The Discerning Texan

WHY--under the leadership of the Democrat Socialists in Congress--are we choosing to give so much of our wealth to our enemies to fuel our economy when we have more oil than they do??? Why are we impoverishing ourselves and our citizens when we could be getting all that capital for our own people?

I'm waiting for any reasonable person to answer that question. (Global Warmist Alarmists will be slapped in their ostrich-like faces to wake them up...)

Consider what should (in a reason-based society) be good news, all courtesy of Glenn Reynolds:

Item one:

THIS SEEMS PROMISING: "The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management today published proposed regulations to establish a commercial oil shale program that could result in the addition of up to 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from lands in the western United States. "

Item two:

THE WORLD POWERS UP, while America powers down.

Item three:

FINDING OIL RICHES IN THE ARCTIC:

The Arctic may contain as much as a fifth of the world’s yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves, the United States Geological Survey said Wednesday as it unveiled the largest-ever survey of petroleum resources north of the Arctic Circle.

Oil companies have long suspected that the Arctic contained substantial energy resources, and have been spending billions recently to get their hands on tracts for exploration. As melting ice caps have opened up prospects that were once considered too harsh to explore, a race has begun among Arctic nations, including the United States, Russia, and Canada, for control of these resources.

The geological agency’s survey largely vindicates the rising interest. It suggests that most of the yet-to-be found resources are not under the North Pole but much closer to shore, in regions that are not subject to territorial dispute.

Well, thank Gore that the ice is melting just as we need the oil. It's like divine Providence at work.

In case you missed it, that was the New York Times quoting a USGS report that as much as 90 billion barrels of oil likes north of the Arctic Circle.

AND YET OUR POLITICIANS ARE PREVENTING OUR EXPLORING THESE SOURCES, FOR THE BENEFIT AND WEALTH OF ALL OF US (AND TO THE DETRIMENT OF OUR ENEMIES...)

UNREAL! So let's do some math:

800 billion barrels from just the shale-recoverable lands in the West, plus
Our (existing) 22 billion barrels of reserves, plus
An estimated 19.1 billion barrels offshore on our Continental Shelf, plus
And estimated 10.4 billion barrels in ANWR, plus
As much as 90 billion north of the Arctic Circle...

Ladies and gentlemen, that adds up to what could be as much as 941.5 billion barrels of oil.

So let's just treat these as best case scenario. Even if you cut the shale-recoverable amount by 50% (which is probably too much...), down to 400 billion--then, assuming the Democrats and America-hating socialists and Global Warming Kool-Aid drinkers were not BLOCKING our ability to explore this oil, that would still give us (after adding the other sources above): some 441.5 billion barrels. As Reliapundit points out, (and according to Wikipedia) Saudi Arabia's current reserves are 264 billion barrels, which comprises 21% of the world's reserves.

Thus, if the Democrats would quit blocking our exploration and quit trying to blame our energy-starved economy on Oil Companies, it would make the US the largest oil producing nation on Planet Earth. This is oil which we not only would sell to our own people at a price resembling what the Saudis pay today (.65 cents per gallon!), but could also sell to other oil thirsty nations--at a profit; this of course, would pump billions of dollars into our economy, probably hundreds of billions.

Think we could use that energy and money??? You think the hungry people of the world could afford to have more because we have more?

Instead we all continue to enslave ourselves to an arcane, non-scientific, ridiculous, man-made Global Warming "Catastrophe" Hoax, all evidence to the contrary. So you think you can prove man made global warming? Go for it: these folks will give you $500,000. Put up or shut up.

Finally, as testement to just how bad it has gotten with our "representatives" Glenn posts this one:

"OIL THIRST: Will it transform the election?" Only if oil prices stay high, which is looking iffy.

UPDATE: Obviously some people think it matters:

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and other liberal leaders on Capitol Hill are gripped by cold-sweat terror. If they permit a vote on offshore drilling, they know they will lose when Blue Dogs and oil-patch Democrats defect to the GOP position of increasing domestic energy production. So the last failsafe is to shut down Congress.

Majority Leader Reid has decided that deliberation is too taxing for "the world's greatest deliberative body." This week he cut off serious energy amendments to his antispeculation bill. Then Senate Appropriations baron Robert Byrd abruptly canceled a bill markup planned for today where Republicans intended to press the issue. Mr. Byrd's counterpart in the House, David Obey, is enforcing a similar lockdown. Speaker Pelosi says she won't allow even a debate before Congress's August recess begins in eight days.

She and Mr. Reid are cornered by substance. The upward pressure on oil prices is caused by rising world-wide consumption and limited growth in supplies. Yet at least 65% of America's undiscovered, recoverable oil, and 40% of its natural gas, is hostage to the Congressional drilling moratorium.

Is this issue a winner for the Republicans? I don't know, but the Democrats are sure acting like they think it is.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Truman, 1948. What more can I say? (With apologies to Jan Deutsch.)

I especially like the ideas posed at that last link:

Operation Chaos: The Rebound [Rick Brookhiser]

A friend writes:

While I consider myself a Democrat, I am disgusted by my party this year and the thought of Obama winning the presidency terrifies me....Long story short, barring some miracle in Denver where Clinton wins the nomination, I am planning on voting for McCain. And I would prefer he win.

Here's the idea:

Bush needs to do what Truman did in 1948. He needs to call a special 11-day session of Congress over the summer recess and force the Congress to come back to Washington (the recess is Aug.11-Sept.5th).

Bush could then deliver a message where he asks Congress to do their jobs - legislate (!!), for example:

(1) address the energy/gas crisis (i.e, offshore drilling and/or nuclear); and/or

(2) pass a budget — they have yet to pass one appropriations bill this year because as Pelosi and Reid admitted — they are waiting for Obama to become president to do a budget, which btw — is simply irresponsible and wrong.

I believe that the Democrats would whine and not pass a thing. Then Bush and McCain could hammer them for being a "do-nothing Congress." Moreover, McCain has the experience legislating to show up Obama in the Senate during a special session — it's his turf and I think he could make Obama look foolish.

I believe it would work because (a) congressional approval is lower than the president's approval (by about 20 points); (b) Rasmussen's tracking poll shows that the Democratic advantage on the "generic ballot" has decreased in each of the last 5 weeks (people are tired of blaming Bush); and (c) Pelosi is not liked at all (people will readily transfer their angst about the government to her).

Personally, I like our high standard of living. I think it can go higher, that is if we are not so stupid that we continue to listen "group identity politics" of the Marxists and Socialist utopians.

I sometimes feel like the entire planet is sleepwalking. Well we had better wake up, and this year would be a good year to start.

Call Congress and the Senate. Sign the petition.

Don't beat around the bush: do it now! Tell them there is no excuse for any more delays; no excuse not to begin exporing our own resources NOW.