Day: June 18, 2010

Politics Of An Oil Spill

From the VOMITORIUM

By now hopefully you have heard about the world’s largest oil spill and all the drama that has gone with it trying to put a ‘cork in the hole’….all the political back and forth….all the political theater….all the accusations….and all the lunacies…..but with all that said there is another part of the story that few seem willing to cover, other than a 30 second sound bite and the rumblings from the radio loudmouths that have NO idea what is happening other than their convoluted sense of reality……and what would that be, Professor?…….the politics of an oil spill…..

There has been a wealth of hearing on the Hill about the spill and the response and who is to blame…..Newser.com has reported on yesterday’s House hearing with the CEO of BP….

While other congressmen were heaping abuse on BP CEO Tony Hayward in this morning’s hearings, one Republican abruptly shifted gears in his opening remarks and apologized to the man in the hot seat. Rep. Joe Barton told Hayward he was “ashamed” of the pressure the White House put on BP to create the $20 billion escrow fund to cover losses to victims of the spill. “I think it’s a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would call a shakedown,” the Texan said. “In this case a $20 billion shakedown.” Barton said the administration has no authority to ask for this “$20 billion slush fund” and that litigation provides adequate due process for awarding damages. “I apologize,” he said to Hayward. “I do not want to live in a country where every time a corporation does something wrong, it’s subject to a political process that amounts to a shakedown.” Later, Dem Rep. Ed Markey begged to differ, noting that litigation by victims of the Exxon Valdez spill took years to be settled, and criminal charges in the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India more than a quarter century.

Smoking’ Joe Barton of Texas?  Would like very much to see which of the oil companies pays his salary in Washington….of course, the GOP jumped his butt and forced him to apologize to the American people….which he did but he was NOT sincere….

Oh, there is always more when dealing with something as hot and volatile as the oil spill….there is a fight going on in the Senate about the liability of an oil company when they cause an environmental and economic disaster……

From Meredith Shiner of Politico:

Democrats attempted Thursday to create unlimited liability for oil companies, and for the fourth time since the Gulf crisis began, Republicans objected.

But Republicans worry that by setting unlimited liability for companies wishing to drill for oil, smaller domestic companies effectively would be shut out of the market. Inhofe, echoing the sentiments of colleague Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who has rejected Menendez’s requests in the past, said that by passing this bill, Congress would be favoring the Big Oil entities Democrats have been maligning.

The Repubs want to save the “mom and pop” oil ops……..okay reality check!  How many “Mom and Pop” oil ops are there in the gulf?  Sorry but it takes lots of money to drill in the Gulf and if you are drilling there you are NOT a “Mom and Pop” operation.  It sounds good that they are trying to protect us “small” people from the government, but this one is just f*cking silly.
And then we have my fav…the governor of Mississippi, Haley Barbour…who recently said:

Mississippi’s Governor Haley Barbour  said Wednesday he has concerns over the $20 billion BP is required to put into an escrow to compensate victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Mr. Barbour says he has concerns because BP may need the assets in order to fund drilling and oil operations.

“If they take a huge amount of money and put it in an escrow account so they can’t use it to drill oil wells and produce revenue, are they going to be able to pay us?” the governor told The Associated Press.

“We need them to generate revenue to be able to pay us,” said Mr. Barbour, a Republican. “I worry that this escrow account reduces the chance of that rather than increasing the chances of that.”

The part about this is that there is politics being played with the lives of the people of the Gulf Coast…..I am sorry but this is not acceptable….but at least we as voters can see who is on the payroll of the massive oil companies…..so far I would bet the Vitter and Barton are for sure and possibly Barbour, who is a lobbyist by trade……Remember that at election time!

Health Reform–Revisited

After a year of health reform back and forth….after a year of lies and misinformation…after a year of name calling and insults……after a year of political jockeying…….after a year of total Hell in Washington…..we have a health reform law…..that is NOT good enough states are trying to sue the government to stop the law….but all the while are preparing to implement the law….

The Dems have gone on the air and taunted the benefits of the law…..have talked about the victory for the people….but is it everything good that the Dems have echoed?  Is it all that and a bag of chips?

According to the Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn:

Part of the health care overhaul due to kick in this September could strip more than 1 million people of their insurance coverage, violating a key goal of President Barack Obama’s reforms.

Under the provision, insurance companies will no longer be able to apply broad annual caps on the amount of money they pay out on health policies. Employer groups say the ban could essentially wipe out a niche insurance market that many part-time workers and retail and restaurant employees have come to rely on.

This market’s limited-benefit plans, also called mini-med plans, are priced low because they can, among other things, restrict the number of covered doctor visits or impose a maximum on insurance payouts in a year. The plans are commonly offered by retail or restaurant companies to low-wage workers who cannot afford more expensive, comprehensive coverage.

Obama and his cronies have told us all about the millions that will now have health care…..they left out the part where some people could lose their plan altogether..