The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Sunday, May 04, 2008
UPDATED More on Gas Prices and Our Broken Congress
UPDATE: Rewritten/edited for clarity -- DT
Glenn Reynolds has hit another of my hot buttons tonight with this post (and link) about our gutless, broken beyond repair government, and its role in prolonging our cycle of dependence on foreign oil:
And all that has to be done to make all these wonderful things happen are two arguably simple things:
And the Band Played On...
It is germane here to mention that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been following for months the same lame script, ad nauseum: namely their endless carping, claiming that despite America's having achieved its promised military success in the Surge in Iraq, there has nevertheless "been no corresponding Iraqi political progress..." on the eleven political benchmarks which the Democrat Congress set for the ancient religious enemies within Iraq to agree on. But an intersting thing has been happening in Baghdad over the last several months: the supposedly "irresponsible" Iraqi Assembly has agreed on approximately half of the previously defined (by the "Lose Now" Democrats) benchmarks. In the meantime the same US Congress, under Dem "management" (a non-descriptive term in this case), has done its damnedest to kill every single attempt that the President and other Republicans have suggested to ensure our success in Iraq.
Meanwhile, what about our own Congress' ability to deal with America's very real problems? I ask anyone: not has it solved half of its problems as Iraq has done; rather has our Congress solved ANY??? For example, when it comes to addressing our energy crisis, using the prescription outlined above--all of that "Green Lobby" money being poured into their campaign coffers--to perpetuate an "End of the World" Global Warming myth that even the Democrats themselves do not truly believe anymore--is apparently much more critical to our country and to the health of our economy than is achieving energy independence, have I got that right???
If our Democrat-led Congress had made 1/4 of the progress as has the Iraqi Assemby been doing lately, we might not be having this conversation. But clearly, Reid and Pelosi would rather focus our attention on the few things the Iraqis have not accomplished rather than to address the mountain of critical things they have failed to get done in Washington--after promising the electorate in 2006 that they would end the "gridlock".
Right.
It is obviously more important to them to demonstrate to their Comrades on the Stalinist left just how partisan they can be in an election year. And in this alone they have been successful: Sherman's march to the sea was more accommodating to Southerners than Reid/Pelosi have been to making progress on solving our energy problems, lowering our gas prices, and feeding the rest of the world. Or to solving any of our other problems for that matter.
Isn't it time we threw them the hell out? They were hired by us to take care of our nation's priorities, and they have failed more miserably than possibly any Congress in American History since before the Civil War. They should be fired for incompetence and insubordination.
We can do better. We must do better. And Reid and Pelosi ain't it, folks. And the Marxists the Dems have running for President damn sure aren't "it" either. Wheh Hillary Clinton is the consensus "conservative" choice in that party, the nation is in deep, deep trouble.
Glenn Reynolds has hit another of my hot buttons tonight with this post (and link) about our gutless, broken beyond repair government, and its role in prolonging our cycle of dependence on foreign oil:
Follow that link and read the whole thing... I can't count how many times I have been pleading for an end to this insanity to anyone who will listen: we are sitting on top of some of the largest oil reserves in the world, more than enough achieve the following:I'VE MENTIONED BEFORE that I think we have a dysfunctional political class in this country. Here's more evidence:
This tiff over gas and oil taxes only highlights the intellectual policy confusion – or perhaps we should say cynicism – of our politicians. They want lower prices but don't want more production to increase supply. They want oil "independence" but they've declared off limits most of the big sources of domestic oil that could replace foreign imports. They want Americans to use less oil to reduce greenhouse gases but they protest higher oil prices that reduce demand. They want more oil company investment but they want to confiscate the profits from that investment. And these folks want to be President?
Sadly, one of them will be.
- Significantly reducing our gas prices at home over a period of just a few years
- Dramatically reducing our dependence on buying oil from the regime most responsible for the continuing spread of militant Islam in the world, thus reducing the revenue going to those who want us all dead
- Putting a very large dent in the value of our current trade imbalance with the rest of the world (for which a significant percentage of the monetary value is attributable to our excessive oil imports), and thus;
- By reducing pressure on the trade deficit, strengthening the value of the dollar against foreign currency, thereby;
- Slowing the recessionary and inflationary pressures on our economy, allowing US workers to KEEP THEIR JOBS
- Reducing both the profit incentive and perceived "need" to use America's abundant agricultural resources for anything other than growing food, thereby;
- Lowering food prices for the rest of the world
And all that has to be done to make all these wonderful things happen are two arguably simple things:
- Allowing our very capable energy companies to extract the abundant oil from our own untapped reserves (Fact: the Red Chinese, Cubans, and Venezuelans are drilling and profiting hugely from the abundant reserves off the Florida coast--among many places where we could extract our own oil--but our brain-dead Congress won't let allow our own companies to have the same access that our enemies and competitors do)
- Building the refinery infrastructure to produce gasoline for our own vehicles, so we don't have to buy it from our enemies either (Fact: the Democrats have worked hard to put so many obstacles and federal regulations in place, that America has not built a refinery in the United States since 1976. That is the year Jimmy Carter became President, and shortly before our first "energy crisis... As a result of this "forward thinking" we are now operating off of the capacity planned for the gasoline needs of the late 1970's--with almost double the number of cars. And yet they have the gall and audacity to cry about higher gas prices...)
And the Band Played On...
It is germane here to mention that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have been following for months the same lame script, ad nauseum: namely their endless carping, claiming that despite America's having achieved its promised military success in the Surge in Iraq, there has nevertheless "been no corresponding Iraqi political progress..." on the eleven political benchmarks which the Democrat Congress set for the ancient religious enemies within Iraq to agree on. But an intersting thing has been happening in Baghdad over the last several months: the supposedly "irresponsible" Iraqi Assembly has agreed on approximately half of the previously defined (by the "Lose Now" Democrats) benchmarks. In the meantime the same US Congress, under Dem "management" (a non-descriptive term in this case), has done its damnedest to kill every single attempt that the President and other Republicans have suggested to ensure our success in Iraq.
Meanwhile, what about our own Congress' ability to deal with America's very real problems? I ask anyone: not has it solved half of its problems as Iraq has done; rather has our Congress solved ANY??? For example, when it comes to addressing our energy crisis, using the prescription outlined above--all of that "Green Lobby" money being poured into their campaign coffers--to perpetuate an "End of the World" Global Warming myth that even the Democrats themselves do not truly believe anymore--is apparently much more critical to our country and to the health of our economy than is achieving energy independence, have I got that right???
If our Democrat-led Congress had made 1/4 of the progress as has the Iraqi Assemby been doing lately, we might not be having this conversation. But clearly, Reid and Pelosi would rather focus our attention on the few things the Iraqis have not accomplished rather than to address the mountain of critical things they have failed to get done in Washington--after promising the electorate in 2006 that they would end the "gridlock".
Right.
It is obviously more important to them to demonstrate to their Comrades on the Stalinist left just how partisan they can be in an election year. And in this alone they have been successful: Sherman's march to the sea was more accommodating to Southerners than Reid/Pelosi have been to making progress on solving our energy problems, lowering our gas prices, and feeding the rest of the world. Or to solving any of our other problems for that matter.
Isn't it time we threw them the hell out? They were hired by us to take care of our nation's priorities, and they have failed more miserably than possibly any Congress in American History since before the Civil War. They should be fired for incompetence and insubordination.
We can do better. We must do better. And Reid and Pelosi ain't it, folks. And the Marxists the Dems have running for President damn sure aren't "it" either. Wheh Hillary Clinton is the consensus "conservative" choice in that party, the nation is in deep, deep trouble.
