Oil Barons and Bust (America) or Jimmy Carter Warned America (Vid)

The Republicans defeated yet another energy bill put forth by the Democrats. You gotta give it to them and admit their moxie in firmly standing behind their constituency in the face of what a lot of people see as an approaching landslide in favor of Barack Obama (though with the Republican slime machine gearing up none of us take it for granted). 

In filibustering the much-needed energy bill the Republicans prove yet again how finely-tuned their tin ears are to the pleas of rich and greedy Oil Baron’s: Republicans must not disturb the greedy Oil Baron’s quarterly record profits. 

President Carter’s Energy Policy

With gasoline hitting more than $4.00/gallon and no respite for the weary in sight, I can’t help but think about where we might be as a country had we not laughed at President Jimmy Carter back in the 70’s. I remember very vaguely the days when Carter put on a sweater and talked to the American people about energy conservation. He told the American people how we needed to change our ways which meant wearing sweaters around the house and turning the thermostat down to 60 degrees. My mom, who was not given to being cold in her own house, dutifully complied, tossing extra blankets on our beds for good measure. I’m sure ours was not the only family that responded responsibly to our President’s call for a saner energy policy, but memory recalls Carter and his policies generally being laughed at. His oval office chat, and the sweater he had worn to show the public what he himself was willing to do, was derisively compared to FDR and his more successful fireside chats. Carter, despite the multitude of catcalls, went on to install solar panels on the White House. We all know what Republican President Ronald Reagan did with those.

American Ingenuity

On one of this morning’s network shows, a guy who’s adapted his car to use natural gas was interviewed. Having tapped off the natural gas line in his home, each night he fills up at about 2 dollars a gallon. Only drawback: He can’t drive long distances because there aren’t too many or, really, any natural gas stations.  Yet, hIs story made me wonder about innovation… Just where we would be if we had heeded Carter’s warning more than 30 years ago? I’m also reminded of Nikola Tesla and his invention that, had it maintained sufficient financial backing, would have tapped into nature’s resources and supplied free energy to every person on the planet.

Now, wouldn’t that have been something?

(I heard news reporters on two separate MSM networks blame the Republicans for the defeated energy bill. While they seem to be utterly oblivious to other Republican policies that hurt working Americans, at least we know they feel the sting of high fuel and food prices as much as the rest of us).

Be back with links.