I’m not sure our anonymous, seemingly-conservative friend (whom I’ll dub the “PhantomCon”) is all that serious about having a rational discussion, about anything frankly. I, on the other hand, usually like to utilize blogging as an avenue for more than just shooting off “conservatives rule” or “liberals suck”, or vice versa, etc. In fairness, I do believe most conservatives rule, but not all liberals suck. Many of my favorite libs make their home right here at KP. Anyway…onto Barletta and energy. In all honesty, I really don’t see anything groundbreaking here, but that’s not a bad thing. Barletta seems to want to take a look at all options, which I’d label as the responsible path. It’s not just oil and coal, or nuclear, or wind or solar – to have a truly dynamic, crunch-proof (making up my own terms now) energy policy, it must be well-rounded. We cannot completely rule traditional sources of energy (i.e., oil, coal, etc.) out, because a) our economy is mostly dependent upon them now and b) our economy cannot transition itself away from them overnight and c) even as “clean” sources play larger and larger roles in our economy, oil is never going to be completely removed from the energy equation. Yes, we are moving toward “clean” energy, and as a conservative and a conservationist, I’m pleased. However, for the present time (and the near future), oil drives our economy, and, to be blunt, we don’t have enough of it. I have a serious question for everyone: if we can extract oil cleanly here at home, why not do it? To me, the benefits of domestic drilling greatly exceed the negatives. With our own resources, we import less (meaning we no longer need to kiss Saudi rings), create jobs, and in utilizing new technologies, do little (if any) harm to our environment. This doesn’t mean we stop the transition toward new alternative energy sources. It simply recognizes the current realities. Ideally, I’d be living in a solar-powered house with an electric car in the garage. Reality? I dropped $60 dollars at the pump today and checked my thermostat every hour over the winter (not because I was cold – I was trying to pre-calculate the bill). Chances are, if we produced more at home, I probably wouldn’t have paid that much for gas this afternoon, although I’d still have done my OCD act with the thermostat (I’m strange like that). Barletta (and those on both sides of the aisle who take a balanced approach) have it right: for the immediate future, government must pursue all options when it comes to energy.

Perhaps, the only neighbors they hate are those that spread dillusional comments on blogs like this. You need to get out more and see the real world, not the one you have created in your tiny little conservative brain.