Drilling for Oil. Say, what?
My first reaction to Obama's new proposal is: huh?
The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.
The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.
How is this going to be helpful when negotiating with republicans (like they ever will) over a new energy policy? When Pat Buchanan says this is a wonderful idea and republicans should embrace it I spit out my morning coffee.
Marc Ambinder writes:
By announcing this BEFORE the Senate moves forward with its climate change legislation, which may or may not include cap-and-trade (probably not), the White House is betting that they'll force Republicans into a corner before the public debate begins, they'll give some cover to moderate Democratic members of Congress (who love it when Obama picks a fight with his own base), and they'll get some public cred with Americans who want to see the president moving quickly to find opportunities to create jobs. This isn't about votes in Congress per se, it's about perception, cover and framing the debate. It's also a move that tries to get ahead of rising gas prices.
President Obama sure likes to fire up his base in the wrong direction.
Josh Nelson has a round up of opinions and quotes from bloggers, jurnos and enviro groups like the Sierra Club.
Matthew Yglesias — Drill, Baby, Drill:
I don’t understand this at all. Increased coastal drilling would be a small price to pay in exchange for actual congressional votes for an overall energy package that shifts us to a low-carbon economy over time. But any price is too high a price to pay in exchange for nothing at all. This isn’t the greatest environmental crime in human history, but it sure does seem like poor legislative strategy.
Duncan Black — Drill, Baby, Drill:
Who’d we elect again?
Natasha Chart — Morning No: Different Priorities:
How’s that hopey changey stuff working out? I don’t know about for me, but I think there are going to be some drill happy Alaskans who feel better about it.
Greg Sargent — The Morning Plum:
Just about every news org, reporting on the news that Obama will approve significant offshore drilling, used the headline: “Drill, baby drill.” Time to check you-know-who’s Facebook page…
Steve Benen — In Exchange for What?:
Obama has already effectively given Republicans what they wanted on energy. What is he getting in return?
Kevin Drum — Obama Opens Up the Coast:
When it comes to energy, conservatives are crazy about two things: nuclear power and offshore drilling. Now Obama has agreed to both. But does he seriously think this will “help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation”? Wouldn’t he be better off holding this stuff in reserve and negotiating it away in return for actual support, not just hoped-for support? What am I missing here?
Blue America's Senator Jeff Markley writes:
Dem Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, a respected voice in the Senate on green issues, sends over a statement hitting Obama’s decision to green-light offshore drilling, pronouncing himself “deeply concerned.”
“Today’s announcement doesn’t amount to a comprehensive strategy for dramatically reducing our dependence on foreign oil with transformative steps to lower our oil consumption,” Merkley says bluntly, adding:
While I’m glad that the Administration has decided not to open up the Oregon Coast to drilling, I am deeply concerned that opening up the Atlantic to offshore drilling will threaten coastal economies and does not represent a long-term solution to transform our energy economy.
It also doesn’t deal with the thousands of leases that oil companies already have, but aren’t drilling on. A “use it or lose it” policy should be the starting point for looking at increased domestic production.
We're getting killed on pretty much every issue in this administration.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
another corporate initiative to slaughter the planet for profit. there must be something fishy about the financial reform bill if they throw out this noise generator!
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common sense matters as much as truth
Emanuel , Obama and their Group of centrists are the problem with the democrats..
They screw any progressive or real democrat which speaks out about their destructive action or policies and have/will replace them with a conservative republican minded candidate..
Obama & Emanuel are increasing the number of U.S. soldiers and Mercenary religious right army and also the amount of attacks which are killing innocent civilians..
Obama is forcing the Republican policies of drilling offshore , nuclear plants in America ( guess Americans have forgotten Three Miles Islands which we were never told the truth about the nuclear leakage) Maryland which was down stream from the wind of 3 miles Island now is one the states that is in the top for their citizens having Cancer...
Obama & Emanuel passed the bank bailout and still did not put in any transparency or oversight or control of how and where they spend OUR money,, which has gone to their oversea branches , salaries & bonuses for the ceo's,,,, While main street was told to go to h... and jobs are still a thing of the past..
Obama has passed the republican health bill which the republican had proposed in the 1990's.
Obama is now setting up a data mining of the internet to see and control what is said...
Obama is using all of Bush's illegal programs which were against our constitution , bill of rights and democracy..
Obama should be cheered by the republicans because this is as close to a 3rd Bush / Cheney administration as they could get..
