Obama Regime Blocks Drilling In Alaska, But Allows Italians To Drill Baby Drill

When Barack Obama took office, the national average for a price of gasoline was $1.85. Now it's over $4 and we are hearing it may very well be $6 or $7 before the end of summer. So what does Obama do?

His regime just blocked Shell Oil from drilling where we know there are 27 BILLION barrels of oil. If Obama's deliberate war on the United States' ability to use it's own abundant natural resources doesn't border on treason, I'm not sure what does.

From the Heritage Foundation:

There are an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil waiting to be tapped in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Alaska. But after spending five years and nearly $4 billion, Shell Oil Company has been forced to abandon its efforts to drill for oil in the region.

With gas at $4 per gallon and higher, one might think that more oil would be a good thing. So what’s the road block? The Environmental Protection Agency. Fox News reports that the EPA is withholding necessary air permits because of a one square mile village of 245 people, 70 miles from the off-shore drilling site.

Read the rest of this shocking report here.

Obama has been trying to scam the American people by falsely claiming he is doing all he can on domestic production, however the facts show he's doing everything he can to actually block all domestic production.

Never mind the fact the United States has the largest fossil fuel reserves in the world. That's right, between oil, natural gas, and coal, the United States has more energy resources than any other nation on the planet. And yet, our President has blocked all attempts to recover it. At least by Americans.

As Obama has blocked drilling permits at a frantic pace, other nations are drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico for their own markets. Never mind this is our oil.

Now we learn that even though the Obama regime and radical environmentalists have fought to stop all drilling in Alaska, and Italian company is drilling away, AND spilling oil. From the Anchorage Daily News

Oil spilled at an Italian oil company's new Alaska oil field on the northern coast last Wednesday, 10 days after the field started production, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said today.

Oil spilled at an Italian oil company's new Alaska oil field on the northern coast last Wednesday, 10 days after the field started production, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said today.

About 61 gallons of crude oil sprayed out of a flare vent, which is used to relieve pressure. Programmable circuits failed and crude oil was pushed through the flare and outside onto snow and gravel, the DEC said.

The DEC estimated the oil affected 60 cubic yards of snow and one cubic yard of gravel, all of which will have to be removed. Eni personnel had the area about 80 percent cleaned when DEC responders arrived.

The spill occurred at Eni's production facility for its new Nikaitchuq field, which started production Jan. 30, the DEC said. Although Nikaitchuq is an offshore field in the Beaufort Sea, this spill occurred onshore at Oliktok Point, where some production occurs.

Work at Eni's production wells continued throughout the incident.

Eni has drilled 12 wells and plans to drill a total of 52 by 2014. The Oliktok Point pad will tap oil from 22 wells; an offshore pad near Spy Island will tap the remaining 30.

The company expects the facility to produce for more than 30 years, with a peak of 28,000 barrels per day.

At the current price of crude, we'll spend between $700 billion and $1 trillion importing oil from other nations, many of which don't much care for us. Can you imagine the U.S. economy if that $1 trillion was allowed to circulate here. The amount of good paying jobs it would create.

I can.

Just one more case why Obama must go.

By the way, have you noticed how much cover the lamestream media is giving Obama? Back when Bush was President, and gas prices rose, it was all his fault. Now that Obama is President the meme the left is pushing is "there are no easy answers" [as to why the price has gone through the roof.] It's amazing to watch the overt bias.

Of course, as gas prices skyrocket, the price of transporting goods will skyrocket as well, effecting the price we pay for everything, especially food.

Enough is enough. We must demand a real energy policy and we must demand it now.

Absolute Must See: The Impact Of Obama's Illegal Offshore Drilling Moratorium Explained

The Offshore Marine Services Association is calling on the Obama Administration to end its de facto moratorium on oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Watch this video to learn how the President and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar are defying the courts, sidelining Gulf oil workers and harming the American economy.

This is a wonderful video that was put together by the Offshore Marine Services Association. It explains exactly how the Obama regime is destroying America with it's moratorium. Everyone in the country needs to see this.

Readers should also check out:

Flashback: Obama Surrenders Gulf Oil To Moscow

Sarah Palin: Obama’s War On Domestic Oil & Gas Has Caused Pain At The Pump, Endangered Chances Of Economic Recovery, & Threatened National Security

Skyrocketing! Gasoline Prices Up 67 Percent Since Obama Took Office

Governor Palin, the Success of ACES, and the Defeat of Corruption–Part 1

Governor Palin, the Success of ACES, and the Defeat of Corruption Part II

Sarah Palin: Obama's War On Domestic Oil & Gas Has Caused Pain At The Pump, Endangered Chances Of Economic Recovery, & Threatened National Security

Tuesday evening Sarah Palin released this blistering statement concerning the sorry state of affairs the Obama regime has put the country in.

The $4-Per-Gallon President

Is it really any surprise that oil and gas prices are surging toward the record highs we saw in 2008 just prior to the economic collapse? Despite the President’s strange assertions in his press conference last week, his Administration is not a passive observer to the trends that have inflated oil prices to dangerous levels. His war on domestic oil and gas exploration and production has caused us pain at the pump, endangered our already sluggish economic recovery, and threatened our national security.

The evidence of the President’s anti-drilling mentality and his culpability in the high gas prices hurting Americans is there for all to see. The following is not even an exhaustive list:

Exhibit A: His drilling moratorium. Guided by politics and pure emotion following the Gulf spill instead of peer-reviewed science or defensible law, the President used the power of his executive order to impose a deepwater drilling moratorium. The Administration even ignored a court order halting his moratorium. And what is the net result of the President’s (in)actions? A large drilling company was forced to declare bankruptcy, the economy of the region has been hobbled, and at least 7 rigs moved out of the Gulf area to other parts of the world while many others remain idle. Is it any surprise that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to fall by 240,000 bbl/d in 2011 alone?

