Yes, Gingrich and Other Republicans are Delusional About Oil

Just one more on the list of today’s GOP’s favorite delusions
Politics • Views: 30,854

Engineer/blogger Robert Rapier writes about the fantasy that many prominent Republican leaders promote, and which much of the GOP base accepts blindly, with respect to petroleum production and the US:

[…]

On the Republican side, the common view is that we are awash in oil and gas, if only the environmentalists would clear out and let the oil companies drill. This view was recently articulated by current Republican flavor-of-the-month Newt Gingrich during the CNN Republican Presidential Debate […]

That’s a fairly good summation of a common Republican position: The reason we aren’t energy independent is that we simply aren’t serious enough about it. We can have all the oil we want — live, drive, prosper — if we just get serious. […]

It wasn’t just at the CNN debate, and it is not just Gingrich. Even in the final Iowa debate Gingrich was at it again. And besides Gingrich, Bachmann has been an ardent voice for the fantasy that America has all the oil it could ever use, and other Republican candidates jump on this bandwagon from time to time too.

Robert continues:

So while Democrats may undervalue our need for domestic oil, Republicans can be wildly delusional about the prospects for domestic oil production to supply our needs. In each case, there are elements of truth. No doubt we can produce more oil, and without a doubt there remains oil to be discovered. As I have pointed out before, both oil and natural gas production have been on the rise for the past couple of years. In fact, natural gas has set production records. So if prices are high enough, there are marginal sources that will contribute more to U.S. energy supplies. But replacing the 8 million barrels per day that we currently import is wildly unrealistic, and would require the U.S. to greatly exceed the 1970 oil production peak of nearly 10 million barrels of oil per day.[…]

Mr. Rapier then goes on to give an example of this fantasy (of vast oil deposits in the US that could be developed if only the government/environmentalists would get out of the way) by linking to a publication in one of numerous online news sites, and points out that the article depends upon a report produced by the “Institute for Energy Research.”

Now, exactly who are the Institute for Energy Research ? From the wikipedia entry:

[…] IER is a tax-exempt public foundation and is funded entirely by tax deductible contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. No financial support is sought for or accepted from the government.[1] According to the liberal watchdog group, Media Matters,[2] since 1996, $110,000 of IER’s funding has come from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, a trust set up by private energy company Koch Industries. IER also received over $300,000 in funding from ExxonMobil, [3], but has not given to IER since 2007.[4]

The Institute’s CEO, Robert L. Bradley, Jr., was formerly a director of policy analysis at Enron, where he wrote speeches for Kenneth Lay. […]

Yup, same old crowd - Kochs, Enron gang, etc.

I’m being repetitious here, but just to drive the point home: when Gingrich and other prominent Republicans proclaim that the US could free itself of oil imports if we only drilled more here they are being front-men for vested interests in the oil business, who feel free to mislead the American public on the realities of oil and petroleum extraction.

Mr. Rapier went on to track down some of the specifics of the misuse of data by the IER:

In fact, I tracked down the report referenced above from the Institute for Energy Research: North American Energy Inventory. Then I tracked one of the references they used to come up with their estimate of more than a trillion barrels of ‘technically recoverable’ oil in the United States. The source is a U.S. Department of Energy report: ‘Undeveloped Domestic Oil Resources.’ What that report says is quite different than the implications that are being drawn. [He inserts an important DoE chart at this point, recommend viewing it at his article.]

So of the 1.3 trillion barrels of oil from this DOE report, most is not technically recoverable, and the only category that is known to be presently economically recoverable is that tiny sliver of 22 billion barrels that says ‘Proved Reserves.’ This accounts for less than 2% of the 1.1 trillion barrels categorized as ‘Undeveloped Oil In-Place.’

A common problem here is the confusion between resources and reserves. […]

All of that requires more thought than many in those crowds at the GOP “debates” are willing to give - to really understand what is available/affordable versus what may geologically remain from hundreds of millions of years of organic deposits.

