They're at it again!

[Phlegm]

Tax the living piss out of them. Take their bloated profits from them and use it for renewables research and implimentation. Punish them for their deeds.

This won't work. They will just pass the tax on to the consumers to keep their profit margin.

[Lyion]

Tikker, what you are missing is the oil right now is the lifeblood of our economy.

no, you're missing my point

if oil is too expensive, find a different way to get around

find a different product to replace your oil needs

if it's supply and demand, remove the demand for oil

But... it's not.. Supply and Demand for oil is flat. Saudi and other countries had to lower their production because they couldnt find bidders. It's the arbitrary speculation methodology which is collusive, but legal that is hurting us.

In regards to finding another product, building consensus in the US is harder than getting Mindia to comprehend secularism. Our two parties, due to special interests, have been unable to come together for a good energy policy. This has been historically true dating back for decades and through multiple oil crises.

We should build an assload of new Nuclear power plants and dump a ton of cash into Fuel Cell Vehicles to ween us off foreign oil, but again, we can't get consensus on this, and discussions are often tangents into ad hoc attacks versus constructive sessions to solve real problems.

[Tikker]

ps, keep buying oil for a while

it's making our economy boom, since we supply you with about 85% of all your foreign oil

[Yamori]

INDIGNATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Arlos]

I disagree with more nuclear plants, at least until they figure out a better solution for what to do with all the waste. Sorry, Yucca Mountain is not an ideal solution, no containment is perfect, and some of the by-products are lethally hazardous for tens of millions of years. Oh, and not just hazardous if you get close to them, hazardous if even minute amounts leak into groundwater. So unless and until they solve that rather gigantic problem, I will remain firmly opposed to any further nuclear power plants.

I'd far rather see further development of Solar energy. It's completely non-polluting, and is an infinite resource. Solar cells are vastly more efficient now than they were 20 years ago, and that's with effectively negligible research dollars spent on them. Hell, they can now make what is efectively solar cell plastic sheeting that you can put up anywhere. Sink a bunch of money into solar research, and I guarantee you within 10 years it could take over a very significant portion of our power needs.

Lastly, if we want to wean ourselves off foreign oil, start immediate crash implementation of biofuel development. Whether you do it with Algae, hemp, whatever, I don't care. But just think about how much less oil this country would need if EVERY SINGLE FUCKING DROP of diesel fuel was produced by farming instead of being refined out of crude. Once you get this going on a large enough scale, it will easily beat out petro-diesel on a price-per-gallon basis as well. Nothing except political pressure prevents the government from telling the farmers it subsidizes to not produce that if they want to keep getting the subsidy, they have to grow biodiesel-type crops on the land.

-Arlos

PS. Phlegm, they can't pass on the tax to the consumers if the federal government were to regulate oil prices. In that case prices are fixed by the government and the companies aren't allowed to change the prices.

[Phlegm]

The US government can always end the embargo against Cuba and imports the oil from there.

[Jay]

Or we can stop giving a shit about penguins and polar bears and other useless animals and fuck their natural habitat up and drill the shit out of Alaska.

[Phlegm]

Here are some more fuels for your fire Diekan. The world's five largest oil companies — Chevron, Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, BP and Shell —made more than $34 billion in profit last quarter, a 36 percent increase over the same period from a year ago. These five companies took $375 million to the bank each day ($16 million an hour, or $260,000 per minute).

[Eziekial]

Hey guys, what about global warming? Maybe Gore can invent some special new alternative fuel that runs on happy thoughts! Or maybe our big bad, corporate government can be changed into a butterfly that spreads joy and goodwill to fellow man using Calvin's transmutation box.

[Lueyen]

I disagree with more nuclear plants, at least until they figure out a better solution for what to do with all the waste. Sorry, Yucca Mountain is not an ideal solution, no containment is perfect, and some of the by-products are lethally hazardous for tens of millions of years. Oh, and not just hazardous if you get close to them, hazardous if even minute amounts leak into groundwater. So unless and until they solve that rather gigantic problem, I will remain firmly opposed to any further nuclear power plants.

Take ICBMs load the nuclear waste on them and launch them into the solar systems incinerator (the sun).

Seriously though, bio diesel has pretty much proven it's self, and solar power on a wide scale... yea these are great methods of getting away from fossil fuels.

[Narrock]

a shit hole like New York

Upstate New York is beautiful actually.

[Narrock]

We're being screwed because gas is necessity. If you want to get to work, to school, or to the grocery store you need gas. Unless you live in NYC or some other big town where you might be lucky enough to be able to walk every where.

The majority of Americans live around 30 minutes form their place of employment. How do you propose they get to work?

We're not talking about Pepsi where if you don't like the price you simply don't buy it. Again, we're talking about something you MUST have in order to live.

ride a bike or move closer your lazy mofaka

you're complaining that the luxury of owning a vehicle is too expensive

boofucking hoo

Typical Tikker... but I LOL'd anyway.

[Gaazy]

they should use coal until I die or something so I have job, then they can switch and give a shit about the envirement

[The Kizzy]

Diekan, I didnt vote for BUsh, I voted for Kerry, and secondly, I can't vote him out of office until 2008, so it looks like Im screwed and just sitting here with my thumb up my ass (because I like it) until then.

