the lies Pelosi told to embellish their record. They are do nothing losers and they should all be voted out of office.
Hoyer is a mental midget who suffers from such a chronic case of cranial rectitis that he needs a silica umbilicus to see where he is going.
Tags: confrontation, drill, hoyer, McCain, Obama, oil, Pelosi, protesters