Under the cover of darkness the Republicans pass massive tax overhaul.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The Senate passed the most sweeping tax rewrite in decades early Saturday, with Republicans lining up to approve an overhaul that will touch almost every corner of the United States economy, affecting families, small business owners and multinational corporations, with the biggest benefits flowing to the highest-earning Americans. 

Senators voted 51-49, as Republicans approved the nearly 500-page bill in the early morning hours after lawmakers received a rewritten version, which contained significant changes from the original bill that passed two Senate panels last month along party lines. The last-minute revisions prompted an outcry from Democrats, who said it was impossible — and irresponsible — for lawmakers to read and digest a significant piece of legislation in such a short period of time. 

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader and Kentucky Republican, called it “a great day for the country.” 

The president praised Republican lawmakers on Saturday morning on Twitter, saying, “Biggest Tax Bill and Tax Cuts in history just passed in the Senate. Now these great Republicans will be going for final passage. Thank you to House and Senate Republicans for your hard work and commitment!”

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, said in a statement that with Senate approval “we will move quickly to a conference committee so we can get a final bill to President Trump’s desk.”

But, speaking on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, called the Republican approach “a process and a product that no one can be proud of and everyone should be ashamed of.”

As explained by Senator Jon Tester last night, this bill was handed to the Democrats with only a handful of hours before the vote, and with revisions being added almost up until the last minute.

I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C. at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better. pic.twitter.com/q6lTpXoXS0

— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) December 2, 2017

Many of those revisions contained sweetheart deals for Senators who were previous hold outs like Susan Collins:  

Several amendments that Collins offered were incorporated into the bill, including the restoration of a $10,000 deduction for property taxes and a lower threshold for deducting medical expenses. 

Collins touted the ability for her to get changes into the bill as crucial to her decision to ultimately be able to support it.

And Lisa Murkowski:  

Senate Republicans passed legislation early Saturday allowing oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of a tax reform package, moving closer to fulfilling a long-time GOP goal. 

The passage of the bill marked a significant achievement for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, the chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, who has introduced legislation to open a portion of the Alaskan refuge to drilling every term she has served in the chamber, only to be blocked by Democrats. 

“This small package offers a tremendous opportunity for Alaska, for the Gulf Coast, and for all of our nation,” Murkowski said before the vote. “We have authorized responsible energy development in the 1002 area.” 

This has already received significant backlash from conversations groups: 

A major conservation group is blasting the newly passed Senate GOP tax bill for allowing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), calling the bill “simply shameful.” 

“Opening the Arctic to drilling as part of this tax plan is simply shameful. The Arctic Refuge isn’t a bank—drilling there won’t pay for the tax cuts the Senate just passed,” National Audubon Society President and CEO David Yarnold said in a statement Saturday.

Actually it is not likely to bring in much money at all as the cost of new drilling is quite high in Alaska and with the price of oil plunging the risk to cost ratio may mean that few, if any, new wells are dug.

In the meantime the bill did repeal the Obamacare mandate which means that the healthcare of millions of Americans will likely be affected by the vote.

The editorial board of the New York Times called it an "Historic Tax Heist":

The bill is expected to add more than $1.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, a debt that will be paid by the poor and middle class in future tax increases and spending cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other government programs. Its modest tax cuts for the middle class disappear after eight years. And up to 13 million people stand to lose their health insurance because the bill makes a big change to the Affordable Care Act. 

Yet Republicans somehow found a way to give a giant and permanent tax cut to corporations like Apple, General Electric and Goldman Sachs, saving those businesses tens of billions of dollars.

All in all it is a truly terrible bill, which is why the Republicans demanded that it be passed late last night, because they well knew that if the American people had the opportunity to really know what was in it that they would take to the streets with pitchforks and torches. 

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski reminding everybody that she is still a Republican.

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced legislation Wednesday night that would open a portion of a pristine wildlife refuge in her state to oil and gas development, a move expected to bring in slightly more than $1 billion in federal revenue over the next decade. 

