Unveiling the Light

We should not be shocked at the idea of $4.00 gas. In fact, we may be in for even higher prices. $5.00 per gallon is not far behind and it is the natural outcome of our plans over the past few decades. Those who put the plan into effect are very happy with the results and certainly we who cooperated with the plan should not now be upset or shocked.

Since the 1980s we have made conscious decisions that have naturally led to the increase in gasoline prices. We have eliminated the opening of new oil fields in the United States. Since, unfortunately, the government is by far the majority owner of land in our country, its policies to eliminate drilling on those lands has virtually shut down the domestic exploration industry. There is enough oil to meet all our needs for at least 20 years in Alaska and Nebraska, not even counting the oil that lies off our shores. But we have chosen to place this oil off limits.

We can’t really say that we have done this for environmental reasons. What is more dangerous to the environment; a pipeline in Alaska copying proven technology that has not harmed the environment or placing our oceans at risk with the use of supertankers coming from half way across the world? Why is it better to drill for oil in the land of our enemies and ship it over dangerous tankers across the oceans rather than to pull oil from our own land in an area where the locals would welcome and have requested such activity and from which it would be transported via the relative safety of a pipeline?

We have chosen not to drill offshore because those in California and Florida are afraid of the potential for environmental damage, yet we have had large oil spills from tankers which we force onto the oceans by our lack of exploration. You cannot tell where it happened unless someone tells you because nature has cleaned up the mess far better than our human efforts. In fact, most of the human clean up activity was wasted as a little patience and allowing nature to work would have accomplished much the same thing. China and Cuba are now drilling just outside our 12 mile limit. Apparently the environmentalists think it is safer for foreigners to take our oil than for our own companies to do so. We have chosen to forgo this option as well.

We have also made the decision to set aside our leadership in nuclear energy and to virtually eliminate new nuclear power plants. Meanwhile France now draws nearly 100 percent of its electricity from clean burning and cheap nuclear sources while we pay through the nose to burn oil and coal for our electricity, thus adding to air pollution and the need for supertankers. Japan is close behind France and others are quickly following suit. Meanwhile our Navy is able to successfully and safely operate nuclear power plants in aircraft carriers and submarines with great efficiency. Current technology reuses plutonium until it is greatly reduced in power able to be safely stored but we have chose not to follow this path that we once established and which the rest of the world follows.

We have decided to mandate ethanol in fuel. This has caused all of our food prices to sky rocket and may kill millions who are now facing starvation due to a food shortage. It has done little to help fuel prices. Corn based ethanol is much less efficient than the sugar cane based ethanol of South America. If we put every inch of farmland in corn we might just contribute a net gain of 10 percent of our needed supplies. Of course, we would likely starve but the energy crisis would be slightly diminished. We could also put windmills on every hill and mountain or cover all of our open spaces with solar panels and we might get another ten percent of our needs. Of course, those same congressmen and senators who say this is the answer won’t allow such facilities near their own homes.

Neither of these last two options will help the supply problem The only actions that would; more oil, more exploration and nuclear power, have been eliminated and so the only option left is to force people out of cars, into colder winter homes and hot summer houses, and to decrease our industrial output. This we will do as gas prices get higher and higher. We are at least 20 years away from any technology that can be widely and efficiently used to replace oil so the only option left to is to reduce oil use. This is done as we downsize our cars; walk or ride bikes to work, take lesser jobs or accept unemployment as we watch millions starve. Of course such turmoil will cause more immigration, more wars and more human suffering but the environment might be a little better. This must be the plan because that is the natural result of the actions we have taken and the environmentalist think that prices are still too low.

If we don’t agree with this plan we may want to ask how we got to this place in history. The wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world decided to trade everything in for the illusion of helping the environment. I say illusion because one only has to take a look at third world countries to see real horrors of environmental damage. Poverty does not help save the environment, it helps to destroy it. As we place ourselves at a financial disadvantage and give our enemies greater power, we are also adding to the destabilization of the world and the poverty, starvation and death of millions in third world countries. Decades of real growth in these countries is about to be reversed because we listened to some extremist environmentalist instead of hard science and common sense. We may feel better about ourselves now but that won’t last long as our society begins to crumble and much of world peace with it.

If we don’t agree with the path we have been put on by our politicians and activists, then we have only one choice. We need to let our government know of our displeasure and then we need to vote out any who continue to follow this path towards self destruction. If we don’t and we continue down this path, then I fear not only for our country but for the many third world countries which are dependent upon our economy, our generosity and our cooperation. As we destroy our wealth we destroy these relationships as well. In that case may God help us all because we are headed for very bad times. The sad part is that we chose this path and will now reap what we have sown. Perhaps we can get off it while there is still time. I pray it is not already too late.

Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

All that’s needed for evil to thrive is the inaction of human kind. This is hardly an original truism but it is evident now more than ever. In the name of global warming junk science and “not in my back yard” selfish politics, this nation has failed to take action to take care of its energy needs. As a result, not just this nation but the entire world is entering an era of great suffering. According to the World Food Program, this world has entered into its first global food crisis since World War II. What was once caused by nearly a decade of world war, has now been matched by extreme environmentalist and liberal politics which think if we bury our head in the sand the need for oil will go away.

For decades now we have failed to drill for new oil sources, even in those places which we know hold large deposits. We have failed to build new nuclear plants even as countries such as France have safely integrated such plants throughout their energy system and in the final irony; we have diverted thousands of acres of farm production to raising crops not for food but to turn into ethanol. The result could have been predicted by any freshman economics major. Rising fuel and food prices are now causing a world wide crisis and millions if not tens of millions have their very lives threatened.

According to the Associated Press; ‘Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N.'s food aid organization, ‘projects providing meals to children in Kenya, Cambodia and to poor families in Tajikistan have already been hit. There have also been reports of rice riots in Caribbean island nations. Twenty million humans are at risk and the problem could get much worse. As the crisis spreads, developed nations will be hard pressed to provide food for the poor of the world and the cost will rise dramatically.’ Decades of economic growth among the poorest of nations is now threatened and as a result, so is world peace. Prosperous growing nations that give hope to their people tend to remain peaceful. When the people are hurting, starving and dieing, you can expect national conflicts to follow.

So while Americans deny the reality of needing oil to power cars, deny the relative safety of nuclear power and deny the irresponsibility of diverting food from crops to fuel, the world at large becomes desperate and the needs of the poor are neglected. People are beginning to die so that we can feel good about ourselves. $4.00 a gallon gasoline is inconvenient for us but it is the difference between life and death for the needy. We need common sense solutions not politically motivated reactions. I hate that millions will die because we refuse to look at the issue seriously and refuse to take on our responsibility.

There is no problem with wanting clean energy sources but they have to be developed first. Until they are developed we continue to need oil. We won’t drill and pump it ourselves so we send billions to terrorists to ship it across the world to us. And millions will starve to death. We were afraid for the eggs of the bald eagles and, without proof, eliminated DDT not just from our nation but demanded that it be denied world wide. As a result millions have died and continued to die from malaria. Our response … “Lets send them nets!” How many want to walk around work and through town wearing a net in terribly hot weather? If we had allowed DDT to be produced and used in third world countries millions of people would still be alive today. If we had taken on the need to provide for our oil needs, millions of people would not be facing starvation today. Our failure to act responsibly has unleashed evil upon the world.

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been pleasantly surprised at the reception given to Pope Benedict 16th and the tone of this visit. I think the entire Church and the world wondered at how this pope would be accepted as he followed Pope John Paul II and his charismatic and popular 25 years of service. We can all rest easy now. This pope has shown that he has his own gifts. Benedict has proven to be earnest, straight talking and charismatic in his own right. He is just what we need at this time.

It is certainly nice to heat Pope Benedict talk so honestly about the affect of the abuse scandal on the Church and the chastising he gave the U.S. bishops was well deserved. What is even better though is the high regard and high expectations he expressed regarding the American Church. He acknowledged the American Catholic Church’s contribution to the Catholic effort to ease poverty and bring hope to the world and its contributions to this nation as well. As he pointed out, we are not a quiet church content to stand in the background while the secular world moves forward. We demand to be part of the secular world and to be able to live out our faith as good citizens. We do not see the faith we worship and the lives we live to be unconnected.

I think many, within and outside the Church have been pleasantly surprised at the enthusiastic reception this Pope received. From the largest gathering ever at the White House to the very large stadiums filled with the faithful to join in the Mass with their Pope, this was a welcome celebration of the Catholic faith and should give hope to Christians of all denominations. The Pope recognized the challenges we face but had enthusiastic hope that we would not only face these challenges but would overcome them and thrive in living out our faith. The naysayers were few and not well seen while the many enthusiastic faithful were clearly visible and loudly heard.

For me and many Catholics this was a welcome shot in the arm. The recent scandals have made us timid in proclaiming our faith. Now perhaps we can begin the healing and move on to the task at hand. We can get back to proclaiming the Gospel of our Lord in how we live out our lives and to seeking to influence the direction this country moves in the future. For too long our heads have been bowed due to the actions of a few and the castigation of many who also need to look to their own house. Now we can regain our mission to serve Christ and to truly be the Body of Christ in the world. Let the Kingdom of God reign wherever we are gathered.

Thank you Pope Benedict. May God bless you and protect you on your journey.

