All The News That Fits
A selection of the events going on around our country today:
How surprising is this? I'd say about as surprising as the war on Christmas:
"A government panel on Thursday essentially doubled its estimate of how much oil has been spewing from the out-of-control BP well, with the new calculation suggesting that an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days."
How many times, now, has BP lied about how much damage its spills are doing? But of course, it would be outrageous to expect them to pay for the disaster they caused. BP CEO Hayward:
“This demand is chilling,” said one executive in the meeting. “The administration keeps pushing the boundaries on what we are responsible for.”
Listen, you're responsible for all of it. Get that through your head. It is likely to destroy your company. Tough luck, jerk. Better your company than our coastline.
And while we are on the subject, I notice that everyone seems to be ignoring the other major malefactor in this disaster, a company known as Halliburton. Ever heard of them? Listen, Barack, how about doing the whole world a service and driving these corrupt criminals out of business too.
And now, the Republican Wishful Thinking Champion of the Day- Scott Brown:
"BROWN: Well, I’m looking out for jobs and jobs in Massachusetts and throughout the country. And to give a non-governmental agency the ability to regulate the way that they have the potential to, they can regulate churches and restaurants and drop it all the way down from the big emitters to the very smallest emitters and it’s not appropriate."
The EPA- a non-governmental agency. Kind of like that lady who was yelling, "keep your government hands off my medicare." I guess as long as that Kenyan, Obama is president, the executive branch isn't part of the government.
And now for a little better news:
"TREASURY DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES TARP MILESTONE: REPAYMENTS TO TAXPAYERS SURPASS TARP FUNDS OUTSTANDING
The overall projected cost of the TARP program has declined dramatically as repayments to taxpayers continued to exceed expectations. In May, Treasury notified Congress that the projected lifetime cost of TARP has decreased by $11.4 billion to $105.4 billion since the FY 2011 President's Budget."
$105 billion. I wonder if there are any Republicans out there who are adept enough at math to evaluate the bailout's contribution to our current financial mess, compared, say, to Bush's multi-trillion dollar war of aggression in Iraq, or his trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich. Because the last I heard from them, the whole economic collapse was caused by Obama's efforts to stop it after it had happened.
And an amusing comment from the Washington Post, in a rare moment of sanity:
Paul Starobin, Washington Post: "Why can't President Obama stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Why can't he get the Israelis and Palestinians to stop squabbling and make peace? Why can't he get the Europeans to contribute more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan? Why can't he forge a global treaty to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?"
Yeah, why not? Unfortunately, he undoes this relatively sane observation with the following:
"Obama, fairly enough, is reaping what he sowed in assigning himself an impossible mission as a global savior."
And when, exactly did he do that, Mr. Starobin? I mean, except in the feverish delusions of right wing bloggers? I don't ever remember him passing himself off as a global savior. That's just one more lie that the Republicans have spread about him, and you utterly destroy the value of your article about unreasonable expectations, by spreading the Republican talking point that he brought it all on himself.
But then, what would a Washington Post editorial be, without a Republican talking point or two?
And while we are on the subject of Republicans, how about this?
"Congressional Democrats and the White House are toying with different ways to force BP to cover the costs of damages from the Gulf oil spill. But they face stiff opposition from industry...and it seems leading Republicans. In response to a question from TPMDC, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he believes taxpayers should help pick up the tab for the clean up."
"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there," Boehner said at his weekly press conference this morning."
"Help picking up the tab" meaning in this case, BP pays the current maximum of $75 million, and we pay the other $15 or 20 billion. Republicans are fighting every step of the way to prevent that $75 million cap from being raised. That's fair, right?
Naturally, Boehner has spent the last two days since saying this trying to weasel his way out of this admission that the Republican party intends for us to pick up the tab for the oil spill. But that's exactly what they do intend, and unless Obama and congressional Dems show some guts, that's exactly what is going to happen.
And just to add insult to injury, how surprised are you to hear this:
"Bush Ignored Warnings From 2000 About Deepwater Oil Spills
U.S. government regulators warned in 2000 about the myriad problems that could be caused by a deepwater oil spill. But the George W. Bush administration ignored such warnings and issued an executive order in May 2001 that pushed to speed up the search for oil."
Nothing ever changes, huh?
How surprising is this? I'd say about as surprising as the war on Christmas:
"A government panel on Thursday essentially doubled its estimate of how much oil has been spewing from the out-of-control BP well, with the new calculation suggesting that an amount equivalent to the Exxon Valdez disaster could be flowing into the Gulf of Mexico every 8 to 10 days."
