You Can't Conserve Your Way Out of This: Why the Left Will Never Let Gas Prices Fall Again

How many times have you heard it? "We can't drill our way out of this mess." From television to print, the talking point of left has repeatedly been the aforementioned.

They say drilling won't help. They say that America doesn't want us to drill. They say theirs no more oil. And most of all, like a bad Rudyard Kipling poem, they repeat the meaningless mantra, that "we can't drill our way out of the energy crisis." The very statement is illogical and equates to "we cannot eat to keep ourselves from starving."

Instead, our only recourse is to take giants steps backwards in the development and technological and logistical advancement of this country. Conserve, use less, drive smaller cars, drive more efficient cars.

They fail to see the great whammy this causes to the growth of this country. While we cut back, other countries like China, Russia and South America are using more oil. Using more to move and build in their country. Using more to develop and fortify their militarys. Using more to ensure that they can have a stronger and more powerful position in the world.

Conservation? Well, that's sure to bring gas prices down for us right? Wrong. As we mentioned earlier, other countries are using oil in a far greater amount than any irrational and improbable cutbacks in the US could make up for. The result, we end up making oil cheaper for other countries to use more of.

While we should be good stewards of the environment, the answer is not for us all to be taking bicycles to work 20 miles each way, or dueling tractor-trailers on the highway in cars with gross weights of less than 700 lbs.

Increasing our own domestic supply is the only way to improve the short-term situation in the US. We can't wait for energy sources that haven't be fully developed yet and we damn sure can't be putting all of our hopes on windmills that show potential, but are doing little more today than offering target practice for Don Quixote.

The left knows this. It's not like the handwriting isn't on the wall. The thing is, the left just doesn't care whether or not gas prices go down or not. Think about it. The cornerstone of their agenda has been to green-weeniefy America, and folks, their doing a pretty damn good job of it. You have housewives buying toilet paper for $4 a roll at the grocery store because it is supposedly better for the environment (although I can't imagine it is much more comfortable than fine sandpaper) and Kindergartners learning that the recycling triangle is one of the basic geometric shapes.

Let's face it, even if gas prices ever did go back down to the sub-three dollar range, where would the incentive be to drive a $27,000 corn-fed lawn-mower? How will they prevent that from happening? Any guesses? Beuhler? That's right. Tax the ever-living-hell out of every ounce of oil from ground to gas tank. Tax the oil supplier to the point where it becomes impracticable to even supply oil. Tax the refiner to the point that its cheaper to move your refinery into an off-shore coral barrier and punish the consumer back into line by adding and increasing municipal, local, state and federal taxes to make a gallon of gas even more expensive than it ever was before alternative energy became so vogue.

Believe me folks, I'm no more pro-oil than the next guy. I firmly believe i taking care of our planet, but not to the point of breaking the bank and back of the American public, and that we need to immediately lessen our foreign dependence on oil for our financial and national security.

Washington, don't tell me that you feel my pain or really care about "how hard it is for me to pay for gas and pay this bills in the same paycheck." You don't know and you really don't care. I mean, Al Gore still flies on corporate jets to go to book signings, has SUV's and limos take him to and fro for rallies, yet I'm supposed to feel guilty when I fire up the the car to go to the grocery store?

Truly, this is one mess that we can't conserve our way out of.

Inaugural Deconstructing the Left: It's All Bush's Fault!

As Promised, a few days back, I would begin running a segment which would deconstruct the "leftist" argument, plank by beautiful plank. Folks, I'm sure to most of you who have recently become regular blog readers of the Circus, you can see through this like a screen door. But, as a public service to those who might need a little assistance a long the way, I'm going to take a few moments here to really break this down.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are really good natured people, who are smart and intelligent and truly have the best for America in their hearts. But not everyone has the ability to study politics 24/7, let alone a four-year degree in Political Science. So what ends up happening, is when the spin doctors of the left start hammering these people over coffee at work, or at a family gathering, the well meaning person might fall prey to the trap, because they might not know exactly how to react to the flawed argument. I hope by starting this campaign today, those who in such a situation will gather the strength necessary to fend of stupidity in a otherwise sane time and those who already can speak eloquently will be able to add additional tools to their tool kits of wisdom.

And who says we can't have a few laughs in the process?

Bush does nothing while poor suffer
Editorial Courtesy of the Johnstown Tribune-Democrat

Why hasn’t President Bush put a freeze on the gas pumps at $1.50 a gallon. He also can make the oil companies sell the product cheaper to gas stations.

Well, probably because what you are referring to is called socialising the oil industry. It sounds great on paper. The "people" get their oil cheap after all and everyone lives happily ever after. That is until one day, the oil company can't afford to hire workers anymore because they are losing money fist over hand. And some genius gets into office and decides to place more and more taxes on oil. Then, you're stuck with no oil company and more expensive oil than you had in the first place.

Capitalism has a way of working itself out. That is unless some genius (again with the geniuses, I know) in government decides that he/she can run the market better than the market itself. Yeah, it doesn't work that way. Sort of like mixing oil and water. What you're left with is something you sure as hell can't drink, and something that won't give your car any go: It's useless.

Big Oil recorded its biggest quarterly profit – billions of dollars – in history.

It's a good thing they did too, or else we'd be S.O.L. when it comes to getting any oil. They also paid the most amount of taxes in history as well, and do you know that the government makes more money off a gallon of gas than the oil companies do? I think their is your real problem folks! Further, no other company in the world is required to literally fund its competitor (being taxed to promote "green energy".) Could you imagine if Microsoft was required to fund Apple?

This is why the United States is in a bad recession. A lot of people are starving, not just the poor. Yet Bush does nothing.

The US is not in a recession. A recession requires two down quarters in GDP, which we have not had yet.

God is watching and those responsible will answer to him.

True

Thank God for St. Vincent dePaul and the Salvation Army – agencies that help the poor and hungry in America.

So I say to Bush: Act now before it is too late and help the great American people who love this country.

Folks just don't seem to understand the government isn't the "great charity in the sky." We can thank the Clinton regime for turning the beast loose in America and creating the entitlement generation.

Remember, the Lord helps those who help themselves. These people shouldn't be sitting back and waiting for a hand-out from the government. They should be stepping out in faith and trying to improve their situation. You don't make enough money in your job? Go back to school and become qualified for a higher paying job, or find a new one. It's too hard to find a job today? Well, somehow the Irish seemed to manage during the turn of the century, not to mention their are thousands upon thousands of jobs in different skill levels in every US paper on and online job sites.

And do it for the children.

I'm sorry but socializing anything would be the last thing I'd want to leave for my future namesakes.

John Zawalish

Johnstown

Sen Bob Casey Jr: I'm trying by doing nothing

(PA Sen. Robert Casey Jr. and Future Leader in His Own Mind Barrrack Hussein Obama share a good laugh about the oil crisis)

A few days back ago, I sent an email to Pennsylvania senator Bob Casey Jr. (D) stressing the importance of the need to open up drilling in the United States, in effort to reduce our countries dependence on foreign oil.

I decided to share his reply with you, just to give you a sense of the lack of action, common-sense and green-weenieness occurring in the Senate.

Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your thoughts about increasing oil drilling in the United States. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them. I share your deep concern over the dramatic increase in the price we pay for gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil. I'm working on a bipartisan basis to find solutions for short-term price relief and long-term energy solutions to help Pennsylvania families and protect our economy and national security.

Hey that sounds pretty good right? I mean the guy is trying. Trying to reach across the aisle to those "evil" Republicans. Trying to ease our pain?

As you may know, Americans consume approximately 21 million barrels of oil every day. To meet this demand, we must import over 10 million barrels of foreign oil. As the world price of a barrel of crude oil has recently topped $140, some are calling for the United States to increase its domestic drilling activities. Proponents of this policy argue that more domestic drilling will result in lower world prices through increased supply and will promote energy security by reducing our dependence on foreign sources of oil, some of which are located in countries ruled by undemocratic, increasingly unstable regimes.


