Oil Industry

Bush, Cheney, And The Iraq War: A Total Waste!

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The news that radical elements connected to Al Qaeda have seized and “liberated” Fallujah and Ramadi, two cities that so many of our Marines and other soldiers died for during the Iraq War, and that Iraq is back to the civil war that emerged after Saddam Hussein was overthrown, is enough to make one sick and disgusted, and to condemn the administration of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, which took us into a war that was not ours to fight, and cost the loss of over 4,000 lives and over 30,000 wounded, many seriously!

This event, the return to instability of Iraq, in the midst of the Syrian Civil War, and the unrest in Lebanon, demonstrates that America has lost yet another war, after Vietnam, and is losing in Afghanistan.

Who benefits from this is the oil industry, and the defense industries, which enrich themselves on the corpses of dead Americans, as well as dead Iraqis and others in the Middle East.

It is clear that America cannot control what happens in the Middle East, and that the neoconservatives, who advocated engagement in Iraq, are the true traitors to the cause of what is best for America, and there is blood on their hands with the latest results of the failed war in Iraq!

And Dick Cheney is one of the biggest culprits, having enriched himself in the process, through his connections with Halliburton.

But now, thankfully, his disgraceful daughter, Liz Cheney, trying to be elected to the Senate from Wyoming, connected to the Tea Party Movement, and willing to throw her lesbian sister Mary Cheney under the bus, in her egotistical quest to become the female Dick Cheney, has bowed out of the race, well aware that she would be lucky to gain 25 percent of the vote in a primary against sitting Republican Senator Mike Enzi.

Good riddance to her and the theory of a Cheney dynasty, but so much damage has been done by Dick Cheney, who should be held accountable legally for his wrongdoings, but most certainly will avoid it, due to his massive connections to powerful interests!

White House Solar Panels As A Symbol–Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, And Barack Obama

Ronald 2 Comments

During the administration of President Jimmy Carter, a much maligned President, unappreciated then and now, we had the oil embargo brought on by the Arabs in the Middle East, and Carter decided to promote the concept of solar panels as a better form of long term energy supply than oil, natural gas and coal, seeing the need for a change in US energy policy. This included the establishment of the Energy Department as a new cabinet position.

So Carter arranged in 1979 for installation of solar panels on the White House, a great symbol of our need to change our energy policies.

But seven years later, after much ridicule by the administration of his successor, Ronald Reagan, the solar panels were taken off the White House, as Reagan made clear that he was going to be captive to the oil and coal industries, and concern himself only with their profits, and ignore conservation and the environment, thus helping to accelerate the global warming and climate change crisis, which even now, the Republican Party refuses to accept as reality!

But now, 27 years later, President Barack Obama has reinstalled solar panels, repudiating Reagan and backing Carter in his vision of the energy and environmental future of solar power.

This is to be commended, although the powerful oil, natural gas, and coal industries will continue their lobbying, as their only goal is profit, not concern over the future of the planet.

So the battle over future energy supplies and climate change continues unabated, as the GOP proves yet again, their lack of concern for the long term future, only concerned about capitalistic profit in the present! It is as if they have their heads in the sand, and live in a world of illusion!

Joplin, Missouri; SuperStorm Sandy; Moore, Oklahoma: Reason To Pay More Taxes To Help Our Fellow Citizens!

Ronald 14 Comments

America has gone through one natural disaster after another, more so in recent years, at greater cost of life and property.

The climate change deniers say it is par for the course, that nothing unusual is occurring, and that global warming is not the issue.

But even worse is that the same people in government who deny any concept of climate change and the need to react to it, also are the same people who, when a natural disaster occurs, fight against federal disaster aid, as in SuperStorm Sandy.

And if they, grudgingly, give up and say that disaster aid should be offered, they want the least aid possible, and only if there are budget cuts elsewhere to cover for the disaster aid.

So we have the two Oklahoma Senators–two of the absolute worst members of the US Senate at any time in our history—who represent one of the poorest states, but also a state of the oil industry, who take a hard hearted view on disaster aid, and budget cuts to compensate for such disaster aid!

James Inhofe and Tom Coburn have no problem in being “skin flints” on disaster aid, but if such is to be given, then hurt the poor, the sick, the unemployed, rather than make corporations pay fair taxes, make the wealthy pay more taxes, make all of us understand that when natural disaster hits, it is not just the people in the area of the disaster who suffer, but instead we all suffer!

It is the responsibility of all of us to help our fellow citizens, with the corporations and the wealthy being expected to pay more, but all of us need to pay more, and understand the Christian view that we are all our “brother’s keeper”!

What has happened to common decency, common dignity, and common humanity?

What has so sickened the body politic that all that matters is selfishness, greed, and lack of concern for our fellow citizens?

Is this the America that we want to live in? Is this the America that our Founding Fathers believed in when they created the Constitution? Is this the America that people have fought and died for in our wars? Is this the America we want to bequeath to our children and our children’s children?

This is a time to think about values and what really matters, rather than just money and things and possessions, and not caring about people we do not know!

