I’m going to point you to three links on the same blog with charts to show why we haven’t begun to explore our own resources in getting oil so we wouldn’t have the prices at the pump and for heating we have now. Also remember that the price of oil affects the price of food. Think about this when you vote this year.

The first link is here.

The second comes from the same site and is here.

The third link also comes from the same site and is here with a timeline of the price of oil per barrel then and now.

Now, in case you missed the editorial I am going to point you to this Washington Post editorial.

WHY NOT have a vote on offshore drilling? There’s a serious debate to be had over whether Congress should lift the ban on drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf that has been in place since 1981. Unfortunately, you won’t be hearing it in the House of Representatives — certainly, you won’t find lawmakers voting on it — anytime soon.

Instead of dealing with the issue on the merits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a staunch opponent of offshore drilling, has simply decreed that she will not allow a drilling vote to take place on the House floor. Why not? “What the president would like to do is to have validation for his failed policy,” she said yesterday when asked that very question. “What we’re saying is, ‘Exhaust other remedies, Mr. President.’ . . . It is the economic life of America’s families, and to suggest that drilling offshore is going to make a difference to them paycheck to paycheck now is a frivolous contention. The president has even admitted that. So what we’re saying is, ‘What can we do that is constructive?’ ”

If there is an explanation buried in there about why that makes offshore drilling off-limits for a vote, we missed it. Ms. Pelosi is correct that drilling is no panacea for the nation’s energy woes. The short-term effect of lifting the moratorium, if there were any, would be minimal. That doesn’t mean the country shouldn’t consider expanded drilling as one of many alternatives. There are legitimate concerns about the environmental impact of such drilling — environmental concerns that, we would note, exist in other regions whose oil Americans are perfectly happy to consume. But have technological improvements made such drilling less risky? Why not have that debate?

Read the rest.

Pelosi, and to a little lesser extent, Reid are both leading their respective houses like dictators. No debate on anything they oppose and fear might be passed. Is this the purpose of Congress, or am I mistaken in believing they are there to represent their constituents, most of whom are suffering the effects of high oil and gas prices?

Think about this when you vote. It’s not just the presidency that’s important this year; the Congress is also important and if we allow the Democrats control or even greater control look for a depression instead of a recession.

Instead of humoring Kucinich with his mock impeachment hearing yesterday, why isn’t Congress working on the real problems of the country?

It would be easy to put a bumper sticker on my car stating “Don’t blame me. I voted Republican.” But that gets us nowhere unless we vote for the party not afraid to drill. With Hurricane Katrina not one drop of oil was spilled in the offshore platforms. This shows the knowledge is there and being used to make oil drilling more environmentally clean.

Call your congressman/woman and Senators and ask why we can’t drill for our own oil now so we can reap the benefits in a few years. Benefits we could have been reaping even now if not for stubborn Congresses and presidents.

The father of slain Marine Pfc. Geoffrey Morris, killed in Iraq in April 2004, has announced his entrance into the Republican primary for the opportunity to oppose sophomore Congresswoman Melissa Bean.

Kirk Morris, 49, who backs the war, said Friday that his campaign is a way for him to honor his 19-year-old son, Pfc. Geoffrey Morris, who was killed in battle in April 2004.

“I’ve always taught my kids that if you’re willing to complain about something, be willing to put your feet in and do something about it,” said Morris, an international sales and marketing executive with a Park Ridge firm. “When Geoff joined the Marines, he was putting that mantra to work. Now it’s time for me to stand up.”

To get the nomination he will have to beat out businessman Steve Greenberg and second-time candidate Ken Arnold.

May the winner of the primary defeat the incumbent.

Speaks for itself.

NEW BERN, N.C - Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) is a household name in this military-friendly district represented in Congress by his family - first by his late father, a Democrat, and now by him - for most of the last 40 years. Jones’ folksy demeanor, commitment to constituent service and deeply Christian values made him virtually unbeatable since he won election to Congress in 1994.

Until two years ago, Jones was probably best known nationally for championing “freedom fries” to replace “French fries” in the House cafeteria - a hit with the GOP’s right-wing base.

But after co-sponsoring a measure with Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) in June 2005 calling for a time-certain troop withdrawal from Iraq, Jones began taking heat from many of those same supporters.

His U-turn on war policy attracted some unusual publicity for a press-shy conservative: an appearance on ABC News with Kucinich, long considered an anti-war bogeyman by the right, and a cover story in the liberal Mother Jones magazine.

Now, the consequences look more threatening. For the first time in more than a decade, Jones faces a serious primary challenger in Onslow County Commissioner Joe McLaughlin, a former Army Ranger, and their race will test how opposition to the Iraq war plays out in conservative and pro-military America.

Jones is not the only Republican to have broken with Bush on Iraq. Others, in more moderate, suburban districts, have also drawn primary challengers.

But in this eastern North Carolina district - one which spans parts of the Outer Banks - the conviction that patriotism means supporting even unpopular wars runs as deep as the Atlantic Ocean.

Jones’ politics have become increasingly at odds with a Republican party that he believes has lost its moorings. Although he voted to authorize the war in Iraq, he has since become one of its most vociferous opponents.

Story

Take it for what it’s worth to you, but this Washington Times article by Donald Lambro, suggests the chances for Republicans regaining seats lost in the House in ‘06 are looking brighter for ‘08.

Republican campaign strategists and independent election analysts say that after five months of contentious House Democratic rule, the Republican Party’s once-bleak congressional prospects for 2008 have markedly improved.

The Democratic Congress’ job approval score is now worse than President Bush’s, plummeting to 23 percent, a drop of eight points since April. House Democrats have been forced to retreat in the face of a furious assault by Republicans on pork-barrel spending, an issue that hurt the Republican Party in November. And Republican recruiting has produced plenty of candidates eyeing weak Democratic freshmen in Republican-leaning districts that swept them into office last year.

“Republican recruiting seems to be progressing at a reasonable pace. GOP strategists have about half a dozen seats that they know the party should never have lost … and eight of the nine most vulnerable House seats currently are held by Democrats,” elections analyst Stu Rothenberg wrote last week in his Political Report newsletter.

Strategists at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) confirm that a larger than expected number of House seats are now being targeted by the NRCC and that a surprisingly larger-than-expected number of seasoned candidates from state legislatures and other elective offices are coming forward to challenge Democrats who took over Republican districts.

Not so fast, say the Democrats: (more…)