Please DU this ltte in my paper..I am SO proud!

My county is 75% Limbaugh-loving Republicans.The editorrials this week have been dominated by local Democrats speking out.Please rate at the site and add a comment.Thank you!


http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2008/08/14/opinion/doc48a45e9763631431249508.txt#blogcomments

To the Editor,

In his letter to the editor on Friday, Mr. John Tabor asks, with all the soaring energy prices, where is our Congress? He then proceeds to call for us “to rise up and throw this Democratic-led do nothing Congress out of power.” Mr. Tabor supposes that the only energy policy we’ll get from Sen. Obama will be to “just air up your tires and stay home.” He also says that “Nancy Pelosi, the extreme left wing liberal speaker of the House, told the American taxpayers that she doesn’t have time for them or their problems.”

The facts: Where is our congressman? For the last couple of weeks, Congressman Joe Barton has been here stumping locally, not in D.C. (although he did rush back to the House after it was recessed to take part in the great “Republican Energy Revolt.”) In a series of town hall meetings, he has been discussing among other things, energy. He has also been encouraging citizens, ironically, to keep their tires inflated to conserve fuel. Not that I would put much credence in Congressman Barton’s talk about energy. This is a congressman that has taken $660,000 in contributions from the gas and oil industries in the last four election cycles alone and has been in the top 20 congressional recipients of oil and gas money for the last 16 years. Note: Kay Bailey Hutchison took in $670,000 in the last three election cycles. John Cornyn took in a whopping $480,000 this election alone!

Speaker Nancy Pelosi never said she doesn’t have time for the American taxpayer or their problems. That is a very tasteless and baseless lie about a very respected member of our Congress. Why is it that every right-wing editorial must contain a personal attack?

This Republican administration’s energy policy was set behind closed doors with even the identity of those attending being kept secret from the public under the claim of executive privilege. It has also resisted lawsuits that attempted to determine the impact of the energy industry’s representatives and lobbyists’ influence on that policy.

In 2000, the Republican Congress passed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. This act allowed the creation of single-stock futures for the U.S. exchanges. It also contained “the Enron loophole” drafted by Republican Phil Gramm (more about him later) and Enron lobbyists. This provision exempted the energy commodity markets from regulation. Why is this important? In 2006, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reported that the “Enron loophole,” by encouraging speculation, accounted for as much as $20 of the then $70 a barrel cost of oil. From 2000 through 2006, several Democratic congressmen introduced legislation to close the loophole, but were unsuccessful because of Republican control of Congress. In 2007, the Democratic-controlled House and Senate passed the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. This act included ending the “Enron loophole.” President Bush vetoed the act in May.

Currently, there are bills in both the House and Senate to require oil trading transparency.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/newenergy is the Web site where you can read Sen. Obama’s energy policy. It’s more than tire pressure.

In closing: Our energy problems are the result of past policy or lack of. The chickens have come home to roost. Our problems are not going to be solved over night just because the Democrats now have a slight edge in head counts in Congress.

Phil Gramm, who was until recently Sen. McCain’s campaign co-chairman and economic adviser, made a response to the public that was complaining about the cost of energy and the mortgage meltdown. Both of which had his fingerprints on them. He said that we are a nation of whiners.

Unlike you, Mr. Tabor, I know the truth about why I’m whining.

Larry Harris,

Waxahachie