Oil Spill

[panthera]

Hunter,

I thought this was interesting. Can't say it completely assuages my suspicions (as you can see around here, even the paranoid have real enemies) but it is worth mentioning.

The Washington Post is sort of the very last stop on the moderate-right-leaning media in my lights (except for their opinion page which is to the far right of the Wall Street Journal and makes McCarthy look like a flaming liberal-commie-pinko-fascist.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050405168.html?hpid=topnews

 

[panthera]

Disgusting. It just gets worse and worse

Here's a good summary of which administration mandated safety systems for bore platforms, which administration decided they weren't needed and why.
Read it and weep - we taxpayers get to pay for the whole mess.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/sex-lies-and-oil-spills_b_564163.html

 

[toggleswitch]

Disasters that are AVOIDABLE are truly gross.

Change the law such that safety devices and methods are MANDATORY and shut-down ANY drilling rigs YESTERDAY that do not have them.

I still say the good of the people and the country comes before the philosophy of either/any political ideology/philosophy/party.

As an aside, when our political parties were founded/begun, do we not see that they were set-up purposely as the extremes? They were meant as a system of checks-and-balances intended to keep the government from becoming too powerful and too efficient (in enacting radical fast-moving changes). Clearly then, the "proper" way of thinking is somwhere BEWTEEN these two ideologies (party-lines).

All I have to say is, the last time businesses and corporations were so unregulated and favored (i.e. before the current admministration and the one before that one) the same (near) collapse of the economy came about. Do we not learn?

BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES ARE INHERENTLY NOT PERFECT. Any of you who think so and believe FERVENTLY in one way or the other REALLY scare me.

And there is no need to try to convince me. As Mrs. Slocombe would say: 'That is my opinion, and I am unanimous in that!'

GREEK PHILOSPHIES:

Moderation in all things.
In all things and by every measure be the best.

These two ideologies alone would solve so many problems...

[this post was last edited: 5/5/2010-14:26]

 

[panthera]

I like the German

Das Perfekt ist feind des Guten.
Doesn't really need translating.
And yes, Toggles, you are right - no party is anywhere close to having even some, never mind all the answers.

That said, the 1990s saw a tremendous growth - under Clinton - in the belief that the industry would regulate itself because it was in its own best interests so to do.

Boy oh boy are we finding out how wrong that was. Housing. Derivatives. Oil spills.

Unfortunately, we have a situation right now in which one party is determined to bring down the government, regardless of the harm to the country.

 

[hunter]

Industry regulating itself...

...is like government regulating itself.

Only with a strong sense of ethics will this happen.

Unfortunately, we are dealing with humans. Therefore, a regulatory body is necessary.

In my libertarian perfect would folks would have ethics.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Yes, Hunter, it is a shame about the lack of ethics. If the ones braying the loudest about how religious they are behaved as if there were a life after this one where you have to answer for what you have said and done, things would be a lot better here in this one. Somehow they think that they can sow all of their wild oats and then get a crop failure just by saying the name of their savior. My father, may he rest in peace, learned one thing quickly once he started doing business in the South. He used to say, "When they start telling you how religious they are and how many times a week they are in church, watch out. You're about to get yentzed."

Mark Twain said that America had no distinct criminal class except Congress. To that I would add a lot of power-mad people who go into the ministry. I don't know if anyone here saw it last night, but George Alan Rekers, the Baptist minister from Miami who helped James Dobson found Focus on the Family and, needless to say, is a vicious homophobe, was photographed returning from a vacation with a rentboy who has a business profile on a Rentboy website. Rentboy was hired to help him with his "luggage." He charges $800 for an outcall so you can imagine the expense for 10 days of "luggage handling." The wonderful thing is that all of this was paid for with contributions from the faithful and bigoted. Thinking about this slime makes the oil spill seem almost clean by comparison.

 

[panthera]

So that's what they call it now-a-days...

And another one bites the dust.

These christianists are doing everything in their power to deny gays and transgender basic human and civil rights.

It is always a good thing when they are exposed.

