This Is Stunning — Kim Jong Pelosi Running House Like Hugo Chavez
[Posted by WLS — I can’t get the link to work. Try cutting and pasting it into your browser]
[I think these Politico links will work: Part I and Part II. –DRJ]
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Democrats adjourned the House and turned off the lights and killed the microphones, but Republicans are still on the floor talking gas prices.
….
At one point, the lights went off in the House and the microphones were turned off in the chamber, meaning Republicans were talking in the dark. But as Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz..) was speaking, the lights went back on, and the microphones have been turned on as well.
But C-SPAN, which has no control over the cameras in the chamber, has stopped broadcasting the House floor, meaning no one is witnessing this except the assembled Republicans, their aides, and one Democrat, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), who has now left.
Only about a half-dozen Republicans were on the floor when this began, but the crowd has grown to about 20 now, according to Patrick O’Connor.
“This is the people’s House,” Rep, Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) said. “This is not Pelosi’s politiburo.”
Democratic aides were furious at the GOP stunt, and reporters were kicked out of the Speaker’s Lobby, the space next to the House floor where they normally interview lawmakers.
“You’re not covering this, are you?” complaing one senior Democratic aide. Another called the Republicans “morons” for staying on the floor.
Update – The Capitol Police are now trying to kick reporters out of the press gallery above the floor, meaning we can’t watch the Republicans anymore. But Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is now in the gallery talking to reporters, so the cops have held off for a minute. Clearly, Democrats don’t want Republicans getting any press for this episode. GOP leaders are trying to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters aren’t kicked out.
…
Also, Republicans can thank Shadegg for turning on the microphones the first time. Apparently, the fiesty Arizona conservative started typing random codes into the chamber’s public address system and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing Republicans brief access to the microphone before it was turned off again.
I understand there is no truth to the rumor that Pelosi has had the sign on her office door changed to “El Commadante For Life” Pelosi.
Update: Apparently it is true that she insists all correspondence to her from other House members begin with the salutation “Dear Leader” — WLS
She has just chopped five years off the amount of time we have left.
Stupid cow.
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/1/2008 @ 10:49 am“I understand there is no truth to the rumor that Pelosi has had the sign on her office door changed to “El Commadante For Life” Pelosi.”
Who knew that it would be controversial for Congress to recess in august.
afall (23c2b4) — 8/1/2008 @ 10:57 amLinky no worky, WLS.
Pablo (99243e) — 8/1/2008 @ 10:59 amShe’s just imitating your idol — Bill O’Reilley.
David Ehrenstein (21c975) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:20 amIt will be worse when more of the Demented Dems are in Congress along with the “BO”.
lynndh (66e68f) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:27 amThat 9% approval rating is likely not going to be the floor from the sounds of this story.
vnjagvet (d3d48a) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:36 amWell, poor Queen Nancy has to go on a book tour to sell her best seller that is what? #2,000 on the Amazon list? How do you expect a girl to make a living?
Why is the media not covering this? Or could it be that our one-party media is in the tank for anything the Dems do?
This will give new meaning the next time Harry (Real Estate) Reid says the Republicans are in the dark on energy legislation.
What scum the Democrats have turned out to be. Truman must be rolling over in his grave.
retire05 (215046) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:42 amThere is talk that Bush might call a special session to keep pounding on the energy theme. I don’t know if he is that smart anymore. If I were McCain I would be encouraging him to do it. This might even tip the balance in the Senate. This is a killer issue unless gas prices collapse in the next two months. Think of Truman in 1948. McCain should be reading that section of Truman’s memoirs. I’d even loan him my copy.
Mike K (6d4fc3) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:50 amYou don’t understand. The Speaker was reducing the carbon footprint of the Capitol by turning off the lights and the microphones in the House chamber. She was also reducing the unnecessary expelling of poisonous CO2 by the various Congressmen.
Ed (59b337) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:54 amMike K:
I don’t know if ANY Republican is. It’s a no-brainer — Congress has a 9% approval rating! Nobody’s going to hold it against the President if he puts them BACK to work!
