Democrats (and RINOs) continue to fiddle...

While our economy burns:

Dems Oppose GOP Call for Increased Domestic Drilling
By Andrew Tashjian and Keriann Hopkins
CNSNews.com Correspondents
June 26, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - Democratic senators are skeptical about new efforts by Republicans and the Bush administration to increase offshore drilling, despite a government report by the Department of Interior's Bureau of Land Management showing that there are 139 billion barrels of oil in the United States (onshore and offshore combined).

The estimated oil deposits, which amount to more than the known oil reserves in Iran, Iraq, Russia, Nigeria, or Venezuela, should be largely ignored, according to some Democrats, who instead favor focusing domestic drilling efforts on lands already leased to oil companies.

"Given the 68 million acres of federal land currently under lease to oil companies that they are not exploring, I think they should start there-rather than to consider alternatives which are environmentally sensitive," Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday.

What. A. Bunch. Of. Friggen Boneheads.

When you ask an enviro-nutter about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, they will no doubt tell you that it is a "pristine wilderness" and will even go so far as to compare it to the Grand Canyon, they will likely show you a picture that looks something like this:
When in reality, the area proposed for drilling, which in ANWR is relatively equivalent to the size of a postage stamp on a football field, looks more like this:
Face it--democrats are pushing us more and more to what amounts to an economic death train for America that will no doubt usher us into their Utopian vision of our nation being a conglomeration of third-world collectives. They are literally standing in the way of our prosperity while our citizens continue to suffer, in effect, saying, "Let them eat cake."

Where are the Republicans, clamoring out to the Capitol Steps for a news conference to put the kabosh on this nonsense, once and for all??

Amy "Clueless" Klobuchar was on KNSI's Morning Show today, and stated that it was the current situation is the result of oil companies and their refusal to drill on lands already leased for exploration. What "Clueless" failed to mention, was,

A company buys a lease because it believes there is a possibility the lease may yield enough oil or natural gas to justify the cost of the lease. But some leases turn out to be unproductive, API said.

Even where leases are productive, there is a "time-consuming" procedure (obtaining permits, for example) that must be followed before oil production can begin. And finally, if a company does not develop a lease within a certain period of time, it must return it to the federal government, forfeiting all its costs, API noted.

"Because a lease is not producing, critics say it is 'idle' when, in reality, much more often than not, it is being actively explored and developed," API wrote to lawmakers. (See letter)

The democrats (and their willing RINO counterparts) are continuing on this road to hell at their own peril. There is no doubt a critical mass of people, of both the left and the right sides of the political spectrum, who are beginning to shout, "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH" when they literally have to choose between filling their vehicle with gas and making a payment on their kids' braces.

There will be, nay, must be, a price exacted for their arrogance come November.