The Obama Shimmy

Update: Standing in the dark chamber and lauding their own perceived cleverness is how House Republicans ended this House session before the five week summer recess--a comic absurdity only appropriate to Washington, DC. These conservative legislators who do stupid human tricks for their big oil sponsors[1] could give a rolling donut about gas prices. Their only goal is to keep the oil profit bonanza going. They blocked legislation to require oil companies to diligently explore and develop the offshore leases already in their hands. Exploration is expensive and takes time, so a majority of the existing offshore leases have not been developed. If the conservatives were really interested in finding more supplies of oil, they would support legislation that gives companies an incentive to explore. The minority has blocked eight different energy bills intended to create alternative energy sources and improve energy efficiency. The only drilling that might be productive is in the heads of these demigogues to release some of their natural gas.
[1] House Minority Whip Roy Blount (R-Mo) has received nearly $100,000 in oil company contributions with $20,000 from Chevron alone.

Oil is about $125.oo a barrel, down over $20 a barrel from it's recent all time high. But Americans do not see a significant decline in gas prices at the pump. The sad truth that John McBush does not want you to know is that the international oil companies literally have us over their barrel. As long as we are totally dependent on their product to run our economy, they can play all the price games they want and nobody can stop them. Blaming Barack Obama for gas price blackmail is a cheap political trick. The American people should just say "no" to the oil oligopoly, and declare their energy independence by demanding that the next administration engage in an all out effort to develop alternative energy sources that are clean and can fuel our transportation needs. Barack Obama offers such a plan, but the opposition from the Republicans is so intense that he shifted his previous unqualified support for the offshore drilling moratorium while campaigning in Florida. AP says Obama told a Palm Beach newspaper, "If, in order to get that [a comprehensive energy policy] passed, we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage — I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." The only thing more drilling on the Outer Continental shelf is guaranteed to do is increase oil company profits[1] and oil spills. Industry experts admit that any oil or gas from the OCS is 10 years or more[2] away from entering the nation's fuel supply. By that time our increasing demand will have out stripped the dwindling supply of oil including the OCS. We use 25% of the world's oil, but we only have 2.6% of reserves. Do the math. We cannot drill our way out. Wackydoodle sez: "What we need heah, is a working majority."

[1]since BushCo entered office in 2001, gas prices have doubled and oil companies have made more than half a trillion dollars in profit. Exxon-Mobil announced its second quarter profits will be up 14% to $11.68 billion, the largest profit ever made by an American flag corporation.
[2] An OCS access case was prepared by MMS to examine the potential impacts of the lifting of Federal restrictions on access to the OCS in the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030. Leasing would begin no sooner than 2012, and production would not be expected to start before 2017. Because oil prices are determined on the international market, however, any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html
photo: Mississippi river barge sinks in collision with ship, and spills half a million gallons of fuel oil closing the river to traffic (AP)