Obama Attempts to Triangulate Energy Self-Sufficiency
Remember $4.50 gallon gasoline and nearly $150/barrel oil back in 2008? Sarah Palin's campaign tagline, "Drill, baby, drill"? Candidate Obama tried to finesse the issue, trying to placate his environmentalist base, staunchly opposed to any change in the status quo of drilling off either coast while America's maturing oil and gas properties continue to peter out, increasing America's dependence on foreign oil and gas supplies, while other countries like China and Brazil have aggressively explored offshore, announcing giant oil field discoveries. He clearly implied that flexibility on offshore drilling would be counterproductive against any alternative energy initiative and then claimed any action on drilling wouldn't provide any short-term price relief.
This, of course, demonstrates a conceptual misunderstanding of basic energy economics. If I know that I have a limited quantity of widgets, others aren't making any new widgets, and the price of widgets is rising, I may keep some of my widgets in inventory. This contributes to high current widget prices. If I think a lot more widgets may be hitting the market soon, or the circumstances of high widget prices is temporary (we are in a widget bubble), I may want to sell all my remaining widgets at the current price. It is true that opening areas to exploration today doesn't translate into gasoline at the local service station tomorrow, and it's unlikely we can quadruple our domestic supplies necessary for oil independence--but the relevant issue is supply/demand given a finite external oil supply and growing foreign competitive demand for those supplies. But let's keep in mind (those of us whom remember the oil embargoes of the 1970's), what steps have been taken over the last 30 years to alleviate the economic threat posted by our dependence on foreign energy supplies? The same arguments have been used over the past 20-30 years in maintaining a moratorium on drilling, and dithering today doesn't reduce our dependence on energy imports tomorrow. Our dependence on external energy supplies aggravates our trade imbalance and adversely affects our currency. That means higher prices. Every new barrel of domestic oil from new oilfields mitigates the high energy prices of tomorrow.
So, two years after Congress moderated its stance on oil and gas exploration as citizen screamed over unprecedented energy price hikes, we have been waiting for Godot. President Bush had come up with a plan, but it was set aside when Obama assumed office. Guess what? Although the recession and weak economic recovery have mitigated the demand for imported energy supplies, Obama's energy policies to date haven't materially changed the need for such imports, particularly disheartening because renewed domestic oil exploration would also have a favorable impact on domestic jobs, tax revenues, etc.
Obama today announced certain areas open in principle to exploration--off the East Coast up to roughly Delaware, perhaps some areas of the largely unexplored eastern Gulf of Mexico (but not within 125 miles of shore), none off the West Coast, and not within Alaska's Bristol Bay. (Is it merely a coincidence that the coastal areas excluded from prospective lease sales are all blue states?)
Make no mistake where I stand on this. First, this is a half measure; Obama's decision to exclude some of the most promising areas from oil and gas exploration is purely political, basically a sop to his core special-interest environmentalist supporters. The fact that we are not self-sufficient for oil and gas supplies is an economic and national national security issue and deserves more consideration than Obama trying to split the difference between the majority of Americans whom favor expanded oil and gas exploration and his environmentalist supporters. Second, the earliest we are likely to see leases issued is 2012, and it might take up to 10 years before we see the new oil supplies in refineries.
A Matter of Civility: The Right to Worship and Grieve in Peace
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Lance Cpl Matthew Snyder An American Hero Rest in Peace |
The Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church, led by Fred Phelps, holds that our nation's dead and wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan is God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality. This group has resorted to picketing funerals of American soldiers, carrying such signs as "God hates the USA", "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "God hates [gay people]", and a recent church press release included at the bottom "Thank God for IEDs" (an Iran-supplied weapon used by insurgents to kill and maim our brave peace-keeping young men and women).
The church picketed the 2006 funeral of Matthew Snyder, an Iraq casualty, and Al Snyder, Matthew's father, sued the church, in 2007 winning damages in the amount of $11M (later reduced to $5M). The Fourth Circuit overturned the verdict on First Amendment grounds and ordered Mr. Snyder yesterday to pay the church's legal fees of nearly $16,500. The US Supreme Court agreed 3 weeks ago to review the case; I'm hopeful that this is indicative of a likely reversal of the circuit's unjust decision.
I do not believe intimidation of family members and attendees at a funeral, disrupting the decorum of a singular religious or cultural event, constitutes constitutionally-protected "free speech"; this makes no more sense than saying an anti-noise ordinance or disturbing the peace citation violates the same. In fact, I believe that the church infringed on Snyder's freedom to worship, which is a First Amendment right.
I took the Civility Pledge, which I mentioned in Monday's post, and the third element of that pledge is "to stand against incivility when I see it". The church's obsessive, judgmental, disrespectful rhetoric against gay people is fundamentally unacceptable; there is strong evidence that homosexual behavior occurs in natural settings across different species. If one day I was to discover one of my relatives or friends was gay, I know it wouldn't change my acceptance of him or her as a person and as a gift from God in my life. As a Catholic, I reject Mr. Phelps' theology, which I consider a perversion of Christ's message of accepting and loving ourselves and others as a true prayer, an an expression of one's love for God.
For those with a Facebook account, please consider, along with over 59,000 and counting (including myself), joining the group supporting Al Snyder in opposition to Westboro Baptist Church.
Political Cartoon
Mike Lester raises the issue of moral hazard with respect to the Democratic Party Health Care Bill.
Quote of the Day
If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.
Abraham Maslow
Abraham Maslow
Musical Interlude: Neil Diamond Miscellaneous Songs
"Morningside" (greatest song nobody knows)
MORNINGSIDE
Written by Neil Diamond
Morningside
The old man died
And no one cried
They simply turned away
And when he died
He left a table made of nails and pride
And with his hands, he carved these words inside
'For my childen'
Morning light
Morning bright
I spent the night
With dreams that make you weep
Morning time
Wash away the sadness from these eyes of mine
For I recall the words an old man signed
'For my children'
And the legs were shaped with his hands
And the top made of oaken wood
And the children that sat around his table
Touched it with their laughter
Ah, and that was good
Morningside
An old man died
And no one cried
He surely died alone
And truth is sad
For not a children would claim
the gift he had
The words he carved
became his epitaph
'For my children'
Written by Neil Diamond
Morningside
The old man died
And no one cried
They simply turned away
And when he died
He left a table made of nails and pride
And with his hands, he carved these words inside
'For my childen'
Morning light
Morning bright
I spent the night
With dreams that make you weep
Morning time
Wash away the sadness from these eyes of mine
For I recall the words an old man signed
'For my children'
And the legs were shaped with his hands
And the top made of oaken wood
And the children that sat around his table
Touched it with their laughter
Ah, and that was good
Morningside
An old man died
And no one cried
He surely died alone
And truth is sad
For not a children would claim
the gift he had
The words he carved
became his epitaph
'For my children'
"He Ain't Heavy; He's My Brother"
"Done Too Soon" (great video)
"If You Know What I Mean"
"Be"