But that’s just the Gulf. There’s also the question of a moratorium on the development of Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf. It seems the Obama Administration can’t agree with itself on whether it imposed a moratorium there or not. The White House claims that they didn’t, but their own Department of the Interior let slip that they did. To clear up this mess, Gov. Parnell decided to sue the DOI to get a solid answer because such a federal OCS drilling moratorium would violate federal law.

Exhibit B: His 2012 budget. The President used his 2012 budget to propose the elimination of several vital oil and natural gas production tax incentives. Eliminating these incentives will discourage energy companies from completing exploratory projects, resulting in higher energy costs for all Americans – and not just at the pump. According to one study mentioned in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, eliminating the deduction for drilling costs “could increase natural gas prices by 50 cents per thousand cubic feet,” which would translate to “an increased cost to consumers of $11.5 billion per year in the form of higher natural gas prices.”

Exhibit C: His anti-drilling regulatory policies. The U.S. Geological Survey found that the area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, one third of which is in Alaskan territory. That’s our next Prudhoe Bay right there. According to one industry study, allowing Royal Dutch Shell to tap these reserves in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas would create an annual average of 54,700 jobs nationwide with a $145 billion total payroll and generate an additional $193 billion a year in total revenues to local, state, and federal governments for 50 years. This would be great news if only the federal government would allow Shell to drill there. But it won’t. It’s been five years since Shell purchased the lease to develop these fields, but it’s been mired in a regulatory funk courtesy of the Obama Administration.

After investing $3.5 billion in exploration programs (a significant portion of which went to ensuring responsible spill response and prevention), Shell announced last month that it has given up hope of obtaining the required permits to conduct exploratory drilling this year. That means no jobs and no billions in oil revenue from the Arctic anytime soon thanks to this Administration. Let’s stop and think about this for a moment.

Right now Beltway politicos are quibbling over cutting $61 billion from our dangerously bloated $3.7 trillion budget. Allowing drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas will enrich federal coffers by $167 billion a year without raising our taxes. If we let Harry Reid keep his “cowboy poetry,” would the White House consider letting us drill?

Taken altogether, it’s hard to deny that the Obama Administration is anti-drilling. The President may try to suggest that the rise in oil prices has nothing to do with him, but the American people won’t be fooled. Before we saw any protests in the Middle East, increased global demand led to a significant rise in oil prices; but the White House stood idly by watching the prices go up and allowing America to remain increasingly dependent on imports from foreign regimes in dangerously unstable parts of the world.

This was no accident. Through a process of what candidate Obama once called “gradual adjustment,” American consumers have seen prices at the pump rise 67 percent since he took office. Let’s not forget that in September 2008, candidate Obama’s Energy Secretary in-waiting said: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” That’s one campaign promise they’re working hard to fulfill!

Last week, the British Telegraph reported that the price of petrol in the UK hit £6 a gallon – which comes to about $9.70. If you think $4 a gallon is bad now, just wait till the next crisis causes oil prices to “necessarily” skyrocket.

Meanwhile, the vast undeveloped reserves that could help to keep prices at the pump affordable remain locked up because of President Obama’s deliberate unwillingness to drill here and drill now.

Hitting the American people with higher gas prices like this is essentially a hidden tax and a transfer of wealth to foreign regimes who are providing us the energy we refuse to provide for ourselves. Like inflation, higher energy prices are a hidden tax on Americans who are struggling to make ends meet. And these high gas prices will be felt in the form of higher food prices due to higher transportation costs. Energy is connected to everything in our economy.

Access to affordable and secure energy is key to economic growth, which in turn is key to job growth. Energy is the building block of our economy. The President is purposely weakening that building block and weakening our country.

2012 can’t come soon enough.

~ Sarah Palin

For additional information you should check out Whitney Pitcher's in-depth article:

Governor Palin Says President Obama Is “Scary Wrong” on Oil

To see how Sarah's energy and tax policies worked in Alaska, check this out, also from Whitney:

Governor Palin, the Success of ACES, and the Defeat of Corruption–Part 1

$5 Gas Could Pave The Way For President Sarah Palin

Recently Sarah Palin said Barack Obama was "scary wrong" on oil. Whitney Pitcher put together a great report that details exactly why Sarah Palin is right about this, and also points out the staggering amounts of recoverable oil and natural gas in Alaska:

As Governor Palin mentioned in her tweet, Alaska has billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas. The Natural Petroleum Reserve in Alaska alone is estimated to have 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The Arctic is estimated to have 90 billion barrels of oil and 1. 67 quadrillion (1,670 trillion) cubic feet of natural gas. For some perspective, that is 1,670,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of natural gas. Those kinds of numbers make even Obama’s deficit numbers seem small!

She also mentioned that other states have large amounts of resources as well. For example, the Green River formation in Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah is estimated to have 1.5 trillion barrels of oil–6 times as much as Saudi Arabia. There are 3-4.3 billion barrels of oil in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana. Those a just a few examples of the abundance of God-given resources.

Read the rest of Whitney's comprehensive report here.

Economies run on energy. It's the life blood of any healthy economy. Rising energy prices cripple economies though, and hurt the poorest among us, as the price of oil determines the price of everything we buy. Since Obama has been in office, gasoline prices have already risen an unbelievable 67 percent and Americans expect $5 gasoline by July of this year. If this trend continues, we could see $10 or higher gas by July of 2012.

As Scott Conroy writes, Sarah Palin is the one potential presidential candidate who not only understands the energy issues but has hands-on experience:

As gasoline prices shot up for the 13th straight day on Monday to a new national average topping $3.50 and oil prices rose to over $106 a barrel, the cost of energy seemed poised once again to rise to the forefront of the political discourse just as the 2012 presidential campaign generates steam.

