Sometimes Votes Matter

From the National Review:

At a televised debate July 28, Colorado congressmen and Democratic senatorial candidate Mark Udall said he would not vote to adjourn congress until they had an energy bill.

Udall then skipped the vote, which passed 213-212 without a single Republican voting in favor. Had Udall been there and lived up to his campaign promise, the motion to adjourn would not have passed.

Democrats Fail to Control Gas Prices

The Washington Times reports:

A gallon of gas costs an average of $2.68 nationally and is rising -- about the same price as last spring when Democrats on the campaign trail vowed to swiftly ease the pain at the pump if elected.

...analysts predict gas prices could hit $3 per gallon by summer.

ABC News adds:

'Strong Possibility' Gas Will Rise to $4

Democrats are too busy creating pork and nonbinding resolutions to do either of the two things that would reduce gas prices - increase production or enact price controls (and rationing).

Will Politicians Go After "Big Corn"?

OpinionJournal has a fairly detailed review of the federal government's support of ethanol and its effects on other areas of the economy, concluding:

So here comes Big Corn. Make that Very, Very Big Corn. Sooner or later, our experience with this huge public gamble may make us yearn for the efficiency, capacity, lower cost and--yes--superior environmental record of "Big Oil."

Meanwhile, Mexico is experiencing what the Macaca Post calls "the worst tortilla crisis in its modern history" as a result of increased demand for corn.

Big Corn should be safe in the U.S. -- at least as long as Iowa is an early voting state.

Ted Kennedy Continues to Oppose Renewable Energy

From the Boston Globe:

WASHINGTON -- As record oil prices turn attention to the need for renewable fuels, momentum is building in Congress to buck Senator Edward M. Kennedy's bid to block the proposed Cape Cod wind energy project, potentially reviving efforts to construct the sprawling windmill farm in Nantucket Sound.

The chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee said yesterday that when the bill Kennedy backs that would effectively halt the wind farm comes up for a vote in the Senate, they will object on procedural grounds. They say they'll argue that a renewable energy project shouldn't be lumped in with a bill governing the Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, a group of rank-and-file House members, worried about the political ramifications of rejecting alternative energy sources while motorists pay $3 a gallon at the gas station, have persuaded House leaders to sidetrack the entire bill for at least several weeks, even though it was slated for action this week. The delay could give supporters of the wind farm time to make their case to members of Congress...

Environmental groups have launched an aggressive advertising and lobbying campaign to persuade Democrats to abandon Kennedy and back a promising source of renewable energy. If the wind farm becomes a reality, advocates say, it could provide three-fourths of the Cape and Islands' energy needs and could set an example for the nation.

The maneuver to stop the wind farm ''is clearly a backroom deal, and they're going to get called publicly on it," said John Passacantando, executive director of Greenpeace USA. ''The Democrats are going to kill the first big offshore wind farm in the United States because of their relationship with Ted Kennedy."

The 130-turbine, 24-square-mile cluster of windmills would be about 8 miles from Kennedy's home in Hyannis Port, and he has long opposed it.

Opposition is largely based on elitist NIMBYism, not sound public policy. That may actually makes this more petty than Congress blocking oil exploration in desolate Arctic tundra.