Little brother - I got your joke. And your description of tame reformism is too true. Have you tried acting as a union rep?

Here's some data I found on the amount of oil available in the moratorium areas proposed for off-shore drilling. Fist are my comments and then two links.

The big energy lie is that John McCain and the Republicans' support an all the above approach to energy production when in fact they support none of the above when it comes to clean energy.

I read a link at Climate Progress. One thing that stuck out was a link near the bottom of the page. I checked it and it led me to the US Minerals Management Service website and I looked at their charts and it turns out that only 18 billion barrels of oil are in the moratorium areas of the Outer Continental Shelf and 68 billion are in areas that are OK to drill. To give you an appreciation of the scale of 18 billion barrels of oil at our current rate of consumption we would use that up in 2½ years.

http://environmentaldefenseblogs.org/climateatlas/2008/08/12/where-is-our-offshore-oil/

http://climateprogress.org/2008/08/14/the-big-lie-blog-round-up/

Evidently, Pelosi and the Democrats are also choosing to

ignore Global Warming and the severe threat that is to

our nation!

Insanity rules the day --- !!!

While no fan of Thomas Friedman, I think the article linked to below highlights the difference between two societies - one that cares for the future of its people, and one that cares for its corporations and rich elite.

You decide which is which.

http://tinyurl.com/5jeybk

Doom n Gloom: As you know, I appreciate your comments very much. We share many of the same beliefs and ideas. The thing about abortion is that this is not something that the government should have any say in. What a candidate's religious beliefs are or stand on abortion is have really nothing to do with their responsibilities if elected. Morality cannot be legislated, nor should it be. I happen to be a woman. I no longer have a womb, so I don't have to worry about this issue on a personal level. The fact is, however, I do not want my government, in any form, in my bedroom or in my doctor's office. Or in anybody else's either.

If the government really cared about human life, then we wouldn't be killing innocents in wars of aggression. If they truely cared about life, than they would promote and support pregnancy prevention and education. If the government really gave a damn about that unborn child, than they would guarantee that that child will be taken care of after birth, irrespective of the economic status of the mother. If the government really gave a damn about life, they would ensure that every life be treasured AFTER birth. If the government or any of its various representatives really gave a damn about its people, they would stop using the issue of our wombs as cannon fodder.

And you suggestion for a party that does not support death? Dems and Republicans are out...they support war. Libertarian?

But more importantly, single issue driven voting ( such as voting just based on abortion ) is very harmful to politics. Part of voting in a representative democracy is finding a way to balance your preferences in various issues to find the candidate that you believe is best for the country as a whole even if that candidate is on the wrong side of your pet issue.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenProgress

Genaman, what you are deriding is called democracy. People who have authoritarian mindsets, which most "conservatives" do these days, do not understand or have time for dissent. You're insane if you want that to be replicated. Should we all be little blind partisans that shut up and tow the line of the party we decide to join or should we use our minds and voices to say something when we disagree? If the two party system is a problem and narrows the terms of debate in ways that are in the interest of elites here, should we not now work to widen the debate, to question those who are trying to enact policies that are irrational, benefit entrenched interests & that cannot be logically defended? If offshore drilling is environmentally destructive, will do nothing to gas prices (lower gas prices themselves are environmentally destructive, the problem is who and what the profits are going to and towards) and does nothing to change our economy to deal with the post oil dependency world, why should we say nothing as the Democrats cave?

On EVERY issue, without exception, we're supposed to say nothing and "compromise"? The compromise is basically to not do what is the most logical and beneficial and to select from the chosen policies created by and for competing elites. We can't have universal healthcare, the best we can do is a mandate to buy health insurance. So the "compromise" is essentially guaranteed profits for insurance companies (which the government, ie our tax dollars, would cover). The same inefficiencies will be there and there will still be profit motive in healthcare. So the compromise is what really? Go down the list of issues and it is all the same. NEVER is it ok to say that enough is enough, we've been asked to "comprise" in this way for far too long and it is the people that Pelosi truly represents time to compromise. If we think this way we, and not them, are ideological purists.

I kinda agree with doom and gloom. All living things are worthy of life. Just because I own a housplant does not mean I have the right to kill it by fefusing to water it. TETTI TAATA I'm glad that your mother decided not to treat you as a "thing" to be discarded - or else we would loose out on another progressive voice.

Horrific. Unprincipled. Pandering to oil companies. Whoring for votes. I am ashamed of Nancy Pelosi - ashamed beyond words. What won't she do to keep her seat? I am heartsick and aghast, and thoroughly devoid of hope for this country now.

Doom n Gloom, don't let 'em get you down. I always like your comments.

Doom n Gloom instead of monsters like Bush you obviously prefer monsters like Clinton, Carter and Johnson to assume power. Typical Lesser Evilist stupidity. Did you know that the Democratic Party is also known as the War Party?

Also, even if life begins at conception, it's still the woman's body and her decision to stop the pregnancy. Case closed.

Go type this "sanctity of life" horseshit somewhere else. Like Bush, Clinton and Johnson had no respect for the sanctity of life when they invaded Vietnam and Bosnia. Also, the Neocon agenda started under Carter with Brzezinski.

and the democratic party circle firing squad continues.
You people keep this up the Repubs will not even have to dust off The Swiftboaters.

Why are you always expecting perfection out of your Dem. Representatives?
You surely know the only Perfect Person on this planet is yourself.
So then why are you not running for office.
Take a lesson from the Republicans.They really do not care who they elect as long as they are willing to get their instruuctions from lobbiests.
Yes trul,y I will never vote for Obama, but I will not vote for McCain either.
Have you Pelosi haters forgot Newt Gingrich?
Do you want someone like him back as Speaker?

Drilling in our oceans? NO. If you folks have bothered to look around the USA is already using less oil for the first 6 months of 2008.
and in 2007 we Americans drove 2 to 4 billion miles less
If you really want to stop Offshore oil drilling THEN KEEP ON CONSERVING.
Yep as simple as that. The oil companies will not drill if they cannot sell there oil at higher and higher prices.
Now throw down your guns and get out of that firing squad.
Or would you like another 8 years of Bush like politics?

John C, you are confusing what the people in government are doing with what people want. If you look at polls taken, the majority of Americans want universal healthcare even if it raises taxes. The average American however does not have a fraction the power as a lobbyist. So the elites ignore the will of the people, on almost every issue, and create legislation that makes one group or another of elites happy.

You say that a socialization of the energy industry is "unrealistic". What is the over trillion dollar a year institution known as the military? The US military is the largest socialist institution in the world. Chalmers Johnson says that directly and indirectly the US spends over a trillion a year on the military. Most of our technology has come out of the military (not the private market), the public universities, grants from the government and private companies (the weapons manufacturers) whose R & D is largely covered. We socialize the costs and privatize the benefits, it is technically elite socialism.

The same goes with how the monetary and banking system works, the corporate dominated (and state supported) agricultural system, the ethanol industry (also with massive subsidies), etc.

People in the US are not ideological socialists, I personally don't think they're ideological capitalists either, per say. All they would have to do is learn how the system works and demand a return on their tax dollar investment, and we'd have a more mainstream variant of socialism.

If you look at polls on the issues and think about the fact that Americans have opinions on the issues themselves that basically rejects the propaganda we receive from all sides 24/7, I think their opinions on issues is pretty interesting and telling. Few in either party, the media or in any other dominant position are telling people to back universal healthcare, the opposite is actually true, yet Americans support the position. Same goes with "free trade" (a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out how the majority of REPUBLICANS polled do not support "free trade"), the environment, the war and most every other issue. We have a failed democracy, where the government basically ignores what people want, so it's hard to see this at times.

I, for one, will be glad when the assholes have extracted the last ounce of oil from the earth. Maybe then we'll go back to living on this planet the way it was intended. My only wish is that those who derive their wealth and power from fossil fuels will lose that power, once the oil is all gone.

"Green support a holistic approach to justice…recognizing that environmental justice, social justice, and economic justice depend on and support each other." - Green Party Environmental Justice platform"

Greens appear to support life with one exception, abortion. The Green support for abortion belies their stated belief in life. It will be their achilles heel, just as it has undercut support for the Dim's and has singularly allowed monsters like Bush to assume power. When a party supports death it will find death. Believing that abortion is NOT death is the single largest rationalization in human history. Death begets death. No new news here, just massive denial.

I can see that almost nobody read my post nor did they get the message either.

Giving the oil companies the go ahead to drill offshore will not get them to make the huge investment, and if they do, the price of offshore oil will be higher than the current price (it costs more to drill deeper). And then why would OPEC (and others) not raise their price to some small amount below the cost of offshore oil? And then why would anybody but an American buy American offshore oil. Certainly, offshore drilling will not reduce the price of gas at the pump.

And another thing is that many here have voiced opposition to any scheme that would have the federal government partner with the private sector to accomplish what is needed to solve the energy crisis.

Let me tell you - there are but two choices. It's either a socialist revoluton, with total government financing of the energy supply infrastructure (which will never happen) or a government partnership with the private sector with government guarantees for capital recovery plus a (reasonable) profit. The private sector simply will not take the risk without guarantees.

No matter what you think of him personally, T. Boone Pickens is a visionry with the the best concept for America (and for himself), and bad mouthing him, doesn't change that simple fact. This whole country (right or wrong) is totally sold on capitalism, and therefore there can be no solutuon that leaves profit out of the picture.

Even the concept of Universal Single Payer Health Care keeps the private sector (and profit) solidly in the picture. It just eliminates a useless and predatory middleman - the insurance company.

And in my opinion, this country would have even less success than the USSR in trying to run a socialist state - so just take it for granted that capitalism will be here forever - and get used to it.

Pelosi and Obama, the Fred and Wilma Flintstones of the Democratic party.
Someone should tell them the stone age didn't end because they ran out of stone, and the oil age should end before we run out of oil. We have the way out of this fossil fuel dilemma, but it won't happen with these two oil company sellouts --
Cindy Sheehan for congress
cindyforcongress.org.

If Obama, Pelosi and the Democrats get any softer, they will dissolve themselves into a puddle of diarrhea. Obama might just as well say that he wants to be McCains vice president.

I say, fine, let's drill. Give Big Oil leases to the entire continent. Let's prove once and for all that that does not cause the price of gasoline to plummet to $0.99.

Let history record the 1st female speaker of the house was a Treasonist Shill - impeach the bitch for taking the US constitution "off the table".

Why is there not 10,000 people camped outside her house until she is forced to account for herself?

Is your democracy not worth anything?

Where is the Anti War / Peace movement?

Are they run by Neocons?

It's times like this I welcome another great depression. It seems that may be the only way to wake americans up.

As "Gomer Pyle" used to say, surprise, surprise! If
Obama goes right much farther I'm going to be left..as
in left at home in Nov. Anyone who thinks this latest
drilling craze will reduce the price of oil must be
brain dead. It's just a way for the oil companies to
make more money and insure our dependence on oil
continues until every drop is used. The oil companies
play the public like a fiddle and we keep right on
driving 10 passenger SUV's with 3 people on board.
Then about 60 percent of Americans jump up and down
believing if we just drill more wells gas will come down to two bucks a gallon. Wake up folks, it isn't going to happen.

I dislike Pelosi and Obama as much as anyone, and I'm particularly disgusted by their refusal to speak the obvious and incontrovertible truth about the absurdity of thinking that marginal increases in domestic oil production are going to lower the price of gasoline now, tomorrow, or ever.

But I really think that this is a situation where it makes good sense politically to give the Republicans as much rope as they need to hang themselves. Give them drilling on the Continental Shelf -- because it's never going to happen. The oil companies already have leases for most of the country's known reserves, and have been sitting on them for years, if not decades; it's simply way more profitable for them not to make huge, risky, long term investments in productive capacity when surging global demand drives up their profit margins without their risking a dime. The huge profits they've been making in the last year are not being invested in production, but in buying back stock and increasing dividends.

So give them the right to drill. What will happen? Certainly not drilling. And certainly not reduction in the retail price of gasoline, which is going to fall only if demand declines (as has occurred here in the last few weeks in response, apparently, to reduction in US consumption). Indeed, as falling prices make drilling even less likely.

The Republicans get to "win," the issue is no longer one with with they can flog the Dems, drilling remains a distant fantasy, and, in the end, when gasoline prices begin rising -- as they inevitably will once oil markets get the message that the US isn't really serious about reducing demand -- the Dems can say "we told you so -- now let's get serious about reducing demand."

Money MoNEY MONEY
What you are suprised this is what it all comes down to? Folks the top 1% of this country control more than the rest of us combined....
But, we are all to ignorant to do anything about it
we can only vote for a dem or repub for what other choice is there
oil is what the world runs on wind and solar won't cut it, maybe Hydrogen in the future
the feds are going to start making the rules and laws for the states

DEFEATISTS LOSERS USELESS WHINEY SPOILED IGNORANT
GOOD FOR AND CARE ABOUT NOTHINGs
Continue to take all that is put upon you then cry and die

Is it time yet to awaken?

CosmonautZero - do I believe gas prices will come down? Sure, when pigs fly.

What I do believe is that when "they" get the ban lifted on off-shore drilling, and state's governors say "NO" to drilling off their shores, as CA and OR Governors have already said, there'll be a mandate taking the decision out of the states control, because that little "goodie" saying it would be left to the governors whether or not they'd allow drilling off their coasts, was just one more of those smoke and mirror tricks they're so good with. They've never intended to leave it up to the states.

Quality Time

I hear you and I echo your sad reflections upon the sorry state of our once-great country and our apathetic, intensely and purposely ignorant fellow country-men. It's sad to contemplate the sacrifice and the courage of the founding fathers to create this country in the face of overwhelming odds just so we could end up like this. Turn on any "news" channel or web-site, the big discussions are on Britney Spears' and John Edwards' respective genitalia and what they've been doing with them respectively.

It's all too much to think about without wanting to either end it all or start a revolution. But an army of 100 or so revolutionaries would be easy fodder for Blackwater while the rest of America is glued to the TV wondering who the next American Idol is going to be.

