Stuck on stupid: Obama’s czar fetish
In his widely-panned, bloodless Oval Office address Tuesday night (did I call this last month or what!?), President Obama tapped his Navy Secretary Ray Mabus as the new oil spill recovery czar. Doesn’t he have enough to do leading the Navy? More to the point, as my latest column below points out, don’t we have enough czars and bureaucrats tripping over each other for Gulf headlines and photo-ops already?
Meanwhile, Mark Knoller reports that Obama is scheduled to finally meet with BP execs tomorrow at 10:15am…for a whopping 20 minutes. Where is the ass-kicking czar?
The speech was a dud, but never fear, Organzing for America is here to exploit the crisis with spam solicitations and a snazzy new green Obama hardhat graphic (soon to be the new oil recover czar’s logo, too?)!
***
Stuck on stupid: Obama’s czar fetish
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010
Here is the Obama Disaster Management Theory: In times of crisis, you can never have enough unelected, unvetted political appointees hanging around. Nearly two months after the BP oil spill, the White House will now name an oil-spill-restoration point person to oversee recovery efforts in the Gulf of Mexico. Too many czars have already spoiled this administration’s credibility. Might as well pile on another.
The new oil-spill czar is not to be mistaken for the old oil-spill czar, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, who was officially designated the “National Incident Commander of the Unified Command for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico” on April 30. Allen was appointed by Department of Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano ten days after the disaster, which Napolitano claimed the administration had been on top of since, um, “Day One.”
Fifty-six days later, President Obama has deemed the leadership skills of Allen, Napolitano, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, environmental czar Carol Browner, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and the rest of his self-declared “all hands on deck” crew insufficient. The new disaster czar also comes on top of the “National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling,” created by executive order on May 22 and “tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent and mitigate the impact of any future spills that result from offshore drilling.”
As I’ve noted before regarding Obama’s czar-mania, this White House has bypassed the Senate advise-and-consent role and unilaterally created a two-tiered government. It’s fronted by cabinet secretaries able to withstand public scrutiny (some of them just barely) and then managed behind the scenes by shadow secretaries with broad powers beyond congressional reach. Bureaucratic chaos serves as a useful smokescreen to obscure the true source of policy decision-making. While past administrations going back to the Nixon era have designated such “superaides,” none has exploited and extended the concept as widely as Obama has (we’re up to the 40th appointed czar, by Washington-based watchdog group Judicial Watch’s count).
It’s government by proxy and government by press release all rolled into one.
According to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, the latest commissar will have the power to oversee government efforts “to increase the health and the vitality of the species there, the wildlife and the natural beauty that we all know is the Gulf of Mexico.” This will make the power-grabbing environmental lobby happy. And the new czar appointment will feed the photo-op-hungry news cycle. But instead of rushing to move “past the cleanup and response phase of this disaster,” shouldn’t this czar-crazy regime concentrate on the immediate mitigation tasks at hand?
Folks in the Gulf don’t need any more Romanov-style apparatchiks or blue-ribbon crony panels to show them the way toward relief. Florida public officials and foreign shippers say the protectionist Jones Act is preventing vessels from abroad from providing clean-up aid. And Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal (R) has exposed White House obstructionism and delays in approving the construction of barrier walls to stop the oil spread. After waiting weeks for approval, Jindal received a green light from the White House to put up just five barrier islands — a minuscule amount of his plan. Tired of waiting for approval of the rest of his plan, Jindal this week ordered the National Guard to circumvent the Beltway foot-dragging and start building the walls immediately.
Executive leadership doesn’t need to be outsourced when the executive in office knows how to lead. While Obama squawks, Jindal acts. While Washington appoints more gasbags, the National Guard is dropping sandbags.
The president’s czar fetish is his crisis crutch — a desperate public-relations habit that he can’t break. What 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue needs is a visit from retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, the Hurricane Katrina military relief coordinator who offered timeless and timely advice for the disaster-stricken: Don’t get stuck on stupid.
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Categories: cap and trade,czars,Politics
JustOneMinute
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Hire as many oil czars as you want…at minimum wage, get their federal butts down to Louisiana, and start picking up some oil!
I agree, and will see you one better: according to “known reserves” published in 1950, 1960, 1970, etc., we are out of oil. Now. Actually, we ran out some time ago.
This is what makes “peak oil” such a fallacy.
“Known reserves” are a function of how much knowledge costs, relative to how much knowing is worth. As new technology becomes available, we learn we have LOTS more “known reserves”, because that knowledge becomes affordable.
“Known reserves” has NOTHING to do with how much oil exists.
(BTW, I’d bet my bippy THE ONE has no idea about what I just said…not on clue)
Ragspierre said:
Is why around my neck of the woods you can see the stripper wells working for a few months and then off again for a few months and so on and so forth. Don’t know how much is down there but – some of these wells have been going for 20 years and still going.
Thank you, Liberals, for constructing a government so congenitally incompetent that not only can it not prevent or solve problems, but actually goes out of its way to CREATE them.
To quote myself –>”Flight 93: Promptly nine years too early and one hour too short”.
Henry VIII and The One — and our telescreens.
Obama worships in the House of Green. I do not. I find it very intrusive for Obama to use email or post notices of petitions to sign in support of his policies. Polling has served past presidents. Obama is using the Internet to sift through us and create a public division that names supporters of his policies.
This reminds me of the method Henry VIII used when he took control of religion, by causing “the first public division of the House.”
And as our Fearless Leader lathers himself up in false indignation we had this little tid bit:
“About 3,500 acres of southern Arizona have been closed off to U.S. citizens due to increased violence at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
“The closed off area includes part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge that stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border.”
I think there are some producing wells older than that. We used to say…with a lump in our throats and a reverent tone…those were “Good wells”.
But a stripper formation IS a known quantity. Kinda like an old, reliable friend…
Off topic: we now must give hispanics more than one vote so they can elect those who represent them…another shredding of our Constitution??
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_voting_rights_election
Make no mistake, they will make sure the people who need to get the money will get it…it’s just that those people aren’t necessarily the coastal victims of the spill. Need I say more? We all know how this works.
Is BP going to pay for all the gov’ment infrastructure and salaries for those mis-administering that $20B, or will the taxpayer foot the bill for that part?
We can surely expect to have a National Coastline Recovery Tax proposed soon, as well. Obama intimated as much in his speech…key words,”…in our country’s best interest...” when he referred to the restoration of the coastal areas.
In the Progressive mind, this is an “opportunity” to self-enrich from a yet untapped “cash cow,” not an opportunity to fix a crisis. They’re nothing if not predictable.
True that. Louisiana can withstand and recover from all kinds of natural and man-made disasters. It can’t recover if Obama locks up its land in the name of “protection”.
There is drilling in North and South Dakota. Some towns in those areas are full of very wealthy, successful people who are doing very well, thank you, because of the oil drilling in their counties. We could have great prosperity if we could just get a grip and put all the tree-huggers on a desert island somewhere…out of our way!!
Even after letters from Senators Collins and Snowe and various national news reports, the federal bureaucracy finally ‘got notified’ of an untapped inventory of boom (thanks to a Jake Trapper question) that could be put to good use in the Gulf disaster. The Joint Command reported and insisted that Packgen’s boom didn’t meet its quality standards, and even if it did, the connectors didn’t match (nor do any of the connectors in the booms currently being used). Sounds to me like little Sally’s excuse “my dress will get dirty and $5 isn’t enough anyway”.
Packgen responded by having an outside analyst inspect its product “it not only meets the standards but is actually superior to its competition”. Inspection Report Here. We need an investigation into the handling and awarding of contracts in this disaster – I suspect that the unions did not want this product used!
Twenty days ago I would not have believed that a sitting US President would purposely allow a disaster of this scope to be allowed to continue, however, in the intervening days, I can only come to that conclusion. To allow an entire life, and lifestyle to be destroyed in order to advance his/others socialist agenda is criminal.
I believe it was a Tom Clancy book that gathered up the eco-terrorists and dropped them naked into the middle of the Brazilian Rain Forest – “Your new home, environmentally correct – Enjoy”
Amen to that!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/06/obama_disappoints_from_the_beg.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
I’m a petroleum engineer. So I actually know what I am talking about, for a change.
The definition of oil reserves don’t just include whether oil is there, and can be recovered by some means, but also whether it can be recovered economically with existing technology.
Rising prices due to shrinking reserves of easily found and produced oil means more oil becomes economic to produce.
And thirty years ago, there was boatloads of gas sitting in shale beds under Pennsylvania. And Fort Worth. And Shreveport. But they weren’t reserves, until the technology for drilling horizontal well bores a mile down and cracking the shale open became available.
At least it wasn’t after 13 military and civilians were mowed down by a Muslim fanatic when he gave a shoutout… oh, wait. Never mind.
thefoxnation.com/president-obama/2009/11/05/
Couldn’t watch…never can. Read the transcript: Lies, lies, and the lying liar who tells them. The first thing I thought after reading his speech was, along with plugging the oil hole, this traitor has got to go. Some lib newscaster said Obeyme would probably get a “bump” in the polls. Uh, please, let’s pray that’s another lie.
I wonder which book it was. I’d like to read it!!
OT – well not too OT since it’s another Stuck on Stupid moment for Obama…
US Park in Arizona is closed TO AMERICANS because of the violence from drug smugglers and human traffickers on OUR SIDE of the border. Freaking effing idiots in DC.
Stripper wells-
A well that only makes a barrel or two a day, if it develops a minor mechanical malfunction, like a leak in the steel tubing in the well, or the steel rods that work the pump snap, that would cost $2000 to fix, at $80 oil, it’ll be fixed as soon as possible, at $20 oil, there is no hurry to fix it.
Various states, if a well is inactive, will require an operator to post a bank bond, or “irrevocable letter of credit”, which means paying a fee to a bank, to allow non producing wells not to be plugged, if oil looks to stay at a low price, some operators will fill the well with cement. A barrel a day well will not be redrilled once it is plugged that way, even at $80 oil. Its gone forever.
BTW, some wells have an electric timer. If the pump moves a little more fluid than the well will produce, the well will “pump off”, and running the pump dry will damage it.
Teenagers have been hurt playing on what they thought were shut in wells when the timer kicked on and the pumping units (“nodding donkies”, in England, IIRC) suddenly start moving.
On June 16th, 2010 at 7:58 am, Ron said:
Every morning, when the president gets up and shaves, his daughter opens the bathroom door and asks, “Daddy,
what would Cloward and Piven dodid you soak BP yet?” To which Barack Hussein Obama (mmm, mmm, mmm — pbuh) lovingly replies, “Well, sweetheart, about what I’m doin’.”That crap has been going on for years; Saguaro National Monument, Organ Pipe and others are all on a Watch and Be Careful list due to the Guest Criminals Presidents Bush and Obama seem to hold such an affinity for.
I still camp in some of the unimproved areas immediately outside the parks-with the two dogs and plenty of firepower I hope I am ready. My brothers, brothers-in-law and friends all feel we can stand ready but sadly do not feel it is safe for the grandchildren. And when we do see, film and report smugglers, sending the information to our elected leaders?
Thank you for your interest IF we get a response at all. We do from time to time find water stations the low wage whores and reconquestas put up for the smugglers. They put them up and we take them down.
That is some of the most beautiful country in the would-on a clear night you can grab the Big Dipper and take a drink. Sadly I believe my generation will be the last to see it; it is almost a war zone.
===
Marlin 1895 in 45-70
don’t go into the desert without it.
The US “proven reserves” exclude all oil we’re legally prohibited from drilling for. So ANWAR and the shallow coastal oil reserves aren’t figured in.
But…but…Nappy Jan assures us that the borders have NEVER been more secure…
how CAN this be…?!?!?
Perhaps soon we can take eco-freaks, EPA flunkies and such and use them as cleanup booms. It would be the first time in their lives they did anything useful.