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He is stealing both of the biggest counterpoints Republicans have so they won't be able to say they have another plan during the next big circus they create trying to stop the energy bill.
This is all a simple, cold, measured political calculation. It's a shell game. You give them a billion in concessions and you take away 5 billion behind their backs while they are counting their money. or so the strategy goes. . .
Emanuel and most of the centrists are not republican plants..
We have heard that the republicans also want to infiltrate the Independent party with their republicans candidates..
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Emanuel and democrats funding their corporate republican candidates asking progressive democrats to quit.
http://www.truthout.org/article/special-repor...
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Obama says now he did not promise a public option..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUNCpnRBf9o
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Obama says now he did not promise a public option..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUNCpnRBf9o
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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/200...
As President Obama's escalation of the war in Afghanistan unfolds, the number of contractors will likely jump by between 16,000 and 56,000, adding up to a total of 120,000-160,000, according to an updated study from the Congressional Research Service.
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http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/200...
The latest figure on DOD contractors in the country is a whopping 104,100, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command tells TPM. That number, which is expected to grow, is already greater than the 98,000 U.S. troops that will be in the country after the new deployments.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008.....Obama's speech from Dunedin, Florida
http://speeches.demconwatchblog.com/2008/09/o...
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Mr. Obama attack Hillary’s health care plan which forces everyone to buy insurance. Even if you can’t afford it... and you pay a penalty if you don’t.”
Then uses it for his own health bill..
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/04/us/politics...
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Obama stated that McCain would make you pay taxes on your health benefits, for the first time ever. So now he puts it into his health bill.
Obama said he would make coverage more affordable to most Americans, paying for the subsidies largely by canceling the Bush administration's tax cuts for people making more than $250,000 a year.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27020325/
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warned us about Obama Inc. way back 2006:
Barack Obama Inc.:
The birth of a Washington machine, by Ken Silverstein
Yet it is also startling to see how quickly Obama’s senatorship has been woven into the web of institutionalized influence-trading that afflicts official Washington. He quickly established a political machine funded and run by a standard Beltway group of lobbyists, P.R. consultants, and hangers-on. For the staff post of policy director he hired Karen Kornbluh, a senior aide to Robert Rubin when the latter, as head of the Treasury Department under Bill Clinton, was a chief advocate for NAFTA and other free-trade policies that decimated the nation’s manufacturing sector (and the organized labor wing of the Democratic Party). Obama’s top contributors are corporate law and lobbying firms (Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, Arps, where four attorneys are fund-raisers for Obama as well as donors), Wall Street financial houses (Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase), and big Chicago interests (Henry Crown and Company, an investment firm that has stakes in industries ranging from telecommunications to defense).
that's why he is surprised when they won't work with him. Hah. Americans get screwed again.
in November. When the electoral bloodbath comes Obama and the Dem establisment will be wondering what happened.
By the way this is the plan proposed by Paris Hilton in her Funny or Die commercial. Look it up if you don't believe me.
that there will be a blood bath in November?
If the response to everything is “that’s going to cost them in November,” at some point those saying this should be willing to entertain the notion that other people may think their single note response to every political event bespeaks a certain lack of complexity in this thinking process.
Of course the democrats will lose some seats in November. Majority parties always do.
worry about the Corporate Dems and not The American People. Another broken promise by Barry. Screw Barry and his buddies.
Obama has lied on just about ALL his campaign promises..
Obama , Emanuel and most of the centrists democrats are elitist phonies and are passing the republican corporate programs which we have been against so long and Obama campaign not to do...
You can not believe a word from Obama's mouth anymore... His words or promises no longer have any meaning... What he says today is just the opposite of what he will do tomorrow..
This is the THIRD term of the Bush/Cheney administration and Obama and company has destroy all the support and backing they had receive in 2006 & 2008..
This could not have gone better for the republicans even if Rove has planned it... Maybe he d..............
Emanuel and his group has totally destroy the democrat party and are now looking for the votes from the illegal immigrants once they give them health care and citizenship... They are looking for around 30 million new votes plus that of their families.....
The Independent party is looking better each and every day...
Hope they have more Bernie Sanders as candidates in 2010 & 2012 because Emanuel and his corporate and republican democrat candidates sure will not get my vote..
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n/t
It's just the red states. I don't see the downside. Throw a couple of oil derricks out there so that when the mouth-breathers go to Virginia Beach and plod through the sticky sand, they'll see the Drill-Baby-Drill in action.
I just hope that the gulf stream changes direction so that Long Island is spared.
