Throw Da Bums Out!

Here are a few more bums we can throw out.  Since all of these are in the House, they're up for re-election.

• Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-03)
• Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA-01)
• Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA-11)
• Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT-04)
• Rep. Hilda L. Solis (D-CA-32)
• Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher (D-CA-10)

Why these six wonderful people?  They've sponsored the Transportation and Housing Options for Gas Price Relief Act of  2008 which would allocate taxpayer money (sign me up anytime you start a bill with that phrase) to:

-- expand public transportation;
-- encourage “pay-as-you-drive” auto insurance policies that reward low-mileage drivers with lower insurance premiums;
-- reduce commuting costs by providing incentives to employers and employees to take transit, bicycle, carpool, walk, or telecommute to work;
-- help local governments create "walkable, bikeable" communities;
-- help Americans make "smart" transportation and housing choices by educating them about their options;
-- create “location efficient mortgages" that would make owning a home near transit more affordable.

Democrats really think we can "conserve" our way out of this. I'd be laughing if I weren't crying.

More bums we can throw out:

• Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-WV-03)
• Rep. Nancy E Boyda (D-KS-02)
• Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN-07)
• Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL-11)
• Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT-02)
• Rep. Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (D-AS)
• Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL-14)
• Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ-08)
• Rep. Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-NY-20)
• Rep. John J. Hall (D-NY-19)
• Rep. Paul W. Hodes (D-NH-02)
• Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA-11)
• Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ-13)
• Rep. Zachary T. Space (D-OH-18)
• Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH-13)
• Rep. Timothy J. Walz (D-MN-01)
• Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT)
• Rep. Charles A. Wilson (D-OH-06)
• Rep. John A. Yarmuth (D-KY-03)

No doubt you're wondering what these 19 people have been up to.

They've sponsored the wonderfully named Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act of 2008 (DRILL).

Wait, I'm for drilling, so I should be for this act, right?

No.

Trying to demonstrate that Democrats are not opposed to drilling in acceptable locales, the House is scheduled to vote on Thursday on a proposal that would deny oil companies any new leases unless they can show they are diligently exploring existing holdings. It would also require annual lease sales from lands in Alaska set aside as a National Petroleum Reserve, and directs the Interior Department to make sure a pipeline is linked to the reserves. Democrats, not subtly, are calling the measure the Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands, or Drill, Act.

So, before oil companies can lease any more land, they have to prove that they're using the lands they're already leasing. Once again, apparently Congress thinks that oil companies lease land just for fun.

This act is the opposite of "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less."  It's "Testify Now. Lease Later. Pay More."