More Proof That Americans Lack Basic Critical Thinking Skills

I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones


We're pretty much in Campaign '08's silly season, with discussions about Paris Hilton and the ability to be a "secret Muslim" dominating the political discourse in the media. The one serious issue that actually has had some movement has been that of energy, mainly in the form of high gas prices. In the tradition of the Democratic/Republic breakdown of the party divide as being the party of no ideas vs. the party of bad ones, we have the McCain "solution" for the present high gas prices of offshore drilling for oil. And in the tradition of Americans not looking beyond the superficial merits of the case, we have the people supporting such an action by a 2 to 1 margin.

This is all despite the fact that:

1). The economic effect (at least in terms of gas prices) will be distant and minimal. What it boils down to is percentages and supply/demand curves not remaining static. Percentages in that the oil available offshore represents such a small percentage of world oil production, that it amounts to a negligible effect on world supply. As for supply and demand, one has to realize that the demand curve is only going to get sharper as other countries continue to develop (namely, China and India), so the effects of such a small increase in supply are negated even more.

2). Claims of "energy independence" are bullshit, because oil is sold on the world market. All that theoretical oil being pumped off of California or Florida is not guaranteed to stay in the US; it's just going to be sold to the highest bidder, regardless of location. So all this tough talk of not depending on the Saudis and so on and working on energy ourselves goes out the window.

3). The issue is not about drilling, it's about leases. As the Democratic leaders have tried to stress, there's no hold on drilling--it's just drilling in particular areas. Oil companies own leases to areas around the country that are double that of the area they're now angling for. Instead, the oil companies are taking advantage of the political situation, knowing full well that this is their last best chance to get their hands on these leases--because that's where the money is.

But that's not the part of the poll that bothers me. No, it's the fact that half of the people surveyed didn't believe that drilling would lower gas prices. That means there is at least 16 or so percent of people that are willing to drill for oil...without any potential benefit to them! The number may be even higher than that, since there are sure to be some environmentalist-types that are dead-set against drilling, even it provided such benefits.

Who are these people, and what happened to their brains?

McCain Needs To Quit His Bitching

John McCain's 2008 campaign has been quite the monument to sheer incompetence. But because America is a little slow sometimes (I mean, there is still a sizable population that thinks Dummy McChimp has been doing a bang-up job as President, despite ALL evidence to the contrary), he is still running neck-and-neck with Barack Obama. I mean, a candidate that has betrayed all previous appearance of principles AND has decided to back just about every single policy of a failed President (see: McCain's economic policy, his relaxation of his anti-torture stance, his reversal on oil drilling, etc.)--that's just what this country is looking for, right?

And if you ask John McCain, apparently being in a close race isn't enough--he should be winning this thing, daggummit. And he would be too, if it weren't for that goshdarn media being so in looooove with Obama! That's the problem. So last week McCain put on his sad puppydog eyes and played the victim as he complained about the media's coverage of Obama's trip overseas. "It's not fair that they're covering a trip that they basically goaded Obama into taking! Why don't you pay attention to me? P.S., I'm not a crackpot!"


Of course, irony is not McCain's strong suit. McCain may love to play the victim here, but doesn't realize if he got the "equal coverage" that he believes he deserved, we would have spent way more time going over his many mistakes, like his total confusion between Sunni and Shiite groups (happened during his Mideast trip in March, and kind of important in determining how our enemies operate), that he doesn't know who the leader of Iran is (kind of important, since we're talking about relations with a potential enemy), or that he still believes there's a country called Czechoslovakia (which happened during Obama's recent trip). All this, from a candidate who claims to be the expert in foreign policy.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think I would be glad that the media didn't go to town in picking up these kinds of gaffes. Unlike most of McChimp's fuckups of the English language, these "slips" just show a painful ignorance that is dangerous for a candidate to display. Of course, what can you expect from a man who in 2008 still does not know how to operate a computer.

Now, we'll have the McCain campaign respond with a message of their own: