Today's Denver Post has an editorial with some very offensive lines in it, at least for a conservative. They assume that the Supreme Court wouldn't be rational when conservatives win on the court on the subject of Colorado's roadless areas:
We'd rather trust our governor and our forester to craft a good plan than risk the possibility of a 5-4 disaster written by Justice Antonin Scalia.
Ever one to get into the fray on this subject, I left the following comment:
But, are roadless areas even a good idea?
They assume that wildlife cannot coexist with humans when they can. Yesterday, I had a ten point buck in my side yard, chomping away at the wife's carefully planted flowers and trees. Two bear sows live in my area with their cubs. We have foxes galore and have had mountain lion. The funny thing is that I live in the middle of Colorado Springs, east of the interstate.
Of course, there is no hunting in my area, so the animals co-exist in greater safety than they would in a roadless area. Even my next door neighbor, who thinks that there are too many deer in the area and routinely chases adult deer away from his bushes was quite content to allow a doe to raise her offspring in the neighborhood's collective back yards unmolested this summer.
The claims that wildlife can't coexist with development are without merit. Hunting can't coexist which explains that community's opposition to development.
The real danger of roadless areas is that the forest service no longer feels an obligation to manage them. Mark Udall's campaign has been starcrossed this year with oil prices and Russia's adventure in Georgia, but in one way, it has been really lucky. None of those 1.5 million acres of dead trees in Colorado that his roadless policies and anti-logging policies have helped create caught fire.
We have extremely unhealthy forests in Colorado. More roadless areas will make the problem worse.
The Democrats and the environmentalists have been wishing for years for higher gas prices. At one point there was a proposal to impose an additional 50 cent a gallaon gas tax just to get the price up. Of course, the side benefit of having more money to spend never was considered by the tax and spend party.
Now, they have $4/gallon gas and they are running from it like stuck pigs.
Mark Udall's recent switch from a lifelong and ardent opponent of drilling to an offshore drilling cheerleader has been noticed in Washington by Politico:
His family name is closely tied with the protection of natural resources and conservation, consistent with the approach that he has advocated in the House. In Congress, Udall opposed offshore drilling on numerous occasions, and voted against expanding refinery capacity six times...
Udall’s adapted position on drilling was particularly surprising because his election to the Senate has become a leading priority for environmental groups. The League of Conservation Voters even aired an early advertisement portraying his GOP opponent, Bob Schaffer, alongside oil rigs.
I've had an interest in politics since the early 1960's. This year is unlike any other in terms of a single issue forcing changes in long held positions by politicians. What is amazing is that there are two issues that might turn the electorate: Gas Prices and Georgia.
The Democrats have gotten what they have wished for for years, high gas prices. It is hurting them, rather than helping them.
After Saturday's forum, I happened to be standing nearby when Mark Udall said "T. Boone has it right." He said it over his shoulder on the way out the door. I likened it to Santa Clause's parting words in Twas the Night Before Christmas - just a throwaway line. If it isn't, then Mark Udall is cranking on the big blue lie machine again because he now claims in commercials to favor drilling.
Yesterday, the Vail Daily editorial page writer was obviously distraught at the drilling sellout of Mark Udall:
...The latest casualty of logic is our own representative in Congress, Mark Udall. The normally sensible Democrat, in his race for a U.S. Senate seat, has joined the chorus to drill, drill, drill and severely compromised his long-standing commitment to sustainable energy. Sure, Udall says more drilling should be part of an overall plan that includes other solutions, but the reality is it’s a cynical response to polls that show most Americans think drilling will quickly reduce prices at the pump.
The editor has some sage advice for Mark Udall and Barack Obama that we sincerely hope they will follow:
...it’s incumbent upon more progressive voices like that of Udall and Barack Obama – who also reversed his stance to embrace more drilling – to put the facts in front of the American people and support what they know is right, not what they think will help get them elected. Americans respect leaders who lead even the face of political expedience.
That's right, election and $4 gas prices be damned. Ignore the polls. Stick to your guns. The fact that Mark Udall and Barack Obama have caved on drilling identifies them as nothing more than ... politicians.
On a similar subject, Mark Hillman is writing on a similar subject at Townhall.com.
At the end of last week’s House adjournment controversy, Boulder
County Liberal Mark Udall did insert a statement as promised
into the Congressional Record opposing adjournment. Mark Udall’s statement
appears to be from an alternative universe, as Mark Udall blames Republicans
for the adjournment of the Democrat-controlled House.
Madam Speaker [ Nancy Pelosi ], I
must oppose this motion to adjourn, because I think the House should continue
trying to pass legislation to improve our national energy policies.
Regrettably, so far our repeated
efforts to do that have been thwarted by the refusal of our friends on the
other side of the aisle to support any of the proposals that have been
considered.
Of course, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s strategy has been to
suspend the rules, thus disallowing any floor debate on the bills presented. This
tactic forces a two-thirds supermajority to approve any bill proposed in this
situation. A good Wall Street Journal analysis of the Delay, Don’t Drill,
Do-Nothing Democrat procedure is here.
Mark Udall proceeds to detail his litany of assertions
towards Republicans.
They have voted against renewable
energy, against the first new vehicle efficiency standards in 32 years-saving
$1,000 in fuel costs per car per year - and against reducing transit fares for
commuter rail and buses.
Nothing in this paragraph will affect energy supply or
policy. Renewable energy production
cannot compete with fossil fuels in the market, and the taxpayers should not
pay for subsidies to help Mark Udall’s allies in the green energy business. Fuel efficiency standards are completely
unnecessary. Not only do they limit the choice vehicle manufacturers may offer
consumers, rising fuel costs already shifted consumer demand towards more
efficient vehicles and away
from SUV’s and trucks. Transit fare
subsidies do lower the costs to the rider. However, these extreme fare subsidies do not affect the underlying high
energy costs, causing situations such as Denver’s RTD increased
ridership with lower fare revenue.
They have voted against expedited
drilling in Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve and against adding a
due-diligence requirement that could stimulate expedited exploration and
development on other Federal lands already leased for that purpose.
They also voted against releasing
10% of the record amounts of oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (to
be replaced with heavy oil that is better suited for that storage) even though
that addition to the supplies on the market could ease gas prices.
The reason for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is to have an
emergency supply in case of a catastrophic cutoff of the supply, not to
manipulate the oil markets. When
Hurricane Katrina hit, the physical oil infrastructure was knocked offline. It
made some sense to release some of the Strategic Reserve then. Today, there is no physical shortage of oil,
which is why one can buy as much as one wishes at the market price. Instead, it is the perceived scarcity in the
future oil supply that drives the high petroleum prices. A one-time reserve release may temporarily
drop prices slightly; however, it will do nothing about the economic factors
driving the price of oil. Plus, the
government will need to refill the Strategic Reserve at the market prices of
the day. At $120 per barrel for 70
million barrels, this will cost the taxpayer $8.4 billion.
And, finally, too many of our
Republican colleagues opposed better regulation of the commodity markets, to
reduce the ability of speculators to artificially increase the price of oil,
even though the bill had been approved in the Agriculture Committee by voice
vote and was supported by the committee's ranking Republican Member.
Mark Udall, whether inadvertently or deliberately, displays
a remarkable lack of understanding of speculators. While Congress could limit or ban US trading
in the oil markets, it would do nothing to lower the costs of oil. Oil is traded worldwide, and limitations on
trade only increase prices. Speculation
can also lower prices. No one complained
in the late 1990’s when excess oil supply caused gas prices below $1 per
gallon.
Mark Udall then closes his statement thusly:
But I think we owe it to our
constituents and to the country to stay here at least for now, and to continue
working on energy legislation. And for that reason, I cannot vote for this
motion to adjourn.
This is perhaps the only sentiment of the entire statement
that makes sense. However, if energy
prices truly concerned Mark Udall, he would have joined the Republican “Guerrilla
Congress” who remained after Nancy Pelosi shut off the lights debating
energy policy options, not blaming the Republicans for the summer recess. Unfortunately for
Colorado, Mark Udall’s only true concern is for his allies in the alternative energy
and environmental lobbies who, in turn, line Udall’s campaign coffers.
Mark Udall hates being called a liar, but doesn't seem to mind calling or having his campaign call Bob Schaffer a liar.
Note the words in the July 28th fundraising email sent out by Mike Melanson, Mark Udall's campaign manager:
Right after Bob Schaffer started spreading blatant lies about Mark's record, now come his special interest buddies to finish the job and do the really dirty work.
The fundraising email was designed to promote this ad, which has a very interesting "I approved this message" trailer. Recall given that Mark Udall is the undisputed darling of the Sierra Club and every other environmentalist fringe group you might care to name:
We're all Coloradoans and we deserve better than when Washington sells out to special interests.
So, we can't have a reasonable national energy policy because Mark Udall opposes nuclear energy and fossil fuels because his major campaign financiers in the environmentalist movement oppose both, and that isn't selling out to special interests?
So, we will be force fed a union organizing bill that trashes the secret ballot and that Mark Udall has admitted that he dislikes but has co-sponsored because Mark Udall's major union campaign financiers want it, and that isn't selling out to special interests?
Many politicians are hypocrites and liars. Mark Udall takes political hypocrisy to a new level.
I had to chuckle fellow blogger Civil Sense's "one minute" explanation. Mark Udall is a congenital liar. He doesn't like it much, but we even established a catagory "Udall as a liar" at Schaffer v Udall and did so because we could document his lies.
One minute could easily have been an hour, and it wouldn't have bothered Mark Udall one bit to claim that it was one minute.
Following up on yesterday’s essay
on Boulder County Liberal Mark Udall missing yesterday’s vote to adjourn,
effectively ending any energy debate until after the summer recess, today’s
Denver Post reports
Mark Udall’s side of the story.
[ Mark ] Udall spokeswoman Taylor
West said the Boulder County lawmaker was on his way back to Washington at the
time and that the vote was called with only 10 minutes' notice. Udall asked
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to delay the vote without success, and the
resolution passed by one vote, 213-212.
With gas prices the No. 1 financial
worry of voters, promising to try to keep lawmakers in session until they took
action was a bold stroke, but missing that vote could be an equally costly
political mistake by the five-term congressman.
Udall's staff said the Democrat
stayed in Colorado to attend several campaign-related events, including a
meeting with business leaders and a fundraising event.
A friend wrote a note to Mark Udall via his website following my post yesterday afternoon. He received a phone call from a staffer from Mark Udall's Washington DC office last night in response. Apparently, Mark Udall missed the vote by one minute as he traveled from the airport, and the House leadership would not delay it any longer for Udall to arrive at the Capitol. Congressman Udall would have voted yes on the issue and plans to issue a statement for the Congressional Record noting this.
Ben DeGrow over at Schaffer
v Udall makes some excellent points about this situation.
…Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have
saved Mark Udall from choosing between breaking a public promise and voting
against a long history of energy obstruction likely will be too transparent to
work. But she didn't do Udall any favor. Pelosi is more concerned about saving
many of her House Democrats seeking re-election from having to cast a vote on
the issue than securing Colorado's U.S. Senate seat for her party. Translation?
Nancy Pelosi threw Mark Udall under the bus.
Of course, this all assumes we give
Mark Udall all the benefit of the doubt. After all, based on his record,
there's absolutely no reason to believe that Udall has any serious intention to
go against his entire Congressional career by seeking to improve America's
domestic energy supply. Yes - the only place Mark Udall wants to drill is your
wallet.
We at this blog are tough on Democrats, but we also try to be fair. As the Denver Post story confirms the Udall staffer's telephone call to a friend, Mark Udall deserves the benefit of the doubt in this situation. Nancy Pelosi likely did throw Udall under the proverbial bus. It is unlikely that lefty bloggers would cut a Republican candidate similar slack for inadvertently breaking a promise.
However, I agree with Ben DeGrow that even though it was not Mark Udall's fault that he missed the vote, his alliance with the Delay, Don't Drill, Do-Nothing Democrat energy agenda will continue to harm the people of Colorado.
Every time I have a political discussion with my children, I come away disillusioned.
Last month, my son opined that he hoped gas would go to $7 a gallon. That would, he opined, force everyone to buy gas efficient automobiles. My reaction: "Spoken like someone who makes $80,000 a year."
He doesn't make $80,000 a year, but I was trying to make a point. Wishing for high gas prices is a rich man's luxury.
I came to the realization that he had never, in his entire life, lived in a situation where he didn't know where his next meal was coming from. He has no basis for a real empathy for the poor or how his thinking impacts their human desire to improve their lives.
It isn't that his parents weren't poor and didn't come from, at best, lower middle class origins. It was touch and go for a while when my wife and I got married. We both had jobs that paid about $25/week, but we were paying our way through school.
My wife learned to dilute hamburgers with Wheaties before we grilled them. One evening, there was so little hamburger and so much Wheaties in the meal that the burgers were inedible. We went to bed hungry that night.
We had our tickets out of that life in the form of a college diploma for each of us, and those diplomas were only months away when we got married. But, would they have been months away if it took an hour of work to earn a gallon of gas? It seems unlikely. High gas prices would have made it impossible for us to afford to go to work and go to school. We might have found ourselves permanently forced to be working poor.
Children who are raised as we tried to raise our children are not exposed to this experience. They don't understand that people with aspirations for a better life will have those aspirations dashed by higher gas prices and the higher prices of food and goods that higher gas prices will force.
They have the luxury of thinking like the rich without real empathy for the poor. We have made them poorer for it.
I would be remiss not to point to today's Gazette editorial on a totally different subject, but with these two paragraphs that support part of the premise of today's essay:
A Washington Post/Quinnipiac University/Wall Street Journal poll in late July, however, showed that [ Bob ] Schaffer had pulled forward to run neck-and-neck with [ Mark ] Udall at 44 percent. By a solid margin, likely voters said they were more concerned with a candidate's energy policy than anything else. [ Bob ] Schaffer wants more oil. [ Mark ] Udall wants wind and solar and hybrid cars - luxuries only the rich can afford for now.
In other words, the just plain ordinary average working class people of Colorado may want to elect someone who favors fuel that will work for the homes and cars they already have. Comparing Schaffer and [ Mark ] Udall, Schaffer emerges the populist.
In trying to spare our children the hardships of life, we may have encouraged them to impose hardships on others without providing a reference for understanding what they are doing.
As noted here,
Boulder County Liberal Mark Udall promised to vote against recessing Congress
if it did not pass an energy bill. Today
was put-up-or-shut-up day for Mark Udall, since Congress voted to recess with
no energy bill. The following press
release has the details:
WASHINGTON – Rep. Adam Putnam
(R-FL), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, issued the following
statement shortly after the House of Representatives voted 213-212 – with no
Republicans voting in the affirmative – to adjourn for five weeks in August and
September without taking action to lower gas prices and break our dependence on
foreign oil:
"The Democratic Congress
should be held in contempt for voting to skip town without dealing with
America’s energy crisis.
“Democrats are out of touch, out of
excuses, out of support and out of time. Americans are hurting. Independent
polls show they overwhelmingly support House Republicans’ all-of-the-above
energy solutions.
“It’s time Democrats put their
boarding passes back in their pockets and get to work by voting on the American
Energy Act.”
The official roll call votes list
every vote. Mark Udall’s name is easy to
find: scroll to the bottom under “Not Voting.”
Apparently, any promise Mark Udall makes expires within two
days. Udall did not have the courage to
back up a statement he made just two days prior. Not only that, had Mark Udall followed
through on his promise, the resolution would have tied, which at minimum would
force additional parliamentary procedures before adjournment. It may even have forced House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi’s hand to allow debate on an energy bill. If Udall cannot publicly take a stand that he
promised to take, how on earth can Coloradans trust him in the United States
Senate?
Boulder County Liberal Mark Udall publicly shirked his responsibility
as a Congressman and broke his word to the public. Colorado voters deserve to know the reasons
for his non-vote and broken promise. In any event, Udall's assistance to Nancy Pelosi in blocking votes on energy bills keeps this previously suggested
campaign slogan accurate: “Vote Mark Udall for even higher energy prices.”
AFF launches new radio ad Encouraging Emphasis on American Energy
The ad will run in Colorado encouraging Congressman Mark Udall to vote yes on H.R. 6108
Des Moines, IA – The American Future Fund (AFF) today launched "High", a 60-second ad that will run on radio stations across Colorado calling on Congressman Mark Udall to support exploration of domestic sources of energy, including allowing for offshore drilling and exploration for oil shale.
H.R. 6108 would allow for the safe exploration of offshore drilling and oil shale production. AFF supports the passage of this legislation and is encouraging Colorado citizens to contact Congressman Udall and encourage him to support the bill.
