GIP and stuff

[kellinator]

Look at this awesome icon relevantpink made for me! She picked "shipwrecks" from my interest list and gave me this great multi-purpose icon.

I'm still hunting for my current political icon. I've seen a couple of good candidates over at liberal_icons. I hate to give up the Kerry icon, but I'm reaching the point where I sit there debating over which icon to delete every time I get a new one, and that's just sad. But, you know, you don't want to get rid of the nice ones people made for you... I did delete a Munch icon a while back. See? It has happened.

Oh, forgive me while I indulge in a moment of "told you so":

Drilling approved for Alaska oil reserve

I'm sorry. I'd like to be writing politically insightful things, but right now I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I can do to make a difference.

In the meantime, I'll probably just write fluff.

Comments

[streamweaver.livejournal.com]

What a complete dipshit reply this is and how utterly clueless you have to be to make it.

It's a typical tactic for a moron argument too. You being with trying to define the argument and then asking people to explain to you, based on your own idiot postulates what is wrong with it.

It's obvious neither teachers or books have made a dent in that thick skull of yours, so there isn't a hope anyone is going to do it here.

If you ever decide to wake up crack a freaking book on what a Tundra ecosystem is like. It's not an area devoid of life, it's an area of cyclic environmental changes.

Try cracking a report on the cost benefit analysis of oil drilling there and you'll have some of your own answers. Just make sure it's an actual report and not one backed by a company that reaps all the benefits while suffering none of the consequences.

The oil industry isn't evil but this conversational tactic of pre-defining things based on this bullshit suppositions is. So if you want to be a dipshit reductionist then go get a mirror and talk to yourself, because you're the only one buying your bullshit.

[dwivian]

Er.... fuck off?

Dude, if you aren't going to be part of rational discussion, then I'm really going to have to consider that maybe the other side has NO RATIONAL argument. Besides, I find books more useful when read than when attempting to make dents in skulls. You might try that alternative sometime.

I've read quite a bit on environments (spent my college lab sequences in environmental sciences for a reason, donchaknow) and I know what a tundra is. I also know that disruption of a forest, or savannah, is much more damaging than a tundra or plains, in regards to oil drilling.

I also read, as a result of addition science coursework and just general interest, about oil production in Alaska, and the strict regulations on how it can be done, and what is done to protect the environment (as it differs from Georgia, Alabama, Texas, etc). The rules there are QUITE strict.

So, with the obvious demand, the intention to reduce foreign requirements, the push to avoid stripmining shale-oil, and the expectation that oil is a limited resource, it seems that early drilling and exploration in a confined space according to strict rules is not without merit.

My assertions are:
1. a small area will be impacted
2. the impact will be very minimal
3. the economic impact is unknown

(1) is a fact. (2) is based on the protections in the rest of Alaska, which are sufficent for my belief that continued use of those protections would be adequate for the region being considered. (3) is an assertion based in my lack of full understanding of the jobs, taxes, and market fluxuations of an entry source of oil on the world production stage.

Now, is anyone willing to explain, in a rational way, why we shouldn't consider a domestic source that is safer and cheaper than bulldozing large areas of southern savannah and northern slant-shale?

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

Or pehaps instead why we shouldn't be pushing harder for options besides drilling ourselves out of the problem?

[dwivian]

That's a good one, too! Easily answered by "the guys what owns the drills also owns the government."

::sigh::

Hey, I bought my hybrid car (too much long-haul for pure electric, just yet) and I'm looking closely at the SMART car (http://www.smart.com) for a future commuting vehicle.

(original deleted because I got the link wrong)

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

Good choice. I'm going hybrid myself (most likely a Prius, but depends on what'll be out when I go for one) when the time comes to get a new car.

I'm not trying to bait you, I hope you realize. It's just a common frustration for me at least that it seems like we're left with two real options: suck up to the Saudis or drill at home. The alternate route seems to offend anyone who wants the right to drive trucks to drop off their kids for soccer practice, and is under constant attack by people who want the market to cause the changes instead of regulation.

[dwivian]

The Prius was just a hair too small to be a family car, so I got the Honda Civic. Great mileage for the size of vehicle (seats five pretty well, LOTS of trunk space, 40+ MPG regularly), but I still want the 450+ mile range of the SMART. Besides, it LOOKS like an ecocar, while mine looks like... well... a Civic.

No worries on the baiting, either. Even though we still own a minivan, I'd be just tickled to see a 50c/gal consumption tax on gasoline (not diesel, to reduce impact on comestible goods transport) or a return to the CAFE rules that forced the entry of the Hybrid vehicles. We've got to cut back, or get efficient.

[cotharyus.livejournal.com]

But consider what a tax like that would do to people like me who make a living doing things like mowing yards. I get about 12 mpg and drive close to 100 miles a day, plus my mowers burn about 1gal/hr of gas. I can promise you that before my clients take the price hike that would get passed to them they would find a way to mow thier own yards. The alternative of eating the price hike doesn't help me either - I make enough to pay the bills, I'm not getting rich. Either way, a tax like this would put me out of business. I *do* think that anyone driving something huge for no apparent reason (like the H2 those kids just got dropped out of for soccer) should have to pay some sort of tax, but how do you decide who does and who doesn't?

[dwivian]

Get an electric lawn mower?

I can tell you right now that I'd be more than willing to pay such a slight increase in the cost of yard maintenance (less than $10 a month for my yard, plus an extra $7 to get you there). It's not a lot for your profession, quite honestly.

It'll hit the commuting traffic the hardest, and those with low milage vehicles will either curtail their driving, get a new vehicle, or suck it up as a cost of being affluent.

[pokeyturtle.livejournal.com]

there are solar lawn mowers too. and for small yards, use one that doesn't require fuel at all.

i don't understand why people go "meh it's gonna cost me MONEY to go alternative!" when we know damn well we're gonna run out of oil, and that oil prices are going to skyrocket well before that happens, and that sooner or later we'll be paying more anyway if civilization doesn't out and out collapse, so we might as well start paying more sooner.