Has it ever occurred to anyone that the simple minded politicians talk of quick fixes after they have prevented preparation? The argument that drilling will not provide immediate relief for high gas prices is so obviously flawed and irrelevant it makes you wonder what they will try next to rationalize their bumbling interference. To say drilling will not help immediately is like saying it won't help to plow the garden cause the seeds won't sprout until later.

The process of getting oil requires getting land to explore on, determination of the most likely places to drill, running environmental studies, getting permits, getting the money for expenses and equipment, hiring personnel, learning how to find oil. taking the risk of drilling, capturing the oil that is found and transporting it and refining it, and setting up a distribution system to sell it. Does that sound like something a politician could even fathom doing?

And the environmentalists evidently imagine that when the gasoline gets too expensive to afford that they will still be able to travel to Washington to protest, that the goods and services they have that are delivered by truck,train and air will still be affordable and plentiful. And the caribou who not one person in 50,000 ever sees will be grateful they didn't have to hike around an oil pipeline. did you ever notice how cattle in Kansas and Oklahoma coexist with oil wells?

Want something? Get a supplier. Let the supplier produce. Don't put up barriers. Expect the supplier to profit form his efforts. Its really not that difficult. Except when you have a politician involved that thinks it is more important to have a constituency to keep him in office than to recognize that humans need sources of energy to survive and prosper. Clean air doesn't do much for an empty stomach.