L.N. Smithee (ecc5a5) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:56 amL.N. – I prefer Congress when they are not in session. They can do les damage that way.
Racist.
JD (75f5c3) — 8/1/2008 @ 11:59 amFrom Michelle Malkin
+++++++++++++
Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee (RSC), and Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN), former Chairman of RSC, today urged President Bush to call for a special session of Congress after the House adjourned without allowing a vote on comprehensive legislation to develop more American energy and help the millions of Americans currently feeling pain at the gas pump.
The text of their letter is below:
The President
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
The House of Representatives has not taken a vote since January 2007 that would expand domestic energy production. All the while, Americans are hurting. Every time they go to fill up their cars, trucks or tractors they feel the pain at the pump. High gas prices are harming the vitality of our families, the elderly, small businesses, and family farms. Each and every American is affected.
Today the Democrat controlled Congress adjourned for a five-week vacation without taking a vote on bipartisan measures that would lessen our dependence on foreign oil by allowing more domestic drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. In fact, they adjourned without even allowing time for debate on the subject of drilling.
On July 14, 2008, you took the strong action of lifting the executive order that had banned offshore drilling. In so doing, you said that allowing offshore oil drilling is one of the most important steps we can take to reduce the burden of high gas prices. Now, all it would take is an act of Congress for that drilling to begin.
Since Speaker Pelosi has decided not to keep the House in session to allow this vote to take place, we urge you to use the power vested in you by the Constitution to convene an immediate energy special session of Congress. Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, you have the power on extraordinary occasions to convene the Congress.
We believe that the energy emergency that has increased the pain felt by Americans when they purchase $4 per gallon gasoline is an extraordinary occasion. We urge you to immediately bring the Congress back into session to do its job and give the bipartisan, pro-drilling majority a vote.
Thank you for your consideration of our request.
Horatio (a549f7) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:02 pmBlinky Pelosi doesn’t need lights. Vampires can see in the dark, or use sonar. She and her cronies in crime are sucking the blood out of America.
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:07 pmApropos of her support of the “Fairness Doctrine” to silence talk radio, especially Rush Limbaugh, the simple twat has let her speakership go to her puny botoxed brain. One hopes the public sees through the liberal charade/House of Cards. I’d like to know the demographics of the idiots who actually approve of Congress.
madmax333 (0c6cfc) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:15 pmHot Air has a video of a lib congress-cretin insisting no drilling even if gasoline hits $10 a gallon. Throw the bums out! Change! Hang them by the nipples like Amin/Whittaker in Last King of Scotland. In interest of modesty, hang Pelosi by her botoxed jowls.
Drilling won’t do a damn thing about prices. Squawk all you want, but you taught the dems about hardball tactics and they’ve finally learned some.
On the one hand it’s impressive how the republican political machine gets behind whichever candidate gets the call. Even people who fought tooth and nail for and against in the past get in line. The dems have never had such control and they’ve suffered for it.
JAR (08d0b1) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:33 pmOn the other hand dems talk policy, and politics is all you know.
As I said above, more drilling does squat. Obama at least tries for more.
So, what do you attribute the recent $20+ drop in oil prices to?
Pablo (99243e) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:36 pmSupply and demand? Economics 101? Feh.
Pablo (99243e) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:37 pmI think that this issue could cost the Democrats BIG-TIME come November. They are supposed to pick up several seats in House and a couple in Senate. If the Republicans play this right, we might have a draw instead, or maybe even a few Rep. pick-ups??? I think that the American public is seeing the real, hard effects of thirty years of Dem control over energy and they are going to say “Enough is Enough, get out you fools, we want more oil and we want it NOW!”
J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:38 pmJust like growing more food won’t do anything about high food prices.
Would that be the “LALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOU LALALALA” policy that the Dems have been using over the last two years as regards the energy concerns of the American people?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:39 pm“So, what do you attribute the recent $20+ drop in oil prices to?”
Hasn’t demand been dropping? Wont it with the end of the summer?
I’m wondering how many of these stuntsters are going to be on their flights home tonight and this weekend.
afall (8a983a) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:39 pmDrilling won’t do a damn thing about prices.
