Rush Holt Gets My Vote in the New Jersey 12th

This coming Tuesday I will vote for my incumbent congressman, Rush Holt, a Democrat representing the 12th District in New Jersey. I agree with the groups and publications who have endorsed Mr. Holt for another two year term. He has served the 12th well, and is the better choice than his Republican challenger, Scott Sipprelle.

And of special note, Congressman Holt took the time to send me a personalized letter via snail-mail after I voiced my concerns about offshore oil drilling following the Deepwater Horizon disaster this past summer. Not every public servant would be so cordial and responsive, but Rush Holt has proved to be one of the good guys.

He deserves re-election. And I feel honored to have such a man of integrity representing the interests of Central New Jersey's citizens in the nation's capital.

If The Republicans Take The House- JOE BARTON WILL CHAIR COMMITTEE TO REPEAL HEALTHCARE REFORM

Hey kids!

Do you remember long, long ago, when there was this hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, caused when an oil platform owned by BP....(wasn't it called the "Deepwater Horizon?).....burned down and which resulted in millions of barrels of crude oil spilling into the Gulf from April 22 to July 15, 2010? And do you remember the hundreds of millions of dollars lost by the tourist industry, and by the shrimpers, the fishermen, and hotels and restaurants the five state Gulf region? And how about the severe damage done to the fragile ecosystem of the Gulf, the extent of which is still not known nor will it be for years to come.

There was greed, thee was negligence, there was inaction, there was recklessness....there was BP, primarily responsible for the greatest ecological disaster in American history.

And then there was the sight of Rep. Joe Barton (TX- 6th District, R) apologizing to BP CEO Tony Hayward in a Congressional hearing in June, saying that the President of the United States was trying to shakedown BP.




Shortly after this apology to Tony Hayward, Joe Barton was forced to to apologize for his apology by the Republican leadership. You'd think after this completely mindless display by Barton that he'd become a pariah, and forced to take a "timeout", or get to the end of the line....no way.

Joe Barton remains the ranking minority member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and all indications are that if the Republicans gain control of the House it's Barton who would become chairman of the committee.

That's right, the man who defended BP after the Gulf Oil spill will be chairing a committee that is responsible for overseeing oil regulations and sale, and other commerce in the United States.

And in his role as chairman of this committee, one of the things at the top of his (and the Republican's) agenda would be to repeal the Health Care Bill of 2010., the law that is derisively called "Obamacare" by the Right Wing and their minions. The repeal of the Health Care Bill is a cornerstone of the GOP's new gimmick, it's Pledge To America....and Joe Barton, will be leading the fight to undue reforms that have been needed in this country since the end of the Second World War.



We've already seen that Barton would (and does) carry water for Big Oil, and his uncompromising opposition to healthcare reform further paints a picture of man who claims to be of the people, but really isn't.

More of Joe Barton's Greatest Hits......

On the repeal of energy efficiency standards (passed during the Bush Administration).

Barton among conservative congressmen who threatened to withhold funding to PBS when international versions SESAME STREET introduced an HIV positive character. They didn't want any such characters on the American version.

Barton on his opposition to the "speculative" Climate Change Bill.


You want a rerun of the Bush years?

Stay home on election day, and you could get it.

Deepwater Horizon Disaster; Day 87; Oil Flow Cut Off (So Far)

On the 87th day of the crisis and with possibly 184 million gallons spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, BP has been able to cap the breach on the well leaking crude as a result of the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon platform in April.

The next 48 hours are critical to see how if this cap will hold, and all involved, and those in the affected regions, have their fingers crossed.

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this is not the end, nor the beginning of the end, but possibly the end of the beginning.

Say a prayer.

READ MORE....from Comcast.net, the AP, and Colleen Long and Harry R. Weber

The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Day 37-James Carville:" The Political Stupidity of This is Just Unbelievable"

You'd have to look long and hard to find more loyal Democrat than James Carville. Carville is a native Louisianan who today on GOOD MORNING AMERICA slammed the Obama administration for their handling of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Also interviewed is ABC contributor Matthew Dowd, the host is George Stephanopoulos.



Opinion

Some of my progressive brethren may not be happy with my stance on the President's response, but BP's failures to stop the leak should have prompted a much stronger reaction from the administration. Tonight on HARD BALL Chris Matthews remarked on how Harry Truman would have responded; he would have tried to federalize every tanker in the Gulf and use them to suck up the oil slick. To overreach his authority in that way might cost Obama a second term, but you do it because it's the right thing to do....saving the Gulf of Mexico is more important than any Presidency, Matthews said.....and I agree with him.

