MORE OIL?

In the usual obfuscative approach to problems, the halls of Washington are ringing with calls for the right to drill for more oil.

“Tap Anwar,” the Repulsicans cry. “We need the oil to offset foreign importation and strengthen our oil independence.”

“Stop Anwar drilling,” the Greens shout back. “There isn’t enough oil there to reduce our dependence on foreign supplies, and drilling in the Anwar will devastate the region’s ecology.”

So which side is telling the truth? The answer is that it doesn’t matter. What is going on is, as usual, a lot of under-the-table dealing.

The truth is that the United States doesn’t have the capacity to refine any more gasoline than it is already producing. The truth also includes the fact that the Anwar holds a very small percentage of our current oil usage level, so all the oil in the Anwar would make no appreciable dent in our foreign oil consumption. The truth is that even if we authorized oil production in the Anwar today, it would be several years before we saw any product from that region in our marketplaces.

The real under-the-table truth is that if we did authorize drilling in the Anwar, the end result would never be increased supplies of gasoline. The real result would be increased crude oil supplies for our petro-chemical industries to make use of at their leisure timed to maximize profits from that use.

The truth is exactly what George Bush said in one of the only truthful moments of his entire political career when he told us that America is addicted to oil. The truth is that the only way for America to become less dependent on foreign oil is for America to become less dependent on oil.

The truth is that the solution to the problem is up to you and me. Yes, the major oil companies are making huge profits at our expense, but they are just the sharks that swim on the reef we occupy. They aren’t any more vicious than any other corporation that swims in these waters. They just occupy a niche that, right now, puts us right in front of their gaping, greedy maws.

One thing is certain, though, and that is that allowing them to drill in the Anwar is not going to do you or me any good no matter which side of the political spectrum we stand on.

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” – Patrick Henry


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle