Rock On, Ted!
Music For Rhinos
Posts: 1,693
We've got plenty of energy in America. What we don't have are statesmen willing to let the free market here capture it, process it and sell it.
Instead of wisely utilizing our abundant energy, America has been strangled by various federal government bureaucracies, untold reams of burdensome government regulations and counterproductive policies, corrupt environmental special interest groups, and professional politicians who will bend whichever way the prevailing political winds blow.
These are the reasons America hasn't built a new oil refinery or new nuclear reactor in thirty or so years. Instead, as billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens accurately stated the other day, we are transferring hundreds of billions of our national treasury to other nations. Even to our enemies. Truly bizarre.
Call me crazy, but I thought the goal of America was to be independent. Its time to call a spade a spade. We are energy slaves to lesser countries. They own us. And unless we resurrect that unstoppable, mighty spirit of rugged independent individualism of our forefathers and throw off the energy shackles, these nations can permanently cripple, if not kill, our economy. The situation is that grave
Im not concerned whatsoever that America doesn't have vast reserves of ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and intellectual capital that could make us energy independent. My concern is that we have become so reliant and dependent on Fedzilla (aka the US government) to solve all of our problems that we will once again rely on the bureaucratic blob in DC to solve this problem, too. That could be a career ending injury.
Fedzilla isn't the solution, its the problem. Continuing to feed Fedzilla and expecting it to become lean, responsive and efficient is the definition of lunacy. As Milton Friedman said, " If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." If there are any statesmen left in DC, I challenge them to stand before their fellow professional politicians in the US Capitol and state that Fedzilla -- not the energy companies, not energy speculators and not our energy slave masters -- is America s number one energy problem.
Of course we should drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Had we done what we should have done ten years ago to assure America s independence, we would have been drilling in ANWR long ago. Had Senators Obama and McCain put America s independence first, they would have brought up legislation to drill in ANWR instead of voting to make America more energy dependent. What's with these guys?
The same goes for off shore drilling. Environmental special interests have locked up over 80% of energy rich off shore areas from American energy companies. As George Will illuminated in his brilliant June 5, 2008 op-ed The Gas Prices We Deserve, it is estimated the energy in these areas contains over 80 billion barrels of oil and over 400
trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Wonderful. What will Fedzilla think of next to strangle energy independence?
Governor Schwarzenegger recently stated California would not permit off shore drilling. Once again, a politician who would rather see America an energy slave than a thriving, energy independent powerhouse. He's so Hollywood.
America gets 20% of our electricity from 104 nuclear power plants. Europe generates 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. Nuclear power is the cleanest, most efficient, safest energy source we could harness. Senator McCain has proposed building 40 more nuclear power plants. I say we build three times that many and sell the excess energy! Senator Obama is not so sure about nuclear power. What, Senator Obama, are you not so sure about? I'm sure about you.
Instead of supporting nuclear power, what Senator Obama is sure about is slapping a punitive windfall profits tax on the oil companies. Anyone with an ounce of business acumen will tell you that taxing a business more will not lead to more innovation, more expansion, more hiring, or more productivity.
As radio freeman Neil Boortz recently pointed out, the windfall profits tax proposed by Senator Obama will hurt you -- the individual investor -- because ordinary Americans own 98.5% of energy companies through mutual funds and individual stocks. We are suffering from terminal shoot self in foot disease.
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is sinking billions into harnessing the wind to generate power. Currently America receives about 5% or our energy through wind. While Mr. Pickens is free to spend his money on wind energy, at best America will generate 20% of our energy through wind power. My money says nuclear power is the way to go. The answer to our energy woes is not blowing in the wind.
Call me a radical, call me crazy, but I crave freedom, liberty and independence. There were 56 guys who obviously felt the same way because they signed their names to a bold, extreme independence document some 232 years ago and pledged their lives and fortunes for freedom. Those are my kind of radicals. Call me extreme, but call me often.
Today, as in right here, right now, right this moment, some enterprising energy executive, energy engineer, or entrepreneur, must pick up the phone and call or e-mail a few of his patriotic buddies and convene an Energy War Council next week to solve this self inflicted fiasco. No Fedzilla bureaucrats allowed, as they will only retard the progress of such a group.
Let's get it on America , and turn to face the howling storm like the American Bison. It is time for a defiant American beast once again. I smell a stampede and like it.
Instead of wisely utilizing our abundant energy, America has been strangled by various federal government bureaucracies, untold reams of burdensome government regulations and counterproductive policies, corrupt environmental special interest groups, and professional politicians who will bend whichever way the prevailing political winds blow.
These are the reasons America hasn't built a new oil refinery or new nuclear reactor in thirty or so years. Instead, as billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens accurately stated the other day, we are transferring hundreds of billions of our national treasury to other nations. Even to our enemies. Truly bizarre.
Call me crazy, but I thought the goal of America was to be independent. Its time to call a spade a spade. We are energy slaves to lesser countries. They own us. And unless we resurrect that unstoppable, mighty spirit of rugged independent individualism of our forefathers and throw off the energy shackles, these nations can permanently cripple, if not kill, our economy. The situation is that grave
Im not concerned whatsoever that America doesn't have vast reserves of ingenuity, entrepreneurship, and intellectual capital that could make us energy independent. My concern is that we have become so reliant and dependent on Fedzilla (aka the US government) to solve all of our problems that we will once again rely on the bureaucratic blob in DC to solve this problem, too. That could be a career ending injury.
Fedzilla isn't the solution, its the problem. Continuing to feed Fedzilla and expecting it to become lean, responsive and efficient is the definition of lunacy. As Milton Friedman said, " If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert , in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." If there are any statesmen left in DC, I challenge them to stand before their fellow professional politicians in the US Capitol and state that Fedzilla -- not the energy companies, not energy speculators and not our energy slave masters -- is America s number one energy problem.
Of course we should drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Had we done what we should have done ten years ago to assure America s independence, we would have been drilling in ANWR long ago. Had Senators Obama and McCain put America s independence first, they would have brought up legislation to drill in ANWR instead of voting to make America more energy dependent. What's with these guys?
The same goes for off shore drilling. Environmental special interests have locked up over 80% of energy rich off shore areas from American energy companies. As George Will illuminated in his brilliant June 5, 2008 op-ed The Gas Prices We Deserve, it is estimated the energy in these areas contains over 80 billion barrels of oil and over 400
trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Wonderful. What will Fedzilla think of next to strangle energy independence?
Governor Schwarzenegger recently stated California would not permit off shore drilling. Once again, a politician who would rather see America an energy slave than a thriving, energy independent powerhouse. He's so Hollywood.
America gets 20% of our electricity from 104 nuclear power plants. Europe generates 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. Nuclear power is the cleanest, most efficient, safest energy source we could harness. Senator McCain has proposed building 40 more nuclear power plants. I say we build three times that many and sell the excess energy! Senator Obama is not so sure about nuclear power. What, Senator Obama, are you not so sure about? I'm sure about you.
Instead of supporting nuclear power, what Senator Obama is sure about is slapping a punitive windfall profits tax on the oil companies. Anyone with an ounce of business acumen will tell you that taxing a business more will not lead to more innovation, more expansion, more hiring, or more productivity.
As radio freeman Neil Boortz recently pointed out, the windfall profits tax proposed by Senator Obama will hurt you -- the individual investor -- because ordinary Americans own 98.5% of energy companies through mutual funds and individual stocks. We are suffering from terminal shoot self in foot disease.
Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens is sinking billions into harnessing the wind to generate power. Currently America receives about 5% or our energy through wind. While Mr. Pickens is free to spend his money on wind energy, at best America will generate 20% of our energy through wind power. My money says nuclear power is the way to go. The answer to our energy woes is not blowing in the wind.
Call me a radical, call me crazy, but I crave freedom, liberty and independence. There were 56 guys who obviously felt the same way because they signed their names to a bold, extreme independence document some 232 years ago and pledged their lives and fortunes for freedom. Those are my kind of radicals. Call me extreme, but call me often.
