"With fewer than 20 legislative days before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, the entire appropriations process has largely ground to a halt because of the ham-handed fighting that followed Republican attempts to lift the moratorium on offshore oil and gas exploration. And after promising fairness and open debate, Pelosi has resorted to hard-nosed parliamentary devices that effectively bar any chance for Republicans to offer policy alternatives.
"The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters."
"Sen. John McCain said this week he would not drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the same reason he 'would not drill in the Grand Canyon . . . I believe this area should be kept pristine.'
"It is the same every time the price of oil rises. Television news editors send camera crews off to garner driver rage at the pumps. Green activists rant about capitalist fat cats. Government ministers - convenient amnesiacs when it comes to who takes almost 70 pence in the pound at the pumps - make dark mutterings about windfall taxes. All because of the erroneous belief the oil companies need 'reining in'.-- Peter Glover, speaking common sense - and stating the (non-green) obvious - for The First Post DailyBut anyone with an understanding of basic supply and demand economics knows well enough that Big Oil is not the big player in the energy market. More often than not the oil majors are just as helpless in the face of global market forces as any other consumer.
But who said the oil was running out? The truth is that potentially massive reserves, literally trillions of barrels of oil, are lying around waiting to be tapped.
Russia's flag-planting PR stunt on the Arctic seabed last year was not about some new-found concern to protect the environment - it was about oil. Then there's the vast potential in Alaska and generally off the Americas. That's before we get to the prospect of extracting the black stuff from enormous reserves of Canadian oil sands.
This is where Big Oil's profits do have an upside. They make all of these previously non-viable hydrocarbon reserves - at least another 200-300 years' worth - a far more viable proposition.
If governments decide to plunder these profits through windfall taxes, we all lose. After all, it is pension funds and stockholder investment portfolios that 'own' Big Oil. We cannot possibly expect the oil companies to pay stockholder dividends, swell our personal pension funds and re-invest in the improved technology needed to tap these new reserves if they are artificially over-taxed.
So is the $200-plus barrel inevitable? Possibly. But the reality is that we in the West are far from helpless, unless we choose to be. An energy fix would undoubtedly take time and involve not a little pain. But, first, we should let Big Oil make its mega-bucks, re-invest in new drilling techniques and pursue formerly difficult-to-extract oil reserves.
Second, we should stop worrying quite so much about the habitat of the lesser-spotted Greenback and start drilling off Greenland, the Antarctic, Alaska and the US coast where massive reserves undoubtedly exist. Nature's Greenback will do what it has always done: adapt, moving elsewhere until the derricks are dismantled.
Third, we should turn to the world's vast natural gas reserves and, with coal-fired (Europe and America are awash with the cheap stuff) and nuclear power, let them take more of the energy strain. Opec would soon get the message and increase capacity."
Assuming that Mr. Obama is the nominee, he’ll lead a party that, judging by the usual indicators, should be poised for an easy victory — perhaps even a landslide.
"Obama is the internationalist opposed to free trade. He is the friend of race-baiters who thinks Don Imus deserved to be fired. He is the proponent of courage in the face of powerful interests who lacked the courage to break with Wright,...He is the man who would lead our efforts against terrorism yet was friendly with Bill Ayers, the unrepentant 1960s terrorist. He is the post-racialist supporter of affirmative action. He is the enemy of Big Oil who takes money from executives at Exxon-Mobil, Shell and British Petroleum.
"In as much as the American left is now a coalition of groups that define themselves as the victims of social and economic forces, and in as much as its leaders encourage people to feel helpless and aggrieved,...they make America a glummer place."
Oil rose above $126 a barrel for the first time Friday, bringing its advance this week to nearly $10,...
“Tomorrow, we shall achieve the victory, that the kingdom of God may come on earth as it is in heaven, and all those who love the Lord and will vote for Obama, say Amen.”
"Lord, come down in a mighty way and strengthen us so that we can bring down these high gas prices,...Prayer is the answer to every problem in life...We call on God to intervene in the lives of the selfish, greedy people who are keeping these prices high,...Lord, the prices at this pump have gone up since last week. We know that you are able, that you have all the power in the world,..."
"If you're doin' business with a religious son of a bitch, get it in writing. His word isn't worth shit, not with the Good Lord tellin' him how to fuck you on the deal."
