Thursday, July 17, 2008

WASHINGTON —  The House on Thursday failed to approve a Democrat-backed energy package that would have required oil companies to explore leased land for oil reserves or give up the leases.

The 244-173 vote was not enough to overcome an agreement House leaders had come to requiring the bill to pass on a two-thirds margin. With 417 members voting, Democrats would have needed 278 votes to prevail.

Twenty-six Republicans voted with Democrats on the bill. There were 11 Democratic defections.

This bill was aimed at accelerating the leasing of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska; would have required energy companies to drill on pre-approved federal land or lose their lease (Use it or lose it); would have provided for more infrastructure to get oil out of Alaska; and would have banned the exportation of domestic oil from Alaska.

The bill also was aimed at blunting GOP efforts to permit oil exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Democrats said the legislation would spur drilling on already available lands in Alaska, the West and the western Gulf of Mexico.

Republicans scoffed that the so-called Drill Act — imposing a tougher “use it or lose it” rule on leases already held by oil companies — would do little to boost oil exploration, saying current policies are aimed at the same goal. A vote was set for Thursday.

Democrats, however, didn’t appear serious about trying to pass the bill. By allowing it to come to the floor under the two-thirds rule, it all but sealed its fate to that of a similar bill that failed under such rules two weeks ago.

On the eve of the vote, the Interior Department issued a major new lease in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, known as NPR-A. The Democratic bill would require a more active Interior Department leasing program on the reserve, which is located to the west of the off-limits Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, the subject of a long-standing battle between environmentalists and the oil lobby.

“Democrats brought forth their ‘Use It or Lose It’ bill without knowing it was already the law of the land,” said GOP Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo. “Today we’re reminded that the majority’s efforts to ‘unlock’ NPR-A are about as necessary as passing a bill ordering the sun to rise.”

The oil lease proposal is an effort by Democrats to counter a push by congressional Republicans to lift a long-standing drilling ban on most offshore U.S. waters.

With gasoline prices exceeding $4 per gallon, public opinion on energy issues is shifting in favor of a more permissive stance on drilling, even though the idea of opening the Atlantic and Pacific coasts or the eastern Gulf off Florida’s beaches to oil and gas companies has been long seen as a nonstarter.

“Drill now, drill everywhere,” said Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., describing the sentiments of constituents whom he surveyed.

Democrats are scrambling to appear pro-drilling — hence the “Drill Act” title for Thursday’s bill — even as leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are dead set against reversing the long-standing drilling bans along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

Democrats say the industry should first go after oil and natural gas in areas where they hold leases. They also say Republicans are simply seeking political advantage with a pro-drilling plan that won’t deliver new U.S. oil for another decade or so, and that the GOP’s fixation on drilling is a smoke screen for the Bush administration’s inability to prevent the sharp spike in gasoline prices.

“The administration’s responsibility was to protect the American people from this kind of gouging, and they did nothing,” said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. “So today they’re trying to deflect the very legitimate criticism of, ‘What did you do on the watch?”‘

In the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., moved to begin debate on a bill aimed at curbing speculation in the oil markets that Democrats say has contributed to the rapid rise in the price of oil.

The bill would increase staffing at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and require the CFTC to curb the size of speculative positions held by traders who aren’t using the markets for legitimate hedging purposes.

Republicans hope to use the bill as a vehicle for votes on further offshore exploration, among other pro-energy production measures.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

My fellow Americans, I must seriously ask you; Do these Democrats really care about us?  Are they working for our best interest?  Are their actions going to help us to afford heat, light and electricity for our homes or make it far more expensive?  Are their actions going to lower the cost of gasoline and diesel or make it far more expensive to the point that we can’t even afford to drive at all?  Are their actions going to help you afford sustenance for us and our children or make it far more expensive?  Are their actions going to help build our economy and job prospects or are they going to destroy them?  Now is the time to think about this, for a little while, and ACT SOON!

 

The feeble attempt by Congress to make buffoons of us by drafting such intellectually insulting legislation should be a perspicuous insight, to all of us, what they think of us.  They think they have dumbed us down in Government sponsored schools with curriculum that is quite deficit of what we should know to remain free.  But we will show them that we are not the buffoons they imply.  We shall rise up and demand that they are our public servants and they will do what facilitates our prosperity, supports our power OVER Government and our FREEDOM. 

 

This is our country AND our oil, gas, coal and other energy resources and, my fellow countrymen, I submit that it is time WE TAKE IT BACK!

If you are with me, please leave a comment, or at least sign up for www.samadamsalliance.org so that we can communicate and meet with one another to gather for the cause of FREEDOM and the prosperity it generates.

 

 

 

I suggest that we literally demonstrate in the streets.  I mean that.  We MUST develop the mettle to bring forth the BRAVE in ourselves, come out of our homes, and show the tyrants and despots that this is THE HOME OF THE FREE.  We The People are the masters not them because we are FREE.  Who are they to tell us and our oil companies, which so many of us own shares of stock in our pension and 401k programs, where we can and can not drill.  We have the technology to drill anywhere safely.  The entire Gulf of Mexico went through hurricane Katrina and not a hint of pollution.  How much proof do you want?

 

Global Warming is a sham.  You need to see the report on this blog: http://captkarl.blogivists.com/2008/06/19/people-in-local-communities-will-not-be-able-to-afford-gasoline-or-energy/ which reports on the over 31,000 American Scientists who signed a petition testifying that “Global Warming” and “Climate Change” caused by mankind is a sham.

 

Listen folks, the U.S. Congress, especially the Democrats, are obviously trying to erode our individual financial health.  You need to ask yourselves why?  If we become fully dependent on “The Government” for “assistance” than how much FREEDOM will we have?  How much power will We The People have if we let our enemies in Congress make us all individually broke and spiritually weakened?

Are we going to let them do this to us or are we going to do something?  Everybody must rise up and show these despots that We The People of the Land Of The Free and Home Of The Brave stand UNITED.  To do that you, reading this must act!  We must fight the U.S. Congress at every turn.  And above all, WE MUST NOT LET THEM STEAL OUR FREEDOM!  For, I ask you, is it not extraordinarily obvious that ultimately this is their goal?