The Democrats took a beating in the court of public opinion recently when they chose to recess for the summer without doing anything productive for the oil/energy crisis.

Now that congress is back in session, they have seen the light and have proposed a new bill to address offshore oil drilling….by banning it again, efectively, as their bill bans all drilling inside 50 miles, and 90-95 percent of the estimated oil reserves lie inside that mark: ¹

The American Conservative Union called out the Dem bluff earlier today:

When we were kids, we all played a variation of the game “Let’s Pretend” in which we pretended to do something or be somebody knowing it was make-believe. The authors of this bill are playing “Let’s Pretend” with the American people, pretending they are passing a bill to increase domestic energy production when they know it will do no such thing.

By eliminating revenue sharing for the states in royalties for offshore oil and gas drilling while requiring states to approve the drilling leases, the bill’s sponsors know it is unlikely the states will bother to give their approval. Even Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana has said this bill “will not see the light of day in the Senate” should it pass the House.

The bill prohibits drilling less than 50 miles offshore when the sponsors know that, to give an example, 95% of the known reserves off the coast of California are less than 50 miles out.

Once again, as in other energy legislation, the bill needlessly increases taxes that only serve to increase the cost of energy. The bill will also increase electricity bills for the average consumer by forcing utility companies to use alternative fuels regardless of the cost. This provision has already been rejected by the Senate in a previous energy bill.

The American people are demanding we change our bankrupt energy policy which has prevented the U.S. from utilizing our own resources and made us dangerously dependent on foreign oil supplies from unfriendly countries. They will not fall for a bill full of gimmicks which does not do the job.

Sometimes it is the simple and obvious truth that is the most persuasive.

This video leaves no doubts that the Senate Republicans favor a balanced approach to our energy needs, and that they want to begin the quest for solutions immediately. (Hat Tip Sean)

Finally.  A no brainer, no nonsense and common sense approach. 

Find more:  Meaning find more energy, not just find more oil.  Yes that means getting more domestic petroleum, but it also means researching and developing new technology.  This is such an obvious answer to the problem.  New oil reserves and new alternative energy are both solutions that benefit us years ahead, so why favor one over the other when neither has an immediate impact? 

Let both run their course, and see what our options are in 10 years.

Use less:  Again, a no brainer.  No answer in the short term has a better chance of any impact then conservation.  Using less lowers demand, which increases existing supplies and lowers prices.  Any free market advocate knows that.

Having lower needs allows any new technology a better chance of success as well.

It is also an element of responsible environmental stewardship, which the liberals should love.

But apparently not.  The Democrats in congress apparently favor the blame the oil barons, blame Bush and blame the American people, while doing nothing to solve any of the problems.  They prefer to jet off on vacation.

Brilliant strategy.

Early this year I thought the war would be the premier issue in the campaign, but that has changed.

The focal point of the Congressional elections is now oil, and the Republicans have the upper hand at this point by reason of their demands to do something in the face of Democratic apathy.

Here is the summary of their proposal.

THE GAS PRICE REDUCTION ACT OF 2008

Summary of Provisions

TITLE I – DEEP SEA EXPLORATION (OCS)

The headline at Michelle Malkin’s site implies something very daunting:

The Donkey Congress is allergic to debate

Conservative stalwart Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint blew the whistle  last  week on a new report from the Congressional Research Service showing that 94 percent of bills passed in thee Dem-controlled Senate have been rammed through without debate or vote.

Via CNS:

Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) dismissed Democratic claims of obstructionism and expressed outrage last week over a government report that shows the majority of bills that have passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate of the 110th Congress have done so without any debate or even a vote.

“The U.S. Senate has a nine percent approval rating, because the American people believe that much of our work is done in secret with no debate, no transparency and no accountability,” Coburn told reporters at press conference Wednesday at the Capitol.

This clearly implies outrage over a procedure where a motion or bill is passed using Unanimous Consent.  This is clearly blamed on the Democrat leadership:

“This report shows that the reality is worse than the public’s fears. Instead of encouraging open debate, I’m disappointed that Majority Leader Reid often chooses secrecy or demagoguery,” he added.

Coburn was referring to a non-partisan study released on June 10 by the government’s Congressional Research Service (CRS), which indicates that 855 of the 911 bills passed by the Senate of the 110th Congress have been streamlined by Democratic Party leadership with a procedural tactic known as Unanimous Consent (UC), which requires no debate or even a vote.

So roughly 94%.

The idea sound fairly damning.  Are Democrats really so underhanded now that they have control?

Not really.

The first thing I noted in examining the PDF file is that quite a few of the measures passed are meaningless procedural matters:

S.Res.1 A resolution informing the President of the United States that a quorum of each House is assembled.

Tonight was the Presidents final SOTUA.  Some good things, some so so.  I won’t overly editorialize it, I will let you make your own call.  Read the text here.

The absolute best line:

Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase. Try explaining that to 116 million American taxpayers who would see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800. Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders.

Love it.

OK, the highlights:

• Make tax cuts permanent
• Cut spending
• Make earmarks fewer and more transparent
• Help homeowners
• Make health care better with more choices
• No Child Left Behind works, keep it alive
• More free trade
• More entitlements for the jobs lost because of free trade
• Less oil consumption
• More clean energy
• More adult stem cell research
• No cloning
• Judges should follow the constitution
• Congress hates Judges that follow the constitution
• Americans who volunteer rock.
• We need Social Security and Medicare reform
• Secure the border
• Make it easier for illegals to come here legally
• Don’t be mean to those illegals already here
• Democracy rocks
• Terrorists suck
• More troops for Afghanistan
• The surge in Iraq is working
• Failure in Iraq would be extremely bad
• Palestine may not be totally hopeless
• Iran sucks
• No new attacks in America since 2001
• FISA helped make that happen
• Genocide sucks
• Poverty sucks
• Disease sucks
• AIDS sucks
• The military rocks
• Veterans rock
• Americans rock
• America rocks

There you have it.

I noticed a trio of articles about congress today, and they all really had the same theme:  Our leaders are in trouble in the court of opinion and they are frantically spinning damage control

 Voters unhappy with Bush and Congress

The Reuters/Zogby Index, which measures the mood of the country, also fell from 98.8 to 96 — the second consecutive month it has dropped. The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent.

Bush’s job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month’s record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month’s record low.

“There is a real question among Americans now about how relevant this government is to them,” pollster John Zogby said. “They tell us they want action on health care, education, the war and immigration, but they don’t believe they are going to get it.”

The dismal assessment of the Republican president and the Democratic-controlled Congress follows another month of inconclusive political battles over a future path in Iraq and the recent Bush veto of an expansion of the program providing insurance for poor children.

More info about this at: MoJoBlog, Washington Wire, The Swamp, Simply Left Behind, Roger L. Simon, Conservative Belle, First Draft, The Strata-Sphere and Pensito Review

While the left may chortle at Bush’s depressing numbers, they should be more concerned about the mood swing in the country over their performance in Congress.  When the  Democrats engineered their Washington DC regime change in 2006 they promised a new era.  And not only has that new era not come to pass, they have fallen squarely back into the self serving gridlock that they claimed they wanted to cut through.  Earmarks, corruption, back room deals and a complete lack of promise fulfillment has made the New Direction Congress a farce.

Bush himself was on the defensive in a press conference today, and leveled direct accusations at congress for playing games and not doing their jobs.  This editorial however gives that speech a failing grade and accuses Bush of being a Bully:  

From Townhall, Rich Galen has some good comments.

Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) said on Sunday that she thought it would be a good idea if the Congress would pass a law bringing back what used to be known as “The Fairness Doctrine.”

First some history to understand ‘what’ the Fairness Doctrine is, or more accurately,  what it was.

On Fox News Sunday this past weekend, Feinstein, according to Broadcasting & Cable Magazine said that “talk radio is one-sided and ‘explosive.’ She said it ‘pushes people, I think, to extreme views without a lot of information.’”

Which sounds much like she’s describing the Senate Floor debate on the immigration bill, but maybe that’s just me.

The basic law covering the use of radio waves in the United States - including everything from radar to your local disc jockey - is built on the Communications Acts of 1934 and 1937 which, in turn, were based on the Radio Act of 1927.

Part of those laws included Section 315 which provided for equal time - or more precisely - equal opportunity for all legally qualified candidates for public office.

This was back in the time when newspapers were openly partisan. It was not at all unusual to have one newspaper in Upper Iguana named the UI Democrat; and another named the Republican Iguanian. And they really were partisan.

Because there are a finite number of licenses available for AM, FM and Television broadcasting it was decided that if a radio station made time available for sale to candidate A in the race for City Council, it had to make the same amount of time available at the same rates to Candidate B.

If Candidate B was underfunded, there was no requirement that the station give him time to match what Candidate A bought; merely that Candidate B have the same opportunity.

In the way of Washington, the FCC later determined that it was not enough to afford reasonable opportunities for such discussions, but the stations had an obligation to “actively seek out issues of importance to their community and air programming that addressed those issues.”

Here is a real shock:  People do not trust Congress.

New Gallup data show confidence in Congress at all time low

Just 14% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in Congress. 

This 14% Congressional confidence rating is the all-time low for this measure, which Gallup initiated in 1973.  The previous low point for Congress was 18% at several points in the period of time 1991 to 1994.

Congress is now nestled at the bottom of the list of Gallup’s annual Confidence in Institutions rankings, along with HMOs.  Just 15% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in HMOs.  (By way of contrast, 69% of Americans have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the military, which tops the list.  More on this at galluppoll.com on Thursday). 

Well I at least am grateful the Military is still polling well.

It’s worth remembering that Congress is basically nothing more than a mechanism for the representation of the people’s wishes. We all can’t go to Washington.  So we elect men and women and send them off in our stead.  It’s not an optimal situation, it seems to me, when such a low percentage of average Americans have confidence in this system. 

Generally speaking, Americans have been skeptical about Congress for decades now.  But the current 14% confidence rating for Congress is down from 19% last year and is the lowest in Gallup’s history, surpassing the 18% confidence in Congress measured in 1991, 1993 and 1994.

Americans’ are generally in a sour mood, as discussed here.  The particularly low rating for Congress this year thus represents a continuation of the existing low esteem in which Congress is held, coupled with a strongly negative mindset on the part of the American public.

Sure.  Consider all the bribes, broken campaign promises, lies, partisan games and the general disconnect between the elected idiots and the people who elect them, and are you really surprised?

The recent indictment of William “Icebox” Jefferson is an interesting event in that the Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi insisted they were here to eliminate the Republican’s culture of corruption.

If the 96 page indictment is true, we are looking at one of the most corrupt politicians I can recall in decades.

Rather then being dishonest and shady for partisan gain, he was in it for the money.  Period.

The whole system in Washington DC, and in the states to a lesser degree, is one where this will continue to happen unabated.  The system doesn’t not just enable it, is almost demands it.

Take the practice of lobbying.  Lobbyists are paid to contact legislatures and attempt to gain their support for or against particular issues. 

Pretend I am a politician.  Now, if Joe Lobbyists paid me 10 grand to vote for his pet project, that would be a bribe, right?  Sure…if he did it so blatantly.  But the system is built to be sneaky.  Instead of paying me that money, he pays my campaign that money because he wants to assist in the reelection of anyone who will support his project.

I have not taken a bribe.  The contribution is legal.  But there is a wink wink nudge nudge attitude.  The reality is that all politicians generally exist to be reelected, and as such their campaigns drive a lot of the focus.  Campaigns are rarely won without large sums of money.

And lobbyists and rich donors donate said money.  Oh, not for influence, oh no.  They of course never openly say they expect anything in return…until you indicate you don’t support what they support, in which case your opponent suddenly gets the money.

Remember Joe Lieberman.  He supports the war, so the netroots and the rich anti war Democrats tried to shift him out by supporting a loony replacement.  It nearly succeeded.

So rather then crow about the impending fall of an extremely corrupt democrat, let this be a reminder that the problem is power, influence and greed, not party affiliation.

UPDATED BELOW:

About time.  I can’t believe how long this has taken.

I am sure building the case against him was difficult, because finding $90,000 in bribery cash wrapped in foil in his freezer is so ambiguous.  

Report: Democratic Rep. Jefferson to face more than a dozen charges in federal indictment

Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) is set to face more than a dozen public corruption charges from federal authorities, according to breaking news reports. A maximum sentence for Jefferson could reportedly result in 200 years in prison.

“Sources tell CBS News that authorities are seeking an indictment against Congressman William Jefferson, D-La., on more than a dozen counts involving public corruption. Details soon,” reads a banner at the top of the CBS News website Monday afternoon.

The Associated Press added that the charges against Jefferson were substantial, and the penalties could be significant.

“A Justice Department official familiar with the case said the indictment outlining the evidence against Jefferson is more than an inch thick and charges the congressman with crimes that could keep him in prison for up to 200 years,” wrote Lara Jakes Jordan.

An aide to the Louisiana Democrat, who was re-elected last November in spite of the cloud hanging over him, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting bribery of a public official and conspiracy last year. Vernon Jackson, CEO of a Kentucky-based internet company, also pleaded guilty to the act of bribery which Jefferson’s aide admitted to arranging.

Jefferson’s home and office in Washington, DC, were raided by the FBI in May last year, triggering a conflict between the executive and legislative branches in which former House Speaker Dennis Hastert spoke out in Jefferson’s defense.

DEVELOPING …

More to come I am sure.

Update:  I was right.  It is official, he has bene indicted.

Jury indicts Jefferson in bribery probe

Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.

Driving today I heard commentator after commentator screaming in outrage and gnashing their teeth over the immigration compromise bill announced today.

The one liberal station I tuned in on was whining about Bush lying about the war.  That is so 2004. But I digress.

The bill was immediately dismissed as amnesty.

I looked around for a while tonight, and frankly I think I will have to remain somewhat guardedly neutral for now.  The bill is not perfect, and if I am reading it right, is missing a crucial element, but honestly it is not terrible, and contains some good elements.

Captain Ed is grudgingly supportive:

As I wrote yesterday, this is about as good as we will get in this Congress. In fact, the Democrats probably had enough votes to pass something much more like a wide-open amnesty, given a few Republican votes in support of that and the relaxed attitude of the White House on immigration reform. The GOP did a pretty good job of holding the line and forcing the Democrats to include the border-first triggers, the reduction of the family interest, and the rest of what Kyl managed to retain.

It’s not great, and it’s not even very good. It’s not bad, though, and given our lack of strength in Congress and the White House on this issue, it’s a good deal that will strengthen our national security now rather than wait another two years to address it. To quote the Rolling Stones, you can’t always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need. This is one of those times. (via Hot Air)

Big Lizard gives it a thorough evaluation, and says:

You won’t be surprised — you who actually read Big Lizards attentively — that my least favorite part of this compromise is the guest-worker program. In fact, I hate the very idea of a guest-worker program.