I can't wait for the blow-by-blow, penetrating discussion of their on-their-knees sessions by Lucien. The rent-boy is the real looser in this whole situation. Like all small business people, he lives from his reputation. This can't help but ruin him.
This guy runs a "tax-free" organization. I really, really want to know why 10 days having your bags carried your rent-boy in Europe should be financed by tax-payers?

 

[sudsman]

I guess it all depends on

just whos luggage he is carring and how BIG their "luggage"is..

 

[panthera]

Lucien

is qualified for the hung jury.

This is big - denying us the right to adopt or even keep our own children over the last years has been based to a great extend on the lies of this christianist.

Of course, the usual suspects are denying even knowing him. A typical christianist tactic when one of their own gets caught with, um, his pants down.

But, heh! I just had a thought. You know how they always send their "fallen" comrades off to be "heterosized"? This guy, at least, knows how to get his bags packed. And here's his bag-handler.
Oh, joy, joy, happy, happy, another one bites the dust.

 

[hunter]

Yes indeed.

The amount of hypocrisy and evil in governments throughout the world is nothing short of amazing.

Frankly, this is WHY our constitution was set up with such incredibly strict limits on government power. Rather unfortunate that the 'limited state of emergency' that every president manages to declare (OK City terror with Clinton, 9/11 with Bush, Swine Flu with Obama) further erodes civil liberties and gives the federal government more power.

Just wait til the national ID is implemented and, oh yes, things like sexual orientation will be put in it just for security purposes...

It's feeling like the 20s again.

 

[panthera]

NO,

Hunter, you are totally wrong. You are far too optimistic.
It feels like Autumn 1938. Temporary peace, but we are all waiting for the next shoe to drop.
Liebermann has introduced a bill to let the State Department, cancel the American citizenship of anyone, for any reason they deem acceptable, without a court hearing or even notification.

The Obama adminsitration opposes it completely, but it has already picked up several supporters on the rethuglican fringe and the tea-baggers. This is why, distasteful as I find the politics of the "urgency of whenever" when it comes to my civil and human rights as a gay man, I still prefer the democrats to the right-wing whack-jobs.

I don't know what is scarier - these attempts to destroy the constitution or the fact that so many conservatives fall for it.

 

[panthera]

Of course,

The christianists have now turned on Dr. Rekers totally. They are threatening the brave gay blogs which published the details with lawsuits, attacking that poor young business man - and both his university in South Carolina as well as FRC have completed their erasure of him from their websites. Stalin couldn't have done it better.
Even on wikipedia, the christianists are erasing the details and they are being put back in nearly hourly.

 

[alr2903]

AC 360

Did anyone watch Anderson tonight, he spoke on the phone with professor, from Purdue. The man thinks the oil is pouring out of the pipe at a rate, that would equal an Exxon Valdez spill every 4 days. I am truly worked up over this. alr2903

 

[panthera]

It is very scary

I haven't been that deep in the South in a few years, but I remember most folks down there living from exactly the sectors which are not gone with the...oil...for the next fifty years, at least: Tourism, fishing, small agriculture.

They're dead and they ain't coming back.

But heh - no problem, right - the folks who caused this mess are going to be held liable for 10 billion smackaroonies, no?

Ah, no.

A senator from Alaska just killed the bill. It is unfair to the oil companies to make them pay for the damages they cause.

Honestly! Check out the link.

Wow. Just, like, wow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/13/lisa-murkowski-blocks-bil_n_575918.html

 

[sudsman]

A senator from Alaska just killed the bill. It is unfair to

Makes one wonder just how much they ar PAYING her!

 

[panthera]

300K so far

And that's all she admits to.

 

[sudsman]

That means it is most likely

4 or 5 x that plus who knows what esle she got. And we are all getting a big one up the *****

And it just keep getting worse
Scientists and environmental groups say the real figure must be far larger.

 

[sudsman]

Does any one here know

if the oil gets into all the pumps around New Orleans if they can handle it or will they stall out.. Will The weight may be too much for them to handle.

