Elder Statesmen: U.S. Faces Energy Crisis

Bipartisan Group Of 27 Former Officials Sends Open Letter To Candidates, Congress

(AP)  A bipartisan group of 27 American elder statesmen is sending an open letter to both presidential candidates and every member of Congress saying the United States faces "a long-term energy crisis" that threatens the security and prosperity of future generations if swift action is not taken.

The group includes Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell and six other former secretaries of state or defense, former senators of both parties and a half-dozen former senior White House advisers and other Cabinet officers for both Republican and Democratic presidents.

"We must re-examine outdated and entrenched positions," the group says in the letter to be sent Wednesday to the campaigns of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and to his Republican rival, John McCain, as well as members of Congress and all 50 governors.

"Foremost we must rise above a partisan differences and be united in our efforts," they wrote.

A copy of the letter was provided Tuesday to The Associated Press.

The call to action comes amid widespread anger over high energy costs from $4-plus a gallon gasoline to the certainty of record heating costs next winter and the prospect that America's energy priorities will have to be revamped in coming decades to deal with global warming.

Despite volumes of rhetoric, often on largely meaningless proposals, partisan disagreements have stymied action on energy issues in Congress this year.

Republicans have hammered away at opening new areas for oil and gas drilling, while Democrats have been largely targeting large oil companies for new taxes. Neither side has signaled a willingness to compromise.

That has to change, the elder statesmen wrote, focusing on the next president and members of the Congress that will take office in January.

The open letter was the idea of the Institute for 21st Century Energy, a group affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has embraced largely Republican, pro-business approaches to dealing with energy problems. The chamber, for example, has called for expanding domestic energy development, including opening offshore areas long off-limits, and criticized new taxes on oil companies.

But retired Marine General James Jones, the institute's president, said the call to action reflects broad, bipartisan views and does not lean on one party or the other.

"There's an energy tsunami coming, and when you see it coming you better get on top of the wave, or you're going to get crushed by it," he said in an interview.

Jones, a 40-year military veteran who has had discussions about energy with both Obama and McCain, said he hoped the letter's sense of urgency will influence both campaigns. "Both candidates are still embryonic in their thinking about this," he said.

It is not only politicians who are faulted in the critique.

"We demand more energy and complain about high prices, but we restrict energy exploration and production. We embrace the promise of energy efficiency, but we are slow to make adjustments in our energy-intensive lifestyles," the letter says.

Production of electricity, for example, is taken "almost for granted." At the same time, people oppose new power plants and don't want to invest adequately in energy technology research, the writers say.

Thomas "Mack" McLarty, White House chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, said the letter emphasizes that "the next president is going to have to put energy right at the top of his agenda" and do it quickly.

"There will be a window there to build bipartisan consensus to move forward," McLarty said in an interview.

The letter includes 13 broad recommendations. They include aggressively promoting energy efficiency and reducing energy consumption, increased commitments to both nuclear energy and renewable energy sources, making coal more environmentally acceptable and moving transportation away from oil as a fuel.

Other senders of the letter include former Secretaries of State James A. Baker III and George Shultz, former Defense Secretaries Frank Carlucci, William Cohen, William Perry and James Schlesinger; former senior White House advisers Howard Baker, Robert "Bud" McFarlane, Kenneth Duberstein and Brent Scowcroft; former Energy Secretaries James Watkins and Spencer Abraham; former CIA Director James Woolsey; former Commerce Secretary Donald Evans; former Democratic Sens. J. Bennett Johnston, Sam Nunn and Charles Robb; and former Republican Sen. George Allen.

[l8c6]

"There''''s an energy tsunami coming, and when you see it coming you better get on top of the wave, or you''''re going to get crushed by it," he said in an interview. -----

The ones fixing to be on top of the tsunami are the super rich. Like Phil Graham for instance, who is chairman of UBS bank, a swiss bank, several extremely wealthy U.S. customers have been illegally avoiding taxes. This sort of "perk" is unavailable to the masses of americans, of course.

Then we have the profoundly moronic, ignorant, naive, dumb fools manipulative by an elite ruling class.

They claim this is bipartisan, yeah, in so far as the super rich faux dems and former dems like Joe Lieberman go. The ruling elite will watch millions of americans go deep in poverty. Henry Kissinger will still have his dog picked up at doggy daycare with his limo while people die in the streets. So many people are so dam*n dumb in this country to not be wise to the fact that "putting america first" means putting the super rich first above everyone else including 100s of millions of taxpaying american citizens.

Read David C. Korten''s latest book. It''s exposes the methods of the elite oligarchs who are robbing the people of the United States and any nation they have exploited throughout the years without any consent from the american taxpayer. It''s not convenient for these kind to believe in a divine justice. They will not be the beneficiaries.

Oh this is just too choice. Scroll up to the very top of this article. The main advertiser, and sponsor of this little "ditty" is none other than EXXONMOBIL!!!! How appropriate!!! I know CBS was hard up for cash, but this is sooo blatant! "Liberal Media"??? what a right wing myth. That, and "Free Market" economy...