Modern American society, physically, was built upon oil. The US is where the first petroleum well was drilled, and for a century the US was the leading producer of oil and we used that wealth to build an energy intensive, highly mobile society. We don’t want to give that up, and so too many of us are unwilling to accept that we have to give it up, or at least modify our way of life in some fundamental ways.

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60 comments
1 Interesting Times  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 10:54:27am

Excellent page. I'm just going to add this report from Cornell University:

Pipe dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL (PDF)

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Main Findings
4. TransCanada Will Spend $3 to $4 Billion in the US, Not $7 Billion as Claimed
7. KXL Will Generate 2,500-4,650 Construction Jobs
8. Most Jobs Created Will Be Temporary and Non-Local
11. KXL Steel Manufactured Outside the United States
15. Construction Services: Engineering/Design/Technical/Support
17. Perryman Study Deeply Flawed and Provides No Sound Basis for Jobs Claims
22. Total (Direct, Indirect, and Induced) Jobs from Keystone XL
27. KXL Will Have Minor Impact on Unemployment Levels
28. Four Ways Keystone XL Could Be a Job Killer
35. Conclusion: Employment Potential from KXL is Little to None; Decision
should be based on other factors

2 Obdicut  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:26:40am

More nihilistic fraud.

You know what'd be great for the economy? Cheap, sustainable power.

You know what has an inevitable end? Using fossil fuels. In every sense. In the economic, environmental, and simply physical sense. They will get more and more expensive, their use is causing environmental disaster, both small and large scale, and they are in very limited supply.

3 Sol Berdinowitz  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:28:43am

It fits in well with the core GOP message: lower taxes, less regulation, more jobs.

4 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:29:49am

re: #2 Obdicut

More nihilistic fraud.

You know what'd be great for the economy? Cheap, sustainable power.

You know what has an inevitable end? Using fossil fuels. In every sense. In the economic, environmental, and simply physical sense. They will get more and more expensive, their use is causing environmental disaster, both small and large scale, and they are in very limited supply.

The obvious answer is to expend more fossil fuels by waging wars to obtain more fossil fuels, the profits of which go to people who have a vested interest in making sure we use more fossil fuels.

5 engineer cat  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:30:59am

they long ago lost any reason for their bloviations and pronunciamentos to correspond in any way to reality

the democratic party will forever be at a disadvantage in american politics simply because they can't bring themselves to conduct a campaign purely on the basis of outrageous lies

6 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:30:59am

re: #3 ralphieboy

It fits in well with the core GOP message: lower taxes, less regulation, more jobs.

More jobs could be created by seriously investing in new energy development.

7 Sol Berdinowitz  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:32:03am

re: #6 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

More jobs could be created by seriously investing in new energy development.

The Country of Solyndra!

8 Charles Johnson  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:36:21am

Got into a massive flame war with Dana Loesch on Twitter this morning. She's reeking with guilt about publishing that Nazi cartoon (she's the editor of Big Journalism), and trying everything in her power to distract and avoid dealing with it.

9 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:36:31am

re: #7 ralphieboy

We have always been at war with Solyndra.

10 HappyWarrior  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:39:50am

re: #8 Charles

Got into a massive flame war with Dana Loesch on Twitter this morning. She's reeking with guilt about publishing that Nazi cartoon (she's the editor of Big Journalism), and trying everything in her power to distract and avoid dealing with it.

It must be awesome to be Dana where you're never wrong and it's always the left's fault.

11 Kronocide  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:40:02am

re: #8 Charles

Got into a massive flame war with Dana Loesch on Twitter this morning. She's reeking with guilt about publishing that Nazi cartoon (she's the editor of Big Journalism), and trying everything in her power to distract and avoid dealing with it.

Saw that. She astutely noted that you are irrelevant and obscure by pointing out that have many websites allegedly debunking you.

You are nothing and everything. BWAHAHAHA!