Of late, I've been spending too much energy on snide remarks and ironic observations of the current state of affairs in the U.S. in the naive hope that Obama would live up to his claim of bringing about change. I had long ago given up on neo-con republican Pelosi. I thought I would, in the end, vote for a democrat because I didn't have any other choice, that a vote for a third or fourth party candidate would only give the election to McCain. Now I have given up. McCain will probably win easily because Obama has caved to big money and corporate interests. It doesn't matter how I vote, Maybe I was too naive to think that I might make a difference. Sorry about that. I cannot in good conscience vote for either of the republican or democrat candidate. In fact, now I feel, perhaps too late, that I should become more involved, more active, as I once was, decades ago, and do all I can to see these people committed to destroying our country in favor of their own pocketbooks are not elected. People who care, if there are any left, should do likewise. Our forefathers reached a point where the only choice they felt they had was revolution. Maybe we need to examine their thinking more closely and act appropriately.

Heres whats in it for Nancy....

Nancy Pelosi Invests In Energy Scheme and Water Grab By T. Boone Pickens
August 11, 2008

UPDATE 8/13/08 9:28 AM While the media continues to ignore this issue, the blogosphere is starting to pick up on it and get the word out! What we are witnessing my friends is the new media burying the old media!! KEEP COMING HERE to read more!

UPDATE 8/12/08 2:16 PPM
The initial offering may have been only 22,000 or so shares, but according to a Yahoo news item: Item 8.01. Other Events.

On June 19, 2007, the Company issued a press release announcing that the underwriters of the Company's initial public offering have elected to exercise in full their option to purchase an additional 1,500,000 shares of the Company's common stock to cover over-allotments. A copy of the press release is attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this report and is incorporated herein by reference.

This means that Pelosi could have purchased around 20,000 shares at $3.86, or $50,000 to $100,000 worth, which are now worth 300% more than their original value.

Nancy Pelosi says that she is trying to save the planet and prevent global warming, but the reality is that, according to disclosure statements, in May 2007 she invested in T. Boone Picken's clean energy fuels corp., CLNE, which is the sole sponsor of a proposal in California to funnel $5 billion in state funds and $5 billion in Federal funs to this corporation which will indirectly help them create a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle.

An overlooked story in November of 2007 shows that the T. Boone Pickens plan involves the private control of water, which Pickens wants to be able to sell to big cities via giant water pipelines which will be built on land seized under eminent domain.

How did he do this? He did this by pushing through a "water district" which consists of only 8 acres of land and then applying eminent domain to expand that district and seize land from local ranchers which, in the end, puts vital water resources under his private control.

The Sierra Club, which you might think has an opinion that means something to Nancy Pelosi who just wants to "save the world", had this to say, "We have real concerns about private control of water," said Ken Kramer, director of the Texas Sierra Club. "Water is a resource, yet in some respects it is a commodity. It's as essential to human life as air. That puts water in a different class."

Pickens plans to sell 200,000 acre-feet from parched West Texas Staked Plains annually. His plan is opposed by water policy planners as economically infeasible. This extensive extraction will affect natural spring flows and the rural Texas Panhandle communities that depend on that water. It will also adversely affect family farming and sustainable development from Texas to South Dakota, according to opponents.

Pickens needs money and he has not been able to find investors to pay for a $110 Billion Bond he wants his new "water authority" to issue, therefore he is piggy-backing the windmill plan on to the water infrastructure development plan to use the money obtained for the wind farms in order to pay for the water infrastructure, which was his original goal.

While these plans were in the works as of November 2007, with the creation of this "water district", the energy company, CLNE, was offered for public investment in an IPO in May of 2007, an IPO that was not advertised, but which resulted in Nancy Pelosi quickly jumping on board. Nancy Pelosi Purchased between $50,000-$100,000 in CLNE stock on May 25, 2007 apparently on it's initial public offering.

It is hard to tell if the water scheme is the device being used to seize the land or if the wind turbine scheme is the means by which he will fund the water scheme, but no matter what the case may be, Nancy Pelosi will personally profit from whatever he does as an investor.

Nancy Pelosi is one of the richest members of Congress with a net worth of over US$25 million, which comes primarily from investments a large portfolio of jointly owned San Francisco Bay Area real estate, and, now, of course, stocks in CLNE.

While the stock was initially offered at $14 and is now valued below that amount, the low of $10 in early July of this year is bouncing back, especially in light of ads by Pickens and growing consensus that the Pickens plan will gain support, especially if Pelosi is firmly behind it.

William R. Collier Jr. Upadaria@yahoo.com
The American Communicator

Geez, and here I thought my sarcasm at the top of the comments was TOO obvious!