Father Steven Foppiano

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 12:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The United States gets accused of many evils and usually these charges are false. The fact is that being the biggest, most powerful, and most affluent in the world brings out jealously and rivalries in others and most would love to see us fall. Unfortunately there is one area in which we are very guilty lately and it brings forth the only time I can think of that, to my great surprise and horror, I find myself in agreement with, of all people, Fidel Castro.

Fidel warned the world that the new U.S. policy of promoting the use of ethanol would cause millions to starve. He is right. Already we have seen great increases in domestic food prices and overseas there have had riots in some countries as the price of rice and wheat rise precipitously. We have been for some time the great food basket of the world. Now, not only do we divert tens of thousands of acres of food production to the making of fuel, but we do so while paying farmers to leave much of their good farmland unused. Congress blew it. They failed to understand the basics of economics. Increase demand for a product and restrict supply and not only will prices go up but when it comes to food, the poor suffer the most.

Since congress decided to subsidize the making of ethanol to the tune of well over one dollar per gallon of our tax money, while making its use mandatory for domestic fuel, it is responsible for the suffering we see throughout the world. Any economist could have told them their actions would result in steep price increases and shortages. What’s worse is the wide spread effect of their action. They probably only thought about the price of corn going up because they failed to anticipate that grain and other crops would be diverted causing shortages in crops across the board, that feed for cattle and milk cows would go up thus causing the price of meat, milk and cheese to rise, and that many petroleum products would be devoured to produce this corn that would be turned into a substitute for oil. In effect, Congress failed to think out its policy. Instead it is debating steroid use in pro baseball as of this is a national crisis while ignoring the real crisis of $4.00 per gallon fuel prices and people going hungry because of their actions and inactions.

What makes this doubly sad is that the so called solution found in ethanol products is no solution at all. It is estimated that if every inch of farmland in the United States was changed over to produce ethanol, we would meet less than 10 percent of our national consumption. The fact is that our farmland should be used to making food, not fuel. The ironic part is that we have fuel sources. We have oil in Alaska, Nebraska and off shore that we refuse to drill for because we fear damage to the environment, damage that is always overestimated. Go to Alaska where the Exxon tanker spill was declared a disaster of mega proportions and you cannot see any lasting effects. Go to San Francisco Bay and try to find evidence of our most recent spill. You can’t. Such damage tends to be transitory and falls far short of the disaster stories we see on TV and are warned about.

Our failure to drill for our own oil is counter productive anyway. We fear what a pipeline in Alaska might do, even though we have already had experience in such pipelines and no damage to nature occurred; but we ignore the danger of supertankers carrying oil thousands of miles across our oceans and to our coastlines. We also ignore the obvious danger we create as we pay the most radical elements of the world for needed oil when much of that money ends up funding terrorist activities meant to kill Americans.

A smart policy would be to push the development of real alternative fuels but to realize that their coming onto the market in large quantities is decades away. The alternatives we have now in wind and solar power are good but very limited. In the meantime, we need oil and it makes no sense to transport that oil thousands of miles over the ocean and to buy it from our enemies when we can pay our own American brothers and sisters to find and drill for it right here on our own lands.

A good and smart policy would allow farmers to go back to growing food, would quit paying farmers to leave land fallow, would take full advantage of the oil we have in our own country and would fund the development of alternative fuels. If we let the industry drill for oil where we know it is, in the Midwest, in Alaska and off our coasts, if we build some nuclear plants and if we quit programs that divert food crops to fuel alternatives and keep good farmland from being used, we could afford to fund a great deal more research into alternative fuels. We could cut the price of food down, cut by two thirds the price of oil, and afford to have a reasonable fuel tax of say 25 cents to fund research and development.

We should also realize that big oil is quite happy with the current policies. They have failed to build a new refinery in decades because that allows them to restrict supply and keep prices up. They don’t mind shortage of supplies because they profit when oil prices shoot up. During all of our shortages oil profits only go up, as does the revenue of the government which collects a percentage off the top. We could go in and create more competition by some anti trust moves to separate the distribution of fuel from the refinery and drilling processes. Break up the big oil companies and let competition reign. It is amazing what happens when we allow capitalism to work and quite distressing as to how fouled up things can get, like now, when the government tries to control everything.

Let’s tell congress to get off its duff and give us some real energy legislation. Either that or we should vote them all out. I for one do not believe gas should be anywhere near $4.00 per gallon and I deplore that our policies will lead to the poor starving. All the while our government and big oil; as well the big farm corporations that receive most of the government handouts, all grow richer while our budgets get stretched. We deserve better government than this. Unfortunately it is the government we have given ourselves. You know something is wrong when I agree with Fidel Castro. That in itself is proof that our government had turned the world upside down.

Let’s get back to sensible decisions based on real economics. Then we can work to make this a better world. Right now we are doing more harm than good and that is a sin.

Posted by Fr Steven Foppiano at 02:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)