"It's time for congressional leaders to vote on comprehensive, long-term energy solutions," said AFF Communications Director Tim Albrecht. "At at time when Coloradans are paying over $4 a gallon for gas, Congressman Udall needs to not stand in the way of American energy. AFF encourages Coloradans to call Congressman Udall and ask him to vote YES on H.R. 6108 – and stop blocking American energy."
The initial ad buy runs two weeks, statewide in Colorado.
The script of the ad is as follows:
ANNCR:
Gas prices are at an all-time high. But Congress -- led by Nancy Pelosi and Mark Udall -- has blocked real solutions.
Experts estimate that Colorado has at least 800 billion barrels of oil shale. That's more reserves than Saudi Arabia -- here in western Colorado.
Coloradans are looking for new ways to get the energy we need.
But Mark Udall has repeatedly voted against exploration – blocking development of our vast energy resources. That's more of the politics of delay that have driven gas to four bucks a gallon.
In fact, Udall has voted to delay energy exploration at least thirty-four times.
Coloradans need real solutions on gas prices.
Call Mark Udall: 303-650-7820. Tell him to stop delaying energy exploration and support HR 6108 – for real solutions.
American Future Fund is responsible for the content of this ad. Paid for by American Future Fund. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. americanfuturefund.com
Boulder County Liberal Congressman Mark Udall and Republican
Senate Candidate Bob Schaffer squared off in a debate yesterday. Today's
Denver Post previews the
debate that will air next Sunday on Denver Fox 31.
In the debate taped Monday to be
televised Sunday evening on KDVR-Channel 31, [ Mark ] Udall talked repeatedly
and aggressively about energy, hoping to recapture the issue. He underscored
short-term fixes that include an effort by Democrats in Congress to rein in oil
price speculation and force oil companies to drill on current leases or lose
them.
For his part, Republican Bob Schaffer challenged [ Mark ] Udall to vote
against letting Congress go to summer recess if it hasn't passed a new energy
bill — something that's unlikely — and Udall agreed, surprising even
Schaffer's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams.
"We'll see what he actually
does" next week, said Wadhams, who said he expects the energy issue to
dominate the race right up until the election in November.
It is unlikely that Nancy Pelosi and the Delay, Don’t Drill,
Do Nothing Democrats would allow debate on an energy bill before summer recess
as this would force vulnerable Democrat House members to vote against their
leadership. Time will tell whether or
not Mark Udall will have to follow through or renege on his promise to vote
against summer recess.
Perhaps the saddest part of Mark Udall’s statement is his
continual blame of speculators for high oil prices. The speculators are only pricing oil based
upon the incomplete information that they have about future supply and
demand. To a speculator, Udall’s own anti-drilling,
alternative energy-only rhetoric shows that future supply will be curtailed
even with increasing demand. All else
being equal, if Mark Udall came out tomorrow with legislation supporting
drilling, chances are that oil prices would fall. Obviously, his friends in the environmental
movement would burn him in effigy for that.
The only question left is why Mark Udall transfers blame
from his own policy decisions to supposedly nefarious speculators. Perhaps he believes the electorate to be naïve.
Or, perhaps the naïve idealist is actually Boulder County Liberal Democrat Mark
Udall.
We had a little problem with a new site that published our material as though it was theirs omitting only the links.
All items on this blog copyright a watcher on the date published. Fair use exerpting is authorized and encouraged with links back to the original essay.
email address
Avoiding the harvesters: We do have a tipline, so that's a start. At thecoloradoindex, of course, followed by the typical dot com. Sorry to be cryptic, but we've already been bit by spam city and our address only appeared on the net once.
Hints and Rules
One goal of this site is to help Republicans write essays that are as effective as possible, and by that we mean essays have search engine sticking power. Bloggers may wish to look at the Hints and Rules category from time to time.
TheColoradoIndex
A site that promotes other Colorado Republican writers with links. The site also publishes essays that Democrats and their media fans might find unfriendly, but fair. Sometimes substantially identical essays will be written about individual Democrats who participated in a group event. The purpose is not to bore readers but to have individualized searchable essays that will call as much attention to that one individual's actions against the public interest as possible.