Of all the prospective Republican candidates, none may have a better opportunity to benefit politically from a nominating cycle in which gas prices take center stage than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

[ ... ]

But it would be difficult for Palin's GOP rivals, and even her Democratic critics, to deny that energy issues fall directly into the wheelhouse of the former Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commissioner who went on to lead a state where almost 90 percent of the budget is funded by oil revenue. As Tina Fey might say, Palin can see oil pipelines from her house.

During an appearance on Fox News last weekend, Palin nodded in anticipation and smiled confidently as host Jeanine Pirro lined up a question about what the government should do about rising gas prices.

Speaking with unbridled relish, Palin replied that opening the strategic oil reserves was not the solution to the problem and reverted to her old mantra that the government should "drill here and drill now" before going into a more in-depth criticism of the Obama administration's energy policies.

"Back in '08, our U.S. crude also was trading at about $100 a barrel as it is today for about six months, and that was right before our world economy imploded," Palin said. "And now here we are back again, so [Obama's] timing - his destructive timing - of locking up 97 percent of our off-shore and not allowing ANWR to be touched, not allowing domestic drilling to take place to the degree that it should, it is terrifying where he is leading us in terms of being at the mercy of foreign regimes that would seek our demise to produce energy for us."

With analysts predicting that gas prices are likely to soar even higher amid continued unrest in North Africa and the Middle East, other prospective GOP contenders have already begun seizing on the issue, as the high energy usage summer months approach rapidly.

During an appearance at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour accused Obama of intentionally boosting energy prices to promote a progressive environmental agenda.

"This administration's policies have been designed to drive up the cost of energy in the name of reducing pollution, in the name of making very expensive alternative fuels more economically competitive," Barbour said.

As the governor of a Gulf state, Barbour might also lay claim to having a special understanding of energy issues, but Palin for years has placed a particular emphasis on topic during her time in office and beyond.

The Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which Palin signed into law in August of 2008, set the framework for a major natural pipeline proposal that would transport natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to the Lower 48.

On the vice presidential campaign trail just weeks later, Palin spoke more frequently about energy issues than any other subject, and the emotional high-point of her boisterous rallies often came when she led crowds of tens of thousands of people in chants of "drill, baby, drill!"

[ ... ]

As she continues to mull a presidential run, Palin figures to take particular note that energy issues figure to loom especially large in the nation's first voting state of Iowa.

"The people here who are large consumers of fuel, in the trucking industry or farmers, it cuts into their profitability, and those businesses will start to ask questions about what can be done to relieve costs of high fuel," said Polk County Republican co-chairman Will Rogers, a supporter of Newt Gingrich, who is in talks to become a paid consultant to the former House speaker in the coming weeks. "Whether it's Sarah Palin or Newt Gingrich or anybody else that's looking at running for president, this is a real issue for many Americans. If we see between now and January another $20 to $30 added to the price of a barrel of oil, people will be talking about it here in Iowa."

Besides being Alaska's top energy regulator, Sarah was also the Chairman of the Interstate Oil And Gas Compact Commission. The IOGCC is a multi-state government agency that works to ensure our nation's oil and natural gas resources are conserved and maximized while protecting health, safety and the environment.

From their website:

The IOGCC advocates for environmentally-sound ways to increase the supply of American energy. We accomplish this by providing governors of member states with a clear and unified voice to Congress, while also serving as the authority on issues surrounding these vital resources.

The Commission also assists states in balancing a multitude of interests through sound regulatory practices. Our unique structure offers a highly effective forum for states, industry, Congress and the environmental community to share information and viewpoints to advance our nation's energy future. We stand dedicated to securing resources needed to ensure our nation's energy, economic and national security.

We recommend books from time to time, and one I can't recommend enough is Sarah Takes On Big Oil, written by Kay Cashmann and Kristen Nelson. This book goes into great detail describing how Sarah got things done as Governor, while dealing with the oil companies. It's essential reading if one is to understand why a Palin presidency makes sense.

Cashman is the publisher and executive editor of Petroleum News and Nelson, the editor-in-chief, has maintained a long-time eye on Alaska government and its interactions with the state's most lucrative industry.

Recently we pointed out that Sarah Palin is the national security candidate, the clear favorite among those who view national security as their number one concern. Given that energy is very much a national security issue, it's the safe bet that Sarah Palin is the right person for the job.

Sarah has a two decades long history of leadership. Strong leadership. As the nation spirals out of control, we need strong leadership. We need Sarah Palin.

Rasmussen: 58% Say It’s Likely Gas Prices Will Top $5 A Gallon By July 1st

A recent Rasmussen poll finds Americans overwhelmingly believe the price of gasoline will rise to as much as $5 per gallon by July 1st of this year. Knowing that the price of gasoline has already skyrocketed 67 percent in the first 26 months of the Obama regime, I'd say the American people are right on target!

Most U.S. voters have taken notice of the recent spike in gasoline prices and they believe gas is likely to top the $5 mark by the beginning of summer.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 58% of voters nationwide say it is at least Somewhat Likely that the price of gas will rise above $5 a gallon before July 1. Thirty-five percent (35%) disagree and say it’s not likely. These findings include 21% who say it’s Very Likely that the price of gas will top $5 a gallon and seven percent (7%) who believe it’s Not at all Likely.

An overwhelming majority (82%) believe that the price of gas has already gone up "a lot" in recent weeks while just 16% say gas prices have gone up "a little." Fewer than half a percent believe gas prices have gone down in recent weeks and only one percent (1%) says prices have stayed about the same.

