Pun Salad

But those nefarious Democrats keep pulling me back toward "disgusted." Specifically, via their energy policy. Or, even more specifically, via their scapegoating excuses to explain why they don't have a sensible energy policy:

• High energy prices are all the fault of "reckless Wall Street speculation". (Examples: NH Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen and current NH-01 Congressperson Carol Shea-Porter.)

  A previous Pun Salad post called bullshit on this point here. Since then Sebastian Mallaby at the WaPo has written on what he called the "Nixonian Fallacy", and more recently Jeffrey Carter has debunked the notion at Pajamas Media. And this article from Fortune quotes the latest report from the CFTC: "current oil prices and the increase in oil prices between January 2003 and June 2008 are largely due to fundamental supply and demand factors."

• Lack of domestic energy supply is due to eeeevil oil companies not drilling in areas they've already leased. (Examples: the previously-mentioned Carol Shea-Porter; the previously-mentioned Jeanne Shaheen; presidential candidate Barack Obama.)

  Even on its face, this isn't very credible. Oil companies are failing to exploit economically-viable oil? Why?

  But in case you're looking for more: the WSJ deems this notion "obviously false"; Captain Ed calls it "poppycock".

• Drilling will not provide short-term relief. (Example: Obama, again.)

  An argument made by folks who (a) routinely deride the free-market for failing to think beyond the current fiscal year; (b) opposed drilling years ago, back when "long-term" was today's "short-term."

  In any case, it's also likely to be untrue.

These are relatively old excuses. And there are more: Newt has a list of them, and their refutations.

But there's a new one in town!

• Why drill for more oil? You just need to inflate your tires!

  Transcripted:

  There are things you can do individually, though, to save energy. Making sure your tires are properly inflated — simple thing. But we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling — if everybody was just inflating their tires? And getting regular tune-ups? You could actually save just as much!

  Wha?!

  Now, nobody doubts that keeping your tires properly inflated will improve your mileage. But Obama's claim that this good idea, more widely followed, would make a significant dent in demand doesn't survive the most cursory back-of-the-envelope calculations. See the indispensible Geraghty; Captain Ed; John Hinderaker.

  Obama's "tune-up" thing is merely a charming anachronism, harkening back to the days of carburetors, distributors, and periodically-replaced sparkplugs. If you want mileage tips, listen to Popular Mechanics, not Obama.

Key points: these are the people who want—who think they deserve—more control over the government's energy policy. Their assertions and proposals range from the silly to the ignorant. To the extent that anyone takes them seriously, they're dangerous.

Coyote Blog noticed an interesting fact about Democratic energy rhetoric:

Through it all, there is this sort of cognitive dissonance where half the arguments are that the oil won't be developed, and the other half seem to be based on an assumption that a lot of oil will be developed.

Yeah, I know that $4 gas is painful. But do you know what? Gas prices are going to have to go a LOT higher for us to achieve the CO2 abatement targets I am proposing, so suck it up. Just to give you a sense of scale, the Europeans pay nearly twice as much as we do for gas, and even at those levels, they are orders of magnitude short of the CO2 abatement I have committed us to achieve. Since late 2006, gas prices in this country have doubled, and demand has fallen by perhaps 5%. That will probably improve over time as people buy new cars and change behaviors, but it may well require gasoline prices north of $20 a gallon before we meet the CO2 goal I have adopted. So get ready.

• We note that Pun Salad's unoffical and (most importantly) unpaid mascot will be making an appearance in support of a new store opening in Bellingham MA (just off I-495's Exit 18, in the lonely stretch between the Mass Pike and Foxboro):

  On Saturday, August 9th, Bob's Discount Furniture TV personalities Cathy Poulin and William Newton along with the new Bob’s Discount Furniture Community Outreach Van will make a special appearance and welcome customers. Coffee mugs, balloons and T-shirts will be given away while customers can also enjoy free food and beverages at the store's Café and along with entertainment in the video arcade.

  Sounds like fun! But not enough fun to justify the gas money. As always, we ask any readers who attend this event to extend Cathy our best wishes.

• A sample from this week's Rochester (NH) Police Log:

  Wednesday, July 16

  6:03 p.m. — Five gallons of gas have been siphoned from a Four Rod Road truck. The complainant knows who the sucker is.

• And, finally, a quote from Iowahawk:

  Sure it's a hybrid. It burns gas and rubber!