Republicans cozy with oil industry

[oladub]

maxx: Maybe Sarah will go down with Rand Paul. He really stuck his foot in it showing the Republicans' true hand with his comments on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. "Yes, I detest racism and I would speak against it even while I would protect any businessperson's right to deny service to someone merely because of his/her race."

Bullshit Maxx, Paul never said any such thing. You are repeating lies. Your source is using you trying to get you to post dum things on the internet. Here is Raul's response with George Stephanopolis.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/2010_Elect...0705651&page=1

The interview in question was with Rachel Maddow. The word "yes" might not have even been expressed. Here is the spot in the debate [[8min5sec) where your source claims he said "yes".

Maddow: Do you think that a private business has the right to say, "We don't serve black people"?

Paul: Yes. I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form..

What I heard was something more like "yeah" in the sense of "umm" , not "yes" as in agreement with her question. His following sentence makes that clear.
.
If you go to the video however, Rand obviously never said the word "yes". Here it is, cued up to the exact moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VGdP2mNPeo#t=8m5s

But he certainly didn't say,"I would protect any businessperson's right to deny service to someone merely because of his/her race". In fact he said he would have supported the law on Wold Blitzer's and has no intent to dismantle it. At worst, he didn't have enthusiasm for one aspect of the bill. You were taken. Someone wants you to believe their lies.

[maxx]

oladub: n fact he said he would have supported the law on Wold Blitzer's and has no intent to dismantle it. At worst, he didn't have enthusiasm for one aspect of the bill.

maxx: And that was the public accommodations part. Of course my quotation wasn't Paul's exact words, but it gives the gist of his beliefs. He's for apartheid in businesses. If, as a member of the government, you are not willing to work against racism, you cannot say that you are against it. If you condone racism, you cannot say you are against it. That's talking out of both sides of your mouth.

Let's take the Washington Post as a source.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...052003500.html

"Paul, who beat an establishment-backed candidate in Tuesday's GOP primary, appeared on MSNBC's "Rachel Maddow Show" and, in a long exchange with the liberal host, repeated his belief in a limited government that should not force private businesses to abide by civil rights law..."

Then he tried to do damage control. Too bad, Rand. You showed the true colors of the Republican party today. Does anybody believe that Steele didn't got his job because he is black? He's window dressing, a screen to try to cover their racism.

[maxx]

Rand Paul: Where's my freedom of speech??

maxx: Dr. Paul, freedom of speech does not imply that you are exempt from questions or criticism of your words. Better take the RNP's advice and only talk to the morons of KY. We'll find out how many morons there are by the election.
Mitch McConnel is bad enough. The Tea Party is looking more and more like the one in "Alice in Wonderland."

[Sstashmoo]

How can a person be wrong about everything? maxx, keeps posting nonsense and it gets dismantled every time. Perhaps that is the price one pays for partisanship....

[mjs]

Of course my quotation wasn't Paul's exact words . . .

What??? I'll have to keep your words in mind regarding anything you say.

[oladub]

maxx post # 25: quoting Rand Paul; "Yes, I detest racism and I would speak against it even while I would protect any businessperson's right to deny service to someone merely because of his/her race."

Maxx post #27: "Of course my quotation wasn't Paul's exact words"

Thanks for clarifying that when you put words in quotes that you are sort of making the quotes up to sound like the lies you hear on MSNBC. It helps everyone understand your posts in the context of Alice in Wonderland that you mentioned.

`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, `it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.' `The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

Even Chris Matthews, to his credit, clarified the Rand's opponent was spreading lies. "[[Rand Paul) has never called for repeal. Jack Conway [[Democrat candidate and liar)was wrong last night in saying he had. That`s a fact.That`s a reportable fact. He has never said he wants to repeal it. In fact, he`s never categorically said he would have voted against it had he been in the position to do so."

Of course your quotation wasn't exact words. It wasn't even a quotation. It was make believe like in Alice in Wonderland. At least in you are in step with MSNBC, Humpty Dumpty, and smiling Jack Conway.

