I've Been Sick - Sorry

I am sorry that I haven't posted anything lately, I was quite ill for a while. Ended up in the hospital getting a bunch of fluids pumped into me, I was extremely dehydrated from 3-4 days of almost constant vomiting.

I am on-the-mend and should be posting again soon. I'm watching "Meet the Press" right now and I have a couple of great rants about the lies the Republican leaders are telling and the failure of Democratic leaders to stand up to the lies and call the GOP lackeys as the shameful shills for "Big Business" that they are.

See ya soon

Republican Apologists for the Oil Industry

Rep. Joe Barton tells Tony Hayward, CEO of BP: "I'm ashamed" of the "$20 billion shakedown" by the Obama administration and "I'm sorry."

There was an audible gasp from my wife & I as we sat and watched the morning session on C-Span3. I have to admit that I do love DVR, I had to rewind the broadcast to make sure that I had, in fact, just heard a member of the United States Congress, on national television, tell the CEO of BP, the corporate felon that has admitted responsibility in the largest environmental disaster in the nation's history, that he is sorry for the way that the US Government has asked BP to provide assurance for the payment of damage claims.

The words are still ringing in my ears, the sting still fresh in my mind as I attempt to find a way to adequately describe my feelings and my thoughts about a sitting member of the US House of Representatives, Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX 6th District), apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the White House "shakedown" for a $20 Billion "slush fund" contribution. The clear implication is that, in exchange this $20 Billion "slush-fund" the U.S. government will let BP off the hook for potential criminal or civil penalties.

It is important to note that no such agreement, expressed or implied, exists and it was clearly stated by President Obama that the $20 Billion is not a cap and that it is the intention of the US government that BP will pay all damages regardless of the amount. BP has accepted liability for this accident and has stated publicly, numerous times and Tony Hayward repeated it today as well, that BP will "make this right", no matter what it takes in terms of time and money, and the Gulf Coast will be better than before.

Okay, I'll admit that the 'better than before' thing is probably a conceit on the part of Mr. Hayward, but the public commitment on the part of BP to admit their responsibility and put up a security deposit against the potential claims is something that I just can't imagine an American company doing without a serious court fight including years of appeals all the way up to the Supreme Court. The British still believe, as Winston Churchill said in 1946:

"All that is needed is the resolve of...men and women to do right instead of wrong and to gain as their reward blessing instead of cursing."

So a "shakedown" is when the injured party (the United States and the citizens of the Gulf Coast, for starters) asks that the responsible party (BP) put up some tangible, meaningful assurance that they can, in fact, pay for the damage which they admit they are responsible for. It's not like there are insurance policies for this kind of thing. Not even Lloyd's of London would insure such a risky endeavor. Hell, AIG wouldn't even be stupid enough to touch this one, and they'd transfer the risk to the US government anyway and STILL they wouldn't be that stupid.

I hope that the good citizens of the Texas 6th district will have the memory of the oil soaked shores of the Gulf states, including theirs, in mind when it comes time to choose their representation in congress. Rep. Joe Barton is so far out of touch with the people of his own district and with the people of America that he should be voted out of the House of Representatives at the earliest opportunity. Anyone, of either party, that wants to run against this idiot needs no other campaign ad than what will eventually become known as "the apology clip".

Joe Barton & Michele Bachmann are defending BP!!! I wonder what the Tea Party thinks about that?

The "10 Word Answer"

President Obama made an appearance at a senior center in Wheaton, MD to talk about the practical implications of the recent health care legislation as well as addressing specific questions from seniors on health care legislation issues. It is amazing to watch Pres. Obama as he takes on the role of 'educator-in-chief'. This is an extremely complex issue that will radically change the way that Americans get and pay for health care. The republican opposition will run, partly at least, on a platform that will include promises to "Repeal and Replace" the health care legislation and to put a stop to, what they call, a "big government take-over of the health care system".

It will be much easier to run against, rather than run on the health care issues. Simply put, it is not really possible to put the essence of the health care issues that face America and are addressed in the health care legislation passed this year into a "10 word answer" or an easy to chant slogan "Repeal and Replace", "Drill, baby, drill!", etc.

"Ten-word answers can kill you in political campaigns. They're the tip of the sword. Here's my question: What are the next ten words of your answer? Your taxes are too high? So are mine. Give me the next ten words. How are we going to do it? Give me ten after that, I'll drop out of the race right now. Every once in a while... every once in a while, there's a day with an absolute right and an absolute wrong, but those days almost always include body counts. Other than that, there aren't very many unnuanced moments in leading a country that's way too big for ten words." (From the television series The West Wing, season 4, episode title: Game On)

The only problem with the next ten words, and the 10 after that, and so on, is that the more complicated a situation is to explain, the less likely it is that you're going to be able to keep the attention of the American people long enough to understand it, let alone sufficiently long enough to actually embrace it.

It is easier to put together ten-word answers (a.k.a. "sound-bites") that can be repeated over and over again until you achieve something called the "Liberty Valance Effect" (thank you Robert Wuhl). "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." The conservatives are really good at this, you may remember some of these gems from various neo-conservatives in recent years:

• "Drill, baby, drill"
• "Big government take-over"
• "Corporate Bailout"
• "Taxed Enough Already"
• "Free Markets will regulate themselves"
• "Government isn't the answer to the problem, government is the problem"
• "The American people know how to spend their own money better than the American government does"
• "Government has never, ever created a single job." I shit you not, Michael Steele actually said this!
• "Where's The Birth Certificate?"

The problem that the left faces in the debate is that the attention of the average American is so splintered in the 21st century. In this age of instant information, 24/7 news and live coverage of just about everything, just about anywhere on the planet there is precious little time to convey a complex message. The future of America and the future of our planet is an extremely complex issue with many components and no simple "ten-word answers".

What will it take to focus the American people on how to solve the energy issues that face us? The fact that 9/11 didn't do it, and the 1973 OPEC embargo didn't do it, really worries me. What will it take to rouse the sleeping giant once again?

WTF: They Need Help In the Gulf Region

There seems to be a set of common themes coming from the local citizens in the Gulf region:

They need more hands-on help! Some of the things that I have heard in the last 24-48 hrs include the following:

• The clean-up of areas already being damaged
• Prepare for areas that oil is going to impact
• Lay and maintain the containment booms (more effective containment)

They need more effective clean-up methods as well as the equipment, tools, supplies and support required to implement a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.

I have heard some really excellent ideas discussed on Hardball with Chris Matthews and the folks that have these ideas are frustrated with the "suggestion box" mentality. I have seen some very promising technology including a type of containment boom that is designed for deeper water containment over longer periods of time. Chris Matthews is telling these people to go through the White House, he even gave out the White House Press Office direct phone number over the air, instead of wasting time trying to go through BP.

What is the problem with this picture? This is a national emergency, in progress daily right in front of our eyes, causing environmental and economic devastation to tens of thousands of families and businesses that depend on the Gulf of Mexico for their livelihood. So I had a thought, let's give our nation's youth something to do this summer that will help the Gulf and also will help them with future education costs. Here's a brief synopsis:

High School Graduates and College/University students/grads recruited to help in the Gulf during the summer (4-6 week 'tours', maybe). These students/grads would work in the Gulf as needed and be provided with transportation to/from, basic room & board (Flotels, yeah!), a reasonable per diem, and when each student completes their commitment they get an educational credit of, maybe, for example only $5,000 - $10,000 depending on the individual's school costs and need. Okay, it needs work on the details, but an idea is at least a place to start and this is only one idea that could work now and for the future, too.

When I was a young boy spending time with family in Scotland I was introduced to the concept of "Compulsory Service". It was during that period of American history when there was an active draft, the Vietnam War was still going on and the massacre at Kent State was still a fresh memory that I told my father that I would not go to Vietnam if I were to be drafted. In the interest of full-disclosure I will say that I was only 14 yrs old and as my dad gently reminded me at the time, I wouldn't have to make that decision for a while yet.

