Should the US Continue Off Shore Drilling Despite The Spill?

[Sandy Eggo]

As the BP well in the Gulf of Mexico continues to spew out ever more toxic oil and methane into the sea, floating toxic sludge, by the millions of gallons, starts destroying the wetlands across the American Southeast, the dead hand of President Ronald Reagan is at work, making sure nothing is done to prevent yet another such disaster from occurring.

The name of that dead hand is Martin Leach-Cross Feldman, a federal judge in Louisiana, a part of the notoriously right-wing Fifth Circuit.

Feldman, appointed to the federal bench by President Reagan and approved by the Republican-led Senate in 1983, has been a craven supporter of corporations over the public interest for years. In the wake of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans, for example, Judge Feldman ruled against homeowners who tried to bring a racketeering case against Clipper Estates, the corporate owner of their housing development, claiming that the company had stolen money it collected from them allegedly for repairs, for the owner's personal use. The judge ruled that homeowners had no standing to sue.

Now, using classic Reaganesque logic (remember our senile ex-president's mocking argument to environmentalist that because trees release carbon dioxide at night, they must be "polluters"?), Judge Feldman has issued a temporary restraining order against the White House's six-month freeze on offshore drilling. His rationale for overturning the moratorium on drilling: The government hadn't provided an adequate justification for it.

As the judge put it: "If some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy handed and rather overbearing".

Well actually Judge, yes it is rational as a matter of fact...

http://pubrecord.org/commentary/7900/the-dead-hand-of-ronald-reagan/

[Henry Hawk]

Do you guys read anything but liberal news? or pundits? or watch anything other than MSNBC?
Bobby JIndal doesn't WANT more troops, he want's the green light to dredge, but the gov keeps shutting him down.....everytime he tries to do something he get MORE red tape from the government....he never  asked for more National Guard troops......He has a plan, and know exactly what he wants and needs to do....but he keeps getting stopped by the federal government....the man is passionate about doing and trying anything to everything to stop this oil from coming in to his beaches, but he keeps getting shut down....I have NO faults with a man for trying to do what he is doing.


Also, on the moritorium....the eight experts that the white house hired for advice, have all said that the six month moritorium IS a bad idea....it seems to me that the fed gov has failed to do their job in the first place, and now they want the people of louisana and other states along the coast to suffer with losing their jobs, so they can do the job that they failed to do in the first place.....THEY, the fed gov, needs to get their head out of their ass and start doing their jobs RIGHT now, and not take six months a shut EVERYONE down.....shut them down, do the inspection, and after a pass, give them the green light, and move to the next one.....WHY in the hell do they have to shut ALL of them down for six months?....

[LOsborne]

Thanks for the sources. I'm no longer in the business of proving what I say in casual conversations. I have to do that in my work every day.

I feel that, if I don't provide the sources, I become like so many others, simply repeating (and usually misquoting) some partisan piece of crap that I didn't understand the first time.

It is very important to me to be able to answer, when someone asks scornfully, "Where did you hear that?"

[LOsborne]

Do you guys read anything but liberal news? or pundits? or watch anything other than MSNBC?

Henry, Henry, Henry. My source was yesterday's CBS News. me's was Wednesday's CNN. Even your insulting rebuttals don't stand up to fact-checking. Now that's sad.

[Sandy Eggo]

Yes, exactly Lolly. Sometimes it reminds me of "The song that has no end..." and it's maddening. But, I agree with FTW also, why bother when no one reads them? You do, I'm sure and maybe a few others, but the people who need to, don't and on and on it goes. I've mostly given up .

[Henry Hawk]

Henry, Henry, Henry. My source was yesterday's CBS News. me's was Wednesday's CNN. Even your insulting rebuttals don't stand up to fact-checking. Now that's sad.

I'm not sure HOW to respond, other than I have heard Jindal himself plea for the gov to give him the green light to take care of things the way those in LA best see fit....THEY know their own land better than those in Washington DC....show me what is not "up" to your 'fact checking'....I'm not wanting to insult anyone, but I find it very, very frustrating to see the responses that I keep hearing......it is only liberals that are saying what you are claiming....all you have to do is google and find what I am claiming is true...he does NOT NEED MORE troops, until he can begin dredging again...THAT is his problem.....even if he had a million troops, that does not accomplish what he is trying to do....

http://www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/governor-jindal-to-feds-restart-dredging-operations-in-louisiana-now-34283.html

I tend to believe Jindal before I do MOST news agencies....these are from his own mouth...the man is sincerely battling for his people of Louisiana....he can see his passion and his sense of urgency....he is behaving the way a leader is supposed to behave during a time of crisis....

[Henry Hawk]

Yes, exactly Lolly. Sometimes it reminds me of "The song that has no end..." and it's maddening. But, I agree with FTW also, why bother when no one reads them? You do, I'm sure and maybe a few others, but the people who need to, don't and on and on it goes. I've mostly given up .

it is very funny, I feel the exact way YOU do.....but on here it is just a liberal feast....and anything constructive that is displayed that goes against YOUR grain of thought is shoved aside, and you come back with MORE, liberally slanted material...it is unbelievably frustrating at times, I just want to walk away from you guys, and go to a forum where people get it.....but, you are my peeps!!! and my heart goes out to you, and I can't walk away....it is really weird.