Which is why, if’n I was running things, I’d create a North American Energy zone. US/Canada/Mexico are all part of it, then set a base price where drilling here is economical, and Tax any oil imported into the area to ensure that it meets that price. Make drilling here not only economicly feasible, but also stable.
Folks will scream Free Trade, but most oil companies overseas are already Nationalized, and OPEC itself belies the Free Trade ideal… so we may as well level out the playing field a bit.
Kenneth Feinberg is handling this fund. Whatever you may think of this guy, he is trusted by everyone. He has integrity and sticks to the plan. It won’t turn into a slush fund under his watch.
The more important thing is that BP did not get cap on their liability. There will be plenty of frivolous lawsuits and political money grabs from other BP assets. The escrow fund is probably the only safe place for BP to place its cash these days.
Phil, you might check to see if someone slipped something into your coffee.
You might want to elaborate. I don’t like the escrow fund at all and think it augurs ill for what will happen to other politically targeted companies, but I have no issues with Feinberg being the guy administering it.
You may not like Feinberg’s assignments but he is not the problem. Do you have any specific evidence on Feinberg or do you just have a rule that all Democrats are crooks by definition?
Yup
A quick calculation based on the usage and reserves say we will be out of oil in 43 year at present consumption rates.
Which is a load of crap.
Canada goes from reserves of 4.8 billion barrels in 2002, to 180 billion barrels in 2003. Liberals think it only exists if we’ve already found it. Their logic is a bit flawed.
re: China consumes a little more than a third of what we consume.
My wording wasn’t clear. I meant to point out they consume less.
China uses about 7.5 million barrels per day. vs about 20.4 million barrels per day for the US. (as of 2007)
The guy says it all. Any single guy, who is subordinate to a President.
And this guy……. Oh I don’t know, how about these items:
1) Former Chief of staff for U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
2) Appointed by the U.S. Treasury Department (Tax Cheat Timmy) to oversee the compensation of top executives at companies which have received federal bailout assistance.
3) Appointed to be BP Escrow Manager by the President and not subject to Senate confirmation.
This is an appointment worthy of Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro.
Yes, I believe that’s correct. But I suspect there’s a good chance there’s oil in places we don’t know about or don’t fully realize the volume of, just yet. Planet earth is one BIG oblate spheroid.
Which makes me think about Obambi’s statement of running out of places to drill.
See…. he thinks he’s not lying. He just meant to say “running out of places liberals and eco-radicals will allow us to drill.”
and don’t forget sections of the Midwest and the Rockies.
NJ-Av–I was being cheeky, I was just asking. I’m learning too.
oops; I wasn’t being cheeky.
Freudian slip?
Ooohh, you cheeky monkey, you!
No prob. I missed that one. Too much exasperation over what these frauds at 1600 PA Ave. are doing… or not doing.
Oh, and I wasn’t being “cheeky” either. Just trying to help with info.
Me, I’m partial to Freudian camisoles…
(far away look)
(Homer Simpson drool)
In other words, the Feinberg is by definition a crook in your opinion because he is a Democrat. The issue of whether he is an honorable and trustworthy Democrat does not factor into your assessment.
My opinion is based on having observed how he managed the 9/11 victims compensation fund and how he handled himself during as pay tsar.
In each case, he clearly articulated the objectives of his assignments, the limits of his authority, and how he arrived at his decisions. When asked even the most ignorant and obnoxious questions, he never ducked nor obfuscated in answering them. We need more Feinmans in government not less.
Look, someone is going to be in charge of administering this ill-advised escrow and I am relieved that it is Feinberg. Unless you have specific evidence (yes, he is a Democrat and has served obnoxious Democrats like Ted Kennedy) that he is not an honorable man, my opinion will remain. The problem is not with the man but with the mission.
Let it be known that for the first time in the history of the US, land that is part of a US State has been lost to another country (Mexico).
3500acres and 80miles of border have been marked as “Closed off to US Citizens”.
This happened under The One’s watch, not Bush’s.
article reference
I’ve been checking in at the hottest, hippest, most happeningest new conservative site since Barry Goldwater. Yup, Hindenblog!
