Re: Russia Cozying Up to Europeans. Could the U.S. Be Left Out in The Cold?

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:57:45 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:35:23 -0700, El Castor <No_One@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:02:43 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:43:37 -0700, El Castor <No_One@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:31:58 -0700, Rita <Rita@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:06:14 GMT, Rumpelstiltskin
<PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:02:56 -0700 (PDT), "free.tuneup@xxxxxxxxx"
<free.tuneup@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



<snip>



Bush has isolated us pretty damned good. Our present government is so
fucked up, folks want nothing to do with us. Who can blame them?
Besides that...we are piss poor and just hand out IOUs/



It doesn't seem to have hit people in the USA yet that
we're poorer now than we used to be, despite the
increasing price of food, and the rise in the price of oil,
only half of which is due to the increase in selling price
(in Riyals or Euros or Australian or Canadian dollars),
the other half of which is due to the collapse of the
dollar.

There are not many positive signs for our economy. Even
though our President does have an MBA from Harvard:)
I am no economic genius but I do read the business pages
and try to make sense of the data. Some OPEC guy predicted
the price of oil will rise to $200 a barrel. The Europeans
would not be as badly hurt because they do have good public
transport systems for one thing. It is the American lifestyle
that would require the most drastic changes. Or so it seem
to me.

I have read some "what if" articles lately trying to predict
just what those changes would encompass.

See this one from the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oil28-2008jun28,0,5485259.story

Then it's time to start drilling and building nuclear power plants.
The fact is that the Left will support neither of these things. Why?
Radical environmentalists, who do all the energy thinking for the
Left, want to see a fundamental change in US society -- of course they
want all the usual left wing goals, but they also want us to leave the
land, live in densely populated cities following a frugal collectivist
lifestyle of their design, and above all, they want fewer of us.
Energy shortages suit their purposes and will aid in the construction
of a "new society". Come on Rita, you know that, even if you are
reluctant to admit it to me -- or yourself.

I am all for nuclear power if the waste disposal issue can be
solved so there is no danger, period.

Excuse. Yucca Mountain.

And drilling might postpone
the day of reckoning but not prevent it forever and certainly not
have an effect for many years.

Have you considered the day of reckoning that will occur if Islamists
in the Gulf shut down exports? If you people succeed in killing the
economy, where will the money come from to finance the vast welfare
state you have in mind -- let alone the current overhang of Social
Security and Medicare.

I like cities and see no reason
that the automobile is the only way they can remain viable.

The Left wants to do away with the automobile -- period. To you people
it's a symbol of class distinction and consumerism. Public
transportation, walking, and bicycles are the only modes of individual
transport that the Left considers to be politically correct.

But
a plethora of innovative solutions won't come about until we are
dragged kicking and screaming to have to make them.

There you are -- in line with your extremist buddies. Wind and solar
may eventually be a viable solution -- I hope so, but they are totally
incapable of replacing our 60% dependence on imported oil. To do that,
we must drill and build nuclear plants -- like France which gets 90%
of it's power from nuclear.

Rita, I am sorry to report this, but there are many Democrats who
don't wish to abandon their home in the suburb for a high rise condo
in a city. You may be convinced that by any means necessary the
Democrat party can and will force them to do just that, but that
attitude denies reasonable alternatives. Your insistence that other
people must be made to kick and scream if they are to be bent to your
will is just a bit arrogant and elitist, don't you think?

I'd like to remind you that my wife and I drive a Prius, use compact
fluorescent bulbs, a low flow shower head, a front load washer, and we
are dedicated recyclers. That said, I have no interest in making
others kick and scream, nor do I want to see the United States at the
mercy of a handful of Muslims and dictators. While you hypocrites
refuse to allow us to drill for our own oil, or achieve energy
independence through the use of nuclear energy, you force Bush to stop
filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and demand that he beg the
Saudis to pump more oil. You should be ashamed.

Another of your very dishonest responses. I have not suggested
anyone be made to change their habits. I suggested they may have
to. I did not "insist" anyone be made to kick and scream. And
I never ever suggested cars be done away with.

So can the nonsense. Your debating tactics don't mass muster.

Let me sum up the Rita recipe. We remain joined at the hip with
sheikhs and dictators -- because wind and solar will in the
foreseeable future never meet our needs. In short, that is the promise
of the dynamic duo of Obama and Pelosi -- dependence and vulnerability
as far as the eye can see. No thanks.

Would it really be so revolutionary if you lefties adopted the
attitude that we should drill and build nuclear plants AND develop
alternative sources simultaneously -- or are you just too rigid and
politically to even consider that?
.