that used to work for us, until we abandoned it, to our regret in my opinion." Hillary, talking about Bill's proven formula for having a great economy, Link
He already should us how to make the economy hum, but our Democrats can't figure it out. He showed them how to win elections, too, but they're just not into winning.
"Those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property." Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman Editorial, apparently threatening the life of a writer who moved in next to the Publicity Whore Link
But doesn't that law work both ways? If Palin steps on Joe's property, he can legally shoot her, right?
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I'm just hoping that after the worst oil disaster in history that if it's really going to be bad that it is bad enough to shut up the "Drill Baby Drill" crowd and those who keep saying that we don't need government regulation. Without regulating these companies the taxpayers have to pick up the cost of these corporate mistakes. They want to play "capitalist" and "free market" but when they fail we have to bail them out. I wonder if the Tea Party thinks that the taxpayer should bail out the oil companies in the name of corporate freedom?
We deregulated the electric companies and had rolling blackouts. We deregulated the Savings and Loans in the 1980s and they collapsed and had to have a taxpayer bailout. Then we deregulated the banks and the securities and we had the taxpayer bailout of 2008. We didn't regulate the mines enough and miners die in explosions.
Now the oil companies have liability caps which means that someone else has to pay for their mistakes.
Where were the government regulators?
They were literally downloading porn, doing drugs, and having sex with corporate lobbyists.
Our nation is a nation of people, but corporations. It's We the People. We have to vote out the politicians who put the companies who bribe them first before the interests of the common good of the humans they are supposed to represent. Maybe finally this latest disaster will be bad enough to shut up even Rand Paul and
Sarah Palin who seem to think that foreign oil companies have superior rights to the American public.
Marc Perkel
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Too cowardly to meet with reporters, he makes his apology ON FACEBOOK:
BP CEO Tony Hayward Issues an Apology for Remarks
"I made a hurtful and thoughtless comment on Sunday when I said that "I wanted my life back." When I read that recently, I was appalled. I apologize, especially to the families of the 11 men who lost their lives in this tragic accident. Those words don't represent how I feel about this tragedy, and certainly don't represent the hearts of the people of BP – many of whom live and work in the Gulf - who are doing everything they can to make things right. My first priority is doing all we can to restore the lives of the people of the Gulf region and their families – to restore their lives, not mine."
Why do these people deserve second acts?
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Ted Haggard, the former megachurch pastor who fell from grace amid a sex scandal, has called a news conference to announce the next step in his career.
The announcement is planned Wednesday at Haggard's Colorado Springs home, three weeks after he said he filed incorporation papers for a new church.
But wait - here's the good part:
He's being represented by a Los Angeles-based publicist who says she has promoted reality shows including "The Girls Next Door" and "Kendra."
I wonder how Ted reconciles that little tidbit.
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I have to thank Open Salon's Jacob Freeze for a timely reminder that Obama's lack of reaction to the disastrous Gulf oil spill and his willingness to accept BP's less-than-stellar efforts to cap the well are nothing new. This is from a 2008 campaign speech that most people ignored:
In the early years of the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, defenders of the status quo often accused anybody who questioned the wisdom of government policies of being unpatriotic.
Meanwhile, some of those in the so-called counter-culture of the Sixties reacted not merely by criticizing particular government policies, but by attacking the symbols, and in extreme cases, the very idea, of America itself - by burning flags; by blaming America for all that was wrong with the world; and perhaps most tragically, by failing to honor those veterans coming home from Vietnam, something that remains a national shame to this day.
Jacob made just a few little changes and the difference is less startling than revelatory.
Continue reading "Obama and the Gulf" »
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Wisco: Criminal charges coming for BP?
