Before I bid adieu...

What a surprise...

The Bush administration is making a concerted effort to force Congress into lifting the legislative ban on oil and gas drilling on the outer continental shelf (OCS).  Just the other day, he lifted the executive ban, in an attempt to push the issue and make the Democrats look like they are the reason gas is over four dollars a gallon.

Don't be fooled!

House Republicans yesterday blocked a move by Democrats that would have spurred exploration for oil in areas in which the oil companies already hold leases. The measure would have also barred oil companies from obtaining new leases if they were not actively exploring for oil in places where they already hold leases. The measure was a ploy by the Democrats, but highlighted the serious flaws in the agenda of the oil companies and their enablers in the US government.

With all of the political posturing about drilling for oil on the the Continental shelf or in ANWR, I have yet to see any politician provide a guarantee that any/all oil extracted from the Continental shelf/ANWR/Florida will stay within or be sold only within the United States market.

Where is my guarantee?  Will we spoil our natural wonder just to ship the oil to East Asia at market prices?  Before we go any further in this debate, I want a Drill Here, Sell Here guarantee!

Any and all new leases must pay reasonable royalties and ship the crude to US refineries/processors only.  If a refinery can not handle the capacity, the oil is sent to the Strategic Oil Reserve.  Now, don't even get me started on price.  Should this crude be sold at market rates?  Hmmm.  The oil companies have wanted these leases for years.  How about they sell it to us at 2002 rates?  It was a good deal back then at those rates, why not now?  

Many may say that the Drill Here, Sell Here movement smacks of price controls and nationalization.   I say it is about cooperation and breaking our dependence on foreign imports.  It is a national security issue.  I am certain that all parties can agree on that. This isn't about profits, it is about patriotism!

Two months back I wrote about the Oil Speculation Bubble and speculated on what could cause it to burst. I must admit I was pessimistic in my timing despite my own gut feelings that we were going to see it burst sooner rather than later. I had nothing to base that feeling on, and felt it best not to comment on it.

Simply put, and to quote the better of two Bushes, "it's the economy, stupid." We have come to a point where it is impossible for the economies of the industrialized countries to keep up. Emerging economies in smaller nations have rammed a brick wall and are frankly not able to cope. The result has been increases in food prices, electricity prices, and finally in consumer goods.

Most Americans I hear from second-hand sources support drilling. I've heard numbers between 60 to 80%.

I'm guessing most Americans just want oil prices to come down. The problem with drilling right now to help oil prices is that it would take years for it to come on-line.

Therefore, I don't think they support drilling as much as they just want the prices to come down.

The Democratic Party needs to put forward a platform of how to bring oil prices down. I have some perspectives on the matter, which I believe would be worthwhile to explore.

Jake Stump of the Charleston Daily Mail got it wrong about Big Oil's favorite West Virginian, the ineffective Bush Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito in today's paper:

On Wednesday, the Barth campaign attacked Capito for taking contributions from big oil companies like Exxon and Marathon in previous years, though Exxon has not given to her campaign this election cycle.

"These are very powerful and controversial special interest groups that have hiked up our gas prices and exploited working families," said Barth spokesman Mark Ferrell. "This campaign will not take money from big oil."

Oh really?

Exxon Mobil Corp. PAC
5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, Texas 75039
06/29/2008 1000.00

The latest Democratic proposal on drilling failed today.

Pelosi's comments on the bill:

Part of what we must do to bring down the price of energy to the American people is to increase domestic supply. And increasing domestic supply means that we must remove all doubt in the minds of those who wish to drill and those who want the drilling to take place that there are 68 million acres in the lower 48 states where drilling is allowed. Drill Responsibly In Leased Lands.

Republicans opposed the bill because it did not lift the ban on off-shore drilling.

Here is one more nail in the coffin for the Republicans: where in the OCS should the oil companies drill?

Oilmen defending their "product" against militant environmentalists?  Interference from malefactors on the mainland?  Populist supporters of ballot initiatives slandering a "despotic" mayor?  Are we in Texas?  At a meeting of the UN? In California?!

Mayor Mufi Hannemann is at the center of a controversy exploding in paradise: whether to build light rail in Honolulu.

