Crude Oil, Guam Capsizing and Pot

Dear Mark: President Obama is proposing to open up more areas for oil exploration around the United States. During the 2008 campaign, your ilk screamed "drill baby drill," and now he's doing it. Shouldn't you be happy and embrace what the president is trying to do? — Oily Ollie in Ohio

Dear Oily: I am going to take a wait-and-see approach to his proposal because my gut tells me this is a political ploy to grab a couple of Republican Senate votes to pave the way for cap-and-trade legislation. This president is as slick as the crude he wants to pump out of the ground, and the health care debate proved that his words and actions are quite different.

Is this a flip-flop or a calculated move to the center, as candidate Obama was adamantly opposed to new drilling in any form? I vote "calculated move."

Unfortunately for the American people, Obama will once again turn the "sausage making" over to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Pelosi and Reid will formulate a bill, and a contentious debate will ensue with opponents being labeled as "environmental racists." When their subsequent bill does not include expanded drilling, President Obama will use that as political cover and claim that he tried to appease the right.

Sitting here in the great state of Texas where black gold is king, it amuses me to hear a bunch of starched-shirt, elitist politicians discuss the oil and gas industry over their weekly manicures. The only thing most of them know about oil is what they've seen on "The Beverly Hillbillies."

If President Obama truly wants to help the country, he will open up drilling completely. This will create thousands of new jobs along with increasing tax revenues for states like California and Florida that are in desperate need of money and employment.

The environmental concerns about drilling are overblown, as evidenced by the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil platforms surviving numerous hurricanes, including Katrina.

Dear Mark: Did I hear this right? A Democrat congressman from Georgia thought that the island of Guam could tip over and capsize. — Tell Me No in Telluride

Dear Tell Me: It is sad but true and quite embarrassing even by Washington standards. Referring to placing 8,000 new military personnel and families on the island of Guam, Rep. Hank Johnson actually made the following statement at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. "My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize." Adm. Robert Willard was more tactful than I would have been when he responded, "We don't anticipate that."

The left is having a field day with the Republican National Committee member who expensed $2,000 during a sex club excursion, yet they don't seem to have a problem with a congressman of such "intellect" serving on one of the most important committees in Congress. I wonder if Johnson will vote to reinflate Hawaii this year to keep it afloat.

Dear Mark: Californians will have the opportunity to vote to legalize pot for personal use this coming November. What is this world coming to? — Pot Prude in Pottsboro

Dear Prude: What do you expect? It's California. On the positive side, more stoners means less competition in the job market for my kids. Let's forget about the marijuana ballot for a moment. The way Congress has been behaving the past couple of years, crack must have been recently legalized in Washington, D.C.

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