Oil industry ‘captured’ the federal agency that should have regulated it
Ever hear of the term “regulatory capture?”
It was coined to apply to agencies such as the federal Minerals Management Service, created in 1982 to oversee oil and mining on federal property, including offshore drilling. Over time, MMS became captive to the industries it was supposed to regulate, serving as an advocate for industry interests and an apologist for its excesses and repeatedly siding with the industry over the taxpayer on financial issues. With its lax enforcement, it made agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission seem like bulldogs by comparison.
Those problems peaked during the Bush administration, when top Interior Department officials ignored repeated reports from the Government Accountability Office warning that the agency was giving sweetheart deals to industry, losing hundreds of millions of dollars that ought to be going to the federal treasury. Later, investigations proved that agency officials had been accepting lucrative gifts from oil companies, and that “a culture of ethical failure” permeated MMS.
The Obama administration cleaned up some of that mess, for example by ending the program that had cost taxpayers so much money. But in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it clearly did not act aggressively enough to reverse the agency’s pro-industry bias on questions of environmental protection and safety.
As The Washington Post reports:
The federal agency responsible for regulating offshore oil drilling repeatedly ignored warnings from government scientists about environmental risks in its push to approve energy exploration activities quickly, according to numerous documents and interviews.
Minerals Management Service officials, who receive cash bonuses for meeting federal deadlines on leasing offshore oil and gas exploration, frequently altered their own documents and bypassed legal requirements aimed at ensuring drilling does not imperil the marine environment, the documents show.
This has dramatically weakened the scientific checks on offshore drilling that were established under landmark laws such as the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, according to those who have worked with MMS, which is part of the Interior Department…
MMS officials also ignored the advice of its staff experts. In 2006, then-MMS biologist Jeff Childs provided a detailed analysis of how the Exxon Valdez spill had harmed generations of fish in Prince William Sound, and how a future spill could do the same in the Beaufort Sea. But Childs’s conclusion that “a large oil spill . . . is likely to result in significant adverse effects on local [fish] populations requiring three or more generations to recover” would have forced MMS to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement before auctioning off a lease there.
“I have concerns about Jeff’s analysis and will not insert it into the [Environmental Assessment] being sent to HQ at this time,” wrote Deborah Cranswick, chief of the environmental assessment section at MMS, in a June 23 e-mail to her Alaska colleagues. “I believe that Regional management needs to review it first because Jeff has concluded new significant impacts from oil spills. This will trigger an EIS — and thus delay the lease for at least a year.”
Six days later, Paul Stang, Alaska MMS regional supervisor for leasing and the environment, sent a hand-written note to Childs saying, “As you know, a conclusion of significance under NEPA means an EIS and delay in sale 202. That would, as you can imagine, not go over well with HQ and others.”
According to the Post, “this pattern of dismissing biologists’ input has continued under the Obama administration.”
Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me. Changing an ingrained culture is difficult, and I doubt the administration made it the priority it clearly deserved to be. Given the tenor of the times, cracking down on oil and gas drilling on behalf of environmental concerns would have provoked howls of outrage, with the loudest howls no doubt coming from many of those who now criticize the administration for failing to protect the Gulf. But that doesn’t excuse the inaction in any way.
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224 comments Add your comment
@@
May 24th, 2010
6:07 pm
You’re a little late, jay. Guess you had other, more important things to do….like criticizing somebody’s prayer, but you got what you were after.
md
May 24th, 2010
6:08 pm
“Given the tenor of the times, cracking down on oil and gas drilling on behalf of environmental concerns would have provoked howls of outrage, with the loudest howls no doubt coming from many of those who now criticize the administration for failing to protect the Gulf.”
Why should that matter? Polls indicate the majority of the public disagreed with hc and now with immigration, yet our misfits still have tin ears.
@@
May 24th, 2010
6:11 pm
Why should that matter? Polls indicate the majority of the public disagreed with hc and now with immigration, yet our misfits still have tin ears.
Excellent point, md!
jay cannot bring himself to acknowledge Obama’s pandering. He prefers to think of Obama as slow.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:13 pm
Not surprisingly, three straight red herrings to start this one off.
It will be interesting to see how many others the “let the free market police itself” types can come up with…
Jay
May 24th, 2010
6:13 pm
I was checking in from time to time as I worked on tomorrow’s dead-tree column, @@. And you’re right, I got what I wanted: a spirited but generally civil debate on freedom of religion and the separation of church and state.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Matilda
May 24th, 2010
6:14 pm
Rush Limbaugh blames the Sierra Club and the Greeniacs for the oil spill. How DARE you blame crooked government bureaucrats who are just trying to supplement their taxpayer-funded salaries by granting favors to the people they’re supposed to keep in line on our behalf? They have to put food on their families too! I mean, Limbaugh wouldn’t lie, would he?
md
May 24th, 2010
6:18 pm
“free market police itself” types?
May want to work on reading comprehension skills.
getalife
May 24th, 2010
6:19 pm
Never did fix that culture of corruption.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
6:19 pm
Who was it that said that BP is putting “their best minds” to the task?
JohnnyReb
May 24th, 2010
6:21 pm
It is important to note that some, for example Cynthia Tucker, have been pushing for more regulation. Jay has taken the proper line in that those responsible for enforcing the regulations failed. Large corporations like Oil and Aviation participate with the Feds in writing regulations. It’s the government’s responsibility to separate that cooperation from enforcement. There may be additional regulations needed in this case, we won’t know that until full investigation concludes. We know now, however, that enforcement was compromised.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
6:22 pm
Clearly, all these issues can be resolved by simply eliminating all these regulations. It’s the Conservo-Liberipublican thing to do.
getalife
May 24th, 2010
6:22 pm
At least, bp decided to act like they care.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:24 pm
Matilda, oh noes!
This is not the dreaded “What would Rush do?” moment, is it? (Eeew…)
Hey getalife! howya been? (And yeah, unless by “fix” you mean business as usual.)
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
6:25 pm
getalife, act is the operant word and it’s a bad act.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
6:26 pm
I wonder what would happen to an organization if you, 1)cut their funding, 2)cut their oversight, 3)put someone in charge that fundamentally disagrees with his organization’s mandate, 4)accomodate a cozy arrangement between regulators and those supposedly being regulated. Well, Bush was determined to find out.
getalife
May 24th, 2010
6:26 pm
Hi AmVet,
Hangin in there.
Looks like your man Nader was dead right about obama.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
6:30 pm
The hack tries to spin it away from obozo, who could have done something, anything, the last 35 days.
Just sayin….
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:32 pm
So we finally get the type of “smaller” government the Republicans have been braying for since Reagan (Well, not really because there still is an SEC, CPSC, EPA, etc, but you get the point) and now because of a couple of completely unavoidable “accidents” (one on Wall Street in Sept. 2008 and one in the Gulf of Mexico last month) it is all in peril.
We commie, pinko, Lenninist, socialist, Marxist, Trotskyists, collectivists and income redistributionist liberals are gonna undo all that hard earned progress!!!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
6:34 pm
For months, a United States Congressman has stated that the White House offered him a job in exchange for not running in an election — we call this a bribe. Despite being asked numerous times, the White House has not refuted Congressman Sestak’s allegations, but refuses to disclose who offered what and when. So this Administration, that pledged to be a beacon of transparency and change, continues to conceal from the American people the truth about what exactly was said and offered.
Aahhh, yes, the Big One.
I believe we’ve treed your boy.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
6:34 pm
JAY
Fine…but, do you still have “no problem” with preacher Warren…?
getalife
May 24th, 2010
6:35 pm
Yeah Andy,
He should call w and cheney..
The oil experts.
Matilda
May 24th, 2010
6:37 pm
Johnny Reb has a great point that applies to the enforcement practices of regulatory agencies across the board, as well as industry professionals who actually write the regulations that benefit themselves instead of protecting the public from their malfeasance.
I’d like to add that all this is not just possible in America, but it is the American WAY, because we neglect our responsibility to pay attention or care until something horrible happens. We should probably extract our heads from the poop shoots of network programming, talk radio, the sex lives of others, and whatever else we think is so “important” and pay attention to the details of how our government works — or more accurately, how it does not work for us.
Lord of the Ape
May 24th, 2010
6:38 pm
I believe we’ve treed your boy.
Let go of banana, Andy, and hand will come out.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
6:38 pm
getalife
Today’s report from the ground? Please.
AmVet
Back atcha downstairs on Burns…
JAY
Thanks for the new thread…
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:42 pm
Yeah, getalife, he sure was. (But, shhhh! Don’t tell anyone cause Nader is a LOON!)
Sestak treed? Puhleeeze Andy. He is gonna crush whatever poor GOP SOB runs again him…
He wouldn’t kiss BHO’s ass and that is a bad thing???
The trifecta is never likely, but all a bettor can hope for is Electoral Bloodbath Part Trois – Coming to an Election everywhere in November 2010…
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
6:43 pm
Look, I’m no Obama fan by a long shot, but other than a pr gambit, just what COULD he have done in the last 35 days…?
F. Sinkwich
May 24th, 2010
6:46 pm
“The Obama administration cleaned up some of that mess, for example by ending the program that had cost taxpayers so much money.”
I am sure glad Obama is on the job, saving us taxpayers so much money and all.
He follows up with this:
“But in light of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it clearly did not act aggressively enough to reverse the agency’s pro-industry bias on questions of environmental protection and safety.”
So it is obviously Bush’s fault, as is every problem facing the world today.
Yawn.
getalife
May 24th, 2010
6:47 pm
josef,
They all came down to tell us what they are going to do while Jindal is building sand barriers.
Brown pelicans are dark brown but the clean up has started.
bp needs to hire a couple of thousand Americans to start training on clean up.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
6:51 pm
getalife
“They all came down to tell us what they are going to do while Jindal is building sand barriers.”
There’s a lot of that “gonna” going around these days, jus’ sayin’
So, what’s your personal take on Jindal…what’s the public perception…most of my folks down that way are Yellow Dog Democrats and, well, somewhat biased!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
6:54 pm
AmVet, I saw Sestak’s speech on C-SPAN. He looks like he is going to be very difficult to beat.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:54 pm
“bp needs to hire a couple of thousand Americans to start training on clean up.”
Woo Hoo! Some unintended job creation! I’m also thinking that those lamebrains that created this cluster____ ought to be down there doing some “community service” too
You know, something gawdawful nasty and foul (maybe with fowl) to demonstrate their personal responsibility…
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
6:56 pm
Either way…. now that the oil is reaching and saturating the marshes…the gulf is basically &^#^%%$&%(!!&%!! The food chain starts out at the edges and works its way inward… sad that “man” has once again used his own greed and “comfort” to destroy other species… so if millions of once “living breathing” beings get wiped out… those in your over sized homes and super sized tonka trucks… I’m sure you just don’t care. There are tons of animals, and marine life suffering, struggling and dying right now. But you’ll STILL try to point your finger at Obama…because I guess he was supposed to be briefed hourly about every single oil well at sea and trouble shoot any problems as they arose…
F. Sinkwich
May 24th, 2010
6:57 pm
If Bush was president during this scenario he would be crucified by the media.
Jay and all the other liberal media just says Obama “didn’t act aggressively enough” to do something, not mentioning what he did at all, of course, to prevent the disaster in the first place. Or to prevent the environmental damage which may result.
But he means well, and he sounds good with a teleprompter!
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
6:57 pm
AmVet
“Woo Hoo! Some unintended job creation!”
Ooooh, you bad! Wish I’d've said that!
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
6:58 pm
eyes, like I said yesterday, the admiral is a neo-cons worst nightmare. Impeccable credentials, spotless military career, well spoken, obviously very bright and moderately liberal.
I receive emails about him and other veterans running for office regularly
Unless the post-Rove machine can find some new Swift Boaters, they are sunk. Nyuck, nyuck…
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
6:59 pm
Sad that the Talibangelical crowds mantra of “Drill baby Drill” could not be one that would wean us off of dirty costly oil much much faster: “Conserve baby Conserve”….
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:01 pm
“If Bush was president during this scenario he would be crucified by the media.”
Probably so, but then he would have already made at least five gigantically stupid comments on the matter.
F. Sinkwich
May 24th, 2010
7:01 pm
Saul Good on Obama:
“I guess he was supposed to be briefed hourly about every single oil well at sea and trouble shoot any problems as they arose…”
Would that your opinion if Bush was still the president?
Didn’t think so.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
7:02 pm
I think you miss the point, AmVet, if what everybody is saying is true, obozo committed 3 felonies.
Look up the grounds for impeachment.
Everybody is hot to hook this fish.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:03 pm
AmVet, the most impressive presentations/speeches that I have seen of late came from Sestak and from Mexico’s President Calderon in his address to the US Congress. I thought that Calderon was brilliant.
Oh, I had better say something on topic. Well, Wednesday BP is supposed to try yet another new technique that has never been tried before – pouring concrete down a pipe. Talk about On The Job Training. As John Wooden liked to say, “Those who fail to prepare are prepared to fail.
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:04 pm
Instead of what American’s USED to do in times of crisis…all chip in, give up things (wean your lifestyle off of oil and consume less daily)….whatever it took (like in WWII where many made HUGE sacrifices)… it sums up simply as this nowadays: what took place for a little while after 9-11 is a perfect example… was the willingness of people to help one another… then Bush came in to save the economy… what did he tell people to do? Go shopping!!! YAY! So I guess the appropriate conservative response to this disaster would be to consume MORE oil so we can drive up the price per barrel and help make BP more profitable.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:04 pm
Sorry, Andy I apparently missed your point.
Are you saying Barry is the first prez to ever “make an offer” to a politician? Seems a might odd.
So what are these impeachable offenses, exactly?
F. Sinkwich
May 24th, 2010
7:05 pm
Thanks for agreeing with me, AmVet, but your projection on Bush is rather stupid, but I mean that in a good way.
TaxPayer
May 24th, 2010
7:06 pm
I think Obama needs to implement an emergency oil cleanup tax cut act. After all, this is war. He also needs to use his Bush-bound powers and go after this flotilla of evil — oil, gas and sludge — and all their dirty minions. I would start with a deck of playing cards to help identify the culprits as they attempt to come ashore.
Curly and Moe
May 24th, 2010
7:06 pm
Just saw a TV phone in poll. 75% wants the Government to take over BP.
I also noticed that those Republicans down there are screaming for more Government intervention. So much for “Less Government” when trouble’s in your turf, I guess.
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:08 pm
F…no it wouldn’t… but I still don’t believe Obama would have sat there reading my pet goat to a bunch of 5 year olds like a deer stuck in oncoming headlights for 7 full minutes pissing himself after just being told that the nation is under attack.
It’s a VERY different situation… yet BP was CLEARLY not upfront with the severity of what was taking place and how much oil was leaking when this started… also…I was not ever “briefed” myself anywhere in my readings that shows how our Federal Government is both “trained” and has the “equipment” needed and ready to cap mile deep oil leaks. If you have that info…please feel free to post it. It would be GREATLY appreciated my friend!
Moderate Line
May 24th, 2010
7:09 pm
Sadly, that doesn’t surprise me. Changing an ingrained culture is difficult, and I doubt the administration made it the priority it clearly deserved to be.
++++++++++++++++++++
1. Federal agencies get pressure from business all the time no matter who is president.
2. Federal officials often have cozy relationships with contractors in order to secure jobs after employment with the government ends.
I would have to see more than I am seeing to believe this trend went up or down under Bush.
