Congressman Alcee Hastings - Articles - Zimbio

Politico: Udall shifts views on offshore drilling

Mon, 19 Aug 2008 12:03:08 GMT

posted by influentialist

“We’ve got to produce our own oil and gas here in our country and keep it here to power America’s economy,” Udall said in a TV ad. Photo: AP

If any doubt remained that the debate over energy has shifted in Republicans’ favor, Rep. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) ended it this week.

Udall, one of the House’s preeminent environmentalists and the Democratic nominee in a closely contested Colorado Senate race, came out in favor of a bipartisan, comprehensive energy plan that would permit additional offshore drilling — a striking departure from his past opposition to such measures.

He also aired a television ad featuring oil workers on a derrick, with Udall saying, “We’ve got to produce our own oil and gas here in our country and keep it here to power America ’s economy.”

Udall’s move comes as a number of leading Democratic candidates across the country are running away from their longstanding opposition to additional domestic drilling — and as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she would allow a vote on offshore oil drilling as part of an overall package that would also place additional restrictions against oil companies .

[Click for More]

Paris Hilton Has Better Energy Ideas Than Barack Obama, Says John McCain Out With a New ‘Celebrity’ Ad For Obama

Tue, 6 Aug 2008 21:25:21 GMT

posted by Denny777

After GOP-nominee-to-be Arizona Senator and “white-haired guy” John McCain made an ad touting Illinois Senator and Democratic-nominee-to-be Barack Obama’s celebrity status after he came back from his European tour minus meeting injured U.S. servicemen recovering from injuries suffered in combat asked if Obama is ready to lead, Paris Hilton has come out with a video which basically endorses McCain’s position on energy solutions for America.

I don’t know if Ms. Hilton had the foresight into what exactly she was doing when she made the video extolling drilling offshore, where it is now prohibited due to Speaker of the House of RepresentativesNancy ‘I want to save the planet’ Pelosi’s hard-fisted parliamentary moves that caused Congress to adjourn without any appropriations being passed because she thought maybe a Democrat or Republican would be able to put drilling offshore into one of the bills. But when she said that her “energy policy” was to “do a hybrid of both candidates,” including focusing on new technologies AND opening up our offshore to oil discovery and extraction “with strict environmental oversight,” she is disagreeing with Nancy AND Barack Obama, while pushing for Republican and McCain efforts at comprehensive energy policy for America.

Barack Obama may be trying to weasel out of yet another policy postion, this time about drilling for American oil on American soil and territory, but he has yet to totally flip on offshore drilling except he my allow it in an as yet undefined ”compromise” solution to a nonexistent current process that I guess would happen AFTER he became president. He cannot lead now, but displays absolute assuredness he will be able to so AFTER he is elected president. Barack displays the characteristics of a genuine charlatan about his so-called leadership abilities, in my opinion.

The current political reality is that he cannot, or will not, get Nancy to change her mind and let the House of Representatives actually represent, or keep a growing number of Democrats towing their worn-out talking point about drilling for oil on “eighty-five million acres” that don’t contain much oil underneath it.

”It sounds like Paris Hilton supports John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis — including both alternatives and drilling. Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan,” John Mccain said after learning of her video.

“John McCain says we need offshore oil drilling and we need it now,” campaign manager Rick Davis said in an email to supporters recently. “Senator Barack Obama has consistently opposed offshore drilling - calling it a ‘gimmick.’ Senator Obama’s solution to high gas prices is telling Americans to make sure their tires are inflated.”

Obama had said this last week: “There are things that you can do individually though to save energy; making sure your tires are properly inflated, simple thing, but we could save all the oil that they’re talking about getting off drilling, if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could actually save just as much.”

Even the Republican National Committee had fun with Obama’s new energy plan for America.

“…the RNC is providing members of the media with complimentary tools related to Barack Obama’s energy plan – a brand new tire gauge,” the RNC wrote in a press release recently. “Because, instead of actually increasing America’s domestic oil supply, this is how Obama thinks Americans should try to alleviate burdensome pain at the pump.”

