drill now

A while back I suggested liberal CT  freshman Democrat would be running against himself.

He still is.

He was quoted in the New Britain Herald as giving the President's financial bailout plan a "thumbs down". Now most of the article was pretty much the usual gnashing of teeth that Republicans have tas well about giving megabucks to Wall Street without adequate oversight and preventing windfalls for failed financiers.   http://www.newbritainherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20136456&BRD=1641&PAG=461&dept_id=10109&rfi=6

But what I found interesting was Murphy's critique of the root cause as being

The subprime mortgage market was the Wild Wild West of Wall Street. We need to put basic underwriting criteria through regulation that applies to prime and subprime mortgages. For example, we need a requirement for all lenders making loans that the borrower has a reasonable ability to repay the loan

You know, what Chris doesn;t say is he is a member of the House Financial Services Committee. http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ct05_murphy/financialservices.html

Has Congressman Murphy proposed any legislation in the past two years to do what he suggests ought to be done?

NOPE

Indeed, earlier this year  Murphy criticised the President for NOT wanting to fund more subprime mortgages!

http://www.murphyforcongress.org/news/housing-bills-face-bush-veto

and whose lead was Murphy following?

The plan by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is the centerpiece of a broader package of bills approved Thursday that Democrats say will prevent more foreclosures and help homeowners and communities deal with the fallout from the mortgage meltdown.

Yep, his committee chairman Barney Frank. The man who prevented Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from being reformed for a decade--only to see them fail and pull the economy into the abyss with them.

In fact, Murphy was a key supporter of the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act of 2007, a plan to raid funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pay for "affordable housing"

http://www.ctreachinghome.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=88&Itemid=115

Now that''s the way to solve the financial meltdown==drain more money from firms about to circle the drain!

Barney Frank and Chris Murphy had two years to fix the mortgage mess.

They failed---because they didn't try.  (perhapse because the Senate Banking Chairman, Chris Dodd... was MIA for 2007)  http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/d000388/votes/missed/

Now onto energy

Chris Murphy in recent weeks has tried to turn his persona around round from being a Rachel Carson clone to being a J.R. Ewing mini-me, even running a TV ad praising oil drilling.

Well, his opponent called him on it.

http://www.everydayrepublican.com/2008/09/25/cappiello-takes-murphy-to-woodshed-on-energy/

OUCH! 

Wait about 72 hours.

Gasoline prices jumped to unprecedented levels in the wholesale markets today as Hurricane Ike tore across the Gulf of Mexico, threatening to strike Texas and its refineries...

The wholesale price of gasoline ranged from $4 to nearly $5 a gallon in the U.S. Gulf Coast throughout the day today, said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst of the Oil Price Information Service in Wall, N.J. That was up significantly from about $3 to $3.30 a gallon on Wednesday, Kloza said.

"We're looking at the highest wholesale prices ever for a huge swath of the country," he said. "People understand that regardless of what happens with Ike, it's going to shut down the biggest refining cluster for a period of five, six, seven days."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5995474.html

The effect is already in motion. This morning the Citgo station in CT I drive by was at $3,69/gallon; by 6pm EDT it was up to $3.79/gallon

I'm a fan of expat CT resident Brendan Loy, the cassandra of Katrina, who is still a weatherblogger @ Pajamasmedia http://pajamasmedia.com/weathernerd/. A close read of Loy's blog suggests that the impact of Hurricane Ike may be devastating to the domestic oil industry.

Meanwhile, Alan Sullivan (who has a new post up, BTW) wrote in comments on his blog: “It’s the industry of Houston that I’m worried about. Not only could we be looking at the most expensive hurricane in history, but the destruction of energy infrastructure could put the nation in real difficulty. We have refused to build infrastructure for many years; now we may lose some of what we have.” This from a guy who’s been saying that Ike is “overhyped.” If Sullivan is right, today’s gas panics may be just the beginning.

http://pajamasmedia.com/weathernerd/2008/09/12/ike-nears-coast-storm-surge-catastrophe-likely/

A quick look at the location of American oil refineries demonstrates that a huge percentage of U.S. refining capacity are in communities like Baytown, Port Arthur and Texas City which are likely to suffer serious damage from storm surge from Hurricane Ike  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oil_refineries#United_States especially as the estimated storm surge may reach 22 feet in some places  http://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=TXZ238&warncounty=TXC167&firewxzone=TXZ238&local_place1=Galveston+TX&product1=Hurricane+Warning

So we are potentially looking at a huge disruption in refining, for some indefinitive period. (Perhaps someone familiar with the business can tell me how well this equipment will handle saltwater immersion)  I know "Beldar" is a Houston lawyer, http://beldar.blogs.com/, whether he has any expertise in oil and gas I'm not sure about.