12 RanchTooth  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:42:46am

re: #1 publicityStunted

Excellent page. I'm just going to add this report from Cornell University:

Pipe dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL (PDF)

The GOP kept trumpeting KXL throughout the debate. I was wondering, why if their claims were true, would Obama administration would prevent it for going forward. The report helps put things into perspective. Some very interesting findings, including this one:

» KXL will divert Tar Sands oil now supplying Midwest refineries, so it can be sold at higher prices to the Gulf Coast and export markets. As a result, consumers in the Midwest could be paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuel. These additional costs (estimated to total $2–4 billion) will suppress other spending and will therefore cost jobs.

Temporary jobs are better than no jobs at all? I'm glad the administration is taking its time in evaluating the decision. It's not just environmentalists, it's true policy.

13 dragonfire1981  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:47:13am

I think the idea is clear.

These interests want to keep us dependent on oil as long as possible. As the supply decreases and the demand stays high, the price will skyrocket, we'll all go broke trying to fill our cars and the people pushing the "drill baby drill" agenda will be stinkin' rich.

14 Feline Fearless Leader  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:47:27am

re: #12 RanchTooth

The GOP kept trumpeting KXL throughout the debate. I was wondering, why if their claims were true, would Obama administration would prevent it for going forward. The report helps put things into perspective. Some very interesting findings, including this one:

Temporary jobs are better than no jobs at all? I'm glad the administration is taking its time in evaluating the decision. It's not just environmentalists, it's true policy.

And it's not like the Midwest needs another hit in terms of energy costs and employment.

15 wrenchwench  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:52:12am

re: #8 Charles

Got into a massive flame war with Dana Loesch on Twitter this morning. She's reeking with guilt about publishing that Nazi cartoon (she's the editor of Big Journalism), and trying everything in her power to distract and avoid dealing with it.

Can you explain the significance of posting with a "+" or a "." in front of someone's twitter address?

/It was hard to not type "twit nic".

16 OhCrapIHaveACrushOnSarahPalin  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:53:33am

re: #8 Charles

Got into a massive flame war with Dana Loesch on Twitter this morning. She's reeking with guilt about publishing that Nazi cartoon (she's the editor of Big Journalism), and trying everything in her power to distract and avoid dealing with it.

Dumb conservative bigot is dumb, conservative, and bigoted.

17 HappyWarrior  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:55:02am

The GOP is by and large clueless about resources.

18 engineer cat  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:56:23am

The Future Of Occupy

this manifesto has as much right as any other to speak for a movement that has no central organization, leaders, or official spokespersons, despite the efforts of everybody under the sun, including the socialist workers party in its numerous forms, to claim to speak for the movement

in truth, however, my opinion is that every single person who goes out and joins the crowd on ther street has their own idea what it's about and their own individual agenda, and nobody has the right to speak for anybody else any more than i have the right to claim that D_F believes everything that comes out of newt gingrich's mouth just because they both describe themselves as republicans

19 Ming  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:56:49am

Drill baby drill won't be enough for America's energy needs, but the problem goes beyond even that. Our economy is coupled to the global economy, and many of our trading partners, especially Germany and Japan, have an even more dismal oil outlook than we do. More and more, countries everywhere will be trying to move beyond oil, and it would be a shame for us to fall too far behind that curve.

20 Interesting Times  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:57:04am

re: #17 HappyWarrior

The GOP is by and large clueless about resources.

Enhanced.

21 Sol Berdinowitz  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:57:26am

re: #17 HappyWarrior

The GOP is by and large clueless about resources.

"Clueless" is not the word. They know what they are after, the word is "disingenuous"

22 wrenchwench  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 11:59:29am

re: #21 ralphieboy

"Clueless" is not the word. They know what they are after, the word is "disingenuous"

Which is a fancy version of "liar".

