GOP Revolt Day Four

Wednesday August 6, 2008

House Republicans were at it again today, calling on Nancy Pelosi to cut her book tour short and come back to Washington for an up or down vote on the American Energy Act. Newt Gingrich joined them and, according to the Politico, he said that relying on foreign oil is bad foreign policy, economic policy and environmental policy.

John Boehner's blog has been posting updates every day. Today's quote of the day came from Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX). “There is nobody doing more to help the OPEC nations than the Democrat leaders. We are helping grow these sharks who want to devour us.”

In the mean time, American Solutions reported that Moveon.org has sent an email to their donors telling them that progressives are losing this argument. If you haven't done so already, go to American Solutions and sign their petition to Drill Here, Drill Now and Pay Less.

Nancy Pelosi on Gas Prices

This is Nancy Pelosi in April 2008. She said that gas prices were $2.56 per gallon. That's how out of touch she is, she didn't even bother to look at the signs at the gas stations on her way to Larry King's studio.

GOP Revolt Day Three

Check out House Republican Leader John Boehner's blog to keep up to date on the happenings over at the US House of Representatives. The Democrats remain on vacation.

Fifteen GOP House members have spoken today, including Mike Pence, John Shadegg and Duncan Hunter. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) is asking you to let him know what hardhips Nancy Pelosi's inaction is causing you, your family and friends. You can send him an email at painatthepump@mail.house.gov.

The quote of the day came from Jean Schmidt (R-OH):

“Pelosi is on a book tour, God bless her, she wrote a book. I wish I could take the time to write a book. Well now is the time to vote, not the time to write a book.”

“We can’t pick and choose our alternative resources, we must use them all because they support and compliment each other.”

No wonder Pelosi couldn't stick around. She had to go promote her book to keep it from dropping out of the top 1000.

Update: The funniest news of the day comes from the Politico. Move-On protestors showed up to protest the protest in the house. Then some right wing protesters showed up to protest the protesters of the protest. Do any of these people have jobs?

Congress is Going on Vacation

In less than 24 hours Congress will be going on a long vacation. Don't you wish you could go on extended holiday without first getting your job done? Nancy Pelosi and Company are refusing to allow an up/down vote on drilling. They are worried because there are a number of Democrats willing to vote for drilling because their constituents want it.

This afternoon Representative Mike Pence said he has asked President Bush to call a special session of Congress, under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution:

He may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respsect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper.

President Bush should call them out, call them back and force them to vote on drilling.

To take action visit the following web sites:
American Solutions
Freedoms Watch

American Energy Act - Tell Pelosi we want a vote!

It's time for Nancy Pelosi to put her (or should I say "our") money where her mouth is. Today House GOP Leader John Boehner announced House Republicans have introduced the "American Energy Act".

Passage of this act would open the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR and other oil rich areas for oil and gas exploration, among other measures. Republicans are calling this an "all of the above" strategy that promotes conservation while easing the burden on Americans. For Congressman Boehner's press release click here.

After President Bush lifted the executive ban on drilling the price of oil dropped. It went down again today. If the Congress lifts its ban the price will drop again, before we even pull an ounce of oil out of the ground.

The Democrats will do all they can to see that this bill never makes it to the floor for a vote. We need to let Nancy Pelosi know we want this to go to a vote. Call Nancy Pelosi today, tomorrow and the next day at 202-225-0100.

When we decide to drill here and drill now prices will drop

President Bush on Monday signed an executive order lifting the ban on off shore drilling. This was only the first step, now it's Congress' turn. Democrats keep saying it won't do any good and will not bring any immediate relief.

Democrats keep saying we should release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, like we did after Hurrican Katrina. They fail to see the point that Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster and there were supply disruptions. We can't release the reserves every time there's a spike in oil prices. That's like telling people to dip into their 401k's every time the price of gas goes up. It's just ridiculous.

