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I'm watching C-span, and the Senate Energy Policy Forum debate. Following Pete Domenici's assertion that we need to drill for more oil:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse/Rhode Island (D):
"Gentlemen, we're in the middle of a near-total mortgage meltdown in this country. We have a health care system that burns 16% of our GDP, in which the Medicare liability alone has been estimated at more than $34Trillion. We're burning $10B a month in Iraq. This administration has run up $7.7Trillion in national debt by our calculation, and there is worsening evidence every day of global warming, with worsening environmental national security and economic ramifications. In the light of those conditions, do any of you seriously contend that drilling for more oil is the most serious issue facing the American people today?"
Deafening Silence.
"No. Doesn't seem so. If we're going to deal with conservation, which seems to be where most of the lowest-hanging fruit and highest return of investment exists at this point, particularly immediately, we are looking for practical suggestions . . . ."
And then he goes on to ask, basically, for realistic solutions--both short-term and long-term. Because continuing to create environmental destruction through drilling, under the aegis of getting free of foreign oil, makes no sense whatsoever. Especially if, long term, that drilling causes catastrophic environmental effects on future generations.
Hello? Thank you, Senator Whitehouse. Now if we can get the Presidential candidates to get a clue, that would be really nice. I don't know what Obama is thinking, other than having decided that perhaps there can be a way to make this work (there isn't). Certainly, Palin wants it because it will benefit Alaska (to which her primary loyalty is directed), and McCain--well, it's hard to know what he thinks about anything. But this is one issue that we really do need to wrap our brains around, because if we don't figure a way out of our addiction to oil, there will be enormous consequences.
The average American has $2-6K in credit card debt? The American way became bigger SUV's and McMansions. We are not a nation of long term. America needs a cultural revolution.
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