A good example is Tom Dashle and his wife. Tom Dashle worked for a health care lobbying firm before he was nominated for Health and Human Services Secretary.
Linda Daschle, a former acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration now lobbies for aerospace and airline industry clients.
Apparently, it was not a priority at Health and Human Services Secretary.
Both parties are currupt.
Obama’s Slogan: The buck stops somewhere else.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:09 pm
Curly, actually I would be in favor of kicking BP out of this if they fail again on Wednesday, but apparently we do not possess the submersibles that BP is using right now – at least they are not at hand.
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:10 pm
Great point Curly…
Jay's blog
May 24th, 2010
7:12 pm
The oil spill IS bush’s fault because Bush and Cheney were the ones who set in motion the lax regulatory environment where BP could count on little oversight. Bush ruined this country on so many levels it’s ridiculous. We should call the Gulf, the Bush of Mexico, and the Gulf’s beaches, “The Bush Beaches”.
Look Boss, It's da Plan
May 24th, 2010
7:13 pm
Oil Pollution Act of 1990
§1002(a) Provides that the responsible party for a vessel or facility from which oil is discharged, or which poses a substantial threat of a discharge, is liable for: (1) certain specified damages resulting from the discharged oil; and (2) removal costs incurred in a manner consistent with the National Contingency Plan (NCP).
§1002(c) Exceptions to the Clean Water Act (CWA) liability provisions include: (1) discharges of oil authorized by a permit under Federal, State, or local law; (2) discharges of oil from a public vessel; or (3) discharges of oil from onshore facilities covered by the liability provisions of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act.
§1002(d) Provides that if a responsible party can establish that the removal costs and damages resulting from an incident were caused solely by an act or omission by a third party, the third party will be held liable for such costs and damages.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:14 pm
No worries Frankie. Always trying to get along! /sarc/
35 days in and not one practical suggestion from the ODS crowd?
I’ve got one. Send Michael “Heckuva job” Brownie down there and stuff his big head in that pipe.
And if that doesn’t work, try Rush’s Larda__…
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
7:15 pm
Saul
I am about as far from a Republican as you can get and still be on planet Earth and don’t care much for Bush as an individual or as a president (Katrina?), but…his advice for us after 9/11 to go shopping meant a lot to me…yes, we’re reeling from shock and saddened by the loss of innocent life, but what they’re out to do is make us afraid to be who we are…do something “normal” to show we are neither cowed nor afraid…and what better and what more “us” than go shopping. Me? Took the kids to the mall and went shopping…stopped for ice cream…went to the movies..passed the football down at the park..I still think George did a pretty good job bringing us as a nation through those critical days, reminding us not to fall into the error of the past of blaming our citizens who were of the faith or ethnicity of the attackers…what he did later? How he squandered all that? That’s another issue…
Kamchak
May 24th, 2010
7:15 pm
Teleprompter—SQUIRREL!
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:16 pm
I report….please list the THREE felonies (this should be good).
Know what I LOVE about the Talibangelical party? That since the day he won the election, and even before he took his oath… you’ve tried to do ANYTHING to change the fact that your party LOST and that Obama actually won and is YOUR President.
Please list the three charges… thanx!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:17 pm
AmVet, well, apparently the “best minds” at BP have been asking the public for suggestions as to how to stop the leak. Perhaps, yours will be no less effective as any of BP’s.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
7:17 pm
I believe committing a felony would be one of them.
Normal
May 24th, 2010
7:19 pm
“What we have here, is a failure to give a sh*t”-BP
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:20 pm
“Exceptions to the Clean Water Act (CWA) liability…”
Boss, those look similar to the provisions in the CYA – “Hey it Ain’t My fault!” Exclusion.
All I can say is I’m glad these corporate screw ups were not running the space program. We’d have blown up all the orbiters years ago and the out of control ISS would be merrily on its way to Uranus…
Normal
May 24th, 2010
7:20 pm
Why haven’t they tried Kevin Costner’s method, yet?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
7:21 pm
Aahhh, now we get the real liberal motivation-
WASHINGTON (AP) – Responding to the massive BP oil spill, Congress is getting ready to quadruple—to 32 cents a barrel—a tax on oil used to help finance cleanups. The increase would raise nearly $11 billion over the next decade.
It almost seems like they allowed the spill to happen on purpose, to give them a reason to raise taxes. On us, not the oil companies.
How does this differ from anything a dummycrat does? “Global warming,” taxes. Choo choo train, taxes. Health “care” fix, taxes. Breathing the freaking air, taxes.
Just sayin, ooops, tax me!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:22 pm
josef, I was working for a Taiwanese held (albeit Bermuda incorporated) company on 9/11/2001. Our Taiwanese CEO told us something similar – that they would have wanted our work disrupted. So, we all stayed a full day that time, and worked our butts off as usual. Ah, I think the Chinese guy got what he wanted. He would make sure the company had a well-stocked fridge, so we would need to outside the building for lunch, thus, shorter lunch hours and greater productivity.
But…I get your point.
Normal
May 24th, 2010
7:22 pm
Whiner,
You’re a hoot!
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:24 pm
(In my best Aunt Bee voice) Oh Andy!
What are these three impeachable felonies that “everybody” is talking about?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:24 pm
Correction: not need…
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:27 pm
Normal at 7:19. Great take off on a great movie line…Arguably one of the best lines ever…
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:28 pm
josef…I can agree with you on NOT letting terrorism WIN by doing the normal things we always did and want to do. I was just having that conversation the other day with my best friend… while the topic was slightly different…it was about “fear” (as in letting your 10 year old go 4 blocks alone to her friend’s house or not)… who wins with THAT fear? The pedophiles?
Yet, I DO believe that in times of crisis there are things we sometimes need to do…to “give up” or do without. This crisis is NOT a terrorist act…but it truly needs to be a wake up call to show the “dirty” business the oil industry is…on ALL levels. From greed, market manipulation, dealing with terrorist regimes (Saudi Arabia) with a hand shake and a smile, and now…pristine areas teaming with life that will die in the billions (real living breathing lives…it matters to THEM when they can no longer breath and suffocate slowly and cruelly)… so as Americans we should ALL be making a pledge to live our lives a little differently in how we use energy… from our homes, to the cars we drive, to car pooling, using mass transit, new technologies… it would be a shame for America to let this happen and for ALL of us to not make some lifestyle changes. I mean do you really care when you charge your laptop if it’s getting it’s energy from coal, oil, gas, natural gas, wind, solar… I do. I’d prefer NOT to use something that is “dirty” if that option is available. I’m willing to pay MORE for it now if needed. Think of the amount of infrastructure that was needed to wire every home to electricity, phone, cable, etc… if there is ANY country that has the know how…WE do. I guess time will tell if Americans see this as the “point” in which we change our approach to how we live our lives, and what we can say we DID about this tragedy. In 20 years, it won’t be about the “blame” game as much as… hey…this “mess” is still here… and HOPEFULLY we can look back and say THAT was when America weaned itself off of dirty fuel. There is no such thing as “clean” oil or coal.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:28 pm
Saul says, “I report….please list the THREE felonies…”
Whiner answers, “I believe committing a felony would be one of them.”
Good grief.
Q. Why is the sky blue?
A. I believe because it’s blue would be one reason.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
7:31 pm
eyes
I was at work at school that day. It is etched in my mind as clearly as if it happened ten minutes ago. There is always, though, that humorous element even in the most tragic of events. When we came back to school, one of my parents, an Algerian, and I were talking. Her little one, who had an unblemished attendance record, was absent on 9/11…she was bringing in a doctor’s report “for the record!”
@@
May 24th, 2010
7:32 pm
Glad you enjoyed it.
Didn’t read it, jay. I was talking about the 824 comments. When you’re lacking you go for religion or race. It’s always a winner for you.
