Drill Baby Drill
I was going to write about today being the 65th Anniversary of my dad’s armored division liberating the largest allied P.O.W. camp (http://www.moosburg.org/info/stalag/14theng.html ) and write something inspirational about freedom, “the troops”, etc. but I couldn’t help myself from addressing a more timely topic.
So, with this oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico I’d like to ask Sarah Palin, “How is the drill baby drilly thing going for you?” Ten of thousands of gallons of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico every day about to devastate the marine ecology, fishing, tourism, etc.
The bottom line here folks is we need to end our dependence on this drug called oil. We need clean, self sustaining, non-foreign, energy. Buying oil from countries that hate us (arab, venzuela) and drilling offshore with its danger to the environment, fishing, shrimping, tourism, etc. has got to stop. This may be a 50 year plan, be need to kick it into high gear now. Clean, self sustaining energy is THE strategic imperative for our security in the future.
We should put on a carbon tax, and give the money for research and development on alternative fuels. China is doing this because they think in term of 100 year plans, while we can’t think past the next American Idol episode. We are going to get our ass kicked if we don’t wake up.
Sad Sam
PS: no global warming debates. I didn’t mention it because even if you don’t believe in it, it doesn’t change any of my points about this being our biggest strategic threat.
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Sam,
As usual you make good points but in a reactionary manner. It’s like going to Home Depot and buying a sledge hammer so you can tap a nail in the wall for picture hanging!
Personally, I wish you had gone with your first though. I went to the link regarding the WWII prisoner of war camp and it was very inspiring. It would be great to hear some of your dad’s personal accounts of that.
Having said that, it’s funny that the Gulf is facing probably the largest ecological disaster to hit our shores and the first thing you can think of is what does Palin think about it? Never mind thousands of people agreed with her, including our President.
Oh and on the subject of the President, I seem to remember the shrill screaming of liberals about the under reaction of George Bush after Katrina. Where are those voices now since Obama has done nothing to this point?
Suprisingly enough I am going to partially agree with you. We do need to get away from foreign dependence on energy, but until an alternative is invented, drilling for oil is going to be one of those things we have to do. I see no way around that in the short term.
1Well, what fun would a blog be if you couldn’t be a little snarky about Sarah Palin?
Bush/Katrina: I’d say that a good chunk of the criticism Bush got for Katrina was unwarranted, but he set himself up by putting “Brownie” in charge, a political hack. And then the “heckuva job Brownie” gave our soundbite driven media a great branding opportunity. Obama has some risk on this, but I don’t think the comparisons are fair. This oil spill rests squarely on BP and the idiots who designed/built the “three level fail safe backup” system to shut down the wellhead.
At least I got a partial agreement, that is progress!!!!
As for my dad, he didn’t say much about the war, but I got a few good stories I can relate if you think it is of interest.
2I agreed that we need to eventually find other sources of energy. Don’t get carried away.
The link you gave about the prison camp liberation was very interesting. If you stories that are in the context of something like that, I think a lot of people would find interesting.
3Ok Sam,,,how about “Nuke, baby, Nuke”? That would sure go a long way from the electricity standpoint.
Next, let me check your logic on this one. The oil spill is not like Katrina because it is BP’s fault? Huh? Does that mean if the rig was struck by lightning (or a hurricane), and made the same mess, Obama would have greater culpability for sitting around and doing nothing for a week? Surely that wasn’t your point.
As you know from past conversations, I think it would great if we could find a way to power our vehicles without petroleum. I think we are in complete agreement there. However, I think creating a tax in order to find the solution is 100% wrong. This is just more crony capitalism…picking winners and losers. Let me offer up this example..not the same, but related. Has anybody on this blog purchased $55,000 of solar power generating equipment? I have. All of my hot water and 5 KW per hour, 8 hours a day are being generated from the power plant on my roof. Of that $55,000, about $41,000 was paid for by either the state of Florida or your man Barack. Soooooo, exactly what incentive does the solar company have to produce their product more cheaply. I am willing to buy something worth $55,000 to them even though it is only worth $14,000 to me. This is basically the health care problem, or college tuition, or the reason anything subsidized by the government never gets more cost efficient. There is a better way.
4Nuke: Nuke Baby Nuke, I love it. And we can store the waste in Nevada. Have you ever driven through Nevada? It is 99% desert wasteland. And if they don’t like it, we switch Las Vegas’s electricity to the “off” position. F$*k em. The gulf states are getting oil washed ashore as did Alaska in ’89, the northeast gets acid rain, Nevada can store our waste.
Oil Spill: You can’t compare 1 week of people trying to get three well-head “fail safe” mechanisms to work with thousands of people stranded in the f’ng Superdome….
Subsidy: I’m not saying incent solar necessarily, but I’m glad you got your check. Use the tax revenue to guarantee nuclear power company bonds so they can start building. Use the money to build a more natural gas pipelines. Use the money for energy efficiency, or just plain R&D.
Or use the money to buy f’ing doors for grocery store coolers. Christ Almighty it drives me crazy to go into the grocery store during the winter and see the overhead heaters on while at the same time all the coolers have no doors on them. I yell at my kids when they stand there blankly with the refridgerator door open and the damn “doors are always open” at the Kroger!!!!
We are polluting our environment, killing coal miners, and giving money to countries who hate us so that we don’t have to open a cooler door to get our ground beef or yogurt…..
5Good grief that was quite a rant! You made a few good points. We are inefficient users of energy and it would be good to do something that would allow nuclear plants to be built. What you happend to forget though is that most of those, if not all, that were stranded in NO, refused to leave in the first place. Its hard to protect people from themselves, when stupidity is the problem.
6Last week I shot 87, yesterday 99, so I’m in a pissy mood. And everyone needs a good rant.
Your point is well taken about people leaving. I’d be fine with a FEMA saying, “Leave now, if you don’t, you are on your own, so don’t go crying to Anderson Cooper.”
I was in the largest mass migration in U.S. history, Hurricaine Floyd. Got one lousy day of vacation at Kiawah Island and then we evacuated on Tuesday at 5:30 a.m. and spent 12 hours in bumper to bumper traffic with two toddlers. They said, “leave” so we left, not rocket science.
7They did say that. Then when they finally did show up to help, they were shot at so What the……..????
8Been through four them. I didn’t need the cops to tell me what to do. All I had to do was turn on the weather channel, see a storm the size of China with a bulls-eye for my house, and I started thinking a long weekend in Atlanta looked pretty good.
9I stayed for Frederick in 79 in Mobile when I lived there. Never again!!
10It is far past time for addressing our energy problems than many people know. Many of our really serious problems have deterioriated past common knowledge.
It is truly wake up time!!
11Amen Brother Charles, you have that right!
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