Thinking Right

By Cal

September 24, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this

Congratulations to Price, Westmoreland and Pence for finally waking up the do nothing congress to what the American people want.

By Churchill

September 24, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this

Today’s Paline editorial,, Jim is missing out, 2 days without Sandra does not a plesant week make..From the NYT.

I don’t agree with those muttering darkly that the picture of Gov. Sarah Palin with a perky smile and shapely gams posing with a pleased Henry Kissinger, famous for calling power the ultimate aphrodisiac, is a sign of the apocalypse.

It isn’t even a sign of the apocalipstick.

How the mighty 85-year-old Henry the K has fallen from his days chasing Jill St. John and running the world to his hour briefing of a 44-year-old Wasilla hockey mom who may end up running the world.

Governor Palin knows a lot about the End of Days from her years at the Pentecostal Wasilla Assembly of God, which had preached (after a war in the Middle East about light vanquishing darkness) that Alaska would be a shelter for Rapturous “saved” Christians at the end of times when they ascend to heaven.

Sarah was motorcading around Manhattan even as a “greed is good” Wall Street experienced an End of Days vibe while a world gone sour on America descended on the United Nations.

After losing its moral superiority abroad with phony evidence for attacking Iraq, the U.S. has now lost its moral superiority in the financial arena. Once more, W. took the ball, carried it off the cliff and went biking.

It’s hard to imagine that John McCain and Sarah Palin still want advice from the Unwise Man Kissinger. It’s sort of like villagers in those old movies who bring in the wizened witch doctor to shake a stick over them.

Doctor K prolonged the war in Vietnam to help Nixon get re-elected and then advised W. on Iraq that the only way to beat an insurgency and save face is to stick it out, no matter how many American kids and foreign civilians die.

Sarah speed-dated diplomacy on Tuesday. She had her very first national security briefing from the director of national intelligence and then went to a meeting with the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai. He thanked her for the help of the Alaskan National Guard in Afghanistan and told her about his young son, Mirwais, which means “the Light of the House.” Then she met with President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia.

Finally, Sarah huddled with Henry in his Park Avenue office, next to pictures of Ford and Reagan. The two made an odd couple: the last impure Rockefeller Republican and the first pure Rovian Republican, grown totally in the petri dish of cultural crusaderism.

Summoning his old Harvard teaching days, Kissinger surely looked for a common didactic starting point: She has seen Russia. “Goot. I haff seen it, too.”

(A senior Palin campaign aide told CBS News’s Scott Conroy that the governor’s foreign-policy experience was atmospheric, akin to the way someone from Miami might obtain a feel for Latin America. “It is very much being able to look off the tip of Alaska,” the aide said. “Metaphorically, I’m talking about.”)

Kissinger probably explained détente and Metternich to Palin, while she explained the Iditarod and moose carving to him.

They talked Russia, which is relevant.

Republicans, who have won so many elections painting Democrats as socialists and pinkos, have now done so much irresponsible deregulating and deficit spending that they have to avoid fiscal Armageddon by turning America into a socialist, pinko society with nationalized financial institutions and a financial czar accountable to no one and no law.

And Governor Palin spends so much time ostracizing reporters who might quiz her on NATO or the liquidity crunch that her press strategy is beginning to smack of Putin’s — but less lethal.

Even if she blows off the First Amendment — and lets McCain’s Rove, Steve Schmidt, demonize the press even though she disdains women politicians who whine — Bill Clinton is still a fan.

Besides talking about what a great man John McCain is on “The View” and “David Letterman,” Bill praised Palin at his Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York and will receive her there on Thursday.

“I come from Arkansas. I get why she is hot out there,” he said authoritatively, adding: “People look at her, and they say, ‘All those kids. Something that happens in everybody’s family. I’m glad she loves her daughter and she’s not ashamed of her. Glad that girl’s going around with her boyfriend. Glad they’re going to get married.’ ” He said voters would think: “I like that little Down syndrome kid. One of them lives down the street. They’re wonderful. … And I like the idea that this guy does those long-distance races. Stayed in the race for 500 miles with a broken arm. My kind of guy.”

On “The View,” he said he understood that some women might vote for Palin on the basis of gender, even if it was against their economic interest.

“You can’t tell someone else that the ground on which they make their voting decision is irrational,” he said primly.

Well, actually you could, if you weren’t still sulking and plotting for 2012.

By Redneck Convert

September 24, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this

Well, cheap gas at last! I just know our Patriotic oil cos. wouldn’t get that oil out of the ground and turn around and sell it on the world market where the US would have to bid on it with China and India. They will probly give us a good price break on it because they put Country over Profits.

Right now I’m more worryed about finding a place where I can fill up. Everyplace I go is out of gas. If this keeps up the roads will be lined with F-450s like mine, parked and out of gas.

So I say let our Patriotic oil cos. start drilling off of all the coasts. If some weenie sun bathers get a little extra oil on them, it’s a small price to pay for more gas. It won’t be long now till gas is down to a buck or so per gallon.

Have a good day everybody.

By Ga Values

September 24, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this

. Where our REPUBLICAN congressmen stand on the Bailout rip off of the taxpayer. As usual our Senators are owned by special interest RINOs, while our congressmen are REPUBLICANS.

REPUBLICANS

Sen. Saxby Chambliss: “We must do something because the cost of doing nothing is too great. You never want to see the government have to bail out certain entities, and this bill cannot become a Christmas tree for every special interest out there.”

Sen. Johnny Isakson: “I eagerly await the details of the legislation Treasury will propose. I believe congressional action is not only necessary but essential.”

Rep. Paul Broun of Athens: “I am extremely skeptical about the federal government nationalizing a huge section of our financial services. … Socialism has never worked and will not work.”

Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville: “I am cautiously optimistic, provided that appropriate reforms are attached.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey of Marietta: “All too often, when Congress tries to enact a ‘quick fix,’ it causes more harm than good. At the end of the day, we’ve got to make sure that if the federal government is going to spend $700 billion of taxpayer money, then it better be the right plan.”

Rep. John Linder of Duluth declined to comment “until he sees a final proposal,” a spokesman said.

Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah: “I’m leaning against it. I want to learn more about it. My problem is we’re told it’s a disaster if we don’t do this, but nobody has defined what that means.”

Rep. Tom Price of Roswell: “The gravity of this situation cannot be understated, and I am working diligently to ensure the taxpayer is protected.”

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County: “I get that there’s a crisis. I get that there’s urgency. But we need to slow up and put this through subcommittee, then committee, then the full House, where it needs to be open to amendments. … If this is rushed through without scrutiny, I will oppose this bill.”

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

September 24, 2008 8:35 AM | Link to this

Saxby got $1,332,000.00 from Banks, Real Estate, & Insurance Companies.. Guess they get the X’mas tree & the taxpayer gets the SHAFT. McCain says Country FIRST, Saxby Chambliss says LOBBYIST FIRST

By Ray

September 24, 2008 8:38 AM | Link to this

It’s about time that someone in that limp d* organization took a stand and started representing the interests of the electorate and not themselves. Most are lawyers, some even Harvard educated like the Annointed One but have a lower approval rating than most any Congress in history. But those stupid sheeple in San Francisco will probably put Nancy back into the House. After carefully pondering the story of the UFO landing in the middle of that sheep herd outside of San Francisco, it is my true belief that Pelosi was born nine months later as earlier reported. Looks like that UFO must have landed in lots of other places too.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 8:50 AM | Link to this

Good morning all. The first strand in the Gordian knot is cut, although we can rely on democrats to attempt to restore it, with reinforcement, in the next Congress. As Georgians (and indeed almost everyone in the SouthEast) discovered last week, sufficient oil supplies alone do not ensure adequate supplies of gasoline. 30 years of environmental restrictions have made new construction of new oil refineries uneconomic, and when oil refineries – seemingly all in Texas - go offline, no gasoline is delivered. And when environmental restrictions require minuscule differences in gasoline from region to region, sometimes tight supplies in refined product leave some areas high and dry.