I didn’t read it because I fully anticipated some of the usual ridicule. Even if there was some among the 824, you wouldn’t have objected. You never do.
I just went back and read the first two pages.
I’m not one who believes in tongues, but I’da never said something like this:
Jay, its a wonder the guard didnt start speaking in tongues. You know, abbalblbaooaalsdoala oa aooa !!!
Neither am I one to refer to someone’s faith as horse_____ regardless of which faith it involves.
We breed such sheepish cowards here in the Bible belt.
Nor would I refer to a regional people as cowardly sheep.
^^^ That’s why I don’t participate when your topic is religion, jay. It’s just not my thing.
Obviously you enjoy it.
Whatever makes you happy.
In Purpletuity
May 24th, 2010
7:32 pm
It is a felony to commit a felony and
in doing so,
one has committed a felony and
in doing so,
one has committed a felony and… .
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:33 pm
WHich “commandment” is that felony?
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
7:35 pm
Saul–
I agree with much of what you say. As far as “that mess” is concerned down that way, my own perspective as to how and why is decidedly from what most would consider the lunatic fringe…but in my worldview, this is a problem long predating either the present or past administration and goes back to 1803, and with the gap between 1763 and 1803, back to 1699. “a faraway people about whom we know very little…”
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:38 pm
josef, yes, I can still see that day in my mind as well. Some others are the day JFK was assasinated, the day I found out that RFK had passed away (I was hitching a ride in Japan, and the truck driver with tears in his eyes told me), and with lesser importance, I suppose, the day OJ’s glove did not fit.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
7:42 pm
@@
Be that all as it may, he still has “no problem” with preacher Warren…ISH
Drowning in a sea of rednecks
May 24th, 2010
7:43 pm
The article was spot on, the rest of you are too needy of giving an opinion you heard on the radio.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
7:44 pm
Some felonious felonator folks are going to the Bushisms well tonight!
Just don’t go nucular on me…
Speaking of Aunt Bee, she makes an appearance at the end…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey8ujsGzIjM
Saul Good
May 24th, 2010
7:45 pm
Time to go out for my “vegan” dinner (so I can stimulate the economy that belongs to “elitist’s” fat bank accounts)… adios (and a “Praise Allah” out to my dear friend Dusty whenever she gets a chance to see this)…
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:47 pm
A Saulute to you.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
7:53 pm
“Drowning in a sea of rednecks ”
And the G-od L-rd willing you’re going down for the third time…classist!
Too many opinions not enough dates
May 24th, 2010
7:54 pm
You guys really need dates. I mean desperately! I see a bunch of one handed typists that don’t get out much from their mothers basement where they still live & blog after 40 years of age.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
May 24th, 2010
7:54 pm
Well, I reckon Jay Bookman gets the right to take most of a day off to write one of those boring AJC columns. That’s OK with me, long as I don’t have to read it.
Anyway, it figures the libruls would blast the only guvmint agency to give real service to the people they regulate. I mean, the women at MMS slept with the men at the oil cos. And the women at the oil cos. slept with the men at MMS. And I expect a few of the men at MMS and the oil cos. slept with each other too, I don’t know. Now that’s service! Looks like the only thing that never got done was the regulation part.
Anyhow, been watching all the news shows about the oil spill. Somebody with a strong net and a bulldozer and maybe a few tanker trucks could make a mint. And it looks like alot of the Cajuns down there ain’t too happy about having their jobs ruint for the next 50 years. I don’t think I’d be down there if I was a guvmint big shot or a worker for BP.
Anyhow, I hate to bring up this morning again but I reckon it was the Lords Will for that oil well to blow. It’s just too bad somebody forgot to put on a couple safety valves. Slow as things are going down there, it won’t be long till people can just walk on the water when that oil gets hard.
But we got to take the long view. In another year or so this will all be over with and they’ll go right back to drilling in the Gulf again like nothing ever happened. Right now, alot of people are talking about how they’re gonna do this and they’re gonna do that to keep this from ever happening again, but it all slips the mind in a few months and things will go right back to the way they were. I already read today where Sara said this Gulf spill just goes to show how much better it would be just to open up all that land in Alaska and drill there. Like I said before, people don’t learn nothing from tradegies.
Have a good night everybody.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
7:58 pm
Off The Topic, But Certainly Topical
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37323706/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001
Paul
May 24th, 2010
7:59 pm
From a post earlier this morning: (source from NY Times): [[ “Report: Drilling permits, waivers continue”
“WASHINGTON — In the days since President Barack Obama announced a moratorium on permits for drilling new offshore wells and a halt to a controversial type of environmental waiver that was given to the Deepwater Horizon, at least seven drilling permits and five waivers have been granted, according to records.
It was observed during Pres Bush’s term, when every questionable action by the Executive agencies was laid directly at Bush’s feet as his responsibility, that the federal bureaucracy is a vast entity that plods on its way regardless of what’s said by the guy at the top. “Oh, no” came the response. “This is Bush’s fault.”
Maybe now those people will reconsider their attitude.]]
I will give the Obama Administration credit for addressing the attitude. Sadly, it wasn’t enough.
Oh – and stop the stupid practice of giving high-ranking federal execs cash bonuses for meeting leasing deadlines. And get rid of the metrics that indicate quick approval of leases is in any way related to their mission.
Haven’t those idiots ever compared what they do with their mission statement?
Soothsayer
May 24th, 2010
8:03 pm
Tired of blogging? Jump over to CNBC.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:05 pm
Hey, Paul…
Since you follow education things…got our bubble-in report and our kids did pretty d*mned good!
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:05 pm
good evening, josef nix
“Look, I’m no Obama fan by a long shot, but other than a pr gambit, just what COULD he have done in the last 35 days…?”
Hold effective staff meetings and hold Secretaries accountable. Dismiss the press, go around the table and ask “what are your top three problems? What’s progress on fixing? What are the top ten GAO findings? Status?
Then at the next staff meeting get updates and roll on to the next problems.
Management 101.
Or experience. Take your pick.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:07 pm
Another off the topic (my last one) but topical item of interest.
Another sex scandal in S.C.?
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2010/05/24/2326730.aspx
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:07 pm
PAUL
Point made and point taken.
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
8:09 pm
You’ve had since 1990. So, what have you come up with.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:09 pm
Paul, but how do you know that was NOT done?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:10 pm
Call it Communications 101
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:11 pm
eyes
Say whatever else you will about our Palmetto State neighbors…they do seem to get more than their fair share of n*oky…
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
8:14 pm
North Korea has offered to enter into an oil for subs program. Torpedos are extra. Something about wanting a ranch in Crawford, Texas.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:14 pm
Josef, does South Carolina have an NBA franchise? If not, maybe the Knicks could be enticed to move their and rename itself the South Carolina Knookie Backers.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:14 pm
oops. move there…
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:16 pm
eyes
Saw a piece on Adm Sestak. One of his family members had a serious health problem. Said he got excellent care from the military and doesn’t see why every American shouldn’t benefit from the same system..
Who’da thunk an admiral would be a socialist?
Congrats, josef nix!
Just spoke with my sis – 6:30 pm and just heading home. TAKS results – had a couple kids not pass, but it seems her disadvantaged, nearly entirely minority and mostly below poverty school’s gonna get an exemplary rating. First time ever. Nice.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:19 pm
Sestak, I believe shows a lot of promise.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:21 pm
eyes 8:09
Pronoun reference. What’s the ‘it’?
Paul
May 24th, 2010
8:23 pm
eyes
Sorry, ‘that’, not ‘it”
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
8:24 pm
Hold effective staff meetings and hold Secretaries accountable. Dismiss the press, go around the table and ask “what are your top three problems? What’s progress on fixing? What are the top ten GAO findings? Status?
How did we ever make it this far without you!
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:24 pm
PAUL
Tell Sis congrats from the front lines here in Jaw-juh…she’ll know what I mean…lil’ brown b*stids can bubble in with the best of ‘em!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:25 pm
Teachers, educators and linguists faint when they make a spelling, punctuation or grammatical error. lol
@@
May 24th, 2010
8:25 pm
What could he have done in 35 days?
Well, he did set up a panel…nothing conclusive is expected for 6 months or longer.
Why is the NOAA holding off on it’s 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season outlook? Is this Obama’s way of holding back the oceans?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
8:28 pm
Shave It: I was answering AmVet-
So what are these impeachable offenses, exactly?
Pay attention stooge, just sayin, ooops, tax me!
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:30 pm
eyes
@ 8:25
Don’t I know it! Never fails if I ever take someone to task, I’ll make my own while doing it. That’s why I try to stay away from it…
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.: –Proverbs 16:18
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:32 pm
“Pay attention stooge, just sayin, ooops, tax me!”
A stooge tax? That ought to get us out of deficit in no time flat!
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
8:33 pm
We have never blamed Bush for anything that he did not earn.
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
8:34 pm
Oh Andy!
What exactly are these three impeachable offenses everybody is talking about?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:35 pm
josef, most embarrassing moment for me. I had written the word “tomorrow” on the whiteboard, but spelled it “tommorrow”. A student raised his hand. I said, “yes?” He said, “You must really like the word “tomorrow” because you have two m’s and two r’s. Ouch.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:36 pm
AmVet
@ 8:34
Kinda would like an answer there, too…
Rightwing Troll
May 24th, 2010
8:38 pm
What are these three F’in impeachable offenses???
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:39 pm
eyes
Sometimes I make mistakes intentionally in class, and sometimes I make them unintentionally and more frequently than I’d like to admit, I make them ignorantly. It’s a game with my kids, first, to catch them and secondly to determine whether or not they think it was purposely, accidentally, or didn’t know…they really like catching me on the latter!
Rightwing Troll
May 24th, 2010
8:39 pm
As long as we’re asking questions, I’d also like to know what taxes have been increased as well?
Disgusted
May 24th, 2010
8:40 pm
The government has neither the expertise nor the equipment to undertake the tasks that BP is currently performing. All pulling BP from the effort would do is to increase the time for stopping the flow by six or seven weeks. You can have all the Management 101 meetings you want with agency and department heads. They will accomplish nothing because these people can accomplish nothing on their own without oil industry help. Somebody’s blowing smoke up your rear end if you’re being told that better federal management will accomplish much at all. And it has nothing to do with “experience.” In addition, there’s a lot of political opportunism going on here.
It strikes me that the current stasis is the result of a stand-off between environmental authorities and the locals. Building what is essentially a sand berm around the entire coastal area is not a minor undertaking, and it can have detrimental long-term effects on the ecology. Of course the locals want it, because they’re all but begging to be put to work on the federal government’s dime. Look at any of the interviews with local fishermen and you will hear, “We have the boats and the men right here and we can go to work immediately.” What you won’t hear is “We want to be paid well by the federal government,” but that is the message being conveyed very clearly. Hundreds of people are essentially screaming, “Hire my boat and my crew!” It’s clearly a knee-jerk solution, but it’s not well thought out and it could be horrendously expensive for the taxpayer, without any guarantee of sound results.
@@
May 24th, 2010
8:43 pm
Even the left is getting pithed with Obama’s inaction on the spill.
In his weekly address Saturday, President Obama announced the formation of “National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.” This new panel is “tasked with providing recommendations on how we can prevent–and mitigate the impact of–any future spills that result from offshore drilling.”
It’s about time Obama showed some actual anger about the spill and put some thrust behind calls to improve regulation and enforcement in offshore drilling. But Obama yet again missed an opportunity to talk about how the spill illustrates the need to end reliance on fossil fuels. Instead, he gave passing acknowledgment to clean energy, while maintaining that we need to drill for oil here in the US–Mother Jones.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:46 pm
@@, “actual anger”? Apparently, you missed his speech last week about all the finger pointing BP, Trans Ocean and Halliburton are doing.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
8:49 pm
Disgusted..,
No! The locals want to work, that’s w-o-r-k. These are not leeches, but some of the most independent, hardworking and self-reliant folks left in this country. I am going to venture you fall into the category that sees them as “a faraway people about whom we know very little.”
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
8:55 pm
I suppose we’ll simply have to nationalize the oil industry in order to make the Republicans happy. After all, it is what they keep asking us to do.
Jay
May 24th, 2010
8:56 pm
You may issue such edicts, Scout. But nobody else is required to abide by them.
@@
May 24th, 2010
8:59 pm
eyes:
I saw it. No anger, just political staging.
___________________________________________
Oh my! This group of leftists are pithed too.
The things that were crimes under Bush are crimes under Obama.
Outrages under Bush are outrages under Obama.
All this MUST STOP.
And all this MUST BE RESISTED by anyone who claims a shred of conscience or integrity.
In some respects, this is worse than Bush. First, because Obama has claimed the right to assassinate American citizens whom he suspects of “terrorism,” merely on the grounds of his own suspicion or that of the CIA, something Bush never claimed publicly. Second, Obama says that the government can detain you indefinitely, even if you have been exonerated in a trial, and he has publicly floated the idea of “preventive detention.” Third, the Obama administration, in expanding the use of unmanned drone attacks, argues that the U.S. has the authority under international law to use such lethal force and extrajudicial killing in sovereign countries with which it is not at war.–democracyinaction.org
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
8:59 pm
@@, I suppose anger is in the eyes of the beholder.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:02 pm
YAWN ……………..
“OFF TOPIC #1″
BTW: New Headline Just Out:
“Compromise Reached on “Don’t Ass, Don’t Tail” …………….. and our military will be weaker, less disciplined, more fragmented, less agressive and less professional because of it.
“An Army of Two ……… Never Leave Your Buddy’s Behind”
Ooo Rah with a lisp ………….. !
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:03 pm
@@
And lest we forget, habeas corpus, quo vadis?
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:03 pm
Oh, and ^^^ that group, democracyinaction needs donations to run an ad.
Can they count on you leftists to dig deep into your pockets?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:05 pm
Scout, not only off topic, but off the proverbial wall.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
9:05 pm
Scout
The younger members – tomorrow’s senior NCOs, field grade officers, flag officers – do not care.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:05 pm
Jay @ 8:56
I may be wrong but I don’t see where I posted on this thread until 9:02. What are you referring to? Something on another thread ?
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:06 pm
Apologies to josef, but Scout’s last two paragraphs were funny!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:07 pm
@@, money is tight right now and I do not donate to anyone that I do not know. But I am for digging deep into the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe we can spill even more oil. Spill, Baby, Spill.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:07 pm
Scout
Just to keep K’chak happy and mine and your own hoo-rah going, we don’t all lisp, and I’ll take you on at the geriatric ward whup-a33 any day of the week…jus remember Alexander the Great and General Patrick Cleburn–
Soothsayer
May 24th, 2010
9:08 pm
Turn on Channel 8
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:10 pm
josef, in my world, LISP is a programming language and Geriatric refers to the group of seniors I play basketball with on occasion.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:11 pm
josef, and Geritol is what we pack, not Gatorade.
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
josef:
A quick off-topic. My friend, the picture framer, has a Thai Pepper planted in my garden. One of the peppers has turned red. I know it’s time to pick ’cause he said pick ‘em when they’re red. What do I do with it once it’s picked. I’m not driving all the way into Atlanta to deliver one two-inch pepper. Are they o.k. dried?
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
@@
I’ve always liked that “never leave your buddy’s behind one myself.” The lisp one kinda bothers me and Barney Frank don’t help matters…. ISH
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
“…and our military will be weaker, less disciplined, more fragmented, less agressive (sic) and less professional because of it.”
And that is the same canard that some used when Truman integrated the armed forces in 1948 and when Clinton implemented Don’t Ask, Don’t tell, Don’t Pursue in 1993.
Of course, they were wrong.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
None of you comments will stem the military from being less than what it could be just as women in “some” of the M.O.S.’s have made it less than what it could be.
Kind of like if the government stepped in and make each pro football team have one female on the field at all times. The game will still be entertaining (maybe even more so) but not quite the same quality as before.
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
9:14 pm
Scout sure does have some strange thoughts.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
9:15 pm
@@
They’re actually fine dried. Or fresh. Really, really mild. Don’t deserve their rep. Slice thin and serve in a salad. Chop up with scrambled eggs. Heck, some people like to eat’em by themselves!
Oh, and…
NOT!
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:16 pm
eyes:
Do you know any of these people?
Join Cindy Sheehan, Cornel West, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, Ray McGovern, Carl Dix, Bill Quigley, William Blum, Joyce Kozloff, Ann Messner, David Swanson, Sunsara Taylor, Stephen Rohde, Fr. Bob Bossie, Peter Phillips, Jed Stone, Tomás Olmos, Peter McLaren, Jodie Evans, Elaine Brower, Matthis Chiroux, Dennis Loo, Larry Everest, Andy Worthington, Blasé Bonpane, William Ayers, Dahr Jamail, Kathy Kelly, Mike Gravel, Rev. Dr. George F. Regas, Donald Freed, Rocky Anderson, Frank Summers, Tom Morello, Ann Wright, Edward Asner, Sarah Kunstler, Emily Kunstler, Michael Ratner, James Cromwell, M. Cherif Bassiouni and…
William Ayers!!?!! Retaliation for throwing him under the bus?
They’re all signed up with democracyinaction.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:17 pm
@@
What to do with a Thai pepper when it turns red? Unmentionable said “thread it, hang it up and LOOK at it!!” But, he says to cook without breaking the skin, saute them and then remove them for that “smoky” flavor…says they dry well, but be careful how much, same rule applies about breaking the skin…
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:17 pm
Scout, that analogy does not hold up at all. I am sure that there are some very gay soldiers today who could kick your you know what around pretty good, wouldn’t you say?
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:20 pm
theyeshaveit: Yes, I’m 63. However, if it came to one on one with a rifle ……….. I did have a Scout-Sniper MOS and haven’t lost much in that regard.
ObamaRahma : Is there something you would like to debate?
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:23 pm
PAUL
For a minute there I was shaking my head and saying to self, “say what?”
@@
Unmentionable also says to use to “spice up” oil for use elsewhere…
Scout–
We’ve been down this road, so no need to rehash it from the f*g point of view…you already know what I think and I know what you think, we also know push come to shove…ooops, well, never mind!
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:23 pm
josef:
Now you’ve complicated matters. I’m gonna deliver that baby at 2 inches and one one-gazillionth of an ounce. Maybe wrap it in a piece of felt.
He’s worth it! Need to have some prints dry mounted anyway.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:24 pm
@@, Noam Chomsky stood out, because I am a linguist. But that does not mean I’d donate. I have to know what they are all about, I do not know what their agenda is.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:27 pm
@@:
Their new division is the “Fighting 69th” ……………..
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:28 pm
eyes:
It’s obvious that they consider Obama a war criminal just like the left considered Bush a war criminal. That’s their agenda. They may (I don’t know) be looking to prosecute.
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
9:29 pm
Is there something you would like to debate?
Why do you think about such strange things.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:29 pm
AmVet:
There are a lot of African-Americans who get very, very upset with you by trying to compare their struggle for civil rights with the gay issues of today. Just sayin. Take it up with one of them sometime. You will be surprised.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:30 pm
@@:
josef know I respect him and his opinions. I just disagree.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:32 pm
@@, I will check out the site later on. I had thought that Noam Chomsky had died years ago, so it was a revelation to me that he is still around.
Josef, you remember Chomsky’s work on Transformational Grammar? It was the inspiration for programming languages – you know, deep structure versus surface structure. Machine language versus high level programming languages.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
9:32 pm
@@
Seriously – wear gloves. Or else, be real careful to wash your hands and keep’em away from your eyes.
And if you forget, wreak vengeance on it with a stiletto flamenco -
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:33 pm
Scout:
The speech therapist at our school is gay. One thing he cannot abide is a lisp. He says there’s no excuse for them as they can be easily resolved with therapy.
Great guy! The kids think he hung the moon and the stars. They like him even better than me, and that’s saying something.
I’m jealous.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:35 pm
@@, is it speech therapist or speech pathologist?
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:35 pm
ObamaRahma :
Maybe what you call strange, many of us see as mainstream.
josefl:
As a young brakeman on the railroad (I was 18) this older brakeman made a move on me one night when we were eating our dinner in the caboose. I was a pretty tought kid back then and I threatened to deck him and he backed off. Maybe that tainted me a little bit ……… and I soon joined the Marine Corps and the weeded out all of the gays the by the second day (draftees or not). Now, in the long run I think they missed a couple and I served with them and they served honorably. They just kept it to themselves. No blood no foul.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:36 pm
Excuse me: “tough”
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:38 pm
Jay is going to give us all demerits tomorrow for being off the topic.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:39 pm
Scout, do you miss your days in the Army? I just ask because while the Air Force (we used to say Air Farce) had its moments, I certainly do not miss those days.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:39 pm
@@:
They do that like hanging a sign around their neck and can turn it on or off (no pun intended) at will.
They have a “lisp” but they are not “limp” ……………
“I’ll juth cut your heart out with a poon”
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:40 pm
Oh, sorry, I recall that you were in the Marines, not the Army.
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:41 pm
Paul:
They’re not my peppers although he’d want me to have a few. How big do the bushes get? Hasn’t grown much since I planted it. It’s about 9 to 12 inches tall.
My husband prefers not to eat ANY kind of pepper. He’ll eat them with roasted vegetables, onions, squash, eggplant, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms. He’ll eat none of the aforementioned alone, but together and roasted? That he’ll do.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:42 pm
Scout
@ 9:29
Ima Gonna Fierce Advocate being one of them?
eyes
Will get back with you on Chomsky!
@@
Paul’s right on that glove thingie…!
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:44 pm
theyeshaveit :
It’s a love hate thing. I was in the Marine Corps ……… I glad I did it but would not do it again ……. especially as an enlisted Marine. Officer is the way to go.
I only served two years because even though I volunteered the Marines were drafting then and had to offer a two year enlistment. Bottom line, I spent about 60% of my Marine Corps time in Vietnam in the infantry. I miss the guys and the comraderie (we have a reunion every three years) but to be honest the military in wartime is a necessary evil at best.
The combat arms units (especailly the infantry) is not for the weak. I have probably had my little shar of PTSD over the years and the older I get the angrier I get about the whole episode and those 58.000 names on the Wall.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:45 pm
@@, I love peppers any which way!
Josef, OK. Will talk some transformational grammar and the implications on language learning with you when you are ready.
@@
May 24th, 2010
9:45 pm
eyes:
Either/or. We call him a therapist. He calls himself a therapist. My daughter is getting her masters in cognitive speech pathology.
I guess if one’s into status, they’d call themselves a pathologist.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:45 pm
josef:
You lost me on that last one if that is some kind of secret Gay code ???
ObamaRahma
May 24th, 2010
9:48 pm
Maybe what you call strange, many of us see as mainstream.
I don’t know. What is “mainstream” and who are “many of us”?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:50 pm
Scout, I hear you on the camaraderie and the Viet Nam war. I was attached to USAFSS (Security Service in support of NSA). The work itself was not bad, though we had round the clock shifts in our outpost in Hokkaido Japan. There is even a web site honoring the times and men who served at Wakkanai Air Station. But I have met several vets who cannot even bear to speak about Viet Nam. And I still remember scraping gum off of linoleum floors for the Air Force while awaiting reassignment or clearances to go through.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:51 pm
Scout
Well, there is the GWIDLN syndrome! (G-d! Was I Drunk Last Night). And for the record, bedded many a marine in my youthful glory days and come away smiling,,,Navy was better at wooing, Army a bit too standard issue and Air Force was a good conversation but not so much in the sack…jus sayin from experience…:-)
Del
May 24th, 2010
9:52 pm
Sorry Lib’s this issue belongs to the Obama administration. Trying to hand it back to GWB won’t flush with the American public.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:52 pm
@@, therapy to me suggests that the client is suffering from a physical problem such as a cleft mouth. But pathology can be teaching a Hollywood actor to sound like a Southerner. But that is my opinion.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:52 pm
I meant a cleft palate
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:54 pm
josef:
Themper Fidewuss !
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:55 pm
josef…lol. You have been around the block (I will not say around the world if you know what I mean). Someday, someday, I will tell you a few tales.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
9:55 pm
theyeshaveit :
Just in case you have never seen this, it’s my often posted favorite quote about the Vietnam debacle:
Once a Warrior King by David Donovan:
“If there was immorality in the war in Vietnam, it was that a democratic nation called her citizens to war, had them killed by the tens of thousands, and then, like a faithless lover, turned and scorned the survivors. Oh, perfidious nation!”
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:57 pm
Del, we have already flushed that issue out here. Talking military days and gays now.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
9:57 pm
Scout
That was in reference to your 9:29…
Gotta run for now…last day for the kiddies tomorrow and it’s party time…the lil’ b*ggers will be sugar filled by 9:00 a.m. Best get a good night’s rest…I’ll need it…
Del
May 24th, 2010
9:58 pm
Late on the blog…so have we changed topic from the oil spill and Obama’s lack of leadership to DADT?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 24th, 2010
9:58 pm
“General Holder, as I said in my opening statement, I’m deeply concerned that a seated member of Congress, a distinguished member of this body, has alleged to what amounts to three felonies.…Senator Arlen Specter has confirmed that in his opinion that if the allegations are true they are felonies…”
Just sayin….ooops, tax me!
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:58 pm
Scout, you my man, are in need of a speech pathologist. lol
Paul
May 24th, 2010
9:59 pm
@@
The bushes are might get a few inches larger, but not much. Most pepper plants are pretty compact.
Don’t take your husband to eat at one of Bobby Flay’s restaurants. The guy can’t hardly cook without using peppers! Amazing thing is, he’s a NYC kid through and through and he made his name with southwest cuisine.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
9:59 pm
Scout, I have heard of though not read that book. Do you remember flying military standby and getting that look from the people at the airports as you walked by in uniform?
AmVet
May 24th, 2010
10:00 pm
Scout what silly nonsense. Even for you.
I made no comparison or contrast between the struggles of blacks and gays.
I simply said narrow minded and intolerant buffoons made the same claims about them serving in uniform…
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
10:01 pm
Del, it’s a free for all now.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:01 pm
theyeshaveit :
………………..
“Fhum the halls of Montethu-u-ma, to the thores of Twipowi”
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:02 pm
theyeshaveit :
Is that more gay or Porky Pig ?
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
10:03 pm
Scout, lol
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
10:05 pm
Scout, Del, have you fellows ever read Catch 22? Although about WW II, I found it pertinent to the Viet Nam era. In fact, many of us were not only reading the novel then, but living it. There were patently mental dudes back then, man.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:05 pm
theyeshaveit :
Yes I do. That was 1966 thru 1968 and we had to wear our “dress greens” when we flew. To this day I have never marched in a Veterans parade and I NEVER will. I don’t even like it when they have Veterans Day recognition in my church and usually arrange to be occupied somewhere else during that part of the service.
josef nix
May 24th, 2010
10:06 pm
Oh, yes, to friend and foe alike, tonight’s little exchange is the difference between snicker-snicker and lLOL…with me, not at me…
So, off to bed with a warm fuzzy feeling and hope for the future…
Del
May 24th, 2010
10:06 pm
There is absolutely no cogent argument comparing homosexuals in the military with racial integration. Those who have served in the infantry for the most part understand it and those who haven’t humped a weapon and 782 gear in extreme heat or cold may not. If you haven’t been there you really should stand down on the subject.
theyeshaveit
May 24th, 2010
10:07 pm
Fellows, I have to call it a night now. Good talking to you.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:08 pm
theyeshaveit:
Yes I have and saw the movie. A lot to truth in that. There is an excellent book out now for any serious student of Vietnam. “An American Amnesia” by Bruce Herschenshon. Hard to put down.
Another must read is “Derelection of Duty” by McMasters.
Paul
May 24th, 2010
10:09 pm
g’night, josef, g’night, eyes
Pleasant evening, all -
@@
May 24th, 2010
10:13 pm
eyes:
Regardless, it all focuses on refining oral motor skills. We have kids with protruding tongues, soft palettes, an assortment of physical deficiencies in the area of the mouth. He addresses those thru various techniques. Having them retrieve a cheerio off a straw…
My daughter, the future “pathologist” works with the same problems in clinic, but she also works with refining the simplest of mispronunciations. Pronouncing Bs as Vs, Rs as Ws as well as the break downs between transmissions from brain to mouth.
Like I said…either/or. One in the same.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:13 pm
Del:
Thanks. I really didn’t want to deal with him anymore tongith. I can only take so much.
Read those two books if you get a chance. In the second one, Commandant Green makes the statement that his biggest regret is that he and the Joint Chiefs did not resign in mass (they talked about it) over the insane policies of Johnson/McNamara. It might have made a difference.
P.S. Do you remember Johnson’s famous speech in May of 1968 (that’s when I came home) wherein he stated he would not run for President again and that he was withdrawing the troops from Vietnam? Well, more of those 58,000 Americans on the Wall died AFTER that speech than before.
That is criminal.
md
May 24th, 2010
10:15 pm
To answer the often asked question about felonies, it appears that Rep. Sestak has confirmed that the WH offered him a job of some kind (Sec of Navy?) if he would agree to drop out of race with Specter. Evidently, it is illegal to tamper with candidates in the middle of a primary by offering something of value in return for an outcome.
If the position was approved by Barry, some pundits are saying may be watergate 2.
Del
May 24th, 2010
10:23 pm
Scout,
Yes I remember LBJ’s infamous speech. I’d been out close to a year as I recall. So much injustice against those who sacrificed so greatly. A good book called the “The Road of 10,000 Pains” described the sacrifice really well. I came back just before Union One and it haunts me to this day.
RW-(the original)
May 24th, 2010
10:28 pm
Well somebody is finally getting fed up with the feds.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/05/24/jindal-to-obama-were-tired-of-waiting-for-the-feds-to-help-with-the-spill/
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:28 pm
md:
Excellent points.
Also, do you remember the debacle surrounding that case with tet knucklehead Gov. of Illinois?
That case was shut down way, way too soon. You ALWAYS wait for the money to change hands or for the deal to be consumated. The U.S. Attorney’s office made the raid/arrest way too early and shut the wire tap/case down.
Why? They were getting very, very close to having President Elect Obama on that wire incriminating himself for an indicatable “Quid Pro Quo” offense. I honestly believe Bush (who would have been getting briefings about Obama’s role in this) had it shut down early as he didn’t want the ensuing turmoil and riots that might occur with a indictment and/or impeachment of the first black President. He did Obama a big, big favor.
Scout
May 24th, 2010
10:31 pm
I hear you. Here’s is one more quote you may not of seen that may help a little. Also, from “Once a Warrior King” ………………..
