Offshore Drilling

This topic has been all over the news this summer, and I’m sick of it.

Here’s the gist of it:

Gas prices are up roughly $3 since Bush entered office in 2000.

People want lower prices. What else is new. (Though Americans forget that Europeans and others have been paying prices this high for a while)

Republicans offer more offshore drilling as a solution to high prices — supply & demand, yada yada yada.

Some democrats point to lands already owned by oil companies that aren’t being drilled. “Why not?” they ask. Oil companies probably aren’t stupid (profit driven and careless, but not stupid), they drill where prospects are good — so maybe already owned land is just not as productive as offshore, or just not worth the start up costs. Who knows.

My conclustion: More drilling offshore will NOT lower prices in the immediate future — it’s a global market. Our oil is just a drop in the global bucket.

Republicans want to “give people credit” (that’s their way of pandering to public outcry) and say most Americans understand the issues — they don’t, sadly.

Let me repeat that part above for emphasis–More drilling offshore will not lower prices in the immediate future — it’s a global market.

Appeal to Pity

Frederick Dickinson

Seattle, WA 98122

July 3, 2008
Municipal Court of Seattle
ATTN: Magistrate Case Prep
P.O. Box 34987
Seattle, WA 98124-4987

Your Honor,

In the matter of the parking citations at hand, I concede that I was parked within the no-parking limits of a fire hydrant.   I was parked there for approximately 6 hours, and received two parking tickets within two hours of each other.

I ask the court to consider waiving the fee for the second of the tickets and to allow me to pay for the first ticket.  I base this request on an appeal to pity, where in this case I was unable to move my car after parking illegally, and so deserving of a ticket; however, I feel that the second ticket was gratuitous due to the fact that I was not going to be able to move my car before other officers could come by to give me a ticket as often as happen to match their route and schedules.

I respectfully ask that you consider my request to pay the city for one ticket and waive the second ticket.

Thank you,

Frederick Dickinson

So, I know it’s only $38 a ticket, but something about mitigation hearings make me feel civic, despite how lame parking tickets are to begin with.  The only thing worse than a parking ticket, is another parking ticket.

Since I’ll be out of town during my designated hearing date, I’m choosing to mitigate my charges by written statement.  I couldn’t decide whether or not to really ham it up, or to just make it short and to the point.

Any predictions on what the result will be?

Not the Morse you’re thinking of

Wayne Morse just became one of my new heroes. I love this guy and I’ve only seen him on a couple of old clips. The way he speaks about his understanding of the Constitution and the power of the people in relation to the president is not common among American politicians, much to my dismay.

I know it’s old hat to talk about mistakes our government has made, but hearing Senator Morse reminds me that it is our lack of reflection on the past that has allowed us to let our government make so many mistakes. It’s easy to blame the knuckleheads in D.C. for their foolishness and lack of respect for the people, but in a democratic system such as ours we can only blame ourselves, the American people.

Sounds like a downer, I know. This is only an observation, not a forecast. I’ve had a general apathy for politics and matters of consequence for a while, but not out of a lack of interest. It was hard to stay focused on something that seemed out of my realm of impact, but now I think that’s a cop out. I think the democracy Senator Morse spoke about is based on the idea that people should take an interest in what’s going on and seek out the facts in situations, so that when we speak we speak from a position of comprehension and analysis.

Now we just have to go through the tedious process of finding the good information out of the noise…

[mind wandering to ideas for topics about information technology, "the media", general inquisitiveness, etc.]

Howdy

This blog is foaming at the mouth with anticipation. It may not look like it on this nice and neat weblog hosting site, but trust me, it’s rabid.

Credit and liability for this writing endeavor go to Falty for his encouragement.