Of course our energy needs extend well beyond the short-term oil difficulties. Coal is either favored or disfavored by the Obamacrats – depends on who is talking – and nuclear is seemingly off the table, although those are easily the cheapest and cleanest and safest and most reliable long-term sources of electricity. For reasons beyond my understanding the lunacrats are determined to divert large portions of the treasury into the pockets of pie-in-the-sky leftist developers of unreliable/irregular sources of energy (solar and wind and geothermal), or to divert our food sources into corrosive forms of energy, raising revenues for Archer Midland Daniels and food prices for the nation’s housewives.

In an unrelated context, Dr. Walter E. Williams conjoins relevant quotes by two thinkers:

H. L. Mencken: “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed, and hence clamorous to be led to safety, by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Tom Sowell: “We don’t look to arsonists to put out fires that they’ve created; neither should we look to Congress to solve the problems they’ve created.”

By Just Nasty and Mean

September 24, 2008 8:53 AM | Link to this

G’mornin JIm, et al,

The expiration of the exploration ban says something. Sometimes we forget that the best thing our government leaders can do is…do nothing! They make better decisions doing nothing but standing on the sidelines with their thumb up their butts than actually doing what they call…work.

What has brought us to this place in our financial markets and energy is…to a very large degree, because of political meddling in the free market economy. No sane person can deny that Fannie and Freddie—extensions of our government—weren’t used as political instruments for socialization of our country.

The financial markets crisis and debacle has changed the focus from our demanding energy needs—both long and short term. Hopefully, Price, Westmoreland will keep up the visibility to get the USA off the middle eastern t** and on to more domestic production. You’d have to be an imbecile or a complete empty suit (Obama—hello?). to not recognize this is an dire economic and national security issue.

There can be no doubt that being on the wrong side of this issue says more about being a partisan political hack carrying Nancy Pelosi’s water than what is good for America.

By Felix

September 24, 2008 9:24 AM | Link to this

Well, that should take the GOP wedge issue of this election away, but I’m sure they’ll find something else.

The governor of Alaska has raised taxes so much the oil companies don’t want to drill there.

By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST

September 24, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

Saxby’s son Bo is a LOBBYIST for the Chicago Merc. Board. Saxby’s Gang of 10 TRAITORS bill contained massive subsidies for the CORN bases ETHANOL industry. 1+1=2. . Saxby did the Same thing on his farm bill which contained among other things $437 Million in subsidies to RACEHORSES, a $1.1 BILLION bail out for NYC land speculators with a total of over $20 Billion of pork.President Bush vetoed this waste 3 times but Saxby worked with OBAMA, Kennedy, Reid & Pelosi to over ride this veto McCain says country First, Saxby says LOBBYIST first

By Ray

September 24, 2008 9:27 AM | Link to this

Why is America on a self destruct mode? We sell our real estate to the highest bidder, no matter the nationality, one of the few countries in the world that allows that to occur. We sell our domestically produced energy on the world market for a profit when it is the life blood of our economy. We join free trade agreements that allow our jobs to slip away in the dark. We do not guard our borders and allow countless numbers of foreigners to enter our country illegally, not matter whether or not they create gangs and crime that bleeds us of our resources. We loan money to a bunch of people who cannot afford to pay it back and then demand, sometimes with stern warnings, that the taxpayer must pick up the tab or we will self destruct. Our lawmakers sit on their collective a**es and watch it all happening like Nero watching Rome burn and worry about their re-election more than carrying out the business of the people. The media stokes the fires by painting a panic mode picture of events to sell air time, denture adhesives and newspapers to a public in panic instead of giving a true, unbiased view of events so that thinking Americans can make rational decisions about their future. This is not the America of my youth…… not by a long shot.

By The Oddball

September 24, 2008 9:29 AM | Link to this

In fifty years, countries with no oil reserves of their own will be beggars, their economies at the mercy of the countries that still have oil.

We should not be in a hurry to “drill, baby, drill.” Bahrain has depleted its reserves — guess what’s about to happen to its standing in the world? Let’s reduce consumption, buy the other countries’ oil now, and save our reserves for the future.

By Mid-South Philosopher

September 24, 2008 9:31 AM | Link to this

Good morning, Jim,

Now we shall see where the rubber meets the road. The Corporatist dominated oil companies will have no excuse not to develop cheaper sources of oil production within (according to Hannity and Bortz) five years!

And if you believe that will happen, I want to sell you my shark farm in central Kansas.

Have a good day, but, remember

Don’t re-elect anybody!

By Osiris

September 24, 2008 9:32 AM | Link to this

From my understanding, even if they started drilling and exploring for oil and gas today, it would not hit the market for 10+ years, so why is everyone so happy. This will do absolutely nothing for our current problems. Also the level of production will at best be small compared to the average cosumption of America. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against drilling but at the same time we do need to look for alternatives or we’re going to be stuck in this situation again, at the mercy of foreign oil companies. I think that this is a knee jerk reaction designed to calm the public but with no real substance behind it. When are real solutions going to be explored.

By Southern Democrat

September 24, 2008 9:37 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wooten’s column today simply makes me sad.

My good friend Jbmlaw correctly points out the lunacy of not investing in nuclear power plants as a safe and non-greenhouse gas emitting source of energy. He also laments environmental restrictions on refineries. Of course, he neglects to mention the tax protections and subsidies given to petroleum companies who, along with the OPEC cabal, have manipulated markets to their own advantage for 50 years.

Further, the “drill, baby, drill” mantra is insulting to Americans. Offshore drilling as a short term solution is, simply put, a terrible idea. Putting the environmental concerns aside, it still makes zero sense. It costs too much and the results are far from certain; for a helpful analogy, ask our European friends if their North Sea expeditions have created energy independence and/or drastically brought down oil prices. Of course not, because oil is a globally traded commodity.

If we truly wanted a short term, cost effective solution, we would look to Mexico (which is privatizing Pemex) or to the Canadian oil sands which are abhorrent environmentally but effective. Of course, that would mean that we might have to live up to our NAFTA responsibilities (a la softwood lumber dispute with Canada).

Finally, for those of us who grew up in the South, Rep. Westmoreland’s labeling of Senator Obama as “uppity” made me absolutely cringe… it is this sort of thinly-veiled “code” that I hear every day from well-educated people that makes me realize that despite enormous strides, we still have a long way to go before we eradicate racism.

It truly amazes me how often Americans

By collinsb

September 24, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

The headline and the tone of this article is mind-blowing. I mean, seriously? I understand this is a conservative commentary, but taking something like offshore drilling and turning it into a “you’re with us or against us” type policy? What on earth do you think this is going to do to help America and americans? I don’t need to parrott back the studies showing that if this has any impact at all, it won’t be for many years. Does this address refining capacity at all?

I mean, I’m curious if you even acknowledge the real and potential downsides to this, both from an environmental standpoint and from a this-does-nothing-to-address-our-dependance-on-a-non-renewable-resource-that-causes-wars standpoint. I’m not saying you need to be a tree-hugging environmentalist, but good grief. The idea that “Drill Baby, Drill” is some sort of cheer-worthy mantra, hell, that you actually typed it out and were serious….

One gets the idea that the citizens of this country are more divided than ever when even the most suspect policies of the respective parties are taken up by the every-men of this country as a personal crusade.

Good luck with it, though. I hope that at some point the results of this, whether in the long or short term, justify your excitement over it now.

Drill Baby, Drill? REALLY?

By KnowItAll

September 24, 2008 9:42 AM | Link to this

Oddball @ 9:29

So, what you are saying is we should continue the transfer of $700B/yr to foreign governments, depleting value to our dollar, lowering US standard of living, impacting the job market, raising food and other product prices based on oil…..RIGHT???

Using your strategy, our economy will be wrecked in less than 10 years! When we are broke and our economy on its A$$, who needs oil then?

I totally agree we should use, research and pursue ALL forms of energy (although I have a particular problem with using our food for fuel (Ethanol), conservation etc., but to keep our oil in the ground while we develop alternatives is simply DUMB.

Oddball, please don’t vote this November. I am not sure you have the cognitive ability to be qualified.

By Kris

September 24, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

Those who think we can drill our way out of high crude oil prices are delusional. Oil is a limited and finite resource, and we don’t have enough of it left in the USA to make a difference. This is the proverbial drop in the bucket.

We do have plenty of oil shale, but you can’t drill to get it. It has to be mined. Extraction of usable oil from shale is much more expensive than pumping crude from the ground.

-K

By Ted Striker

September 24, 2008 9:55 AM | Link to this

Saying offshore drilling will solve the energy crisis is like saying someone could live at the bottom of the ocean if they took down an oversized oxygen tank.

By ron

September 24, 2008 10:02 AM | Link to this

It was easy for the do nothing Congress to do nothing and let the drilling ban expire.That’s why it happened.Now,drill some holes boys.I don’t think it will be that much help,but it certainly can’t hurt.

Electricity produced by nuclear reaction is the way of the future,or there’s not going to be a future.If we start building now,it won’t be any too soon.I want an elecrtic car.I want everyone to have one.I also need one I can afford.That certainly isn’t the $109,000 Tesla.Snappy car though.A step in the right direction.

The Tesla is better than Redneck’s puny F-450.

By Copyleft

September 24, 2008 10:06 AM | Link to this

In an odd way, Sowell is half-right this time—no doubt by accident.

It WOULD be foolish to put the “no oversight, no regulation” crowd in Congress in charge of a bailout, or indeed anything that our fascist friends on the right have screwed up.

Rather, we need to put an active Congress firmly in control of these misbehaving corporations and their tools and dupes in the fascist party—whoops, I mean Republican party. And November offers a dandy opportunity to do just that.

By BS Aplenty

September 24, 2008 10:08 AM | Link to this

Why Barack Obama Should Not be President

Barack Obama attended the Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois, for almost twenty years. Attended, taught, learned, worshipped and sang along with his wife and children until his abrupt resignation in May 2008. That resignation was brought about due to heightened national awareness of the “nature” of Obama’s congregation. That nature being brought into sharp focus by unsavory sermon tapes of former TUCC minister, Jeremiah Wright. But for all the bluster and ignorance reflected in his sermons, Wright’s ranting from the pulpit only hinted at a deeper, more troubling truth about TUCC and Obama

What is it that made TUCC such a political liability to the first African-American nominated by a major political party? The answer to that question lies in the doctrine and teachings of TUCC. In short, this congregation, unlike ANY other United Church of Christ church in the United States, adopted, endorsed and actively promotes the doctrine and teachings of James H. Cone. Cone systematized what has been called black liberation theology as outlined in his two books, the first entitled, Black Theology and Black Power and a follow-on, A Black Theology of Liberation. These are the only two books sold by the Trinity United Church of Christ on its website. TUCC doesn’t sell or give away the BIBLE on its website – a circumstance one finds very telling.

The two books mentioned are, to say the least, “interesting” reads. Black Theology and Black Power is the seminal work on black liberation theology and A Black Theology of Liberation is a follow-up. Cone viewed his theology as, “…complete emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary. So-called (white) Christianity, as commonly practiced in the United States, is actually the racist Antichrist.” “Theologically,” Cone affirms, “Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man ‘the devil’.” And, there’s more - much more - but one gets the picture.

So there you have it, the principal doctrine endorsed and promoted by the Trinity United Church of Christ teaches the overtly racist sentiments of James H. Cone. The preaching and “ignorance”, as some say, of Wright is shown to be symptomatic of that larger racism and neglects to see that the entire TUCC congregation accepts the doctrine of Cone under the guise of a Christian church. Wright was just a mouthpiece, it’s the congregation, including Obama, which endorsed and promotes this racist doctrine.

ANY person or group that attempts to systematically demonize another group because of race is, by definition, RACIST.

Needless to say for Obama and his presidential campaign by May 2008 the ‘cat was out of the bag’. And, after twenty years of commitment to TUCC, Barack Obama finally, cynically made a decision to leave. A decision his avid campaign supporter, Oprah Winfrey, made several years earlier as she cynically managed a business agenda of her own. One would have to be naïve not to understand the motivation behind both departures. Nor is it much of a political stretch to acknowledge the release of these sermon tapes focused attention on the fall-guy, Wright, while diverting a direct, and potentially, campaign-ending blow to Obama.

What one is left after all the media lights have dimmed is this unsettling fact. For twenty years Barack Obama accepted the racist doctrine of his church – twenty years. And, only when this inconvenient truth was brought to national light did he decide that maybe that doctrine was no longer acceptable.

I give you the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

By Tray

September 24, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this

You know, I get tired of hearing “It’ll take 10+ years…”

You know, top analysts are saying 5 to 10, and let’s look at some scenarios:

1)We don’t drill, in 10 years gas costs $7.00 a gallon…

2)We drill, in 10 years gas cost $4.00 a gallon…

I truly don’t see where the problem is. It might not affect us now, but in the future, prices will be cheaper, and there’s no denying that. On top of all of that, we can sell to other countries at the damn ridiculous prices they sell to us, and we’ll make billions! Have you seen the hotels and fortunes in Dubai?? Where do they get their money for multi-billion dollar islands/hotels? From your hardworking American neighbor!

Gas at American prices in Saudi Arabia/Kuwait are about $0.90 a gallon-wouldn’t you like paying that in 5 to 10? (i know i said $4 above, but this number is actually quite closer, just the igno. Demo’s wouldn’t understand)!

By cro-mag

September 24, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

Typewriters, baby, typewriters!

By Dean

September 24, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

Trust me. Offshore drilling won’t do anything to help you ar me. That gas will just be shipped off to the highest bidder over seas. And we will have more pollution for our troubles. When will we learn to conserve. Funny, the term conserve and Conservative pollotician are at extreme odds with one another. Maybe we should call them Liberal spenders with no tax base who have conservative family values for their pregnant teenage daughters.

By contrary to Krispy's Creme

September 24, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

Even more intriguing is evidence that several oil reservoirs around the globe are refilling themselves, such as the Eugene Island reservoir – not from the sides, as would be expected from cocurrent organic reservoirs, but from the bottom up.

Dr. Gold strongly believes that oil is a “renewable, primordial soup continually manufactured by the Earth under ultrahot conditions and tremendous pressures. As this substance migrates toward the surface, it is attached by bacteria, making it appear to have an organic origin dating back to the dinosaurs.”

By Do the Math

September 24, 2008 10:17 AM | Link to this

Don’t bail out the banks.

Don’t bail out the drivers of SUVs that chose to live 1 hour from work.

Let the markets correct these mistakes not government.

Republicans are hypocrites!

By mike

September 24, 2008 10:26 AM | Link to this

what a joke. It is sad that everyone thinks the offshore drilling will make that much of a difference. The only short-term is psychology of futures markets and sell off of oil causing oil prices to slide. It has nothing to do with supply.

I love how the underlying bill includes $25 billion in loans for Detroit automakers in addition to keeping the government open past the Oct. 1 start of the 2009 budget year. At this rate of spending and the $700 billion credit handouts, I doubt the government stays open past 2009.

By Republican American

September 24, 2008 10:28 AM | Link to this

Say it again, Wooten! Drill, baby DRILL! For those of you who want The T-shirt, you can find it here. Wore mine to the high school football game on Friday night. It’s a crowd pleaser!

By Atlguy

September 24, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this

How is increasing the amount of drilling land going to help us when less than 10% of current drilling leases are being used? This is nothing more than an effort by the oil companies to get unrestricted access to the ocean floor.

Accessing these beds will have no impact on the price of oil.

By ProudRepublican!

September 24, 2008 10:31 AM | Link to this

Its about time that this do nothing DemocRAT congress got something done and got us some oil! Now that we are going to drill, gas will be real cheap. I bet it will be $1.00 a gallon next week and it will stay that way for ever.

I’m sure lots of democrats wouldn’t like that but your stupid and they hate America!

By collinsb

September 24, 2008 10:39 AM | Link to this

“I truly don’t see where the problem is. It might not affect us now, but in the future, prices will be cheaper, and there’s no denying that.”

Wow. I’m not even a geo-scientist or anything, but there is a LOT of denying that.

To say that you really think the difference in prices between drilling and not drilling 10 years from now will be 75% is bold. You really think that price will be $4.00 in 10 years if we drill???? To say you really really think the prices will be more like $0.90, but Democrats are too ignorant to understand is some outright kool-aid drinking delusion. And Dubai is the benchmark we want to compare ourselves to??????

Put aside the democrat-republican crap and think about this logically man. Oil is a non-renewable resource. In ten years the price will NOT go down, unless by then we have so altered our way of life that there is way less demand.

You talk about Dubai and how rich they are. What about Exxon? They are doing pretty well, too. Who is it we are trying to help here, those companies, or ourselves? Hopefully, we all understand at this point it is one or the other. It ain’t trickling down man.

By JackC

September 24, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

Typical knee-jerk reaction that allows the political circle-jerk to continue.

By Dean

September 24, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

We should just trust them to do the right thing. Anyway, they were right about the Iraq War and the Economy. Right?

By WTF

September 24, 2008 10:46 AM | Link to this

I’ve got nothing against drilling… but that oil will not belong to America. It will belong to oil companies who will add it to their pool of oil worldwide. The more that burgeoning economies like China and India gobble up oil, the more oil from our shores will go to feed their needs. So drill all you want, SHELL, EXXON and their friends will just tanker it up and ship it overseas.

By Road Scholar

September 24, 2008 10:48 AM | Link to this

So we’re gonna drill and it will take over 7 years to make a difference in the price of gas….then. in the meantime, China and India are unleashing their economy growth which is based on the American model; their use of oil will continue to skyrocket affecting the rise in gas costs.

What is the status of the renewable energy legislation which will, at a minimum, would renew the tax incentives for renewable and abundant wid and solar power? What about a national goal to establish a new electrical grid to handle the power needed in the future?

By Road Scholar

September 24, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

So we’re gonna drill and it will take over 7 years to make a difference in the price of gas….then. in the meantime, China and India are unleashing their economy growth which is based on the American model; their use of oil will continue to skyrocket affecting the rise in gas costs.

What is the status of the renewable energy legislation which will, at a minimum, would renew the tax incentives for renewable and abundant wid and solar power? What about a national goal to establish a new electrical grid to handle the power needed in the future? Plan Baby Plan!

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 10:49 AM | Link to this

Dear Southern @ 9:37, we agree on enough that I feel no need to magnify our differences. Nuke now, nuke often. Perhaps you will view my affection for drilling as something like the laetrile controversy of the 1960s. You will recall that laetrile was a mildly poisonous derivative of apricot and/or peach pits, and there were some people associated with John Birchers who promoted the substance as a cure for cancer. FDA forbad sale of the substance as quackery, which it probably was. Of course the controversy passed, not due to the superior wisdom of the overlords at FDA, but because of the wisdom of the market – word got around that it really did not work and only parenthetically that the government bureaucrats were right for once. I see the drilling controversy the same way – the Congressional overlords forbid the market to work, when the market is perfectly adequate to answer the question, “will drilling help?” Why not?

By Cornbread Fred

September 24, 2008 10:50 AM | Link to this

While some constructive thought shines through I see the usual partisan bickering and finger-pointing. Trying to prove that Darwin was right, folks?

By Road Scholar

September 24, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this

So we’re gonna drill and it will take over 7 years to make a difference in the price of gas….then. in the meantime, China and India are unleashing their economy growth which is based on the American model; their use of oil will continue to skyrocket affecting the rise in gas costs.

What is the status of the renewable energy legislation which will, at a minimum, would renew the tax incentives for renewable and abundant wid and solar power? What about a national goal to establish a new electrical grid to handle the power needed in the future? Plan Baby Plan!

By steve walsh

September 24, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this

How does drilling for more help the American consumer when it will be sold to the highest bidder-most likely, China or India?

By Devastator

September 24, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has created a financial crisis as profound as any we have faced since the Great Depression.

Congress and the President are debating a bailout of our financial institutions with a price tag of $700 billion or more in taxpayer dollars. We cannot underestimate our responsibility in taking such an enormous step.

Whatever shape our recovery plan takes, it must be guided by core principles of fairness, balance, and responsibility to one another.

Please sign on to show your support for an economic recovery plan based on the following:

• No Golden Parachutes — Taxpayer dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible Wall Street executives who helmed this disaster.

• Main Street, Not Just Wall Street — Any bailout plan must include a payback strategy for taxpayers who are footing the bill and aid to innocent homeowners who are facing foreclosure.

• Bipartisan Oversight — The staggering amount of taxpayer money involved demands a bipartisan board to ensure accountability and oversight.

Show your support and encourage your friends and family to join you:

http://my.barackobama.com/ourplan

The failed economic policies and the same corrupt culture that led us into this mess will not help get us out of it. We need to get to work immediately on reforming the broken government — and the broken politics — that allowed this crisis to happen in the first place.

And we have to understand that a recovery package is just the beginning. We have a plan that will guarantee our long-term prosperity — including tax cuts for 95 percent of families, an economic stimulus package that creates millions of new jobs and leads us towards energy independence, and health care that is affordable to every American.

It won’t be easy. The kind of change we’re looking for never is.

But if we work together and stand by these principles, we can get through this crisis and emerge a stronger nation.

Thank you,

Barack

By Rayray

September 24, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this

Drill baby drill!!!!! Yes!!!! I cannot wait to see what the oil companies do with what oil they do find. I guess that most Americans think that Exxon et al will simply sell it directly to we Americans at a lower price than on the world market. Yeah right. 5 years from now when oil is in even more demand from emerging economies such as China and India, prices will reflect that demand. But of course the oil found off our shores will only be sold to us at some sort of “home team” discount. So while the world buys and sells at say 130-160 a barrel in 2013, we will be paying say….50 bucks because our American based companies are only concerned with Americans and Americans well being. Are you DBDrill people economically ignorant or just plain stupid. The bottom line is that we can drill all we want, but 2 things will remain constant: demand will continue to increase at home and abroad and the price of oil will continue to rise. Unless we nationalize our oil companies, there will be no drop in price. Remember 1 billion Chinese people dont have a car. A few Indians will want one too. So drill all we want, I am cool with that, but don’t lie and say its going to help us one bit. Unless you own stock in Exxon, Chevron etc.

By jm

September 24, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this

I wonder why Mr. Wooten and others are not asking what was in those secret energy meetings that Vice President Cheney held a few years back. Makes me wonder if some of these shortages are artificial, kind of like the ones that his pals at Enron helped create in California.

By Dean

September 24, 2008 11:09 AM | Link to this

That sounds great Barack but when i go to your website you do not offer any suggestions to how in the world your going to make this happen. You and McCain treat us all like idiots!

By The Oddball

September 24, 2008 11:25 AM | Link to this

KnowItAll:

Be assured that the Oddball will vote this November.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Dear Steve @ 10:54, you ask a good question, “How does drilling for more help the American consumer when it will be sold to the highest bidder-most likely, China or India?” Disregarding the specifics of your question, the answer is purely economic. Oil is fungible. Increase of any fungible supply anywhere in the world affects price everywhere in the world. Oil is a particularly inelastic-demand market; even the smallest surplus in supply has a powerful dampening effect on price everywhere, and even the smallest deficiency in supply has a powerful augmenting effect on price everywhere. Thus the Alaskan oil had/has a beneficial effect on US prices even though virtually all has always been sold to Japan.

Spamalert @ 10:57.

By Algonquin J. Calhoun

September 24, 2008 11:34 AM | Link to this

Jim, you, as a Republinazi mouthpiece, know very well that Westmoreland and the rest of the Reich are only grandstanding to distract the American public. Why don’t you write about how the Republinazi Fuhrer has negotiated a deal with the Iraqis to keep our troops there through 2011 to help Mc Shame get elected? Instead, you write about showboating b****** you know to be of no significance. How much does the Republinazi Party pay you to be their dedicated hack?

By michelle

September 24, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

good f’ing grief, wooten’s viagra has worked because he can’t stop ejaculating from the news.

here’s to realistic thinking that not one drop of domestic oil goes into a domestic tank. eat crow republicans. eat crow.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 11:45 AM | Link to this

Just in case any of you missed Joe Biden’s horrible, no-good, very bad day (9/22) here is Taranto’s funny essay on Biden’s day:

The hits keep on coming from Barack Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden.

Yesterday Biden sat for an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News. He acknowledged that “a campaign ad that mocked Republican presidential candidate John McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate was ‘terrible’ and would not have been done had he known about it,” the Associated Press reports: “I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.

Asked why it was done, he said: “I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we’d have never done it.”

Blogress Michelle Malkin notes that Biden also told Couric, “When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the princes of greed. He said, ‘look, here’s what happened.’ “

The stock market crashed Oct. 29, 1929. FDR became president March 4, 1933. According to the Information Please Almanac, FDR made his first television appearance April 30, 1939.

Biden has also been contradicting Obama on key topics. Politico’s Mike Allen reports on an Obama interview with erstwhile Couric colleague Matt Lauer of NBC’s “Today”:

The Democrat attacked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for initially opposing the federal government’s intervention to save insurance giant AIG.

“I think what has been clear during this entire past 10 days is John McCain has not had clarity and a grasp on the situation,” Obama [said].

But Lauer pointed out that Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), had initially said the same thing—on “Today,” no less.

“I think that in that situation, I think Joe should have waited, as well,” Obama said.

Politico’s Ben Smith finds video of Biden disagreeing with Obama on energy policy as well:

He was asked by an anti-pollution campaigner about clean coal—a controversial approach in Democratic circles for which Obama has voiced support, particularly during the Kentucky primary.

Biden’s apparent answer: He supports clean coal for China, but not for the United States.

“No coal plants here in America,” he said. “Build them, if they’re going to build them, over there. Make them clean.” “We’re not supporting clean coal,” he said of himself and Obama. They do, on paper, support clean coal.

The answer seems to play into John McCain’s case that Obama has been saying “no” to new sources of energy. That ought to be helpful in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Washington Post reports that the Obama campaign has released a statement attributed to Biden “walking back” the criticism of the Obama ad making fun of McCain’s disabilities: “Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain’s ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize,” Biden supposedly said.

By CJ

September 24, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this

Wooten: “…it is a great day for those who believe, as John McCain does, that oil and gas exploration should be allowed in promising areas along the Outer Continental Shelf.”

And it’s a sad day for our food chain and water supply.

The people of Atlanta are not far from becoming water refugees, but at least we’ll have enough gas in our cars to take us from one desert to another for an additional three or four years.

By Goober

September 24, 2008 11:52 AM | Link to this

That’s my motto: Drill and Fill. And let’s stop accepting excuses like “My power was off,” or “My water was off” from the big, bad oil guys like they worked at Wendy’s. They need to put their big boy drawers on and do their jobs.

By Not an Idiot

September 24, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this

Drill baby drill doesn’t get the job done. At most a pipeline by 2025 will give us 1-2% of our oil. This will reduce prices by a few cents. I am surprised that the republicans don’t get it. However, even Democrats could support drilling. There was a good editorial in the NY Times that showed how drilling could help conservation. The ony way to get out from the burden of foreign oil is alternative fuels and alternative energy. Only Obama has presented a real plan.

By ron

September 24, 2008 12:16 PM | Link to this

Last night I heard Pelosi put forth her proposal on CEO compensation and for once I had to agree with her.I hate that.

The drilling can’t start until October,can it?By then we’ll know about the Administration’s bail out plan.If I have to bail them out,I want their hides nailed to the barn door.Make no mistake about that.

According to Bookman,I need to stop filling up my gas tank on a weekly basis and let it run empty so everyone will have gas at the pumps.O.k.,this week I’ll only put in 6 gallons.That will do me just fine.I’ll check my tire pressure too.

Is anyone going to buy stock in drill bit companies?

By Tomhere

September 24, 2008 12:18 PM | Link to this

SECTION EIGHT: NO LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT. NO JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT.

This is radical extremist language that negates the three-branch system of government that our nation is based on.

It nullifies and defies the Constitution WHICH ALL PARTIES INVOLVED HAVE SWORN A PUBLIC OATH TO PROTECT AND DEFEND.

Whoever came up with this language needs to be removed from Washington POST HASTE.

They need to be charged and tried for treason.

JANUARY 20th PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL START THE PROCESS OF “TAKING OUT” the TRASH in Washington.

By Amy in the ATL

September 24, 2008 12:32 PM | Link to this

First of all, I think before we do any vote on expanding oil drilling, we need to make sure the US gets PAID for millions in unpaid fees for drilling on public land by some of the same oil companies who stand to benefit from lifting bans on offshore drilling. I also think that we should require that a portion of the profit from drilling offshore or on public lands gets spend on R&D development of alternative fuels….algae, wind power, whatever.

And while all you right wingers are fussing about Big G Democrats, I would like to point out that the cost of bailing out poorly-regulated financial sector is going to be $2293 per man, woman and child in the U.S. And I’ll tell you what, I could have found lot better ways for my family to spend $9172.

So all you GOPers, get your heads out of your collective A*sses, stop chanting, and soberly look at the mess you’ve made that future generations will be forced to clean up: Iraq, massive federal debt, lack of oversight of the financial industry, absolutely no funding for alternative fuels, suppression of scientific reports by federal agencies, etc. If anyone should have been impeached, it’s your man W. And if you voted for him twice, hang your head in shame, and go home and apologize to your kids for your poor judgement.

By @@

September 24, 2008 12:33 PM | Link to this

Tell me if I’m gettin’ this right Jim…..

On the drilling issue, Westmoreland says “bring it uppity” while the uppity Ted is into “breaking” wind, thereby compounding the smell.

Either way, life’s a gas.

By SaveOurRepublic

September 24, 2008 12:36 PM | Link to this

Ga Values & Bo Chambliss Lobbyist - Good points on Neocon/RINOs Johnny “Isackscum” & Saxby “Shameless”. These two (like most US Senators) are total puppets for the Internationalist agenda! “Bacrock Obumma” has no real solutions either!

