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Charles Krauthammer: Critical Thinking on Energy
townhall.com ^ | June 20, 2008 | Charles Krauthammer

Posted on 06/20/2008 6:18:29 AM PDT by Tolik

Gas is $4 a gallon. Oil is $135 a barrel and rising. We import two-thirds of our oil, sending hundreds of billions of dollars to the likes of Russia, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. And yet we voluntarily prohibit ourselves from even exploring huge domestic reserves of petroleum and natural gas.



TOPICS: Editorial
KEYWORDS: charleskrauthammer; drill; energy; krauthammer; oil
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To: econjack

...square acres...??


21 posted on 06/20/2008 7:04:37 AM PDT by mouske
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To: 1Old Pro

And you will be contributing to the election of Obama the antichrist who is going to ruin our country. At least with McCain we will have a chance to get out of this energy mess. Obama is not for any oil exploration. Hes a chump.Just like you if you vote 3rd party.


22 posted on 06/20/2008 7:16:58 AM PDT by crazydad
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To: Tolik

Obama wants us down to the same living conditions as his Muslim desert dweller friends undergo.


23 posted on 06/20/2008 7:23:31 AM PDT by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
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To: econjack
"ANWR"

The whole thinking behind not going into areas that are "pristine" is ridiculous. ANWR is just the latest example of this nonsensical thought. What if all our oil and natural gas had been in so-called pristine areas? What then? If radical environmentalists had the same control in the 1800s as they do now, we would never have drilled for oil or n-gas anywhere.

You drill where there's substantial resources: pristine areas or no pristine areas. And yes, that means the Grand Canyon if it has substantial resources. Not to do so is insanity.

24 posted on 06/20/2008 7:40:32 AM PDT by driftless2
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To: Tolik

It’s a communist plot to economically strangle us. Drill the communists, then drill for oil.


25 posted on 06/20/2008 7:40:36 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (When hopelessness replaces hope, it opens the door to evil.)
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To: mouske

Yes, square acres. ANWR is about the size of Great Britain but the proposed drilling site is about half the size of Manhatten. I think square acres is an appropriate scale to use.


26 posted on 06/20/2008 7:43:16 AM PDT by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: driftless2
You're preaching to the choir...Personally, I hope the largest new oil find is in Pelosi’s backyard, the second one in Chuckie’s basement, and the third just 8 feet off Teddie's dock. I wonder how long it would take them to prostitute their holier-than-thou attitude to grab the royalties...especially if the voting public got smart enough to throw all of them out of office first.
27 posted on 06/20/2008 7:47:59 AM PDT by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: Tolik

Oil is one of those issues that prove you cannot be thinking very much and still be a Liberal. Liberals don’t want us to fight for oil; they don’t want us to refine oil; they don’t want us to build oil refineries; they don’t want us to build nuclear power plants as an alternative to help lower oil consumption; they don’t want wind power because it bothers birds, and they especially don’t want it near the Kennedy’s view; they don’t want oil companies to profit as much as other businesses, and on and on. They’ve no idea how supply and demand impacts prices. And they like to tell us how smart they are.


28 posted on 06/20/2008 7:55:07 AM PDT by elhombrelibre (Isolationism and pacifism: the soft underbelly of American freedom.)
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A change in opinion based on a change in circumstances is simply logical reasoning.

There's a big diff in opposing something when oil is at $30 a barrel vs $130..and climbing.

29 posted on 06/20/2008 7:59:00 AM PDT by evad (.I.)
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To: Tolik
********One can only marvel at Obama’s audacity in characterizing McCain's proposal to change our policy as “old politics,” while the candidate of “change” adheres rigidly to the no-drilling status quo.*******

If McCain has the b@lls to keep elaborating on the above sentence, he'll win in a landslide.

30 posted on 06/20/2008 8:17:18 AM PDT by GOPologist (Illigitimi non carborundum.)
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To: All
Over the last 2 months, the following was sent, in one form or another, to VP Cheney, the White House, and the McCain Campaign. The question posed to McCain on his website was: Do you want to hear some straight talk on energy? Well, maybe he listened a little. I encourage a public and overt flip-flop on oil drilling which, as I told him, would be welcomed by Conservatives. Pander? OK fine, but his position needed to be "re-calibrated" - a great Rumsfeld term.

My Energy Manifesto:

* Cease all ethanol production. It takes away from food production and the unintended consequence is higher food costs. As diesel prices go up, the cost of farming tips the balance of cost to make ethanol a bad idea. Just say "no" to ethanol! Even Jimmy Carter says that diverting farm production from food to fuel is dumb – even HE gets it. This will create only ONE "blend" of gasoline and will cease regional "boutique" blends (gasohols) which are stupid, costly, and meaningless. Trucking custom blends around the country is wasteful. Ethanol blends may actually lead to fewer miles to the gallon, and adds to the cost of production and transportation. Newer cars do not need oxygenated fuels.

