Friday, May 23, 2008

The Bush- Cheney Double Talk Express

Real president Dick Cheney has been to Saudia Arabia twice in the past 12 months to ask the king to pump more oil to help out his old friend the Americans. The king smiled and said NO. The kings answer is the world is well supplied with oil and perhaps his good Friends the Americans should stop driving such big gas guzzling vehicles.

This must have been very hard on Mr. Cheney as he is not used to asking nice for anything.[he demands] and he sure is not used to hearing the word NO from anyone. Not even the Pope. When the Pope was giving his farewell speech at JFK airport in NY sitting right behind him was Mr. & Mrs. Cheney. I guess Dick was praying for more oil. Perhaps he is not wealthy enough yet.

So our President George Duyba himself goes to Saudia Arabia and asks his good old Friend the king to pump more oil, But again NO. So Mr. Bush holds a press confrence where he tells the Press that because of the environmentalists America has not been able to build any nuclear power plants, nor have we been able to drill any new oil, because of the environmentalists. I only have one question does Duyba really believe this or is he just reading it off a teleprompter?

Here is the truth. The reason new nuclear power plants have not been built or new oil fields drilled is this. The companies that want to engage in these commercial ventures do not want to follow the regulations of the the government agencies to protect the people and the environment from the greedy profit is God corporate mentality. Trust me the big oil companies do not have a very good record.

The nuclear power industry has fallen dormant because of the expense of building a safe nuclear generating plant[ask the Russians about this] and the legal liability of disposing of the contaminated waste. Why not send it to mars?

Perhaps it has slipped the minds of the current Republican administration that Government[the people] Regulatory Agencies were set-up [by the people] to protect us[for the people] from abuses of a so-called free market economy.

We all know the answers to the energy situation. We discuss them until our lips are blue . But when are we as a country and a culture going to make a real change for the better. Do we have to wait until the marketing people decide that there is profit in energy conservation before we see real progress. Let us elect a president who can and will change the status quo and stand behind him.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

A gas guzzzling , pump nuzzling son of a hummer

Gas prices getting you down? Of course they are. In the past two weeks I have heard every wild and sane theory about why gas prices are so high. Even our clueless president says it is not an easy issue. The answers are simple though. There are two reasons why gas prices are going up and will continue to rise.

All the oil producing countries have pumped out the easy to get oil. Now they have to go much deeper. even under the ocean. Global warming is a gift for the oil and shipping companies. When the Arctic ocean thaws. It will open a short trade route between China and America. What is even better there is a ocean of oil under the Arctic ocean, and to top it off there is a huge oil field in N Dakota.

What could possibly be wrong with this picture. Well all this oil is going to cost alot more to get out of the ground to transport and refine. This means the price of oil is only going to go up.Of course demand is going up world wide at 8% a year It is only natural that the third world wants their peice of the pie.

Which brings us to simple reason number two . The American public believes it is only natural that we should have cheap gas. We have done nothing in twenty years to do anything to start serious conservation programs or develop alternative energy sources.

More seriously, We have created a car culture of excess. With bigger and longer vehicles to transport ourselves and our " children" . I love the way people pimp their kids as an excuse to buy a SUV . The family minivan which has become a fixture soccer moms love to hate. Does not get good mileage. It has become a fixture though because , unless we have our children enrolled and involved in more organized activities than is good for them , then we are not doing enough for them. Unfortunatly mom is reduced to the role of taxi driver and Dad a money pump, Married or divorced

It amazes me the number of professional sales people I see who are driving SUVs or cars that use premium gas only and get lousy gas mileage. if you ask them they will tell you " It is the cost of doing business " The rationalizations go on forever, but the bottom line is gas is going to get more expensive going forward. The high cost of owning a home and feeding ones family has squeezed most peoples budgets to the limit.

I believe five dollars a gallon is going to be what it takes to bring Americans to their senses. Five dollars a gallon is what it will take before we get serious about everything we should have been doing since the 1970s when gas prices were so high.

This what a Global Economy is all about , now we are paying what the Canadians and the Europeans have been paying for decades. We have no one but ourselves to blame for this crisis. And there is no one but us to step up to plate and do what we have to do use the resources we have wisely and efficiently. I hope for Americas sake we have the will power to do it.