Palin: Drill Our Way Out of Our Problems!

Glad I'm not Sarah Palin saying something as ridiculous as this. No doubt someone is already starting a Palin quote room, if they haven't already!

But this one is a real gem:

"I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can't drill our way out of our problem..."

--Sarah Palin, Investor's Business Daily, July 11, 2008

Why The Lie, Pres?

Once again, President Bush tells the American people that if only that darned Congress would lift all the bans on offshore drilling, gas would become reasonable again. One can only wonder what he's really up to since that is a total fabrication--and he knows it.

It is clear as a bell that no matter HOW MANY acres of shelf are available for drilling, the result of drilling will not come any time soon (perhaps 10-15 years out). There are many reasons for this, among them a huge shortage of ships, equipment and other infrastructure needed for the task, and the fact that the oil companies already have 68 million acres on hold not in use.

Bush himself lifted the Executive Order banning offshore oil development (put in place by his father, ironically) on Monday. In California, Governor Schwarzenegger has indicated there will be NO offshore drilling on his watch.

In fact, some in Congress want to start a "use it or lose it" program regarding the 68 million lease acres not being used. Fine by me if that will shut everyone up while we move forward to achieve the 10 year 100% renewable electric program unveiled by Al Gore yesterday
(see this post).

If you will recall, one of George Bush's reasons to go to war in Iraq (among the others he made up) was to stabilize the price of oil. Ha! Do oil prices look stabilized to you as we spend $2 billion a day in Iraq? Why not get out of Iraq, as that country's leader is now asking us to do, and just hand out the $2 billion/day to the people it came from (taxpayers) instead of Halliburton etc. while saving a whole lot of lives in the process? That way maybe we could afford the gasoline he promised would stabilize in price, but which, in barrel price, has quadrupled.

Read
this history. Note Halliburton's involvement prior to our, um, war-turned occupation.

It would appear that Bush won't be happy until every acre of public land has oil rigs or pipelines, coal mines, shale oil mines, or tar sand capturing facilities on them. After all, what are public lands for other than to further enrich the already wealthy?

Just ask Halliburton about their no-bid contracts. They seem pretty darned happy. Between
2002-2003 (during the 'behind the scenes' ramp up to the war), Halliburton stock was in the toilet about $5/share. Today, even in this unstable market, it closed at two cents short of $47.

Dick Cheney is probably happy too. He served as Halliburton's CEO from August of 1995 until August of 2000. Cheney is now worth approximately
$94 million, his stock rising approximately 3,000 percent last year alone though he has repeatedly stated he has no financial tie to Halliburton which is a big fat lie.

Oh. So that's why Bush is lying. Gotta guarantee a profitable future for those oil boys.

But then, didn't we already know this? So why would anyone support offshore drilling?

Quote of the Day

Trent Lott on defending McCain's oil policy, including off shore drilling from his interview today on MSNBC:

Is it going to hurt him?" During the subsequent discussion, Lott said: "It's time we quit fighting in America about having an energy policy. We have got to have an energy policy, and let's do it all. Let's do drill. Let's do nuclear power. Let's do clean coal. Let's do alternative fuels. Let's do solar, wind. Let's do conservation. Quit arguing over whether we produce more or conserve more. Let's do it all. That's the solution."

As Media Matters points out, neither Trent Lott nor MSNBC divulged that Lott is currently employed as a lobbyist for oil and gas companies. BTW, when you think of oil or gas companies, think oil, think oil shale, think coal, think nukes etc. because energy companies are diverse in their energy portfolios. Some also have a small percentage of wind or solar in their portfolios.

Meanwhile, the energy companies themselves say they cannot drill for more oil because drilling ships and other necessary infrastructure is in use or otherwise unavailable.

There are a couple more interesting things to consider, and this suggests that prices will not be stabilized, regardless of time, through more off shore oil drilling and in fact will rise.

For those in New Jersey, this suggests McCain's support of offshore drilling could whack the legs right off other GOP candidates (especially those foolish enough to support McCain's vision).

In California, well, forget it. It ain't gonna happen.

The real offense here, really, is that McCain and others are lying about about the whens and whats of drilling in terms of price effects, time frames and benefit. In a drive-through nation of we-want-it-cheap-and-now, we spoiled and (sorry!) generally uneducated Americans need to stop allowing ourselves to be pulled around by our political noses. It doesn't matter who suggests a bad idea. If it's a bad idea, it's a bad idea.

Offshore oil drilling is a BAD idea. Republican or democrat, it is bad. And for Americans, the majority of which live along the nation's coasts, the environmental, economic and political consequences are real and a really bad idea.

It is amazing, actually, that McCain fell on this sword. But then again, the oil lobby, which spends millions daily to influence oil in all it's political dimensions, is well moneyed and very powerful. Apparently, it is also very seductive. Seductive enough to derail McCain and a few wishful Americans.

Quote of the Day: Charlie Black

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December was an "unfortunate event," says Black. "But his [McCain's] knowledge and ability to talk about it reemphasized that this is the guy who's ready to be Commander-in-Chief. And it helped us." As would, Black concedes with startling candor after we raise the issue, another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him," says Black. [insert mine]

--Charlie Black


Read and decide for yourself.

Nice job, Charlie. Keep talking. Every single day you or McCain convert people to Obama by simply opening your mouths. You two are, without a doubt, the most underpaid and best Obama campaigners one could hope for.

Given McCain's position on the long-term US presence in Iraq, your Jurassic approach to the gasoiline/oil issue which includes off shore oil drilling in states that are critical to your campaign (Florida for instance... California is clearly Obama territory) I really hope that you and McCain just keep mumbling your way through your perceived "campaign".

If you want to win this election, Charlie, get a mannequin to speak through and a democrat to write the verbage. Otherwise, you could save everyone a lot of time and money and just give it up now.

Oh, and speaking of McCain (aka "the hot head") opening his mouth, we have a lot more to say about that in the near future. We're really concerned about having this hothead near any red button.