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What Part of 'Drill Now' do they Not Understand?
humanevents.com ^ | 07/24/2008 | A.W.R. Hawkins

Posted on 07/24/2008 2:13:58 PM PDT by kellynla

Out here in West Texas we love our guns, we support our troops, and we treasure our freedom. We are an independent bunch and -- pardon me, Senator Obama -- fiercely but not bitterly so. We are proud to have our own things to do with as we choose to, as free people of the freest nation in the history of the world.

We also walk around on top of oil: yes it’s far beneath us, but it’s there. And all these aspects of West Texas come together to our astonishment and anger over the fact that our independence is limited by an intrusive federal government that tells us what oil we can and can’t access through drilling, and ultimately makes us dependent upon other nations for our own fuel supplies.

This dependence is made worse by the fact that it is arbitrary: that is, we don’t have to rely on foreign sources of oil because we lack our own but because our government has chosen foreign importation over domestic production. And we name names where I am from, so for clarity’s sake allow me to say that Senators Mitch McConnell, John Cornyn, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson are not keeping us in this position, but are pushing for common sense changes in energy policies that will result in greatly expanded domestic production.

The two main culprits here are Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who are currently enjoying a 9% favorable approvable rating among the American people. Perhaps you will remember Reid as the man who boldly declared we had lost the war in Iraq a year ago: the war we are clearly winning today. His poor judgment in war-fighting and his lack of faith in our troops are matched by his energy policies that keep us dependent on oil from the very parts of the world with which we are at war.

Reid, and his cohort Pelosi, mock Republicans like McConnell, Cornyn, and Hutchinson for their belief that we can “drill our way out of this energy crisis.” But why can’t we drill out way out? Is oil that much different than other commodities? It is traded on the futures market and its elevated prices currently result from a demand that promises to be greater than future supply. Gold is a commodity, what would happen to it if we suddenly realized it is more plentiful than needles on a pine tree? I can tell you what would happen -- the value of an ounce of gold would plummet: its value is directly linked to its scarcity.

Recently, President Bush did something that should have been done years ago: He lifted the Executive Ban on off-shore drilling. This means we not only have the oil deposits throughout the western United States which we could access in order to be energy dependent but the great oil deposits miles away from our shores as well.

In Colorado and Wyoming alone we have oil deposits sufficient to rival those of Saudi Arabia. Those, plus the use of ocean rigs, would easily result in over a hundred years of fuel for our nation. Yet Reid and Pelosi will not even consider removing the Congressional ban on offshore drilling. Rather, they spend their time talking about the current “energy crisis.” But with oil supplies such as those in Colorado, Wyoming, and the ocean untapped, this doesn’t really seem like an energy crisis as much as it seems like a concerted effort on the part of Reid and Pelosi to keep America from enjoying her independence.

And there’s more -- We also have a rock quarry named ANWR from which we could double the amount of the oil we would draw from the western U.S. and ocean rigs. (I know all of ANWR doesn’t look like a rock quarry; but the part we would drill in does.) And there is nothing pristine about a rock quarry; no viable reason for keeping our oil companies from drilling there. Yet Reid and Pelosi oppose President Bush’s attempts to let Exxon and others pull oil out of ANWR as well. What’s wrong with these people?

The common opposition given against drilling offshore is the fear of oil spills. Does anybody remember hurricane Katrina? The havoc she wreaked on oil rigs in the gulf was unbelievable. Some of these were so damaged that they are yet to be back online. Winds well over 70 miles an hour and the resulting ocean surges pummeled the oil rigs late in the night of August 28 and into the early morning hours of August 29, 2005. And how much oil was spilled? Not one drop. (I am sure that Reid and Pelosi believe President Bush, “an oil man,” orchestrated the hurricane in such a way as to displace a hundred thousand New Orleans’ residents while sparing the oil in the gulf.)

On the other hand, the opposition to drilling in ANWR is usually cited in terms of the damage it would do to the caribou. In all honesty, how out of whack can things get? My friends and I shoot animals as big as caribou in our part of the country every year. We shoot deer, elk, bear, antelope, and aoudad, yet guess what happens without fail? Every few years the hunting seasons are lengthened because the animal populations are still so great that they require more thinning. Add to this the fact that the caribou around the current Alaskan pipeline are thriving and the arguments against drilling in ANWR go from ridiculous to asinine.

I am worried about having politicians in office who are more concerned about hoofed creatures than they are about human beings. Like President Bush, we still read our Bibles in West Texas and from it we learn that mankind was placed over nature not under it. Our Founding Fathers concurred.

We need to drill here and we need to drill now, as Newt Gingrich, McConnell, Cornyn, Hutchinson, and others who value America’s independence assert. It’s not a question of whether the oil is or isn’t there -- we know it’s there -- the question is whether we as a people will muster the wherewithal to tell politicians like Reid and Pelosi to remove the Congressional ban on drilling because America, rather than the Democrat Party or the caribou, comes first. In the end, this is tantamount to saying people come first; people of all economic classes who need gasoline for their cars, diesel for their trucks, oils to heat their homes, and the natural gas required to produce the electricity we are accustomed to having at the flip of a switch.

Just what part of “drill now” do they not understand?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 110th; anwr; congress; democratcongress; democrats; domesticoil; drillheredrillnow; drilling; energy; gasoline; gasprices; greens; offshoredrilling; oil; pelosi
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To: kellynla

Has anyone considered that the Arab lobby may be surreptitiously using oil profit money to help stiffen the resolve of our ‘statesmanlike’ democratic leaders? Set up an enviro non-profit. Fund it circuitouslyn Voila - high oil prices!


