Holding Democrats Accountable For Our Energy Crisis

This is one column that holds back nothing. It is clear, concise and unambiguous about what is happening with regards to energy production, the world market and how the Democrat controlled Congress is actively working to make the problem worse thereby "sticking it" to the American middle class.

It is no secret that the Dems have been laboring feverishly to ensure that we Americans cannot produce lower-cost energy here at home. They have blocked drilling in ANWR, off-shore and they've blocked the construction of new nuclear power plants. Additionally, they have blocked the construction or upgrade of oil refineries.

Chris Adamo, writing for GOPUSA, notes that the American public is getting wise to the Democrats and also explains what the public is becoming aware of. From his latest column:

Simple economics, the principles of which are becoming painfully apparent to every American who stops to fill up the family sedan, dictate that when disproportionate multitudes of customers have to compete for a limited supply of fossil fuels, prices will rise. Thus all of the liberal/environmentalist efforts to curtail the availability of the world's oil, specifically by hamstringing America's ability to exploit its own natural resources, have only succeeded in driving up the cost of those resources for all who want or need them.

Yes. And I feel the need to once again bring up the promise that Nancy Pelosi made back in 2006 about the Dems having a "commonsense" plan for bringing gas and energy prices down. They have done nothing but drive prices up since they took over Congress. But it isn't just their policy of constantly saying "no" to domestic energy production. There is much more to it than that:

From a worldwide perspective, the "free market" would currently yield a much lower price for a barrel of oil than recent numbers which exceed one hundred forty dollars. This fact being well understood among oil producing nations, particularly in the Middle East, where major oil producers banded together to form the infamous "Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries" or OPEC. ... In essence, an artificial "monopoly" has been created among the member nations, whereby they can unilaterally determine what the rest of the world will pay for its energy needs. But for this monopoly to survive and thrive, it requires the defacto cooperation of all other parties involved. Perhaps the most infuriating aspect of this situation is that such "cooperation" is effectively coming from the Democrat controlled Congress of the United States. By stubbornly refusing any consideration of exploring, drilling, and thus expanding American oil production, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA) and Senate Majority Harry Reid (D.-NV) along with their Democrat political machine in Washington, are effectively forcing the entire American oil industry into the role of collaborating OPEC members. In a sinister sense, America is officially refusing to increase the world production of oil, thus strengthening the OPEC monopoly and its ability to deliberately inflate the price of crude oil.

So, the Dems are not just screwing us here at home. They are actively allowing oil producing nations to screw us from abroad as well. Why isn't Old Media or even the rank-and-file Democrats holding Nancy Pelosi's feet to the fire for breaking her 2006 promise?

More:

It makes no difference when paying the bill at the gas pump that Pelosi, Reid, and their liberal political cohorts are claiming to do their deed for the sake of the planet, as opposed to the Arab nations who simply want to maximize profits. The end product is the same. Americans are senselessly forced to crunch their personal budgets in order to keep the family car rolling. Elsewhere around the world, the predictable fallout from liberal policy making hits much harder. Food prices are soaring, both as a result of higher costs to grow and transport edible crops, along with the insane practice of sapping food supplies in order to use basic grains for the production of ethanol in a dubious scheme to supplement gas supplies. Meanwhile, those most responsible for the current energy calamity offer only environmental sanctimony, entwined in the hoax of "global warming," as their justification.

And let's not forget that Congressional approval ratings have fallen to single digits for the first time in history. Also keep in mind that this happened less than two years after the Dems took control and began their assault on our economy. But the Dems are hoping to deflect from these issues by bringing out smoke-and-mirror tactics such as fabricating an impeachment of the President. This will only hurt them.

America's families suffer a loss of buying power, and American workers are barred from gainful employment among the abundant natural resources that exist across this land and just off its shores. In response, Representative Maxine Waters (D.-CA) expresses her desire for the government to nationalize the oil industry, and Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama reveals his contempt for middle America, which he believes is excessively lavish in its lifestyles and use of energy resources.

