Sorry Mr. President. YOU appointed Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary & YOU lifted the 30 year

Moratorium on off shore drilling....

Where is the call for his resignation?

If you don't know the history of Salazar, here it is:

http://coloradoindependent.com/18141/nine-reasons-not-to-trust-ken-salazar-as-secretary-of-the-interior

Where is the announcement of ending ALL off shore deep water drilling NOW....

Bush & Cheney bear a HUGE amount of blame, but Obama just continued and expanded the policy.

...Obama gets an F on environmental issues...his "green energy" is just a way for him to dole out more moeny to coprorations to build thier windfarms on wild land.

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Bush but when Obama proposes this abomination, nary a peep.

during multiple hearings over drilling in the Artic. But maybe that's wrong.

has proposed, they've all gone silent.

Oh, and I took out proposed...my mistake...Bush did try, and again, the Dems stood up, but for Obama now this disgrace is moving forward.

President Obama has proposed no such thing.

a couple of them may never open. no one up here wants to be responsible for anything going wrong. if alaska can get it right, there is no excuse any place else.

Because we would all have to go down to cooking and heat only if we quit using oil today.

:wtf:

we can decide to engage in an orderly descent.

By it's nature, descent is never orderly. The last great descent was justly called "the dark ages", and frankly, no one wants them back.

Stop Drilling Right Now is nothing but a blue-faced temper tantrum.

And that's who I responded to. Since you agree with me, why are you giving me shit instead of the OP.

start over.

Kind of an admission that Obama has not put out any new ideas or done anything that looks like "change."

So, "Yes, we can!" but no, he can't?

There has been more change on the energy front in the last year than in the last 20. That doesn't mean we can stop drilling RIGHT NOW.

Again, NO ONE IS PROPOSING TO STOP ALL DRILLING. Even if they did we have plenty of capped wells to re-open. And the US oil amounts to only 2% of the worlds oil.

So if you conclude that we need to shut off our computers because we stop all deep water drilling, I have to make the call. Sorry, but that is just plain stupid.

I am curious why you are backing BP.

We need clear eyed realists such as yourself to secure more of that precious, precious oil for us.

Hmm? You're benefiting from people dieing for that oil just as much as any teabagger. That's the entire point of my post. I am so sick of the pretentiousness from people who, for the most part, won't sacrifice a damn thing.

Sometimes I take the bus, but really, I walk alot. This past Saturday I covered about 7 miles walking around the city running errands.

I do not drink sodas or bottled water- so I dont use plastic bottles.

The milk I buy comes in deposit bottles.

I only buy food from local businesses & from local farms, thereby minimizing the oil used to transport my food. I go the extra mile to buy products that are MADE IN THE USA, preferably in my state or region. Also minimizing the oil used to transport my goods.

We stopped buying baggies & saran wrap a while back because it's expensive- so we re-use the plastic yougurt containers w/ lids.

Of course, we recycle, turn out lights, etc.

I've been doing all of this & much more for quite a while.

As far as sacrifice goes, I'm part of the solution, not the problem. Not even fair to call it a sacrifice, really, just good, clean living is all it is.

That makes the biggest difference. Buying all your food local is huge because it's generally not cheaper, despite the persistent myth that it is.

As to the rest of it, it's exactly the way low-income people always live, so you're right on that count that it's not really a sacrifice.

Still, if we stop all offshore drilling all over the world, do you seriously believe those are the only changes you will have to make?

Ending foreign adventures that only serve to profit multi-national corps would save far more oil than me shutting down my computer.

When we are spending as much money on alternate energy as we spend on wars, GIVE AWAYS in the form of tax breaks, tax cuts, subsides & no-bid contracts to big oil and other multi-national corporations who burn it up, then call me.

Once this is the case, then come back to me and tell me with a straight face that we cant drastically reduce drilling. If we *need* the oil b/c corrupt politicans REFUSE to do all or part of the above, then it's all by design, not b/c of anything wrong I'm doing.

Having said that, we started out snarking each other, but really, it looks like we are on the same page for the most part. Hope so.

Is that a totally unrealistic demand, or not. And if you support it, do you seriously not think you will have to make more sacrifices. And if you support it, why do you think you shouldn't make those sacrifices.

Any other discussion is a diversion from the point.

Obviously we can do more on alternative energy, that's why there's a number of alternative energy proposals out there. But that's not the topic of this thread.

Or our Democrats forcing them to make such sacrifices. No, no no- cant touch that- but Dr. Fate MUST shut down his computer or he's a hypocrite! LOL! I guess we are not on the same page here.

I'm making plenty of sacrifices- now it's the turn of the multi-nationals, war mongers & the congressmen they own to do the same in the same proportions.

If "sacrifices" is a diversion from the OP, then you were the one who did the diverting by bringing it up.

In any event, I reject the notion that alternate energy is not part of the over all discussion- Obama himself brought it into his press conference today.

I'm addressing the OP. I don't know why it's so hard for you to comprehend that.

