Paul Stark editorial
From Paul Stark: I have sent an editorial reply to the local papers regarding Mr. Kind's recent visit to Eau Claire.~~Paul Stark
www.starkforcongress.com paul@starkforcongress.com
As the Republican Congressional Candidate of Wisconsin’s third Congressional District, I strongly disagree with Rep. Ron Kind (D-La Crosse) and his comments during a recent visit to Eau Claire touting his “Buy Green to Save Green” energy initiative. Kind is encouraging American’s to spend their Economic Stimulus checks on energy efficient appliances and light bulbs. According to Kind, “that would return savings to you for many years to come.” The visit was in response to high gas and fuel prices.
Perhaps he does not realize that high gas prices have nothing to do with energy efficient appliances and light bulbs. We use electricity to power appliances, light bulbs and batteries in hybrid cars. Almost all the electricity we use is from the use of our vast reserves of coal. It is unbelievable that a sitting member of Congress should try and tell us that we need to buy energy efficient appliances and light bulbs to reduce the high costs of gasoline and other fuels. We could turn off all our appliances and we would still have high gasoline prices. What should we do about high gas prices? Stop putting oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? That would help but common sense tells us we need to expand and utilize our known oil reserves to create more supply.
The 40 people who met with Kind told him they felt we need to drill for more oil offshore and in ANWAR. Kind responded that oil companies have 3,000 unused drilling permits and that coastal states resist offshore drilling. I contend that we need a proactive Congress that will allow our nation to drill for offshore oil. Right now China, Venezuela and Mexico are increasing their drilling footprint in the Gulf of Mexico – but we aren’t. We then go out and purchase oil from those countries. This makes no sense at all. Our Congress has been very weak in crafting a strong energy policy. As a nation, we have not opened new sites for oil, we have not built a new oil refinery in over 30 years, and we have not built a new nuclear power plant in nearly 30 years. We currently import 1 million barrels of refined gasoline a day because we don’t have the refining capacity. This is way beyond common sense.
The 12 year incumbent tells us he opposed the rebate checks because the country could not afford them. Then why on Earth did he VOTE for them? This is another fine example of Mr. Kind saying one thing and doing another. Can anyone say “flip flopper”? According to Kind, “we’re going to borrow the money from China to pay Saudi Arabia.” Well, we let China drill for oil off the coast of Cuba, and we import 12% of our oil from the Saudi’s. Maybe if we had a mature energy policy in place we could use our own oil.
Touting “green” policies will not give us the energy independence our growing nation requires. Global warming, if it exists, is the de jour cause of many politicians like Mr. Kind and extreme environmentalists who don’t care how their cause affects our economy and the good people of Western Wisconsin. Carbon dioxide levels are proven to be a lagging indicator to warming; it does not precede warming as our frightened politicians want to pretend. It’s time for real leadership. We are tired of Congress’ lip service.
Our nation needs leaders with bold ideas who want to return power back to “We the People” and away from all those Washington lobbyists who are paying these Congressmen huge sums of money to get “their” politicians re-elected. We need oil to run our economy. We need light bulbs that aren’t hazardous to our health (fluorescent). And we need the Fair Tax to energize the economy and make the lives of the poor and near poor much better. The Fair Tax would take power away from Congress’ favorite people - lobbyists. The constituents of Western Wisconsin deserve better. It’s time for common sense leadership
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posted by Darla Meyers at 9:27 AM
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