The bill would open up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), described by some as “America’s Serengeti,” which covers more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. The region is home to polar bears, caribou, moose and hundreds of species of migratory birds. It’s considered one of the state’s crown jewels. 

In a statement, Murkowski called it “a tremendous opportunity” for the country. 

“The legislation ... will put Alaska and the entire nation on a path toward greater prosperity by creating jobs, keeping energy affordable for families and businesses, generating new wealth, and strengthening our security — while reducing the federal deficit not just by $1 billion over ten years, but tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars over the decades to come,” she said.

This is usually the point where somebody not from Alaska will chime in that Murkowski needs to be voted out of office.

The problem with saying that over and over is that it will essentially have the same effect as spitting into the ocean over and over again. In a word...none.

The problem is that instead of making Murkowski toxic in Alaska this will only prove to endear her to Alaskans most of who overwhelmingly support the opening of ANWR.

The hard truth is that the money is drying up faster than our glaciers are melting up here, and people in the state are starting to feel a little desperate.

I actually have very little confidence that this bill will pass, but even if it does not it still reinforces Murkowski's conservative credentials and signals to the voters that she is somebody who is working to make the state more prosperous.

I really do not think opening ANWR would accomplish that, but I am definitely in the minority.

With Republicans in control of White House, the Senate, and Congress, all eyes turn to ANWR.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The Trump administration is quietly moving to allow energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for the first time in more than 30 years, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, with a draft rule that would lay the groundwork for drilling. 

Congress has sole authority to determine whether oil and gas drilling can take place within the refuge’s 19.6 million acres. But seismic studies represent a necessary first step, and Interior Department officials are modifying a 1980s regulation to permit them. 

The effort represents a twist in a political fight that has raged for decades. The remote and vast habitat, which serves as the main calving ground for one of North America’s last large caribou herds and a stop for migrating birds from six continents, has served as a rallying cry for environmentalists and some of Alaska’s native tribes. But state politicians and many Republicans in Washington have pressed to extract the billions of barrels of oil lying beneath the refuge’s coastal plain. 

Democrats have managed to block them through votes in the Senate and, in one instance in 1995, by a presidential veto.

I knew it was only a matter of time before this would raise its ugly head once again.

The Bush Administration pushed hard for the opening of ANWR but were unsuccessful, however  I think for the first time ever the Republicans have all the power they need to finally attain this goal.

This is essentially the GOP white whale and despite the fact that we are now awash in oil, and much of the world is moving quickly toward renewable energy solutions, they will simply not allow this chance to pass by.

And despite some push back from the environmental groups and native Alaskans, there is not a politician up here who can get elected without voicing support for the opening of the Wildlife Refuge so there is nothing local that can slow this process down.

The only real hope is that since the process moves at a snail's pace, there will likely be a new administration in office before this thing gains much momentum,. That plus the enormous cost of exploration, may not make this especially viable in the next dozen years or so.

Fingers crossed.

With everybody focused on Trump pulling out of the Paris accords, we almost missed that his administration wants to start drilling more giant holes in Alaska.

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

With all eyes on President Donald Trump’s announcement to withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has signed an order to “jump-start Alaskan energy”—meaning, in this case, to drill for more oil. 

The order pertains to two places: the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A), the largest block of federally managed land in the United States, and the coastal region of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the so-called “1002 area.” It calls for a “lawful review and development of a revised Integrated Activity Plan” aimed toward increased petroleum production from these lands, Zinke said in a statement. The move will reassess the current management plan, and it calls for an update to estimates about quantities of oil beneath the ground within three weeks. 

Attempts to drill in ANWR have been repeatedly defeated in Congress and face stiff opposition from Native Alaskan groups. The announcement was decried by environmental groups. Kristen Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League told the Associated Press that Zinke's order upsets a management plan that the Interior Department spent years creating with tribes, local governments, the state and others. "We and the hundreds of thousands of Americans who actively supported the current management plan will not sit idly by while this administration tries to give these public lands wholesale to the oil industry," Miller said. “ANWR is a national treasure and an amazing piece of land,” echoed Nicole Whittington-Evans, the Wilderness Society’s Alaska regional director, speaking to Fox News. “It is not a place where oil and gas development should be allowed.”

My assumption is that this is nothing more than throwing a bone to Trump's fossil fuel company benefactors so that they can brag to their investors that they are pursuing new drilling opportunities.

We are still in the throes of a crude oil glut, and even without this new exploration in Alaska 2018 is poised to be produce record oil output.

Simply put it is incredibly expensive to drill in the arctic, and that is even before the numerous court battles that are certain to slow down exploration.

It is time for the Republicans to face the fact that renewable energy is the future, and their insistence on pushing for more fossil fuel production is akin to old time investors pouring money into the building of new horse stables and buggy manufacturing plants while the whole world fell in love with the automobile.

With Trump Administration coming into power Alaska delegation sees new opportunity to open ANWR.

Courtesy of the Fairbanks Newsminer:

Another chapter has begun in the decades-long battle over drilling the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. 

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan introduced legislation Friday that would open a section of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to limited oil and gas exploration, according to a news release from the U.S. Senate Energy Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 

 The proposed Alaska Oil and Gas Production Act would allow development of 2,000 surface acres in the refuge’s coastal plain. When the refuge was expanded and renamed under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.

1.5 million acres — often referred to as section 1002 — was designated as a deferred oil and gas development sigh that requires congressional approval to be developed. Oil and gas exploration would occur within the 1002 area. 

“For nearly 40 years, Alaskans have proven that we can responsibly develop our natural resources while protecting the environment,” Murkowski said in the news release. “Alaskans overwhelmingly support responsible development in the non-wilderness portion of ANWR and there is no valid reason why we should not be allowed to proceed. Allowing development would create new jobs, reduce our deficits, and protect our national security and competitiveness for a generation.”

Of course as every Alaskan knows this is the holy grail of Alaskan politics, and no politician, on other side of the ideological fence, can be elected without voicing support for the opening of ANWR. 

However the article also mentions that by the time oil was discovered, drilled out of the ground, and ready to send through the pipeline ten years would have passed.

That is ten more years of progress with renewable energy research around the world, ten more years of moving away from fossil fuels, and ten more years of oil prices dropping until it is no longer financially viable to explore and tap new sources of crude oil.

I think that this is a pipe dream. (Pardon the pun.)

I am not saying that it cannot pass with a GOP majority in the House and Senate and Trump in the White House, I am simply saying even if it does pass it is unlikely that Alaska will see any revenue from new oilfields in ANWR.

I also think that many of our politicians already know that and are only playing this game because they feel they have no choice.

Just when I thought Alaska Governor Bill Walker might be one of the good ones.

Courtesy of the BBC: 

Expanding the search for oil is necessary to pay for the damage caused by climate change, the Governor of Alaska has told the BBC. 

The state is suffering significant climate impacts from rising seas forcing the relocation of remote villages. 

Governor Bill Walker says that coping with these changes is hugely expensive. 

He wants to "urgently" drill in the protected lands of the Arctic National Wilderness Refuge to fund them. 

Alaska has been severely hit by the dramatic drop in the price of oil over the past two years. 

The state is the only one in the US that doesn't have an income or sales tax, getting 90% of its day-to-day expenditure from levies on the production of oil and gas. 

But the halving in the price of crude over the past year has seen Alaska's financial health deteriorate.

Yes which is why we need to aggressively diversify into other income source, including renewable energy, and step away from big oil's teat.

You know there are a lot of reasons to admire Governor Walker, not the least of which was the Medicaid expansion.

But this is a big step in a really bad direction.

And what's more it is a waste of time because, as EVERYBODY already knows, there is no way we will ever open ANWR to drilling.

Apparently Sarah Palin gave a speech in Texas this morning. You know, same shit different longhorn.

I love how this Forbes article set up how they were going to share bits of the speech: 

It can be challenging to parse Palin’s core message from within her slap-dash stream of consciousness rhetorical style. There was no teleprompter today, so it helped that her presentation was moderated in the form of a Q&A, which sort of kept her on topic. Is that unkind? Well she’s used to it. “You can’t be afraid to stand up to the press,” she said today. “Look at the Brian Williams stuff. They lie.” Fittingly, within the cavernous hall at the Hilton Americas where she spoke, a handful of reporters was sequestered in a corner as far away from the stage as possible. No recording devices allowed, but I type pretty fast. 

In the interest of sharing with you what Palin was trying to say, I’ve sought here to distill and edit down her disjointed message into a more coherent whole. So here goes. Try hearing her voice as you read it.

With that the reporter, Chris Helman, offers up a number of snack size sound bites for our amusement:

“Energy is my baby. The thing that I miss most about my governing responsibilities is to be able to spur investment in exploration and development.”

Well it IS reminiscent of her relationship with Trig, in that she has no idea what it is, how it works, or what it needs to be successful

My husband Todd started off with BP on the North Slope of Alaska. “We raised our kids with that North Slope lifestyle. Thank you so much for paying my bills for many years.”

Considering how her children turned out that seems like more of an indictment against BP more than anything else.  

“The president is not for American energy independence.” If he were he wouldn’t be trying to lock up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. That’s “20 million more acres he wants to lock up from development.” 

Obama wants to balance that out by opening up some waters off the Eastern seaboard to oil exploration. But “that’s a bogus exchange.” 

“All we need to explore and develop ANWR is a 2,000 acre swath. Alaska is 400 million acres when you consider our water and land. A postage stamp in the middle of a football field. That’s all the land we need to develop.”

Okay that 2,000 acres only includes the area where the drilling will occur. There are still thousands of acres that will be impacted by moving in equipment and building pipelines. And that does not even take into consideration what will happen in the case of a spill.

And if we have learned nothing else from building the Alaska pipeline, it is that leaks and spills are unavoidable.

And simply put the LAST thing our environment needs is more oil being pulled out of the ground.

And what about the impact that the oil exploration might have on the wildlife?

Oh she has an answer for that I see.

“The administration is not understanding the inherent link between energy and security and energy and prosperity. He’s rewarding the environmentalists who are extreme in saying there would be environmental harm in developing ANWR.” They worry about the impact on the “moose and caribou.” Well we’ve had the Trans-Alaska Pipeline for decades, and that “pipeline has not been adverse at all.” 

On the contrary, “the animals like the warmth” that the pipeline gives off. “The animals mate under the pipeline. I haven’t actually seen it” but that’s what I’m told. If oil and gas development is risky to wildlife, “if it is to hurt one caribou, then that one caribou should take one for the team and allow the rest of the country to benefit.” 

"Take one for the team?" She does recognize that caribou do not exactly consider themselves to be part of our team doesn't she?

Concerning the presidential race in 2016: 

“I can’t wait for 2016. That election I can see from my house. I hope for a GOP candidate who understands energy and understands infrastructure.” 

“Hillary Clinton will be the Democrat candidate because she has the money.” After her, it’s a “shallow bench.” Is there any chance a dark horse could emerge to challenge her? “Not really, because of the money. Hillary Clinton will seize the opportunity to collect those funds. Hillary is it.”

Well we agree on that last part at least.

And of course the obligatory question that always has to be asked of this nitwit:

Is Sarah Palin considering a run?  

“I’m so sorry you asked that. It’s “just too early.” But “a lot can change.” 

She's sorry they asked her? She would literally curl up in a ball and die if people stopped asking her that question.

Palin then goes on to casually attack the President and then give her clearly prepared remarks on Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the Middle East.  (Remember she had the questions submitted before this appearance so that she would have prepared responses.)

Palin ends her remarks by blowing kisses at the military.

“Freedom isn’t free. You have to fight for it.” That’s why I support the U.S. military. “They are America’s true heroes.” 

I still have trouble understanding how slaughtering people in a foreign land makes America free.

So there were no huge Iowa sized gaffes in this speech, which I am sure is why they insisted on getting the questions with enough time to prepare reasonably intelligent answers ahead of time.

It appears, at least initially that Palin stuck to the script and clicked the safety on the verbal salad shooter.

But really, how long can that last?

President Obama to designate vast areas of ANWR as wilderness area. Oh that should go over well up here.

Courtesy of the AP:  

President Barack Obama is proposing to designate the vast majority of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as a wilderness area, including its potentially oil-rich coastal plain, drawing an angry response from top state elected officials who see it as a land grab by the federal government.

The designation would set aside an additional nearly 12.3 million acres as wilderness, including the coastal plain near Alaska's northeast corner, giving it the highest degree of federal protection available to public lands. More than 7 million acres of the refuge currently are managed as wilderness.

Do you think anybody will protest that decision?

Yep.

 "They've decided that today was the day that they were going to declare war on Alaska. Well, we are ready to engage," said U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and chair of the Senate energy committee.

Trust me Murkowski is not alone, EVERY SINGLE Alaskan politician is going to come out against this decision, and if Mark Begich were still in the Senate he would as well.

You simply cannot get elected up here unless you support drilling in ANWR. Period.

However as a citizen of this state, and of the world, I completely support this decision and recognize that it is really the only intelligent way to go.

Remember according to scientists we actually need to leave all of the untapped oil resources exactly where they are if we have any hope of saving ourselves and out planet.

Trust me as an Alaskan I know all too well that we are almost completely reliant on oil money for survival, but the future is all about change and in order to survive, and this is not hyperbole, we must change as well.

So Sarah Palin was on Fox News babbling incoherently about Russia again.

Stuart Varney, the guy with the British accent that Roger Ailes hired to class up Fox News (Yeah good luck with that!), had Palin on today to discuss Christmas, Russia, energy, and other things that she know absolutely nothing about.

Somebody sent me a link so I listened to it and for the most part found nothing but the same old incomprehensible word salad that we have come to expect from the Queen of Non Sequiturs. (Varney asks her a question about Russia but her answer is so convoluted that I simply cannot bring myself to attempt a transcript.)

But then Varney asked Palin to explain why the President does not want to open federal lands in order to drill them full of holes to get more oil.

"Our President has absolutely no clue about what that inherent link between energy and sovereignty, energy and security and prosperity is, because he has no experience, I think, in the real world, or even in the corporate world, and understanding how energy is so extremely important for our economy and for our security, So that being said, that our President is clueless about all this, you would thing though that the Democrats, especially from oil producing states would be able to influence Democrat leadership, like our President, and help explain to him that we could take away Putin's power. We could take away the threats from some of these emerging economies to, who are using..um..energy as a weapon, as a weapon against us, and like you say you take that away by being sovereign and secure in your own energy security, your own energy independence. You do that by drilling domestically and when you hear President Obama spew this BS about what he has done to increase domestic supplies of energy, remember it is BS. Because on federal lands he still locks it up, he still wants it locked up."

Holy shit, there is not enough dressing in the world to make that word salad palatable.

And God I hate it when this imbecile starts arguing that President Obama has no experience in the real world. THE MAN HAS BEEN PRESIDENT FOR SIX FUCKING YEARS NOW!

There is no way he could NOT have experience in the "real world." He is the fucking leader of it!

Besides Palin's contention that drilling domestically would "take away Putin's power" is just another giant load of moosenuggets.

In fact we get so little of our oil from Russia it would make literally no discernible difference if we stopped.

And in fact if Palin knew anything about what she is talking about she would know that America gets the majority of its oil from right here in North America.

And a whopping 60% of the oil we use comes from production right here in the good old US of A.

You know that is something that I would think a self identified "energy expert" might already know.

By the way the very last thing that any of us should want is for the ANY world leader to green light more oil exploration in this country or anywhere else in the world.  And fortunately this President understands that the future lies in renewable energy sources and has made that a priority.

Perhaps a better use of Palin's time would be to stop making stupid videos about fake pie baking, and giving insipid interviews, and instead take a load off those spindly legs of hers and sit down to watch a little television.

Congressman Don Young shames ALL Alaskans once again.

Good God!  What an asshole!

Here is the transcript from the Fairbanks NewsMiner:

YOUNG: Thank you, Chairman. And thanks for having this hearing. I -- I will tell you if you ever want to see an exercise in futility, it's this hearing. That side's already made up its mind. This side has already made up its mind. And I call it garbage, Dr. Rice, that comes from the mouth... 

BRINKLEY: Dr. Brinkley. Rice is a university. I know you went to Yuba College and you couldn't graduate. 

YOUNG: Well, OK... 

(CROSSTALK) 

BRINKLEY: (Inaudible)... 

(CROSSTALK) 

YOUNG: ... call anything I want while you sat in that chair. 

BRINKLEY: Pardon? 

YOUNG: You just be quiet. 

BRINKLEY: Well... 

YOUNG: You be quiet. 

BRINKLEY: You don't own me. I pay your salary. 

YOUNG: I'll tell you right now... 

HASTINGS: The gentleman will suspend. And I'll remind -- I'll remind members and I'll remind... 

At this point Chairman Hastings had to interrupt before Young threatened to have the Dr. Brinkley hanged for daring to correct him. (And I have little doubt that Sarah Palin would volunteer to "bring the rope" as well.)

This extremely unreasonable exchange came during  a Congressional hearing into whether or not to keep ANWR off limits for oil drilling.  I can say that while the majority of Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, because it would benefit their pocketbooks, I doubt very seriously they support Rep. Young acting like a common schoolyard bully.

The sad thing is that Young will undoubtedly stay our representative until he becomes too old to hold the position, or passes away.  Alaskans seem unduly tolerant of assholes in high places so long as they believe they are working on their behalf.

Personally I think the only person that Don Young does anything to benefit anymore, is Don Young. As evidenced by the fact that he has missed more votes than ANY OTHER member of Congress who is NOT seriously ill or currently running for the GOP nomination.

Essentially the man is a dinosaur and I look forward to the day we can replace him with somebody who can actually do the job, and not embarrass the entire state while doing it! 

(I would be remiss if I did not mention that Mudflats had this exchange up yesterday, with some interesting observations that are well worth reading.)

Alaska Senator Mark Begich to Sarah Palin: "Someone who quit Alaska is not someone I look for to get Alaska policy decisions on."

Courtesy of Politico:

Sen. Mark Begich is turning a deaf ear to Sarah Palin's demand that he make drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a condition for his vote to approve raising the nation's debt ceiling.

"She's not really on my radar screen to take advice from," the Alaska Democrat told reporters Tuesday.

"Let me put it this way. It's always interesting to read what she has to say," Begich said. But, he added, "Someone who quit Alaska is not someone I look for to get Alaska policy decisions on."

In discussing the debt ceiling vote on "Fox News Sunday," Palin said: "How about people like Sen. Begich, a Democrat from Alaska. He better get ANWR in this bill, opening another domestic source of energy up there in Alaska when he votes yes for increasing the debt ceiling."

Begich, a supporter of drilling in ANWR and the Chukchi Sea, suggested that Palin look to persuade her fellow running mate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to open ANWR to drilling.

"I would encourage her to talk to her senator because our senators, me and [Lisa] Murkowski, already aligned on this," he said. "I know she's talked to McCain, who is her new senator where she lives. He hasn't supported [drilling in] ANWR in the past, hope he will."

I have not had as lot of reasons to feel the desire to give my senator a high five lately, but this response definitely deserves several high fives, and an "atta boy" as far as I am concerned.

And Begich is ABSOLUTELY correct that Sarah Palin has essentially abandoned Alaska, and has NO right to tell OUR Senator how he should vote. 

However I completely support her calling up John McCain and giving him a piece of her tiny, insignificant mind. And I also support HIM telling her to FUCK OFF!

Which by the way, I am almost CERTAIN he is dying to do.

Dueling egos at Fox News as Bill O'Reilly tries desperately to get a specific answer from Sarah Palin who simply refuses to cooperate.

I cannot believe that O'Reilly refers to Palin as a Fox News "analyst." Clearly their criteria for an analyst is extraordinarily low. Taking this interview as an example, apparently an analyst for Fox is only supposed to dodge questions, provide only vague anti-government talking points, and refuse to answer anything specific which would require a real understanding of the subject matter.

But getting back to why Fox has Palin on the payroll you can almost hear Palin-bots all over the country simultaneously reaching orgasm as Snowdrift Snooki uses the excuse of the Alaska  4 second delay to take control of the dialogue away from O'Reilly and spew her anti-government rhetoric uninterrupted.

"Oh my God!  Did you see the Governor Palin bitch slap O'Reilly on his own show last night?  That was so controlling, and oh so sexy!  I wonder what she was wearing under that coat to go along with her dominatrix librarian hairdo?  I bet it was a leather outfit, do you think it was leather?"

Clearly miffed at Palin's attention seeking behavior, O'Reilly then uses the plight of rural Alaskans to demonstrate why Palin's anti-government ideas would not work for everybody, and tries to get her to explain how she would help those people specifically, but Palin is too sneaky and decides to throw Michael Moore into the conversation in the hopes that O'Reilly will chase after and attack Moore like a dog chasing a Frisbee.

However it only works for a few minutes before, to Palin's exasperation, O'Reilly comes back to the needs of the poor people in Alaska. Cornered Palin discusses an imaginary "safety net" being required for those people, before blaming the problem of poverty in Alaska on, and you will love this, the Federal government and the fact they will not open ANWR.

Ow, ow, ow! That made my brain hurt!

(If you believe that opening ANWR, and increasing oil development in Alaska, will solve the problem of poverty I have a bridge to nowhere to sell you.)

Clearly O'Reilly has little, if any respect, for Palin and enjoys asking her questions that demonstrate her lack of knowledge and intelligence to his viewers. And as much as I dislike both of them, I do enjoy watching Palin squirm as her limitations are put on dispaly in front of the very audience whose support she desperately needs to buy her books and pay her for speaking gibberish for large sums of money.

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Federal court throws out plan to drill offshore in Alaska.

A federal appeals court ruled today that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves.

A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas.

The appeals court ordered the department, now run by President Barack Obama's appointee Ken Salazar, to analyze the areas to determine environmental risks and potential damage before moving ahead with the program. Salazar was in Alaska this week holding public hearings on plans made under the Bush administration to hold lease sales over the next five years in those three areas.

The seas are home to wildlife including polar bears, whales, seals, walruses and seabirds. The lawsuit was brought by three environmental groups that want to protect the ecosystem and the Native Village of Point Hope, a community that lives off the wildlife on the Chukchi Sea coast of Northwest Alaska.

The decision comes at a time when oil and gas producers are finding it increasingly difficult to find new reserves and boost production at home and abroad. Output from the biggest U.S. oil companies has largely been in decline in the past few years.


This is very good news for Alaska and especially for those of us who firmly believe we have to start seriously looking toward renewable clean burning energy sources if we are to save this planet that we all love so much.

I have been convinced ever since the Obama administration came into power that we would no longer be poking giant holes in my state and that we could finally stop sucking at big oil's teat. And I just assumed that ALL progressives were convinced of the very same thing.

