"With Israel's occupation of Arab lands captured in the 1967 Mideast war entering its fifth decade, most Palestinians live in dire poverty."(from the article)

The Palestinians have lived in serious poverty for century's (millennium?) and would still be doing so. There is no doubt that Israel must treat these people as just that, People. By creating a homeland they will have the opportunity to demonstrate their ability (the Palestinians) to function in a modern manner with the people making their own way in the world. Neither they nor Israel should live on the basis of foreign aid from the US or elsewhere. If Israel can finally do what they have said they would and help provide the Palestinians with their own land, self governed, this will go a long way towards reducing the violence aimed at either side. It isn't realistic to expect Israel to supply the power and water etc for them without paying the going rate. I believe that both the Arab countries as well as the world will help the Palestinians get their country going and into being a self supporting state.

By treating people like people there should be a more peaceful less unstable Mid-east.

He's right -- we are our own problem, but not for the reasons he cites. Yes, more refining capacity and drilling would help ease our demand for oil, but the real culprit is greeed.

When 5% of the planet consumes 25% of its oil, there is indeed a problem. Let's point the finger in the right direction.

When a neocon philosophy espoused by GWB/Cheney which absolutely rejects personal sacrifice comes to power the resulting economic and oil related fiascos are inevitable. Neocon idiots would have us believe we have a God given right to drive SUVs and heat our houses to 70 degrees every day and night.

When a neocon philosophy espoused by GWB/Cheney which absolutely rejects personal sacrifice comes to power the resulting economic and oil related fiascos are inevitable. Neocon idiots would have us believe we have a God given right to drive SUVs and heat our houses to 70 degrees every day and night.

As tempting as it is to knee-jerkingly blame Bush, the reality is that Americans have been greedy fucks since long before he was president.

Bush continuing to say he is "absolutely committed to an Israeli-Palestine peace agreement "before the end of his term" is at best as delusional a statement as he has ever made.

His remarks about oil are as dumb as they come.

I do not have a knee-jerk reaction to blame him; the US energy policies of the past thirty or more years have been ridiculous, but he ought to take some responsibilty and he never does. Maybe in five years he will blame Cheney, too.

Bush is wrong it is not our fault, it is the dems in congress who are at fault.

The first thing American's need to do is stop being gullible enough to think anyone in the WH or the oil companies gives a rats ass about America being self sufficient in fossil fuels.
~ AMERICANUNITY


Precisely

"when we aggressively go for domestic exploration"

Bullshit......

This shit will stop when we weane off the dependance of oil. As renewables and alternatives come around and the technology grows the price will come down.

Right now everyone has a big SUV in the drive.

Show me a president that gives a shit and that president will show you how to not land in this predicament again.

For starters these fucking Tax Cuts that W. gave out, should have been stipulated by expectations.

EX. I cut your taxes out this year, you retool and make my people an economical car, truck and SUV.

Tax breaks for discoveries in R&D.

Tax breaks for cuts in energy consumption.

A modern society runs in energy. Lots and lots of energy. We either get more of it at economically justifiable prices or we go backwards. Increased efficiency is certainly justifiable, but not conservation when it requires cutting back on living standards.

Ethanol is a step backwards. It takes more oil energy to produce a unit of energy from ethanol. I've see estimates of 1.29:1.

There is plenty of oil on the continental shelf and in Alaska, both sources are outlawed. I agree with Bush on general principle, but I withhold judgment on the execution.

stuff like this happens when you have no domestic agenda

reagan's fault for dismantling carter's energy plan.

all the best

Bush is right about our problem. Libs stopped nuclear and Domestic drilling. Even if we started both of those now it would be 10 years before they would do us any good. Ethanol makes no sense and alternatives are pie in the sky. Libs love alternatives energy because it matches the rest of their fantasy constucted world.

The meathead will never admit that the price will come down when the world understands that we will leave Iran alone and pull out of Iraq.

The meathead will never admit that the price is currently set by the value of the dollar, which his policies have destroyed.