I had just come from another thread in which a Mature and Experienced realpolitiker wrote, more or less, that anyone who didn't understand that politics is an eternal process of taking a hundred steps back to take one step sideways is simply "naïve".

Of course, that's not what the writer THINKS he or she said, but that's what it amounts to-- the "naïve" label is true, though.

So, to substitute tedium for sarcasm: my job has a pathetically lame and ultra-weak union. The local reps and officers are truly sincere and dedicated, as far as I can tell. But I've witnessed numerous occasions where they'll talk about filing a "grievance" to this or that outrage. And if it's an issue of general importance, as opposed to grieving a disciplinary action for one person, inquiries about the status of the "grievance" will be met with non-progress reports: vague references to the grievance going up to "second-level"-- or the person being asked will promise to contact the union counsel to see where "we" are with it.

It doesn't take long before even a sympathetic skeptic realizes that there's NEVER a definable outcome, except that the "grievance" passes into a Phantom Zone of half-life and richochets around until everybody finally forgets about it and remains aggrieved.

I actually like these union reps, who seem like truly decent people who seriously believe in what they're doing, and are responsive to requests for help, even while acknowledging that the union doesn't have as much clout as they'd like. And they seem to faithfully attend conferences, have elections, get involved in contract negotiations. They certainly believe that the status quo is much better than it would be if there were no union at all, as reported in those little magazines and flyers cheerleading their achievements that show up in the mail every so often.

The parallel to the Democratic Party loyalists and lesser-evilists is exact.

T. Boone is peddling Snake oil and so is Al Gore (you couldn't see through that clown when you found out his house gobbles more energy in a month than 30 of ours do in a year?...puh-leez)

The technology isn't there for an economy to run on anything but oil...wind and solar won't cut it at the moment...hydrogen looks promising...it MAY be here someday...lets pursue it

but in the meantime we have two pretty clear choices...rely on imported oil or drill our own...its not a hard question...what is wrong with drilling in ANWR or fifty miles offshore?

I'm sick, too . . . thoroughly and physically . . . of do nothing Democrats AND Repuglicans . . . neither of whom represent the best interests of citizens, common sense, and The Constitution. No matter who gets in, they support endless war, America dictates and the rest of the world had better follow . . . and oil profits, and profiteering in general . . . They sure know how to stick it to citizens . . .

The one thing none of them can escape is what they have done . . . which includes the deaths of over a million mostly innocent persons . . . plus nearly 5000 in the military, the untold numbers who have committed suicide and are maimed for life . . . and let's not forget every person who was murdered on 9/11.

Congress has the power to hold the criminals in our midst accountable . . . stop the insanity . . . and get the nation back on track.

Meanwhile, they are just making those who truly care sick . . .

"Have you figured out yet who's side she's really on?"

Pelosi lives in a masion in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in San Francisco. She is extremely wealthy. That's all you really need to know about Pelosi. It begins and ends with the money. This is now the principle motivation for almost all Soft Machine Party politicians. Goodbye Adlai Stevenson. Goodbye Paul Wellstone. Goodbye Eugene McCarthy. Bill Clinton assassinated all of you with one bullet. In your place comes the well dressed, well heeled yuppies with their noses buried in the Wall Street Journal, working all the angles, dreaming of being gentlemen versions of Jack Abramoff. The Democratic Party is dead and buried. Long Live The Soft Machine!

Can't vote on Impeachment...for we have more important things to do...let's give multi-national corporations the rights to all of 'mericas oil because they are sure taking care of us now....let's make sure they can continue on into the future...
Nancy Pelosi you are a traitor to the USofA along with many in the Congress....George Bush and his minions as well, and over at justice ha ha ha.
Is it time to awaken yet sheeople?

Note: One of the big powers of the Speaker is to control the agenda of the House. The Speaker has always had a great deal of power in deciding which bills to bring to the floor and which ones don't get considered.

Have you noticed that everything the Republicans want gets rushed to the floor for a vote? While something that the left wants, like impeachment, gets buried off to some useless committee to die?

Have you figured out yet who's side she's really on?

"So we MUST vote for Obama and tirelessly work to keep pressure on him and Pelosi to put OTHER things back ON the table! That's how politics really works, ya know."

People have been 'pressuring' Pelosi to a) "end the Iraq war", and b) "Impeach" ever since Jan. 2007.

How's that working for ya?

The only practical result I've seen is Pelosi whining that she can't have protestors arreste for loitering for daring to come near her to try to 'pressure' her.

If you want to 'pressure' Pelosi, work for, contribute to and vote for Cindy Sheehan. There's only one thing these politicians understand, and that's the threat of losing an election.

If you want to 'pressure' Obama, you've already missed your chance. Your best chance was back in the primaries when he really needed some lefty Dem votes. Of course, Obama's reaction was to lie his rear off about everything and pretend to be a progressive just for long enough to steal those votes and run off to Exxon with the nomination in hand.

