Dubya calls out the dems on energy - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

dude1394 · 06-21-2008, 11:22 PM

Go get 'em dubya.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../06/020801.php

Quote:

In his radio address this morning, President Bush went after the Democrats on energy:

Quote:

The fundamental problem behind high gas prices is that the supply of oil has not kept up with the rising demand across the world. One obvious solution is for America to increase our domestic oil production. So my Administration has repeatedly called on Congress to open access to new oil exploration here in the United States. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. Now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction. So this week, I asked Democratic congressional leaders to take the side of working families and small businesses and farmers and ranchers and move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production.

Bush pressed the Dems to open up the Outer Continental Shelf, then added this:

Quote:

There's also an executive prohibition on exploration in the OCS, which I will lift when Congress lifts the legislative ban.

The President went on to talk about shale oil development in the Rockies:

Quote:

Second, we should expand American oil production by tapping into the extraordinary potential of oil shale. ... One major deposit in the Rocky Mountain West alone would equal current annual oil imports for more than a hundred years. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress are standing in the way of further development. In last year's omnibus spending bill, Democratic leaders inserted a provision blocking oil shale leasing on Federal lands. That provision can be taken out as easily as it was slipped in -- and Congress should do so immediately.

Next was ANWR, which can be exploited with "virtually no impact on the land or local wildlife." Finally, refining capacity:

Quote:

It has been 30 years since a new refinery was built in our Nation, and lawsuits and red tape have made it extremely costly to expand or modify existing refineries. The result is that America now imports millions of barrels of fully refined gasoline from abroad. This imposes needless costs on American families and drivers. It deprives American workers of good jobs.

Finally, Bush laid the problem once again at the Dems' door:

Quote:

I know Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act.

Excellent stuff. We need to do this every single day.

AxdemxO · 06-22-2008, 12:55 AM

Bush Suks .....mann I am soo tired of these type of threads in this political forum. People can call Bush out on a million and one things, soo him calling anyone out on anything is stupid because he has created one of the biggest messes in US and almost World history and at the end of this year will nicely just walk away from it all leaving it to whoever is the president to solve it. Which will not happen whether its McCain or Obama. It will take a lot long time to fix all this.

dude1394 · 06-22-2008, 12:38 PM

BDS is strong in this one.

Janett_Reno · 06-22-2008, 03:06 PM

No one loves Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield like you do dude. I hope one day you can get their autograph and hopefully Rummy will give you a gas card or fill your tank up.

dude1394 · 06-22-2008, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

No one loves Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield like you do dude. I hope one day you can get their autograph and hopefully Rummy will give you a gas card or fill your tank up.

BDS WOULD be strong with this one, but it is a rocky and vacuous place where it's seed can find no purchase.

I've already got their autographs (I'm sure it's a signature pen) and the dubya action doll

As far as filling up my tank...well if the us votes democrat they can look forward to another doubling of gas prices without fail.

Janett_Reno · 06-22-2008, 03:28 PM

I am sorry dude, Obama doesn't have any ties with Haliburton or big oil. Gas will go down, not up, as the troops will be comming home at some point with Obama president. I know you and Pat Robertson won't like the fact gas comming down and us not invading Iran. As far as your W doll, congradulations as it looks like a lean mean fighting machine.

Obama calls for oil crackdown

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...YafK5KlkWyFz4D

With the cost of gas a top issue in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama on Sunday will announce a plan to crack down on oil speculation by tightening regulations on energy traders.

dude1394 · 06-23-2008, 01:03 AM

Yea...oil exploration at home really sucks. I can't figure out why we would want to exploit our own energy resources instead of paying higher prices to have other countries do it. Go figure...those dems...they've probably got a tax or a lawsuit that will fix it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...202084_pf.html

Quote:

Houston's Pipelines of Prosperity
In Oil Industry Hubs, High Energy Costs Bring More Growth Than Pain

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 23, 2008; A01

HOUSTON -- Soaring oil and gas prices may be a fiscal drag for much of the nation, but here in the self-styled energy capital of the world they are feeding an economic surge.

In nearby Texas City, dozens of contractors' trailers are lined up outside the gates of massive oil refineries and petrochemical plants, evidence of the billions of dollars in upgrades going on inside. Machine shops have more work than they can handle. And students from the local community college are being snapped up for $30-an-hour plant operator jobs, sometimes before they complete their two-year training programs, part of an intensifying scramble for qualified workers.

Employment in the Houston area has grown 2.8 percent in the past year, the highest rate among the nation's 39 largest metropolitan areas and more than nine times the national rate. Area building permits are up, along with the amount of cargo moving through local ports. More than 1,800 oil and gas rigs, many of them belonging to the vast energy companies headquartered here, are in operation across the country, the highest number since the mid-1980s.

"Things are hitting just right," said Alan Hutchins, vice president and general manager for A&A Machine and Fabrication, a La Marque, Tex., firm whose business has doubled in each of the past two years, leading executives to advertise as far away as Detroit and Chicago in search of skilled machinists. "With the price of oil where it is, the companies are going to keep these plants running. They are making that money and investing it back in the plants."

All of the activity is leading to strong retail sales, increasing tax revenue and an uptick in housing prices -- in short, the opposite of what is happening in most of the country, which is being squeezed by flagging consumer confidence and high gas and oil prices.

Other corners of the country are also thriving because of high energy prices. Coastal areas of Louisiana within reach of the gas and oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are prospering. Areas of the Mountain West such as Wyoming have ridden rising prices for their natural gas and coal to several years of robust economic growth.

But few places have flourished like Houston, home to hundreds of oil exploration, engineering and oil service firms, including such giants as Baker Hughes and Halliburton. Although consumers here also struggle with $4 a gallon gasoline and soaring utility and food bills, the local economy has been buoyed by the huge influx of money into the energy sector, which accounts for nearly half the jobs.

"We know that everybody is talking about a recession in the U.S., but we're not experiencing that here," said Tracye McDaniel, executive vice president of the Greater Houston Partnership, a business development group. "We exist in this bubble, if you will."

The good times are reminiscent of the early 1980s oil boom, which ended suddenly when the price bubble popped. Then, as now, exploration soared as oil prices shot up. People from out of state migrated to Houston to share in the bounty. But when the price of oil tumbled, bottoming out at $10 a barrel, it took the local economy with it, as home prices plummeted and unemployment skyrocketed.

But economists say this time is different. Although a lack of supply fed the last oil boom, this time energy prices are largely being driven by global demand, which economists say is unlikely to ebb substantially in the near future. And Houston's oil industry has gone global. Many of the jobs here are related to the increasingly high-technology work of pinpointing oil and gas reserves around the world, and designing and making the tools to tap them rather than the dangerous and backbreaking work of manning oil and gas rigs.

"To the extent that Houston is the energy capital of the world, [it] is not because we have a lot of hardhats, but because we have a lot of technology," said Barton A. Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting.

The Houston economy is far more diverse than it was in the 1980s. Although energy has been the biggest engine in the Houston region's economic surge, it is not the only one. The city is also home to the Texas Medical Center, a collection of 46 hospitals, research centers and medical schools that together employ more than 73,000 people in an industry that is largely immune to ups and downs of the economy. Back in the 1980s, energy accounted for about 70 percent of the jobs here.

In addition, the city never attracted the level of speculation that jacked up home prices elsewhere, so the national real estate shakeout has had little effect. Also, the weak dollar has bolstered exports at the port here, the nation's second busiest.

Some business leaders in the Houston area worry whether energy prices are going too high, bringing unwanted political pressure and scrutiny. "The price of oil is probably getting too high to make things work as well as they could for the refining and chemical business," said Matthew T. Doyle, a banker and mayor of Texas City. At some point, the high prices could dampen demand, he worries.

It already has raised the cost of doing business. Anadarko Petroleum of Houston finds itself having to pay signing bonuses to remain competitive in the market for petroleum engineers, geologists and other skilled workers needed to find and extract oil and gas around the world.

"Our company is probably advantaged more by a more modest price environment," said James T. Hackett, chief executive of Anadarko, which operates in a dozen countries. "One advantage of higher prices is that you can afford to go to more remote areas of the world to find oil and gas. But you don't need $130-a-barrel oil to do that."

Despite the worries, high energy prices seem to be good for business, at least for now. The many exploration and engineering firms headquartered here have seen a surge in business, as high prices make deep-water drilling and other more expensive forms of exploration and extraction economically feasible. Local energy consultants are cutting deals across the globe to sell their expertise in assessing the potential of natural gas and oil reserves. The number of jobs in Houston tied to energy exploration has increased more than 15 percent in the past two years, according to the Institute for Regional Forecasting. Work on alternative energy sources, including wind and solar, also has increased.

Meanwhile, makers of energy-related products -- including pipeline parts, specialized boats that service drilling platforms, high-pressure drill bits and seismic instruments -- are experiencing an upturn in business that has led to an increase in manufacturing jobs in Houston.

A similar surge is evident in other places where the economy is closely linked to the oil and gas industries. Coastal areas of Louisiana, including St. Mary, Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, are experiencing strong growth in wages and employment, even as the rest of the state feels the effects of the national economic downturn. "Some of this is Katrina rebuilding related," said Dek Terrell, director of Louisiana State University's Division of Economic Development. "But most of it is gas and oil."

In Wyoming, officials expect strong growth to continue for the foreseeable future, or as long as natural gas prices remain high. State revenues are running 15 percent ahead of projections. The biggest problems facing officials are an acute shortage of workers and a surge in home prices, which are propelling a sharp increase in Wyoming's inflation, now running well ahead of the national average.

"We're moving ahead full steam," said Buck McVeigh, administrator of the state's Economic Analysis Division. "With natural gas prices the way they are now, it is hard to say anything bad about the economy here."

Jimmy Hayley, chief executive of the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce, has a similar view. Just three years ago, things hit a major snag as hurricanes Rita and Katrina damaged oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Also, a 2005 explosion at the huge BP refinery in Texas City killed 15 people and injured 180, making it the nation's worst industrial accident in more than a decade. But since then, oil and gas prices have soared, and the oil and petrochemical companies have spent billions to upgrade their plants and restore their drilling platforms.

That spending is evident in Texas City and La Marque, in newly renovated office space at previously wheezing strip malls and in the new waterfront subdivisions within a few miles of the refineries and petrochemical plants. After rejecting a big bond issue several years ago, voters recently passed a $122 million issue to build and renovate schools in Texas City.

"The workers inside those gates make good money," Hayley said, as he pointed toward the huge row of oil refineries on the horizon. "That makes them more willing to spend on other things."

Janett_Reno · 06-23-2008, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude1394

Yea...oil exploration at home really sucks. I can't figure out why we would want to exploit our own energy resources instead of paying higher prices to have other countries do it. Go figure...those dems...they've probably got a tax or a lawsuit that will fix it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...202084_pf.html

Guess who was against oil explortaion? Jeb Bush, John McCain and other republicans that states was connected to drilling or alot or them were and some still are. I know Vern Buchanan from FL is against it and others. Jeb and McCain have not flipped back the other way and i think Jeb says controlled drilling would be ok.

You are like a broken record spewing off like an oil well.

dude1394 · 06-23-2008, 09:04 AM

The democrats legacy of energy. Can't drill, can't build refineries, can't build nuclear plants, can't build coal fired plants. Let's all get in a circle, sing kum-bay-ya and wait for pixie-energy to come along.

Meanwhile, we'll tax away the profits and vilify those companies that can get more energy for us.

If I hadn't heard a democrat call for nationalizing refineries recently, I wouldn't have believed they were capable of wanting this to occur, now I'm not so sure.
http://www.forbes.com/energy/forbes/2008/0630/038.html

Quote:

What happens when you don't build more power plants? Get ready for spiking electricity rates, brownouts and even blackouts as demand soars

If you think runaway oil prices are upsetting, just wait for what's in store for electricity. Similar forces are in play. Demand is rising fast; supply is not. The cost to get coal and natural gas out of the ground is going up, and to that expense must be added the cost of the carbon permits that Congress and the presidential candidates are contemplating. Environmentalists are getting power plants scotched. China is sucking up energy. Leave such dynamics in play long enough, and price spikes in electricity follow. But that's just the beginning. We may be facing brownouts (voltage reductions) and even rolling blackouts.

Ah the pixie dust energy sources.

Quote:

Ninety percent of electric power is fueled by nonrenewable coal, natural gas or nuclear power. Renewable sources will not cover the growth in demand. While wind is gaining ground (and now supplies 1% of power), hydro's share (7%) is shrinking as dams are dismantled. Solar, at 0.01%, is an inconsequential contributor.

[img]

Janett_Reno · 06-23-2008, 12:55 PM

Obama vows crackdown on energy speculators

Obama would close 'Enron loophole' to stem speculation, help provide relief at the gas pump

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila..._06222008.html

dude1394 · 06-23-2008, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

Obama vows crackdown on energy speculators

Obama would close 'Enron loophole' to stem speculation, help provide relief at the gas pump

http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila..._06222008.html

you'll believe anything.

Janett_Reno · 06-23-2008, 01:24 PM

No not anything because i do not think a black man and skin heads are running for pres and vice pres like you report. You are far out there dude.

What i know, "big oil" will sure not back Obama. Big Oil is with the neocons and we will see who the America people stand up for and vote for and against.

Flacolaco · 06-23-2008, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janett_Reno

Guess who was against oil explortaion? Jeb Bush, John McCain and other republicans that states was connected to drilling or alot or them were and some still are. I know Vern Buchanan from FL is against it and others. Jeb and McCain have not flipped back the other way and i think Jeb says controlled drilling would be ok.

You are like a broken record spewing off like an oil well.

You're always telling us what other people think about things. What do YOU think? Do YOU think we should get more of our oil from domestic sources rather than the middle east? Doesn't that sound like a good idea?

Janett_Reno · 06-23-2008, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

You're always telling us what other people think about things. What do YOU think? Do YOU think we should get more of our oil from domestic sources rather than the middle east? Doesn't that sound like a good idea?

Yes i do think we should. Let's look at all angles and boot the neocons and then republicans and democrats work together. Dude is not a republican and neither is this adm. They are neo conservative. They look at the world globally and not at home and really don't give a flip about anything else as they have blinders on their eyes, to get what they want globally.

Today i saw where finding oil here, getting it ready for us to use, would be ready in the year 2030, if we strike oil today in some of these places. This adm cares to line their pockets as W is a puppet on a string. He answers to Dick, who answers to people like Haliburton. So the best interest to us at the gas pumps, this adm cares nothing about. It is also obvious why they want to drill. It is also reasons why republican states are turning their back on the gop. I list the obvious reasons alot in my post. You see what dude pushes and you see what i push and every chance either one get's, we both push it.

For instance, Stevens in Alaska they have found out is a crook and has been working with the neocons for kick backs and lining his pockets. No way a Democrat could ever win in the state of Alaska but big oil and scandal, plus Stevens has made a fully red state become very close for Democrats to possibly win next. They see Stevens will sell them out for a dollar, just as the neocons do. Co, another red state is about a tie now or maybe Obama a lil ahead as they are not happy that this adm wanted to drill there. It was a huge backed republican area that rose up and said no. Not on our land. This was republicans that had it out with this adm.

Like i have said, Jeb was not for it and McCain was highly against it. McCain is so much worse than Kerry, as he asks Cheney, what am i suppose to do this week and say? What am i suppose to believe in Dick? So he has flip flopped completely and most anything he ever stood for, he has flip flopped on what the neocons are for. He has to have big oil money to compete with Obama. If he doesn't get the neocons backing, money and money from who runs Cheney and Bush, he can not comepete with Obama.

This is why you see him some nights saying no photographers allowed because this is a secret fund raiser. He walks in holding hands with W Bush and all his oil buddies. Then they sneak him out, after the fund raiser and him receiving money and the second part of the day trying to not be seen with the neocons. His adm(McCain) is now filled with neo conservative people. This is why real republicans have no one to vote for and want someone to save their party and an honest person that believes what they believe.

McCain is skatting on thin ice because he has taking a neo conservative approach but he must try to be seen in public as the Maverick and against this adm. He won't survive this way as Obama and the Democrats will eat him alive. Look at the polls, this adm might be the worse we have ever had in the history of the usa. McCain is not smart.

Why this adm has hurt us is because they have milked the tax payers for ever red cent they can and took us on a neocon journey to do nothing to help us at all. Putting all our resources in the wrong places. Just today, it was reported that the neocons started a tv station in Iraq and wanted to promote us as a people. That we wasn't devils as many think we are in the middle east. They probably had good intensions(Bush) but it was reported that this tv that the tax payers from the usa has been milked for, has coughed up 500 million or billon out of our pockets. They have had to fire many or let them go because one of the English people on that tv station(American), couldn't even understand what was being said. It was worse than Al Juersi(however it's spelled), on reporting how evil and bad we are. They say it hasn't stopped and one of the people we fired, is still behind the scenes running some of the programs and alot of it promotes how evil we are.

This is why you can't get much done with a dunce in office. I doubt the man can wipe his butt, bless his heart but it's true. They are always trying to make two wrongs a right and then a third and forth. Ever business the man had went under but oil buddies belled him out and paid for him to be a politician to help them out. It is a close race on which one of the brothers can even count to 100, W or Neil. Jeb has a little sense about him and took more after his dad.

When this adm is in bed with saudi and big oil at home, it is hard to make decisons that are morally right because they have no faith and values or morals. They do not think like a republican or democrat. They push hard for what they want done globally and will threaten to get it. They do not have the american people in their best interest.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When this adm is out, i think you can deal with Obama. He won't have ties where the neocons do and his agenda won't be the same as the neocons. I don't think he will sell his country out. I feel he has morals. If drilling would help, i think we should look into it. Fl says no, not here. Alaska gets pissed if you say there, Co has said no. Cali will be a hard sell. It will take republicans and democrats along with all these communities to work together and to start some select drilling. It can't hurt if it is done right. Bringing the price down one penny won't help alot either but yes i am ok with it. Not to line the neocons pockets and not to better the neocons. We must find and get on alteratives. Toyota and Honda will give us a choice soon, even hurting Ford and GM more. This adm has stripped our economy from money and it isn't alot of money now for things we should have done the last 7 years. So we can't get things done fast or alot of things because we do not have the money to do so.

The gas crunch we are in, it is no clear cut way to get out of it. Grahm in Tx helped with the loop hole in 2000 that helped push up gas and oil where it is now. Just another part of this adm getting what they wanted done and disreguarding the citizens best interest. I am not against drilling in the usa. What we are in now, is no easy answer to get us out. We need smart people to help us. Drilling, wind, solar, fuel cell, and other alteratives is all fine with me and promote jobs for our citizens at home building these things. Not in the middle east. I want my tax dollars spent in the usa and giving to the people i love. Not to countries that hate us and promote hate against us. It will take a combination of many of the above to help us.

Our tax dollars and this money this adm is borrowing from China should be going towards scienctist, our smartest and brightest and gov funds pushing hard on solar, wind, fuel cell, etc. NOT investing in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi, Pakistan. We have made the wrong investments. Those countries i just listed and more do not have our best interests.

You might also read what the Iraq war was fought over.

http://www.gregpalast.com/harpers-ba...t-for-big-oil/

I think Scott has pointed out the direction where this adm was leading to in Iraq and also Greenspan, both republicans. This was just the beginning as Iran was also in the picture. It looks like in articles that Cheney/Bush made big oil, opec, an uncertainity in the middle east all bump heads and all have fought against each other within the oil industry, to where it is now. If the neocons wanted to control oil, they went the wrong way about it.