This morning President George W. Bush proved once again he has no clue what the word "statesman" means and took the opportunity in his press conference on the economy to blame the Congress for the country's economic woes. Instead of proposing any sort of visionary initiative to move the country forward, he blasted the Congress for not agreeing with him on his energy proposals, repeating years-old political positions about drilling for oil in ANWR and building new refineries in the United States.

(Clarification: even though technically no new refineries have been built in 30 years, existing refineries have been expanded greatly. 1.7-million barrels of refining capacity have been added since 1985.)

His press conference was nothing more than a cynical attempt to use recent rises in gas prices to lobby for trampling the environment to explore for gas in the United States.

When asked about McCain's proposal for a "gas tax holiday" he refused to answer. He further alternated between feigned chumminess and outright hostility with members of the press. Creepy!

How many days until 1/20/2009 again???

Andrew

Ask and you shall receive:

Bush Countdown

His press conference was nothing more than a cynical attempt to use recent rises in gas prices to lobby for trampling the environment to explore for gas in the United States.

Yeah, it's better to keep importing oil from the Middle East rather than invest the money here.

I think we'd better tear out the Alaska pipe line. The poor caribou have almost gone extinct just like the tree huggers and Green Peas fools said they would......NOT.

While I agree we can’t as you put it “trample” the environment, we should maximize our own resources and reduce our import oil in any way we can.

No, Bill, it's better to start an Apollo-type project to invest in new technologies to generate energy from alternate sources, use existing fossil fuels more efficiently, and develop better mass transit. That's the long-term approach we should have started on back in 2001 when it became clear American dependence on foreign oil was a national security issue not just an economic issue.

Drilling in ANWR is a short-sighted approach that isn't going to put a dent in America's long-term energy needs. It's just a give-away to Bush and Cheney's oil buddies.

Notice in his press conference Bush never mentioned any sort of cooperation with the Congress, no suggestion that they put politics aside. Instead, it was just "My way or the highway" and blaming the Congress for not agreeing with him. What a child.

Andrew

Andrew, I agree we need long term alternate sources.

However those solutions are probably at least 10 years from being mass marketed.

We need something in the short term that will tie us over until the new sources can be developed and implemented.

We'll see how this Honda hydrogen powered car does, it's a start but will it actually be better?

Right now bio-diesel is a losing proposition. It takes more than 1 gallon of fossil fuel to produce 1 gallon of bio-diesel.

Natural gas powered vehicles are around, but not in any great quantity. I don't know about the production of natural gas. Does it actually save anything?

By not exploiting our own resources to the maximum extent possible all we do is keep us in bed with the Middle East.

Skybill, I don't think there is a short-term solution to the escalating gas prices. Some things can't be solved overnight. (Even ANWR won't happen next year.) That's why you need to work on these things over a period of many years.

Significant action now for long-term solutions actually would help short-term prices, because anticipated long-term demand for oil is already factored into today's oil prices. An Apollo project started for real this year (or more likely next year when the Occupant is finally gone) would signal that oil demand really will be lower in a few years.

Again, we should have started working on this years ago. We should start working on it now, instead of debating about short-term solutions for a few more years and taking no long-term action, then wondering in 2015, "Gee, gas is now $10/gallon, what can we do about it by next week? Why didn't we start working on this years ago?"

By the way, another factor in the increasing price of oil is the continued weakening of the US dollar. I hear the Fed is again considering an interest rate cut, which is only going to make things worse for oil prices.

Andrew

Should the Fed have the balls NOT to lower interest rates tomorrow, expect to see oil drop a bit. My crystal ball says a .25% rate cut though.

I read or heard something the other day about a major oil field find off of Brazil with enough production potential to completely supply the Western Hemisphere.

I probably question the "completely supply the Western Hemisphere" part, but a major find for Brazil would sure help in the short run.

The problem with this is it would let the politicians off the hook for a while instead of getting going on an alternate source.

I accidentally heard that press conference this morning. It pointed out again, especially when he's on radio where you can't see him, what a total, arrogant, simple, nitwit he really is. As Andrew said, he alternated between frat school chummy and impatient jerk, sometimes with the same person. Amazing. We as a nation should be embarrassed for the last 7 years.

The problem with the Brazillian find is that it's under very deep water. It will be difficult and expensive to extract.

As for biodiesel having a negative energy balance, that's only true if you heavily slant the numbers.

I was talking to a BD producer last Saturday and he was saying that he was using chicken fat for almost 40% of his feedstock(chicken fat that was previously being used for landfill). There are huge amounts of waste streams that could be produced into biodiesel that are currently going to waste.

Quote from this morning that has double entendre:

"It's your baby." (to recently blessed mom/reporter)

Just think, the U.S. is preggers with the shrubs war child.

Fortunately, the U.S. has the freedom of choice and will soon
be able to abort this war. Not only were we raped, but the life of the host is at stake.

War Child by Jethro Tull

I'll take you down to that bright city mile ---
there to powder your sweet face and paint on a smile,
that will show all of the pleasures and none of the pain,
when you join my explosion
and play with my games.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
No unconditional surrender; no armistice day ---
each night I'll die in my contentment and lie in your grave.
While you bring me water and I give you wine ---
let me dance in your tea-cup and you shall swim in mine.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
Open your windows and I'll walk through your doors.
Let me live in your country --- let me sleep by your shores.
WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.

Queue Herb

5..
4..
3..
2..
1..

Here's HerbB

A blonde woman was on a plane sitting next to a gentleman who was reading the paper.

The headline read: Brazilian Soldiers Killed in Attack

She asked the gentleman: "How many is a Brazilian?"

Badda Bing!

A blonde was driving back from the mall when there was a terrible hail
storm. Huge hail stones the size of golf balls pelted her car leaving it
full of dents. She drove to the body shop and asked what she should do.
The body man explained what needed to be done and that it would cost at
least $4,000 to repair. She said that was too much and asked if there was
some other way to fix it.

The body man decided to have a little fun and said, "Well you could blow
into the tail pipe real hard and they might pop back out." She decided to
give it a try before spending that much money.

She drove home and was in the garage with her lips wrapped around the
exhaust pipe when her blonde neighbor came over to visit.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked thinking the worst and thankful that
she may have just prevented her friend from committing suicide.

"I'm blowing into the tailpipe real hard to pop all these dents out of my
car," explained the first blonde.

"Well silly, it's not going to work," replied her neighbor.

"Why not?" asked the first blonde.

"Because you've got to roll up the windows first."

A man was in his front yard mowing grass when his attractive blonde neighbor came out of the house and went straight to the mailbox. She opened it then slammed it shut and stormed back into the house. A little later she came out of her house again, went to the mailbox and again opened it, and slammed it shut again. Angrily, back into the house she went.

As the man was getting ready to edge the lawn, she came out again, marched to the mailbox, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ever.

Puzzled by her actions the man asked her, “Is something wrong?”

To which she replied, “There certainly is!”

My stupid computer keeps saying, “You’ve got mail!”

I am still waiting for the Queue from Herb that Darktemper said was on its way..

Herb is busy trying out a new crow recipe. God knows he'll need it in November.

Once again, our nation’s Ignoramus and Chief shows us how out of touch he is with reality. How anyone can take this man seriously is beyond me. To call him stupid is an insult to stupid people everywhere. Day after day, more and more irrelevant dribble spews out of his mouth. He needs to be locked up in a psycho ward. Then again, that would be an insult to crazy people.

He's a jerk-clown. He would not be an insult to jerk-clowns. He'll fit right in.

I am still waiting for the Queue from Herb that Darktemper said was on its way..

Throw in that Nixon is a pussy and abortion is fun for everyone and he's here in 10 seconds....

I know, weird. Someone used the "A" word and Herb was a no show.

Removed.

(OK, you're right, Marvin. That was pretty bad, even for me.)

Oh wow, I can hardly believe you went there. Thats just sad.

So a blonde, a brunette and a redhead were out painting stripes along the road. The brunette took the left shoulder, the redhead took the right shoulder and the blonde took the middle.

After they quit for the day, the boss asked the blonde, "Why are you so far behind the other two?"

She replied, "I keep getting further and further from the bucket."

Think that was funny?

You will enjoy every painful moment of the 2008 White House Correspondents' Dinner. This final fling for the fearful and the frightening was held on April 26, 2008.

Thanks folks.

Tip the help.