After the President signed the executive order on Monday API released the following statement:

"It is now up to Congress to lift the moratoria. Doing so could boost U.S. supplies of oil and natural gas, increase the nation’s energy security, add additional, well-paying American jobs and bring billions of dollars into the Treasury. We encourage Congress to pass a common-sense and effective long-term
energy policy designed to increase conservation and energy efficiency, promote greater supplies of all forms of energy, including domestic oil and natural gas."

Today the price of oil dropped for the third day in a row. The price of natural gas dropped 8%, the biggest drop in a year. Imagine what will happen if Congress voted to allow drilling in ANWR and offshore? You can't change the law of supply and demand. Supply goes up, prices drop. If speculators believe there will be an increase in supply, they will speculate that the price will drop. It's not that complicated.

Earlier this week American Solutions presented their petition with over 1.3 million signatures to leaders in the House and the Senate. This is what the American people want. When the Democrats took control of the House and Senate in 2006 they promised to do something about the price of gas. Since then the price has steadily climbed while they block any remedies that would alleviate the problem. The American people did not vote the Democrats into office for them to oppose President Bush on each and every one of his proposals. It is time for them to finally put politics aside and do their jobs.

It isn't too late the sign the petition to Drill Here, Drill Now and Pay Less.

Investor's Business Daily Calls for Nancy Pelosi's Resignation

I was watching the Home Run Derby, but my favorite player, Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies was out of the running so I thought I'd see what was going on out there in the blogosphere.

I came across a post from YID with LID about Investor's Business Daily calling for Nancy Pelosi to resign.

Feckless to Reckless: Pelosi Should Resign
Leadership: With oil hitting $147, Nancy Pelosi finally admits energy is a problem. But instead of drilling for it, she's cooked up a new drain-the-reserves scheme. It's pure politics at a time of crisis. She ought to resign.

They have it absolutely right. This woman is out of control and has become downright dangerous. There is absolutely no excuse for the way this woman is playing politics with our economy and our very lives. Enough is enough. Give her a call and tell her how you feel.

Nancy Pelosi: 202-225-0100.

President Bush lifts ban put in place by his dad.

Today President George W. Bush signed an executive order lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling put into place by former President George H. W. Bush.

Good for him! He had previously said he would sign the order after Congress lifted its own ban on offshore drilling. Of course, Congress refused to act, so Bush went ahead and signed the order today. The ball is officially in Congress' court.

It's really too bad we now have a Democrat majority in the House and Senate. If not there is no doubt the ban on drilling would be lifted. If not for Nancy Pelosi the issue may have already come up for a vote on the House floor. The arrogance of these people is stunning to behold. They claim to be the ones to solve the problems of average Americans when they are the very people causing the problems. Talk about the tyranny of the majority.

Let's all hope we have enough change to continue paying these high gas prices. If you don't, sign the American Solutions Petition to drill here and drill now.

Nancy Pelosi-Wrong Again

Nancy Pelosi is calling on President Bush to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to stabilize prices. She just doesn't get it. Is this her response to the American Solutions petition to drill here, drill now, and pay less?

Rather than retrieve resources from our own land, Nancy Pelosi wants to take our reserves, which are set aside for emergencies or disruptions in supply, to try to rig oil prices. This has been tried before and it didn't work. Even if it did work it would only bring relief for a brief period of time. This will do nothing to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

It is amazing how these so called representatives can be so wrong, so often and continue to get away with it. In the mean time Iran continues playing their dangerous games and we still aren't doing any more drilling, building any new refineries or nuclear plants.

Congress breaks a record with its new approval rating

A new poll shows that Congress' approval rating is at an all time low 9%. That's really surprising, who knew there is anyone in America that approves of Congress?

Who are these people that approve of Congress? Are they lobbyists or relatives of the politicians? Maybe they are people who don't drive, watch TV, read the newspaper or pay for anything. I've figured it out! 9% of the people polled are babies!

It's too bad the babies don't know Congress is mortgaging their future and making the present quite unbearable for their parents. When the babies grow up and a gallon of gas costs $15 we can tell them that liberal politicians said it would take too long to drill for oil here at home. I'm sure they'll understand.

