A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections On Doomed Rig

Monday, May 17, 2010


I say this all the time to conservatives who complain about taxes: Life in the US costs what it costs.



If you're not paying it to the feds, you're going to be paying it to the state/county/city.



Those who don't want to support funding public schools wind up paying in the way of a dumbed-down population that went to private schools (private school teachers get paid significantly less as there are no qualifications for teaching in private schools).



The costs of oil are going to skyrocket no matter what is done with existing oil rigs. The costs of seafood is going to rise as there is less of it (Louisiana is the second biggest producer of the nation's seafood after Alaska, providing 40%). The costs of all goods that are shipped through gulf ports are going to rise as ships will avoid traveling in that area due to possible damage by the oil and other chemicals now in those waters.



We're all going to have to make adjustments in our way of life and how we use energy. We're all going to have to cut down, and that's not a bad thing. It might just save our own lives and the planet.



Where is the Manhattan-style project for alternative energies' innovation that Candidate Obama promised?
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections On Doomed Rig


Why didn't Obama make recess appointments across the board?



It's not like he and Democrats have been without recourse to Republicans' obstructionism. But Democrats have preferred to make political hay rather than govern.
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections On Doomed Rig


"There is new concern about another BP facility in the Gulf: a former BP insider tells us the platform Atlantis is a greater threat than the Deepwater Horizon."



http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490087.shtml



All offshore drilling must be stopped, not just new drilling. There are other deadly rigs out there, other catastrophes waiting to happen, that are inevitable because of how they were built and the shortcuts taken for the sake of bigger and faster profits.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections On Doomed Rig


Watch the 60 Minutes segment on what happened at Deepwater Horizon - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/05/16/60minutes/main6490087.shtml



We simply do not have the kind of regulatory mechanism in place, nor the kind of human beings in power anywhere in our government or in corporate management, to allow these environmentally devastating operations to continue.



Imagine the Kerry-Lieberman bill (American Power Act) passing, with its increased offshore oil drilling and building of new nuclear power plants.



The Obama administration, mimicking the Bush administration, has put the cart before the horse by refusing to put regulations into place before bailing out industries.



Bush's first act upon entering the White House was to pass massive tax cuts for the rich ("Get the money out of Washington") before shoring up social security, Medicare, and planning for unforeseen emergencies like war (Bush talked about attacking Iraq two weeks after he entered the White House).



Obama bailed out the banks without any strings, and has left Main St. hanging out to dry while Wall Street is awash in taxpayers' bailouts. No regulations have been put into place to prevent more bubbles and more meltdowns. Unconditional support of Obama that keeps his approval numbers high by his most ardent supporters (for continuing the Bush administration's policies and pursuits) guarantees the next accident is going to be a Chernobyl here at home.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Deepwater Horizon Inspections: MMS Skipped Monthly Inspections On Doomed Rig

Sunday, May 16, 2010


AP review: Use of FOIA exemptions rose in 2009

By The Associated Press

03.16.10



WASHINGTON — Federal agencies haven’t lived up to President Barack Obama’s promise of a more open government, increasing their use of legal exemptions to keep records secret during his first year in office.



An Associated Press review of Freedom of Information Act reports filed by 17 major agencies found that the use of nearly every one of the law’s nine exemptions to withhold information from the public rose in fiscal year 2009, which ended last October.



Among the most frequently used exemptions: one that lets the government hide records that detail its internal decision-making.



http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22720



That and more on Obama administration's lack of transparency- http://www.firstamendmentcoalition.org/category/resources/federal-foia/
About Gulf Oil Spill
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Will Obama Hold Another Press Conference?

Friday, May 14, 2010


No, "they" didn't; Lynn Sweet did. [transcript - http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2009/07/obama_july_22_2009_press_confe.html ]



It was supposed to be, and was, all about health care reform. But after 7 questions, where he gave long and wandering answers (a gimmick by Obama to slow the momentum of aggressive questioning), and with the reporters just warming up and starting to ask hard-hitting follow-up questions, Obama ended it by calling on his old buddy, Chicago Sun Times' Lynn Sweet, to help him change the subject with a question out of left field, having nothing to do with the job of the president.



Obama knew what the question was going to be, by the way. That he would encourage the question given how he RUNS from any discussion having to do with race, and dove into with a position when he hadn't even had the facts of the case straight (uncharacteristically sloppy for Obama) should tell you that he wanted the news cycle that had been all about Gates and race to continue, and not be about him on healthcare reform.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Obama Echoes George H.W. Bush On Oil Spill Response (VIDEO)


It's very safe for presidents who say things publicly like, "Exxon is liable and they will continue to be liable... I think Exxon has assumed liability and I'm not going to stand here and suggest otherwise" and, "BP has committed to pay for the response effort, and we will hold them to their obligation".



The reality is it's just talk.



When the time comes to pay up, BP, like Exxon, will drag its feet, stall, will have to be taken to court, and after 20 years of litigation over the amount, the US Supreme Court will slash the amount of money the company is required to pay that doesn't begin to cover the costs of the damage done.



In the intervening years, BP, like Exxon, will raise prices to pay for the anticipated judgment (that's the excuse they use), and enjoy record profits.



These companies need to be nationalized and the executives need to face criminal charges.



The real question is, "Is Elena Kagan likely to let lower court rulings over money judgments against corporations with no regard for the law, environment or human life stand, or is she inclined to "cobble a majority compromise" (meaning she joins the rightwing of the Court)?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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