As expected, President Obama is planning to lift the drilling moratorium and to return to his planned drilling program off pristine areas of the East Coast. While Obama is no longer claiming that oil rigs really do not spill much, it really does not matter much. Bureau head Michael Bromwich has announced that the six-month ban is unlikely to be renewed in a blow to environmentalists. One lasting change? The Obama Administration changed the name of the scandal-laden Minerals Management Service to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
The Administration has been putting on a full court press with officials expressing relief that they can find no large amounts of oil left — brushing over the millions of gallons of toxic chemicals that they allowed BP to dump into the ocean to disperse the oil. Experts have objected that the Obama Administration has been actively downplaying research showing these chemicals remain in the food chain for many years. Administration officials have said that the health impact of these chemicals remains uncertain — leading others to question the decision to dump millions of gallons into the ocean.
The recent public offensive appears calculated in part to lift the ban. In the ultimate example of “out of sight out of mind,” Bromwich insists that he can “see no information so far that would justify extending the moratorium.”
Source: CNN
Henman The people in the US want private insurance. There is not a mandate for government sponsored insurance. Polls now show the majority are against changes in the current health care system. They think Obama went to far. John Boehner is going to roll it all back when he takes over in January.
Futility is as futility does.
Buddha: “He has, in fact, embraced and furthered the police and surveillance state the traitorous war criminal Bush instigated. The President has the unilateral “right” to assassinate Americans? Pardon me, but the fuck he does. That’s just another example of an overreaching Executive. He’s the President – NOT the Emperor. That’s as blatant a Due Process violation as Bush suspending habeas corpus – which Obama has also done nothing to restore. That little tidbit alone paints Obama as part of the problem with Washington, not the solution. The lesser of two evils isn’t good. It’s simply a different shade of evil.”
Fletch: “Well said; well spoken.”
Slarti: ““and I think painting his actions in this area with the same brush as you do people who intentionally worked to extend executive power as much as was possible no matter what the injury to the Constitution or our nation’s honor is disingenuous.”
Actually it’s disingenuous to ignore a basic theme in American jurisprudence regarding the punishment of those who aid & abet, act as accessories after the fact, join an ongoing criminal conspiracy* and generally obstruct justice by exercising power beyond right which no one has a right to.
Come to think of it, the constitution itself deems such exercise of power as its first and foremost enemy; thus Article IV and the Article VI oath of fealty. Go figure.
*N.B. Careful about those elements of that inchoate crime of conspiracy; much to your chagrin, it’s far more complex than mere opinion and innuendo.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-nolan/the-gop-platform-no-musli_b_679403.html The Tea Party is a reminder of the Know Nothing Party. Back then my Irish catholic relatives were the “other”.
Slartibartfast–President Obama is no FDR. President Obama’s major achievement so far is a badly compromised healthcare reform bill- a gigantic gift to the health insurance companies by making the purchase of health insurance mandatory. What was the problem in the healthcare system that required fixing? The health insurance companies were the problem because of their greed and lack of ethics. The civilized nations of the industrialised world all have government-run healthcare systems with no involvement by insurance companies. Be thankful that FDR didn’t put Social Security into the hands of the insurance companies-it would have gone broke years ago just from the corporate thievery.
The only protesters I see are tea party people out on the corner of the Northwest Highway and Central Expressway. Every Saturday they are out yelling at Mexicans to go home.
‘If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.’
BUFFY, “Never Kill a Boy on the First Date,” Buffy the Vampire Slayer
pete 1, August 11, 2010 at 8:27 pm
or to see the look on the fundamentalists faces when the rapture comes and all the hindus disappear
______________________________
oh no! hahahaha rflol!
thanks for the sloths Lottakatz, I think that’s my ‘dream job’…
Pardon the sloppy typing.
It’s burger time.
or to see the look on the fundamentalists faces when the rapture comes and all the hindus disappear
Slarti,
I do not disagree on the course of action. I’m just saying I think at this point I think it’s probably futile.
Smom,
There is a limit to how many mercenaries one can hire.
There is, however, a limit on how many people can live lives of destitution before they start eating the rich. Remember, it wasn’t a war that started the French Revolution. It was the abuses and indifference of the “ruling class” to the suffering of the citizens.
The apocalypse will come when the teaparty has control of the nuclear football. The only way anyone’s going to survive that is if Jesus takes him up to heaven in the rapture just in the nick of time.
You won’t get any older but you will stop making sense.
In the event of a pressure loss
All our lines are busy now
I will be laughing out loud anyhow…
HenMan,
This is also a time when we need a Franklin Roosevelt as president and President Obama is doing a much better job on that score (in much more difficult political circumstances).
Buddha,
I choose to believe that violence may still be averted and until it’s here I believe that working within the system (and fighting to reform it) is the most effective course of action. You may be right, but until its proven you are I plan on raging against the dying of the light.
“What I propose is people get ready to survive the coming storm. ”
what the ^%&$&$@%^@()(*!, I thought it was almost over…..!!!
which apocalypse rule-book are you following anyway….
Buddah I think you will be sitting and waiting for a long time for the riots to begin. Young people could care less as long as there isn’t a draft.
(the road to hell) Paved it is with no speed limit in sight.
It seems that BP has insured a continued presence for itself in the Gulf:
“BP has managed to link the fate of its $20 billion oil spill victims compensation fund with its continued ability to pump oil from the Gulf of Mexico.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/11/bp-links-compensation-wit_n_679171.html
Sloths, cute little sloths apropos of nothing, just to take that nasty taste away after reading the above story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/09/baby-sloth-rescue-at-cost_n_675899.html
To second The Buddha and expand on my (much) earlier comment, I can only describe President Obama as cowardly on civil liberties issues. Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell still going strong. Gays still being thrown out of the military. No war crimes being investigated or prosecuted. No Constitutional violations being investigated or prosecuted. Guantanamo still open. Obama’s Attorney General actively opposing every habeus corpus hearing. Two Military Commission trials about to begin- not civilian trials. 50,000 troops will stay in Iraq, apparently until the new dictator throws them out in a year or two. Afghanistan war escalated in spite of the fact that Osama Bin Laden is gone and thus our reason for being there is also gone. Warrantless spying of many kinds not stopped. I contend that Obama is Bush 44. At a time when we need a Theodore Roosevelt as President, we have a Theodore Cleaver.
Slarti,
“take on the Constitutional issues of executive overreaching”
There’s a huge difference between not taking on and exacerbating.
“and I think painting his actions in this area with the same brush as you do people who intentionally worked to extend executive power as much as was possible no matter what the injury to the Constitution or our nation’s honor is disingenuous.”
Really? How would you characterize the assertion he can assassinate American citizens without Due Process? Hmm? It’s certainly not working to retract extended Executive power. There’s a huge difference between being disingenuous and being accurate.
Smom,
I propose everyone grab some popcorn and wait for the fires, riots and political violence. Because those times they are coming. Faster under the GOP, but based on the current DNC under performance and malfeasance of office, they are coming regardless. Because the corporatists want to sell weapons and operate private for profit prisons in the name of domestic pacification. And they are coming on the road Washington and K St. graft is paving. What I propose is people get ready to survive the coming storm. Because at this point? I don’t think it can be stopped. If the first thing Obama did was have Bush and Cheney arrested, we might (might!) have had a chance at avoiding what’s coming. But no. He’s just as bought off as they were. A whore for corporate cash.
Get ready for Rollerball!
Nero fiddled while Rome burned.
I intend to laugh and prepare to help clean up the aftermath in accordance with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as not interpreted by sociopaths and religious zealots.