To start with, I’m a birther. I’ve got my birth certificate in my filing cabinet in my study. I ordered it from the State of Texas and everything. Got on line, and had them print and send it to me. But I don’t see what that has to do with Nationalizing BP or corporate criminals.
Someone said it earlier about if corporations are entities to be regarded as humans they would be penalized like humans. That won’t really work, but we can hold their execs that made these egregious decisions to fly in the face of decency and human and national safety responsible. They did it to Skilling and Lay. I read in the Houston Chronicle this weekend that BP had more accidents / violations in one year in their Texas City plant that Exxon has EVER had in their Houston Ship Channel plant. Corporations if they were people would be psychopathic humans. Their job is to produce products / services at a profit and satisfy their shareholders.
Safety and social consciousness is a very modern corporate personality trait: a very post-post industrial revolution concept. I’m sure there are hundreds on contributors to this crazy concept of fairness in the work and market place: anti-trust laws, child labor laws, unions, plaintiff lawyers, the spread of the middle class, education, TV, etc. The bottom line is corporations are now expected to be held accountable and be cute fuzzy things. They aren’t; it isn’t in their nature. Their nature is to make money. That’s why they need to be monitored just like people are. Being a birther, loving or hating Obama isn’t going to change these simple facts.
Fascist, laizziz faire corporate criminality isn’t the answer anymore than STOP DRILLING government up your ass reactions is. Find out what happened. Drill a new you know what for the people responsible. Fine BP. Get a grip on - not stop - deep water drilling. Drill a litter closer. Don’t pass ridiculous caps on damage assessment laws for corporate raiders / criminals. But for God’s sake stop the oil and clean it up!
The deep water rig people are actually talking about pulling out of the US! If that happens, if a lot of Obama’s anti-Southern and anti-oil ideas come to fruition because he is allowed to run rough shot over the marketplace, one of the few semi-healthy economies in the country (maybe even world) is going to crater – Texas and Louisiana. Now isn’t the time for that. One problem at a time. Deep water drilling and nationalizing health care can be left for another day.
- Guest050715-1
- 06-07-2010, 05:27 PM
- pjorourke
- 06-07-2010, 07:09 PM
I read in the Houston Chronicle this weekend that BP had more accidents / violations in one year in their Texas City plant that Exxon has EVER had in their Houston Ship Channel plant. Originally Posted by OliviaHowardAssuming this is true, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, the natural reaction is if these people at BP had that shitty a record, why the fuck were they ever granted a license to drill? It seems to me the answer isn't stopping drilling, but lets be reasonable about who we let do it. We don't need more government regulation, we need more intelligent government regulation.
- Texas Contrarian
- 06-07-2010, 09:58 PM
- pjorourke
- 06-07-2010, 10:24 PM
- Guest050715-1
- 06-07-2010, 10:33 PM
- pjorourke
- 06-09-2010, 01:02 PM
When the Leftest media starts kicking his ass, the Anointed One is screwed:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965
- Guest050715-1
- 06-09-2010, 01:35 PM
When the Leftest media starts kicking his ass, the Anointed One is screwed:Not tooting my own horn, but great minds think a like…..My pet name for our exalted leader is The Anointed One also.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/111965 Originally Posted by pjorourke
There’s plenty of choice stuff in the article. The Prez purposely under estimated the spill. BP screwed up a really, really big reservoir of OUR oil. And the spill is the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez every FIVE DAYS. But the best, the truly best part is this:
“……………………Most troubling of all, the government has allowed BP to continue deep-sea production at its Atlantis rig – one of the world's largest oil platforms. Capable of drawing 200,000 barrels a day from the seafloor, Atlantis is located only 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in waters nearly 2,000 feet deeper than BP drilled at Deepwater Horizon. According to congressional documents, the platform lacks required engineering certification for as much as 90 percent of its subsea components – a flaw that internal BP documents reveal could lead to "catastrophic" errors. In a May 19th letter to Salazar, 26 congressmen called for the rig to be shut down immediately. "We are very concerned," they wrote, "that the tragedy at Deepwater Horizon could foreshadow an accident at BP Atlantis."
The administration's response to the looming threat? According to an e-mail to a congressional aide from a staff member at MMS, the agency has had "zero contact" with Atlantis about its safety risks since the Deepwater rig went down.”
You are right PJ, he’s headed for the roasting pit now that the press is finally talking about the elephant that is in the room!
- WTF
- 06-09-2010, 05:39 PM
You are right PJ, he’s headed for the roasting pit now that the press is finally talking about the elephant that is in the room!
Originally Posted by OliviaHoward
He'll be re-elected and you two will be eating crow , again.
Obama did not cause this spill. The best and the brightest are working to shut this thing down...all else is just politics.
- Texas Contrarian
- 06-09-2010, 06:05 PM
- WTF
- 06-09-2010, 06:39 PM
- pjorourke
- 06-09-2010, 07:05 PM
- charlestudor2005
- 06-09-2010, 07:08 PM
Although the fallout from the oil spill may come and go, Originally Posted by CaptainMidnightI don't think so. The Exxon Valdez was with us for over 20 years, and it will be minuscule compared to this spill. I predict there will be litigation or claims over this that are fought for 50 years or so. Come and go...I don't think so.
- Texas Contrarian
- 06-09-2010, 07:35 PM
His best hope to get reelected is to lose the House so he doesn't have nancy hung around his neck anymore. Then he can pull a Clinton and move to the center. Originally Posted by pjorourkeExactly right.
If Nancy retains the Speaker's gavel and this group continues on its present trajectory, I think we'll see a horrific fiscal crisis within two years. It's being baked into the pie as we speak.
On the other hand, if Obama has a Republican congress to run against in 2012, he may have a fair shot -- even if the unemployment rate is still stubbornly high, which I expect it to be.
Could his best strategy be "winning by losing?"
Yeah, it sort of looks that way.
But the big question is this: Is Obama capable of moving to the center as Clinton did? It seems to me that while Bill Clinton is a practical pragmatist, Barack Obama is a doctrinaire ideologue.
...If he doesn't, we are talking Jimmy carter here. Originally Posted by pjorourkeOr worse!
I don't think so. The Exxon Valdez was with us for over 20 years, and it will be minuscule compared to this spill. I predict there will be litigation or claims over this that are fought for 50 years or so. Come and go...I don't think so. Originally Posted by charlestudor2005I'm afraid you're probably right about that.
But my basic point was the whatever may become of the oil spill, the brewing fiscal crisis will swamp prospects for robust economic growth, and there's no way around that -- unless some far-left liberals suddenly have some sort of epiphany, and I certainly haven't seen any indication that that's very likely.
- Doove
- 06-09-2010, 08:04 PM
Not tooting my own horn, but great minds think a like…..My pet name for our exalted leader is The Anointed One also. Originally Posted by OliviaHowardI've got $100 that says it's also Orly Taitz's pet name for him too.
Just sayin'.
You are right PJ, he’s headed for the roasting pit now that the press is finally talking about the elephant that is in the room!What i got from the article is that Obama wasn't as aggressive as he should have been in addressing the Bush/Cheney corruption. To that, I won't disagree. But before you get too giddy over what you fantasize the political fallout to be, just keep in mind that it'll be substantially muted by the idiocy of the suggestion that President Drillbabydrill and his moronic sidekick would have done any better.
A lot of subconscious goes into people's attitudes towards other people. And i'm guessing that right now, the best thing Obama has going for him is the fact that McCain and Palin were running around screaming "Drill baby drill" at every rally they were at - right up to the day the oil started flowing into the gulf.
- WTF
- 06-09-2010, 08:19 PM
His best hope to get reelected is to lose the House so he doesn't have nancy hung around his neck anymore. Then he can pull a Clinton and move to the center. If he doesn't, we are talking Jimmy carter here. Originally Posted by pjorourke
Exactly right.Good Lord , Jimmy Carter...the man who first wanted to wean us from oil dependency!
If Nancy retains the Speaker's gavel and this group continues on its present trajectory, I think we'll see a horrific fiscal crisis within two years. It's being baked into the pie as we speak.
On the other hand, if Obama has a Republican congress to run against in 2012, he may have a fair shot -- even if the unemployment rate is still stubbornly high, which I expect it to be.
Could his best strategy be "winning by losing?"
Or worse!
Originally Posted by CaptainMidnight
Heaven forbid Obama tries to do that! History will be much kinder to Carter, than say.....ehhhh whats the name of the guy ya'll worship? Ole yea Reagan, Ronnie Reagan.