I am surprised no one mentions our President's failed ventures into Iraq.. It is amazing how a $2 trillion boondoggle in a country that had no WMD or Al-Queda now consumes a disproportionate amount of annual budget. If we were not so busy selling our debt to the Chinese the dollar would be stronger and the price of oil would be much cheaper...:( Ron Paul has this topic nailed.. To bad none of the established parties takes him seriously.:JEKYLHYDE

It really is too bad we (our nation) have found ourselves in this ackward position. I understand the probable underlying reason to invade Iraq was to establish a central location to protect our interests in the Middle East (especially since the Saudi's would rather not have us there). Ironically we are now in a situation where we cannot just pull out without some very severe reprecussions.

Bly,
You asked why folks are scared of nuclear energy? Well I do agree it has been safe and clean in terms of accidents in the overall sense. My own concern is 2 fold at a minimum. The byproduct is nuke waste with a half life longer than our nations history and it is controlled by politicians in this country. How about what was/is in Russia, Middle East and... The safety record has been good but **** does happen and again it will all be around for our kids kids kids to determine if we should have done it all much better.

Nuke energy is a great tool but the issues of waste, where and how to store it and who will defend it from the crazies?

Why are we burning coal that pollutes our air instead of using clean nuclear sources?

Why aren't we drilling in ANWR, Gulf Coast, and other locations with plenty of recoverable crude oil?

Why don't we have new refineries so we can process our own oil instead of going to our "friends" in the Middle East or South America?

Answer: The environmentalists, the EPA, and bleeding heart liberals.

This problem could have been solved decades ago by drilling in our country, processing crude here in our own refineries and building nuclear reactors for power like the Frogs have done. Their nuclear industry is a model for what we could have had without the environmentalists and fear-mongers that scared everyone about nuclear energy. Nimby's are the reason we aren't drilling here.

Greenhouse myth, Human caused global warming hysteria. We've become a nation of manipulated beings instead of in-charge of our country. If you think it's bad now, wait until the "pleasers" get the White House.

What incentive does the oil industry have to build new refineries? I'm not talking about tax breaks or government handouts, just plain old business incentive. They are making record profits with the outdated, constantly breaking refineries they have and seem to use the inefficiency and breakdowns as an excuse for higher prices. I read somewhere that President Bush offered an abandoned air force base in California, for free, to any oil company that would build a new refinery there, free from any EPA interference. There were no takers. As far as drilling in the Gulf is concerned, talk to the tourist related lobbies in the Gulf coast states about that. Nuclear power seems like the answer, but as long as the oil and coal lobbies continue to be able to influence our politicians, we'll never see it. Oh yeah, keep blaming the environmentalists, EPA and "bleeding heart liberals" for the current situation. Maybe you would like to pay exhorbitant prices for gasoline while breathing polluted air and drinking poisoned water. I don't recall any oil or energy company ever being proactive as far as cutting back on pollution is concerned. Exxon is still fighting about the Alaska oil spill which happened what, 17 years ago? It seems that the "pleasers" are already in the white house. They always find a way to please their corporate friends, at all of our expense. Just my two cents. John

I remember b****ing about fuel costs a few years ago when it was around $2 a gallon now I think it's to late to b**** I've done been F-----

I just saw a picture of a price sign at one of the stations around here where what passes as premium in this state is now $4.19 , $4.29, and $ 4.49 per gallon. Others will be there as soon as they see that and the next load will put it over $4.75 a gallon. Still not as bad as a lot of places though. I have bigger things to worry about. Have to have my lawn mower smog tested. :LOL:

I agree about the Nuclear power but mention that word here and all you see are hundreds of Environmentalists in their big SUVs rushing to protest the damage to the environment. :mad:

Edited to correct prices

Ron :JEKYLHYDE

I guess we are all hoping for a quick fix to the energy problem and the enviromental concerns that will plague our children in the oncoming years need to be taken into account. Drilling in Alaska will probably not benefit anyone but the oil companies and we more-than-likely may not see that oil in our market for decades. Nuclear power does have a potentially catastrophic by-product whose half-life is 25,000 years (see http://www.etsu.edu/writing/3120f99/zctb3/nuclear2.htm). Apparently, the fix needs to be a number of things combined but at the same time it seems a shame and a scam that we are having to pay such ridiculous fuel prices (which,in my opinion, should be extracted from commodity trading as a necessary resource). Maybe the answer is in tidal energy generators, hyrodgen fuel derived from our abundant natural gas reserves, solar, wind, etc. etc. Whatever the source, we are only one of God's creatures and do have a responsibility to consider all of his creatures (no matter how liberal or conservative our political affiliation) in whatever road we choose to take. More than my two cents and the soap box just collasped.

MTM,

I agree with what you said as there is no quick fix. Nuclear power does have the waste side of it that has to be addressed. But it is about the only power generation that we have available right now that can begin to meet the coming demand for power. They are talking of building more dams for hydro electric power but that is also being contested by the environmentalists. I do believe we need to clean up as much of the mess we have made as we can, but if something isn't done soon, those coming generations won't have to worry about power or gas as there won't be any. Now off my soap box and leave it to the intelligent people on here to figure out how to get us out of our mess. :)

Ron :p

I ride a motorcycle 90% of the time, year round, so no impact on me yet. I still drive the Cobra when I like, because I save so much riding the MC, it don't bother me.

if only Ron had known what it was going to be worth when he watched that crude being laid down ..... :D

:CRY::CRY:

Doug,

Did you have to remind me of that. Just think, I could have staked my claim to Saudi Arabia and all the other major oil deposit areas. And there would have been no fighting like there is now because back then anyone who didn't agree was removed.

Ron :D

This is interesting reading

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080311/ap_on_go_co/us_iraq

Holy S---!! I cannot get over this. Here is an e-mail I received today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The story begins at Michigan State University
with a mechanical engineering professor named
Indrek Wichman.

Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association.
The e-mail was in response to the students' protest
of the Danish cartoons
that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist.

The group had complained the cartoons were
"hate speech."

Enter Professor Wichman.
In his e-mail, he said the following:
Dear Moslem Association,
As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU
I intend to protest your protest.
I am offended not by cartoons,
but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians,
cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders,
murders of Catholic priests
(the latest in Turkey ),
burnings of Christian churches,
the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt ,
the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims,
the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women
(called "whores" in your culture),
the murder of film directors in Holland ,
and the rioting and looting in Paris France .

This is what offends me,
a soft-spoken person and academic,
and many, many of my colleagues.
I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal,
and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems
to be very aware of this as you proceed
with your infantile "protests."

If you do not like the values of the West
- see the 1st Amendment -
you are free to leave.

I hope for God's sake
that most of you choose that option
Please return to your ancestral homelands
and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.
Cordially,
I. S. Wichman
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

As you can imagine,
the Muslim group at the university didn't like this too well.
They're demanding that Wichman be reprimanded
and the university impose mandatory diversity training for faculty
and mandate a seminar on hate and discrimination for all freshmen.

Now the local chapter of CAIR has jumped into the fray.
CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
apparently doesn't believe that the good professor
had the right to express his opinion.

For its part,
the university is standing its ground
in support of Professor Wichman,
saying the e-mail was private,
and they don't intend to publicly condemn his remarks.

The intent of sharing this is not create anti-Muslim hostility but the sense of entitlement is amazing.

18 cents a gallon in Venezuela.....Go figure huh????

I'm going to go start my cobra in the garage, and sit there till my eyes burn and water, about 30 seconds. . .there. . . that must have been about $15.00.

Ron
 

You were joking about having the lawn mower smogged, right?

Curious what the average household income is there in Ven.? I think we are getting gouged because we pay. It's probably all relative. My TV cable bill is over a hundred a month.

John

:LOL:

Diegokid,

You were joking about having the lawn mower smogged, right?

In this case yes, mine is grandfathered in as it was bought before then new laws passed. All newer lawn and garden equipment in this state must meet emission guidelines. Sure screwed up the garden tractor races with those catalytic converters. :(

Ron :)