Those are the real issues. Socialists don't want to confront the disaster they would inflict on everyone else. They simply try to dodge the issue by falsely claiming that the blame lies elsewhere. The American voting public isn't buying it.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Holding Liberals Accountable For Energy Woes
Christopher G. Adamo
GOPUSA.com
July 10, 2008

National Oil Companies Control 94 Percent Of The World's Oil And Gas Reserves And The Prices As Well

Are you among those who believe that it is American Oil Companies that are behind the price surge in oil? Look at the graph above and you will see the truth. This data was compiled by Credit Suisse First Boston and shows where ExxonMobil and BP rank in relation to the OPEC Members. Just look for the two red arrows. Of the 13 entities to the left of ExxonMobil, 11 are OPEC members. Also note that this graph does not include those reserves that could be under exclusive U.S. control if we would only begin to drill and exploit them.

And if you look at the OPEC Statute, you will see from Article 2 that their interest is in maintaining control of the price of crude oil. Check it out:

A. The principal aim of the Organization shall be the co-ordination and unification of the petroleum policies of Member Countries and the determination of the best means for safeguarding their interests, individually and collectively. B. The Organization shall devise ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil markets with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations. C. Due regard shall be given at all times to the interests of the producing nations and to the necessity of securing a steady income to the producing countries; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry.

So, the next time you hear about some idiot Senator calling oil company executives for another round of false and uninformed accusations of price gouging, remember this graph and remember Article 2 of the OPEC Statute.

You can access the OPEC Statute on-line here:

OPEC Statute (Requires Adobe Reader)
OPEC
April 2006

Letters To Senator John Warner And Senator James Webb Concerning The OPEC Accountability Act

The Senate will soon be voting on a resolution to file a lawsuit against OPEC. The bill is called the "OPEC Accountability Act" and it is without a doubt one of the most idiotic pieces of legislation to ever come out of this Dem controlled Congress.

As such, I have written my Senators (John Warner and James Webb) asking them to vote against this foolishness. The following is a copy of my letter. Feel free to copy it, paste it to a word document and send it to your own Senators.

Dear [Senator], I am writing this letter to ask you to vote “Nay” on an upcoming bill (S. 2976 IS) that was introduced by Senator Lautenberg and co-sponsored by Senators Dorgan, Casey, Levin, Sanders and Clinton. This bill is known as the “OPEC Accountability Act.” The co-sponsors of this bill claim that launching a lawsuit against OPEC will somehow bring down the price of crude oil and in turn reduce the price of gasoline. I’m sorry, but only a fool would believe such claims. The price of gasoline has gone up for many reasons, most of which can be attributed to the policies enacted into law by this very Congress. For example, the mandate of using ethanol, despite its supporters’ promise of bringing down gas prices, actually drove the price of gasoline up as it also drove up the price of food. The end result: people now have to pay more at the pump in order to get to the store to pay more for food. Further, there was also a promise of lower carbon emissions, but since it requires the burning of 1.5 gallons of petro-chemicals to produce a single gallon of ethanol, that promise was nothing more than fantasy as well. But I digress. The main reason for the high price of oil is simple supply and demand. Nations that have been aggressively developing the industrial sectors of their economies (India and China) have been using more and more oil which means demand has gone up. As any first year economics student knows, when demand goes up, so do prices. But, when demand goes up and supply does not keep pace, or even goes down, prices rise even faster. Many of your peers are trying to blame the oil companies for the situation in the world market, a few of them ignorantly throwing out the charge of “price gouging.” However, the oil companies’ profit margin is well under the average profit margin for other commodities, the market traders of which are not being accused of price gouging. This means that no price gouging is taking place. As such, if Congress carries out its threat to raise taxes on the oil companies in response to this mythical price gouging, the price at the pump will sky-rocket even further. As you can clearly see, Senator, it is the Congress that has been hurting the American people at the gas pump, not OPEC or any of the oil companies. And finally, I need to ask the obvious. Why would members of this Congress actively try to damage our relations with OPEC nations by filing a lawsuit when those same members of Congress are criticizing the President for damaging our relations with these OPEC nations? Wouldn’t you consider that to be hypocritical? When S. 2976 IS reaches the Senate floor for a vote, please do the right thing and vote “Nay.” Thank you. Sincerely, [Your name here]