Republicans cozy with oil industry

[firstandten]

I don't think anyone is surprised at corruption in Washington. It's been going on for years, our politicians' opinion is available for a price.

Maybe we taxpayers should start pooling our funds and buying our Government back, one politician at a time. Sort of a co-op lobby. This is a capitalist country, you know what they say about free stuff, like politicians, you get what you pay for.

Problem is... The taxpayers don't have enough money to buy them back

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "Problem is... The taxpayers don't have enough money to buy them back"

A few dollars a week from only a million people would be a substantial amount. Personally, if I thought such a lobby would address unfair trade policies etc. I'd donate heavily. Well, more than a few dollars anyway. I got a feeling the participation would be overwhelming. If nothing else it would disrupt the status quo and bring these crooks out in to the light. Yes, fight corruption with corruption.

Something like this is going to have to happen. The foolish notion that electing a politician, that's going to take on the system, and start doing things on the people's behalf is just wishful thinking at this point. The media selects our candidates, and special interests lead them around by the nose.

[DumplingDude]

I would think anyone getting a free roof over their head from the Oil Industry is pretty damn cozy with them too.

[DumplingDude]

Quote: "Problem is... The taxpayers don't have enough money to buy them back"

A few dollars a week from only a million people would be a substantial amount. Personally, if I thought such a lobby would address unfair trade policies etc. I'd donate heavily. Well, more than a few dollars anyway. I got a feeling the participation would be overwhelming. If nothing else it would disrupt the status quo and bring these crooks out in to the light. Yes, fight corruption with corruption.

Something like this is going to have to happen. The foolish notion that electing a politician, that's going to take on the system, and start doing things on the people's behalf is just wishful thinking at this point. The media selects our candidates, and special interests lead them around by the nose.

If we have to buy our politicians then they are not fit to hold office.

The founders and all those brave Americans who held office in the beginning did so for love of country and people. Not for love of money.
We need people like that.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote:"If we have to buy our politicians then they are not fit to hold office."

Bingo! Take anything on the top shelf kid.

I'll expand on that by saying citizens that would tolerate such a Government made up of these crooks, don't deserve one.

[gibran]

Maybe it's the Cheney connection....he and the rest of teh neocns were pretty much intertwined with so many...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-..._b_607187.html

[firstandten]

If we have to buy our politicians then they are not fit to hold office.

The founders and all those brave Americans who held office in the beginning did so for love of country and people. Not for love of money.
We need people like that.

There is a reality that must be addressed. In order to gain and keep office especially in the Senate politicans need to raise funds amounting in many cases in the multi millions of dollars, or as I heard someone say, about a thousand dollars a day every day. The oil companies and other special interest just make it easier for that to happen.

Once the money is taken out of the process maybe folks will hold office for love of country and people.

[gibran]

Maybe it's the Cheney connection....he and the rest of the neocons were pretty much intertwined with so many...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-..._b_607187.html

today President Obama received letters from congress to not follow the world and request an inquiry independent of Israel...stand by Israel no matter what...this is from our congress..the best money buy..I[[ both Dems and Repub)

[maxx]

"Once the money is taken out of the process maybe folks will hold office for love of country and people."

Like that's going to happen anytime soon following the SCOTUS decision on corporate money and elections. Wasn't someone trying to confront that ruling? What happened to that?

[Detroitej72]

Like that's going to happen anytime soon following the SCOTUS decision on corporate money and elections. Wasn't someone trying to confront that ruling? What happened to that?

Damn activist conservative judge's.

[maxx]

Damn activist conservative judge's.

Darn right. And the conservatives were making all the fuss about possible liberal conservative justices who might do something like enforce civil rights. Their hypocrisy is palpable. Meanwhile the right is doing everything they can to compromise our electoral system as well as our schools and the flow of actual information to the public rather than propaganda.

[Jimaz]

... following the SCOTUS decision on corporate money and elections. Wasn't someone trying to confront that ruling? What happened to that?

Yeah, you'd think there'd be more of an uproar over something so obviously corrupt. Here's what I've found recently:

• Corporations are not people. Money is not speech.
• Fighting Corporate Campaign Influence
• Vanhollen.House.gov
  
  Specifically, The DISCLOSE Act

[firstandten]

Darn right. And the conservatives were making all the fuss about possible liberal conservative justices who might do something like enforce civil rights. Their hypocrisy is palpable. Meanwhile the right is doing everything they can to compromise our electoral system as well as our schools and the flow of actual information to the public rather than propaganda.

They have done that by refining and mastering psychological projection to the point that its one of their main items in their political toolkit. And it works, as they have shown over and over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_projection

[oladub]

"In 1990 Congress adopted the Oil Pollution Act. This act set liability limitations to $75 million for oil spills like the one we are witnessing in the Gulf Coast today. Setting a liability limit on damages created by oil drilling can only encourage the lowering and neglect of safety standards and procedures, ultimately causing more oil spills.
The congress-persons who voted for the Oil Pollution Act are directly responsible for the oil spill in the Gulf. They enabled British Petroleum to loosen their safety procedures, to operate without redundant oil spill prevention systems, to take risks, etc. This is the very reason the same oil spill clean up technologies used the in the late 70’s are still in place today. The Oil Pollution Act destroyed any motivation for improvement in oil spill safety, prevention and oil spill containment procedures by removing the penalties for neglect.
Many congress-persons who voted for this act are still in office today. They must be removed from office. They are in the back pocket of the oil industry and they are directly responsible for this catastrophe."
Who Voted to Limit the Liability of Oil Companies? also good discussion

In fact, everyone who voted in the House and in the Senate, irrespective of party, voted for this measure.

Edited to ad-
President Bush passed a similar measure that would limit the liability of the owners of nuclear power plants. The major reason none have been built is because no insurance company would offer policies that would cover a Chernobyl type disaster. The new legislation makes the federal government liable for damages above a cap. That is why a number of power producers are going ahead with new plans for nukes. I haven't heard anyone bring this up. If we are going to end the $75M cap on oil company liabilities why not be consistent and eliminate the cap on nuke meltdowns? Who is leading the charge in Congress for that?

[MCP-001]

Wow. What a convoluted mess of a blog post! It probably hasn't been reported very much because it's entirely speculative in nature. I haven't seen stretching like that since Silly Putty.

I wonder how many journalism schools teach the Beck Technique of "throw a whole bunch of shit on a chalkboard, then draw a buncha lines connecting it all" = "irrefutable evidence".

Don't care for the message, so attack it?

Funny how this story hasn't been "debunked" yet by Maddow, Olbermann, Stewart or Schultz?

[Jimaz]

Maddow nails this thread's topic:

Could GOP coziness with big oil embolden Democrats?

They're squirming like a cluster of snakes. Note the conspicuously increasing fatigue factor among the Republicans.

[gibran]

drill baby drill...opps spilled.....sorry we are holding you [[BP) accountable....slow baby slow...oh my how we protect our own.....

[Jimaz]

A GOP chorus of Joe Bartons on the BP oil spill = more evidence of fracturing within the GOP.

Joe Barton is not alone. The Texas congressman's lavish sympathy for BP -- which he sees not as perpetrator of a preventable disaster but as victim of a White House "shakedown" -- is actually what passes for mainstream opinion among conservative Republicans today.

The GOP leadership came down hard on Barton after he apologized to the oil company for the beastly way it was being treated by the White House, saying he was "ashamed" that BP was being pressured to put $20 billion into a "slush fund" to compensate victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Barton was reportedly threatened with losing his powerful position as ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee if he didn't retract his words, and pronto....

A group constituting roughly two-thirds of all Republicans in the House takes the position that President Obama was wrong to demand that BP set aside money to guarantee that those whose livelihoods are being ruined by the oil spill will be compensated. In other words, it's more important to kneel at the altar of radical conservative ideology than to feel any sense of compassion for one's fellow Americans. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how today's GOP rolls....

Barton's remarks were no spontaneous gaffe. They came in a prepared statement and represent his genuine view of the situation: that the rights of a private company are absolute even when weighed against the clear interests of the public....

There is ample evidence that BP, one of the biggest and most profitable oil companies in the world, cut corners in operating the Deepwater Horizon rig that resulted in the worst spill ever to despoil U.S. waters. BP's assertions about its ability to prevent, contain and clean up any oil leak turned out to be patently false. If we were not dealing with such a tragic situation, the company's tin ear for public relations would be comic; the unforgettable line from BP's chairman -- "We care about the small people" -- sounds like something Mel Brooks might dream up for a sequel to "The Producers."...

Yes, President Obama used the power of his office to pressure BP to set money aside for compensation. If Republicans believe he shouldn't have, then by all means they should speak up. Come November, the voters will be able to decide who's right.