Democrats are starving us energywise

I totally agree.

Unfortunately it's not just Democrats. There have been times when we had a Republican president and Republican controlled congress. We didn't change our dependency on foreign countries for oil then either. I am a devout Republican but I can see the flaws in both parties. The real enemy is the agenda of most politicians not just one party or the other. Roughly this nation is divided 50/50 on party support. I think it's unlikely that 50% of the people and their party are wrong 100% of the time. Heck, even a broken watch is right twice a day.

Yesterday the REPUBLICANS in congress blocked legislation that would require the BIG OIL companies "use it or lose it" on current unused leases. Guess both parties are owned by BIG OIL., Big OIL's job is maximizing profit, they do it by selling at high prices & buying congressmen. We need term limits NOW. YOU NEED TO DO A FACT CHECK ON THE Chinees are not drilling off our coast.Dick Cheney, Republican VP, said they were not, but we all know how pol's lie. John McCain, the Republican Presidential Canadate is opposed to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Yes, yes justus4. Bush started the war to steal oil and Bush won't drill in America for oil. He's greedy and he's frugal. The only thing you care about is he's white and a Democrat. Your rants are endless contradictions with little meaning.

tom ga hunter, the use it or lose it rule is in every lease. It has been from the beginning. All of the oil companies and all of the congressmen know it. It can't be blocked, it's already there.

The prohibition of new offshore drilling has been in effect 20 plus years. Would the original letter writer care to go back and do the research to post exactly how that came to pass?

PT, Thank you for keeping up with the news. The "use it or lose it" talking point of the left has been driving me crazy! As you say, it's always been in the lease agreements.

So it would bring one million barrels of oil a day? We use billions of barrels of oil a day, so the letter writer is basically stating it would not make much of a dent in our problem. Well done Mr. Smock. What about the drilling in areas not in ANWAR, but not far from it, that has yet to bring any positive results?

Big oil wants to grab up and lease the remaining acres so they will have it all! This while Bush runs out the clock. As fd1962 wittily observed, this LTE is a Crock-of-Smock. Only a ranting crock pot could continue to salute this regime of rogues.

So should we just not drill for any oil? Should we just do nothing while we wait for cheep, afordable, mass produced alternative fuels/energy to be developed? imdstuf, what is the second "A" in "ANWAR"? I always thought it was the "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge" ANWR. The oil drilled at the Prudhoe Bay site accounts about 17% of the US's oil production, perhaps drilling in the proposed ANWR site could double that. And if it produces only a million barrels a day, that's a million barrels we didn't have before. It will add to the global oil supply driving the current price of oil down and could buy us a lot more time to develop cleaner, effecent, and afordable alternative energy sources.

Great article! I have said for awhile, that congress is waiting until they have a chance to get a democrrate in office. Then we will see a change. The press does nothing to point this out. all they do is place blame on President Bush. They are as transparent as glass.

In U.S. federal waters, there are >3900 offshore oil and gas platforms, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico , about one-third of which are idle. I wonder why?

People must realize that Dems want America to be a defeated country. They hate everything about this wonderful country and say anything negative they can find.

kotex24, it wasn't "Dems" who elected this destructive bedwetter.

bush,bush,bush dems in office for over 2 years now and have a lower rating than bush its 9%,anyone of you dems see something wrong with this,there just a bunch of losers

I think it is a fallacious argument that "all" Dems want America defeated. But it would be easy to use Cain's own words to create just said argument. hee,hee,hee,he. Sorry it was just too easy. My Bad!

Both parties and every president since Nixon is at fault. And for years, we had cheap oil and no incentive to seriously develop workable alternatives, build new refineries, drill for new sources and really become energy independent.

Carter was responding to the Arab oil embargo. And since Carter, every administration has called for energy independence.

So we need to hold every elected official, regardless of party, accountable for the mess we are in.

There is one option. Invent a method of converting all the hot air coming from Washington to energy and we will be truly energy independent.

November 2006 general election - gas averaged $2.16 per gallon. Today after two years of Democrat improvements - gas averages well over $4.00 per gallon. Any questions? (thanks to the previous poster of this info)

The next time you see or hear a RepubliCON bemoaning "the fact" that the Chinese are extracting oil 50 miles from our shores, he is deliberately lying through his teeth. The quickest way for Americans to lower the cost of gasoline is to use less of it. Carpool, slow down, turn off the AC while driving around town, inflate the tires, clean the air filter, use public transportation, walk, ride a bike, ride a scooter, drive a fuel effecient vehicle, increase the CAFE Standards. Use less and the oil companies profit less. Increasing their drilling rights only increases their assets and profits the share holders. It does not mean more oil supply and cheaper gasoline now.

sjgraci, I don't think that individuals would make that big of a difference when you think about how much oil is used in industry vs. personal usages

Mr. Smock: Respectfully sir, you are an idiot. Your facts must have come out of a comic book or fairy tale, because you know nothing about the real world. Oil is not the answer to our energy problems -- we are in the midst of the greatest transfer of wealth in history, for a commodity that takes millions of years to create, and is gone forever within 90 days out of the ground. We are making other governments rich, but they will be out of oil in 25-50 years, and then what will they do? The answer is new energy sources - not oil wherever it comes from.

Pat and Bob are captains of a sinking ship and they are willing to to go down with their ship.We the people waste our time and energy trying to educate Pat and Bob. Robert Smock and Patricia Thomas are Pat and Bob respectively.

Did I miss something or wasn't Conservatives telling us oil prices are a supply and demand issue so Bush supported this current path? He refused to investigate oil companies despite their record earnings. Okay...the Democrats are being pretty stupid to stop drilling at home when other countries are drilling without harming the eco-systems. The larger problem is that such homeland drilling must be implemented by people that do not have high stakes in contiuning to keep oil prices as they are even though the oil is drilled in the US. I have no faith in Conservatives because they are willing to encourage companies to rob us and even pay them incentives for doing so and then spin the blame on everyone else.

there is not a dimes worth of difference in substance between left and right. in rhetoric yes, in action no. the dollars decline and the great debt our masters have hung upon our backs will soon break the straw........

The oil companies have no intention of increasing production. All the drilling in the world won't matter as long as the oil companies can keep the prices high by limiting suppy.

Lindsey Williams, who has been an ordained Baptist minister for 28 years, went to Alaska in 1971 as a missionary. The Transalaska oil pipeline began its construction phase in 1974, he knows the rest of the story! Educate yourself and others....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3340274697167011147

Any so called enviromentalist who is flying in a private jet, driving in a gas guzzling suv, and living in McMansion is not serious about the propaganda he is preaching. They intend to have theirs and make the common man do without. We need to tell the anti nukes to go to h--- and build at least ten new ones. You can make cheaper motor fuel out of coal than you can corn or any other plant but the invorimental idiots panic at the idea of mining coal. Wind is a good option but it will not work if the wind dosen't blow and it is much more expensie per killowatt than nucular. Tell congress to get off their duffs and drill, build, and explore new methods for the future.