Why Lifting the Drilling Ban Will Have Neglible Effects

From The Hill: Bush to Lift Ban on Offshore Drilling:

In an effort to put pressure on Congress, Bush is revising his position from last month. At the time, he called on the legislative branch to lift its part of the ban, saying he wanted the White House and Capitol Hill to work in concert to end the ban and expand domestic oil and gas production.

White House press secretary Dana Perino told reporters Monday morning that, because Congress has failed to act, the president is moving first.

“The ball is squarely in their court now,” Perino said.

Gimme a break: this is nothing but a political ploy designed to make the Democratic Congress look bad if they do not sign off on lifting the offshore drilling ban. In terms of actual policy, lifting the ban will be neglible, for several reasons.

1) There isn’t that much oil to begin with.

2) Even if there were, it would take a very long time to get them to market due to lack of refining capacities.

3) Assuming the above has been fulfilled, that oil will go into a global market, and rising demands from India, China, and other developing nations will outstrip the increased supply.

So, again, nothing but a political ploy. I hope Democrats have the balls to call it for what it is, instead of folding like they did on FISA.

Has the Washington Post Lost Its Goddamn Mind?!

It boggles the mind, no, let me use even stronger language here; it absolutely, completely obliterates the mind to see that the Washington Post is using front-page space on a series titled “Who Killed Chandra Levy?“

The more important question is this: WHO THE FUCK GIVES A SHIT?

I know it’s Congressional recess soon, so news will probably be slow. But come on! A 12-part series on something that happened seven years ago? This is just fucking ridiculous! I mean, how much resources did the Post commit for this story? And could they have been better used to cover something more pertinent?

This is just another instance of the Missing White Women Syndrome media saturation. Get over it: it’s been seven years, Gary Condit is not even in Congress anymore, and for crying out loud, she’s been dead for seven years!

I just can’t fucking believe this shit: at a time when the economy is in the shitter, the Post pulls something like this?! Man this is just some unprofessional shit.