Where is the Wind and Solar?
A Lost Opportunity
Gas in central California is right at $4.50 a gallon. Those who are hurt most are the poorer who don’t drive Priuses and Civics, but who pull into the rural service station not far away from my home with second- and third-hand SUVs, Crown Victorias, and F-150s. Most are either Hispanic or poor whites. None can afford solar panels, hybrids, or on-demand water heaters.
Somewhere, somehow the Republicans, inept as usual, have not been able to make the argument that they as a whole voted for ANWR, off-shore drilling, tar sands and shale, refineries, clean coal and coal to liquid—not to enrich oil companies or destroy the environment, but to provide accessible energy supplies to the citizenry, while Democrats stopped them all.
It really is a class issue. Democratic elite environmentalists road-blocked all these avenues, each of which might have added a million barrels here, a million there. We’re not talking going back to $2 a gallon, but that additional production might have allowed gas to stay at $2.50 a gallon for example. Few Americans realize that the current Democratic leadership (cf. the SF regional proximity of a Boxer, Feinstein, and Pelosi) pretty much reflects the ideology of an upper-class Bay area elite, with ample capital and income, access to mass transit, who really has very little concern in the world for a guy who lives in Parlier and hangs doors up and down the Valley in his 10-year-old Ford 250-truck and trailer.
And then there are the other issues: as oil climbs, we note that an extra 3-4 million barrels a day would translate into over a third of a billion dollars daily in national revenue, monies not given as well to our enemies, whether in Russia, Iran, the Gulf, or South America. Environmentalists should accept that a derrick off Santa Barbara means clean world extraction; one off Nigeria or in the Persian Gulf means a spill waiting to happen. So much for our shared “Planet Earth.”
Meanwhile we wait for solar and wind and Obama’s rhetoric about “alternative energy” and “thousands of new green jobs” to fill the tank.
A Modest Proposal
Will all the Greens, new-age environmentalists, Gorites, and Hunffinton Post Hollywood crowd, just make three simple pledges to match their deeds with their rhetoric? (1) I swear I will not fly on any gas-guzzling, carbon-footprinting private jet; (2) I swear I will not live in an energy-wasting house larger than 8,000 square feet; and (3) I swear that I will not drive a car that gets less than 25 mpg. That would be for most of us pretty easy to do; so will the prophets of the environment take the pledge and help the nation and planet?
Saddam’s Trillions
As the extreme left talks about Iraqi war-crimes, as violence subsides, as American troops start drawing down and as constitutional government increases its authority, we should stop and ponder a Saddamist 2008 Iraq. Given that oil prices are spiking on the soaring demand of the Chinese and Indians post 2003, we can imagine what Saddam’s Iraq would now look like today: billions in oil revenue available for more weapons; more French and Russian sweetheart deals; a $50 billion oil for food scandal now reaching into the hundred of billions; thousands of sorties in the no-fly zones, with international pressures for Americans to cease their provocative policing; even more bounties for suicide bombers as Iraqi oil coffers increased; the defenseless Gulf sheikdoms even more inviting targets, and so on.
The Bush Rules
1. Good economic news (2002-7) is due to natural cycles beyond Presidential control; bad news (2001, 2008) results from Bush ineptness.
2. Natural disasters like Katrina cause hundred of deaths due to Bush incompetence and are unprecedented. When tens of thousands die in Indonesia, Burma, or China, we are reminded of nature’s capricious fury.
3. Bush is unilateral and partisan, so legislation like No Child Left Behind or Prescription Drugs either is not bipartisan, or the sort of thing Sen. Obama would do even better.
4. All bad news in Iraq is Bush’s fault; the radical turn-around this year is either nonexistent or due to those who acted without Bush’s authority. When violence subsides in Iraq it is an accident; when it does the same in Afghanistan it is due to multilateral cooperation.
5. Bush is selfish and parochial, liberal Democrats magnanimous and international. Therefore protectionist trade policies, trashing Columbia and NAFTA, opposing the Dubai ports deal, voting for record farm subsidies and give-always, and blaming Turkey for its nineteenth-century predecessors are progressive.
6. Energy: see above. If I were a conspiracist, I would suggest that the Democrats wanted high gas and energy prices to favor radical environmental, no-growth causes, garner power into the hands of centrally-planned, union-run transit authorities, teach the US to be a better, more contrite citizen of the world (cf. Obama’s admonishment to put away our (not the Senators’) SUVs, and persuade the American people that the desired national profile and habitat are to be more Oregonian or Seattlean than Wyominian or Kentuckian.
McClatchy Rules
Recently McClatchy’s Michael Doyle contacted me about an article he was writing about a local Fresno-area person’s receipt of an award. Here are the first few paragraphs on the story with some comments in brackets.
Valley native gets $250k honor
Conservative foundation bestows award on Hanson.
By Michael Doyle / Bee Washington Bureau
06/04/08
WASHINGTON — A prominent conservative foundation is lavishing a $250,000 award on Victor Davis Hanson, the Fresno-area farmer and classics professor turned public intellectual.
[In the case of foundations, anything not the Ford, Guggenheim, or Rockefeller is “conservative.” One never reads “prominent liberal Gates Foundation” or “Left-leaning" Rockefeller Foundation]
The Bradley Prize becomes the latest and far-and-away most lucrative in a line of honors bestowed on Hanson, who holds emeritus status at California State University, Fresno. While the prize is novel, the dollars send a deliberate message.
[Note the ambiguous “deliberate message”—never specified, only ominously implied?]
“Quite a shock,” Hanson said by e-mail Tuesday, shortly after arriving in Washington from Europe. “I’m very appreciative, and did not think someone from rural Selma would have his voice heard with other more distinguished authors and thinkers.”
Hanson considers home to be his 40-acre family farm in Fresno County, where he was raised by his mother, Pauline, and father, William.
[I don’t have a home, only a considered one]
Often, though, he’s in the San Francisco Bay Area or traveling. Most recently, he has globe-trotted as a presidential appointee to the American Battle Monuments Commission, which oversees 27 overseas military cemeteries.
[This is false. I was leading a private tour at my own expense. That becomes “globe-trotting" as a government functionary. The ABM commission oversees many of our nation’s war cemeteries abroad. It pays no salary; before my first meeting I tried to visit as many cemeteries as I could on my own time and expense. Doyle’s “Globe-trotting” means lecturing to a group in France and Belgium]
He is traveling in headier company than when he published his first book in 1983, titled “Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece.” He has since authored or edited another dozen books that address modern controversies, consulted with the likes of Vice President Dick Cheney and energetically championed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
[I wrote 17 books; the Bee mentions by name only my PhD thesis of some 35 years ago. I don’t know what “headier company” quite means; though I suggest that a Michael Doyle, like all of us, now associates with “headier company” than when he published his first newspaper article years ago. “Consulted” with the “likes” of Dick Cheney means being invited to a dinner with various scholars 6 years ago at the Vice President’s residence.
The rest of the article is a harangue about my support for the Iraq war before ending with:
The award was established in 2004 by the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which bills itself as "strengthening American democratic capitalism." The foundation generally funds free market and right-of-center entities.
The foundation, for instance, funded Connerly's American Civil Rights Institute, and it supports Stanford University's Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, where Hanson is a senior fellow in residence.
[There is no conflict of interest between Hoover and Bradley. The Bradley Prize selection committee is independent of its other grant-giving committees and commissions and has nothing to do with the Hoover Institution]
All this is a world away from something simple like “Local resident Hanson received one of our four Bradley Foundation Prizes.”
Nothing to see, No bias here, just keep move(ing) on.
The usual smear job. You must be doing full-blooded good when you attract mosquitoes like those. Apply spray and keep up the good work.
Congratulations on the Bradley award. It is well deserved. Keep up the good thinking.
proceed apace
Congratulations, first off. :)
I just saw this today and thought it was somewhat interesting, and it happens to be somewhat related.
“Green tech: is it the new dotcom?”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/08/investing.greentech?gusrc=rss&feed=environment
Thank you for the good read, as usual. :)
I think Mike has a case of penis envy
I am very happy for your award and know you will use it well…if only to subsidize the running of your raisin operation…Congratulations to you and yours (including your ancestors.)
I fully intend on participating in next year’s tour. Stay sharp, write well, and hang tough…and don’t forget to laugh!
Dear Professor,
You deserve a heck of a lot more than that.
Obama owes you a million at least for all the advice you’ve given him.
I’m proud to have a VDH bumper sticker on my car.
Dr. Hanson,
Yes, the Republicans are even more inept than the Democrats in their perfididy in stoping nuclear power and drilling in ANWAR.
