As Damsel and I sat watching the State of the Union address Tuesday night, I winced and groaned when President Bush made the following remarks:
“America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. And these technologies will help us be better stewards of the environment, and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.”
I said to Damsel something to the effect of “Dammit! I hope he’s not caving in to the Greenbats“!
Apparently, I’m not the only one bristled by the President’s remarks; Tom DeLay had this to say on his weblog:
I have long been a skeptic of the ‘global warming’ doomsday set, and the President seems to be caving in to the politically correct but scientifically questionable arguments in favor of man made ‘global climate change’ in his speech. The discussion of energy policy is best left in the realm of scientifically proven fact – and I wish he had made his argument on decreasing our energy consumption as a means to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, rather then framing the discussion by using unproven theories about the forces affecting the earth’s climate.
Now don’t get me wrong. I liked most of the things the President said, but I think he’s getting some bad advice on several of the policies and initiatives he advocated during the speech. Read Tom Delay’s complete critique of President Bush’s address: “A Grander Vision.”
I believe we should lessen our depending on OPEC for our oil, not because I believe in Global warming but because we don’t need them, we can have the technology next year if we wanted, it’s already here but being suppressed. I say raise our MPG to around 70 for a suv or pickup, raise the price of gas a buck or two, and tell foreign oil to peddle it some where else.
If we only could get the Congress to stop suppressing domestic oil development, we might not even have to raise the price of gas. There are billions of gallons of oil right under our noses, and the technology for developing alternative fuels, as Sgt DUB says, isn’t being pursued as urgently as it should.
One more thing, there are several hundred thousands of old, crappy vehicles on the road — especially in California — that (I’m certain) are below safety and emissions standards, yet they seem to get certified IF they’re registered. We need to put a stop to illegally certifying junkers as well and get that crap off the roads.