Was the first thing I thought when I heard this too.
Pndering to the righties to get the tea baggers to like him?
Yep. Totally agree. They ain't drillin' off the Jersey shore or LI, so...I'm happy.
Give the knuckle draggers what they want. Oh...and when the hurricane knocks the rig over and the beaches are black...we need to remind them that government needs to stay off the backs of the states...so...good luck...hope it works out for ya.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Know that Obama is not a trojan horse sent to us by way of ROVE>>.
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knows he is not an American citizen.
TFR
since I heard this this morning. Since when did I vote for a republican? Our &6%$%$## President will not get my vote next election. He can count on it.
But I guess he's just solidifying his republican base.
Fuck Obama. He won't get my vote either.
In 2008, I thought he was the lesser of two evils, but now he's become the same as Grampa and Dubya.
In 2012 I'm voting Green or writing in Dennis Kucinich. And for those of you who will inevitably say, "But you'd be wasting your vote, and the Repubs will be back in power" I say they ALREADY ARE!
Obama is just another corporatist asshole. Fuck him.
This is just getting rediculous.
I personally would vote for Kucinich or Dean over any of the democrat republicans we now have in office..
You can not believe a word from any of them...
Wilson had it correct ,,,, THEY lie..
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I wanted Kucinich and voted for O-Bomb-A reluctantly. What a wasted vote, the bastard has turned out to be a stealth Rethug or something. No vote for him, or his faction of the Dems, not again unless there is a radical change in his direction soon (not likely).
promised to not vote for him three issues ago like so many others here. Bye bye leverage.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
In fairness, many of them gave up on him before he was inaugurated.
TFR
sorry to repeat myself, I'm hoping some of his true believers are reading, so they can GET A CLUE. The Base won't be there.
Sorry but I have to agree. Obama has surrounded himself with corporate hacks over truly qualified people. He has bowed down to rightwing and big business to the detrament of the average American.
This was Bush & Cheney we would have been raising h... back in March of 2009..
Why does Obama , Emanuel and the democrats get a pass for doing the same programs and policies we have seen in the previous administration..
Looks as if Obama was given the jobs because he could control Americans which were against the sellout of our country to the Global coporations and FOREIGN countries...
We are looking like idiots... We are being kicked in the n.ts while we are being slapped in the face and we are supporting bending over for more..
Emanuel and Obama stated their republican corporate policies from the very start../.
Are we really this stupid to vote for a repblicans because Emanuel funds and supports them with our political donations and groups...
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increasing the cost of gas as we speak just to increase their profits. This could help hold them in check. I still maintain that there is no shortage of oil. Check the US geological survey for N Dakota and Montana. Some estimates say there is more oil and gas reserves there than in the entire middle east.
Profits are profits, and as we've seen, there really is no limit on the greed of the oil trust.
I can see how a windfall profits tax (another broken promise) would keep them in check, but how does giving them what they want do the same?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
anything about giving them anything they want. I do think that transition from using fossil fuels is going to take generations to to implement and we need some drilling to meet the demands during that transition.
How does this expanded drilling hold oil companies in check?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
if the oil supplies are available here instead of buying it from the ME it may help hold prices in check. Don't try to take what I say out of context.
Not deliberately anyway.
My problem is that you've assumed an actual market where increased supply should translate into lower price. Oil doesn't have a market. It is a monopoly/oligopoly. Increase in supply is irrelevant because there is no competition.
They have a spigot that they can turn up or down and any increase in supply would be behind that spigot.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I only said it may help.
Fair enough.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
very little of our oil from the ME.
Most of our oil comes from Canada and Mexicoand at home.
comes from offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico and affiliated waters.
TFR
Terrorism works in America.
Progressives held marches, donated hard-earned money, and came to the poll in droves to halt W. Wars One and Two, close the Guantanamo Bay base, and rein in big business.
And what have we to show for it?
Less than those who fall in step with the birthers, the Jim Adkisson crowd, hate radio, people who want to keep women as second-class citizens, Joe Lieberman, WellPoint, Dick Armey, astrotrf movements, and the people who spit on congressmen and drop "N" bombs.
I see who the president is really listening to.
For over 6 months I have been saying that Obama , Emanuel and the Centrists are corporate or republicans elected on the democratic ticket.
I have been called a troll , republicans and other BS..
Huffington Post has censored my post when every I mention about Bush's corruption and Obama's support and protection of the previous administration...
If Obama and company had took me they would increase the total military in the middle east..
Double the war contractors and mercenary army.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/14/us-a...
According to the U.S. State Department's website, a contract has been awarded for $209,392,452 to build housing and what sounds like a shopping center and facilities for the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan.
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Pass the offshore drilling while building 100's of new power plants. Plus get a load of this.... Plus to process CLEAN coal in America. (There is no such a thing as clean coal..)...And save and clean power with 100 new nuclear plants..over 20 years and we will give our tax money to help these private companies to build them.
Obama Reverses Campaign Promise and Approves Offshore Drilling.......President allows oil and gas exploration off several coastal areas to horsetrade with Republicans over climate change bills.
"I see an evolving attitude on energy by the president," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, who has called for 100 plants to be built in the next 20 years. Alexander, R-Tenn., said Obama's mention of nuclear energy in the address Wednesday night was the most important statement that the president has made on nuclear power.
Well were you around when Three Miles Island had it's radiation leaks and are we paying for it today in cancer..
I know they told us the whole truth about the meltdown.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).
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Not renegotiate the free trade bill responsible for outsourcing over 9 million American jobs..
Obama had promised to open up NAFTA to renegotiations. But he’s backed off that pledge since taking office, blaming the global economic meltdown.
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Gave the banking Empire trillions in federal dollars with no oversight and tell us to go to h... when we ask where did OUR money go..
If American taxpayers are financing this solution, you should be treated like investors. Wall Street and Washington should give you every penny of your money back once this economy recovers.
We cannot and will not simply bailout Wall Street without helping the millions of innocent homeowners who are struggling to stay in their homes.
American people should not be spending one dime to reward the same Wall Street CEOs whose greed and irresponsibility got us into this mess.
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While YES selling out to the health & drug companies..
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_green...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/inte...
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Personally I see these policies as corporate republican and not at all what he say he would do to receive my donations , support and vote...Or I would have never pulled that lever for him...
And I believe Hillary was too republican to vote for... In over 40 years of voting I have never regretted a vote as much as I do this time..
Might not had made any different but as less I would not have been part of the problem...
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Let me make this clear: George BUSH Sr. Imposed the Off Shore Drilling Moratorium in 1990. The leases were not being developed. We should not be gladly handing over public lands to the private sector.
And we have NO say in what they do with it and TO us with it..
The oil companies have been buying oil from our public land at the price of oil in the 1940's or so...
There is a corporate class war and we are losing our a..es
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the f*ck is this guy Obama? I'm thinking he's a human chameleon. Campaigned as a Democrat, governing as a rethug.
he was born on Mars, but they didn't have any paper there to record it on
Obama would receive the minority votes and the democrats certainly would not vote for a republican..
But we have been voting republican for years,,, Every time we pulled the level for the republican candidate running as a democrat on the democratic ticket..
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The Gulf of Mexico already has a large 'dead zone', and oil exploration is not going to improve it.
IMO, Obama worries too much about everybody liking him.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
is from fertilizer runoff causing algae blooms, that will go away once it becomes too expensive to make fertilizer from petro-products.
Politians care... They are not losing their income , retirement , health care and homes..
If fact what do they have one in every country.. So if they screw it up in our country they have another one to live in..
U.S. has become a third world country for most Americans now...
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if by everybody you mean the GOP and corporate interests then i agree.
b/c he is made it crystal clear that he is not trying to be friends with the left
See, I would say he thinks the left is already firmly behind him, so he panders to the right.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
He's just doing what his superiors tell him to do. I mean really, you think politicians of any office have actual power against the corporate govt?
The new areas touch nearly every Southern state + Alaska, a traditionally independent-minded, libertarian-leaning state that Palin is trying to dress up in Republican drag.
If I agreed with the three-dimensional chess types who always believe that President Obama is several steps ahead of the rest of us, I suppose I'd say that the Prez is hoping his opponents will drill themselves into oblivion.
For myself, I think it's pure political expediency.
BHO is setting the table for the Rethug president of 2012?
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to switch parties.
Then he could switch to republican and enact a bunch of liberal policies and none of them would criticize him. He would be their wonderful commander in chief studly basketball playing genius.
That would never happen though (the liberal policies part).
this move, we use 20 million barrels of oil a day ladies and gentlemen.
war in the middle east, any number of things could disrupt our foreign supply, we need to suck up every drop we can, and get it stored in the strategic reserve.
peak oil is real folks, that is why obama is doing this, no time left for la-la land. as far as cap and trade goes, let's just shovel more money to the hucksters on wall street, or we could fine excess emissions, and put the cash straight into their bank accounts, that would work as well as cap and trade.
besides, why are you surprised? didn't hcr prove to you that our president is just as much of a corporatist as the clintons?
and big impacts are not far away, not more than a few years. Toss out this small drilling proposal, then go after big bucks for more sustainable energy options.
but americans are living in denial, when they see it on tv they may start paying attention, there is a show coming on msnbc this weekend having to do with energy use, could not find the listing.
I wondered when you and Niewart were going to close the window on your book - seemed to me this past couple of weeks makes for a baaaaaad time to shut it off and go to press.
status quobama is getting his energy policy from sara fuckin palin!?
SO, wellpoint ins. co writes the health care "reform"...
palin writes the energy policy....
Whats next...?! Buchanan and dobbs write the immigration policy?!
Yup,UNFUCKINGREAL....Ubetcha!
Cue the Kabuki....
She IS an expert on energy ya know (although she has never ever demonstrated that to anyone anywhere).
Maybe Obama will shoot a wolf from a plane next...
What does NJ have to lose?
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
minus whatever was on that reality show (I didn't watch it) is rather beautiful.
if these oil rigs are going to be privately owned and operated, how, pray tell, does opening up more areas for oil/gas exploration, thereby jeopardizing national coastlines, justify producing more oil to be sold on the open market? how does this asshole move make america any more energy independent? seems that the only entities that are helped by this are oil and gas companies and the rightwing that can trumpet victory. won't the oil drilled from these areas simply go into the world oil market, and not some sort of nationalized oil depository?
so, who is running against obama in the '12 primary?
from U.S. leases is to be sold in the U.S. only. It hits the world market at whatever the market is. It won't cause gas prices to go down, and unless Obama passes some law that says otherwise, it doesn't go far towards decreasing our dependance on oil. If anything, it will just delay whatever reforms we were going to make, ala Carter.
that is what i thought
thanks Rich
eastern US continental shelf oil would be sold on the world market, as it was not likely to yield light, sweet grades of crude which are most easily refined.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
the longer we rely on oil, foreign or domestic, the longer we will be dependent on middle east oil, and the longer it will take for us to develop other technologies. Spot on.
Giving the contracts to other countries to build the green options like China.
China and India is cheap labor and large buyers for their products even when they outsource their manufacturing plants and jobs to them to manufacture their products to sell around the world and US..
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaeStDocX30
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
As a resident of Florida and an environmentalist, I am so disappointed in this decision. This is something I never thought he would do, even though he never totally ruled it out. He gave reasons during his campaign why doing this just didn't make sense. Boehner has already said it's not going far enough, so the republicans aren't going to play ball...again.
Damn, what is he thinking and what is it about this decision that I don't understand.
Look at the areas in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Then look at the most frequent paths hurricanes take as they come on shore. This is just wrong!
If this has been done for political reasons, it's even worse.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
But you might feel differently, pop. Check out Marc Ambinder's take on this. Maybe it's more 3 dimensional chess.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
one dimensional checkers.
Thanks. I read it, but the feelings are still there.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Welcome to the dark side :)
It was lonely at first, but we're getting more company with every WH announcement.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
..."the White House is betting that they'll force Republicans into a corner before the public debate begins,"
OBAMA WON! They are already in a fucking corner! NOW get out your whip and heard them from the corner out into the gutter where they belong.
Cue the Kabuki....
After he's co-opted all republican positions forcing the republicans to vote against everything they've ever wanted, and then gets things passed.
It's a win win for everyone.
Your equation results in Democrats ceding their stated principles for the sake of expediency & enacting Republican policies into law.
That's not my definition of a win-win.
at the end. I guess I'm too old. I don't like to use OMG or other abbreviations either.
This IS just wrong. The Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico get some pretty wild storms. Putting rigs there is asking for trouble.
The Ocean Ranger disaster of 1982 in Newfoundland comes to mind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Ranger
that Obama's loyalties lie with those who have the cash to buy his loyalties.
Does not know the truth from a lie...
If so he would not have made all his campaign promises and than tell us to go to h... He is a republican..
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...congress isn't even worried about the next election!
(anyone think they know something we don't?)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
check your Mayan calendar!!!!
"greased palms" are easy to spot.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
palm readers for their policies..
I really believe I should join the Independent party if nothing else I am starting to be ashame to be associated with this group of democrats..
Emanuel has been the worst thing that could have ever happen to the democartic party.
