- ALBERT EINSTEIN

Drilling off the east and west coasts of the United States will not guarantee a drop in the pump prices of the fuel Americans buy. America will not own the oil; it will be sold on the world market and have little if any effect on fuel prices in the long term and none whatsoever in the short term.

Still, Democrats in Congress have proven they are willing to trade the priceless vistas off California, Maine, the Carolinas and Oregon for political advantage and risk permanent damage to our precious oceans - the source of much of the Earth's food - in order to sway fearful and misguided voters.

A 27-year-old congressional ban on offshore drilling will be allowed to expire next week, so Democrats who support the ban won't have to continually hear from Republicans that they are blocking energy development and, in effect, propping up fuel prices, a ridiculous argument but one that has resonated with potential voters.

The campaign of presidential nominee John McCain has been successful with its "drill, baby, drill" mantra, feeding off the frustrations of motorists who saw gas prices jump to $4 a gallon during the summer. Even Utah Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson jumped on the GOP bandwagon, sponsoring a measure to end a moratorium on federal rule-making and open the floodgates to developers who want to mine shale in Utah, Colorado and Wyoming to produce oil.

The California Legislature urged Congress to continue to protect the coasts. It passed a resolution citing "the high environmental risk of expanded drilling, along with the economic importance of a healthy coast and fishing industry" as reasons to continue to ban offshore drilling.

The effort was ignored.

We find it ironic that "burn, baby, burn," the precursor of the GOP chant, was the incendiary cry of looters during the Los Angeles race riots of 1965. And the original title of the song by the band Ash, "Burn, Baby, Burn." was "This is Slow Suicide."