We don’t insert a tap and suddenly have oil. It will take years before any oil comes from new drilling on the shelf.

And I disagree with VDH. Gas consumption has dropped, but not precipitously. He implies that drilling now will have an immediate effect. It will not.

And, while I am not some rabid environmentalist, I believe that questions regarding the impact of drilling or spills are valid.

Bush should lift the executive ban as a symbolic maneuver, and Congress should let the current ban expire if they don’t have the nerve to kill it now, but these actions will have no impact on gas prices or oil production for years.

This is just so much more political blather for this election year. Both major parties continue to show how inept they are and how much contempt they have for us.

On June 13th, 2008 at 4:27 pm, SilverCat said:

Point is China is no closer to drilling off Florida than we are. So why is Cheney spreading that misinformation? And why are Charlie Christ and Mel Martinez against drilling off their shores if its such a great idea?

Probably for the same reason Kennedy and Cronkite and all the other loaded residents of the Cape Cod shoreline are against wind farms in Nantucket Sound: it obstructs their view, a particularly hypocritical application of the NIMBY syndrome.

Christ and Martinez? They are vote counting, being more interested in their own political welfare than the welfare of the country.

And why wouldn’t Castro (either) make a very lucrative deal with China to drill for oil in the Gulf? Their economy, if you can call it that, sucks. Aside from the money, the opportunity to stick the U.S. in the eye would be attractive to them. And judging by our pols fear of offending the greenies, I think that China has a considerably better chance of drilling there than we do.

Why are we against drilling for oil in our own territory while having no qualms about other countries doing so in equally pristine or ecologically important areas? As I recall, it is one not-big-enough planet. Why is it okay to drill in Siberia and not ANWR?

“W” certainly had the ability to rescind his dad’s executive order which he has not.

“W” also has the Bully Pulpit where he could have taken the need to do offshore drilling to the American people if the “Libs” wanted to fillibuster in the Senate.

A decided lack of leadership here, just like his Dear Old Dad back during Desert Storm where GHW Bush should have exercised some LEADERSHIP to remove Saddam and his cronies from power in Iraq as soon as SCUDs started falling in Israel.

Feel free to tell me to adjust the tinfoil, but I see a situation on the horizon where the plutocracies of Canada and Mexico may force the Senate to ratify a North American Union treaty as a condition of being able to buy oil from them.
I see that as the REAL reason we need to drill offshore.

On June 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm, SilverCat said:
For those who have bought into the claim that China is drilling off Florida, you may want to read this:

SilverCat, you totally miss the point. Whether or not China is currently drilling or not doesn’t matter. The point is that China CAN drill just off the Florida Keys, and thanks to the Democrat Congress, the US CAN’T. See a full timeline of the agreements between Cuba and China here.

This coastal Floridian says

DRILL HERE!
DRILL NOW!
PAY LESS!

On June 12th, 2008 at 5:15 pm, flmom said:

That reminds me of the final scene of the movie “There will be Blood”, when Plainview informs Eli he has already drained Eli’s land of oil, without putting one oil rig on Eli’s land.

OT.. is that worth the rent?.. it looks to me from the preview that it’s a hollywood PC twofer.. the evil oil man and the evil scam preacher trying to out-evil each other..

I’ve only read a couple of reviews about it..