Cramer: Extracting oil, natural gas, coal a moral responsibility
December 1, 2012 at 10:55 am in Grand Forks Herald
North Dakota Republican Kevin Cramer not only supports the production of domestic coal, oil and natural gas; the incoming freshman House member believes it’s a moral responsibility. “In my view, it would be immoral to leave it there,” Cramer told the Lignite Energy Council at an October event in Bismarck. “God put it there for us,” he said. Continue Reading
I wonder if he also thinks god put hydrogen here so we could build bombs or if god put medicine here so could preform abortions
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Oh wait god put weed here so we could smoke it
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His theory only works when it benefits the stuffed-shirts. Frankly I am relieved he didn’t enter the ministry. I highly doubt God would support the destruction of the planet.
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The Hemp family does have many uses other than the more potent cannibus side. But if there is a God…Sure…Why not say that. So by keeping it outlawed then you’re actually going against your dieties intention….Sinner
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I can get behind God liking Up in Smoke
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This has a familiar ring.
I’ve heard it before, but from some doofus at the Federal level. Perhaps one of Reagan’s appointees.
I wish I could remember his name, or his exact quote. This is an itch I can’t scratch.
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“After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.” – James G. Watt – U.S. Secretary of the Interior for President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1983.
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Yes….James the Low Watt Bulb…..What a freak show that fool was.
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JAMES WATT! THAT’S HIM.
Thankyouthankyouthankyou.
Seems to me there’s more to the quote; something about God not wanting to see forests, he wants to see those resources used up in the supposed benefit of Society…but I can’t find confirmation of that.
Short Story: Cramer, we’ve been down this road before. Watt was eventually convicted in a plea bargain; I wonder if you’ll be that lucky.
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The immoral thing is to continue to depend on fossil fuels to power our world when there are many, many alternative energy sources that could be developed that do not require the rape of our land. Sad, very sad.
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Its one thing to believe in fairy tales…but quite another to make a fool of yourself by making declarative statements (announcing so) in public.
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Manifest Destiny 2012. I wish Ishmael were read in high school English classes.
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But wait, using that logic, God put clean air so we should also pollute it as well. It would be immoral to not use it and leave it clean.
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I can’t believe that the majority of the people put this guy in office. What an embarassment to this state!
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I know right Sharon. The voters in this country are as scary as the numb-nuts they elect.
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All over North America and the world, people and animals (both wild and domestic) are suffering and dying from the effects of the toxic chemicals used in fracking. It is happening in our home state of North Dakota. Wonder if God thinks this is moral or immoral? God and politics……oil and water…..
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Source?
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http://www.nature.com/news/the-trouble-with-turbines-an-ill-wind-1.10849
http://www.voanews.com/content/wind-turbines-take-steep-toll-on-birds-and-bats/1524387.html
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wind-energy-under-attack-for-thousands-of-wildlife-deaths/#
http://www.politifact.com/tennessee/article/2012/mar/09/lamar-alexanders-wind-claim-it-birds/
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Nice, thank you Glen!
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This is one scary man to give any power too…he knows who butters his bread….
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What a complete fool. Why can’t these people just be honest and say that they’re doing it for the holy dollar. It’s all about money. That’s it.
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It’s going to be a long two years listening to this ignorant drivel. I’m sure Cramer will be on the lunatic side of quite a few issues before he’s hopefully ousted from office.
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To quote a Roger Waters (Pink Floyd originally) song: “What God wants…God gets….God help us all.” When poiticians talk like this…The song really carries truth.
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When Cramer says god, just substitute the word money and it all fits. Money is the real god. It is money that is worshipped and honored.
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I think Cramer needs to make a study of Biblical stewardship. God did indeed give us the earth & everything in it to use; he did not give us permission to destroy it in the process
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Now there you go and bring up the reason he left the ELCA.
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“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (NIV)
God gave us the entire Earth knowing we’d screw it up. Screwing it up isn’t desirable, but it’s inevitable. It’s not what God wants, but he’s prepared to accept it…for awhile.
Not unlike parents buying cheap Chinese toys for their kid, knowing that the kid is going to ruin them. Parent doesn’t WANT the kid to ruin it, but accepts that it’s going to happen, and maybe–hopefully–the kid will learn something in the process of playing with the toy, or from the process and consequences of breaking it.