Today, as in right here, right now, right this moment, some enterprising energy executive, energy engineer, or entrepreneur, must pick up the phone and call or e-mail a few of his patriotic buddies and convene an Energy War Council next week to solve this self inflicted fiasco. No Fedzilla bureaucrats allowed, as they will only retard the progress of such a group.
Let's get it on America , and turn to face the howling storm like the American Bison. It is time for a defiant American beast once again. I smell a stampede and like it.
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Pickens and the oil industry didn't wake up in 2008 to realize that the dependence upon foreign oil was not in the best interest of the U.S. They got a preview of this in 1973, so why weren't they all gun ho on building nuclear reactors at that time? It was State officials that put moratoriums on building nuclear powers plants, especially, after Three Mile Island more so that the feds.
As to Europe, lets take a look at were they are headed.
Europe, and especially Germany, are banking on coal
Despite the continent's far-reaching standards on carbon emissions, old-world lignite is making a comeback.
By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 25, 2008
HOLZ, GERMANY -- Much of Europe may be moving toward renewable energy, but here in the Rhine Valley, where coal has always been king, this little town has become more roadkill on the fossil fuels autobahn.
Three power plants fueled by lignite coal, the granddaddy of the greenhouse gas emitters, belch more than 64 million tons of carbon dioxide a year into the atmosphere, the highest concentration in Europe. But they will be dwarfed by a massive power plant under construction that will be one of the biggest in the world burning lignite. ...
The European Union has adopted some of the most far-reaching carbon emissions standards in the world, and Germany has led the charge on renewable energy. But as oil and gas prices rise and Europe becomes increasingly nervous about Russia's domination of natural gas supplies, old-world coal is making a comeback.
Plans are on the books to build 40 major coal-fired power stations across Europe in the next five years. Germany, which, like Spain, Italy and others, is swearing off nuclear power, plans to build 27 coal-fired stations by 2020. Many of them will be fueled by lignite, the soft "brown" coal that can emit a ton of carbon dioxide for every ton of fuel burned.
Over the next decade, new, mainly coal power plants in Europe could add 700 million tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere every year, according to the U.S.-based Center for Global Development -- a 39% increase.
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Europe Turns Back to Coal, Raising Climate Fears
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: April 23, 2008
CIVITAVECCHIA, Italy — At a time when the world’s top climate experts agree that carbon emissions must be rapidly reduced to hold down global warming, Italy’s major electricity producer, Enel, is converting its massive power plant here from oil to coal, generally the dirtiest fuel on earth.
Over the next five years, Italy will increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent. Power generated by Enel from coal will rise to 50 percent.
And Italy is not alone in its return to coal. Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are expected to put into operation about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years, plants that will be in use for the next five decades.
In the United States, fewer new coal plants are likely to begin operations, in part because it is becoming harder to get regulatory permits and in part because nuclear power remains an alternative. Of 151 proposals in early 2007, more than 60 had been dropped by the year’s end, many blocked by state governments. Dozens of other are stuck in court challenges.
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Is this the end game for Pickens', to be the good cop spokesman so that more coal plants can be built? Considering the U.S. has the world's largest coal reserves, the money to be made in exports could revival oil in the next five years. Of course, we may all be wearing protective masks after 10 years, but hey, we won't be dependent upon foreign oil.
I'm hoping he has America's best interest in mind and not the lure of more money. We'll be watching and listening.
So that we may die, shivering, cold and alone on the great American prairie. And a hundred years from now, tourists can pick up our bones as souvenirs. And Georgia O'Keefe can paint pretty pictures of our skulls. Nugent needs to go the way of the buffalo. Extinct.
Remember kids, it is only through the work of Ted (Turner!!!) that the buffalo thrives today.
—Dorothy Parker
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6902/conspiracytheoriesxt6qt8.jpg
It is interesting that the only reason buffalo are around today is because of privatization. Cattle, "private" property, had no problem thriving, but buffalo, a "public" resource, almost disappeared. Hopefully that is an object lesson for people who think that gov't is the answer to our problems.