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Front Page: Chinese Milk Toll Rises, Embassy Attack Kills 16, House Passes Offshore Drilling

CitizenSugar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 07:00:40 -0700

Chinese Milk Toll Rises:
Twenty-two brands of Chinese baby formula have been found to contain toxic levels of melamine. The tainted milk has sickened 6,200 babies and killed three, the toll five times higher than previously announced. Those diagnosed with "acute kidney failure" numbers 158, and the Chinese health minister says they will all receive free health care.
Embassy Attack Kills 16:
An attack by Islamist militants on the US Embassy in Yemen has left 16 people dead. The second strike on the highly secured compound in six months, a group called Jihad in Yemen has claimed responsibility. Fierce gunfire erupted after a suicide bomber detonated a car at the entrance. The embassy spokesman said, "We are very aware that there is a continuing threat here and we are continuously reevaluating our security status."
House Passes Offshore Drilling:
The US House of Representatives passed legislation this morning that lifts the ban on offshore drilling and opens much of the coastline to exploration. The vote was 236-189 in favor of the plan which gives individual states the option to explore between 50 and 100 miles from their shores, and completely opens areas 100 miles out.

Does Obama's Shift on Offshore Drilling Make You Shift Too?

LibertySugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:00:20 -0700

Dragging his feet this weekend, Barack Obama changed his tune on offshore drilling. Obama said he would be willing to support drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, in exchange for a comprehensive alternative energy plan which would include ending oil company tax breaks, and extending tax credits to those searching for alternative fuels. Explaining his shift, Obama said: "What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems. If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."Since the majority of you said you opposed offshore drilling last time I asked, I'm curious if Obama's plan sounds more appealing to you. Source

Does Obama's Shift on Offshore Drilling Make You Shift Too?

No! "Compromises" only help the entrenched interests, aka the oil companies.

Yes! If we want energy independence the political parties have to work together.

Yes! Obama's plan is different because it would encourage alternative energy.

No. I've always thought America should take advantage of all its oil resources.

Other. I'll tell you in the comments.

Obama Shifts, Says He May Back Offshore Drilling

CitizenSugar — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:50:46 -0700

Real Slick? Obama Shifts, Says He May Back Offshore Drilling Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources. Shifting from his previous opposition to expanded offshore drilling, the Illinois senator told a Florida newspaper he could get behind a compromise with Republicans and oil companies to prevent gridlock over energy.

Bush, Reid Drilling Each Other Over Oil, McCain Turns Green

CitizenSugar — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 09:00:18 -0700

Ah, the search for energy that doesn't come from a Red Bull. . . . When President Bush broached the subject of nixing the ban on offshore drilling this week, the idea fueled a whole gusher of tension. Here's where it stands today:

President Bush called out Democrats for parking in the way of energy relief (via drilling) in his radio address this morning. Bush said:

One major deposit in the Rocky Mountain West alone would equal current annual oil imports for more than 100 years. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress are standing in the way of further development. I ask them to reconsider their positions. If congressional leaders leave for the Fourth of July recess without taking action, they will need to explain why $4-a-gallon gasoline is not enough incentive for them to act.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that Bush's claims of stonewalling are crude and baseless — if the president wants drilling, he doesn't even need Congress. To see why,

Front Page: Baghdad Blast Kills 51, Operation Launched Against Taliban, Bush and Offshore Drilling

CitizenSugar — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:00:30 -0700

Baghdad Blast Kills 51: An enormous car bombing shattered part of a busy marketplace and set a crowded apartment building alight in a heavily Shiite district of Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 51 people and wounding 75. As the blast occurred in the midst of a neighborhood where Sunnis had been savagely driven out, some of locals blamed the displaced Sunnis for the attack. The bombing was the deadliest attack in 3 months. One man whose wife and child were killed in the blast sceamed, “now the Americans are bringing outsiders to secure our neighborhood, and look what happened! Maybe we should bring back the old days.”

Operation Launched Against Taliban: NATO and Afghan forces begun a joint operation to drive Taliban insurgents from the outskirts of the city of Kandahar. Amid conflicting reports of casualties, troops backed by helicopter gunships are patrolling west of the Arghandab river, revealing "no major incidents so far". One resident says of the patrols, "most of the roads have been closed, there are check posts everywhere, planes are flying and military convoys belonging to the Afghan and foreign forces are patrolling the city." Last Friday about 350 Taliban fighters escaped with a total of 1,200 inmates from a jail in Kandahar. Only a handful of prisoners have been recaptured.
Bush and Offshore Drilling: President Bush will call on Congress today to reverse a long standing federal ban on offshore oil drilling. Bush wants to work with states to determine where drilling should occur. The move demonstrates how $4-a-gallon gas will be a major issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, and a growing number of Republicans are lining up in opposition to the federal ban. The Congressional moratorium on offshore drilling was first enacted in 1982, and has been renewed every year since. It prohibits oil and gas leasing on most of the outer continental shelf, 3 miles to 200 miles offshore.