by Casey Flynn
If we are not supposed to be afraid of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, should we be afraid of Al Qaeda anymore?
U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman blocked a six-month moratorium that the Obama administration placed on new deepwater drilling projects in response to the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Feldman Rule on Recusal: Judge Feldman needs to recuse himself from this case because as I understand it when the case was assigned to him he owned stock in companies directly or indirectly affected by the outcome of the case challenging Obama’s moratorium on deepwater drilling projects. Incredibly he owned stock in Exxon-Mobil, owner of one of the Gulf rigs temporarily shut down by the moratorium, until the day he announced his ruling on the case. He apparently still owns stock in BlackRock, BP’s top shareholder as well as stock in seventeen other oil and gas industry companies. In 2008, Judge Feldman made a financial disclosure that indicated he had holdings in Halliburton and Transocean Ltd., two of the companies being sued in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. In defense of Judge Feldman, he was using the Gilded Age/ Ulysses S. Grant administration standard for determining whether a conflict-of-interest exists, which is an accepted standard in the Fifth Circuit, the state of Louisiana, and most other Banana Republics.
Judge Feldman’s Ruling: In blocking the Obama administration’s moratorium on deepwater drilling projects, Feldman held that the Interior Department failed to provide adequate reasoning for the moratorium, saying that “[i]f some drilling equipment parts are flawed, is it rational to say all are? Are all airplanes a danger because one was? All oil tankers like Exxon Valdez? All trains? All mines? That sort of thinking seems heavy handed and rather overbearing.”
Judge Feldman's son Corey: "We've been estranged since I made Goonies."
Damn straight. Just because some Mexican-looking persons in Arizona are here illegally, dealing drugs and working as cooks at the cafeteria in the Republican headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona (making Taco Tuesdays a real treat), is it rational to say that all Mexican-looking person in Arizona are here illegally, dealing drugs, etc..
Just because one guy brought a bottle containing an explosive liquid or a shoe bomb on a plane, does it mean that all liquid containers or shoes contain explosives? Do you know how many liquid containers or shoes have gone on planes without exploding? 34 Billion and some change (see wikipedia.com).
Just because certain Arab-looking persons committed terrorist acts against Americans, does it stand to reason that Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens) is a terrorist? He wrote ‘Peace Train,’ with such lyrics as: “I’ve been crying lately/Thinking about the world as it is/Why must we go on hating?/Why can’t we live in bliss?” (Granted his song ‘Peace Train’ has been translated into Arabic as: ‘Kill the Jews!’, but that has more to do with making the meter work in Arabic)
Yusuf Islam nee Cat Stevens: "Okay maybe I wouldn't want to get on a plane with this guy. I mean, if he went to a costume party as a terrorist, he'd win best costume."
That sort of thinking seems heavy handed and rather overbearing. Couldn’t agree more.
I just had no idea that if I wanted to bring my two liter bottle of Mountain Dew, Code Red or my economy-size Pert 2-and-1 shampoo on a plane (my finicky hair only works with certain discount shampoos), and they stop me, I had a right to walk into a federal district court and challenge a federal agency ruling. And further the federal district court judge could strike down the agency’s rule because the federal government had not made a sufficient showing that there was a good enough reason for said rule.
Rush Limbaugh and the Republican response: Essentially Rush Limbaugh and Republicans are applauding Judge Feldman’s decision because he’s defending the Constitution and the rule of law. To wit, Obama’s moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects did not have a sufficient evidentiary support and arguably safe deepwater drilling projects have been shut down and private individuals and companies are being deprived of property rights without due process of law? The other aspect of the Republicans response is that deepwater drilling is perfectly safe and that what happened at the Deepwater Horizon site was an aberration. Therefore, Obama’s moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects was an overreaction, penalizing oil companies that play by the rules.
Are we a third world country ruled by oligarchs?: As I understand it, the oil that the United States government gives out permits for drilling is in federal waters, and the US gets royalties for allowing these oil companies to drill. Therefore, the oil companies do not own this oil as we are not yet a third world country ruled by oligarchs. The federal government allows deepwater drilling if there is a determination that this activity is safe. Accordingly, if the federal government receives new information that deepwater drilling is not safe, are Republicans claiming that it doesn’t have the power to act? What happened to the Bush-Cheney imperial presidency with its expansive view of executive power? What can be more of a threat to our national security than the consequences of a deepwater oil spill?
New Information, The Deepwater Horizon Blowout: The singular lesson from the Deepwater Horizon blowout was that the oil companies cannot be trusted to regulate themselves. Cheney/Bush and MMS essentially ceded regulation over to the oil companies to make sure that deepwater oil drilling was performed safely. And what did they do with this responsibility? In the words of Dennis Hopper playing Wyatt in the movie, ‘Easy Rider’ : “We blew it.”
From the Deepwater Horizon accident, we have learned: (1) if there is a blowout while drilling in deepwaters, there is no way to stop the oil flow (save a nuclear device); (2) oil companies routinely do not verify that the wells are actually built as intended; (3) oil company studies about environmental impacts are cut and paste jobs from wikipedia and other websites; (4) the government regulators are not protectors of the environment or the people who live along the Gulf, but are protectors of Big Oil (and everyone who likes to buy cheap gas – remember, we’re the problem!”)
BP Atlantis site: A whistleblower by the name of Kenneth Abbott claims that BP failed to review thousands of final design documents on the BP Atlantis platform, and as a result, BP never verified that the systems were built properly and as intended. The BP Atlantis oil rig is larger than the Deepwater Horizon rig that sank in the Gulf.
Add to this, there are numerous accusations that BP regularly made shortcuts around safety procedures and either ignored or did not build safety mechanisms that the engineering drawings called for.
The only thing we have to fear is … [insert what polls best]?: Republicans fault Obama’s moratorium on drilling as a socialistic overreach that violates the Constitution and further destroys our economy. Which returns us to the question at hand: if we are not supposed to be afraid of the dangers of deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, should we be afraid of Al Qaeda anymore?
In the Deepwater Horizon explosion, eleven people were killed, a fireball was ignited whose flames were visible from 35 miles away, numerous people were injured, the Gulf of Mexico has been befouled by oil, countless numbers of people will get sick from cleaning up the oil including having an increased risk of getting acute myelogenous leukemia, and to eventually stop the oil gusher, experts have speculated that we might have to use a tactical nuclear device.
If this realized danger is no big deal, should we be afraid of anything that Republican or Democratic politicians try to get us worked up about?
What are we even doing in Afghanistan and Iraq? I say bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan especially since the federal government has made absolutely no showing that our military presence there will reduce the likelihood of terrorist attacks. Where’s Judge Feldman on this one?
Shut down the boondoggle that is homeland security! Just as the Republicans say the US has regulations in place that should have prevented the Deepwater Horizon disaster, I’m sure pre-9/11 that we had laws and law enforcement in place to stop terrorist attacks. Terrorism did not just become illegal after 9/11.
Let me bring my two liter bottle of Mountain Dew, Code Red on a plane along with my economy sized, Pert 2-1 shampoo and all sorts of electronic gizmos stuffed in the various pockets of my vintage clothing parachute pants. Hell, let the Afghani people get on planes to the US with whatever they want to bring including their goats.
Why should I take off my shoes whenever I walked through a metal detector when a private corporation can’t even be forced to take a time-out to prove that they built the promised blow-out preventers, used the right type of cement and drilling mud before engaging in offshore drilling when their activity could potentially blow up the Gulf of Mexico … again?
Republicans and Democrats should not pick and choose what to fearmonger about. It’s tiresome. If all we have to fear is nothing, then let it be nothing, consistently.
I don’t think anyone really believes this though. If reasonable persons would take reasonable precautions to reduce the likelihood of a terrorist act or an environmental disaster, a reasonable people would take such precautions or elect politicians to so implement these policies. Surely to take such precautions is consistent with any reading of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, what is the present status of the BP Atlantis site? Is anyone looking into this? President Obama? Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour? Congressman Boehner? Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney? Judge Feldman? Where’s Senator Harry Truman when we need him?