The first thing to do is to stop voting Democrat.

All of the Dems strategies assume they can suck up to their big contributors, constantly act to support big money, and that all the rest of us will who get screwed by these policies will still continue to vote Democrat because there is no alternative.

If you want to change this, then stop voting Democrat.

Maybe it takes the Dems losing an election or two because everyone to the left of McCain, Obama and Attila the Hun stops voting for them, but if you want to change things, that's how.

Of course they do. There's nothing the Dems won't sell if they think it might help them in their grab for power.

A law that allows offshore drilling will soon drive the price of oil down to $1/bbl under the estimated cost of a barrel of oil from an offshore well - so as to discouage American investment in offshore oil. But that "market" price would not be a sufficientally "reliable price" for justifying the huge investments needed. After all, the oil producers can always (while they still have the oil) undercut the price of offshore oil - or any alternative fuel for that matter. Without a government guarantee to buy the offshore oil at a price that ensures capital recovery plus a hefty profit, no oil company will risk the investmnt.

Of course, the idiots in Congress will soon realize that, and will then have to decide if socialism may just have to be a part of the energy solution.

T. Boone Pickens actually does envision government ("take or pay")guarantees (socialism) to make his 2 million sq mile wind farm plan economically feasible.

And when people begin to hear the facts, they will surely opt for government guarantees for wind farms over government guarantees for offshore drilling. Lazy wind mills are environmentally friendly. And we will never run out of wind.

So far however, I have heard no government support for such guarantees.

Of course the government could also renege on free trade, withdraw from the WTO, and keep all foreign oil out of the United States - that is if we leave it all up to the idiots.

So relax !!! The future actually looks a bit brighter.

Maybe, if we adopt some socialism to solve the energy problem, we will see its value on the issue of Universal Single Payer Health Care too.

We may learn to blend socialism and capitalism to the advantage of all.

wsws.org

What do you propose WE do? What do you think about the Green Party?

http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenProgress

How far to the right does Obama and the Democratic Party have to go before the voting public says: "Enough!" -- and starts voting in their own best interests, instead of continuing to vote for the Democratic-Republican duopoly.

When is enough enough?

Yes, there *are* difference between the Democrats and the Republicans -- the Democratic Party will always be "slightly better" than the Republicans. But while that's going on, while people keep voting for the Democrats as "the lesser of the two evils," the political consensus keeps moving more and more to the right. *Radically* to the right over the past 40 years!

Yes, there *are* differences between the Democrats and the Republicans -- but not on the military-industrial complex, not on the Pentagon budget, not on the US policy towards Israel, not on the use of nuclear weapons as a military option, not on Iraq, not on Afghnaistan, not on Pakistan, not on Iran, not on a whole host of issues. ... The fact is, whatever differences there are between the Democrats and the Republicans are dwarfed by the *similarities* between the two parties -- the Democratic Party and the Republican Party being two wings of the US *Business* Party.

Is that supposed to be "change" in the style of Obama?

The closer we get to the elections, the more Obama's "change" looks like the same old song of the elite that stifles this country and the world with it.

I read many posts on CD, and I'm amazed at how, at least on the Presidential level, people act like they do not have a choice seeing as Obama is a corporate Democrat out to serve corporate and special interest but most definitely will not represent the people in public policy.

How many people on CD truly support a progressive, environmental, ecological, justice party? Of course I'm talking about the Green Party. You have the golden goose, and you do not seem willing to pick up the eggs. If you are a progressive, why do you not support the Green Party? And by support I mean voting for it, financing it, volunteering, vocally / editorially showing your support for it.

It seems like the Green Party should bypass many traditional 'progressives' because they are stuck in 'Democrat' mode. Well I guess like all the other minorities in the Democrat Party, you must like abuse.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenProgress

These treasonous 'lawgivers' sold the public to the TelCons over FISA in exchange for clean beaches. What happened? Did the Oilagarchs raise the bribe?

did anyone see McSames speech yesterday? He started talking about Russa and ended with Drill Drill Drill, drill now. Even the Oil companies say it will be years before any oil will be available. By then we can have more solar and wind energy and won't need it. Until them have them drill on the land they already have!!!

We just keep getting sold down the river!

BTW, I saw an article on afterdowningstreet I believe, that reported that we EXPORT the same amount of oil that we Import!!! so we are goin to give them more to export and our prices will still be outrageous!

Off-shore drilling will not produce a drop of oil for at least ten years. Meanwhile, the oil companies have millions of acres of land under lease that could be tapped immediately. This off-shore business is just a last-minute land grab by Bush and the spineless Congress's oil buddies. They're all bought and paid for.

To those in California here's another good reason the vote for Cindy. Looks like Pickens and Pelosi are rigging the neoconservative machine of environmental destruction to line their own pockets. Enjoy

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=72225

wilmoor, do you really think gas prices will ever go back down? We've proven that we're willing to pay upwards of $4 a gallon. At best, they'll let it dip into the $3 range just to show that it made a dent. There is no gas crisis, except in the sense that the gas companies are colluding to fuck everybody else over. There's a reason the gas companies are posting record profits.

Not that the gas prices are a huge disaster in and of themselves, they're driving people to alternative (read: actually reasonable) forms of transportation instead of incredibly wasteful single-occupant vehicles. $4 is a pretty reasonable price for a gallon of gas, that's what other industrialized countries have been paying for years. It's just that we should be paying it in taxes (like they do) so that we can maintain the roads, fund public transit etc. instead of lining the pockets of corporations getting rich off raping the planet.

What do you mean that Pelosi and Obama softened their opposition to offshore drilling as CD titles it? These 2 hacks favor off shore drilling now and aren't in opposition to it at all. If Common Dreams prints misleading titles to articles like this it merely goes to show how glued they are to the Democratic Party. Very sad indeed.

To hell with the people, to hell with our wildlife and environment! Our so-called leaders care not for either the people or the land. Since its citizens continue to vote for the yahoos who now own the government destroying their country, I must conclude that they are simply of low intelligence and too lazy to act.

We have only one political party in this country, unless you are a sap. They work together, one wing is the "opposition" which gives the other wing, the Republicans everything they want, and more. The work together like a hand in a glove.

They create the illusion of being two parties by calling themselves by different names. Basically both Republicans and Democrats are in the pocket of the plutocracy/oligarchy. Both do their bidding.

The Democrats have a "Progressive Caucus" which is their cover. These progressives, which many are only progressive in name, bring up the policies that the majority reject (like ending war and single payer health care) but allows DPA (like the ones on CD) to claim, "SEE, Democrats aren't all bad! Vote for Obama!"

The true saps buy into this fairytale where the Republicans are the bad guys (the wolf) and the Democrats are the good girls (Little Red Riding Hoods) who are in bed with the wolves but somehow manage to "not do it." Never mind Little Red Riding Hood is more bow-legged than a range-riding cowboy. You aren't supposed to notice that.

The saps prop up the status quo and are the lubricant that keeps the machine operating smoothly.

Hurray for OIL COMPANIES! They have hurt Americans at the pump to force them to support MORE OIL drilling and destroy our planet as the ONLY solution. We must drill, even if it takes 20 years to see anything from this. Destroy our planet because our wallets our hurting.. WAAAA! we can't drive our Big SUVS and buy all the cheap products we produce in China....WAAA!! no money, no vacation.

The Media diatribe of beating the drum for Drill...DRILL...DRILL, brainwashes the stupid American, self-centered idiots that live here.

Drill until you can't live anymore, stupid idiots. Don't force us to move toward renewables.

DUMB AND DUMBER, America the dumbest!

The "other energy problem" is that We the People want resources put into alternative energy studies and methods. That would require the big energy boys to spend some of their obscene profits in research and development.

Why do that when they can just drill, raise prices and profits?

Actually, with Jefferson, Franklin, Orwell and London spinning in their graves at about 37,000 RPM, we could harness that and provide almost limitless energy, here and abroad.

Nader or McKinney. That's our choice.

No more corporate Democrats; they differ, ultimately, in name only from the Republicans.

"Well, we can do that. We can have a vote on that. But it has to be part of something that says we want to bring immediate relief to the public and not just a hoax on them," she said.

So - she says it has to be part of something that SAYS WE WANT TO BRING IMMEDIATE RELIEF TO THE PUBLIC, and not just a hoax on them.

Sure, fool the people into thinking there's going to be immediate relief by caving to the drilling offshore, making sure they vote for her in November.

As I've said before, the whole high price at the pump was set up by bush and cheney with their cronies, during their visits to the middle east just before gas prices rose. Once they have the key (when congress lifts the ban) to all of the USA oil supplies, just as it did when bush lifted the presidential ban, the price of gas will go down again.

"Pelosi's new position mirrors that of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who says he now could support legislation boosting offshore drilling, if the bill helped solve other U.S. energy problems."

How exactly is adding 0.3 percent to the oil supply, twenty years from now, when the pumping will begin, going to "solve other US energy problems"? Even if the "change" can be believed, the math is a little fuzzy.

It is also interesting how the Democrats can find time for this vote in their busy schedule, when they can't even squeeze in an impeachment hearing. I wonder if the Greens would do things differently?

Little Bro,

"How'd I do? :?:"

Not very convincing. You need a committee hearing and/or commission before putting things on or off the table.

little brother - I got a great laugh. Imagined a Sesame Street routine with Cookie Monster showing them how to put things ON the table and OFF the table.

but, but, but Kucinich is a great Democrat!

