Wednesday, June 23, 2010

BRIEF EARLY SUMMER MUSINGS

Just a few thoughts on some of our current events:


Regarding the bp oil spill, my thoughts are multi-faceted. On one hand, I view it as a crime against nature and a crime against humanity. That the occurrence is criminal cannot be disputed. bp was criminally negligent and had no safety backup plan, it falsified safety inspections, and regulators did a horribly poor job in inspecting and ensuring the safety of bp's drilling operation. 11 workers are now dead, and entire fishing, restaurant tourist, and hotel businesses have all but been destroyed, just so the gigantic bp could save (squeeze) a few extra bucks of profit. This is proof positive of the absolute need for strong regulation and oversight of the oil industry, and ALL big corporations as well. The conservative Republican, Libertarian, and Tea Bag cry for greater deregulation of business and expanded free market activity rings pretty hollow in the face of the fact that such behavior CAUSED this horrible tragedy. My view is that all bp executives and directors, as well as the lax federal regulators, responsible for this abomination should receive long jail sentences at hard labor, and that bp itself must be made to pay huge reparations to the millions of Gulf residents whose lives have been ruined by this act of greed and resultant economic terrorism.
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Conservative Republican and Tea Bag criticism of President Obama's demand that bp reimburse Gulf businesspersons for their losses due to the oil spill has been most revealing and not a bit surprising. Rep. Joe Barton's (R-TX) apology to bp, in which he called the President's demand for a bp escrow fund a "shakedown", was disgraceful and showed his blatant favoritism for big oil as well as his callous lack of concern for the innocent civilians of the Gulf who have now become victimized by bp's irresponsible greed. Tea Bag favorite U. S. Senate hopeful Rand Paul's characterization of Obama's putting pressure on bp as being "un-American" also shows the underlying conservative insensitivity toward oil spill victims. But ultra-conservative Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) utterly ridiculous claim that Obama's move was to create a "redistribution of wealth fund" proves beyond all doubt that these conservaives only care about the wealthy and care nothing at all for the common laborer or small businessperson. It also proves how these teabaggers and Republicans will castigate the President no matter how preposterous or unjust their claim.
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Gen. Stanley McChrystal's interview with Rolling Stone, in which he severely criticized the President, Vice President, and the entire National Security team over their handling of the war in Afghanistan, has deservedly earned him rebukes from Democrats and Republicans alike. McChrystal's loose cannon mouth has gotten him into trouble before, but this little incident is damaging to troop morale and sends a dangerous signal to al Qaeda about discord in the American military. His irresponsible action is reminiscent of another blabbermouth general's action, that of Douglas Mac Arthur, during the Korean War. It will be interesting to see if other conservative Republican and Tea Bag voices join his chorus in catcalls against President Obama, or if for once they will do the right thing and keep their collective mouths shut...

UP NEXT: "The UNTIED States of America"

15 comments:

mud_rake said...

Conservative Republican and Tea Bag criticism of...

In my neck of the woods [northwest Ohio] these conservative and tea-bagging Republicans 'outed' themselves and their right-wing congressman during a town hall meeting two days ago.

Not only was a 'birther' statement ignored by the GOP lawmaker, but so was the assassination of the President ignored by him.

What a sad commentary on this set of easily duped Americans.

Toledo Blade article

Tim said...

Mud rake,I know, I've heard far to often about people taking of their chance to kill the President. Very disturbing!!
Jack, you touched on a lot of shit going on. Your absolutely right.

Good to have you back...

Cirze said...

Wonderful post, Jack!

Our thoughts are synonymous.

Crime against humanity, indeed.

Murderers!

When do the trials start?

Love you (and, thanks, sweetheart, for everything!!!!),

S

Jack Jodell said...

mud_rake,
As your article points out, there is an increasingly violent tone being adopted by these far-right crackpots who had the gall to call their event "AMERICA Speaks Out", as if they, the extremists, are true representatives of the country. Their rigid and doctrinaire world view does not belong in this country. In my estimation, these people are demented and delusional fruitcakes who should all be under FBI and Secret Service surveillance.
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Tim,
Thank you, and I agree that those people are too extreme for anybody's good!

Jack Jodell said...

