Free Republic

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.

July 4th is America’s Independence Day, yet we are grossly dependant on foreign oil because the “Environmentally Ill” say that oil harvesting is a danger to wildlife. However, other countries drill for oil and it’s apparently OK for us to purchase and consume their “blood” oil. Unless American wildlife and habitats are superior, then isn't it all the same? If habitats are being harmed because of drilling, why not keep it close to home, so we can monitor, lobby, legislate and otherwise regulate it to death. Oh... sorry, we already to that. But at least the United States ...

In the past three weeks, there has been a political firestorm caused by misreported facts about the purchase of P&O by Dubai Port Works, and scurrilous attacks on the UAE by pundits, which has led to the betrayal of America's most loyal and useful an ally in the Persian Gulf. The fallout from this betrayal will make it difficult to recruit future allies in the war on terror. The attacks on the UAE have the potential to do what Osama bin Laden has not been able to do with over a decade of bombings, the hijacked airliners, and fatwas. Just...

BACK on the F-Bar Ranch, when I was too young to load the chute, de-horn, vaccinate, hold a hot iron or otherwise make myself useful as my father and older brothers branded calves, I would spend my time collecting "earmarks" — V-shaped pieces of a calf's left ear detached with two swift strokes of a pocketknife. I would stack these earmarks on the fence surrounding the corral as an unofficial tally of our progress. Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here I am in Congress, again being asked to collect earmarks. Sorry. I've had enough...