Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is boosting protection of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and will ask Congress to designate more than 12 million acres as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich Coastal Plain. The designation would seal off the area in Alaska's northeast corner from oil exploration and give it the highest degree of federal protection available to public lands. Obama and the Interior Department announced the effort Sunday.

Do you cherish your God-given constitutional right to own property? UN Agenda 21′s Smart Growth is in full bloom across our nation. In East Tennessee the five county local “Regional” program is called Plan East Tennessee, (Regional Plan for Livable Communities), a plan which will eliminate private property rights in these five counties. Link It is a plan for Smart Growth. Rosa Koire, author of, “Behind the Green Mask,” defines Smart Growth on her website, as “Human habitation as it is referred to now is restricted to lands within the Urban Growth Boundaries of the city. Only certain building designs...

NEW YORK — Some relief from suffocating gas prices will likely arrive just in time for summer vacation. Expect a drop of nearly 50 cents as early as June, analysts say. After rocketing up 91 cents since January, including 44 straight days of increases, the national average this past week stopped just shy of $4 a gallon and has retreated to under $3.98. A steady decline is expected to follow. It might not be enough to evoke cheers from people who recall gas stations charging less than $3 a gallon last year. But it would still ease the burden on...

The Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is a prized jewel of our national ecosystem. Congress should work to preserve this environmental sanctuary. I remain strongly opposed to drilling for oil in the ANWR. The House budget does not provide funding for Alaskan oil drilling. As we move toward budget reconciliation, I will work with my colleagues to keep the Alaskan wilderness pristine and untouched.

June 18th...Is anyone else there getting sick and tired of these obstructionist democrats? Today, the President finally got some balls, along with the rest of the Republicans, and announced that he is all for opening up the outer continental shelves (OCS) for offshore drilling as well as stating we should consider drilling for oil in the ANWR as well. FINALLY!!!! Hallelujah! This makes my BoBo greasepaint smudge from tears of joy! What is the response from Pelosi? “It sounds like that speech was written by the big oil companies.” What did Senator Bill Nelson from Florida say? “You can’t drill...