![\"\'I feel like I just ran a sub-four-minute-mile,\' said a giddy Egan, clutching his trophy [for the 2006 National Book award] while photographers gathered around him at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. \'The endorphins are kicking in.\'\" (courtesy spokesmanreview.com)](https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/cit_nba_awardsimg_11-16-2006_1u91fit.jpg "\\"\'I feel like I just ran a sub-four-minute-mile,\' said a giddy Egan, clutching his trophy [for the 2006 National Book award] while photographers gathered around him at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. \'The endorphins are kicking in.\'\\" (courtesy spokesmanreview.com)")
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.
Find Reviews by Make:
Read all comments
I think that style is called “Hug a little, Punch a little”.
Hillary Clinton was good at it. It didn’t get her anywhere with the primary voters, but she was good at it. Gushy and gooey toward Barack Obama one minute, then hitting with left hooks and body shots in the next.
Captain Kirk (the starship captain) was also good at it. I just saw an old episode yesterday where he hugged and kissed a lovely captor, then hauled off and decked her!
TBP recently got his clocked cleaned in the oil futures market. This sounds like a great program, if implemented, to let him clean up on short positions for a while.
The only wind he truly understands is the hot air he has been generating for years.
TBP recently got his clocked cleaned in the oil futures market.
And the natural gas market.
This sounds like a great program, if implemented, to let him clean up on short positions for a while.
Not to mention the millions in wind energy subsidies that he’ll rake in…
I saw his commercial last night on TV news…good commercial. Lots of shots of huge wind farms and T Boone as a talking head. I could swear it was 60 seconds, and I don’t see many commercials of that length anymore.
He has alot of money and land invested in the wind farms being considered in west Texas. I see this as two-fold: one, energy as as clean and renewable is a emerging market and there is alot of money to be made.
At the company I work for, we focus primarily (consulting, environmental studies, PM, engineering/designing, construction) on energy and T&D projects, many current clients are wanting to do renewable energy now. There is money in it, and TBP is going to make some profit by marketing and creating a greater demand for this.
Finally, people are allowed to change their position on something. We are allowed to admit defeat and/or not be blinded by what the politicians are saying. I’m very conservative but I’m not blind to decisions made by the current administration or the current Republican candidate. TBP is allowed to change his mind, I’m not sure why or how that would leave the NYT editor to be confused.
Picken’s wants the government to pay for the windmills. Doesn’t want to use his own money. That tells you all you need to know. Picken’s profits while the taxpayer picks up the tab. Germany has found the wind to not be the answer and is now back to building coal fired power plants. Plus coal fired plants have the advantage of adding CO2 to the atmosphere, which then makes plants grow.
I can’t speak authoritatively about Pickens’ wind farm proposals, but it is important to point out that Egan is repeating a pernicious slur that John Kerry was falsely maligned by the Swift Boat Veterans. (Who began refuting Kerry’s slanders in the 70’s, not 2004.) No one has ever demonstrated that the SBV are incorrect on any significant point, nor did Kerry provide the contrary evidence he claimed to have. Moreover, the central theme of the SBV isn’t so much that Kerry self-created his heroic image, but that he viciously maligned Viet veterans to help build his political career. The Times and its fellow travelers never engages those facts, instead just repeating the mantra that Kerry is a victim.
Kerry still never released his military medical records to the public. Wonder why?
Pickens has his nerve. Telling the country not to bother drilling and set up windmills all over the place. He should know better instead of using his position as an oil man to play to the anti-petroleum crowd. I’m wondering what the ulterior motive is.
Noticeably absent from his TV ads are the real costs to consumers for his fantasy. Ask Joe Sixpack if he wants a 600 dollar a month electric bill as a result of wind power.
bluecon: The DOE already offers rather large grants/subsidies to windfarm owners but does oversee them with the NEPA process (for 25mw+ or about 5 to 10 turbines).
Germany has not backed off tremendously from building windfarms but they’re starting to run out of room to do so, you can’t just keep building them forever or whereever. Like in the US, the best places for wind is in the northwest, Texas, the great plains and parts of California. The northwest also has a great amount of hydro-power, which is another great source of renewable energy but it does mess with the fish population.
Finally, they’re not an end-all means of energy production but a factor to lessen the amount of coal and gas-fired plants. Plus, new coal plants are rather clean burning, the mining is a higher impact to the environment.
bluecon Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Kerry still never released his military medical records to the public. Wonder why?
I was told that one reason why was that it showed Kerry’s IQ to be less than that of George Bush.
