The St. Cloud Times posted my Your Turn editorial this morning. Stop past & read all about it.

The focus of the editorial is on Nancy Pelosi’s telling vulnerable legislators to do whatever they needed to do to get re-elected.

I also pointed out the provisions in the American Energy Act.

Technorati Tags: Editorial, Nancy Pelosi, American Energy Act

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Sen. Jon Tester, (D-MT), weighed in Thursday on the gas crisis. According to this article, Republicans are to blame for the high gas prices. Here’s his explanation for his opinion:

Tester said Senate Republicans blocked a number of bills in the weeks leading up to the recess that would have helped ease the sting of high energy costs.

One bill would have reined in oil market speculators, another would have extended tax breaks for those who produce wind, solar and geothermal energy and a third would have doubled funding for a program that helps those with low incomes pay their home heating and cooling bills.

It doesn’t make sense for lawmakers to return to Washington when Republicans are not willing to play ball, Tester said.

This is pure Democratic spin and utter nonsense.

The CFTC has already issue a detailed report saying that speculators aren’t driving prices up. Their report blames rising demand as the ‘culprit’.

Sen. Tester should also blame Sen. Salazar for obstructing a GOP amendment that would open up the OCS. Sen. Salazar object to opening up the OCS even if gas hit $10/gallon. (continue reading post »)

This morning, Rep. Ed Markey, (D-Taxachusetts), wrote an editorial in the WSJ criticizing Republicans for their insistence on drilling. This is my response to Rep. Markey:

Rep. Markey, I find this section of your Wall Street Journal editorial highly objectionable:

Ask most Americans how to break our dependence on oil and expensive fossil fuels and bring down prices, and they’ll tell you to expand renewable energy production, produce more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, and be smart about using energy. Ask the oil industry, or their allies in Congress and the White House, and they’ll have a singular answer: drill.

The problem is, a fire sale of our nation’s beaches to oil companies won’t bring down prices for at least a decade, and even then the effect would be insignificant. And that’s according to the oil-centric Bush administration.

Considering the fact that you chair the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, I’d expect you to know about production levels of oil rigs on the OCS. Whether you agree or disagree with the report, certainly you’ve heard of this report by the Institute for Energy Research. IER’s study debunks the myth you and other Democarts are spreading that drilling won’t “bring down prices for at least a decade.” (continue reading post »)

Last week, I said that Democrats, without exception, cited the same EIA report. I’ve said that it’s like they don’t want to trust industry experts, that they’d rather trust a bureaucrat than an industry expert. I’m about to destroy the Democrats’ credibility with some new information:

Recently, for example, some have pointed an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that estimated the amount of oil we could produce on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) if the drilling ban were lifted. EIA estimated this to be approximately 200,000 barrels per day.

Unfortunately, this figure, and the data it was based on, is fatally flawed. For example:

200,000 barrels per day is roughly equal to the daily production rate one new offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The Thunder Horse oil production facility, which will be on line this year, is designed to produce 250,000 barrels per day. 2
The Atlantis oil platform currently producing in the Gulf of Mexico has a production capacity of 200,000 barrels per day. 3

It’s difficult to believe that someone’s research is that sloppy. It’s more difficult to believe that Democrats didn’t know this when they started citing this report. Either they’re too lazy to dig into the veracity of the report or they didn’t want to know or they knew the truth and just ignored it because it didn’t fit their storyline. As damning as that information is, this information doesn’t help Democrats’ credibility either: (continue reading post »)

Democrats must be feeling the heat on the gas issue because they’re telling some whoppers. This statement from Majority Leader Hoyer is a perfect example of their inattentiveness to the truth. Here’s Hoyer’s quote:

“This week, Republicans are doing nothing but pushing the failed Johnny-one-note policies of the past.”

This isn’t even debatable. It’s a blatant lie. Look at the provisions in the American Energy Act:

To improve energy conservation and efficiency, the legislation will:

• Provide tax incentives for businesses and families that purchase more fuel efficient vehicles, as proposed in H.R. 1618 and H.R. 765 by Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI) and Jerry Weller (R-IL);
• Provide a monetary prize for developing the first economically feasible, super-fuel-efficient vehicle reaching 100 miles-per-gallon, as proposed in H.R. 6384 by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT); and
• Provide tax incentives for businesses and homeowners who improve their energy efficiency, as proposed in H.R. 5984 by Reps. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Phil English (R-PA), and Zach Wamp (R-TN), and in H.R. 778 by Rep. Jerry Weller (R-IL).

Here’s another set of provisions from the bill: (continue reading post »)

Kirsten Powers’ column tells Sen. Obama to abandon his position on oil- fast. That’s a step in the right direction…sort of:

McCain has been chanting “Drill here. Drill now.” while Obama plays the scold, trying to convince a nation suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder to take the long view.

Obama’s internal polling shows that he’s getting killed on this issue.

Democratic Congress members are ringing the alarms. Someone close to the campaign reported that, at a meeting this week, lawmakers were pleading with the Obama camp to revise its position on drilling.

Ms. Powers isn’t talking about the other thing that’s getting Sen. Obama in trouble, which is his persistence in talking about keeping our tires inflated. Generally speaking, people already keep their tires properly inflated. Sen. Obama’s talking about it is seen as his talking down to them. It’s also seen as BS. People know that we can’t “inflate our way out of this crisis’, as Obama suggests in this video: (continue reading post »)

Drudge is reporting that Nancy Pelosi is a literary disaster:

The most powerful woman in the history of American politics is suffering a humiliating defeat at the nation’s bookstores, sales figures show.

In her first week at market, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sold just 2,737 copies of her book KNOW YOUR POWER, according to NIELSEN BOOKSCAN..

The DOUBLEDAY release was launched with a full media push, featuring high profile interviews on TODAY,THEVIEW, THISWEEK.

“I wrote the book in response to people asking me what it was like to go from housewife to House Speaker and for advice as to how young people, especially women, could balance family and career,” Pelosi told the WASHINGTON POST.

Pelosi’s sales debacle [#41 on the Non-Fiction Chart] is dramatically overshadowed by the first high profile anti-Obama book, OBAMA NATION, which debuts at #1 on both the BOOKSCAN and the NEW YORK TIMES Bestseller List, with 21,466 copies moved, industry insiders tell DRUDGE.

“The speaker was pre-occupied with House business last week,” a source close to Pelosi explained Thursday morning. “She has now turned her focus to promoting this extraordinary book… doing local signings and speeches. I think we’ll see an uptick.”

This is typical spin from Pelosi supporters. She just isn’t a popular figure.

Technorati Tags: Pelosi, Book Signings

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Politico.com is reporting about the Democrats’ attempts to deflect people’s attention from their miserable energy record. Their effort is predictable. It’s also a failing strategy. People want drilling for oil and natural gas. Here’s one of the Democrats’ favorite arguments against drilling:

Pelosi’s office has also pointed to an Energy Department study that shows that lifting the outer continental shelf drilling ban wouldn’t produce significant oil until 2017.

Bureaucratic red tape and litigation are two things that delay oil exploration and production. Furthermore, Democrats won’t yield on streamlining the leasing process.

It’s also worth highlighting President Clinton’s cited the ‘10 years down the road’ line in vetoing legislation that would’ve opened up ANWR. By using this excuse, Democrats are telling truckers and farmers that they’ll just have to suffer until Kenworth and John Deere start manufacturing hybrids.

It’s also worth noting that people living in the northern tier of states will get hit with monstrous heating bills this winter. Drilling now wouldn’t produce natural gas before winter but starting the leasing process would drop the prices immediately. (continue reading post »)

Nancy Pelosi has sent a letter to Republican leader John Boehner criticizing the GOP protest faction. The more she says on this, the easier the ads write themselves. Hugh picked up on it last night on H & C. He repeated what I’ve said for a month: that a vote for a Democrat is a vote for Nancy Pelosi’s energy policies. Here’s Pelosi’s letter:

August 5, 2008

The Honorable John A. Boehner
House Republican Leader
H-204, The Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Leader Boehner:

Thank you for your letter from the House GOP leadership yesterday on gas prices.

America uses nearly a quarter of the world’s oil, but sits atop less than 3 percent of the world’s reserves. According to the Bush Administration’s own Energy Department, if we repealed the offshore drilling ban today, oil and gas production would not begin there until 2017, and impact on prices before 2030 would be “insignificant.” We cannot drill our way out of this problem.

The facts are clear. The New Direction Congress has repeatedly brought forth proposals to increase domestic supply, reduce the price at the pump, protect American consumers and businesses and promote renewable energy and conservation. To date, Democrats have brought forward 13 major initiatives to accomplish the above goals and each time a majority of House Republicans have voted against these proposals. (continue reading post »)

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The NRSC put together a devastating video on Rep. Mark Udall. Here’s the video:

As I noted here, Rep. Udall promised to keep the House in session until an energy bill passed. The video shows that Rep. Udall didn’t return to Washington until after the vote to adjourn had been taken because he attended a fundraiser. I’m betting that the NRSC is planning on crucifying Rep. Udall with this video. Bob Schafer caught up with Rep. Udall approximately 2 weeks ago.

If the NRSC makes a series of shorter commercials, this could give Schafer a big advantage this November.

This is just more proof that the Democrats are doing everything they can to hand a bunch of elections to the Republicans. To their credit, Republicans are extending this advantage with their protest.

Technorati Tags: Mark Udall, Nancy Pelosi, Bob Schafer, NRSC, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog