Free Republic

You would think that this story is right out of science fiction. But the facts appear to be that the US Democrat-controlled Congress intends to destroy the Republican middle class with $11 per gallon gasoline. The Democrats’ base -- wealthy white “limousine liberals”, and very poor people -- won’t be harmed, but the families who live in suburbia will be devastated. The multi-millionaires like billionaire Senators John Kerry & Jay Rockefeller, financial speculator George Soros, filmmaker Michael Moore, and actors George Clooney & Meg Ryan can easily pay for their auto and private jet fuel. Poor people are forced to...

Americans should contact Congress and tell their elected representatives to open up a part of the Alaskan wilderness and the area off the country’s coast to oil exploration, President Bush said Wednesday. “I fully understand why Americans are concerned about gasoline prices,” Bush told reporters. “But I want them to understand fully that we have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home in environmentally friendly ways and they ought to write their Congress people about it.” The president said Americans should tell Congress to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Outer Continental...

Sept. 10th Democrats by Rep. Peter Hoekstra Is it fair to say that Congressional Democrats and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama have a "September 10th" mindset on U.S. national security? While Democrats vigorously object to this charge, evidence is mounting that this is indeed the case. By a "September 10th" mindset, I mean the naïve national security positions advocated by Democrats until September 10, 2001 that failed to focus on real threats to our nation. These positions included favoring after-the-fact litigation against foreign terrorists, over preventing attacks by maximizing our intelligence and military resources. In the aftermath of the 1993...

Senate Democrats promise to kill Alaska drilling plan Hearst Newspapers WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats vowed Thursday to block a White House plan to open 1.5 million acres of protected Arctic wilderness for oil drilling and exploration, calling it "dead on arrival" one day after it was approved by the House of Representatives. The Senate will debate the plan after Labor Day. At issue is a swath of the 19 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)

VIDEO Rep. Kevin Brady, R-TX, challenged Democrats to name an acre of land where vast reserves of oil are underground and an oil company refuses to explore it. Democrats were unable to produce information for Brady's request.

Va, Senate Democrats Reject New Energy Bill June 24, 2008 Richmond, VA: Virginia State Senator Frank Wagner (R - Virginia Beach) saw Senate Democrats scuttle his effort to dedicate potential royalties to transportation and environmental protection programs from any off-shore exploration and drilling of natural gas 50 miles or more off the Virginia coastline. On a straight, party line vote, Democrats voted to "pass by for the day" effectively killing Wagner's measure for this Special Session. Sixteen other Republican senators had already signed on as co-patrons of Wagner's bill. Senator Ken T. Cuccinelli, II (R - Fairfax) had introduced a...

Energy: The public wants more oil, but Democrats keep offering the same solutions, not one of which includes drilling and all of which are asinine. Do they think the American people are fools?An online petition circulated by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's American Solutions group and urging Congress to "Drill Here, Drill Now" so consumers can "Pay Less" has reached 1 million signatures. Meanwhile, a new Reuters/Zogby poll found that 60% of the public is in favor of increased drilling and refining, while two-thirds responding to a Rasmussen poll — including 46% of those who call themselves liberal — think...

At the very least, Democrats saved themselves an awkward confrontation on gas prices Wednesday when they canceled a committee vote on the Interior spending bill. Rep. John Peterson (R-Pa.) was planning to push his offshore drilling bill as a remedy for oil and gas costs, just as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and President Bush made their tag-teamed push for drilling off the country’s coastlines. But the committee markup was canceled just two hours before it was to begin. Republicans say they suspect Democrats might have nixed it because they were worried they would lose the vote or, in beating Peterson...

The Senate confirmed three district court nominees today: Mark Davis of Virginia and Stephen Limbaugh and David Kays of Missouri. Sen. McConnell took the opportunity to chastise the Democrats about their obstruction of circuit nominees and to again make good on his pledge to slow down the Senate until the obstruction is eased. From McConnell’s office: Although the Majority fulfilled their commitment from last week to confirm three more District Court nominees today …, Leader McConnell did not feel these actions were sufficient in light of the continued lack of circuit court confirmations. … Therefore, Leader McConnell invoked the two-hour...

Greens Thwart Gasoline Production By Steven Milloy Four-plus-dollar gasoline is forcing Americans to realize that we need increased domestic oil production to meet our ever-growing demand for affordable fuel. But even if the greens lose the political battle over drilling offshore and in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they nevertheless are way ahead of the game as they implement a back-up plan to make sure that not a drop of that oil ever eases our gasoline crunch. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, successfully pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block ConocoPhillips’...