“Pickens has his nerve. Telling the country not to bother drilling and set up windmills all over the place. He should know better instead of using his position as an oil man to play to the anti-petroleum crowd. I’m wondering what the ulterior motive is.”
You are really wondering? Here is a hint:
$$$$$$$$$$$$
Pickens is right about wind power, but he is trying to set himself up as the lead dog, the ex-oilman savior from Texas.
I think it is funny that Pickens parrots the media-inspired “You can’t drill your way to oil independence” one day, and then later that day, a report comes out that states there are 90 billion barrels of oil waiting to be drilled for in the Arctic, which would bump proven reserves to 1.3 Trillion barrels? Without a single barrel being discovered past that, that is 44 years worth of oil at our current rate of consumption. And there are probably 2 to 3 times that amount waiting to be discovered, not to mention oil shale.
So tell me again T.Boone how drilling for oil wouldn’t help anything? We need it all right now…oil, gas, wind, solar, nuclear, all of it.
I was told that one reason why was that it showed Kerry’s IQ to be less than that of George Bush.
Wow, who told you that?
IQ results aren’t be part of anybody’s military medical records.
How did we get the oil in the first place. Let me guess. We drilled for it. And now all of a sudden drilling for oil won’t work. Just a coincidence Pickens is heavily invested in natural gas? This is like OPEC telling America, “don’t drill it won’t help”.
bluecon Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Kerry still never released his military medical records to the public. Wonder why?
wrong candidate; it was W who still hasn’t explained where he was during his supposed “service”
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/06/07/kerry_allows_navy_release_of_military_medical_records/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A7372-2004Feb2?language=printer
also the SWBT was a complete joke
http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/swift.asp
wrong candidate; it was W who still hasn’t explained where he was during his supposed “service”
Kerry hasn’t, either. Oh, he released it to the Boston Fucking Globe, who was endorsing him pretty much constantly.
But you’ll never find Kerry’s military records that he “released” because he only “released” them to trusted media sources.
Hell, even that Globe article talks about how many times he promised to “release” his records, but there was never any follow-through.
You can try a “Bush did it too!” argument, but I don’t like Bush so I’m not sure what the point of that would be.
T is not against drilling. I heard him say yesterday that we should be doing MORE domestic drilling.
How many times do they have to be wrong before you start to ignore the NYT?
Well, this is off-thread, but since the question has been raised: The comparison of Kerry’s and Bush’s IQ scores is based on inferences from other evidence that is available, like SAT and military test scores. The New York Times’ John Tierney had a nice little piece on it in 2004. Yes, I know, the NYT, but since it’s what lawyers call an admission against interest, on this point it’s credible:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/politics/campaign/24points.html
There’s also an amusing reference to Doonesbury.
The “AWOL Bush” allegations have been thoroughly rebutted by people who studied the evidence and actually know how the military works. Just look at some sources other than the NYT, WaPo or DU.
A final word from the oil patch: the only way “drilling won’t work” is true is that drillers were so devastated in the bust(s) it’ll take time to get a bunch more rigs and trained workers. I wonder if the “won’t work” crowd says, when they notice their gas gauge needle is near the E, “Oh, I’m running low on fuel but going to the service station isn’t the answer.”
It was Kerry’s college transcripts that came out as part of his military records; Kerry had a point lower gpa than Bush at the Yale from the same time period.
Which is pretty embarrassing when you are running as the smart one.
The big problem with Pickens’ plan is the disconnect between the wind farms he proposes and the real problem which is liquid fuel for transport. He proposes to free up natural gas now being used to produce electricity so that it can be used in cars and trucks.
The problem is the same one that ethanol faces: there is no distribution infrastructure although I understand Pickens has a few stations delivering compressed natural gas. To convert a lot of service stations to natural gas is a big project. Even getting E85 pumps installed is like pulling teeth. Natural gas pumps would face the same resistance or worse since few vehicles can use it.
Then comes the more serious obstacle of converting cars/trucks to natural gas. Gas has to be compressed and a heavier, bulky tank installed. Not only that, the engine has be retrofitted and tuned to burn natural gas. This is a major project when it involves millions of cars.
On top of that by the time all the infrastructure adjustments/retrofitting is completed, natural gas will be facing its own peak production similar to what we are now facing with conventional oil.
Then what?
Then Pickens will be even richer and the taxpayers poorer.
You can install a natural gas filling machine at your house and some companies build NG vehicles.