Some are calling for drilling? How about almost 70% of the American public (Rassmussen Reports). And you've got to love the fact that he calls the countries who call for the immediate and painful death of the USA "unstable regimes".

According the U.S. Department of the Interior, 79% of all known oil reserves on public lands are open for drilling right now. In fact, drilling activity in the United States has increased 361% over the past 7 years. Unfortunately, because we consume 24% of the world's oil while we have only 3% of the world's oil reserves, further increases in domestic drilling will not produce enough oil to lower oil prices that are set on a world market. For these reasons, I do not believe that increased drilling will provide a long-term solution to this serious problem, nor will it provide short-term price relief.



Ah, here we're getting into the meat and potatoes. Where do they get these numbers from? This is absolute crap. 79% of oil on public lands? For one, that's not full production. For two, no one is talking about the junk land the government is giving oil companies to use to drill with that have no oil. We're talking about legitimate, proven oil fields, and exploring to find more oil, not just being content with what is "known" to be there.

I continue to work on a number of initiatives to provide both short- and long-term solutions to our oil crisis. On April 26, 2007, I introduced the Energy Security and Corporate Accountability Act, S. 1238. This bill would close billion-dollar tax loopholes for Big Oil and use the savings to fund critically important renewable fuels research and infrastructure development. In addition, to provide more immediate savings to Pennsylvania families, the bill would include an excise tax on windfall profits amassed by major oil companies. The funds collected would then be used to create a new Low Income Transportation Energy Assistance Program to make gasoline more affordable while we continue to promote development of renewable fuels.



Okay so basically he's promoting taxing the oil companies to pay for more hand-outs to the poor. Awesome, Robin Hood.

In addition, I urged President Bush not only to suspend the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but, in a July 31, 2008 letter, called on him to release 70 million barrels of oil directly into the consumer market. I also urged President Bush to use all means at his disposal to pressure the Saudis and OPEC to increase the supply of oil to lower gas prices. At the same time that the Saudis refused to open the spigots on their oil production, President Bush agreed to sell them advanced weapons technologies. I joined with my Senate colleagues to explore ways to block this arms sale unless oil production was increased.


Now this point really irks me. There is a reason why we have a strategic oil reserve. Its called strategic for a reason, and to tap into it just for the hell of it is not only irresponsible, its criminal. Tapping into the strategic oil reserve now would be like using your life savings to pay for a new HDTV. Is this guy shitting me? You mean to tell me he doesn't understand what the purpose of the reserve is? Here's a hint Casey, its not for buying votes. Boy, let's just go ahead and use that all up so we truly won't have a leg to stand on and we'll all have to drive SmartCars.

In a June 16th letter, I called on the Federal Trade Commission, charged with protecting consumers, to end questionable business practices like withholding oil refining capacity, that may not be officially termed "price gouging" but unfairly manipulate gas prices.

Oh, but never mind congresses withholding of the building of oil refineries, period. I keep forgetting, it's all the oil companies fault. I mean really, what the hell have the ever done for this country...

Finally, I continue to work with my colleagues to address oil price speculation. Over the course of numerous Congressional hearings, experts have reported that the forces of market supply and demand should produce a world price of oil as low as $80 per barrel. The fact that oil is trading at prices almost 75% higher indicates that speculators are playing a role in the high price of oil. I support efforts to crack down on speculators who can now evade regulation in so-called "dark markets" or on foreign-owned exchanges that nevertheless trade U.S. commodities on U.S. trade terminals. We need more transparency or "sunlight" on these transactions.

No, what you people want is for the Government to take it over. Even Rep. Maxine Waters (D) herself let the cat out of the bag when she said that they should just socialize the oil companies.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.

Yeah, believe me, the pleasure's been all mine.

If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.

How the hell did I email you if I didn't have Internet?



Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator