But it IS ok to ravage desolate places.

I will avoid references to strange sex. But, just what is up with “ravage” and “desolate” as the descriptors? Wouldn’t moving a rock and not carefully replacing it on the ocean floor fit the charge or ravaging a desolate place?

John McCain has compared ANWAR with the Grand Canyon. That slip of logic makes any piece of real estate off limits.

No one I know favors destructive, leaky, oil extraction that will stink up the neighborhood and foul the nest. Somehow, the big news guys failed to notice the Katrina caused massive damage in the oil fields and there was not one oil spill as a result.

ANWAR is the poster child for liberal intransigence. Canada is scraping huge holes in the earth to mine diamonds and building ice roads to service the mines and we can not knock a hole in a 2000 acre footprint to pull oil out of the ground. God love the caribou and their first cousins, the Democrats.

But I think they believe the lies that Democrats, the media and envirowhacko groups have been telling and showing people that ANWR is a pristine heaven on Earth that should remain untouched forever.

And if they knew the truth that those pictures arent of the area in question, and that the area in question really looks like this, that they would be all for going ahead with drilling.

Ok, good point, but Republicans could then visit one of the oil companies newest facilities, or better yet, a facility that has been closed down and left virtually no footprint.

But I still think its an important lie that Americans have been told about the “pristine” coastal plains, that needs to be corrected.

Mike Thornbrugh, a spokesman with Tulsa-based QuikTrip, said he was “sick to his stomach” after the close of trading.

“This thing is totally out of control,” he said. “It is not being driven by supply and demand. It’s being driven by greedy speculator bastards.”

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080607_49_A1_hThenu610040

I sure miss QT.

I guess he’s not figured out how crude prices are set and exactly who owns oil company stocks (e.g. anyone with a 401k). Actually, I think he knows all this but like most pols, they don’t make any attempt to instruct and inform the proles on the issues – they parrot what they think we all believe in hopes of buying our vote.

I could have some respect for the libs (and McCain) if they’d just say “Our policies have increased energy prices – that’s the point. Increased prices lower consumption which lowers carbon emissions”. Instead, they advocate policies to increase costs and then stand there with a “who farted?” look on their faces when costs increase. Can they be that dumb? OK, maybe Boxer… but all of them?

BTW: A Corner posting linked to Jonah’s column from a few years back when he went to Alaska and tour the oil fields.

http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/goldberg200503180758.asp

When you refer to the “radical environmental wackos that control US energy policy,” does this include the 12 years of GOP control of Congress and the 6 years when the GOP held Congress and the WH?

No it doesn’t. Because Republicans have never had anything close to a fillibuster proof majority. Republicans have been busting their asses to increase supply, increase refining capacity and improve infrastructure for decades. Democrats have blocked them at EVERY turn.

No, to the extent that Congress can affect prices, which is significantly, high energy prices can be laid squarely at Democrats feet:

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans: 91% Supported. House Democrats: 86% Opposed.

Coal-to-liquid
House Republicans: 90% supported. House Democrats: 78% Opposed.

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported. House Democrats: 86% Opposed.

Outer Continental Shelf Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported. House Democrats: 83% Opposed.

Increased Refinery Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported. House Democrats: 96% Opposed.

SUMMARY

91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas.

86% of House Democrats have historically voted against increasing production of America’s own oil and gas.

via Powerline

Otherwise Obama’s calls for “energy independence” are, like his other proclamations, just mere flowery words.

Too damn bad we can’t harnass that gas.

Mountie: “Sir, you’ll have to leave now. The tower is closing.”

Homer Simpson: “Maybe THIS will change your mind…..” (displays US dollar)

Mountie: “American currency! When would you like your breakfast, sir?”

And these same same social and green Leftists are blocking the use of easily-developed wind turbine farms in those same open prairies and offshore waters. We built 50 aircraft carriers in 4 years during WW2, yet we can’t erect 50 wind turbines off Nantucket in six? …Or one single new gasoline refinery in thirty?

And frankly, I not that bothered if the grain and switchgrass bounties of the North American breadbasket gets diverted to fuelling our economy vs. being used for propping-up marginal and ungrateful regimes in the Third World via food subsidies and handouts. Let them make their own bread and catch their own fish…if you understand the analogy.

And what did happen to all that research the DoEnergy funded for so-called “Pebble-Bed” reactors? How come the South Africans are building the first prototype, not us? From what I’ve read, pebble-bed reactors make much more sense both economically and construction cycle-wise than the traditional light-water containment-type mega-reactors of the past.

We’ve spent HOW MUCH on Afghanistan and Irag? …And on those useless TSA airport inspections and other Homeland Security boondoggles?

Libtards.

Regards,
Peter H.

Personally, I always thought TorrentPine = Toilet Paper.

And to answer the Tidy-Bowl man in #1, the “radical environmental wackos” were the ones in the DNC who threatened to fillibuster any ANWAR drilling when they were the minority party during those years you cited. They are also the ones who blocked other types of oil exploration, including Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), who wanted to placate their leftist constituencies.

And in a wonderful bit of schadenfreude, the Senate GOP just blocked any type of windfall profits tax which would have led to long gas lines and shortages like what we experienced in the 1970s. Of course, the Dhimmicrats call us obstructionist. We call it progress.

Furthermore, just to make you chew on it a bit further, the global demand for oil has driven up the price further than it did in the late 1990s and early 2000s because of exponential growth in India and China. And here are some numbers that will make you cringe:

1. Iran is pumping 3 millions of barrels a day (MBD), one-half of what it did 30 years ago due to the failure of the mullahs’ regime to attract private capital and advanced technology, and to develop a predictable oil and gas investment environment based on transparency and the rule of law.

2. One-quarter of Nigeria’s productive capacity is permanently down due to social unrest in the Niger Delta.

3. Venezuela’s dictator Hugo Chavez is destroying his country’s oil sector through nationalization, taking at least 1 MBD off the market. (Someone please tell Maxine Waters this little fact.)

4. Russian oil production, which has accounted for over 80% of the net increase in non-OPEC oil production since 2003, is stagnant as the government insists on state ownership of the oil sector.

Incidentally enough, Goldman Sachs predicts oil will reach $200 per barrel by the end of the year – exactly where Osama bin Laden said it should be back in 2001.

So what are the Dhimmicrat leaders doing to fix this mess? Or are they solely concerned about playing politics for means of control of the USA?

Regards,
Peter H.

Republicans tried many times to overturn the band so we can extract oil from this mosquito infested bog (like the Canadians are doing on their side of the same stretch of coastline), but were blocked by Democrats and a handful of RINOs like Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Lincoln Chaffee and … oh yeah… John (Spit) McCain.

TorrentPrime = Talking Points