 

[lordkenmore]

I wonder if I caused millions of dollars of damage that harmed BP if Lisa Murkowski and all her dear conservative friends would be willing to work hard to make sure I'd only owe a fraction of that.

Somehow, I have the feeling the answer is no.

I don't often feel this way, but right now, I'd like to move to Alaska just so I could have the sheer joy and pleasure of voting against Murkowski next time she runs for office.

 

[sudsman]

I wonder

If she can see Russia from her front window too?

 

[panthera]

Now, Now

Everybody knows this is just a little bit of chocolate milk, let the waves stir it up a bit and it will all disperse in a day or two, Monday at the latest.

And who says it's the Exxon Valdez every four days? Right. The Obama administration.

And we all know they blew it up in the first place, just so they wouldn't have to pass the offshore-drilling...which they just authorized...

Well, shucks, gosh, golly, darn.

Anyway, I'm sure it's all a plot by them thar unchristian environmentalists and Europeans to discredit big oil so they can force windfarms and solar energy down our throats.

Forgive me the skepticism, but, really. Just what the hell are all the little people down there going to do? Their fisheries are gone, their tourism is gone and their beach-front property is not a tar-pit without La Brea and dinosaurs, it's just a big pile of stinking goo.

The link shows up part of the problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/us/14agency.html?pagewanted=2&hp

 

[sudsman]

Just wonder about the billions and billions

it is going to effect in shipping. A lot of goods come thru there.

 

[panthera]

No, Lee,

all the shipping that WENT through there.
Including a pretty large amount of liquid petroleum gas and other fossil fuels.

 

[sudsman]

But are there not a lot of goods shipped out

of New O. thru there?

 

[panthera]

in, out, through trans or cis

They is are screwed.
Lube everywhere, still - dry screwed.

This is going to be Obama's proof-stone. If he fails to make the little people whole on this one, he's not worthy of re-election.

I can't believe these oh-so-patriotic Republicans aren't setting aside politics to help, here.

Guess the Great Experiment really has failed. All that's left is "I've got mine, screw you" and "my way or the highway".

Seriously, as a yellow-dawg Democrat, I expect more from my side of the great divide. I've made my (small) donation. Symbolic more than anything else, but every cent helps.

 

[panthera]

Obama Fuming

Well, it's about time.

Honestly, he needed to blow up two weeks ago.

This just gets worse and worse. Scientists are saying up to 70,000 barrels a day.
BP is saying max, 5,000 a day.

Puhlease.

This is precisely why we need government oversight.
This is precisely why we need science.

I'm just surprised the christianists haven't yet gathered to pronounce this God's judgement on America for...wait for it...
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Teh gayz

Sheesh.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/14/obamas-gulf-oil-spill-res_n_576530.html

 

[cleanteamofny]

Tar baby, now let's see if we can go to the beach on the 4th of July in Atlantic City or the water damage state of Rhode Island in September.

Oil, oil, everywhere, on our beaches and in our hair!
Martha Steward would say "It's a good thing!" Nice of you dark and lovely to drop by and refuse to leave.
That chocloate milk theory is a nightmare. Doctor death under the ocean, now I see a picture that we cannot phantom.

BP new name should be Busted Pump can I get a whoom, whoomp!?!

BTW, everyone is at fault for this one.
Major corp to our wonderful nation of take the money and look the other way.

 

[alr2903]

Well, the Gulf of Mexico now belongs to BP. BP and the Coast Guard turned the CNN camera's away yesterday. Say whatever, I hope Michael Moore is at a boat launch in Louisiana right NOW. alr2903

 

[cleanteamofny]

Since the H-cane season is at hand, how far will the oil be pushed inland?
No one is talking about inland damages that will occurs if this happens. Farm, water supply, etc.....

 

[lordkenmore]

A BP boycott petition link was sent to me. I'll give the link for those interested. Some may not like the people apparently behind it--it appears to be liberal/heavily Democrat. But they do offer a free bumper sticker.

A Google search turns up many other boycotts.

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/activities/343?aobb