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Blog Entry 181 of 219 The Subversive Liberal
"If by a "liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "liberal." – President John F. Kennedy...................... Some people find me and that sentiment subversive. I'm here to set the record straight and offer the real typical liberal point of view. Some call it subversive, I call it patriotic.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~BingVanGorden

Right wing lies about oil.
Contributed by: Bing Van Gorden   on 7/29/2008

These are popular lies from the right that have been repeated over the past couple of weeks. I'm sure you've heard them

Lie:There was no oil spilled during Hurricane Katrina.

According to the National Response Center 595 spills occurred as a result of Hurricane's Rita and Katrina causing one of the worst environmental disasters in our history dumping an estimated 9 million gallons of oil. The EPA called this the "worst of the worst case scenario."

Lie: ANWR and new off shore drilling will impact fuel costs in the near future.

According to several government surveys any new drilling for oil in ANWR or elsewhere would take a decade to impact the market. Factcheck.org has done an excellent job at debunking Mc Cain's ad claiming more drilling will help our current situation.

Lie: China is drilling off the coast of Cuba.

Everyone from George Will to Dick Cheney has used this lie as an argument for more drilling. Unfortunately it isn't true.

Lie:Democrats are holding up drilling and that drilling will save us on our fuel.

Oil companies now hold over 5,000 leases to drill in 68 million acres they aren't using. That's approximately 54 Billion barrels of oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that it would be at least a decade before new drilling yielded a drop in oil prices.

Lie: ANWR oil production won't damage the arctic refuge.

Yeah, and the Exxon Valdez won't get caught on the rocks and spill millions of gallons of oil destroying the landscape for generations either. To suggest that it might not is one thing, but to outright state that drilling in ANWR won't hurt a thing is simply a promise from politicians couldn't possibly guarantee.

Lie: More drilling means more energy independence.

Currently much of our domestic oil is exported, especially from Alaska. So unless righties are prepared for the gvmnt to tell oil companies where they can sell their oil, it will probably also be exported. After all, you have to please the shareholders. Even conservative oil man T. Boone Pickens has recognized we "can't drill our way to energy independence." He has begun investing heavily in wind and solar power and even taken out radio and tv ads to make his case.

Lie: The price of gas is just supply and demand.

Supply is fine, demand is down so this metric is completely false. The price of gas, and oil is due to our falling dollar and greedy speculators who benefit financially by investing in the very industries they speculate on.

Lie: Blame the Democrats!

If only we had stayed on the course that whacky liberal President Jimmy Carter laid out back in the late 70's we'd be energy independent by now. That's the thing about progressives. We're always thinking about and preparing for the future. We should have listened to Jimmy back then, we'd be better off on the energy front.

Lie: Environmental whacko's won't allow any more drilling.

Since when has any group been powerful enough to stop the oil companies from getting whatever they want? Environmental groups don't have millions of dollars to lobby Congress like oil companies do. To suggest a bunch of self described tree huggers could stop the multi billion dollar juggernaut that's raking in record profits each quarter and literally wrote our energy policy, is absurd on it's face.