* Lift the restrictions in order to drill for oil in Alaska, Gulf of Mexico, and other sites in the CONUS as a matter of national security.

* Encourage the petro industry to construct state-of-the-art refineries and/or retrofit current and dormant ones and crank up production for our newly-accessed oil in the CONUS.

* Make all “carbon credit” scams unlawful. Discrediting Algore should have been a slam-dunk a long time ago. Stop electing Reps who buy into the Global Warming / Global Cooling / Climate Change Hoax. CO2 is not our enemy!

* Construct SEVERAL, regional Pebble-Bed Modular Reactors (or other similar modern designs) that are rechargeable, and cleaner than any current nuclear generator design. Refine spent nuke fuel for recycling. DO SOMETHING NUCLEAR to resolve energy problems.

* Use the residual heat from the reactors above to process motor fuel from coal and/or shale. Even though Clinton "stole" some of the best coal reserves, we still have a lot to use.

* Become independent enough to make the cartels (i.e. OPEC) inconsequential.

* Convince local taxing bodies to lift or cap the sales tax on gasoline so that as gas prices go up, the local tax collectors don’t see a windfall revenue jump at the expense of the consumer. The Federal government could compel the states (and locals) to cap the fuel taxes.

If you squint real hard, and read between the lines, the ‘manifesto’ will require fewer RINOs and LibDems and the election of some clear-minded conservatives to even consider the above.

31 posted on 06/20/2008 8:24:50 AM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.....)
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To: crazydad
Hes a chump.Just like you if you vote 3rd party.

So what do you base your belief on that McCain can win New York....AND, do you realize how the electoral college works in Presidential elections?

32 posted on 06/20/2008 8:25:27 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: GOPologist

The democrats cry that Republicans are a “one trick pony show” but they themselves are know only one-solution: tax, tax, tax the people. THey have NO CHANGE for our FUTURE in mind and NO SPECIFIC PLANS AT ALL for making us an energy efficient society. I’m sick of other people trying to ram down our throats their environmental crap when it is solely based on their liberal biased thinking which disregards truth as stated from the Bible.


33 posted on 06/20/2008 8:26:48 AM PDT by princess leah
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To: princess leah

I heard someone say, The Demoncrats do not know what the question is but they already know the answer. A new Government program and raise taxes.


34 posted on 06/20/2008 8:47:13 AM PDT by Holicheese (Hillary deserves the CMoH for her time in Tuzla!)
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To: econjack

There is no such measure as “square aces”. Acres already rrpresent an area.


35 posted on 06/20/2008 9:14:04 AM PDT by Real Cynic No More (The only thing standing between us and complete victory over the evildoers is POLITICS!)
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To: Tolik
As usual, Krauthammer has written an excellent, excellent article. But there's a counter. Here it is

The Big Pander to Big Oil

At this point I have no idea who's right. Both articles contain the same basic figures about reserves and usage. But the interpretations are very, very different.

I'm on it...and I hope others will chose to do the research as well.

36 posted on 06/20/2008 9:21:39 AM PDT by liberallarry
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To: 1Old Pro
I’m in NY, McCain has no chance, I’ll vote for third party candidates. Voting third party demonstrates a lack of seriousness. Additionally, it is a vote for those that you dislike. Obama and the Democrats thank you!
37 posted on 06/20/2008 12:23:53 PM PDT by oneamericanvoice (Support freedom! Support the troops! Surrender is not an option!)
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To: rabscuttle385

You’re calling one of the preeminent minds a “jackass” because you don’t understand him???? Your credentials are?


38 posted on 06/20/2008 12:26:36 PM PDT by oneamericanvoice (Support freedom! Support the troops! Surrender is not an option!)
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To: joe fonebone
I would punch him in the face and go pick some beans....maybe it is time for this tactic... We don't do that, exactly because we are Americans. We use our ingenuity to come up with a solution. But we don't bull or bomb to get what we want. Especially oil.
39 posted on 06/20/2008 12:30:52 PM PDT by oneamericanvoice (Support freedom! Support the troops! Surrender is not an option!)
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To: oneamericanvoice
You’re calling one of the preeminent minds a “jackass” because you don’t understand him????

Advocating higher taxes and government manipulation of prices in an effort to socially engineer the behavior of taxpayers, as Mr. Krauthammer did, is no way to solve a problem, unless you're a left wing Socialist. And, at such a time as this, it's a dick move on his part...that's equally as bad as anything the greens have dished up so far.

40 posted on 06/20/2008 12:32:23 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
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