But what do you expect from a bunch of elists snobs (just as elitist as the Democrats mind you)? The vast majority of elected Republicans are clueless about the problems the middle-class Americans are facing.
Let’s face it, we’ve gotten the government we deserved and it’s the bottom of the barrel.
When gasoline goes to $8 a gallon, and it’s only a matter of time, we’ll be in a very deep recession and the solution to the crisis will be years away.
The energy problem this nation faced was a fat-pitch right over the plate for the Republicans to hit out of the ballpark, and they flubbed it.
Prof Hanson — congratulations and thanks for your books which have both entertained me and made me think. Culture and Carnage is in particular a masterpiece and one I have read many times.
I think your analysis can be pushed further. The world, not just the US runs on cheap energy. Trans-Pacific trade requires cheap oil to take Nikes, made with cheap Chinese labor, to the US for sale at relatively cheap prices. If oil rises high enough, that trade will stop, as will most US-China trade.
Result? Nikes will have to be sourced closer, likely Mexico, still chasing cheap labor, but with likely higher prices. Same for electronics and other consumer goods. A win for Mexico, a loss for China. But there’s more.
Those gainfully employed millions of Chinese simply won’t go away into the Ether. The Chinese government will be expected to provide work and money for them. Obviously, it can’t unless it simply seizes the resources of a weak neighbor, like Malaysia, or Burma, or Indonesia. Which also tidily provides the solution for the sex imbalance (around 100 million or so Chinese men will never marry due to selective sex abortion policies). I doubt the Chinese will in Mark Steyn’s words become the first gay superpower after Sparta.
Cheap oil built China’s prosperity with US trade, it’s collapse will be very ugly in Asia and beyond. China will be forced to simply grab it’s neighbors resources to prevent internal revolution and preserve the ruling elite’s wealth.
Then there is the ME, thinly populated in oil producing regions, with inept militaries, and a great, glittering prize to whoever is ruthless enough to seize it. India is closest, China the most ruthless and organized, and America the most powerful. At best, economic isolationism, collapse of global trade, and various spheres of influence/trade-blocs are the future of high energy prices. People aren’t just going to willingly be poor again.
At worst, a global battle for oil in a free-for-all among dangerous competitors, most of them if not all nuclear armed.
It’s not just America, the world since 1945 was built on cheap oil and it’s passing means global chaos as the whole economic system collapses.
What need have we for wind and solar when we can simply bask in the radiance of Obama? Last I heard, he was going to lower the ocean levels and “heal” the planet.
I hope he doesn’t stop with Mother Earth. I’ve been worried about Pluto catching a cold. And Mercury must be suffering from sun burn. Lord only knows how Neptune has managed all these years.
Meh. I was gonna send a angry email to Michael Doyle. But after looking into his career, I feel sorry for him. The article he wrote before dissing you was, “Sonora Girl Wins National Writing Contest.”
It’s a lumpy “regional interest” article, in fact, Michael Doyle’s life seems to be an unending series of lumpy “regional interest” articles. This is a highly educated man who now finds himself writing about water and walnuts, regional airports and farm bills. It must be soul-killing.
He managed to get a university press to publish his book four years ago. It details corruption on the Eerie Canal in 1895. You can buy a new copy on Amazon for six dollars. No customer has bothered to submit a review.
Michael’s career is worth considering, because a lot of politically slanted material can be seen as the result of personal frustration. When a writer fails to gain a level of attention he thinks he deserves, that failure will influence his work. And when Michael Doyle finds a state university Classics Professor being elevated to great influence (and perceived affluence), naturally, Michael is gong to feel something is wrong with the Universe.
Essential vdh
All the fuss from the left over your writing and thinking involvement in “real life problems and solutions” is humorous and typical of the anemic intellectual power of the left.
They force you into a “sack” and then try to throw it away. They have neither the muscle or the brains to accomplish either goal except in their like minded “idiot groups” who have tried to develop a “language” only they understand, one that is essentially devoid of specific meaning.
The left forms little “coveys” of myopic special interest groups, wanting to create the cause of the day. It is megaphoned in the MSM.
They can only use weather vane thinking because they really just lack focus and inability to understand how the world works.
Somebody else had to make the money they are living on so their general incompetence is supported thus allowing their rationalized acceptance of “intelligence” they do not have.
They, individually for the most part could not live without the high school or less educated guys in the F-250′s building their “one with the world caves” with the hot on the left and the cold on the right.