The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $3.427, according to a daily survey from motorist group AAA. Gas Prices have not averaged more than $3.40 a gallon since October 2008.

Over the last several years, rising gasoline prices have frequently led to declines in consumer confidence as measured by the Rasmussen Consumer Index.

More about the poll here.

Having lived through the Carter years, I can say that without a doubt, Barack Obama makes Jimmy Carter look good. $5 a gallon gas will stop America's economy dead in it's tracks!

Skyrocketing! Gasoline Prices Up 67 Percent Since Obama Took Office

When gasoline prices started to rise during the Bush administration the BLM [Blood Libel Media] flooded the airwaves with reports on high gasoline prices, and sob stories of how this would destroy people's lives. They went into great detail to explain how the cost of gasoline would effect every product we buy, because of increased transportation costs. It was stunning. Not saying the media was wrong, but the priority they gave the coverage was stunning.

What's even more stunning is the relative lack of coverage the BLM is giving the incredible rise in gasoline prices we are experiencing now. They are giving even less coverage as to why.

Mark Hemmingway at the Weekly Standard has a stunning report. In the first 26 months of the Obama regime, gasoline prices have skyrocketed upwards by an mind-blowing 67 percent! What makes this, and the BLM's lack of coverage of it, so stunning, is during the first 26 months of Bush's first term gasoline prices only rose 7 percent!

Ah, January of 2009. Hope was in the air, but more importantly, gas was under two dollars a gallon. Since then gas prices, have gone up 67 percent and it's an ominously upward trend. Interestingly enough, the Heritage Foundation also took a look at the first 26 months of Bush's presidency -- gas only rose 7 percent during that time frame.

Now obviously turmoil in the Middle East has something to do with our current astronomical gas prices, but keep in mind that by this point in the Bush presidency 9/11 had happened and we were on the verge of invading Iraq. So while the president can't be entirely responsible for global commodity prices, it's still worth asking what Obama's doing to make things worse.

After all, this is the President who told us "We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.”

This is the President that appointed a Secretary of the Interior that famously said he didn't mind if gas hit $10 a gallon.

Let's not forget that Obama has also imposed a moratorium on drilling, defying a court order that says his actions are illegal, and demanding the ban be lifted. Obama has been working behind the scenes to declare millions of acres of land in the western states "public monuments" as a way to tie up land, with much needed natural resources, making these rich, abundant resources off limits forever.

I'm not sure if Obama is a true "global warming" zealot, or just sees this as an excuse to destroy America as we know it, and enrich some of his cronies like George Soros, who is heavily invested in foreign oil as well as "green" technologies. Either way, it's downright evil and it's time for this madness to stop.

We have more than enough oil, natural gas, and coal to keep the United States completely energy independent for centuries. It's time to drill baby, drill!

Flashback: Obama Surrenders Gulf Oil To Moscow

As the price of gasoline climbs toward the $5 a gallon mark, a reminder of why we are seeing this. Anyone who thinks radical Marxist Barack Obama isn't purposely trying to destroy the American economy simply isn't paying attention.

It's time to Drill, baby drill!

From March, 2010 in the Washington Times:

The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast.

Offshore oil production makes economic sense. It creates jobs and helps fulfill America’s vast energy needs. It contributes to the gross domestic product and does not increase the trade deficit. Higher oil supply helps keep a lid on rising prices, and greater American production gives the United States more influence over the global market.

Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don’t drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries. Last year, the U.S. government even helped Brazil underwrite offshore drilling in the Tupi oil field near Rio de Janeiro. The current price of oil makes drilling economically feasible, so why not let the private sector go ahead and get our oil?

The Obama administration, however, views energy policy through green eyeshades. Every aspect of its approach to energy is subordinated to radical environmental concerns. This unprecedented lack of balance is placing offshore oil resources off-limits. The O Force would prefer the country shift its energy production to alternative sources, such as nuclear, solar and wind power. In theory, there’s nothing wrong with that, in the long run, assuming technology can catch up to demand. But we have not yet reached the green utopia, we won’t get there anytime soon, and America needs more oil now.

Russia more sensibly views energy primarily as a strategic resource. Energy is critical to Russia’s economy, as fuel and as a source of profit through export. Russia also has used energy as a coercive diplomatic tool, shutting off natural gas piped to Eastern Europe in the middle of winter to make a point about how dependent the countries are that do business with the Russians.

Now Russia is using oil exploration to establish a new presence in the Western Hemisphere. It recently concluded four contracts securing oil-exploration rights in Cuba’s economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. A Russian-Cuban joint partnership will exploit oil found in the deep waters of the Gulf.

Cuba has rights to the area in which drilling will be conducted under an agreement the Carter administration recognized. From Russia’s perspective, this is another way to gain leverage inside what traditionally has been America’s sphere of influence. It may not be as dramatic as the Soviet Union attempting to use Cuba as a missile platform, but in the energy wars, the message is the same. Russia is projecting power into the Western Hemisphere while the United States retreats. The world will not tolerate a superpower that acts like a sidekick much longer.

Jedediah Bila Talks Energy Independence

Drill baby, drill! Jedediah Bila is spot on in this Fox and Friends interview.

Sarah Palin: Fuel America By Being Lap Dogs To Chavez And Ahmadinejad Instead of Drilling Our Own, Baby?

It should be interesting to watch the loons on the radical left as they go through all sorts of mental and verbal gymnastics trying to justify buying oil from terrorist nations, after this hard hitting bit of writing by Sarah Palin!

Remember when Bush and the evil Darth Cheney were in office? Hollywood and the radical Marxist-communist-environmentalists were running television ads and producing You Tube videos telling us that SUVs were the greatest threat to mankind ever, because they used gasoline, and that gasoline, .... wait for it .... funded terrorism!