Wrong!
Since Bush dropped the Executive ban on Offshore Drilling the price dropped what, $20-$30. Just “knowing” that the U.S. is going to be pumping more oil in 2-5 years will cause the “futures” prices on oil to come down. My 11 year old can understand simple concepts like supply and demand. Dems are going to go down in flames in November, Happy Day!
J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:43 pmSince when is the middle of July considered “the end of summer”?
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:44 pm“Drilling won’t do a damn thing about prices.”
This sounds like Pelosi’s sockpuppet – in – training. Just keep those talking points in order, and watch the Dems implode this Fall.
Dmac (416471) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:51 pm“Since when is the middle of July considered “the end of summer”?”
Since a barrel of oil traded now (specially in the futures market) doesn’t become gas now, I’d expect the market to lead the season.
But for the folks who can tell that the 20-30 drop was due to the talk of drilling (good idea, just talk), then what were all the previous increases about?
afall (0ef134) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:55 pm#14 was comic genius.
JD (75f5c3) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:57 pmWhy would energy demand drop as fall and winter roll in? This winter will be absolutely brutal for huge numbers of people across the country because the demand will go up as the temps go down.
ECM (de5660) — 8/1/2008 @ 12:59 pmDrilling won’t do a damn thing about prices.
Even if this were true, which it isn’t, the mere fact that said oil would be funneling money into the US oil companies rather than foreign ones would be worth it all by itself.
Taltos (4dc0e8) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:03 pmgas usually rises over summer because schools out, so families take to the road on vacation…
Scott Jacobs (425810) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:04 pmJD, who’s “Les Damage”? 🙂
L.N. Smithee (0931d2) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:09 pmL.N. – Some Frog I met named Les Damage the other day. I was trying to figure out a way to work his name into a conversation.
JD (75f5c3) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:15 pm“Drilling won’t do a damn thing about prices.”
Recycling a liberal mantra, how can you fight a bumpersticker like that?
daleyrocks (d9ec17) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:21 pmNewt Gingrich is also calling for the President to call a Special Session, ala Harry Truman and the “Do Nothing Congress” of 1948!
Another Drew (a28ef4) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:21 pmDrilling won’t do a damn thing about prices.
No, no, he’s right. In the narrowest sense.
Drilling won’t, by itself, lower the price of fuels. It’s the pumping and refining that follows that will bring the supplies up, and the prices down.
ThomasD (211bbb) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:31 pmBut according to Chuck Schumer, forcing the Saudis to sell us more oil somehow will.
So increasing the supply is something that the Dems can understand, it’s just actually getting up the nerve to do it ourselves, on our own soil, violates the “Big
BrotherGovernment is taking care of you” mantra that has been the driving force behind everything that they have been doing since the late 60s.(Now, according to lovey’s logic, that latter “they” means ANYONE OTHER than the Democrat leadership that has been collectively impersonating an ostrich for the last two years.)
The only thing that they have managed to do is to keep paying for the war and to raise the Federal Minimum Wage. Which pay raise gave, in strict accordance with the Law of Unintended (Yet Entirely Foreseeable) Consequences, teens and tweens* a 2% bump in unemployment rates since last year, but at least the Dems tried to raise taxes on everyone to make up for it….)
* – the young people who are just starting out with zero experience, and who actually need the job in order to move out of Mom and Dad’s house
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:36 pmPro-drillers oversell the impact of fresh drilling approvals and anti-drillers say it won’t do anything. The latter is simply a ridiculous position, though the former isn’t right either. Supply-demand applies but it’s a black box – there are an uncountable number of factors that drive the price, both current and futures pricing. So the right is right – we should drill – but they are wrong to say they know this will drive down prices today. It’s more accurate to say ‘all things being equal, the effect of opening up the continental shelf for drilling will depress prices by an indeterminate amount today’.
In other news, the Presidential race just entered the ‘if you don’t vote for Obama you just might be a racist’ phase.
Bel Aire (2fd7f7) — 8/1/2008 @ 1:43 pmThen I guess I’m a racist.
