The High Price of Oil

The following is a message I sent to my Representative in Congress, the Honorable Brad Sherman:

Representative Sherman:

It seems to me that our country works best when we all work together. The current overly-inflated gasoline price is a prime example of an area where we must come to an agreement. President Bush recently called for a moratorium on Congress’ ban on offshore drilling for oil and gas. I think this is an area that needs to be explored, rather than being dismissed immediately.

If the Democrats and the Republicans work together, we can do something to solve this crisis, however, it would be foolish to simply lift the ban, as the President has suggested. This ban has been in place for nearly 30 years, and has received large support from both Democrats and Republicans and to simply lift it is to invite abuse.

What I would suggest is a compromise that would be beneficial to the Democrats, as it shows our willingness to work with the current administration, as well as to the American people as it will help alleviate the high price of oil.

In the area of offshore drilling, the agreement would be that no drilling will be allowed offshore until the entire 68 million acres currently under lease on federal lands and waters outside of the ban area are developed. Only after this has been done will offshore drilling be considered.

Additionally, all oil extracted from the United States must be capped at fifty dollars per barrel, without exception. In no event can any oil from the United States be sold for an amount higher than this. Such a restriction would bring down prices considerably.

Next, any oil extracted from the United States must remain within the United States. It can only be sold here, it can only be refined here and the gasoline created can only be sold at stations in the United States. Further, those stations can only sell the gasoline at a price that would reflect the fifty dollar per barrel maximum. This would bring gasoline prices back down to less than half of where they are today.

Further, once oil prices on the open market drop to a level below seventy five dollars per barrel, all drilling in the United States that was begun to confront the high cost of oil must cease. Production can only resume when (and if) oil is once again trading at a rate higher than seventy five dollars per barrel.

Once all oil has been depleted from the 68 million acres currently under lease to oil companies on federal lands and waters, then and only then can Congress debate the idea of offshore drilling.

I welcome your response to this idea.

Sincerely,

Mr. Patt Gavin

Gay Marriages Live On!

I was thrilled to hear that the California Supreme Court has decided not to stay its ruling to allow gays to legally marry in the state of California.  The implications of this for gay couples is enormous, since the ruling does not pertain to only gay couples living in California, but to any gay couples who get married in California.  For this reason, several other states have initiatives lined up for their November ballots to disallow those marriages from being legal in their states.

This is exactly what gay activists have been working toward for years.  By getting one state to allow gay marriage it opens the door for the issue to be finally pushed forward.  When a couple from another state come to California to get married, then return to their home state, they will file to be accepted as married, which will be rejected.  This violates the Full Faith and Credit clause of the United States Constitution, which trumps any state constitution.  Because of this, the issue will finally be forced to the highest court in our land.  This is the best possible situation for those of us who believe in gay marriage.

Not to toot my horn, which I would (almost) never do, but I did write about this subject five years ago.  For those who are interested, the book is still available and can be found at this link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Almost-Paradise/Patt-Gavin/e/9780595287901/?itm=3  

Yes, I can admit it now.  I am ahead of my time.  

Now I'm working on my third book, this one on religions.  I'm hoping to finish it by the end of 2008 (I'd really like to have it completed before the summer is over).  I might put a few posts on here from that work over the next couple of weeks, so if religion is something that interests you, keep an eye out.

To anyone who reads this who disagrees with gay marriage, I'd be very interested in hearing from you.  Specifically, your reasons would be of great interest to me.