On Not Drilling and Pain at the Pump

How any person could actually think that Obama feels your pain at the pump is unfathomable to me.  This President has put an unnecessary blanket moratorium on offshore drilling and now his EPA (yes, every person on the EPA is a Democrat and was appointed by Obama) has decided to withhold critical air permits which halts Shell's drilling efforts.   Shell was getting ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean off of the northern coast of Alaska during the summer but now Shell has to scrap their efforts to drill there because of Obama's EPA.  Plus, this has cost Shell a pretty penny.  Oh... that's right, Obama wants to stick it to the oil companies while claiming he has nothing to do with rising oil prices.  That is bull hockey!!  He has a lot to do with our rising gas prices.  There were a number of things Obama could have done to stop the pain at the pump, like lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling and allowing onshore drilling in the United States.  Instead Obama wants to give taxpayers' money to foreign entities such as Brazil, Venezuela, and the Middle East for oil -  to countries that don't particularly like the United States to say the least - rather than create jobs here in the United States,  while at least making an effort to lower the gas prices. 

From Fox News: "Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. “We think the issues were really not major,” Slaiby said, “and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.”

"The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska. It is one of the most remote places in the United States. According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives. The village, which is 1 square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site.

"The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling."



Then we have a three-inch lizard in Texas threatening to completely halt existing oil drilling for at least two years in some parts of Texas if the enviromental whackos get their way. If the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard is listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service then oil drilling will be forced to cease in some parts of Texas.  Alright, I have had it with the welfare of animals taking precedent over the welfare of humans. I'm not a sue happy person but whenever this type of thing happens and these enviro nutjobs endanger our livelihood then I think their needs to be a class action lawsuit brought against them.  We need to stop lying down like dogs and taking this crap from these people anymore.

This is ludicrous!!  The enviro-weenies at the EPA have gone wild!! The Pittsburgh region was just rated an F  on pollution.  Should I stop living here due to that?  This is all fear mongering by the Left.  The Left consistently accuses the Right of fear mongering but the Left need to look no further than in their own mirrors to see who is actually doing the fear mongering in this country.  


In Lee Habeeb's article he informs us that according to AAA gas prices have risen 37% since October but for some reason we haven't heard a peep from AARP or anti-poverty groups.  Obama hasn't even declared a moratorium on gasoline taxes.  Lee says that Obama chooses the Marie Antoinette approach.  '“Let them eat cake!” Stop driving those SUV’s, and start buying smaller cars. Stop drilling, and start plugging in those electric cars.' Then, Lee points out "Some companies are shifting investments out of the Gulf. BP recently said it would move a brand-new rig that was meant to work in the Gulf to Libya. Nice work, President Obama. We are bombing Gaddafi by night, and shipping jobs there by day." '  This scenario is bizarre. 


Larry Kudlow speaks to the Left's hate oil campaign.  Larry Kudlow points out:  "When oil prices blew sky high in 2008, ExxonMobil paid $36.5 billion in income taxes, $34.5 billion in sales taxes, and $45 billion in other taxes, for a total of $116.2 billion in taxes paid and collected in 2008." Either Exxon or the whole oil industry pays more in taxes then the bottom 50 percent of the whole income-tax system.  And Obama wants to stick it to the oil companies even more?  Obama wants to remove tax-subsidies for the oil companies and somehow thinks that doing wouldn't hurt Americans. 


Here is a USA National Gas Price Heat Map: 

You can see that the average price for gasoline across the country is at $3.52 per gallon or above.  The high gas prices are greatly hurting our economy.  We need to start drilling both offshore and onshore.  In addition we need to stop this nonsense coming from the enviro-whackos in their efforts to curtail human flourishing.  

