[OilsNotWell]

In TV, ratings are everything. So ignore them, and they WILL go away.
O'Lielly, like many others on FauxNews, is the on-air equivalent of a troll. No matter what you do -do not engage.

[WebHubbleTelescope]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', 'T')oday was interesting because someone called in to progressive Ed Shulz' show and spoke for about two minutes about Peak Oil. Shulz replied back, but I thought this problem had to do with a lack of refining capacity. The caller tried to educate him but it sounded like Shulz didn't get it or was getting bored and ended the call without comment.

[The_Toecutter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey hit at both sides of the equation, peak oil and uncontrolled corporatism.

[gego]

Bill O'Reillyis the definition of pseudointellectual.

[Armageddon]

is air america on xm sattelite ? if not, does anyone know a good talk radio show on xm ? and the time ?

[mweck]

its on channel 167 "America Left" or Air America Radio

[perplexd]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WebHubbleTelescope', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('thuja', 'T')oday was interesting because someone called in to progressive Ed Shulz' show and spoke for about two minutes about Peak Oil. Shulz replied back, but I thought this problem had to do with a lack of refining capacity. The caller tried to educate him but it sounded like Shulz didn't get it or was getting bored and ended the call without comment.

[dissimulo]

I used to find O'Reilly refreshing. In past years, I considered him to be a voice of reason in many topics. He has become less reasonable of late and his blatant intellectual dishonesty about the mechanics of the oil markets has convinced me to spend time doing other things than tuning him in.

But, it is obvious that his point of view is what people want to hear. That is no surprise, but it still concerns me.

[Leanan]

Interesting that he's blaming Big Oil. I would expect a rightwing nut like him to be blaming tree-hugging environmentalists...

[thuja]

Ed Shultz may be a populist middle of the road idiot, but he has clout with the congressional democrats, including Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid. They flock to him because they think they can rope in some independents and midwesterners to vote for them.

I personally love listening to Limbaugh, Medved and Snow because I can get inside the mind of a conservative and know what their bullet points will be when I talk to them. I also love to see how they twist and spin through one of the worst times for republicans. It was so much easier being in the minority for these guys. Now they're forced to back-up an entirely crippled Bush presidency.

[pip]

I'm as conservative as anybody, but Oriellys views on the oil industry don't do justice to the term ignorant.

[mgibbons19]

While capitalism has its faults to be certain, our problem here in the US is much more basic. We are economic illiterates, and we don't even understand the system we have.

[GreyZone]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The_Toecutter', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hey hit at both sides of the equation, peak oil and uncontrolled corporatism.

[The_Toecutter]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')h, the errors in this post...

Look, you talk about technologies being "supressed" but if they were truly useful wouldn't our enemies have adopted them without our consent?

[bobcousins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('The_Toecutter', 'S')witch to alternatives before the gap in supply and demand is achieved post peak, and the prices won't get their opportunity to rise as rapidly because people will be using other sources.

[small_steps]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('GreyZone', '
')Look, you talk about technologies being "supressed" but if they were truly useful wouldn't our enemies have adopted them without our consent? Germany and Japan in WWII? The USSR and China during the Cold War? These groups had no reason to respect our patents and legal system so why didn't they take these magnificent yet supressed inventions and run with them? The answer, of course, is that these inventions were not better than petroleum as an energy source or else others would be using them on a wider scale to gain an advantage. You can make the argument maybe once that some specific technology has been hidden away but there's no way to make that argument over and over for multiple technologies. That bird won't fly.

And that fact gets to the heart of your erroneous thinking in the claim that switching before the peak can even occur. Why would anyone voluntarily handicap themselves by using more expensive energy when their competitors (at the coporate or even the national levels) choose to use the cheap stuff? The answer? They won't, of course. So suggesting that any alternative be adopted before peak on a wide scale is unrealistic because that's not how people behave no matter how much anyone might wish it were so. And further, the fringe segment that does impose cost penalties on themselves pre-peak just ensures that there is slightly more (and even lower prices!) for the remaining oil consumers.

Finally your "less abundant" argument has been shot down by professionals numerous times. The early oil was cheap precisely because it was easy to get. The farther along the Hubbert curve we go, the more expensive it becomes to extract. And further, because we know this (and so do the oil companies internally), the more expensive the next barrel will be to extract, and the one after that, on down the line.

Now, to be fair, price at the pump does not reflect necessarily actual production costs but any system has to allow the producer to not only reap a profit from his production but also to be able to produce the next barrel of oil. Right now it is possible and even probable that the price at the pump is excessive when considering cost of production of that barrel of oil plus the expected costs of the next barrel but probably not by a great deal.

Thus, people will not change til the real crisis hits and the actual price of oil rises to reflect the crisis. Then and only then will people change behaviors. Instead of worrying about high oil prices, if you really want to see a transition to alternatives, particularly renewables, you should be celebrating high prices. Price, for all its faults, is the surest lever to move the modern world in the direction necessary. Heck, let the oil companies gouge! It raises prices which is the surest way to drive forward alternatives. If they wish to commit economic suicide, why should we stop them?

[threadbear]

You're all missing the main point here. O'reilly taking the oil companies to task is important. Lou Dobbs, on CNN-same thing. The media matrix has been shredded by recent events (New Oreans response, Iraq war denial of reality) which indicate the administration has no plan and appears to be winging it.

This scares the crap out of Wall Street, so media lapdogs like O'reilly have simply recieved new sheet music from their choirmasters and are singing an anti-oil tune. Sounds like a funeral dirge to me and I'm loving it. Rupert Murdoch predicts that he will be dealing with a more centrist FCC in the future and is beginning the toadying process right now. He wants to be on the winning side, after all.

And who said oil is based on free trade? What an absurdity. The supply can be constrained artificially by Opec producing countries, for one, refiners can shut down refineries arbitrarily with the specific purpose of creating a bottleneck to ramp up price. Of course if that's what you call "free", uh...I guess. Sounds more like speculation driven by complicit acknowledgement that oil is in the hands of a very few cartels.

[bobcousins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'Y')ou're all missing the main point here. O'reilly taking the oil companies to task is important. Lou Dobbs, on CNN-same thing. The media matrix has been shredded by recent events (New Oreans response, Iraq war denial of reality) which indicate the administration has no plan and appears to be winging it.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('bobcousins', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'Y')ou're all missing the main point here. O'reilly taking the oil companies to task is important. Lou Dobbs, on CNN-same thing. The media matrix has been shredded by recent events (New Oreans response, Iraq war denial of reality) which indicate the administration has no plan and appears to be winging it.