Mr. Obama....you're needed in Louisiana. Its been 24 days since your last visit, but you're needed NOW. Desperately.

Barbara Boxer's fund raiser in San Francisco should have been put on a backburner.

Deepwater Horizon Disaster; Time For The Feds To Take Over, Part II- Olbermann

"They (sources in Louisiana) think the White House just doesn't 'get it'"....Howard Fineman

Last night on MSNBC's COUNTDOWN, Keith Olbermann and Howard Fineman discuss the response of the Obama Administration to the failure of BP to stop the Deepwater Horizon's oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, BP's use of toxic dispersants to break up the slicks, and try to answer the question....who's really in charge?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

A word to the Obama Administration....if you lose Olbermann, you'll lose progressive America, and a good chunk of the Dems and independents who supported this president.

Deepwater Horizon Fiasco; "And May Those Responsible Spend Eternity Keeping Company With The Devil"

(Could Oil From The Deepwater Horizon Disaster Reach Europe Via The Gulfstream?)

Opinion

I'll admit right up front that I really needed a break from blogging about political issues for awhile now. I'd like to think it's about the spring and the chance to get out and do things. But there's more to it than that. I tossed and turned until about 3:00am before finally drifting off to a very unrestful sleep for a few hours. I have this feeling of helplessness....it deepens every time I put on the news and see the latest about the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The situation alternately angers and saddens me.

But the worst feeling I have about this cataclysm, as Cynthia Tucker calls the massive oil spill, is not only the long term effects it will have on the Gulf Coast, but the potential it has for entering the Gulf Stream and fouling the beaches and waters of Florida, including the Keys, and then getting caught up in the current in a deadly move up the Atlantic Coast.

Key West. Islamorada. Marathon. Key Largo. Miami Beach. Fort Lauderdale The Palm Beaches. Vero Beach. Jacksonville, and then unto the Georgia coast and beyond. Ecological systems and coral reefs that had survived for thousands of years may soon be gone. The people who make their living from fishing and tourism will have their lives turned upside down. And the goo could keep moving North, to the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey and Long Island, and to the treasure that is Cape Cod.

And what's to say the oil doesn't eventually wash up on the shores of Europe? And don't say "it can't happen". Never have so many been so wrong about so much so very often as in dealing with this mess.

I feel angry. I feel sick, and I feel helpless. So many things that I found wonderful about life, those things have no price tag because they are a gift from God, will be taken from me, and from the millions of others who loved them. And it didn't have to happen.

The disaster came about because of greed, laziness, and incompetence on many levels.

This afternoon I had a Charlton Heston- Planet of the Apes moment while watching the news that the oil had begun to enter the Gulfstream.

They've finally done it....DAMN THEM. DAMN THEM TO HELL.

"Them" being BP...TRANSOCEAN....HALLIBURTON....and The Department of the Interior's MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE, a "regulatory agency" that's been in bed with Big Oil for far too long.

Also....those pols in the oil states who use oil company donations like a freakin' ATM, get packed....you're going to hell too.

And while you're on the way to "that hot place", take the rest of those "drill baby drill" politicians and the pinheads who cheered them on at rallies with you.

Hasta la vista, baby!

There....I feel better now.

It won't mean a damn thing in the Great Scheme.....but nothing any of us says or does seems to matter anyway, does it?

But at least a little bit of my anger has been vented.

The sadness? That's another story.

Deepwater Horizon Fiasco; "It's The Other Guy's Fault"

On Day Two of Congressional hearings with principles involved in the blowout of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill that is polluting the waters and threatening the shorelines of the Gulf States, we've managed to learn one thing; it was the fault of the guy sitting to the other guy's right.

So said the representatives of the companies involved in this environmental and economic disaster. Except for the the guy at the end of the table- he started blaming the guys on his left. The representatives and speakers at the hearing included Lamar McKay of British Petroleum (BP), Tim Probert of Halliburton, and Steven Newman of Transocean.

And the situation gets even more interesting because the Swiss rig was flagged not by the United States or Great Britain or Switzerland (offshore drilling in Switzerland?), but by the Marshall Islands, which has less stringent safety standards than do the US or the UK.

Click here for an in depth report from the Los Angeles Times.