Four-plus-dollar gasoline is forcing Americans to realize that we need increased domestic oil production to meet our ever-growing demand for affordable fuel. But even if the greens lose the political battle over drilling offshore and in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they nevertheless are way ahead of the game as they implement a back-up plan to make sure that not a drop of that oil ever eases our gasoline crunch. The Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, successfully pressured the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block ConocoPhillips’ expansion of its Roxana, Ill., gasoline refinery,...

Dems Kill Chances for Energy Independence? A congressional subcommittee struck down an important bill, which could have opened up reserves worth billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, on Wednesday, Cramer said. The measure would allow drilling between 50 miles and 200 miles off the U.S. coastline. Estimates for the reserves there were as high as 8.5 billion barrels of oil and 29 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, in addition to potential undiscovered resources of 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas. Needless to say, Cramer’s a bit...

WASHINGTON — With oil and gas prices reaching record highs and little relief in sight, Republican members of Congress are looking at a long-sought, but so far unsuccessful plan to open American shores up to more petroleum exploration. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa. is leading the charge Wednesday, when he'll push for an amendment to a spending bill that would open up U.S. waters between 50 and 200 miles off shore for drilling. The first 50 miles off shore would be left alone. "For 27 years, Congress has deliberately locked up vast offshore oil and natural gas reserves," Peterson said, according...

WASHINGTON — A House subcommittee has rejected a Republican-led effort to open up more U.S. coastal waters to oil exploration. Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., spearheaded the effort. His proposal would open up U.S. waters between 50 and 200 miles off shore for drilling. The first 50 miles off shore would be left alone.

Red Planet on the Money Will $13 a gallon gasoline change voters' minds in Blue States? [Click on images to enlarge them.] If the voters in Blue, Democrat-controlled states are looking for a culprit for high gas prices, they may look no further than in the mirror. Their representatives in Congress continue to strangle the oil supply--by ruling most of the USA off-limits for drilling. This artificial restriction by the Dem-controlled Congress is a great subject of two great Red Planet Cartoons. The subject: why the Dem-controlled Congress' posturing on the environment is costing every driver, every energy-user in the...

Republicans finally have a winning argument on a big issue, and they'd better make the most of it. It starts with high gasoline prices--the single most infuriating issue to voters these days--but doesn't end there. Democrats are not being blamed for causing the price of gasoline to reach $4 a gallon, at least by the public and at least for now. Where Democrats have stumbled embarrassingly is in their campaign to persuade the public that the American oil industry is the chief culprit. A Gallup national poll in May found only 20 percent blame the oil companies for gouging, down...

Members of Congress interviewed by Cybercast News Service on Thursday were split on what to do about huge amounts of oil within U.S. territory that remains untapped because of U.S. laws and regulations. A report released by the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last month estimates there are 139 billion barrels of untapped, recoverable oil onshore and offshore in the United States. Two Republican congressmen say they support removing regulations in order to drill for the oil, while two Democrats say they oppose immediate action. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told Cybercast News Service he was aware of the...

May 26, 2008 by Bob Webster A CNBC poll asks, "Who's to Blame for America's Oil Crisis?" After more than 10,000 votes, the U.S. Congress is given the lion's share of blame at 36%, more than twice those who thought President Bush is to blame. Speculators came in a strong second at 25%. Maybe there is still hope for the American electorate. Too bad the GOP is making no discernible effort to take advantage of the historic low esteem Americans have for this wacky Democrat-controlled Congress. The breakdown of CNBC's poll results as of Memorial Day morning:

The Democrats in Congress have gone beyond ignoring real solutions to the pain at the gasoline pump and other critical problems. They are ignoring the people altogether in order to gain more political power. Sadly, the mainstream media is allowing it to go almost unnoticed. I will not. During the week of May 15, 2008, the Senate had three opportunities to increase the domestic production of oil and help ease our economy’s dependence on foreign oil. All three times the Democrats voted as a block to deny passage of critical oil liberating legislation. The American Energy Protection Act of 2008...

The Senate is famed for its longwinded debates, but on Friday it took Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown just seconds to stop Republicans in their tracks. With the Senate entering the first day of its Memorial Day recess, the Ohio senator was briefly in the chair, before a near-empty chamber, to gavel in and gavel out what is called a pro forma session. Without that procedural move, the Senate would technically be adjourned and President Bush could install administration officials or judges as "recess appointments" — without Senate confirmation. "That's the fastest I've ever done it," said Brown, who like other...

Energy: Senate Democrats, dragging executives from five major U.S. oil companies before them for a second day, say they're alarmed by our "failed" oil markets. What they should be is ashamed.After all, it's mostly the fault of the Congress that we're in this mess. True, the Big 5 announced profits of $36 billion in the first quarter, as oil breached $100 a barrel and just kept going. This prompted nothing but contempt from Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin this week: "Where is your corporate conscience?" he asked the oil executives, forced to sit and listen. Others concluded that this must be...

President Bush yesterday characterized Capitol Hill Democrats as hypocrites for demanding that Saudi Arabia pump more oil while blocking attempts to increase domestic drilling in such places as Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Saudi Arabia announced on Friday that it would meet Mr. Bush's request to increase oil production, though the jump of 300,000 barrels per day was less than the president had wanted. But rather than criticize the Saudis, Mr. Bush — after a round of meetings with Middle East leaders at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheik — instead heaped blame on congressional Democrats for skyrocketing...

While oil and gasoline prices continue to rise, the rhetoric and actions of Democrats in Congress seem destined to push those costs even higher, contrary to the Dems' promise that they used to get elected to majorities in 2006 that they had "a common-sense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices". Investor's Business Daily has a continuing series on "Breaking the Back of High Oil", and today's edition has a fascinating breakdown of some of the actions that the Democrats have taken over the last three decades or so to ensure that our country has no defense against the...

WASHINGTON - The Senate has rejected a Republican energy plan that calls for opening an Alaska wildlife refuge and some offshore waters to oil development. Supporters of the measure couldn't get the needed 60 votes to overcome a Democratic-led filibuster threat. Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said more domestic oil production is needed to keep prices in check and to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports. Opponents said areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and coastal waters that have been off limits to drilling for 25 years ought to remain that out of bounds to oil companies....

For the last 28 years, Democrats in Congress and a few Republicans have again and again opposed our drilling for oil in Alaska's ANWR area when we knew it contained at least 10 billion barrels of oil we could be using now.• For the past 31 years, Congress repeatedly prevented us from building any new oil refineries that we now badly need. • More recently, congressional Democrats defeated and discouraged any bill that would let us drill in the deep sea 100 miles out. However, it's somehow OK for China to drill there. • As a further indictment of our...

As Ann Coulter points out in the cover story of this week's HUMAN EVENTS, the Democratic Party has long pursued a strategy designed to force up the price of gasoline for American families. Part of this strategy is to maintain a moratorium on oil drilling off the East and West coasts of the United States, thus artificially limiting the domestic supply. Back in 1982, according to the Energy Information Agency, Congress enacted a moratorium on oil and gas drilling off the coast of Northern California. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush ordered the Department of Interior not to allow any...

After U.S. gasoline prices surged to a record high this week, President Bush strode into the Rose Garden to unveil his plans for coping with skyrocketing energy costs: drill for oil in Alaska, add U.S. refineries and build more nuclear plants. Even the White House conceded that the ideas did not have a chance. Democrats howled, Republicans shrugged and Washington moved on. Ignoring the conventions of a lame-duck presidency, Bush is forging ahead with proposals that appear to have little chance of passage during his last nine months, relying on sharp rhetoric and strong-arm tactics in an attempt to influence...

CNN) -- Gasoline prices set a record for the 16th consecutive day Wednesday. A gallon of gas cost an average of $3.62, according to AAA, and much more in some markets. All three presidential candidates have weighed in on the issue, and President Bush on Tuesday addressed it during a news conference. John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil Co., the U.S. division of Royal Dutch Shell, addressed rising gasoline prices during an interview Wednesday with John Roberts on CNN's "American Morning." ROBERTS: What do you say to people who are in this budget crunch of trying to fill up the...

WASHINGTON, DC, April 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A resolution welcoming the Pope to the United States was stalled in the U.S. Senate after Democrats said they would not vote on the resolution unless offending "pro-life language" was removed from it.The resolution was introduced on Tuesday by Republican Senator Sam Brownback and was co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Bob Casey, both Catholics. The original text included, amongst a series of statements regarding the Holy Father's biography and accomplishments, the statement, "Whereas Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out for the weak and vulnerable, witnessing to the value of each and every human...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Defying the White House, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday the House will change its rules to avoid a required vote this year on a hotly disputed free-trade agreement with Colombia. Pelosi said she will bring a procedural change to the House floor on Thursday that would remove the timetable under which Congress would have had to take up trade bills within 90 legislative days after they are received from the White House. "The president took action" in submitting the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress on Tuesday, she said. "I will take mine tomorrow." Pelosi said...

