Raves, Rants & Roses

ROSES: Thanks, Tyler Paper, for presenting the position of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers on the drilling question. Despite the efforts of the environmentalists, a growing majority of the American people want us to begin becoming independent of foreign oil.

It is amazing that two people, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid, can prevent Congress from even voting on this issue. Since when is 2 to 498 a Democratic majority?

Afterward, everyone is sent off on a well-earned vacation while “the regular people” struggle to figure out how to keep their cars running. I did happen to see Ms. Pelosi on the news being asked, “Why we should not drill?” Her answer: “We are trying to save the planet.”

Thankfully, the pressure must be building because the “change” candidate has “changed” and said “maybe” we should consider drilling.

First, consider national security. If we accept the unrealistic concerns and arguments of the anti-drilling environmentalists as evidenced by the 1969 Santa Barbara spill, then, in security terms, 9/11 certainly should teach us that no building in the United States should exceed three or four stories (the higher you go, the harder you fall, the more people you endanger, and the bigger target you present). Last time I looked we were still building skyscrapers.

At this point in history we are at war with the radicals in the Middle East. Yet where does a majority ($700 billion a year) of our oil come from? Bingo, the Mideast.
I am not a historian, although I was a child during World War II, but one of the biggest setbacks to Nazi Germany’s conquest of Europe and Africa was petrol. This was a major reason for their defeat in North Africa; they ran out of gas. The United States cannot defend itself running our military forces on Eveready batteries. Yet the environmentalists would have us beholden for energy to the very people who would love to destroy us. Four dollars a gallon gasoline, and the inconvenience it causes, are nothing compared to the imminent danger this country faces by allowing ourselves to remain dependent for our energy on our sworn enemies.

Ernest Mills III
Jacksonville