All Posts Tagged With: "Offshore drilling"

1. The London, England based Economist: editorializes that McCain is a “doughty but cranky old warrior” and Obama an “inspirational but sometimes vaporous young visionary.”
2. McCain’s call for offshore oil drilling has helped him in Florida and hurt in California where he now trails 58-30% Obama leads 84-6% among Democrats, and McCain only gets 67% of Republicans. Just 46% of Californians favor offshore drilling while 57% do nationwide.
3. The Revolutionary Guards said Iran would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked and warned regional states of reprisals if they took part, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
4. Facing increasing pressures from both sides of the Pacific the U. S. Navy has adopted a training plan for Hawaiian waters that it hopes will allow it to accelerate some exercises and hold them more frequently while continuing to limit the effects of its sonar on marine mammals. It hopes the plan will allow it to prepare to defend against increasing Chinese submarines and satisfy U. S. based activists.

5. The American Civil Liberties Union is threatening to file suit against the U.S. Naval Academy over the school’s daily lunchtime prayer. Nine midshipmen at the academy asked the ACLU to petition the school to do away with the prayers, saying that some midshipmen have felt pressured to participate. The school says it has no intention of changing is policy of offering time for devotion during the noon meal announcement. It has done so since its founding in 1845.

6. The new so-called “Smart car” is so tiny it barely has room for six handles- efficient if you are in an accident with anything bigger than a watermelon—then they just lock the doors and six pallbearers carry you over and drop you into a grave.

7.  The staff at Dr. Keith Leonard’s dental office in Arlington, Washington figured it was time to pony up to escape high gasoline prices. Since more than half of the dental assistants and office staff own horses, on Wednesday the crew saddled up and rode their horses in to work.

8.  Seeing Barrack and Hillary make nice is like watching a client and a prostitute both knowing the other has a social disease negotiate with Bill as pimp.

9.  America’s hard and softwood forest have increased 40% in 50 years from 600 billion cubic feet to 850 billion. It is a good thing too as there is more pressure for pulp wood to make paper bags to replace the plastic bags not long ago promoted as a way to “save the trees.”

10. The staff at Dr. Keith Leonard’s dental office in Arlington, Washington figured it was time to pony up to escape high gasoline prices. Since more than half of the dental assistants and office staff own horses, on Wednesday the crew saddled up and rode their horses in to work.

Pony-tailed, Tie-Dyed Bongo Drummers Against McCain’s Offshore Oil Drilling

The apparent Republican Presidential nominee Senator John McCain stuck his head into the environmental lion’s mouth at a town hall meeting Tuesday in Santa Barbara, California touting his offshore oil drilling banner and drawing the ire of local anti-oil activists. An increasingly unpopular California Governor Schwarzenegger who opposes offshore oil drilling also attended.

The usually timid local Congresswoman Lois Capps (D) chastised McCain for calling for more offshore drilling virtually on the hallowed site of the 3 million gallon 1969 oil well blow out that coated local beaches, launched the modern environmental movement and made Santa Barbara an obligatory political stop to bash offshore drilling which McCain did himself during his 1980 campaign. Capps took pains to read Obama talking points criticizing McCain’s idea as continuing Bush-Cheney policies. Santa Barbara City Councilman, liberal Democrat up and comer and Obama supporter Das Williams blasted McCain in the Las Angeles Times saying, “What we are seeing is just a shameless amount of opportunism from Mr. McCain.”

Six out of ten Americans now support more offshore oil drilling to increase supply and eventually lower gasoline and diesel prices. But an overwhelming majority of California “left coasters” oppose it. In fact Capps’ 23^rd District was gerrymandered in 2000 to give her a safe entirely coastal district that runs from Monterey into Los Angeles Counties and in places is only six inches wide gaining the national title of the “ribbon of shame” as the most contorted district in America.

The McCain town hall event followed a $1,000 per person fund raiser Monday night attended by about 200 including the usual freeloaders. Oprah Winfrey hosted a record setting multi-million dollar fund raiser in Santa Barbara a few months ago, and Rudy Guiliani also dipped into local pockets before his campaign imploded. Once conservative the Central California coast has definitely gone liberal with Democrat majorities in Ventura, and Santa Barbra Counties, and while San Luis Obispo County clings to a Republican voter edge the June primary there elected a liberal majority to its Board of Supervisors. John Kerry carried Santa Barbara County in 2004 and McCain trails in California from 20-30%.