Madame Speaker's real agenda?

[subdjoe]

but if we don't drill now, or if we do drill but on land that seismic survey shows there is no oil, then we will be much worse off in the long run. You keep parroting the line "why don't they drill on the parcels they have." That is like asking a farmer why he doesn't plant on bare rock.
Just because the govt. leases out land for exploraton doesn;t mean that there is a guarantee of oil being there. Back in my college days one of the games to help geology students was the Oil Game. Each team had a map and some seed money. You bought a lease on a section, paid for drilling, and got the drill logs. The first round was by guess and by god. You took some shots at random, then roughed out a fence diagram from your drill logs. If you were lucky enough to actually hit oil rather than rock or water, you got money. Other wise all you got was the information. The only info that went to the class as a whole was if a team hit a good well. Then everyone rushed to bid on land next to the good leases. It didn't take long for it to become clear, as the diagrams got more refined, where oil was. A few test holes were still sunk here and there to refine the diagrams, but since even holes in known areas of oil sometimes came up dry, or a mix of oil and water, there wasn't a whole lot done in the unproven areas. We know were a lot of the oil offshore is now. Why not drill for it where it is known to be?

Pressure on our reps? Hell, Mink. My 'reps' are Lynn, Babs, and the Divine Ms. Di. If it doesn't advance a socialist agenda, they aren't for it.

You do realize that a lot of your second paragraph makes the point for Gaffney, don't you?

[jgaffney]

Nice attempt at diversion, Mink. I asked you if you were ready to throw your car away and buy a new CNG Civic, and you respond with the deficit and the war. I guess if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right?

I still want an answer from you on the new car.

[Len]

Just wondering what is CNG? Propane is "natural gas" and I believe changing the carburetor jets is all it use to take. Methane is a bit too volatile but doing the same thing would work, no?
Seems keeping the stuff stirred is ONLY what it's about!

[The Big Dog]

Compressed Natural Gas. Basically the stuff that comes out of your PG&E connection but stored at a much higher pressure.

Several years ago the Napa Valley Railroad (the operating arm of the Wine Train) converted one of it's road locomotives to 100% CNG fired. It was a lot of work, and it requires a good sized compressor between the gas service line and the locomotive to fuel it, but it works well and runs really clean.

[jgaffney]

Thirteen days and counting. Still no answer from Mink on the new car.

In the meanwhile, I've stumbled across a couple of websites that will convert your existing gasoline-powered car to CNG. It only costs a couple of grand ($3,000-$12,000) and you have to give up the trunk to fit in the pressurized CNG fuel tank. But, what the heck, it's in the name of saving the planet!

Uh, you still have the problem of where you will fill the tank. And how many people here want to drive around with that hand grenade in the back seat?

[jgaffney]

Rep. John Boehner, Minority Leader in the House has this, via Michelle malkin:

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her Democratic colleagues have already outlined their latest “no energy” plan, House Republicans today will force Democrats to go on the record: Will Democrats allow a vote on an “all of the above” bill to help bring down prices at the pump or not? During this afternoon’s consideration of legislation related to a “wild and scenic river” study, the Republicans will move to force a debate and vote on the American Energy Act (H.R. 6566), the House GOP’s plan to reduce fuel costs by increasing production of American energy, using new drilling revenues to fund an innovative renewable energy trust fund, encouraging more efficiency and conservation, and promoting the use of more alternative fuels.

House Republicans are forced to make this move because Speaker Pelosi continues to block a vote on their comprehensive plan to lower gas prices through an “all of the above” strategy. Instead, in a cynical attempt to run out the clock until the next congressional recess without taking a real vote to bring down the price at the pump, the Speaker and her Democratic colleagues have trotted out their own “no energy” legislation that does practically “none of the above.” For example, the bill locks up 80 percent of oil and gas in the Outer Continental Shelf and rejects the GOP plan to use hundreds of billions of dollars in new oil and gas revenue from being invested in development of renewable fuels.

As a matter of fact, the Democrats’ bill is so bad, Rep. Jason Altmire – a freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania – admitted to Politico that most Democrats don’t even support it, though he predicts most will hold their noses and support it once the Speaker lays down the law:

“‘We’ve succeeded in putting a bill together with something for everyone to dislike,’ Altmire joked as he emerged from the meeting.”

“Still, Altmire said he would support the bill because he feels strongly that Congress must approve some legislation this year.”

“‘Like everybody, I’m not happy with everything that’s in or not in,’ he said. ‘But I think, all told, it’s going to have enough votes to pass.’”

The fact is, a bipartisan majority in Congress and a solid majority of the American people back the House GOP’s “all of the above” strategy to help lower gas prices and bring down home heating costs during the winter. But Speaker Pelosi and her colleagues in the Democratic leadership are standing in the way of a simple, up-or-down vote on the plan – defying the will of the American people all the while.

Will rank-and-file Democrats buck the Speaker, listen to their constituents, and allow a debate and vote by supporting the Republican motion later today? Or will they fall in line behind her, as families, seniors, and small businesses back home struggle to make ends meet amid today’s high fuel costs?

My guess? No vote. That way, the Dems will be able to say that they offered up a "comprehensive energy plan" but those wascally Wepublicans voted it down. Politics at its best. However, we continue to suffer with the high cost of oil as a result. How does it feel to be a pawn?

[jgaffney]

See my recent posts under U.S. and World Politics, "Hey, Nancy, how about a light?" for more info on the recent sham energy bill.

How does it make you feel to know that the Speaker thinks so little of you that she would try to put this one over on us in the 21st Century?