McCain has come out (finally) for drilling for oil off U.S. shores, unfortunate, but necessary.
Obama as expected is opposed and says that drilling off the U.S. coast will not solve today's problems and he is right about that.
His suggestion is to use the money (not sure what money he is talking about) to support alternative energy sources like wind, solar, etc. Okay, we should explore all alternative, but Barak my friend that will not solve today's problems either and will solve the energy problem farther in the future (if ever) than drilling for new sources of oil.
So who's right? It seems that once again we are in nothing but a game where if one says black the other says white, one says right the other wrong. Is it possible that every democrat things alike and that every republican thinks like every other republican? Probably not, but they are all apparently willing to subvert their own intelligence for their party...and that means we are in big, big trouble. :-5
Too Little Too Late
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Too Little Too Late
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
"If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking" Gen. George Patton
Quinnscommentary
Observations on Life. Give it a try now and tell a friend or two or fifty.
Quinnscommentary Blog
"If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking" Gen. George Patton
Quinnscommentary
Observations on Life. Give it a try now and tell a friend or two or fifty.
Quinnscommentary Blog
Too Little Too Late
I agree that it's party politics causing much problems. I'm not too clear on all the facts and stuff with money and government spending but basically it comes down to prioritizing and delay of gratification. Also we spend billions of dollars on the war right now and we are in debt as a country. We don't need to live this way!
Too Little Too Late
I read something recently about the possibilities of drilling for oil under the arctic ice now that it's melting. A Russian diver has already gone to the ocean floor and planted a flag for his country.
Doesn't this make you wonder if there may be conflict of interest between desire for oil and commitment to stop global warming?
Between the two opinions of more drilling vs using alternate power sources... I'm thinking that we need to start diverting to other sources and it might as well be Sooner Than Later... even if it is Too Little, Too Late.
Doesn't this make you wonder if there may be conflict of interest between desire for oil and commitment to stop global warming?
Between the two opinions of more drilling vs using alternate power sources... I'm thinking that we need to start diverting to other sources and it might as well be Sooner Than Later... even if it is Too Little, Too Late.
Too Little Too Late
I think that its inevitable that they will drill everywhere they can in order to keep supplies of oil available, and that will include everywhere physically possible, but its not going to solve the twin problems as for one, the oil taken from oil shales, or oil sands, or from deepwater trenches, or from under the melting icecap at the pole (lets hope the Antartic one doesn't melt, or Greenland because if they do this will all be academic I assure you) will not be cheap or easy to obtain. And the problem with oil and gas includes its price, as much as its availability. Unless you find ready supplies of oil or gas that can be recovered cheaply, you are not solving the problem, just changing the way you are paying for the stuff, but you will still pay the recovery costs.
This is coupled of course with the fact that the use of this material as a fuel is not sustainable from an environmental point of view either. The fact that the icecap is now melting rapidly, should at least provide people with pause for thought, that perhaps the reason why the global scientific community has been pleading for people to pay attention to this problem, is that its very real, not some makey-uppy liberal "thought for the day" that can be ignored.
Essentially the political problem is that we have become so used to the idea that cheap plentiful energy based on oil and gas was a permanent reality, that we have made no realistic provision for the end of that situation, (which by the way is where we are at now, in 2008). This is not just a problem in the US, but everywhere, the US problem is that its particularly profilgate in its energy use, and gas is not taxed significantly and therefore consumers are particularly vunerable to sudden increases in gas prices. However, there is good news for the US in that, because the average American (at home and in work) is so wasteful of energy in general, there are huge savings that can be made just by getting people to be more energy efficient (prices will see to this, not lectures), with little potential impact on the economy. Wheras for Europeans, who are already much more energy efficient (as energy is basically far more expensive here), they will have a much harder time reducing their energy consumption without a serious slowdown in economic activity, hence perhaps the greater urgency on the need to find new energy sources over here.
