The Myth of Drill, Baby, Drill
You know how if you hear the same foolishness enough times, it becomes second nature and you don’t stop to question it. That has been the case with me and “Drill, Baby, Drill”, the chant heard around the country telling us that we need to drill off shore so we can achieve energy independence. I always dismissed the argument because most of the world’s oil simply isn’t off our shores so total reliance on off shore oil would not satisfy our oil addiction. Alas, I was dismissing it for the wrong reason and thanks to a piece by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, I now see what should have been obvious to me.
When we drill in the Gulf of Mexico, we don’t use that oil in Charleston or Atlanta or Boise or Boston. That oil goes into a global pool of oil that is sold by the oil companies to anyone willing to pay for it. There is no such thing as our using the oil that we drill close to home. We don’t contribute to our energy independence by off shore drilling. We just contribute to the world supply of the drug that so many countries are addicted to, although none of them match our level of addiction. 2007 data shows we consume 24% of the worlds oil. So the argument made by Maddow, a correct one I think, is that we need to get off oil. That is true energy independence.
The Myth of the Slush Fund
Last week, Republican Congressman from Texas, Joe Barton made the news when he apologized to BP for our country strong-arming them into creating a 20 billion dollar relief fund for victims of the BP oil spill. He called the meeting between Obama and BP a “shake down” and the resulting financial set-aside a “slush fund”. Conspiracies abound regarding how this money will be misused. Kenneth Feinberg, the man who administered the 9/11 relief fund has been put in charge of this new Gulf fund. According to conservatives it’s all totally unconstitutional. Well let’s do a small side by side comparison of the 9/11 fund and the Gulf fund.
| 9/11 Fund |
Gulf Fund |
| Established during GOP Bush administration. |
Established during socialist Obama administration. |
| America screwed over by dark-skinned fanatic Muslims. |
America screwed over by Christian capitalist Brits. |
| Many of the victims fat cat wall street types. |
Many of the victims ordinary folks who work with their hands. |
| Socially responsible relief fund. |
Unconstitutional, criminal, slush fund. |
One has to wonder why a relief method administered by the same man during the Bush administration is suddenly under attack under the Obama administration. The bottom line is we live in a litigious society. Expecting people to get financial relief from this folly through the court system is cruel and unusual. A fund that provides timely relief and ensures that BP bears the cost of that relief is the most humanitarian and just approach.
Once again, no degree of hypocrisy is too great in the pursuit of a failed Obama administration. It’s just a shame when Republicans ignore that people’s lives hang in the balance.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance
June 22, 2010 at 1:01 am Rutherford
The Myth of Drill, Baby, Drill and the Slush Fund
The Myth of Drill, Baby, Drill
You know how if you hear the same foolishness enough times, it becomes second nature and you don’t stop to question it. That has been the case with me and “Drill, Baby, Drill”, the chant heard around the country telling us that we need to drill off shore so we can achieve energy independence. I always dismissed the argument because most of the world’s oil simply isn’t off our shores so total reliance on off shore oil would not satisfy our oil addiction. Alas, I was dismissing it for the wrong reason and thanks to a piece by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, I now see what should have been obvious to me.
When we drill in the Gulf of Mexico, we don’t use that oil in Charleston or Atlanta or Boise or Boston. That oil goes into a global pool of oil that is sold by the oil companies to anyone willing to pay for it. There is no such thing as our using the oil that we drill close to home. We don’t contribute to our energy independence by off shore drilling. We just contribute to the world supply of the drug that so many countries are addicted to, although none of them match our level of addiction. 2007 data shows we consume 24% of the worlds oil. So the argument made by Maddow, a correct one I think, is that we need to get off oil. That is true energy independence.
The Myth of the Slush Fund
Last week, Republican Congressman from Texas, Joe Barton made the news when he apologized to BP for our country strong-arming them into creating a 20 billion dollar relief fund for victims of the BP oil spill. He called the meeting between Obama and BP a “shake down” and the resulting financial set-aside a “slush fund”. Conspiracies abound regarding how this money will be misused. Kenneth Feinberg, the man who administered the 9/11 relief fund has been put in charge of this new Gulf fund. According to conservatives it’s all totally unconstitutional. Well let’s do a small side by side comparison of the 9/11 fund and the Gulf fund.
One has to wonder why a relief method administered by the same man during the Bush administration is suddenly under attack under the Obama administration. The bottom line is we live in a litigious society. Expecting people to get financial relief from this folly through the court system is cruel and unusual. A fund that provides timely relief and ensures that BP bears the cost of that relief is the most humanitarian and just approach.
Once again, no degree of hypocrisy is too great in the pursuit of a failed Obama administration. It’s just a shame when Republicans ignore that people’s lives hang in the balance.
Respectfully,
Rutherford
WordPress.com Political Blogger Alliance
June 22, 2010 at 1:01 am Rutherford 226 comments