A Hollywood Republican

This blog is for an open discussion on politics. My views will be to the right as will be most of the posters. But, we are willing to post alternative viewpoints as lons as they are well thought out. I started this in response to the Obama election and will continue it as long as it feeds a need.

Jun 14, 2010

The President Admits His Limited Power Regarding Gulf Oil Spill by Craig Covello

Late last week, the government shared a new estimate with us which was both sobering and a little frightening. The daily volume of oil rushing from the British Petroleum ruptured drilling rig in the Gulf is now appears to be double that of previous estimates. 1.3 million gallons of petroleum is spilling into the Gulf every day. That translates into 30,000 barrels of oil over a 24-hour period. To put this into perspective, the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 polluted Prince William Sound with approximately about 11,000,000 gallons. Assuming that 1.3 million gallons has been flowing into the Gulf for each of the last 56 days, that would mean BP lost nearly 7 times the oil spilled in Alaska. And there is no end in sight until the situation is contained.

There has been so much information published regarding this environmental tragedy that it's hard to sift through all the facts and editorial opinions on the Internet. I would, however, want to distill this issue down to a limited number of very important points:

• This is the worst environmental disaster in history of America.

• The president is supposed to be in charge, period. According to the National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan: "The president shall direct all federal, state and private actions to remove the discharge can mitigate or prevent the threat of the discharge. The President may, without regard to any other provision of law governing contracting procedures or employment of personnel by the federal government".

• Excuses purporting that the federal government has limited powers due to the Jones Act of 1920 are ridiculous. The president has the power to waive any law impeding the cleanup effort.

• 13 governments and organizations offered assistance to the United States within two weeks of the Horizon rig explosion. They include Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, the Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and United Nations. In fact, the Dutch government offered to provide ships with oil skimming booms within 72 hours after the explosion. These ships can process 5,000,000 gallons of water a day, removing 20,000 tons of oil and sludge every 24 hours. There is also a Belgian group, DEME, which claims it can clean up the oil spill in 3 to 4 months with their own special equipment. Unfortunately, all these offers of assistance were either refused or ignored by the White House.

• Five weeks ago, Escambia County officials requested permission from the federal Mobile Unified Command Center to use a sand skimmer in order to remove oil and tar from Pensacola's beaches. They had not yet been given the courtesy of a response.

• On May 11, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal requested federal authorization is so his state may begin emergency dredging and berming activity. The US Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency approved only 2% of his plan. They believe that too many berms would alter the tidal movements. Louisiana State Sen. David Vitter was understandably angry, stating that "The president doesn't seem to have a clue. His decision on the emergency dredging barrier island plan is a thinly veiled no. Approving 2% of the requests and kicking the rest months down the road is outrageous, absolutely outrageous".

• In Auburn Maine, a company named Packgen has miles of oil spill containment booms on hand, palletized and ready for shipment. They also have the capability to produce upwards of 100,000 linear feet of the boom equipment each day. BP has inspected their facility at least twice, but has not committed to making any purchases. Instead, they are investigating whether they can get a better deal from China.

• Obama has not yet spoken to BP chief executive Tony Hayward. The excuse he offered was that speaking to Hayward would have been a waste of time.

• Both BP and the government have withheld much of the information concerning the spell. Stan Senner, the Director of Conservation Science for Ocean Conservancy is on record as saying "There is an amazing lack of information about what's being done and what the government knows".

• The Louisiana governor sent a letter to the secretaries of the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security requesting National Guard assistance of approximately 6000 soldiers and airmen for 90 days, as authorized by Title 32 of the United States code. It appears that they are preparing for the worst, including a possible evacuation of several million people.
So what exactly is Obama's focus?

He wants it made clear that this disaster is not his fault by issuing a statement:

"Even though I am the president of the United States, my power isn't limitless. So I can't drive down there and plug the hole... I can't suck it up with the straw".
He does, however, appear to have limitless power when it comes to using this tragedy to propel the White House's agenda. Specifically,

• He has issued a moratorium on oil exploration in the Gulf, which will cost Louisiana approximately $3 billion in revenue and the loss of about approximately 7600 jobs. It also is one step closer to making is totally dependent upon foreign oil.

• He wants to continue to study the situation.

• He wants to continue unemployment benefits.

• He wants to use the crisis to leverage increased investment in solar, wind and bio diesel.

• He wants to pass climate legislation in order to tax and reduce energy consumption in the United States.
Last Thursday, the president hosted a meeting of congressional leaders from both parties to underscore this agenda. Here's what he said:

"And so it’s going to be important that, based on facts, based on experts, based on a thorough examination of what went wrong here and where things have gone right, but also where things have gone wrong, that we update the laws to make sure that the people in the Gulf, the fishermen, the hotel owners, families who are dependent for their livelihoods in the Gulf, that they are all made whole and that we are in a much better position to respond to any such crisis in the future. "

"I’m actually going to have a group of CEOs this afternoon who’ve come in from a wide range of different industries -- people from Bill Gates of Microsoft to the former chairman of DuPont who have come up with a series of recommendations about how we need to move much more aggressively on the energy agenda."
"And although obviously our immediate task is to deal with a crisis that is affecting millions of people down in the Gulf, we can’t keep our eye off the importance of having an energy policy that meets the needs of the next generation and ensures that the United States is the leader when it comes to energy policy. We are not yet that leader, and that’s what I want us to do.”
Analysis:

This administration is incompetent. True, the White House cannot simply turn a valve and stop the leak. But that is no excuse for deferring the situation solely to BP and vilifying the oil industry. That is no excuse for refusing the resources of the international community. That is no excuse for lack of presidential leadership.

