A Nation Of Oiloholics has no Business Lecturing China

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

 

 

A NATION OF OILOHOLICS HAS NO BUSINESS LECTURING CHINA By Cynthia Tucker

Mon Apr 24, 12:42 PM ET

 

President Bush is reportedly annoyed that the Chinese are using so much petroleum. With the world's fastest-growing economy, China's oil consumption has soared to at least 6.5 million barrels a day, and its market for automobiles is growing. If the boom continues, the Chinese may eventually be somewhere in the neighborhood of the United States, which burns up about 20 million barrels a day.

 

Who do those Chinese think they are -- Americans?

 

If that sounds arrogant, well, it is. Indeed, it takes a lot of chutzpah to chide a country that consumes about a third of the petroleum the United States does. While we account for less than 5 percent of the world's people, we use up about a quarter of the world's energy. And we Americans apparently think we have the God-given right to do so.

 

Bush is not only annoyed by China's consumption but also by its efforts to ensure access to enough petroleum in the decades to come. China has done that by putting its interests ahead of considerations such as world peace -- conducting business with unsavory characters such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Imagine that!

 

If China were a proper superpower, like us, it would just invade a sovereign nation to guarantee access to oil. After all, that was one of the reasons for Bush's fierce determination to topple Saddam Hussein; the administration was after permanent bases for U.S. troops, so they could guarantee our access to vital Middle East oil fields.

 

You still don't believe oil was a factor in the invasion of Iraq? (Some still don't<_< but the numbers are turning)

 

Just listen to retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell. In a speech in Washington last year, Wilkerson, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's unilateralism, revealed a plan that was far more ambitious -- and ominous.

 

"We had a discussion in policy-planning about actually mounting an operation to take the oil fields in the Middle East, internationalize them, put them under some sort of U.N. trusteeship, and administer the revenues and the oil accordingly. That's how serious we thought about it," he said.

 

Or listen to Newt Gingrich, who has led the chorus of right-wing saber-rattling against Iran. As Gingrich told Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jay Bookman, "The American people, if you put the decision in the context of controlling Iran and maintaining our access to oil (emphasis added), you'd get 60 to 65 percent reluctantly agreeing to do what it takes." At least Gingrich was principled enough to own up to a fundamental tenet of U.S. policy toward the Middle East: Preserve our access to petroleum.

 

If we are willing to spend enough in bombs and blood, the United States can continue that policy for a while longer. But China's military is rapidly modernizing (using all the dollars we ship to them for cheap electronics, textiles, toys and so on) and will be able to stand up to us soon enough. If we go up against them in 20 years over the world's remaining oil reserves, it will be ugly -- far worse than Iraq. China has nukes.

 

Bush is right about this much: China's growth has as much to do with rising oil prices as hurricanes, floods or rumors of war with Iran. As long as demand is high for a limited resource, prices will remain high. But even Bush ought to be ashamed to suggest the Chinese should go back to riding bicycles so we can keep driving Hummers -- cheaply.

 

The president should have told Americans years ago that the days of cheap gas were over. It's too bad he didn't remind us of that when he had our attention -- in the days and weeks after the terrorist strikes of 9/11. E ven a nation of oiloholics was prepared to make sacrifices. If the president had imposed a stiff tax on gasoline at the pump, American motorists would have grumbled, but we would have gotten over it.

 

Consumption would have decreased as driving became more expensive. And, by now, there'd be hundreds of millions in the treasury to fund research on alternative sources of fuel. At the very least, the nation would be on the road to recovery from oiloholism.

 

Instead, we are still swilling straight from the bottle -- while lecturing others on the merits on temperance.

 

(Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached by e-mail: cynthia@ajc.com.) rink

[Mr Steak 0]

That's the worst piece of drivel I've ever read, wow.

[hoytdwow 202]

itsatip that Clinton should have got Bin Laden in Sudan in 1996. HTH

[Toro 1]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

 

liberal.