Sign the American Solutions Petition to drill here, drill now and pay less.

The Elephant in the Campaign

The great big elephant sitting in the middle of the presidential campaign barely gets any notice from the candidates or the main stream media. Barack Obama has said he likes high gas prices, he only wishes it had happened gradually. Well, all-righty then, thanks, Barry! John McCain has said he would be in favor of lifting restrictions on off shore drilling (but not ANWR) but he doesn't seem to be hammering the point the way he should.

What we do hear from the candidates is a lot of gibberish about global warming, green technologies and other mumbo jumbo that won't bring any relief to working Americans. We can look forward to increases in the price of gas and the cost of energy to heat and cool our homes. If they want a recession, they're on the right track!

The media must figure we all know how much we're paying for gas so there is no need to mention it very often. My local news station occasionally will tell us where we can buy gas for $4.23 per gallon instead of $4.30, which would be helpful if I didn't have to burn four gallons of gas to get there. But they make sure they give a lot of air time to A-Rod's marriage and alleged affair with Madonna. It's great to see they have their priorities straight.

Are the candidates or the media aware of the 1,292,121 Americans who have signed the American Solutions Petition to drill here, drill now and pay less? If so, do they care? Sadly, the candidates seem to care more about the humanity hating environmental lobby than they do about average American citizens. And the media is hell bent on making sure the American people don't place the blame where it belongs.

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less - Update

American Solutions now has over 1.27 million signatures on its Drill Here, Drill Now petition. If you haven't signed on yet you can do so now.

It is incredible that a petition such as this one is even necessary. The latest predictions are that the price of crude oil will shoot up to $170 per barrel, just today it topped $143 per barrel. The crazies in Iran are threatening to shut down the Straight of Hormuz, an essential oil supply bottleneck. As the price at the pump goes up, so does the price of nearly everything else.

Yet here we are, pleading with our so called representatives to do the right thing and lift the unconstitutional moratoriums on drilling and exploration on our own soil. These "representatives" of ours blame President Bush, Republicans, oil companies and speculators while offering no truly feasible energy policies of their own.

Tell them you've had enough and sign the petition today.

News to give you pause

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that it's unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on child rapists. Go ahead and guess which way the court was split! Justice Kennedy believes the death penalty would be cruel and unusual punishment. I don't know what he thinks of child rape-kind and normal?

Nancy Pelosi stated she is in favor of the "Fairness Doctrine". No one listens to liberal talk radio and the Democrats don't like it so they want to force radio stations to air liberal talk show hosts. Never mind the loss to the radio stations in ad revenue. They can force them to air it but they can't make me listen to it.

Barack Obama gave another speech, he said a lot but all it really amounted to was "I'm going to do all I can to keep gas prices really high, so vote for me."

Schools around New York State dismissed today at 11:00 and will do the same tomorrow. The kids have been playing board games. Nothing like wasting a ton of gas in order to keep the federal funds rolling in.

While on the subject of wasting gas, some Wisconsin officials would like to outlaw drive through restaurants due to concerns about global warming. Is there still anyone left out there who truly believes the global warming B.S. isn't just a way for the government to take control of our lives?

Buried somewhere within the 600+ page Senate housing bill (the one that would require the tax payers of America to guarantee mortgages for people who don't pay their bills) is a provision that will require credit card transactions to be reported to the government. Since when is it the government's business where I use my credit card? So, they don't want to listen to terrorists' phone calls, but they do want to know what I bought at the grocery store. I guess they haven't figured out a way to impose a tax on terrorism.

President Bush asks Congress again to reconsider energy policies.

For the umpteenth time President Bush has asked the Democrats in Congress to reconsider their destructive policies. It's doubtful they will do anything he asks, since their sole mission is to oppose him on anything and everything, simply because he's President Bush. He again called for expansion of exploration and drilling for oil, as well as expansion of refining capacity. He wants a speedy permitting process for refineries. He summed up the situation nicely.