Oddly enough, now that they have one of their fellow travelers in the White House, it’s all good!

This one is gonna leave a mark:

Fuel America with Terrorist-Tarred Oil Instead of Drilling Our Own, Baby?

Am I the only one who wonders what could possibly be the agenda of any politician who would thwart our drive toward energy independence? Continuing to lock up America’s domestic energy reserves, including the energy-rich Last Frontier of Alaska, only equips dangerous foreign regimes as they fund terrorist organizations to harm us and our allies. I’m going to keep speaking and writing about this in the simplest of terms until someone can provide a simple answer as to why liberal Democrats don’t understand that we have safe, warehoused onshore and shallow water reserves waiting for permission to be extracted. They either choose not to understand the geology, science, and technology behind an "all-of-the-above" approach to energy security, or they understand it, yet for whatever frightening reason choose to be lap dogs to Chavez and Ahmadinejad.

Shoot, I must have lived such a doggoned sheltered life as a normal, independent American up there in the Last Frontier, schooled with only public education and a lowly state university degree, because obviously I haven’t learned enough to dismiss common sense (a prerequisite for power in Washington these days). Help me out, friends! Help someone like me – and the majority of Americans – understand why we would ever kowtow and bow to foreign regimes that hate us, instead of doing all we can to starve the beast of terrorism in our plight for security, prosperity, and peace.

There’s an obvious common sense answer to our need for security and energy independence, but don’t hold your breath waiting for common sense to surface in Washington – it’s an endangered species there. Obviously we must responsibly develop our God-given domestic oil and gas reserves right here, right now; we must conserve energy; and we must develop renewables that are based on sound science, not snake oil and favors for political pals.

Please read the following Newsmax article (posted below) summarizing GOP efforts to push the Obama Administration to produce a plan to potentially wean us off one source of dangerous foreign oil. (Of course, I think the prodding should be even more aggressive to shake up the naVve complacency of anti-development Democrats and some deer-in-the-headlights mainstream reporters who are finally realizing they’d been buffaloed into believing any politician had all the answers.)

We must understand the imperative nature of energy security, along with America’s life and death need to secure our borders. Baby, this is why I won’t sit down and shut up about the need to drill.

- Sarah Palin

Boomshockalacka, baby!

Obviously this is spot on. There is absolutely no good reason for a nation that has more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, billions, of trillions, of cubic feet of natural gas reserves, and hundreds of years worth of coal reserves, to be getting oil from terrorist nations.

There is also no reason why we shouldn’t be building nuclear powered electric generation plants nationwide either. France gets around 70 percent of it’s electricity from nuclear. FRANCE.

This is incredible.

Of course, we know the real reason why Barack Obama and his buddies Al Gore, George Soros, and others are against using America’s energy, and why they are milking the disaster in the Gulf for all it’s worth. They have around 10 TRILLION REASONS to be against "drill, baby, drill!"

It’s time to stop this nonsense, and get on with the business of keeping America safe, strong, and prosperous.

Here's the Newsmax article Sarah references above.

Senators Demand Answers on Venezuela’s Links to Terrorism

A dozen Republican senators have sent a letter challenging the Obama administration to explain what it knows about Venezuela’s support for terrorism and suggesting that the country be declared a "state sponsor of terrorism."

"Hugo Chavez’s relationships with Iran and other foreign terrorist organizations continue to grow and pose a serious threat to our hemisphere," Sen. George LeMieux of Florida, one signer of the letter, said of the Venezuelan president.

"I encourage the State Department to thoroughly evaluate Venezuela’s actions and determine if the country needs to be added to the official U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism."

John Ensign of Nevada, who drafted the letter along with LeMieux, declared: "It’s no secret to the American people that Venezuela wishes harm to the United States. What is secret is how many more ties to terrorist organizations and state sponsors of terrorism does Venezuela need to be declared a state sponsor of terrorism."

The letter addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton points to a number of concerns raised by Chavez’s Venezuela:

* Surface-to-air missiles and other weapons have reportedly been provided by Venezuela to FARC guerrillas in Colombia. An arms cache captured from FARC in 2008 included Swedish-made anti-tank rocket launchers that had been sold to Venezuela.

* Venezuela provides cross-border sanctuaries for Colombian guerrillas.

* A United Nations report last year disclosed that nearly one-third of all cocaine produced in the Andean region passes through Venezuela. The senators question how much terrorist groups such as al-Qaida profit from trafficking drugs that originate in or flow through Venezuela.

* The U.S. has frozen the assets of two Venezuelans, including one working for Chavez, for providing direct support to the terrorist group Hezbollah. The senators ask the State Department for an assessment of the activities of Hezbollah inside Venezuela.

* Chavez’s "extensive support" of the Castro regime in Cuba is calculated to amount to $1 billion a year, and Cuban advisors are involved in the intelligence and security apparatus of the Venezuelan government.

* Chavez "has repeatedly expressed support" for Iran’s covert nuclear program and announced a plan for the construction of a "nuclear village" in Venezuela with Iranian assistance. Also, Chavez has pledged to provide Iran with 20,000 barrels of gasoline per day.

* As for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, "recent years have witnessed an increased presence in Latin America, particularly Venezuela."

* Weekly flights connecting Iran, Syria, and Venezuela raise suspicions of "nefarious purposes" because passengers on these flights have been subject to only "cursory immigration and customs controls."

Newsmax magazine’s May issue disclosed that Iranian security officers seal off the airport in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, two hours before Iran Air jets arrived. Those officers supervise cargo unloading with no inspection by local officials.

Iran could easily fly in highly enriched uranium that could then be carried into the U.S. from Mexico, increasing the risk of a terrorist attack with a nuclear weapon.

