Comments on: Do you fund terrorism? http://tonyandpaige.com/2003/01/14/do-you-fund-terrorism/ Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:52:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Dan http://tonyandpaige.com/2003/01/14/do-you-fund-terrorism/comment-page-1/#comment-84 Dan Sat, 18 Jan 2003 01:27:54 +0000 http://tonyandpaige.com/?p=91#comment-84 I can't dispute your facts. But I suspect that if we cut gasoline consumption 25%, we'd still be importing something like 26% of it from the Middle East. We'd still buy the cheapest oil, and OPEC would price it competively to keep their US market share. If we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, a more sensible and straightforward way to deal with it is to stop buying it, as a matter of US policy. Damn the consequences, buy the shortfall from Venezuela or Russia or wherever. If the price rises, so be it. Then, in the correct sequence of cause and effect, people will stop driving 10 mpg SUV's. After all, they're only driving them now because gas is cheap, in a relative sense. Actually, if we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, we should engage Saudi Arabia in the most appropriate manner to stop their support of terrorism. If they won't, then they're our enemy, and we should treat them as such. Not buying their oil is the least we should do. Dan 1995 Honda Accord I can’t dispute your facts. But I suspect that if we cut gasoline consumption 25%, we’d still be importing something like 26% of it from the Middle East. We’d still buy the cheapest oil, and OPEC would price it competively to keep their US market share.

If we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, a more sensible and straightforward way to deal with it is to stop buying it, as a matter of US policy. Damn the consequences, buy the shortfall from Venezuela or Russia or wherever. If the price rises, so be it. Then, in the correct sequence of cause and effect, people will stop driving 10 mpg SUV’s. After all, they’re only driving them now because gas is cheap, in a relative sense.

Actually, if we determine that Saudi oil funds terrorism, we should engage Saudi Arabia in the most appropriate manner to stop their support of terrorism. If they won’t, then they’re our enemy, and we should treat them as such. Not buying their oil is the least we should do.

Dan
1995 Honda Accord

]]> By: Tony http://tonyandpaige.com/2003/01/14/do-you-fund-terrorism/comment-page-1/#comment-83 Tony Fri, 17 Jan 2003 18:26:11 +0000 http://tonyandpaige.com/?p=91#comment-83 I've always heard that the best way to get people to comment on your site is to post something controversial. I guess it really does work :-) Hi Dan, welcome to our site. Your argument is certainly valid, there is no absolute right or wrong here. But there is one fact that a lot of people aren't considering - not all of our oil comes from the Middle East. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, only 26% of our oil imports come from Persian Gulf countries. The majority of that oil, around 14%, comes from Saudia Arabia. Now lets say for the sake of argument that half of the people in the U.S. drive a vehicle that gets less than 15 mpg. What if all those people went out tomorrow and bought a Honda Civic, which gets at least 30 mpg. If half of the people in the U.S. used half as much gasoline, then we could potentially cut imports by 25%. That's almost enough to completely eliminate our dependence on Persian Gulf oil. I'm not on some kind of crazy crusade to eliminate all gas powered vehicles, but I do believe that people could be a little more conservative. Feel free to check my facts here, all of my numbers came from this web site - <a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html</a> I’ve always heard that the best way to get people to comment on your site is to post something controversial. I guess it really does work :-)

Hi Dan, welcome to our site. Your argument is certainly valid, there is no absolute right or wrong here.

But there is one fact that a lot of people aren’t considering - not all of our oil comes from the Middle East. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, only 26% of our oil imports come from Persian Gulf countries. The majority of that oil, around 14%, comes from Saudia Arabia.

Now lets say for the sake of argument that half of the people in the U.S. drive a vehicle that gets less than 15 mpg. What if all those people went out tomorrow and bought a Honda Civic, which gets at least 30 mpg. If half of the people in the U.S. used half as much gasoline, then we could potentially cut imports by 25%. That’s almost enough to completely eliminate our dependence on Persian Gulf oil.

I’m not on some kind of crazy crusade to eliminate all gas powered vehicles, but I do believe that people could be a little more conservative.

Feel free to check my facts here, all of my numbers came from this web site - http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html

]]> By: Dan http://tonyandpaige.com/2003/01/14/do-you-fund-terrorism/comment-page-1/#comment-82 Dan Fri, 17 Jan 2003 02:27:40 +0000 http://tonyandpaige.com/?p=91#comment-82 You know I drive a Honda too, but this crusade against SUV's is nuts. If SUV's fund terror, then so do Honda Civics. There's no threshold to be crossed dividing the "good cars" from the "bad" because they all consume Middle East oil. And saying that you're funding terror because you buy gas from the Middle East is the same thing as saying you're aiding organized crime because you eat at the pizzaria down the block. You know I drive a Honda too, but this crusade against SUV’s is nuts. If SUV’s fund terror, then so do Honda Civics. There’s no threshold to be crossed dividing the “good cars” from the “bad” because they all consume Middle East oil. And saying that you’re funding terror because you buy gas from the Middle East is the same thing as saying you’re aiding organized crime because you eat at the pizzaria down the block.

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