[Phlegm]

Diekan, I didnt vote for BUsh, I voted for Kerry, and secondly, I can't vote him out of office until 2008, so it looks like Im screwed and just sitting here with my thumb up my ass (because I like it) until then.

You don't have to vote him out in 2008. Term limit will escort him out the White House's door.

[brinstar]

The majority of Americans live around 30 minutes form their place of employment. How do you propose they get to work?

this weekend i am moving to a house exactly two blocks away from where i work

i am going to save at least $75 every month from walking two blocks to work instead of driving a 12 mile round trip

not to mention i will get about a half an hour more sleep every day woot!

[Captain Insano]

when i buy a house i'm so getting solar panels. SoCal Edison can go fuck themselves right square in their cornhole with a tire iron.

[Diekan]

Hey guys, what about global warming? Maybe Gore can invent some special new alternative fuel that runs on happy thoughts! Or maybe our big bad, corporate government can be changed into a butterfly that spreads joy and goodwill to fellow man using Calvin's transmutation box.

You're one of those Newsweek scientists aren't you?

One of those people who think that because Rush says it aint so, then it can't be true.

Granted, Al Gore might be taking the issue of GW to an extreme, however, no reasonably intelligent person can argue that GW isn't real.

Yes, the planet does go through cycles of warmer and cooler climates. Yes, it is very possible that we are currently in a warmer slope of the curve now. We are also contributing to the problem with all the green house gases we're pumping into the air every day. Add to that the destruction of the planets tropical forests (namely the Amazon), which does in fact work to clean a great deal of the CO2 out of our atmosphere and you have an increase in the effects the warming is having.

There's not a problem, aye? So this current heat wave that's been lingering for a few weeks now and has killed hundreds is just conincidence? The metling of the ice caps is also just part of the cycle too I suppose?

I suggest you take a science course or two and forget about what the conservative talk show hosts tell you.

By the way - anyone find the hypocrisy of the conservatives laughable?

I mean seriously... you people call yourselves the champions of Christianity - yet you ignore pretty much all the teachings of the bible. You know that book you're supposed to read that clearly states you're to conduct yourselves as good stewards of the planet. I guess that's only to be acknowledged when there's no profit to be made You know... that book you're supposed to read BEFORE masturbating to your check book and praying to the CEO of Wachovia.

[Harrison]

[insert graph of temperature patterns for millions of years here]

[Lyion]

I suggest you take a science course or two and forget about what the conservative talk show hosts tell you.

By the way - anyone find the hypocrisy of the conservatives laughable?

I mean seriously... you people call yourselves the champions of Christianity - yet you ignore pretty much all the teachings of the bible. You know that book you're supposed to read that clearly states you're to conduct yourselves as good stewards of the planet. I guess that's only to be acknowledged when there's no profit to be made You know... that book you're supposed to read BEFORE masturbating to your check book and praying to the CEO of Wachovia.

Some 20something hot Christian chick turned you down, didn't she?

Next week when the 20something hippie pie wagon chick turns you down you'll be back to slamming them, eh?

Such is the life of the playa Diekan.

[Diekan]

It's called being a Moderate. Looking at the world with a logic devoid of the greed of the conservatives and the power hunger of the liberals.

I slam BOTH sides, because both are too blinded by their hate for the other to realize that they both hold valid ideals.

Conservatives make me sick with their so-called Christian values (which they have none). And, Liberals irk me with their bleeding heart, give everyone a hug, mentality - generally speaking.

And so for being a playa - so I date a lot of different women... and?

[Eziekial]

Ok, I'd admit I was taking potshots at the treehuggers but only so far as to point out their hipocracy. I've never expouted any particular religion, so don't put me in the Mindia bandwagon.
Someone mentioned econ 101 earlier so here is your lesson:
XOM has a profit margin of 11.3%; Citigroup's is 31.5%. So who is the raper of children and the pillager of wallets? Answer will be provided later today!

[Narrock]

Diekan wrote:

Conservatives make me sick with their so-called Christian values (which they have none).

That's pretty ignorant. You should have said some conservative Christians... blah blah blah. I know plenty of "Conservative Christians" who have outstanding values, are very good people, and are very charitable.

However, if you would have started off your sentence like this: "Liberals make me sick with their so-called Christian values..." then I would have agreed with you for the most part. Liberalism and Christianity don't really go hand-in-hand.

[Diekan]

Oh please.

Are gluttony and greed major "sins" or not?
Does it not state in the bible than man is to take care of the Earth, or does it not?
Does the bible not state the pride is a sin?
Does the bible not state that you should not judge your fellow man?

Conservatives stand strongly behind big business - the very definition of greed of gluttony. You stand idly by and scoff at the environmentalists who are warning you that we need to stop what we're doing to the planet. Conservatives walk around very proud of what they've obtained, or mostly, what they've stolen from others. Judgemental? Do I realllllly need to point out examples of this for you?

Liberals make better Christians than do most conservatives, yet a great deal of them don't even believe in a divine creator.

The only "God" the conservatives truly worship is the mighty dollar and they will try to crush any and every one/thing that stands in their way of more and more and more and more wealth.

You're not champions for Christianity... you're hyprocites masking your true intentions behind the Cross.

[Spazz]

You're not champions for Christianity... you're hyprocites masking your true intentions behind the Cross.

That make good punk rock lyrics old man. I agree with ya and you tell em