pres. bush's press conference

[perSue]

What are your thoughts on what he had to say?

[YankeeMom]

I do not think the answer to our "energy crisis" is to drill for more oil in US territory. The answer needs to be finding alternative ways to fuel, becoming more efficient with what we do use, smaller vehicles, less usage etc.

[FrugalWitch]

THE SIDESTEP
From : "The Best Little Wh&r#house In Texas"
(Carol Hall)


Fellow Texans, I am proudly standing here to humbly see.
I assure you, and I mean it- Now, who says I don't speak out as plain as day?
And, fellow Texans, I'm for progress and the flag- long may it fly.
I'm a poor boy, come to greatness. So, it follows that I cannot tell a lie.

Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't-
I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.

Now my good friends, it behooves me to be solemn and declare,
I'm for goodness and for profit and for living clean and saying daily prayer.
And now, my good friends, you can sleep nights, I'll continue to stand tall.
You can trust me, for I promise, I shall keep a watchful eye upon ya'll...

Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't-
I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.

Now, Miss Mona, I don't know her, though I've heard the name, oh yes.
But, of course I've no close contact, so what she is doing I can only guess.
And now, Miss Mona, she's a blemish on the face of that good town.
I am taking certain steps here, someone somewhere's gonna have to close her down.

Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't-
I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.

Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep...

And, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step...

Cut a little swathe and lead the people on.

[FrugalWitch]

Sidestep video. W has always reminded me of the Texas Governor in the musical....


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNDHTfdn1A"]YouTube- Charles Durning in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas[/ame]

[warramra]

I saw most of the first part of the press conference, my kids needed me about the same time he started answering questions about Afghanistan.

I agree the only answer he seemed stuck on was more oil, more oil. I think people need more encouragement to begin looking for ways to not be dependent on oil/gas. Communities need to invest in more pedestrian/bicycle paths and better community planning when building housing and retail locations.

For example, we live in an older neighborhood, this neighborhood use to have pedestrian access to a number of stores but over the years they enlarged the highway system to effectively cut the neighborhood off. Now, they want to build another four-lane road which would cut us off from our remaining grocery option.
All of that is really a local issue, not for the federal government. But if we got the encouragement from the top down to think about those issues, we could make a better impact locally.

What made me choke was when he mentioned that we might want to think about a really strange idea of buying our food locally. Is he going to become the new spokesman for the Slow Food Movement?

[blitzen]

I do not think the answer to our "energy crisis" is to drill for more oil in US territory. The answer needs to be finding alternative ways to fuel, becoming more efficient with what we do use, smaller vehicles, less usage etc.

I agree! I didn't hear or see his speech, but it's pretty short sighted to think that more oil is the answer.

[Megareader]

To be honest, I avoid all things Dubya.

[Holly]

I won't watch him at all.
The man doesn't have a clue.

Frugal Witch,
That is Perfect....

[AmyBoz]

If I were one of his "handlers" I would never let him in front of a microphone without a prepared speech in front of him. The question and answer session was almost comical.

And, as to the whole oil thing, I think it's too little too late. He's had his head in the sand, whether on purpose or unconsciously, and now he's going to sweep in and pretend to have all these great ideas and "save" us? Yeah, don't think so.

[IntlMom]

I do not think the answer to our "energy crisis" is to drill for more oil in US territory. The answer needs to be finding alternative ways to fuel, becoming more efficient with what we do use, smaller vehicles, less usage etc.

This conservative,republican, Bush voter, agrees with you!

[momofslg]

I loved how he put the blame for everything on Congress. Even though they are just as bad as him, he wouldn't take one iota of blame for what is happening in this country.
I hope that whoever is the next President will do better, BUT I doubt that will happen either.

[Dad_of_4]

If you do not agree on drilling for more oil, don't complain when gas prices go even higher. It is simply supply and demand. Domistic supplies have been dropping as some of the older fields dry up. Alternative energies are fine, but they are years away from being used to produce enough for mass consumption. Also, we need to start now on building nuclear power plants. If we start now, they will not come on-line until 2018. With people wanting to switch to electric cars, the demands for electricity we increase. If we don't plan now, the alternative of affording to charge an electric car will not be possible. Just look at what happens in the summers now. Rolling blackouts and grid failures.

I'm all for alternatives to oil. However, it is not like we can change overnight. We need to drill now, and invest for the future. Also, plant based ethonol is not a smart solution. Just look at what has happened to food prices in the last year. Last year 30% of the corn grown in the US was used to produce ethonol. It is never a good idea to use your food source as food. Tyson and Shell had a plan to build a biofuels plant that would use the rinderings for poultry and pork processing. However, they were relying of subsudies (tax breaks) to get the refinery portion built. Congress decided it did not want the Big Bad Oil Companies to recieve any of the subsudies for alternative energies, so they pulled it from Shell. The result is the project has been put on hold until it makes economic sense. While many may hate the Oil Companies, they are the ones most likely to exceed with alternative fuels. They already have the infrastructure in place.

[Dancing Lotus]

Hi Dad, I couldn't wait to hear what you were going to say about this.

I agree with you.
What do you think of Fusion energy?

[Dad_of_4]

Hi Dad, I couldn't wait to hear what you were going to say about this.

I agree with you.
What do you think of Fusion energy?

On paper it looks possible. Some experiments have confirmed the physics of it. However, it is still at least 50 years away from being applied.

We need to drill now to maintain and develop alternatives. Once the alternatives come on line, the economics driving oil will reverse and oil based energies will die a natural death. To try to force this change will only cause economic hardship.

[Dancing Lotus]

I asked about it because my dh is interested in it . He hopes to study in Physics after he compleats his engineering degree.