The usual Democratic response to a price spike--releasing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve--won't work, since the SPR is crude oil, and the problem is we will not have sufficient operating refineries to process the usual deliveries.

Maybe this will be a short hiccup, but if it isn;t maybe fervent opponents of "Big Oil" like Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi can explain how we are supposed to function without it? Will Speaker Pelosi suggest that we "refine our brains"?

Senator McCain's V.P. choice of a true energy expert, Governor Sarah Palin, may prove all the more prescient in the next few days.  

Any doubts that the electoral tide is now breaking our way were dispelled when I opened my mailbox this afternoon.

I got my first political filer of the season. In it, liberal Democrat Chris Murphy claims to be someone who "puts progress ahead of politics" The flip side is a reprint of an August news article detailing Murphy's newfound support for domestic oil drilling. http://thenextright.com/ironman/drill-never-ct-democrat-twists-in-wind-flip-flops-on-drilling

Based on the chronology, I presume that until August, Murphy had chosen to prevent progress because of politics, since he had been a steadfast member of the "Drill Never" caucus.http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/my-tone-deaf-democrat-congressman-mouth-works-ears-and-brain-dont whose agenda was  "we need to find a way to wean ourselves off of petroleum."

So what changed from July to August this year to suddenly make a freshman Democrat pretend to be the next J.R. Ewing?  (Drill Now?)

In any event, Murphy's claim is so weak as to defy credibility.   He has consistently opposed oil drilling and his "compromise" would still leave some of the most productive oil fields off limits.

No, Murphy is just trying to play moderate to fool the voters. When in DC, he is just a pathetic lackey boy for Speaker Pelosi and her Nancystate, where oil drilling is a "fraud"  and as he posted on the Speaker's own blog in April, there's not a word about increasing oil supplies, just hackneyed partisan rhetoric about "Bush" and "oil executives"  http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=1292

In 2006, Murphy won an upset victory by running against George W. Bush. This year he seems to be trying to hold his seat by running against himself. 

I think the Culture Club music in this web ad is perfect. Liberal CT Democrat Chris Murphy has recently been trying to present himsel as a supporter of oil drilling. Much as Boy George could dress up like a woman, Murphy is dressing himself like a realist, not who he really is-a clueless foot soldier who blindly supports the Nancy-state in D.C. . 

 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1661874453047759429&ei=5_mtSJHrD46yrQKO2-WjAg&q=chris+murphy+chameleon&vt=lf&hl=en 

Let's not stop with this, folks. We are just starting to have fun with these jokers.

Congressman Bill Sali (R-ID) talks energy at Hawks Memorial Stadium. Please support Congressman Sali's re-election campaign at Bill Sali.com. The Democrats are coming after him and we need people like this in Congress.

A few weeks ago I blogged about my brain dead Democratic Congressman telling me we ought to "talk about solutions to our oil crisis" http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/my-tone-deaf-democrat-congressman-mouth-works-ears-and-brain-dont

Sounds like Chris Murphy, a charter member of the "Drill Never" caucus,( his statement to that effect http://dems.house.gov/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC={2D7E6E08-EBA9-41F2-96E7-638CAE603CE3}&DE={006C3F9C-40F2-485F-9381-34E1D740316F disappeared from the House web site) must regret asking people for their solutions, as it seems he must have gotten an earful

The very next day after John Boehner came to CT to "hang" Nancy-state Pelosi's "save the planet" agenda around Murphy's neck, http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2008/08/13/boehner-to-headline-fundraiser-for-cappiello/   this profile in correctness raced to the press to reinvent his agenda on energy.