Heck, McCain even used it as a way to financially help his campaign to raise money to battle Obama.

“Today, I’m asking for your help in putting Senator Obama’s ‘tire gauge’ energy policy to the test,’ McCain campaign manager Rick Davis had written to potential donors. “With an immediate donation of $25 or more, we will send you an ‘Obama Energy Plan’ tire pressure gauge. Will simply inflating your tires reduce the financial burden of high gas prices on your wallet?”

And McCain seems to be going after Obama’s jugular on the issue of drilling.

“We need oil drilling and we need it now offshore and we need it now. He has consistently opposed it. He has opposed nuclear power. He has opposed reprocessing. He has opposed storage. And the only thing I’ve heard him say is that we should inflate our tires. So he has no plan for addressing the energy challenges that we face,” McCain said during a Panama City press conference on Friday.

Meanwhile, Americans are suffering high energy and food prices while the Congress enjoys their tax-payer funded five week vacation without providing leadership for America on virtuously any major issue facing the nation.

In other political news, Salon quotes McCain as saying something seemingly rather foolish: “I encouraged Cindy to compete,” he told the crowd. “I told her [that] with a little luck, she could be the only woman to serve as both the first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.” The biker beauty pageant features topless women.

And according to a new poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, Americans are sick of hearing about Barack Obama. With Election Day still three months away, 48 percent of Americans said they’re hearing too much about the Democratic candidate. Only 26 percent said the same about his Republican rival, John McCain.

McCain-Romney 2008!

Americans Would Save More With Properly Inflated Tires Than Offshore Drilling

Tue, 6 Aug 2008 00:48:32 GMT

posted by Semp

This seems absolutely crazy, but science is on the side of Barack Obama who made the seemingly outrageous statement that Americans should make sure their tires are properly inflated to improve fuel efficiency. All the data is here in TIME magazine.

Oil experts predict that by 2030, offshore drilling would add an extra 200,000 barrels of oil per day to the market. Our current demand for oil is approximately 20.6 million barrels of oil per day. To put that simply, McCain’s plan for offshore drilling will fill less than 1% of our daily demand about 20 years from now.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama’s friendly suggestion to inflate your tires will increase America’s vehicle fuel efficiency by an average of 3%, according efficiency experts and statisticians.

Now, what the TIME article doesn’t mention is that only 45% of the oil we use goes into gasoline for motor vehicles. (70% goes to transportation in general, but airplanes won’t benefit much from properly inflated tires and they are so strictly monitored by the FAA anyways that it wouldn’t matter if they did.)

So let’s do the math.

45% of 20,600,000 barrels of oil is 9,270,000 barrels.

3% of 9,270,000 barrels of oil is 278,100 barrels.

Barack Obama’s suggestion would reduce consumption by 278,100 barrels of oil per day.
John McCain’s suggestion would add 200,000 barrels of oil per day.

278,100 > 200,000

It defies logic, but Barack Obama is technically right.

Now, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be drilling. If everybody inflated their tires AND we drilled offshore, we would add 478,100 barrels of oil to the market every day.

478,100 > 278,100

And even more importantly, we should be drilling in ANWR, which could add anywhere from 500,000 to 1,450,000 barrels of oil per day to the US market, or as much as 7%. That’s more than three as much oil than both John McCain’s plan and Barack Obama’s suggestion would free up, COMBINED!!!

If we drill in ANWR, drill offshore, and properly inflate our tires, we’re looking at freeing up a total of 1,928,100 barrels of oil per day. That’s over 9% of our current levels of consumption within the next 20 years.

That’s assuming oil remains our primary source of energy for transportation for the next two decades. If the nation invests in nuclear power, electric cars could be the thing of the future and our demand for oil would drop significantly, possibly even a third or more. Nobody has a crystal ball to predict such things, but if US consumption dropped to just 13 Million barrels of oil per day (about 64% of current levels), that 1,928,100 barrels of oil per day would be 15% of our consumption.

