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Paris Hilton for president?
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So here's what happened: John McCain launched an internet attack ad against Barack Obama suggesting Obama is not a suitable presidential candidate because he's as empty a celebrity as Paris Hilton. So, Adam McKay thought it would be funny if Paris Hilton ran for president, with the comedy logic that an intellectually capable Paris would nullilfy and make ridiculous McCain's attack. (Pardon me for explaining the joke.)
So, Adam wrote a presidential candidacy announcement, got Paris on board and they shot it this week. It's the first time Paris really speaks publicly with any substance whatsoever, and she pulls it off pretty well. But really, Adam McKay? Your ghostwriting has Paris suggest an energy policy that's a "combination of McCain's and Obama's" in which we do drill for offshore oil (McCain's idea) "safely" (McKay's idea) which will sustain us until we sufficiently develop alternative energy sources (Obama's idea.)
First off, the idea of safe offshore drilling is dubious at best; no oil drilling is free of leaks, accidents, etc, and many of those problems are never made public. Secondly, any offshore drilling started now won't yield oil for another twenty to forty years--how does that sustain us or reduce gas prices now? Thirdly, we've already got a host of alternative energies that are ready for development; this is the time to change. LA Times journalist Carol Williams reported Schwarzenegger as saying, "Anyone who tells you [offshore drilling] would bring down gas prices any time soon is blowing smoke."
If we don't shift our energy use to alternative fuels in twenty to forty years, we'll be much more likely to be gearing up to fight China for the oil left in the Middle East. Our offshore oil should really be saved for the the next hudred generations of people, or sadly, saved in the case that we end up, say, waring with China for a hundred years, which would undoubtedly be directly or indirectly caused by fear and scarcity over resources.
So, thanks, Adam, for the good intentions, but it'd be funnier if Paris slammed down a hardcore energy policy instead of a hollywood one.
US Average age of vehicles: 9 years
Soonest possible time we'll get any US offshore oil: 7 years
Number of oil spills for offshore drilling off the Texas coast: 187 spills of MORE THAN 2100 gallons between 1981 - 2005. That's AT LEAST 392,000 gallons of crude oil, or roughly 16,000 gallons spilled every year.
With the US average vehicle age of 9.2 years, and average turnover rate of 15 years, in the time it takes to see any benefit from offshore drilling, we could be halfway to a green energy car fleet -- which would drop the demand for oil and have the same price benefit for those still driving gasoline cars as increasing the supply of gasoline! (If that doesn't make any sense to you, folks, please, PLEASE, go take an Economics 101 class at your local community college, or read Naked Economics by Charles Wheelan or Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner.)
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