What my father told me next it what I have tried to remember and to practice whenever possible. He told me that he had always opposed US intervention in South East Asia and told me of the history and the rationale for his position. My father told me that if I wanted to go to the UK and sit out the Vietnam War, should that be necessary 4-5 yrs hence, he would support that decision with one, non-negotiable condition: That I serve my community in some capacity. He explained both in words and he demonstrated in his daily example his belief that freedom isn't free, it is earned and it must be vigilantly guarded or it will be lost. Giving something back, contributing to something greater than yourself, remembering to honor those that gave us what we have, these are the the values that I was taught.

I am not sure what will happen, but I think that we need to make the idea of service to the community an obligation of citizenship. I see this as nothing less than a practical "thank-you" to our country for the rights, the freedoms, the liberty that we enjoy. For each of the 'rights' that we enjoy in America there is a responsibility that accompanies it. We have the right to vote, but we have an equal responsibility to actually exercise that right and use the vote we are given. We have a responsibility to those that paved the way for us to help pave the way for future generations.

Service, in this sense, need not be military service. There are many, many areas where service is needed and would be valued from a local city level all the way to federal programs and, of course there is nothing stopping anyone from the honor of military service if they choose that route.

Are American's ready to put feet to their high minded rhetoric, or are we left with only proud words on a dusty shelf.

We've Never Done this Before!?!?

As I listened to Adm. Thad Allen's press conference this morning I heard the Admiral used an approximation of the phrase, 'This [repair attempt] has never been tried at 5,000 feet (below the ocean surface) before'. This is not the first time I have heard some version of that phrase used regarding the repairs being attempted on the oil wellhead that has been gushing thousands upon thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

More than six weeks into this man-made disaster the oil still flows from the broken pipe as BP has tried various repair techniques with campaign-slogan sounding names like the "Top Hat", "Top Kill", and of course the most recent "Cut & Cap" procedure underway as I write this post. These are, as we have been reminded frequently, stop-gap measures that might reduce the amount of oil flowing into the waters of the Gulf. The "ultimate fix" is the pair of relief wells that are currently underway with an extremely optimistic, and purposely vague, completion estimate of "August". We are asked to remember that this is "unprecedented", these procedures have never been attempted at the depths and pressures involved in this situation.

The problem, of course, is that this is not, in fact, unprecedented (see previous post "When will we ever learn"). The ability to deal with a catastrophic failure like the one that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon has not kept up with the inevitability of such catastrophic failures. Yes, such a failure is "relatively rare", at least on the massive scale of the Deepwater Horizon spill, if you consider every 30-40 yrs to be rare. On a geological timescale such intervals are literally blinks. The ecological damage to the coastal wetlands will take many generations at least, probably centuries, to recover, if they can recover. The damage to the ocean and the environment beyond the beaches, marshes, swamps, etc. is equally incalculable. And it is going to happen again, I am absolutely convinced that this is not the last time we will see this "mini-series" remade with a new cast.

There is a way that this kind of thing can be avoided. If the determination, political and popular, existed to make the United States truly energy independent we could reduce our use of fossil fuels to self sustaining levels within 15-20 yrs and have alternate sources of energy sufficient to reduce to almost zero, if not completely eliminate, the need for petroleum production within 50 yrs. There is no way that the energy companies, as they operate today, are going to make this an easy or attractive proposition. Corporations have at least one thing in common with actual people, survival instinct. They will resist with everything that is within them any threat to their existence and this is the single biggest threat that the oil and fossil fuel industry perceives. A true transition to clean, renewable, American power threatens the powerful interests in the status quo.

Israel Makes a Big Mistake!

This is huge error in judgement on the part of the Israeli's.

Attacking an unarmed relief ship in international waters would be, and should be, considered an act of war against the Palestinian people - that is if it were any other nation except Israel, in the eyes of the United States at least.

If there were weapons on board that vessel the Israeli's had better have unimpeachable proof, and have it in spades, to justify this massacre of unarmed civilians on a mission of mercy. Outside of irrefutable evidence to the contrary Israel is guilty of, at the very least, the unjust deaths of at least 9 people. How does the United States, especially the most devout supporters of Israel, the conservative "Christian" right, respond? This will be interesting...