“Moose farts, with lipstick!” Keeth Olby
“I feel a new tingle! No wait, it’s a rash. – Chris Matthews
“Bully” – T Rosevelt
“He has found Kenneth’s frequency!” – D Rather.
On my cosmic cyber sojournings, I swoop by each day to emit some titilating yet mindless brain farts upon the celestial conservative craft there, but alas a gap in the space/time continum of prodigious punditry. Tis sad.
Work…that damn intrusion into my ‘druthered life…
intrudes itself upon me.
I am, alas, a paid contestant in
a world of strife.
without further comment
http://diversitylane.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/rorschach/
http://hindenblog1.blogspot.com/2010/06/burn-obamas-lips-move-so-you-know-hes.html
Hot off the presses, and apropos to our discussion here…
I thought the exact same thing. He may be a “good guy” but he is appointed and reports to a “not so good guy”. I can not trust any of Obamas appointments even if it was a Republican. Obama totally lost my trust when he flat out lied about his Rev Wright ties. Now I am supposed to believe he used his good judgment? I saw Massachussets, Georgetown, Columbia, Ted Kennedy etc. The pay tsar was the worst. Thats a slippery slope I don’t want to go near.
Obama also seems to be implicated in this Blago situation. It seems he is right in the thick of appointing people based on who gives him money or does his bidding even if illegal. I don’t know Feinberg from jack. I do know Obama can not be trusted. Ergo, Feinberg can not be trusted. Guilty by association. All that was missing was some Chicago roots.
How much does he get paid by the way and who pays it?
Thank you, Swede, my friend!
Buuuurrrrp. Sorry, tacos & Corona. Yerwelcome
those are pretty accurate pictures then?
If any one thinks that the “third party administrator” is not an Obama shill… you are dumber than I thought.
It’s on my daily list as well.
Rags is quite the wordsmith.
You find one even tagental reference on my part that implies I said he’s a crook and dinner is on me. Nice try. You lose.
I hate to break this to you but “honorable” can be said about John McCain so your “argument” is intellectually inconsitent.
What he did as 9/11 arbitor is a matter of subjective judgement. What he did as pay czar was clearly unconstitutional.
Robert E. Lee and Erwin Rommel were both honorable men. But both were efficient killers of members of the United State Army. Their “honor” did not prevent them from serving less than honorable men and less than honorable purposes.
I don’t care who he is. All I know is he chose to openly assist my enemy in doing something that is wrong. He made himself a “combatant” and a legitimate target. Tango Sierra.
There is nothing inconsistent with my view of him and your view of John McCain.
Here’s a little sample of what I think…quick and dirty…presidential leadership might have looked like in the Gulf.
Rags,
Leadership also involves picking up the horn and contacting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and saying, “Appoint a four star Navy Admiral and tell him within 7 days I need a plan along with at least four backup plans to stop the flow of oil or capture 95% of it. If at the end of seven days if the 30 days window cannot be met, explain why not?”
Tell each governor they are empowered to protect their shorelines. Have their point of contact work with EPA and Interior to cut the red tape and get assets and material in place.
Any plan for cleanup and containment will proceed until EPA can definitively prove a hazard exists.
Send the bill to BP.
Rags,
Leadership also involves picking up the horn and contacting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and saying, “Appoint a four star Navy Admiral and tell him within 7 days I need a plan along with at least four backup plans to stop the flow of oil or capture 95% of it. If at the end of seven days if the 30 days window cannot be met, explain why not?”
Tell each governor they are empowered to protect their shorelines. Have their point of contact work with EPA and Interior to cut the red tape and get assets and material in place.
Any plan for cleanup and containment will proceed until EPA can definitively prove a hazard exists.
Send the bill to BP.
alohaguy said: “Freaking effing idiots in DC.”
True that. I am here in AZ. We are living the nightmare daily.
All the time Carter was President, Ikept telling myself “This too shall pass” ditto for Clinton’s terms.
This time I am concerned we cannot survive until this too passes.
