Whenever I come across some phrase that catches my eye or ear, I jot it down as something to think on at odd hours, as I go about my work. Recently I heard or read, don’t remember which or where, that “if you don’t think things can get worse, you lack sufficient imagination.” It brought a smile to my face because of the many times it turns out to be true, when little things happen that never occurred to me when making plans for some project.
Just today I was almost to finish one of my wood projects that has been ongoing ‘forever’. All I needed was to put on some little hinges that I had picked up from the hardware store last week. Everything was measured and set to go, when I opened the package only to find that what I had purchased was not hinges at all, but some little flat brass braces, that were hanging among the hinges in the store. So much for that plan, the project will have to wait another couple days until I find my way to a hardware store to get hinges.
This example is nothing of consequence, but there are times when we think things are as bad as they can be, only to discover that they could get much worse, in short order.
Today Iran was practicing ‘war games’ to see how it would go if they decide to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40 percent of the worlds oil must pass. That would be about a “charming” situation in light of the fact that the world’s economy is on the rocks to begin with. Just imagine if crude oil suddenly jumps from $100 a barrel to $200 or even more as some predict if Iran was to succeed in such a move. It would effectively take the world into a depression (as if we are not already in one).
There is little question that such a move on the part of Iran would lead to war in some fashion, whether only to keep the passage open or all out war between Iran and its many allies and the U.S. and our few allies. That picture is not very nice under any circumstances. It takes us right back to the core issue concerning the whole middle east “mess” that has been ongoing since the second world war. All because of oil.
What is so frustrating about oil and the middle east is the fact, that it is so unnecessary that we be ’held hostage’ by their energy. It boils down to “politics and stupidity” combined in our own nation, along with a large dose of environmental hypocrisy.
We have the resources, between the gulf of Mexico, the continental U.S., Alaska and Canada there is more than enough oil and natural gas to supply our needs for many years. I know there is a debate about how long that supply can last us, but since I have no way of really knowing which side of that debate is true, it becomes a useless exercise to worry about how much we actually have. When the truth is clear that we have a lot of oil and gas that is not being tapped for political, economic and environmental reasons.
So what we get is a never ending string of wars to be fought by young American soldiers under all kinds of disguises, but the investigation always leads us back to the “black gold” or “Texas Tea”, as it has be called, crude oil.
Here are some facts that ought to be considered by us who vote, and by our nations leaders. Even the attack on 911 is very unlikely to have occurred or been possible, had it not been for US dollars that went into the hands of the Moslem extremists. Osama Bin Laden and his bunch did not get to be billionaires, or come from billionaire families at least, by selling “desert sand”, it was from oil plain and simple.
Most of us know the politics involved. For starters, we have the environmental movement that has enough influence in our national politics to stop us from extracting and producing our own energy. They attack any source of energy that is actually feasible, nuclear, coal, gas and oil. They would have us believe that we can harvest so-called “clean energy” from the sun and wind. What they fail to admit is that we do not yet have the technology to produce “enough” energy to keep our nation going, much less meet the needs of national growth in the coming years. Then they argue that we can’t use nuclear energy because it is to “dangerous”, since nuclear accidents can occur. We can’t extract coal and oil because we destroy some “paradise” in Alaska, because it is home to a few birds and their food, mice! Ok, maybe that is a bit of exaggeration on my part, but the reality is that the wildlife is not going to be made extinct by oil extraction. They used the same excuse when protesting the Alaskan pipeline of the 60’s and 70’s, but that turned out to be a great help to the caribou, in that it actually gave them more food sources, by keeping the ground warm enough to grow grass for a much longer season along that pipeline.
Here is the part about the environmental movement that irks me. They are a gang of hypocrites, with a capital H! All the while they rage about us developing our own oil resources because it might harm the environment, they do not, rid themselves of their automobiles or turn the electric off to their homes, offices or businesses. In fact, I highly suspect that my family uses far less energy than most environmentalists. What I resent is the hypocrisy of these loud mouth idiots, who also are the same ones who protest “war”, when their very own political influence helps make war inevitable, by preventing us from using our own resources. Has insanity gripped a whole nation?
Washington seems clueless about the realities of the “real world” most of us live in. They also seem to mistake our plea for “sanity” as a plea for more and bigger government. Instead of more government interference in private affairs, what about rolling the clock back a hundred years on government regulations, many which have no real basis in common sense or real science. How many of the regulations that suppress the development of ‘private enterprise’ are really important, when compared to a nation that is stagnate and paralyzed by over regulation in areas that make very little difference to the overall well being of a nation?
For example. In most of our state, people cannot even remodel their house without going to the expense of “updating” their septic systems. The “update” demanded by the state, usually involves expensive mound systems that are prone to freezing during deep cold, plus they are of questionable value as far as the environment is concerned and depend on electricity for a lift pump. If your power fails, so does you septic system. Consequently many people who would otherwise like to make improvements to their homes, just don’t because of “government regulation”.
We live in an area that have a lot of Amish folks. Their way of life is greatly hampered by ‘government regulations’ on the sale of fresh produce and farm products. Case after case could be pointed to where our nations economic activity could be greatly increased if it were not for “regulations” by “big brother” in one form or another.
The so-called “deregulation” on the 80’s, which brought about the recent boom that has now “busted”, has gotten a “bad rap” by self-serving politicians and media. When the truth is that much of the banking crisis was brought on, not be deregulation, but rather by the “regulations” that were put in place in the early 90’s. These in effect “forced” the banks to loan money for many home mortgages to people who could in no way afford the homes they were being sold.
The same old story is still taking place in banking. Regulations are forcing “private banks” to loan money to some farmers in our own area, who the bankers say cannot afford to pay back the money they are borrowing, but by “regulation” the banks have no choice but to make what they consider “bad loans”, or face penalties by the government.
This is what happens when ‘free countries’ are “nationalized”. In any “big government” situation, those who have the “access” to the influence of politicians will get the “goodies” while the “common people” who prefer to go about their lives without paying any attention to politics end up paying the bill in taxes or in the forfeiture of freedom. All in the name of ‘progress’ of course.
This leads me to another one of those sayings that caught my ear; “just keep doing what you are doing and you will keep getting what you have been getting.”
As long as our country keeps buying oil from the middle east, we are going to be in constant conflict in that part of the world. Either accept the cost in lives and expense of endless warfare, or change the way we get our energy. For now, the only answer is to use our own oil, until such a time that we develop the technology necessary to change form fossil fuels to useful alternatives.
One thing is certain. If we don’t change our policies, we are going to stay “on edge” about our energy supply and be help hostage to people who don’t like the USA.
How is it that our current administration will not allow a simple pipeline to be built from Canada to Texas? Politics and insanity!
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