Sen. Martinez Calls Out Dick Cheney’s Lie On Oil Drilling Off Coast Of Cuba
Sen. Martinez Calls Out Dick Cheney’s Lie On Oil Drilling Off Coast Of Cuba
In a speech before the Chamber of Commerce yesterday, Vice President Dick Cheney – the former CEO of the oil services company Halliburton — called for a substantial increase in domestic drilling for oil and other natural resources.
In his speech, Cheney claimed that China is pumping for oil off the coast of Florida, noting that “even the Communists” understand the need for more drilling:
It’s my own view that we should be drilling in ANWR in an environmentally responsible way, which could increase our daily domestic oil production by as much as a million barrels a day. As for other locations, George Will pointed out in his column the other day that oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida. But we’re not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply.
Mother Jones and the Gavel note that Reps. John Boehner (R-OH) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) have uttered the same talking points. It’s false. And they’re being called out on it by a conservative senator who knows more about the issue than they do.
Armed with maps and reports, Sen. Mel Martinez – a Florida Republican who served in Bush’s cabinet – took to the Senate floor to dispute Cheney’s claim:
Despite what is cited as fact here in the Senate and in other places, China is not drilling off the coast of Cuba. … Reports to the contrary are simply false. … So any talk of using some fabricated China/Cuba connection as an argument to change U.S. policy, in my view, has no merit.
Watch it:
Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, disputed Cheney’s prescription. “The only people who would benefit from more oil drilling are the oil companies,” he said.
The United States has less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, while consuming 25 percent of the world’s oil. Our own oil supply, without foreign imports, would last just three years. Drilling is not the solution.
As Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the Chairman of House Select Committee on Energy Independence, said yesterday, “Even if we are able to drill every last drop of domestic reserves and are able to prod OPEC into further feeding our addition by increasing capacity, we are left with a much greater problem: Our planet will choke on all of that CO2.”
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lol Cheney. Propaganda is in his blood. Fabricate a story/quote the story. The only way they know.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:48 pmCheney and the reich-wing, always on the wrong side of every issue.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:51 pmIt’s very odd, recent US demand for oil has declined, while the supply has been stable, yet the price of gasoline is still climbing very rapidly (today, about $4.50/gallon in SF Bay Area today).
We’re being ENRONed again: this time by oil futures contracts speculators who are unnecessarily and very profitably driving up the price of crude oil and hence retail gasoline prices. Curious as to why you are suddenly paying over four dollars a gallon for gasoline? No, it’s not due to “supply-and-demand,” no, it’s not due to “OPEC,” nor is it due to “peak oil.” It’s due to totally unregulated electronic oil futures trading in world markets. Check out the very lucid article that explains the unseen financial machinations in oil futures markets written by F. W. Engdahl on May 2, 2008, entitled, “Perhaps 60% of Today’s Oil Price is Pure Speculation.” It may be viewed at .
http://www.financialsense.com/ editorials/ engdahl/ 2008/ 0502.html
In a nutshell, he suggests that the Bush Administration dropped the ball in January 2006, when they allowed totally unregulated electronic trading of oil futures contracts in New York. Previously these electronic trades had been made at the London Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures Market. With that decision by the Bush Administration, all of the world’s oil prices were then opened to upward pressure from speculative futures contracts. In essence, oil futures contracts made by speculators, banks, hedge funds and pension funds all competed with real demand on the spot markets and had the effect of driving up both wholesale oil prices and retail gasoline prices. Speculators have made billions of dollars on their trading of oil futures contracts. All of their profits come right out of our pockets.
Even with a stable oil supply, there is a slow worldwide increase in demand for oil, which creates a long-term upward pressure on oil prices. However, with the relentless saber-rattling and war-mongering by Bush and Cheney in the last several years, and the more recent war talks by McCain and the Israelis, the oil futures markets are rife with speculation and paranoia. This war talk keeps ratcheting up the prices on the oil futures contracts and hence the wholesale spot market prices. It is an endless spiral of greed and paranoia.
As long as there is no tough and effective oversight of the electronic oil futures markets by the Bush Administration, the oil prices will climb endlessly. These oil prices will be quickly followed by hikes in the retail gasoline prices at the pump. The 60% speculation share of the $4.25/gallon gasoline price, is about $2.55/gallon, which is what we consumers are paying to these oil speculators as a “service fee.” Not a bad “fee,” since the speculators produce no usable goods or services…Just a few large greedy oil futures traders helping themselves to your gas money.
Without this added-on oil futures “service fee,” you would be paying about $1.75/gallon for gasoline. Write, call or smoke-signal your Representatives and Senators today and suggest that they read the June 2006 report by The U. S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations entitled, “The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices.” Then demand that they investigate and then force the Bush Administration to firmly regulate the computerized oil futures contracts trading in New York, London and Dubai.
This electronic oil price futures scandal is costing US drivers about $969,000,000.00 per day! That number is based on 60% speculation fee of a gasoline price of $4.25/gallon and on US 2004 consumption of 380,000,000 gallons/day. Tell you Senators and Congresspersons to simply shut down this unregulated electronic oil futures contract trading market.
Then the price of gasoline will slowly drop to about $1.75/gallon…The only way that oil price futures contracts make money is if the price of oil goes up in the future, say, 30, 60 or 90 days later. This futures market serves no social need. It is just for corporate greed. The corporate speculators are probably also gaming/ENRONing the wheat and corn futures markets the same way.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pmHa, you expect anything coming out of Cheney’s pie hole to be the truth. Get out of here…he’s as big a liar as Bush.