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Barney Frank: I'm Ashamed Of Israel
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) says that as a Jew, he's ashamed of Israel's "victimization" of Palestinians. Frank is calling for an independent international inquiry into this weekend's raid on the ships heading for the Gaza Strip. Frank's words are not winning him friends among Jewish leaders in his district. "They weren't innocent at all, it's pretty clear," said Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council in Boston. "There's something called self-defense and (Israeli officials) have a right to use it. As usual, everyone's jumping on Israel and blaming Israel." Frank's criticism comes as Israel faces a blistering worldwide backlash for its part in the early Monday morning raid, receiving only lukewarm U.S. support, in an incident that has underscored deep divides over Israeli-Palestinian issues. Israeli officials said members of the boarding party opened fire to defend themselves from a violent, armed assault, while activists said they were the ones under attack. Frank said, "Once you have a combat situation and innocent people die, I mean, you know, look at our problems in Afghanistan, and we have an obligation to try and avoid it." In defense of Israel, Frank added there are people "howling for Israel to pay a price that don't seem disturbed that North Koreans killed 46 South Koreans by torpedoing a South Korean boat. I think we have a right to ask for some consistency."Today Israel began deporting the nearly 700 activists detained during the raid.
.These guys are so predictable.
Led by Fox News, right-wing media have attacked Attorney General Eric Holder over his announcement that the Justice Department has begun civil and criminal investigations into the Gulf oil spill. Their attacks echo previous criticism from Fox and right-wing media figures over SEC charges and congressional hearings into Goldman Sachs and hearings into a Toyota vehicle recall.
A sampling…
Fox and Morons Friends
On the June 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade stated, "The Department of Justice is probing for a myriad of reasons, it looks like, into BP and what they've done and what they could have violated." He then suggested that the announcement of the investigations "drop[ped] BP's stock 15 percent" and "just tank[ed] the market," and asked, "Was that smart?" Co-host Steve Doocy replied, "Maybe not, because if they're facing all these lawsuits, suddenly, where's that money going to come from?"
Charles Krauthammer on Fox
"I think what the attorney general did today is somewhat over the line … I might have missed it but I didn't hear a syllable about what evidence he has of criminal activity here."
"So they want to make it look like they are doing something, but declaring war on the oil company, at this time, and in a criminal way, I think is really distasteful. It's not going to help anybody."
Stuart Varney on Fox
"What good does it do to threaten criminal charges to try to ruin British Petroleum? What good does it do?" All it does is divert attention. You demonize and divert attention from your responsibility."
Michele Bachmann
"President Obama has once again shown his lack of judgment, by sending Attorney General Eric Holder down to the Gulf of Mexico to investigate possible litigation. … Instead of concentrating on stemming the ongoing oil spill, the Obama administration is opening up a new gusher, full of litigation and trial lawyers."
Is there any good reason for the Justice Department to not conduct an investigation at this time? Surely neither the JD's attorneys, nor BP's, are involved in plugging the leak. This is just a continuation of the conservative/Republican narrative we've been hearing for the last eighteen months – attack and criticize President Obama at every opportunity no matter what he does.
It's not a stretch these days to say that if you take a look at almost any issue of the day, you'll find Republicans at the wrong end supporting the interests of corrupt big business over those of every day Americans..
These guys are so predictable.
Led by Fox News, right-wing media have attacked Attorney General Eric Holder over his announcement that the Justice Department has begun civil and criminal investigations into the Gulf oil spill. Their attacks echo previous criticism from Fox and right-wing media figures over SEC charges and congressional hearings into Goldman Sachs and hearings into a Toyota vehicle recall.
A sampling…
Fox and Morons Friends
On the June 2 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade stated, "The Department of Justice is probing for a myriad of reasons, it looks like, into BP and what they've done and what they could have violated." He then suggested that the announcement of the investigations "drop[ped] BP's stock 15 percent" and "just tank[ed] the market," and asked, "Was that smart?" Co-host Steve Doocy replied, "Maybe not, because if they're facing all these lawsuits, suddenly, where's that money going to come from?"
Charles Krauthammer on Fox
"I think what the attorney general did today is somewhat over the line … I might have missed it but I didn't hear a syllable about what evidence he has of criminal activity here."
"So they want to make it look like they are doing something, but declaring war on the oil company, at this time, and in a criminal way, I think is really distasteful. It's not going to help anybody."
Stuart Varney on Fox
"What good does it do to threaten criminal charges to try to ruin British Petroleum? What good does it do?" All it does is divert attention. You demonize and divert attention from your responsibility."