The meathead will probably not serve long enough to witness the consequences to our economy when the world takes itself off the dollar as the reserve currency for oil. If and when that happens we will already be a third world economy. A third world economy exports raw materials and imports finished goods.

This has been a long time coming. The only thing that bush has really done is to be unwilling to pander to the left like most other politicians will on this topic.

And we're each just as guilty as anyone when we'd rather vote for someone who has a chance of winning than vote for the person who stands for your values (It's the Not-Nader rule).

Who among us is so delusional that they think there is going to be some great new oil discovery within our national borders?

Shrub is either a liar or incompetent or both.

Had this war criminal done something from a leadership perspective 8 years ago, we might be near a solution. But the ass wipe doubled the national debt, has given the economy a heart attack and will leave in disgrace.

"Our problem in America gets solved when we aggressively go for domestic exploration"

Bullshit. If we stopped exporting oil from the U.S for 22 years. we'd cover every barrel we'd pull from ANWR over 65 years.

This is Bush double-speak. He's never cared about conservation, only exploitation. With prices where they now are, his and Cheney's supporters, here and in Saudi Arabia, are beside themselves in profit. Along with them, we're strengthening Ahmadinejad's political power and Iran's coffers.

As to whether this is Bush's fault, it is his Presidency's legacy. Oil PPB when HE came to power was ~25.00. It's now ~128.00. There are many reasons, devalued US$, instability in the ME (who caused that?), speculation. Rising demand, though often quoted, isn't playing that big a role YET. OPEC for instance is still able to meet demand. There are no shortages. Yes, the capacity (headroom) for meeting the increased demand has been diminishing rapidly. We haven't hit that limit, yet.

Shrub is either a liar or incompetent or both.

Posted by nutcase

Liar. Everything that's happened makes crystal clear sense 0nce you assume he's lying. Otherwise, you deal with some killer cognitive dissonance. Once you accept that, you'll realize that he's FAR from incompetent or stupid.

If we stopped exporting oil from the U.S for 22 years. we'd cover every barrel we'd pull from ANWR over 65 years.

Posted by YAV

Don't we already export most of our oil to nations that don't have friendly relations with OPEC? Nations whom OPEC would rather drop dead than trade with?

DRILL EVERYWHERE DOMESTICALLY! DRILL EVERYWHERE DOMESTICALLY!

So Bush is apologizing for banning oil exploration of Floriduh? For what Bush pissed away losing Iraq, every American family could have been given an American designed and manufactured electric/hybrid car. Tens of thousands of jobs, municipal, state, federal taxes paid, SS payments and employment. Instead the Right gave us Iranistan Junior.

"takes more oil energy to produce a unit of energy from ethanol. I've see estimates of 1.29:1."

It's not that simple. 1/3 of the grainstock for ethanol ends up as cattle feed, which would have used energy to produce anyways.

Yav,
Interesting link. Thank you very much.

Liar. Everything that's happened makes crystal clear sense 0nce you assume he's lying. Otherwise, you deal with some killer cognitive dissonance. Once you accept that, you'll realize that he's FAR from incompetent or stupid.

Cognitive dissonance makes more sense to me. He justifies is actions on the premise that alternatives would be worse. There is not a necessary connection between IQ intelligence and incompetence and stupidity. Many of history's infamous madmen were extremely intelligent.

More precisely:
No profits, no batteries, no electric cars.

Most probably Chevron Texaco stopped production of car batteries because the market was too small. There are plenty of other battery manufacturers Toyota could have gone to if they were interested.

No batteries, no electric cars.

Posted by OzarkAggie

Like Ford buying the Trolly co's and changing them to bus co's.

Most probably Chevron Texaco stopped production of car batteries because the market was too small.

That's pretty funny, Ray.

World

"Oil - production:
78.9 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption:
80.29 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
Oil - exports:
63.76 million bbl/day (2004)
Oil - imports:
63.18 million bbl/day (2004)
Oil - proved reserves:
1.295 trillion bbl (1 January 2006 est.)"

So we have ~440 years left at present rate.
Who cares?

US oil consumption is 25% of the world's oil consumption.