If the U.S. did declare Venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism, American arms sales to the country would be prohibited, as would U.S. economic assistance, and severe restrictions would be placed on bilateral trade.

"The Obama administration’s decision to pull the trigger on Venezuela may hinge on whether the United States can afford to forfeit petroleum exports from that South American country," Roger F. Noriega, a former assistant secretary of state and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, observes on the Institute’s journal, The American.

"Anticipating the argument that Venezuela’s oil supply is too essential to the U.S. economy to risk slapping that country with the terrorist label, the senators ask the administration to explain its ‘contingency plan’ for dealing with a ‘sudden and prolonged unavailability of Venezuelan oil exports to the United States.’"

In answer to the question, the U.S. would likely find new sources of oil on the international market — but Venezuela’s economy will be crippled by the loss of oil revenue and consumer imports, Noriega notes, adding: "Since the last years of the George W. Bush administration, U.S. diplomats have steered clear of Chavez for fear of ‘provoking’ him. Thanks to congressional oversight, we are about to confront the terrible downside of that naive, passive policy."

Other senators who signed the letter include John McCain of Arizona, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, and Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona.

Sarah Palin Schools Obama On Sound Energy Policy, Promises Major Address To The Nation

As the former governor of one of America’s largest energy-producing states, a state oil and gas commissioner, and chair of the nation’s Interstate Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, I’ve seen plenty of such studies. What we need is action

—Sarah Palin

As soon as it was announced that Barack Obama was going to "reverse" his stance on offshore drilling, when knew two things. One, it was a scam, and two, Sarah Palin was going to take him to the woodshed.

While Obama and his media partners are talking about opening up certain offshore areas to "exploration" in reality, Obama and company have actually closed off areas that were previously open, and canceled lease sales already in the works.

There is a lot in play here, but at a glance, this is what Obama has done:

* Canceled five lease sales off the Alaska coast that were planned over the next 2 years.
One of the areas is estimated to hold up to 77 billion barrels of oil, or more than 3 times
US reserves.

* A study of the southern Atlantic OCS, with the findings due back next year….no leasing

* Delaying a planned lease sale off Virginia until at least 2012

At a time when America’s economy is in free fall, unemployment is heading toward record highs, and Obama has created a national debt that is higher than all of the debt created by the previous 43 Presidents COMBINED, this is unthinkable, and borders on criminal.

We send nearly $1 trillion dollars each and every year overseas to purchase oil. Not only is this a trillion dollars that leaves our economy, forever, it’s tens of thousands of lost jobs, and billions in lost tax dollars, to both the state and federal treasuries.

At a time when Obama and his corrupt Congress have passed into law an unsustainable "health care" bill, that will raise taxes on Americans by over half a trillion dollars, and will cost millions of jobs, while prolonging economic stagnation for decades, you’d think these people would want some of that money to stay here, but alas......

Having been Chairman of both the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, as well as the Governor of a huge energy producing state, you knew this latest Obama scam was going to draw the ire of Mama Grizzly.

It didn’t take long for it to leak out that Sarah intends to give Obama a major dressing down in an upcoming keynote address at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

From Reuters:

Sarah Palin, who made "drill baby drill" a 2008 campaign slogan, isn’t too pleased with President Obama’s new energy plan as laid out today.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, said on her Twitter page that she agreed with House Republican leader John Boehner that Obama’s plan is aimed at getting his "job-killing, energy-depleting, burdensome" cap and trade legislation through Congress.

A source who is close to Palin said Palin believes Obama is trying to use his drilling plan as a sweetener to get some Republicans to support cap and trade as part of comprehensive energy legislation, and that meanwhile, the review process for getting new drilling operations approved would be lengthy.

"It’s not so much drill baby drill, but stall baby stall," the source said.

Palin, whose home state would see some coastal areas off limits to energy exploration out of concern for the environment, plans to address Obama’s energy plan directly in a speech April 9 at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

"She will specifically respond to the president’s proposal," the source said.

You know this is going to be something if she is announcing this, for a speech that is a week away. You can only poke a Mama Grizzly so much before you get ripped to shreds. Look for this keynote address to be carried live to the nation on the cable networks.

Of course, Sarah isn’t waiting for her New Orleans address to let Obama have it. She calls him out quite well in the pages of National Review Online:

Stall, Baby, Stall

Many Americans fear that President Obama’s new energy proposal is once again "all talk and no real action," this time in an effort to shore up fading support for the Democrats’ job-killing cap-and-trade (a.k.a. cap-and-tax) proposals. Behind the rhetoric lie new drilling bans and leasing delays; soon to follow are burdensome new environmental regulations. Instead of "drill, baby, drill," the more you look into this the more you realize it’s "stall, baby, stall."

Today the president said he’ll "consider potential areas for development in the mid and south Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, while studying and protecting sensitive areas in the Arctic." As the former governor of one of America’s largest energy-producing states, a state oil and gas commissioner, and chair of the nation’s Interstate Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, I’ve seen plenty of such studies. What we need is action — action that results in the job growth and revenue that a robust drilling policy could provide. And let’s not forget that while Interior Department bureaucrats continue to hold up actual offshore drilling from taking place, Russia is moving full steam ahead on Arctic drilling, and China, Russia, and Venezuela are buying leases off the coast of Cuba.

As an Alaskan, I’m especially disheartened by the new ban on drilling in parts of the 49th state and the cancellation of lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. These areas contain rich oil and gas reserves whose development is key to our country’s energy security. As I told Secretary Salazar last April, "Arctic exploration and development is a slow, demanding process. Delays or major restrictions in accessing these resources for environmentally responsible development are not in the national interest or the interests of the State of Alaska."

