The Republican Thread

[Cknolls]

Labor Union dispenses with Labor Day as Holiday.

 

 

http://www.t-g.com/story/1449487.html

 

[dasox24]

Labor Union dispenses with Labor Day as Holiday.

 

 

http://www.t-g.com/story/1449487.html

Not sure how that will go over with the people of small town, southern Shelbyville...

[mr_genius]

strategic oil reserve: dems want to use it.

 

talk about a short sighted approach. there is a reason we have those reserves, and it's not to lower gas prices by a penny or two.

[NorthSideSox72]

strategic oil reserve: dems want to use it.

 

talk about a short sighted approach. there is a reason we have those reserves, and it's not to lower gas prices by a penny or two.

Agree. That, the tax holiday and the whole gov't check thing are nothing but smokescreen.

 

[southsider2k5]

"I do not believe that we should use the strategic oil reserves at this point. I have said and, in fact, supported a congressional resolution that said that we should suspend putting more oil into the strategic oil reserve, but the strategic oil reserve, I think, has to be reserved for a genuine emergency. You have a situation, let's say, where there was a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia that was destroyed as a consequence of terrorist acts, and you suddenly had huge amounts of oil taken out of the world market, we wouldn't just be seeing $4-a-gallon oil. We could see a situation where entire sectors of the country had no oil to function at all. And that's what the strategic oil reserve has to be for."

 

Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Media Availability, St. Louis, MO, 7/7/08

 

The change has been most striking on the campaign trail, where Obama said in a speech Monday that he would abandon his past position and support tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to quickly cut prices at the gasoline pump.

 

His campaign later released a statement saying that the "doubling of oil prices in the past year is a crisis for millions of Americans."

 

Obama's reversal on tapping the national stockpile of crude oil comes just days after he said, for the first time, that he would agree to some offshore drilling as part of a broader energy-policy compromise with Republicans, including John McCain, who has supported additional drilling.

 

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/pos...GM4NjQ0Y2RkMzg=

 

The irony is that on July 7th, the price of crude closed at $141.64, it closed August 4th at 121.61. Crude is DOWN $20 a barrel since he made his statements about NOT opening up the reserves, and now its an emergency? Sounds to me like the energy attacks are starting to worry the Dems.

[kapkomet]

Sen. Barack Obama, Remarks At Media Availability, St. Louis, MO, 7/7/08

 

 

 

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/pos...GM4NjQ0Y2RkMzg=

 

The irony is that on July 7th, the price of crude closed at $141.64, it closed August 4th at 121.61. Crude is DOWN $20 a barrel since he made his statements about NOT opening up the reserves, and now its an emergency? Sounds to me like the energy attacks are starting to worry the Dems.

That's part of it. I've long told you my opinion as to why NOW energy is going down... and I don't think it's a coincidence, either.

 

[BearSox]

I have a question... does Barack Obama want to turn America into a socialist country? Cause from my perspective, all signs point to yes. And because, IMO, the odds of him not winning the presidency are slim, I am very terrified for the future of this country.

[BearSox]

Agree. That, the tax holiday and the whole gov't check thing are nothing but smokescreen.

The best way to fix the energy crisis is simple, throw all the crap against a wall and see what sticks. That means putting more resources into alternative energy and for christ's sake, freaking DRILL! (and please, don't displace any precise caribou while we are drilling).

 

I swear to god, if I hear one more democrat defend not to drill offshore with the excuse "Well, it do anything for another 10 years" garbage, I might jump off a bridge. The point for drilling isn't just to try and lower gas prices now, but lower gas prices for the future, and get rid of our dependence on foreign oil. What if WWIII breaks out and we are in a war with Iran, and other terrorist countries? What do we do for oil then? Use the strategic oil supply? Well, if idiots like Pelosi got their way, if such a war broke out, we wouldn't have any oil left in the supply.

 

My god. Am I the only one who wants to pull my hair out or am I stupid or something?

Edited August 6, 2008 by BearSox

[dasox24]

My god. Am I the only one who wants to pull my hair out or am I stupid or something?

Not at all.

