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The Democratic leaders are between a rock and a hard place:

The hard place are the Republicans who want an alternative to the Democrats energy bill, and the Republicans have the majority of the public behind them in wanting to expand offshore drilling.

The rock is that there are many in the Democratic caucus that agree and want to drill where the Republicans want to drill and the Democrats are running so scared of having to vote on the Republican’s alternatives, so they simply aren’t even scheduling the energy measure for floor action, according to The Hill.

No matter what polls you look at, the majority of the American public agree with the Republicans about drilling here, drilling now.

InsiderAdvantage/Poll- 61% favor drilling off the coast of Florida. (http://www.southernpoliticalreport.com/storylink_626_452.aspx)

Rasmussen-67% Support Offshore Drilling
(http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/67_support_offshore_drilling_64_expect_it_will_lower_prices)

Zogby- 74 percent support offshore oil drilling
(http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/jun/26/poll-74-percent-support-offshore-oil-drilling-us/)

The Democratic leaders will not even bring it up for floor action.

Is it any wonder that Congress now holds a 12 percent confidence rating?
(Gallup- http://www.gallup.com/poll/108142/Confidence-Congress-Lowest-Ever-Any-US-Institution.aspx)

How will the Democrats spin this into Republican obstruction? Watch the CBS Evening News with Couric, NBC News with Brian Williams, or ABC News with what’s his name. I guarantee they will either have the same spin, or no reporting at all.

Democrats have a commonsense plan to help bring down skyrocketing gas prices by cracking down on price gouging, rolling back the billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies, tax breaks and royalty relief given to big oil and gas companies, and increasing production of alternative fuels.”

This latest plan doesn’t sound at all like the plan (above) released during the 2006 campaign.

(Picture–gas pump, anywhere U.S.A., with pricing visible)
Should America increase its production of domestic oil?
(Picture—Chinese oil rig in Gulf of Mexico)
Other nations are drilling oil just 50 miles from our coast. Should we be drilling our own oil from these areas?
75% of Americans say yes. Yet because Republicans in the House want to vote on increased domestic drilling, Democrats refuse to schedule discussion of energy legislation, legislation they promised to deliver this summer.
Picture of Summer Clearance sale sign in store window
Closeup of gas pump numbers spinning furiously past $5o.
How long can we afford this kind of leadership?

Change the sign in the store window to “going out of business” and you have a winner Nell.

I am so disgusted with the lack of any action by Washington. Republicans have sold the country down the drain to accommodate big business either via war or turning a “blind eye” on commerce. Businesses have sacrificed the long-term good of the country in order to inflate the bottom line and maximize ludicrous executive pay. Trickle down is not happening folks! The wealth is being hoarded and retained by the top 1%. Has Washington interceded and implemented reformed tax policy? Neither party has done what should have benn done in the 90s and revised the tax structure. What’s wrong with paying a fair share proportionate to your means for the privelege of living and working here? Are you listening Accenture?

Our debt is horrendous and our posterity has their future saddled with the consequence of an irresponsible administration. How can you whine about Clinton and his indiscretions when Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al. have raped us! Lobbyists control our government, not the people. I don’t care if I am represented by an AARP or such, that doesn’t mean that I would sacrifice the good of the country for my individual parochial want. You can’t tell me that someone is not yanking Congressmen/Senators’ chains saying “Just a little bit longer and I’ll make it worth your while…” ( Oil, Hi-Tech H1Bs, Contractors – Defense & others )They are all crooked and we reap the benefits of huge debt. On a side note, thanks to the Saudi & Beijing National Banks for the loans and we appreciate your “no strings attached” agreements.

But the average citizen can participate… Don’t you have a 401K or some other investment that will benefit what a crock! Look at the market, the same market Bush wanted to privatize Social Security and redirect funds to. Gross market manipulation and the government ignores it. After all the Enron, TYCO, WorldCom perp walks, has anyone from the Mortgage debacle or even DELL been walked lately? Teapot Domes and other gross inequities were prosecuted

The United States was built by the people with the help from our foreign partners, not the Gates, Buffets, Jobs, and Dells. They would and have indeed sacrificed us for a supposed global economy. Perhaps we are precipitously close to a point where the masses decide to take back what is rightfully ours. Don’t tell me to leave if I don’t like it… My family has been here a long time and supported Manifest Destiny not Manifest Destruction.

Well then John go ahead and write in RON PAUL for President and Obama will thank you.

In case you hadn’t noticed, the GOP has been doing everything they can to move this issue forward. But some folks got mad at the GOP in 2006 and didn’t vote for them.

So, if you really want to find the culprit here, I’d ask the folks who sat on their hands in 2006.

America can get energy independence within a decade if it adopts this plan;

http://www.strategicnine.com/STERLING-AMERICAN-ENERGY-PLAN.htm

The elections is going to become a race between the parties as to who can issue the more aggressive American Energy Development plan.

There is an extremely dangerous game being played by the White House, Congress, and certain activist organizations that is placing the economy and the security of America at great risk. As a matter of national security and as a significant boost to the American economy, it makes no sense to not assure and achieve hydrocarbons energy independence.

America faces a very dark future as rapidly-increasing energy costs threaten to bankrupt the entire economy, bringing about a depression with no end.

Dr. Roy Cordato from the conservative think tank John Locke Foundation said. “This is a government driven scarcity,” Dr. Cordato added. “It’s driven by laws that has kept the United States off the exploration market.”

With the exception of waters off Alaska and every Gulf Coast state but Florida, most of the nation’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) is off-limits to energy exploration up to 200 miles offshore, thanks to a moratorium that Congress has inserted into an appropriations bill every year since 1982. Drilling has developed to the point that there is little danger of spillage or contamination. There is no reason to prevent drilling on our continental shelf.

The other major source of energy is the shale oil deposits out west. It has been estimated that the shale deposits contain more oil than all the reserves in the Middle East.

We need a “Manhattan Project” of energy development. We’re crazy not to be using our own resources. Much has changed since the 1982 offshore drilling moratorium was enacted. Drilling technology has advanced over the past quarter-century. Oil companies can drill more efficiently in deeper water with significantly less risk to the environment. “Compared to worldwide tanker spill rates, outer continental shelf operations are more than five times safer,” according to the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service. Domestic drilling would also create a huge economic boost to America.

Both US political parties cling to long-standing positions on energy – then blame their colleagues across the aisle for blocking their efforts.

FLASH: The price of a U.S. gallon of gas in London today is $9.00. Stick that in your tailpipe and smoke it. That’s where we are headed if we don’t loosen up some of our domestic reserves. If the USA committed to produce an additional 5 million barrels per day more in 5 years, the gasoline price would begin to drop immediately.