David Ehrenstein (21c975) — 8/1/2008 @ 2:00 pmObama wants to give us all $1,000 to offset gas and heating prices this fall. He’ll get the money from that vast pool of oil company profits. Of course, the oil companies will raise prices in order to offset the “taxes” that Obama will charge them on their profits. So instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, he’ll be, in essence, robbing Paul to pay Paul.
kimsch (2ce939) — 8/1/2008 @ 2:01 pmAnd Peter will still vote for him.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
Drumwaster (5ccf59) — 8/1/2008 @ 2:04 pmJAR wrote: Drilling won’t do a damn thing about prices. Squawk all you want, but you taught the dems about hardball tactics and they’ve finally learned some.
You know maddog well that if it goes to a vote on the House floor, Pelosi will lose in spectacular fashion because the constituents of pols in BOTH parties want more drilling. Then, it will have to go to the Senate, where Bar-hack (and perhaps his potential running mates) will have to say “yea” or “no” on the record. If Obama stays true to his stance in recent weeks, he will go against the overwhelming opinion of the public AND his own party. That is, unless BHO does a flip-flop for the ages three months before the election.
BTW, Schmuck Chumer’s “experts” who say gas prices would only be lowered a few cents don’t mean spit to me. This is the same guy who saw IndyMac Bank teetering on the edge of insolvency, and kicked it over! If he was such a freaking genius about gas prices, the Dems would have made good on their promise to lower them when they took control of Congress in 2006.
L.N. Smithee (a0b21b) — 8/1/2008 @ 2:08 pmBTW, whatever happened to Polosi’s “plan to lower gas prices”? Anyone seen it yet? How’s that working for you all? I am still paying $4 a gallon here in San Diego. With the mileage I drive per year, I figure that fuel is costing me an additional $3100 per year which I just call the Democrat Energy Tax.
I really could have used that money. It would have allowed me to take a vacation this year. But that is a dead dream at this point. Thanks Dems, for all you do. /sarcasm off
Jay Curtis (8f6541) — 8/1/2008 @ 3:05 pmHow can we need more oil, I put an extra pound of air in my tires today? No more problems. BWAHAHAHAHAHA
Scrapiron (c36902) — 8/1/2008 @ 3:05 pmSo who is right, Barack Obama or Mrs. Pelosi? BO declares an “economic emergency” and Mrs. Pelosi goes on vacation.
DavidL (02e14f) — 8/1/2008 @ 3:28 pmI guess if you don’t have a job and you need a government payout taken from those who work, vote Democrat (communist). Everyone else who is a productive member of society should vote their wallets and vote Republican. It appears as though the democratic leadership in both the house and senate do not care one wit about the welfare of those who work and pay. Send them home in November.
Zelsdorf Ragshaft III (e18128) — 8/1/2008 @ 3:32 pmRe the recent decline of crude prices, I read dozens of commodity and stock analysts daily. The consensus of the majority is that the recent drop in oil price is the result of the large hedge fund trading desks recognizing the overbought level of crude, and consequently taking their profits and reducing their exposure at what may be an intermediate market top. And the concomitant selling panic began, hopefully for much longer for the sake of consumers and commercial interests. Some reports suggest these large spec funds have been quietly moving into gold futures.
A common measure of overbought status in the oil market is the crude to gold spread. While gold has been in a significant uptrend since 2001, crude has gone ballistic. The spread has reached extreme levels historically speaking, and the large players have left the playing temporarily. The commodity markets are the last vestige of free markets other than the various blackmarkets around the globe. As most can see they are self-regulating. One reason that has kept the price of petroleum products at ‘low’ levels has been heavily subsidized gas and diesel to consumers in such countries as Russia, Iran, and China. Those subsidies have been eroding, witness the fuel fueled riots earlier this year in two of those countries.
The only ‘bad’ news here on the crude drop is that the underlying conditions have changed little. Widely reported US recession based drop in demand is just part of the global picture. Oil is found in some very unstable regions. Something like 70% of the world’s crude is controlled by nationalized corporations, or by govt bureaus directly. And the Fed and Treasury can’t/won’t move the dollar up at this juncture. What most people don’t take into account is that while crude has become more ‘valuable’, it’s also important to realize the US$ has plummeted hard.