It is a time to come together and strike back at these vicious right wing, narrow minded people who only care about themselves, and no one else!

Senator Tim Scott Of South Carolina: Just What The Senate Does NOT Need!

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South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has just announced the appointment of Congressman Tim Scott, who is African American, to replace retiring Senator Jim DeMint, who resigned to become the head of the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation.

DeMint was the leader of the Tea Party Caucus in the US Senate, and his replacement by Scott, who is in the vein of defeated one term Florida Congressman Allen West, is in many ways, even worse than DeMint.

Scott is no Edward Brooke, African American Senator from Massachusetts from 1967-1979, who served credibly as a moderate Republican, the first popularly elected African American Senator, and received a Congressional Medal of Honor and a US Mint Medal struck in his honor a few years ago, a medal the author is proud to own. Brooke, now past 90, is a true credit to the US Senate and his race!

Scott is a right wing Tea Party activist, who has advocated the impeachment of President Obama; called for the cutting of food stamps to children; helped to push through cuts in services to HIV/AIDS patients in South Carolina; has backed large subsidies to Big Oil; and has promoted the idea of the Ten Commandments being on the walls of every government building in South Carolina.

This man is a right wing extremist, who will have no success in convincing African Americans to become Republicans, as he comes across as a firebrand, who will undermine any chance of compromise by House or Senate Republicans on any issue over the next two years.

He is the equivalent of Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, another African American who has turned against civil rights, and gone over to the white conservative establishment of the Republican Party, but can do a lot of damage, as Thomas has done repeatedly, including conflicts of interest on many cases brought before the Court.

Scott will not be a quiet freshman, and in many ways, will be a nightmare who will plague the Senate, and probably have a long career in a state which has gone so right wing and loony that its poverty stricken black and white population will suffer, but always with the thought that they are following the teachings of Jesus Christ, which they most certainly are NOT doing!

The REAL Issues Of 2012 That Are Being Ignored In The Presidential Campaign

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If one follows the Presidential campaign of 2012, one would think that ONLY the economy matters.

YES, the economy matters, but the newest jobs report demonstrates that this nation is on the mend, and that over the next Presidential term, the economy will recover, with some experts saying that up to 12 million jobs will be created, whether Barack Obama or Mitt Romney wins the White House on Tuesday.

Others would say the danger of Iran is the major issue, but even on that, it is clear that both Obama and Romney would react similarly to an actual Iranian attack on Israel or any other part of the Middle East.

So the REAL issues are not the economy or Iran!

Instead, they are the following, although ignored in campaign rhetoric:

Climate Change or Global Warming—the reality of it, as demonstrated yet again by Hurricane Sandy, and the need to take the lead in moving away from oil and coal as the major energy resources. But, of course, Republicans and conservatives deny the reality of this threat, and the oil and coal industries do everything they can to protect themselves at the expense of the nation in the long run.

Gun Violence—as demonstrated by what happened so many times in the past few years, including Tucson, Arizona in 2011 to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords; the mass murders in the Aurora, Colorado movie complex in 2012; the constant murders in cities such as Chicago, often ignored because the victims are African Americans; and so many other cases. And again, the Republicans and conservatives fight any type of gun control, and allow the National Rifle Association to hold America hostage.

Education—the dire need to promote more people attending and graduating four year colleges and universities. Many would say that having a four year degree does not guarantee that one gets the job he wants or needs. While that is true, the unemployment figures make clear that those with a four year degree or more have an unemployment rate under FOUR percent, while those with less education or dropping out of school have an unemployment rate of TWELVE percent! Is there any evidence other than this to convince parents and children of the urgency of getting an education through a four year degree? And besides, there are intangibles other than just getting a degree for a job, such as improving one’s basic skills of reading, writing, and speaking, and improving one’s mind and knowledge; making one a better person in social situations and parent situations; and raising people up from ignorance, conspiracy theory beliefs, and over reliance on religious doctrine, which unfortunately makes many people unwilling to reason for themselves, and just accept gospel as absolute fact. And of course, Republicans and conservatives argue against extra funding and assistance for education, and would prefer to lean on organized religion to “control” the masses, keep them ignorant, and willing, therefore, to accept ideas without questioning or challenge!

The Supreme Court—not understood by many for the important role it plays, and will continue to play, and the urgency of having a President who will select nominees who wish to look to the future, and not the past, and prevent regression politically, socially, and economically back to the Gilded Age and the 1920s. The Republicans and conservatives and Mitt Romney want more Antonin Scalias, Clarence Thomases, and Samuel Alitos, to insure that we go backward for the next 30 years! So the election of Barack Obama is urgent for the future of constitutional law and the preservation of the advancements of the Earl Warren and Warren Burger Supreme Courts.

These issues mentioned above SHOULD be understood before people, who have not voted before Tuesday, vote for our next President, and the best decision for any sane individual is to vote for the candidate who represents a willingness to deal with the future, President Barack Obama!

Rick Santorum The Frontrunner In The Presidential Race: A Nightmare Scenario!