23 Killgore Trout  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:02:47pm

re: #18 engineer dog

Well, sort of. There are no "official" leaders but in reality those who have the most influence and are better organized will control the direction of OWS.
Occupy Wall Street Prepares to Occupy Fort Meade in Solidarity with PFC Bradley Manning

The bus trip was proposed by the WikiLeaks Truck working group of Occupy Wall Street and passed unanimously by the New York City General Assembly late last Saturday night.

“Occupy Wall Street owes a huge debt to Bradley Manning. He has been subjected to torturous conditions and is now facing 52 years in prison for the alleged crime of standing up for truth and justice,” says Melanie Butler, an organizer with CODEPINK: Women for Peace and a member of Occupy Wall Street, who helped organize the bus trip. “He is a hero of our generation and we are honored to stand in solidarity with him on the 3-month anniversary of the movement he is charged with helping create. The information he is accused of releasing contributed to Occupy Wall Street and democratic revolutions across the Middle East. He is charged with democratizing information for the 99%.”

24 lawhawk  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:03:07pm

The GOP is writing checks that the environment can't cash.

25 Killgore Trout  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:03:42pm

re: #23 Killgore Trout

Confirmed speakers include Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower; Lt. Dan Choi, gay veteran and activist; Col. Ann Wright, retired US Army Colonel and diplomat who has been active with the Freedom Plaza occupation in Washington, DC; John Penley, a Vietnam Veteran who is active with Occupy Wall Street; and Michael Patterson, an Iraq War conscientious objector who is active with Iraq Veterans Against the War and Occupy DC at McPherson Square.

26 recusancy  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:04:33pm

re: #15 wrenchwench

Can you explain the significance of posting with a "+" or a "." in front of someone's twitter address?

/It was hard to not type "twit nic".

It's so that everyone in your feed can read your tweet. If you start a tweet with @somebody it will only be seen by that person and people who follow both of you. It's a quick way to tweet at someone but still have everyone see the tweet.

27 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:08:06pm

Bachmann (R Mars) eviscerated Newt last night about his Fanny/Freddie involvement.

I didn't watch. But I heard a replay on the John Gibson show.

Gibby's sure that Newt would not win.

28 engineer cat  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:10:44pm

re: #23 Killgore Trout

Well, sort of. There are no "official" leaders but in reality those who have the most influence and are better organized will control the direction of OWS.
Occupy Wall Street Prepares to Occupy Fort Meade in Solidarity with PFC Bradley Manning

ah, no

will control

can you tell me what stocks "will" come out ahead next week so i can make guaranteed profits on wall street?

29 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:14:01pm

Arpaio not going to go quietly

At a news conference, Arpaio says the government's move will result in releases from jail of illegal immigrants who had previous been arrested for crimes.

They called it a Pearl Harbor-style sneak attack, nothing but a phony show of political pandering by the Obama administration, pointing to the lack of specifics in the 22-page report.

"President Obama and the band of his merry men might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-Mexico border saying 'Welcome all illegals to your United States, our home is your home,'" said Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

He vows he will never resign, and is committed to running his department. He did acknowledge that there may have been some individual cases where deputies didn't do things by the book, and that he would look at those cases individually -- and rejected the sweeping generalizations made in the report.

I look forward to seeing Arpaio torn down, piece by piece.

30 SanFranciscoZionist  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:15:43pm

re: #29 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Arpaio not going to go quietly

I look forward to seeing Arpaio torn down, piece by piece.

I just want to see him have to appear in court in pink underwear.

31 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:16:09pm

re: #27 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Bachmann (R Mars) eviscerated Newt last night about his Fanny/Freddie involvement.

I didn't watch. But I heard a replay on the John Gibson show.

Gibby's sure that Newt would not win.

Rushwas saying this morning her couldn't understand why people keep saying Romney would be the only candidate who could beat Obama when he can't get the GOP nomination. He said that logic doesn't make any sense to him.

He's kind of stupid when it comes right down to it.

32 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:16:48pm

re: #30 SanFranciscoZionist

I just want to see him have to appear in court in pink underwear.