World population as of last July was 6,602,224,175;
US population 301,139,947.

That's 4.56% of the world's population.

If we kill the other 6,301,084,228 people the oil would last for 1,700 years maybe.

"Our problem in America gets solved if we expand our refining capacity, promote nuclear energy, and continue our strategy for the advancement of alternative energies, as well as conservation."

and uh, oh yeah, conservation.

"In San Jose, Nanosolar has built what will soon be the world's largest solar-panel manufacturing facility. CEO Martin Roscheisen claims that once full production starts early next year, it will create 430 megawatts' worth of solar cells a year--more than the combined total of every other solar plant in the U.S. The first 100,000 cells will be shipped to Europe, where a consortium will be building a 1.4-megawatt power plant next year. "

Ol' Zat loves 'em numbers, don't he. You give 'im a subject, oil, global warming, whatever...ol' Zat'll give you the numbers.

But none of this fits your Doomsday predictions does it RayGay, so naturally you have to discount it. What an ass.

Posted by OzarkAggie

In your face, Oz. This all proves that electric cars are not economically viable. But since when did you know anything about economics?

Bush asks his buddies the Saudis to step up oil production and they told him to go fuck themselves. So now he's moved on to saying this....

" told him to go fuck themselves"

himself.

But since when did you know anything about economics? RayGay

I actually took Econ 101-102, and 3 classes more in Ag Econ including a grad class devoted to Water Econ that required a thesis and presentation. But that's just one arrow in the quiver, not my obsession.

Electric cars have many advantages, such as lower maintenance costs, and equivalent of 100+ miles to gallon. It's true that batteries are expensive, but that's just a matter of ramping up production.

Here's another tidbit:

"As an example, let's take a 14-inch tire that's been spent-it's been used, it goes to the trash. One 14-inch tire weighs about 20 pounds. We put about 50 cents worth of energy into that tire, and we get $5 worth of byproducts out of it. We get 1.2 gallons of diesel fuel, 50 cubic feet of very hot gases BTU-wise, and we get about 7.5 pounds of carbon black. We also get steel. The steel can be separated from the carbon black to go back to recycling. The carbon black has two potential end uses. One of them is that if we harvest all of the energy, that carbon black still retains some BTU value--it can go to a power company. If not, it can be used to make rubber again, or to make pigmentation or plastics. So, on the low side, from putting 50 cents worth of energy into a used tire, we get $5 worth of byproducts."

I am really sick of having this brainless ass for a President.

Electric cars, durable batteries, low cost solar panels, cellulose based ethanol production, and microwave reclamation are all new technologies that will alter the economics of our society.

Posted by OzarkAggie at 2008-05-18 12:24 PM

BRAVO BRAVO BRAVO !!!!

Thanks Ozark you know exactly what you are talking about.

-Sarge

Everyone keeps talking about all these "alternative" the Hippies here want to use food stuffs as fuel , while millions starve..But, that is Okay as long as they have their grass sandwiches and hemp salad. The rest of us know it has to be a combintion of all. Nuclear power is safe, much safer than when Three Mile Island had it's catastrophe. Plus we need to drill here to get us by until we get where we want to be, we need new refineries and we need clean coal. Why are hippies so willing to see struggling middle class people suffer just so they can say "look how caring we are for the environment. Once again, the left has shown how it's policies always hurt working and poor americans the most.

is it just that your stupid or that you hate your fellow Americans so much you would rather see them dead than share anything with them. or put your far out vision of a hippy utopia aside just for a while to get past this

I actually took Econ 101-102, and 3 classes more in Ag Econ including a grad class devoted to Water Econ that required a thesis and presentation. But that's just one arrow in the quiver, not my obsession.

Well then it should take no great insight to realize that electric cars are not economically viable. If it were otherwise, they would not need government subsidies and regulation to force sales.

Electric cars have many advantages, such as lower maintenance costs, and equivalent of 100+ miles to gallon. It's true that batteries are expensive, but that's just a matter of ramping up production.