“he did not give us permission to destroy it in the process”
The question is how we define “permission to destroy”. To my way of thinking, Humans certainly do have permission to destroy the Earth; but that’s not what God wants.
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You raise valid points. I listened to a lecture from a very conservative theological seminary. Your position was one of the two argued.
I interpret “stewardship” to mean we do not destroy, rather care for & improve.
The other side believes much as you do: God gave it to man with the full knowledge we would mess it up; just like we have messed everything else up
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Does Cramer also hear voices telling him what to do?
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Yes, and they sound just like Charlton Heston…a true witch will float….
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I chuckled at first — then I realized that he epitomizes the theocratic authoritarian republic mind.
Ugh!
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…and he’s in the news again today — vowing to keep his pledge to Grover.
That’s republican “morality” for you — have faith in the ideology and defend it to the last — even if logic and evidence show that it’s nuts.
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As was discussed during the silly season ( election): party before principle is part of why they lost.
Remember this is the same group that encouraged its members to continue to support a man who said women can expell unwanted sperm from their bodies.
Rather than repudiating him in the strongest possible terms & localizing the damage to one seat; they put out a press release saying retaking the senate was more important than one candidate’s views. In doing so they damaged the party nationally.
Sometimes I don’t think the GOP thinks things through.
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…but they DO think it through FN! They know this attitude of “dominionism” resonates with their base.
Although I usually agree with your posts, I have to take issue with you too FN. Even though you clearly not the sort of religious person to try to force your beliefs on everybody, your constant assertion of things like “God is in control” gets old.
Which God? Yours, or one of the many thousands of other gods that groups of humans have believed in since the dawn of recorded history?
Those of us who have gone just a bit further than you (dumped ALL putative deities instead of keeping just one out of the thousands) worry about our future.
We see the cosmos as a natural phenomenon — and we see ourselves as very fortunate to be able to live in it. We don’t see our planet as something to exploit — in contrast, we see it as something to cherish, conserve, and pass on unspoiled.
I mention this a just one example of how shedding religious dogma can expedite a higher level of ethics and morality.
Of course, it could be worse — add the apocalyptic nonsense of folks such as Palin to the dominionist arrogance and it really scares us godless heathens!
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You are correct justasec. I do not force my beliefs on anyone. That said, I don’t hide them either.
The thought that there is no guiding force (however you choose to define it) behind this mess of molecules we call life is too depressing to contemplate. In that respect I agree with Marx: opiate of the masses. If God did not exist we would have to create Him.
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Yeah right — agree with another quasi-religious dogmatist (Manx)!
Instead of ‘guiding force” — how about “guiding principles?”
Shared life in this awesome gem of nature, guided by the principles of humanity, is the antithesis of depression.
…and you keep referring to “god” in the singular? What about all the other PESTs (Putative Extraterrestrial Supernatural Things) that humans have worshiped (and killed for) for milenia?
FN — what you do as a nurse is something wonderful in the spirit of humanity. Why are you having such a hard time accepting that it’s the right thing to do — not just a way of pleasing a mythological figure dreampt up by bronze-age Palestinian tribesmen?
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Good point Katie! Actually, I can’t help myself from arguing with anybody who cites Marx!
Apart from that, I was doing two things: 1. Agreeing with his last sentence, 2. Applauding him for the humanity of the work he does.
Of course, I do NOT mean to be pushing my views on FN — just sharing my thoughts like he does. I suspect that FN and I could agree on a lot discussion points made during a beer summit!
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You are wrong on that FN. The Republican leadership pulled financial support, told him not to run and allow someone else to replace him. More or less called him an fool. But since he won the primaries could do no more.
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It seems that a pledge to Grover is more important to Cramer than the pledge to serve the people of North Dakota. I wonder how many would vote for Cramer if his biblical stance on oil and his pledge to Grover had been out in the open during the campaign?
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I remember him “covenanting” with the Republican Convention that if he didn’t get the Cogressional nomination he wasn’t going to run for PSC again. After Ricky Berg got the nomination it took Cramer all of about 10 seconds to break that convenant.
So I don’t know why he would care a bit about Norquist, unless it had to do with money, it certainly has nothing to do with him keeping his word.
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I thought the republicans put the oil in the ground.
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