Gasoline is $3.19 here in Ohio today. Is anyone fighting to lower the over reaching, restrictions on production. Is there any hope for the abilty to manufacture gasoline to dramatcally increase in the near future? If the answer is nothing, what then?

Feb. 10--One of Mike Huckabee's most attractive qualities -- at least for conservatives -- is his all-out support for something called the FairTax, which would do away with the Internal Revenue Service and focus on the collection of sales taxes. The FairTax Book, co-authored by Neal Boortz and John Linder, was published on Aug. 2, 2005, as a tool to increase public support for and understanding of the FairTax plan. The Fair Tax Act was introduced as a bill in the United States Congress some time back for changing tax laws to replace the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and all...

Duncan Getchell, President Bush’s choice for a spot on a key appellate court, has withdrawn his nomination after his confirmation by the full Senate seemed to be in peril. Bush nominated Getchell in September for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. Getchell was selected to fill one of the four seats traditionally held by Virginia. But the choice came under immediate criticism in Congress since Virginia’s senators, John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D), did not recommend Getchell to the post. By choosing Getchell, critics...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy took 29 seconds Monday to open and close the Senate, the latest move in a standoff with President Bush over recess appointments. Senate Democrats are holding a series of "pro forma" sessions to stop recess appointments by President Bush. Kennedy was the only senator in the chamber when he gaveled the session open shortly after 9 a.m. ET. Four women from the anti-war group Code Pink also were on hand. After a clerk read a statement from Senate Pro Tempore Robert Byrd saying Kennedy would perform the duties, the Massachusetts Democrat immediately gaveled...

An elderly caller to Dan Lavallo's program on WWCO-AM told a harrowing tale Wednesday about energy prices. The man keeps his home thermostat at 40 F during the day, raising it slightly at night to ensure the pipes don't freeze. He is trying to make 200 gallons of oil last the heating season. His is the most dire story we've heard to date, but he is not alone in feeling the pinch. Heating oil was about $2.50 a gallon after Labor Day but climbed to $3.15 this week, and is expected to rise further when $100-a-barrel oil hits the market....

The US Senate is holding special one man sessions throughout Christmas and the New Year to prevent President George W. Bush from making appointments without the approval of the Democratic majority. With the bang of a gavel, Democratic Senator Jim Webb declared the first session open on Sunday morning before closing it seconds later, without any of his colleagues present in the hall. The brief ceremony will be repeated every two to three days until January 18, when lawmakers resume their work after the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The Democratic majority is staging the move to avoid any formal...

Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life congressman has issued a letter to Senate Democratic leaders asking them to stop delaying a confirmation vote on a pro-life attorney President Bush nominated to be the ambassador to the Vatican. Rep. Vito Fossella wants the Senate to confirm the appointment before Pope Benedict XVI visits the U.S. next year.Fossella, a New York Republican, wrote to Senators Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Joe Biden and Richard Luger on Wednesday.The nomination of Harvard law professor Mary Ann Glendon has been on hold due, in part, to blanket Democratic opposition to all...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just announced that the Senate will not clear four new appointees for the Federal Election Commission, meaning the panel that acts as a watchdog on political campaigns cannot function during the critical election-year period. Reid is blaming the White House for refusing to withdraw to allow a majority vote on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for a seat on the commission. Republicans want von Spakovsky approved as part of a slate of four FEC nominees or they will refuse to consider any of the nominees. Von Spakovsky was recess appointed by President Bush...

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's nomination of Harvard Law School professor Mary Ann Glendon as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican is being held up in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raising the possibility that the post may be vacant when Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States in April. The selection of anti-abortion advocate Glendon is opposed by Catholics for a Free Choice. No official holds on her confirmation have been filed, but failure to schedule a hearing blocks her confirmation. She is caught up in blanket Democratic opposition to Bush's final nominees. Business tycoon Francis Rooney, current ambassador to the...

California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is blocking the nomination of former Republican Congressman James Rogan to the federal bench, due largely to Rogan’s leading role in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Rogan served in the U.S. House from 1997 to 2001, and due to his background as a prosecutor, was selected as one of 13 House managers for the impeachment trial. “U.S. Rep. Rogan was one of the most enthusiastic backers of impeachment — he thought President Clinton had committed high crimes and misdemeanors,” Boxer’s spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said.