Learn to live like Mad Max, because that is what America has coming in the future, when gas is gone and costs a fortune, food is scarce, riots in the cities over food and water…it may behoove you to learn survival more now than any kind of education.
But then again, our politicians may wake up to reality……haha, who am I kidding.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:56 pmI applaud Martinez for keeping Cheney’s lies in check, but I think that whether or not China is drilling for oil is but a minor point in the overall story here.
It seems to me that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We need to explore alternatives. And we must conserve. It’s insane that we manage to suck up a quarter of the world’s oil when we don’t even take up that much of the world. And all because our culture has been completely built around the automobile.
Cheney and his ilk want us to direct all of our energy exploration resources to acquiring more and more oil (and NO resources to developing alternative energy), but when it’s all gone, we will be stuck with no other options.
He doesn’t care — he’ll probably be dead when we run out. Too bad he doesn’t give a rip about his children or grandchildren.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:59 pmFacts mean nothing when there is fear to spread!!
June 12th, 2008 at 4:00 pmOil companies to Cheney: we don’t have enough money yet.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pmCheney: okay, let me see what I can do.
I guess my dooshbag senator martinez didn’t top off his daily glass of kool-aid. Another mutt jumping off a sinking ship.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:01 pmSorry what was the post about? All I saw in the headline was “Cheney”, “Lie” and “Oil” and thought, “Meh, what’s the story there?”
June 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pmgeorge will spread that lie in his column:
Drilling is underway 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pmIn his speech, Cheney claimed that China is pumping for oil off the coast of Florida, noting that “even the Communists” understand the need for more drilling:
HAhahahaha.
Dick Cheney thinks there are Communists in China.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pmThe United States has less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, while consuming 25 percent of the world’s oil. Our own oil supply, without foreign imports, would last just three years. Drilling is not the solution.
Says you. Are you an oil company? Are you a contractor that works for oil companies? No, I thought not. If you were, you’d know that, while not a ’solution’, it would put billions into your pocket if you were.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:18 pmI love how the Vice President quotes a “so-called” reporter on a matter of national energy policy. IF the situation were true, wouldn’t the VP know about it before George-Will-do-anything-for-the-GOP?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:21 pm…
…
Reps. John Boehner (R-OH, Roy Blunt (R-MO) and VP Cheney Lied??? No Way! And even MORE of a Shock: A GOP member called them out?!?!?
Wow.
“Then the price of gasoline will slowly drop to about $1.75/gallon“?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pmWhy would it? Even if the Oil comapnis CAN lowere it (I think they can), why would they?
The United States has less than 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves, while consuming 25 percent of the world’s oil. Our own oil supply, without foreign imports, would last just three years. Drilling is not the solution.
Says you.
No, not says you. Says this guy: Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow and director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress. He’s kind of an expert at this stuff.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:25 pmWHAT?!?!? Ol Dickey LIED??? I…I now have NO faith in my government…absolutely none.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:29 pmI’m assuming the MSM will just ignore this story, right?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:30 pmIt’s a non-story because it’s ALWAYS the story with these Bozos…their lies are so prevalent, have YOU been able to keep up?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:32 pmLet’s send Cheney back to Cuba. He can be ‘offshore’, just like his darling Halliburton, not pay taxes, not get jailed, and we won’t have to listen to the Vice President of the United States lie to us. AGAIN.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:35 pmRepublican Talking Point Creation 101
June 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pmRule 1 Why let the truth interfere with a good story?
The company that is doing the drilling is Pebercan. It is Canadian — not Chinese.
June 12th, 2008 at 4:54 pmWhere are the folks who have been talking about this around here the last day or two?
June 12th, 2008 at 5:10 pmAnd even if we started drilling tomorrow on ANWR, any production would not hit our refineries til 2022, which won’t make much of a difference. Of course, we can also expect to have a few drunk tanker Captains like we had piloting the Exxon Valdez.
And in addition to the electronic Futures trading, the lack of refining capacity is a bigger issue than the lack of crude for the US. There has been only 1 new refinery built in the last 20 years.
All that exploration investment could be used for alternative energy research and development.
June 12th, 2008 at 5:16 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
In his speech, Cheney claimed that China is pumping for oil off the coast of Florida, noting that “even the Communists” understand the need for more drilling:
HAhahahaha.
Dick Cheney thinks there are Communists in China.
_________
That’s because in his sick and twisted delusional mind we are still in the times of the Red Scare and everyone’s a commie!
June 12th, 2008 at 5:19 pmJinJin:
June 12th, 2008 at 5:39 pmWatch your back. It will come when you least expect it. Still to ease your stress, I will assure you that I will spare your family.It is only you that will suffer
Ah, the stench of spamspam in the afternoon!
June 12th, 2008 at 6:10 pmCan all you folks who hawk shit online please start employing the JinJin approach. I hate to ask you all to be annoying d-bags but I want to test a theory I have. If you all get banned my theory will be supported by the dataset. Still I will have to a knoll eyes it elsewhere since that is a no no word.
June 12th, 2008 at 6:17 pm.
Yea, Cheney LIES…
When is this news?
.
June 12th, 2008 at 7:33 pmJinJin spoor . . . watch out don’t step in it . . .
June 12th, 2008 at 10:23 pmWhat? Chenney and Republican LIED????!!!!! Wow, that is NEW!
June 12th, 2008 at 11:05 pm