Stuff You May Have Missed

Because the VLWM won't report it. Doesn't suit their agenda of disinformation and outright lies.

The Old Democrat Party: FDR Expanded US Domestic Oil Production

The "Drill, baby, drill!" mantra of the 2008 Republican National Convention was cynically answered by Barack Obama supporters at the Democratic Convention with: “You can't drill your way out of the problem.”

To address what President Obama called the worst worldwide crisis in living memory, the President promised hundreds of thousands of new green jobs if America abandoned its reliance on oil and gas, which he contemptuously refers to as the “fuel of the past”.

During President Obama’s term in office he will have escalated the federal debt by $6.4 trillion, 31.6 times the $202.6 billion debt the Franklin Roosevelt Administration issued to deal with the greatest worldwide crisis of all time, defeating Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. But unlike Obama, FDR achieved victory by expanding domestic oil and gas production and delivery.

In spite of the Obama Administration, a rag tag assortment of small “wildcat” oil and gas entrepreneurs have proven that America has over 100 years’ supply of natural gas and over 50 years’ supply of oil. With Obama’s green initiatives in tatters, his new strategy seems to be taking credit for drill, baby, drill achievements, but remains fearful of the political consequences to build the pipelines to pump, baby, pump all that oil and gas to markets.

With war looming, FDR appointed Harold Ickes, former Secretary of the Interior, to select 72 leaders of America's oil industry to serve on the Petroleum Industry War Council. Ickes would later describe in his book, Fightin Oil: “as one of the great coincidences of history”, the first meeting of the PIWC was scheduled for Monday December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, the PIWC had mobilized America’s 1,500 oil companies, great and small, to work amicably with the government to win the war. With full involvement of the oil industry, America began massive drilling and quickly developed the technical capabilities to refine huge quantities of gasoline, including the 100-octane grade needed for aircraft.

To get energy supplies from Texas to the East Coast refiners to fuel Atlantic supply convoys, the industry in one year built the two largest diameter pipelines in the history of the world, the Big Inch and the Little Big Inch. During the war, U.S. oil companies delivered 6 billion out of a total of 7 billion barrels of oil consumed by the Allies. The Army-Navy Joint Chiefs of Staff wrote a letter to the PIWC in 1945 stating that “at no time did the Services lack for oil in the proper quantities, in the proper kinds and at the proper places.” Field-Marshall Von Rundstedt, commander of Germany’s Western Front, attributed Germany’s defeat to three factors involving oil: (1) Allied bombing (2) Allied naval bombardments; and (3) Germany's gasoline deficiency.

For three years the Obama Administration energy policy focused on pouring $60 billion into alternative energy; while limiting U.S. drilling off the Atlantic Coast, Florida Gulf Coast, Gulf of Mexico, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and federal lands in the Rockies. Due to these policies, the average price per gallon of gas just hit an all-time-high for this time of year at $3.84 a gallon.

I may be waxing nostalgic, but in 1972, I was paying $0.36 a gallon for high test gasoline for my '66 Mustang. My grandaddy used to bitch about the price because he paid $0.25 a gallon for his '54 Chevrolet Sedan Delivery. In 20 years, the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump only increased $0.11.

In 20 days, the price of a gallon of gasoline at the pump has increased twice that.

It Will Make For Some Cheap Gasoline, Too

Oil trade groups: Drilling deregulation could create 190,000 jobs

Published: 12:04 AM 07/12/2011
Updated: 2:34 AM 07/12/2011

Almost 190,000 jobs could be created by 2013 if offshore drilling returns to pre-spill levels, according to a study sponsored by two oil trade groups, the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API).

The study, conducted by Quest Offshore Inc., found that if permits for exploration and drilling returned to historic levels, and if backlogged requests were granted, 400,000 jobs could be supported across the United States with a GDP increase of $45 billion by 2013.

“The president says he wants ideas for putting Americans back to work right now,” said Jack Gerard, API president, during a conference call today. “So we urge him, again, to take a look at policies that will encourage oil, and domestic gas development.”

