[Michael_Layden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'I') think drilling now is good, we should open all the coastal and other off limits areas asap. Why? Because we WILL drill all those areas eventually and today there is still some small amount of concern for the environment and regulation remaining.
In 20 years America will not be a divided country; the undisputed majority will be Compassionate Conservatives willing to murder, rape and pillage for just one more gallon.

[MonteQuest]

Here is something I wrote as a National Park Ranger 14 years ago. I think it is quite apropos for this moment.

A RANGER SEES FORTY

Forty years old. Not so old, really. As a child I remember thinking about growing old, reaching "forty," or perhaps beyond. It seemed like a long way off. But as we all too suddenly find out, it is but the blink of an eye. As I reflect back through the years, I find the roots of my being: the failures, the successes, the trials, the tribulations; all the ingredients that go to make up a life. Someone once said, "The older you become, the smarter your parents appear to be." I imagine that the wise old sage who blubbered that bit of wisdom was, like myself, a recalcitrant little know-it-all in his younger days.

Although I was born in Winslow, Arizona, the locale that probably had the most influence on my life was good ol' Missouri. At the tender age of three, I went to live with my grandparents on a farm in Northwest Missouri, just a stone's throw from the Iowa line. It was there, under the influence of my grandfather, that the ground work was laid for the conservation ethic that has so dominated my life. He was a very frugal man; making do with what he had, and if forced to buy something, it was usually second-hand. This austere life, coupled with his discrete use of insecticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, made a great impression on me. It was my first lesson in the philosophy...that less is more.

During the peaceful post-war years of the 1950's, life was idyllic for a small boy with 212 acres to roam. I learned to hunt and to fish, milk a cow, drive a tractor, and, as my mother once observed, enjoy being little. I enjoyed hunting a great deal; but in later years, as I grew more aware of the environment, I found that hunting no longer had place in my life. We ate everything we shot in those days; but it was not subsistence hunting—it was sport.

Nature is at her best in the eyes of a small boy. I spent a great deal of time playing down by the "crick" on those lazy, hot summer afternoons of my early childhood; building dams, catching frogs, and remembering the first word from my Dick and Jane book.... Look! I shall never forget that time in my life. It was the best. The freedom I had then as a boy can not be bought anywhere. I will cherish those memories forever.

Throughout my life, I have been rather appalled at the way mankind has treated this planet. It has a given me very strong convictions about life and how to live it. Through diversity, we have stability; through conservation, we preserve that diversity. If only one area can be viewed as sacred, let it be the National Parks.

By the time the National Parks System was created in 1916, the frontier was gone. No longer did the bison roam the plains; never again would Native Americans follow their old ways. The thought bothered people. Thank God! Suddenly, the observations of John Muir took on a new meaning. Still, we had to go through the era of garbage-gobbling bear-feeding shows, "firefalls" in Yosemite, and, of course, the tree tunnels in Sequoia. The National Parks could not be, at once, wilderness sanctuaries and public playgrounds. The demands of conservation, we have found, are far more complex than first imagined.

In today's world, an unprotected wilderness is doomed. Edward Abbey once wrote of Canyonlands National Park: "...The least inhabited, least inhibited, least improved, least civilized...most grim bleak barren desolate and savage quarter of the state of Utah—the best by far." Like Abbey, I, too, love the desert. The desert visitor tends not to revere the desert as he would the green pine forest. Thus, as a result of unintentional bias, the more fragile desert plays second fiddle. If you can't handle the hard facts of solitude, searing heat, and scarce water; you are not likely to smell the flowers.

Henry David Thoreau once enumerated, "The paths to money, invariably, lead downward. To work merely for the wages your employer pays you, is to be cheated. You cheat yourself." It was with this thought in mind, that I decided to join the National Park Service. Rangers who work for the Park Service are motivated for reasons other than financial—no doubt! A concern for the environment, a dedication to public service, and an envied occupation, just to name a few. To help preserve our American heritage is our duty, and responsibility, as stewards of the earth. From the miracle of Crater Lake's blue...to the endless sawgrass prairies of the Everglades; these are our National Parks, to me, the closet thing to a sacred place. The dreams and memories they contain are in our care today; tomorrow's generations depend on us to keep them whole.

I now enter the summer years of my life; my passion has mellowed, and I don't stay up quite so late. My adamancy has been tempered with the years, and I am better able to articulate my views. All in all, everyone who touched my life affected it in some way, good or bad, more or less. Thank God, it was mostly good.

In my next forty years, I hope we all gain some wisdom into the workings of old Mother Earth. The intricate web that she weaves across this planet, startles and confuses us, one and all. "In wildness," wrote Thoreau, "is the preservation of the world."

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')n the other hand, are you so sure that they are opposed to ANWR drilling? They might be in favor of it due to the job/money potential.

[holmes]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dezakin', 'L')ets assume that drilling ANWR 'destroys' the arctic ecosystem. Why should we care? How are we dependant on it? I admit I'm trying to raise some hackles, but I'm honestly curious what the theory is for the impact on humanity from ANWR's ecosystems. Is this just about preventing a pretty place far out of the way from being rendered less pretty, or is there some greater human impact concern (outside of local innuit eating carribu.)

[EnemyCombatant]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('clv101', 'T')his site is good for a laugh: link
When talking about how much oil is there they talk about it on a state by state level... How long would your state run on ANWR oil?. They have a list of each state and how long it will run: link
Looks good, Colorado 120 years, Maine 249 years, South Dakota 499 years oh and California 16, Florida 29 and Texas 9! What they don't do is add it all together and say how long the whole USA will run on ANWA oil.
Do they really think Americans are so dumb to not see that, or so small minded not to think outside their own state?

[holmes]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MonteQuest', 'H')ere is something I wrote as a National Park Ranger 14 years ago. I think it is quite apropos for this moment.

A RANGER SEES FORTY

Forty years old. Not so old, really. As a child I remember thinking about growing old, reaching "forty," or perhaps beyond. It seemed like a long way off. But as we all too suddenly find out, it is but the blink of an eye. As I reflect back through the years, I find the roots of my being: the failures, the successes, the trials, the tribulations; all the ingredients that go to make up a life. Someone once said, "The older you become, the smarter your parents appear to be." I imagine that the wise old sage who blubbered that bit of wisdom was, like myself, a recalcitrant little know-it-all in his younger days.

Although I was born in Winslow, Arizona, the locale that probably had the most influence on my life was good ol' Missouri. At the tender age of three, I went to live with my grandparents on a farm in Northwest Missouri, just a stone's throw from the Iowa line. It was there, under the influence of my grandfather, that the ground work was laid for the conservation ethic that has so dominated my life. He was a very frugal man; making do with what he had, and if forced to buy something, it was usually second-hand. This austere life, coupled with his discrete use of insecticides, herbicides, and inorganic fertilizers, made a great impression on me. It was my first lesson in the philosophy...that less is more.

During the peaceful post-war years of the 1950's, life was idyllic for a small boy with 212 acres to roam. I learned to hunt and to fish, milk a cow, drive a tractor, and, as my mother once observed, enjoy being little. I enjoyed hunting a great deal; but in later years, as I grew more aware of the environment, I found that hunting no longer had place in my life. We ate everything we shot in those days; but it was not subsistence hunting—it was sport.

Nature is at her best in the eyes of a small boy. I spent a great deal of time playing down by the "crick" on those lazy, hot summer afternoons of my early childhood; building dams, catching frogs, and remembering the first word from my Dick and Jane book.... Look! I shall never forget that time in my life. It was the best. The freedom I had then as a boy can not be bought anywhere. I will cherish those memories forever.

Throughout my life, I have been rather appalled at the way mankind has treated this planet. It has a given me very strong convictions about life and how to live it. Through diversity, we have stability; through conservation, we preserve that diversity. If only one area can be viewed as sacred, let it be the National Parks.

By the time the National Parks System was created in 1916, the frontier was gone. No longer did the bison roam the plains; never again would Native Americans follow their old ways. The thought bothered people. Thank God! Suddenly, the observations of John Muir took on a new meaning. Still, we had to go through the era of garbage-gobbling bear-feeding shows, "firefalls" in Yosemite, and, of course, the tree tunnels in Sequoia. The National Parks could not be, at once, wilderness sanctuaries and public playgrounds. The demands of conservation, we have found, are far more complex than first imagined.

In today's world, an unprotected wilderness is doomed. Edward Abbey once wrote of Canyonlands National Park: "...The least inhabited, least inhibited, least improved, least civilized...most grim bleak barren desolate and savage quarter of the state of Utah—the best by far." Like Abbey, I, too, love the desert. The desert visitor tends not to revere the desert as he would the green pine forest. Thus, as a result of unintentional bias, the more fragile desert plays second fiddle. If you can't handle the hard facts of solitude, searing heat, and scarce water; you are not likely to smell the flowers.

Henry David Thoreau once enumerated, "The paths to money, invariably, lead downward. To work merely for the wages your employer pays you, is to be cheated. You cheat yourself." It was with this thought in mind, that I decided to join the National Park Service. Rangers who work for the Park Service are motivated for reasons other than financial—no doubt! A concern for the environment, a dedication to public service, and an envied occupation, just to name a few. To help preserve our American heritage is our duty, and responsibility, as stewards of the earth. From the miracle of Crater Lake's blue...to the endless sawgrass prairies of the Everglades; these are our National Parks, to me, the closet thing to a sacred place. The dreams and memories they contain are in our care today; tomorrow's generations depend on us to keep them whole.