[lostfan]

There is eventually going to be a compromise on drilling. Eventually. But not during the campaign season, and if it does happen (i.e. in Congress) it won't be a convergence of Obama and McCain's plans, that is just not how the game works and it's dumb to even think that. Drilling is a wedge and both parties are being ridiculous about it on purpose, but it's intentional. Democrats are acting like there's no point in drilling because it won't do anything (it will, obviously, and they know it) and Republicans are acting like drilling is some instant cure-all (truth be told we just don't have that much oil in this country, and they know it). If you read between the lines when someone from either party speaking on this is backed into a corner, their end goal really is the same. Given the way these things usually work, what happens in the end is going to actually be something like Paris Hilton was talking about. lol @ me citing her for actually knowing something.

 

Pretty much ALWAYS there is going to be bickering and squabbling on the parties about things like this before a deal is ever reached. And yeah, sometimes they blow it, but this isn't something that's going away so if they do it'll be revisited. People (myself included) always act surprised when they see it in action.

Edited August 6, 2008 by lostfan

[southsider2k5]

The best way to fix the energy crisis is simple, throw all the crap against a wall and see what sticks. That means putting more resources into alternative energy and for christ's sake, freaking DRILL! (and please, don't displace any precise caribou while we are drilling).

 

I swear to god, if I hear one more democrat defend not to drill offshore with the excuse "Well, it do anything for another 10 years" garbage, I might jump off a bridge. The point for drilling isn't just to try and lower gas prices now, but lower gas prices for the future, and get rid of our dependence on foreign oil. What if WWIII breaks out and we are in a war with Iran, and other terrorist countries? What do we do for oil then? Use the strategic oil supply? Well, if idiots like Pelosi got their way, if such a war broke out, we wouldn't have any oil left in the supply.

 

My god. Am I the only one who wants to pull my hair out or am I stupid or something?

 

The irony is ALL of the solutions are going to take a long time to implement. Does anyone really think gigantic wind farms are going to get built in a week or two? The governmental process, the zoing, the lawsuits, and everything else involved in all of these solutions make them just as long term as drilling. But that never gets said.

[NorthSideSox72]

The irony is ALL of the solutions are going to take a long time to implement. Does anyone really think gigantic wind farms are going to get built in a week or two? The governmental process, the zoing, the lawsuits, and everything else involved in all of these solutions make them just as long term as drilling. But that never gets said.

I've said this before as well, and its spot on. The idea that drilling, or wind, or solar, or any number of other energy expansions are going to happen instantly is a little ridiculous.

 

[BearSox]

The irony is ALL of the solutions are going to take a long time to implement. Does anyone really think gigantic wind farms are going to get built in a week or two? The governmental process, the zoing, the lawsuits, and everything else involved in all of these solutions make them just as long term as drilling. But that never gets said.

I agree completely. For now, oil is our friend. But we need to plan for the future. If we did this 5-10 years ago, we wouldn't be in the problem we are now.

[lostfan]

I agree completely. For now, oil is our friend. But we need to plan for the future. If we did this 5-10 years ago, we wouldn't be in the problem we are now.

Yeah, sure. Assuming gas prices would still be low we'd just be delaying the inevitable. We've been talking about reducing foreign oil dependency since the Carter administration and have made effectively zero progress since our economy is still pretty much structured around oil consumpition. We don't take it seriously until our wallets start punching us in the balls, and if oil went back to $1.80 tomorrow, we'd forget all about this by next spring. If we are going to drill here... fine, as long as we're not f***ing up the environment. But there needs to be some kind of hard incentive to do something else.

Edited August 6, 2008 by lostfan

[Balta1701]

Yeah, sure. Assuming gas prices would still be low we'd just be delaying the inevitable. We've been talking about reducing foreign oil dependency since the Carter administration and have made effectively zero progress since our economy is still pretty much structured around oil consumpition. We don't take it seriously until our wallets start punching us in the balls, and if oil went back to $1.80 tomorrow, we'd forget all about this by next spring. If we are going to drill here... fine, as long as we're not f***ing up the environment. But there needs to be some kind of hard incentive to do something else.

So, how exactly do you plan to pull off this drilling without f***ing up the environment? The areas that are the most prime drilling locations are either locations that are right in hurricane alley or are difficult to control locations off of the Pacific seaboard near California, where simple drilling (not a wreck, just drilling the ocean floor) caused a pretty large spill back in the 60's which led to the implementation of the drilling moratorium in the first place.