I’m not an expert of any sort, just a mere trader, passing on what he’s read. Taking stances or opinions I will leave to the braver here. I just try to stay on top of my trades. And to preempt the “speculators are horrid scum” calls, without the specs you would not have any liquidity in the markets. And you do know what illiquidity gets you, right? Plus, for all those futures bought by the hedge funds, someone had to sell them the futures. [hint: maybe someone who owns some oil and is locking in a price in the future?]
Funny how no one ever complains about the specs bringing down prices…
allan (8b0397) — 8/1/2008 @ 4:32 pmFor what it’s worth, I spent about 15 years of my legal career as a lawyer for two major West Coast oil refineries. U.S. refiners have historically tended to ramp up production of gasoline in the spring and June, building supplies for the summer driving season when gasoline demand has, historically at least, peaked. Along about the first of July, they start to cut back on gasoline production (especially in the Mid West and Northeast) in favor of increasing the amount of home heating oil they make. They are building stocks for the winter heating demand.
If you think that $4 and $5 gasoline has been brutal this spring and summer (and it has been brutal) just wait until it gets cold in the Upper Midwest and Northeast this winter.
In the mid 70s when Nixon, Ford and Carter imposed price controls and production restrictions on the U.S. petroleum industry, a favorite bumper sticker in Texas was “Let those Yankee Bastards Freeze in the Dark”.
Mike Myers (31af82) — 8/1/2008 @ 4:52 pmWell Ms. Pelosi and Harry Reid–having refused to do anything–and believing that $10 a gallon gasoline is a good thing–from an environmental perspective–are going to be responsible for a lot of frozen grannies in Massachusetts this winter.
Anybody know what Sorros is doing?
Another Drew (8018ee) — 8/1/2008 @ 4:53 pmLong, or Short?
Allan – excellent break down of the recent decline in the oil futures.
But, I have to disagree as to your last point. The possession of actual oil contracts. My understanding is that much of the trading was in the nature of contracts NOT tied directly to a given physical barrel of oil. This is a needed reform in the commodities market that makes sense to me. If commodity trading were tied directly to a quantity of the actual commodity, and traders were made to take actual ownership (like short sellers eventually must), much of the ridiculous spike this year in oil would have been mitigated.
Anyway, thanks for the excellent explanation of where the “real” money was and how it began to flow away from oil.
Ed (59b337) — 8/1/2008 @ 5:04 pmObama now says he is willing to support off-shore drilling. That’s a good decision but, frankly, I’m embarrassed for him and his supporters. Is there any principle he won’t disavow to get elected?
DRJ (68f27b) — 8/1/2008 @ 5:31 pmDRJ, #46:
NO.
The more I watch members of the Democrat party, the more convinced I am that they will say or do anything to get elected. And once they’re elected, they just do what they want. They conveniently ignore and drop into a black hole any previous statements or positions of them that are now ‘inconvenient’.
Remember Pelosi’s plan to cut gas prices before the 2006 elections? Heard anything about it from any democrat since then?
Kenny (76922b) — 8/1/2008 @ 5:54 pmEd #46:
I appreciate your thank you. You are correct on the total futures picture. I was just trying to point out that futures begin at the producer level. The producer of a commodity wants to pay his cost of production first, then lock in a profit going forward. Once he sells a contract against his production at a stipulated date, that contract can be re-sold. And you have the short side to consider. A trader can sell a futures contract in the market, or go short. He just needs a buyer. More sellers, more buyers, mean more open interest.
I was just trying to give an overview of where the crude price drop may have been sourced. I didn’t want to get into the nuts and bolts of futures in a brief comment, so you were right to make that distinction. Good catch.
As far as markets needing more regulation…my opinion is there are plenty of regulations in place already. It’s the lag or declining of enforcement of regulations that is questionable. Which I suppose one could also say concerning life in general.
allan (a36d93) — 8/2/2008 @ 11:38 am