ANWR, ALASKA - House Republican Leader John Boehner of West Chester left with an expedition of fact-finding Republicans this morning on a journey to the center of the earth via a passage way beneath the ANWR glacier in Alaska. 

Boehner was inspired after reading Jules Verne's classic novel about a world of dinosaurs and rich oil fields beneath the Earth's mantle.

"Actually, it was Brendan Fraser's new movie that truly convinced me of the reality of Verne's novel," Boehner told reporters this week, before emphasizing how cool the the 3-D special effects were.  

"I believe in Jules Verne's tales of the underworld's dinosaur soup," continued Boehner, "We will examine the earth's center, it's dinosaur oils, its phosporescent rocks, while our ingenious induction coil lamps light the way to a lasting energy future, that house Democrats are still in denial of."

Boehner claims that high gas prices have nothing to do with the Republicans being the ruling party for the past 7 1/2 years, and everything to do with the reluctance of Democrats to tap into the rich oil reserves from the lost city of Atlantis.

Admittedly, it would be decades before any of these Atlantean reserves could be used, and analysts believe they would provide at most 6 months of oil.   Boehner says that the vast oil reserves already available in Texas would "cheapen" the oil trade, but he still wants to pursue the rich black gold at the earth's core, at least until November.  Boehner also scoffs at the environmentalists who are concerned about the habitat of the giant iguanas and dinosaurs deep inside the earth.

 "Hey, it's just the center of the earth," said Boehner, "It's not like anybody lives down there."