The solution to the energy crisis is multifaceted. First, we do indeed need to drill at every U.S. oil source (asap). Secondly, we need to build more U.S. refineries. Third, we need to roll back many of these hogwash “environazi” fuel blend/eco-limitations to allow more fuel options. Next, we need to continue research on & development of alternative energy sources (including nuclear).

However, the pawns of the Globalist Elite on “Crapitol sHill” won’t allow all of these steps to happen. Why?…because they must keep the American middle class pliable & thus easier to control. Also, they can continue to undermine U.S. sovereignty via our dependence on foreign oil. It’s all a means to an end for the Internationalist Cabal who puppeteer the shills in DC!

By BTB

September 24, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

I have mug-logged on oil rigs in TX & LA and have a pretty good understanding of the intricacies of oil exploration & oil production. People you better wake up if you think that dropping diamond heads left and right in the gulf or AK is going to ease the pain at the pumps. It takes years from start to finish for any well head to produce. The priority should be on priming expandable energy sources such as natural gas, hydrogen or electrical power for transportation and solar & wind power technologies for homes, business & industry. The technology is here…now….the answer is to invest in these technologies to make the energy product deliverable to the masses at a reasonable cost effective rate. This should be the focus otherwise we’re just spinning our diamond head bits.

By T

September 24, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this

WEll, good. Now we are going to drill. So, no more exploration of other technology then or mass transit. We will get more oil and things can go back to normal. I mean an energy crisis won’t happen again as long as we are drilling.

By Shawny

September 24, 2008 1:24 PM | Link to this

drill, baby, drill.

Send your oily greenbacks to….the USA! Better than over there.

By Peadawg

September 24, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this

Like I said in Jay’s blog…the problem is with sooo many idiots that still drive SUV’s and Deisel trucks. And the sad thing is that these are the ones that complain. I drive a 2001 4-cylinder pickup, live 3 miles from work…I fill up every 2-3 weeks…not complaining.

By hotlanta

September 24, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this

Aw Wooten let’s talk about the Romper Room show and tell that Palin had to do yesterday with the foreign leaders in New York. Let’s play fair.

By hotlanta

September 24, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this

Aw Wooten let’s talk about the Romper Room show and tell that Palin had to do yesterday with the foreign leaders in New York. Let’s play fair.

By Soothsayer

September 24, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this

The report, issued by the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, said that if Congress gave the go-ahead to pump oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the crude could begin flowing by 2013 and reach a peak of 876,000 barrels a day by 2025.

AND BY ALL MEANS LET US DEFILE THE ALASKA NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE for the other 876,000 barrels a day.

This combined with the OCS might total 1,000,000 barrels a day or less than 1% of the world’s consumption.

KEEP THOSE SUVs HUMMING!

By reader110

September 24, 2008 1:36 PM | Link to this

It’s so obvious to me that so many people that are commenting on this have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about. Do you really think that drilling offshore will reduce the price of gas at the pump? Are you deluded enough to believe that once we start drilling our energy dollars are going to stay in this country? No one is willing to make any sacrifices for their country - they’re only interested in themselves. “More gas for me! More gas for me!” You people are an embarrassment to thinking Americans.

By B-ball Mom

September 24, 2008 1:37 PM | Link to this

Peadawg, you are indeed honorable in your prudent fuel consumption. Some of us bought homes near our jobs before our jobs were outsourced. Now we work where we can find work, which is not always nearby. Do we ditch our equity (as IF!) and drag our kids from school to school instead of providing them with solid community roots? Do we deny the children sports and activities that require carpooling four or five kids (plus equipment) at a time when it’s our turn? (Non-active kids end up on drugs, and then the money goes to lawyers….) Not everyone with an SUV is the problem. Likewise, not everyone in the suburbs is STUPID enough to believe that “if we just let ‘em drill here” that it will make any difference whatsoever to our monthly expenses. Have they exhausted their efforts on the leases they currently have? They should finish what’s on their plate before they ask for more.

BTW, I am not complaining either.

By Soothsayer

September 24, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

The problem with most of the rabid right on this issue is that they don’t “have any skin in the game.” With the exception of those who own condos along the coast, most of you could give a flying rat’s @$$ about the coastal regions of the U.S. You only selfishly perceive that drilling will lower the cost of filling up your monster truck or SUV.

By Ga Values

September 24, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this

I am opposed to this $700+ Billion rip off of the taxpayer but confused as to what direction to follow. There is a solution, “W” is giving a speach tonight all we need to do is just the opposite. Who said that Bush was useless?

By Ga Values

September 24, 2008 1:55 PM | Link to this

Even before the ink dries on a proposed $700 billion bailout for the financial industry, Wall Street players have begun jockeying to be the first ones to snap up distressed investments on the cheap, according to The New York Times.

By Clint

September 24, 2008 1:58 PM | Link to this

And so now we have 2 arrogant hillbillies topping the GOP ticket, with neither of them having anything about which to be arrogant whatever. Palin humiliates the U.S. again today by meeting with heads of State. Duhh. McDunce and Pentecostal Palin. Funny how the GOP goons just like “…somebody you can have a beer with.” Provided he or she isn’t too intelligent or well educated. AKA Bush, Quayle, Bushdrunk, McPhony War Hero(3.8 total hours in “combat”), Palin. Repugs can’t get enough of raw incompetence and lies.

By Peadawg

September 24, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

B-ball Mom: I know I got lucky by living 3 miles from work…im thank God for it everyday!!!!! I didn’t mean to sound rude on that part…sorry.

By Captain Freedom

September 24, 2008 1:59 PM | Link to this

THE Captain is encouraged to note that Our Leader intends to address the nation tonight. Word is that His Excellency is going to throw the full weight of his 24% approval rating behind Commissar Paulsen’s Best of All Possible Bailout Plans, thereby guaranteeing the swift passage of this necessary has to be done right now or the sun will go out legislation.

For indeed, this is the best of all possible worlds.

By Amazing

September 24, 2008 2:04 PM | Link to this

Libs prefer the do nothing approach to problem solving. Not surprising when you look at how they’ve accepted their do nothing congress for the past two years. Like Obama, they’ll think and ponder and blah blah blah. It makes them look introspective. Polls range anywhere from 59% to 77% of Americans who favor domestic drilling regardless. The majority only matters to libs when the majority is doing absolutely nothing to contribute.

Left-wing nutbutterers. Idiots one and all.

By Barbi

September 24, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

Kids. Sports. Moms. Any of you foul fools have any concept of the millions of kids whose minds are raped yearly by being forced to “participate” in “activities” they don’t at all want - because of peer-pressure, but mostly because of sick mparents who insist upon trying to erase their own lifetime failures by shoving sports crap down their little throats?? Trying to hide their own lower middle class upbringings. The SUV is just part and parcel of that entire disease process. The “Little People.” Anyone who calls me a “Soccer Mom” gets either a look - or a slap across the jowls. Pitiful goose-stepping Murcuns. Help us, Sarah! “Praise thee lord!!” Thank you, Sarah. Now go kill another animal.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 2:16 PM | Link to this

Dear Amazing @ 2:04, you hit the nail on the head. Seems that the leftists who do not suffer from PDS otherwise are control freaks who believe it is their sacred duty to prevent the rest of us from getting any additional oil.

By Denali

September 24, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this

ACHTUNG!! Thank you, Captain Freedom, for the info.