“I have the sense from time to time that I am not alone, and I suspect that despite the limited understanding we have of events in distant places, there will always be those among us who have the gleam of the quest in their eyes. They are people of every sex and station and they yearn to be challenged to a cause. They will always be looking for that wrong to right, that ill to cure, that song to sing; and there will always be those who will go to arms in aid of the helpless and the downtrodden. Ignoring the political issues of the moment, these people will champion the weak and the poor in the face of evil and tyranny. And no matter what the outcome, in their romantic hearts they will always keep the secret, if secret it must be, that they are better men for having held the lamp beside the golden door”.
I have it in “caligraphy” on my den wall …………….
Del
May 24th, 2010
10:50 pm
Taps y’all…stay safe
Christian
May 24th, 2010
11:44 pm
Has anyone considered blowing up the area near site so the earth will create its own seal?
Statists Debunked Yet Again!
May 25th, 2010
2:52 am
The government in a rare admission against interest has confessed that they are subject to corporations like BP. They are in the inferior position compared with corporations like BP. In other words, BP is an overlord of the government. BP has more substance than the Federal Government. More gravitas. More pull. More juice. Got it, puny voters? You can not politically pool your collectivized will in order to keep the corporations in line. The government can not act as a check and balance against corporations. It has just admitted that. That argument has been settled. I expect them to lie…er, I mean “clarify” these recent remarks, but they don’t have to bother because most are zombies. Making government bigger only further empowers corporations. Big Government=Big Business. The Statists’ perpetual “solution” to having lost the argument yet again: make government even bigger.
Rightwing Troll
May 25th, 2010
6:41 am
Wow! Where did you read all that?
I read an article too… All it had to say was that BP was a company that produces oil, and the Government, well not really sure what the governement produces but if you dip it water it will leave a slick behind but I digress, anyway what this poor hapless reporter had to say was basically that BP was better equipped to handle this than the government.
And to my simple mind, this makes sense. I know our governement is wasteful, but I can’t imagine why the Federal government would have deep well drilling equipment lying about…
And how does this make government bigger? I mean you described the outcome, now lets drill down to the details, see I’m a details guy.
I’m still waiting for that list of three impeachable offenses. And a list of taxes that have gone up since Obama took office.
USinUK
May 25th, 2010
6:50 am
RWT – 6:41 – I’m assuming you’re referring to the 2:52 post … to which, all I can say is “holy cow” … it takes some serious pretzel logic to want government to stay out of business, to be small enough to drown in a bathtub AND to be experts in … well … everything (not to mention, have all the same tools at their disposal as every other industry on the planet)
A CONSERVATIVE
May 25th, 2010
6:59 am
JAY…….the correct term is CORRUPTED…..CORRUPTED…..CORRUPTED….YUO NEED TO LEARN TO SPELL the correct term..
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 25th, 2010
7:04 am
Home sales, prices rise
Higher demand fuels increase in cost. Federal tax credit cited as stimulating growth from 2009. -Urinal
Damn, maybe I missed something….
Increased home sales led to higher home prices in April across metro Atlanta, local real estate experts say.
Nevermind, it’s just the AJC milking the results from April, when there was a tax credit.
You don’t want to talk about May, do ya?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
May 25th, 2010
7:08 am
The pipe in question has broken, and it has come as a shock to learn that it is beyond our capabilities to fix it.-Bookman, Constipation
Bush would have fixed it, just sayin….
USinUK
May 25th, 2010
7:08 am
“You don’t want to talk about May, do ya?”
well, considering the month isn’t over and the data isn’t in … no. the same way we don’t want to talk about who won the 2010 World Series, who won the Peachtree Road Race or how the first day back to school went …
USinUK
May 25th, 2010
7:09 am
“Bush would have fixed it, just sayin….”
yeppers, he would have stood on an oil platform somewhere else and declared “mission accomplished” and that, my friendly, would have been that.
Disgusted
May 25th, 2010
7:15 am
I know our governement is wasteful, but I can’t imagine why the Federal government would have deep well drilling equipment lying about…
. . . just as I was saying last night. No equipment, no expertise—we’re a captive of the oil companies in trying to stop this gusher (it’s much more than a “leak”).
USinUK
May 25th, 2010
7:20 am
Disgusted – 7:15 – but why should they have equipment / expertise? seriously, if the US oil companies aren’t nationalized, why should the government spend money on those salaries and equipment?
Disgusted
May 25th, 2010
7:46 am
but why should they have equipment / expertise? seriously, if the US oil companies aren’t nationalized, why should the government spend money on those salaries and equipment?
Didn’t say the government should, USinUK. I was reacting to a blogger’s implication that somehow having more “Management 101″ meetings with federal and agency heads would somehow help effect a faster, more effective solution to the oil well leak. That’s cheap political opportunism, not a serious response to the problem.
Bill Orvis White
May 25th, 2010
7:52 am
Poor Liberal Jay just doesn’t get it. He and his liberal ilk don’t understand that there’s an energy demand out there that requires us to drill for more resources that actually work. Wind and solar is a total joke and has been proven to fail time and again. I think Liberal Jay is un-American just like this installed-president for so many reasons. The biggest reason is that suggesting to end oil production is a complete economy-killer: jobs dies and spending ceases. This is simple Economics 101 which far-left writers like Jay don’t understand. We need to expand offshore drilling, make cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans more affordable, end public transportation while double-deckering the freeways. There is no proof that having too many cars on the road is bad for our health. That is far-left gobbleygook.
God Bless,
Bill
stands for decibels
May 25th, 2010
7:54 am
Bush would have fixed it
If only he’d had 9½ years to learn how to do his job, he would’ve become a great Preznit.
Great, I tells ya.
Jay
May 25th, 2010
7:54 am
Well, if you put it like that, Bill, you’re absolutely right.
I do not get it.
stands for decibels
May 25th, 2010
8:01 am
This is simple Economics 101
I understand all Internet traditions. One of which is, nearly anyone who asserts in an online forum that “this is simple Economics 101,” doesn’t actually comprehend what real-life economists have to say about any issue being discussed.
godless heathen
May 25th, 2010
8:24 am
Yea put the Government in charge of fixing the oil spill. By the time they get all the MWBE paperwork and the environmental impact studies done the well will have surely run dry.
If it is turned over to the Feds, BP will stand for Barry’s Problem.
Edward
May 25th, 2010
12:27 pm
If Gulf Coast residents are going to keep electing conservative Republicans to office who view any kind of safety or environmental regulation as “communism” or “socialism” then they have nobody but themselves to blame for this disaster. I was especially amused to hear Sarah “Drill Baby Drill” Plain claim that campaign contributions from BP to Obama were the cause of this disaster. Its getting harder and harder to take this woman seriously as an adult let alone an candidate for office.
Bill Orvis White
May 25th, 2010
1:04 pm
@Jay
I’m happy to hear that you agree with me that you don’t get it. At least you’re honest and I respect that in you. Maybe that’s why I read your drivel online-who knows.
If you or anyone sticks around me long enough, you will learn quite a bit. I’m a businessman who does well when Big Gov’t gets off my back. When taxe$ are low, I can hire more good workers in my business. If an installed-leader like Hussein Obama comes in telling me what to do with my workplace and employees while taxing me to death, I’m on America’s Economic Deathbed. I won’t get a bailout. I won’t get a tax credit. No, I’ll get Uncle Sam sending me more mail that uses the money that came out of my pocket in the first place.
The point is, alternative energy is nonsense. We cannot possibly power up any of these Southern states without good old-fashioned oil and nuclear energy.
Enviro-whackos just need to get a job, stop sitting in trees and get over themselves. It’s no wonder that Communist China is beating us at everything. We have become a bedwetter nation whereby we expect handouts from the Feds. I never got a handout. I worked hard to build my business.
Amen,
Bill
Gary R
May 26th, 2010
7:43 pm
Have they considered injecting water to see if it would freeze into a plug?