[maxx]

oldub: I didn't say, Rand Paul said, "Yes, I detest racism...". However, it is the gist of his arguments against the Civil Rights Act. If you think otherwise, show me the difference between what I put in quotes and what he said. It's the same idea. He might as well have said what I put in quotes. You're quibbling over particular words instead of the man's ideas. What a dodge.

[mjs]

For future reference, from an attorney who was responsible for properly quoting sources, I swear that when you put quote marks around something, you are representing the quoted material as the speaker's exact words. That is the purpose of quotes. The gist of ideas does not use quotes.

[maxx]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washing...ill-poll_N.htm
"A range of critics is demanding to know why the federal government hasn't already forced BP to do better — or just taken over. "The response to the oil coming ashore should be federalized and put in the hands of professional emergency managers and not oil companies," says Deano Bonano, homeland security chief in Jefferson Parish, La..."

Right. Then it could become totally the taxpayers' problem.

"White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says the government is limited by the Oil Pollution Act, passed in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off the Alaskan coast..."

"Copeland contends that it's not BP's interest to collect large quantities of oil after a spill, since that would require expensive disposal as a toxic waste..."

With the oil dispersants BP was using, it looks like BP was hoping to make the oil disappear. Out of sight, out of mind. The oil industry is looking as irresponsible and crooked as the nuclear power industry. They both expect us to trust them as the experts when they don't really have the answer to all the possible problems that can arise or their solutions are things like the oil dispersants that create environmental problems and burying nuclear wastes in storage containers that leak. I wonder how much environmental damage the people of the U.S. will tolerate before they realize they may have to limit their use of energy or curb population growth.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100517/...nctions-of-MMS
"...


Oh, how about those lazy, crazy, hazy days of the George W. Bush administration when employees with the federal Minerals Management Service were drinking, doing cocaine, accepting gifts from — and having sex with — employees of the energy companies their agency was supposed to be regulating...
Bush rode into office on a supposedly conservative belief that government isn't capable of governing effectively, and then worked hard to prove it. To ensure that regulatory agencies didn't regulate well, Bush stocked them with former industry officials and even lobbyists, who worked from inside to loosen regulation.That included agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, used as a political dumping ground to reward party loyalists with federal jobs. This ethic of valuing ideology over competence bottomed out during the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, when FEMA — once a hallmark of effective government — became a symbol of government failure.
It also included the Interior Department, where former coal-industry lobbyist Stephen Griles was appointed as deputy secretary and power behind the throne — and last seen pleading guilty in 2007 to lying to Congress about his connections to disgraced super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff...."


Lest we forget.

[barnesfoto]

Thank you. ^^^

Rand Paul says "it's just an accident."
Meet the new Sick Cult, same as the old Sick Cult.

here's some real Rand Paul quotes about both the oil spill and the mine disaster in WV:


WASHINGTON - Taking another unconventional stand, Rand Paul, the tea-party favorite who is Kentucky's Republican Senate nominee, criticized President Obama's handling of the gulf oil spill Friday as antibusiness and sounding "really un-American."
Paul's defense of oil company BP P.L.C. came during an interview in which he tried to explain his controversial earlier take on civil rights law, an issue that seemed to suddenly swamp his campaign after his runaway victory in Tuesday's GOP primary.

"What I don't like from the president's administration is this sort of, 'I'll put my boot heel on the throat of BP,' " Paul told ABC's Good Morning America. "I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told CNN on May 2: "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum."

Other Republicans have criticized the administration's handling of the oil spill, but few have been so vocal in defending BP, the company responsible for the offshore rig that exploded last month, killing 11 workers and spewing millions of gallons of oil.

Since his landslide victory over the GOP establishment's candidate, Trey Grayson, Paul has been scrambling to explain remarks suggesting businesses be allowed to deny service to minorities without fear of federal interference, even though he says he personally abhors discrimination.

