{"id":5293,"date":"2006-05-03T14:07:02","date_gmt":"2006-05-03T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/05\/03\/pump-pandering-no-one-mention"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:57","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:57","slug":"pump-pandering-no-one-mentions-using-less-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/05\/03\/pump-pandering-no-one-mentions-using-less-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"pump pandering: no one mentions using less energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The “conservative” Republicans won’t do it.  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Neither will the “conservationist”-environ-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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mentalist Democrats.  [see WashPost<\/EM>, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“GOP looks for <\/FONT>Plan B on Gas<\/FONT><\/A>,” May 3, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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2006; NYT <\/EM>editiorial “<\/FONT>Foolisness on fuel<\/FONT><\/A>,<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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May 3, 2006] Not one politician <\/FONT>currently <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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in office (and planning to run again) <\/FONT>is telling <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the American public:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“We all must use significantly less <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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energy to solve our Nation’s energy <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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crisis.”<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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“pbsPoliticsPumpG” <\/FONT>PBS News Hour<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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politics and the pump<\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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         Yesterday evening on The PBS News Hour<\/FONT><\/A><\/EM>, Jim <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Lehrer didn’t even bother to<\/EM> ask<\/EM> about reducing demand <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and energy consumption, in a lengthy interview with <\/FONT>Sen. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA).<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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(“Politics and the Pump<\/A><\/EM>: Solving Gas Prices,” May 2, 2006).  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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All that the Senators <\/FONT>seemed to care about was winning <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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political points with <\/FONT>voters — <\/FONT>with their stated goal of ob-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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taining and maintaining <\/EM><\/FONT>the <\/EM><\/FONT>supply to meet our national <\/EM><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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demand<\/EM> for oil and gas. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"55<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Frankly, I expected much more from Sen. Cantwell<\/A>, and <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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went to her website, to see if she might have more to say <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on the topic there.  Sadly, there was nothing about reducing <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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energy consumption — as opposed to reducing our need for <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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foreign sources of energy.  In an April 6, 2006, <\/FONT>Press Release<\/FONT><\/A>,<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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I found her joining a call last month for a National Energy Sum-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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mit.  That press release ends by proclaiming:<\/FONT> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Cantwell is the chair of the Senate Democrats’ Energy <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Independence 2020 national campaign working to break <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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America’s overdependence on foreign oil, protect working <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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families from skyrocketing energy costs, stop unfair market <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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manipulation by energy companies, and invest in reliable <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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sources of affordable fuel.” <\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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As I said above, not a word about the need to conserve.  No <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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courage to call for changes in our lifestyles that are the only <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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true hope for meeting the Nation’s “energy challenge.”  (see <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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our prior post, <\/FONT>Open Letter to Gas-Whiners<\/FONT><\/A>, April 26, 2006; <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and see gas pain?<\/FONT><\/A>, which points out the instant, significant<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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savings from <\/FONT>merely driving more slowly on highways)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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“pbsPoliticsPumpN”<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Key West heat–
the kitchen staff’s
chained bicycles<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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crossing the bridge —
the shadow of a gull
I never see<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/DIV>
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long before daybreak
the local rooster
starts warming up<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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           <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV>
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\"subwayG\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Making change<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the conductor <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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shifts his toothpick <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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slow conversation<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a passing bus fills<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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the diner window<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/DIV><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Distant tail lights
in the dark
nostalgia<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Barry George<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A><\/DIV>
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“<\/FONT>crossing the bridge<\/FONT><\/A>” – The Heron’s Nest<\/EM> (Sept. 2002)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 “long before” <\/FONT>tinyword<\/FONT><\/A>s<\/FONT><\/A> (2003\/09\/05)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“slow conversation” – <\/FONT>A New Resonance 2<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A> (2001)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“making change” – the loose thread<\/EM><\/FONT><\/A>: RMA 2001; Modern Haiku<\/EM> XXXII:1 <\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/DIV>
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“Distant tail lights” – from <\/FONT>Haiku Spirit<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Key West heat” – Frogpond XXII:3 (1999)<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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      \"55<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The “conservative” Republicans won’t do it.  Neither will the “conservationist”-environ- mentalist Democrats.  [see WashPost, “GOP looks for Plan B on Gas,” May 3, 2006; NYT editiorial “Foolisness on fuel, May 3, 2006] Not one politician currently in office (and planning to run again) is telling the American public: “We all must use significantly less energy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1nn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12663,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5293\/revisions\/12663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}