CR Nation

Me thinks someone is just a bit too into themselves…

The politico is reporting that Democrats are invoking Christ – calling him a community organizer – in defense of Obama’s community organizing. Check out this vid:

An article written by Joshua Simmons originally published in in The Alligator – the University of Florida student newspaper.

Mr. Simmons is an economics senior and the executive director of the Florida Federation of College Republicans.

Even if you’re the consummate hippie, walking or biking everywhere, you’ve probably felt the squeeze of skyrocketing oil prices. The price of electricity, food and practically every consumer product imaginable has increased due to the historic spike in oil prices.

To the uninitiated or uninformed, it might seem as if this increase came out of nowhere, as neither supply nor demand for oil has shifted significantly. Consequently, it’s become fashionable among the liberal and idealistic crowd to lay the blame at the feet of mammoth oil companies, President Bush or the American public. With even cursory examination, though, none of these criticisms hold water.

The cost of crude oil is close to $150 a barrel, and a barrel of even the best crude only yields about 30 gallons of gasoline. Although the remainder of the barrel can be refined into various other products, when considering taxes and the cost of producing and distributing gasoline, the cost of raw materials alone makes it hard to believe that companies are profiting from gasoline at all, much less raking in the windfalls for which they’re often accused.

Likewise, it’s become almost a cliché to blame Bush for whatever new woe befalls America this week. For what it’s worth, Bush recently returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia where he convinced the Saudis to soon increase production by 300,000 barrels a day. Although relatively small, this bump should make a noticeable difference in the price of gas.

Perhaps the closest liberals come to the truth is lambasting the American people for their inability to curb their thirst for oil.

Never mind that American demand for oil has in fact been falling slowly but surely over the past 12 months or that hybrid car sales are soaring. The truth is that Americans are unwilling to give up their current standard of living, which means the demand for energy will, at best, remain relatively constant.

Therefore, the principles of economics dictate that any major change in consumption must come from the supply side of the market —a reality that liberals with their emissions caps, recycling programs and fuel economy standards fail to recognize. While they’re on to something with their emphasis on renewable fuels and sustainable energy, they’re still far behind the free market.

Again, look at the hybrid car market, which has grown steadily every year for a decade. Americans are largely unwilling to drive less, but they’re perfectly happy to use less gas to do it. Whether they’re influenced by high gas prices or environmental consciousness is irrelevant —the effect is the same.

Besides tapping the billions of barrels of oil under American soil and just offshore, the mere suggestion of which sends liberals into fits, perhaps the most obvious solution to securing both stable oil prices and energy independence lies deep within the atom. Hardly one-fifth of America’s electricity comes from nuclear sources, far less than Europe and soon even China. To this end, Sen. John McCain has proposed building 45 new nuclear power plants in America, while Sen. Barack Obama has simply stated that he is “not a nuclear energy proponent.”

This anxious, idealistic attitude lies at the base of most liberal proposals on the issue. All Americans want greater energy independence and lower energy prices, but conservatives seem to be the only ones presenting logical, realistic policy proposals for attaining them.

Republican Senators have come together to offer a bill, the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008, to finally start producing more American energy and take away Democrats’ excuses for opposing any proposals to increase domestic supplies of oil.

The New York Times writes today, “In a rather dramatic show of force, 22 Senate Republicans attended a news conference in a grassy park outside the Senate office buildings to trumpet the Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008.”

Democrats can no longer hide behind ANWR or their opposition to clean coal technology. If they are serious about doing anything on gas prices, they should support this bill.

For too long, the situation has been, as Senate Republican Conference Chair Lamar Alexander said yesterday, “When we say, ‘deep shore exploration,’ they say ‘no we can’t.’ When we say ‘oil shale development,’ they say ‘no we can’t.’ When we say ‘more nuclear power to plug in electric cars and trucks,’ they say ‘no we can’t.’” The American people want Congress to say “yes we can” on domestic oil production and it’s time for the Democrats to step up.

THE GAS PRICE REDUCTION ACT OF 2008

TITLE I – DEEP SEA EXPLORATION (OCS)

14 Billion Barrels On Atlantic and Pacific OCS – More Than All US Imports From Persian Gulf Countries Over The Last 15 Years

State Option Nationwide (except Gulf of Mexico)
Governor petitions to allow exploration, with concurrence of state legislature
Exploration must be at least 50 miles from coast
50% of revenues to Federal Treasury, 37.5% to States, 12.5% to Land & Water Conservation Fund

TITLE II: WESTERN STATE OIL SHALE EXPLORATION

More Than 3 Times The Oil Reserves Of Saudi Arabia

800 billion – 2 trillion potentially recoverable barrels in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming
Democrat Congress put moratorium on final regulations for development of this resource
Republican proposal would repeal the moratorium and allow exploration to move forward

TITLE III: PLUG-IN ELECTRIC CARS AND TRUCKS

We need better batteries to maximize electricity range & use less gas
Increased R&D for advanced batteries
Direct Loans for advanced battery manufacturing facilities
Sense of Senate that the Federal Government should increase its purchases of these vehicles

TITLE IV: STRENGTHENING U.S. FUTURES MARKETS

Authorizes increased funding/staff for Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
Directs the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets to study the international regulation of commodities markets
Codifies CFTC action on position limits and transparency for foreign boards of trade
Requires the CFTC to gather information on index traders and swap dealers