This situation also underscores that we, as Americans, should not stand by and let the incompetence of a centralized federal government extend total domination over healthcare, energy exploration, auto manufacturing, insurance, student loans, mortgages, education, the Internet, our personal income potential or our right to free speech.

Mr. President, please don't be so modest. Yes, you are incompetent. However, your incompetent powers do appear to be limitless. Just look what you done to this country during the past 18 months. And just like the oil spill, it may take this nation 20 years to recover from the rest of your legacy.

Vote in November.

© 2010 by Craig Covello. Used With Permission. All Rights Reserved.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Ira said...

Great article Craig. The time for the blame game is long past. To be quite frank I could give a shit at this moment who is responsible. Someone needs to step up and take the point with this disaster. It's obvious BP is incapable of the task and as you said in the article it also appears our president is too. This ecological disaster will be with us for generations and WILL change the face of the gulf area probably forever. As a result BP international will probably go under and who will be left holding the bag AGAIN...you guessed it..American taxpayers. The sad thing is at the present time there is absolutely nothing we can do about it except watch this nightmare unfold in front of us. Place a moratorium on all new off shore drilling....absolutely until we can find a way to properly monitor every friggin' rig that is pumping oil in our waters. Every rig already pumping needs to be immediately inspected and those in violation need to be shut down until they can properly be brought up to code. And for every day they are in violation the oil companies need to be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for each violation and the fines can be used to help clean up their mess. If they try to raise the price of oil to pay for their mess then the fed needs to step in and set a freeze in oil and gas prices. It has been done before and can be done again. This crap has been going on far too long. The gloves need to come off and the situation fixed and it needs to be fixed yesterday.

June 14, 2010 at 12:56 PM  
Anonymous Ira said...

或许如此,有许多步骤之间

June 15, 2010 at 7:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And we also are victims of analysis paralysis.

“And we will make BP pay.” Our politicians forced BP to drill in deep water and protected them with limited liability. What did they know, and when? Those who can make us believe absurdities can make us accept atrocities. Anyone who doesn’t know that any and every bit of reparations and legitimate compensation will not eventually trickle down to a liability shared by each every person who buys a petroleum touched product, does not understand the free market or any market. There is a place for negligence and criminality, and it is in the courts. There is an acceptance of and a place for accidents, otherwise our cars, trains, planes and ships would cease to exist. Empathy is a wonderful emotion until it gets distorted into guilt, fear and doubt. George Orwell was a socialist but even he acknowledged that “scary” stuff was headed our way. Triangulate Orwell off of Ayn Rand and today’s reality. They have merged and are not compatible.

We can demonize and destroy or we can embrace and progress. The analysis of an accident is easy. It is prevention that is a challenge, the vision and here the vacuum. Patience is adaptive as the best lies are covered with half truths. And he died saying to himself, “I should have known that was poison.” The world was once believed by the best minds in the universe to be flat. They were all so wrong. And many died as heretics before the “truth” was accepted.

“One of the methods used by statists (statism is the practice or doctrine of giving a centralize government “insidious (sic) control” over economic planning and policy) to destroy capitalism consists in the establishment of controls that tie a given industry, hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that “freedom” has failed and stronger controls are necessary.”

Our politicians, many, to many, of them, were not, are not, good individuals. They had, have their petty personal agendas and were, are more concerned with holding on to their positions of power than doing what was, is right, year after year. They say they were, are for benevolent change and then behind closed doors, shuttering out all promised transparency, they energetically, purposefully block the very reforms they had, did once espouse while running for election or re-election.

Lying, obfuscating, clouding, misdirection, ignoble stratagems, once the hallmark of tyrants, have been, are the character traits, accepted morals of all too many of our public servants, politicians and even the residents of a soon to be (we hope not) legendary, now almost mythical, executive branch. Transformation is happening. There will be a day when the “White” House adjective will turn gray, in a temporary retreat from the pristine definition eternally framed by a brides color selection of her bridal dress. Run George Washington, run, the barbarians have breached our capital.

There is a need to revisit a mind set that says, if terrorists and evil men would lay down their weapons of war, peace would breakout. If America and Israel lay downs their arms there would be no more, any America or Israel. Imagine a “medal” for “restraint” instead of “Valor” or “Honor”, as we know the definitions to be. David of David and Goliath fame, would have died…laughing.