Suzan,
You're very welcome, and the time for trials has definitely arrived. Glad we're on the same page!

jadedj said...

The BP criminal act (a decision based on the bottom line) (and, it's not really a spill, is it). This is almost beyond belief...and it gets worse everyday. Unfortunately, even if someone brings charges, no one will ever be brought to trial, or go to jail...ever. Not only that, Tony Hayward, could resign and walk away from this mess he created, with 16.1 million dollars in severance pay.

In addition to these sobering thoughts, BP is the main supplier of gasoline and petroleum products to the U.S. Army. Do you hear any suggestion that perhaps they should be terminated as suppliers...no...and you never will. It is beyond infuriating to me.

Joe Barton is a douchebag parroting the party line, so that the talking heads of the party can appear to be reasonable censoring him. Total put up job.

McChrystal's firing will change nothing. We need to change our failed policy regards Afghanistan. Period.

Republicans will NEVER do the right thing, unless it benefits them and returns them to power. They are about power, nothing less.

Jack Jodell said...

jadedj,
Thanks for your comments. There is truth in every one of them. People disturbed with the Democrats should realize that neither the Republicans nor the crackpot Tea Party types are the answer. Only true progressives are the answer - people who really understand the needs of the majority of the population and who oppose the greed and power of huge corporations - are the only answer for this fall's election. Regrettably, progressives of this sort are few and far between, but they're out there.

Lisa G. said...

The $20B fund extracted from BP should only be the beginning for what they have done to the Gulf and the people who rely on it for their livelyhoods and tourism. The Repubs saying that the tax payer should be on the hook for it would only INCREASE the deficit that they've been bitching about since Obama became prez. Dumbasses all.

Barton just exposed what all the Repubs think about the spill. Remember there was all kinds of talk about him losing his seat, admonishments, etc. In the end, what happened to him? Not jack shit, proving once again the Repubs are lying assholes.

I haven't finished reading the RS article yet, but what I have read is pretty damning for McCrystal. I think he 'wanted his life back' and did this on purpose to get fired, but we'll never know.

Great piece Jack, as always!

Lisa G. said...

Oh, and I take back what I said on TC's blog about you not posting - great to have you back and again, condolences to you for the loss of your mom.

Jack Jodell said...

Thanks, Lisa G, for your kind words and for your accurate analysis on Barton and the bp fiasco. ALL the Republicans attacking Obama for coming down on bp and then calling for a taxpayer bailout of them are hypocrites on a wide variety of fronts. Thoroughly disgusting, aren't they?

Marc McDonald said...

Hi Jack, nice article. You know, I listen to Mike Malloy's radio show quite a bit and he had a radical, but interesting observation to make yesterday.
Malloy said that, as of this point, he WANTS the GOP (preferably the Tea Baggers) to sweep to power in November, as well as in 2012. Malloy's theory is that the Tea Baggers will cause so much damage that they will permanently sour Americans on their twisted ideology.
Malloy thinks this is the only way any real progress will ever be made in this country. I think he has a point.

Jack Jodell said...

Hi Marc.
He does, but I'm not willing to let that scenario develop. Every administration leaves permanent residue - some good, some bad. We are STILL suffering the aftereffects of Reagan's presidency, which aren't good, and we will also suffer W's for a long time to come. We can't allow the far right any more influence, in my estimation.

TomCat said...

Excellent, Jack. 100% concurrence.

Commander Zaius said...

Just for shits and giggles I have to agree with what Marc wrote. While the actual application of Teabagger policies wouldn't be practical and totally disastrous to the extreme maybe the only way to show how bad they are would be to have low-income and low education families have to survive for an extended period under them.

I am exhausted at hearing conservative types whine about health care, the rich, and other aspects of the social and economic situation in this country but not able to figure things out.

Then again it always boils down to the fact that many of these people are hiding their racism and hate for anyone different under a cloak of conservatism so any lessons as they suffered would be lost.

Jack Jodell said...

TomCat,
Thank you, sir. It's good to be on the same page with you.
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Beach,
Conservative whining exhausts me too, the same as their agenda does. The fact that they're apparently on the rise again in some circles, even after the Bush fiasco, tells me that people don't learn from history very well. That's another reason I don't think that conservatives coming to power again in 2010 or 2012 is a very good idea.