It wouldn’t surprise me if one day we hear that one of these little “covey groups” try to do away with the hot water faucet, in other peoples houses, while at the same time saying “take that you right wing nuts.”–we care!! and you don’t. So there!
I keep wondering how in the US of America we have created such a “mandarin class” per a “Time magazine” description of “class categories or sacks”.
America’s long term success has bred a layer of people and organizations of incompetence and whiny snooty nincompoops especially in the media–even further removed from reality.
The only good news is that when things really get tough this “chaff” will get blown away. We may have to start over but it will always be worth it.
The important thing is to know and remember how we, America achieved this high water mark in world human development. vdh does this for us–he knows how we got here.
It’s very encouraging that VDH “gets it,” regarding gas prices and arbitrary political restrictions on supply.
Even more so that he “gets” a fundamental political issue related to it: that the “elite” who populate the Democratic and Green ranks are completely clueless about 95% of American life. A drywall contractor cannot ride the bus to work. He can’t even do it in San Francisco or Manhattan.
Being “lower-middle-class,” and relying on large-ish vehicles to not just get to but to perform your work, is NORMAL. It’s not a societal problem to be addressed. It’s economic opportunity. There is no such thing as an economy that “provides” everyone a wage or salary job. Even if we wanted one, which most of us really don’t, it’s impossible.
But the Boxer-Feinstein-Pelosi types don’t know this. They think of people who drive old-model pick-up trucks, to work at non-9-5, non-wage jobs, who haul trailers with implements sticking out of them, as “the poor” — as people who would be better off working a nice union job in a factory somewhere, if only the Republicans and business owners weren’t so mean.
Even in this they’re clueless. How many union manufacturing jobs can you ride the public bus to? How many is it safe to walk to and from a bus stop to, when you work shifts?
And what about families with multiple kids, sports gear, musical instruments, and pets? Ever tried riding the Metro with a cello? Taking your dog with diarrhea to the vet on the bus? (Or even in the back seat of a Prius, instead of sequestered on a washable mat in the back of an SUV?)
What normal Americans see as options and opportunities, the left’s “elite” sees as blight to be eliminated. Only when we realize that their attitude is fundamentally at odds with the best interests of the great majority, will we offload the burden they have been gradually imposing on us.
RuleTopia: you are right: now Barry O’Bama must do some miracles: to stop the Sun or to change the course of the Planets, for example. If he doesn’t it, he risks to be devoured by his ecstatic worshippers like all semi-gods of the old times. What a delicious scene it will be! especially if the death of young and beautiful god is followed by a collective suicide of his desperate female fans.
PS I. In an article that analysis mythological motif of “fighting between gods and demons” I have found this observation: “for the demons a distinction between reality and illusion doesn’t exist. On the contrary, the gods base their actions on this fundamental distinction, and therefore they are Lords of Maya”. I heard that the obamites celebrate already the victory not only in 2008 but also in 2016 when Barry will be declared the Universal Champion of the Olympiads in his “cradle” city Chicago.
PS II. Passed the exaltation for the nomination of “the first black candidate” hypocritical Europeans now feel deadly fear that Barry O’Bama can be elected President. If Americans want to take vengeance on Europeans for all their villainies the best way is to make President this buffoon from Honolulu. I hope that Americans are not revengeful and will elect generous and wise McCain. Europeans will feel relief and will continue with tranquil soul to reproach America of sexism, racism and I don’t know what else.
PS III. “Carnage and Culture” is without doubt a masterpiece. This book in some sense can be put beside Montesquieu’s “Considérations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur décadence”. Liberty is born in Greece and Rome. The natural state of the World is slavery. The history of the Liberty begins here. Montesquieu writes: “c’étoit une circulation des hommes de tout l’Univers: Rome les recevoit esclaves, & les renvoyoit Romains». I was impressed by Dr. Hanson’s description of the Battle of Salamis and of the figure of Themistocles. It wasn’t a battle like others, but the Event in which was decided the destiny of the Liberty like now in Iraq.
Congratulations, VDH. As a fan and frequent commenter here, it’s nice to see someone who engages in critical thought be recognized and rewarded.
As for Mr. Doyle…a coward dies a thousand deaths. With leftist journalists, it’s a justifiable suicide.
A $250,000 dollar prize is a good beginning.