[lostfan]

So, how exactly do you plan to pull off this drilling without f***ing up the environment? The areas that are the most prime drilling locations are either locations that are right in hurricane alley or are difficult to control locations off of the Pacific seaboard near California, where simple drilling (not a wreck, just drilling the ocean floor) caused a pretty large spill back in the 60's which led to the implementation of the drilling moratorium in the first place.

I don't have the answer to that question, hence the caveat. I scoff at people who think the environment isn't a big deal though and I ask them if they've ever been near somewhere that oil is being drilled, or a refinery (I have, overseas). If it's possible to drill without living in a Soviet-style industrial wasteland, I'm all for it. And if people that live in those areas are ok with turning their land into that, I guess I can't disagree with them either.

[StrangeSox]

I don't have the answer to that question, hence the caveat. I scoff at people who think the environment isn't a big deal though and I ask them if they've ever been near somewhere that oil is being drilled, or a refinery (I have, overseas). If it's possible to drill without living in a Soviet-style industrial wasteland, I'm all for it. And if people that live in those areas are ok with turning their land into that, I guess I can't disagree with them either.

 

Lemont has a big Citgo refinery. It smells bad sometimes if you're right next to it, but other than that it isn't bad. On the other hand, the old Texaco site down the street in Lockport was a Superfund site until recently.

[lostfan]

Lemont has a big Citgo refinery. It smells bad sometimes if you're right next to it, but other than that it isn't bad. On the other hand, the old Texaco site down the street in Lockport was a Superfund site until recently.

I mean in mass. Like they would have in Kuwait.

[Balta1701]

I mean in mass. Like they would have in Kuwait.

The areas in and around Hammond are just...ugh.

[lostfan]

BTW I just want to note that since we started the new Dem and Republican threads the general level of conversation/back and forth is much better than it was before.

[southsider2k5]

So, how exactly do you plan to pull off this drilling without f***ing up the environment? The areas that are the most prime drilling locations are either locations that are right in hurricane alley or are difficult to control locations off of the Pacific seaboard near California, where simple drilling (not a wreck, just drilling the ocean floor) caused a pretty large spill back in the 60's which led to the implementation of the drilling moratorium in the first place.

 

The idea that one accident 40 years ago controls energy policy to some extent is just silly.

[Balta1701]

The idea that one accident 40 years ago controls energy policy to some extent is just silly.

Fine. How about one 2 weeks ago?

 

Are you seriously going to somehow try to argue that oil spills should not be a major concern? If there had been 1 oil spill in the last 40 years we might have something to talk about. But they spill regularly, especially in these sorts of OCS areas you want to hit.

[southsider2k5]

Fine. How about one 2 weeks ago?

 

Are you seriously going to somehow try to argue that oil spills should not be a major concern? If there had been 1 oil spill in the last 40 years we might have something to talk about. But they spill regularly, especially in these sorts of OCS areas you want to hit.

 

There are concerns with pretty much every energy that is being put forth. The ones that are considered green, aren't talked about. But pointing to an event 40 years ago as why something should not happen is still just silly. The only reason the laws are the way they are is because a bunch of rich people live there. Teddy Kennedy is pulling the same stunts 3000 miles away with some of the very same things that are supposed to be saving our planet as we speak.

[Balta1701]

There are concerns with pretty much every energy that is being put forth. The ones that are considered green, aren't talked about. But pointing to an event 40 years ago as why something should not happen is still just silly. The only reason the laws are the way they are is because a bunch of rich people live there. Teddy Kennedy is pulling the same stunts 3000 miles away with some of the very same things that are supposed to be saving our planet as we speak.

Do I need to dredge up the info on the 700,000 barrels of oil spilled by Katrina and Rita? Those 2 storms spilled about 2/3 of an Exxon-Valdez. Right in the area you're drooling over.

[southsider2k5]

Do I need to dredge up the info on the 700,000 barrels of oil spilled by Katrina and Rita? Those 2 storms spilled about 2/3 of an Exxon-Valdez. Right in the area you're drooling over.

 

So what alternative energy is completely 100% clean and safe?