Electric cars are limited by the Law of Conservation of Energy. The energy that goes into the production of batteries is more than what an owner saves on mileage. Anybody who has to buy new batteries for his Prius learns this the hard way.

And Oz. I've seen studies on hybrid cars, showing that over the life of the car, they are more expensive to operate and maintain than comparable gasoline driven cars. Electric cars are worse.

If you don't believe me, check out it out for yourself.

Anybody who has to buy new batteries for his Prius

Old technology. The new lithiums are rated at 15,000 miles a year, with a 12 year lifespan. Cost? Guess you don't remember when desktop computers were $4000. Now you can build one for $400. It's called economies of scale. Just a matter of time.

I'm not out to prove who is right here. I tend to assume that to the degree there is a profitable market in hybrids and electrics, the auto manufactures or some maverick will take advantage of the opportunity.

Every cent that the price of oil rises proves just how right Jimmy Carter was and how wrong Reagan and all subsequent presidents (including Clinton) had it. Yet he get trashed more than any other president. People worship at the feet of leaders who cancelled what would have enabled us to energy independent today. Go figure. I'm thinking though that the huge rise in price is forcing many righties, kicking and screaming all the way, to reexamine their entire system of political belief. If not $4.00 then at $8.00 but the greed fuckers will make it high enough for y'all to finally what is so obvious to the rest of us.

Man, I got to start proof reading my shit.

Brilliant!

Posted by Zatoichi

Wonder when Zat will find himself in the breadlines.

Wonder Bread?

Every cent that the price of oil rises proves just how right Jimmy Carter was

About what?

Bush: Oil Problems Our Fault

I don't believe either Bush or Cheney really asked the Saudis to produce more oil or to lower the prices -- they only went over and pretended to grovel to the Saudis.

The fix was already in, Bush and Cheney would make a big show of asking for lower oil prices and then the Saudis would say "No" and then Bush and Cheney could say to the American people -- "Well, at least we tried."

Bush and Cheney are oil boys. Oil runs thru their veins, not blood. They get richer by the second every time oil goes higher. Halliburton's profits have increased 400% since the Iraq war between war profiteering and the rise in oil..

Oil was $20 a barrel when Bush took office.
Oil is now more than $120 a barrel after 8 years under Bush and Cheney.
Does anyone think that's accidental?

Don't insult my intelligence and tell me that in a mere eight years under these oil robber barrons we Americans have increased our oil consumption by more than 600%.

Carter April 18, 1977.

The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices.

The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. An effective conservation program will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The third principle is that we must protect the environment. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems -- wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once.

The fourth principle is that we must reduce our vulnerability to potentially devastating embargoes. We can protect ourselves from uncertain supplies by reducing our demand for oil, making the most of our abundant resources such as coal, and developing a strategic petroleum reserve.

The fifth principle is that we must be fair. Our solutions must ask equal sacrifices from every region, every class of people, every interest group. Industry will have to do its part to conserve, just as the consumers will. The energy producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer.

The sixth principle, and the cornerstone of our policy, is to reduce the demand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Conservation is the only way we can buy a barrel of oil for a few dollars. It costs about $13 to waste it.

The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement costs of energy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford.

The eighth principle is that government policies must be predictable and certain. Both consumers and producers need policies they can count on so they can plan ahead. This is one reason I am working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy, to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy.

The ninth principle is that we must conserve the fuels that are scarcest and make the most of those that are more plentiful. We can't continue to use oil and gas for 75 percent of our consumption when they make up seven percent of our domestic reserves. We need to shift to plentiful coal while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy.

The tenth principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy we will rely on in the next century.

people ought to consider that right now we have to pay $120 per bbl to put in the Strategic "Reserve which Congress wants to stop filling, at least for the summer, I believe Bush wants to continue filling it (and actually I agree with him on that). We should not forget that the same oil could have been purchased back during Reagan's term of office far cheaper than it can be today. Carter was the last president who recognized the real threat that energy posed and who was willing to actually do something about it.

One of the first things Ronnie Raygun did when changing over to 'his' White House was to remove the solar panels.