If anyone knows a wealthy philanthropist, have him read VDH’s THE SOUL OF BATTLE, Sherman’s Army of the West, now victorious, is marching past the Washington reviewing stand and the German ambassador remarks of General Peter Osterhaus’s 15th Corps (Southern tip of Sherman’s March to the Sea): “An army like that could whip all Europe” Of the 20th Corps: “An army like that could whip the world” and then the 14th corps passes: “An army like that could whip the devil.’ p. 126, Anchor paper edition.
In this season of Obama’s empty rhetoric, Hanson demonstrates the power of great rhetoric allied with rich content.
More cash prizes for our very own Cincinnatus, please.
A $250,000 dollar prize is a good beginning.
If anyone knows a wealthy philanthropist, have him read VDH’s THE SOUL OF BATTLE.
Sherman’s Army of the West, now victorious, is marching past the Washington reviewing stand and the German ambassador remarks of General Peter Osterhaus’s 15th Corps (Southern tip of Sherman’s March to the Sea): “An army like that could whip all Europe” Of the 20th Corps: “An army like that could whip the world” and then the 14th corps passes: “An army like that could whip the devil.’ p. 126, Anchor paper edition.
In this season of Obama’s empty rhetoric, Hanson demonstrates the power of great rhetoric allied with rich content.
More cash prizes for our very own Cincinnatus, please.
Congratulations on the award Dr. Hanson!
But regarding your amazement that Republicans can’t take advantage of the energy issue: the obvious reason is that the Republican’s own candidate himself subscribes to much of the liberal environmentalist wacko agenda. Check out the nightmare known as Warner-Lieberman as exhibit 1 detailing McCain’s insanity on this issue.
Jim Rockford. You’re right about China. What to do… History tells us
The Soviet empire was brought down by Reagan, Thatcher and the Polish Pope who threatened to leave the papacy and fight with Lech Walesa’s Solidarity movement which would have put the Soviets at war with the entire Roman Catholic world. CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR shows how a right wing socialite, a handsome rogue Texas Democrat congressman and a talented but un-Ivy League CIA agent covertly supplied the arms that defeated the Soviet’s Afghan campaign.
There was another hero worth mentioning in bringing down the Soviets: Tom Clancy’s novel RED STORM RISING (1986) starts with Muslims taking down ONE-THIRD of the Soviets’ oil capacity.
The Kremlin plans to take over the Persian Gulf (Afghanistan was the roadway) but they launch a campaign into Germany to disguise their real intent. World War III is on. The Soviets need a quick victory, but the Germans hang on by their fingernails until America and capitalism’s secret weapon (endless supply) can kick in.
Reagan read the book. The Pentagon read the book. More importantly, the Kremlin read the book and that’s when Gorbachev decided to play nice.
The Soviets’ achilles heel was that they couldn’t even get their vegetables to market let alone supply a fighting force for any length of time and knew it.
The Chinese Communists achilles heel is the total corruption of the Communist party which the recent earthquake amply demonstrated. The Afghanis had defeated the Brits and the Soviets but saw us as liberators. So might the Chinese peopole. Never forget the Tiannamen Square uprising and the Goddess of Democracy. There is a recreation of the Goddess by sculptor Thomas Marsh in San Francisco waiting to go home.
If Bobby Jindal were VP candidate with McCain, India would be bursting with pride and might listen to this most brilliant of pro-Capitalist young men
When the truth about Obama’s ethnic background emerges — (Dad was 87% Arab, was listed as such on his birth certificate, and the name Obama is not Swahili, it’s Arab, and “Baraka” means blessed in Arabic — a lot of Obama’s Black-American support may well melt away, especially as Arabs are STILL slave traders in that part of the world and Abongo Obama (Barack’s half brother) and his cousin Odinga (google Odinga and Obama) are trying to overthrow a Kenyan government elected in 2007 and establish Muslim Sharia law. Obama was in touch with them during the New Hampshire campaign, so good luck explaining that one.
How about stepping out of the shadows folks, and use your real names here?
Anonymity isn’t necessary for the professor and it shouldn’t be for us.
Congratulations on the prize Dr. Hanson, this is my favorite section in pajamasmedia.
And you are correct that the environmental platform is a class issue.
Remember the liberal case for avoiding DDT in Africa since the people would die of something else anyway.
What the greenies fail to understand is that the development of alternative energy still requires the use of conventional energy. You can’t just stonewall these resources and hope something will just magically appear.
And RuleTopia that was hilarious.