Oh this is just too choice. Scroll up to the very top of this article. The main advertiser, and sponsor of this little "ditty" is none other than EXXONMOBIL!!!! How appropriate!!! I know CBS was hard up for cash, but this is sooo blatant! "Liberal Media"??? what a right wing myth. That, and "Free Market" economy...

Ummm, excuse me a minute while I laugh... You call this group "Statesmen"? George Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, THEY are Statesmen. This current group of clowns are NOT! They are the opposite. This current cabal of "gentlemen" are still running the show, as they have for the last 40 years. They are responsible for the deep hole we''re in, and we''re still listening to them? How many times can someone be completely wrong about everything, and people still listen to them??? I say, they dug the hole. We should shove them into it, and cover it over with concrete!!!!! Enough with these A HOLES!

Ummm, excuse me a minute while I laugh... You call this group "Statesmen"? George Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, THEY are Statesmen. This current group of clowns are NOT! They are the opposite. This current cabal of "gentlemen" are still running the show, as they have for the last 40 years. They are responsible for the deep hole we''re in, and we''re still listening to them? How many times can someone be completely wrong about everything, and people still listen to them??? I say, they dug the hole. We should shove them into it, and cover it over with concrete!!!!! Enough with these A HOLES!

[jongood65]

I have registered here to be educated? Please tell how successful this administration has been at stealing Iraq''''s oil. If so, how come the big oil companies in the US don''''t seem to have benefited from it? Have we been drilling there? Why has the right wing biased mainstream media not reported it.

Thank you for answering my obviously ignorant questions ;)
Posted by elemmire at 03:55 PM : Jul 16, 2008
=====================

When you get a lead on that "right wing biases mainstream media" of which you refer, might you please come back and let some of us real Americans know where it has been hiding?? :)

[elemmire]

I have registered here to be educated? Please tell how successful this administration has been at stealing Iraq''s oil. If so, how come the big oil companies in the US don''t seem to have benefited from it? Have we been drilling there? Why has the right wing biased mainstream media not reported it.

Thank you for answering my obviously ignorant questions ;)

[jongood65]

A good place to start is making sure every member of Congress in 2009 is a brand new member. All new people. See what happens.
Posted by MorganBarber at 03:20 PM : Jul 16, 2008
===================

Sorry, read the Constitution....shy of a Bolshevik style revolution this simply is not possible.

[morganbarber]

A good place to start is making sure every member of Congress in 2009 is a brand new member. All new people. See what happens.

[jongood65]

[[You Marxists really have your hair on fire given this constant drum beat of rich-man vs. poor-man. Sorry, I''m a supply sider.]]
Posted by JonGood65 at 10:46 AM : Jul 16, 2008

You are a "supply-sider"?

So encouraging the perpetuation of an addiction that pollutes the Earth, sickens people, introduces a strategic vulnerability, and can only and inevitably run out thus putting the childen of the entire world into a crisis "sooner or later" ONLY makes you a "supply sider"?

...
Posted by ibsteve2u at 10:54 AM : Jul 16, 2008
=============================

Is selectively editing my post to leave out little brians best below, just so we can all watch you *** in your pants with the above is the best you got Stevie??


[[[[Nationalization of vital infrastructure components, oil, telecommunications, education, health care, and commodities, is the only way out of this mess, if people can get rich in other areas, let them, but certain of America''''''''s assets should be prohibited from being controlled by for profit cartels.
Posted by brianbwb at 10:37 AM : Jul 16, 2008]]]]


ROTFLMGTBO!!!!!

[missingamerica]

[[You Marxists really have your hair on fire given this constant drum beat of rich-man vs. poor-man. Sorry, I''''m a supply sider.]]

Posted by JonGood65 at 10:46 AM : Jul 16, 2008

You are a "supply-sider"?

So encouraging the perpetuation of an addiction that pollutes the Earth, sickens people, introduces a strategic vulnerability, and can only and inevitably run out thus putting the childen of the entire world into a crisis "sooner or later" ONLY makes you a "supply sider"?

lollll...daggone...next time I see a crack dealer, instead of reporting him or her I am just going to shake their hand and congratulate them for being a successful "supply sider".

[jongood65]

$1.00 in 1972 had about the same buying power as $5.14 in 2008.
Annual inflation over this period was about 4.65%.
One fifth of it''s former value, or 20% of what it used to be.
America has been in a recession, with very few real interruptions, since 1972, all presidents, on both sides, are to blame for sucking off the elite.

Nationalization of vital infrastructure components, oil, telecommunications, education, health care, and commodities, is the only way out of this mess, if people can get rich in other areas, let them, but certain of America''''s assets should be prohibited from being controlled by for profit cartels.
Posted by brianbwb at 10:37 AM : Jul 16, 2008

=============================

Folks, this is the insanity these communist members of the Democrat Party, of which Sen. NObama is the leader advocates for our nation.

No doubt brian wasn''t even alive in ''72, or at best he was still launching little mushy stink bombs in his diapers about then, when I was already busy raising a family on less than a tenth of what I make today....Yeap, imagine, my hourly wage in 1972 was less than 10% of what I make per hour today. Actually, it is more like 5% of what I make today.

