Bush: Tap The Oil

President Bush made a speech this morning from the White House, dealing with energy and this nation. When he has made poor decisions I have taken him to task, and I am not generally a large supporter of the man; in fact, he is the sole reason I've stopped sending checks to the RNC or the GOP.

There are few people who can irritate me to the degree of President Bush and many times I've questioned not only his thinking, but wondered if he was a "covert" Demorat. Okay, perhaps not that bad, but Dubai Ports, his stance on illegal immigration, his refusal to seal our borders, Harriet Miers, his labeling of the Minutemen as "vigilantes," his refusal to adequately prosecute the war in Iraq, his refusal to even stand up for not only himself but the GOP -- pretty much inexcusable.

He still will stand, in my estimation, as one of The Worst Presidential Communicators in the history of the Presidency.

Which makes his newest speech on Wednesday all the more confounding and frustrating. From the speech regarding energy, these salient excerpts:

High oil prices are at the root of high gasoline prices. And behind those prices is the basic law of supply and demand. In recent years, the world's demand for oil has grown dramatically. Meanwhile, the supply of oil has grown much more slowly. As a result, oil prices have risen sharply, and that increase has been reflected at American gasoline pumps. Now much of the oil consumed in America comes from abroad -- that's what's changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. Some of that energy comes from unstable regions and unfriendly regimes. This makes us more vulnerable to supply shocks and price spikes beyond our control -- and that puts both our economy and our security at risk.

President Bush is correct in terms of these days being the locus and/or a summary of decades of inattention -- and finally welling over due to a converging cascade of failure chains.

In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal -- and now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction. Congress must face a hard reality: Unless Members are willing to accept gas prices at today's painful levels -- or even higher -- our nation must produce more oil. And we must start now. So this morning, I ask Democratic Congressional leaders to move forward with four steps to expand American oil and gasoline production.

Again, another Truism that NO ONE in the DEM (Defeatist, Elitist Media) wish to acknowledge: the Demorats have CONSISTENTLY REFUSED to help make this country energy-independent. NO to coal-fired plants. NO to more refineries. NO to more electrical generation stations. NO to anything nuclear (and DAMN the 1979 movie "The China Syndrome" for its negative slant on nuclear power!). NO to drilling in the states or off our shores.

President Bush outlined four energy relief procedures:

1) First, we should expand American oil production by increasing access to the Outer Continental Shelf, or OCS. Experts believe that the OCS could produce about 18 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough to match America's current oil production for almost ten years. The problem is that Congress has restricted access to key parts of the OCS since the early 1980s. Since then, advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills. With these advances -- and a dramatic increase in oil prices -- congressional restrictions on OCS exploration have become outdated and counterproductive.

2) Second, we should expand oil production by tapping into the extraordinary potential of oil shale. Oil shale is a type of rock that can produce oil when exposed to heat or other process[es]. In one major deposit -- the Green River Basin of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming -- there lies the equivalent of about 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil. That's more than three times larger than the proven oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. And it can be fully recovered -- and if it can be fully recovered it would be equal to more than a century's worth of currently projected oil imports.

3) Third, we should expand American oil production by permitting exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR. When ANWR was created in 1980, Congress specifically reserved a portion for energy development. In 1995, Congress passed legislation allowing oil production in this small fraction of ANWR's 19 million acres. With a drilling footprint of less than 2,000 acres -- less than one-tenth of 1 percent of this distant Alaskan terrain -- America could produce an estimated 10 billion barrels of oil. That is roughly the equivalent of two decades of imported oil from Saudi Arabia. Yet my predecessor vetoed this bill.

4) And finally, we need to expand and enhance our refining capacity. Refineries are the critical link between crude oil and the gasoline and diesel fuel that drivers put in their tanks. With recent changes in the makeup of our fuel supply, upgrades in our refining capacity are urgently needed. Yet it has been nearly 30 years since our nation built a new refinery, and lawsuits and red tape have made it extremely costly to expand or modify existing refineries. The result is that America now imports millions of barrels of fully-refined gasoline from abroad. This imposes needless costs on American consumers. It deprives American workers of good jobs. And it needs to change.

But please know this: Maurice D. Hinchey, D-NY, wants US refineries to be owned publicly.

Urgent: House Democrats call for nationalization of refineries
Per Pergram-Capitol Hill
House Democrats responded to President's Bush's call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live.

Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.

This is the first step towards nationalizing our complete energy resources. Perhaps first with refineries; then oil companies in general. Then power companies. Then water companies. Then general utilities. Then communications companies. When all else fails, let's let the government prove it can't manage another strata of America. Socialism -- it's always worked for every other nation on earth, has it not?

But here's the truth: Congressional "approval" is at its lowest: 18% (20% of Republicans approve, versus 16% of Democrats).

Under Demorat control.

This is a chance for a pummeling of the Demorats heretofore unafforded in quite some time.

This is a chance for the GOP to hit the Demorats every hour of every day of every week until November, hitting the airwaves, the written media, the internet, the blogs, every manner of communication possible -- telling the electorate about the manner in which the GOP will be:

• Securing the nation (2,474 days unassailed since 9/11);
• Securing our energy;
• Securing our borders;
• Appointing appropriate judges on all levels;
• Advocating for drilling wherever possible;
• Yet, pushing for alternative energy sources including nuclear.

The Demorats are, in truth, INCREDIBLY WEAK!

They are bent over into the perfect position for their asses to be kicked!

But the Republicans JUST WON'T DO IT -- though they COULD!

As a Leader of this country, President Bush predominantly disappoints on many levels.

However, when he's correct, he's correct and I'll provide credit. But, more pointedly: why so late?

BZ