Senate blocks oil drilling plan in Alaska reserve - Banks - Oil and Gas - Financial Services - Energy - Commodities - Economy

The Senior Senator from New Jersey quoted Yogi today, "It ain't over til it?s over". In the next hour or two, Bill Frist will lay out the Senate agenda for the next day or two. The dems feel strongly that they have a winning issue on their hands. The reps feel strongly that drilling in ANWR is good for America. The dems need so badly to win at something but they sure have picked on all the poor people who pay too much for gas.

The situation strikes me as like the farmer who feeds one of 6 cows to the wolves in an attempt to save the other cows. The problem is that the wolves come back for more. At some point the farmer must fight the wolves. ANWR oil represents about 1/6th of America's Oil. There is really no good reason to leave it in the ground.

Will the Senate continue to filibuster the Patriot Act? Will Bush continue to go on TV to put the dems feet to the fire? I, for one, hope this game is going into overtime. I hope the Senate is still in session on the day before and after Christmas if necessary.

When major votes are taken, the party out of power always accuses the other party of breaking the rules. The Senate just voted for cloture but the dems filibuster held. Thus the rule of law was followed. The rule of law says the vote can be called again. Bill Frist voted last. His vote against cloture allows him to call for reconsideration. He has done so.

"It ain't over til it's over". It is time to pump oil from Alaska; the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay is already built. It has the capacity to transport this oil to the lower 48 states. The current price of oil makes this oil a valuable resource. The revenues to the US government have been earmarked to help hurricane victims; a worthy use of funds, but the more important impact will be on the price of gas to us all. This supply might not lower the price of oil but it will at least help limit the peak price for a lot of years to come.

Stay tuned. Investors should be interested as should all citizens. Why should you pay extra for gasoline and heating oil while US owned oil sits in a big hole in the ground?