I’ve got to call it like I see it: The administration’s sudden interest in offshore drilling is little more than political posturing designed to gain support for job-killing energy legislation soon to come down the pike. I’m confident that GOP senators will not take the bait.

Next week I’m headed to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, where I look forward to discussing what "Drill, baby, drill" really means.

Again, what Obama is doing is a scam designed to do two things, fool the uniformed and the clueless, and change the subject. The nation is already incredibly angered over the unconstitutional "health care" bill that was shoved down it’s collective throat, and Obama is hoping we can’t multi-task.....be angered over the "health care" bill....and livid over his idiotic energy policy at the same time. Man is he in for a rude awakening!

As expected, there has been a lot written about the latest attempt to scam the public by Obama. The Heritage Foundation’s Morning Bell hits Obama hard and sums it up well:

Don’t Fall For Obama’s Energy Shell Game

Can the Obama administration’s desperate attempts to cover their true far left nature with centrist rhetoric and promises become any more transparent? Yesterday, the President announced "an expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration" in selected areas off the coasts of the United States. The President claims this announcement was made "in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs," but nobody believes him. Just take a quick look at today’s newspaper reporting:

* The Los Angeles Times: "President Obama … unveiled a controversial offshore drilling plan Wednesday that was driven largely by the politics of his agenda on energy and climate change — not by hopes of changing the nation’s energy supply."

* The Washington Post: "President Obama’s decision … reflects a high-stakes calculation by the White House: Splitting the difference on the most contentious energy issues could help secure a bipartisan climate deal this year."

* Politico: "Obama’s decision is closely tied politically to the fate of the climate change bill jointly sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Kerry (D-MA), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT)."

* The New York Times: "The proposal is also intended to … help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation."

* Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama’s pledge to expand offshore oil and natural-gas drilling may help Democrats deliver legislation that regulates carbon dioxide emissions before any fuel is produced."

In fact, if anything, the policies announced by President Obama yesterday will actually decrease and delay future U.S. oil production. The President actually canceled four lease sales off the Alaska coast that were planned to begin producing oil within the next two years, delayed a planned lease off Virginia until at least 2012, and placed some areas off limits for at least seven years. Go back and look at President Obama’s actual announcement again: he only promised new exploration off the Atlantic coast. There is absolutely no guarantee that any new drilling will ever occur. Secretary Ken Salazar’s Interior Department still has full discretion to never allow a single drop of oil to be harvested from these waters. And that doesn’t even begin to address the court challenges the enviro-left will employ to attack and delay the entire process.

So if developing new energy sources that can create private sector jobs for Americans and new revenues for financially strapped states and the federal government is not the Obama administration’s real goal, then what is? Well, President Obama’s Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who was at yesterday’s announcement, has said, "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." For reference purposes, when Secretary Chu said that, Europeans were paying $8 a gallon for gas at the pump.

Canceling current offshore oil leases and delaying future ones are not the only policy means the Obama administration is using to pursue the high energy price policy ends. The Obama administration has also declared war on energy production in the Mountain West, rescinding oil-shale development leases in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. His administration has completely failed to take on the real regulatory reforms necessary to allow a private sector nuclear industry to thrive. And just this week, the Obama Environmental Protection Agency began its regulation of carbon emissions through the Clean Air Act.

And let’s not forget the grand daddy of them all: a cap and trade energy tax bill. But don’t call it that. Secretary Salazar told CNBC yesterday, "I think the term ‘cap and trade’ is not in the lexicon anymore." Whatever you call it, placing an arbitrary penalty on carbon emissions would mean disaster for the American economy. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has found that cap and tax legislation would cost the average family of four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035.

So don’t be fooled by President Barack Obama’s energy rhetoric. High energy prices are not a side effect of climate legislation – they are the whole point. According to the latest Pew poll, 63% of Americans support allowing more offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. waters. Americans deserve an energy policy that reduces prices, creates private sector jobs, and reduces our national debt. Right now they have the opposite.

As you can see, Obama’s "energy" plan is more in line with his other recent attempts to obliterate the American economy in what seems to be Cloward-Piven’s strategy for forcing political change through orchestrated crisis on steroids!

There is no logical reason for the American people to be denied access to our rich, God given, natural resources. None. America has the ability to drill for oil and clean natural gas in an environmentally safe manner. We also have the ability to develop nuclear energy and clean coal technology.

The fear mongers on the left always use scare tactics to halt offshore drilling, but they are simply the crazed rants of zealots. The fact is, offshore drilling includes safeguards to protect the environment. It hasn’t been that long ago that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast. What isn’t often reported, because it doesn’t fit the Marxist-democrat party’s narrative, is the fact that despite destruction of biblical proportions, none of the many oil rigs out in the Gulf reported significant issues. If they can go handle Katrina, without disaster, they can handle anything.

We all want clean air, clean water, and frankly, clean energy. Natural gas, BTW, is very clean. The thing is, there is no way any of the current alternative energy sources are going to fulfill anything more than a fraction of the nation’s requirements for the foreseeable future. Even worse, most of these so-called alternatives cannot exist without massive government subsidies (tax dollars) flowing their way.

At a time of severe economic peril, and unprecedented national debt, it is ludicrous to chase these fantasies when cheap, reliable, and available sources of proven energy are at hand. I’m not saying we need to stop looking for alternatives, not in the least. What I am saying is we need to face reality, and deal with it.

We can continue to send trillions of dollars to other nations, some that use their money to fund terror or other efforts that are detrimental to the United States, or we can keep those trillions of dollars in America, create millions of real jobs, and get back on the road to economic security.

This really isn’t a tough decision to make: Drill baby, drill!