The other very serious problem with oil and gas is that because basically all economic activity is based on oil and gas (agriculture is based on oil too BTW), that the massive increases in the costs of these commodities is sending inflationary pressures through the roof, and as anyone who understands economics knows, inflation is the most sure-fire root to the destruction of an economy and the impoverishment of a nation. We have seen a 60 percent increase in global food prices in the last 12 months, a 100 percent increase in oil prices, and a 160 percent increase in gas prices. These trends are not temporary either. Unless we manage eventually to decouple our economic activity from a complete dependency on mostly imported oil and gas, we are going to bankrupt ourselves, by basically giving all of our available wealth to the Arabs and the Russians to pay for our fuel, that is not a wise long-term strategy.
This is coupled of course with the fact that the use of this material as a fuel is not sustainable from an environmental point of view either. The fact that the icecap is now melting rapidly, should at least provide people with pause for thought, that perhaps the reason why the global scientific community has been pleading for people to pay attention to this problem, is that its very real, not some makey-uppy liberal "thought for the day" that can be ignored.
Essentially the political problem is that we have become so used to the idea that cheap plentiful energy based on oil and gas was a permanent reality, that we have made no realistic provision for the end of that situation, (which by the way is where we are at now, in 2008). This is not just a problem in the US, but everywhere, the US problem is that its particularly profilgate in its energy use, and gas is not taxed significantly and therefore consumers are particularly vunerable to sudden increases in gas prices. However, there is good news for the US in that, because the average American (at home and in work) is so wasteful of energy in general, there are huge savings that can be made just by getting people to be more energy efficient (prices will see to this, not lectures), with little potential impact on the economy. Wheras for Europeans, who are already much more energy efficient (as energy is basically far more expensive here), they will have a much harder time reducing their energy consumption without a serious slowdown in economic activity, hence perhaps the greater urgency on the need to find new energy sources over here.
The other very serious problem with oil and gas is that because basically all economic activity is based on oil and gas (agriculture is based on oil too BTW), that the massive increases in the costs of these commodities is sending inflationary pressures through the roof, and as anyone who understands economics knows, inflation is the most sure-fire root to the destruction of an economy and the impoverishment of a nation. We have seen a 60 percent increase in global food prices in the last 12 months, a 100 percent increase in oil prices, and a 160 percent increase in gas prices. These trends are not temporary either. Unless we manage eventually to decouple our economic activity from a complete dependency on mostly imported oil and gas, we are going to bankrupt ourselves, by basically giving all of our available wealth to the Arabs and the Russians to pay for our fuel, that is not a wise long-term strategy.
"We are never so happy, never so unhappy, as we imagine"
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Le Rochefoucauld.
"A smack in the face settles all arguments, then you can move on kid."
My dad 1986.
Too Little Too Late
When I was thirty years younger than I am now I heard that our oil supplies would run out in thirty years. Honestly this was a message that made it through the thickest of societal news skins!
Drilling for oil off our own coasts would take the same amount of energy (ironic use of words) than thinking deeply and acting on alternative energy resources. The thing I can't understand is how people think using unrenewable energy sources will get us any further in the long run. Contradictory. We need to be actively managing renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy isn't out of the question imo but we need to deal with the waste cost. We need to be able to break down the waste so it doesn't take 5 trillion years for half life or whatnot (exagerating for effect folks, don't take me the wrong way!)
Sidebar:
Another thing that really ticks me off about middle eastern countries esp Iran is how they want to even consider nuclear energy when they know full well they have ample oil reserves for the meantime (maybe I'm wrong about this, pray tell). They don't strike me as being honest about why they would want to build nuclear energy power for themselves. The country don't even need it and are far off from even feeling the shortage of energy (cept they keep 50% of their energy (women) locked up behind religious dogma).
What I just said makes me want to be a Republican, NO DOUBT! I'd vote to toilet paper the Iranian government they aren't worthy of respect in my lifetime at the rate they are going! I hate you Iranian governmental figures! You hate US so I hate you! Yeah! BLECH and BARFORAMA!!