Ron Kean: You say “anonymity isn’t necessary for the professor it shouldn’t be for us.” That is both naive and dangerous. The far left is organized online (since the late 90′s) and attacks in packs those who blog alone.
I don’t know about VDH but Ann Coulter, Joseph Farah (worldnetdaily.com) and possibly David Horowitz all have paid security. VDH gets terrible verbal abuse but has a staff as a buffer. An individual who doesn’t have a staff should stay anonymous because under cover of anonymity people can be incredibly vicious. I’ve heard of a lot of viciousness online directed at Hillary supporters by Obamamaniacs. Now, that she’s been dealt with, we’re next. Stay anonymous until it’s safe. PJM is a safe place, other places on the Internet are not. The Obamamaniacs have a lot to lose, they are in war mode.
Relevant story. In the 1960′s, the Conservative Book Store in Manhattan hired a former Young Communist to ride shotgun at night. “Who breaks into a bookstore” I asked. Those who wanted mailing lists and try they did, repeatedly.
This campaign is war. The extreme far left has never come so near to power and there is little they won’t do to elect their Arab-
American, former Muslim, friend of anti-Americans, anti-Whites and a convicted, corrupt Chicago donor who helped him buy his house, as well as a half-brother and cousin (google Odinga and Obama) trying to bring Muslim Sharia Law to Kenya by overturning last year’s election.
Sandra is correct. This is a war. Unfortunately, you’d never know it from the lethargy of the Republicans.
I don’t think it contributes to problem solution to refer to “Democratic elite environmentalists” or use partisan phrases. Either you want to solve a problem, which takes all parties, or you want to score rhetorical points. I would respect Victor Davis Hanson much more if he were committed to the former and did not indulge in setting up straw man phrases.
Personally, I know a lot of environmentalists, all of whom dedicate their time and their earnings to preserve and protect our public spaces and to clean up pollution. I don’t know any “elite” ones, unless Hanson is referring to the actual meaning of that word, which means “best.” Yes, the best or most altruistic people do dedicate themselves to the selfless task of cleaning up our environment, which takes all parties to cooperate on.
J.E. Rosenfeld
Congrats to VDH.
I’m still waiting for the Obama campaign’s response to the Senate Intelligence Committee report about the lead up to the Iraq War released last week. I’ve not read the report, which deals with our intelligence failures prior to the invasion of Iraq. I hope to soon, and I hope someone like VDH will get a chance to thoroughly examine it and give us his take. The Washington Post today has an article on this report that calls into question the “Bush lied” theory in the build up to Iraq War. Though this report was generated by a Senate committee chaired by Bush basher Senator Rockefeller, they failed to find hard evidence Bush misrepresented intelligence about Iraq to the American people. True, in readying the country for war with Saddam, Bush did not delve into questions about the reliability of what we knew about Iraq. But as I recall, this was discussed in Congress and in the media. The take home message from the Senate Intelligence Committee report was the sad state of our intelligence services in 2002, not that Bush lied his way into starting this war.
I find it odd that this report, five years in the making, was released a few days after the Democratic nomination was awarded to Obama. This report may have had a substantial impact on the Democratic primary had it been released months ago. Obama’s claim to fame is his 2002 speech against the war to an audience of like-minded liberal compatriots. He was not a U.S. Senator, was not privy to intelligence available to Congress and was not casting a vote against authorization for military intervention. Had the war gone better, no one would ever have heard of Obama’s speech. Senator Hillary Clinton voted to authorize military force against Saddam, and in so doing may have lost the nomination. This was one of the main distinctions between her and Obama. His judgement on the Iraq question is now considered legendary among his adherents. Hopefully, this will change. The American public should start to recognize the success story our troops are writing in Iraq, and dismiss the hyperbolic rhetoric of junior Senator Obama. The Rockefeller report may be construed as showing Clinton exercised good judgment in her Senate vote on Iraq, and did so when it mattered. She’s not my choice for president. But, on the single most important vote of her Senate career, she got it right. I hope that army of Hillary supporters adds this to their list of grievances against Obama. They should question the timing of the release of this report. And they should realize her 2002 Senate vote on the Iraq war was not ill-considered and carried far more import than a speech by the then unknown 40 year old Chicago lawyer who is now the Democratic nominee.
Congratulations on your award.
I know Michael Doyle (I live in DC). He is a conventional liberal. I believe he spent a year studying at Yale Law school as some kind of sabbatical or study program earlier in his journalism career.