And they say Rove has a bag of dirty tricks..
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Did George Soros buy Diebold?
Just wait, Obama is going to hand a major victory over to the republicans with this.
I can hear the moose call now "See we told you we were right, drill baby drill - you betcha"
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/02/campai...
Obama said Friday that he would be willing to compromise on his position against offshore oil drilling if it were part of a more overarching strategy to lower energy costs.
"My interest is in making sure we've got the kind of comprehensive energy policy that can bring down gas prices," Obama told The Palm Beach Post early into a two-day swing through Florida.
But on Saturday morning, Obama said this "wasn't really a new position."
"I made a general point about the fact that we need to provide the American people some relief and that there has been constructive conversations between Republicans and Democrats in the Senate on this issue," he said during a press conference in Cape Canaveral.
"What I will not do, and this has always been my position, is to support a plan that suggests this drilling is the answer to our energy problems," Obama added.
"If we've got a plan on the table that I think meets the goals that America has to set and there are some things in there that I don't like, then obviously that's something that I would consider because that's the nature of how we govern in a democracy."
TFR
I said in my comment that I knew he never totally ruled it out. I get that. I just didn't think he would ever totally rule it in.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Only VA coast line will be open to drilling, and that won't be immediate. The others are to have environmental studies done to see if the impact warrants the drilling. It will be years before anything happens there.
He even brought up the prospect of doing this in his SOU address, why everyone is surprised is beyond me.
wouldn't fix our problems, wasn't cost effective and wouldn't save average americans any money.
I guess I'll have to find a link (if possible) and post it.
Link
September 2008: Obama Said Part Of America’s Energy Strategy Should Include Increasing Domestic Production. “That means that we, as one of the biggest consumers of oil -- 25 percent of the world's oil -- have to have an energy strategy not just to deal with Russia, but to deal with many of the rogue states we've talked about, Iran, Venezuela. And that means, yes, increasing domestic production and off-shore drilling, but we only have 3 percent of the world's oil supplies and we use 25 percent of the world's oil. So we can't simply drill our way out of the problem.” [Transcript, First Presidential Debate, 9/26/08]
October 2008: Obama Said, “I Believe In The Need For Increased Oil Production. We’re Going To Have To Explore New Ways To Get More Oil, And That Includes Offshore Drilling.” “And let's take the example of energy, which we already spoke about. There is going to be the need for each and every one of us to start thinking about how we use energy. I believe in the need for increased oil production. We're going to have to explore new ways to get more oil, and that includes offshore drilling. It includes telling the oil companies, that currently have 68 million acres that they're not using, that either you use them or you lose them. We're going to have to develop clean coal technology and safe ways to store nuclear energy. But each and every one of us can start thinking about how can we save energy in our homes, in our buildings. And one of the things I want to do is make sure that we're providing incentives so that you can buy a fuel efficient car that's made right here in the United States of America, not in Japan or South Korea, making sure that you are able to weatherize your home or make your business more fuel efficient.”
from August 2008 on.
TFR
has been running a clip over and over all day from Obama's campaign where he clearly dismisses in several ways the idea of off shore drilling. Ultimately he says there is absolutely no proof that off shore drilling would affect the prices consumers pay in the U.S.
I'm sure there are many more instances. I remember it quite clearly from his campaign.
But to your comments, I guess if you say two totally different things then your covered no matter which way you go.
Link
It really is a shock listening to that and listening to him today. The only thing I can think of is he's going to be receiving some major campaign donations.
He changed his mind, perhaps he will let us know. Most assuredly questions, and not just from us, will be asked.
My first question after watching that video:
When are the investigations of oil companies and Wall Street manipulation of gas prices beginning?
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
did that ever happen? I don't think so.
Here
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I was actually expecting a chart or something.
I'm not surprised, but I'm one of those far-left crazies who didn't vote for Obama. I suspect that most of those who are surprised by this announcement will be registered party members. Perhaps the best part of this is that it's one of those instances that's illustrative of how fatally flawed our electoral system is.
You're right that President Obama talked about offshore drilling. Others are also right that he, at other times during the campaign, pooh-poohed the idea. I think what's happening is integral to the two-party system. Look at the headlines: "Drill, Baby, Drill!" Sarah Palin memorably guaranteed that offshore drilling would be associated with the GOP and Democrats, including Obama, did nothing to counteract that image. The same is true of nuclear power. It serves their interests to draw sharp contrasts at election time, or at least to keep mum when there are no contrasts to draw.
