We hear it all the time: Discussions about finding or developing another source of energy to replace oil. Whatever that source may be will not come to the fore until the supply of crude is nearly exhausted. The same goes for the coal industry and why there hasn’t been one nuclear power plant built in the US for 30 years. Also, as I have said on numerous occassions, the US doesn’t need Middle East oil! That is a straw man argument that has been repeated so often — by the left and the right — that people just assume it’s true. The US gets roughly 19% of its imported oil from all Mid-East oil-producing nations — COMBINED — and that’s about the same as it gets from Canada, the largest single-nation supplier of oil imported into the US. Look at the map below for the breakdown (courtesy of Gravmag/Gibson Consulting). I strongly encourage readers to visit their site which contains a wealth of information.

For more current data, go to the Energy Information Administration. The numbers haven’t changed much, and Canada is still the largest single-nation supplier of imported US oil.

If somebody (a president with the traits of Andrew Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Barry Goldwater) had the balls to tell the EPA to get stuffed and reject any court decision that might rule in their favor, the US could drill in ANWR, re-fire the rigs (and build more) off the California coast and in the Gulf of Mexico, and import more oil from Canada (who, I’m sure, would be happy to sell it to us), thus becomming virtually self-sufficient in the oil department. At the same time the US could tell the Saudis it will buy their oil for $10 per barrel, and if the Saudis don’t like it they can drink it. The EU and China would not be able to buy the difference in what the US buys if it were to stop buying Saudi oil, and that would bring the Saudis virtually to their knees. Considering, also, that the Saudis are the major financiers of the global jihad, wouldn’t that be a good thing? I mean, hey, if we’re in a “War on Terror,” let’s get serious and really hit them in the wallet.

I don’t begrudge the oil companies for making a profit, but I am really tired of them propping up these rag-head oil pimps in the Middle East for no other reason than it’s a good ol’ boys’ club that has been doing “business as usual” for the last 100 years or so. Despite the politics and ideologies involved, their arrangement is a comfortable one ($$$$), and rather than shifting focus on Canada and hanging the Saudis out to dry, the big oil companies make easy money with them. That is the only reason they don’t buy more oil from Canada and invest more heavily in production and oil sands extraction there, regardless of EPA restrictions on domestic exploratory ventures.

Having completed active duty in the United States Marine Corps, Joe Ramen is currently a geotechnical engineer who has relocated to New Zealand. You can read more of his articles at his weblog A Yank in Kiwi Land. Joe also contributes to It’s a Matter of Opinion.

Dear Friends,

No, the title of this letter doesn’t signal an intention to convert the sometimes long breaks between my letters into a year off. Rather, a reminder that this Wednesday night is Rosh Hashanah – and the start of a sabbatical year. The seventh year in a cycle; a great equaliser when we remember that all we have is by the grace of G-d, and we “return” it to him, allowing fields to lie fallow, making the produce available for all to take – rich or poor, and forgiving debts owed to us.

With the re-emergence of the Jewish state, the sabbatical year is being progressively reinstated. A remarkable testament to the Jewish scholars who studied and kept alive the complex laws for centuries, believing that one day the prophesies would be fulfilled, with our people returning to their ancestral land. How ridiculous it must have seemed. Even the derisory Roman name “Palaestina” had stuck to the Holy Land. As if it was more likely that the extinct Philistine enemies of Israel would return than the Jews.

As I prepared our small garden for the sabbatical year – cutting and pruning in extra measure so that the plants won’t grow too wild in the coming year – I thought how lucky I was to be able to practice this ancient custom, and to be part of the fulfilment of prophesy.

Wishing all my family and friends “Shana tova”. May you be inscribed and sealed for a year of happiness, health and prosperity. A year of peace for all.

David

Cross-posted from LiveJournal.