1. About time VDH mentioned this award.
2. VDH to be on Book TV this coming weekend. I don’t know if it is a repeat or a new interview.
3. Also about time someone framed this gas price and ANWR debate is a better way. I saw Sen. Amy from MN talking about conserving fuel, renewable fuel on CSPAN. Unlike her rich Twin City friends, the average people of Minnesota spend a fortune driving from Detroit Lakes to Frazee to Rochert and back.
Sen. Obama, Sen. Amy, Senators Boxer and DiFi all *fail* to realize that it is a world oil market and China and India are only going to consume more in the future. And to top it off, the Chinese subsidize fuel to the tune of about 50%.
Here’s another way to reframe the issue: Pres. Bush should – by executive order – start drilling in ANWR for the purpose of supplying oil to the US Armed Forces.
Defend the country or save the caribou? You decide.
The Allies defeated Rommell in North Africa because the Nazis ran out of fuel. It helped that the US and Brits engaged in “domestic wiretapping” at Betchley Park and knew when the ships were sailing from Italy to North Africa so we could sink them.
Could the US military run out of fuel? Maybe. Maybe not. But who wants to risk it and find out?
Although he is the son and grandson of admirals, Sen. McCain has fallen into the no-drilling in ANWR trap. By reframing the issue in a pro-defense way, Pres. Bush takes an issue that is negative to Sen. McCain and helps him.
Pres. Bush’s Executive Order would send a powerful message to the oil market, the US is going to increase domestic production because it is a national security issue. The United States can’t depend on Nigeria and Venezula to supply our Armed Forces.
The day Pres. Bush issued this Executive Order, the price per bbl would drop at least 10%.
I want to see Obama explain that one! He is, after all, an academic from the University of Chicago; home of free market economics.
Dr Hanson,
Congratulations on the recognition and award.
While America sleeps and BHO preaches the dogma of envy (socialism), we have our night watchman-VDH-keeping tabs and shining the light. My only regret in reading this today is I am not able to attend your lectures on the globe trotting boon doggle in Europe. I, too, walked all of those grave sites and battle fields while living in Europe from 1985-1992. Best of all-I saw people experience freedom for the first time when the Soviet Union was pushed into the ash bin of history.
Let me add my congratulations, Dr. Hanson. The award is richly deserved.
I suspect, however, that like that other farmer who got a monetary windfall, you’ll “just keep farming “til it’s all gone.”
Thanks for the clear thoughts and enlightening insights.
Congratulations to VDH for the award, and what a bonus to see the commentary on the Sacramento Bee write-up – what an amusing job Mr. Doyle must have, where he can paint the picture of VDH as a modern-day Neo-Con bogeyman who has “Championed” the Iraq War, and is thus clearly someone to be pitied by the likes of Mr. Doyle.
Meanwhile, one can only marvel at the unseen force that seems to suppress all rational discussion of the U.S.’s energy needs; for all our vaunted productivity, we have managed to bury the notion of taking practical steps in honor of some mythical environmental shibboleth – or better, a flat-out commandment in the “Thou shalt not” tradition that forbids any harm coming to the Earth – how much longer before a lawsuit names the planet as the injured party, and charges the U.S. with assault?
Congratulations on winning the Bradley award. Richly deserved by a long time champion of liberty.
About 40 billion barrels of new oil have been discovered in the last two years. 5 billion in the Gulf of Mexico (the Jack Field), up to 30 billion barrels in Brazil, and 5 billion barrels in the Jidong Ninbao Field in china. This oil will begin to come to market and make a difference in about two years. In the addition, the Bakken Formation in Montana, North Dakota, and Alberta has potential to produce another 3 billion barrels due to enhanced drilling and recovery techniques. The problem there is getting enough drilling rigs to drill the necessary wells. So, the cavalry is coming.In the meantime we pay through the nose.
If Congress would move to allow new exploration off Florida, in ANWR, and off the West Coast, it would be a signal to the oil markets that a lot more oil will be coming on the market in the future. Might ease some of the speculative pressure.
Dear Sandra M and BRussel,
I understand. But you’d be surprised…it’s very liberating. It makes you feel free and brave.
:- )
Essential vdh
Comments on using real names? It would not have occurred to most people to not use real names. These “message boards” are not real life. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”.
My advice to those that are afraid to use their real names in this so called “war”—get in a real war and know the difference.
