Cheshire Cat Photo Blog(...said the Cat: 'we're all mad here....')

… oh, and the East Coast and in Alaska!

Whatta buncha maroons!

Here we go AGAIN!

A bill that would allow new oil drilling off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration, is moving toward a vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives! Fortunately, the opposition in the U.S. Senate is strong. The new energy legislation “… which includes a measure designed to clear the way for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline project, is being considered in connection with the GOP-written $260-billion, five-year House transportation bill. The House, which began considering the energy legislation Wednesday, could complete action on it Thursday.”

Since gas tax funds have fallen as the result of conservation, the Republicans say that increased domestic energy production would help pay for traffic-easing projects. (I’m still not certain how this is supposed to work!)

Californians will never forget the devastating oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969 and the resultant damage to the environment and California’s economy.

“Californians have spoken loud and clear. We do not want more drilling off our shores,” Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) told her colleagues.

Citing the 1969 spill off Santa Barbara, she added: “We were outraged by the damage to the environment … to our economy.”

The bill would, within five years, open up areas to new drilling off Southern California, the Eastern Seaboard, and Alaska “considered to have the largest undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources.”

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Walnut Creek), noting the bill would exempt new drilling leases from state review, needled “my good friends on the Republican side” for “always talking about states’ rights” but writing a bill that “strips away the right of California to take care of its own coastline.”

Representative Capps’ effort to get RID of the provision that would allow new drilling off Santa Barbara and Ventura counties was rejected. Representative Doc Hastings (R-Washington), in opposing Capps’ effort, said it would “lock away significant resources that belong to the American people.”

Oh, did I mention, “Whatta buncha maroons?” Oh, yes, I guess I did. Well, as my wife and I make our way through the DVD set of “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” we continue to RE-LEARN that stupidity in government and business is nothing new!

“A coalition of groups, including Taxpayers for Common Sense and the pro-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, sent a letter to lawmakers contending that using drilling revenue to fund transportation projects runs counter to the “user pays” principle for transportation spending. Under that principle, drivers pay for highway construction and maintenance. Critics of the idea also say it relies on speculative revenue to fund transportation projects.”

Then again, when did common sense have anything to do with politics?

Seemingly, economically clueless House Republicans will not be happy until their friends in Big Oil have trashed other coastal waters of the United States to the extent they have trashed the Gulf of Mexico. Action in the House could come as soon as tomorrow. The Senate should take a bit longer….

-Bill at

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