Let's Deal in Reality

With renewed talks of drilling for our own (or at least partially) oil, the debate on our dependence on oil has heated up. The argument from many on the left is that not only would drilling hurt the environment, but we should invest our energies, time, and money on alternate fuel sources.

Well, news flash for ya . . . we'd still need the oil to produce fuel to power the plants that would eventually manufacture whatever alternate source of energy we come up with!!

You see all those funny things with wheels? They're cars. And there's a lot of them. A LOT of them. And they require petroleum to operate. And, no matter what happens, they're not going away any time soon. That goes for trucks, too. And ships. And planes. And the other enormous amount of things and industries that rely on fuel made from oil.

What's more, and in spite of what you might believe, we're not close to having an alternate fuel source. At least, not one that's efficient and affordable. We're easily a decade away from anything mass market-wise.

In the mean time, we need oil. We're oil dependent. That's the reality of it. You can harp about using the earth's resources, destroying the environment, evil oil companies all you want, but the cars, ships, and planes ain't going away anytime soon and there's nothing you can do about that. The easiest and fastest way for us to lower the price of gas, maintain a healthy economy, and continue our efforts for alternative fuel, is to drill for the oil. Here. In Alaska, in the Gulf, and off the shores of California. Anywhere, in fact. Don't want the drilling rigs nearby? What's so different about acres of solar panels or wind turbines? Kennedy (here's to his health!) liberal that he is, doesn't want acres of wind turbines n his back yard. Why should his opinion matter? Plus, what about the acres of land that's cleared for solar panels and wind turbines? Isn't that impacting the environment?

Whatever. As inefficient as solar and wind is, I'd just as soon have the acreage used for drilling. We'd be better off . . . if there was oil there, of course. But, the point is, let's deal with reality here. Oil rules . . . for the moment, anyway.