On June 16th, 2010 at 11:59 pm, Flyoverman said:
Rags,
Great ideas both of you. Might I suggest that instead of Mr. Obama talking to the experts he sent them to the US Army Corps of Engineers and possibly US Navy Seabees to confer on a solution. Perhaps something along the lines of a cofferdam around the well site and cap it with their siphon ‘top cap’ It’d increase the efficiency of the top cap. Then fill in the cofferdam to seal it off except for the pressure relief offered by the siphon pipe(s) and a means of pumping Haliburton mud and/or concrete. Eventually, they could use it to pump mud and concrete down the well head and into the casing to seal it.
Not saying this idea would work, but it’s an idea that some old tool pushers and I kicked around. Now if we put brains and knowledge together to solving this problem. I don’t see how it can’t be solved. After all, anyone remember how folks thought it’d be years before the fires in the Kuwait oil fields would be extinguished after Desert Storm?
Speaking of Tool Pushers, another problem which seems endemic to corporate enterprise is the inability of the high falutin’ mucky mucks with the advanced degrees in engineering from A&M, OSU etc., have an aversion to listening to the guys that take their wonderful theories and turn them into production wells.
The same can be said of high falutin’ politicians who can’t find their fourth point of contact with both hands and an SDU-5 marking it.
As one of the “small people”, I have no idea what to do. After all, I am “small” and insignificant, therefore, not too bright. If I get “larger”, I will let you know.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joug/4597706316/sizes/l/
This photo does put things into perspective. Do you know how the oil spill in the Persian Gulf turned out? I have no clue myself.
Everyone watch this — pretty much sums it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6urJsX3KX4&feature=player_embedded
Hope this works –
Libtards! Care to try and refute?
Rags…what about a Freudian garter belt & stockings? Yes, some of us still wear them. I’m old-fashioned that way.
Guys,
As I wrote a short time back, there is a 1994 LAW, designed specifically to provide a NATIONAL RESPONSE TEAM under EPA and the Coast Guard for exactly this scenario.
There should have been NO doubt about who was in charge, and how to proceed.
I’ve said it before…Mr. Spacey is a lucky man…
sorry if this is a duplicate, but a good take.
Wierd Al was a prophet when he wrote OBama’s theme song “Dare to be stupid”
Unfortunately there is a LAW and a POLICY for everything within the gubmint. The problem is everyone who works for the gubmint is too busy surfing the porn sites and writing new policy papers to ENFORCE or IMPLEMENT anything. Now if you had a burst pipe in your home, you would immediately call the plumber, because it is doubtful you know how to repair the pipe, then you would seek to turn off the water mitigating damage. BUT IF YOU COULD NOT TURN OFF THE WATER, WOULDN’T YOU BRING EVERY BUCKET AND TRASH CAN AND CONTAINER YOU OWNED TO CAPTURE THE WATER BEFORE IT DESTROYED YOUR CARPET, FURNITURE, FLOOR AND CEILING BELOW. Mr President, that is what your administration should have been doing for the last 59 days. Instead you have been speechifying about punishing BP. Even Carter tried a hostage rescue!
Rags – This could also be declared a “natural disaster” and/or “national emergency” – giving the president executive decision making powers he would otherwise not have, no?
Is the Dutch equipment on site and in use today?
Swede;
I suppose, but what more was needed here?
The Feds had all the power, authority, and (apparently) funding they needed to have the response team the law mandated.
This is a TRUE NATIONAL SCANDAL, since there was supposed to be a plan, tested by running drills, in place, with infrastructure pre-positioned in the Gulf.
Nobody at the WH had to do anything EXCEPT execute the stinking LAW, or see to it that it was executed…you know…like an executive does.
Reality
Resolve
Boldness
Focus
Decisiveness
Delegation
Oversight
Resource Management
Intelligence
Insight
Intuition
Effective Communication
And maybe a freakin plan?
Well, now we’ve got a czar and a committee. That should do it. (Looooong sigh)
Was there ever any doubt? Are we watching the absolute destruction of our country and by the time it is said and done will we ever recover from this?