If our consumption drops even more than that, that percentage will be higher.

There is no individual solution that’s going to save us from our addiction to foreign oil. But if we drill more, conserve at home, and invest in new technologies, there’s no reason why we can’t significantly reduce our dependence in our lifetimes.

The only people who are wrong in this whole affair are Congressional Democrats who are obstructing progress towards this goal of energy independence. It is absolutely shameful that they are taking a five week vacation while the fuel we put in our cars are going to countries that would love nothing more than to destroy our way of life, whether it’s Hugo Chavez or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Obama Is The New Bill Clinton

Fri, 2 Aug 2008 18:58:59 GMT

posted by rrformccain

One thing you had to give Bill Clinton credit for was his uncanny ability to identify political trends and change his position just in time to ride the wave and somehow claim the idea and position as his own (check out the history of NAFTA as an example). It was amazing how the press would not so much "call him out" on these position changes, but rather, they would simply marvel at his ability lie and "spin" so boldly. Over the last two weeks Obama has changed his position on Iraq (see Obama on Tour), and now he’s in the process of changing his position on offshore drilling (see the full article here) and he’s getting the complete Bill Clinton treatment from the press for his efforts. Mark my words, if the political momentum for offshore drilling continues, Obama will continue to soften his position with caveats and spin until he’s fully advocating that we lift the ban. Classic Bill Clinton. never admit that you were wrong, or for that matter even ever said anything that was in opposition to what you’re saying now. Hold firm to the new lie, ignore the old. Do whatever is necessary to obtain the office. At least John McCain has had the stones when reversing his position on offshore drilling to A) acknowledge that he was formerly opposed to it B) acknowledge that he was, in fact, changing his position and C) offer substantive reasons why.

McCain Wants Change In Offshore Drilling Ban

Tue, 18 Jun 2008 15:59:17 GMT

posted by MonkeyCrash

With all the talk coming from Obama’s campaign about change, McCain is the first to step up to the plate and seek real change. Tuesday McCain called for the offshore drilling ban to be lifted. According to CNN at a press conference Tuesday in Houston Texas McCain said “We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use.”

Obama criticized McCain for changing his stance on offshore drilling.

Again from CNN:

“John McCain’s support of the moratorium on offshore drilling during his first presidential campaign was certainly laudable, but his decision to completely change his position and tell a group of Houston oil executives exactly what they wanted to hear today was the same Washington politics that has prevented us from achieving energy independence for decades,” he said.”It’s another example of short-term political posturing from Washington, not the long-term leadership we need to solve our dependence on oil,” he said.

McCain is not telling “Big Oil” what they want to hear, he is listening to the American people and giving us what we want. According to a recent Rasmussen poll: 67% Support Offshore Drilling, 64% Expect it Will Lower Prices.

We have not been allowed to drill for oil since 1981. Obama wants to keep it that way. That’s not change. His plan is to tax “Big Oil” giving the government even more money and raising the cost of fuel even higher. That’s not change. He has also now been endorsed by the fear monger himself, Al Gore. You can bet if Obama gets the White House Gore will play a significant role in the environmental policies.

I have heard the argument from some that even if we drill here, drill now, we will not see a price drop for 5 years. This is untrue. Much of the rise of the cost for oil has been due to speculators. There is no doubt that as soon as we begin drilling, the price will drop. It’s all about supply and demand. If we are dependant on foreign oil they set the supply amount which drives up the price. Basic economics.

Yes we should continue to look for alternative solutions. We should make more hybrid cars and explore further possibilities, but we have an answer to our problem right under us and thanks to the American Left we have done nothing about it.

It’s time for change. Change we can believe in. That change will come from McCain not Obama. Drill here, Drill now.

MoneyCrash is Your Source for Conservative Opinion.

Bookmark:

ShareThis