I want him in general population.

33 engineer cat  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:17:40pm

Pipe dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL

the pattern for GOP rhetoric in 2012 has already been set:

whatever they want "will create jobs"

whatever they don't want is "job-killing"

any relation of these descriptions to actual fact has been greatly exaggerated

34 engineer cat  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:18:15pm

re: #30 SanFranciscoZionist

I just want to see him have to appear in court in pink underwear.

should be required for all presidential candidates

35 Kragar  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:20:26pm

US charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil fraud charges against six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying they misled the government and taxpayers about risky subprime mortgages the mortgage giants held during the housing bust.

Those charged include the agencies' two former CEOs, Fannie's Daniel Mudd and Freddie's Richard Syron. They are the highest-profile individuals to be charged in connection with the 2008 financial crisis.

Mudd, 53, and Syron, 68, led the mortgage giants when the housing bubble burst in late 2006 and 2007. The four other top executives also worked for the companies during that time.

36 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:23:57pm

re: #35 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Goody!

37 Feline Fearless Leader  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:26:37pm

re: #35 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

US charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud

Are these the folks that Newt was so highly paid to advise?

38 Eventual Carrion  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:27:15pm

re: #35 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

US charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud

Historically I wonder what Newt has to say about this?

39 HappyWarrior  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:27:38pm

re: #37 oaktree

Are these the folks that Newt was so highly paid to advise?

Hey, hey he was a historian.

40 iossarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:28:03pm

re: #37 oaktree

Are these the folks that Newt was so highly paid to advise?

re: #38 RayFerd

Historically I wonder what Newt has to say about this?

"I advise you to take the money and run. Historically, this course of action has resulted in superior outcomes."

41 lawhawk  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:28:25pm

re: #35 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

More details. The SEC isn't suing Freddie or Fannie; the GSEs are cooperating with the SEC in exchange for information on the executives named in the civil suits for fraud. There's no prosecution of the GSEs involved here. There's also no criminal suit either (guess the SEC figured on a lesser burden of proof).

It's all about trying to clawback some amount of money as a result of misleading statements made by the officials about the status of the GSEs during the subprime mortgage mess. They claimed that their exposure to subprimes was far smaller than it truly was.

42 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:29:06pm

The Fannie thing kills Newt. He can 'splain all he wants; but, it kills him.

43 wrenchwench  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:30:17pm

re: #26 recusancy

It's so that everyone in your feed can read your tweet. If you start a tweet with @somebody it will only be seen by that person and people who follow both of you. It's a quick way to tweet at someone but still have everyone see the tweet.

Thanks!

44 wrenchwench  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:31:30pm

re: #30 SanFranciscoZionist

I just want to see him have to appear in court in pink underwear.

On his head.

45 Our Precious Bodily Fluids  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:36:00pm

Speaking of Enron, former CFO Andrew Fastow gets out of prison tomorrow.

46 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:48:01pm

re: #45 negativ

I wonder if he joined the Crips.

47 HappyWarrior  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:49:07pm

re: #46 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I wonder if he joined the Crips.

You know he wears a blue tie but he ain't a Crip though.
Shameless rip off of Empire State of Mind by Jay Z.

48 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:54:05pm

The Fannie Freddie thing is, IMHO, a play to calm people about prosecutions. There are bigger fish to fry that aren't being breaded or even sauteed.

49 nines09  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:55:50pm

Makes perfect sense. Create a "News and information site" that is parroting just what you pay it to, and use it to deceive. Call it Fox News Syndrome. Lie. Rinse. Repeat as needed until truth disappears. Same old, same old.

50 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 12:56:49pm

bbiab

51 lawhawk  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:00:00pm

re: #46 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Naw, he found solace working for Warden Samuel Norton. Kinda like another Andy [Dufresne]

52 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:03:38pm

re: #51 lawhawk

Gosh, I love that movie.

53 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:16:31pm
54 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:19:19pm

re: #53 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I've heard people on here touting the neti-pot.

