Back in 2000, Bush severely criticized Clinton for letting the cost of oil run out of control. It was 28 bucks a barrell then. Now it's 128 bucks a barrell. Is the current state Bush's fault, or was he just full of caca back then? Those are the only two choices.

I'm sick of the war for oil, period.  *WE* were never meant to be its beneficiaries.

But I'm relatively "with" you on filling the strategic reserve.  There's a reason why that reserve is important, and soon filling easily-recoverable storage with $129-a-barrel oil is going to look like a good investment as it tops $200 a barrel.

 I agree with you RF. im sick of the war in general, lost one in already (RIP clay) have one friend that left for Iraq today and one that leaves in october. this war is pointless.

Pointless to *US*.  Bush's buddies are making a fortune.

It's time to end the war, but... 

Let's End the War (By Winning it)
Dr BLT copyright 2007
http://www.drblt.net/music/...

Let's end the war by realizing it's already over.  We're in the occupation phase right now, and an occupation cannot be won.

"Sure, let's keep working on it, but in the meantime, let's be realistic and take action that will produce real results, and if you aren't willing to take that course then you have, in my opinion, no right to complain about the price of anything. "

So agree with you or shut up? That's reasonable,sorta.

Your math is as faulty as your logic in this case, Motopoet. 70,000 barrels translates into 1,400,000 gallons of gasoline per day. Also, in the 1980s and early 1990s India and China were not nearly as significant purchasers  as they both are today. During the 1980s and early 1990s the dollar still was the coin of the realm, now displaced by the Euro while our currency assumes the role of the Yen.

I really do take exception to  your comment about pandering to environmentalists. I guess you must be the type of guy that loves to chew the air he breathes, while snacking on sludge remnants harvested from pesticides, anti-biotics and sewage runoffs that cultivate the crops and livestock today. I know you oppose the Humane Society's efforts in exposing diseased cattle that make their way into our school's lunch programs.  And you're no fan of PETA's efforts to expose despicable conditions in southern poultry slaughterhouses that have aired in various media.

So, we have no real democracy or any chance of it in Iraq. There were no WMDs. Iraq did not have any role in 9/11. The region is far more unstable today with heightening conflicts in Lebanon, as well as Iraq. And we are busy building walls to house the largest and most fortified foreign embassy in the world. We are all sick of this War for Oil!

And just how do we win it Doc?????

I don't think pom poms will be enough.

Antiex, BLT has shown us the way.  We ship him over to Bagdhad and he'll play music at them until they surrender.

But, random,

 Is it Over Yet?

Dr BLT

words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2008

http://www.drblt.net/music/...

It's not over, until future President McCain says it's over. 

If I thought me and my six-string weapon of mass construction were enough, random, I'd already be there.  The truth is, I'm going to need a little help from the U.S. forces and allied forces, with the Commander-in-Chief being McCain.  That's should get 'er done.  He predicts we'll wrap it up by 2013. 

PS: motopoet rocks!

Wind, Solar, Tide, Hydrothermal--all good sources of energy.  All of Iceland's energy needs are met by harnessing hydrothermal energy (of course, they sit on top of a volcano, so why not?)  Still, SOMEDAY the oil's going to run out, and maybe if we think ahead of the curve instead of fighting change, we can stay a superpower.  500 years ago conquering the world made a country powerful.  Europeans stormed into underdeveloped countries and immediately looked for precious natural resources (the people's free labor, if nothing else.)  The US isn't the only country thirsty for oil--economists say China and India's burgeoning economies are also a factor in rising oil prices.  While nuclear power is pretty efficient, I know there is another source of power, still undiscovered, that will change the way the world functions for centuries to come.  With excellent technical universities like Cal Tech and MIT, my hope is that this source of power is discovered in the US.  If it's discovered elsewhere (like oil was discovered in the middle east 100 years ago when the middle east was still a dusty dump,) I worry that our status as a superpower will forever be eclipsed.  Unless, of course, we declare war on that country.  : )

NO TIMETABLES DOC! You're giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

You're right.  I'm now saying 20 something instead of 2013.  We've got to leave a little to the imagination. 

I'm sure Jimmy McCain appreciates your advance support, BLT.  If his dad gets his way, we'll still be losing in Iraq by the time he advances to C-in-C.

I don't quite understand how producing oil from ANWAR, offshore California, and areas of the gulf of Mexico where it is currently not allowed is going to give us diseased cattle and despicable poultry slaughterhouses. And I don't expect to, or want to fly on any airliner powered by wind, solar, tide, or geothermal energy.  I'm confident that many, many people are working on an alternative energy source to replace petroleum based fuels.  In the meantime, we should be exploring and producing our own oil.  American oil companies are the most technologically advanced in the world and the US has some of the most stringent environmental restrictions in the world.  Most all the oil producing countries of the world from Russia to the Middle East to Africa to Mexico don't have near the environmental laws that we have because the government owns most of their production and doesn't like the way that stuff gets in the way of profits. If anyone cares about the global environment, they should want their petroleum based products produced in the most environmentally sound way.  And that can only happen in your own country.  One more thing, US oil fields the most reliable source of oil.  No embargoes, revolution's, or petty dictator rants will disrupt the flow.