Dangers that Executive Powers Pose on Liberty & Freedom

Ever since it has to come to light that the President is sneakily adding end of life counseling under the guise of regulation after that amendment in that piece of legislation was previously rejected by both the American people and Congress I have been thinking and am asking the question, what specifically gives the president the authority to add something without the consent of the governed or Congress?  I have been pondering over how much President Obama has overreached and usurped powers which are reserved elsewhere.  Progressives want to control every aspect of our lives and have advanced their vision rapidly over the past two years. They are trying to decide which ways are easiest to control the masses - the “sheep” - and how those items on their agenda can be implemented  without citizens catching onto their scheme.  Progressives want to use back-door policies to control our lives. The President in coordination with other progressives have issued a great many regulations and laws under the guise of security, safety, education, internet fairness, and health care and this has ultimately led to our liberty and freedom being diminished greatly.  Much of Obama’s usurpations of powers were done under the guise of instituting regulations, without congressional oversight and those so-called regulations were used as a cover to institute new policies.  Obama has viewed his powers as president very broadly and has abused his power as president on a number of occasions.

John Carey over at Sentry Journal has written a thought-provoking article which touched upon the possibility for the need of an Article V Constitutional Convention which would focus on the clarification of the commerce clause, or the need to repeal one out of a few choice amendments, or the possibility of adding an amendment which would grant States the right to repeal any law or regulation of the United States so States can take back their rights which are guaranteed by the constitution.  I am not quite sure whether a Constitutional Convention would work since there are so many liberal activist judges who ignore the Constitution.  I think it is an option worthy of thought and discussion which may work if the details are worked out.  There is no doubt the Federal government needs to be reined in some capacity. The Federal government has metamorphosed into a leviathan which has squeezed and sucked the life out of States’ rights. The Ordinance Power grants the president the authority to issue regulations, proclamations, and executive orders. I believe that the Ordinance Power needs to be clarified so progressive presidents like Obama (I hope not another one like him is ever elected again but we had Carter and look who we got later on) cannot have any wiggle room to act like kings, usurp power, and  institute new policies instead of enforcing existing ones.  In article 2 Section 3 the Constitution states that the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” but this does not mean that presidents have been given the authority to add anything extra which wasn’t already passed by congress.  The End of Life Counseling or “Death Panels” in Obamacare were taken out after their was outcry by the public and now Obama is going to be adding the End of Life Counseling via regulations.  This is not merely enforcing the rule of law or making sure that laws are faithfully executed but rather is making an addition which was not in the final version of the health care bill which was passed by Congress and signed into law by the president.

As much as I agree with John that the Federal government needs to be reined in I am not sure I agree with his assessment that the commerce clause is one the biggest threats to the American people. It is a big threat but I believe that the powers of the president -Ordinance Power-  are the powers which have the most capacity to endanger and encroach on our liberty and freedom.  I believe these powers need to be clarified and limited.  I think that Congress should be a check on the president by giving their authorization to any regulations and executive orders that either the President or those in government agencies such as the EPA want to implement.  IMO, recess appointments need to stop also.  If it is impossible for Congress to give a certain appointee their approval then they must not be fit to represent the American people in whatever position they have been nominated for.  Although, there is the problem of the opposite Party blocking appointees approval regardless of how qualified the appointee is. 

President Obama most recently has added (or plans to) end of life counseling under the guise of Medicare and Medicaid regulations, three Democrats on the FCC voted to enact the equivalent of the fairness doctrine but for the internet instead of radio, instituted green gas regulations through the EPA since he couldn’t get Congress to pass Cap & Trade, named recess appointments such as U.S. ambassadors and the head of Medicare and Medicaid, Donald Berwick.  And, these are just the power grabs committed by the president since July of 2010.  In addition you have progressives like John Podesta advising the president to ignore the will of the American people and institute policies via federal agencies. 


Congress needs to do its job and use the Congressional Review Act to engage in oversight to reign in and stop the president’s power grabs. The Republicans in Congress intend to give Obama a fight over the new EPA regulations.


The Federal government, federal agencies and most importantly the president needs to be reined in with both congressional Oversight and either an amendment clarifying and limiting the powers of the president and federal agencies or through a Constitutional Convention such as John suggests.

Van Jones Admits Left is "Pretending" Need for Regulation in ...

Well, we knew that liberals were and are lying to people about global warming, Cap & Trade, and Green energy  jobs.