There are a number of topics that have appeared today. Locally, Kansas is about to present a bill that would require proof of citizenship for acquiring a driver’s license and to register to vote and would require a photo-ID to vote.  Typically, dems are already screaming racism. 

Missouri already requires such proof for driver’s licenses but not for voter registration.  Why is that? Proof of citizenship is required to get a Missouri driver’s license when no such proof is required to register and vote?  Does not compute! 

This week gas prices in near KC popped over the $3/gal barrier.  It happened just as I was looking at some used SUVs to replace my little runabout.  The pundits are saying that the increase is due to market nervousness over the events in Libya and the mid-east.  Perhaps.  But I do know that if we’d opened up ANWR and promoted drilling here in the lower 48 a decade ago, there’s be no gas crises for US.

Alaska Governor Parnell has taken Palin’s mantra of “Drill, Baby, drill!”       

Now Can We Drill In Alaska?

 Posted 02/28/2011 07:01 PM ET

Gov. Sean Parnell picks up where Gov. Sarah Palin left off. AP View Enlarged Image

Energy Policy: Alaska’s governor attacks President Obama’s hostility to oil states and warns that ever-higher oil prices will doom economic recovery. The polar bears are doing fine. The American economy is not.

He didn’t say “drill, baby, drill” in so many words, but the point made by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell, Sarah Palin’s successor, in a speech at the National Press Club was the same.

“This is the moment our government must re-examine its ‘no new wells’ policy when it comes to oil exploration and development here at home,” Parnell said in a speech in which he declared the Obama administration “openly hostile” to oil-producing states.

As we have noted, the administration’s mindless pursuit of green energy at all costs is coupled with an unwillingness to put downward pressure on oil prices by increasing domestic supply, leaving the U.S. perilously dependent on Iran, Libya, Venezuela and the rest.

Industry reports indicate that an estimated 2 trillion barrels of oil lie untouched in Wyoming and the surrounding states. That’s about 3 times the oil currently available in Saudi Arabia and their neighboring countries.  There is a similar amount of oil in ANWR in Alaska’s North Slope.  There is no reason, other than the opposition from dems and their eco-wacko supporters, that gas is now running over $3/gal at the pump.  Critics said a decade ago that it’d take five years for oil from those sites to be productive.  If we’d started then, oil would have been flowing FIVE YEARS AGO!

Idjits!

Want to cut spending and reduce the size of government?  Just cutting agency and departmental duplication would save several hundreds of Billions of dollars.

From The Wall Street Journal…

A report from the nonpartisan GAO, to be released Tuesday, compiles a list of redundant and potentially ineffective federal programs, and it could serve as a template for lawmakers in both parties as they move to cut federal spending and consolidate programs to reduce the deficit. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), who pushed for the report, estimated it identifies between $100 billion and $200 billion in duplicative spending. The GAO didn’t put a specific figure on the spending overlap.

The GAO examined numerous federal agencies, including the departments of defense, agriculture and housing and urban development, and pointed to instances where different arms of the government should be coordinating or consolidating efforts to save taxpayers’ money.

The agency found 82 federal programs to improve teacher quality; 80 to help disadvantaged people with transportation; 47 for job training and employment; and 56 to help people understand finances, according to a draft of the report reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

I’d also suggest that some cabinet level departments—like Education, DHS, HHS be eliminated in their entirety. It’d be a good start.