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Imagine the impossible: After ELEVEN frontrunners in the Republican Presidential race, we finally have former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania as the present frontrunner.

This is a literal nightmare, as Santorum would take us back socially to the 1950s; economically to the Gilded Age or 1920s; and would send troops and bomb Iran on his first day in office.

Rick Santorum would try to outlaw contraceptives; outlaw all abortions under all circumstances; reverse “don’s ask, don’t tell” in the military; promote theocracy in America, with his fanatical religious convictions; set out to wipe out most of the New Deal and Great Society; promote the end of any regulation of corporations and banks; promote the interests of the oil industry at the expense of the environment; cut taxes on the wealthy much more than even the Bush tax cuts; and promote military intervention all over the world in the name of American “exceptionalism”!

And there is more, enough to make us wish for George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism”, or the time of Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford or Richard Nixon!

This country would be so damaged and divided, more than ever before, and make us long for the “good old days” of earlier Presidents, who no matter how controversial they were, were never as extreme and fanatical as Rick Santorum would be.

Rick Santorum is a mental case, a danger to the stability and advancement of America, and those who wish he was the Republican nominee, thinking it would be easy for Barack Obama to defeat him, had better think twice and wish that he NOT be chosen, as one can never know for sure how those citizens among us who are emotional and ignorant and overtly “religious”, might not see Rick Santorum as their “Jesus Christ” who can save the country!

This potential for a Santorum Presidency is the most dangerous threat to our future since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, even surpassing the candidacy of Barry Goldwater in 1964, and we must hope that Mitt Romney is able to overcome this challenge, as no matter what one thinks of Mitt, at least we know he is sane and stable, and no threat to the future of the nation, were he to occupy the White House in 2013.

The Republican Assault On The Environment!

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The Republican Party has a heritage of Presidents who promoted the environment, but now it is being totally abandoned by the GOP House of Representatives and the Republican Presidential candidates, in their mad dash to support the oil and coal industries and others which pollute the environment and undermine Americans’ health and well being!

Theodore Roosevelt, while President from 1901-1909, became the supreme conservationist and environmentalist, promoting a quadrupling of national parks, calling conservation conferences at the White House, and working to cut industrial damage to the environment. The historian Douglas Brinkley has written a massive work hailing the environmental commitment of this second greatest Republican President, only ranking behind Abraham Lincoln in historical reputation!

Sixty years after Theodore Roosevelt left office, President Richard Nixon (1969-1974) became a major advocate of the environment, through the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, and his appointment of former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel as his Secretary of the Interior.

Twenty years after Nixon entered office, President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993) was able to get through the Clean Air Act of 1990, recognizing the great problem that had been created by industry and needing more federal intervention.

And now twenty years after Bush I became President, the party they led is backing away from any concern with the environment. It is not just Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann, but even Mitt Romney, who had earlier backed environmental protection as Governor of Massachusetts, has given up his principles in the pursuit to win the GOP Presidential nomination and appeal to Tea Party looniness! Legislation has been proposed to allow uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, a most reckless action, which thankfully can be prevented by the Democratic controlled Senate and a Democratic President using his veto.

This is a tragedy of massive proportions, and TR and Nixon must be turning over in their graves, and Bush I certainly must be very disturbed privately at the abandonment of the most important heritage America can offer to the future–clean air, clean water, clean soil!

The Irony Of Oil Industry Subsidies And Jay Rockefeller

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About a week ago, the five major oil company executives appeared before a Senate committee to defend their right to retain government tax breaks, despite all time profits in the industry, as oil and gasoline prices continue to rise.

There was outrage that the executives, or at least the Conoco Phillips CEO, said it was “UnAmerican” to take away the billions of dollars of subsidies, at a time of budget deficits and the nation on the brink of a showdown on raising the debt limit.

Particularly notable was the condemnation of the industry leaders by Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, whose great grandfather was the original oil baron, John D. Rockefeller, the so called “Robber Baron” of the late 19th and early 20th century!

It was a wonder to behold Senator Rockefeller being outraged at the abuses of the industry! It brought back memories of the Gilded Age of the late 19th century, which so much resembles what has been going on in America since the Age of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s!

Energy Regulations: Coal, Oil, And The Federal Government

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President Obama is presently memorializing the 29 coal miners killed on April 5 at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, West Virginia. The obvious need for greater regulation of mine safety has been recognized because of this, the latest, of numerous mine tragedies.

The country is also mourning the loss of 11 oil rig workers who are missing and presumed dead from the explosion in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month, causing many to wonder about off shore oil drilling in the Gulf, which is part of President Obama’s plans.

The nation has a great need for the development of energy resources, but the seemingly persistent loss of life demands us to step back and try to figure out what can be done to promote safety for energy workers, who play such an important role in the welfare of our country! We also must consider the effects on the environment at the same time!

Despite the mistrust that exists among many people toward the federal government, it is only that government who can insist on safety regulations enforcement to protect the workers, and Obama is very aware of the need to increase and improve regulation.

Anyone who is against this is living in a fantasy world! We still need government, whether some want to accept that as a reality!