They call them representatives—but those we elected to represent us in Washington did anything but before they flew out of town to enjoy their August recess…

They left us high and dry, with an empty gas tank.

They had the nerve to leave without enacting ONE piece of energy legislation—legislation that is needed to help people out here who are hurting economically.

So determined were they to not conduct the people’s business, Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled the house into adjournment while debate was still occurring.

Her minions then left, turning off the lights while some members of congress were still trying to discuss offshore drilling.

You can read here in this running account, how the republican minority tried to buck the adjournment effort—only to have the Democrats shut off the C-SPAN cable TV cameras—so no one could witness the event on live TV..

As the price of gas shot upwards like an oil gushing from a well, we here in this blog, have been among those railing about Congress’s inaction in passing any sort of energy legislation…

Before lawmakers recessed for the July 4th holiday they promised they’d do something about the nearly one dozen different energy bills awaiting action when they came back.

But, when politicians are concerned, promises are made to be broken—and Congress let the clock run out as quickly as the money in our wallets that’s providing funds for the spiraling energy related prices we all pay.

When Congress re-adjourns in September, they’ve already announced the intention to stop working by October 1st—so members can go out and campaign.

That short session pretty much guarantees no meaningful energy legislation will be passed until AFTER the election—if then.

There can be only one explanation for their inaction on this issue..

The Democrats who control congress want us to suffer as much as we can so we’ll be sure to vote for their candidate in the fall.

But their plan may backfire on them.

You can read this analysis here about how the blow-back against Congress’s selfish action may end up hurting them at the ballot box this November.

You can see where Congress’s priorities lie—just look at this quote from Nancy Pelosi who was so proud that they passed safe toy legislation before adjourning.

“At the beginning of this Congress, I proudly gaveled (it) to order in the name of all of America’s children, promising to make this a children’s Congress”

And a children’s Congress it is—because they are just playing games with our future.

—Steve

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Congress has just under two weeks of work left— before it goes on recess till September.

While our elected representatives get ready to go play—the average American continues to struggle with the high price of gasoline and its effects through-out the economy.

Still to come out of the halls of Congress—any sort of relief from the gas price burden facing Americans.

Lawmakers are looking at measures that could reign in speculation—which some experts say could drop the cost of gasoline by two bucks a gallon.

As you can read here—the haggling over allowing drilling may doom the speculation bill as could intense lobbying pressure from Wall Street.

If congress adjourns without doing anything about gas prices, we are pretty much right up against the election by the time they return.

Some believe there is no real will in the Democratically controlled Congress to do anything BEFORE the election to insure a Democratic sweep in the fall.

Is the speculation bill the solution to all our problems?

No.

It’s only a small part of a vastly complex energy situation.

But, it will help many in the short term—and right now—those who are hurting need all the help they can get.

—Steve

Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

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Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is on a mission these days—to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil.. But he’s not the only one.

Both Pickens and a group calling itself NozzleRage are counting on high profile attention from the the Internet to drive their points home.

~~~~

The NozzleRage folks have called upon the Zucker Brothers to create their video.

The Zuckers were the creative force behind the movie Airplane, and the TV series Police Squad.

Their point—a bit heavy-handed—-uses humor to drive home the message that we’re helping to finance our own doom with our reliance on imported oil.

~~~~

Pickens, on the other hand—is pushing his plan with a 58-million dollar advertising campaign coupled with a website.

Interest in it is high.

His site received 170,000 hits in just the first two days it was on line…

As we told you in this earlier post, Pickens proposes building a huge wind farm to help take away some of the demand for imported oil.

But, he goes further than that.

As you can read in greater detail here, he wants the U.S. to switch a lot of our energy using devices to natural gas, which we have an abundance of domestically.

Pickens outlines the problem and explains how we should deal with it in this video clip:

He wants to meet with BOTH presidential candidates to get them to understand the urgency of the situation.

As he says, “This is one emergency we can’t drill our way out of.”

Are you listening Barack and John?

—Steve

Link to the video and story Steve covered today on NBC-17

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High gas prices seem to be vaporizing opposition to drilling in ANWR, the Artic National Wildlife Refuge—if a new poll is to be believed…

The survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 50% of  all Americans now support drilling in ANWR compared to last February when only 47% supported the same concept.

You can look at the PEW’s detailed results here, but one thing they didn’t ask folks is do they know exactly where in ANWR the drilling would occur.

Take a look.

They’re talking about a pretty small site in a refuge that contains millions of acres.

But, even if we start drilling tomorrow—it’ll take a decade for that oil to work its way into the system.

Of course, a decade ago—they said the same thing about ANWR oil.

Meanwhile— the people who take a pot-load of taxes out of our pocket are doing virtually NOTHING about the situation.

The Kiplinger Business Research Center is attacking the Washington politicians from BOTH parties as being pretty much useless when it comes to dealing with our petroleum problems…

In this article here, they list 13 options open to lawmakers—and rate them on what’s doable and what’s not.

Their ultimate conclusion: Our lawmakers are all talk and no action.

My conclusion: Our lawmakers are insulated from real life—and just don’t feel our pain.

—Steve

Link to the video and the story Steve covered today on NBC-17

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The big July 4th weekend is coming up—and that means two things: holiday get togethers—and a recess for Congress— a Congress that has yet to do anything significant to help us with the increasing heavy burden brought about by high gas prices…

Last week, Senator Joe Lieberman’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee held a hearing looking at excessive speculation in oil markets.

The committee heard from a variety of people who claimed the price of gas could drop TWO BUCKS a gallon with-in 30 days of the passage a bill curbing speculation in the oil markets. That legislation has been pending since April—as we told you in this post last week.

Some industry analysts say— speculation is adding between $65 and $75 dollars to every barrel of oil.

As you can read here—there are 9 different bills dealing with speculation currently pending before the house. But it seems unlikely they will deal with any of them before the July 4th recess…

Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the house COULD address the speculation issue the week of July 7th.

But, Michigan’s Bart Stupak–who is a big advocate of the legislation—-says he doesn’t see the measures being put to a vote till sometime in July…

Meanwhile—the price of gas—and everything that relies on it from power to food—continues to soar.

Perhaps we ought to use the July congressional recess to do a little lobbying of our own.

When our lawmakers come back to district— put their feet to the oil-fueled fire.

Demand to know WHY they aren’t acting on legislation that would help the already stretched- too- financially thin —average American.

Make sure that hotdogs aren’t the only thing Bar-B-Qed this holiday.

Let’s get Congress to do something more than blow hot air our way while they grow fat off our tax dollars.

—Steve

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