One thing can be said for the Voices Column of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette; you never need to wonder about the important priorities that the writers hold. The writer of a letter, August 8, 3 2008, has a priority of priorities. It ranks right up there with the prohibition against drilling in ANWR. Just as drilling in ANWR is insane, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is insane as well.

His reason for not drilling in the gulf is because going to the fine beaches is the joy of many who have been going there for years. It is totally unreasonable to risk spoiling those fine areas for the sake of relieving the energy problem the nation faces. Of course, play and pleasure for the selfish must take first place with all else, no matter how it affects everyone else. It is priorities in case you are wondering.

The writer says the Gulf is all the middle class has since they can’t go anywhere else. If he doesn’t wake up, he won’t be able to go to the gulf when energy is rationed because of the stupid policies of the politicians and the environmentalists. But foresight has never been the talent of the pandering politicians and the all wise, all knowing, environmentalists and their foolish followers.

Arkansas Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln are targets of his wrath due to there wanting to drill in the Gulf. He says that they have sold out and that they should be voted out of office. Support for drilling isn’t why they need to be voted out of office. These two are part of the many in Congress who have stopped efforts in the past to ensure an adequate domestic crude oil supply.

Those Senators have supported every liberal scheme to come down the pike. Pryor wanted to investigate price gouging by oil producers and suppliers. He admitted on the Pat Lynch Radio Show that there wasn’t any evidence of it, but he just knew that it was happening somewhere. With liberal thinking, when the evidence isn’t there, that is all the more reason to be suspicious. Along that line of thinking, it is reasonable to be suspicious that Pryor’s intelligence is lacking. Actually, it is a bit more than suspicion if his work in the Senate is any indication.

Too many in this nation refuse to accept that oil spills aren’t a problem in the production of oil. Companies take every precaution to prevent such events. In reality, the spills come from the tankers that haul crude oil all over the world. During Katrina not one spill occurred. The last big rig failure was in San Diego in 1969. Since then new technology and drilling methods have minimized the likely hood of that type spill occurring to near zero. But never mind the truth; the elephant memories of the liberals never fail to let an ancient story push their anti-drilling agenda.

If we continue the no drilling ban, this nation will continue to be held hostage to nations that don’t like us. We will flounder about trying to develop alternative energy sources, which will be no more useful than crack pipe type dreams in the liberal mind. Has it ever occurred to the no drilling, play in the sand crowd, that if alternative energy was such a panacea for solving our needs, what is the reason that private enterprise, which thrives on competition and innovation, hasn’t flooded the market with alternative solutions? The answer is simple. Only in limited applications can alternative energy replace the energy that derives from crude oil, not to mention all the various products that sue crude oil for the basis of their existence.

In that letter, the writer said it was plain crazy to risk the playgrounds so that people could drive around in gas hog vehicles (15 to 20 mpg). No, it’s plain crazy and even insane to continue to place the nation at risk in favor of beaches and bugs, especially when the facts show us that the risk is minimal and in many cases, nonexistent. But never let the facts stand in the way of the foolish priorities of the sand and water worshippers.

© 08-08-2008 DEC