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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Theater Versus Energy Solutions

Imperiously hauled before Congress, oil execs were drilled yet again in a contrived congressional effort to prove to American voters that high oil prices are not the fault of Congress, but of those evil, greedy oil companies. Just how stupid do they think we all are?

Congress' lamentably lamebrain solutions to the crisis are to 1) browbeat oil execs, 2) tax the oil industry, the cost of which will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices at the pump, 3) dispense massive farm subsidies to grow corn-for-ethanol, thus further driving up food prices and, 4) the mother of all inanities, file suit against OPEC. Brilliant!

The breathtakingly obvious solution is to break the stranglehold of environmental extremism on national energy policy by aggressively encouraging environmentally responsible offshore and ANWR drilling, offering huge financial incentives to private industry to develop alternative clean fuels, increasing the number of refineries, and going nuclear. Result: energy independence, security and affordability within five years--or less--and an almost immediate drop in worldwide oil prices.

The tyranny of environmental extremists should no longer be tolerated!

Politics Trumps Security--Again

Passed by the Senate on a bi-partisan basis several months ago, and despite urgent requests from both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, Speaker Pelosi, ever the self-serving political opportunist, still refuses to allow the Patriot Act to come up for a vote in the House.

More fearful of Speaker Pelosi's wrath than of putting at risk America's ability to intercept overseas terrorist communications, most House Democrats still refuse to sign a bi-partisan discharge petition which would bring HR 5440 to a vote.

Shameless political gamesmanship and obstructionism once again trumps homeland security.

Is it any wonder Congress's approval rating is at 16% and that it will likely take another catastrophic attack on our homeland to shake them back to reality?

Another example of why only term limits may be the only way to restore responsible, high-minded and principled leadership to D.C.

Unprincipled Congressional "Leadership"

By failing to allow a vote on the Protect America Act--which gained bipartisan support in the Senate--the Democratic "leadership" in Congress is doing nothing more than enabling their trial-lawyer contributors to sue telecommunications companies who, in the past, patriotically cooperated with US government efforts to monitor overseas--that's "overseas"--terrorist traffic. Result: those companies upon whom the government very heavily relies for new terrorist leads are no longer inclined to cooperate. For the "Pelosi Gang", politics again trumps American security.

The "Pelosi Gang" is also blocking a vote on the SAVE Act which, among other common-sense provisions, calls for sanctions against US employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, as well as an increase in the number of border patrol agents to better safeguard our borders.

As if this cynical and self-serving obstructionism is not enough, the shameless "Pelosi Gang" has refused to stop passage of nearly $18 billion worth of pork barrel spending, aka earmarks, this in in direct contravention of their sacred promise to voters in 2006 to restore transparency, fiscal responsibility and honesty to Congress. Yeah, right.

Disgracefully self-serving politicians bent on power alone, the "Pelosi Gang" and their congressional minions once again have shown their true colors--and it definitely isn't red, white and blue.