Posted by
flagwaver on Thursday, May 22, 2008 9:35:10 AM
As we continue to see gas prices climb on the backs of rising oil futures, there are the usual raft of media stories telling us all of the usual horror stories; grandma has to choose between food and gas (as if there is a real choice there); Big Oil must be punished; we must cut back on consumption, and women and minorities hardest hit. Even as I write this the leaders of America’s largest oil companies are on Capitol Hill being grilled by the elected “leaders” in our House of Representatives about the evil of their actually making a profit. And the talking heads will undoubtedly champion this travesty as some sort of come-uppance for Big Oil and a triumph for our fearless leaders in the House. Never mind that every time that gas prices rise Congress goes through this same charade and then does nothing to change the situation, the press will dutifully report this as if something actually came out of this massive waste of time and effort.
But does anyone else out there see how nonsensical and schizophrenic our alleged energy policy really is? Does anyone else out there see just how stupid the questions asked of the Big Oil executives are, and how insipid the “ideas” coming from the wise men in Washington really are? And I am sure I am not the only one who is tired of this same old same old when it comes to this issue!
I mean is there any dumber question that you can ask an oil executive than why an oil company (!!) is not doing more to develop alternative fuels. Well, duh…they’re an oil company genius! Their job is to explore for new oil reserves, develop new ways to extract that oil from its bed, and then to refine it and get the finished products to the market. It is not the mandate of an oil company to be out front in pushing for wind power, solar power, or bio-fuels unless it is going to increase their bottom line. And if I was a major investor in an oil company, I would be well and truly pissed if the company was squandering my investment dollars in the Quixotic (pun intended) quest to develop fuels that are neither efficient as petroleum, and are not going to give me a good return on my investment.
And does anyone else think that this is the height of foolishness: On the one hand politicians bray about America being dependent on foreign oil, all while not allowing for domestic exploration, drilling, or refining while simultaneously trying finding ways to force those very foreign producers to pump more oil for us to buy! Which is it people? Do we need to find ways to wean ourselves from foreign oil, or do we need to be trying to flood the market with more foreign oil? I mean, I could have sworn that I heard Barack Obama and other Democrats taking President Bush for going to Saudi Arabia and allegedly begging hat in hand to the House of Saud for more oil, but they seem to not know what the House of Representatives is doing to intervene in the workings of OPEC. There are reports that the House has just passed a measure that would allow the Department of Justice to sue OPEC for violating American antitrust laws with over 300 votes, while at the same time pretending that we must find ways to break away from the presence of OPEC. Which is folks; are we going to move away from OPEC or are we going to attempt to bring them under American control? You can’t have it both ways.
What is really sad is that the people who are convinced they are standing up for the American people are in reality shackling us to the very forces they claim to be standing up against. By not allowing us to drill for our own oil; by not allowing us to build refineries; by not allowing us to even explore for oil in some places, the government is linking us ever closer to the House of Saud, Venezuela, and Nigeria. Yet these idiots cannot see the real damage they are doing to this country.
American energy independence is becoming more than a pipe dream; with the people we have “in charge” it is quickly becoming an oxymoron!