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In the short-term, drill ANWR, blow up terrorists, get rid of the iranian president and his psychotic pals.

Based on everything I've read, ANWR does not come under the heading of "short-term solution". Even if the permits were printed tomorrow, there's still the problem of finding oil, creating infrastructure, creating transport, and bringing the fields on-line. When the issue was hot, the first projection for any oil from ANWR was 5-6 years out, with full production not enabled in at least a decade.

And there's still a question of how much is actually there. Based on the current projections of import needs over the next two decades (which could change if alternatives take hold), maximum ANWR output would only lower the imports by 6%, minimum output by 3%, in 2025. Here's a graph from DOE:

There's a lot that could be done now and in the next couple of years that could have a substantially bigger impact than ANWR oil.

The article says that Ford and GM sell flex-fuel cars in Brazil now -- they could be selling them here in six months. And that's just a start.

I guess it's a matter of semantics. I consider 5-6 years short term, at least compared to 20 years.

The article says that Ford and GM sell flex-fuel cars in Brazil now -- they could be selling them here in six months. And that's just a start.

You wouldn't believe how many times I advocated this on an FR thread and got called an idiot for it. I was not aware that such cars were already in production, but I knew that even gasoline powered cars could be modified by making minor modifications to the fuel pump and popping a new fuel injection chip into the computer. Since they started putting 10% ethanol in gasoline, cars have fuel lines and seals that withstand ethanol. It's a fairly simple modification to make.

There's a lot that could be done now and in the next couple of years that could have a substantially bigger impact than ANWR oil.

I hear that all the time, but experience teaches me that this is a throw away line with absolutely nothing to back it up.
Like the nut case at work who was planning to run for president and "defeat Bush".

He's on permanent (mental) disability leave now.

ANWR would help in the medium term until alternate energy sources are developed. Even if we did a crash program to move away from petroleum, we are going to have a huge demand from petroleum products for decades.
We can do more than ANWR (ANWR is a small piece of the puzzle). Producing hybrid and fuel-flex cars will cut down on consumption. Also, more diesel cars would help.

I own an automobile that gets 30mpg on the hwy and would love to see fewer huge SUVs and Pickups on the road. Many people want a big vehicle for their egos.