21 posted on 07/24/2008 3:06:00 PM PDT by sgtyork (The secret of happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom, courage. Thucydides)
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To: kellynla

“What Part of ‘Drill Now’ do they Not Understand?”

The part about why they should care about America?


22 posted on 07/24/2008 3:11:06 PM PDT by villagerjoel (Unfortunately, Mr Worsley's crab will not be displayed in any museum. A friend has eaten it.)
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To: sgtyork

The ‘Rats don’t care how high the gas prices get.

As far as they’re concerned, we should all be riding government owned mass transit anyway... like good little comrades.

They may be in for a rude awakening because they may not hold as many seats in the House & Senate as they had planned on after this election. And by 2010, they just might lose they majority in the Senate and possibly the House also.

No matter, the GOP has proven that it is a better minority party than a majority party.

“Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink.”
P.J.O’Rourke


23 posted on 07/24/2008 3:16:52 PM PDT by kellynla (Freedom of speech makes it easier to spot the idiots! Semper Fi!)
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To: shekkian

It’s very hard to prove otherwise.


24 posted on 07/24/2008 3:24:44 PM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: TribalPrincess2U

I’ve done this, signed every petition I could find online, sent e-mails to my reps and senator and several others as well. We just need to keep bombarding them.


25 posted on 07/24/2008 3:44:37 PM PDT by bamagirl1944 (That's short for Alabama, not Obama)
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To: TribalPrincess2U

I called. The guy on the phone said that “Senator Reid is currently against offshore drilling.” I told him that that is fine, he can have his one vote and to please let the other 99 Senators have theirs as well. I said that he represents the state of Nevada and to please let the people of the other 49 states to be represented as well.


26 posted on 07/24/2008 3:49:17 PM PDT by KansasGirl (Obama is just creepy.)
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To: TribalPrincess2U

BTTT.

Call Harry’s office and see if they are taking donations for a hearing aid. I called and they had to check around the office to hear if anyone heard that.
What a bunch of air heads.
Operation Hearing Aid.


27 posted on 07/24/2008 4:19:55 PM PDT by sweetiepiezer (DRILL OR GET OFF THE HILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Waco

Harry cannot be recalled, we checked that last year.


28 posted on 07/24/2008 4:48:30 PM PDT by sweetiepiezer (DRILL OR GET OFF THE HILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: kellynla

Scumbag Pelosi Contact Info:

Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-0100

http://www.speaker.gov/contact/

— Drill


29 posted on 07/24/2008 5:03:58 PM PDT by Drill Thrawl (Drill NOW, Drill HERE - Drill Thrawl)
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To: doug from upland

Now that’s some drilling we can do right now!


30 posted on 07/24/2008 5:04:50 PM PDT by Drill Thrawl (Drill NOW, Drill HERE - Drill Thrawl)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

The RATS are very sneaky and underhanded. They can’t get what they want the right way so they try and sneak amendments into bills that if the GOP stops, will make the GOP look like the bad guys. Thus the name RATS fit them to a T while conservatives...well conservatives are almost docile to a fault.

BTW... thanks to all that called—probably the worst RAT and underhanded sneaky RAT of all, Reid’s office about not giving the rest of the Senate a chance to vote. I appreciate your help.


31 posted on 07/24/2008 5:54:46 PM PDT by TribalPrincess2U
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To: Drill Thrawl

How does one person (Pelosi) block the rights and needs for many? Oh, that’s right, it’s called a special interest whore. Time to grab the pitchforks and pay her a visit. These a-holes are starting to ruin lives, careers and a country to advance their agenda.

LET’S GET ORGANIZED AND STOP THEM!


32 posted on 07/24/2008 7:14:58 PM PDT by Kryn-Man (Self-righteous, gun-totin', military-lovin', redneck)
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To: kellynla

There is also this article on human events:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27679

where a congresswoman says that the transalaska pipeline has to have a certain volume of oil going through it or they will have to shut it down. There isn’t enough coming from Prudhoe Bay as production is declining there. They need to drill in ANWR to keep the oil flowing on the transalaska pipeline.


33 posted on 07/24/2008 7:36:37 PM PDT by daylilly
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To: R_Kangel

You nailed it! I have been saying this to the Republican party since 2002 about using the Internet to counter Dem propoganda. I have helped the FBI after 911, at that time contacted the Whitehouse Database Administrator about protecting sensitive open vulnerabilities, offered to hand off the Dean for President Internet fund-raising and build a counter measure for Republicans at cost.

Let me share something imporatant: When I call the Republicans (and I am not talking a low level staffer either) to implement such counters to the Rats brainwashing, I am told to fill out 50 page forms and get to the back of the line and someone may call me back to assign an appropriation to cover costs. Or I am told to send over the plan so the official can take credit and get a nice pat on the head.

Do you know how Democrats handle this? They call me, ask if what they want can be done then they wire the money over. I always charged full boat because I can’t stand liberal politics. I discontinued working with them in any fashion.

However, at the time in 2004 when I conducted research for the Dean Internet fundraising (made Time mag) I needed to make a living. I have given a lot of time to the party and when I ask to serve the American public at my hard costs only and give up my time to serve there is total silence.

I do not regret giving service to America, the items I recommended were implemented. My family and myself didn’t pay the price without return, America benefited.

Sorry for the rant but it needed to be said!


34 posted on 07/24/2008 9:46:59 PM PDT by iThinkBig
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