Jobs Bill: Democrats Say Thursday's Doomed Vote Is The Last Chance

Why are Democrats watering down anything? How many times do they need to hear that Republicans won't join them, no matter what?



Democrats control the Senate by a greater margin than either party has had in decades. Still Obama doesn't (& didn't) pressure the Blue Dogs, or threaten Lieberman with loss of his committee chairmanship.



But if you think that isn't enough, that it doesn't matter because Republicans can still filibuster anything and everything, there's Rule 22 of the Senate, which leaves it up to the discretion of the Senate Majority Leader (Harry Reid) whether to actually force them to do it or just let them threaten (bluff).



What we're talking about Republicans filibustering, they really haven't been: They've been THREATENING to filibuster.



And Harry Reid just lets them threaten, bluff. Reid's called them on it exactly once in the last 3 1/2 years, when it was something that Democrats really wanted and needed at that time (Republican Jim Bunning threatened to filibuster a bill to temporarily extend unemployment benefits, & Republicans caved). Filibustering is hard work, & not easy on soft, pampered bodies.



Obama & Democrats are constrained by nothing. If they wanted to pass this bill, they would and could.
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Judge Denies Obama Administration's Request For Stay On Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Another Attempt Coming

ALL of Obama's plans are somehow restricted by this nebulous thing known, by some, as POLITICS.



If Obama tried to stop offshore drilling, he would be blocked. So, he could waste his time showing that he agrees with people like you, or he could waste his time trying to negotiate something that will actually pass.



The difference is that compromising might result in SOMEthing being done, however trivial, while standing on an extreme principal will accomplish nothing better than losing any overtures of support from the GOP now and for the extended future.

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We would all get a lot done if we caved to conservatives' demands, ended all government services, handed the Pentagon a blank check to wage whatever wars it wanted, both foreign and domestic.



Obama has a nasty habit of conceding that which isn't his to concede. Obama cuts secret deals, out of oversight of the American people, literally and figuratively (Congress).



I've yet to find one issue on which Obama shares the values or beliefs of Democratic voters' interest groups; not environmentally, not on foreign or domestic policy, nothing. Obama would live quite contentedly in a Republican-ruled world. He's a DINO.



So for Obama to be negotiating on behalf of different left-leaning interest groups is something of a stacked deck. It would be like you playing against yourself in chess. That's not how fair negotiations take place, or how lasting contracts that everyone can abide by happen.
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Judge Denies Obama Administration's Request For Stay On Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Another Attempt Coming

If Obama tried to stop offshore drilling, he would be blocked--even the moratorium was overturned by the courts.

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One judge, with apparently a serious conflict of interest, ruled incorrectly. The law seems clear on this:



==The Federal government is allowed to temporarily prohibit any activity that causes a "threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to life (including fish and other aquatic life), to property, to any mineral deposits... or to the marine, coastal, or human environment." (OCSLA s. 1334(a)(1)). A decision to suspend activity under this act can only be set aside if the decision is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not otherwise in accordance with law." (5 U.S.C. s.706(2)(a)).



The Supreme Court has found that a decision is "arbitrary and capricious" if it relied on factors not contemplated by Congress, ignored an important part of the problem at hand, ignored evidence to the contrary or came up with a decision that is so implausible it could not be attributed to a difference of opinion within the agency (State Farm, 463 U.S. 43).==



http://www.huf fingtonpost.com/emma-rubysachs/courts-decision-to-overtu_b_622457.html
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Judge Denies Obama Administration's Request For Stay On Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Another Attempt Coming

The US military is BP's biggest customer.



Here's an interesting interesting article on what Americans pay to BP to keep the Pentagon awash in oil to wage its wars, in spite of BP's wretched environmental record.



http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LF19Dj02.html
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Judge Denies Obama Administration's Request For Stay On Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Another Attempt Coming

Or never.



Either way, that doesn't change the fact that the Gulf of Mexico is now destroyed, BP is still in business operating as it always has (as environmental bandits), or that we need to get the heII off of oil and Obama has done NOTHING to further that goal.
About Gulf Oil Spill
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Judge Denies Obama Administration's Request For Stay On Deepwater Drilling Moratorium, Another Attempt Coming

What we have is a catastrophic failure of government, by BOTH parties, & all 3 branches of government corrupted by money.



In 1995, Clinton signed the DeepwaterRoyaltyReliefAct to encourage drilling offshore.



