Bill Cantrell's FROM THE COCKPIT

Fellow Democrats and Friends - - -   

From time to time, I would like to share some points of interest that concern actions taken by some of our fellow Democrats right here in Kerr County. My hope is that by bringing them to your attention, it will stir you to similar acts of reason, and, yes, courage. I moved here from Michigan 18 months ago, and it took no time at all to discover I had moved from one county of intolerance to another just like it. To openly proclaim your Liberal or Democratic preference draws threats of all sorts. We can change this attitude if we wish, but not by answering taunts with taunts, or keying cars, or stealing signs. Educate yourself on the issues, and speak with tolerance and reason. You might be surprised to find that there are more of us here than you thought. I’m not a Marine, but I saw a lot of action with them in I Corps, and I like their motto: SEMPER FI !! They find strength in their brotherhood and we can find strength in our unity. Let’s win our Country, our State and our County back!!

Among the  29 July, 2008 “Letters to the Editor” in the Kerrville Daily Times was a letter entitled “Fuel tax bump not the brightest idea” written by Allen Locher of Kerrville. Here is a copy of his letter:

 
Fuel tax bump not the brightest idea

So, dumbocrats, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd and their Washington ilk, want to raise fuel tax rates.

WOW! What novel thought! Last time I looked at Econ 101, there was a noticeable suggestion that “to generate more product, one should either use the “price reduction” tool, or produce more product! Neither of those options seem likely, considering the —

1. Dumbocrat Congress’ 1981 ban on offshore drilling;

2. Most memorable Clinton presidential feat (among few, if any!) of disallowing a pinhead size (how appropriate!) oil drilling plot from the 19,000,000-acre Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge;

3. Likewise in-shore oil shale sites;

4. That wonderful after-effect from 1. and 2. above — destruction of the dollar;

5. Reduced consumer spending on fuel, a natural by-product of price increases;

6. The concomitant cost increases of all goods and services in America.

So a hearty heave-ho to the empty-headed dumbocrats, and their thinkless constituencies.

Allen Locher, Kerrville

 A friend that many of you heard speak at the June DKC meeting, Dr. Ron Hatchett, expressed some unhappiness with this letter and told me he was considering writing a reply letter. Knowing his skills and knowledge, I cheered him on. Shortly thereafter I received his email which included his letter. This letter appeared in the 02 Aug. edition of the paper.  When I later tried to get a copy of  both letters from the Kerrville Daily Times website, I could only find Mr. Locher’s letter…..now why am I so suspicious of this paper?

                                                               Bill Cantrell

Bill,

FYI.  Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

Ron

From:
Sent: Tue 7/29/2008 3:31 PM
To: letters@dailytimes.com
Cc: Hatchett, Ronald L
Subject: The Daily Times Letter to the Editor

Thanks for taking the time to write. Your letter will be forwarded to
the editor for consideration in our print edition's letters section.

We appreciate your interest in Kerrville Daily Times.

My Letter to the Editor  
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I have filled out your Letter to the Editor form.

NAME:         Ronald Hatchett
ADDRESS:     
CITY:        
STATE:       
ZIP:         
PHONE:       
EMAIL:       

My letter:

To The Editor:

A recent letter here contended that the “dumbocrats” in congress are solely responsible for our misery at the pump these days.  The writer implies that if they would only let us drill offshore and in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and exploit the oil shale in the Colorado-Wyoming-Utah border area, prices at the pump would plunge and the dollar’s value on the world currency exchange would soar. 

Wouldn’t that be great!

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix on the horizon for our oil and dollar-value crisis.  And the “dumbo” label, if used, should be applied to both political parties.

The presidential ban on drilling actually was established in June 1990, when President George H.W. Bush issued a directive to the Interior Department limiting offshore drilling to areas off the coast of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and limited parts of Alaska. In 1998, President Clinton extended the order through 2012.  If the Democratically controlled congress made a mistake in adopting drilling bans in the 1980’s, why didn’t the Republicans reverse this mistake over the 12 years they controlled both houses of congress from 1994 – 2006 -- especially when they had a Republican president in office from 2001 on.

But even if the leadership of both parties suddenly recovers from their “dumbo” affliction, it will still be difficult to turn the oil and dollar problem around in the near term.  The U.S. Geologic Survey estimates there may be as much as 18 billion barrels of oil offshore and another 4-12 billion in the ANWR region.  Even if U.S. oil companies develop the full potential of these areas, it still will not make much difference to you and me at the pump.

To begin with, the oil produced in these areas would not belong to us.  It would belong to the oil companies that produce it – EXXON-Mobil, Chevron, Shell, etc. These companies are international businesses motivated by the bottom line they can produce for their stockholders, not by concern for your or my budget problems.  Any oil produced in the new areas would simply be put on the world market, selling to the highest bidder, China, India or whomever.

Secondly, 22-30 billion barrels of new oil sounds like a lot until you consider that the Persian Gulf states still have about 750 billion barrels in their reserves and that the world consumes about 30 billion barrels of oil per year.  So the total production over the life of the new fields would only feed the world’s oil addiction for about a year, or, if entirely directed to the U.S. market, about 3-4 years at our current consumption rate of 7.5 billion barrels per year.  This is why oilman T. Boone Pickens tells us that we cannot drill our way out of this oil problem.

The oil-shale solution is also problematic. Extraction of a barrel of kerogen (oil precursor) requires processing 1.25 tons of shale at temperatures reaching 900 degrees and using 6 barrels of water.  So energy input per unit of energy output is high and the amount of water needed for processing large quantities of shale is not present in the semi-arid region where the shale is located. Until we develop more efficient technology, oil shale will remain a “potential” resource, not a near term solution.

The only way to ease the energy problem is conservation – better vehicle gas mileage – and conversion to alternate energy sources such as wind, wave, cleaner coal, and nuclear, especially for the generation of electrical power.

Like T. Boone, I am confident that we have the intellect and drive to do the job, if we work together as we have always done in times of crisis.

Ronald L. Hatchett, Kerrville