On the oil spill, Paul, a libertarian, said he had heard nothing from BP indicating it wouldn't pay for the spill, which threatens devastating environmental damage along the Gulf of Mexico coast.

"And I think it's part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it's always got to be somebody's fault instead of the fact that maybe sometimes accidents happen," Paul said.

The Senate candidate also referred to a Kentucky coal-mine accident that killed two men, saying he had met with the families and he admired the coal miners' courage.

"We had a mining accident that was very tragic. . . . Then we come in and it's always someone's fault. Maybe sometimes accidents happen," he said.


Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world...#ixzz0pCPKdUlz

[oladub]

Rand used a poor choice of words but I think what he was saying was that President Obama wasn't accomplishing much demagoging BP. The article left out comments Rand made about figuring out what was wrong with policy and correcting it to avoid such future incidents.

It didn't hurt Rand much in the polls though. Yesterday's Daily Kos poll showed Rand with a 4% lead over Smiling Jack Conway. Not bad when the entire DNC machine and it's media operatives had even been inventing and repeating lies about Rand Paul for a week.

Smiling Jack's sixth largest campaign contributor as of the last filing was BP. In the 2008 election, BP's largest campaign contribution went to Barack Obama. Since you seem to be interested in corporate connections, you will probably appreciate the most Recent Rolling Stone article and the Obama administrations's role in preventing Federal Reserve transparancy and other moves to water down the financial reform bill. You will recall that Obama's second largest campaign contributor was Goldman Sachs. GS gave ten times more money to Senator Obama than even BP.

Oh, and I came across this great article about an Obama Administration action in August of last year. It lent Brazil $10B to drill some deep sea wells 4.3 miles below the surface. This is over four times the depth of the BP well.
http://www.oilonline.com/News/NewsAr...0-billion.aspx

"Barack, you're doing one heck of a job."

[DumplingDude]

On NPR today, E.J. Dionne said that you didn't have to be a Washington insider to know that the Bush admin. was too cozy with the oil industry. You just had to be sentient. They let the oil barons write their own environmental standards and now we are reaping the results. W did the same in Texas, letting the polluting industries police themselves. What a crock. And evidently the citizens of Texas bought it. Vote Republican and get more of the same.

Please excuse me. My mind lets go of me sometimes.I feel so foolish asking this silly question but could you be so kind as too inform me as to exactly how much the democrats and the all time highest recipient of money [[President Obama)from BP recieve this past election cycle?

[3WC]

Actually, oladub, the Brazilian subsalt wells and the BP well aren't too different in depth.

The BP well was drilled in about mile deep water and TD'd at about 13,000 feet below the Gulf floor, a total depth of about 18,000 below the water's surface. The deepest Brazilian wells have been drilled in 6,600 feet of water to a sub-ocean floor depth of about 16,000 feet, a total of 22,000 feet below the water's surface. Many are shallower.

The Deepwater Horizon rig that cratered on the BP well had just completed another well for BP in another field that was drilled in 10,000 feet of water, to a total depth below the water's surface of about 35,000 feet, There were no reported problems on that well.

[maxx]

"...On the oil spill, Paul, a libertarian, said he had heard nothing from BP indicating it wouldn't pay for the spill, which threatens devastating environmental damage along the Gulf of Mexico coast..."

And if they dither around long enough, BP knows that the locals or the federal government will take over the cleanup and they won't have to worry about all that toxic waste. And they have the Exxon Valdez case to look to for comfort.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/200...ictims-payout/
"...
A jury decided in 1994 that Exxon should pay $5 billion in punitive damages. In 2006, a federal appeals court cut that in half.
The Supreme Court last June slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damages award to $507.5 million..."


That's our rightwing SCOTUS putting the interests of big business over those of small businesses and average citizens. How much profit has BP made in the last 20 years?

oladub: Rand used a poor choice of words but I think what he was saying was that President Obama wasn't accomplishing much demagoging BP. The article left out comments Rand made about figuring out what was wrong with policy and correcting it to avoid such future incidents.

It didn't hurt Rand much in the polls though.

maxx: So who's the demogogue? Obama is in office; Paul is the one trying to get elected.

[maxx]

Please excuse me. My mind lets go of me sometimes.I feel so foolish asking this silly question but could you be so kind as too inform me as to exactly how much the democrats and the all time highest recipient of money [[President Obama)from BP recieve this past election cycle?

You're implying that Obama would be so stupid as to take money from BP and then "allow" them to devastate the Gulf states? Don't forget what the Bush MMS and EPA were doing. They let BP and the other oil companies determine for themselves their environmental standards just as W let businesses "police themselves" in Texas when it came to pollution standards. I know it's easier to just say all politicians are equally corrupt, but there really are many differences between Obama and W. It's like the creationists saying that all theories are equally valid when it comes to evolution. It's a simple-minded approach, but it's just not true.

[oladub]

maxx: So who's the demogogue? Obama is in office; Paul is the one trying to get elected.

Obama.

We'll see what happens. I think Louisiana or the feds should put people to work cleaning up the beaches and the feds should commission every boat possible to clean up the oil at sea. Bills should be sent to BP and paid by BP if it wants to keep doing business here.

The Saudis had a similar spill in which most of the oil remained below the surface. The Saudis commissioned two ships to successfully vacuum it up. Why such things aren't going on in the Gulf on a larger scale, I don't know.

So far BP has been paying its bills. It payed off a bunch of tourist businesses and today it offered $500M to study the situation. In contrast, the US government has been sort of lackadaisical except to bus in 400 beach cleaners for the Obama photo-op.

This is a video briefly explaining how booms are supposed to be deployed.
BP Fails Booming School 101 Gulf Oil Spill.

[maxx]

oladub: The Saudis had a similar spill in which most of the oil remained below the surface. The Saudis commissioned two ships to successfully vacuum it up. Why such things aren't going on in the Gulf on a larger scale, I don't know.

maxx: Yes, why isn't BP vacuuming the oil spill? They're the oil company. Don't they have tankers that can do that? They probably don't have one standing around empty. I doubt if any oil company does. The Saudi government-owned oil company Aramco did a lot of the clean up of the oil spill in the Persian Gulf so there was no negotiating of prices. Your friends at Free Republic left out that detail.

[oladub]

maxx, I think I picked that up from my friends on the Kitco bar and grill forum. The problem needs to be fixed now if possible. Everything has to be thrown at it. Congress is charged with the duty of the defense of the US. Sure, tell BP to clean up every glob of oil in three days or they will be billed if the US has to do it. BP is not big enough to do this. Therefore, the US government must act to uphold it's responsibility of defending the country. There are probably technical things better left to BP but the cleanup job is immense and lagging. Tourism and fishing have already suffered. It will become worse as more oil hits shore.

BBC photo

Great Analysis Of Exactly What Is Going On
The BP Deep water horizon, Macondo Well Blowout.
and what we are facing in the Gulf.
http://rense.com/general90/analy.htm\' Start at the fourth paragraph.

This article written on 5/15 says the operation that just failed was our last good option. The next option involves clearing some debris and possibly increasing the flow just to try it. The next option after that is to wait about two more months when a couple of relief wells will drill down about that far. Meanwhile all the particulates coming out of the well are wearing out the pipes which might cause even larger pressure and blowout at any time. An atomic bomb might have to be used if all else fails to clog the pipe. All of this could mean bad things beginning with destroying the economy.

"It's beyond our control as regular citizens really...we ALL should be screaming at our leaders that we do realize the consequences and to take this seriously...and I mean like War footing seriously, because it could get that bad....we can and should be aware of the historic nature of this thing because it IS being downplayed in the media...it could create mass panic if people really knew..and it still might if it does blow apart because there won't be any booms, any sucker hats or tubes or anything else that is going to do jack #### to stop it..."

