The American Spectator

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Waiting for Good Oil

9.19.08 @ 12:01AM

WEAK POWER BILL
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s The Democrats' Sham Energy Bill:

The bill passed by the House does absolutely nothing to increase oil production -- in fact, it promises to lock up our most productive discoveries for many years to come.

Mr. Tyrrell states, "Ostensibly the bill will allow drilling as close to our shores as 50 miles in the Atlantic and the Pacific...." If that is indeed the case, then the bill is automatically unconstitutional. Congressional jurisdiction does not go beyond the 12-1/2 mile point off
our shores -- the same goes for state jurisdiction. All areas beyond that point are in international waters. All this caterwauling about the "50 mile restriction" is moot. Our oil exploration firms should give Congress (and states that are not team players) the "big middle one" and start drilling beyond the 12-1/2 mile point right now. The companies should just swoop right in and start anchoring their rigs and pipeline right now.

The bottom line is Congress doesn't have to do a damn thing in order for oil production to ramp up. Congress should just stay the hell out of the way. The oil companies can simply wait until the current unconstitutional ban expires on Sept 30. That will give us the freedom to do whatever we want beyond the 12-1/2 mile point. If I was Marathon, BP, or any other production company, I would have my new rigs floating in the high seas ready to be anchored with drill bits sharpened and ready to go when the clock strikes midnight in the new fiscal year.
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

The oil drilling bill voted on by Pelosi and her Marxist cohorts is worse than a scam -- it is a treason, for the following reasons:

1) The bill will produce no oil -- there is none 50 or more miles offshore.

2) It does not include ANWR -- that small 2000 acres spot of utter polar desolation.

3) Democrat majorities in several states affected will not allow it;.

4) This energy crisis will be prolonged until there is widespread unemployment, collapse of private enterprise, increasing poverty, riots in the cities, etc. -- all of that the prerequisites of the permanent revolutionary Marxist takeover of the government. No such permanent murderous government has ever taken perpetual power in times of peace -- war, depression, poverty, riots are the necessary prerequisites.

As Mr. Tyrrell properly observes, the so-called environmentalists will engage our courts in the hands of those many Carter- and Clinton-appointed judges who will stop whatever drilling may result for many years to come. The United States is the only country in the civilized world where one can sue anybody with no cost attached to the loser. That is why we have some 1.1 million lawyers here where for example Japan gets by with 10,000, Germany with 15,000, and Great Britain with only 8,000 -- in those countries the loser automatically pays all the costs. These costs include not only those incurred by the defendant's legal team but also the costs of the courts, the costs of the defendant's lost production, the damages to its reputation, and a myriad of other direct and indirect losses such as a fall in the enterprise shares in the stock market.
-- Marc Jeric
Las Vegas, Nevada

Democratic obstructionists claim, "It would take ten years before any oil production would become available." However, they've been saying that for 25 years. The bogus energy bill that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats pushed through the House this week will make that a self-fulfilling prophecy. With this "legislation" Ms. Pelosi and her cohorts have put racing silks on a goat and renamed it "Seattle Slew."
-- Stan Welli
Aurora, Illinois

Mr. Tyrrell's argument for more oil drilling to reduce gas prices, or the "lift" on environmental challenges so oil drilling can take place, is precisely what's wrong with the country today. Oil companies and the politicians they support have a monopoly on the energy market. Everyone knows it. An, swipes at Pelosi are hollow when Tyrrell invokes that elusive poll claiming that 70% of Americans want offshore drilling. That poll is dead wrong. It's the opposite. Seventy percent of Americans do NOT support offshore drilling if it will not lower their gas prices.

We are simply tired of oil spills that no wants to clean up. And just because you're a Republican or an Oil man doesn't give you the right to trash out OUR PLANET.

Thank you
-- Grace

HATE MONGERING
Re: Matthew Vadum's Obama Camp Slimes David Freddoso:

Letter to the Editor

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