'Drill Here, Drill Now!' day is Oct. 1

I'm the world's worst procrastinator. I've always believed that anything worth doing today is probably worth putting off until tomorrow. I was gonna join the Procrastinator's Club of America, but I've never got around to it. Besides, if you ignore a problem long enough, it'll away, right?

Well, that is true of one thing, one very important thing. If Congress will just heed the foreign policy advice of Ike's Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, "Don't just do something, stand there," then something real important will take care of itself on Oct. 1, just 12 short days from today.

U.S. Rep. Jeb Hensarling and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint are urging Congress to do exactly nothing until then to bring about American Energy Freedom Day

In just two weeks, on Oct. 1, Americans could be celebrating American Energy Freedom Day. That's the day the bans on oil shale and offshore drilling for oil and natural gas in America will expire.

Right off American shores there are reserves estimated to hold over 20 billion barrels of oil and 97 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. And in the west, oil shale is estimated to be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil -- that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

So-called "compromise" legislation being considered in Congress would increase energy taxes and only open up a fraction of these vast reserves, while permanently banning nearly 80% of our energy resources offshore. It would be irrational in a national energy crisis to create any new ban on American energy, and that's why the best solution is for Congress to allow the current bans to expire on Oct. 1.

The so-called compromise energy bill pushed through by Nancy "Let-em-eat-cake-at-the-pump" Pelosi is already dead on arrival. The Senate has no plans to even consider it, and in the unlikely event they should pass it, President Bush has already said he will veto it. DOA Pelosi.

But Hensarling and Demint warn that Pelosi and Reid have at least one more dirty trick up their sleeves they are expected to play by Oct. 1.

It seems likely that Democrats, beholden to the radical left, will try to stop American Energy Freedom Day by sneaking a new drilling ban in a spending bill that Congress MUST pass to keep the government functioning before the current ban expires on the last day of September.

How reckless will Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid be? We've seen press reports in which they are so adamant about enacting a new bans on oil shale and offshore drilling that they have started to talk about a government shutdown. Rather than help lower the cost of gas and home energy for struggling American families, they remain beholden to left-wing environmentalists. This is a battle we shouldn't have to face, but one that we cannot shy away from.

So far, 155 Republican representatives and 39 senators have joined us in writing these Democrat leaders a letter warning them that we will oppose any attempt to extend the ban on American energy beyond Oct. 1.

Make no mistake; the upcoming energy showdown could be the most important vote we take this year.

If you believe that it is good for America to increase our dependence on foreign oil by continuing to send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to other countries to supply our oil and gas, then that is your right. But if you think we should drill here and drill now, join us in letting the Democrat leadership know that we want to celebrate Energy Freedom Day on Oct. 1. If you believe that it's time to produce American energy and lower gas prices -- stand up and tell all these Democrat leaders to step aside.

One way to support our cause is to go to our Web site and sign the online petition to Pelosi and Reid.

Nothing in Congress ever comes easy, but this actually could. All that Congress must do is cause no harm by doing absolutely nothing. For Democrats, that's easier said than done.

Oh for the good ol' days when we had a "Do Nothing Congress." As for all of us voters who are tired of pain at the pump, do something. Sign the petition. Run out in the yard and yell "I'm mad as hell and I ain't gonna take it anymore!" Vote for John McCain, Sarah Palin and the GOP.

OK, Drill. But only where there’s no oil?

Nancy Pelosi supposedly caved in to pressure from the voting public who are mad as hell about $4+ per-gallon gas prices. Madame Speaker is allowing a vote in the House on a so-called compromise energy bill that will allow offshore oil drilling. Just not where there’s any oil to find.

Iain Murray at The Corner on National Review calls the “compromise” bill under debate Energy Gangsterism

Anyone who believes this is a pro-drilling bill is fooling themselves. It allows a tiny amount of drilling while pushing forward all the fever dreams of the anti-energy environmentalist movement. I urge everyone to read Marlo Lewis' post on this from Planet Gore yesterday. Note in particular that the bill will:

• Permanently ban access to about 97 percent of the undersea oil lying within 50 miles of the California coast.
• Continue the ban on energy production in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico.
• Impose a brand-new ban on oil and gas leases in Alaska’s coastal waters out to 50 miles.
• Not allow states that approve new leases beyond 50 miles to share royalties with the federal government, thus stripping any financial incentive for states to stand up to environmental pressure groups, who will continue to agitate against any new oil and gas operations offshore.

This is not a compromise. It is a sell-out to the anti-energy gangsters.

Now there’s some Pelosi-Obama-style change we can believe in, spare change left in our empty pockets after we gas up. Thanks a bunch, Nancy. If I have to walk, I'll see you at the polls.

If you're not one of 1,478,172 Americans who has signed the Drill Here, Drill Now! petition, do it now.

I heard on Fox News tonight the latest strategy by Pelosi & co. is not to allow any energy bill to pass, but instead let the drilling ban expire in October and then reinstate it after Obama is in the White House and Pelosi and Reid are re-elected leaders of an even bigger Democrat majority in Congress.

But just suppose...

GOP House Revolts; Pelosi Punts

The big issue of this campaign season may well be the Drill Here, Drill Now drive to unlock America’s own energy sources of oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power. So far, the battle is being fought in the dark on Capitol Hill by a lonely handful of Republican Congressmen.

Erick Erickson in RedState Under the Radar reports The Republican Revolt Continues

Nancy Pelosi, having fled the House of Representatives to promote her book, has done her best to shut down the Republican fight for increased drilling and American energy expansion. She turned off the microphones in the House of Representatives. She turned off the lights. She locked up the visitors gallery.

What Nancy Pelosi could not do, however, was shut out Republicans. The House Republicans have taken to the floor of the House despite no lights and microphones. And they have invited in the public to watch. In just one week more tourists have heard the Republicans’ energy proposal than have purchased Nancy Pelosi’s book.

Brian Darling at Human Events writes about the clash of Drill Here, Drill Now vs. Don’t Drill Here Ever in Americans Take Back the House

As liberals remain disengaged and outright hostile to American energy production, the country -- and to some extent the presidential candidates -- appear to be passing them by. According to a recent Gallup poll, 89% of Americans believe congressional inaction has been an “important reason” that gas prices have reached record highs. Not surprisingly, a slew of new polls indicate a majority of Americans want to access America’s energy offshore, including 57% of liberals, 57% of Floridians and 51% of Californians. Deftly reading the tea leaves in June, John McCain announced his support for offshore energy exploration, and Barack Obama admitted he had to refine his position because Republicans have been so effective in their messaging.

…The good news for Americans is that come Oct. 1, the 27-year-old congressional moratorium on offshore energy production will expire. The bad news is that liberals in Congress can block new drilling by continuing the congressional ban on exploration without a vote on the issue. Conservatives should not rest until Americans have access to American energy and should demand that Congress take no action that doesn’t result in new domestic exploration and drilling.

But we may never get to the Oct. 1 showdown over the expiration of the domestic drilling ban. Martha Zoller at Human Events gives both sides of a supposed compromise being floated by five GOP Senators and five Democrat Senators in Just a Deal Between 10 Senators

This is another “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” moment. I challenge all the Senators supporting the framework of the Gang of 10 to go to the House floor and stand with the members of the House of Representatives who are standing tall on this issue and that includes the 5 Democrats, too. Then, let’s get the Democrats like Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC), Rep. Jim Marshall (D-GA), Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) and the other so called “Blue Dog Democrats” to stand up with their colleagues for an American issue to “Drill Here, Drill Now and Save Money” for the American people.

Christopher Chantrill at American Thinker also blasts “The Faithless Five” GOP Senators. He flatly calls it Another Bipartisan Betrayal

Michael Reagan says the showdown over the ban on drilling for our own oil is a “golden opportunity” and it’s time to Fight or Die Republicans

Republicans have their backs against the wall, facing a bloodbath on Election Day that will leave the party in shambles and the nation in the hands of the worst conglomeration of demagogues, scoundrels and loony leftists ever put together in our nation’s history.

…This is a golden opportunity, and if the GOP fails to take full advantage of it they will deserve it if the voters go with Democrats in November. The American people are with the Republicans on the most important issue of our time.

The question is, are the Republicans on their side and willing to lead them in the fight to use all the oil resources the Lord has given us in such great abundance and which now are untapped beneath our feet because the Democrats won’t allow us to drill down to get it.

But while the Gang of 10 made plans to run up the white flag, guess who beat them to the punch? Nancy (No drilling here!) Pelosi. She threw in the towel last night on the Larry King Show, reports The Hill, saying she now “open” to an offshore drilling vote in the House this fall.

BTW, what do Nancy Pelosi and oilman T. Boone Pickens have in common? Would you believe "wind"? Oh, in addition to wind power, there's one other thing both are interested in: billions in tax dollars.

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 funds to this corporation which will indirectly help them create a giant wind farm in the Texas panhandle.

Now that explains why Pelosi is so dug in against drilling for American oil, doesn't it?

Pelosi fiddles while America burns

Here’s an issue all of us suffering from $4-gallon gas can agree on. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi turned out the lights on Congress and went on vacation, leaving us all to burn. A few Republicans are camping out in the Capitol in the dark until she agrees to vote on drilling for oil.

Eric Cantor (R-VA) is sponsoring a website where you can sign a petition to urge Speaker Pelosi to call Congress back in session in order to vote on an energy package to include offshore drilling:

We, the undersigned, believe that gas prices are too high. Speaker Pelosi has closed Congress for a five-week paid vacation, without taking any action to lower gas prices. We, the undersigned, have a simple demand: Call Congress Back, Madam Speaker!

If you haven’t signed the Drill Here, Drill Now! petition, join the 1,403,615 Americans who have.