However the other day I was having lunch with two of my most stalwart progressive friends, and the subject of drilling in ANWR came up. Both of them were of the opinion that ANWR was destined to be developed. I was completely shocked and voiced my disagreement, but they were both convinced that it was just a matter of time.

So since I have so many intelligent well read visitors coming to this site I thought I would put it to you.

Do you think that if the developers couldn't open ANWR with a Republican president and Congress in place, and with oil slicked Ted Stevens as our Senator, that they will NEVER get access to that oil? Or do you agree with my two friends that eventually consumers will demand that we develop those oil fields?

Let me know, I am interested in your opinions.

Is it possible that Americans are smarter then George Bush, John McCain, and the oil companies give them credit for being?

The American public is not buying the arguments of President Bush and the oil industry that new drilling will lower gas prices, a new poll finds. Despite a well-funded campaign to convince lawmakers to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and the offshore waters of the Outer Continental Shelf to drilling, and to allow new oil shale projects in the Rocky Mountain West, a majority (54%) of Americans do not see more drilling as a solution to high gas prices. Instead, the public overwhelmingly believes (76% to 19%) that policymakers should focus on investing in new energy technologies including renewable fuels and more efficient vehicles rather than expanding exploration and drilling for more oil. These findings were reported in a national poll conducted over the past week by Belden Russonello and Stewart, and released today.

A significant majority of Americans (63%) said that the Presidents proposal to open up public lands to oil and gas drilling is more likely to enrich oil companies than to lower gas prices for American consumers. A substantial majority (66%) said that the small percentage of public lands still protected from oil drilling should remain off limits because they are valuable natural resources that cannot be replaced.

When asked the question, Do you think that allowing oil companies to drill in public lands and offshore areas that are currently off limits to drilling will result in lower gas prices for American consumers or not?, 54% of poll respondents said they did not believe more drilling would lower gas prices. Although Americans were initially divided on a general question of opening protected public lands and offshore areas to drilling, with a slight majority (53%) in favor, and 41% opposed, the poll found that support for drilling weakened significantly when those polled were presented with other energy policy options. When asked the question: Looking to the future, which one of the following do you think should be a more important priority for government: Investing in new energy technology including renewable fuels and more efficient automobiles, or expanding exploration and drilling for more oil?, more than three-quarters (76%) of respondents favored new technology and renewables, and only a small number (19%) favored expanded oil drilling.

Just when I had just about given up on the American people EVER realizing how easily they have been manipulated by the Bush administration and their corporate masters, I learn something like this.

Way to go America!

Oil companies have access to millions of untapped American acres but cannot forget the one that got away.

Oil companies and many lawmakers are pressing to open up more U.S. areas for drilling. But the industry is drilling on just a fraction of areas it already has access to.

Of the 90 million offshore acres the industry has leases to, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, it is estimated that upwards of 70 million are not producing oil, according to both Democrats and oil-industry sources.

One Democrat staffer said if all these existing areas were being drilled, U.S. oil production could be boosted by nearly 5 million barrels a day, although the oil industry said that number is far too high and one government agency said it was impossible to estimate productio

"Big Oil is more interested in pumping up prices and pumping up their own profits rather than pumping more oil," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), who has co-sponsored a bill to charge oil companies a fee for land they hold that's not producing oil. "We should not even begin discussing handing over more public land to the oil companies until they first use [the land] they already hold."

Well the explanation for this is obvious.

You see oil companies are controlled by men. Men are compelled to conquer new virgin areas that they can impale and make their oil producing sluts. Its a guy thing.

It is not good enough that they have millions of subdued acres just waiting for them to use their huge drills to plunder their inky depths. No they want the cool untouchable ANWR who has successfully resisted every attempt they have made to conquer her. They are left excited by the prospects but disappointed by the results.

Every failed attempt simply fuels their lust and inflames their desire to tame the vast pristine body of land that lies to the north.

Now do you understand? And does anybody else feel like cuddling?