Obama wanted the votes of all those who oppose offshore drilling. Period. The Democrats have positioned themselves to try and get "green" votes, while the GOP has positioned themselves to get the contrarians. It's all showmanship; President Obama is just the best, most articulate showman that the Democrats have had in a while.
the new environmental party. (/snark, sort of)
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Republicans will begin to wet themselves as they try to cry against this. Between them and enough of actually making our voices heard, we can head this off.
We have to be more involved than just sitting around bitching and whining about it on message ... boards ... dagnubit...
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
can we get something better then a $1 annual lease from the multi billion/year profits oil corps this time? Can we actually charge them what the Saudis get for their leases? And buy ourselves some frigging real health care reform like Medicare for all with the proceeds? Because I just feel like I'm getting dry humped again like it's been for the past decade. Or three.
develop and reap profit in the billions. Where are my government connections when I need them?
and a few billion dollars in exploration costs mapping potential fields which may or may not have economically recoverable gas and/or oil. Then a few billion more spent in developing a field.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
you could too.
There's more!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
The people of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage." J.K. Galbraith
weeeeeeeeee! I was shocked that shrub did not bomb Iran before leaving office. Silly me, he was ASSURED obama would do it for him....
Cue the Kabuki....
Outer continential shelf crude production is over 25% of US Domestic
production. Has been for a good while. And that is with the moratorium.
http://www.mms.gov/stats/PDFs/June2008/3.pdf
TFR
to this are often the very same people who object to rising gasoline, home fuel prices and the cost of everything else derived from petrochemicals. Which is damn near everything.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Ricky, are you calling me a "base whiner"? If you are that makes me sad. I'm not whining, just expressing my feelings.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
the "base"....has been chased into the basement....
Cue the Kabuki....
like many throw them into their comments. It is part of my corporatist nature. Shows pears.
The chart speaks for itself. We are already drilling and producing a substantial amount of our domestic consumption offshore.
TFR
this is the most forward thinking thing obama has done.
just like aircraft carriers and warplanes that carter signed into law are still being used today, these rigs will be online when the second oil shock hits.
our society is a machine, the largest machine ever built by mankind, the purpose of which is to keep people alive; this machine eats energy, without energy it stops, and people starve to death.
gwahar is in decline, they have been injecting seawater for twenty years. the US peaked in 1970, that is why the '73 oil shock hit so hard, obama is doing this to protect the american people.
this is the first thing in his presidency i agree with, it would be better to form a state oil company to develop these fields, but barring that, i see this as a completely responsible decision.
do some calculations, figure out how many calories, or BTU, or watts, or however you want to figure it, are in a barrel of oil.
If we had stuck to Carter's energy plan we would be on a much better path. But instead of going back and revisiting Carter's sustainable energy plan he is PANDERING to the right wing drill baby drill talking points and to the whims of his corporate masters.
Cue the Kabuki....
Spot on, Gus. If this country had embraced Carter's plan we'd ALREADY be independent of foreign oil, and green technologies would be mainstream.
farther down the road - as in decades.
as one who voted for carter, i think he was the last honest president we have had, but the american people didn't care to listen to someone with brains.
i don't think obama is pandering, he has read the usgs report on oil supplies. i agree about the corporate masters, this is why we should have had a state oil company 40 years ago.
Right you are. Brazil took carter's advice and warnings to heart and implemented a comprehensive plan. In 2008 they achieve total fossil fuel independence. With no nukes. That could have been us.
That raygun was worth a shit....he was not! He removed the solar pannels off the white house roof that Carter had put there. WHY? Because the White House does NOT stand in the way of corporate profits....yup, what a hero, ubetcha!
Cue the Kabuki....
He's just co-opting what's already a done deal. When Bush lifted the executive orders on drilling in these areas in 2008, it was left up to the states as to whether they wanted to allow it and if they did, they'd get the revenue stream attached to it. As a result, Arnie has already opted in while refusing to give taxpayers any of the benefit.
Bottom line? It's not anything more or less than what was already in place, but it gives the appearance that a compromise has been made.
And with that said, it still sucks.
to be dependent on foreign oil and the foreign military entanglements that requires.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
how does this free us from "foreign" oil?
is obama nationalizing the oil pulled from these sites?
and, if you honestly think that this move will stop the country from future foreign military entanglements due to oil concerns i have some sad news for you.
specifically for oil - which wouldn't have lowered consumer prices one iota, not for terrorists. And if handled correctly, we wouldn't even have gone into Afghanistan. So what wars are you referring to exactly, the two wars of choice?