It wont help is true, due to two things, I think
1- it takes a few years from ‘OK” to “oil is pumping to the market” and Americans want the price to go from $4 to $1.50 yesterday.
2-Oil companies want the rights but won’t now drill in the lower 48 where they can, holding off market, since its worth more in future than today. I myself would like to lock in some rights and sit on them for 90 years. Be an ancestor.
I get #1 from common sense.
#2 comes from congressional people speaking to the press.
And, I won’t say what I think about Bush because this is a car site. We Americans get what we deserve in government.
Maybe I can get some good politicians to build me a fast breeder reactor. The Pickens plan calls for what has to be billions and billions spent on wind farms and transmission infrastructure. I could get on TV and be folksy. If you put the reactor reasonably near the demand you are better off right away and can use existing transmission lines. I could use the heat to make ethanol for human or vehicular consumption. I could use the heat to warm homes. I see those cooling towers and I think of all the energy that is wasted. I could use the non-recyclable nuclear waste to make very nice lead-shielded hotboxes. The soviets were very big on those to produce power for remote sensors and the like. I can’t see how that can’t be an attractive solution for the future. Maybe I could develop a new urbanist community for me and my nuke green buddies and your house or maybe better yet your block could have a hotbox house where the decaying waste could be used to give you some good DC for powering all your fun household electric equipment or your little electric car and it could even be used to heat water to reduce demand for natural gas or whatever else you use. I think it would be great to have the hotbox while most folk, especially in home heating oil land will be wearing layer upon layer and reenacting Monticello home energy policy. The hotboxes won’t be very attractive in and around the sunbelt where it’ll be too hot to need that kind of thing.
johnny ro said: 2-Oil companies want the rights but won’t now drill in the lower 48 where they can, holding off market, since its worth more in future than today. I myself would like to lock in some rights and sit on them for 90 years. Be an ancestor.
… #2 comes from congressional people speaking to the press.”
Politicians and the press .. two gushers for bafflegab. Do you really think stockholders, boards of directors, Wall Street, etc. would approve of an oil company that buys assets with no plan to make use of them? A little instruction: Our non-government oil companies have to spend money to be allowed to explore and drill. Leases are not perpetual, typically expiring in just a few years. (Landholders want production, too.) If federal land is involved, the law requires lessors to proceed in the specified time or give up the lease. Drilling and production can get delayed because rigs and workers are scarce, but the worst snafus are roadblocks for spudding in, pipelines and terminals. Self-styled environmentalists have perfected the art of using the courts to stymie energy development. Think gas prices are too high? Complain to the Sierra Club, not Exxon.
Actually, here in Texas, the oil companies actually DO own the mineral rights to a lot of land. They don’t lease it from the government, and they could sit on it indefinitely. Sorry to upset all the libs, but they don’t sit on it, they drill it as soon as they can make a profit on it.
It is unbelievable the crap that the Democrats are selling. It’s the old incompetent or stupid thing. Either they don’t know the laws governing the leases, or they do and they just want to lie about it.
Unfortunately, half the liberal base is too ignorant to understand the hoax, and the other half condones it based on the ends justifying the means.
The interesting thing is that it seems folks are wising up. We may not have a coronation in our future after all.
Drill, drill, drill!
Alex Rodriguez Says: Without a single barrel being discovered past that, that is 44 years worth of oil at our current rate of consumption. And there are probably 2 to 3 times that amount waiting to be discovered, not to mention oil shale.
YAY! 44+ more years of pumping toxic gases into the air we breathe! YAY! Seriously I like my gasoline powered cars but I’d rather see us in electrics and save the gasoline powered toys for the fun trips or weekends. We need to move beyond this stripping the earth of it’s resources and burning it model of energy production and move towards something less toxic.
I’m all for solar and wind and hydro offsetting how much fossil fuels we consume!
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.
YAY! 44+ more years of pumping toxic gases into the air we breathe! YAY! Seriously I like my gasoline powered cars but I’d rather see us in electrics and save the gasoline powered toys for the fun trips or weekends. We need to move beyond this stripping the earth of it’s resources and burning it model of energy production and move towards something less toxic.
Like I said in my post, I am all for moving to renewables. Wind is HUGE in conservative Red-state Texas right now. We need nuclear, solar, all of it.
But you don’t just stop the oil-based economy for 25 years while you get your alternatives on line. There won’t be a country left to power if we stop and wait. We need to continue to drill for oil while we convert, it is just common sense (which is very absent amongst your typical 30 second sound bite voter)
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.