Well g'night sleep tight don let the oil bugs bite hehe
Erin
Drilling for oil off our own coasts would take the same amount of energy (ironic use of words) than thinking deeply and acting on alternative energy resources. The thing I can't understand is how people think using unrenewable energy sources will get us any further in the long run. Contradictory. We need to be actively managing renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy isn't out of the question imo but we need to deal with the waste cost. We need to be able to break down the waste so it doesn't take 5 trillion years for half life or whatnot (exagerating for effect folks, don't take me the wrong way!)
Sidebar:
Another thing that really ticks me off about middle eastern countries esp Iran is how they want to even consider nuclear energy when they know full well they have ample oil reserves for the meantime (maybe I'm wrong about this, pray tell). They don't strike me as being honest about why they would want to build nuclear energy power for themselves. The country don't even need it and are far off from even feeling the shortage of energy (cept they keep 50% of their energy (women) locked up behind religious dogma).
What I just said makes me want to be a Republican, NO DOUBT! I'd vote to toilet paper the Iranian government they aren't worthy of respect in my lifetime at the rate they are going! I hate you Iranian governmental figures! You hate US so I hate you! Yeah! BLECH and BARFORAMA!!
Well g'night sleep tight don let the oil bugs bite hehe
Erin
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QUINNSCOMMENTARY
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Too Little Too Late
watermark;892706 wrote: When I was thirty years younger than I am now I heard that our oil supplies would run out in thirty years. Honestly this was a message that made it through the thickest of societal news skins!
Drilling for oil off our own coasts would take the same amount of energy (ironic use of words) than thinking deeply and acting on alternative energy resources. The thing I can't understand is how people think using unrenewable energy sources will get us any further in the long run. Contradictory. We need to be actively managing renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy isn't out of the question imo but we need to deal with the waste cost.
I happen to work for a utility that operates three nuclear plants and for the last decade or so this company along with every other nuclear power plant operator has been contributing to a federal fund to provide for the disposal of nuclear waste (does the name Yucca Mountain ring a bell?). This company's contribution has exceeded $300 million and you can multiply that by all the nuclear plants in ther US, it is billions of dollars. Guess what has happended in all those years...NOTHING! The federal government has done nothing and the waste still sits on the site of each plant. That is your federal government in action, plus the old NIMBY syndrome.
Yes it would be logical to use renewable sources and going after oil and gas is not the long term solution, but it is the solution for the next 20-50 years. The sad fact is that solar and wind will not be able to generate the energy needed, let alone run our trucks, tractors and cars and there are not sufficent locations in many parts of the country to use renewables to any great extent....and that's the truth regardless of what a politician may tell you.
Drilling for oil off our own coasts would take the same amount of energy (ironic use of words) than thinking deeply and acting on alternative energy resources. The thing I can't understand is how people think using unrenewable energy sources will get us any further in the long run. Contradictory. We need to be actively managing renewable energy sources. Nuclear energy isn't out of the question imo but we need to deal with the waste cost.
I happen to work for a utility that operates three nuclear plants and for the last decade or so this company along with every other nuclear power plant operator has been contributing to a federal fund to provide for the disposal of nuclear waste (does the name Yucca Mountain ring a bell?). This company's contribution has exceeded $300 million and you can multiply that by all the nuclear plants in ther US, it is billions of dollars. Guess what has happended in all those years...NOTHING! The federal government has done nothing and the waste still sits on the site of each plant. That is your federal government in action, plus the old NIMBY syndrome.
Yes it would be logical to use renewable sources and going after oil and gas is not the long term solution, but it is the solution for the next 20-50 years. The sad fact is that solar and wind will not be able to generate the energy needed, let alone run our trucks, tractors and cars and there are not sufficent locations in many parts of the country to use renewables to any great extent....and that's the truth regardless of what a politician may tell you.
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it." George Bernard Shaw
"If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking" Gen. George Patton
Quinnscommentary
Observations on Life. Give it a try now and tell a friend or two or fifty.
Quinnscommentary Blog
"If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody is not thinking" Gen. George Patton
Quinnscommentary
Observations on Life. Give it a try now and tell a friend or two or fifty.
Quinnscommentary Blog