Around The Kitchen Table
Did you know that the last few times I've filled up, the price per gallon of gasoline at the pump has been a dime higher than the previous time?
The reason why isn't "Big Oil" or any of the other left-wing demogogic myths endlessly floating around, but rising international demand for petroleum - mostly from Red China and India - coupled with domestic environmental policies that have choked off our own energy supplies and made it all but impossible to explore for new sources. No drilling and no new refineries or nuclear power plants since the 1970s have now landed the nation where the center-right has long warned: trapped in an upward spiral of rising energy prices and import dependency, with many foreign sources under the control of hostile regimes like Iran and Venezuela.
That's the brutal reality. Which makes it all the more astonishing that it is panicky Republicans who are rushing to embrace the same statist fantasism that created the mess in the first place in the even more remarkable belief that imitating the Democrats they've defeated for the past dozen years will somehow enhance their chances of re-election.
The political day of reckoning is coming; the energy policy day of reckoning is already here. And the only rational response is to stop artificially limiting domestic supplies. That means, among other greenstremist unthinkables, unlimited drilling, starting in the famous Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.
And, perhaps most astonishingly of all, the House actually approved another ANWR drilling bill on Thursday, after having failed to open up offshore natural gas drilling the previous week. But have no fear, assures the aforelinked ASSociated Press report, it'll surely die in the Senate.
Just once I would like to see a Republican accuse the Democrats of plotting to force skyrocketing gasoline prices on the American people the way they smear the GOP as being for "dirty water and dirty air". Just once. Is that too much to ask? Especially since the Donks are blaming the majority, and the free-market capitalist principles they're supposed to represent, for their own high energy costs?
~ ~ ~
Funny how so few people are even curious about how much the Bush-Hagel-Martinez illegal alien amnesty bill will cost the taxpayers over the next few years. Here's a hint:
As if that weren't bad enough, the new bureaucracy within the Department of Labor tasked with overseeing labor markets for untold numbers of "guest workers" would be a mammoth plunge into socialistic central-planning.
But my oh my, would it be "compassionate conservatism" in action, huh? You can tell because of its primary beneficiaries - Mexico and the Democrat Party.
~ ~ ~
How's this for a gambit to turn the illegal immigration tide: offer to cut to the chase and simply annex Mexico outright. Would save a lot of time, and Vincente Fox thinks he runs our country anyway. Heck, George Dubya even agrees. Wonder what the reconquistadors would have to say about that.
Tony Blankely had a similar idea - just aimed in the opposite direction.
~ ~ ~
A Powerline emailer points out a fundamental contradiction in the border erasure crowd's core argument:
Logic is a bitch, isn't it? And if it isn't, doesn't the fact that illegals won't have to pay all of their back income taxes seal the deal?
That invade-Mexico option is looking better all the time.
The reason why isn't "Big Oil" or any of the other left-wing demogogic myths endlessly floating around, but rising international demand for petroleum - mostly from Red China and India - coupled with domestic environmental policies that have choked off our own energy supplies and made it all but impossible to explore for new sources. No drilling and no new refineries or nuclear power plants since the 1970s have now landed the nation where the center-right has long warned: trapped in an upward spiral of rising energy prices and import dependency, with many foreign sources under the control of hostile regimes like Iran and Venezuela.
That's the brutal reality. Which makes it all the more astonishing that it is panicky Republicans who are rushing to embrace the same statist fantasism that created the mess in the first place in the even more remarkable belief that imitating the Democrats they've defeated for the past dozen years will somehow enhance their chances of re-election.
The political day of reckoning is coming; the energy policy day of reckoning is already here. And the only rational response is to stop artificially limiting domestic supplies. That means, among other greenstremist unthinkables, unlimited drilling, starting in the famous Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.
And, perhaps most astonishingly of all, the House actually approved another ANWR drilling bill on Thursday, after having failed to open up offshore natural gas drilling the previous week. But have no fear, assures the aforelinked ASSociated Press report, it'll surely die in the Senate.
Just once I would like to see a Republican accuse the Democrats of plotting to force skyrocketing gasoline prices on the American people the way they smear the GOP as being for "dirty water and dirty air". Just once. Is that too much to ask? Especially since the Donks are blaming the majority, and the free-market capitalist principles they're supposed to represent, for their own high energy costs?
~ ~ ~
Funny how so few people are even curious about how much the Bush-Hagel-Martinez illegal alien amnesty bill will cost the taxpayers over the next few years. Here's a hint:
The bill would grant amnesty to about 10 million illegal immigrants and put them on a path to citizenship. Once they become citizens, the net additional cost to the federal government of benefits for these individuals will be around $16 billion per year. The bill would also spur a rapid new flow of low skill immigrants through its program for “guest workers” (for life, that is) and other provisions.
To make matters worse, once an illegal immigrant becomes a citizen, he has the right to bring his parents to live in the U.S. The parents, in turn, may become citizens. The long-term cost of government benefits for the parents of 10 million recipients of amnesty could be $50 billion per year or more. In the long run, the Hagel-Martinez bill, if enacted, would be the largest expansion of the welfare state in 35 years.
As if that weren't bad enough, the new bureaucracy within the Department of Labor tasked with overseeing labor markets for untold numbers of "guest workers" would be a mammoth plunge into socialistic central-planning.
But my oh my, would it be "compassionate conservatism" in action, huh? You can tell because of its primary beneficiaries - Mexico and the Democrat Party.
~ ~ ~
How's this for a gambit to turn the illegal immigration tide: offer to cut to the chase and simply annex Mexico outright. Would save a lot of time, and Vincente Fox thinks he runs our country anyway. Heck, George Dubya even agrees. Wonder what the reconquistadors would have to say about that.
Tony Blankely had a similar idea - just aimed in the opposite direction.
~ ~ ~
A Powerline emailer points out a fundamental contradiction in the border erasure crowd's core argument:
The "conditions" being attached to legalizing the 12 million IMPLY, do they not, that if the conditions are NOT obtained....then what?...isn't there an implicit promise then to DEPORT them?...similarly, with respect to "temporary" "guest workers"...if they don't leave...or violate other conditions of their "temporary" visas...is there not the clear implication that THEY will then be deported??
....so which is it?...is the implied PROMISE to deport in fact a FALSE promise because deportation is not "possible"?...or is deportation easily possible and is just a question of political will?....in which case what about the 12 million?
...or if the claim is that we cannot feasibly deport ALL of the 12 million...then the question arises: how many CAN we deport?...and why don't we?
The bottom line: if we "cannot" deport foreign violators of our immigration, naturalization and labor laws....then the "earned legalization" conditions for the 12 million illegals already here are bogus...and it is de facto complete and unconditional amnesty......AND the "temporary" guest workers" program is then a sham as well.
Logic is a bitch, isn't it? And if it isn't, doesn't the fact that illegals won't have to pay all of their back income taxes seal the deal?
That invade-Mexico option is looking better all the time.
posted by JASmius at 1:28 PM
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