Cappiello calls out Murphy

<!--subtitle-->

State senator: Congressman flip flopped on offshore drilling position

 

U.S. Rep. Chris Murphy said Thursday he asked House leaders to bring a comprehensive energy package that includes expanded offshore drilling to a vote in the near future.

Murphy, D-5th District, said in a press statement that he sent a letter to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, asking Democratic leaders to find a compromise with Republicans and pass an energy bill. Murphy previously rejected calls for increased offshore drilling.

State Sen. David Cappiello, R-Danbury, who is challenging Murphy for the 5th District congressional seat, issued his own press statement Thursday, calling out the congressman for flip flopping on the issue.

"Murphy's election-year conversion on offshore drilling is a day late, a dollar short, and totally disingenuous," Cappiello said. "His latest flip flop proves he cannot be trusted to address America's energy crisis unless he is dragged kicking and screaming to do so

http://www.newstimes.com/ci_10210304

It's hard to take Murphy's alleged change of heart  seriously since just weeks ago he lambasting oil drilling as just a means to for that evil oilman Dubya to boost oil industry profits   "The president should stop doing long-term planning for oil company profit-making and start doing short-term planning for American families," said Rep. Chris Murphy, D-5." 

I also notice this occurred on the heels of Mark Udall flip-flopping on drilling in the Colorado senate race.  http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2008/08/udall_flipflops_on_energy.php.

I suspect the same pollsters are showing these Democrats their poll numbers are sinking as deep as the Continental Shelf by opposing drilling.

This is a political gusher, folks. Keep at it!

The House Democrats are in an uproar over remarks made by Minority Leader John Boehner which they deem to endorse physical violence against Speaker Pelosi.

This is the incinidiary language which appalls the Democrats.    This was offered in support of Drill Now as Boehner announced a campaign trip to CT to pressure Nancy-stater Chris Murphy to adopt a realistic energy policy.

“She’s gonna bring us back and not deal with it? The American people are gonna hang her,” Boehner said. When pressed further, Boehner said it would “be fine, as long as we get a vote on our bill.”

Democrats Miller (CA) and Markey (MA) responded to Boehner’s comments:

Mr. Boehner’s comments about the Speaker are offensive, inappropriate and deliberately misleading.

First of all, no public official should use language implying bodily harm to anyone, whether they are referring to the Speaker of the House or any other American. That is completely outrageous. [Miller]

…

Assertions of physical violence toward the Speaker of the House have no place in the halls of Congress. Period.
…
Democracy is about settling differences through debate, without violence. It is unfortunate that the Minority Leader allowed violence to creep into his overheated rhetoric. [Markey]

http://ctlocalpolitics.net/2008/08/13/boehner-to-headline-fundraiser-for-cappiello/

Now I find it rather odd that two partisan Democrats not known for prior restraint in their criticism of Republicans are so irked at this rheotorical florish.

First, Boehner was not suggesting he wanted to "hang" Pelosi, or recommending it. He predicted the "American people" would do so.  Evidently the Democratic party has rather low regard for the Americans people's  judgment in this regard.

It's also odd that a liberal CT blogger known for wishing all sorts of ill to occur to Senator Joe Lieberman would suddenly develop such a delicate sense of decorum.  

But maybe the biggest problem is a sense of humor which is akin to the 1980 comedy hit Airplane!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080339/

Implying Boehner's comment were anything more than a projection of future election results makes as much sense as this dialogue

Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley

I'd ask Pelosi, Miller and Markey to shed some light on these remarks, but just like the movie, they might just dump a bunch of old lamps out of a truck.

We have a bunch of comedians in the Democrat Party. Sadly, they aren;t even good ones.

Earlier today, I was priviliged to talk to a few dozen bloggers on a conference call put together by Eric Odom, one of the masterminds behind #dontgo. While Eric was asking me a question, a thought struck me. August has actually been somewhat of a critical month in the last few elections, and #dontgo could make it again this time.

It was on August 11, 2006 that George Allen, cruising to re-election, made the Macaca gaffe. Initially, Allen didn't take too big a hit in the polls -- but after issuing what must have been a dozen different apologies and enduring three consecutive weeks of Washington Post hit jobs, Jim Webb was made competitive -- and the Senate was lost.

As Jim Geraghty can sing chapter and verse on, August is the month John Kerry lost the Presidency in 2004. It was one gaffe right after the other. After SBVT / snubbing the Marine at Wendy's / Teresa's "four more years of hell" comment / "more sensitive war on terror" / saying he still would have voted to give Bush the authority to go to war, Kerry was badly weakened going into the GOP convention, paving the way for a big Bush bounce that never fully receded.

August is also the month Al Gore leapt back into contention in the 2000 election, and he went on to win the popular vote.

August could be that month for House Democrats if #dontgo keeps going. As with George Allen and John Kerry, it will take more than one or two news cycles to inflict the needed damage, but a series of high-profile maneuvers to keep this 70-30 issue in the headlines.

Let's get McCain on the House floor. Let's get all the House challengers to an event on the Capitol steps. Let's make a strategic calendar every day from now until Labor Day.

It's my belief that while massive losses in the Senate are a foregone conclusion because of the map, House Republicans's stock is undervalued. The Democrat-controlled (but Republican occupied) Congress has a 9% approval rating. The Dems won seats they should not have in 2006. 1992 was also a change year, and yet Republicans then managed to pick up 10 seats.

#dontgo is positioned to be the event that at last restores Republicans to where they should be in the House. Don't lift the boot from Nancy and Steny's neck. Let's keep this going.

#dontgo is officially a movement. MoveOn is mobilizing against the House Republicans and the rightosphere this afternoon. I don't think they've ever done this in response to a grassroots conservative protest. Something has changed. 

There has been nothing worthwhile to speak of in recent years that's emanated solely from the base like this has. It's worth our time to take a step back and understand what made this success possible.

First, while Reps. Mike Pence and Tom Price provided the spark by starting the House floor revolt, it was the rightosphere (and crucially, the Twitterverse) that poured the gasoline.

Elected officials cannot start movements on their own. They need a willing audience to activate. The audience was primed by John Culberson leading the revolt against the ridiculous House franking rules. (On the issue side, it was primed by Newt's "Drill Now" movement.) That solidified Culberson, and by extension minority Republicans, as the troublemakers storming the gates with technology, and Democrats as the lame defenders of an old order. That is the natural role of any political minority, but one House Republicans, accustomed to the majority, have been uncomfortable embracing. Until now.

From the Facebook group, "Let's Rock This House! I Support the Guerrilla Congress:"

Things are moving very fast, and the floor protests will continue on Monday. and if we all act today, we can do our part to make the Guerilla Congress an even greater success as it continues.

The next step is for the netroots to provide any Republican member who is willing to return to the House floor tomorrow with the assurance that events on the floor will be quickly captured, made public, and broadly distributed. If we act today, we can create an citizen-powered alternative to the MSM that the Democratic majority will find difficult, if not impossible to suppress.

There are three specific capabilities we must develop today to get this to work.

First, we need to have people on the floor or in the gallery who are willing to capture audio, pictures and video and upload it to some central repository. We need someone to coordinate the effort to make sure that we have a person on the floor at all times, for starters. We have a number of people in the DC area in the group, and the more people sign up, the more we can spread the time around.

Second, we need some central repository for audio, pictures and video from the floor. For now, the Facebook group would probably suffice, but if anyone has the ability to set something up which is more versatile, it would make an impact.

Third, we need people to take the audio, pictures and video from the central repository and distribute it over the Web and to the MSM. Almost all of us could help out with this part, by posting links on social networking sites and blogs, or sending links to the media. It would also be helpful for somebody with media savvy to step up and coordinate this effort.

I have created three threads on the Facebook group on each of these three capabilities, and if each of us chooses an area that we can help out with, we can get the job done TODAY. If we can get everything up and running today, any GOP member who wants to come back Monday and talk in the People's House will be able to do so knowing that their words will be heard by the American people.

Please visit the group, pick a thread, and get involved in the project.

As Rep. Culberson tweeted, "This is an exciting moment for America: this event is the dawn of real time democracy through real time representatives, and no turning back."