Our Divine Fuhrer speaks this very night!! He who speaks directly to God hisself! Gather round your crytal sets, in the darkness of your rooms, and listen to Radio Free America as it vomits forth the articulation and intellectual capacity of our alcoholic Leader! Grasp it firmly and bind it to you with hoops of steel, never to let it go! Oh Mein Fuhrer, Mein Fuhrer!! Then vote for McClown and tongue-speaking Palin - as they walk in the very footsteps of our Master. Heil!!

By Who's Sorry Now?

September 24, 2008 2:33 PM | Link to this

To all you Republicans out there, two words: Rick Davis. See ya - wouldn’t wanna be ya!

Obama/Biden ‘08

By Ga Values

September 24, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this

The weather is so nice that my wife & I went out to the lake for lunch. I must have 50 geese on the lake, my lab had the time of his life. That’s my reason for not posting this excellent G. Wills piece, conservatives enjoy,..

Our Federal Economy

Members of Congress are being exhorted to stampede, like lemmings in reverse, away from a postulated cliff. But some of the economic geographers who say they know that the cliff is there, and that the economy will plunge over it if Congress stops to think before empowering the secretary of the Treasury to control the flow of capital through the veins of American capitalism, are some of those experts who said in March that prophylactic federal intervention in the matter of Bear Stearns was necessary to contain the crisis.

Everything that has been done for the past six months has been done to cope with what previous actions were supposed to prevent. A perhaps pertinent axiom: There is no education in the second kick of a mule.

The essence of this crisis is lack of knowledge, including the inability to know who owes what to whom, and where risk resides. In such a moment, government’s speed should not vary inversely with its information. With government’s prestige, measured by approval ratings of the president and Congress, at a historic low, government is taking on unprecedented responsibilities. Henry Paulson, a.k.a. the Fourth Branch of Government, is intelligent and indefatigable and has as much pertinent experience as could be hoped for. But no one has ever had much experience that is pertinent to the tasks that would be assigned to him by the three-page legislation that would give him almost complete discretion over at least $700 billion.

Before Congress codifies this, it should consult Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” But since the federal government was transformed into a regulatory state in the 20th century, Congress has routinely delegated essentially legislative powers to the executive branch and independent agencies. This is one reason conservatives regret the growth of government: It entails supplanting the rule of law — laws written by elected representatives — by the rule of rules written in the executive branch.

Rep. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, says: “No one in a democracy, unelected, should have $800 billion to spend as he sees fit… . That’s not the way to run a democracy.” Frank is properly punctilious about a fundamental principle of American governance — legislative control of public funds. But a fundamental principle of American political economy is that no elected person should exercise virtually unfettered discretion with such sums of taxpayers’ money.

In 1922, Lenin, attacked from the left because he was allowing some small-scale private enterprise and agriculture, promised that the state would control the Soviet economy’s “commanding heights.” In 1945, Britain’s Labor Party explained its nationalization policies by saying that socialism should include government “control of the commanding heights of the economy.”

In 1945 Britain, this meant the stuff of industrialism — iron, steel, coal, railroads, etc. In 1945, Aneurin Bevan, a leading Labor politician, said: “Britain is an island bedded on coal and surrounded by fish; only an organizing genius could produce a coal shortage and a fish shortage simultaneously.” Socialism soon produced that.

Today, the commanding heights of America’s economy are financial services, and regarding them, the line between the public and private sectors is being blurred to indistinctness. What is the American equivalent of coal and fish? We might find out.

An enormous range of complex judgments will have to be made about who will decide — and by what criteria — to whom money will be directed, and how to value and price the financial instruments, and the assets behind them, that the government might soon own. But these micro problems, although quite huge, pale next to the macro problem, which is:

This crisis has arrived during the ninth month of a vast demographic deluge — the retirement of 78 million baby boomers. As the population ages, the welfare state — primarily, a transfer-payments pump providing pensions and medical care for the elderly — requires more rapid economic growth to generate increasing revenue. To the extent that today’s crisis results in large amounts of capital being allocated by considerations other than those of economic efficiency, the nation will be consigned to less-than-optimal economic growth.

The next administration, but especially an Obama administration, will chafe under severely narrowed economic restrictions. But subsequent generations will pay the radiating costs of the rising role of the state in allocating financial resources.

georgewill@washpost.com

By Copyleft

September 24, 2008 3:00 PM | Link to this

Seems like a lot of fascists believe they have some god-given RIGHT to cheap oil, no matter whose air and water they destroy in the process.

But then, selfishness and shortsightedness are inherent to the fascist mindset. This is why we need a better education system, to cure the conservative brain disorder.

By jack

September 24, 2008 3:15 PM | Link to this

**Another False Issue

Republicans each election cycle make up a false issue and sadly, American’s fall for it each time.

The last election is was Gay Marriage. Note that we don’t head that anymore.

Now its Drilling offshore… Drilling will save us from $4 gas but the mean ol liberals won’t let us drill.

A) that’s nonsense since the Republicans controlled the Senate and the House during 2000-2006 (are you people really this dumb not to see this)

B) the entire oil reserves off shore are 10% of the amount of oil America uses in ONE year.

So IF we could get the entire amount out in one year (completely impossible) we could lower prices by 10% - that’s 40 cents for right wingers who can’t add.

So as right wing oil billionaire T. Boone says, drill, drill, drill but it won’t solve the problem.

Please people, use your heads and don’t fall for another Republican false issue.

And, Jim, either you are really dumb or you CHOOSE to fool people to get them to vote GOP>

Which is it?

By getalife

September 24, 2008 3:19 PM | Link to this

McDeregulator cut and runs from campaign and debate to finally show up in the Senate.

Obama should said no.

The have Senator Bunning leading.

McDeregulator should concede this election to Obama for country first.

By Tom

September 24, 2008 3:30 PM | Link to this

McCain campaign’s next move: try to have the Vice-Presidential debate postponed permanently “for the good of the nation.”

By Common Sense

September 24, 2008 3:42 PM | Link to this

Tray did someone hit you upside the head?

When in your wildest dreams do you think the AMERICAN OIL COMPANIES are going to sell gas for .90 cents/

What is wrong with you dummies,Oil companies are a business they need to make money for the preferred shareholders and their costs are higher than $50 dollars a barrell.

To:Jim this only keeps us at $4 a barrel in 5 to 10 years. We will need to switch out at least 3 to 7 million cars gasoline cars to electric or natural gas per year so we can really reduce our dependence on oil.

Also who is going to assist the gas station owners in putting in natural gas pumps? Or who is going to pay for nuclear plants and have these antiquate electrical grids redone!

By deegee

September 24, 2008 3:45 PM | Link to this

Am I the only person that thinks that OBL is sitting in Pakistan someplace having a good chuckle over this?

“McCain said if Congress does not pass legislation to address the crisis, credit will dry up, people will no longer be able to buy homes, life savings will be at stake and businesses will not have enough money.”

“If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted,” McCain said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”

By Captain Freedom

September 24, 2008 4:11 PM | Link to this

A Captain Kudo for Amazing @2:04 for driving the nail into jbm’s head. Indeed, tis better to do something — ANYTHING, NOW BECAUSE THE SKY IS FALLING — even if it is an empty symbolic gesture that will do nothing whatsoever to address the core problem, whether it is drilling offshore or elevating Kommissar Paulson to the post of assistant emperor.

Political posturing that makes things worse than they already are — it is the Right Thing to do.

But THE Captain cautions Amazing against his gleeful embrace of public opinion polling, as these instruments of Satan also tell us that Our Leader has a vanishingly small approval rating and that most Americans believe the war in Iraq to have been a misguided adventure that squandered untold lives and money. And of course, nobody really thinks that. It is inconceivable! Why, it would be like matching wits with a Sicilian when Death is on the line!!