While the government required, by law, oil companies to file & put into place disaster plans in the event of a catastrophic failure, they knew that the oil companies' plans were bogus. There's no way that the government (Congress & presidential administrations) didn't know that all oil companies have falsified disaster plans.



Both Democrats & Republicans allowed the issuance of permits to drill offshore, in ecologically sensitive areas, to potentially destroy Americans' food supplies & our source of oxygen (80% of the earth's oxygen comes from the oceans).



There's no way to drill offshore safely. Not in any depth of water.



Ixtoc in 1979 & Montara in 2009 (both blowouts that gushed for months) were in shallow water. Relief wells are no guarantee, carry with them the same risks. Five relief wells had to be drilled before Montara's gushing could be stopped.



Blow Out Preventers (BOPs) have a 50% failure rate. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/1/862288/-50-Failure-Rate-on-Off-Shore-Oil-Rig-Last-Resort-Device



ALL offshore drilling must stop, but Obama intends to continue offshore drilling, in both deep & shallow waters. Obama's 6-month moratorium & Commission is window-dressing, a phony show, an attempt to stall efforts to end the oil economy. The moratorium's end isn't dependent on any Commission report & the Commission has no time deadline.
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Gulf Oil Spill And Energy Bill: Does Proposed Legislation Go Far Enough In Reducing Oil Dependence

Obama has a nasty habit of conceding that which isn't his to concede. Obama cuts secret deals, out of oversight of the American people (Congress). I've yet to find one issue on which Obama shares the values or beliefs of Democratic voters' interest groups. Not environmentally, not on foreign policy, not domestically, not on healthcare, jobs, nothing -- Obama is a DINO. So for him to be negotiating on behalf of all of these different interest groups is something of a stacked deck. It would be like him playing against himself in a game of checkers. That's not how fair negotiations take place, or how lasting contracts that all can and do abide by happen.
About Gulf Oil Spill
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Gulf Oil Spill And Energy Bill: Does Proposed Legislation Go Far Enough In Reducing Oil Dependence

There's the law, and then there's politics.



==The Federal government is allowed to temporarily prohibit any activity that causes a "threat of serious, irreparable, or immediate harm or damage to life (including fish and other aquatic life), to property, to any mineral deposits... or to the marine, coastal, or human environment." (OCSLA s. 1334(a)(1)). A decision to suspend activity under this act can only be set aside if the decision is "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not otherwise in accordance with law." (5 U.S.C. s.706(2)(a)).



The Supreme Court has found that a decision is "arbitrary and capricious" if it relied on factors not contemplated by Congress, ignored an important part of the problem at hand, ignored evidence to the contrary or came up with a decision that is so implausible it could not be attributed to a difference of opinion within the agency (State Farm, 463 U.S. 43).==



http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-rubysachs/courts-decision-to-overtu_b_622457.html



With regard to your belief that "compromising might result in SOMEthing being done", we would all get a lot done if we caved to conservatives' demands, ended all government services, handed the Pentagon a blank check to wage whatever wars it wanted both foreign and domestic.
About Gulf Oil Spill
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Gulf Oil Spill: Gulf Methane Levels One Million Times Greater Than Normal

It really has little to do with us, We The People, and everything to do with the Military Industrial Complex: The US military is BP's biggest customer.



Here's an interesting interesting article on what Americans pay to BP to keep the Pentagon awash in oil to wage its wars, in spite of BP's wretched environmental record.



http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/LF19Dj02.html
About Gulf Oil Spill
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Oil Spill: Turtles Rescued By Wildlife Agents, Only 1 in 5 Survive (VIDEO)

i did read my links. i only wish that you would actually say what you mean: the text is right there for me to see. the rig has been under investigation since february.

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What I mean: You have a reading comprehension problem.



Do you understand what the actual concern is? Not only is a BP whistleblower saying that the rig is unsafe, he's saying that if and when there is an emergency on the rig, the blueprints, the paper plans that BP has provided to MMS, are false, so that efforts to shut it down would be impossible.



What MMS is investigating is paperwork, and it was supposed to have completed that investigation of paperwork in May. It's now coming on July, MMS is nowhere near completing the investigation of paperwork ("10%" complete), all the while Atlantis remains in operation. It is another catastrophe waiting to happen.
About Gulf Oil Spill
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