This is a little off-topic, but whenever I read something conjured by some A-lister over at the HuffPo, I’m always struck by how dull and humorless the writing is. These are big shots, performers, stahs, and most of them write as though they’re submitting some kind of college entrance exam. Where’s the voice, the personality, the wit…? Yes, we get it, you’re … smart … and … informed … and … serious. But for my sake — for the sake of the guy whose job it is to trudge through your mighty impressiveness on a daily basis, could you you spice it up some — a little hot-cha-cha for you’re favorite right-wing extremist?
And this isn’t an ideological thing. As morally and politically illiterate as many of my writer foes on the left are, at least they’re not boring.
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Where was I? Oh, yes, the wagon circling. Other than nudging Obama to be even more socialist when it comes to the kind of regulation and oversight necessary to kill middle-class jobs and tax us all into poverty ensure this tragedy never happens again, not a single one criticizes the President for his mishandling of the spill. But guess who does rank a Babs mention?
Redford’s video above is a pretty fascinating piece of propaganda. Take special note of how he at first laments the job losses caused by the spill but then closes by calling for even more job losses through an end to offshore drilling. It should go without saying that the Obama administration’s voting present throughout the 50-plus days of this disaster never comes up.
If you can manage to stay awake through all this learned smartfulness, here are some of the highlights:
The BP spill also brought to light the corruption and ineptitude in the Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service office. President Obama inherited most of this staff since many of the employees were placed into these regulatory roles during the eight years that Bush was President. Many of the regulators were already friends with industry officials and some had worked in the oil and gas business before their stint in government. These regulators apparently let the oil and gas companies fill out their own inspection forms in pencil and then traced over their writing in ink. In return for their leniency, regulators accepted invitations to hunting trips and tickets to college football games courtesy of the oil and gas companies. Basically, Bush put the foxes in charge of guarding the hen house! In addition, the Minerals Management Service frequently granted waivers to BP and other oil companies releasing them from providing regulators detailed environmental impact and safety contingency statements regarding the areas they planned to drill for oil. These waivers allowed oil companies to take short cuts, which ultimately lead to the kind of disaster we are now experiencing in the Gulf.
Recently, President Obama announced several measures that will reign in Big Oil’s influence. He strengthened regulations governing offshore operations and called on the Justice Department to examine BP’s role in this fiasco. He also imposed a moratorium on new offshore drilling while a commission investigates the spill. And although I welcome the president’s initial steps, some of these measures need to be stronger.Ultimately, the only way to break the industry’s hold on political decision making is for America to shift to more fuel efficient cars, more public transit and other technologies.
These are the solutions that will break America’s addiction to oil and put more money in consumers’ pockets. Right now, there is a clean energy and climate bill before Congress that could help unleash these solutions. The time for passage of this bill is NOW, not later.
This week Obama announced a moratorium on new permits to drill new deepwater wells, and he suspended the planned exploration in Alaska, canceled a planned August lease sale in the western Gulf of Mexico and canceled a proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia.This is a huge step forward, but a six-month moratorium is not enough. We need a complete moratorium on offshore drilling, like the one that protected most of the U.S. coastline for 25 years.
Compare this to the left’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina. Calling for an end to off-shore drilling is like saying don’t rebuild the levees because they’ll just burst again; or don’t re-populate New Orleans because it will just flood again. Does anyone want to argue the flooding in New Orleans didn’t devastate that environment?
And laying all the blame for the oil spill on BP (and Bush!) and none of it on the Obama Administration’s incompetence is like blaming Katrina only on the builders and inspectors of those levees.
But don’t completely laugh off these A-listers. Writing them off as fuzz-headed, liberal celebs is a mistake. Each is very wealthy, very powerful and politically connected. And each is lobbying hard both in print and behind the scenes to devastate an already devastated community with further job losses — and as they sit in their over-sized mansions — to undermine our standard of living with higher taxes and energy costs (which affect everything).
Babs, Bob and Ted might compose their big thinks with a laughable sense self-seriousness, but the power and influence they wield to further their totalitarian agenda is not to be under-estimated.
But I think I speak for all of Hollywood when I say, thank gawd we elected the Community Organizer instead of that hick from Alaska who has actual experience in dealing with oil companies and spills.
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