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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (54341)	1/12/2007 12:53:29 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Now, there is a threat to permanently close ANWR by declaring it a wilderness, where no further drilling or exploration can take place. Cutting our own throat Thomas Lifson American Thinker I often wonder at the motivations of those who oppose exploiting the oil resources of arctic Alaska. The Arctic National Wildlife Reserve is a frozen wilderness most of the year, and a swamp for the brief summer. The breathtaking pictures used to sell the public on the idea that this is a pristine wilderness, sacred (or at least scenic) land like the Yosemite Valley are propaganda. No endangered species are threatened there. Opponents of drilling in Prudhoe Bay predicted disaster for the moose and elk which never developed. Yet, the credibility of drilling opponents in ANWR remains high in the media, and consequently among the general public which doesn't take the time to get more information than what is spoon-fed to them in misleading pictures. The fact is that our dependence on oil from the Middle East is a strategic liability of major proportion. Substituting a million barrels a day of domestic oil production, as would be possible from ANWR's currently-known reserves, would help a great deal. It wouldn't solve all our problems, but it is in the nature of our vast energy consumption that no one measure will solve all out problems. Now, there is a threat to permanently close ANWR by declaring it a wilderness, where no further drilling or exploration can take place. Investors Business Daily writes: <<< No longer content with merely blocking Republican attempts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, Democrats have decided to make that ban permanent, forever protecting species that are in no demonstrable danger and that have flourished in nearby Prudhoe Bay. While Cuba and China drill off the Florida Keys, Democrats worry about caribou. So do we, but not at the expense of American national and economic security. On Friday, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., introduced H.R. 39, legislation that would make the 1.2 million-acre coastal plain of the ANWR a permanently protected wilderness and end efforts to develop its energy resources for the benefit of the American people. >>> What few realize is that the reserves proven so far are likely to be a fraction of what lies waiting for us. Drillers do not waste money exploring the potential of oil deposits which are politically off limits. It is often the case with large discoveries that additional exploration yields far larger resources in similar geological structures elsewhere in the neighborhood. If ANWR is declared a wilderness, we may be putting ourselves in hock to the Saudis and Iranians even further, by denying substantial supplies to the oil market, enriching those who mean us no good. americanthinker.com investors.com

To: Sully- who wrote (54341)	1/13/2007 5:58:51 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 90947

"But the administration appeared caught off guard as rank-and-file Republicans denounced the proposed troop ``surge,''many of them expressing their opposition publicly for the first time." Even your own leaders don't buy what Bush is selling. Bush blamed in Congress for Iraq blunder Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service Published: Friday, January 12, 2007 WASHINGTON - U.S. President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more American troops to Iraq hit a wall of congressional opposition Thursday as several Republican lawmakers joined Democrats to rebuke the White House for escalating the war. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, dispatched by Bush to sell Congress on his new strategy, were met instead with accusations of White House deceptions and comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam. "I think this speech given (Wednesday) night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam," Senator Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, told Rice during her testimony before the Senate foreign relations committee. "If it's carried out, I will resist it." The White House had expected a hostile reception from Democrats, who now control both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The administration began laying the groundwork with Republican leaders in Congress to thwart possible attempts by Democrats to limit funding for Bush's war plan. But the administration appeared caught off guard as rank-and-file Republicans denounced the proposed troop ``surge,''many of them expressing their opposition publicly for the first time. "I'm not convinced," Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, told Rice. "As I look to the plan that the president presented (Wednesday), what we are seeing is (not) that much different than what we have been doing in the past." The opposition extended to hawkish Democrats who have bucked their own party in the past and backed the White House. "I have supported you and the administration on the war, and I cannot continue to support the administration's position," said Florida Senator Bill Nelson. "I have not been told the truth ... And the American people have not been told the truth." Bush unveiled his "new way forward" during a televised speech to the nation Wednesday night. The strategy, forged as a response to brutal sectarian violence in Iraq, will see 17,500 U.S. troops dispatched to Baghdad to support a new military offensive promised by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki. The mission is aimed at confronting sectarian militias responsible for attacks that have left more than 17,000 Iraqis dead over the past six months. Another 4,000 U.S. Marines are being deployed to Anbar province in western Iraq to fight al-Qaida operatives and Sunni insurgents. But Ohio Senator George Voinovich, another Republican, said he no longer trusted Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to support American efforts. "I've gone along with the president on this, and I bought into his dream (of a democratic Iraq)," Voinovich said. "And at this stage of the game, I don't think it's going to happen." Defending the strategy, Rice said Maliki and his Shia-led government have been put on notice they must back up their vow to dismantle illegal death squads, including those with links to radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "I think (Maliki) knows that his government is, in a sense, on borrowed time," Rice said. 1 2 next page canada.com