Michele Bachmann
"President Obama has once again shown his lack of judgment, by sending Attorney General Eric Holder down to the Gulf of Mexico to investigate possible litigation. … Instead of concentrating on stemming the ongoing oil spill, the Obama administration is opening up a new gusher, full of litigation and trial lawyers."
Is there any good reason for the Justice Department to not conduct an investigation at this time? Surely neither the JD's attorneys, nor BP's, are involved in plugging the leak. This is just a continuation of the conservative/Republican narrative we've been hearing for the last eighteen months – attack and criticize President Obama at every opportunity no matter what he does.
It's not a stretch these days to say that if you take a look at almost any issue of the day, you'll find Republicans at the wrong end supporting the interests of corrupt big business over those of every day Americans.
But of course!
Update:
Seems Kirk also has another "conservative problem": His military record appears to not be the only thing about which Mark Kirk is lying.
Fishermen Hospitalized: BP Not Allowing Clean-Up Workers to Use RespiratorsHazmat suits but no respirators. That arrogant Limey bastard CEO says it may be 'food poisoning' from 'unsanitary conditions' in the temporary worker camps. Hey, asshole, if there's one thing Americans know that Limeys don't, it's how to cook in outdoor situations. Fuck, the English can't cook in a kitchen. Yeesh.
Someone said on TV last night that BP may not have had a clean-up strategy, but they sure as hell had a legal strategy ready to go. The respirator thing is just another plan that's going to backfire on them.
Their larger plan is that they know there are going to be tens of thousands of claims, lawsuits, litigation of all sorts. Their plan? Keep 'em all tied up in court until all the plaintiffs are dead.
Let's hope the prosecutions go a little quicker.
Update:
Fisherman who fell ill during oil spill clean-up alleges BP tried to cover-up evidence.
"At West Jefferson, there were tents set up outside the hospital, where I was stripped of my clothing, washed with water and several showers, before I was allowed into the hospital," Wunstell said. "When I asked for my clothing, I was told that BP had confiscated all of my clothing and it would not be returned."
Knowingly exposing workers to toxins and carcinogens without safety equipment due to their (well-founded) fears of legal liability that is going to come back and bite them on the ass and rightly so. We're a very litigious society. This time, that's a good thing.
BP's gotta go down over all this.
Update II:
If you were to draw an oily line from the first exploitation of oil in the Middle East by the British in 1901 (they were in the process of converting their then world dominating naval fleet from coal to oil and were in desperate need of it) to the overthrow of the secular democratic leader in Iran, Mohammed Mossadeq, in 1953, to the Iraq War, to the criminal environmental catastrophe in the Gulf, BP would have been there.
BP and its American counterparts are part of the corporate oligarchy that run governments when it comes to energy policy. They don't take orders from sovereign nations; they give them. [...] There is no brake on their malfeasance, greed and criminal behavior, nor their ability to get nations to go to war, overthrow democratically elected leaders, and to get away with pollution of proportions beyond the imagination.It's way past time for that to change. More.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhYCYI00rD4&feature=player_embedded
Young said: "This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a national phenomena. Oil has seeped into this ocean for centuries, will continue to do it. During World War II there was over 10 million barrels of oil spilt from ships, and no natural catastrophe. … We will lose some birds, we will lose some fixed sealife, but overall it will recover."
Last month, Gulf Coast marine scientists told The Wonk Room's Brad Johnson that the ecological impact of the accident will be "devastating" because "oil's bad for everything." The massive amount of oil threatens several endangered species, coral reefs, and the fragile ecosystem of Louisiana's coastline. The exact impact of the oil is more uncertain than in other spills because "for the most part, researchers have studied the aftermath of surface spills. The Deepwater Horizon blowout occurred at 5,000 feet, dispensing crude oil from seafloor to surface." "This is uncharted territory in terms of assessing the effects of a spill from a deep well like this," Judy McDowell, a scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts told the Christian Science Monitor.
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REPUBLICAN Rep. Tom Cole on oil spill: "Acts of god are acts of god."
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Ex-Florida GOP chair arrested for something involving large sums of illegal money
