God Bless Our Troops!!!
This came in the e-mail I can't speak of the validity of this but wow!
Festus
Congress, get off your gas, and drill!
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Posted: June 09, 2008
12:38 am Eastern
© 2008
Last Thursday oil prices increased $5.50 per barrel in one day. Last Friday marked the biggest single-day surge in oil price history, rocketing $11 more to $138 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In just two days, oil costs increased 13 percent.
Average Americans are literally driving to the poor house on financial fumes. With gas at more than $4 per gallon, roughly two cars in every household, and the average annual gas usage at 700 gallons, you do the math. Americans are being forced to use their hard-earned money that once put food in their stomachs to now put petroleum into their tanks, but to drive the exact same distances they drove a decade ago for four-to-five times the price.
As oil and gas prices skyrocket, Congress continues to play the blame game. In April 2006, with the Democrats poised to take over Congress with Nancy Pelosi at the helm, she released a statement saying, "With skyrocketing gas prices, it is clear that the American people can no longer afford the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress." She followed that with the commitment, "Democrats have a common sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging." So has the Democrat's commonsense plan worked? Average gas prices were about $2.50 a gallon at the time. Now they're $4 a gallon and rising. Some crack-down plan.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, they are going to discuss this week a cap-and-trade system, something that Obama and MCain both support. The main problem is official estimates say that it will increase gas by another $1.50 a gallon. Or as Newt Gringrich said in an interview recently with Glenn Beck, "It should be called 'Raise prices and destroy jobs' because that's what it will do. It's going to raise the price of gasoline; it's going to raise the price of diesel fuel for truckers. It's going to raise the price of aviation fuel for an already ailing airline industry. It's going to raise the price of heating oil. It's going to raise the price of natural gas, and it's going to raise the price of coal."
From the steady decline in the value of our dollar, to trade deficits and oil dependency, our sovereignty is being sold out from underneath us. Might I remind the federal government what one of their original and primary charges is: to protect the American public from the tyranny of foreign powers which is exactly what is happening through others' financial rule over us. It is sucking the life out of our economy. And Congress is virtually standing by and watching it happen.
Look at the energy chaos that our government has allowed. While we remain at the mercy of oil companies, cartels and OPEC, our government has tied the hands of states and citizens to tap even temporary energy relief from our own land. Here are a few key vistas on the oil and energy landscape at the moment:
Though we have more oil in the shale of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming than combined in the Middle East (800 billion barrels), liberals and environmentalists have made it illegal to touch it.
It's illegal to drill in northern Alaska (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), or off the coasts of Florida or California.
Oil fields in Colorado are being shut down.
We won't develop shale oil fields in the Western states
It's illegal to explore in the Atlantic.
It's illegal to explore in the Pacific
It's illegal to explore in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico
We're not receiving any more leases to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, while China, Venezuela and Cuba are.
We haven't built an oil refinery in 25 years and reduced in half those we have
There's enough natural gas beneath America (406 trillion cube feet) to heat every home in America for the next 150 years, but we can't tap it all.
We have the largest supply of coal in the world, but it's Germany who is planning to build 27 coal-fired electrical plants by 2020.
American airlines are in danger of going out of business.
American truckers are being stranded on the sides of the road.
American commuters are going bankrupt trying to travel back and forth to work, and are being forced to work locally for lower wages.
If there isn't a conspiracy going on here, someone needs to make a movie about one!
Bill Clinton once said, "We just have to slow down our economy and cut back our greenhouse emissions because we've got to save the planet for our grandchildren." That is the type of mentality that got us in this trouble. I'm all for doing our best to preserve our planet, but not at the price of losing our nation in the process. Bill's words just might come true, but not as he or Al Gore might expect. We might save the planet for our grandchildren, and lose America at the same time, unless we turn around this energy crisis now.
Instead of whining and blaming, Congress needs to take some practical steps now to stop the insanity at the pumps, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, open up some temporary energy production avenues for economic relief (like shale development) and focus more of their taxpayer work time into establishing further alternative ways of producing energy for everything (from coal, electrical, natural gas, hydrogen, solar, nuclear, wind, etc.) Being the wealthiest nation on Earth, there is simply no reason or justification for us to be dependent on fuels that we can't produce in our country.
If you're sick and tired of giving away $2 of every gallon of gas to foreign dictators, making other oil-producing countries, cartels and tycoons rich beyond their imagination, and watching the federal government flail for energy solutions and bow to international powers all of whom are sucking the very life out of the American people, economy and threatening national security I implore you to sign and pass along the petition, "Drill here, drill now, pay less" at Newt Gingrich's American Solutions website. We're hoping to send millions of signatures to Congress demanding an immediate emergency session and resolution to our economic and national security crisis revolving around soaring oil and gas prices.