[LOsborne]

Bobby JIndal doesn't WANT more troops,

Why not, he liked them very much two weeks ago.

http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2010/06/061110-heroes.aspx

he want's the green light to dredge,

Henry, the issue is where he wants to dredge. The Chandeleur Islands are barrier islands that already protect the inlets and marshes. Why destroy them to build more? That makes no sense. 

From the previously cited link:Along with this mission, about 1,100 Louisiana Guard members are deploying sandbags, Hesco baskets and other coastal barriers to keep the oil from spreading into sensitive inland marshes.

Don't you get it? He doesn't have to destroy barrier islands while he waits for the pipe to dredge the sea-bed (that's what the delay is, in case you didn't bother to read the links.) He can sandbag. That works too. That's what the National Guard does best -- at least so far as those of us who live in river towns know. But Jindal is letting the Guard sit on their hands. He wants to tear down the islands. He is like a two-year-old who doesn't get his way. A workable substitute isn't good enough. He wants to dredge, you poopy-heads!

[LOsborne]

..he does NOT NEED MORE troops, until he can begin dredging again...THAT is his problem.....even if he had a million troops, that does not accomplish what he is trying to do...

He wants to dredge the Chandeleurs. Doing that would destroy them. They protect the inlets and marshes from hurricanes as well as the oil spill. He needs to dredge the sea-bed. He won't have the pipe for two more weeks (and that ain't the government's fault.) Why do you feel using the Guard to sandbag for the two weeks he has to wait for the pipe is unreasonable? Sand-bagging WORKS!

[LOsborne]

Yes, exactly Lolly. Sometimes it reminds me of "The song that has no end..." and it's maddening. But, I agree with FTW also, why bother when no one reads them? You do, I'm sure and maybe a few others, but the people who need to, don't and on and on it goes. I've mostly given up .

I read them, and I demand them, because now and then, someone (usually me or Henry) will post one which makes me rethink what I thought I knew about a situation. There is no such thing as too much data.  The brainless goose-stepping of others is not my responsibility. But I am responsible for my own judgments, and I must think there is at least one other person out there who feels the same way.

[The Troll]

it is very funny, I feel the exact way YOU do.....but on here it is just a liberal feast....and anything constructive that is displayed that goes against YOUR grain of thought is shoved aside, and you come back with MORE, liberally slanted material...it is unbelievably frustrating at times, I just want to walk away from you guys, and go to a forum where people get it.....but, you are my peeps!!! and my heart goes out to you, and I can't walk away....it is really weird.

  You don't want to leave and be just one more idiot walking lock-step with the other koolaid drinking  Republican sheep who follow, Rush, Hannity, Beck, O'Reiley, Newt and many more greedy top leaders of the Republican party.  You know you really us.  The Troll 

  Here you can tweek us, pull our legs and get give us some good old time and more

[Henry Hawk]

Why not, he liked them very much two weeks ago.

http://www.ng.mil/news/archives/2010/06/061110-heroes.aspx

Henry, the issue is where he wants to dredge. The Chandeleur Islands are barrier islands that already protect the inlets and marshes. Why destroy them to build more? That makes no sense. 

From the previously cited link:Along with this mission, about 1,100 Louisiana Guard members are deploying sandbags, Hesco baskets and other coastal barriers to keep the oil from spreading into sensitive inland marshes.

Don't you get it? He doesn't have to destroy barrier islands while he waits for the pipe to dredge the sea-bed (that's what the delay is, in case you didn't bother to read the links.) He can sandbag. That works too. That's what the National Guard does best -- at least so far as those of us who live in river towns know. But Jindal is letting the Guard sit on their hands. He wants to tear down the islands. He is like a two-year-old who doesn't get his way. A workable substitute isn't good enough. He wants to dredge, you poopy-heads!

Not that I don't trust you lolly, but I got to think that Jindal, and his people, know exactly what they need, they have been on this for two months now, he is just not going through an exercise, he is doing what needs to be done, based upon his peoples expertise and the folks who live there.......if putting sandbags was MORE effective than any other plan, I am 100% certain he would be doing that, but he along with other folks there believe that dredging will have the best results......

[LOsborne]

... but he along with other folks there believe that dredging will have the best results......

Yes, I'm sure it will. IN TWO WEEKS WHEN HE GETS THE PIPE and can dredge the sea-bed. Why aren't you (and he) willing to wait? Why risk causing more damage, instead of using the stop-gap measure for two weeks --- wait, now it's only ten days. What's the frickin' hurry? The spill has been pumping for more than two months. And if you believe BP about the cap, they've bought him the time.

Why aren't you willing the address the issue of where he wants to dredge?

[Palehorse]

That storm will stop them in any case. . .all of them. . .

[Anne]

Right now it looks like the storm isn't going to affect them.