Two days before Thanksgiving the Senate had a 22-second session, a fleeting moment in the life of an occasionally droning body but plenty of time for majority Democrats to keep President Bush from making "recess" appointments. Senators have been taking turns standing sentry duty this week — just to prevent Bush from circumventing the confirmation process by immediately installing people in federal posts while the chamber is in recess. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who carried out that less than glamorous task Tuesday, is a relative newcomer, a low-ranking freshman and a senator who lives just minutes from the Capitol; he...

Pelosi says Democrats plan "repetition of the same" on IraqBy MIKE BAKER Associated Press Writer November 02. 2007 4:22PM RALEIGH, N.C. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, approaching the first anniversary of an election that lifted her party into power based largely on its opposition to the war in Iraq, said Friday that Democrats will renew efforts to end the conflict with "a repetition of the same." Speaking at Meredith College, Pelosi said Democrats in the House will file a new proposal next week that would seek to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2008. It would restrict war funding after...

Not content with having run Attorney General Alberto Gonzales out of town, the Democratic posse on Capitol Hill is already gunning for his replacement--even before he's nominated. More preposterous still, they're disguising this pre-emptive borking as a plea for a "consensus" choice. The breadth of this proposed condominium appears to be on the narrow side, however, running from Harry Reid to Pat Leahy, and perhaps stretching all the way to Chuck Schumer. Revealingly, this "consensus" doesn't seem to have room for Ted Olson, the former Solicitor General who is merely one of America's finest lawyers. "Ted Olson will not be...

To Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, Ted Olson is an unrepentant Republican, uniquely unqualified to succeed outgoing Alberto Gonzalez as U.S Attorney General. To Lanny Davis, he's an independent thinker perfect for the job. And to George Bush, he just might be a one-way ticket out of lame-duck Palookaville. In Wednesday's pre-emptive attack on the man who has yet to be nominated, let alone voice his acceptance, Nevada Democrat Reid told Reuters that, "[Olson]'s a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general is a partisan." What a remarkable statement, even from the oft-erratic Senate majority leader,...

Senate Republicans on Wednesday fired a warning shot at Democrats on the White House’s still-unnamed attorney general pick as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) declared that front-runner Ted Olson would not be confirmed. The early sparring over the successor to Alberto Gonzales, who cedes power at the Justice Department on Friday, foreshadows a brutal confirmation battle to come. Minutes after Reid declared former solicitor general Olson was too partisan for the job, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fired a salvo at Democrats who would delay Gonzales’s replacement. “If they were serious when they cried out for new leadership at the...

ABC News' Ann Compton, Z. Byron Wolf and Theresa Cook Report: The confirmation battle for the next Attorney General is already heating up -- even before the White House has named a nominee for the post. ABC News has confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told Reuters this afternoon that "Ted Olson will not be confirmed." Olson, a former Solicitor General and Assistant Attorney General, has emerged as a top contender for the job, but Democrats have charged that his political leanings would influence his work as the nation's top law enforcement official, an accusation that has plagued...

Top Democrat vows to block possible Bush nominee 41 minutes ago Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed on Wednesday to block former Solicitor General Theodore Olson from becoming attorney general if President George W. Bush nominates him to replace Alberto Gonzales. Congressional and administration officials have described Olson as a leading contender for the job as the nation's chief U.S. law enforcement officer, but Reid declared: "Ted Olson will not be confirmed" by the Senate. "He's a partisan, and the last thing we need as an attorney general is a partisan," Reid told Reuters in a brief hallway interview on...

Among the nearly two dozen television DVDs slated for nationwide release on Sept. 11 is the second season of "Bones," the third season of "Grey's Anatomy" and the miniseries "The Starter Wife" that aired earlier this year. Not on the list on that day or any other in the near future is last year's highly controversial "The Path to 9/11." The $40-million, five-hour ABC miniseries, which recently received seven Emmy nominations and drew a combined two-night audience of more than 25 million viewers, is for now on the path to nowhere. Its Amazon page reads: "Currently unavailable. We don't know...

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said today he will vote against the nomination of Jim Nussle of Iowa as White House budget chief. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., voted in favor of the nomination in committee "to move the process forward." Conrad said he would oppose the Nussle nomination on the Senate floor Tuesday to protest the fiscal policies of President Bush. "I do not make this decision lightly," Conrad said. "This is not a vote against Mr. Nussle personally. But I refuse to have my vote for Mr. Nussle portrayed as a sign of support for...

Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer said Friday that the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush "except in extraordinary circumstances.” "We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington, reported The Politico. "The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”...........................