Have you ever noticed how it is with our stellar president, his first reaction when finding himself in a bind is to resort to that old tried and true, school yard tactic of calling his opponents names. And examples of his childishness continue to occur as Barry finds himself besieged by poor approval ratings amid escalating gas prices. Barry's response to his being accused of doing nothing was to actually compare those who support increased drilling and are critics of green energy subsidies with those who believed in a flat Earth that wanted to be stuck in the past. This most recent bout of name-calling came while Barry was speaking at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Md., just this past Thursday. He attempted to make it clear that their approach to solving our energy problem stood in stark contrast to his vision for the future of an energy-independent America. And that's a very true statement. Because Barry is so determined to prove that this green technology theory of his is actually viable, cost effective and workable, at the expense of all else. But it has flopped and at a staggering cost to the taxpayer as evidenced, most recently, by the fact that yet another green technology company has now gone belly up, some outfit called Evergreen Solar Inc up there in that bastion of loony liberalism, Massachusetts. The company has now abandoned a $450 Million plant. And guess who is it that will wind up picking up that tab?
Though this little speech was billed as being "an official presidential event", it definitely had the flavor of a campaign event as Barry made numerous references to the Republican presidential candidates. He spewed what has become his standard drivel, saying, “Lately, we’ve heard a lot of professional politicians, a lot of the folks who are running for a certain office who shall go unnamed, they've been talking down new sources of energy." Going on to say, “They dismiss wind power. They dismiss solar power. They make jokes about biofuels. They were against raising fuel standards. I guess they like gas-guzzlers. They think that's good for our future. We’re trying to move towards the future; they want to be stuck in the past." Droning on, “We’ve heard this kind of thinking before. Let me tell you something. If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they must have been founding members of the Flat Earth Society,” the president said to laughter. “They would not have believed that the world was round. We've heard these folks in the past. They probably would have agreed with one of the pioneers of the radio who said, ‘Television won’t last. It’s a flash in the pan.’ One of Henry Ford’s advisors was quoted as saying, ‘The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a fad,’” Barry said. Is this really the best that "Barry The Great Orator" can do? I mean really, what's he running for junior class president?
Look, I think most of us are smart enough to figure out that neither the invention of the TV and of the automobile were government subsidized in the way companies like the bankrupt solar panel firm Solyndra, and the bankrupt green battery maker Ener1, among other green energy companies that filed for bankruptcy were, getting millions in subsidies from the federal government. If they had been, it would have taken twice as long, of not longer for them to ever make it to market. What they were, were the result of good old fashion American ingenuity and hard work coming from individuals who scraped up their own capital and were then rewarded with the fruits of their own labors. A concept that seems to be completely foreign to Barry "Almighty" on any number of different levels. You see, unlike the "Chevy Volt", the television and the automobile succeeded because they were products the American people actually wanted, had they not been we'd all still be listening to radio and commuting via horse and buggy, because that's the way the system is supposed to work. Whenever government gets involved in the business of picking winners and losers, we generally end up with nothing but losers. The market needs to be the one to determine what businesses thrive and which are left to die on the vine. And the taxpayers should not be the one to subsidize those too weak to survive on their own merits.
On Thursday, the national average price of gas was $3.82 per gallon for regular unleaded, according to AAA. That's up over 100 percent from when Barry first strutted his cool self into the Oval Office. A New York Times/CBS News poll this week found Barry had only a 41 percent approval rating, largely attributed to his handling of, or lack of, gas prices. The American Petroleum Institute has called for the administration to rescind an East Coast offshore drilling moratorium, allow drilling in deep water in the Atlantic, which would allow for exploration along the West Coast and give companies access to the coastal plains of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The government has delayed drilling permits for offshore Alaska, despite leases being made available, that according to the API. “The administration says its policies have supported more development and that oil production is rising, but most of today’s production increases relate to projects begun before it came into office as well as to what is happening on state and private lands,” said Erik Milito, API’s group director for Upstream and Industry Operations, in a written statement. “Moreover, from 2009 to 2011, production from federal lands and federal waters combined declined significantly for both oil and natural gas.” Which proves that Barry's continued claims that we're "drilling all over this country" are nothing but more lies.
Barry went on to not so subtly reference GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s pledge to bring gas prices down to $2.50 per gallon. “Every time prices start to go up – especially in an election year – politicians dust off their 3-point plans for $2.00 gas. I guess this year they decided, we're going to make it $2.50,” Barry said. “I don't know where – why not $2.40? Why not $2.10? But they tell the same story. They head down to the gas station; they make sure a few cameras are following them and then they start acting like we've got a magic wand and we will give you cheap gas forever if you just elect us.” Again claiming that he supports some idiotic “all of the above” strategy, he made the same patently false claim that somehow domestic drilling has dramatically increased during his administration. “We need an energy strategy for the future – an all-of-the-above strategy for the 21st century that develops every source of American-made energy,” Barry said. “Yes, develop as much oil and gas as we can, but also develop wind power and solar power and biofuels. Make our buildings more fuel-efficient. Make our homes more fuel-efficient. Make our cars and trucks more fuel-efficient so they get more miles for the gallon.” Frankly that's a very rational statement, but he isn't following through, because we are nowhere near developing as much oil and gas as we can because Barry is dead set against drilling.
I'm curious about something though. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself just who it is that "makes" more money on a gallon of gas, the oil companies or the government? The answer by the way, if you don't already know it, is that the government "makes" more. A LOT MORE!!! And just what is it that the government does to earn that money? Does it refine any of the oil? Nope! Does it distribute any of the product? Nope! Does it spend valuable resources exploring for potentially new sources of oil or natural gas? Nope, again. It does absolutely nothing for the vast riches it receives from us, the consumers. It just takes without providing anything in return. And did you also know that it costs considerably more, in both money and energy, to produce, and to get to market, a gallon of ethanol than it does a gallon of gas. About half again as much. One reason is that you can't put ethanol through a pipeline like you can oil, it needs to be trucked. Also ethanol wreaks havoc with your car's engine as well as provides you with less mileage per gallon. So, here we are sitting atop vast deposits of recoverable oil and essentially doing nothing more that to remain sitting on top of it. Does this make sense to anyone? Now granted, I don't support simply drilling for more oil and ignoring all other viable alternative sources of energy. But to not drill at all makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
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