Bush: Americans clever enough to conserve gas on their own - Talk of the Town - talkofthetown's Blog - Bakersfield.com

Jul 15, 2008 at 02:07 PM : Now, Andrew,...

Now, Andrew, don't make fun of the chubby people who frequent In-N-Out (although I am continually amazed at the line in the drive-thru!). What this post proves to me is that just when I think Bush can't possibly make another inane comment, he does.

Jul 15, 2008 at 02:07 PM : Hey, way to insult the...

Hey, way to insult the chubby people Mockett. And FYI, thin people sit in their idling cars at In-N-Out too. Some are probably even stupid newspaper writers.

Jul 15, 2008 at 02:07 PM : Carter never thought...

Carter never thought we were intelligent enough to draw that conclusion. He reminded us of that almost every day. Of course, I was too young to care.

Jul 15, 2008 at 02:07 PM : I was pretty young...

I was pretty young myself, but I really doubt he told Americans every day that they weren't smart enough to conserve. Where do you get this stuff, Jaz McKay the whiny radio guy?

Jul 15, 2008 at 02:07 PM : More an observation...

More an observation than an insult, but point taken.

Jul 15, 2008 at 04:07 PM : If we in general are...

If we in general are smart enough to conserve, why were we not smart enough to avoid this mess? Being smart after something blows up in your face isn't really a great trophy to have.

Jul 15, 2008 at 04:07 PM : George also said that...

George also said that all we got to do is drill more oil but those mean boys in congress won't allow it. Telling Americans to conserve gas is not an effective energy policy. (That's not what I think, that's Ronald Reagan.) T. Boone Pickens is saying we're "not going to drill our way" out of this crisis. George doesn't have a comment for that. And I guess the ripple effect of higher food prices is convincing Americans to do what dietitians couldn't do: Persuade people to eat less. And with George's open border policy, we're learning to do what our high school foreign language teachers couldn't get us to do: Learn Spanish.

Jul 15, 2008 at 05:07 PM : "Carter never...

"Carter never thought we were intelligent enough to draw that conclusion. He reminded us of that almost every day."

And he was right, and it worked in the '70s. Unfortunately we didn't listen to the rest of his 10-point plan, or we'd not be having oil shortages.

Jul 15, 2008 at 07:07 PM : I wonder what the...

I wonder what the ratio of fatties to normies is at the In-N-Out drive-thru? I'll bet the blobs have it by at least 2:1. The slimmer people have the ability to get out of their cars and walk inside, whilst the rollos have to be pried out with crowbars once they get home, especially after a trip to In-N-Out. Drive by one some night and smell the fat calories...

Jul 15, 2008 at 07:07 PM : Btown, many are not...

Btown, many are not smart enough to conserve. The median IQ in The Valley is probably between 75-80, and the same knuckleheads in the same lowered Chevy trucks are still standing on it all over this valley, and complaining about the price of gas the entire time.

Jul 15, 2008 at 10:07 PM : Damn, In-and-Out is...

Damn, In-and-Out is sounding pretty good right now. Gonna jump in my Suburban and roll all across town...HA!!!

jbs- I'm a fatty, but I get out and walk in...so I can refill my soda while waiting, lol. And yes I get Diet whatever, the reasoning is if it spills, it doesn't get all sticky and messy. That I am serious about.

BTW, all the skinny people go to Chipotle, don't they?

Andrew, curious, if you are in your putt-putt, how can you tell that the big truck owners are chubby?

Jul 15, 2008 at 10:07 PM : Just pulled...

Just pulled this off of Drudge Report. Interesting.

Bush Says Drill, Drill, Drill — and Oil Drops $9! [Larry Kudlow]

In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136.

Now isn’t this interesting?

Democrats keep saying that it will take 10 years or longer to produce oil from the offshore areas. And they say that oil prices won’t decline for at least that long. And they, along with Obama and McCain, bash so-called oil speculators. And today we had a real-world example as to why they are wrong. All of them. Reid, Pelosi, Obama, McCain — all of them.

Traders took a look at a feisty and aggressive George Bush and started selling the market well before a single new drop of oil has been lifted. What does this tell us? Well, if Congress moves to seal the deal, oil prices will probably keep on falling. That’s the way traders work. They discount the future. Psychology and expectations can turn on a dime.

The congressional ban on offshore drilling expires September 30, so that becomes a key date. A new report from Wall Street research house Sanford C. Bernstein says that California actually could start producing new oil within one year if the moratorium were lifted. The California oil is under shallow water and already has been explored. Drilling platforms have been in place since before the moratorium. They’re talking about 10 billion barrels worth off the coast of California.

There’s also a “gang of 10” in the Senate, five Republicans and five Democrats, that is trying to work a compromise deal on lifting the moratorium. So it’s possible a lot of action on this front could occur much sooner than people seem to think.

So I repeat: Drill, drill, drill. Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry. Those hated traders will then keep selling oil as the laws of supply and demand and free markets keep working.

Bravo for Bush. Bravo for the traders.

Jul 15, 2008 at 10:07 PM : Many fat dudes are...

Many fat dudes are cool, like the rotund guys with a goatee and wraparound shades who wear tent-sized Hawaiian shirts. I've seen guys like that who were married to sexy, slinky babes...

Jul 15, 2008 at 11:07 PM : Deregulate, decontrol,...

Deregulate, decontrol, and unleash the American energy industry.

We tried that once. Remember Enron? We're still living with the legacy. http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977381269

"The [commodities] market is broken. It doesn't work. It is full of speculators and what they're interested in is to drive up the price. They don't give a rip about the damage to the economy," says Sen. Byron Dorgan (D) of North Dakota, who is chairing another hearing on speculation.

Many of these trades are exempt from CFTC oversight, and Congress is racing to pass laws to change that: The Enron loophole, the London loophole, the swaps loophole, among others, are on the blocks in bipartisan bills pending in both the House and Senate. (The Enron loophole to a 2000 law allows oil futures to be traded outside the jurisdiction of the CFTC.)

Jul 15, 2008 at 11:07 PM : jbs: Got the...

jbs: Got the goatee. Can't stand the wraparound's. And, hell no to Hawaiian shirts, lol. (Except for luau's, obviously) But, I do hang around with sexy, slinky babes, and hooked up with a few of them. Lucky me.

TomW: True, but I think that they (at least I hope they do) imply getting rid of all the red tape for everything. And you can bet your booty I wouldn't want another Enron. So, watch them like a chicken hawk!!! And just what is needed again....another hearing.

One interesting thing I heard today about all the hoopla about all the leases that the oil companies have is that they have rights to explore, but not produce. Don't know how true that is. So, who knows.

Jul 15, 2008 at 11:07 PM : Popeye: if you get rid...

Popeye: if you get rid of the regulations, what are you going to be watching for?

Jul 16, 2008 at 12:07 AM : Not getting rid of the...

Not getting rid of the regulations. Just the red tape crap. Watch the hell out of them!!

I believe in the regs, but not red tape. Maybe not "decontrol" per se, but definitely unleash.

But if you noticed, oil was going down...Iran shoots off some test missile's, and lo and behold, oil goes back up.

Jul 16, 2008 at 07:07 AM : Sorry, popeye, but...

Sorry, popeye, but you're enthusiasm is short of facing reality. Each barrel of oil translates to about 26 gallons of gas you put into your tank.

The Alaskan pipeline is transferring about 1/3 the oil it used to because the "easy" oil has been sucked out of the ground. Steam is being injected into the oil pools to extract remaining oil.

By contrast, bio-fuel costs about $50 a barrel to produce and the "crude" can be more effectively refined to gas. That with hybrid technology would help solve the energy crisis; drilling more oil at $150/bbl. is at best buying us time, and little of it. Anyone who calls it a solution is beyond naive.

This Talk of The Town blog is one of the dumbest I've read. As a blogger pointed out elsewhere on this site, "market forces" do not give a rat's tail about reducing single mothers on a minimum wage to destitution. Neither do speculators, moslems in camel land, or big oil execs making 100s of millions in bonuses. But, sadly, Andrew is not alone in his misguided logic.

Network news gave time to a major car dealership owner who parroted Andrew's blog. The energy crisis is a "good thing." Good for who? There is nothing good about our economy going down the toilet. There is no "up side" for the people losing their jobs while fuel and food skyrocket to the point of being a financial burden. The situation is a further indictment of George Bush's bumbling mismanagement of the country for the past 8 years. Maybe that's a "good thing."