Below, videos from Keith Olbermann of COUNTDOWN and from Rachel Maddow, both on MSNBC>

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For an account of Day One of the Congressional hearings on the oil spill, click here.

Blue Jersey:: Virginia Offshore Oil Lease Sale Suspended

Above, Virginia Beach, VA


Finally!

Some semblance of sanity. Today the the Obama administration suspended plans to allow future oil and gas leases off the cost of Virginia. This comes in the wake of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico with a massive oil spill caused by the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon.



READ MORE....from Blue Jersey

The High Cost of "Drill Baby Drill", Part III- What If?

Commentary

The lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here, uh... staggers me. Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) in Jurassic Park.

I found myself tossing and turning most of last night, but I finally did get to sleep. And at about 5:30 am on a Saturday I opened my eyes to rays of sunlight beginning to slice through the gaps on the side of my window shades. I could hear the sounds of birds chirping and Canada geese flying and honking overhead. It was way too early, but I got up and made some coffee.

And I had this thought; what if those were the last sounds of nature I would ever hear? What if there were no nesting birds, waterfowl, or other creatures to share the earth with? Mankind is supposed to be the steward of Planet Earth. And once again, we have failed miserably.

Last night on Real Time Bill Maher laid the blame for the Deep Water Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill on those most responsible; on We The People.

Yes BP went ahead with the drilling off of the Louisiana coastline, and are ultimately at fault. It seems there was no contingency plan from BP in the event of disaster. In fact, it seems BP deemed a mishap like the catastrophe in the Gulf as unlikely, and even impossible.

"....unlikely that an accidental surface or subsurface oil spill would occur from the proposed activities."... an excerpt from BP's plan for the Deepwater Horizon well submitted to the Minerals Management Service

That's right....does anybody reading this remember the "unsinkable" Titanic?

But the bottom line is that we all failed....when an energy crisis first reared its head in the 1970's we panicked, we sat long gas lines, we paid more for gas, we watched prices stabilize and become plentiful....and then we went and bought bigger gas guzzlers. And we repeated the process every few years. We always talk a good game about a comprehensive energy plan for the 21st century, and then we do nothing.

We The People didn't demand enough of our leaders to get us off fossil fuels; and today four Gulf Coast states, their wildlife, their livelihoods, and their economies are all imperiled.

This morning I felt so ill about watching the news regarding the situation in the Gulf I couldn't watch anymore. So I put on HBO...and watched Jurassic Park for possibly the tenth time. And in that film from 1993 we saw the danger of what could happen when science and technology are used irresponsibly; there are repercussions that can be far reaching for years to come. Below, another quote from Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Ian Malcolm.

I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility... for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now....

Yesterday New Jersey Senators Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, and Congressmen Frank Pallone (NJ-6) and Rush Holt (NJ-12) sent a letter to President Obama voicing their opposition to expanded offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic.

“In the wake of the tragic accident, loss of life, and pollution in the Gulf of Mexico from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, we are even more steadfastly opposed to any offshore drilling that could imperil the environment or economy of coastal New Jersey,” wrote the Members of Congress. “While we appreciate the White House’s announcement that no additional offshore drilling will be authorized until a full investigation of the accident is complete, we urge you to go further and reverse your decision on proposed new offshore oil and gas drilling for the outer continental shelf.

“The spill, and the conduct of companies like BP, raises serious concerns about expanding drilling to areas like the Atlantic seaboard. This catastrophe demonstrates exactly why no new drilling should proceed in any U.S. waters, and certainly not in the Atlantic. This incident exposes the many deficiencies in worker safety, blow out avoidance technology, and oil spill clean-up plans for operations in the outer continental shelf. We simply are not prepared to make our pristine Jersey shoreline the next test case for the oil companies’ experiment in how to maximize profits and minimize regulations.”

The President has suspended authorization for any increased offshore drilling. It is my hope that this suspension is permanent.

There will be a Butterfly Effect from this spill that will touch the lives of all, from the shrimper in the Delta to your local Red Lobster or Joe's Crab Shack. And imagine the hit to the economies that depend on the casinos in Biloxi or spring break in the Florida Panhandle. Alaska still isn't totally back from the Exxon-Valdez disaster of 1988... and that was 22 years ago.

And of course, an ecosystem that took hundreds of thousands of years to develop will be no more.

Time to stop now. I want to enjoy this spring day...and the wonder of nature...while I still can.