It is beyond stupid to use the amount of oil the military uses in order to fight wars for oil. You're definitely right about that.

Seeing as 40% of US petroleum consumption is by the Pentagon, and that largely employed in securing more petroleum for US controlled multinationals....

That said, of course our daily life is awash in petroleum products and that is completely unsustainable. But one might ask, how did we come to this? Was not the suburban/automobile culture foisted upon us by the corporations, their huge propaganda apparatus, with government a willing accomplice? Who decreed that things once made out of other substances now be made of petroleum? It was no decree, it was the workings of the market, competition, in a word, capitalism. Just another aspect of capitalism's irrationality. We can no longer afford this irrationality, a socialists, rational economy is a necessity for survival.

other alternatives, alternatives that have been blocked by the oil industry and their rightwing cohorts around the globe.

We need solutions, not stupid talking points. However, if we continue to spend trillions on wars for oil, instead of investing those $$ in the development of alternative energy sources, we will never be free of oil until the last drop is gone.

As we have just found out, the risks of placing our national security in the hands of Big Oil are greater than any terrorist threats we could imagine. Moving away from oil will reduce those threats anyhow, since we won't need to kill their people to get their oil.

1) End the wars for oil.
2) Spend at least half of the Pentagon budget on the R&D of alternative energy. (more would be even better)
3) Produce cars that get 50 miles a gal. and give tax breaks to people who buy them.
4) Subsidize already known alternative energy sources like wind generators, solar panels, wind farms etc.

Regulate the Oil Industry, in fact nationalize it if they continue to demonstrate that the only thing they care about is profit.

Start educating the younger generator about the facts, instead of leaving that education up to the likes of Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Fox, Rush Limbaugh.

Keep Oilmen like Cheney and women like Condi, out of the government.

We passed laws that violated our Constitution because of a terrorist threat. If necessary, laws now need to be passed because of the far bigger threat of the oil industry.

We the U.S. developed an oil-based economy. It was ingenious and could not have been imagined two centuries ago. We have learned that if something is too good to be true, it is. Now we know the limitations of oil as far as our survival goes.

So, it's time to move on. If we had the ingenuity to make the kind of progress so quickly with the use of oil, we have the ingenuity to develop a way to progress beyond it, so long as the oil industry is removed from any decision making regarding that progress. They have a conflict of interest and for that reason and our national security, we need to move beyond them now and turn to other experts whose goals are to make us as independent as possible from oil usage and as quickly as possible.

It was a Chevy Sprint, made more than 20 years ago. If it was possible to make such a car then, it's certainly possible to make such a car now.

The Oil Industry has bought up patents to stop development that would lessen our need for oil. And most importantly, they have bought the government.

This spill has made clear just how much power over our government they have. Even though I knew they had influence, I had no idea how much power they actually had.

This country could lead the way in new technology if they were not being prevented from doing so by these criminals.

And the stooges on the far right are unwittingly helping them by falling for the 'liberal/conservative battle of words. And sadly now, many so-called progressives are helping them also, as they try to defend their party for the obvious roles they have played in the demise of democracy.

while we overhaul our vision of individual vehicles, making them much lighter and more fuel efficient, with much smaller engines. We also can greatly expand our use of bio fuels by going hard at hemp, switchgrass, methane capture, and even by making use of our garbage.

Its also time for national highspeed rail and increased focus on local mass transit that can tie into it.

We can and must do better and that means doing things differently. We could move away from oil in 20 years and carbon in fifty. If we truly cannot then our best play is to shut it down while we can still use the land and have clean air and water.

Do you want to leave modern life with resources and wildlife or without and try to scrape a miserable existence from nearly nothing? That seems to be the choice you put forward.

I say we can maintain modern living with conservation and adaptation but if not then let us have earth that will bear fruit, meat to hunt, and air we can breathe.

Today? No.

I am so sick of the "stop drilling right now" idiocy.

Lets use everyone else's supply that they want to sell while we make our move.

Why are you so insistent on deep sea drilling here? What are you up to the gills in oil stocks? They'll be fine either way, it's peak time. Only goes up from here.

I didn't think so.

There goes that talking point which I'm sure you didn't bother to research. And I'm very happy with a President who, when is proved wrong, will make a positive correction.

Obama to Extend Deepwater Drilling Moratorium


By NOELLE STRAUB of Greenwire
Published: May 27, 2010


The Obama administration plans to halt new deepwater drilling for six months, suspend exploratory drilling that had been scheduled off Alaska this summer and cancel a lease sale off Virginia.

President Obama also is expected to announce a suspension of upcoming lease sales in the western Gulf of Mexico, after receiving a 30-day review of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion that caused an ongoing massive leak.

The White House also will propose more rigorous oil development regulations and oversight as part of an effort to boost its response to the disaster as criticism has mounted of its handling of the worsening crisis.

Obama plans to extend the current moratorium on new deepwater drilling, put in place after the Gulf leak began, until the independent commission created to investigate the spill and to make recommendations for improvements can complete its work.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/05/27/27greenwire-obama-to-extend-deepwater-drilling-moratorium-8011.html

On account of being down to nothing but cooking heat?

