Democrats Oppose Increasing Oil Supply

To know where Democrats in Washington stand on increasing oil supply, one only needs to look at what they are doing and what they want to do.

They want to . . .

  • Punish the oil industry with higher taxes. This punishes everyone in the form of higher gas prices at the pump.
  • Control the oil industry by telling them where they must drill. They whine about the 8 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico that are not as promising, efficient, or as easy to get to than the millions of acres on land and in other places in the surrounding Gulf, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and ANWR that they demand are off-limits. If it is harder to get to and has less capacity, it will be more expensive at the pump. Not less.
  • Control the auto industry by telling them what kind of cars to build and what kind of ‘performance’ they must have. Right now, GM for example, pays out more in benefits to people that no longer work for them (retirees) than their current employees. In total, they pay out more in benefits than they are making from sales. They pay more for health care for people that don’t work for them than steel for making their product.
  • And right now, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is refusing to send a bill (H.R. 6566) to the floor of the House for a vote that, if passed, will remove the ban on exploration and drilling in all the areas with the most potential. Why is she doing this? Because there are enough Democrats in the House that believe it is the right thing to do and will vote for it. And the last thing Pelosi wants to see is gas prices come down and the economy improve while there is a Republican in the White House. She cares more for her party and holding power than the welfare of the country and you.
  • Prevent development of what is potentially as much as 800 billion barrels of oil shale in Colorado. Rush Limbaugh explains this point in this video, below.

related links: How About An Energy Policy That Gets Some? | Chavez May Thank Democrats for H.R.5351 | National Energy Day

Citizens Fighting Crime

Nine months after a noble attempt to reverse violent crime in Philadelphia, organizers of 10,000 Men on the Street are taking another look at how to turn things around. The movement did produce 200 volunteers willing to help, but there was no enthusiasm to do Guardian Angel-type foot patrols in the worst neighborhoods.

That’s not the response organizers had hoped for after an impressive turnout at a rally last October that received lots of media attention.

Organizers now say funding and logistical problems hampered the project. They also underestimated the desire of volunteers to patrol the mean streets.

But all is not lost.

A survey of 2,000 potential volunteers said they were interested in serving as role models with troubled youth, as opposed to confronting armed and dangerous thugs on street corners.

Organizers are shifting focus from confrontation to the more conventional tack of mentoring and being role models for the kids with the goal, of course, to steer the kids in the right direction before they become a statistic. The assessment of the program so far is that some progress is better than no progress.

Mentoring the kids is half of the problem. Dissolution of the family unit, or no family at all, is the other.

related link: Philadelphia Inquirer Editorial