Big Brother; Obama White House Wants to Track and Tax Your Mileage. Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America. and more

 

Does Obama need to know your how many miles you’re driving? The administration, stung by rising gas prices and an 8-month high in jobless claims Thursday, is backing away from their track-and-tax plan. But in March, the Congressional Budget Office offered support for taxing drivers based on how many miles they travel. Payment, it suggested, could be collected automatically at service stations.

 

 

White House Wants to Track and Tax Your Mileage

Not paying enough at the pump? The Obama White House has just the plan for you. A draft proposal of a new auto tax envisions installing Big Brother-like tracking devices on private cars and taxing citizens based on how many miles they drive.
FULL STORY

 

Go Ahead, Make Our Day
J. Kowalski
A 21st century Intolerable Act; The Obama Administration re-floats the automobile mileage tax,  More

What free country? Obama wants to track your car mileage
May 05, 2011
Big Brother wants to ride along in your car with you. More

The Obama Watch

 

Obama’s War on Oil

 

By Peter Ferrara

 

A campaign promise kept: he wants higher gasoline prices and his policies guarantee they will only go higher…

 

• Americans Cut Back and Pump Prices Soar

• Oil Plunges 9% to Settle Below $100

• ‘Drill, Baby, Drill,’ House GOP Says with Vote

• Gas Prices to End Obama’s Poll Uptick

• John Stossel–Don’t Blame Speculators for Oil Price Hikes

• Goldman: Oil Might Top Recent Highs by 2012

Capitol Hill in the Market For Gas Price Solutions

Lawmakers push to bring down gas prices to around $4 per gallon before summer travel season starts

• Gas Prices Could Slow Job Growth

• With bin Laden Gone, the Oil Threat Remains

 

As gas prices rise, Senatorial opposition to American oil production is indefensible.

Take Action: Get Your Senators on the Record

For years, dozens of US Senators have opposed increasing America’s oil production. Declining domestic oil production is one factor in the skyrocketing gasoline prices facing Americans. 

The US House is doing its part. Now is the time to push those Senators to reconsider their stances: how high will gas prices rise before they consider allowing more domestic oil production? $5 a gallon? $6 a gallon?

You sent them to Washington to work in America’s best interest, now it’s time to hold them accountable. Here’s how:

1. Call your Senators and ask: how high do gas prices need to get before they’ll rethink their opposition to increased oil production?
2. Report your results on our website. We will maintain an up-to-date list of Senators’ stances.
3. Share the intel you’ve gathered with your fellow conservatives to spread the word about Washington’s indefensible opposition to American oil production.

Take the first step: call your Senators and ask them when they’ll support more American oil production.Together, we can hold Congress accountable.Thanks for taking action, Russ Vought, Political Director Heritage Action for America

Obama’s Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Conservative Byte

Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration’s job-killing agenda. As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy — a direct result of President Barack Obama’s anti-energy policies.

Stilley’s company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production — a consequence of Obama’s drilling moratorium and subsequent “permitorium” — led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he’s speaking out, sharing Seahawk’s story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research.

It’s an unfortunate example of how policies in Washington are harming American jobs and also squelching energy production at a time when consumers are paying $4-per-gallon for gasoline.  

Exxon Earns Huge Profits, But Also Pays Huge Taxes

Gas prices and industry earnings: A few things to think about the next time you fill up 

April 27, 2011 | Posted by Ken Cohen

Click the link above to read the article with chart details

 

Energy policy and failures, markets, drilling, oil prices, and nuclear energy efforts

Sen. Vitter: Gas Prices Would Drop if Drilling Resumed in Gulf

March 14, 2011 — The solution to soaring gasoline prices is to reopen the Gulf of Mexico to drilling, Sen. David Vitter says. The Louisiana Republican also calls the $61 billion in spending cuts that House Republicans passed the “absolute minimum” for budget talks in the Senate.

• Sen. Vitter: Obama Stumbles as Gas Zooms to $4
  

Mississippi Governor Attacks President’s Energy Policy

Poll: 66% of Voters Favor Offshore Exploration

Yale’s Shiller: Quake Could be Final Tipping Point for Markets, Oil.

One of the nation’s leading economic analysts, Yale University professor Robert Shiller, believes the Japanese earthquake could spark a huge worldwide stock market drop as early as this week…

Lamb: Gas Too High? Thank the Greens, Dems and Clinton

By Henry Lamb 6:26 am

In December, 1996 Bill Clinton vetoed legislation that would have added more than a million barrels of domestic oil per day to help reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil. His reasoning at the time was that ANWR could not produce oil for ten years, a laughable excuse. For years, responsible Cong … Read More

Morris: Suspend the Gas Tax

By Dick Morris March 12, 2011 5:20 am

Republicans should demand the immediate suspension of the 18.4-cent federal gasoline tax and, at the state level throughout the nation, the suspension of the additional 30-cent average local tax. When gas prices drop again — likely not for several years — the taxes should resume. All told, federal … Read More

North: Crude Cruelty

By Oliver North March 11, 2011 11:58 am

Fuel and food prices are up. So is unemployment. Officials in the Obama administration and their allies on Capitol Hill are stunned. They shouldn’t be. It’s O-Team policy — or lack of it — that got us here. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of Americans seeking unemployment ben … Read More

Solving US Energy Problems
Seldon B. Graham, Jr.
The solution is disarmingly simple. More

Meltdowns Don’t Slow Obama Nuke Power Push

Despite problems at power plants in Japan, administration says nuclear power is a vital part of energy policy

• U.S. Plants Under Scrutiny

George Soros Handicapping American Energy

March 2, 2011 By Ed Lasky

George Soros has been a brilliant investor over the years. As befits many hedge fund operators, he uses leverage to magnify his returns. But in his case, leverage has a double meaning.