“First, the panel is comprised mostly of academics and enviros with zero experience dealing with the oil industry. That’s right. Not one of the seven people named could actually drill a well.”
“Second, they all espouse a similar ideology – one that is opposed to drilling and oil. And one member of the commission, in particular, should raise serious questions.”
“Fran Beirnacke, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, is perhaps the most outspoken member of the bunch, not to mention the one who is likely steering the ship. She isn’t just suspicious about drilling, she outright opposes it.”
On June 17th, 2010 at 11:15 am, swede said:
Yeah, I see your point, but the point I was making is that EVERYTHING needed for an effective response was not only already provided in POTUS authority, IT WAS MANDATORY on the Federal government to provide it. There was…on that famous day one…a clear line of responsibility set in law.
It was ignored.
happyscrapper said:
I wonder which book it was. I’d like to read it!!
The Clancey book is Rainbow Six. It was published in 1998
Agreed, I was just expanding on the leadership vacuum. If you give a philosopher the finest set of Craftsman tools on the planet, he still won’t fix nuthin.
I keep wondering where the EPA is in all this?
Shouldn’t THEY be the lead agency? Shouldn’t they be the on scene commanders? Why a Czar when we already have a Cabinet Level Dept of the Interior head, and a head of the EPA?
Isn’t it the job of the EPA to protect the enviroment? Why is a NAVY guy being put in Charge?
Or, are the people Bambi chose for the EPA and Interior posts just not good enough for the Job?
For another laugh at the expense of enviro-nitwits, read Dr. Michael Crichton’s ‘State of Fear’. What happens with the Martin Sheen-like character is priceless.
I keep tellin’ you–she’s getting take out from Popeyes.
I think the answer to my own question: Is the Dutch equipment on site and working……appears to be No.
Swede,
Regarding post #185, you could also add
Adult leadership
Today there are a fleet of bottom skimmers that have been deployed…
in DC, in the Congress.
They are sucking wonderfully well.
Hey, Speaking of which what’s the difference between the Boy Scouts of America and the Office of the President of the United States of America these days?
Adult leadership.
We need to make sure we follow the money on the $20B claims fund. I have a sneaking feeling that the SEIU and Acorn will get their pockets filled, and I hope if that happens we can expose this for what it is, a shakedown.
YOU are the one casting aspersions on Feinberg’s character so the onus IS on you to persuade me that your spurious character assassination is warranted.
Try parsing your arguments before you post. Your comment is one run-on non sequitur. You are so blinded by Republican partisanship that truth and logic has no place in your arguments.
No character assasination at all. Keep trying, still waiting for some substance behind that charge. And again my dear Phil, I am a registered Independent.
My point can be summarized in the following question, “Is an honorable man still honorable, if he is serving an unhonorable cause?”
I contend he is not.
As a former soldier, in principle, I admire Robert E. Lee and Eriwin Rommel for not only their generalship, but their chivalry and moral character. I understand fully why their troops loved them. However, as an American in the Civil War and WW II they were enemy combatants.
If he had any “honor,” he would refuse to serve in a position that is unconstitutional. I am sure “honorable” men burned a lot of witches in Salem.
You can love the sinner, but hate the sin.
Ah, the classic,
“What’s the difference between a congressman and a catfish?”
EPA is too busy ramping up to enforce cap and trade to bother with some silly oil spill. Bho told them that the spill was BP’s problem. EPA director Jackson is still sulking because the oil caused her to cancel a fund raiser appearance. I mean, none of these people actually thought that they would have to do something.
Look, guys.
I don’t give a fig about whether Feinberg is George Washington incarnate as far as personal integrity goes.
Bottom-line: he works for Obama. There are NO due-process mechanisms in place for the use of this money. Who does Feinberg answer to? Obama. Who does Obama answer to. No stinking body.
Obama has shown an amazing penchant for corruption and dictatorial behavior.
He WILL answer to the American citizens in 2012!
But hopefully, he will not be answering to them in 2013.
Spot on Rags.