You think that is good? The boss of my town coordinates toy production year round and then in one single night he jumps in his magical sleigh and delivers toys to all the boys and girls and moms and dads and single people too. 6 million? You ain’t got nothing on my man S-Dawg.

I don’t care how fancy your “mayor” is down there. Up here at the North Pole, our Mayor could kick your mayor’s ass any day of the week. I don’t care if your mayor is more magical than ours, I got my Glock 9 that says otherwise. whats up? yeah, i said what’s up? He’ll be seein’ you and your comic book hero mayor in a few more days. We know who’s naughty and nice in Chi-Town.

3lf
North Ptown Soldiaz

I would also agree that politicians don’t create jobs, but then it’s also true, that without a nation of laws and rules most businesses would be hopeless. I am always impressed by people who take advantage of the latest technologies, new laws, and existing regulations to start a successful business, and then think that they did it all themselves. No credit to the past efforts or others, or thankfulness to the country they live in, just whining about “government” (everyone’s favorite abstract concept of blame)

Oh well, carry on with your encouraging words. Everyone should be so lucky to live in the nurturing cocoon of the the Internet’s like minded communities.

You’re a fucking idiot. Nearly everything you say is wrong.

Consistency is not one of your finer points.

Have you never been told that false dichotomies are fallacious arguments?

“Apparently Obama’s attempt to suggest alternatives to “our perfectly-serviceable transportation and electrical generation installed base” is far too costly.

On the other hand, for the U.S. to spend $3 trillion to enrich Halliburton and Blackwater “securing” petroleum in Iraq, and many billions more guarding pipelines in Ecuador, Turkey, etc… Well, that’s OK.”

Then there is your post hoc ergo propter hoc argument…

“Our “perfectly serviceable” existing petroleum-dependent energy system has meant that in the last 40 years, petroleum imports have risen from 30% to nearly 70% of U.S. domestic consumption (and the price has gone from $1.75 to $120+ per barrel)…. “

Yoshi you are the definition of junk logic.

On the other hand, for the U.S. to spend $3 trillion to enrich Halliburton and Blackwater “securing” petroleum in Iraq, and many billions more guarding pipelines in Ecuador, Turkey, etc… Well, that’s OK. (The $3 trillion figure is a published estimate of the present cost of Iraq plus the future cost to restock the military, and treat the wounded.)

Does the phrase “straining at a gnat, swallowing a camel” sound familiar?

Aside from Iraq, the U.S. currently spends more than the rest of the world combined on its military, and has troops stationed in 144 nations overseas.

But that’s a “perfectly serviceable” thing to do because it has nothing to do with the “installed base’s” needs…. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Gosh, why would we ever consider any alternative?! Make mine petroleum, barkeep!

Ya gotta love the logic of the addict. It’s like those epicycles that explained how the sun really rotates around the earth. (“Take that, Mr. Copernicus! And another double of light Saudi crude over here, beertender!”)

Our “perfectly serviceable” existing petroleum-dependent energy system has meant that in the last 40 years, petroleum imports have risen from 30% to nearly 70% of U.S. domestic consumption (and the price has gone from $1.75 to $120+ per barrel)…. But pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, I say!

And land ‘o goshen! How horrifying that a politician paints an excessively rosy picture of his program — something that W or John McCain would never do! Shocking! Next: the pope is really Catholic! (film at 11)

Newer energy sources are in their infancy, relatively speaking, but we must demand these infants take on the time-tested conventional heavyweights in the ring, and feign disappointment when they fail! Damn those environmentalists! They must hate America!

EROEI (energy return on energy invested) indicates energy content for various sources. Middle East oil (or East Texas crude in the early days) can deliver as much as 100 times the energy spent in drilling for and refining it. Even the very-hard-to-get offshore oil in the Gulf delivers something like six or seven times the energy it costs to retrieve it.

While conservation can be competitive with conventional sources, renewable technologies like solar and wind can only produce 4 or 5 times the energy spent to produce them. Of course petroleum embodies millenia of solar and geological processes, so drilling for oil is only a small part of what actually produces petroleum’s energy. On the other hand, renewables have to recover a much briefer period’s energy. The real surprise is not that solar is so expensive, it’s that oil is so cheap.

Mr. Coyote continues: “private individuals, not politicians, create jobs” … OK, then what was the Manhattan Project? Or the space program (the origin of commercially-available silicon chips — and yes, Fairchild produced them, but wouldn’t had the government not bought them). Or Darpanet? (the origin of the internet) Or farm-to-market roads and interstate highways? Or the TVA? Sorry, this is misdirection, or deception, or both.

It’s roughly like saying “lower taxes increase collections” — the Grover Norquist lie. And pay no attention to those deficits! The truth: In the last 40 years, the “conservatives” have been dismantling the public realm, and “lowering” taxes (after lowering the rates on the top brackets, Reagan signed eight regressive tax increases to cover the enormous revenue losses), and — with the exception of the Clinton years — the U.S. has seen record-breaking deficits, and an increasing divergence of rich and poor.

Those of us who have passed puberty know that deficits are just taxes you haven’t paid yet. If we take that into account, the so-called “tax fighters” on the right have raised taxes exponentially more than “liberals.”

But pay no attention to that, I tell you! Be indignant that Obama promises a different path to regain some domestic control over the energy our economy needs! How dare he!

What’s omitted from this post is awfully telling, too. Conservation — say increasing the mileage standards for autos a couple of MPGs — is certainly not a stretch, technologically speaking. It would deliver more oil, sooner than drilling in ANWR or offshore with one difference — the oil it “produced” would never run out.

But I guess it’s not bad enough that environmentally sensitive areas have to suffer (ocean dead zones are also up exponentially), or that our kids have to go die in some stinking desert because we need the oil for our Hummers. And it’s not bad enough that the trends for imports are worse and worse, helped insignificantly by drilling in Alaska or offshore.

Nope! Indignation at the incompetence of government is what to attend to. And OK, McCain has eight homes, was one of the Keating Five, and has a private jet, but Obama is the elitist!

Junkie logic at its finest! Is there an oil-oholics anonymous meeting nearby?

“when a politician says he’s going to create 100 jobs, what he usually means is that he’s used an economic model”

Don’t think so. After all the time-tested “just pull a number out of my ass” method is proven to work with journalists.