Letters to the Editor: Friday, Sept. 5, 2008
Letters to the Editor: Friday, Sept. 5, 2008

Published: September 5, 2008

It's trendy for some people to say we must end our "addiction” to oil. They claim it will take decades for us to produce enough to reduce gasoline pump prices even a few cents. These folks say we have to develop all of the alternative fuel sources, although those will take decades to make a dent, too. By just talking about drilling more off our coasts, the price of crude has fallen about $35 a barrel. And oil business people have stated that significant production can start within five years if they have access to productive fields.

Other options can and should be tried, but if we develop what experts tell us regarding our potential deposits in oil, shale, natural gas, coal, etc., we can drill our way out of this problem. We all need petroleum products and we can safely have them if we won't be so jealous of profits, which overall are not that high, considering research and development, taxes and operating expenses. I'm grateful for all of the oil companies — big, medium and small.

Joe Ralls, Moore

Mike Jones (Your Views, Aug. 28) wrote that "Mr. and Mrs. Average American” are too busy to do political research. I disagree. With the Internet and Web sites like procon.org and candidate Web sites, it's easy to do a little research. As for Fox News, Jones needs to look more into Rupert Murdoch and his practices. A scathing look at Fox can be found in the documentary "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism.” Noam Chomsky and the makers of the film "Myth of the Liberal Media” do a great job of presenting a clear picture of how the media operate. Sure, these can be labeled as "liberal” movies, but they're telling the truth, however liberal it may seem.

Finally, maybe it's time we ended partisan bickering and tried working together.

Clinton Hays, Oklahoma City

The "Outfoxed” movie is distributed by Moveon.org.

Our Congress has degenerated to an exclusive club whose members are not subject to the same rules that we, the unwashed masses, must adhere to. Most of the time we never find out, but occasionally a member gets caught accepting a sweetheart deal, squandering taxpayer money or otherwise lining either his own pockets or those of his friends/family members. Then, in nearly all cases, the issue is swept away and no action is taken because the exclusive club takes care of its own. And why wouldn't they? They don't want to interfere with club privileges. A little bribery and graft might be acceptable if, at the same time, they were doing a good job. But they're not doing any job at all.

Congress is now almost completely dysfunctional and ineffective. Most of their energy is devoted to playing "gotcha” with the opposing party and getting themselves re-elected. Their 12 percent to 15 percent approval rating is probably fairly indicative of how many members are actually doing the job they were elected to do.

So, how in the world did we end up with three members of this dysfunctional club among the four candidates on the presidential tickets?

Jim Mosley, Del City

With all the congratulatory backslaps going on over the planned Devon building, I hope the Oklahoma City Council realizes the need for downtown parking and doesn't sell the latest parking garage next to the new downtown library. Because of the parking fiasco in Bricktown, I frequent that area once a year or less.

Downtown parking is a problem and it makes no sense to displace visitors, current downtown workers or library patrons for relocated workers of Devon.

Michael Kessler, Midwest City

Your Views: Sarah Palin

The pollsters may not know it yet but vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has just won the election for the GOP. She alone, of all the candidates, can now appeal to the largest voting block in the country today — dysfunctional American families. How many parents have agonized over the unhappy predicament of an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter or suffered the heartbreak of a young daughter or son abusing alcohol or drugs? Now they can say to themselves, "Sarah Palin knows what we're going through” or "Sarah can empathize with us and our family problems.”

The rest of us who are parents or ever helped raise a child to adulthood can only say, "There but for the grace of God go I.”

Doris Cornell, Oklahoma City

Apparently, the idea that a qualified Republican female could be vice president (and someday perhaps president) just is outside the thinking universe of liberal women, including the leftish women's rights movement. Where are they today in defense of Gov. Sarah Palin? It's apparently OK for Democrat women to have a family and yet choose a time-consuming political career. But when a Republican woman does it, headlines like this start popping up: "Palin chooses ambition over family” or "How can Palin ignore her disabled child?”

And of course she is being vilified for carrying a Down syndrome baby to full term and keeping it, instead of the infanticide Barack Obama supported as an Illinois state senator. More importantly, the left apparently doesn't think a Republican woman can "multitask.”

Kenneth R. Webster, Edmond

We need a debate between Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama. That would be a great matchup: Similar in age and experience. Both outsiders to Washington. Then we could have Democrat Joe Biden and Republican John McCain debate each other. They're similar in age and experience and are both insiders to Washington. That would make for much more interesting debates.

Greg Clift, Anadarko

Obviously Sarah Palin's appointment caught everyone by surprise. However, as running mate, she did her job for John McCain by pulling attention away from Barack Obama's speech the night before. Due to her lack of profile beyond Alaska and limited political resume, it's hard to fairly assess her until the media (both sides) have done their job.

However, I think it's legitimate to comment on McCain's judgment in picking her. It turns out that they'd only ever spoken once, until he called her about a week ago to raise the vice president idea. This suggests that McCain either sees the vice president as inconsequential, works in a nonrelational manner or has failed to build any substantive relationships with any other Republicans in the 27 years he's been in office.

More worryingly, it demonstrates a disconcerting trait in someone who wants to be president, namely that he's willing to throw the dice and take enormous gambles. This seems to call into question his claim to be an experienced, steady, stable leader with calm and reasoned judgment in decision making.

Alex Absalom, Edmond

I admit to being a "Yellow Dog” Democrat and vote that way most of the time. After reading quotes in the media and listening to many of the talking heads on television about John McCain's pick for the vice presidential candidate, a long-suspected theory is substantiated. There are also Yellow Dog Republicans.

Rodney Walker, Midwest City

Regarding "Madame chairwoman: Palin's energy ties good for Oklahoma” (Our Views, Sept. 2): Just because it was Alaska's turn for its governor to be chairman of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, that doesn't mean Sarah Palin is good for the domestic industry. Far from it.

Her predecessor as governor, Republican Frank Murkowski, had signed an agreement to freeze state taxes at a level that would encourage building of the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline to supply clean energy both to Alaska and the lower 48. Palin made good on her promise to trash that agreement and sponsored a doubling of the "government take” of oil and gas revenues by the state. She then sponsored the bill that, by her selection, will give a Canadian company $500 million to "study” the same gas line project, with no guarantee that it will ever be built. This amounts to a half billion-dollar shift in revenues from domestic operators to the use of a non-U.S. company.

To their credit, the three main companies operating on the North Slope refused to apply for this government tax-and-giveaway scheme, stating that the gas line project should succeed or fail on its own economic merits. Palin is an example of a politician parading as a conservative, but who on economic matters is truly the polar opposite.

Mike Wofford, Oklahoma City

A lot of talk is going on about the experience or lack of experience of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. People need to realize that some people in government with 40 years of experience have really had only one year of experience 40 times.

Raymond M. Perkins, Oklahoma City

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