Obama sells out to Big Oil

I knew it was too good to be true.  No major legislation happens in this country without back-room deals and sell-outs.

Headline in today's NY Times:

Obama to Open Offshore Areas to Oil Drilling For First Time

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.

The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

Offshore drilling has been a fight in Florida for decades.  The right wing argued that the "billions" of barrels of oil would "save the country" and make us free of the Arabs.  Environmentalists contended that there was no such thing as billions of barrels of oil off of the coast and that the devastation to Florida's beaches and wetlands a major oil spill would cause made drilling simply not worth the risk.

Finally, both sides agreed to a major study to determine the truth.  About a month ago, the study was completed and made public.  The local rag carried the story on page 4, Section B.

Headline in the Florida Times Union:

Report:  Oil Supply Negligible

TALLAHASSEE - Estimated reserves in Florida waters would provide the United States with less than a week's worth of oil and have no discernible effect on prices at the pump or U.S. reliance on foreign oil, according to a report released Friday as part of the state Senate review of whether a ban of off-shore drilling should be lifted.

It appears that Change We Can Believe In comes at a price.  I wonder what we're going to get in return since the Red states mostly effected by this turn of events didn't vote for health care in the first place.  When Obama visited the area some time ago, our local congressman, Ander Crenshaw, a blue-blood, lock-step Republican, who damned sure doesn't support change we can believe in, was quick to be seen hanging with the President at every opportunity.

I thought to myself at the time that he's (Crenshaw) angling for more military spending in this Navy town and sure enough, a few weeks later, big proclamation in the paper, the local navy base is being considered for a nuclear aircraft carrier.

I think it was Mark Twain who said, "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see."