Think of a young 18, 19, year old soldier in Iraq when you express your fear of simply using your real name. His/her direct actions are what count in the end-to affect the outcome. What are your actions other than a inflated view of the “fearful” impact of your “words” not even actions.
Only the left thinks in these terms. Are they (the left) “dangerous”–you bet but only because they are in the shadows and do not have the guts or intelligence to come into the light with their real ideas–essentially anarchy, chaos and then control due to PC fear or some such other trivial thing that allows the tail to wag the dog. All nonsense.
Only in their vague shadow world of PC and non-specific words can they survive. An Internet approximation of a “dream world construct” that does not exist except for the impact it has on those fearful such as you–the anonymous. You are playing a video game–not real life.
Why play their anonymous games? Stand up a be counted—other wise you don’t count.—and they “win” over you because you are afraid of them without even knowing them or they you. Given your thinking you may not even register to vote! Get help.
I believe the name Coward would apply. Read the Wizard of Oz if you need courage. Stay away from Dr SEUSS–your world is filled with enough nonsense.
Congratulations to Dr. Hanson on the Bradley Prize. The recognition is both deserved and due!
Having some familiarity with his visit to ABMC cemeteries in Europe, I will vouch that this visit was his own time, effort and expense and was not a ‘globe-trotted’ junket. Responsibility, seriousness of task and donation of effort without recompense seem to be traits those writing from the left don’t seem to understand.
As a bit of information for the many who have not ventured to the American Cemeteries of WWI and WWII in Europe, since 1923 the ABMC (American Battlefields Monument Commission) has been tasked with operating and maintaining military cemeteries and monuments in foreign countries. The cemeteries containing the remains of soldiers, sailors, Marines and citizens who died as a result of combat or other casualties of war are located in granted lands from the host countries, but they are not given or considered U.S. soil.
The Superintendents of our cemeteries are those who have served with the Armed Forces and come into their jobs with a respect for the tasks with which they are charged. They may be among the most underappreciated civil servants in government. Each day, they respectfully tend, maintain, oversee the repairs, keep records and most importantly, greet the families who have relatives buried at their respective locations. For the most part, the Superintendents have little or no further American civil servant staff. Much of the daily work is accomplished by foreign nationals from the vicinity of the cemeteries who are amazingly dedicated to (appreciative of?) those interred.
Dignity and equal treatment is given each grave with out regard if it is one of a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, the lowest ranking enlistee or the all too many unknown soldiers. Whether it is Meuse-Argonne with 14,246 military dead, the largest single cemetery in Europe, or the Luxembourg American Cemetery, the resting place of General George Patton, or the Normandy American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach, each honors those interred as we would hope and anticipate. Normandy, for a number of reasons including a ‘Saving Private Ryan’ effect, welcomes over 1,000,000 visitors, but Luxembourg sees less than one tenth those numbers and with the fading memories of The Great War and only one remaining WWI veteran, Muese-Argonne only has about 30,000 visitors of all nationalities. Yet these three and the others in Europe, Africa, Central America and the Philippines carry on a perpetual mission to never forget the fallen.
Dr. Hanson was asking what help, assistance or needs those who watch over our military dead on foreign soil needed to better accomplish their mission. The Superintendents who watch over the cemeteries are tough and grizzled, yet someone asking them what they needed instead of the reverse and then thanking them for what they do on a daily basis was not a usual situation for them. However make no mistake, their mission is always in the front of their minds as when a visitor not with Dr. Hanson, but who had a relative in the cemetery appeared. There was not a moment’s hesitation to leave the conversation with Dr. Hanson and immediately respond to the most important person, the relative of a fallen soldier.
An American President or candidate for President would do well to visit some of our lesser known ABMC cemeteries around the world, not merely Normandy. A citizen would do well to do the same.
to Jack Marcotte: those soldiers shouldn’t even be in Iraq. Bush lied to get uis into that war and occupation. I’d also like to remind him that 50 year olds in the national guard have also been sent to Iraq for Bush’s and the oil conglomerates war, and some of them have died in vain! I am not afraid to use my name, and I am on the left, a liberal and proud of it. You are obviously a Bush apologist, like Dr. Hanson of Stanford. If you keep supporting this war, occupation, and the insanity of spending what will be trillions of dollars on this calamity in American history, then I feel sorry that you don’t have any sort of perspective on the truth!
550 Metric Tons of Yellowcake, what about it? (see video) US removes Uranium from Iraq, not what many assume see video http://tinyurl.com/6zdq3w