Why we call them Stalinists - today’s edition
On the day the W says outright - finally - that we need to drill in ANWR, what do the House Freedom-Haters call for?
Nationalizing the country’s oil refineries.
We’re the frogs, and the water’s just about at full boil.
June 19th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
It’ll never wash, esp. now that we have deregulated the utilities industries,. which were quasi-nationalized, found that government never runs anything better and learned that what sounds good, feels good, like Communism/socialism, never sets well deep within our bowels. An idea such as this might rally the youth, but I doubt it. Not much else has other than feathering their materialist beds like mommie/daddy, in whatever configuration they found themselves reared within these days told them. Nope, still dog eat dog, drink better scotch, gun for that house on the hill. Big O v. Big O. Now that’s a boxing match. Wonder how many rounds it’ll go. My guess is a KO in the first round.
June 19th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
But, if the government already owns ANWR, then what is the fuss about the government doing the drilling and dispensing? Should we section portions off and call for another Great Land Rush? Would TR drill in ANWR? Latest news from Florida is that Charlie Christ who won a close race last election and campaigned on leaving coastal waters sacrosanct, has back-pedalled. Does his panting for the (now quite powerful, given the Dicking we all got over the past 8 years) Veep slot on the McCain ticket have anything to do with it? Sounds like McCain’s waffling too.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
You’re kidding me, right? You’re playing some kind of devil’s advocate or doing a caricature of an economic illiterate, right?
Thanks. I was pretty sure I knew that someone who was intelligent and well-read and a man of reason knew why we don’t want the government producing, distributing and profiting from oil or any other product.
June 19th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Yep, I quite understand and you will see that if you release the comment above the one you are commenting on. Yes, playing the devil’s advocate. Your blog is lacking sometimes in allowing people to post and posting the post. It now shows 2 responses but there are two from me and one from thee, which makes 3. Thanks for making me sound like an idiot though.
June 19th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
It still says my comment is awaiting moderation. This was placed, mind you, prior to the one you’re steaming about. I am endeavoring to past it in again here, in the hopes it will take:
It’ll never wash, esp. now that we have deregulated the utilities industries,. which were quasi-nationalized, found that government never runs anything better and learned that what sounds good, feels good, like Communism/socialism, never sets well deep within our bowels. An idea such as this might rally the youth, but I doubt it. Not much else has other than feathering their materialist beds like mommie/daddy, in whatever configuration they found themselves reared within these days told them. Nope, still dog eat dog, drink better scotch, gun for that house on the hill. Big O v. Big O. Now that’s a boxing match. Wonder how many rounds it’ll go. My guess is a KO in the first round.
Whether you like it or not, these matters are up for debate in a free society of laws, not men
June 19th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Tried to post the comment again and it agains says “your comment is awaiting moderation.”
June 20th, 2008 at 2:43 am
Watch this space for released Dings comments. That wacky Wordpress moderating queue!
June 20th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Well, it’s frustrating for posters. It happens a lot here on this blogspace. You write a comment and it never takes. A bit off-putting.
June 20th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
We the people own the land the oil companies want to drill on and we the people will decide through the process granted to us by our Founding Fathers as interpreted over the centuries (all 2 and less than a half of them). Calling your opposition Stalinist does nothing for your cause. But, blast away. It’s a free country. We can even disagree on the meaning of freedom and liberty.
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Can’t you just call them Marxists? They ain’t killed anyone yet. Can’t say that about the Bushites. can we? That was for freedom though.
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
What almost was?
http://www.amazon.com/Pact-Clinton-Gingrich-Rivalry-Generation/dp/0195322789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214142307&sr=8-1
“Steven Gillon, using a wide range of inside sources, tells a great and absorbing story: how Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich, who had fought for years over the meaning of the 1960s, schemed in 1997 to form a centrist political coalition, only to fail amidst the nasty partisan wrangling that led to the impeachment of the president.”
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
And we the people would be well advised to issue leases to some private concerns in the business of drilling and exploring for oil. It would be a while for the results to start flowing down the continent, but we’d see price relief right away.
June 23rd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
We the people understand that. We want relief and we want it now. Sadly, though, many might return to their gas guzzling ways, but, hey, that’s the freedom to be selfish and self-indulgent, which is how the rest of the world has come to view us, I guess. It’ll happen, don’t worry, it’ll happen. There is too much pressure on our collective pocketbooks for it not to happen. Again, calling your opposition Stalinist does nothing to facilitate legislation. Will this require reasonable gentlepersons?
June 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 pm
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/opinion/22friedman.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Mr. Bush, Lead or Leave
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: June 22, 2008
Two years ago, President Bush declared that America was “addicted to oil,” and, by gosh, he was going to do something about it. Well, now he has. Now we have the new Bush energy plan: “Get more addicted to oil.”
Actually, it’s more sophisticated than that: Get Saudi Arabia, our chief oil pusher, to up our dosage for a little while and bring down the oil price just enough so the renewable energy alternatives can’t totally take off. Then try to strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s as if our addict-in-chief is saying to us: “C’mon guys, you know you want a little more of the good stuff. One more hit, baby. Just one more toke on the ole oil pipe. I promise, next year, we’ll all go straight. I’ll even put a wind turbine on my presidential library. But for now, give me one more pop from that drill, please, baby. Just one more transfusion of that sweet offshore crude.”
June 25th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Renewable energies ain’t gonna take off if the price of Saudi oil stays put. Friedman sure has a way with words - “strong arm Congress into lifting the ban on offshore drilling.” As if it weren’t a screamingly obviously sensible thing to do.
The most unfortunate part about W’s mush-headedness - in this case, that “addicted to oil” phrase he employed in his SOTU address a couple of years ago - is that it allows the likes of Friedman to pounce all over him for finally having a bit of resolve and clarity.
We need oil and lots of it and will for years to come.
June 26th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Well, you gotta wonder, when we knew we were headed for trouble with supply as far back as the early 70s, but, noooooo, alleged freedom lovers gotta have their SUVs and be cool driving at 60 mph in the snow with their 4WD. I know we’re free here, but we’re also hugely selfish and self-centered. Just an observation that we deserve what we’ve got now. And we’ll likely deserve what we get in the future, even if we drill the piss out of all the wells we can, come hell/highwater (that’s seen as bravery by some). Just an observation and a prediction. Bombast and bravado will continue to rule the day, say hey.
Greed has a false face and it’s called freedom by some. Yes, we need oil and lots of it and will for years to come. What will it come to though? We are simply, addicted to oil.