Sarah Palin Nails Obama On His Latest Scandal: Drillgate

Another day an other scandal from the most corrupt president in American history. One of the things our president promised during his campaign, in his best Orwellian "newspeak," was transparency. Of course, like everything else Barack Obama uttered, this too was a lie.

Let’s look at some of the lies Obama has told, just about transparency alone: Obama promised health care negotiations would be broadcast on C-SPAN. Never happened. Instead, most of the negotiations were held behind locked, closed doors.

Obama promised that all legislation would be made available online for every American to read before it was signed into law. What we got in reality was such a strong push to bamboozle the public, and pass horrible legislation, that not only were the American people actively prevented from seeing legislation before it was passed, so were members of Congress!. We’ve had bills with thousands of pages of insanity, crafted in the dark of night, behind closed doors, that have been signed into law by the president, without being read in total by a single sitting member of the most corrupt Congress in history.

The president has promised bi-partisanship, and continues to give it lip service, but in reality the Republican party has been locked out of all negotiations on every issue.

In short this is the most secretive and corrupt government we have ever had.

This latest scandal regarding transparency involves one of Sarah Palin’s areas of strong expertise, energy. As everyone knows, America has more than enough natural resources to become energy independent, but the zealots and flat earthers are doing all they can to prevent this from happening.

This, of course, is insanity. At a time when we have massive unemployment, and rising energy costs, it is criminal for the nation to have it’s own energy resources placed off limits by an out of control, radical, tyrannical government. We send nearly one trillion dollars a year overseas, often to hostile regimes, in order to purchase the lifeblood of our economy, oil.

This is simply insane.

Sarah has found a new scandal concerning energy that must be highlighted. It seems now that the Obama administration is actively trying to hide the fact that most Americans are demanding we use our resources. In her latest Facebook post Sarah discusses this:

Drillgate

Many of us appreciated the President mentioning in his State of the Union address that "tough decisions" had to be made regarding offshore drilling. People have had doubts about his seriousness in regards to domestic energy policy because our Department of the Interior dragging its feet on Virginia’s offshore oil and gas leases. Still, we’ve held out hope that America’s voice will be heard on energy.

And now Vince Haley at Big Government reports this shocker:

In April of 2009, during a discussion about offshore exploration in San Francisco, Salazar said that President Obama directed him to "to make sure that we have an open and transparent government" and that "these are not decisions that are going to be made behind closed doors." Salazar went on to say that President Obama wanted to make sure that DOI was "maximizing the opportunity for the public to give us guidance on what it is that they want to do."

Yet, more than four months after the comment period ended, the Department of the Interior has failed to make any public announcement about the results, even though sources have told American Solutions for months the comments show a 2-1 advantage in support of offshore drilling.

It took American Solutions almost four months and the power of the Freedom of Information Act to finally uncover indirect confirmation that, out of over 530,000 comments submitted, pro-drilling comments outnumbered anti-drilling comments by a 2-1 margin.

In an email dated October 27, 2009, Liz Birnbaum, director of the Minerals Management Service, informs other Interior officials that a preliminary tabulation of the results of the comment period had not yet gone to Secretary Salazar, adding "[s]o the Secretary can honestly say in response to any questions that he’s [SIC] has not yet seen the analysis of the comments – staff is still working on it. I did, however, confirm to him the 2-1 split that these guys [at American Solutions] are emphasizing."

When a public employee is on record condoning purposeful deception of the American people, the taxpayer should no longer have to fund his or her job. Secretary Salazar should immediately fire Liz Birnbaum for purposefully deceiving him, and in turn, the American people. It’s not possible for the Secretary to honor pledges of openness, honestly, and transparency in government if his staff is going to deliberately undermine such pledges.

Public opinion polls already measure near 70% support for offshore drilling, so the results from a public comment period that reflect the same public sentiment should not be surprising. But after all this talk of wanting the public’s input, Secretary Salazar and his team must find it a real stumbling block to have to explain all their anti-energy development actions in light of the comment period results to which they previously attached such great importance.

As Haley notes in his article, it’s astonishing that the Obama administration is dragging its feet on offshore drilling at a time when we’re so desperate for economic recovery and jobs. It’s no surprise that an overwhelming majority of Americans support offshore drilling: it will provide millions of good jobs and billions in revenue, and it will make us more secure by reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Mr. President, we appreciate you asking for our input. We’ve provided it, so thank you for accepting it. With no time to waste, it’s time to listen to the American people – finally – and drill, baby, drill!

- Sarah Palin

Another outrageous web of lies and deceit from the Obama administration.

This is some powerful information and I urge readers to take the time to go to every link that Sarah has supplied to learn even more.

Energy is the lifeblood of our nation’s economy. It effects every aspect of our lives. As the American Energy Alliance notes, offshore drilling would significantly add to our nation’s economic health. Some of the benefits include:

* $8 trillion in additional economic output (GDP)

* $2.2 trillion in total tax receipts;

* 1.2 million new, well-paying jobs annually across the country; and

* $70 billion in additional wages each year.

At a time we have massive unemployment and underemployment, and an unsustainable national debt, and budget deficit, it is simply criminal not to be exploring for energy in every crack and crevice where we know there is energy to be had.

Folks ask us from time to time why we support Sarah Palin so fervently, well there are many issues on which we feel Sarah is eminently more qualified to lead the nation than anyone else, but it is her expertise on energy issues, her understanding of the significance of energy independence that we respect the most.

Being free and independent is a basic American right, but as long as we must bow to other nations, nations that do not have America’s best interests at heart, we will never be truly free, or independent. We will never have true national security.

Sarah gets it.

It’s time we hold the most corrupt president and the most corrupt Congress in our nation’s history accountable. It’s time we demand they listen to us and do as we say. In short, it’s time to Drill baby, drill!