“Term Limits” is the political limitation of a politician’s office tenure. Beware, of the Sal Alinsky lethal redefinition to make it seem like their corruption of the Palin “bull’s eye” on those we wish only “vote” out. Who are the barbarians in the mob? Just research the news videos.

Rediscover unselfish patriotism. Return to spirituality enshrined by an action plan, the original mission and goal of our Constitution and the bill of Rights. Grow our imagination and intellect. Bolster, protect and nourish principled capitalism. Embrace shared sacrifice and pain. Rediscover the courage of our convictions. Do not abandon our allies, like Israel and the UK. Restore honor and rediscover common sense.

Stop the analysis paralysis, please!

June 15, 2010 at 9:24 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

There is great potential in this forum but very little growth. The message is mostly solid and informative in that it represents an easily understood point of view, the view from Republicanism and Conservatism. The frustrated, combative, maybe viral, comments that are camouflaged by symbols, rows of symbols, “hernande said”are meaningful, challenging and represent a definite opposing point of view. To respond in kind is sophomoric. Try to get inside the head of these individuals. You have obviously managed to take up residence, if only a few seconds in their head, they possibly read what was blogged, and continue the conversation. If you are only un-pensive, un-meditative, unthinking, un-caring, equally as emotional, then you have absolutely nothing meaningful, informative, probative to say, you effectively make their point, and that is sad.

June 16, 2010 at 7:49 AM  
Blogger Frank T. DeMartini said...

After yesterday's address by the President, it appears that the liberal media has finally realized that Obama is a big speaker but does nothing. He has finally turned off his two cronies at MSNBC to the point where they are disallusioned. In fact, most people realize that they change they are getting is not the change they wanted. Let's see what happens in five months.

Remember, vote in 2010.

June 16, 2010 at 10:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The thread here is the magic of the magician. What happens when the attraction for what the left hands is doing consumes all recon.

Next the issue of the rising tide of economic fires, the firm storm of financial and private enterprise difficulties, caused by increasing unsustainable rules and regulations. The ever expending, government insidious control over the continuing and ever expanding wall street/main street/union disasters, no one ever asking or investigating who is causing these fires and why are these fires happening. Both subjects, why the fires and who is starting them, integral to progressive advancement.

Then there is the philosophy of the Sal Alinsky Rules for radicals and the Cloward and Piven Strategy, a welfare crisis (over 40% of the nations population is tied to government largess) will cause a political crisis, blatant, but ignored, clues to what is happening, never analyzed by this blog and referred to only as the “buzz” words of our predicament.

Thus as the crisis appeared in succession, there was TARP, Stimulus 1, Stimulus 2, a Jobs Bill, Student Loans, Emergency measures, ObamaCare and now we are on the precipice of Cap and Trade. And we diddle over watching the errors of the left hand of the magician while he is lifting our wallets and our souls with his right hand.

America, the unfunded national liabilities is now at 130 trillion. And all this is happening while we focus on dissecting, with great detail, skill and facts, on the administration’s failure to react properly to BP’s Deep Water Horizon disaster. The commotion is framed, hyped and agitated on the Louisiana coast while the crime is happening in Washington DC. It is called misdirection and done with brilliance.

Our nation has moved from the wall street melt down to TARP, from union unsustainable wages/benefits/bloated legacy costs to the nationalization of a major portion of the auto industry, from unbalanced budgets in states going bankrupt due to greed in the public sector, from recessionary pressures to ridiculous stimulus infusion that shows no results, from a government take over of students loans which will ultimately prove that President Eisenhower was correct when he warned us of the corrupting influence of the growing complexes of government, military, academia and pharmaceuticals.

And a prediction, the CCX exchange is packaging some form of CO2 derivatives to be offered as IPO’s as soon as Cap and Trade passes. And it will be a 10 trillion dollar stock market “scam” exchange. Just like ENRON.

And so now there is a $20 Billion BP trust fund with an additional $100 million for those whose livelihoods in the Gulf are affected, caused mainly by the Government’s drilling moratorium. One has to know that politics will control and corrupt this trust fund, turning it into a “slush fund.”

And final the issue is of “truth” and how that anchor of our cultural has been twisted and torture until no one can recognize it any longer. One must revert back to the wisdom of a very great man, had he lived in Russia instead of India, he would have been snuffed out, stolen from humanity, destroyed before the light of wisdom could shine, like we fear for our liberty and freedom, and he said, “A “no” uttered from the deepest conviction (of our souls) is better than a “yes” merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.” “Whenever you have truth (a personal journey, mind set, and accumulation of facts and experiences) it must be given with love (absent spin, ideology, wrong headedness, prejudices and biases), or the message and the messenger will be rejected.

And we focus on that oily bird and forget about the double digit unemployment. What is happening in the gulf, due to BP and this administration as they puts the “feel good” environment and progressive agendas priority over the humanitarian lively hoods of Americans. Put out the last fire down the street but ignore that progressive agenda meteorite headed straight for America.

June 16, 2010 at 4:45 PM  

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