If the war isn't about oil, then what is it about?  We're not even supposed to be in Iraq.   We're supposed to be hunting down Osama Bin Ladin - the mastermind behind the slaughter of American citizens on 9/11.  But, once we were in the middle east, Bush lied to congress and the American public about the WMDs.  He then caught Hussein.  So..why are we there?  We haven't given them a stable democracy.  We took out one bully and allowed twenty bullies to replace him.  And, still...Osama hasn't been found.  In over six years, this man has not been found by the world's top two militaries.  Stranger still...Bush doesn't seem to give a flip.  It was never about stopping terrorism.  It wasn't about getting justice for the Americans that died on 9/11.  So, why are we still in a war that has killed more Americans than 9/11?  Over 4,000 of our nation's military has been killed.  The military is soooooo tenuous that; if Osama attacked American soil again, we'd be standing there with thumbs up our who-ha's. 

Adam..you are, of course, correct about my math, but I stand by my logic. And still..when America consumes hundreds of millions of barrels a day in gasoline only(the other half of a barrel goes to everything else we use)1.5 million barrels a day wont make a dent in the prices just as the 300,000 more barrels a day Saudi Arabia promised to pump will do nothing. Say what you all like. Until we realize our untapped domestic reserves and build, or at least expand some refineries, nothing will change. Blame Bush, blame McCain, blame Francis Drake if it makes you feel better, but why the prices are where they are is really irrelevant at this point, is it not? Just like the war. 

I would also like to see a Bush Christmas card or party invitation list to see if Rex Tillerson or John Mulva are really Bush's buddies.

Sage..My point is that if you are unwilling to take, or at least support those steps, in regards to the oil problem, you can't complain about what's happening. It's like refusing to vote then bitching about who got elected.  WE have the means and the power to initiate REAL change. The idiots in charge are not going to take that initiative unless WE compell them to and whining and complaining and holding "No War for Oil" signs up at Stockdale and New Stine will not get the job done.

I don't expect everyone to see things the way I do and some of you make valid points which I respect, but the simple fact is that if all we, the American Public, do is continue to complain without taking action, NOTHING will change! Obama being elected will change NOTHING!  Bush is history and I say good riddance, but none of those poised to replace him have any viable plans to deal with oil prices OR to bring the war to an end.

Change can be a very good thing, but just as with the "New Kids on the Block" in the mid terms, I see no changes on the horizon, but rather now, as then, just more of the staus quo.

I don't care for political debates, but I have to tell you that "blaming the latest supernova on Bush" had me rolling on the floor laughing.

Thanks for making me smile.

Bush caused the latest Super Nova??? How ridiculous, everyone knows Chevrolet caused it....

Let me ask you this Moto: has demand tripled since 2001? Has US demand grown anything greater than 2 or 3% per year in the past 7? Were environmental regulations made three times more expensive to follow? Has oil become three times more difficult or expensive to extract, or refine?

No?

So why have oil prices tripled? Could it have something to do with the changes in the speculation markets that were instigated by this Administration? Could it have something to do with the increased instability caused by the invasion and occupation of oil-producing countries? Could it have something to do with the increased sales of SUVs made possible by lax CAFE standards? Expanding domestic production is a long-term "solution" for a problem fixed easily by shorter term demand-side solutions.

 Oil surpasses $135 a barrel on new supply concerns

Oil prices rose above $135 a barrel for the first time Thursday, with supply worries, global demand and an ever weakening U.S dollar driving crude futures up.

Also on Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the world's top energy watchdog is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast.

Crude prices breezed past $130 early Wednesday, then accelerated when the U.S. Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said U.S. crude inventories fell by more than 5 million barrels last week. Analysts had expected a modest increase.

While the dollar gained slightly against the euro and the Japanese yen from overnight levels, it fell against the British pound and showed a new downward momentum.

The 15-nation euro bought $1.5765 in morning European trading, down from $1.5780 in late New York trading Wednesday.

Many investors believe the dollar's protracted decline over the past year has been the most significant factor behind oil's rise from about $66 a barrel a year ago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

 Many investors believe the dollar's protracted decline over the past year has been the most significant factor behind oil's rise from about $66 a barrel a year ago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

$130 Oil Clinches It: Bush Really Is The Worst President Ever

As Congress holds panicked hearings to figure out what to do about the oil crisis--and, yes, it's now a full-blown crisis--it's worth stepping back and asking who really is most to blame. The answer shouldn't surprise anyone: George W. Bush.

True, the US blew its first opportunity to assemble an intelligent energy policy a quarter-century ago, when the 1970's oil crisis eased and early forays into sustainable energy were abandoned with the return to $20 oil. But by the end of the Clinton administration, the country was, slowly but surely, headed in the right direction again.

Should we lay all this at Bush's feet? Not all, but most. With respect to energy policy, the Bush administration's free-market gospel has, at best, caused us to lose another 8 years that could have been spent encouraging the private sector and American citizens to solve this problem. Oil is a finite resource, and the majority of it is under the control of people who hate our guts. So it's hard to argue that the current situation was unforeseeable.

Combine $130 oil--sorry, $132, up $2 since I started writing--with Iraq, government-sponsored torture, alienation of the rest of the world, and all those other Bush administration contributions to U.S. national pride, and the Worst President Ever argument gets stronger all the time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.c...

* Get ready for $15 gas (yes, $15), oil rationing, and crippled economies 

 An Oracle of Oil Predicts $200-a-Barrel Crude

Arjun N. Murti remembers the pain of the oil shocks of the 1970s. But he is bracing for something far worse now: He foresees a “super spike” — a price surge that will soon drive crude oil to $200 a barrel.

Mr. Murti, who has a bit of a green streak, is not bothered much by the prospect of even higher oil prices, figuring it might finally prompt America to become more energy efficient.

An analyst at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Murti has become the talk of the oil market by issuing one sensational forecast after another. A few years ago, rivals scoffed when he predicted oil would breach $100 a barrel. Few are laughing now

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...