Our message: It's time to drill here and drill now! The petition is simple. It states: "We therefore the undersigned citizens of the United States petition the U.S. Congress to act immediately to lower gas prices by authorizing exploration of proven energy reserves and reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources from unstable countries."
Speaking of unstable countries, did I mention that the Iraq oil minister just reported that oil production is at pre-war levels (2.5 million barrels a day), yielding earnings for Iraq of $28.5 billion in just the first five months of this year? What that means is, we'll likely soon be dependent and in debt to yet another Middle Eastern oil-producing country that we've helped stabilize and become wealthy while ours is going straight down the tubes.
Congratulations Congress you're completely failing us.
FESTUS
IN OMNIA PARATUS
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That's Chuck Norris's commentary this week on WorldNetDaily - A Free Press for a Free People . He's a great voice for Conservatives. Unfortunately, I feel that the politicos now are conspiring to bring this country to its knees so that they can reap the benefits of power. I'm not much into conspiracies, but I'm starting to change my tune. Things are getting quite Biblical in the move towards centralized power.
Victory rewards not the army that fires the most rounds, but who is the more accurate shot. ---Unknown
Charter Member
I am just a passenger on this big ole boat called the USA and I am afraid that there is nothing I can do, but go down on the ship with the rest of y'all.
DrLewall
"Doc"
Drakes Creeks, AR
www.kiltsrock.com
"A gun unloaded and cocked aint good for nuttin!"--Rooster Cogburn
Titles are un-American.
We need to stop focusing on what the environmentalists are arguing. Ignore them. They don't exist.
Gasoline requires a great deal of processing and infrastructure to be effective as an energy product. Exploration, wells, pipelines, ports, ships, refineries, distribution, trucks, gas stations...that's a really long logistical chain. Long chains are vulnerable to war, disasters and terrorist attacks. It doesn't matter where the chain exists; it can be hit. Oil is a great energy source if everything is peaceful and you don't have to worry about trouble.
Compare this with straight electricity. Sunshine, solar panel, battery. Wind, windmill, battery. Person, treadmill, battery. Geothermal heat, GH capture unit, battery.
Now...which one is more flexible, less vulnerable to attack, and you can easily build a new one if SHTF? Unless you know how to produce gasoline out of thin air, it's not a hard choice.
:mp230603212315Murde
We're going to come out ahead in the long run. The market doesn't adapt overnight, but these painful price points will speed the technology along.
Silent Running, by Mike and the Mechanics
Originally Posted by toreskha
toreskha wrote:
We're going to come out ahead in the long run. The market doesn't adapt overnight, but these painful price points will speed the technology along.
i wish I was as positive about that as you. Unfortantly i think we are headed for the worse times this country has ever seen. I believe the eastern establishment, NWO crowd that is running/ruining our country is going to try and bring us to our knees.
"Today the path of total dictatorship in the United States can be laid by strictly legal means, unseen and unheard by the Congress, the President, or the people. Outwardly we have a Constitutional government. We have operating within our government and political system, another body representing another form of government - a bureaucratic elite."
Senator William Jenner, 1954
"The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson."
A letter written by FDR to Colonel House, November 21st, l933
"...all of us here at the policy-making level have had experience with directives...from the White House.... The substance of them is that we shall use our grant-making power so as to alter our life in the United States that we can be comfortably merged with the Soviet Union."
H. Rowan Gaither, Jr., President - Ford Foundation (as told to Norman Dodd, Congressional Reese Commission 1954
"The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes."
Benjamin Disraeli, first Prime Minister of England, in a novel he published in 1844 called Coningsby, the New Generation
"The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen....At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties."
New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, 1922
The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of "liberalism" they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." Norman Thomas, for many years U.S. Socialist Presidential candidate.
We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order."
- David Rockefeller
By faith Noah,being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,prepared an ark to the saving of his house;by the which he condemned the world,and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith Heb.11:7
Titles are un-American.
In terms of energy, I think we'll come out ahead in the long run. Oil is sold as a global commodity, and drilling in ANWR won't help us out any.
Much of the overseas growth in oil demand comes from the fact that the Chinese gov't is actually subsidizing their population's gasoline supply, allowing the people to pay an artificially low price at the pump. This spurs growth in cars, but is also driving their demand way up as time goes on.
We win by letting the market discipline us into getting off of oil. China is making the mistake of not learning from us, and instead getting themselves stuck with a huge demand for oil. As their subsidies build, so will their vulnerability going into the next couple of decades. All they need is one good shock (war or whatever) to cause them to have to abandon the subsidies, and there's a bunch of Chinese in 2020 stuck paying for $10/gallon gas.
Silent Running, by Mike and the Mechanics
Titles are un-American.
A geology teacher once told our class that it would only decrease our foreign dependancy on oil by like 3%. Drilling in all of our natural habitats alaska and all that is not the fix. The truth is there is no quick fix at all. And on the congress thing. It seems like every time the democrats submit a bill the worst president in history vetos them. We Need to find ways other ways to decrease our dependancy on oil period. You have no good argument trying to blame the democrats for raising gas prices. How can a president or a republican declare to be conservative and be for a war that is going to cost me and all of you that read this 2.7 trillion in tax dollars. Its time for this administration to come clean. Here is an article from cnnmoney.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- As the Iraq war continues with no clear end in sight, the cost to taxpayers may balloon to $2.7 trillion by the time the conflict comes to an end, according to Congressional testimony.
In a hearing held by the Joint Economic Committee Thursday, members of Congress heard testimony about the current costs of the war and the future economic fallout from returning soldiers.
At the beginning of the conflict in 2003, the Bush administration gave Congress a cost estimate of $60 billion to $100 billion for the entirety of the war. But the battle has been dragging on much longer than most in the government expected, and costs have ballooned to nearly ten times the original estimate.
William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis, told members of Congress that the Iraq war has already cost taxpayers $646 billion. That's only accounting for five years, and, with the conflict expected to drag on for another five years, the figure is expected to more than quadruple. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told members of Congress that the war costs taxpayers about $430 million per day, and called out the Bush Administration.
"It is long past time for the administration to come clean and account for the real costs of the war in Iraq," said Schumer. "If they want to disagree with our estimates or with other experts ... fine - they should come and explain why."
The Bush Administration, which was invited to give testimony, declined to participate.
The Pentagon has previously said that the war costs approximately $9.5 billion a month, but some economists say the figure is closer to $25 billion a month when long-term health care for veterans and interest are factored in.
Health care: In testimony before the committee, Dr. Christine Eibner, an Associate Economist with research firm RAND, said advances in armor technology have kept alive many soldiers who would have been killed in prior wars. But that has added to post-war health care costs for veterans, especially for "unseen" wounds like post traumatic stress disorder, major depression and traumatic brain injury.
Two-year post-deployment health care costs for the 1.6 million service members currently in Iraq and Afghanistan could range from $4 billion to $6.2 billion, according to Eibner. For one year of treatment, the costs are substantially lower, ranging from $591 million to $910 million. Eibner admitted that the study did not take into account long term care, and her estimates probably underestimate the total costs.
However, Eibner noted that an increasing number of soldiers are not seeking the care that they need, which affects their ability to get and maintain jobs. And, that, she said, must change.
"Many service members are currently reluctant to seek mental health treatment due to fear of negative career repercussions," said Eibner. "Policies must be changed so that there are no perceived or real adverse career consequences for individuals who seek treatment."
Unemployment: Furthermore, many veterans who recently completed their service are coming back to a difficult job and housing market.
Among veterans who completed their service within the last 1 to 3 years, 18% were unemployed, and 25% earned less than $21,840 a year, according to a recent report commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"Trying to convince [job interviewers] that my service will translate into skills ... at a bottling factory or a distributing company is almost like you're speaking French to someone who doesn't speak French," said Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America policy associate Tom Tarantino.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer agreed, saying the government does a poor job at readying veterans for post-Army life.
"We haven't figured out how to convert a warrior to a citizen yet," Schweitzer told the committee.
Foreclosure: Many soldiers who come home from active duty are also finding difficulty keeping their homes.
"Military families are already shouldering heavy burdens to care for and support families while their loved ones are serving abroad or recovering at home," said Schumer. "Knowing that so many more are losing their homes to foreclosure is heartbreaking -- and its just plain wrong."
The senator said that Army personnel returning from duty are at a 37% higher risk of foreclosure, because the areas populated by military families have substantially larger foreclosure rates.
"Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan deserve better," testified Tarantino.
Tarantino recommended Congress quickly sign into law an update to the World War II GI Bill, which would help ease the economic hardships returning solders are feeling.
"More than any other single piece of legislation, the GI Bill will make a difference in the economic futures of the troops returning every day from Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
First Published: June 12, 2008: 12:07 PM EDTto come clean.
Titles are un-American.
Well, I agree with you there. We're like an alcoholic that is trying to make excuses for getting more beer, when the real solution is to put it down. This should be a learning experience, not an excuse to dig ourselves in deeper by trying to refine oil shale or some other scheme. We need to start changing our ways, for our own good.
If we weren't splurging money on this war, we could have probably used a fraction of it to solve the research end of our energy problems. I don't like government spending, but at least it would have been spent for some purpose.
Silent Running, by Mike and the Mechanics
just think, with all that money we have spent in iraq we (AMERICANS) could have developed some other type of car to run on something besides crude oil. How many good paying jobs could we have made for our guys here at home. How much money in our pockets would we have instead of paying 4 a gallon.
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