Not put a moratorium on NEW drilling.

Again, I am so fucking sick of stupid. Read what is said and interpret and respond to the actual words.

Which is not what the OP suggested.

of "drill, dig and nuke", and who hired a dumbass in the mold of James Watt to "look after" the nation's resources, and overlook environmental considerations,including granting an exemption to BP for this project based on a worst-case scenario leakage of only a few thousand barrels.

I was against lifting it, but it didn't have anything to do with this well or this accident.

Obama's guiding policy is very misguided -- He is all so very "We must look forward and not back."

Is it only

mere coincidence

that doing so leaves all the collusion that the eight years of Bush Big Oil Cronyism bought about exactly in their seats of power?

We were had during Fall 2008. We didn't realize it, but we were had.

the BP disaster wouldn't have happened? Of course that's not what you're saying. But if that's the case, then what you are saying doesn't make a lot of sense. The lifting of the moratorium never went into effect and has been suspended. Whether that extension is made permanent or not has not yet been decided. Those are not the policies of Bush and Cheney.

now he is still pushing stupid policy to enhance the wealth of a few at the expense of many. WE DON'T HAVE ANY OIL!!!! Not enough to impact supply, not enough to meet our own demand, not enough to meaningfully reduce costs now or in the future.

It not being one his Administration permitted appears to be an issue of timing and luck since the drilling he authorized would be under the same non-existent regulation.

He can and should blame BushCo. but he should also internalize "that but for the grace of God, so go I".

Bush approved more than 41,000 (5,200 annually) drilling permits. Since January 2009, the Obama administration has approved less than 350, a 95 percent reduction.

OP is still completely inaccurate.

Moral Initiative reforms ... on paper?

:sarcasm:

Salazar had something to do with inspecting the well after it was cemented?

President Obama's and Ken Salazar's monumental dilemma. However, it was WELL KNOWN how dysfunctional the MMS Division was as early as 2008 there were valid reports of sex, drugs and gifts being passed between the inspectors and the major oil companies.

My complaint: The lion's share of the blame goes with the former Bush Administration for de-regulating every damn thing BUT the Obama Administration has been "in charge."

Why didn't The Obama Administration, and specifically Ken Salazar, make it *their goal* to put those regulations back in place? Why didn't they also clean up the "cozy atmosphere" by actually SUPERVISING these inspectors and disciplining them when they are lax?

The GOVERNMENT has to start REGULATING all these corporations to include the banksters and the MIC. That's the problem with our nation in general: There's a merging of corporations with government so that the two are becoming nearly indistinguishable. That is FASCISM not the conduct of a democratic republic.

it was corrupted under the Bush administration and it is being cleaned up by the Obama administration.

I have been very critical of him lately, but at least he did admit all of this in his press conference today- that they did not do enough to correct what the previous admin did...

I'm not giving him a free pass, but I'm at least slightly encouraged by him taking responsibility.

corporate enabling. :shrug:

:thumbsup:

Now I want to see actions to correct the Bush admin. decisions.

Continue means to allow to go forward. Expand means to continue while adding to existing numbers. Decrease means to continue but with lesser numbers. You say he has allowed about 350 since taking over, that means he has continued and expanded.

You should understand the logic it's pretty similar to the same kind you have used to defend budget reductions in certain areas.

there for even one more?

And the worst-case government scenario was for a spill of a few thousand barrels that would be quickly contained and would be dispersed in about 10 days.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html

or, rather "faceit"

B-)

:toast:

When Salazar was appointed, many of us were outrage that Obama choose him instead of an environmentalist.

The buck has got to stop somewhere.

his method is to do everything comprehensively and i am ok with that but the truth is that the people he needs to work with him are too timid and the people he caters to are too assholy. he needs to wake up and just do what needs to be done because he is not getting credit for the things he does right and he will never (evidently) get support for moving cautiously. he needs to get busy, and to get out in front of all of this stuff, instead of "calmly moving ahead with a tone of restraint and bipartisanship". That's not getting him/us anywhere. BP may/may not have been doing everything right since the explosion but if they have not had the "fear of God" put into them before now, then that is not right. they should be scared sh%#less and not just for their free-market reputation or their f%#king stock price.

big-time with vengeance. :P

at the moment.

with inconvenient truths here on DU

Their determination that it is better to rule over catastrophe than to share power in sane moderation created this balkanized madhouse.
:kick:

who you calling fuckwad?

and has anything been done to hold Ken accountable?

If you are the manager, and you hire a supervisor to supervise a job, who gets some of the blame the job doesn't get done?! Here's a CLUE: ALL!

The OP was specific in pointing out the President's culpability. You claim it's all a bout blame, as if we all blame JUST him and have no reason to... You ignored the content, mischaracterized the OP and then called many Duers "fuckwads". You won't last with that attitude.

I trust the President.

unnecessary