BigBambu and Co up in de Massa's house don't want American oil going into American companies. Where's the fun in that? Their idea of maximum fun is to make every American as bad off as, say, a resident of a suburb of Mexico City. They want us BROKE Folks. How else do you explain it? If he's so effing smot (ess em oh tee smot), why is it that he keeps promoting policies that will take us all down the rabbit hole?

He's not smot: he's clever, devious, pernicious, insidious and evil and he has the best interests of NO ONE EXCEPT HISOWNSELF.

Read more:

Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill-Jobs-Drill

Heritage Morning Bell
Obama's Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America

Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration's job-killing agenda. As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy -- a direct result of President Barack Obama's anti-energy policies.Stilley's company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production -- a consequence of Obama's drilling moratorium and subsequent "permitorium" -- led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he's speaking out, sharing Seahawk's story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research. (Click to watch.)

It's an unfortunate example of how policies in Washington are harming American jobs and also squelching energy production at a time when consumers are paying $4-per-gallon for gasoline.Fortunately, not everyone in the nation's capital is content with higher prices and fewer jobs. Today the U.S. House considers the first of several bills that directly addresses energy and jobs. Lawmakers will vote today on legislation that requires the Obama administration to conduct oil and natural gas lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico and in the waters offshore Virginia.

It's a welcome change from the anti-drilling policies first imposed by the Obama administration one year ago. On May 6, 2010, the first moratorium on Gulf drilling took effect, followed by a longer ban that lasted until October. But even after it was lifted, few deepwater permits have been issued.

The long-term implications are disastrous for America. That prompted House Natural Resources Chairman Doc Hastings (R-WA) to pursue a remedy through legislation. Today's vote would ensure that companies continue energy development by requiring lease sales. Two other bills would speed up the permitting process and craft a long-term plan for offshore lease sales."What we're proposing is to lower gas prices, create American jobs, which ironically will help drive up government revenues, and ultimately, in the wake of all the turmoil we've seen in the world, create an environment in which we are energy independent or on a path to energy independence," Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) explained yesterday.

Even without the president's signature, the legislation has already had a positive impact. After it passed in committee, the Obama administration promised to hold one lease sale in 2011. (Ever since 1958, there has been at least one lease sale every year.) But while one lease sale is better than none, Hastings isn’t satisfied. He wants the Obama administration to hold four lease sales before June 2012 -- including one off the coast of Virginia.

Aside from creating new jobs and discovering new sources of energy, the lease sales contribute a substantial sum of revenue for the federal treasury. In 2008, the offshore industry paid $9.4 billion for bids on new leases. Last year, that figure dropped to $979 million in lease bids.

The drop in revenue is a reflection of the Obama administration's anti-energy policies. And lease sales are only part of the equation. According to the government's own Energy Information Administration, production in the Gulf of Mexico will drop by 190,000 barrels per day. That means less money from royalty payments on offshore rigs as well.

Faced with mounting criticism, the Obama administration has defended its policies as a safety precaution following last year's oil spill. But one year later, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement is issuing drilling permits at such a slow pace that it's hard to swallow the explanation.

At the same time, the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress are seeking new ways to penalize energy businesses. As Curtis Dubay and Nick Loris write on The Foundry, a proposal from Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) would significantly increase taxes paid by U.S. oil and gas companies competing abroad -- exactly the wrong approach with gas prices on the rise.

Meanwhile, job creators like Leslie Bertucci and Randall Stilley continue to bear the brunt of the Obama administration's misguided policies. Bertucci, who told us last month about her company's struggle to survive, has dipped into personal savings to avoid layoffs.

Stilley didn't have that option at Seahawk. And he's not optimistic about what the future holds under this administration."As an American," he told us, "you never want to look at your own government and say they’re hurting you personally, they're hurting your business and they're doing it in a way that's irresponsible. I'm not very proud of our government right now and the way they handled this."

Unfortunately, thats exactly what this administration is doing.

To Our Cousins Across the Pond

First off, while I cannot speak for everyone on this blog, I want to emphasize that I do not hold BP accountable for the blowout that allowed the oil to escape. Frankly, no one knows exactly what happened or why, and to assess blame on anyone this early in the process is either irresponsible or diabolical.

Second, please know that Bambi, aka Dr Utopia, no longer speaks for the majority of Americans. He does not like it when people make money and do not give it away to him. He was very happy taking campaign contributions from all sorts of companies and corporations, and now that he has what he wants, he no longer has a need for the capitalist system which generated those funds. He is a typical Marxist. Use whatever is needed to get the results and then do what you want.

He is also adamantly against any sort of free trade and free will. He is a snake oil salesman; a shyster; a con man. And whats up with those Dumbo ears? You ever see a set of ring hangers like that in your life? I bet he has to tape them back to keep his skinny little ass on the ground in a high wind.

I am not going to apologize for Dr Utopia's remarks concerning BP or Britain. I didn't vote for his leftist agenda and its not my fault; however we will do everything legally allowed to rid ourselves of this penis-head ASAP.

You can take that to the bank.

Commercials That Really Get Me Jacked

There are two currently running and I turn off the sound when they start running, because I swear I will lose it if I have to listen to the blatant lies and twisted facts and deliberate omission and sideways accusations that some politicians don't support the troops because they want "Big Oil" and banks to make a profit.

The first is the AARP commercial with that stupid jingle. Its quite possibliy the dumbest thing I've heard in my entire 59 years on this planet. They lump banks and investment houses in the same bad light. Question for AARP, who is going to handle retirees money if there are no banks? The government? Thats what you sapsuckers want isn't it? Dip*****.

The second is from our old friends over at VoteVets, an organaization so far to the left it needs a permit to make a right hand turn. VoteVets has somehow managed to con some otherwise resonably intelligent veterans to do a voice over or make an appearence in a commercial telling everyone that "Big Oil" is the problem and they're the ones responsible for all our KIA's and wounded, because "Big Oil" only cares about profits and continues to do business with muslim countries in the Middle East and OH MY GOD ITS SO EVIL and Randy Forbes should stop siding with "Big Oil" and we should all convert our cars to run on Mr. Bubble because only then will we be truly free from our "addiction" to oil.

Hey, whoever is running VoteVets PAC. You're a moron and everyone can see what you're about. STFU. Use that money to help Homes For Our Troops build homes for wounded veterans. Give some to the USO or Soldiers Angels. Get a life. Get a job. Get a dog. Do something productive and constructive, like advocating for offshore drilling to replace Middle East oil.
Dumass.

More On the Offshore Oil Bravo Sierra

Obama opens up offshore drilling...or does he?

The headlines read that President Obama is opening up the oil spigots and attempting to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil. But that's what the headlines read - what's the rest of the story? Rep. Mike Pence says this: “As usual the devil is in the details. Only in Washington, D.C., can you ban more areas to oil and gas exploration than you open up, delay the date of your new leases and claim you’re going to increase production."
Michelle Malkin has the details HERE.

Employers 'unexpectedly' cut jobs
Experts should really stop trying to predict the jobs numbers because they never get it right and Americans are mislead to think it's shocking news. The latest numbers are no exception - experts say the month of March saw 'unexpected' job reductions by employers. Unexpected to who? The Marxists who think big government actually works? Get the latest on the economy HERE

Scientist: We can't save Earth
According to a top scientist, it's too late. Humans are at the mercy of mother Earth. The scientist who achieved fame for his theory that the whole Earth is a single organism now believes the only hope is that the Earth will take care of itself. Excellent! Now it’s time to fire up the SUV's, get our incandescent light bulbs back - and leave them on! Read the full story HERE.

An Overture or A Smokescreen?

Be very careful when the opposition seems to be giving you what you want, it usually means there is something being taken somewhere else.

Government set to unveil offshore drilling plan

The plan could pave the way for a significant new domestic source of energy, helping to reduce U.S. dependence on oil imports and boost supplies of natural gas used to displace coal in power plants as the country works to reduce emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases.

Last month, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he wanted to release the updated drilling plan by the end of March.

Two industry sources said on Monday President Barack Obama was expected to give a speech about energy security on Wednesday, which could include his views on expansion of offshore drilling.

The Interior Department and White House declined comment on Monday on whether Obama would speak to the issue in a speech slated for mid-morning on Wednesday at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.

The administration has been weighing the pros and cons of offshore drilling since it took office and put the brakes on a Bush-era proposal that called for drilling along the East Coast and off the coast of California.

For more than 20 years, drilling was banned in most offshore areas of the United States outside the Gulf of Mexico because of concerns spills could harm the environment.

Congress allowed the prohibition to expire in 2008 and former President George W. Bush lifted a drilling moratorium that year. Environmental groups and some lawmakers continue to raise concerns about the impact increased drilling would have on coastal areas.

But Obama, who wants Congress to move a stalled climate change bill, has sought to reach out to Republicans by signaling he is open to allowing offshore drilling, providing coastlines are protected.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the U.S. Atlantic coast waters may hold 37 trillion cubic feet of gas and nearly 4 billion barrels of oil, while the Pacific Coast has 10.5 billion barrels of oil and 18 trillion cubic feet of gas.

To put that in context, the United States imports about 2 billion barrels of oil a year from OPEC nations and is expected to import 2.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from all sources this year, according to the Energy Department.

The administration's plan is expected to spell out whether and when drilling will be allowed in 3 million acres off the Virginia coast.

The Bush administration had proposed leasing the Virginia tracts to energy companies and said the government would receive bids for the leases in November 2011.

However, a senior Interior official told an oil industry conference in January that drilling off Virginia's coast would definitely be delayed past the original 2011 leasing date.

The proposed Virginia lease area, located about 50 miles from shore, may hold 130 million barrels of oil and 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

The possible delay in drilling off Virginia's coast has been criticized by the state's new governor, Republican Bob McDonnell, and two U.S. senators eager for the state to tap into the jobs and royalties that come with exploration.

A spokeswoman for McDonnell said his office has not been told the updated drilling plan would be announced on Wednesday.

Energy developers despoil view for nothing

Shocking, I tell you! Just Shocking!

Can't trust anyone these days. Those evil energy developers did it again. Building those ugly generators and despoiling the environment, all for greed.....




Let's hope that the state of Virginia investigates all claims thoroughly before building off the coast. We should ascertain that we get enough of a return before building.

Podcasts You Should Hear

Jimmy Barrett talks to John Felmy from American Petroleum Institute about offshore drilling.


Then he talks to Leighton Steward about CO2.

Repeal Corporate Taxes

This is a no-brainer.

Done in conjunction with offshore energy exploration, the revenues would be astronomical; companies would be flocking to set up; construction would sky-rocket; supporting industries would set up; the oil, coal and gas industry is the key to Virginia's budget issues.

Just think of the jobs that would be created. The increase in state income taxes. Hell, you could probably employ every able-bodied person in Newport News just in the support industry for the drill rigs and pipelines.

End the Corporate Tax in Virginia

We'll get by without it, if handled correctly.

Governor-elect McDonnell has already indicated a willingness to explore the energy reserves off the Virginia coast.

The extraction of energy from Virginias' reserves could potentially put us in the same position as Alaska.

Governor elect McDonnell should persue this option with the same energy and determination as he demonstrated during his campiagn.

This is a states' rights issue and the federal government has no business telling any state how to handle their natural resources.

Why the Left Hates Sarah Palin (and the country needs her)

(and I will work to help her do whatever she wants to do, whenever she wants to do it.)

By Dewie Whetsell
Alaskan Fisherman.
(As posted in the comments section on Greta Susteren's article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.)

The last 45 of my 66 years I've spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska. I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here's the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It's not about persona, style, rhetoric, it's about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I'm about to mention here.

1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor's office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican's "Corrupt Bastards Club" ( CBC ) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, "la la la la"( well, you know how they are ). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.

2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called "ACES." Exxon ( the biggest corporation in theworld ) protested and Sarah told them, "don't let the door hit you in the stern on your way out." They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.

3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor's office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as "pork." She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the "when-hell-freezes-over"stack. She let locals know that if we need something built,we'll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor's jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor's cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning - I imagine -that she's packing heat herself ). I'm still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.

4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed "gosh and golly" mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn't impress you, then you're trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.

5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn't start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment. No governor for 30 years could make them get started...This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.

6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewables by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that's just a cover-up. I'm still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won't be holding my breath.

By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn't let her. Now these adolescent screechers are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Shoulda known better.

You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents' wives.

So "You go, Girl."

I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals. I rest my case.

Only FOOLS listen to the biased media. [Now we know why Lou Dobbs quit CNN]

Cap and Tax-NewsMax

Nobel Prize-Winner: Cap-and-Trade Could Ruin U.S. Economy

With climate change legislation under consideration by Congress, an environmental expert with a Nobel Prize-winning organization warns that the cap-and-trade bill supported by Democrats could destroy the American economy.

Dr. Steve Running, Director of the University of Montana’s Climate Change Studies program, is on the board of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with global warming crusader Algore.

During a Wednesday interview with a radio talk show host in Montana, Dr. Running said efforts to deal with climate change will fail unless they involve all nations.

"If the U.S. passed cap-and-trade and other countries did not, it wouldn’t work," he declared.

"It would ruin the U.S. economy and it wouldn’t save the climate either. So this is a global issue, the global climate statistics are global in nature, global carbon emissions are global in nature, and we really have to have an international consensus of what to do. That is going to stretch our international diplomacy to its limit, there’s no doubt about that."

Running called on the U.S. to show leadership on the climate change issue, saying other countries will follow suit. But China and India, two nations that produce large amounts of greenhouse gases, are not expected to adopt cap-and-trade measures like those being debated in the U.S. Congress.

Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has voiced sentiments similar to Dr. Running's. He told Newsmax in a recent interview that cap-and-trade won't work because "it doesn't matter what we do in America — if we drive our manufacturing base off to places like China, India, and Mexico, places where they don't have any emissions standards or restrictions, then it's going to have the effect of increasing and not deceasing CO2."

He also said cap-and-trade would amount to the "largest tax increase in the history of America."

Krauthammer On Domestic Energy

Weekly Standard via DCExaminer

There are, of course, major threats to the American economy. But there is nothing inevitable and inexorable about them. Take, for example, the threat to the dollar (as the world's reserve currency) that comes from our massive trade deficits. Here again, the China threat is vastly exaggerated.

In fact, fully two-thirds of our trade imbalance comes from imported oil. This is not a fixed fact of life. We have a choice. We have it in our power, for example, to reverse
the absurd de facto 30-year ban on new nuclear power plants. We have it in our power to release huge domestic petroleum reserves by dropping the ban on offshore and Arctic drilling. We have it in our power to institute a serious gasoline tax (refunded immediately through a payroll tax reduction) to curb consumption and induce conservation.

Nothing is written. Nothing is predetermined. We can reverse the slide, we can undo dependence if we will it.

There are things to be done. Resist retreat as a matter of strategy and principle. And provide the means to continue our dominant role in the world by keeping our economic house in order. And finally, we can follow the advice of Demosthenes when asked what was to be done about the decline of Athens. His reply? "I will give what I believe is the fairest and truest answer: Don't do what you are doing now."

This article - condensed from The Weekly Standard - is based on syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer's 2009 Wriston Lecture delivered for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in New York on October 5.

Heritage Morning Bell - Wacky/Marxist Bill

The Transparent Costs of Cap and Trade

On June 26th of this year, the House of Representatives narrowly passed H.R. 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act. More commonly known as the Waxman-Markey bill (named after bill sponsors Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), the 1,427-page bill tries to control global temperatures by creating a “cap” on greenhouse gas emissions, and then hoping that greenhouse emitters would “trade” emissions permits meet the cap. Under the scheme, the government would issue fewer allowances each year, causing the cost of the permits to rise. The cost of these allowances is a tax, and under Waxman-Markey, the tax would rise each year. As with any tax, it will ultimately be passed on to consumers in the form of higher energy and product prices.

On August 6th, the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis released a report detailing the economic costs of the Waxman-Markey. Since energy is the lifeblood of the American economy, 85 percent of which comes from CO2-emitting fossil fuels, the Waxman-Markey bill’s arbitrary and severe restrictions on the current energy supply and infrastructure will not only have direct impact on consumers’ budgets through higher electric bills and gasoline prices, but also cause unnecessary inefficiencies at virtually every stage of production. CDA estimates that Waxman-Markey legislation would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

Surely our study did not produce the results Waxman and Markey expected. Earlier this month Reps. Waxman and Markey sent us, and a number of other institutions, a letter asking us to answer 33 methodological questions about the analytical techniques used in our study. We were delighted by Waxman and Markey’s letter since it is just the kind of thoughtful investigative work our lawmakers should do more often. For example, they asked if our model took into account an increase in private sector investments in research and development that would be sparked by the legislation and a new carbon market. Answer: It did. Our model incorporates both short and long-run responses to higher energy prices.

Waxman also asked if our model quantified any benefits of avoided climate change. Answer: It didn’t. Because according to estimates based on IPCC data, the Waxman-Markey bill would only impact global temperatures by .044 degrees C (about .09 degrees F) by 2050. There simply are no economic benefits from such a minuscule impact.

Waxman-Markey did not send their questions to some notable organizations that have conducted analysis of their bill like the Congressional Budget Office and the Brooking Institution. After we requested they do so, we have since received word that Waxman and Markey sent the same letter to the CBO. They had previously included the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Energy Information Administration (EIA), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), CRA International, the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF), and the Natural Resource Defense Council (NRDC).

In the interests of an honest and transparent debate about the costs of cap and trade the Heritage Foundation has devoted a space on our website, www.heritage.org, where we have posted our answers in their entirety. We have formally invited the other organizations who were asked these questions to allow us to post their responses as well, in the interest of full transparency.

Let’s hope the Waxman-Markey questionnaire signals that a serious debate can now take place. American families deserve to be kept fully apprised of how Congress intends to act, and how those actions will most likely affect their pocketbooks, their jobs, and their lives.

Tidbits From Townhall Magazine

Cap and Tax:

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capitol Formation released a study that predicts the House global warming bill could cut the nation's economic growth by 2.4% and drain 2 million jobs by 2030.

The "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" (HR 2454).....
aka The Wacky-Marxist Bill.

It has to make you wonder - what's it going to take for Democrats to realize this cap-and-tax plan is a raw deal for America's families?

Eliminate The Death Tax:

A new economic stimulus package lies waiting to be picked up by Congress. This one grows businesses and increases jobs to the tune of about 50% of what the recent stimulus packages hoped to deliver. But unlike the trillion-dollar packages enacted earlier, it costs nothing.
Not only that, it will actually increase the revenue in the federal till while doing the same for state and local governments. This "magic bullet" is very simple: eliminate estate taxes aka "death" taxes.

Your Yes Vote Will Get You Fired

The healthcare/health insurance reform bill, whatever they're calling it today, depending on who they are speaking to and what they need to hear, is nothing more than government control of a private sector industry, pandering to unions, and un-Constitutional intrusion into the private lives of the citizens of this Nation.

Any representative who votes to pass anything resembling this monstrosity, is guilty of violating their Oath of Office and should be removed.

We intend to do that in 2010.

This applies to the Wacky-Marxist Energy Bill or any similar so-called "climate legislation" currently being considered in the Senate as well.

Both bills, if passed, will crush middle-class America. We know thats the plan.

This Is Really A No-Brainer

With Zero's and his Sugar Daddy Soros' sudden support of Brazil's Big Oil, (not OUR big oil) and with cap and tax right around the corner, we need to stay informed.

Why We Should Explore for Energy Offshore Now! -- April 2009

On February 19th, 2009, Governor Kaine asked the Federal government to delay oil and gas exploration off the Virginia coast. Attorney General Bob McDonnell and Lieutenant Governor Bolling, in separate letters to Interior Secretary Salazar explained why it is in the interest of Virginia and the United States to maintain the current exploration schedule, a position reflecting a large majority of Virginia and U.S. citizens. As this issue has become a political matter, the Thomas Jefferson Institute's Center for Environmental Stewardship has prepared this fact sheet and powerpoint briefing to ensure the debate is based on the best information available.

The Thomas Jefferson Institute is committed to sound science and careful analysis. In preparation of our original fact sheet on Virginia Off-shore Oil and Gas, the Institute made a computational error that our peer reviewers missed. An associate discovered it a few days later and that error has now been corrected. That revised fact sheet is now posted here, but despite the original computational error the important conclusion remains the same: There are significant oil and natural gas resources off our coast, and their development can not only help Virginia create new jobs but add to the state treasury.

View Powerpoint
View "Fact and Fiction" Briefing Paper

Sarah Palin Will Pick Her Battles

and she will win.

American Thinker: Sarah Palin: A Leader Without A Party

Here's an excerpt from Williamson's essay:

The truth is: Sarah Palin is not really a "politician". She did not get into politics to seek power or wealth. She bears no resemblance to the typical politician, who graduated in Law specifically to enter politics; or to the successful businessman who runs for office to gain profit advantage or status; or to the mediocrities who rises through nepotism or dynastic ambition like a Kennedy or a Gore. Or to any party hack out of the Chicago machine.

She has not brought herself into this fight at this point because she wants to be President...or Vice-President...or Senator....or Cabinet member. She is in this solely because she feels, deeply, that our traditional principles and values, already betrayed by both parties, are in serious jeopardy through the aggressive efforts of committed socialists. She is prepared to make a personal sacrifice in the cause of defeating them. If she succeeds, she'll be happy to just go back to Wasilla and the Alaskan way of middle class life she loves.

Remember, she made it clear in her resignation that she was going to remain outside" the political fences. For she is going to turn her guns on the GOP -- big time. She wants nothing to do with the Republican National Committee, and not just because
she has been reading Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny. She has fought the GOP top dogs since her first days in Wasilla.

When she was appointed by the Governor to chair the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission and found out the Republicans were dealing under the counter with the private companies, she resigned and blew the whistle.

When her party wouldn't support her for Governor she ran on her own -- against their open opposition -- and won. And promptly attacked waste and corruption within the Republican state government.

Then she was drafted by McCain, sparking some indignation in the RNC. She promptly charged the flailing campaign with her energy and her personality, attracting huge numbers of people to GOP rallies, and most likely some new voters. But she got no support from the sclerotic RNC managers -- and the great fighter pilot couldn't shoot straight. Then he bailed out on her after the election, and she received no thanks for her valiant effort; not only was she simply dumped, but reviled and mocked by the insiders and elitists she had worked with.

AFP Update on Cap and Trade

Last week we had an unbelievably tight, down-to-the-wire fight in the U.S. House of Representatives over the massive Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy tax bill, the largest tax hike in American history and an unprecedented intrusion of the federal government into our economy and our lives.

Thank you so much for everything you did to give the side of economic sanity a fighting chance. Your calls and emails made a huge difference, and AFP members like you were clearly one of the driving forces last week.

We weren’t quiet able to win in the House (see how they voted here), but we’re confident that if we can keep educating and mobilizing regular common-sense Americans, we can beat this disastrous bill in the Senate.
Here are few reasons to be hopeful:

* Just two states, California (32) and New York (25) provided more than a quarter of the 219 total yes votes

* Democrats in several key targeted Senate states voted majority no, including Indiana (3 of 5), Arkansas (2 of 3), and West Virginia (2 of 2)

* Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota, both statewide elected Democrats, vote no

Unfortunately, we also learned that the White House is willing to do anything to get this bill passed, including misleading and intimidating members. That means the Senate fight will be right down to the wire, and pressure from back home will be the only way to stop this from passing.

We also know the stakes, in the President’s own words:"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket."There is no time to waste, so I’m asking you to please click here to send a strong message to your Senators to oppose this outrageous cap-and-trade bill.

Thanks for everything you do to make AFP great.

Phil Kerpen

Director of Policy

www.AmericansforProsperity.org