I think it is high time for the President of the United States to exercise one of his constitutional perogatives:

The President should immediately convene both Houses, and then issue an order to Federal Marshals that every member of the House and Senate who fail to return to DC for any reason other than physical incapacity be taken into custody and forceably returned to their offices. He should keep doing this until they vote on off shore drilling.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Cause something which won't produce oil for a min of 5 years is an emergency?

What does "emergency" have to do with it?

But since you raised it, does it make sense to define "emergency" by the immediacy of the possible solutions rather than by the need for a solution?

Just as many democrats as republicans (if not more) are dubbing gas prices as an "emergency" and "crisis". Yet they left town without acting.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

You suggested extreme measures which IMHO could only be justified by an emergency.

Dubbing something a crisis does not make it so.

It just does not make sense for dems to allow a possibly manufactured short term "crisis" to force an "emergency" vote on what could only be a long term solution with long term negative consequences.

rooobosmith
You suggested extreme measures which IMHO could only be justified by an emergency.

I suggested no such thing, the constitution says extraordinary, not "emergency".

Those are matters of subjective opinion. the President's POWER to convene them is a fact, whether they choose to actually have a vote is for them to decide. It is called checks and balances.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

I think this is a terrific idea, especially because I suspect it may not turn out the way you want. That said, wouldn't a more immediate (read "actual") solution be to start distributing SPR? After all, it could enter the market tomorrow, right?

Well, except for opposition from Bush.

Answer the question. Do you agree with what the democratic majority is doing or not?

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

We dont have a shortage currently, thus no need to use the SPR. Also, the SPR is for strategic uses, not political. We need a plan for long term energy, not short term, and the longer we wait, the worse it gets. What do we do in 3 months when the SPR runs out?

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"To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his father has acquired too much, in order to spare to others who (or whose fathers) have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, "to guarantee to everyone a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it."

-Thomas Jefferson

I suspect it would put democrats on the spot for holding to an increasingly unpopular position. They are on the wrong side of this issue politically, as evidenced by the fact that they are refusing to have a vote. People on the right side of an issue seldom shy away from putting it up for a vote. Pelosi is concerned about putting her people in a position to cast an unpopular vote, or the alternative which is increasingly likely, that they would NOT cast unpopular votes and the bill would pass!


Yeah, let's impose another short-term bandaid that would have the long-term effective of making us even MORE dependent upon and at the day-to-day mercy of those who at best are strategic adversaries, and at worst enemies of our nation.

What happens when the SPR is empty and Iran decides to turn off the spigot to hurt us? Gone will be our medium-term strategic reserve.

Instead of another stupid and reckless thing like that, we should focus on maximizing our long-term production capacity.

And if you want to talk about the SPR, how about asking team Clinton why it wasn't full to the brim after eight years of historically low crude oil prices? That was near criminal negligence on their part.

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Absolutely.

It's all politics and no policy at this time of the election cycle.

Yeah, making politicians actually vote on the record on major policy issues close to an election, how horrible!

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"It's a good feeling to shoot a bad guy. Something you democrats would never understand. Americans are homesteaders, we want a safe home, keep the money we make, and shoot bad guys!"

----Denny Crane

Republicans debating amongst themselves, on the House floor? It sounds like a better title would have been something to the effect of "Dems Adjourn, Repubs Grandstand". Don't get me wrong, I know the Dems aren't very interested in solving any of the problems we currently face, but that doesn't mean my bs meter is uni-directional.

Edit - Sorry, work got in the way a lot got written between when I opened this topic and when I finally posted.

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Today's forecast: Government corruption.

Tomorrow's forecast: 100% chance of more 'politics as usual'

Maybe it's finally time to vote Libertarian

What a load of bull. You accept the legislators failure to do something solely because you are a member of the majority party.

I expect,.... no demand.... that if we are going to continue to pay their salaries for 71 or so days of work, they had beeter put the interests of the country above their political leanings. I would never accept this behavior out of my party and you should be asahmed of your willingness to do so for yours.

You assume they are putting political considerations ahead of the best interests of the country. I don't.

In fact I think the reps are using a manufactured "crisis" to put the oil cos interests ahead of the country's interests.

Or at least that's what they're trying to do....

The strategy is amusing and effective.

Dummycrats' reaction is living proof. Even the MSM will not be able to shield the fact that, once again, Dems profit only by America not succeeding. Their absolute naked desire that energy prices [artificially] be thrust through the roof is becoming clearer and clearer to even the least informed among us.

I laugh, heartily. I don't really care if, functionally, it does nothing. It is a P.R. coup.

For all you libtards already whining about tactics and comeuppance, just tag this thread. We'll see how you feel in January when the Dummycrat minority Congress is sworn in.

You talk of stunts - ROFL - what were you saying when Gephardt and Daschle (douchebags) were on TV holding up a muffler from a Lexus - telling America that rich people get to buy the Lexus, but poor Joe Sixpack will only be able to afford the muffler. At least the current GOP effort is backed by reality...whereas that Dem stunt managed to somehow make insignificant the fact that this is America - we might be created equal, but do not stay that way. By design. Fucking duh.

You "SAVE THE PLANET", Pelosi. Get right on that. Meanwhile, the GOP will assume control. Works for me.

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"Compassionate Conservatism"?!?! That is a stupid phrase. Conservatism is inherently compassionate. It is liberalism that is cruel for the sake of maintaining a constituency.