On second thought, THE Captain now believes that Amazing, just like Dusty and the pinheaded jbm, are in fact make-believe Common Sense True Believerers who are only trying to make Real Conservatives look like mindless idiots. The way Wooten does every day, for considerably more money than THE Captain receives for carrying this sorry blog on his back day after day.

Finally, THE Captain does not believe that St John of Hanoi is cancelling his debate appearance because he is a spineless skeevy yellowbellied varmint who knows he will have his vital organs handed him by the Blackazoid Obamandingo. So perish the thought. As in all things, St John is putting country first, just like he did during the Keating Five fiasco, which THE Captain will thank you Islamunisto pinkos from mentioning ever again.

By Captain Freedom

September 24, 2008 4:27 PM | Link to this

THE Captain is a True Believer in the necessity of sober, adult supervision of Our Nation, which is (aside from the admirable Real Americans just like THE Captain himself) a sorry group of whiners and welfare grifters who expect to have the world handed to them on a platter.

And it is this reason among all others that places St John of Hanoi head and shoulders above that blackity black black guy in this election. For who better exemplifies the steady disposition We so sorely need? Someone who flies off the handle at the slightest provocation and who waves his arms around like an ill-maintiained marionette? Or that blackazoid guy? THE Captain is sure you get His drift.

But to seal the deal, Our St John has pulled the double-secret-reverse-psych trick of pretending to be a crazed martinet as a means of proving his readiness to lead. For what else could explain the following actions:

-Ramp up Georgia crisis for votes

-Call off half the GOP convention

-Pick a wildly unqualified freshman governor to salvage his campaign

-Call for firing head of the SEC, even though everyone knows that is not a legal possibility

-Ask to have presidential debates delayed or canceled so he can loiter around Congress having his picture taken looking like he is doing something.

Pretending to be insane…it is the Right Thing to do.

By getalife

September 24, 2008 4:42 PM | Link to this

The gop are trying to change the rules on capitalism and now this race.

Hell no!

A deal is a deal.

Changing the rules when you are losing is called cheating and a cowardly act.

Losers.

By Ragnar Danneskjöld

September 24, 2008 4:50 PM | Link to this

Dear getalife @ 4:42, you are right. Except as to accepting the funds and adhering to the required spending limits therein, or to the series of town hall meetings. Surely you realize McCain’s thrust works two ways - makes him appear less partisan and makes Obama look more partisan, plus on Capitol Hill McCain is a player and Obama is not. Plus, if things go really bad due to the liquidity problem, McCain did all he could to cure it and Obama was missing in action.

By Captain Freedom

September 24, 2008 4:52 PM | Link to this

Because Mr Wooten seems to be having trouble sparking interest in this blog, THE Captain will step in (again) to breathe life into its pale, lifeless corpse. And nothing sparks interest like good old fashined man on top get it over with quick.

It appears that Sarah Plain had a long term adulterous affair, as reported my the same MSM organ that broke the news of John Edwards’ pecadilloes. Given the scrupulous nature of this paper’s reportage, THE Captain feels that it is His duty to fend off any possible fallout that might result from the news that Sarah Plain was making the moose-with-two-backs in some fleabag igloo somewhere.

Here’s the plan. Just as We of True Belief did when confronted with news of Britney Lynn Palin’s blessed news (TEEN PREGNANCY IS TEH AWESOME AND A GIFT FROM GOD HOW DARE YOU LIBERALS SUGGEST OTHERWISE), it is time to bring under the Common Sense umbrella this idea:

ADULTEROUS SEX IS A GODLY AND VIRTUOUS CHOICE THAT SHOULD BE APPROVED BY ALL DECENT CHRISTIAN AMERICANS

After all, most of our Godly White Male GOP Leadership has been known to play hide the sausage outside the bonds of holy matrimony (except for Lindsey Graham, who is certainly NOT gay, why do you keep bringing that up?). Heck, most of our poobahs have trouble keeping their trouser snake under wraps. Why we hold that against Our Sarah. (no ! not holding the trouser snake against Sarah, you idiot, oh what’s the use??)

So, rally round True Believerers…

Giving (or taking) the bone outside of wedlock. It is the Right Thing to do.

Now, please, Mr Wooten, THE Captain cannot be expected to take up your slack forever. A wee tad more effort tomorrow, pretty please?

By Commander Guy

September 24, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this

Tomorrow’s headlines today:

McCain Cancels Debate - Pleads With Obama to Stop Kicking His A$$ for the Sake of National Unity

Without Palin’s Skirt to Hide Behind, McCain Wets Himself in Terror*

bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha

By Jeff

September 24, 2008 5:11 PM | Link to this

Our drunken Fuhrer speaks. The non-hero McCain pukes up another giant lie and political stunt. The Repug scum and racists will believe it and support both cretins. And then there’s pitiful Palin in the wings. Is this a great country or what! Laughing stock of the world. Brought to you by the GOP as always.

By getalife

September 24, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to this

w and cheney could not rally the base and their party so it is up to McCain.

Good luck with that John. Whip em.

Don’t need Obama for that.

Losers.

By Doggie Style

September 24, 2008 5:55 PM | Link to this

All you whining ecologist and cheapskates in your rollerskates better get out of my way. My truck is so big and tough — I could run over your hybrid piece of crap mousetrap and not even scratch my skidplate or divot my airplane tires.

Suck my fumes, whiners!

By John

September 25, 2008 8:27 AM | Link to this

I am a lifelong Republican who believes in the Free Market even when it is uncomfortable to do so. I believe that President Reagan was right in that government is rarely the solution to anything and, unlike Senator McCain, I do not believe you run to Washington to find solutions “inside the Beltway.

I also believe that the democrat party offers me no voting alternative.

Based on the politics of the last 48 hours, I WILL NEVER VOTE FOR ANOTHER REPUBLICAN who supports the socialistic bail out of Wall Street. This socialistic bailout will result in government ownership of home mortgages. It will result in the socialistic position of setting salaries in the private sector and the redistribution of America’s tax dollars to those business that are hurting. What’s next, government ownership of our land?

After 40 years of voting, I will most likely only vote for candidates in local races in November.

By AllHogwash

September 25, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this

* T. Boone Pickens for Secretary of Energy under the new McCain Administration!*

By Ron

September 25, 2008 9:18 AM | Link to this

So we’re guaranteed $2 gas, right? This isn’t all useless posturing to get Republicans votes and keep oil profits high while doing nothing to benefit consumers?

Nah, couldn’t be that. This is the magic bullet. Everything will be fine now. You don’t have to think about gas ever again. Now get back to your cookout.

By Joe Singer

September 25, 2008 10:00 AM | Link to this

Is anyone looking at the current price controls the State of GA has right now on gas? My understanding is gas stations cannot raise prices to match demand given the shortages out there… yet there’s plenty of gas (now that we don’t need the anti-pollution mix), and likely being diverted to our neighbor states as gas companies have NO INCENTIVE to ship here if prices here are lower than in those states, correct? Isn’t this the very definition of price controls with shortages as the only rational result? Sonny Perdue are you reading this???

By there is NO domestic oil market !

September 25, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this

It’s been said before, will say it again:

There is no DOMESTIC oil market.

ALL oil produced is sold on a GLOBAL market, so what WE drill will be bought by CHINA and INDIA.

AMERICAN OIL DOES NOT STAY HOME, FOLKS.

Now - natural gas does -! And a HUGE reservoir of that has been found in the NW Louisiana/Arkansaw/Texas area…

So we will be drilling for China, which already owns a staggering amount of the United States… the Yellow Peril is what is driving alot of the Bush’s Administration’s Nationalization of American markets - get it before the Chinese and Arabs own even more of us… !!!