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Showing 1-10 of 31 comments
Submitted By: Bing Van Gorden
posted on 8/4/2008 @ 4:58:31 PM
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I listened David, I simply disagree with you. In other words, you haven't convinced me I have something wrong in my analysis of the available facts. I watch and learn all the time and in every situation. If you turn out to be right I'll commend you and re-evaluate as to why I got it so wrong. But I have to say I have seen a pattern the past 8 years where conservatives have claimed and had the power to do enact what they felt was right. And here we are. We are in the financial mess we are in because of an economic philosophy embraced by conservative trickle down economics and we see it's fruits. It doesn't work.
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 8/4/2008 @ 4:29:35 PM
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Well then if you don't to listen to me then just watch and learn. I'll remind you when I turn out to be right - and I WILL turn out to be right (on oil).
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Submitted By: Bing Van Gorden
posted on 8/4/2008 @ 1:15:07 PM
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I don't know what point it is you awant me to concede David. I've offered links to government data and explained my position as clearly as possible. Frankly, I'll take the side of the experts vs. your experience with your 401K. I will say, you won't learn anything by listening to an a$$ like Mike Rosen.
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 8/2/2008 @ 9:28:02 AM
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I can't offer you an "expert" since I don't listen to the so-called experts myself. I'm giving you my OPINION. In 2002 my 401k took a beating in that recession and I vowed not to ever let that happen again. So I've been studying the markets ever since. It is my fervent belief that after studying this for over 6 years, I think I know how traders think. I don't have a crystal ball but if Congress opened up more areas, I would buy an oil ETF that shorts oil at 2x (DUG if you're interested) just as fast as I could. And something tells me I would miss most of the ride - that fast. I would expect oil to head to $90 and possibly $80 right away. I would never call myself an "expert" in anything, but I think after 6 years I've graduated to "authority," Who knows?
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 8/2/2008 @ 9:17:41 AM
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Bing - I can't tell you how discouraged I am with this whole scene. When I first joined, I eagerly expected some good debate - it's where you learn things and I thought you might contribute to that. But like I alluded to in one of my original posts, the reason Rosen gets so frustrated with leties is they can't concede even the slightest of points so the debate can move forward, possibly into something meaningful. I'm experiencing that here. I gotta tell you, I feel like I'm pretty much done with this...
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Submitted By: Bing Van Gorden
posted on 8/1/2008 @ 11:23:06 AM
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Lastly, I can't prove that prices won't go down if we iopen upall this new land for drillig. All I can do is look at the available facts. People who know a lot more about it than me are of the opinion, by and large, it's not a real solution, but merely a political gimmick meant to make Democrats look like they are impeding progress. They can drill now on millions of acres, they could refine at 100% capacity, they could take a hit for the good of the team and temporarily lower prices, but they won't. Why should reward them? And lastly, why is the party that is in love with Markets and staying out of their way want the goverment to intefere in it at this time? I mean, the markets are supposed to be great left all alone. So why do they want to interfere with it? Aren't high gas prices the market "correcting" itself?
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Submitted By: Bing Van Gorden
posted on 8/1/2008 @ 11:18:42 AM
(Not Rated)
David the fact check source confirmed that China was not one o those countries, no Fox reported exactly what the White Huse told them to. I don't know how many sources I have to give you that show there isn't going to be instant relief at the pumps because of drilling. Democrats are the majority. Are you aware the Republicans in the Senate have threatened to filibuster a record number of times requiring a 60 vote majority to get anything passed. Karl Rove stated early on in 2007 the stated goal of the Republican Party was to impede any and all legislation. You still fail to notice that there are leases available right now oil companies can use ad aren't. The Dems are not holding up drilling, they are simply refusing to open up more land for drilling. As far as Pickens is concerned, obviously he's just one person and maybe he does have something up his sleeve. Why don't you provide me with an expert that believes opning up more land for drilling will be of any good consequence.
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 7/31/2008 @ 3:42:42 PM
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Thanks for the cites but you still haven't shown prices will not change if we allow drilling. I think they will. You think they won't. I guess we leave it there.
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 7/31/2008 @ 3:39:19 PM
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Pickens is up to something I have a feeling. It's only a feeling perhaps based on an article I read in the Post last Sunday that some expert thinks his plan won't work. You can find that pretty easily if you want, I think. I can look for it if you're interested.
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Submitted By: David Brown
posted on 7/31/2008 @ 3:37:09 PM
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Democrats are the majority party in Congress. They make the rules. They decide what comes to the floor for a debate. Pelosi won't let it come up for debate. Ergo - Democrats are holding up drilling - for now. It's a basic fact - as basic as it can get. But don't worry - I'm tellng you this WILL come up for debate and the congressional ban will be lifted before the election. You guys are going to lose this one.
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Showing 1-10 of 31 comments
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Bing Van Gorden

Longmont , CO

Bing Van Gorden has posted 219 blog entries and 1045 comments since joining on 3/28/2007. Bing Van Gorden 's average blog rating is 3.14.
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