One of the definitions of a prostitute is, "a person who willingly uses his or her talent or ability in a base and unworthy way, usually for money." So, if you're getting over $400,000 a year from a bunch of guys in a particular industry, does that make you a whore?
And what does it make you when you side with your "financial backers over the public interest"? A brazen hussy.
In the wake of last month's catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill, Sen. Lisa Murkowski blocked a bill that would have raised the maximum liability for oil companies after a spill from a paltry $75 million to $10 billion. The Republican lawmaker said the bill, introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), would have unfairly hurt smaller oil companies by raising the costs of oil production. The legislation is "not where we need to be right now" she said.
Well I sure would hate for the little bitty oil companies to get hurt while thousands of gallons of oil a day are pouring into the Gulf, threatening the entire ecosystem, the wetlands, the marine life, the coastline, the fishing industry and the tourist industry, and the quality of life of its inhabitants for decades to come.
I wonder just where Mukowski thinks this legislation should be right now. I wonder if she's considered, or if she even cares, where the money is going to come from to pay for the cleanup and all the other fallout from this disaster. I wonder if she thinks about those 11 men who were killed - and their families. I wonder if she thinks.
Murkowski's move came just hours after Washington's top oil lobby, the American Petroleum Institute (API) expressed vociferous opposition to raising the cap. It argued that doing so would "threaten the viability of deep-water operations, significantly reduce U.S. domestic oil production and harm U.S. energy security." API's membership includes large oil companies like ExxonMobil and BP America, as well as smaller ones.
An API spokeswoman told TPMmuckraker that the bill represented "a knee-jerk reaction that could have unintended consequences." she added: "It's important that the Senate did vote it down."
In fact, the Senate didn't vote on the bill. Thanks to Senate procedures, Murkowski was able to block it simply by objecting to a voice vote request on the bill.
It's not clear that Murkowski's move will end up affecting how much BP and Transocean pay. The White House told TPMmuckraker last week that if the courts find BP to have been "grossly negligent or to have engaged in willful misconduct or conduct in violation of federal regulations," -- which would seem likely -- then the $75 million cap disappears. And there will likely be further efforts in the coming days to raise the cap.
(. . .)
Menendez was scathing in response to Murkowski's move, telling reporters: "Either you want to fully protect the small businesses, individuals and communities devastated by a man-made disaster -- this is not a natural disaster; this is a man-made disaster -- or you want to protect multibillion-dollar oil companies from being held fully accountable. Apparently there are some in the Senate who prefer to protect the oil companies."
If you are as angry as I am and if you want to scream at the top of your lungs, here's a couple of ways to go about it:
Senator Murkowski’s office phone number is 202-224-6665.
Her email is http://murkowski.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Contact
Ifidel753 provides this link to sign a petition to save the Clean Air Act. Guess who's trying to kill it?
Ya gotta wonder what kind of thingy is in the water up there in Alaska.
tnlib, anger doesn't even begin to describe my outrage. Since moving to Florida a decade ago, all my hard work ... as a crusader for the environment, acquiring environmentally sensitive land for preservation, as a board member on the Sea Turtle Preservation Society, my photo exhibits in environmental learning centers throughout Florida including the State Capital building ... down the drain.
ReplyDeleteSea turtle nesting surveys ... down 40%.
Endangered manatees ... down 20%
Bird counts ... down 30%
All this is before the oil spill. Today, I read that CBS news reporters have been chased away from polluted wetland sites by BP and government thugs. Very strange and suspicious.
Worst still ...
Florida's Republican candidate for governor sent thugs to my door today ... my front door at my condo ... yes, you read this right ... threatening to shut me up. More later ...
Welcome to the South. Flodda's Finest have traditionally been used to inform those trying to get out the African American vote that it would be best to leave such decisions to white people but it's probably progress now that they've expanded into intimidating a wider spectrum of ungrateful subjects.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's time us Dukes bought us a muscle car and give Sheriff Roscoe a run through the Flodda countryside?
I'll drive.
I've read that the oil has entered a "loop current," which means that it will probably end up ruining parts of Florida and then perhaps going up the coast.
ReplyDeleteWhen we see U.S. Senators supporting the oil companies over the people, I think we know who's going to be picking up the tab for all this. In the end, the people will pay, and pay, and pay, no matter what the Administration may want. Is BP going to be picking up the tab that will surely rack up over the next generation? Does anyone really think they're going to stop this abomination of a "spill" before it ruins the entire eastern seaboard? I have my doubts, and there's no way BP or Halliburton or whichever company gets pinned for it will pay for all that damage over years and even decades. We will pay, and above all, so will the environment and its creatures.
This is an immense and horrible catastrophe, and the country seems to be acting almost as if it were something normal and manageable. It is not a normal and manageable event -- it is looking positively apocalyptic at this point. This is A NATIONAL SECURITY ISSUE because it has the potential to take our entire economy down. Isn't that what would happen if our Atlantic coast goes dead? The various sectors of the economy are by no means autonomous; they are interconnected. Wouldn't the utter destruction of Gulf and Atlantic seaboard fisheries/tourism, etc. throw us into a Great Depression?
Well it's thrown me into one at least. This place is about sparkling water full of life but from the east, we have the Army Corps dumping millions of cubic yards of septic poison and now from the East we'll have grease and slime infiltrating what's left of the most biologically diverse estuary in North America and laying waste to one of the most important turtle breeding grounds.
ReplyDeleteOur local economy will be demolished because it's based on boating and fishing, but people can move elsewhere. The oyster beds, the fish, the crustacians, the Manatee, the dolphins; the thousands of species and their habitats will be gone for a long, long time. The story of Florida is of one of the largest destructions of an ecosystem ever. The interests of the despoilers always, always outweigh all else.
All our clubs, our activism, our donations, our enthusiasm fail and will always fail as long as we continue to support the unlimited rights of the few to take and use and ruin what belongs to all of us. Look at how we argue that nothing belongs to us! Scream Communism and we roll over like the dead fish in the St Lucie River. Cheap sugar, cheap paper, cheap oil - all more important than the earth itself.
All hail the corporations! May they pen us up in filth like pigs and feast on us forever.