The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

Finally some common sense

In a long overdue call, we now see the leaders of the GOP calling for additional drilling, exploration, refinaries and nuclear power plants. Instead of these fuzzy headed, hypothetical solutions of "renewable energy" which is completely unproven, let's do something in the interim to conceretely lower eenergy prices and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Our country runs on fossil fuels, our whole economy is driven (no pun intended) by it. We can't flip a switch and turn off our fosssil fuel thirst. So we can sit around and do nothing, or we can start building our infrastructure to meet oour energy needs while at the same time seeking more efficient means of providing the power we need.

This is probably the smartest and least politically pandering thing ever to come out of a politician's mouth...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo — Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030 and pledged $2 billion a year in federal funds “to make clean coal a reality,” measures designed to reduce dependence on foreign oil.

In a second straight day of campaigning devoted to the energy issue, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting also said the only time Democratic rival Barack Obama voted for a tax cut was for a “break for the oil companies.”

McCain said the 104 nuclear reactors currently operating around the country produce about 20 percent of the nation’s annual electricity needs.

“Every year, these reactors alone spare the atmosphere from the equivalent of nearly all auto emissions in America. Yet for all these benefits, we have not broken ground on a single nuclear plant in over thirty years,” he said. “And our manufacturing base to even construct these plants is almost gone.”

Even so, he said he would set the country on a course to build 45 new ones by 2030, with a longer-term goal of adding another 55 in the future.

“We will need to recover all the knowledge and skills that have been lost over three stagnant decades in a highly technical field,” he conceded.

Everyone hates nuclear energy and knows nothing about it. Worried about greenhouse gases? Build nuke plants and get tons of efficient electricity with virtually no greenhouse gas emissions. It works for the Frenchies, and if they can make it work, why can't we?

Meanwhile Newt Gingrich is calling, along with McCain and President Bush, for increased oil exploration and extraction in America.

Newt Gingrich Calls on Congress to Allow More Oil Drilling in the U.S.

DALLAS, Tex. — Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called on Congress to help ease our energy woes by allowing more drilling in the U.S., as President Bush released Wednesday a four-point plan to increase domestic fuel production.

"The problem is not the big oil companies, the problem is not the foreigners, the problem is not begging the Saudis," said Gingrich. "The problem is getting Congress to do its job."

Gingrich said that 73 percent of Americans support drilling in presently restricted areas of the U.S. if it is done in an environmentally friendly way.

Hey, here is a novel idea. Instead of being held hostage by unstable and hostile regimes because they hold all of the oil cards, maybe we should drill for our own offshore and in the vast regions of America where no one lives.

Think there is no difference between McCain and Obama? McCain wants us to become energy self-sufficient to maintain our standard of living. Obama wants to regulate ourselves into Third World status. McCain wants to generate safe and affordable energy. Obama wants to dictate what we can drive. Want to see what an Obama presidency will mean?

Urgent: House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries

House Democrats responded to President's Bush's call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live.

Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.

Welcome to the Glorious Workers Refinary Comrade! State control was a huge hit in the former Soviet Union. That would be great, put the same incompetent people who run the IRS in charge of refinaries. There is a solid energy policy. We need to start take concrete steps NOW, instead of wringing our collective hands and hoping for some miracle fix.

Drill and build