Therefore, maybe saying that each point made is far from true and then saying here are are few that can be easily refuted.
(using his numbers, here are some I can do concisely (something I am not good on)
1) Oil is an international commodity, whose price is set by supply and demand - the total oil that was being produced from deep water wells, the ONLY ones stopped, is less than 2.7% of the world's supply. Changing the supply by 2.7% has a relatively small effect on price. (For your info - I backed into the 2.7%, the US has about 11% of the world's production (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production ) - and 31% is OCS and 80% of that is deep water -
http://www.spe.org/notes/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/faqs-deepwater-drilling-and-gom-spill.pdf ) Not to mention, it was halted just until new rules and regulations could be developed to prevent another massive spill.
Continuing the conservation measures started by Jimmy Carter would have had a bigger impact on lowering price, by lowering demand significantly - instead Reagan removed the solar panels and subsequent administrations did not count SUVs as cars, meaning more gas was consumed even as CAFE standards on cars increased. Development of a smart grid would also facilitate alternative energy soures that would free up some oil.
2) The "private social agencies, business leaders and state government elected officials" and the Republicans have yet to create a comprehensive plan to provide health care - other than the decades of Republican plans that all share the features of the current healthcare plan. Three Republicans with similar plans - Romney, Dole, and Nixon.
3) The Hyde amendment has forbidden the use of federal dollars for abortion for years - the scam is Republican legislators saying otherwise.
4) ??? all I can think of is that they are speaking of the Arizona law - but this is coded - and I don't have the code.
5) The reason the housing crisis was far beyond anything we ever saw was that financial institutions were allowed to create derivatives made from mortgages under no regulation, thanks to Senator Gramm, and the Bush SEC head changed the allowable leverage ratio from 1:12 to 1:44 in early 2004 providing tons of money to speculate with- creating a bubble that looked like a roaring economy in 2004 - just in time for re-election. The combinatyion caused the housing bubble.
6) I would leave alone
7) Tell them you agree and are glad they understand why DOMA should be repealed returning to the states the privilege they had for nearly 200 years in defining marriage in their state - MA will thank them as all MA married couples could then receive all the federal benefits of marriage.
8.) No one is talking of taking their talk radio away - except the talk radio people.
9) Given that there are multiple states, if there is redundancy between the states and the federal government, it would obviously be more efficient and cheaper to have one and only one system.
10) Yes, poor children hate free school lunches, heating subsidies, head start, health insurance and other benefits from social welfare programs - they long to be like the kids in Oliver Twist, working and begging. It would help their self esteem to rely on the kindness of people with more - who can't spare another cent in taxes - rather than getting soem of what they need from government programs.