Henry Payne for October 19, 2012

Did he get PAID for this strip?

Obama claims we are pumping more oil than ever before which is true, but it ignores that fact our increase in production is smaller than anyone else, that building refineries is a nightmare do to government interference, and that we are pumping more out of existing wells/fields not developing new fields.

In the late 1970s I met a couple of locals around my age while I was at a clinic rotation in western Mass. They were going to Wyoming to work on an oil rig. They were back in a couple of months, with stories about big fun, drinking and shooting guns when not working. I asked why they were back so soon, if it was truly The Life. They told me that the well was capped; it was explained to them that if they took out too much oil, the price would go down, so supplies needed to be reduced.

We’ve given Big Oil many subsidies and tax breaks over the years. Each year we give more in tax breaks to the oil industry than Solyndra lost many times over.

Keep in mind that even the Bush administration (which I don’t believe that even Howgozit or Ima will dispute was well-connected to the oil industry) noted that if we took off all restrictions at that time and drilled willy-nilly, our contribution would not amount to any influencing part of the oil supply until the mid-2030s.

Why are we so opposed to finding energy sources that are clean, renewable, and will free us from depending on people who will never be our friends?

Oh. And just for the record, there is no such thing as Clean Coal. Coal is dirty. Always was, always will be.

Fact: more leases have been issued by the feds by Obama administration, and more oil is being produced than under "W"s last four years. That the companies have chosen not to drill at this time on those leases, is THEIR choice.

Three years ago, we were supposed to IMPORT liquified natural gas. Now, the companies are planning to EXPORT OUR natural gas, and COAL!! That is the corporate choice, not “government”.

It IS true that Obama has called for following the laws and regulations in extracting fossil fuels from public land, gee, follow the law, what a “terrible idea”.

It is also true that oil, and other fossil fuels, are THE most heavily subsidized by taxpayer industries in America, but gee, let’s just keep pumping up their profits!