So, making the trade he pooh poohs doesn''t seem all that bad.

[jongood65]

"NO DRILLING, NO WHERE, NO WAY" Posted by JonGood65
I have a more accurate one
If drilling means spilling, then no where, no way.Posted by brianbwb


[[Brian, if you were paying attention, rather than bending over to receive your next breech loading from the DNC, you might have caught the story yesterday that explained how drilling is only responsible for 1% of the total fuel spillage from off shore sources. Mother nature with her natural cracks, and the ships used to import foreign oil are responsible for several orders of magnatude more spillage that effect our nations coast lines.]]

Second, if the oil being drilled is sold on the open market, and the profits go into the pockets of private corporations, whose interest is in keeping the price as high as possible, then just how do you think increased drilling will help?
Posted by brianbwb

[[You Marxists really have your hair on fire given this constant drum beat of rich-man vs. poor-man. Sorry, I''m a supply sider.]]

If the supply is increased, then why wouldn''t Opec slow their pumps, to keep the margins up?

...Posted by brianbwb at 10:20 AM : Jul 16, 2008

[[OPEC might, but they didn''t when the price of crude went to $10 a barrel. As a matter of fact some members broke ranks and actually increased production in an attempt to make more money to offset the loss in oil revenue. Why do you cower in fear about them wanting to cut off their nose to spite their face today??]]

[missingamerica]

Well, duh.

I do not understand why these "elder" "statesmen" did not speak up decades ago.

Do you have to get old to understand that energy is as much a munition of war as bombs are?

Do you have to get old to understand that encouraging your potential enemies - nations that have repeatedly provided the personnel and the wealth required to perpetuate terrorism - to become the primary supplier of a critical war munition is tantamount to treason?

Do you have to get old to finally place your nation''s well-being before your career aspirations?

[hotwitch]

New found religion. Everybody''s an expert on energy now. Elder statesmen? How about elder Monday morning quarterbacking?

[galileo1234]

The sun transmits to the earth 10,000 times the amount of energy being consumed in all forms. It is the energy tsunami to supersede the one General Jones talks about. If we harness the fraction of solar energy that is available to us in geosynchronous orbit, as is the plan in a Satellite Solar Power program (SSP), it will be the largest solution to permanent clean energy for the earth. The sunsat was invented by Peter Glaser in the United States in 1968. SSP will use lunar materials for construction, and it is seen as the industrial reason to settle cis-lunar space. The infrastructure will use asteroid materials as well. The sun has a life expectancy of 4 billion years. The National Security Space Office of the Pentagon now leads the research activity, though the program will not be "owned" by the Defense Dept. I suggest read up on their report: "Space Solar Power as an Opportunity for Strategic Security", released 10/10/07. SSP is approaching a business case but still needs cheap launch technologies to get people, tools, and electronics off the ground. The next President can make the galvanizing call, in Apollo-like fashion, to get the program accomplished. Participation by private enterprise and spacefaring nations is needed. Over a 50-year ramp up, it can replace fossil fuels as our primary energy source, and, by using materials already at the top of earth''s gravity well, it can eventually undersell coal and nuclear fission. The solar system is our home. The battle cry? "DRILL UP!"

[brianbwb-2009]

$1.00 in 1972 had about the same buying power as $5.14 in 2008.

Annual inflation over this period was about 4.65%.

One fifth of it''s former value, or 20% of what it used to be.

America has been in a recession, with very few real interruptions, since 1972, all presidents, on both sides, are to blame for sucking off the elite.

Nationalization of vital infrastructure components, oil, telecommunications, education, health care, and commodities, is the only way out of this mess, if people can get rich in other areas, let them, but certain of America''s assets should be prohibited from being controlled by for profit cartels.

[jumkey]

Seriously, "Elder Statesmen"?

Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell the US Chamber of Commerce and....wait for it....ENERGY CONCERNS.

BU-HAHAHAHAHAH!!!

From the people who brought you the energy "crisis" we now get "solutions".

Hmmmm...let me guess. The "solution" involves stuffing billions of dollars of my money into the pockets of the people who created and benefit from the mess to begin with.

[jlagat]

Anytime, anywhere, I will bend over for any conservative.

-----------------------
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Posted by JonGood65 at 10:15 AM : Jul 16, 2008

We all know you are on a streak of admitting your mistakes. However, we don''''t need to every ''''little'''' thing about you JonGood.

[jlagat]

have to admit this fact. Yes, I am a Southerner. Even though I call anyone that doesn''''t agree with me un-American, I am shamed that I am part of that society that was so un-American, we were traitorous enough to leave the Union that we claim we have absolute loyalty to.

---------------------------

Posted by JonGood65 at 10:06 AM : Jul 16, 2008

That''''s okay for you to admit JonGood. There is something we real Americans call "Sherman''''s March". Perhaps you have heard of it. That is what we real Americans call justice enacted on a traitor.

However JonGood, you seem to have enacted jsutice on yourself. Spouting out BS on the rate that only Rush can compete against, you have rendered all of your arguments w/o credibility.

And once again JonGood, you feel the satisfaction of admitting your mistakes.