The proposals I've outlined will take years to have their full impact. There is no excuse for delay -- as a matter of fact, it's a reason to move swiftly. I know the Democratic leaders have opposed some of these policies in the past. Now that their opposition has helped drive gas prices to record levels, I ask them to reconsider their positions. If congressional leaders leave for the 4th of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act. And Americans will rightly ask how high oil -- how high gas prices have to rise before the Democratic-controlled Congress will do something about it.

On a related note, American Solutions now has about 900,000 signatures to their Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less petition. No doubt they will have over a million signatures by July 4th. The American people are getting fed up, with any luck they'll have the sense to finally place the blame squarely where it belongs.

In the meantime, the Democrats are proposing nationalization of oil refineries. That's a great idea, the way the federal government handles things we'll be paying $12.00 a gallon. Why don't we just scrap the election and ask Hugo Chavez to rule our nation?

McCain Calls for Drilling

Shock of all shocks! Flip of all flops! Alleluja!

John McCain is calling for the federal government to lift its restrctions on domestic oil exploration and drilling. Of course, Senator Obama called him a flip flopper, which is fine with me. He was wrong before, now he's right and I applaud his decision to flip flop. It's cold again wear I live, but I will wear my fanciest flip flops in honor of Senator McCain. If he keeps talking like this I just may go crazy and send him a campaign contribution!

Welcome aboard the Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less bandwagon, Senator McCain! Do you want to sign the petition?

Barack Obama Wants Higher Gas Prices

Here's Barack Obama telling us why high gas prices are good, he just would have preferred a "more gradual adjustment". I guess he hoped nobody would notice. That's attitude is fine for rich folks like him, what about the rest of us?

It's doubtful we will ever convince him to Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less; but you can still sign the petition.

Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less - Update

As of June 5 American Solutions had 350,000 signatures on their petition. They are gaining traction and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have jumped on Board, according to the American Solutions Blog. If you haven't signed the petition yet, please do so now. It only takes a minute.

On a related note, Senate Republicans thwarted their Democratic colleague's attempts to obliterate the US economy with their "windfall profits tax" and then blame the ensuing damage on Republicans.

We've found the missing weapons of mass descruction-it's the Senate Democrats. We're all standing on billions of barrels of oil while these idiots block any attempt to retrieve that oil, then turn around and point the finger at everyone but themselves for the messes they have created. These people are absolutely beyond belief.

Update: Moments after this post was published Charles Gibson on ABC News announced "The Senate killed the energy bill". Jake Tapper reported "Consumers looking to Congress should look elsewhere" and then showed clips of ridiculous senators trying to get their mugs on TV. The most ridiculous was Claire McCaskill who said "I hope the American people stand up and scream like they've never screamed before." Hey Claire-We are screaming. We're screaming "Drill here! Drill Now! Pay Less!" You just aren't listening.

Get Ready for the Gas Lines

Yesterday the gang of buffoons we know as Congress passed a bill to sue OPEC over oil prices. These people have no grasp of basic economics. According to the sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Steve Kagen, D-Wisconsin, Americans are "at the mercy" of OPEC. Well, of course we are, you moron! When you won't allow companies to drill for oil here in the US we have to look to other countries to supply our oil. Duh!

According to the White House this sort of action "would likely spur retaliatory action against American interests in those countries and lead to a reduction in oil available to U.S. refiners." That's code for "expect gas lines soon".

Today, to show how much they feel your pain, Congress summoned oil company executives to testify yet again. They put on their little dog and pony show, and again the oil execs tried to explain basic economic principles to these imbeciles. If I weren't so mad I would have laughed it was so ridiculous. If you can stomach it click here for more on this story.

If Congress really cared about gas prices, they would lift the moratorium on drilling for oil here in the US. According to reports, the Bakken Formation could have 3 to 4.3 billion barrels of "undiscovered, technically recoverable oil". Wouldn't it be refreshing to hear them talking about how the oil companies can use their profits to drill for oil and build refineries right here at home? Don't hold your breath.