I now enter the summer years of my life; my passion has mellowed, and I don't stay up quite so late. My adamancy has been tempered with the years, and I am better able to articulate my views. All in all, everyone who touched my life affected it in some way, good or bad, more or less. Thank God, it was mostly good.

In my next forty years, I hope we all gain some wisdom into the workings of old Mother Earth. The intricate web that she weaves across this planet, startles and confuses us, one and all. "In wildness," wrote Thoreau, "is the preservation of the world."

[Trab]

Interesting article by Thomas Friedman in the Times today disuccing several of the topics that get hit a lot here.
First, on the likelyhood of the US hitting China any time soon:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')nd if you look at all these areas, the Bush team has not only been steadily eroding America's leverage and room for maneuver vis-à-vis its biggest long-term competitor - China - but it has actually been making us more dependent than ever on Beijing. Indeed, if the Bush policies were wrapped into a single legislative bill it could be called "The U.S.-China Dependency Act."

The excessive tax cuts for the rich, combined with a total lack of discipline on spending by the Bush team and its Republican-run Congress, have helped China become the second-largest holder of U.S. debt, with a little under $200 billion worth. No, I don't think China will start dumping its T-bills on a whim. But don't tell me that as China buys up more and more of our debt - and that is the only way we can finance the tax holiday the Bush team wants to make permanent - it won't limit our room to maneuver with Beijing, should it take aggressive steps toward Taiwan.
What China might do with all its U.S. T-bills in the event of a clash over Taiwan is a total wild card that we have put in Beijing's hands.

[airstrip1]

Funny how people are suddenly beginning to realise that all the military posturing by the Bush administration can not hide the harsh fact that it is a very, very weak. He is really a bit of a lame duck.

[maverickdoc]

Friedman does not understand economics or Geopolitics much less PO.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('maverickdoc', 'F')riedman does not understand economics or Geopolitics much less PO.

[maverickdoc]

No he said ANWAR oil will go to China and Japan, and the US will still rely on SA and Venezuela.. And he keeps pushing his geo-green nonsense. $1 gas tax to develop alternative energy and reduce demand. That will, according to him have an added benefit decrease oil demand and prices. That will Choke off revenue to the ME regimes and then they will become democratic.

[Jack]

Thank you for the summary.
I find that I must agree with your conclusions.
Or, more succinctly, Mr. Friedman is wacko.

[bart]

Why is Friedman a wacko?
He's saying things that should be common sense to people who have been on the forums for awhile.
The oil from ANWR won't make an appreciable difference to the oil supply, except perhaps keeping oil slightly cheaper for a while. It's also true that the oil from Alaska will go onto the global market, rather than directly to meet US demand. It won't make a dent in the energy problem the way we are going.

He proposes a tax on oil to improve the budget and encourage conservation and more efficient automobilies. The only argument I would have with Friedman is that he does not go far enough. We all know that coping with PO requires much much more. But it's a start.
If we are serious about solving problems we have to work with people where they are, not where we think they should be.

[tokyo_to_motueka]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bart', 'W')hy is Friedman a wacko? He's saying things that should be common sense to people who have been on the forums for awhile.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bart', 'W')hy is Friedman a wacko?

[MonteQuest]

It is still not a done deal, folks. Nothing will be done until later this year, if at all.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Senate, by a 51-49 vote, rejected an attempt by Democrats and GOP moderates to remove a refuge drilling provision from next year's budget, preventing opponents from using a filibuster — a tactic that has blocked repeated past attempts to open the Alaska refuge to oil companies.
The action, assuming Congress agrees on a budget, clears the way for approving drilling in the refuge later this year, drilling supporters said. The House has not included a similar provision in its budget, so the issue is still subject to negotiations later this year to resolve the difference

[maverickdoc]

If you follow Freedman, as I have. You cannot but help conclude he is a lost man. He really does not seem to have a firm grip on reality. If he was told about PO, I am sure his gut Rxn will be don't worry we can conserve our way out of this. He is very hawkish but does not believe in the military as a tool. With this guy you get the worst of all worlds.
Don't even get me started on his idea about economics!
Anyone who thinks a country (US) will sell it's oil (in the face of PO) to a competitor is just plain Nuts, I don't care how much leverage china has.

[frankthetank]

Doesn't AK oil already go to Japan?

[WebHubbleTelescope]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('tokyo_to_motueka', '.')... His knack at jiggering the truth to co-opt his readership puts him light-years beyond his peers .....

[bart]

I'm surprised at this reaction to Friedman.
I know the criticism of Friedman that tokyo_to_motueka cites. It's true that he is a liberal hawk, but so is Tony Blair and a number of Democrats. I disagree with him violently, but that doesn't mean he is wacko. Friedman actually is a traditional liberal, a dying breed.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('maverickdoc', 'A')nyone who thinks a country (US) will sell it's oil (in the face of PO) to a competitor [China] is just plain Nuts.