I Hate What You Just Said

Here’s a brief video about Oily McWar and his oiliness.  The guy is really oily.

You can find much more about Oily and his energy positions from the Sierra Club here. Their full list of 2008 endorsments is here.

Hey, Oily: Lose, Baby, Lose!

John McCain’s energy plan includes taking big bucks from big oil companies, and then doing their bidding.  But it apparently also includes this sort of complete bullshit (italics added):

We need oil drilling and we need it now offshore. We need it now. [Barack Obama] has consistently opposed it. He has opposed nuclear power. He has opposed reprocessing. He has opposed storage. The only thing I’ve heard him say is that we should inflate our tires. So he has no plan for addressing the energy challenges that we face. And we need drilling everywhere that the states and the governors, such as in the state of Florida, approve of.

This is what passes for political discourse in America today.  Instead of honestly debating Obama on the merits of his energy plan, Oily McWar would rather just trivialize the whole issue with misleading cutesy sound-bite garbage.

We all know that Oily isn’t terribly proficient with a computer, but if one looks at Obama’s website, one would find that the democratic candidate has a pretty detailed series of policy positions regarding energy and the environment.  You know, not just the tire-inflation part.  Just a few of Obama’s many proposals:

Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy: Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.

Double Energy Research and Development Funding: Obama will double science and research funding for clean energy projects including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources.

Invest in a Skilled Clean Technologies Workforce: Obama will use proceeds from the cap-and-trade auction program to invest in job training and transition programs to help workers and industries adapt to clean technology development and production. Obama will also create an energy-focused Green Jobs Corps to connect disconnected and disadvantaged youth with job skills for a high-growth industry.

Convert our Manufacturing Centers into Clean Technology Leaders: Obama will establish a federal investment program to help manufacturing centers modernize and Americans learn the new skills they need to produce green products.

Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund: Obama will create a Clean Technologies Venture Capital Fund to fill a critical gap in U.S. technology development. Obama will invest $10 billion per year into this fund for five years. The fund will partner with existing investment funds and our National Laboratories to ensure that promising technologies move beyond the lab and are commercialized in the U.S

Require 25 Percent of Renewable Electricity by 2025: Obama will establish a 25 percent federal Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) to require that 25 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal by 2025.

Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology: Obama will significantly increase the resources devoted to the commercialization and deployment of low-carbon coal technologies. Obama will consider whatever policy tools are necessary, including standards that ban new traditional coal facilities, to ensure that we move quickly to commercialize and deploy low carbon coal technology

There’s a lot more, too.  Like setting national building efficiency goals, establishing a grant program for early adopters of energy-efficient construction codes, and investing in a digital smart grid system.

See?  More than just keeping your tires inflated.  Though, as it happens, that is a really good idea.

The White House website contains a handy “fact sheet” titled “Reducing Gas Prices and Foreign Oil Dependence.” (This administration cares about “facts” all of a sudden? C’mon, guys. Give us a little credit. How stupid do you think we are? Wait - don’t answer that).

“Fact Sheet” sez:

Today, President Bush called on Congress to help American families by removing barriers to domestic production of oil and gasoline. For many Americans, there is no more pressing concern than high gasoline prices.

Mm hm.

Price of oil on the eve of the Iraq War: about $30 per barrel.

Price of oil today: about $130 per barrel.

Just sayin’.

So - what is the “solution?” “Fact Sheet” tells us the solution lies in a bunch of proposals that will expand domestic oil exploration in fragile environments and eventually add to carbon emissions global warming. And these long-term proposals will do nothing to lower the price at your local filling station tomorrow, next week, or next year. But the additional kick in the pants is that the “solution” to our oil problems will also…

wait for it…

wait for it…

add to the historically obscene profits of oil companies. You know - oil companies - those guys who have already greatly benefited from the massive rise in oil prices in the first place. They’ll benefit from the “solution” to the problem, too.

When Bush and Cheney were, ahem, “elected,” there were plenty of people who were a little squeamish about having two oil men running the executive branch. But did anyone really expect this? An eight-year oilgasm?

I think if we want “facts,” it might be better to consult, say, The Sierra Club.

Ah, who isn’t just a bit nostalgic about the great Gold Rush of 1849?  You remember the fun we used to have claim jumping, exploiting Chinese workers, and once we got warmed up, strip mining?

For my money, it doesn’t get any better than the old Amalgamated Copper Mining Company mine in Butte, Montana, now known as the Anaconda Mine with its main attraction, the Berkeley Pit.

Is there nothing better than seeing American ambition from outer space?  Yeah those were good times indeed, when men were men, the West was wild and digging massive holes in the earth’s crust was but a glint in the eye of Copper King William Andrews Clark.

So let us then hail the arrival of the next Gold Rush, renew our rugged individualism and place our claims once again:

Today, record gold prices, widespread economic turmoil, and the enduring optimism of America’s entrepreneurial classes have combined to entice fresh swarms of prospectors to head west in search of hidden riches beneath the picturesque hills and ravines of the Golden State.

The “new 49ers,” as today’s wave of fortune-seekers are known, are a breed apart from their historic predecessors, driving trucks and SUVs down the dusty tracks first created by trains of horse-drawn wagons nearly 160 years ago. But they share with them a timeless predisposition for what veterans call gold fever. “It’s like going to Vegas, except with this, we actually get to win something,” said Mike Dunn, clutching almost an ounce of nuggets unearthed from the south fork of the Feather river last Sunday. “We’ve just hit a halo of gold, and this lot alone must be worth between $500 (£250) and $1,500. I’ve just about paid for my trip already.”

The Independent

I just felt a tingle down my spine.

Dreams won’t be the only things broken. Last week, three men were killed trying to reopen a 19th-century mine in rural Madera County. Police said the men, all in their twenties, died from carbon monoxide poisoning while using a petrol-powered pump to drain the 20ft-deep shaft.

And no risk.

“There is so much of that stuff out here you wouldn’t believe,” said Ekhard Davisky, who pans for gold near Paradise in Butte County. “The trick is finding it. I think it was Mark Twain who said a gold mine is just a hole in the ground owned by a liar, and I think he just about got it in one there. But if you know what you are doing, and you are prepared to listen and learn about how to do it properly, there’s never been a better time to be looking for gold. Back in 1849, an ounce of gold was $18.80, which was about enough to buy a man a nice suit and a steak dinner. And when you think about it, that’s the price of it now. These are happy days.”

Damn right they are.  Meet me and Jedadiah at the Buttercup Pantry in Placerville and we’ll strike it rich.