How many times, now, has BP lied about how much damage its spills are doing? But of course, it would be outrageous to expect them to pay for the disaster they caused. BP CEO Hayward:
“This demand is chilling,” said one executive in the meeting. “The administration keeps pushing the boundaries on what we are responsible for.”
Listen, you're responsible for all of it. Get that through your head. It is likely to destroy your company. Tough luck, jerk. Better your company than our coastline.
And while we are on the subject, I notice that everyone seems to be ignoring the other major malefactor in this disaster, a company known as Halliburton. Ever heard of them? Listen, Barack, how about doing the whole world a service and driving these corrupt criminals out of business too.
And now, the Republican Wishful Thinking Champion of the Day- Scott Brown:
"BROWN: Well, I’m looking out for jobs and jobs in Massachusetts and throughout the country. And to give a non-governmental agency the ability to regulate the way that they have the potential to, they can regulate churches and restaurants and drop it all the way down from the big emitters to the very smallest emitters and it’s not appropriate."
The EPA- a non-governmental agency. Kind of like that lady who was yelling, "keep your government hands off my medicare." I guess as long as that Kenyan, Obama is president, the executive branch isn't part of the government.
And now for a little better news:
"TREASURY DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES TARP MILESTONE: REPAYMENTS TO TAXPAYERS SURPASS TARP FUNDS OUTSTANDING
The overall projected cost of the TARP program has declined dramatically as repayments to taxpayers continued to exceed expectations. In May, Treasury notified Congress that the projected lifetime cost of TARP has decreased by $11.4 billion to $105.4 billion since the FY 2011 President's Budget."
$105 billion. I wonder if there are any Republicans out there who are adept enough at math to evaluate the bailout's contribution to our current financial mess, compared, say, to Bush's multi-trillion dollar war of aggression in Iraq, or his trillion dollar tax giveaway to the rich. Because the last I heard from them, the whole economic collapse was caused by Obama's efforts to stop it after it had happened.
And an amusing comment from the Washington Post, in a rare moment of sanity:
Paul Starobin, Washington Post: "Why can't President Obama stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Why can't he get the Israelis and Palestinians to stop squabbling and make peace? Why can't he get the Europeans to contribute more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan? Why can't he forge a global treaty to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases?"
Yeah, why not? Unfortunately, he undoes this relatively sane observation with the following:
"Obama, fairly enough, is reaping what he sowed in assigning himself an impossible mission as a global savior."
And when, exactly did he do that, Mr. Starobin? I mean, except in the feverish delusions of right wing bloggers? I don't ever remember him passing himself off as a global savior. That's just one more lie that the Republicans have spread about him, and you utterly destroy the value of your article about unreasonable expectations, by spreading the Republican talking point that he brought it all on himself.
But then, what would a Washington Post editorial be, without a Republican talking point or two?
And while we are on the subject of Republicans, how about this?
"Congressional Democrats and the White House are toying with different ways to force BP to cover the costs of damages from the Gulf oil spill. But they face stiff opposition from industry...and it seems leading Republicans. In response to a question from TPMDC, House Minority Leader John Boehner said he believes taxpayers should help pick up the tab for the clean up."
"I think the people responsible in the oil spill--BP and the federal government--should take full responsibility for what's happening there," Boehner said at his weekly press conference this morning."
"Help picking up the tab" meaning in this case, BP pays the current maximum of $75 million, and we pay the other $15 or 20 billion. Republicans are fighting every step of the way to prevent that $75 million cap from being raised. That's fair, right?
Naturally, Boehner has spent the last two days since saying this trying to weasel his way out of this admission that the Republican party intends for us to pick up the tab for the oil spill. But that's exactly what they do intend, and unless Obama and congressional Dems show some guts, that's exactly what is going to happen.
And just to add insult to injury, how surprised are you to hear this:
"Bush Ignored Warnings From 2000 About Deepwater Oil Spills
U.S. government regulators warned in 2000 about the myriad problems that could be caused by a deepwater oil spill. But the George W. Bush administration ignored such warnings and issued an executive order in May 2001 that pushed to speed up the search for oil."
Nothing ever changes, huh?
Comments
Because BP is British, but Halliburton has err... connections... closer to home?
LA Times reported May 1st:
"A 2007 study by the U.S. Minerals Management Service found that cementing was the single most-important factor in 18 of 39 well blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico over a 14-year period.
Halliburton has been accused of performing a poor cement job in the case of a major blowout in the Timor Sea off Australia last August. An investigation is underway."