Individual Liberty — Individual Responsibility 

Ted Kulongoski is an idiot

I think his own words speak to that. The Oregonian has an article today telling us what the governor of Oregon thinks about the Iraq war…

Gov. Ted Kulongoski continues to attend nearly every funeral of Oregonians killed in Iraq. And he doesn't believe for a minute they died defending the nation from terrorism.

"It's all part of a message, but it is not the reason we're there," Kulongoski said in an interview with The Oregonian. The real reason: Oil, he said.

"If they had zero oil, do you think we'd be there?"

Yes Mr. Kulongoski, I think we'd still be there. Read this post for an enumerated listing of the reason's we're there in the first place. We have enough proven sources of oil here in the United States to take care of our need for oil for a decent amount of time… if Democrats like yourself would let us tap them.

The governor said he believes the war was planned from the start as a way to ensure U.S. access to the vast stores of oil in Iraq. As a result, he sees no end in sight unless Americans wean themselves from foreign oil supplies

What did I just say about tapping our own sources? There are huge supplies in the Gulf of Mexico, but we won't tap them because of "environmental" concerns, all the while praising Cuba for exploiting the oil within our territorial waters. There are huge supplies in Alaska, but we won't tap them, even though we're talking about less than 2% of a vast arctic reserve.

We don't want to spoil the tundra … or harm with the Caribou… except that the Caribou tend to thrive where oil pipelines have been placed.

"That's one reason I'm so fervent on green technology and trying to find an independent energy source for this country," Kulongoski said. Last year, he successfully backed a package of bills in the Legislature that dramatically increased tax breaks for renewable energy companies and for production of biofuel.

Let's be green. Breach the dams that provide clean, carbon neutral electricity to save a few subspecies of salmon. Salmon that wouldn't be legally endangered if liberal judges would allow us to count hatchery salmon, the very same species as the wild ones, toward their status under the Endangered Species Act.

But wait, that means we have less energy doesn't it, so we have to rely on fossil fuels or biofuel, or <insert politically incorrect deity reference here> forbid — nuclear power. Since we don't want to use fossil fuels, let's convert the land we use for food crops into growing fuel, even while we continue to use fossil fuels to supply the energy and fertilizer.

Did Mr. Kulongoski stop to think that the vast majority of the fossil fuel used in our country to run our lights and power our businesses isn't petroleum based at all? The vast majority of electric power in this country is supplied by coal burning power plants. We're not in Iraq to pump coal out of the ground are we Ted?

"If we continue to rely on fossil fuels, not just to run our lights but to fuel our economy, we're going to commit generations of young men and women to try and defend our source of energy," Kulongoski said. "I just think that's the wrong policy for this country."

Oil wasn't what got us into the Iraq war, despite Gov. Kulongoski's straw man. Even if it were, Democratic policies are the reason we are dependent upon foreign sources of oil and gasoline. We haven't built new refineries in this country in decades because of Democratic policies. We've shut down many of the refineries that did exist because of Democratic policies. We have to import gasoline, not just oil because of Democratic policies.

If using foreign supplied petroleum based fuels is the wrong policy for this country, it's the Democratic Party that is largely responsible for it.

Other factors point to a long, drawn-out stay in Iraq, Kulongoski said. One big one is the lack of a draft for military service.

The human cost of the war "is being borne by such a small percentage of the population," he said. "Their children are the ones who are dying." A draft would bring the impact of the war home to millions and cause more pressure to end it, he said.

A draft isn't necessary. Today's military is composed of volunteers. The brave men and women serving are doing so because they want to. A draft would put people that don't want to serve into the mix. I guarantee you that people that want to do a job will do it better than people that don't want to.

The military hasn't had serious problems meeting it's recruitment goals either. Why force people that don't want to serve into military service when there's no shortage of volunteers?

"The war was on the front page of every newspaper a year ago, but it's gone now," he said. "It drove the political debate in this country, but it's not now."

Could it be that one of the reasons the war was on the front page a year ago was because Democrats in Congress, new to power, were bitching and moaning about the "surge"? Could it be that one of the reasons the war was on the front page a year ago had something to do with the congressional power play over their refusal to fund the troops?

Could it be that the Democratic Party, in a blatant display of hypocrisy tried desperately to defund the same military that they accused Republicans of failing to equip adequately, and that controversy was front page news?

Could it be that now that the "surge" has become a demonstrated success the media has moved on to other things?

Although he backs Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, he said it won't make much difference who wins. U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for years to come, whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the White House, he said.

Could it be that Governor Ted Kulongoski's comments about the Iraq war are merely political grandstanding to gain the media's attention and to win the accolades of the anti-war left? After all, a politician without his name in the news has a problem. I guess too much attention is being paid to the Democratic Party's presidential candidates for the Governor of Oregon.

Cross posted to NW Bloggers.