Obama announces his picks for oil spill commission

[seehorse]

http://www.forexpros.com/news/interest-rates-news/obama-announces-five-additional-members-to-complete-seven-member-142788

[quote] WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Monday the names of five people he wants to round out a seven-person commission to study the causes of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and make recommendations for the future of offshore drilling.

The group of men and women included academics and environmentalists but did not appear to include anyone from the oil industry.

"I am grateful they have agreed to serve as we work to determine the causes of this catastrophe and implement the safety and environmental protections we need to prevent a similar disaster from happening again," Obama said in a statement released by the White House

this is a link of for these people. They are loons''..

http://cityfile.com/profiles/frances-beinecke

ANYTHING YET ON HOW TO STOP THE LEAK.....????????????????????????????????:mad::mad ::mad:

[Gingersnap]

Probably this will get better traction in "Politics". ;)

[Rockntractor]

Probably this will get better traction in "Politics". ;)

Are you bored OCD girl?:D

[Elspeth]

The leak is still gushing like mad. All this focus on "cleanup" and "committees" is to divert us from the fact that the oil catastrophe continues with no end in sight.

[warpig]

The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 streamlined and strengthened EPA’s ability to prevent and respond to catastrophic oil spills. A trust fund financed by a tax on oil is available to clean up spills when the responsible party is incapable or unwilling to do so. The OPA requires oil storage facilities and vessels to submit to the Federal government plans detailing how they will respond to large discharges. EPA has published regulations for aboveground storage facilities; the Coast Guard has done so for oil tankers. The OPA also requires the development of Area Contingency Plans to prepare and plan for oil spill response on a regional scale.

http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws/opa.html

Wonder if they will review the plan that was in place and how well it was implemented?

[Rockntractor]

A trust fund financed by a tax on oil is available to clean up spills when the responsible party is incapable or unwilling to do so.
I am sure that there is no separate account waiting to be used for oil spills. The government finds excuses to levy new takes and then spends the money on whatever whim they have!

[warpig]

I am sure that there is no separate account waiting to be used for oil spills. The government finds excuses to levy new takes and then spends the money on whatever whim they have!

Are you saying that the government, our government would take tax money and use it for some other purpose that what they said it was for???
I am shocked and appalled.:rolleyes:

i guess next your going to tell me there no separate SS account I've been paying into all these years either??

[namvet]

i was wondering when we get an oil spill czar. took him long enough. so now he can go back to the golf course

[Odysseus]

http://cityfile.com/profiles/frances-beinecke[/url]

ANYTHING YET ON HOW TO STOP THE LEAK.....????????????????????????????????:mad::mad ::mad:

Of course not. And who better to discuss the means of stopping the link than the head of an environmental activist group like the Natural Resources Defense Council (the people who brought us the alar scare/hoax)? If you want to solve a problem, you appoint experts who have solved similar problems. If you want to point fingers and provide political cover, you appoint political hacks and activists.

[seehorse]

Probably this will get better traction in "Politics". ;)

Thanks. :(

[m00]

Call me a cynic, but as long as the hardcore democratic base can be convinced this is Bush's fault, letting the oil keep spilling is politically advantageous. Also distracts from health-care, and other issues.

[lacarnut]

Call me a cynic, but as long as the hardcore democratic base can be convinced this is Bush's fault, letting the oil keep spilling is politically advantageous. Also distracts from health-care, and other issues.

The oil spill might give the leftwing Democrats a reason to go full bore with their radical agenda but when it comes time for voters to cast their ballots, the slow economy, unemployment, national debt,etc will doom the Democrats in 010. Plus, many Democrats feel that their political lives are in jeopardy already due to the passage of health care. Passage of a new energy tax will put the final nail in their coffin.

[m00]

The oil spill might give the leftwing Democrats a reason to go full bore with their radical agenda but when it comes time for voters to cast their ballots, the slow economy, unemployment, national debt,etc will doom the Democrats in 010.

I hope you're right. They've let winning one election in a decade go to their heads. If this is what Obama is doing as a first term president, I really REALLY don't want to see what's coming up in the second term. Normally it's the second term where Presidents push the envelope on their agenda... scary to think about.


Plus, many Democrats feel that their political lives are in jeopardy already due to the passage of health care. Passage of a new energy tax will put the final nail in their coffin.

I hope so. Actually, I hope Republicans put up a candidate who is a genuine "small government" conservative (why is there any other kind?), with a healthy respect for the liberty of the private citizen. And the good sense to know the difference between necessary narrow powers to catch terrorists, and unnecessary broad powers that exist to expand the scope of government.

I'm somewhat concerned we're just going to get a Republican version of Obama (aka: the republican party going "if you can't beat em, join em,") and then we'll be really screwed.

[lacarnut]

I'm somewhat concerned we're just going to get a Republican version of Obama (aka: the republican party going "if you can't beat em, join em,") and then we'll be really screwed.

If the Repubs do not nominate a fiscal conservative for Prez that will cut spending, we are doomed. I am hoping for an outsider like Palin because many if not most politicians in DC are so oblivious to the huge sums of money we are pissing away. I don't want to give Haiti or Gaza a damn dime nor do I want to give banks in France and Germany TARP money or provide 17% of the funding for a bailout of Greece. This shit needs to cease. Most politicians like Romney and Newt will just slow down the growth of government. What is needed is a weed whacker approach. Go back to the number of Fed. employees 5 years ago. Eliminate agencies and consolidate others. Let a couple hundred thousand over paid Gov. employees go back into the private sector.

[m00]

Most politicians like Romney and Newt will just slow down the growth of government.

This is exactly the problem. Our choices seem to be Democrats, which raise taxes and grossly grow government, and Republicans, which raise taxes less than only a Democrat would (or through less direct means) and grow government less than only a Democrat would.

The problem is once we, as citizens "give ground" to government (in the form of liberty or taxes), it's very hard to get that back. And lately, we've been giving a lot of ground.

[Odysseus]

This is exactly the problem. Our choices seem to be Democrats, which raise taxes and grossly grow government, and Republicans, which raise taxes less than only a Democrat would (or through less direct means) and grow government less than only a Democrat would.

The problem is once we, as citizens "give ground" to government (in the form of liberty or taxes), it's very hard to get that back. And lately, we've been giving a lot of ground.

There are a few Republicans who are willing to take on entrenched spending interests. Palin is one. Rudy Giuliani is another (he was the only mayor of NYC to impose spending and tax cuts in the last century, and he did it with a city council that was something like 20-5 Democrats/Republicans). Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is a third. I'm sure that there are others in the house or senate or among the governors. The critical thing is to vet them and look for experience and commitment to specific ideals. What we don't want is another Schwarzenegger, someone who doesn't understand that government spending isn't just inefficient or expensive, but that it corrupts everything that it touches and weakens society as a whole.