quote:
Originally posted by excelman:
Aubfire, I would suggest that Obama is correct in desiring to use the power of the Federal Government to produce incentives that will ween us off of enough oil to replace oil imported from the middle east, and Venezuela. I think it would be great if we could cut all imports.
The problem , is not the environmentalist, but the right wing political party that decided to piss away the last 30 years of forming a real energy reduction policy because they were in the pockets of companies who profit from the sale of oil. They gave tax credits to those who bought only the biggest SUVs and promoted burning more and more gasoline, meaning we imported more and more oil.
BTW, I don't remember seeing ANY picture of President Clinton giving a big ole kiss to the Arab Oil sheiks or walking hand in hand with them.
You must be young, I remember in the 70's we were told that the Alaska pipeline would be our solution to energy independence from the Middle East. Well , it came on line , and all we did was use more oil. (BTW, that Alaska oil all went to Japan for quite a long time)
Paris Hilton's energy plan is a lot more well thought out than McCains and apparently yours.
In about 5 months we will replace a president who seems to love the people of Iraq and Oil Sheiks from the middle east more than he loves the people of our own country. I believe both candidates running actually will love this country more than Iraq, but there is one who wants to stay there 100 years, and continue to piss away billions of dollars per month there, and who has no discernible energy plan more than drill, drill , drill.
On the other hand we have a candidate who sees a larger, more long term vision. He would be willing to open up more land for drilling, but requiring the oil companies to actually drill on their leases or loose them. He would set about to help American Car companies to develop 100MPG cars, all that can use alcohol. Such is a plan, I personally can think of some more that could be done, but that is a helluva lot better plan than the former candidate's. That is a PLAN.
Drill more is a command to a private industry. This is a news flash for you- the United States Government is NOT in the drilling for oil business.
Rather than blame environmentalist, why not blame the oil companies for not drilling on leases they already have that already have been ok'd by everybody? I fail to understand that disconnect with the McCain camp, and with your post.
I'm sure either candidate is willing to use the power of the federal government to produce incentives to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. That is exactly what I said; not sure why you didn't get that, but you should read my post again. But just saying that we should be off of foreign oil in ten years, and actually having a plan to reach this goal are two different things. A realistic person wouldn't even believe it to be possible in just ten years. Place all the blame you want on Republicans (they are to blame too, as you said, for our continued dependence on cheap foreign oil), but I am personally sick and tired of some liberal nutjob tree-hugging democrat opposing anything that would even remotely help the energy situation. These people care more about the environment than about our quality of life.
I work in the power industry. Everytime any big company (gasp, they must be evil) attempts to build a nuclear plant the tree huggers come out in force to oppose it. These are not Republicans opposing such proactive plans. While you may support nuclear power and be a resasonable enough person to understand that it is absolutely necessary to our future, your liberal counterparts do not.
Republicans have tried for years to expand our domestic energy options from oil to nuclear. Democrats have opposed it every step of the way. Why will they not allow a vote on drilling now? Why do people like Obama keep referring back to the same old saying "it won't help anyway for at least 5 years or more?" What the h@ll does that have to do with anything? That seeking of instant-gratification, of something for nothing, is what has caused thousands of American families to lose their homes and to run up exhorbitant credit card debt. It's what causes a huge percentage of our population to sit idle and collect handouts from a government run by politicians who only care about what else they can hand out to buy votes and get reelected. And it is one part of what has caused this energy crisis.
Noone is asking the government to say "Drill more" to private industry. Republicans are asking the government to ALLOW drilling. If the government is not in the oil business, then why not let the people decide whether drilling should be allowed? Why block anything that even Obama knows is necessary?
You say Obama will help automakers build more efficient automobiles? I hardly think that having the government REQUIRE certain efficiency standards of domestic automakers could be called "helping" them. And if you don't think that is what the Dems will do, just sit back and continue being naive.
Anyway, if you read what I had to say, you'll find that what I said, what Paris said, what McCain said, and what Obama said is all just about the same thing. But I don't see anyone else opposing anything that could help except the Democrats....do you? Talk is cheap, I prefer looking at actions......enough said.