OK! This Yahoo headline By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent caught my eye and I had to check it out.
Bush, Democrats bicker over soaring energy prices
As if the rest of the Republican party hasn't said a word for the past ten or twenty years. After all. What do the 'people' called 'conservatives' count for when it comes to little issues like this? Issues better handled by the environmentalists.
The article states:
President Bush on Saturday tried to pin the blame on Congress for soaring energy prices and said lawmakers need to lift long-standing restrictions on drilling for oil in pristine lands and offshore tracts believed to hold huge reserves of fuel.
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(What? In the middle of an online news article? Will capitalism ever lower it's ugly head?)
"It's time for members of Congress to address the pain that high gas prices are causing our citizens," the president said. "Every extra dollar that American families spend because of high gas prices is one less dollar they can use to put food on the table or send a child to college. The American people deserve better."
But then we read:
With gasoline prices above $4 a gallon, Bush and his Republican allies think Americans are more willing to allow drilling offshore and in an Alaska wildlife refuge that environmentalists have fought successfully for decades to protect. Nearly half the people surveyed by the Pew Research Center in late June said they now consider energy exploration and drilling more important than conservation, compared with a little over a third who felt that way only five months ago. The sharpest shift in attitude came among political liberals.
Oh? Is some o' dem lunkheads in this country startin' to wake up? Quick! Give 'em a gun and drag 'em to church!
Democrats say they are for drilling, but argue that oil companies aren't going after the oil where they already have leases. So why open new, protected areas? they ask. Democrats say there are 68 million acres of federal land and waters where oil and gas companies hold leases, but aren't producing oil.
Little known secret is that leases to drill are no good without the LICENSE to go with it. AND most of the leases are so old they will run out before any company could really pull a profit from them. (see unabashed Yahoo advertisement line above)
So that is why we can read:
"Americans are fed up every time they go to fill up and they're right to demand action. But instead of a serious response, President Bush and his allies simply repeat the same old line more drilling," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in the Democrats' radio address.
"Democrats support more drilling," he said. "In fact, what the president hasn't told you is that the oil companies are already sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands with the potential to nearly double U.S. oil production. That is why in the coming days congressional Democrats will vote on 'Use It or Lose It' legislation requiring the big oil companies to develop these resources or lose their leases to someone else who will."
and they add:
"But we know that drilling by itself will not solve the problem of high gas prices," Van Hollen said. "We cannot drill our way to energy independence."
The Dems say this as if drilling will not do ANYTHING to lower prices. LISTEN UP YOU FOOLS THAT VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS! DRILLING FOR OIL WILL NOT FIX THE "ENTIRE PROBLEM" BUT NOT DRILLING WILL KEEP THE STATUS QUO!
So what is the solution according to the Democrats that have our best interest at heart?
He cited Democrats' calls to tap the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve, because it is full and "America's rainy day is now." And he said the country must focus on new energy policies that focus on alternatives to oil.
RIIIIGGGHHT! (to quote Bill Cosby) - Lets take the reserves (some say 30 days worth) that would militarily protect this country (We do have enemies still) and use 'em up lickety split. If the 70% of imported oil resources we now depend on dries up before we really need them it would leave America defenseless! Wunnerful, wunnerful! Not to mention we would have to replace that oil we use at higher prices. Bright Idea!
Bush said that Democrats are at fault and that "Americans are increasingly frustrated with Congress' failure to take action.
"One of the factors driving up high gas prices is that many of our oil deposits here in the United States have been put off-limits for exploration and production. Past efforts to meet the demand for oil by expanding domestic resources have been repeatedly rejected by Democrats in Congress."
Bush repeated his call for Congress to lift the restrictions, including a ban on offshore drilling. A succession of presidents from George H.W. Bush to Bill Clinton to the current president have sided against drilling in these waters as has Congress each year for 27 years, seeking to protect beaches and coastal states' tourism economies.
Notice the word "REPEATED" in the previous bit.
Note too backing up a bit in the article the environmentally friendly Democrats said, "Democrats will vote on 'Use It or Lose It' legislation requiring the big oil companies to develop these resources or lose their leases to someone else who will."
Who is that gonna be HUH??? The Iranians or the Saudis??? Maybe the Chinese...
Remember the lease is not a license.
Last line in the article sez:
(This version CORRECTS that Bush and allies think Americans 'more willing to allow' drilling. Moving on general news and financial services. AP Video.)
End of article
Wonder what it said before they corrected it?
The idiotic liberals that are MORE WILLING TO ALLOW Obama to be president are going to, in effect, vote for higher gas prices. Obama has guaranteed it in his speeches. They have the same sort of stars in their eyes that Helen Thomas had for Tony Snow.
I know this might not seem the right place for it but I don't think Tony Snow would disapprove.
R.I.P. TONY SNOW
You will be missed in this world but heaven is glad to have you as a spokesman for truth and righteousness.
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