Today’s impossible prices for oil have finally forced America to ask the essential question: "Where’s the Plan?"

We’re in a situation where every business, every homeowner, every retiree, every local and state government, and every U.S. citizen is being forced to live under ‘crisis planning’ – which is a recipe for failure.

On a national level, stumbling from crisis to crisis — from Iraq to Katrina to the current energy crisis - is not a plan to govern.

To become an energy independent nation, the first step we must take is to develop a plan.  We must develop this plan together, out in the open – not behind closed doors.

Obama Campaign spokesman Bill Burton just made a major gaffe, on energy policy. What may make this more problematic as a gaffe, is that it also may not be recognized by many Democrats as such.

I ask one favor in advance. This piece is not short. It goes through both the underlying issue, some broader points regarding the importance of talking point communications to the public, and some general tendencies that may perpetuate certain critical types of mistakes when it comes to dominant message framing.  While I hope that you do take a few moments to read this piece --- in fact I actually hope you send it to the DNC -- you certainly can choose not to. But what I ask, I hope reasonably, is that if you do choose not to read the full piece, is to refrain from commenting upon it or recommending comments. If you do not read it, you can not know what it really says.  And it is what it really says, that is important. Thanks in advance for that consideration.

Update:  

"The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said.

(Update: I have the whole speech text in Update IV)

[Obama Comments in Update V)    

Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.

Gore sets 'moon shot' goal on climate change

Gore will be giving a major speech today on energy security, climate change, and the economy, which he correctly sees as interrelated.

Update: But some Dems are running scared already.

We need to have Al's back on this.  Some Dems are grumbling:

The Hill: Some finding Gore’s timing inconvenient

More, after the fold.  

Obama Campaign spokesman Bill Burton just made a major gaffe, on energy policy. What may make this more problematic as a gaffe, is that it also may not be recognized by many Democrats as such.  

Why are McCain and Bush always saying the same things?
They're both convinced, or want to convince us, that our current economic problems are "psychological."  There's something psycho about it, true, but it's not all in our heads . . .

Our transportion fuel problem is not a "political problem" it is a defining moment in our history.

I haven't seen this mentioned on DKos except the Diary "Obama Boy's."   Please go to their website and watch the program or read the transcript from yesterday.  Democracy Now is an excellent program and I suggest people here watch it daily.  

The program starts off with a conversation about this whole hooplah of Drilling, Drilling, Drilling.  I have to ask myself WHY NOW?  Bush has had 7 1/2 years to do this WHY NOW?
Its a Hoax, just as many have said Global Warming is a Hoax.  These oil companies already have land leased to Drill, 68 million acres if I am not mistaken, but they haven't used it.  

Bush is trying to back the Democrats, into a corner to open up more land, he wants to open up more land for the oil companies to drill before he leaves office.  This shouldn't happen and he is blaming the Democrats for this.  Don't let them be backed into a corner.  Drilling is not going to solve any problams with Gas Prices period.  They need to quit playing with the market.  

The offshore areas of the United States are estimated to contain significant quantities of resources in yet-to-be-discovered fields. MMS estimates of oil and gas resources in undiscovered fields on the OCS (2006, mean estimates) total 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of gas. These volumes represent about 60 percent of the oil and 40 percent of the natural gas resources estimated to be contained in remaining undiscovered fields in the United States

.

http://www.mms.gov/...
Data from government

Let's be constructive. Obama wants to put 15 billion a year into alternative energy and we have a big deficit, so we can use some of the profits to fund  alternative energy, which is neccesary.

 Most Americans want to drill, upwards  of sixty percent. Drilling

According to  Naomi Klein, appearing today on Democracy Now, lifting the ban on off-shore drilling will not lower gas prices at all.  In fact she fears that, to the ultimate dismay of Americans, lifting the ban on offshore drilling will raise the price of gas.  Ms. Klein's umbrella concept  is something she calls "shock doctrine."  

And this is what I mean by "the shock doctrine." There is a clear political strategy, and has been for several decades, to exploit these moments when people are desperate for quick-fix solutions and more inclined to believe in a kind of a magical cure, to push through very, very unpopular policies that don’t actually solve the crisis at hand, that don’t actually help people, but are incredibly profitable for multinational corporations.