[DumplingDude]

You're implying that Obama would be so stupid as to take money from BP and then "allow" them to devastate the Gulf states? Don't forget what the Bush MMS and EPA were doing. They let BP and the other oil companies determine for themselves their environmental standards just as W let businesses "police themselves" in Texas when it came to pollution standards. I know it's easier to just say all politicians are equally corrupt, but there really are many differences between Obama and W. It's like the creationists saying that all theories are equally valid when it comes to evolution. It's a simple-minded approach, but it's just not true.

That's basically what he has done. Whether it was intentional or not is moot. The fact remains the same, he turned a blind eye to the world's largest eco catastrophe and now he is paying the price.

Now lets see him and Bill squirm their way out of bribery in the case of Sestak.
Lets see if Sestak is a real American that loves the people and his nation or if he is just another politician bought and sold.
My guess is the latter because his story magically changed after everyone had the chance to get "their" story straight.

The liberal media keeping quiet about it won't make it go away and the few that are talking about it trying to say its politics as usual won't make it disappear either.

This is going to fester as is the oil debacle that he allowed to happen and that has all but ruined us and possibly the world.

Hey, where is the director of MMS again? You know, the one that had no experience what so ever but was appointed anyway.

[maxx]

Dude: Now lets see him and Bill squirm their way out of bribery in the case of Sestak

maxx: The hypocrisy of the right never ceases to amaze me. They pointed with horror at Mike Dukakis's release of Willie Horton as though he was the only governor to do such a thing. And now the Sestak matter.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/politicalju...op-out-for-job

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005240051
More recently, after Rep. Ben Gilman found his congressional district eliminated by redistricting in 2002, the White House tried to persuade him from challenging another Republican congressman in another district by considering him for an administration position. Karl Rove repeatedly intervened in Republican primaries.

DDude: Hey, where is the director of MMS again? You know, the one that had no experience what so ever but was appointed anyway.

maxx: How much experience did Christine T. Whitman have with environmental issues before she became head of the EPA? Not much. But she was a Republican woman who Bush thought would do what she was told. And she did for a while. Remember how she told New Yorkers and the workers at the WTC site that the air and water were just fine?

How about all those experienced people who just happened to be business lobbyists that W put into governmental positions?
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0523-02.htm

"Daniel E. Troy, lead counsel for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, extended the government's help in torpedoing certain lawsuits. Among Troy's targets: claims that medications caused devastating and unexpected side effects.
Pitch us lawsuits that we might get involved in, Troy told several hundred pharmaceutical attorneys, some of them old friends and acquaintances from his previous role representing major U.S. pharmaceutical firms."


What a protector of the citizens' health he was.

[firstandten]

maxx, I think I picked that up from my friends on the Kitco bar and grill forum. The problem needs to be fixed now if possible. Everything has to be thrown at it. Congress is charged with the duty of the defense of the US. Sure, tell BP to clean up every glob of oil in three days or they will be billed if the US has to do it. BP is not big enough to do this. Therefore, the US government must act to uphold it's responsibility of defending the country. There are probably technical things better left to BP but the cleanup job is immense and lagging. Tourism and fishing have already suffered. It will become worse as more oil hits shore.

The Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, limits the administration ability to take complete responsibility when its certain that private parties will pay to clean up the disaster. BP said from the beginning it would pay the cleanup and not hide behind a different law that limits its liability for lost economic activity to $75 M

The greater problem is the cozy relationship between the oil industry and gov't regulators have come back to bite us big time. Just like everything else over the last 20 years of repub and repub lite leadership.

[Detroitej72]

Republicans cozy with oil industry


Detroitej72 says: No shit!!!

[MCP-001]

Here's the real reason behind Pres. B.O.'s stance towards BP.

It's a shame this hasn't been reported very much.

[ghettopalmetto]

Here's the real reason behind Pres. B.O.'s stance towards BP.

It's a shame this hasn't been reported very much.

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".

[Sstashmoo]

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.