(Democratic voters are so incredibly moronic.)

The Dems should be called the Charlie Browns. Everytime he gets a chance to kick a field goal, Lucy pulls the ball away and Charlie lands on his arse. Yet he keeps thinking, "this time she won't pull the ball away". Yet she always does.

Pelosi, guess she just can't use the N word, (NO), to Bush. This is nothing but a large access land grab in the form of long term leases to the oil companies when they already have so much unused.

I'm pretty sure Lil Bro was cranking up the sarcasm knob, but he can speak for himself.

I'd like to hear more about these 'polls' that supposedly show 'a majority of voters favor expanded offshore drilling' to paraphrase. How was the question framed? I can see several ways the 'majority' could be manipulated by a push poll question to make offshore drilling appealable in the objective sense--to the 'majority' of idiots out there anyway. And who commissioned and paid for the polls?

Polls, as conducted today are right up with Mark Twain's famous comment about 'lies, damn lies, and statistics'.

The Democratic party should change its name to "The Soft Machine". It is far more accurate and sounds slightly sinister and obscene. It also invokes images of weakness and cowardice. Members of The Soft Machine, like the Republicans, have (in the years since Bill Clinton) discovered the pleasures of conspicuous consumption, thinking about all their money, most of it made unscrupulously, and the spine tingling and sensational thrill of screwing over all the suckers, aka the American people.

I just noticed that in the photo above, Pelosi looks more and more like the madam of the Mustang Ranch Brothel in Nevada - Hairy Reid territory.

NEWS ALERT (AP)-
Independent Federal investigators have uncovered a Republican plot where they have been putting a little unknown additive into the drinking water of Democrats that causes them to behave like craven, spineless, cowardly and capitulating candy asses.

Once discovered, Democrats reportedly objected to having the additive removed from their drinking water on the grounds that it would impede the good bipartisan work the Congress has been doing for the people.

So, where's the opposition in opposition party? Can Democrats not take any stand and hold it? Is it too risky? Do they not understand they risk alienating the whole left-leaning component of the party? Do they not realize how many of us are holding on by a thread to the Democratic base? Do they think we're marginal?

Drilling is a non-solution to the problems facing us. In fact, it digs us in deeper. This is science. Opposing it was right in the first place, and is still right. What legitimate excuse is there for reversing this position?

Little Bro:

"So we MUST vote for Obama and tirelessly work to keep pressure on him ..."

And how do you propose we do that?

Little Bro, the mistake you make (well-meaning as it is) is believing that these scumbags are AT ALL responsive to public
pressure.

Now, if you have a few billion dollars hanging around that you want to contribute to the cause, you might just be able to buy an audience with them, though.....

Yes - come back and vote NOW. That way these rigs will come online Aug. 2018 instead of Sep. 2018. What a bunch of dorks.

They just represent the Big Oil companies. And with a complicit media and idiotic public, voila! Big Oil can keep enriching themselves off our taxes and the environment.

Is there anything Obama won't reverse himself on? Pelosi doesn't surprise me; she's a Republican at heart. Or rather, she's a politician of the Unitary Party to the core. And so, apparently, is Obama. What is wrong with these people? They hold fast to no drilling for a few weeks, just long enough for us to start to relax a bit, to say to ourselves, 'well, at least our coasts are safe, that's one small thing we can be thankful for in this hideous morass of ecological insanity we live with' -- and then BOOM! I get up on Aug 13 and read, Pelosi and Obama willing to give in on offshore drilling. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? Are they morons? Zombies? Is someone blackmailing them? Have their phones been tapped and unsavory secrets about them discovered, and their arms being twisted? Is this the true payoff of Bush's illegal wiretapping program? Or are they being bought off? Are enormous amounts of cash being dangled in front of them to buy their complicity? Or is it really just as simple as power in return for caving in?

I feel sick. I've felt sick for the past 7+ years and I was looking forward to not having to feel sick anymore. Now I know that's not going to happen.

Support the Green Party. They need that 5%.

"Green support a holistic approach to justice...recognizing that environmental justice, social justice, and economic justice depend on and support each other." - Green Party Environmental Justice platform

http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenProgress

I'm trying to become a sophisticated political realist and pragmatist, instead of naïve and stoopit like I usually am.

So how's this?:

The REAL significance of this development is that Pelosi put offshore drilling back ON the table! This is crucial proof that she's just as capable of putting things ON the table as she is in taking them OFF the table!

So we MUST vote for Obama and tirelessly work to keep pressure on him and Pelosi to put OTHER things back ON the table! That's how politics really works, ya know.
____________________

How'd I do? :?:

how about opening a vote on impeachment, you treasonous skank?

no, that would be the people's business. i keep forgetting you don't work for us.