Gas Price Spike Propels Double-Dip Recession Fears, coming Stagflation, Obama-Salazar energy policy disaster, Drill here drill now, and the Mideast factor

Why We Need to Drill Here and Drill Now

by Steve EverleyThe president’s policy won’t create more energy — or more jobs. Read

As Gas Prices Rise, Is It Time to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’?

March 07, 2011 FoxNews.com by Bradley Blakeman 

Unless our government steps on the gas and exploits our own oil, gas, and coal production, America will suffer a double dip recession, or worse.

Drill We Must — and Right on Dry Land

by Roger L Simon. Middle East madness makes energy a winning issue for the Republicans.

• America’s Enemies Don’t Want U.S. Drilling – IBD editorial

• Most Back Oil Drilling Offshore, In ANWR – IBD

“President Obama is considering opening up the nation’s strategic oil reserve as the administration grapples with how to deal with rapidly rising gas prices.” – New York Times

Obama Nixes Safe Drilling – Jeffrey Folks
Gulf Oil Spill Could Have Been Stopped 48 days Earlier
March 03, 2011
The Secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, said no. More

House Republicans Propose Nuclear and Drilling Energy Plan: Can Obama Say No?

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Jane Jamison

 

The House GOP is going to keep President Obama on task with his  promise last year to “nuke” up :

Continue reading →

Interior appeals OIL DRILLING ruling – POLITICO.com

By DAN BERMAN & DARREN GOODE | 3/4/11

The Obama administration late Friday appealed a judge’s orders directing the Interior Department to act on several Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling permits.

The appeal is the latest salvo in the ongoing fight over the speed with which Interior is – or isn’t – letting oil drillers get back to work after last year’s BP oil spill.

Gulf state lawmakers and the oil industry have accused the department of enacting a “de facto” moratorium against new drilling, while Interior says it needs to ensure safety and environmental protections are in place.

Friday’s appeal challenges rulings by Judge Martin Feldman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, who on Feb. 17 gave Interior 30 days to make a verdict on five pending deepwater drilling permits applications. He later added two additional permits to that order.

via Interior appeals oil drilling ruling – Dan Berman and Darren Goode – POLITICO.com.

Gasoline now costs 26.7 cents a gallon more than it did a month ago, and 66.4 cents higher than its price on year ago.

Gas Price Spike Propels Double-Dip Recession Fears

Rapidly escalating gasoline prices may push the nation back into a recession as scared Americans cut back on spending, economists warn. Each 1-cent increase in gas prices is the equivalent of a $1.2 billion “tax” on Americans, one economist says — and that figure would compute to $31.2 billion during the past month alone.
FULL STORY

Obama’s Legacy: Stagflation
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann:

President Obama’s failure to support America’s allies in the Middle East and his dithering endorsement of chaos in the region will send oil and gasoline prices skyrocketing, triggering a massive bout of stagflation. … more

Rep. Dan Burton: We need to drill here, we need to drill now — It is unconscionable that America is not energy independent.

 Deroy Murdock – Can We Drill Now, Please?

More Stories

• High Pump Prices Rattle Drivers and Businesses
• EU: Gadhafi Has Lost Control Over Oil, Gas Fields
• Bryce: Obama Oil Policy Will Rob Consumers
• As The Saudi Tanks Roll To Bahrain

Obama Nixes Safe Drilling
Jeffrey Folks
By refusing to grant a single deep-water permit in the Gulf, Obama has shut down access to one third of America’s oil supply. More

The Oil Spill Crisis That Didn’t Go To Waste – Bruce Thompson

Salazar in deep water with both sides of drilling debate

How High Will Oil Prices Go?

March 2nd – Why Oil Prices Will Continue To Climb
Crude oil closed above $102 a barrel today, as news of an unexpected decline in last week’s U.S. oil inventories and the ongoing political turmoil in the Middle East fed concerns about global supplies, lifting prices to a fresh two-and-a-half year high. “The single biggest cause of skyrocketing oil prices is the refusal of this president to develop our own American energy sources,” Sean steamed kicking off Wednesday’s show. “Obama has banned drilling almost everywhere. He promised he’d build new nuclear plants but he hasn’t done that either. Yet, he’s wasted billions on these phony baloney green energy projects which are useless.” And, as Sean predicted months ago, the instability in the Middle East may push oil prices close to two hundred dollars a barrel as a result of Obama’s policies. “Conservatives have said for a long time that we’re ‘all of the above.’ We want drilling, refineries, nuclear facilities, coal mining – basically all the things we’re not doing,” said Sean Hannity.

Bernanke Warns Rising Oil Prices A Threat To U.S.
In a semiannual report to Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke told politicians that commodity-price inflation, and oil prices more specifically, could pose a threat to economic growth and price stability if sustained at high levels. Yet, at the same time, the fed chief reassured politicians that inflation remained low and expectations stable. Bernanke actually pointed out that “sustained rises in the prices of oil or other commodities would represent a threat both to economic growth and to overall price stability, particularly if they were to cause inflation expectations to become less well anchored.” “Here’s the problem,” Sean said responding to Bernanke’s statement. “America has all this oil sitting out there in the wilderness and we won’t touch it. But yet we import all this oil from all over the world. They have to drill for that oil in other parts of the world! It’s the same earth that we share with the people we import the oil from. It’s the same oil drilling process we’d use in our own country if we were allowed. If we could drill our own oil, all this instability in the Middle East wouldn’t matter as much. It would still matter; it just wouldn’t matter as much. We should look for other technologies so that we can be oil independent. But in the interim, let’s drill!” Sean said adamantly. 

How Obama Is Making Gas Prices Higher

Yesterday, for the first time since September 2008, the price of a barrel of crude oil topped $100 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. But while the recent unrest in the Middle East has had some marginal effect on rising prices, the most significant factor has been increased oil demand worldwide. That is why, long before the recent protests even began, analysts were predicting $4 a gallon by this summer and $5 a gallon by 2012. Anyone could have predicted that the recovering world economy, coupled with the continued growth of India and China, was going to push oil prices higher. So if an Administration wanted to keep gas prices down, they could have mitigated increased oil demand by increasing domestic oil production. But that is not what the Obama Administration has done. Instead of increasing domestic oil supplies, the Obama Administration has cut them at every opportunity, and Americans are now suffering because of those choices…

But not only has President Obama failed to diversify our energy supply in any meaningful way; he has actually proactively moved to cut our own domestic energy supplies: …

“The Obama Administration is repeating the mistakes of President Jimmy Carter’s failed energy policies, which marred his term and stigmatized the 1970s. They are leading us straight into another national energy disaster,” Steve Forbes warned …

Read the entire Heritage Foundation report.

Roadblock On Domestic Oil Production Even More Costly Now

By: National Center for Policy Analysis

DALLAS -The ongoing turmoil throughout the Middle East highlights the continuing and pervasive vulnerability of the U.S. economy to oil price instability, yet the Obama administration continues to thwart any efforts to increase domestic oil production, according to National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett.”We have billions of barrels of oil just waiting to be accessed, yet the Obama administration has thrown one roadblock after another to prevent new domestic production,” Dr. Burnett said. “These actions have made it nearly impossible to tap new domestic reserves.” more…..

Editorial Exegesis

“The turmoil in the Middle East has pushed oil above $100 per barrel again, and gasoline prices are following suit. … Unfortunately, at the same time foreign supplies are falling, domestic production is being curtailed by policies of President Barack Obama’s administration. The Interior Department continues to defy a federal court order that lifted a ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, put in place during last spring’s oil spill. Rather than complying with the judge’s order, federal regulators have stalled the issuing of permits so that almost no new drilling has occurred in the Gulf in more than six months. In addition, the administration is standing firm on a seven-year ban on new drilling in the eastern Gulf and off the East Coast, and has expanded by 100 miles the no-drill zone off the coast of Florida. Vast areas in the nation’s interior have been placed off-limits to drilling, as has the oil-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. (You may recall that President Obama rescinded President Bush’s lefting of the ban). Additional impact on consumers will come if Obama succeeds in his bid to raise taxes on oil companies. … Democrats in Congress are urging the president to ease prices with releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But that oil serves the purpose of protecting the country against a more serious contraction of imported oil. A better strategy would be to resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf, and consider exploring other domestic reserves. … The only sure way to offset the decrease in foreign production is to increase domestic production, which has fallen to 5 million barrels a day from a high of 10 million. … The risk that higher oil prices will send the economy back into recession is too great to ignore. Easing restrictions on domestic production is a necessary safeguard.” –The Detroit News

“It appears that the Obama administration is more interested in kowtowing to environmental donors in advance of the 2012 election than it is in controlling energy prices. Even with a federal court order to decide on new drilling in the Gulf by March 20, the Obama administration remains obdurate. By refusing to grant a single deep-water permit in the Gulf, Obama has shut down access to one third of America’s oil supply. With Libyan oil fields now closed indefinitely and with uncertainty about future production elsewhere in the Middle East, it is a dreadful time to be shutting down America’s oil fields as well. Turmoil in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, or Iraq would drive the price of oil up above $150 a barrel, at the very least. A prudent policy would be to increase domestic production in light of uncertainty abroad.” –columnist Jeffrey Folks