NYT Op Ed All Kinds of Confused by Pickens' Gas Price Plan
Anyone who can't guess where The Gray Lady stands on any given issue simply isn't paying attention. But today's New York Times Op Ed– The Oil Man Cometh– is harder to follow than Eugene O'Neill's seminal work. First, predictably enough, scribe Timothy Egan salutes T. Boone Pickens' anti-drilling, anti-Bush/McCain stance. "The 80-year-old T. Boone Pickens says, in a $58 million campaign, is that we can’t drill our way to lower gas prices. By implication, anybody who tells you otherwise — including the fellow Texan he helped put in the White House — is a fraud." And then, Egan rips Pickens a new asshole. "But before T. Boone poses for his statue, he has to answer to his past. Pickens was the moneybags, to the tune of $3 million, behind the Swift Boat attacks that made Senator Kerry’s honorable service in Vietnam sound like Rambo tangled up in lies." And then, he loves him. "No doubt, the Pickens plan makes sense." And then he loves him not. Or something. "Winning the argument may depend on who has the bigger megaphone. Advantage Pickens. Which means advantage Obama. Unless, of course, McCain wants to Swift Boat him, and then he knows who to turn to." Oy.
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Geez, the reflexive habit of negativity I sense here gets a little annoying sometimes. I have no love for T. Boone himself, or any other Texas oilman, including the current PresiDunce. I even have a bias against tycoons who go by their first initials. But after watching Pickens testify before a Senate committee on CSPAN this week, all that can be laid aside. I don't care to speculate about his hidden motivations or his profit strategies, either. What I did witness was a man who's trying to find a solution for our current energy, environmental and economic problems, with a can-do attitude. To me, that's worth more than all the conspiracy theories and political tangents of this discussion here, so far. Before you dismiss or sign onto the Pickens plan, I'd urge everyone to at least consult his .org website. Better yet, seek out the Senate testimony, where Pickens offers convincing answers to the challenges you're presenting. It may be quick and easy to toss out blanket, knee-jerk opinions based on a paragraph in the news, but finer minds should, and will, dig a little deeper.
And some folks like the 30 second sound bite voter you mentioned aren't going to give renewables (EVs for example) a thought until they really can't afford to drive across town or until a few neighbors have EVs. For that reason I have welcomed the high gasoline prices. Don't like $40+ to fill up my subcompact but I do like seeing average people consider alternatives and reconsidering how they get around. Let's get the painful switch started now (I think it is started) and not when we have a run up that takes us from $4 a gallon to $24 dollars a gallon. The economy is pretty shaky now with the war on, the increased prices of fuels, foods and other staples of life, and with all of the credit problems. Imagine how shaky it might be with a $20 increase in fuels. What separates us now from another Great Depression? How shaky can things get before there is a collapse? I'm not expert some my strategy is to not probe the limits of the economy. Save the fossil fuels for places where it can't be easily replaced like airplanes or bulldozers or heavy trucks. I think the Phoenix Motorcars SUT or the RAV4-EV have proven that not all EVs need look like the EV1 or some odd-looking golfcart (think GEM). We can have a useful CUV or small trucks with good looks and good utility. I'm not saying that the RAV or the PMC vehicles are everybody's cup of tea. I think the time for change is NOW. If TBP fosters positive and tangible change (i.e. not Al Gore's carbon credits) then I support him even if it makes him some money on the side. I supported GWB and that has led to few backslapping successes for the average person in America. I think the suggestion to not vote for any incumbents is a valid one and one that we have embraced with few exceptions. I think it was Buckminster Fuller that said that America was suffering from a shortage of initiative. Unfortunately - I think America has become much like General Motors - too entrenched in a long list of bad habits, good-ole boy network type stuff and faulty beliefs. America has strayed too far from the original ideas of prosperity, equality, freedom, democracy and citizens rights. Will there be an America the Beautiful Deathwatch? I hope not. Maybe it is time again to quit embracing the celebrities and athletes of our world and start celebrating the thinkers and doers. That's what I remember in high school - celebration of the athletics department. Little celebration of those kids who were really bright and likely to really change how we do what we do everyday in this world. Maybe high school is the last hurrah for the jocks and college is where the brainy kids are celebrated. Dunno.