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

itsatip that Clinton should have got Bin Laden in Sudan in 1996. HTH

and GBI should have gotten SH in 1991.

[Snuff 10]

It's Bush's fault that we're running out of oil.

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

 

liberal.

That damn liberal media strikes again Why are they always so right?

[Toro 1]

That damn liberal media strikes again Why are they always so right?

 

She isn't. She is wrong. Dead wrong. And so are you and the ship you came in on. You want proof? I'll give you proof.

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

She isn't. She is wrong. Dead wrong. And so are you and the ship you came in on. You want proof? I'll give you proof.

She's wrong about what? That people who use more of something shouldn't lecture those that use less?

[Cdub100 3,850]

Focking Grover Cleveland! He had a chance to put an end to all this , but did NOTHING!

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

Focking Grover Cleveland! He had a chance to put an end to all this , but did NOTHING!

I blame Lincoln

[davebg 0]

This weekend I was at a wedding and one of the guests was this girl I hadn't seen in years...let's call her Michelle.

 

Michelle apparently has found herself. No longer satisfied w/working at a bar/restaurant for a couple of months until she quits/gets fired/stops sleeping w/the boss she has fashioned herself into a bit of an environmental activist. I'm not too sure exactly what she does (apparently she has a blog w/many "fans"), nor do I know what her qualifications are for this, but she is consumed by the movement.

 

So much so that I had to tell her to STFU numerous times, as I was drunk and high at a wedding, trying to enjoy myself, not trying to get lectured...again...and again...and yet again. Bascially, she spent the entire day tell ing everyone (multiple times) that she's probably going to be killed within 10 years for all of her whistleblowing, but it doesn't really matter b/c the rest of us (and our kids) will be focked by then anyway. In fact, she wanted me to promise her that I would NOT have kids ...b/c the earth can't support all of the lives on it already (she may be right, but I don't see how me not having a kid will help when 3rd World baginas are pumping out 6 or 8 of them in a litter.)

 

To change the subject, I asked her what her boyfriend does for a living. He sells private airplanes.

 

Soooo....I figured that I had endured enough lecturing and that it was time for some payback by introducing the pot to the kettle.

 

She actually tried to convince me that somehow...someway...it is better for the environment for 6 people to fly on their own private plane than it would for them to fly on a commercial airliner.

 

That's when I stopped pretending to listen to her and I just blatantly stared at her boobs.

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

I just blatantly stared at her boobs.

can size?

[davebg 0]

can size?

Based upon prior knowledge, I'd say they were 34B's.......but the bra she had on must have had some magical properties b/c they looked much better than they ever had before.

[hoytdwow 202]

I was drunk and high at a wedding,

You're supposed to be cleaning up your act, remember?

At least you weren't huffing airplane glue.

[Toro 1]

She's wrong about what? That people who use more of something shouldn't lecture those that use less?

 

Because they have way less people than we do. They should need that much oil. Plus don't they all rise water buffalos and eat nothing but rice out of a dried turd shaped like a bowl?

[D'ohmer Simpson 0]

Because they have way less people than we do. They should need that much oil. Plus don't they all rise water buffalos and eat nothing but rice out of a dried turd shaped like a bowl?

Uh...huh?

China has less people than the US?

 

and I guess you meant they "shouldn't"

[mobb_deep 920]

Because they have way less people than we do. They should need that much oil. Plus don't they all rise water buffalos and eat nothing but rice out of a dried turd shaped like a bowl?

 

China = 1,306,313,812 peeps

USA = 295,734,134 peeps

 

People like you make it so easy to be liberals. We don't even need to try and make you look stupid. You guys do such a goob job being morons on your own. On behalf of everyone who knows their arse from their elbow, Thank You!

[ZeroTolerance 584]

Do as we say, not as we do.

[Strike 5,261]

We were using the oil first. They should go find their own middle eastern countries to supply their oil instead of trying to steal ours. We may be forced to just invade the middle east and take it over......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait......