Quotes of the day - 8/21/2008

This one is from George Skelton at the Los Angeles Times:

"California is the nation's biggest consumer of gasoline - 45 million gallons a day, plus 10 million gallons of diesel. That makes us the third-biggest petroleum-consuming entity in the world, behind on the United States and China. ... So there's a gusher of hypocrisy here: The state that is the biggest consumer of gasoline in the nation - but produces less than 40% of what it uses - is opposed to drilling for more oil off its shores. We're slackers not pulling our weight."

-Bob

Quote of the day - 8/19/2008

From: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/08/obama_making_his_saddleback_pe.html

It is simply amazing when you think about it, but the Democrat nominee is trying to win the right to face the Russians, the Iranians, Bin Laden and a plethora of complicated and tough domestic issues by claiming the Republicans are too "mean" to be elected.

-Bob

Drill Nothing, Tax Everything or Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less?

In a classic Democrats vs. Republicans battle, we now have the battle over energy. So far, it boils to two strategies:

1. Democrats - Drill Nothing, Tax Everything.
2. Republicans -Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

What do these statements mean, you ask?

1. The Democrat's plan (Drill Nothing, Tax Everything), attempts to punish the people of this country for using energy by refusing access to domestic energy sources and taxing them at every opportunity. They also seek to punish (with taxes and penalties) "Big Oil" for their "huge" (7 - 10%) profits. They strongly support continuing to purchase oil from foreign sources regardless of how high the price is. Results, you've seen 'em, energy prices will continue to rise...
   
2. The Republican's plan (Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less), attempts to empower the people of this country by providing access to some of the largest sources of energy in the world. By providing access to a rich source of domestic energy, two major things happen: 1. Far less money is spent on foreign energy sources, also helping to correct the trade deficit. 2. As supply exceeds demand, prices fall. Strong competition with an abundant supply will very much favor the consumer. Results, everything may be more affordable again...

Ask yourself, are you paying enough yet for your energy? Are you paying enough for food? Are you paying enough taxes? Maybe too much? Maybe much too much?

I see it like this:

1. Why vote for Democrats? Because you haven't paid enough yet, and you need to pay more. Eventually even everything isn't enough.
2. Why vote for Republicans? Because you have already paid more than enough and don't want to pay more. Enough is enough.
3. 7 - 10% profits are not huge. The taxes alone on fuel greatly exceed 10%. Think about this way, the oil company that did all of the work gets paid less than the government that did none of the work. Doesn't that make "Big Government" more evil than "Big Oil"?
4. Taxes and penalties will never lower the consumer's price. The only effect will be higher prices.
   

Don't get me wrong, the Republicans are far from perfect too. Many of them still want a government that's far too big (among other things). It's more like "not so good" (Republicans) and "really bad" (Democrats). Given only these choices, I would much rather have "not so good" than "really bad". Unfortunately, at this point, all of the "other" parties really don't have much of chance on a national scale.

As the people we have to continue to (strongly) remind our elected officials that they are in their position to represent their people. It is up to us to keep them in check...

-Bob

Supply Matters

From the Heritage Foundation:

Look closely at the laundry list of plans the left has put forward (from both Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House and Barack Obama’s campaign): higher taxes on oil companies, new restrictions on oil commodity markets, forcing oil companies to drill where there is no oil, releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, free money for everybody, increased fuel efficiency mandates, increased infrastructure spending, government investments in electric cars, etc. What do all of these “solutions” have in common? None of them increase our energy supply.

For you "progressives" (liberals) out there, this isn't about "Big Oil", it's all about increasing our energy supply! Since when is Charles E. Schumer an authority on anything? Since your socialist school forgot to cover Economics 101, it all about "Supply and Demand". It's really quite simple, increase the supply such that it is greater than the demand, and the price falls. Now isn't that a novel idea?

Another questions for the liberals: In your mind, what makes domestic "Big Oil" more evil than the countries that would like to see the end of the US? And, why exactly do you like our country to be so dependent on other countries, especially for energy? Do you even have the "testicular fortitude" to answer?

-Bob

Democrats: An Agenda Americans Just Can't Afford

Here's a clip from the NRCC that sums up the Democrats in Congress pretty well:



-Bob