Enermagy

I've seen a lot of good stuff written about McCain's dopey tire guage stunt but I haven't seen anyone point out how well it fits in with the learned helplessness theory of governance that conservatives have made their stock and trade.   Empowering Americans to feel like they can rise to meet any challenge isn't a Republican long suit.   But I lived through the last time Americans were inspired to do something about the energy crisis and not only were the steps we took effective, they were often fun. 

In blogging time, Obama's move to cautiously embrace domestic drilling as part of a compromise is very old news but I want to point to a post by Scarecrow at FDL, in which he explains why he likes what Obama is doing: 

More off-shore drilling is environmentally risky; as a supply or near-term price policy it's delusional, and if done alone only locks us into an untenable future. But conditioning it in the framework of strict environmental protection, rather than immediate price/supply relief, and as part of a transition to something else, is where the debate needed to be.

The Republicans are demanding to drill more, drill now, but no new drilling will happen for years because it takes time to do the permitting and there are no additional rigs available. But now Republicans and oil companies will have to pay for it with immediate support for alternatives they had been holding up.

He explains further in a down-thread comment:

The point is to reduce reliance on oil so that the pressure to drill more gets overtaken by its costs, relative to alternatives. To get there, we need the renewable tax credits renewed; we need to repeal incentives for oil companies to do other things and even tax them for doing so; we need to focus dollars on conservation/technology; and we need to recycle tax dollars from bad things back into the economy to relieve those most harmed. Obama’s plan has all these elements, but people think we’re talking about football cartoons because he’s said “I’ll give you more drilling permits, but only if we get all this other stuff.”

So that's hopeful anyway.  I'm sure I'll be forgiven for hanging onto the cartoon football image until I see a compromise that isn't a giveaway.  But, still, hopeful.

More energy talk: This Salon article from a while ago has a ton of tips to increase gas mileage.  MIT says that we can start thinking of solar energy as "unlimited and soon."   These guys want you to spread the word about the climate crisis. 

Dean Baker calls the Drill Here!  Drill Now! bluff:

So, let's give em what they want. They get to drill anywhere, with one small qualification. Since they insist that drilling will bring down the price of gas, we take them at their word. The deal is that we put a 100 percent windfall profit tax on gas prices in excess of $3 a gallon.

If they believe what they claim, they should jump at this deal. After all, drilling everywhere should get us back to $2 a gallon gas in no time. What do you say Senator McCain?

The Atlantic's James Fallows ends his watch of the air quality in and around Beijing and points to this informative video, Clearing the Air, from the Asia Society AND a cool Power Point slideshow that explains the situation in more detail. (only works with IE) 

Comments

[mick arran]

Well...maybe, but I wish Scarecrow's explanation sounded a little less like an Obama apologia.

"Really! He's not giving the game away again! This time it's a strategy!"

Uh-huh.

[eRobin]

I hear you - but this time it might could work as a strategy if what he says about drilling start times is true. Time seems to be on our side here. I don't like giving control of any land over to oil companies though so that part sticks in my craw and, of course, we haven't seen the Dems actually negotiate this idea to the country's benefit yet. There's still plenty of time for them to give away the store and get nothing in return. It's their current preferred course of action.