I guess they didn't "feel" like dawn in America.

Reality can suck that way.

One of the first things Ronnie Raygun did when changing over to 'his' White House was to remove the solar panels.

Yeah, and Jimmy Carter's WH's abstinence of wine put Sonoma Valley into a tailspin.

Yeah, and Jimmy Carter's WH's abstinence of wine put Sonoma Valley into a tailspin.


LOL OMg

That's one thing I'm sure the Ray Gun fixed.

Ronnie said trees pollute more than cars, too.

Some other gems,

"All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk."

"I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons, to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering those nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete."

Put the genie back? How?

"A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not."

"I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself."

"Regimes planted by bayonets do not take root."

Really?

"Facts are stupid things."

******Bush: Oil Problems Our Fault ******

........the prick is still shilling for BIG OIL....

.......when he had the chance to save billions of gallons of oil and lower oil prices by tightening car mileage standards...........

........he opted out...........

........anti-American prick..........

BUSH IS UNAMERICAN!

The President the Right loves to hate, Jimmy Carter warned the Country back in 1978 that we as a Country was to dependant on Foreign OIL, he was right then an Pres. Bush is right now. The major difference is how to solve that problem.

Brazil listened an did something about it an today does not depend on 1 oz of foriegn Oil. After Carter left office, the hero of the Right, Ronald Reagan, did nothing to promote alternative fuels, so here we are we lost 12 years when we could have made a difference.

Now the right is blaming the Democrats for the problem, what crap!!! If the Republicians have there way we would be drilling in the San Francisco Bay, In Yellowstone National Park, Off Miami Beach, how about in Hawaii off of Waikiki Beach, these fucking Idiots need to be stopped an they will be, make no mistake you ASSholes on the RIGHT we will stop you, one way or the other we will STOP you ASSHOLES from destroying our PLANET.....

Now the right is blaming the Democrats for the problem, what crap!!!

President Bush and Hillary have the same objective, while Obama perhaps wants to use tax money to lower prices of oil. Oil prices is a global problem, not just for those who want to drive SUVs. China in the future with it's large population and growing wealth will surpass the United States in using gas and oil. Same with India. Those two countries are not the only ones, other countries are on the rise too.

Brazil has been doing something, they have been allowing the oil companies to explore pretty much where they want to. Unlike the United States which is highly restricted from oil exploration. A deep water discovery of oil by Brazil was good, but it will not be online for another few years or more.

The United States is heavily relying on 1970's laws, such as Alaska's pipeline which is not producing the oil it once did. More exploration is needed there. Once more oil is found and is being taking from the ground, another refinery is needed, perhaps two total in case one of the old ones breaks down. In the past if a refinery broke down, prices shot up more.

Better fuel efficient cars are needed, the auto industry has been slow the last couple of years, this year however there more emphasis on 30 miles to the gallon cars which is a good start, but more is needed.

Going to the middle east and demand more oil production will not solve the problem, Bush is very weak on this issue, and so is a lot of Dems...

Here is Kuma's energy plan.

Exhaust all oil we have in the USA immediately, and during that time build many nuclear power plants, and advance the technology and range of electrical cars so that by 2020 or so we are all driving "gas free" cars that can be re-charged by solar power and or nuclear power.

That would help our economy, end our need to deal with ANY muslim nation and make both political parties happy.

Thank you, I will take a bow now.

Kuma

Fuck, I read this again, and now I am pissed.

Bush is so stupid, the guy is TERRIBLE. He fucking says this after he has been in charge for 7+ fucking years?

Damn, this guy is an asshole.

Kuma

Isn't it great that we have already spent 500 billion dollars to assist a member of OPEC. We spend money that should have been spent here at home to rebuild a nation that is fucking us on oil prices. Hugo Chavez charges the same price and goes along with production quotas but at least we aren't spending hundreds of billions rebuilding his country while his treasury has billions piling up.
We should not spend one more dime in Iraq and IF Malaki and the Parliament want our continued presence in their country to insure their safety then they should begin paying for it.