Ewww

1st, use distilled water.

55 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:19:43pm

bbiab

56 Fat Bastard Vegetarian  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:19:49pm

re: #54 ggt

Still don't understand how waterboarding yourself can be fun.

57 Vicious Michigan Union Thug  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:20:15pm

re: #3 ralphieboy

It fits in well with the core GOP message: lower taxes, less regulation, more minimum wage jobs.

Oops, forgot GOP also wants to do away with minimum wage.

58 Vicious Michigan Union Thug  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:23:32pm

Wow, just got another spam email from "Americans for Prosperity" (another Koch front group)

Earlier this week, House Republicans passed a compromise package that extends the payroll tax holiday cut and begins rolling back the practically unlimited unemployment insurance benefits that our nation currently has. The legislation also continues fighting the job-killing Environmental Protection Agency's regulations and red tape that--in the name of Al Gore's global warming agenda--is driving up the cost of energy and stopping economic growth.

Congressman Fred Upton, from his position as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee has been a champion in this crucial effort to roll back the EPA's big government, job destroying regulatory assault. His work helped ensure that the EPA provisions, along with the energy producing and job creating Keystone Pipeline, was included in the final House GOP legislation.

Lastly, the legislation freezes the pay of federal bureaucrats while actually cutting back the number of federal employees -- both of which save tax dollars.

I want to take a moment to thank all of the AFP – Michigan activists that have reached out and urged Congressman Upton to do the right thing and rein in the EPA. AFP is only an effective organization when you get involved. Please take a moment out of your day to click here and thank Congressman Upton for his good work this year. It’s easy to tell a representative when you think they’ve done something wrong, but let’s take a moment to thank them too.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Senate now refuses to approve this commonsense package that the House put together. Instead Michigan’s Democratic senators, including Debbie Stabenow, are standing with President Obama and Harry Reid. They even refuse to let Congress vote on a bill to fund the government for next year until their demands are met. The House Republican legislation was not perfect but it was a step in the right direction.

Over the past year we’ve seen a crystal clear difference in leadership between Representative Upton and Senator Stabenow. Upton has been a champion fighting the EPA’s job-killing regulatory agenda, especially leading the charge against Obama going around Congress to regulate greenhouse gases. In contrast, Stabenow voted to block the commonsense Ryan Budget, refused to stand up to the FCC’s attempt to regulate the Internet, and she voted for every big spending package that eventually became law this year. The difference couldn’t be clearer.

Join me today by contacting Senator Stabenow and telling her to stand with Michiganders, not with President Obama and Harry Reid.

Sincerely,

Scott Hagerstrom
Michigan State Director
Americans for Prosperity

Fuck you, Scott Hagerstrom

I will be sure to write Sen. Stabenow thanking her for giving Scott Hagerstrom a sad.

59 Holidays are Family Fun Time  Fri, Dec 16, 2011 1:41:12pm

re: #56 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Still don't understand how waterboarding yourself can be fun.

It's not fun, it's refreshing. *ahhhhhh*

And it keeps me from getting sick.

60 wheat-dogghazi  Sat, Dec 17, 2011 12:32:58am

One thing the drill-baby-drill crowd fails to mention is the added cost of reaching those reserves will inevitably raise the price of oil for consumers. Not that they care about how it will affect the consumers ...

It's basic supply-and-demand. Basically, we are exhausting the easy-to-reach oil fields worldwide. As the supply dwindles, prices will rise. If oilcos want to stay in business, they will try to tap harder-to-reach fields, which will cost more money. They will raise prices to cover exploration. (Unless they get govt support/tax breaks, etc., and even then they'll still raise prices.)

The US depends on foreign oil because it has to. Buying foreign oil is cheaper than producing it ourselves. We all know what happens when oil prices go up -- everything gets more expensive, including food.

Of course, Gingrich and the others would prefer not to mention unpleasant facts like these.


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