ENERGY CHICKENS COMING HOME TO ROOST

Perhaps Jeremiah Wright was right. The chickens are coming home to roost, but not in the way he meant. America’s “head in the sand” energy policy is pushing the economy to ruin as our leaders continue to fritter away the time as we slowly go to the poor house. The energy policy under the Democratic Congress and Republican President is simple: buy it from someone else. The Congress and President of the United States, as well as the current presidential candidates of both parties, should hang their heads in shame as they continue to pander to special interest groups, be it the environmental whackos or big oil, and worry about everything and everybody else but you and me.

1) While we are currently paying $4.00/gallon, soon to be $5.00, Congress attempted to pass legislation known as “Cap and Trade”. “Global Warming”, the peg upon which those who want to control the world economy are hanging their hat, was the root of this piece of “energy” legislation which was pushed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and supported by both Obama and McCain. It is essentially a tax, which would have imposed unrealistic and unneeded emission standards on our industries, including those which allow us to heat our homes. The companies would have been forced to “trade” (translate “buy”) credits to allow them to keep in business. Notwithstanding what they call it, it’s a tax. The effect would be to double our gas and electric bills over the next few years, minimally!!!! It was defeated by Republicans and conservative Democrats who have their feet in the real world. That, my friends, was the government effort at an energy policy. This single piece of legislation would squelch any technology that would allow the mass production of energy from oil shale, liquefied coal, and liquefied natural gas.

2) The Chinese, at the behest of the Cubans, are drilling, and taking our oil 60 miles off the coast of Miami. We are not only forbidden to drill there, we are not allowed to even look for oil there. There are large amounts of oil off both the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts, but you might disturb a fish, so don’t touch. How stupid are we as the Cubans and Chinese take the oil right from under our territory as we look at sea gulls. Again, how stupid are we?

3) Here are the North American oil reserves we are not allowed to touch: 10.4 billion barrels in ANWR; 400 billion barrels in the Bakken Fields beneath North Dakota, Montana, and Canada; and 86 billion barrels off shore. That doesn’t even begin to touch the energy that is available, but forbidden to be used, as our laws currently relate to coal for which the United States has the largest reserves in the world.

4) We haven’t built a nuclear power plant in 30 years. Senator Obama is concerned about safety. Let’s see. 20% of our electricity is currently produced by old nuclear reactors. See any failures there? Almost 100% of France’s electricity is produced by nuclear power, and they build reactors on a regular basis. See any failures there? Congress, WAKE UP.

5) We are able to put a man on the moon, land a spacecraft on Mars and dig into the Martian landscape looking for life, and we can’t get a battery cell to power our cars? General Motors wants to produce a car called the Volt over the next year or two. It will go for 40 – 50 miles on a single electric charge before the gas engine kicks in. Here’s the problem, the battery is prone to what GM calls “thermal events.” They catch fire. I don’t believe that our government can’t make a concerted effort to develop a battery not prone to a thermal event.

What will it take to throw off the shackles of absurd environmental policy and its unholy alliance with Big Oil? This is a devil’s marriage: the environmentalists telling us don’t do this and don’t do that, driving up the cost of gasoline, as Big Oil shouts “Amen.”

Here is the sad thing. The current group of political leaders haven’t been able to come to their senses, and seem incapable of doing so. From Pelosi, to Reid, to Bush….the entire group of idiots and ideologues should be thrown out of office, now.

Yes, Reverend Wright, the chickens have come home to roost.