But invading Iraq didn't cost the U.S. a thing, what with all the oil money Iraq is bringing in and the short duration of troops needed there!
And look how it brought the price of oil down, now that Iraq is the leading, prosperous democratic country in the middle east.
Oh wait........never mind.
but it does put oil on the market not subject to OPEC price manipulation which reduces the overall cost of energy imports. Furthermore it puts resources on line that do not have to be protected on the other side of the world and the economics of transportation make the US refineries the most likely destination for this oil should it even exist. How much oil from the gulf of Mexico goes anywhere but the US?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
OPEC isn't the only price manipulator. the oil cartels would/do too, as do energy traders.
I don't think that anyone should be terribly surprised by all this.
After passing the (so-called) health-care reform, David Axelrod practically boasted that the bill was essentially the same as Romney's HCR plan for Mass.
The Republican Party itself has gone off the deep end, but the Democrats have become the Republican Lite Party and have been so for a very long time. I remember that Bill Clinton was described as the "best Republican president since Ike".
Even when Americans overwhelmingly elect Democrats, they still essentially get a Republican administration.
since he aanounced he could support limited offshore drilling in early August 2008, almost a month before anyone heard of Palin.
TFR
He's arguing for additional drilling for natural gas--by no means a perfect fuel, but cleaner that oil exploration/refining.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
I've been listening to him too. He's making sense.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I have a feeling if Obama had received that infamous PDB, "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." one World Trade Center tower would still be standing today.
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
BP Solar ends Md. manufacturing, cutting 320 jobs
More detail and links:
BP Solar ends U.S. production of solar panels
----------
The cost of solar electric has fallen to the point that it is a feasible alternative.
Therefore global demand for solar panels has risen sharply, and the cost of production has plummetted.
So .. they move all their manufacturing to India and China to take advantage of the cheap labor there.
Time to reconsider "free trade" and replace it with "fair trade" .. or is it just way too late?
Democracy is too important to be entrusted to politicians.
Rise Up!
Protest!
slaveowners and say that we own all those Chinese slaves? Oh that's right, they actually own US. Never mind...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
America's leaders must recognize that free trade is simply an academic theory that does not exist, nor work, in the real world. If America is to compete in international trade against nations such as China and Japan that purposely game the system in their favor, it will have to adopt a more “defensive mercantilist” stance, according to Ian Fletcher, an adjunct fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council
from/thanks Buzz flash
Cue the Kabuki....
As I've said many times, China's ahead of the curve when it comes to new energy resources. We're going to have to get used to buying whatever new technology comes about from China (India or elsewhere) because once again we delayed the inevitable.
The myth of a "green economy" took another blow as BP Solar announced the closure of a Maryland manufacturing plant that built solar panels. BP announced it's moving production to India, China and elsewhere. This come just three years after the company received a $7.5 million grant from the Department of Energy to promote alternative energy and wean the nation off its dependence on foreign oil. BP chief executive Tony Hayward put the company's decision in less eloquent but more succinct terms, telling The Washington Post that the company was "moving to where we can manufacture cheaply." We can still have green power in the US, just plan on buying the solar panels from China. Has everybody in Washington DC forgotten that Alexander Hamilton's whole point in proposing, and shepherding into law for over 200 years, import tariffs on foreign goods was to build American industries on American soil with American workers?
--Thom
Cue the Kabuki....
Texas school books?
And I wonder if BP will give US back our 7.5 mill?
Cue the Kabuki....
Sure! He didn't want no reg-a-lations on handguns, and died standing on principle.
Aaron Burr will be noted as a 2nd amendment champion!
start reading up on hydraulic fracturing.
when they talk about "increased drilling for natural gas" this is what they are talking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fractu...
http://www.earthworksaction.org/FracingDetail...
this is the environmental issue, you have to have clean water to stay alive.
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
We drive SUV's if we are yuppies or pickups if we are rednecks - either way...
We insist on electricity on demand. I'm using it right now.
We shriek for energy independence from OPEC, yet write letters and testify at hearings to stop wind turbines, or nukes, or underwater turbines or hydro.
There are times I wonder.
but mine DEMAND wind and solar everywhere possible. But they DO point out the JOKE that is nuke energy.....
Cue the Kabuki....
$$$ Smells like a back room deal with 'Big Oil'. $$$
Bush's 3rd term to me. Best of luck in 2012, Mr.Obama.
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